[980423]
                                                                      [Preview]
Fearing for their lives, the citizens in Los Angeles who have chosen to abandon
the city have escaped to the Los Angeles International Airport. However, during
their leave, Cyborg Haget flies to the terminal to hijack jet airplanes for the
people aboard. Just then, a surprise awaits the Galaxy Task Force when they try
to help in episode 23, "Verbatim" -- Tonight.


Artist Bros. Enterprises presents . . .

                        GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRO RANGER
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Starring...

         Sheratan Kasei, a.k.a., Dave Marcello.  MarsAstro!

         Australis Mokusei, a.k.a., Will Richards.  JupiterAstro!

         Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli.  MercuryAstro!

         Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven.  VenusAstro!

         Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison.  SaturnAstro!

  and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson.

  Featuring...

         Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez.



  ACT I:

    In the dark night sky, it was almost a new moon in an unusually clear night
featuring many stars; below was the neighborhood where the Terranians had made
their home in the Hollywood Hills.  The inside of the house was quiet and dark
when a thin sliver of light widener on the floor.  A shadowed figure came into
this yellow light that came from the street lamps as the door was closed again.
Their footsteps were heard as they made their way to the stair case.  Quite
suddenly, a flashlight came on.  Dave held his security guard's pistol while
just in a pair of sweat pants when it was Ron he saw shielding his eyes.
"RON!?"
  "Damn, Dave!!  Put the gun away!" Ron said wearing his bike jacket.
  Dave put the safety back on.  "Holy crap, Ron--I thought you were a burglar."
Ron sighed with annoyance; upstairs the hall light came on.
  Dave turned on the lights and turned off his flashlight.  "What are you doing
coming in here at," he checked his watch, "after midnight--Friday morning.
Don't you work today or something?" Tom, Amy and Will had come down the stairs.
  "Well, if you were paying attention, you would have realized I took a nap
yesterday so that I could be fully rested and go out tonight," Ron explained
while he put down his motorcycle helmet.
  "What's going on?" Will asked.
  Amy yawned.  "Yeah, it's midnight--what's all the yelling about?"
  "I wish I knew--I found Ron coming home a minute ago," Dave said.
  Tom squinted at Ron.  "What were you out there until midnight for?"
  Ron sighed and rolled his eyes.  "What the heck kinda question is that?"
  "Well, considering that we're on a mission here, our where abouts are rather
important--especially since L.A. is under constant attack," Will said.
  "Well, I'd like to think what I do on my time off-duty is my own business,"
Ron said.  "We may live together but that's only because it's more convenient."
  Regardless, Dave asked, "So where were you?"
  Ron frowned.  "I was on a date, `Inspector.'"
  "Oh really, with who?" Amy asked cheerfully.
  Ron turned around to look at her on the staircase.  "Uh, a lady I've been
e-mailing that I met at the music store in the mall.  Lucy."
  "A human...  Oh--Ron, you could do better," Dave snapped.
  "Yeah right, Dave," Ron countered.  "That's the pot calling the kettle
black."  Tom chuckled.
  Dave looked over at Tom and frowned.  "Hey, shut up."
  "Heh--sorry, Dave, but you know better than to throw stones if you live in a
glass house."
  "What?!" Dave said with annoyed confusion.  "What are you two talking about?"
  "They are common sayings on Earth," Will explained.  "Basically--you can't go
and talk badly about what another person has done if you're doing it yourself.
Remember Beverly?"
  Dave shook his head.  "That was different..."
  "Sh'yeah right..." Ron interjected.
  Dave continued, "...she isn't even like most humans."
  "Perhaps from your own point of view, Dave--the bottom line, it is unfair to
expect everybody to just adhere to just 'The Mission' -- you have to admit that
Earth is not as entirely hellish as it was depicted where we come from," Ron
told him.
  "Yeah, well, right now I'm not feeling to good about this place to begin
with," Dave said, "so I'm just a little sensitive about the people for which my
life depends on becoming taken in by Human Beings."
  "I get what your problem is," Ron said.  "You got burned by going after
Beverly, but because you set yourself up by thinking the world of her, you
think it's always going to be like that..."
  "Ron--there was no way I could have know about her," Dave said.  "I mean you
just can't come right out and ask."
  Ron shook his head.  "That's not the point; you're taking your bad experience
and blanketing all socializing as having the same result."
  "Well, everybody, we're not going to get anywhere by trying to argue the
point with just five hours until sun rise," Will said.  "So let's all try and
get some sleep and probably discuss this after we've had some rest."
  "Yeah you guys--maybe you'll cool off after sleeping on it," Amy said.
Everybody moved up the stairs quietly after Ron switched off the living room
light.

