Mission 13: Part 4

The night hours dragged on as a tense atmosphere gripped the Palm Islands research base. In the nearby city, the giant Xeno battle droid stomped about, occasionally wrecking buildings and digging into the ground so that scans could be taken by the alien carrier above. Despite having started at the other end of the city, the titan began making its way closer toward the coastline in its relentless search. In the meantime, the Rangers took turns keeping watch while the others tried to get some sleep. Down below, the other lab techs and engineers redoubled their efforts in a feverish pitch to get the Mecha-zords up and running.

As dawn began to break over the golden sand dunes to the east, a pink and red glow lit up the skies highlighting the Xeno titan's menacing silhouette while it lumbered toward the beach and continued with its search. Erik Dobermann mumbled as he was shaken awake and looked up to see Ella kneeling beside him.

"Erik… hey, wake up. There's trouble."

The Blue Ranger cracked open his bleary eyes and rubbed his face before rising to his feet off the cots in one of the base hallways. "What's wrong Ella?"

She gestured for him to be quiet and listen as they heard soft rumbling and felt slight rhythmic vibrations. "The titan… it's getting closer to the base. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before it reaches here."

Erik stood filled with feelings of weariness, fear, and impatience at the whole scenario. Finally, he stopped and looked to the Pink Ranger, "Status on the Mecha-zord? Any luck?"

Ella grimaced, "The new reactor core was installed overnight. Dr. Rizal's powering it and running some tests, but things are still up in the air."

Erik took a deep breath and fought down his growing feeling of dread, "If that titan gets any closer, we're going to make ready to launch the zords… ready or not."

"Are you serious?" Ella asked in surprise.

"We won't have much else of a choice. Either we stand and fight here or we let the enemy tear the base apart and destroy everything and everyone inside."

He hated sounding so grim and blunt about it, but it was the truth. Right now, he had to be decisive and give some hope to the others that they still had a chance. If that meant taking the initiative and starting a battle on their own terms, then so be it. He gave a serious nod and watched while Ella hurried off to tell the others. He could only hope he was making the right call here.

Soon enough, the four Rangers were situated within the central cockpit of the colossal central war machine. As they strapped in and tried to acquaint themselves with the controls, they listened to last minute instructions from Dr. Rizal while the power gauges of their machines continued to charge up.

"The controls were designed to be intuitive and simple, but you still have to work together and operate in concert," the doctor explained, "You're only going to be at 75% power so you'll have to take it easy and not overtax the new reactor core. We're not even sure how strong and reliable it's going to be in this kind of situation."

"Understood Doctor," Erik replied as he took the lead controls. "What do we do to get bigger?"

"The zords will automatically link up on your command so all you need to worry about is bringing the fight to that giant robot out there."

At that, the sounds of the enemy's footsteps rumbled and echoed as it got even closer. Erik looked to his team and tried to give an encouraging smile, "Come on everyone. This going to be fun. How many people get to play rock em sock em robots with giant war machines in the first place?"

The others exchanged a tense smile before they heard Rizals' voice, "Stand by Rangers. Preparing to launch."

The four friends watched in awe as the colossal platforms rose up and the Mecha-zords were carried to an upper launch bay above. Bright light from the rising sun could be seen at the end of the tunnel as the Rangers gripped tight and felt their primary zord fire its thrusters and quickly accelerate down the long tunnel. Up above on the Palm Islands, three large bunkers opened up from the sands and connected to the roads. Moments later, the three zords emerged and sped down the road to the central juncture of the islands. As the tank zord and amphibious armored zord took up formations ahead of the larger plane, they opened fire on the Xeno titan as it froze in surprise.

A barrage of rockets and heavy cannons slammed into the titan and blinded it as the three giant zords raced past and fused together on the island road. With the tank zords connected as the legs, the large plane zord fired secondary hover jets and raised itself up converting into the torso and arms of a larger Mecha-zord. In this intermediary mode, the new Nova Megazord skidded to a halt and turned to face its titanic enemy in the light of the dawn. It combined vehicles of the land, air, and sea in a unique fusion to show off its versatility.

