Via Pacifica: Planet Laguna
R.A.S Acropolis, 18:10 hours

Princess Sera gave the go-ahead signal and used her sun globe to launch the five zords from the carrier ship toward the planet. As they sped toward the planet below, Sera called the Odyssey, "The zords are launched... but what about the Rangers? They're still stuck down there."

"Not to worry," Tiah answered from an engineering console of the Alliance cruiser's bridge, "Now that we're in range, I should be able to get a transporter lock on them, route them through the ship, and then beam them aboard their zords mid-flight."

Hawa raised an eyebrow nearby, "I don't know. That sounds a little tricky, Petty Officer. Are you really sure you can do that accurately?"

"Of course I can Commander," Tiah answered before muttering quickly, "Mostly sure anyway."

"What?" Raines balked but Tiah had already cracked her knuckles and activated the ship's transporters.

"All right Rangers. Stand by for beam-out and rerouting."

Using the hollowed out opening from the mountain's missile launcher, Tiah's beam locked on to the first five Odyssey Rangers (save for Keith and Thor) and quickly transported them back before bouncing them down once more in another set of five beams which were locked onto the zords. One by one, the first five Rangers rematerialized into the cockpits of their respective vehicle without missing a single beat. The homing beacon which Ash Dael had left was still active and the zords descended, locked on to that position.

As the zords reached the upper edge of the atmosphere, Geordi called out, "We're beginning reentry. What now?"

"Let's bring it together and hit the ground running," the Red Ranger answered as he engaged his zord's controls. One by one, the zords fused together to form the Odyssey Megazord before hitting the atmosphere and crashing from the sky like a giant fiery comet. Despite its heat shields, the megazord rattled about before it fired its retro rockets and began to cool off in the lower atmosphere. Minutes later, the Odyssey Megazord made its arrival on the planet's surface with a great crash and a cloud of steam. Qua'lia breathed a relieved gasp from her chair, "Wow! That was..."

"Awesome!" Rin cheered echoing everyone else's feelings about landing on a planet from space in a giant mecha. Sage was the first to recover her wits and scan the area.

"We're not too far from the original entry point to the bunker... and I'm picking up a large hostile object headed our way. Ash was right with the data he gave us."

Everyone stopped to look as a giant enemy battle droid lumbered over the treeline and advanced toward the missile facility. The giant automated war machine had a bulky build and several weapon attachments affixed to it. In some ways, the titanic siege machine resembled a giant version of the power armor suits worn by high ranking U'shan commander like Nessus. Geordi took a moment to admire the heavy armor and the hydraulic joints of the machine before looking to its menacing red cyclopean optic sensor. "I guess the Imperials weren't content with trying to replicate our Ranger tech. Now they've got wannabe megazords too."

"If it was anything like their first morpher, then we already know their tech can't match ours," Aaron answered while trying to encourage the rest of the team, "Let's take this thing down before it destroys the missile bunker. If that thing goes off, who knows how much damage that will do to this small planet."

The Odyssey Megazord charged forward and raised its fists as the enemy droid turned its guns and rocket launchers on the Rangers. It opened fire with a a withering volley and despite taking several hits, the Odyssey Megazord closed the distance and hammered it with a vicious punch. The giant U'shan droid reeled while the megazord went on the offensive and pummeled it with several more blows, all the while tearing apart the mountainous forests and meadows below. A cloud of sparks and steel erupted as the droid took another brutal punch to the head before it brought its arms out and grappled the offending megazord. The two giant mechanical titans struggled with each other in a seeming deadlock, now unable to gain a new advantage. Just as the enemy droid brought a shoulder mounted blaster to bear, the megazord kicked its leg up and connected with the boxy torso of the enemy. The droid opened fire blasting the megazord away while simultaneously being knocked backwards on the ground from the kick.

Both combatants struggled to rise and recover their footing first but it suddenly appeared like the Rangers were finding themselves in trouble. The Odyssey Megazord had fallen on its side near the edge of a lagoon and now found that one of its arms was trapped in the watery mud and the sandy clay. The U'shan droid recovered first and lumbered over its helpless foe, glowering down with its murderous red eye. Qua'lia struggled to move the controls of the trapped arm while Rin directed more power toward the limb, "Oh no! We're stuck! What now?"