                                  Episode 23:
                                  "Verbatim"                                  

     Beneath the air-traffic control tower was the theme building of changing
colors.  An LAX shuttle bus driving on the multi-level ramp passed several
terminals until reaching the Tom Bradley international terminal--gates 101-123.
At Departing Flights for Singapore Airlines. At a desk, a woman talked to a man
with his family.  "I'm sorry, Mr. Sakamoto, but all flights to Tokyo for today
have been sold out.  A reservation in advance would have better guaranteed you
a seat, sir."
  His wife looked at him with concern.  "Hiroshi, we can try another airline."
  Ignoring her, he replied--growing more impatient.  "No.  I went to the other
airline and they have no flight either.  I need to return because my house was
destroyed by a monster and my family has no where to live."
  "I can put you on a flight outside of Tokyo, sir.  That's the best I can do."
  Hiroshi looked sad but nodded.  "Okay."  Meanwhile, through the windows, an
airplane is slowly rolling backwards away from the corridor set up between its
door and the terminal.
  A 767 Boeing jet airplane was slowly turning its nose left while rolling back
away from the terminal.  The whining of the enormous turbine engines spun in
stand-by while the huge tires pulled the heavy mass of metal towards a runway.
  The taxi disconnected the truck on the front tire and drove off the runway.
In the cockpit, the pilots flipped switches on the roof and pushed buttons on
the control panel.  Pushing a large handle forward, the co-pilot heard the
engine gain power.
  As the roadway ran beneath the aircraft, its tires rolled on the asphalt with
its speed increasing.  Behind the jet plane, one could see its pointed rear
with the tail fins rigidly connected to its metal frame.  Meanwhile, a silver
android with slender, metallic armor and pink, transparent pixie wings stood by
waiting for the vehicle to pass.  This busty cyborg looked at the many windows
flash by and suddenly, Cyborg Haget ran after the jet airplane.
  On the ground, it's shiny, silver metallic feet hit the ground as if it were
on a race track.  Her body moved rapidly before gaining speed as it began to
catch up with the airplane.  And now, Haget jumped into the air.
  In the sky, it's still, metal face with yellow eyes targeted the white body
of the plane below.  And upon landing, Cyborg Haget latched onto the the wings.
  Inside of the coach cabin, a woman wearing headphones felt the plane get
jostled and looked around alertly.
  As the plane began to take flight, Haget hung off the right wing.  Its two
pink wings began to flutter and the vibration actually caused waves of pink
rings began to roll out.  The waves were sparkling brightly and the plane was
actually beginning to descend again.
  On the runway, the tires screeched and smoked as the jet plane jostled on
returning to the runway.
  In the cockpit, the co-pilot looked to the Captain, asking, "What was that?"
  "What do you mean, what was that?  You're supposed to know."
  The co-pilot took off his headset to keep from being recorded by the
indestructible box.  "Cut the crap, James--that wasn't right."
  "Stop the plane and alert the crew, Hobart," Capt. James said.  "I'll talk to
the passengers." Hobart nodded and picked up a microphone wired to the console.
  Passengers in coach all looked around as they saw their surroundings passing
by at an increasingly slower pace.  Over the public address system, a voice
said, "this is your captain speaking.  We will be temporarily stopping to
engage some minor system diagnostic tests before proceeding.  This is merely a
precautionary safety measure to better ensure your non-stop flight to Chicago.
Again, thank you for flying Union Air."
  A man looked to his right.  "HUH!?"  Outside, he saw Cyborg Haget jump off
the wing.  "I sure hope whatever their investigating includes that thing!"
  In the blue sky, black and armed automatons jumped into the sky in opposite
directions and flipped out of sight.
  Landing on the wings, the soldiers used their bladed rifles to bash the
windows in.
  Screams filled the cabin as people rushed out of their seats and into the
hallway.  After the glass fell in, the Armaton soldiers climbed inside and
began to chase the passengers down.

