Last time on Power Rangers, I mean Lone Wolf the Lone Road.

Robert was accused of murdering an old friend of his moms and is forced to go on the run. Tarkin had placed a bounty on his head and Barney revealed that Robert was almost turned into a super soldier by an international terrorist organization.

Ahsoka admits to Anakin that she may have feelings for Robert and the boy she possibly loves is about to be greeted by a hostile ship intent on killing him. Will our hero survive this encounter and can he prove his innocence, find out in the next exciting chapter of The Long Road.

Disclaimers are the same as before so enjoy.

Chapter 23: Crash Landing

February 28th 2019 20BBY

Takodana orbit

1600 hours

Normal point of view

A planet similar to Earth located in the Tashtor sector of the Mid Rim in the Western Reaches of galaxy, Takodana was a planet to behold. With lakes, plains, seas and forests people folk to the planet for numerous reasons.

While there are no cities on the planet its most popular destination for travelers and smugglers is the castle belonging to Maz Kanata, known as the 'Pirate Queen' for allowing people that conduct less then respectable work stay at her place as long as they honored her rules and is a well-known collector of various trinkets and antiques.

Emerging from hyperspace, Robert in his uncle's customized ARC-170, he gazed at the planet which was in the midst of winter. Instead of green forests and plains, snow covered a majority of the planet's surface and remined him of the Arctic and Antarctic parts of Earth. "Good thing I packed some warm clothes along with the weapons I grabbed when I stopped at the Range." He said to himself.

R4 beeped. "No R4, my mind is made up. With Tarkin calling for my death I can't go back. I can't and I won't, not until I figure things out." Robert assured his companion. R4 beeped nervously but Robert assured his companion again. "I am sure it's perfectly safe for droids."

As he was about to descend to the planet's surface, his fighters radar blared in alert. "Thing must be on the fritz again, I told uncle Barney numerous times to fix the radar system so he doesn't think he is under attack." He said frustrated. "R4, can you clear up the problem?"

R4 did but the radar remained the same, it appeared that Robert had multiple contacts emerging from hyperspace. R4 beeped in alarm as the display remained the same. "What do you mean there's nothing wrong with the radar?" Robert asked annoyed. No one knew he was out here, not even his family. His thoughts were quickly interrupted as laser fire flew over the cockpit and missed him by inches. R4 having spotted the hostile forces informed his ally of the fifty plus attacking ships.

"Great, we got Daggers, Morning Star A, B, and C's, Dianoga's, Sabaoth fighters and Defenders!? How did they find us!?" Robert shouted as a transmission came over his commlink. "Attention Lone Wolf, we, the remnants of Sabaoth Squadron hereby order you to cut your engines and surrender to us. The bounty on your head will set us for life, surrender and you will be given a swift and merciful death." The commander of the fighters shouted as a Sabaoth Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace directly behind him, flanked by two Sabaoth Frigates modified to carry star fighters.

"Great, fucking bloodthirsty mercenaries." Robert cursed to himself and began to assess his current situation.

Daggers, Dianoga's, Sabaoth Fighters, Defenders and the Moring Star series fighters all had deflector shields and had a top speed of 950 to 1,100 km/h. The Daggers were armed with three laser cannons mounted near the wing connector. The Dianoga's were armed with four wing tip mounted laser cannons and a heavy ion cannon mounted underneath the cockpit.

Moring Star A fighters were armed with three laser cannons mounted near the wing joints and a single concussion missile launcher holding four missiles. Morning Star B's were armed with three heavy laser cannons along with the standard primary laser cannons, making it perfect for dogfights. The C version was armed with three heavy laser cannons in place of the standard light cannons and was also equipped with three concussion missile launchers.

Sabaoth Fighters were armed with four laser cannons, one on each of the fighter's wings and two located underneath the cockpit providing a wider firing arc. Sabaoth Defenders were more heavily armed with their four heavy laser cannons and twin concussion missile launchers.

His uncles ARC-170 like all others was capable of speeds up to 1,000 and 44,000 km/h with its deflector shields on in the atmosphere and 2,600 Gs in space. Normally they were armed with two forward wingtip mounted medium laser cannons, two rear mounted laser cannons and carried a complement of six proton torpedoes. It also required a flight crew of three, one pilot, co-pilot and gunner like the old prop driven Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber used by the United States, British, Canadian and New Zealand navies and air force during world war 2.