The battle droid began using one of its feet to stamp down on the trapped megazord. Whether it intended to trample the Rangers into the ground or outright crush them was anyone's guess. The Odyssey Megazord creaked and rumbled as it withstood the punishment, feebly trying to ward off blows with its one remaining free arm. Sage winced again under another damaging enemy stomp, "We're sitting ducks! We need help!"

"You're right. I'm going to try and buy us some time," Aaron answered as he activated the megazord's weapon, the Solar Splitter glaive. Just as the eenmy droid brought its foot down in another crushing blow, the megazord gripped its newly summoned weapon with its free arm and brought the bladed polearm around with a mighty swing. The blade deflected the droid's foot and slashed along the giant's knee causing damage to its hydraulic joint. Another cloud of sparks and shrapnel rained down while the wounded droid toppled back over.

Back above the planet, Captain Raines and Princess Sera were monitoring the battle from their ships and holding their breaths as the battle once again ground to a stalemate. Even as the giant enemy droid struggled to rise with its broken leg, the Odyssey Megazord tried to rise first and pull its arm free using the glaive for leverage. They were beginning to make progress but it was uncertain if they could get free in time. Sera wrung her hands in worry, "We need to help the Rangers. Is it possible for us to bombard that thing from orbit?"

Raines shook his head, "At this range? Not with any accuracy. Unless the megazord got clear, we'd probably blow up the Rangers along with that droid in a torpedo volley."

"Maybe we can't do it... but I have an idea of someone who can," Hawa grinned as an idea suddenly dawned on her, "Captain? With your permission..."

"You know you always have it," Raines said with a grim smile to his First Officer.

Hawa reached for the comms and radioed Thor and Keith who were still in the missile bunker, "Lt. Julut? Petty Officer Clark? I've got a job for you and I need you to work fast!"

As the Rangers continued to struggle with their controls and break the megazord free, they were shocked when they detected a new missile launch from the nearby mountain bunker. Sage stared wide eyed at the computer, "Lt. Russo? I just detected another missile being fired from the bunker!"

"What?" Aaron exclaimed in outrage, "How is that possible? What the hell is going on in there?"

He was cut by the sound of another ally over the radio. It was the voice of Lt. Sterling, "Everything is under control Rangers. Just trust us. All you need to worry about is getting free and backing off."

They could now hear the roar of the engines from the Alliance starfighters as Zephyr Squadron arrived and began to circle the crippled battle droid. As the fighters circled in a holding pattern, they targeted the battle droid and kept a lock on it with their laser sensors. By now, the droid had risen to its feet and moved to threaten the Rangers just as the megazord broke free of the murky lagoon. Rin breathed hard watching the droid ready its weapons again, "So... do we stand and fight?"

"We'll follow orders and back off," Aaron answered as the Rangers steered their megazord to fall back. As they did, they spotted a bright streaking light from the skies and saw that it was one of the special cruise missiles aiming itself right at the droid. The missile grew brighter as it picked up more speed, and it stayed on target with the laser guided sensors of the circling Valkyrie fighters above.

Moments later, the missile impacted and erupted in a great explosion which lit up the skies and rattled the surrounding mountainsides with an earthshaking blast. The spot where a giant battle droid had been standing was now reduced to a large charred crater which was now being immolated with clouds of searing fire and molten slag metal. The Rangers gave a loud cheer as they radioed Keith and Thor in the mountain, "All right! Nice shooting you guys!"

Back aboard the Odyssey, Captain Raines and Commander Jakende exchanged an uncharacteristically jubilant high five on the bridge before Lt. Sterling radioed back with a laugh, "We have a visual confirmation. Target has been destroyed, Odyssey. Good kill!"

With the missile bunker saved and the U'shan fleet driven away, the battered Odyssey Megazord stood proudly with glaive in hand watching as the remains of the droid burned like a giant bonfire and the fighters of Zephyr Squadron did a victorious flyby. As they listened to the Rangers cheer over the comms, Keith turned to Thor and shook his comrade's hand within the bunker control room, "Well... we did it. Nice job Lieutenant."

The big Caltarian gave a small subtle nod of acceptance toward this new Ranger and shook his hand, "You too. For a new Ranger, I have to say you're a pretty good fighter. I can respect that."

"Uh... thanks," Keith answered with uncertainty as he looked around.

"Is something wrong?" Thor asked.

Keith shrugged, "I'm not sure... I almost feel like in the heat of battle like we forgot something."

