Mission 26: Part 3
A fierce air battle continued to rage over Tokyo while the Nova Rangers boarded their zords and combined them into the fully assembled Nova Mechazord. As their own titan rose into the sky and the battle systems came online, they scanned the battlefield to get a feel for the terrain they had to work with. Unfortunately, the streets looked narrow and there were a lot of buildings in the way. The goal would be to try and draw the enemy titans away from the more developed districts to reduce damage and possible civilian casualties.
Bharata nervously gripped the firing controls of his station and worked to line up some shots just in case, "Hey... you'd think the people of Tokyo would be used to all this by now, right? Alien attackers and giant robots slugging it out?"
Erik gave a grim smile and tried to keep everyone calm with some levity, "Oh sure... I'll bet all the people down below are all pointing going, Oh my God! Run! It's Godzilla!"
"Stay focused squad," Martin cut in, "We're getting double teamed so we've got to end this quick. If anyone's got a good suggestion, I'm all ears."
Erin glanced over and eyed her console, "Captain, we don't have time to tangle with two at once. Let's go all out on the first and figure out the rest when the odds are even."
"The lady doesn't waste any time. I like it," Jake agreed with a thumbs up, "Let's blow that first wanker to kingdom come."
The Red Ranger nodded and readied his own controls, "All right then, missile banks and gattling blasters online. Weapons locked, fire at will Rangers!"
The Nova Mechazord quickly armed its primary weapon systems and unloaded a devastating barrage of projectiles and missiles at the first titan who moved to attack. As the Nova Mechazord expended its ammunition, the first Xeno titan was shredded by the withering volley of fire. The hull of its main body almost resembled Swiss cheese with flames and holes ripped through as it collapsed face-first to the pavement below and ceased to move.
The other titan didn't waste time and quickly charged forward slamming into the Mechazord while driving it back. The two colossal warriors exchanged several fierce blows and began to grapple back and forth. As the Rangers wrenched their controls, they pulled the titan along away from the city center. With a little extra effort, they threw the titan down along a more open riverbank on the border of a less dense district. The Mechazord pressed its advantage and advanced but the titan reared up at the last moment and used its legs and arms to trip up the Rangers and pull the Mechazord to the ground too.
As the Rangers struggled to roll their zord back over to get up, the Xeno titan rose first and pulled a tall steel radio tower up from the ground. Before the Mechazord could get up, the titan drove the point of the tower down into its knee joint, pinning the Mechazord to the ground. As the zord tried to rise again, the titan stamped down on it with several fierce kicks causing more damage.
Inside the rumbling cockpit, the Nova Rangers braced themselves as dread began to creep into their hearts. They were pinned to the ground and getting pummeled. Ella glanced at a monitor and called out, "Captain, we've gotta do something! System damage levels are rising. We can't keep getting pummeled like this."
Martin nodded, "Damn! Erik, what's the state of the pinned amphibious zord?"
"Heavy damage sir. Drive systems are offline. It's not moving anytime soon," the Blue Ranger reported grimly.
Jake tapped the side of his helmet, "Guys, I know this might sound crazy but how about we divide and conquer? If the amphibious zord can't move, we've still got two more to fight with, right?"
The Mechazord shook again and a few panels blew out as the Rangers took another brutal blow. Martin nodded, "Okay Jake, we'll follow your lead. Prepare for disassembly."
Before the Xeno titan could stamp down again on the Mechazord it stopped in surprise as the zord quickly separated back into three vehicles. The upper torso folded back up into the Sky zord and began to hover while the Land tank zord which formed one of the legs rolled out and maneuvered free. As Jake drove the large tank behind the legs of the titan, he called over the comms, "Aright Captain, you ready to go back to middle school and pull the old table-top on this guy?"
Martin steered the Sky zord into position as Ella and Bharata fixed weapons on the enemy.
"I've never really liked playground bullies," he agreed, "Open fire!"
