Power Rangers Galactic Onslaught
Chapter 9
Eltar had repelled Dark Spectre's attacks but victory came at a heavy cost… the capture of Zordon and many civilian casualties, not to mention the destruction of their ranger team – the Robot Rangers. It left Eltar defenceless after the war. Only the timely intervention of their allies like Triforia and Aquitar prevented the UAE from swooping in and taking over the planet.
The robot rangers were an experiment… a collaboration between King Lexian, Billy Cranston, Alpha 5 and the scientists of the benevolent Automaton Alliance led by King Aradon to check if robots can properly harness the Morphin Grid. For that, they chose for the robots to emulate the simplest bio forms in the entire universe… the humans.
With consent from the turbo rangers, they copied their biorhythms into the base forms of five new robots and tried to check if energies of the Grid were compatible or not.
It wasn't on their first attempt but on their tenth trial, they were successful on creating the first batch of morphers which could be used by robots, the catch being the robots had to be modelled after beings compatible with Grid energy and somehow these new robots had the personality and ethics of their counterparts, which could not be tampered by either computer viruses or mind spells.
It proved that the grid energy could not be manipulated to be used for evil by the robots and it was the final step to giving Aradon's government the greenlight to have access to morphin technology.
And now, the robot rangers' AIs were being uploaded into new robotic bodies. Though the original turbo morphers had been destroyed beyond repair, Aradon had created new morphers which channelled the same sector of Grid energy the turbo morphers did but with new armour and different zords.
Eltar's other ranger teams had been out of planet during the attack helping planets in the periphery like the Kerovian System and the Lion Galaxy against the onslaught of attacks by upcoming warlords like Lothor and Grumm. Nobody ever expected the planetary shield surrounding Eltar could be breached.
In a single decisive attack, Dark Spectre had established himself as a force to be reckoned with, dispelling rumours of his waning strength.
So, the Eltarian Council had summoned all their off-world warriors, rangers and sorcerers back to help in the rescue and recovery efforts.
Zartus the high general of Eltar sipped his wine as he saw the planetary shield envelop the planet once more after the departure of their off-world allies. All eltarians of significant importance were back home, except for Zordon… exactly what he wanted, when he had conspired with Specter and lowered the shields. No more freely giving away eltarian resources to backward planets that frankly didn't deserve them. Eltarians needed to put Eltar first. To hell with Zordon's philosophies and if making a deal with the devil helped his people see things his way, so be it!
His sorcerers were devising a plan to take down Dark Spectre and since he was now linked to Zordon, the pathetic fool would be destroyed along with him…
After the war, Eltar would once again reign supreme over the universe…
Carlos and Ashley couldn't meet each other's eyes without bursting into a fit of giggles.
When they first met, they had a spark… They briefly tried dating but something felt missing despite everything being seemingly perfect so they decided to remain friends.
Then along came Andros.
Anyone with eyes could see the chemical attraction between Andros and Ashley but often missed the sizzling romance between Carlos and Andros.
After Carlos had risked his life to save Andros and help him search for his missing sister, Andros had surprised him with a kiss that Carlos found unexpectedly difficult to break. He was freaking out. Sure, he knew he found guys as attractive as girls. He had an embarrassing crush on Adam for the longest time and Andros definitely made his heart beat faster every time they looked at each other but he'd seen Andros flirt with Ashley and Ashley was his best friend and totally into Andros.
He had no choice but to tell Ashley about this and they confronted Andros together.
It appeared that polyamory and bisexuality weren't a big deal in the galactic community as it was on Earth.
Carlos had to admit he still had feelings for Ashley and seeing Ashley and Andros together always used to make him jealous. And Andros liked both of them and Ashley confessed she was torn between Andros and him…
One thing led to another and that's how all three of them found themselves in Andros' room, a blushing mess and intertwined with each other.
They were dating each other. All three of them together. It was kind of mind boggling but also made sense.
The thing that felt off and missing when he and Ashley dated… It was Andros.
Now all three of them together… It felt like home and Carlos wouldn't change a thing.
Astronema or rather Karone sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She hated the red bob cut and the bland cybernetic armour.
It took her a while to bypass the cybernetic implants without Dark Spectre could notice and regain control of her own mind. The implants were supposed to be foolproof but as always Spectre and Darkonda underestimated her strength.
The implants commanded her first and foremost to be aligned to evil, secondly to be loyal to Dark Spectre. Thankfully, 'evil' was subjective so it was easy to subconsciously manipulate her cyborg persona to betray Dark Spectre with the psycho rangers and though she regretted how brutal it was for Andros and his team, she knew they had the strength to survive through that ordeal. Besides, it wasn't as if she had much choice in that matter. Her real self… her humanity… Karone barely held any influence on the thoughts and actions of her cyborg persona. All she could manage were subtle suggestions and thankfully, Darkonda made the new Astronema a backstabbing traitor like himself.
Now her implants were nothing more than mere showpieces and she was fighting the urge to leave the Dark Fortress and reunite with her brother almost every other second. But she had to stay here and play the long game. Right now, Dark Spectre trusted her implicitly and she was the second in command of the entire UAE. All she needed was the right time and she could cripple the entirety of Dark Spectre's operations, which were carefully crafted over centuries… the perfect revenge for kidnapping her and turning her into an evil minion.
