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Chapter 69 – The Empire Strikes Back
Free time and privacy were often scarce things, more valuable than even luxury items aboard a base such as the hidden, secret and still massive repurposed mining colony hidden within an asteroid field deep in Empire space that had formed the central hub of the rebellions, insurgency and countless guerilla wars Karone was orchestrating against Lord Zedd and his vast power and command structure from the shadows and for ranking officers within the rebellion such as Silver Astro Ranger Zhane and even more so for Karone herself they were even greater rarities, often little more than fleeting moments to be cherished when they could be taken.
It was for that reason that as activity had slowed down across the base over recent weeks, Karone using the Empires' current preoccupation with removing pirates and other such bandits from its' territory as a chance to consolidate and quietly expand her own factions' sphere of influence rather than launch a fresh wave of raids, assassinations and mass revolts that she and Zhane had taken the opportunity to relax as much as the situation allowed and take advantage of the lull in the hostilities; there was still a monumental amount of work to be done as always of course but it had felt, for at least a few short weeks as though they could breathe again and actually act as the couple that they had been for decades rather than simply as fellow guerillas in yet another war.
And that in turn was why neither Zhane or Karone had been anywhere near the Inner Sanctum when the attack came.
"Damn it, they've found us!" Zhane declared, the unique gun-blade he wielded bursting through the chest of a Putty from behind "They're using our own teleporter against us!" with that obvious truth stated and nothing to be gained from waiting for an answer he continued his counter assault against his attackers. He and Karone had been in their shared living quarters when the sound of alarms and screamed warnings had begun to fill the base, reaching them rapidly as fresh waves of attackers teleported into the various hollowed out asteroids that formed the massive base and the two had immediately morphed before rushing out into the fray; finding themselves beset almost instantly by a small group of warbling automatons led by a pair of heavily armed and seemingly well trained Empire soldiers, currently those soldiers were hidden around the corners of the nearest junction in the corridor and Zhane was steadily ploughing his way through the Putties that had been sent forth to slow the Rangers' advance.
Three remained and the veteran guerilla sprinted forwards without hesitation, weapon vanishing in a shower of shimmering particles as he leapt into the air and vaulted off of the nearest wall and into the midst of the Putties, rearing his fist back and delivering a punishing haymaker to the chest of the first he struck in a display that was obviously borrowed from Andros and which shattered the automaton subjected to it to dust; from there he was a blur of motion as he carried his momentum into a leaping, acrobatic flip of a kick which slipped through the guard of the second Putty and destroyed it entirely whilst the third and final chattering, flailing construct was felled with a flurry of blows as Zhane continued to capitalise on his momentum by first continuing his spin into an uppercut that stunned the thing, followed by a left-handed spinning backhand that chipped fragments from its' cheek and sent it staggering before delivering a turning kick to its' ribs which left the Putty bent double and pushed back into the perfect position to be destroyed by a follow up kick to the circular plate of its' chest.
With their Putties destroyed the soldiers' that had accompanied them evidently realised that they would have to fight the pair of Power Rangers themselves and the low hum of their weapons overcharging announced their intentions a moment before they peeked around the corner.
The first aliens' body fell limp as their head exploded.
Before either Zhane, or the fallen soldiers' remaining ally could realise exactly what had happened Karone strode forwards; the Pink Astro Ranger in full armour and with the barrel of the blaster pistol in her hands till smoking until it vanished from her grip in a flash of light and the remaining Empire warrior realised that they were the next target of her wrath and promptly opened fire. Each beam of sizzling, destructive light missed its' mark by a considerable margin and Karone closed the distance between them in a few short moments
"For the Em-" the alien fell silent as their neck was broken with a resounding snap and Zhane was left in open mouthed shock behind his helmet, forced to see the visceral truth of something that was often only an academic matter in his mind; that Karone and Astronema were much closer to being one and the same than it was widely stated, the two personalities being halves of a whole rather than separate entities.
Therefore when the Empire threatened those under her command, she would destroy them.
"This is Karone! Does anyone read me!" her voice, harsh and ragged as she took several laboured breaths to bring herself back from the brink of an apocalyptic fit of rage snapped Zhane back to his senses and the Silver Ranger watched as Karone's head moved silently, jerking a barely noticeable fraction as she was buffeted by an onslaught of incoming information from likely hundred of sources at once.
"We have comms" Karone informed him tonelessly as she processed the data that her beleaguered and franticly fighting forces were relaying to her "But we've lost teleporter control, our control room has been destroyed entirely; Empire forces have appeared at over two dozen points aren't taking prisoners….the bulk of their forces seem to be focusing on our hangars; The Aegis Rangers and Charlie's strike forces are already preparing counter-attacks"
"Teleporters and the hangar?" Zhane asked, aghast at the information "That's deliberate, they want to cut off all escape routes….but if they're not taking prisoners then-"
"That means that they're here for something rather than someone"
"LS Delta?" the Silver Ranger gasped "How could they-"
"I don't know and it doesn't matter" Karone answered simply "We don't know if those Morphers are their target but we can't afford to take the risk; main priority is now getting those Morphers out of this base, which means clearing an escape route by re-taking the hangars and our teleporters"
"What if the Empire takes our teleporters, they could reverse engineer Billy's work?" Zhane asked, icy waves of dread sinking deep into his gut "Or if they break the encryption on our systems, they could have the locations of all of our cells-"
"Secondary objectives, we'll respond those threats in due time….Zhane, I need you with me here and now, I need to know I have you with me for this" Karone's voice became more gently, if only by the merest of fractions as she placed her hand on the surface of his helmet for a moment before refocusing her attention on the crisis at hand and opening another comms channel and speaking "Billy, gather the LS Delta Morphers and hold the line; Zhane and I are coming to you"
Charlie was quietly thankful that her broken arm had been healed enough by alien medicine and technology to be usable to her once again, so much so as to privately relish the thud and tremors that travelled along the limb and would likely result in bone deep aches if she were lucky to live that long with each thumping report of her weapons.