The Sky zord let loose a barrage of fire from its blaster cannons knocking the titan back slightly. With the position of the Land zord right behind its ankles, the titan couldn't keep its balance and fell over backwards with a thunderous crash. As it struggled to get up, the Sky zord dropped some magnetic grappling clamps down and locked up its hold of the Land zord tank. The Red Ranger fired the jets further and the Sky zord lifted the tank up into the air so that it could bring its primary cannon to bear directly on the head of the titan. Inside the tank, Erin and Erik manned the guns and gave a ready signal to Jake, "Locked and loaded."
The Silver Ranger grinned as the hovering tank aimed its fully charged cannon point blank at the titan's head, "Boom! Headshot!"
The cannon fired and a supercharged bolt of energy punched through the Xeno titan's head before completely obliterating it. The six Rangers gave a cheer and exchanged high fives with each other for the success of their unorthodox and improvised battle tactics. Down below, civilians in the nearby buildings and streets of the city all began to give relieved cheers and waves as they saw the two colossal alien bots reduced to smoldering ruins. Of course, the Rangers didn't have a lot of time to celebrate. Their other friends were still in danger on the other side of the city. They didn't have any moment to waste. As the Sky zord lowered down to pick up Erik, Erin, and Jake, the Blue Ranger radioed back to Atlantis Base, "This is Erik, the titans are down. I repeat, the titans have been neutralized. How are things on the other end?"
Caldwell answered directly from his own headset, "We may yet win this. The air forces are retaking the skies. UNAF infantry is on the way to help but your job now is to find Dr. Beckett and Julian. Bring them home safely."
"Understood General, we're on it!" he nodded as he and his two comrades climbed out of the tank and rode the grappling cables back up as they retracted. Once all six Rangers were aboard the Sky zord, its engines flared and they made a direct beeline flying low over the city toward their trapped allies.
Meanwhile, the Exposition Hall was in chaos as civilians fled for their lives amidst the ground assault of a fresh wave of Xeno foot soldiers. Leading the way was a cybernetically enhanced Omega Trooper calling himself Drago. He was a large humanoid reptilian or saurian type creature fitted with sleek powered armor and upgrades to its joints making it an imposing hulking warrior. The warrior held a large axe in one hand and a blaster cannon in the other. As he went down the street, he shot out chunks of nearby buildings and smashed his axe on the ground to cave in parts of the street and underground tunnels below. One such strike was so forceful it violently rocked the pedways and caused a cave-in before Lucy, Julian, and the remaining civilians could escape to safety. Seeing their escape route now cut off, Lucy led the small crowd of people up another stairwell which opened up into a nearby sidestreet. When they merged from underground and tried to look around for a safe avenue through the chaos, their hearts sank as they saw Eidolon clone soldiers everywhere wrecking havoc.
Once the civilians were all above ground, they huddled around Lucy who had taken charge and they watched in dread as several alien clone soldiers turned and closed in around them. Despite her fear, Lucy stood her ground and bravely tried to stare down the Eidolons until the large figure of Drago emerged from the enemy's rear ranks.
Drago snarled as he loomed over Lucy and eyed the young woman in contempt, "This city is ours now. You and your people are coming with us."
"We're not going anywhere," Lucy answered trying to muster up as much defiance in her voice as she could. She was getting a terrible flashback to when she had been abducted by the Xenos before.
Drago laughed and continued to speak in his deep raspy voice, "Who do you think will save you little girl? Your Terran army is nowhere to be seen and your precious Nova Rangers are fighting a hopeless battle against our titans. There's no way they can win."
"We're still not going to become your slaves or your sick lab experiments either," Lucy retorted.
Drago growled and reached out one of his large hands to try and grab Lucy by the neck but Julian stepped in and shoved it way to protect his mentor, "Hey! Back off scale face! Leave her alone!"
Drago gave another snort of contempt and swatted Julian aside with a forceful backhand slap. The young tech crashed to the pavement in a stunned heap as Drago loomed over him with his axe, "You worthless human! You have the nerve to try and lay a finger on me?"