"All right! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bharata cheered as the Nova Megazord came to bear on the giant Xeno intruder.

Erin looked out across the skies of the city and watched as the enemy carrier changed its bearing and directed its fighters on a new attack route. "Erik, we've gotta hurry up and take down that titan. If those Strigons start pummeling us, we won't have a prayer."

The Blue Ranger took a calming breath and nodded, "Okay… what have we got in terms of weapon systems here?"

Ella quickly keyed in a few computer commands and brought up the display, "We've got a primary gattling gun and a bank of missile pods, but we're already short of ammo."

"We just loaded enough ordinance for some test firings… not for a real battle situation," Dr. Rizal's apologetic voice came in over the radio.

Erik grimaced and drove the Megazord forward, "Then we'll just have to make every shot count. Until then, we'll do things the old fashioned way."

The surprised Xeno titan reeled as the Nova Megazord threw a wide haymaker punch and slammed its fist into the enemy's head. The four Rangers braced themselves and gasped at the powerful kinetic movement of their giant robot and moved to throw another punch. This time, the enemy titan was ready and blocked the blow with its own in a shower of metal and sparks. While the two giant robots tangled with each other in a fierce grapple, the approaching alien fighter planes suddenly veered away and charged direction as a new threat approached from the waters to the north.

Amid the grapple, Bharata scanned the horizon and saw a large cloud of new aircraft approaching over the waters with the light of the sun. Numerous green allied blips appeared on their radars and Bharata gave a laugh, "UNAF fighters! Here comes the cavalry!"

The Rangers gave another cheer as they heard the familiar voice of their captain come in over the radio directly to their cockpit, "Is this a private party or can anyone join in?"

"Martin! Thank God you're here!" Erik gasped with a wide smile, "By all means, cut in."

The Red Ranger sent one more transmission from the cockpit of his Pegasus fighter as he and his flight team roared toward the city, "Hang in there guys, you're doing just fine. Just stay upright and focus on taking down that titan. We'll keep the enemy aircraft off of you."

As the titan and Megazord began to struggle again and duke it out on the coastline, the UNAF fighter squadrons grouped up into a menacing attack formation and increased their speed. Leading the way was Col. Hale and his squadron of Pegasus fighters, "Griffin One to Endeavor, making final approach on Burj Khalifa. Tally bandits and the enemy carrier."

"Roger that Lead, you are clear to engage and destroy," came the reply.

Martin listened closely as his flight leader gave orders over the radio, "All right. Firebirds, focus on knocking out the Xeno jamming signals. Pegasus and Kestrals, clear the way and keep the enemy fighters off our transports."

As the UNAF air forces soared into the airspace of Dubai, they were met with a swarm of enemy Strigons and fire from the Xeno carrier. The UN fighters broke formations, juking and rolling clear while replying with their own missile volleys. As the skies over Dubai lit up with gunfire, explosions, and smoke trails of missiles, Martin jerked his joystick and made an evasive maneuver through the aerial melee. In the western skies of the city, the heavily armed delta wing Firebirds made a pass on the enemy carrier. Despite the blistering attack, the carrier's shields buckled but held around its jamming tower.

Meanwhile, the allied transports angled low and descended toward the streets of the embattled city while the other fighters covered them. Martin maneuvered his Pegasus into a Split-S maneuver to rejoin the battle and get an angle on an enemy Strigon. He wanted to try and radio his team again, but things were too chaotic up here not to pay attention. He angled in and followed the evasive turns of the Strigon, firing bursts of cannon fire to pick away at the enemy's shields. As the targeting sensors formed a red block around the Xeno fighter, Martin zeroed in and pulled the trigger for an air to air missile. "Locked on target! Fox-2!"

