Author's Note: Yes, I know it's been a while. Hoo boy, has it been a while. But it feels good to be back to fic writing. This is the fourth story in my series, The Power Rangers Chronicles. It takes place a day after The Rescue. There's a few Star Wars quotes or near-quotes in here, in case you want to find them. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions feel free to email me at emerald_phoenix@hotmail.com.

Year 1, Day 20

“Man, that was the best sleep I’ve had in a while,” Zack yawned as he, Matt, Jason, and Trini walked down the steps behind Zordon’s time-warp tube into the Primary Chamber.

“Good morning,” Zordon’s voice greeted the four teens.

“Hi, Zordon,” Matt said.

“Hey, Billy, what’re you working on?” Trini asked her friend upon seeing him bent over a computer console.

“Just assisting Alpha with the final repairs to the Command Center,” Billy responded. “Some of the systems were apparently damaged a little too much for the auto-repair function to take over.”

“Neat,” Trini replied. “When will it be finished?”

Billy shrugged. “It won’t be too much longer. There’s this console over here, and two more on the other computer bank.”

“Well, good luck,” Jason said. “Say, where’s Kim?”

“I believe she’s up in the Med Lab,” Alpha replied. “Ai-yi-yi. She spends too much time up there.”

“Thanks,” Jason said to the little robot.

“Always glad to help.”

Jason, Zack, and Matt turned and walked back up the stairs; Trini stayed behind.

“So, um, would you like a hand, Billy?” she asked.

“Another set of hands would be greatly appreciated,” Billy replied to her.

Trini walked to Billy’s side and he began explaining to her what he and Alpha were trying to do.

“Hey, Kim,” Matt said as the three teens walked into the Med Lab. “How are they?”

“A lot better than they were yesterday, that’s for sure,” Kim replied. “These Regeneration Beds are amazing.”

“Better be careful there, Kim,” Jason grinned. “You’re starting to sound like Billy.”

“Hey!” she said as she grabbed a pillow from the Regeneration Bed she was standing next to and hurled it at Jason’s head.

“Oomph,” he said as the pillow hit his face.

“Yeah, they’re definitely cool,” Zack agreed.

“Anyway,” Kim continued, “Alpha says that they’ll probably need to stay in for about a week, give or take a few days, but they’ll make a full physical recovery.”

“You’re still worried about their psychological condition, aren’t you?” Matt asked her.

Kim sighed. “Yes, I am,” she admitted. “I mean, how would you feel if you’d been nearly tortured to death?”

“Well, considering that in the past week and a half I’ve been kidnapped by some megalomaniac from outer space, basically fed to some lizard creature, and accepted a proposal to save the universe from a giant floating head, I’d probably just be thinking ‘What next?’” Jason responded.

“But you’ve got a point,” Zack hastily added, seeing the look in Kimberly’s eye.

“Don’t worry, Kim,” Matt told her gently. “Sam’s strong, and I’m sure the princess is, too. They’ll pull through just fine. Trust me.”

“Part of me knows you’re right, Matt, but I just can’t shake the feeling that something big’s gonna happen soon,” Kim said.

“Yeah, I feel it, too,” Jason agreed.

“It almost feels like a storm front’s moving in,” Zack said. “Matt, you okay?” Zack asked his friend suddenly, noticing that his eyes had glazed over and he was staring into space.

“Huh?” Matt shook himself out of it. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Why don’t we help Billy and Alpha finish fixing this place up? It’ll take our minds off Sam and the princess for a while.”

The other teens assented to his suggestion and the quartet made their way down the stairs to the Primary Chamber. They then threw themselves into patching up the last of the wreckage.

Meanwhile, in the throne room of his castle fortress, King Zarkon sat deep in thought. He was mulling over his defeat at the hands of this new Voltron Force when he was startled out of his reverie by the beeping of his throne intercom.

The king pushed a button, bringing the intercom to life. “Yes, what is it?” he growled irritably into the speaker.

“Milord, I have the status report you requested,” the robot officer on the monitor replied.