However, at the request of his uncle, the rear gun was controlled by the ships Astrodroid which took over the role of copilot and gunner along with their standard duties as well as operating the rear gun. In addition to its standard medium cannons, Barney's ARC, which he nicknamed 'The Strike' after the Strike Gundam, was equipped with two light laser cannons mounted above the medium cannons and was capable of holding twelve more torpedoes than the standard payload. It was also equipped with a hidden nose mounted heavy ion-cannon for disabling enemy ships.

All together while the enemy outnumbered him with fighters, Robert had the advantage in firepower, speed and shielding. An advantage that he would take to consideration.

While Robert was dealing with the current situation above Takodana, back on Coruscant Ahsoka was taking a walk in some of the fancier parts of the upper levels of the city. After Anakin and Barney left to coordinate their own search for Robert, she told Barriss about what he had revealed to her master. At first Barriss was shocked by such revelations, but that shock soon turned to happiness for her friend. Barriss understood what Ahsoka was going through and urged to her to follow her heart in terms of love.

That was over an hour ago and now she was about to make a huge decision. As she was about to turn a corner, she took a deep breath and put on a positive face. "You can do this Ahsoka, just go in like you aren't a Jedi, purchase the items you want and bring them to the Range so General Cage can keep an eye on the items and keep the council off your back." Ahsoka said to herself and rounded the corner.

Meanwhile at the senate, Padme had just finished talking with Chancellor and had just returned to her office where Bail and Riyo were waiting for her. "Padme, have you given any thought to the party we proposed to you?" Riyo asked her closet friend.

"Senator Chuchi I have taken a considerable amount of time to think about this and I have decided that the party is an excellent idea. However, we can't make the preparations with the guest of honor being on the run for a crime we know they didn't commit. Until evidence is gathered proving his innocence, we will have to put the party on hold. I can only imagine the amount of confusion going through his mind at the moment." Padme said sadly. Bail and Riyo agreed.

As this was going on, Barney was investigating the details of the murder and was puzzled. The weapon used to murder Admiral Leiase was a .45ACP caliber weapon, but there were many weapons that used the same caliber and it would be difficult for someone to get a hold of such a weapon. Only those with proper authorization were allowed to enter the Range, where a majority of the equipment the Expendables and Robert used.

"It doesn't make sense. There aren't any weapons in the galaxy that use a bullet similar to the .45ACP caliber. Tarkin says the murder weapon was a 1911, but its clearly a Dan Wesson 1911 model pistol." Barney said to himself as he looked at the murder weapon. "Sure, the kids handprints are on the thing, but someone else's prints are on this as well so its impossible to figure out who they belong to, not to mention this isn't one of the Dan Wesson's we have in the armory. We got a ghost gun that doesn't belong to us so someone set him up. Proxy you have anything?" he asked Roberts holodroid.

"Unfortunately, no, General Ross. I have not found any data proving the masters innocence. But I can say for certain that he didn't pull the trigger, he is to kind to commit such a deed." The droid said before Breaker exited the lift. In his hands was the head of one of the rouge police droids. "I was able to get the head of one of the droids general. Hopefully I can access its memory banks and download everything on this droid has been through. Maybe this might tell us why these droids went rouge and might even reveal the true murderer. Blake is working on accessing the security camera near the location of the murder." The intelligence trooper said.

"If we can prove his innocence, we can get that bastard of an admiral to cancel the bounty he put on my nephew's head. I lost his dad and mom and I will be damned if I lose him as well. I am certain that Dooku will try and help him, if he knows about the incident." Barney said as Cassie and Ahsoka arrived from the Ranges secret speeder entrance. "I think what you picked out is definitely going to appeal to Robert." The trio heard Cassie say as she stepped out of the speeder.

"Well I may wait on it a while, but maybe I can build one of those Gundam Models he brought from Earth after his last visit. Maybe the Winged Gundam or Strike." Ahsoka said changing the subject. She didn't want everyone to know about the items she purchased. "If you think he would like a Gundam built by your own hands then I can help you out with that, I helped him build a lot of the models he has back home." Cassie said, noticing Breaker in the room.