"They're focusing on the hangars, get ready to clear these bastards out! Remember, high impact rounds on the Putties but be careful around explosions around that much fuel!"
A cheer of choruses, yells and fierce war-cries erupted from behind her and a moment later the corridors and walkways of the asteroid base were filled with the sound of dozens upon dozens of heavy booted footfalls thudding against their metallic surfaces in a cacophony of noise that rose in volume and intensity in time with the steadily building sense of urgency and adrenaline that sang through Charlie's blood as she led the charge through the base, the way illuminated by the bloody red glow of emergency lighting until finally she reached the main hangar of the base where the enemy had begun to congregate.
It was a war zone.
The hangar was currently half-filled, the majority of the vessels taking up the vast and open space being smaller, persona ships or landing craft; whilst many of them were larger than the average home by far none could be said to be truly massive, yet to see so many of them on fire and all but destroyed with wreckage strewn around them or currently being assaulted by the attacking forces, Putties attempting to swarm ramps and landing gear even as they were retracted was a harrowing image that Charlie would not soon forget. It was not an entirely one-sided affair however and as she and her forces stormed out onto a gangway running around the perimeter of the hangar, several stories in the air she could see many rebels and hardened guerillas fighting tooth and nail with anything at their disposal, be it military grade weapons of the Empires' own making or in the case of those pilots or Captains' of ships that had already made it aboard their vessels simply turning their ships' guns towards the attackers and ripping through heavy armour and hastily set up weapons emplacements with ease rather than simply escaping. In one particularly notable ongoing skirmish Charlie saw a dockworker clad in a mechanical exoskeleton intended for loading heavy goods fighting an armoured warrior though before she could pay the sight any real notice the sound of her strike team opening fire forced her attention closer to home; several Empire warriors had begun using grappling hooks to make their way onto the gangways and out into the upper levels of this section of the base without risking being caught in bottlenecks if they used stairs or ladders.
Something Charlie could not allow to happen.
"LIGHT THESE BASTARDS UP!" she roared as she rushed towards the nearest metallic hook that had torn into the gangway ahead of her and kicking the implement hard enough to send a tremor along the line attached to it and leave the fighter climbing it struggling and clinging on for dear life; from their the hardened veteran displayed her ruthless efficiency as leaned over the railing and aimed a pair of heavy duty pistols, alien in origin into the swarming enemy forces and opened fire; unleashing a barrage of searing bolts of orange light that scorched stone, left metal glowing in its' wake and tore flesh to bloody pulp. Eventually her pistols ran empty and from there Charlie simply slung the weapons aside and unslung a weapon more analogous to a shotgun from over her back and silently thanked her good fortune for the fact she had at least been able to properly equip herself for this battle before it began and then she promptly did something that she would likely regret later.
She leapt over the balcony and into the battle on the ground.
"WITH ME!" she bellowed as she twirled her weapon and used the blunt butt as a heavy cudgel on the skull of an alien fighter as she fell upon them, weight amplified by the momentum of leaping several stories left the alien on the ground and blood pooling on the metal floor around them as it spilled from a skull that had been smashed open.
Her furious assault had drawn the attention of others however ad Charlie quickly realised that she was being charged by several packs of warbling and chattering Putties with the usual odd gait and groups of Empire soldiers of a dozen or more species either aiming their assorted blasters as they rushed towards her or, in the case of those from worlds with which prided themselves on honourable combat drawing melee weapons.
And then those attackers simply vanished.
Charlie was left deafened and momentarily blinded; her world reduced to blurry nothingness with specks of light flickering in out of view whilst her ears rang and those who had sought to attack her were reduced to heaps of sundered rubble or in the case of the living attackers a fine bloody mist and chunks of unrecognisable meat as another of the ships in the hangar brought its' weapons to bare and rotating macro-cannons intended to be used on other vessels tore through the rabble. As her senses returned to her Charlie saw that the tide was beginning to turn and as her strike team, a hand-picked selection of guerilla fighters from KO Thirty Five, those liberated from the Prison World Dread and others with proven skills began to use the attackers own grapnels to descend and rushed to her side, weapons blazing and with that the former Lightspeed Specialist and black-ops agent hefted her now bloodied alien shotgun and opened fire, relishing the familiar kick of a weapon as she blasted a mass of Putties that were about to overwhelm beleaguered dockworkers to smithereens with a fusillade of destruction.
Then the tide turned again.
Charlie let out a pained yell and felt searing heat wash over the right side of her face and arm yet that was nothing to the anguish and bone-chilling horror of seeing the soldier at her right hand, one of her hand-picked unit be consumed in a ball of flames and hearing their final screams give way to silence as their charred body collapsed to the floor with an unceremonious thud; in response Charlie simply turned her weapon in the direction that the attack had come and opened fire, emptying the weapon with a savage and wordless scream whilst around her several of her fellow defenders followed suit; yet as a single towering figure strode through the smoke, flames and fog of war it was clear that their sustained barrage was doing nothing at all.