The heatseeker missile sailed away and caught the Strigon's tail as it tried to dive clear. The Xeno fighter erupted into a fireball and a cloud of flaming shrapnel spiraled down toward the desert sands below.

"Good kill Griffin Five!" his wingman called over the radio as he swooped in to join Martin, "Just don't get cocky now."

For his first air-to-air kill, that was a pretty big deal, but given the hairy situation, his wingman was right. Celebrations could be had later... if they even survived at all.

Meanwhile, down below the Nova Rangers gave shouts of fear and surprise as the enemy titan momentarily pushed the Megazord's guard down and slammed it with a sweeping backhand knuckle. The zords reeled and the Rangers were jostled about while trying to keep their robot balanced.

The two combatants exchanged a few punches before the Megazord was slammed again.

"Now that was a cheap shot," Erik growled as he righted the Megazord and had it take a knee, "Bara, you wanna give them one right back?"

"I thought you'd never ask," the Green Ranger smiled as he manned the weapons controls and locked on with the zord's gattling gun.

Having sensed a momentary advantage, the Xeno titan moved forward to attack and brought one of its legs around in a vicious kick. To its surprise, the titan's kick was halted as the Nova Megazord turned its wrist and deployed a large Vulcan cannon which began to spin rapidly and fire a withering stream of superheated blaster fire. A cloud of fire and sparks erupted from the enemy titan as its left shin was partially sheered off and severely damaged.

"Nice shooting Bara!" Erin called as the Xeno giant fell to its knees and the Megazord's cannon ran out of ammo. "Let's keep up the pressure!"

The Rangers pushed forward to try and exploit the swing in momentum, but they were surprised as the titan had one more trick up its sleeve. The injured titan threw itself forward and tackled the Megazord back into the water to halt its momentum. As both robots crashed into the shallow coastal waters, they continued to struggle and Rizal's voice came in with a warning.

"Rangers, the reactor core is starting to destabilize and power levels are beginning to fall. You have to finish this fight soon!"

"He's right," Ella added, "We've already taken some damage and shouldn't push it either."

Erik growled and pumped his controls as the enemy titan rolled over on them and began to put a crushing stranglehold on the Megazord in the water. Sparks erupted in the cockpit while secondary systems began to falter. "We've got to break free first... but we're losing power to our arms!"

"Damn! Not good!" Erin shouted as she furiously tried to route emergency power in response but to little avail. They were only buying themselves a little more time as the enemy titan kept driving the Nova Megazord's head down into the turf. Just then, the four heard Martin's voice over the radio, "Hang on Rangers! Fox-3!"

In an instant, Martin's fighter dove from the air and unloaded a salvo of four reserve missiles from its underside before rolling past and ascending quickly back into the skies. The four radar guided missiles slammed into the titan's head and knocked it off balance giving the Megazord just enough of a chance to recover to its feet. As the smoke and flames cleared from Martin's airstrike, the Rangers saw that the robotic head of the Xeno titan had been mangled and badly damaged. Erin looked to Erik, "What now boss?"

"Let's finish this. Bara? Ella?"

The two pulled up the Megazord's missile boxes and targeted the head of the enemy titan for a final strike. Ella punched in a few keys and gave a thumbs up, "Locked and loaded."

Erik nodded and pulled the trigger on a nearby weapons control, "Fire!"

The Nova Megazord reared back as two large boxes extended from its shoulders and fired a barrage of spiraling missile pods at their target. The Xeno titan didn't have a prayer as the missiles exploded over it and shredded its upper torso apart in a fiery cloud of sparks and shrapnel. Erik fell back in his seat and gave a relieved sigh as the other Rangers erupted into euphoric cheers and high fives.

While the Megazord powered down, the smoldering remains of the giant headless titan collapsed onto the beaches.