     The following morning, as the sun made an early rise in the east, Amy was
drinking orange juice in the kitchen while watching the six o'clock morning
news.  Will came in with the newspaper and then watched what Amy was looking
at.  "How can you stand to watch these sycophants?  If they spent more air time
reporting the news rather than wasting it with endless blither blather then
perhaps they could squeeze this two hour farce into a half an hour."
  Amy shrugged.  "Eh."  Will left and Ron rushed in to grab an english muffin
for breakfast; Tom looked at him and smiled preferring his full breakfast as he
starts to prepare cream of wheat.  "Hey, Amy."
  "Hi, Tom--Ron..."
  "Hey," Ron said waiting for his muffin to finish toasting.  Dave crawled in,
hair a mess when he and Ron stared off at each other.
  On television, the anchor listened to a co-anchor finishing a sentence.
"Heh-heh, that is _so_ funny!  All right, it's 6:11am and...  Wait a minute,
this just into the newsroom.  A Union Air passenger jet plane has been grounded
by what witnesses describe as robots whom have..."
  "Oh great," Ron complained.  "They're probably trying to abduct more people."
  Amy nodded.  "That plane has enough of them."
  "Yeah, but," Dave was starting to say.  Amy interrupted with, "Shh--they're
saying more." 
  On the T.V., the news anchor said, "Airport Police officer Kelly Wilson is on
the phone with us but before we talk with her, let's switch to our LAX cam for
a look at what's going on. Officer Wilson--tell us about what's going on here."
On television, an on-screen text printed: ON PHONE -- OFC. KELLY WILSON, LAX
AIRPORT POLICE as a woman's voice spoke on the phone.  "Well, as you can see,
the Union Air Boeing 767 was preparing for take off, according to the crew,
when they were forced to land.  Then the passengers in the cabin were taken by
what they said were men in black carrying special rifles with daggers at their
ends.  LAPD officials are currently discussing how to handle this."
  While the camera showed the airplane sitting on the runway, the anchor asked,
"Discussed?  Why haven't they already dispatched officers to the scene?"
  "Because of their prior experience with these rebellious things all over the
city, the LAPD is trying to exercise superior strategy to attempt alternative
means to subdue whoever or whatever keeps assaulting people in the city,"
Officer Wilson answered.
  Tom frowned.  "It's too bad they don't know that's a waste of time."
  "We better hurry up and get out there before anybody else gets hurt," Amy
said.  "LAX is one busy place."
  "You're right about that," Dave said. "Is everybody ready?"
  Ron nodded.  "Ready."
  "Tom?" Will asked.  Tom nodded affirmatively.  Amy walked into position next
to everyone else before Dave pulled up his right fist.
  "Get ready to ChangeForm," Dave cued, "We're outta here--AstroCharge!"
Shoving their fists forward, their five GeneGem stones flashed brilliantly as
the light blinded the view.
  In front of a red grided background, white beam of light rolled back and
forth across a black silhouette of Sheratan leaving him in a red, full-body,
shiny uniform with a white arrow-head design upon his chest and black-visor
masked helmet, white belt, gloves and boots with a golden star on her belt
buckle.
  Black silhouettes of Sheratan, Australis, Messuta and Nashiran all 
simultaneously were seen as the white band scanned across their forms which 
molecularly showered on them the same costume with their individual colors and 
disappeared in a bright flash of white light.