Charlie realised quickly and with a sinking sense of terror that this was the armoured warrior that had been engaged in single combat with the loading mech, more importantly however as she saw the familiar face, surrounded by golden armour and black-feathered wings unfurling behind this new attacker she realised that despite an altered appearance that some deep, primal fear in her gut was correct and that this was somehow one of the first aliens to ever assault Earth and a being human children were still told about, the horror of the destruction he unleashed discussed in hushed and haunted whispers.
"I AM GOLDAR! RIGHT HAND OF LORD ZEDD!" the revived monster bellowed, hateful eyes sweeping the challengers gathered before him "AND YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE, FACE ME IF YOU DARE!"
"Didn't think I'd be doing this part of the job again" Justin Stewart, scientist and former Blue Turbo Ranger noted dryly, panting for breath as he sprinted, the pair of pistols currently filling his hands a far cry from the mighty and instantly recognisable that the Turbo Hand-Blasters had been yet as first a Putty and then a feathered and taloned Empire warrior were laid low it was clear that they would suffice for now.
"Yeah well Rangers never get to fully retire, there's contractual team-ups" Mercy noted, voice strained by the effort of another leaping hurricane kick to the skull of another Empire soldier; their weapon clattering to the floor as they collapsed unmoving and unconscious.
"Now is not the time for jokes" Aslaug growled sternly, her usual willingness to follow Mercy's lead and example lessened somewhat by the sheer unrelenting horror of the situation they had found themselves in whilst behind them all Rensa scurried across walls and ceilings, daggers at the ready as he provided a rearguard by pouncing upon any Putties or enemy fighters who attempted flank or surround his friends.
Prior to the surprise attack commencing Mercy, Aslaug and Rensa had been making their way towards the living quarters of the former Ranger who was the closest thing Mercy had to a parent, though their relationship would forever be a complicated one; intending nothing more concerning and strenuous than simply spending some time together after the Red, Yellow and Black Aegis Rangers had showered and washed the various paintball splatters from their aching bodies yet their plans had been cast aside as the first enemies began to materialise within the base and the first alarms began to blare. The three Rangers had quickly morphed and rushed towards Justin, contacting Karone as they did so and learning that the bases' teleportation system had been compromised and there were likely several key objectives that would need to be defended or retaken; Mercy had also learned that those Aegis Rangers not present had also morphed and joined the fray, aiding those who called the base home as they fought against the Empires' forces until finally the three of them had reached Justin; the former Ranger having already formed an actionable plan that would give the defenders a secure location to fall back towards, deny the Empire a valuable asset and in theory allow the scientist to wrest back control of the teleporters.
They were heading towards the Zord Hangars.
"We're almost there!" Justin called out, pistols firing with each words as the entrance to their goal came into view and ripping into the small horde of enemies that had gathered outside and were trying to gain access to the Zords; it was clear that some maintenance staff must have already been present as the area had been locked down, leaving a group of over a dozen Putties beating against the reinforced doors, joined by a small group of armed and armoured soldiers who in turn seemed to be led by a robed and lumbering beast of a warrior, clad in blood red robes and wielding an enormous hammer.
"We've gotta clear 'em out!" Mercy yelled
"The big one is mine!" Aslaug roared, charging ahead and manifesting her axe in a flash of golden yellow light though Mercy was forced to focus on her own battle as the enemy saw them and charged, the narrow and emergency-lit corridor suddenly becoming a display of utter havoc and pandemonium as pitched battles erupted and charging Putties and aliens were gunned down by Justin before they could reach the Rangers.
A trio of Putties were the first threat to reach Mercy and they were dealt with accordingly, the first falling as the Red Ranger dropped low and bowled it over with a sliding tackle that was a mixture of something an athlete might attempt and something she had learned from Panthera and as it struck the ground she quickly seized it by the shoulders and slammed its' chest into the floor with enough force to shatter the things body. Before she could right herself the remaining pair of Putties were on her, warbling and chattering senselessly as they kicked and thrashed at her armour; in response Mercy flung herself into a handstand and reached out to grasp one of her assailants by the ankle, pulling the Putty off balance and striking its' skull with an acrobatic knee-strike whilst still inverted and from there she flipped back onto her feet, throwing the Putty away from her and into a wall where it promptly shattered leaving her with only one opponent to deal with.
Or so she thought.
The stone body of the remaining automaton was reduced to glowing slag in several places and bolts of plasma heated it from behind and Mercy was stunned, though she realised a moment that she truthfully should not be to realise that one of the Empires' soldiers, a spindly purple skinned and many legged thing was simply shooting through the Putty in an attempt to hit her; to counter this the Red Ranger simply kicked the Putty in its' side, repositioning it just enough for the next plasma blast to melt the central Z plate of its' torso and then, acting on pure instinct alone she took a chunk of falling debris from its' body and hurled it into the face of the gunner; leaving them sprawled on the ground as the Mercy charged forwards towards her objective.
Whilst Mercy and Aslaug had gone on the offensive Rensa had hung back and provided cover to Justin as the sole member of their group who was not a Power Ranger gave what little fire support he could; this protection currently involved the Black Ranger facing off against two Putties and a serpentine alien with four arms and iridescent scales armed with a series of bladed weapons. Unlike the Red Ranger Rensa showed no more compassion to a living opponent than an automaton and as the alien lunged at him again he leapt over their attack and somersaulted, both feet connecting with their skull with a crunch before his daggers were embedded in their spine. The moment he landed he was in motion again, pouncing at a Putty and attacking from beneath; lifting the flailing thing from the ground by the waist and slamming it bodily on to floor before falling upon it with a terrifying barrage of blows even as the sole remaining Putty rushed at him.