Still, she needed more allies on the inside… Actually, she only needed one – Ecliptor, her biggest supporter, her adopted father and guardian. He had gone against everything he'd believed in to betray Dark Spectre and help her and the rangers escape him.
If she could break through Darkonda's cybernetic machinations, Ecliptor could too… All he needed was a little push.
"My princess?" The timing couldn't be perfect.
"Ecliptor." She said as coldly as she could.
"The latest surveillance from Earth reports that Ivan Ooze has been defeated-"
"By the Astro rangers?" She asked suspiciously, turning around to face him.
"No. Several former rangers along with Ninjor reunited to stop Ooze. As for the astro rangers, they are still busy scouting the Lion Galaxy for signs of Zordon and investigating the recent surge of quantron activity in the planet Kaiden. I must commend you, my princess for sending quantrons to random planets to get them off track. An excellent strategy, indeed."
She smirked. She did have ulterior motives for that too, to distract them from Earth… from Ivan Ooze.
"I need your help, Ecliptor. I can't do this alone." She said softly.
"My princess?" His voice broke before turning mechanical again.
"I am sorry. You would have said it'd be better for me to do it alone. Safer and less chances of failure, but it's too exhausting. I need you with me as selfish as it sounds and I miss you terribly."
"I am right here, my princess." He said robotically.
"I meant the real you… the guardian who cared for me since I was a little child, the mentor who trained me and tutored me to be a powerful but honourable warrior, the loyal friend who risked everything to give me a chance at freedom."
"My past transgressions are nothing to be proud of, my princess. I exist to serve you and all that is evil."
"That's the thing Ecliptor. I am not evil and neither are you." She said gently, closing the distance between them and touching his face.
"My princess…" His voice was stoic. His eyes flickered red as he gripped her hand tightly. "A princess of evil must never show compassion even towards her generals. That is not the way."
Karone's face fell. "I really hoped to do this the easy way but I guess Darkonda was more thorough while brainwashing you." She spat as her hands glowed white.
"What are you doing?"
"An enchantment courtesy of the Eltarian Archives, meant to get rid of any and all spells or external influences on someone's free will." She replied curtly as her head rolled back and her body started to float in the air, Ecliptor's grip on her hand the only thing preventing her from hitting the ceiling. Her eyes turned blank and white light emanated from her body. She started to chant in eltarian, her voice echoing throughout the fortress, as several golden glyphs rotated around Ecliptor.
Karone screamed as white lightning bolts shot out of the glyphs and hit Ecliptor and a blinding light consumed everything and both of them collapsed on the cold floor.
She groaned forcing herself up. That definitely took a lot out of her. The spell she used was a historical spell that probably hasn't been used in several centuries and the energy signature of the spell could be considered neutral. There were better spells available however casting them on her own was almost impossible, let alone hoping that they won't alert Dark Spectre's light magic sensors in the ship. She was beyond grateful that all the quantrons on the ship were offline and Elgar was on leave, tormenting Divatox right now.
"Ecliptor!" She gasped, reaching for his fallen form.
"My princess…" He groaned, getting up. His voice was different, less mechanical and gone were the red eyes and the dark green crystalline armour. For the most part, he looked human with light peach skin, short golden locks much like her own natural hair hiding a green gem on his forehead, toned muscles, chocolate brown eyes and wearing a simple black shirt with khaki shorts.
"I remember everything." He gasped. "For thousands of years, Dark Spectre's spells forced me to battle for evil but you saved me, princess."
"You saved me first." Karone smiled at him. "It's nice to meet the real you but we still have a lot to do."
"Yes, I understand. However, if we need to continue this ruse, you must cast a glamour charm on me so that I look like Ecliptor." He suggested.
"Sure thing Eclip-" Karone snapped her fingers and 'Ecliptor' was back to his monstrous form. "Sorry, I guess that was not your real name."
"I was once called Silas of Phaedos."
Karone stopped in her tracks. The entire Kerovian System including several planets of galactic significance like Edenoi, KO-35, Inquiris and Xybria were inhabited by Phaedosian refugees and explorers. Every single one of them had heard the tales of the legendary Silas of Phaedos, the first Masked Rider in the history of the known universe, who wielded the Sword of Light and defeated countless evil and was singlehandedly responsible for destroying Dark Spectre's first mortal form. He was thought to have perished in his final battle but apparently, he was captured to be Ecliptor, Dark Spectre's general.
"I am sorry…" Karone said. She might have been manipulated for just eighteen years but Silas had been enslaved for several lifetimes.
"Don't be. You helped me regain my humanity even when I was Ecliptor. You reminded me so much of my daughter. I didn't get to raise her but I raised you, the best I could anyway while I was evil… You are my family, Karone and you'll always be my princess." He swore. "It's time to stop Dark Spectre once and for all. And then you can reunite with your brother."
Karone nodded. They just needed to wait for the perfect time to strike and Dark Spectre would regret ever tearing them away from their families.
A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter and let me know your thoughts in the reviews.