“This had better be good,” Zarkon warned.

“It is most assuredly good news, sire,” the officer said. “The remaining cruisers from the battle yesterday have been restored to operational status. The fighter compliment has also been increased to one half of the normal capacity. All ground troops are ready to go.”

“That is indeed good news. What is our current military strength?”

“Twelve cruisers, 288 fighters, and 500 ground troops.”

“Impressive,” the king nodded. “Do we have a transport capsule?”

“No milord, and with all of the resources that were spent reviving the fleet, we will not be able to complete construction on one for some time-possibly two to three weeks.”

“Hmmm. Very well. Begin construction as soon as possible. I want that capsule in two weeks-no more.”

“Understood, sire. It will be as you command.” The officer nodded and broke the connection.

Zarkon thought for a moment and pressed the intercom button again. “Bring me Admiral Corbec and General Vistro,” he ordered.

“Right away, sire,” a robotic voice came back.

Several minutes later the doors at the far end of the throne room opened and Vistro and Corbec marched in. They strode the length of the room and knelt before the throne.

“How may we be of service, sire?” Corbec asked.

“You may rise,” Zarkon acknowledged his two underlings. The two did as they were bid.

“I want you to prepare your forces. We are going to invade the planet and destroy Allura and her friends once and for all.” The two nodded at that. “Destroy anything that stands in your way; I want no survivors. You may launch when ready.”

“As you command, sire,” Vistro acknowledged.

The two Draconians bowed to their master and marched out of the throne room.

Several minutes later, the entire Draconian space fleet boiled out of the launch bay and headed towards Earth, bent on the complete and utter destruction of the Princess of Arus and her new companions.

The teens and Alpha had almost finished removing the last piece of charred wreckage from the Command Center when the alarms began to sound. Everyone immediately stopped what he or she was doing and rushed into the Primary Chamber.

“What’s going on, Zordon?” Matt asked their mentor.

“I am afraid that Zarkon has marshaled his forces and is assaulting Earth,” the bald mentor answered. “Behold the Viewing Globe.”

The crystal globe sprang to life with images of the Draconian fleet’s arrival on the planet.

“They appear to be headed this way,” Zordon continued. “I believe that King Zarkon is rather upset about your rescue yesterday and has come to destroy you.”

“Why is that not surprising?” Zack asked to nobody in particular.

“We’d better get to the Lions,” Matt said. “It looks like round two’s about to begin.”

With that the six teens hopped off the dais as it began to rise from the floor, revealing the seven numbered doors. When the dais locked in position, the teens ran for their doors and jumped into the tubes leading to the Lions.

Meanwhile the Draconian fleet was closing in on the Command Center.

“Time to contact?” Admiral Corbec asked.

“Three minutes,” the tactical officer responded. “All troops and fighters report ready to deploy.”

“Excellent,” Corbec said as he sat on the edge of his command chair in anticipation of the battle to come. Soon this planet will feel the full fury of the Draconian forces!

By then the teens were in their respective Lions.

“Everyone, report in,” Matt ordered.

“Billy here, all systems go.”

“Zack here, ready to rock.”

“This is Kimberly, let’s kick some butt.”

“Trini here, I second that.”

“Jason here, let’s roll.”

“Okay team, Alpha says they’ll be here in another minute. We’re clear to launch.”

In a chorus of affirmatives and roar of engines, White, Green, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and Red Lions rocketed out of their holding bays and took flight, racing toward the oncoming fleet at top speed.

“Sir, the Lions have launched and are headed for us,” the tactical officer aboard Corbec’s flagship reported.

“Launch all fighters. That should keep them busy until we can unload our ground troops.”

The teens watched as nearly three hundred robot fighters swarmed out of the cruisers.

“Would you look at the size of that fleet?!” Zack said.

“This is it,” Matt said. “Lock S-foils in attack position.”

“What?” Kimberly asked, confused.

“Sorry,” Matt replied. “Just something I’ve always wanted to say. Pick your targets and go.”