Two shots into that putties skull courtesy of Justin both ended it and snapped Rensa out of his berserk rage, allowing him to focus on the matter at hand.
Aslaug was simply unstoppable; the route she had taken was clearly marked by the bloodied and broken bodies that littered her path until finally only one adversary remained, the only worthy opponent to be found in this rabble that had attacked them by surprise like cowards of the worst sort. Her opponent was the towering, vaguely humanoid mass of grey tinged muscle-bound flesh littered with pebbles of stone coloured scale that could best be described as some sort of troll; its' face was hidden from view by the blood coloured robes wrapped out it and draped over their shoulders yet that did little to muffle to deafening bellow it let out as it charged at the Yellow Ranger, two handed war-hammer larger than Aslaug herself held at the ready.
Yet Aslaug was a Power Ranger and this beast was not.
A single well placed kick to the shaft of the weapon brought her opponent to a halt, wheezing gasps for air escaping them as they collided with the shaft of their own hammer; barely managing to take a step back and reorient themselves before Aslaug's axe fell and split their weapon in half; seeing their hammer broken the beat threw the halves aside and attempted to simply grab Aslaug, as though the Yellow Ranger and Princess of the Frost Claw Tribe of Mirinoi were some simple cowering victim for them to ravage. The beast paid dearly for their underestimations as Aslaug first swung the base of her axes' shaft into their skull, sending the monster staggering and spinning as its' robes were soaked from blood that spilled from a shattered eye socket and then raked its' blade across the back of their legs, leaving them sinking to the ground as blood spilled from the now ruined limbs before finally hoisting her axe overhead and letting out a primal battle cry as she brought it down on the back of her enemies' neck to end the battle with a single decisive blow.
"Okay he's down….are you okay?" Mercy's voice wavered slightly and brought Aslaug back from the brink of the red haze that had been beginning to set in and cloud her mind
"I-I am" she breathed out, vanishing her axe as she saw that there were attackers left standing and placing a hand gently on Mercy's shoulder "What now?"
"Justin's gonna get whoever locked the hangars to let us in" Mercy gestured to the former Turbo Ranger and who was making his way towards the sealed, barricaded and reinforced entrance "Then we're gonna take back control of the base and win this fight"
"That's the spirit" Justin called back to them as the doors began to open "Now get in here so we can get this door locked again"
Billy Cranston was not a Power Ranger and had not been for decades as his body was simply no longer capable of channelling the power of the Morphing Grid, indeed his time as Ranger or any kind of fighter was now vastly overshadowed and outnumbered by the years he had spent honing his mind rather than his muscles and now that he was decidedly middle aged his body simply did not move with the swiftness and agility it had once had; yet despite all of that certain lessons could not be forgotten and the countless hours of training alongside first Jason, then Tommy and his other fellow Power Rangers; both on Earth and on Aquitar were something that Billy's unconscious mind would never truly forget.
As was proven by the unconscious bodies surrounding him.
The Empires' forces had come for him, or most likely had simply been raiding and slaughtering everything in their path with no real inkling or even regard for what they might find if they were to truly examine the laboratories and workshops of the secret bases' limited but still impressive research and development facilities only to find a challenger ready to and waiting to bring them to a halt. This particular pack of assailants had, somewhat surprisingly been formed exclusively of Tengu Warriors; though this particular flock of avian horrors with midnight black feathers and cruel beaks and talons already stained with blood seemed to have been raised away from the planet Tenga itself it the light body armour they wore and weapons they carried were any indication.
It was not enough to save them however, as was proven however as Billy broke its' leg.
The former Blue Ranger leapt and slid over the surface of his workbench, grabbing the armoured metal case holding the Lightspeed Delta Morphers as he did so and as he landed he delivered a vicious kick to the knee of a Tengu that had been reaching over the desk to claw at him, hollow and fragile bone splintering with a horrific sound that was lost beneath an agonised shriek which was muted in turn as Billy swung the heavy case in his grasp with all of his considerable strength into the back of the aliens' skull, smashing the beak into the surface of his desk.
Leaving four Tengu warriors remaining, one of the armed with a curved and serrated two-handed glaive that would certainly cut him in half with a single swing.
Naturally and entirely predictably the glaive wielding Tengu, who was likely the leader of this flock of attackers chose this moment to lead by example and charged at Billy, whose mind performed a series of calculations and played out multiple scenarios in the briefest fraction of a second as he considered the various ways to use the extremely limited space at his disposal to his advantage. He settled on retreating, or at least seeming to do so as he sprinted away from the attacker that rushed towards him; feigning blind panic until her reached a wall at which point he swiftly and expertly leapt and used its' surface as a springboard before landing on the massive glaive as it was swung at him; from this position the Power Ranger turned scientist let out a yell of exertion as he performed a perfect back-flip that saw his foot connect with the underside of his enemies' beak before landing in a crouch and launching a spinning leg sweep to the Tenga, forcing them to the floor and wrestling control of their blade from them, forcing the weapon backwards and into their neck until alien blood ran through his fingers and his enemy stilled.
Forcing himself onwards and refusing to allow himself to contemplate what he had just done Billy surged to his feet once again, holding the armoured case containing the new Morphers directly out in front of himself as a rudimentary shield to block a slash from one of the remaining pair of birdlike aliens; following up with a backhanded swipe at their beak and the most powerful knee to the gut he could muster and when they fell they did not attempt to rise.
Then his world erupted into pain.