While the battle raged below, two more Firebirds were shot down by the Xeno carrier's point defense guns. The leader of the lighter Kestral interceptors growled as he watched the sight and took a glancing hit from some enemy fire, "Should we give some help with that carrier Colonel? They're getting chewed up over there."

"Negative, keep on those fighters. Our landing troops below need every minute we can spare them," the Colonel replied.

Elsewhere, Martin's own wingman turned to see another Strigon suddenly outmaneuver him and sneak up on Martin from behind. "Bandit on your six Captain! He's turning inside of me! I can't get a clear line!"

Martin turned in fear as he saw the Strigon tail him and fire its guns. He juked and weaved in evasive arcs trying to avoid the energy bolts but a few clipped his rear shields and jolted him violently. As he saw warning lights signal minor damage to the rear and an enemy missile lock, the Red Ranger fired off a cloud of chaff from behind to momentarily blind the Strigon before cutting his speed and performing a desperate aileron roll over the Xeno's left shoulder. The blinded Strigon pilot stared in shock from the unexpected counter-maneuver and saw his prey now chasing him. Before the alien pilot could react, the Pegasus unloaded a stream of cannon fire which punched through the Xeno's shields and shredded its fuselage apart.

Martin gasped in relief and angled way as the Strigon's canopy section was shorn off and its ravaged wings spiraled away in a flaming trail. "Splash two."

"Not bad," his wingman radioed in with relief, "Keep this up and you'll make ace status in no time."

"I could care less. I just want to live through this furball," Martin answered as he and his teammate circled back around. As they looped around the city's colossal tower Burj Khalifa, they saw a cloud of fire erupt from the enemy carrier followed by a cheer over the radio. Col. Hale called out, "Griffin One to all allied fighters, the shields and jamming tower of the enemy carrier are down!"

As Martin soared back into the thick of the aerial dogfight, he could see the enemy Strigons were beginning to break formation and run at seeing their titan go down and their carrier come under heavy fire. His wingman matched speed on the right, "How are you on ammo, Captain?"

"I've still got a couple missiles left," Martin answered as they rejoined their squadron in a high holding pattern to regroup.

Col. Hale's voice came in over the comm, "Listen up Griffins, that Xeno carrier is wounded and I want to try to knock that turkey out of the skies. Anyone who's still packing ordinance is with me on this next attack run."

Several Griffin pilots voiced an affirmative as they circled into formation with the Colonel and prepared for a diving attack. When the signal was given, six fighters rolled into a cascading dive and went full throttle to strike at the Xeno carrier's bridge from above. The Pegasus fighters put all shields forward to absorb the flak and defensive fire from the carrier as they made their approach. Despite taking a few glancing hits which rattled the plane, Martin held the plane steady and roared forward at full speed. Off his left wing, the shields of one of his unlucky allies gave out and the Pegasus erupted into a cloud of flames and shrapnel. As the planes finally got into range, their targeting brackets all went red with missile locks and the Colonel gave a call, "Give em hell Griffins!"

The five fighters unloaded all their weapons on the carrier and veered from side to side, splitting off in evasive maneuvers. The rain of missiles trailed off and all struck the exposed bridge of the alien carrier causing massive damage and a loss of flight control. Secondary explosions began to tear through the small carrier's hull and black smoke billowed from its now gaping wounds.

As the Griffins wove through the cloud of smoke, fire, and shrapnel, Martin rolled his plane clear and gave an uncharacteristically loud whoop of joy, "Yeeeehaw!"

Over the comms, several other whoops and cheers of the UNAF fighter squadrons could be heard while Col. Hale radioed his flight with a laugh, "You know that carrier still only counts as one kill boys."

The Red Ranger leveled his fighter off and circled into formation with his Griffin flight team as they made a flyover the resting Nova Megazord. Despite the plumes of smoke still rising from the contested city of Dubai, the Nova Megazord turned in the sunlight and gave a thumbs up to the fighters as they peeled off and gave chase to the remains of the fleeing alien Strigons.