Before Drago could bring his axe down, he was stopped as a Xeno staff blaster fired and an energy bolt struck the Omega Trooper in the shoulder. Drago recoiled a moment in surprise before he turned around and saw a crowd of rebel clone troopers approach. The distinct one in the lead with officer markings on his armor held his smoking weapon and kept it leveled, "I won't let you harm that man!"
Drago's lip curled into a sneer and he turned to address his foe, "Taldyr… so you're the one who's responsible for all this."
The leader of the rebel clones removed his helmet and advanced with a smile, "That's right. Half of my brothers and sisters here are ready to send a message to the Warmaster. We won't be the slaves of the Xeno Machina any longer."
"You would fight and kill your Loyalist brethren here to do it?" Drago called in a mocking challenge. Some of the other Eidolons standing around the saurian warrior hesitated.
"I'd rather not," Taldyr answered, "Their lives are just as valuable and full of potential too. But if that's what it takes to win our freedom, I'll do it... starting with destroying you."
Drago gripped his weapons as Lucy pulled Julian aside and tried to direct the civilians away from the Xeno vs Xeno violence which was about to erupt. "Kill the traitors."
Many of the clones hesitated while several others raised their weapons obediently. In a heartbeat, chaos broke out as clones started fighting and wrestling among each other having been seized by their own conflicted emotions. Drago looked around in shock as the situation devolved around him and his forces broke ranks to fight among each other. Before he could fully collect his wits, Taldyr charged forward to take on the force commander and he lashed out with his staff weapon.
Drago raised his guard and fended off the strikes before being pushed back by a few blaster shots from the clone. Though the shots did little damage to his armor, Drago hacked back and split the staff with his axe before turning his gun on Taldyr. The clone dodged under the blaster and shoved it aside with his shoulder before throwing his weight into the larger saurian fighter. He drove Drago back several meters and knocked the axe down before he was grabbed in the arm and hurled roughly to the turf. Taldyr rolled on the ground and recovered to his knees as Drago tried to aim his weapon.
The saurian smirked before turning his weapon instead on the civilians and aimed directly at Julian and Lucy. Taldyr gasped in fear as Drago made ready to fire his weapon and began to squeeze the trigger. The clone soldier leapt to his feet and made a running dive to shield them just as the bolt was fired. Lucy and Julian gasped while shutting their eyes but the shot never struck them. Taldyr gave a grunt as the shot clipped his back and was deflected wide. Despite surviving the glancing blaster shot, the badly wounded Taldyr collapsed face first to the pavement with a large smoking scorch mark radiating from the back of his armor plating.
"That was very stupid," Drago said while shaking his head in amusement, "Now it's time to finish the job."
Before he could raise his weapon again, the Nova Sky zord roared by overhead while being controlled remotely from Atlantis Base. The rear hold of the zord was open and six Power Rangers leapt from midair in their armored Supernova modes. Amid the sin's glare, the six clasped hands together forming a skydiving ring while they fired their booster jets to control their speed. They broke formation before landing safely on the ground and they drew their weapons quickly upon seeing the Omega Trooper. They could see Lucy and Julian cowering nearby with the other civilians while a wounded Taldyr lay on the ground struggling to drag himself to safety.
"Would you look at that? We still get to thrash a big ugly lizard after all," Erin growled as she tensed for a fight.
All around them, the other clones were locked in their own miniature civil war and too preoccupied to get involved with the Rangers and Omega Trooper. Bharata called on his Distruptor Staff and ignited the electrical tips while casting a quick look to the downed leader of the clone rebels, "You just made a big mistake there pal."
Drago slowly picked up his axe and hefted it, "Really? How's that?"
Martin flipped off the safety of his Nova Magnum, "That clone over there happens to be one of ours. Rangers?"