The final attacker had leapt onto his desk and lunged at him from the side, a blur of motion and darkness providing far too little warning before the Tengu warrior lunged and their talons ripped first into Billy's left shoulder and then into the flesh of his left cheek; hot blood spilling over his face as ragged gashes were torn into his face dangerously close to his eye yet despite the pained scream that escaped him the former Ranger fought back, thrashing and kicking out before smashing them full in the face with the blunt and heavy object still in his grasp and forced them back a few paces.
It was enough and a second later the Tengu died, pink and silver burst of light causing the aliens' body to jerk and spasm as they tore through it before it collapsed, a final crooning squawk escaping it.
"BILLY!" Yelled as he crossed the room in a single bound, Karone close behind and with her weapon trained on the door "Are you okay?"
"I….I think it's just a flesh wound" Billy admitted as he gingerly pressed a hand to his bloodied face, pulling it away to reveal his own blood coating his palm and mingling with that of the Tengu whose throat he had cut.
"If you have medical supplies here then bring them with you" Karone instructed, everything about her tone and rigid, coiled stance making it painfully clear that she was trying to remain detached and focused on the larger picture "We can patch you and any other wounded up at the Zord Hanger"
"The Zords?" Billy asked, pain and fading adrenaline slowing his thought process
"Justin thinks he can re-take control of our teleporters….From there it's a full scale evacuation; Lord Zedd knows about this base now, we have to leave and get those Morphers to the Alliance"
"Billy, Goldar is back" Zhane added, voice wavering as although he had never faced the monstrous warrior himself he was more than aware of what Goldar had been capable of "We don't know how but he is, he's the one leading the charge" Billy's blood turned to ice in his veins and his stomach lurched at the idea of the former right hand of Rita Repulsa and then Lord Zedd; a warrior who had been able to match the Power Rangers in terms of raw strength whilst unarmed and alone having returned to life and without thinking the former Blue Ranger did the only thing that made sense.
He thrust the Morphers into Zhane's hands and activated his communicator
"Cestria!" he called desperately for his wife "Cestria where are you?"
"Making my way out of medical, we're regrouping at the Zord Hangar, it's better defended" her voice answered him and beneath it Billy could hear the sounds of combat close by, yet despite her obvious tension she seemed unharmed
"What's going on?" Billy demanded "I can hear fighting"
"My walking wounded are helping me move those who can't walk; the enemy are everywhere Billy….they're demons, they have no mercy" her voice wavered for a moment before she added "But out son is with us. Tempestus and Marigold are keeping the Empire forces at bay" hearing that was enough for Billy's knees to almost buckle beneath him in sheer, joyous relief and he felt tears forming in his eyes as he spoke again
"I'm with Zhane and Karone now. I'll meet you in the Zord Hangar….My the Power protect you, I love you"
Whilst Cestria was assuring her husband that she and the various patients who had been in the bases' medical facilities when the onslaught had begun were safe Tempestus and Marigold, who had been close at hand at the time were Morphed and fighting desperately to make those promises a reality.
A barrage of incoming laser fire was deflected a blur of impossibly fast motion as the Blue Aegis Ranger rushed forth and manifested his staff, making a mockery of physics as he twirled the weapon and gracefully parried and redirected yet another volley of shots that had been intended for the sick and wounded; suitably enraged by such a display of cruelty Tempestus made no effort to display his usual collected calmness and simply continued his charge.
"Open fire!" Marigold's voice called out from behind him and the Gold Aegis Ranger who had suddenly become the de-facto leader of the walking wounded aimed her Buster Pistols whilst those soldiers who were not pushing trolleys filled with those unable to fight and who had been lucky enough to scavenge or already be carrying weapons followed suit. As Tempestus surged towards the enemy Putties and Empire soldiers were cut down by searing bolts of energy until only a lone flailing automaton stood between him and the many limbed and shovel faced amphibian alien that had been commanding the now defeated forces; both of them were smashed aside with a single spinning attack as the Blue Ranger's staff smashed through the body of a Putty and shattered entirely before he carried his momentum forwards and brought the opposite end of his weapon into the squad leaders' face.
"We're clear!" Marigold called out to the assortment of soldiers and civilians they were leading before jogging to Tempestus's side, pistols at the ready and whispering "Are you okay?"
"I'm….I hate this, I hate everything about this" he admitted
"Me too" Mari admitted "But we can't focus on that now, we've gotta get these people to safety"
"I know" Tempestus answered, bracing himself and letting out a tense sigh before gesturing ahead of them "Which means we have to go through whatever is beyond that airlock"
"Damn it" Mari hissed, she had been privately hoping that there was another way around but it seemed that they would have to use the vast tunnel like connection that served as a road between two of them many asteroids that made up the base; a perilous proposition considering that they had no way of knowing what they would find beyond the airlock, whether its' structural integrity or atmosphere and air pressure had been maintained or even if there was an Empire warship lurking in void to fire missiles at any escape routes that the defenders attempted to traverse.
Yet there was no choice but t try.
"Mother" Tempestus called back to Cestria, bowing his head respectfully as he departed from tradition and gave orders to his superior "Wait here, don't come after us until we give you the all clear….If we do not return then you must find another way" with that said and nothing more to do but face the unknown Tempestus opened the airlock and Marigold unleashed a quick salvo of shots before the two of them stepped into the tunnel that served as a road, Tempestus quickly restoring the lock-down protocols that sealed the entrance behind them.
Effectively trapping them with whatever enemy they faced.