Down below on the streets of the city, the Xeno Machina infantry was beginning to lose cohesion. After seeing their carrier go down and their titan fall to the new Megazord, it was looking like the tide was turning against them. Now that their carrier's jamming signals were destroyed, fresh squads of UNAF troops were rapidly being teleported into the city to back up the STARs and other landing forces. Amid a storm of laser fire, a barricade was destroyed by a Terran bazooka and several Eidolons went hurtling backwards in all directions.

Taldyr looked in concern toward their commander and he gripped his blaster spear, "Commander, we have to leave this place. We are exposed here and the Terrans are going to surround us soon. We must escape in some of our transports."

Decimus snarled in fury, not only in losing the battle but in also failing his mission objectives. They had not expected the Megazord to be ready yet and they didn't count on such a powerful counterattack from the Terran air forces. As much as he hated to admit it, his subordinate was right. The large mechanized warrior smashed his great iron fist into the side of a building before lumbering off, "Back to the transports. We'll let the Terrans have this miserable city back. I promise we will make them pay dearly for this."

By now, UN forces were pushing the enemy back on every street of the city. Another explosion rocked the ground nearby and Taldyr turned to see a group of Terran soldiers in dark colored gear leading an advance. The STAR troopers laid down a withering hail of fire while Captain Austin waved the others on, "Lets go! Let's go! Keep pushing!"

Taldyr growled and helped to pick up a fellow clone trooper who had been wounded. The soldier turned to stare at him in shock, "Sir? What are you doing?"

"We're getting out of here," Taldyr replied sourly as his unit fell back to their transport ships in a fighting retreat against a company of UNAF marines. "That includes you too."

The wounded trooper continued to stare in wonder as Taldyr mimicked the actions of the Rangers from before and got his team back to the safety of their escape ships. In no time, the Xeno transports were up in the air and took off in retreat from Dubai. Though they had raved the city, they had been unsuccessful in their mission to find and destroy the humans' zords. For now, they took some relief that they could escape unharmed while the majority of UNAF fighters were distracted or short of ammunition. The words of Decimus had been ominous and Taldyr could only wonder what that might mean in the future… or if he'd even see those Nova Rangers again.

Back on the beaches, the Nova Megazord proudly stood guard over the recaptured city of Dubai. Erin and Ella had seemingly forgotten about their quarrels from the past few days and now exchanged a hug with each other to celebrate their victory while laughing along with Bharata as he did a little dance in his seat to add to the festive atmosphere. After the harrowing events of these past few days, Erik took another relieved breath admiring the welcoming light of the sun and the contrails of the UNAF planes in the blue skies above.

A voice crackled in over the radio and the Rangers stopped when they heard General Caldwell's voice, "Rangers… we're picking you up on sensors again… is that…"

"The Mecha-zord? Yes sir… yes it is," Erin laughed as she gave a thumbs up to Erik.

"Reports are coming in that the Xenos have been routed," Erik added, "Their carrier was destroyed and we used the zords to take out one of those titans."

"Excellent work everyone. Just stay put until the recovery crews come," Caldwell replied, "Oh, and Lieutenant Dobermann?"

"Yes General?"

The Rangers could almost hear the smile in the older man's voice, "Well done on your first command."

Erik could only laugh again as Ella tousled his hair and gave him a hug before the others joined in on another round of celebratory cheers.

A few days after returning from the battle of Dubai, Erik sat in his quarters working on an official mission report. For now, the Megazord was being moved to a new location and serviced for future battles. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to start rebuilding Dubai and helping the people who had been hurt or killed in the attack. As he continued to write at his desk, Erik kept his computer screen up on a video chat call with his daughter Sarah. She was the first person he wanted to see and he was rewarded with the sight of her showing off her first lost tooth.

"Papa! Are you paying attention?" she asked before Erik looked up again with an apologetic look.

"Yes, I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm just working on something here too."

