THE COGS OF WAR: A MACHINE EMPIRE DIVIDED
Written by DTM666

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

The Cogs of War is written as more as a summary of events, which explains the reasoning for the framing story of Andros reading the log entry. Since there are abrupt jumps in time, dates have been added before each "log entry" to clarify the time and place...

The framing story (scenes on the Megaship) take place between the PRiS episodes "Always A Chance" and "Secret of the Locket". Those scenes are in italics, so they are easier to distinguish. Bear in mind that the Machine scenes contain no dialogue whatsoever; it's meant to be read as a summary of sorts. Nonetheless, don't let that fact distract from enjoying this story.

This is the first of what's hoped to be a regular series of 'war journals'. If this gets a descent response, I might follow this up with another. Anyway, enjoy.

---

Things have been relatively smooth on the Astro Megaship recently. After a meeting with a former Ranger, the Space Rangers returned back to the ship, doing nightly maintenance checks to ensure the ship operates fine while they were asleep. Before long, only Cassie and Andros remained, with the others having returned to their quarters. The Red Ranger sat in the bridge looking over several files from the ship's library, while Cassie performed a final systems check. As a side project, Andros was hard at work trying to reconstruct a burnt disc recovered from a NASADA satellite some time ago. For the most part, he hadn't found anything concerning Zordon, but he did find a log entry packet concerning the Machine Empire's political affairs. Andros found this uniquely interesting and memorized the packet's code number, allowing for quick access in the future.

"Andros, I'm calling it a night," Cassie told him as she set her console to standby mode, "You coming?"

Andros gave a nod. "In a minute, I'm just going to program DECA for auto-pilot and get some shut-eye."

Cassie nodded back and took off, leaving the Kerovan alone on the Megaship's bridge. He keyed several commands into the auto-piloting display, which was basically a route along the Machine Empire's borders, but nowhere near any known orbital platforms. With that done, Andros left the bridge and took a walk to his quarters. Taking off his jacket and tossing it aside, Andros sat near the computer console and clasped his hands together on the desk.

"DECA," he said begrudgingly, "Could you load up that log entry we acquired from the fourth NASADA satellite months ago? I believe it was code 77901."

In a few seconds, DECA indeed brought up several log entries pertaining to the Empire itself. The log entries were reconnaissance reports from a nearby Eltarian base stationed to report on happenings within the Machine Empire's territories, whose borders were closed off to all ever since Mondo's 'dethroning' ceremony. Word of a new Emperor placed into power was spreading like wildfire, but was treated as nothing more than pure speculation and rumor. Nonetheless, the possibility of a Machine civil war interested the Kerovan Space Ranger, who

Andros opened up the earliest log entry, which took place just around the time of the dethroning. One glimpse into the document immediately struck him with amazement, as no recon entry was ever this precise or detailed unless they were in the frontlines. Already having his interest piqued, Andros began reading...

---

FEB-97

For a long period of time, Mondo was the undisputed king of the Machine Empire.

Through generations, there have been disputes over power and territory, but eventually all saw his vision of the Empire's future and all unified to serve under his command without question. In return for their undying loyalty, Mondo would repay them with introducing new colony worlds, new technology, and nothing more. There wasn't much in terms of individual thought or personality, but the Empire succeeded in expanding its borders without much trouble. And most of the worlds were captured by Mondo's own personal army, who would capture world after world, running it dry of valuable resources needed to keep production of troops and weapons going.

Of course, like any major political body, there are bound to be rival powers who would strike at Mondo to turn the Empire against him, perfect circumstances to dethrone him and remove him from power. Mondo, naturally, had many enemies, but none of them had sufficient resources or influence to be considered much of a threat and thus were quickly eliminated, passed off as mere footnotes in the history logs.

However, Mondo's recent failures to capture the primitive world known as Earth has caused some dissention among the ranks of the Machine Empire. Those who have once promised loyalty to their king were now wondering if their faith was misplaced. The Empire, rather than gaining new territory, was actually shrinking, with member worlds breaking off to form independent colonies and such. It wouldn't be long before.

Of course, Mondo was completely oblivious of all that has happened, because of a simple explosive device disguised as a piece offering from Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, rival warlords whom he had driven off just a year earlier. Mondo has enough power to vow vengeance against the couple, knowing fully well that his own troops would be aware of his whereabouts and eventually collect the pieces to reassemble him and make him stronger than ever.