The tunnel was very much like those that had been used in the construction of the Lightspeed Aquabase on Earth, wide enough for lanes of traffic and largely cylindrical with a translucent surface that allowed those within to see the stars beyond, though now with the road illuminated by blood coloured emergency lighting and littered with abandoned vehicles whose chassis were now torn open in the wake of Mari's gunfire and other such detritus the view seemed more sinister, a haunting reminder of how far from help they truly were.
"Damn….If I'd have hit the fuel tanks" Mari trailed off, realising with abject horror that she could have inadvertently caused an explosion which would have denied them their route to safety in her panicked haste; Tempestus gave no answer, simply holding up a hand to silence her
"I hear something" a moment later the Gold Ranger heard it as well and the two Rangers leapt aside as a small open topped vehicle was lifted from the ground and hurled at them, smashing into the heavily protected surface of the airlock itself as it was thrown by whatever monster had been cunning enough to lay in wait, intending to ambush any defenders that came this way.
The creature was truly gruesome, a hairless and emaciated thing with blue-grey flesh stretched over protruding ribs and long, many jointed limbs. The monster would have stood at eight feet tall were it capable of rearing up to its' full height and boasted a pair of birdlike legs and four arms, each far longer than was proportionate and ending in a three fingered hand tipped with long, dirty claws. The things' skull was attached to a long and far too flexible neck and appeared to be simply a sloped forward mass of flesh, entirely without features or sensory organs and existing solely to house the beasts' distended and fang-filled maw; yet even without eyes or ears it honed in on the Rangers with ease and let out a piercing wail before bounding towards them.
"Well, as Mercy would say" Marigold changed her stance and allowed her pistols to vanish into thing air "Back to action!"
And with that the Blue and Gold Aegis Rangers collided with the beast.
The monster surged and hurtled on all six limbs like some grotesque fleshy comet as it leapt over vehicles and charged at the pair of Rangers before finally leaping into the air, to which Tempestus responded by leaping onto the roof of a vehicle and throwing himself at the monster whilst striking out with his staff and using the weapon to keep as many of its' arms at bay as he could.
Exactly as Marigold had hoped.
With raw instinct and the power of the Morphing Grid itself guiding her the Gold Ranger leapt after Tempestus and before he or the monster could fall to the ground she activated her rarely used ability to subtly manipulate the flow of time and instead of using it to ensure that her shots found their mark as she had until now she instead used Tempestus himself as springboard, leaping onto his back before unleashing a furious spinning kick, certainly something learned from Mercy into the monsters' face
"Think fast!" she warned as time began to flow normally again, the monster sailed back through the air and as Mari and Tempestus fell she seized the Blue Ranger and simply hurled him forwards with all of her might, allowing him to bring his staff to bare several more times as he unleashed a volley of devastating attacks whilst leaping from one vehicle to the next; smashing their foe back even further with each crushing impact.
Yet the beast refused to be beaten without incident.
Its' clawed limbs sank into the ground and tore shallow trenches in its' wake as it brought itself to a halt and firmly planted itself in the road; Tempestus leapt again and without warning the thing sprung upwards, batting his staff aside and driving its' shoulder into his chest with enough force to drive the Blue Ranger back first into the ceiling before letting out another of its' piercing wails and grasping him firmly by the ankle then launching him back from whence he had come. Seeing this Marigold prepared to join the fray in earnest but came to a halt as something caught her attention, instead she pulled Tempestus to his feet and gestured to the monsters' emaciated chest
"What the hell is that?" she demanded as a fiery orange glow began to build within their foes' torso, illuminating its' ribs and twin hearts from within and filling the two Rangers who saw it with a sense of inescapable dread
"Oh that is not groovy" Tempestus mouthed out as the realisation hit him "That is a bomb" the beast, for neither Ranger was certain if it was truly a sapient or self aware thing shrieked and charged once again, the light within it continuing to build towards a destructive crescendo that would almost certainly destroy the tunnel that connected two of the asteroids that formed the base and the street they fought on within it; sucking them out into the void of space.
Then something unexpected happened.
Ephemeral tentacles, impossibly vast and resembling those of some incomprehensibly large creature from the deepest ocean trenches of Aquitar, their forms rippling like water and made of coalesced and solidified light reached through the air-locked tunnel and coiled around the beast as it pounced; crushing it and holding it firm until its' body finally detonated only for the concussive blast and all of its' fire to be consumed and diffused by the constructs which then shattered, the power used to create them finally spent
"Mother?" Tempestus whipped around, mouth hanging agape beneath his helmet as he saw Cestria standing in the now open airlock; arms extended and shoulders trembling with each ragged and laboured breath.
"I am not losing my only son, not today" she declared fiercely and whilst the Blue Aegis Ranger had known that his mother was more than capable of performing magic he had never seen this aspect of her before, an avatar of destructive force. Beside him Marigold simply let out a low whistle before making the only comment that made sense, even it seemed far too small to capture the occasion.
"Your Mum is a bad-ass"
They had been utterly slaughtered.
The hangar that Charlie and her hand-picked team of fighters had stormed with the goal of retaking was in utter ruin; the ships that had filled it either dead or gone as those who could escape abandoned the fight and her team had been butchered almost to a man. Goldar was unstoppable, that thought repeated itself in her mind with steadily increasing urgency until it blotted out and eclipsed all rational thought as she took cover, or if she were more honest with herself cowered in base terror behind a small pile of debris that had once been part of the scaffolding holding up the levels of walkways and gantries lining and criss-crossing the hanger to allow access to upper levels and the tops of various spaceships' hulls. Her arm and the right side of her face were burned and would almost certainly require yet more medical treatment whilst every movement sent fresh waves of stinging pain through her rattled nerves and her fatigues were torn at the chest, just below her collarbone where the tip of an ornate sword larger than Charlie herself had been swung in her direction only for the former specialist to be spared a bloody end, at least for a few more moments by one of her comrades tackling herself and offering themselves up to Goldar's relentless fury in her stead.