     Against the horizon where the blue sky met the vast field of the runways
at the international airport--the red, green, black, white and pink HydroCycles
where descending while retracting their wings.  Once the tires smoked and
screeched when making contact with the asphalt, the hydraulically-powered
motorcycles let the high velocity's momentum put the five motor's transmissions
into their highest gear.
  MarsAstro looked from side to side before looking straight ahead.  "Everybody
disengage--now!"  The black seat of the red HydroCycle was emptied before his
two white boots came up onto the bike; standing into the sky with the sun
behind him, the red Astroranger jumped out of view.
  MarsAstro free-fell out of the sky followed the Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and
Venus Astrorangers.
  After landing on the runway, MarsAstro ran after the mob of Armaton Soldiers
holding his FireSword.
     As the Armatons scattered about, he slashed and lashed them with
the blade of his sword.  Sparks exploded from their steal bodies before
falling to the pavement.
  One of the soldiers was absolutely petrified by the sight of
MarsAstro's powerful assault.  The black automaton was blasted out of
sight when his FireSword sparked off of its body.
     In the air, VenusAstro's double-foot kick knocked down an Armaton
and allowed her to somersault off of its chest and bounce off the
asphalt before jumping backwards over and over.
  In the sky, she used her Moleculatom Weapon to fire multiple beams of
electricity as she sailed backwards.
  All of the soldiers she'd leaped away from were blown down by sparks
exploding everywhere.
     "Here I come!"  MercuryAstro came running in with his PowerStaff and used
the end of it to cartwheel over two Armatons.
  On one side, the white Astroranger swung his staff, knocking away a
soldier's bladed rifle before jousting into an Armaton's abs on his
other side.
  Spinning around, MercuryAstro batted the rifle of another soldier on
the first side before shoving his staff into its gut.
  After twirling the PowerStaff, the white Astroranger smashed down an
Armaton's rifle-sword before swinging up, cracking the end of his staff
against the soldier's face.
  And as soon as he spun around again, MercuryAstro used the staff to
slap down another soldier's rifle before shin-kicking the soldier out
of the way.
  Spinning around yet again, the white Astroranger cracked down against
a soldier's rifle on the other side and knelt down to ram his
PowerStaff into the Armaton's abs.
     The white Astroranger miraculously lifted up the black soldier
into air above himself and forced the Armaton to crash down into the runway.
     Meanwhile, the black Astroranger hit the ground by his white,
gloved hands, tumbling over that downed soldier and tripped an Armaton
with a low-sweeping roundhouse.
  After it flipped over in midair, SaturnAstro got up and smacked away
the rifle of an Armaton attacking from behind and pounded its abs,
disorientating the soldier.
  The black Astroranger found another attacking from behind and used
his fist to block the Armaton's hand holding the bladed rifle.
     Meanwhile, the green Astroranger was flying into the air and
split-kicking down a set of Armatons.
  On the runway, the soldiers were sent flying into the pavement to
roll away.
     Descending into view from the sky above, Cyborg Haget used its
pink crystalline wings to fly in and ahead.
  Haget flew between the five Astrorangers and sparks exploded from
their shiny uniforms before the cyborg flew back the other way.  The
blast of sparks blew them down and Cyborg Haget turned around in the sky.
  On the runway, the five of them hit the pavement and rolled over on their
backs before coming up on their knee.  The pink Astroranger looked at
SaturnAstro and then Haget.  "My boomerang and your scythe could take it out of
the sky."
  JupiterAstro looked behind himself at her and replied, "so could my bow but
now it's coming back to get personal."
  "And so are the soldiers!" MercuryAstro added.  "Sheratan, look out!"
  MarsAstro gasped, "huh?"
  As Cyborg Haget dropped into view while flying forth, it was wielding
a white and golden baton.
     MarsAstro swung his sword like a bat, beating away Haget's baton
and found an Armaton coming so he kicked it in the head before it fell down.
  Cyborg Haget swung its baton down while the red Astroranger spun
around to dodge it but Haget's baton to sparked off of his chest upon
her second try, knocking him down.
  Behind her, the four Astrorangers were running after her with their
Celestial Weapons.  So, Cyborg Haget took flight.
  VenusAstro looked up.  "What's it doing?"
  MercuryAstro tornado kicked down a soldier and also looked into the sky.
"Unfortunately, we're gonna find out fast!"
  After Cyborg Haget flew out of the sky, it hung in midair and wrapped its
arms in a unique way, holding its silver, metal claws in a circular formation.
Between its palms, a chaotic sphere of light began to form before becoming a
glowing comet.  Suddenly, Haget pushed both of its arms forward, launching the
purple comet out of sight.
  As the comet flew by, it split apart into five individual comets that
smacked into the Astrorangers--pushing them out of sight.  On the pavement, the
green Astroranger hit the asphalt with the white foam on his shiny uniform
before it made contact with the road surface.  Suddenly faded into a black
smoldering tar.  "What is this?!"
  The white Astroranger's torso was slicked with tar smoking on his uniform
while sticking him to the runway as well.  "Sheratan, we're stuck!"
  "So am I!" MarsAstro said, with his arms pinned to the runway.
  VenusAstro's ankles and wrists were tar-covered and bonded to the pavement as
her pink helmet came up.  "How did this happen?  What is this stuff?!"
  Multiple strands of tar bonded SaturnAstro's suit to the pavement while he
looked to the side.  "How are we going to get free!?"
  One could see them trapped on the ground through the space between Cyborg
Haget's feet after they'd landed on the asphalt.  Holding her wand, the silver
android in light metal armor looked over and pointed its baton to the sky.
Golden rings of light radiated from the ball-tipped staff like radio waves.
  Suddenly, the Union Air jet airplane's engines began to turn and the wheels
were rolling.
  SaturnAstro looked down and then down even harder to see the nose of the huge
aircraft turning towards the Astrorangers.  "Uh oh, guys--this isn't good!"
  VenusAstro suddenly saw the jet moving towards.  "Oh boy."
  "If anybody has any ideas on how to get up and out of here, I wanna hear 'em,
now!" MarsAstro said.  The pink-winged, silver android Cyborg Haget continued
to guide the enormous jet aircraft towards the Astroranger Galaxy Task Force...