When he awoken, he found himself not in his throne room, but in a holding cell of a Machine skybase. The cell, consisting of bright pastel-colored panels and sealed off with an experimental super-durable Plexiglas material, had much cleaner look than his own skybases, which were rusted and dirty. Mondo looked beyond the Plexiglas shield to see a slender robot sitting before him. Mondo recognizes this robot as Aradon, the bionoid half-breed who happened to be the father-in-law of his disowned son, Gasket. Aradon was also Mondo's greatest rival.

As it has been stated, Mondo has many opponents to his throne, but none of them were as resourceful or influencial as Aradon, who ruled the Northern Territories of the Empire. Aradon was just another general and minor king of a penal colony with a decent amount influence and respect until his daughter, Archerina, laid claim to Prince Gasket and the two fled to avoid the wrath of their fathers. Like Mondo, Aradon was infuriated that Archerina would select someone as untrustworthy as Mondo's first-built son to join with. Unlike Mondo, who went as far as to disown Gasket and brand him an enemy to the Empire, Aradon was somewhat forgiving and even went as far as to secretly advise Gasket on battle plans to oppose the Empire.

When word of Mondo being disabled was leaked back to the Empire, Aradon and Gasket plotted together. Gasket was given a prototype bionoid suit to distract the Zeo Rangers with while Aradon and his army, the most advanced in the Empire, launched a full-scale assault on Mondo's moonbase on Earth's only moon. The attack was devastatingly brutal; nothing was spared and every single tower, factory, and platform was a burning wreckage. Aradon's ground troops were able to recover the disabled Mondo and his "family." Which brought them to this moment.

Aradon talks to him in a mocking way, informing him that they're headed home for Gorah Khan, where Mondo would stand trial for the supposed crimes against the Empire. Aradon tells him that Mondo, by order of the senate, was to be stripped of his crown and Aradon be named the new Emperor as soon as Mondo is locked up in prison or deactivated for good. As Aradon talks, Mondo says nothing, merely listening to this half-breed talk about setting the Empire right. Mondo almost laughed at the concept of a bionoid ruling an empire of pure machines. Mondo makes one snide comment and a war of words erupts. However, it accomplishes nothing, as Aradon and his guards leave the former King, locked away in his cell.

Hours pass as Mondo continues to contemplate his fate, then decides to formulate an escape plan. As fate would have it, however, Mondo would be rescued by loyalist Cog soldiers under the command of General Venjix, a master strategist who form resembled a member of the Beetleborgs, a group of Earth heroes operating independently from the Zeo Rangers. The rescue mission goes off without a hitch and Aradon's plan to be undisputed ruler is delayed, but regardless he regained enough support to be declared the Machine Emperor.

In his personal chambers of the Assault Cruiser Starkiller, Mondo reviews the reports from Venjix concerning the events following his deactivation at the hands of Zedd. It takes several re-readings to get a full realization of what has happened. All of his Lunar Colony assets on Earth's moon, all of his acquired resources and developmental technology was destroyed in the attack. Any plan to reclaim any territory from Zedd on Earth was immediately deleted from his memory banks, his energies focused solely on reclaiming the throne from the half-breed Aradon.

---

Andros preferred to stay up and read the rest of the log entries, but fatigue and life had to set in. So Andros ordered the files saved onto his computer's memory banks, where he could quickly access them when needed. That having been done, Andros disrobed and slipped into his sleeping garments, consisting of silver silk pants and oversized nightshirt. He jumped into bed, dimmed the lighting of his quarters, and fell fast asleep. Tomorrow would be another day.

The next day seemed peaceful. There hasn't been much attacks on Earth from either Astronema or any of the other Alliance warlords, no significant battles of much magnitude were escalated, and most of all, things were relatively calm on both sides of the border. Things seemed eerily quite, which both worried and relieved Andros. Worried because the Alliance was fighting a winning war and a sudden break from their affairs could lead to more nefarious plans. Relieved because he could spend the day reading the rest of the civil war documents, which had been codenamed "The Cogs of War".

---

APR-97

Within a two Earth-month period, the civil war had engulfed more than a third of the Empire in bloody onslaught. Projections shown that the Empire would fall further into disarray if things were to continue as they are.