They had fought with everything that they had yet it seemed that nothing could even slow the golden armoured titans' rampage; any attempt at engaging Goldar in close quarters combat was simply an act of grisly suicide, standard weapons and even the heavy weapons emplacements set up by the now defeated Empire soldiers pattered harmlessly off of the living metal hide of his newly reincarnated body. A desperate attempt to slow his advance by the crew of the hangar had seen them attempting to use an overhead crane against him only for him to simply tear the mechanism and everything around it apart with laughable ease before responding with terrifying violence.
The crew of one of the small vessels currently docked had opened fire with their ships' entire weapons battery, causing the firestorm and devastation that even now the bases' atmospheric controls struggled to contain yet even this had done little more than stagger Goldar and force him to shield himself with his vast wings before taking to the air and ripping through the small craft like a missile; it was at this point that those ships which had not yet been destroyed entirely attempted to simply flee and whilst more than one was successful many more found their plans crashing down around them as their opponent hurled debris through cockpits, damaging the ships to such an extent that space travel was impossible or simply catching the crews before they could board and impaling and dismembering them in turn.
Charlie would be ashamed of the whimper that escaped her as the sound of a primal roar of victory once again filled the air if she were not so utterly overcome by the sheer terror of her situation.
"YES! COME! COME AND DIE WITH HONOUR!" hearing this Charlie forced herself, legs trembling and bile rising in her throat to glance around the pile of twisted metal wreckage she was hiding behind to see if she could at least find where Goldar was; she quickly found the titan some distance away, emergency lighting glaring against living metal that was now soaked in the blood of his enemies as a trio of warriors that Charlie recognised as members of her squad charged at him; two warriors from Dread and a veteran of KO Thirty Five, his sword cleaved through the first challenger completely before being thrust through the chest of the second and with his free hand Goldar simply reached out and crushed the skull of his final opponent in his palm as if it were a grape before letting out another roar.
Something in Charlie broke.
"No" she hissed "Not again, never again" at that moment Charlie Morales, former Lightspeed and Silver Guardian Specialist, head of Strike Squad Alpha and trusted heir apparent to Commander Cruger made a decision; Goldar may be a monster of myth and legend, a beast that the first Power Rangers humanity had known of struggled against but Charlie had lost too much and had already allowed her fear and belief that there was no hope left to break her once before.
She would not fail those under her command again and so she ran.
She was a blur of motion, adrenaline and years of physical training pushing her to the levels of a world class athlete as she sprinted, yet she made no effort to escape the hangar, nor was this a futile and symbolic last charge against Goldar where she would be butchered in a heartbeat; instead Charlie ran for the very edge of the hangar. Ships had left already and that meant that there was an opening into the void of space, the only reason that neither she nor anyone else present had been dragged out by the icy vacuum or punished by any of the other effects of being cast into space was a barrier that allowed the ships to pass through whilst keeping the atmosphere contained, a semi tangible forcefield like bubble that functioned very much like the barriers in place around the city states of Aquitar.
Charlie was going to turn it off.
It would be a sacrifice to be certain, yet at least this way it was a death that might mean something; as terrifying as Goldar was she doubted he could survive being pulled out into the void; Rita Repulsa's old castle had been repurposed as the Lightspeed Moonbase and Charlie knew from experience that it was magically protected from such things after all. With that single goal in mind and all fears and doubts silenced by a merciless grip she continued onwards until finally the bubble-like barrier came into view.
And then her world exploded into flames.
She was hurled more than a dozen feet into the air and sent crashing first into the hull of a heavily damaged scout ship and then to the ground; her vision swam, her previous burns were nothing compared to pain coursing through her now and as she struggled to breathe she spat out several mouthfuls of blood which contained more than one broken tooth; yet all of that was nothing compared to dread that consumed her entire being as a winged shadow fell over her.
"And now you die!" the declaration was uttered with utter certainty and Charlie rolled onto her back, every muscle screaming in protest and resigned herself to her fate as Goldar dove down, sword at the ready and she wished that she had at least brought a grenade; it wouldn't make a difference but she supposed it was better to die knowing she'd fought until the very end.
Then a beam of coruscating emerald green light tore Goldar out of the air and fresh footsteps filled the hanger, metallic impacts echoing above the sound of crackling flames and incessant alarms.
"Charlie! Can you stand?" without waiting for an answer her rescuer her puller her to her feet and Charlie finally managed to process events enough to realise that the Pink and Green Aegis Rangers had stormed to Hangar; the bodies and debris of the enemies they fought along the way marking their entrance and at that point her knees almost buckled with sheer relief
Yet it wasn't over
"GREEN RANGER!" Goldar's roar was not one of victory this time, instead the air itself seemed to tremble in terror as the sound was inflicted upon it; promising nothing but sheer unbridled bloodlust and slaughter. The golden titan swooped back into view and landed with a reverberating impact, eyes hateful and half-crazed as he brandished his sword; Panthera placed herself steadfastly in front of Charlie who was clearly in no condition to continue the battle yet Goldar seemed to not even see them, the entirety of his focus devoted to Kay who had manifested their gladius.