Jake immediately opened fire with his rifle weapon while the Blue, Green, and Pink Rangers darted forward to close into melee combat. Erin hurried to heft Taldyr off the ground while Martin directed the civilians back to safety inside the Expo center. The Yellow Ranger gave a nod as Taldyr turned his head weakly, "Erin? I kept my promise."
"Thank you Tal, now it's our turn. We're gonna get you out of here and get you help okay?"
Amid some of the blaster fire that was still going on between the warring clones, Martin fired his jet boosters and swept by Lucy and Julian scooping them both up. As he jetted to the front of the Expo hall and dropped them off to safety, Julian gave a thankful nod and quipped to Lucy, "If that counts as an American Airlines flight, then I say it's highly recommended."
"Come on," Lucy interrupted while pulling her aide along by the arm as they scrambled back into the building. Once Erin got Taldyr clear too, the Rangers regrouped to join the battle against the saurian Omega Trooper. Erik's warhead mace blocked a heavy axe blow from the Xeno while Bharata slammed away Drago's blaster cannon with his staff. As Bharata rolled clear, Ella tied the Xeno's legs together with her whip before jetting forward with her own booster rocket and slamming him back with an offensive shield bash.
"Nice move Ella!" Erik cheered as the saurian rolled back to his knees and roared, trying to recover.
"You'll pay for that!" the alien roared as he brought his blaster cannon to bear on the three Rangers. Before he could fire, Martin and Erin jetted in with flying leaps and unloaded their weapons first. Erin's sonic cannon dazed the Xeno and caused him to stagger sideways and lose his aim. As he discharged the weapon into the ground, Martin fired a red spiral volley which disarmed the Xeno and stun him before Jake made a follow up leap and slashed the commander away with his weapon set in blade mode now.
The Rangers regrouped and used the moment's pause to call in their Prism Cannon and take aim. The Red Ranger stepped aside to a support position, "Let's put this guy away. Erin, would you do the honors?"
"Yes sir!" she grinned as she took up the central firing position and locked on the target.
"Fire!"
She pulled the trigger and the highly focused beam of positronic energy punched through the torso of Drago before he collapsed to the pavement and his cybernetic body parts erupted into a fireball. As the flames on the street began to subside, everyone looked up to see the air battle was winding down. UNAF forces had reasserted control over Japanese airspace and several of the carrier ships had turned in retreat. On the ground, the surviving Loyalist clones saw the tide of battle shift against them and many stopped to drop their weapons in surrender to the rebels. As the Nova Rangers took a moment to gawk at the surreal sight of clones surrendering to one another, squads of UNAF soldiers beamed in and began to fan out all over the streets to secure the area.
Several of the Terran soldiers stopped and raised their rifles toward all the clones present. As the human soldiers shouted and caused even more confusion, Erin stepped forward and raised her arms. She put herself in between all the warring groups and shouted loudly herself, "Stop! Enough! Everyone hold your fire!"
As everyone stopped and hesitated for a moment, a UNAF squad sergeant called out while still keeping his rifle raised, "Ma'am, what's going on? What are all these Xenos doing here?"
Erin continued to hold out her hands in gestures of restraint to everyone present, "Hold your fire Sergeant! That's an order!"
She turned to all the other enlisted troopers and shouted, "Trust me on this one! Stand down troopers... all of you!"
Some of the rebel clones still gripped their weapons and remained tense as they stared face to face with the human defense forces, those who would otherwise be their mortal enemies. Erin gestured to the alien troops too, "Wait! Don't shoot! No one's going to get hurt. Please..."
The other Rangers watched as Erin tried to calm the tense standoff by herself before they spread out to support her. They holstered their own weapons and made diplomatic gestures to both sides, urging restraint and brokering a ceasefire. As Erin watched in amazement as both sides slowly let down their guards, she knew she was on to something truly amazing here and knew she had her work cut out for her moving forward.
A/N:
Before anyone asks, no. The Omega Trooper here has no relation to Dolph Lundgren or any other Soviet boxers who may have fought Rocky Balboa either. ;)