 ACT II:

     Like gingerbread men, the Astroranger's bodies were pasted to a runway at
Los Angeles International Airport like wallpaper glued to the asphalt with a
black tar that Cyborg Haget used against the Galaxy Task Force.  Cyborg Haget,
a lightly-armored silver android with a molded metallic face and two pink
crystal-like wings, held a white baton with golden ball-tipped ends to control
a Union Air Boeing jet airplane into rolling over them.  The battle team pinned
to the ground also watched as the overbearing mass of metal began to make its
speedy approach.
  Something just isn't quite right about this cyborg, MercuryAstro suspected in
a quick thought to himself.  The white Astroranger's helmeted head jerked and
immediately shouted, "Tortan!"
  The heat beginning that early August morning warped the view of Tortan
marching from out of the horizon. As his shoulders shifted, the samurai-armored
warrior walked briskly along the runway.
  "I'm beginning to wish I had've stayed in bed," SaturnAstro groaned.
  Tortan stopped walking to look back and forth at them all.  "Nice of you
idiots to fall into my trap.  It just goes to show me you're not all so smart
after all."
  MarsAstro shouted, "Shut up!"
  Standing with the morning sun above himself, Tortan briefly laughed. "Temper,
red Astroranger--you're quite clearly in no position to be giving orders.  See
you all in the here-after; but now it's time for me to go."
  The Astrorangers were shadowed by the enormous body of the jet airplane as it
had began to approach them; they struggled furiously but couldn't become
unattached to the pavement.  VenusAstro looked up under the airplane.  "It's
gonna kill us like a pizza-cutter style!"  The airplane was still moving too
slowly to gain air-speed, but, managed to gain enough momentum to be
unstoppable and so Haget put down its baton to look at the vehicle.
     Suddenly, a humanoid in a shiny blue body suit and golden V-shaped shield
somersaulted overhead into the blue sky and out of sight followed by another in
a golden suit fitted with the same white boots and gloves, flipping in the
opposite direction.  The last to follow was one more in a silver uniform in the
similar helmet the last two wore as it jumped out of sight in the same
direction as the first.
  Landing on the ground, the belt-bucked squadron stood up from their knee and
turned around to look straight ahead.  With the sky above them, one could see
the three of them stand perfectly still while the sun caused the smooth shine
on their helmets and uniforms to glimmer in the bright light.
  Upside-down triangles themed their uniforms with those markings on their
wrist and ankle guards; embedded in their fiberglass-like helmets and
belt-buckles in their individual colors of blue, golden and silver.
     SilverPluto, with the pluto insignia over its visor, stood before a black
background crossed his arms.  "Plutonian AntiGrav--Force Out!" he shouted,
causing rings of light to emanate from his palms.  The nose of the airplane was
pushed away by the rings slamming into its side and the jet had finally begun
to rolled to a stop.
 "Triton Rod--pistol mode!" shouted BlueNeptune as he drew the red bar from
his holster.  He pulled out the back of the rod and pushed the extension down
forming the handle of his weapon.
  The black tar on the black and green Astrorangers was burned off by a red
beam of light hitting it.  MarsAstro lying beside them was instantly free when
the same bolt of red caused the black oily glue to be rapidly eaten away.  Both
the pink and white Astrorangers stood up into view and looked ahead.  "I don't
believe this."
  Cyborg Haget ran into view and clenched both its fists angrily before
slamming them down in a pout.  Behind her, Tortan pointed the shimmering,
silver blade of his razor-sharp sword at the cyborg.  "Don't just stand there,
Cyborg Haget.  Do something; _right_ now!"  Haget nodded and looked at the
Armaton soldiers in the grass-turfed field beside the runway.
  Tortan pointed his single-sided sword at them and ordered, "Armatons!"  The
armed automatons ran by as a crowd and the Astrorangers behind them looked on.
  "Who are these people?" VenusAstro asked, "and _what_ do they think their
doing?"
  "BlueNeptune!" the leader announced, holding his arms in the position of a
swimmer.
  "GoldUranus!" the next shouted, punching out before miming holding a box near
its right side.
  The third mimed digging with a shovel before holding the air like a staff.
"SilverPluto!"  Thunder and lightning struck after holding their fists end to
end before each of them formed a triangle, proclaiming themselves, "TRIRANGER!"
  BlueNeptune drew the weapon in the holster mounted on his white belt, "Triton
Rod, Knife Mode!"  All three grabbed the red bar and pushed a button causing a
switchblade to flip out.
     After striking down, the Armaton soldier's blade was struck by
BlueNeptune's TritonKnife and then stepped in to strike another
soldier.  The sparks blew it down before he stepped past the fallen
automaton to shin-kick back another Armaton.
  Putting his white gloved fists together ahead of himself, SilverPluto brought
his fists apart while his voice echoed, "LightningSpear!"  When the metal bar
and arrow-headed ends were formed out of the light, its shaft glistened in the
morning sunlight.
  "How dare you interfere with the plans of the Nazitan military!" Ginara
protested.  "Armitons: Attack!"  The army of automatons ran in a zig-zagged
pattern.
  Using both ends of his spear, the silver Triranger knocked away both
Armaton soldiers before jamming it into the chest of another black
soldier.
  SilverPluto rammed it ahead of himself, blasting down another Armaton.
    "Triton Rod--pistol mode!" shouted BlueNeptune, drawing the red bar from
his holster.  He pulled out the back of the rod and pushed the extension down
forming the handle of his weapon.  "Fire!"  BlueNeptune fired three bolts of