"You are not the Green Ranger I wanted to kill" Goldar declared, taking a single stride forwards and beginning to circle Kay who responded in Kind "You are not Tommy Oliver….But you will do"
And with that the battle truly began.
Author's Notes:
Okay first off, let's get this out the way shall we….Chapter 69, 'Nice'
Now; halfway through this arc I think it's safe to say that thing have gone sufficiently to shit.
I promised you that things were gonna get crazy and I plan to deliver.
But also, if you took note of who was where in all the carnage you'll realise that there's someone who isn't currently accounted for.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Oh you thought we were gonna start slow and ease into this? Nah fam, the Empire is already here.
Nobody has been in or near the inner Sanctum at any point this chapter, note that down.
I don't watch Cobra Kai but Youtube recommended a few of the fight scenes to me and that might have bled through into some of the fights in this chapter….Also I might actually get around to watching it properly.
She would "Destroy them"….Karone did not come to play, straight kill-shots.
Teleporter control room destroyed, well we did see them teleport in at the end of the last chapter.
Seriously there is a lot of valuable stuff to be taken, the Empire don't even know about the new Morphers but there's just the victory of destroying the base, any information on individual cells and factions they can steal, the chance to destroy the Zords and kill the Aegis Rangers and a chance to take Billy and Justin's teleporter which is already hooked up to the Empires' network….this is a fight that the Rangers have to win by any means.
Charlie is back in the game, fun times.
The fight in the hangar in just pure sci-fi brilliance in my head, like star wars at its' best and with absolutely no filter.
Also, yes Goldar was fighting someone in a mech-loader….Insert the line from Aliens here.
Yeah, she jumped from a few stories up and swung the butt of a shotgun down on someone's head like a hammer; Charlie is brutal.
I really wanted to try and convey a sense of havoc and complete disorganisation with things like the spaceship opening fire and nearly hitting Charlie; like the Battle of the Bastards in Game of Thrones or something from Vikings but Sci-Fi.
Depending on just how old Charlie is, she might have been a baby when Rita Repulsa's forces first attacked Angel Grove; either way she definitely grew up hearing about giant monsters destroying cities and about how Goldar was one of the worst and kept coming back….And now he's here in front of her.
Of course Justin and Mercy are trying to joke their way through it, as he said way back at the start of the story; it's good for morale.
"Yeah well Rangers never get to fully retire, there's contractual team-ups" fuck the fourth wall.
Zord Hangars, the most defensible position in the base and where the teleporter was initially implemented, they can turn it off from there if needs be.
Big robed monster with a hammer, because every large scale attack like this needs its' juggernaut/cave troll type beast….What's funny is that there were a few villains who could have been monster of the arc back at the start of this story and now they're getting offed in a single scene.
I honestly love writing the Rangers borrowing each others' signature moves; it's fun.
Rensa was typically brutal and I feel like it was warranted today.
"Yet Aslaug was a Power Ranger and this beast was not" That really was all that needed to be said.
Yeah Billy's still got it, I was honestly really tempted to add his line from the '95 movie about never appreciating Morphing until it's gone but it felt out of place.
Tengu Warriors are back, although these ones are a little smarter than the flock of maniacs Corax had kidnapping mages on Triforia.
Hollow bones are really not good in a fight.
Oh sorry did you think this was gonna be a fight without stakes or consequences? Nope, Billy just got his face slashed.
I maintain my stance of Dues ex Machina saves….it doesn't count as a cop out when you set it up a few scenes before, then it's just pay off.
Goldar's the one leading the charge….but is he the one in overall command?
I'm something that can redirect a laser can and should be described as a mockery of physics.
Of course we had to have a corridor fight inside one of the tubes between the asteroids….Tempestus had one against B'Vor back on Earth, but this isn't the Aquabase and he can't just flood it and hope to survive.
Mari learning a lesson that was shown early in Lightspeed Rescue, don't shoot at fuel tanks.
We had the big brute monster, now have the spindly berserker; you know those two archetypes come as a pair.
The Blue and Gold combos are always fun and Mari using her time-bending trick is fun; the best way to combine them is to have Mari literally yeet Tempestus at an enemy.
The Dark Empire has proven time and time again that it does not care about the individual cogs of its' war machine and this monster in particular is barely self aware; of course it's got a bomb in its' chest.
Now that was Dues ex Machina….but at the same time I have said plenty of times that Cestria is more than capable of doing magic, she just usually focuses on healing.
This scene was originally gonna be very different, it was actually gonna be from Kay and Panthera's perspective but this just felt like it worked better.
Just think about how bad it has to be for Charlie to be cowering in fear, she has literally been trained since childhood to handle the worst the galaxy can throw at her; she was the head of Cruger's personal strike force.
Yeah Goldar basically gave everyone and everything the business, people, turrets, industrial equipment and even small spaceships got handled….Because Rensa can bring down a ship and Goldar can canonically fight multiple Rangers at once.
And here's Charlie's redemption arc, she sided with the Empire of fear and hopelessness once to save a team that had already betrayed her; now she's ready to sacrifice herself along with every resistance fighter in that hangar with no hesitation.
And now we have our final two Rangers accounted for.
Of course Goldar hones in on the Green Ranger who's using the Dragon Coin and used to work for Lord Zedd…..it's basically a whole new Tommy to fight and let's be honest Goldar and Tommy should have had a final showdown in Countdown to Destruction.
Thank you to Blue Legends for their review on the last chapter.
Canis and Goldar both have parts to play but maybe not in the way you're expecting.
I've got things in the pipeline for the Delta Rangers, stay tuned.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review