"So, let's go choose the one you think he will like." Cassie said to the young Togruta and motioned for Ahsoka to follow her to Cassie's quarters. "What were those two talking about General Ross?" Breaker asked. "Nothing we need to worry about right now." Barney said.

As the two girls entered the sleeping quarters, Cassie noticed Ahsoka's Lekku darken as she looked into the bag holding the items she bought. "You're nervous about what Robert is going to say when he sees those items, aren't you?" Cassie asked the teenager. "I love him Cassie. I have loved him ever since the first day he arrived. I tried to push back those feelings but it's now clear to me that I love him, how can I continue on the path of becoming a Jedi and be a teenage in love at the same time?" Ahsoka asked as she placed the bag in the closet containing Cassie's blue dress and accessories that she bought when Robert returned to Earth.

"Take it one step at a time. You shouldn't rush into these things without a plan of attack. If you meet the enemy head on, you will fail, but if you wait and find his weakness than you can move forward. I did the same thing with Rex." Cassie assured Ahsoka, putting her hand on her shoulder. "Now, what do you say we build both Gundam models for him?" the female of the Expendables added, getting Ahsoka to smile.

Back above Takodana, Robert had finished coming up with a plan of attack and contacted the Sabaoth Squadron fighter leader. "Seems like I am worth a lot of money, so if I bump myself off I would save you guys a lot of trouble." Robert said as he turned his fighter around and faced the mercenary fleet. "But here's the thing, I am not going help a bunch of assholes make a profit by letting them kill me. You boys picked the wrong soldier to mess with. Prepare to die." He added turning his fighter towards the planet and speed towards the surface with the hostile merc's behind him. "Lock S-Foils in attack position R4, we got a fight coming our way." Robert instructed his copilot. His fighter's wings separated just as broke through the atmosphere.

(Caffeine by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams featuring Lamar Hall begins)

Two pairs of Daggers approached him from 6 o'clock and fired their triple laser cannons at the ARC bracketing his shields. R4 was able to down one pair of enemy fighters with the rear gun. The second pair came in from the left side and tried to hit him, but Robert reduced the fighter's engine power and allowed the fighters to fly right into his gunsights and with a quick burst from the medium cannons downed one fighter and crippled the other before it rolled over and plummeted towards the snow-covered ground below.

Returning his engines to full-power, Robert sped towards a squadron of Morning Star C's that had decided to attack a freighter that had wandered into the battle. The mercenary fighter's missiles had knocked the freighters shields down and were about to fire their cannons when they were destroyed by four proton-torpedoes launched from the Strike allowing the freighter to pull away from the fight and leaving Robert not to have to worry about unwanted casualties.

"Fourteen Torpedoes left." He said to himself before gunning down a squad of Dianoga's and two Morning Star B's with his medium and light cannons. He quickly zeroed another Squad of Dianoga's and climbed to five hundred feet above the squad and dives in from the side hitting two of the fighters and sending them colliding into the other two fighters sending all four down to the ground below. As he levels out, eight Morning Star B's approached him head on with cannons blazing. Banking hard right, Robert pulls a 180-degree sharp turn, getting behind the Morning Star's and sent each of them a proton-torpedo, splashing another eight hostiles. "Make that Six torps left." He corrected himself before downing a pair of Sabaoth fighters with a five second burst of cannon fire.

"Better take out that Destroyer." He said and armed his own Ion Cannon and the second he was close enough fired. Twenty shots from the single heavy Ion cannon hit the enemy ship, knocking its shields out of action before a volley of laser cannon fire impacted the bridge, causing the ship to plummet to the ground and explode in a bright fireball.

As he soared over the wreckage, several concussion missiles exploded by his cockpit, the blast wave knocking his shields down to forty-two percent. Turning his head, Robert spotted he had picked up two Sabaoth Defenders, who no doubt came from the very ship he just shot down. "R4, there all yours." He said to his copilot, who blasted both Sabaoth Defenders and causing both fighters to explode into flaming wrecks.