The little girl sighed, "You're always busy with work. When are you going to come home again? If you can go to the desert and play with giant robots, why can't you come back here for a few days?"

The Blue Ranger bit his lip trying to come up with a good answer but he knew he didn't have any, "I… I don't know yet Sarah. I just got back from a mission so I think they might give me a few days. Can you be good and wait just a little longer?"

Sarah pouted on the other end and nodded before the door opened and Martin and Erin walked in. Erik turned quickly and moved to rise to his feet, "Oh…sir…I'm sorry. I didn't know you were coming by."

From the view screen, Sarah looked over and piped up toward Martin, "Are you Papa's boss?"

Erin stifled a laugh while Martin gave an amused look and walked over to the screen. Since Erin always carried her universal translator device around, they were able to understand the little German speaking girl. Martin gave a kind smile and nodded, "I guess you can say that. Are you Sarah?"

"Yup! That's me!" she said proudly before crossing her arms, "Can you give Papa a vacation? I want him to come home so we can play."

Erik watched in shock as his daughter negotiated directly with his commander causing Martin to laugh, "I'll tell you what kiddo, I promise I'll see what I can do for your Papa. Is it okay if he calls you back in just a few minutes? I need to talk to him. It's about important army stuff."

"Well… okay," she said wagging her finger, "But don't forget, you promised."

She reached for the screen and ended the video call as Erin broke out into loud laughter, "Oh my God! Erik, your daughter is adorable… and the way she calls the shots..."

"Martin, I'm so sorry about all that," Erik said in mild embarrassment, "Kids… you know?"

"Relax Erik. It's fine," Martin laughed as he stepped back to address the two Rangers, "I actually wanted to speak to the two of you about your actions in Dubai this past week. I was impressed by everyone's preliminary reports and I was more impressed by the way you two handled things in my absence. I wanted to say I'm very proud of you guys and I'm glad that you're safe."

The Blue and Yellow Rangers exchanged a knowing smile between them before Erik looked to their leader, "Thank you sir, but if it's all the same to you I'm just going to be glad to hand command back over to you. I appreciate the experience and the trust, but I'm happy where I'm at right now."

Martin nodded in understanding and cleared his throat, "For what it's worth, I also wanted to say I personally nominated you both for commendations. I think you guys earned it."

The two younger Rangers smiled and gave a pleased salute before Erik gave a hopeful look, "Thank you Captain… but as great an honor as a medal is, I think I'd prefer a few days leave to be with my family instead."

Martin crossed his arms, "I'd love to approve that for you Erik, but we've still got a lot of paperwork to get through and I need you here."

"Might I recommend a good replacement for a few days?" Erik said giving Erin a little elbow in the side.

The Yellow Ranger gave him an incredulous look before smiling, "Seriously? Okay. If you let me crash here in your room for the time being, then we have a deal. I don't feel like getting into another fight with Ella over our housing situation."

Erik shook her hand and turned to the Red Ranger, "Well… all problems solved. What do you say boss?"

Martin smiled and turned to head out the door, "I'd say you'd better get packing Dobermann. Reilly, I'd like the rest of Erik's report typed and on my desk tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours. Please and thank you."

Erin cast a friendly grin over to Erik and tossed him his duffle bag, "Come on big guy. Let me start by helping you get packed, huh? Your little one is waiting for you."

A/N:
Okay, I know that was more of a serious plotline, but it's time for a break in the action before a new Ranger joins the team. That will set up the last few plot arcs of this first half of the current series. I've got a whole second half/season plotted out for later in the future so thanks again to everyone for sticking with it. Until then!

*Fox 1-2-3: term used by NATO combat pilots when firing various missile weapons.

*Those curious about the inspiration for the UNAF air forces, they're based on futuristic versions of these modern aircraft.
-Kestral Interceptor: French Dassault Rafale
-Pegasus Fighter: U.S. F-22 Raptor
-Firebird Fighter: Eurofighter Typhoon