red light at black Armaton soldiers at varying altitudes before turning around
and firing one more shot at an Armaton approaching from behind.
  "Gold BreakerAxe!" the golden Triranger shouted while holding it out.  He ran
after the mob of Armatons and began his thunderous blows to the black soldiers.
Sparks shot out of each and every soldier that GoldUranus struck before they'd
all fell into the pavement.
  "Fools," Tortan said.  "Cyborg Haget--away with that airplane.  We must have
those people!"  Haget nodded at him affirmatively and gave a thumbs up before
jumping into the air.
  In the sky, Cyborg Haget's arms were out while its wings kept the slender
silver android airborne.
  On the ground, BlueNeptune ran from the Armatons fighting with his two others
and clenched his fist--wishing he could get to her.
  Down the runway, the Astrorangers watched while VenusAstro shook her head.
"This is unbelievable.  We haven't even done anything yet and they're already
fighting somebody."
  "We should help," MercuryAstro said.
  SaturnAstro looked at the white Astroranger immediately.  "Why?  It looks
like they can take care of themselves.  We should probably spare ourselves the
trouble."
  "I don't think so.  If they loose, it'll be our fault so I say--we nail 'em!"
MarsAstro shouted.  "Right now, let's go; come on!" the red Astroranger ordered
while running ahead.  JupiterAstro was right behind him followed by the others.
     MarsAstro was rising into the sky with his FireSword and, upon
landing, expertly knocked away blade after blade from Armaton's rifles.
     In the blue sky, the green and white Astrorangers somersaulted
past each other.  After the two landed on the runway, Armatons jumped
in their way.  MercuryAstro jumped down into a low sweep kick before
leaping into a high front kick.
  JupiterAstro slapped an Armaton's fist holding a rifle before
slapping its face with the same hand.  The green Astroranger upper-cut
its abs, forcing the black automaton to bow over to the side when she
karate-chopped its back.  It took a tumble out of sight.
  MercuryAstro reverse-punched the arm of an Armaton holding a
bladed-rifle before side-kicking another in the face.  After running
by, an Armaton's body hooked onto the white Astroranger's outstretched
arm, causing it to flip, face-first over onto its back.  After it
dropped, MercuryAstro punched straight ahead.
  Three Armatons went crashing down onto the grass against each other.
      The black Astroranger's body flew over a group of Armaton
soldiers before twisting over and out of sight.
  Against a steel pole, his two white boots bounced off the side of its
shaft and, in midair, SaturnAstro's legs swung in opposite directions.
  The Armaton was knocked off its feet after the black soles of his
white boots switched across its head.
  VenusAstro was holding her pink boomerang while shouting, "Celestial Weapon:
Sonic Boomerang tackle!" and hurled it into the sky.  An explosion blew Cyborg
Haget out of the sky.  On the ground, the silver cyborg crash landed into the
runway and tumbled over repeatedly.
  "Good toss, Lotia," SaturnAstro said.
  Tortan drew his samurai sword and held it in preparation to attack.  "I'm
tired of witnessing failure!"  He started running ahead shouting, "You will all
die for this!"
  BlueNeptune shifted his V-shielded shoulders and defiantly brought his right
arm down while grunting.  "WaterSword!" he shouted shoving his fist to the air.
  While standing with the sun behind him, the blue Triranger's arm reached into
the sky above himself.  And with his outreaching hand in the blue sky, a
brilliant flash of light like a lense flare came from the palm of his hand
before he held a sword beside his helmet.
  The golden ring capped the bottom of the red-clothed hilt of the WaterSword
with the V-shaped guard shielding his hands from the razor-sharp, double-sided
blade that was longer than a dagger but somewhat shorter than Tortan's sword.
  BlueNeptune brought the WaterSword in front of his mask, showing a heat-sink
styled fan built into the center of the guard before holding it above and
behind himself.
  Tortan came out of the sky with his sword above his head and
BlueNeptune watched as the blade lashed his golden shield before a
blinding blast of sparks exploded from the armor.
  While BlueNeptune was stumbling with his arms in the air, Tortan
turned around and sliced past his abs, sparking off of his shiny blue
uniform.
     Tortan followed him after he stumbled away and cut down.
  Sparks exploded, launching BlueNeptune off of his feet and into the
air before falling onto the runway again.
  The golden and silver Trirangers jerked and moaned in vicarious response.
     The blade of BlueNeptune's WaterSword appeared before swinging it
back and forth and running after Tortan.  Tortan swung his sword around
expertly before running after him as well.
     With the runway below the both of them, they ran past each
other--slicing their swords against each others armor.  Sparks exploded
from the clash of metal but neither fell as they'd both put their
blades against each others shoulders.
  After dragging their swords away off of each other, sparks again
exploded from the fiction.  And when Tortan ran in to cut through
BlueNeptune, he tumbled under the blade of his sword.
     Somersaulting out of the sky was MarsAstro with his FireSword.
  An Armaton found sparks blasting it down after the red Astroranger's
sword cut it down before he turned around and sliced past another
soldier's abs.  Sparks exploded from that automaton's ruptured body but
more came after MarsAstro.
     Meanwhile, the green Astroranger was rising into the sky shouting,
"Jupiter Great Red Spot Kick!!" and flew into a cork-screw kick.  Two
feet slammed into an Armaton's chest like a locomotive plowing through.
  While the Armaton's body went coasting by, SaturnAstro landed between
more soldiers, karate chopping them from the left and right before