The six Lions split up and charged right into the buzzing mass of fighters, laser cannons blazing.

Though vastly outnumbered, the teens seemed to be holding their own. The robot fighters were good, but not very intelligent; they destroyed just as many of themselves as the Lions did. In a very short time, the number of robot fighters had dropped to half of what it had been, then down to a quarter. Soon the Lions only had isolated pockets of a dozen or so fighters to deal with. However, the twelve cruisers had continued on past the Lions and reached the Command Center.

“Ai-yi-yi!” Alpha’s frantic voice came over the cockpit intercoms. “Zarkon’s cruisers are attacking the Command Center!”

Matt swore under his breath and looked for the two Lions closest to him and the Command Center. “Kim, Jason. You two come with me. Time to shred some cruisers.”

“Right with you, Boss,” Jason said, swinging his Lion around follow his leader.

“On my way,” was Kim’s reply, as she also brought her Lion around to trail Matt.

As the three Lions lit into the cruisers with lasers, missiles, teeth and claws, the area around the Command Center was bathed in a golden light.

“Oh, shit,” Jason swore as he saw five hundred robot soldiers materialize on the ground. Just then, a laser blast from one of the cruisers caught his Lion full on its right side, sending it tumbling.

“Jason!” Matt yelled upon seeing his friend’s Lion blasted.

“I’m okay, Matt,” Jason assured him, “but that laser fried my shields. Look at all those soldiers in the valley!”

“I see them,” Matt said grimly. “But these cruisers are a little bit more of a threat. Until the others get here, there’s not a whole lot else we can do. Kim, how’d you take down these things last time?”

“We, um, just kind of did what we’re doing right now,” she answered. “Zarkon must have upgraded their armor or something.”

“Great,” Matt muttered. “Just once, can’t something go right?”

“Hey, guys, the cavalry’s here!” Zack’s voice came over the intercom.

“Well, what do you know?” Kim laughed. “Ask and ye shall receive!”

“Awesome timing guys,” Jason added. “We can’t seem to scratch these things, and they sent an army down to the ground.”

“We should probably split up,” Trini suggested.

“Or we could simply strafe the ground and destroy the robots that way,” Billy put in.

Which would give us more Lions in the air, and would probably take out the robots faster, Matt thought. “All right Billy, we go with your plan. Jason, without shields you’ll have more trouble against the cruisers. You’ll work on the ground. Billy, you’re with him.”

“Right,” Jason said.

“Acknowledged,” Billy affirmed.

The Red and Blue Lions broke off and went on long strafing runs, cutting down robot soldiers by the hundreds. The robots returned fire, but it bounced ineffectually off of the Lions’ armor.

“Okay guys, new plan,” Matt said to the other teens, who were still having no luck taking out the cruisers. “Go for the engines. Maybe we can make them crash.”

The four Lions split up into pairs and savagely attacked the engine pods of two of the cruisers. Suddenly Kimberly screamed as two laser beams struck her Lion at once.

“Kim!” Zack, her wingman, shouted. “Kim! You all right?”

“I got a little cooked, but I’m okay,” she managed weakly, bringing her Lion around in a wobbly arc to make another pass at the engines of the cruiser.

“Man, Kim, you gotta watch that crossfire!” Zack said.

“I’ll try and remember that next time,” she retorted.

Meanwhile, Matt and Trini were faring a bit better. The two teens sent their Lions straight through the main engine pod of the cruiser they were working on, causing the eruption of a rather large fireball.

“Yeeeehaw!” Matt exclaimed as he emerged from the other side of the cruiser.

“That got him!” Trini agreed as the cruiser drifted down to the ground and detonated on impact.

“Sir!” the tactical officer on Corbec’s flagship exclaimed. “We just lost one of the cruisers!”

“Dahk!” Corbec swore. “Forget the Command Center. Concentrate fire on those Lions!”

“Yes, sir,” the weapons officer acknowledged.

“That’s about all of the robots,” Billy said as he and Jason completed yet another strafing run.