(Song ends)

The enemy frigates began to bracket the ARC with their heavy laser cannons, but brave pilot barrel-rolled and performed a loop-de-loop getting behind a pair of pursuing Sabaoth fighters as the cannon fire knocked out his shields. "Shit." He cursed as he fired his fighter's cannons at the enemy fighters scoring two more kills. He then noticed that one of the ARC's engines was losing power rapidly. "R4, divert seventy-five percent of the power from the Ion Cannon to the left engine. We need speed more than the cannon but keep it ready incase we need to use it and work on getting the shields back online." He instructed his companion.

R4 diverted the power from the cannon and his fighter returned to full speed, just in time to avoid narrowly ramming into a Dianoga which collided into a Morning Star C that was on his tail. "Watch were your going asshole." Robert chuckled as he angled his fighter into a steep climb. He planned to get above the enemy frigates laser fire and come in for strafing run with his cannons and weaken the frigate's shields before launching three of his torpedoes at the ship to destroy it. "Why can't you just leave me alone!?" he roared as he leveled off at 750 feet and pitched his fighters nose downward before increasing his engines to full power and sped towards the enemy frigate with cannons blazing.

"Enemy shields are at thirty-five percent." He said to himself before firing three of his six remaining proton weapons at the frigate before pulling up from his run as the first torpedo knocked out the frigates shields and the last two impacted the bridge destroying the frigate just as blizzard began to rage. "One down, one to go." Robert said, gazing at his ships shield gage, they still haven't returned to full strength.

"Focus on the here and now." He muttered as he aimed his fighter towards the last frigate and fired his cannons before launching his remaining three torpedo's sending the last frigate down in a fireball. The remaining enemy fighters turned their attention to Robert and quickly got on his six and bracketed him with laser fire. R4 downed four of the remaining hostile fighters before Robert cut his speed and flew past the enemy fighters and fired his own cannons downing the remaining six mercenary ships.

He let his guard down for a second before approaching him from the front with cannons blazing was the last Sabaoth fighter. Both ships fired their cannons, determined to send the other down in a fireball. As they drew nearer and nearer to each other, the Sabaoth fighter began to smoke and then rolled over in a death spiral as Robert soared over the ship as it collided into the snowy ground. "That's the last of them, but I am out of Torpedo's." Robert said before his own fighter began to shutter. He gazed to his left and noticed the engine had taken a direct hit and was smoking badly.

As his altitude dropped he spotted a frozen lake through the roaring blizzard and pointed the ship to the towards the lake. "Brace yourself buddy, we're going down hard." He said to his droid.

The moment they were over the lake, the ARC hit the ice before it skid along the surface and impacted a snow mound and skidded for a few feet along the snow before it came to a stop. R4 beeped with worry as Robert had hit his head against the targeting display and was knocked out.

As R4 ejected from the astrodroid slot, a short female figure in a fur coat made their way through the raging storm with a red colored Loadlifter droid following her and two twi'lek girls. "Get the pilot and his belonging out of the fighter and bring him inside." The figure said before turning to the droid. "H327, try and get that fighter as close to the castle as possible, once the storm is over you and the astrodroid can make the necessary repairs to the fighter." She added as one of the twi'leks pulled Robert over to her."If he is who I think he is, then I must do everything I can to help him." The figure said as the droid pulled the fighter closer to the castle and followed the twi'leks into the castle with R4 right behind them.

Meanwhile at the Range, Ahsoka and Cassie had finished assembling the Strike were starting to assemble the Winged Gundam model when the Togruta sensed a disturbance in the force. "Something wrong Ahsoka?" Cassie asked as she picked up one of the leg joints. "No, nothings wrong." She lied and picked up the torso section of the Gundam and stared at it. "Robert, please be safe where ever you are." She thought.

So crash landing in a blizzard after fighting off over fifty hostile fighters, one destroyer and two frigates, Robert certainly isn't doing so well right now is he.

Ahsoka and Cassie build a couple of Gundam models for him while Barney tries to figure out what really happened. Interesting chapter wouldn't you say.

Next time, wake up and a bit of humor next chapter. Please read and review and I will see you all next time. Also my new poll is up so please feel free to cast your vote for it.