spin-kicking the third out of the way.
     MercuryAstro blocked a pair of soldier's rifles with his upturned
forearm before karate-chopping down and punching the two of them out of
the way.
  Running down the runway were even more soldiers and the white Astroranger
jerked back.  "Aw man, they're relentless!  There's like a million of 'em!"
After putting his two feet together, MercuryAstro jumped into the air.
  "Hermes Winged Ankles!" MercuryAstro said as he jumped up.
"Foot-Punches!" In the air, he kicked a pair of Armaton soldiers in
their chests twice from each foot alternately, kicking them out of
sight.  MercuryAstro back flipped and assumed his crescent
arm-position.
     The black and green Astroranger yanked out the weapons in their
belt-hung holsters before standing back to back shouting, "Moleculatom
Weapons!"  Aiming them, they shot the Armatons with bright yellow rays
of light that became electric blue beams of energy that exploded out of
their titanium bodies.
  "Over there!" SaturnAstro shouted when the two of them changed
positions and fired, one high and the other low in the same direction.
  Dust clouds were exploding everywhere on the grassy turf, cascading
the bodies of the Armatons soldier into back flips and tumbles.
     Tortan ran after BlueNeptune, slicing from side to side while he jumped
backwards into handsprings.
  Meanwhile, Cyborg Haget flew between GoldUranus and SilverPluto, with her
claws sparking against their golden V-shields.
     Tortan's sword sparked off of BlueNeptune's shielded chest before
landing it on his shoulder.  Tortan dragged his blade away, blasting the blue
Triranger out of sight.
  After falling into the grass, Tortan march after him but BlueNeptune
jumped into the air.
  In the sky, he somersaulted over and when Tortan turned around he
found BlueNeptune coasting over his head, sticking his foot out to kick
Tortan in the neck in the process.
  Tortan hit the runway and BlueNeptune landed and turned around to look at
what he did when suddenly, he looked to his side.  "Cyborg Haget is next."
Clenching his fist, he took off towards her like a runaway train.
  A fist and a foot went across both the gold and silver Trirangers and on the
runway, they both fell when BlueNeptune joined them.  "Are you two okay?"
  GoldNeptune nodded first and SilverNeptune gave a thumbs up.
  "All right, then," BlueNeptune said prior to standing up.  "CometCannon!"
  In a black setting, the three of them held up their hands and a large bazooka
type weapon materialized in their hands.  "CometCannon activation!"
  The three of them pulled back the large handle that was the trigger.  "Fire!"
A wide beam of yellow light streamed out of the cannon's barrel.  In the air,
the beam pulsed forth powerfully.
  In the blue morning sky, flames pushed a black cloud of smoke upward in a
loud explosion filled with fire.
  Behind the flames, the Trirangers brought their arms down and stood perfectly
still.
  "Retreat!!" Tortan shouted.  The Armatons ran away from the Astrorangers who
watched them jump into the air.  In the sky overhead, they jumped out of sight,
one by one until they were gone.
  MarsAstro looked up while breathing heavily but then it occurred to him what'd
just happened.
  "Sheratan," JupiterAstro said with a serious tone, "did you see that?"
  On the runway, the lightly-armored silver cyborg with wings was on fire and
in a half dozen separated sections.
  "Someone _else_ did that," JupiterAstro told him.
  Tortan looked at the two battle teams and pointed his sword.  "You haven't
seen the end of this.  We'll be back."  Turning the sword upside down into his
left fist, he put his right fist against his chest and disappeared within the
blink of an eye.
  "We'll worry about him later," MarsAstro said.  "What I wanna know is where
these three guys came from?"  VenusAstro looked at the three of them as they
stood watching the Astroranger conference over what they would do.
  JupiterAstro crossed his arms and held his chin, pondering what to make of
this.  MercuryAstro started walking towards them and SaturnAstro shifted his
shoulders urgently, responding to his risky course of action.
  VenusAstro had her arm out, putting a hand on his chest. "Take it easy, Nash;
we're here in case something goes wrong."
  MercuryAstro stopped walking when he finally got within arms length of the
three similarly costumed warriors.  They didn't move or make a sound and
neither did he.  I wish I could tell what they're thinking but I'm not getting
anything, the white Astroranger thought to himself.  "My name's Messuta Suisei.
What is yours?"  They looked to each other and then to him again.
  Discouraged, MercuryAstro sighed.  "Nod if you understand me."  MarsAstro had
watched closely as the three of them slowly nodded.
  "Were they--the ones we all fought--your enemies?" MercuryAstro asked.  The
three of them nodded in the affirmative.
  "Are we your enemies?"  They shook their heads to answer 'no'.
  "They will return," MercuryAstro said to them.  "Will you help us stop them
again?"  They had all nodded strongly in the affirmative and suddenly,
BlueNeptune extended his open right hand.
  MercuryAstro looked down and then up a the blue Triranger.  During the
hesitation, SaturnAstro stood ready and even JupiterAstro was getting uneasy.
Suddenly, the white Astroranger grabbed BlueNeptune's hand and shook it.
  MarsAstro uncrossed his arms and started walking towards them.  "Come on."
Puzzled, VenusAstro watched the red Astroranger walk ahead before she followed
him.
  The the remaining four Astrorangers gathered to face the Trirangers, they'd
extended their hands.  "Allies," MarsAstro said.
  BlueNeptune braced MarsAstro's hand and shook it once, firmly.  He nodded and
could repeat the word, "Allies."  The green and black Astrorangers looked at
each other curiously before looking at the Triranger squadron again.