“Yeah, there sure were a lot of-ahhh!” Jason cried as a pair of laser beams struck his unshielded Lion in the engines.

“Jason! Are you all right?”

“I’ve lost power; I’m going down!”

“Hang on, I’ll-“ Billy’s voice was cut off as several lasers struck his Lion, sending it crashing into Jason’s. The two Lions tumbled to the ground, landing hard.

“Jason! Billy!” Trini cried. No response.

“Jason, Billy, come in!” Matt tried, also to no avail.

“It’s no use,” Trini said. “Either their radios are dead or…”

“Don’t even think it,” Matt told her.

“Please be all right,” Trini whispered. “Please.”

“Everybody, split up,” Matt ordered. “We need to take these things out now."

“Sir, We just downed two of the Lions--the red and blue ones,” the tactical officer reported.

“Very good. Continue firing upon the Lions until they are no more. I want no trace of them left in the skies!” Admiral Corbec sat back in his command chair and smiled. Things weren’t going too badly after all. He’d lost all of his fighters, and Vistro had lost his ground forces, but he still had eleven cruisers, and there were only four Lions left.

The remaining four Lions, White, Yellow, Pink, and Green, each rammed themselves through one of the cruisers’ engine pods, completely shredding the components. The four cruisers simultaneously drifted into the ground, where they exploded on impact. Matt unloaded every weapon in his Lion’s arsenal, downing yet another cruiser, while Trini and Kim took down another. Two cruisers focusing their firepower on the Green Lion, missed completely, and hit each other’s engine pods, causing brilliant explosions. In the space of a few seconds the Draconian space fleet was reduced from eleven cruisers to two.

“Admiral, we have just lost eight more cruisers!” and astonished tactical officer cried.

“What?!” Corbec exclaimed, incredulous. “How could we lose eight cruisers that fast? It’s impossible!”

“Maybe so, sir, but it just happened. And they still have four Lions left.”

“Very well,” Corbec ordered darkly. “Order the others to retreat. We will not win this day.”

“As you command, sir.”

The two remaining Draconian cruisers slowly turned and headed back to the castle on the moon. The Lions watched them go.

“And don’t come back!” Zack pumped a fist inside of his cockpit.

“Hey, guys, what did we miss?” Billy’s shaky voice came over the speakers.

“Billy?” Trini asked. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t seem to be able to find any broken bones,” he replied. “Jason and I were only knocked unconscious by the crash.”

“Can you fly?” Matt asked.

“The Lions were repairing themselves while we were out.” That was Jason. “We can fly, but we can’t fight.”

“Don’t worry about that!” Kim laughed. “We sent those ships packing.”

“That’s right,” Zack piped up. “They’ll think twice about messing with the Voltron Force next time around!”

“Ai-yi-yi!” Alpha’s voice came across the speakers. “Zarkon's remaining forces have returned to his castle fortress. Go ahead and come home.”

“Well done, my young friends,” Zordon’s voice greeted the teens when they returned to the Primary Chamber. “This will be a day long remembered, by both sides. After such a defeat, Zarkon will not try anything like that again. You have won a great victory, and you should be proud. But be warned: Zarkon will not rest. It will take him some time before he can mount an attack, but attack he will. You must never let down your guard. But for now you should rest, and celebrate. I am very proud of all of you.”

Zordon’s words of praise caused the teens to blush.

“Thanks Zordon,” Jason said.

“I have some good news regarding your friend and the princess,” Alpha spoke up.

“The teens whirled on him. “They're going to be all right?” Matt asked.

“I am happy to say that they will make a full physical recovery. All it will take is time. In another two weeks they will be out of the regeneration beds and walking around.”

“That’s great!” Kim said.

“That really is something to celebrate,” Trini added.

“This is a most prodigious occasion,” Billy added.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Zack asked. “Let’s party!”

The others laughed and began talking amongst themselves, describing to each other their view of what each felt was their first real victory. They continued celebrating long into the night.

The End…for now