From the incoming reports in his throne room on Gorah Khan, Aradon could see that the war would be spilled all over in a short time. A fleet of loyalist attack cruisers raided Mondo-sympathetic colonies along the Black Matter nebula, the end result either being the colonies' capture or utter destruction. A growing contingency of Alliance fighters, mostly of the sluggish VF-10 class, have been spotted on an intercept course for a loyalist convoy carrying mechanical supplies, but are subsequently intercepted by the Royal Guard fleet, one of the more powerful fleets whose allegiance is varied at best. They prefer neither one nor the other, but will serve any who will meet their standards. That variable tends to shift every now and then.

Six days after the Black Matter scuffle, Mondo-sympathetic cruisers had taken several loyalist worlds by force. These worlds had no strategic importance, but were rich in raw materials that Mondo's fleet needed to sustain themselves. Aradon, knowing of Mondo's need for such materials, sent several of his own personal flagships to recapture these worlds

---

"Andros," DECA's voice boomed, "there is a distress call originating from Sector ME-201."

Andros froze momentarily in thought. The sector wasn't too far from their current position, but was past the Machine Empire borders, which were heavily defended to keep ships from entering and exiting the territory. Andros assumed that it was random radio chatter from a courier base. Under normal circumstances, Andros would pursue this, but considering the circumstances, he decided against it.

"That's within Machine boundaries, DECA," Andros declared, "It's not our problem."

He turned back to the document and continued reading.

---

MAY-97

In an attempt to contain the war strictly within Machine territory, Aradon ordered the placement of anti-ship defense systems along all territorial borders of the Empire as part of a sector-wide quarantine ruling. Within weeks, the Territorial Defense System, or TDS turrets, were deployed along the borders. The purpose of these turrets were to prevent any ship from entering or leaving the quarantined area; should a vessel pass within the scopes of the TDS turrets, an full-powered plasma burst would destroy the trespasser quickly and without trace. This was done not only to contain the war, but to prevent non-Machine vessels from entering what is now considered to be hostile territory.

Mondo, aboard the Starkiller, wanted a meeting with Dark Specter, but knew that this would be a one-way trip, as the TDS would shoot down his vessel should he ever return. Via encrypted communication, Mondo charged General Venjix and four other of his Elite Guard with the campaign to defeat Aradon as well as finding a method to take down the TDS turrets. Following this communication, Mondo made communication with Dark Specter where the two discussed terms of Mondo's re-entry into the Alliance. Negotiations took long agonizing hours, but the two were able to come to terms. Mondo would gain partial membership status (which merely meant that he would attend meetings, ceremonies, and supply forces to major Alliance battles, but kept to his own affairs) and in return, Mondo would agree to contribute whatever forces he had outside Machine territory to Dark Specter's planned assault on Eltare.

Back within Machine territory, Venjix amassed a powerful army.

For the next three months, the battles have negated themselves to mere skirmishes. Rarely was there a heated battle between the Aradon loyalists and Mondo-sympathetic groups, which were further splintering the Machine Empire into smaller factions over petty arguments. In fact, the next six months would see nothing but minor territorial battles, as neither Mondo nor Aradon gained any significant edge over the other.

It would be during those three months that Dark Specter was in the final planning stages of the first major offensive against the planet Eltare since the end of the first Great War ten thousand years ago. With Zordon returning to his homeworld and being welcomed as a great hero, Specter saw the time to strike nearing. With that, he had commanded the presence of his top chiefs, including new Alliance general Mondo.

Five months later, Eltare fell to Alliance hands and Zordon was captured.

---

Having just finished his reading of the fourth log entry, Andros immediately requested for the fifth log entry on the packet to be logged. However, much to his disappointment, the screen blinked the words NON-EXISTENT DOCUMENT FILE. Andros found this peculiar, as a log entry packet tended to have ten individual entries. Andros tried to access the other supposed log entries in the packet, but was greeted with the same error.

"DECA," the Kerovan asked feverishly, "What happened to the rest of the documents?"

"You've already seen all uncorrupted log entries of Packet 77901," DECA responded, "The others are irretrievable."

Andros sighed in disappointment as those later log entries would have had important answers to the battle of Eltare or a possible clue as to where Zordon would be situated. On the other hand, Andros had learned more about the Machine Empire's current situation than before, which partly explains why their territory is well defended these days. In any case, the Kerovan was satisfied with what he had learned.

"DECA," Andros stated, "store the packet into library memory."

THE END... or is it?