     Yard away, someone was looking past the almost extinguished flames of
Cyborg Haget and the misplaced passenger jet airplane as the Astrorangers shook
hands with the Trirangers.  A womans voice briefly giggled before one could see
her silver tiara with the dark jewel of Procyon IV at its center.  The stealth
Nazitan warrior Ginara in nothing but a black, full-body suit like leather
knelt behind a wall watching. "I surely hope Pleadia can reassemble my costume.
I'll need to be Haget again for the next part of my plan."
  The robot face of Cyborg Haget's mask was on its side in the runway, staring
blankly into the nothingness above as the flames burned all around itself. It's
golden, bee-like eyes suddenly were illuminated.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    

Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

Cyborg Hageta returns to avenge its own previous death and leads Armatons to
hijacking a private jet plane.  But when the Astrorangers come aboard to save
the passengers, the aircraft is destined to crash land.  However, nothing is as
it truly seems and the Astrorangers realize too late that they've been had in
episode 24, "No Longer the Cloaked Dagger"


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"Galaxy Task Force Astroranger" is a trademark of Artist Bros. Enterprises. The
above text is protected under laws of the  United States  and other  countries.
Unauthorized duplication,  distribution  or  exhibition  may  result  in  civil
liability and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c)1997 Artist Bros. Enterprises,
Artist Bros. Music and Dairenn Lombard.  All Rights Reserved.  Country Of First
Publication: United States of America.  Artist Brothers and Dairenn Lombard are
the author of the preceding text.  The characters and events depicted  in  this
story are fictional.  Any  similarity to  actual  persons,  living or dead,  is
purely coincidental and unintentional.  This copyright notice does  not  extend
to infringe upon the  existing  copyrights for `Super-Sentai' titles maintained
by  Toei Company LTD., Toei Agency, Toei International, Asahi-TV, Marvel Comics
and Ishimori Productions.                                               [TV-PG]
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