"You're bloody right you forgot something!" came the annoyed voice of Skyler coming in over the line to all the Rangers, "I'm still here waiting outside for all of you! You should be glad the Scoundrel was parked a safe distance away when you had your little robot beat-em-up! I could have gotten crushed, or nuked from orbit just now!"

As she continued on her angry tirade, Thor simply shrugged and Keith did something that he hadn't done in quite a while. His lips curled into a small smile and he began to laugh... quiet laughter, but laughter nonetheless.

Having wrapped up the invasion of Laguna and the capture of the missile bunker, the Rangers and their friends returned to the Odyssey to celebrate the victory. They were met in the mess hall by other members of the crew who came to congratulate them on the recent action. It was everyone's hope that that the sooner that the Star League defeated the U'shan, the sooner the Alliance sailors could all go back home and get a rest. Amid the handshakes, the jokes, and the snacks being passed around in an impromptu party, Aaron found Sera in the crowd and greeted her with a smile and slight bow of the head, "Your Highness. It's good to see you... and we're glad to have you aboard again."

"The feeling is mutual Lieutenant," she agreed with an equally warm smile, "Nowadays, I have to take this opportunities when I can get them. I wanted to congratulate you and the Rangers. The invasion was successful, the bunker was captured intact, and the enemy fleet was driven off."

"Thanks in part to you," Aaron pointed out, "It's good that you came along and insisted that the Acropolis be on standby to launch the zords. They came in very useful today."

Sera grimaced slightly, "I'm glad I could help... but I imagine my parents are still not happy about my insistence to join you all on the front line."

"I'm sure they'll come up with a fair compromise," he said reassuringly. He reached to take her hand, but was stopped when Keith and some of the other Rangers came over to join them. Keith stepped forward with a slightly hesitant look, "Um... sir? Do you have a few minutes? There's something I'd like to say to you and the others."

While the others had been talking among themselves, Sage had taken some time to step aside and look out one of the large view ports to the sea of stars around them. She was so lost in thought that she jumped when she felt someone gently touch her shoulder. Rin gave her comrade a concerned look as she joined her at the window, "Hey... everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good," Sage said trying to wave it off and give a nonchalant answer. Naturally, the Green Ranger wasn't buying it.

"You're thinking about your brother, aren't you?"

Sage grimaced slightly and turned toward the window, "Sorry. I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but I was just so caught off guard when he showed up during that megazaord battle. When he showed up to help us... to help me."

Rin nodded in understanding and sighed, "I guess it took all of us by surprise. And I'm glad he did step in today."

"I keep thinking how he must feel out there... all alone and raging at both the Empire and the GSA. I keep asking myself what I need to do to get him to just stop. To just come home with us."

Rin put a comforting arm around her friend and gave the Yellow Ranger a little side-hug, "Don't worry Sage. The important thing is, your brother survived Charybdos and that he's still out there. In the mean time, we'll just keep up our campaign against the Empire. But we aren't going to give up hope that he'll come back around to our side either, and neither should you."

Sage gave a grateful smile and nodded quietly, "Yeah... thanks Rin. I hope you're right."

As Rin led Sage back toward the center of the room, they saw the other Rangers had now gathered around Keith as he addressed Aaron. The Chrome Ranger held his morpher in his hand and hefted it as he looked to the leader of the Odyssey Rangers, "Lt. Russo? I... wanted to let you know that I've done some thinking about what you and Captain Raines had offered me before. Though my transfer to the Odyssey was only meant to be a temporary one to stop those space pirates... I admit, I've enjoyed working with your unit."

He looked to Rin and then Thor, before turning back to Aaron with the morpher, "I understand this is an unusual situation right now and what's at stake in this conflict. Captain Regan agreed and doesn't have a problem with a more... permanent arrangement either."

Geordi chuckled, "So... does this mean what I think it does?"

Keith maintained his stoic composure, "I know I'm still kind of new here and that I'd still have some adjusting to do... but I'd be happy to remain in your unit. Seeing what you guys do and how important that job is... well, helping you do that today felt really good, and I'd like to keep feeling that way. So... if you and your team would have me..."

"I've only got one thing to say," Aaron interrupted as he raised his hand to quiet him. To Keith's relief, Aaron then extended his hand while giving the new Ranger a warm smile, "We'd be happy to have you, Petty Officer Clark. Welcome aboard."