[979028]
                                                                      [Preview]
What's he doing in there?  Cyborg Micron makes it real tough for the task force
to defend Earth when AstroMan is no longer under their control in Episode #44,
"Espionage!  The Sabotage of AstroMan" -- read ahead!

                                                                  [Title Theme]

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!

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

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

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

         Beverly Tenmei.  EarthAstro!

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

  Featuring...

         Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez.

 with... Captain Tony Fleishman.



  ACT I:

     It was silent that winter day in the city of angels though very cold.  The
sky was clear over the duplex on Normandie Avenue.  In one of the apartments, a
bedroom inside had a window with old fashion drapes, a dresser drawer with a TV
on top.  Elsewhere, a lamp, clock radio, and telephone upon a nightstand beside
a bed.  In a corner of the room, where stood a desk and chair, Peter wrote on a
piece of ruled paper with a pencil almost more diligently than he had worked on
book reports at this very spot.  The seventh grader stopped a minute to rub his
eyes.  Peter turned on the soft lamp built into the wooden desktop and read the
pages he wrote.
  The door to his room was ajar and his brother, about two years older than him
knocked on the door.
  "Hey, Jason--come in," Peter said.  He walked in holding a couple of comic
books.
  "This is the coolest issue yet," Jason started, "SonicMan's gonna go up
against Grand Baron alone!  I wonder how he's ever gonna survive him?"
  Peter shrugged.  "I don't know--guess we'll have to find out."  Jason was
already thumbing through the pages while Peter continued reading.
  "Aw man--SonicMan's twin brother is in there," Jason said.  "You know, the
one Grand Baron had Dr. Mutor turn evil?  Sonic'll never fight him...  Pete?"
  Jason wasn't paying too close attention.  "Yeah, fight Dr. Mutor.."
  "Uh, that's SonicMan that..." Jason interrupted himself.  "Uh, Pete?"
  "Yeah," Peter vaguely asked in reply.
  "What's up?"  You like SonicMan."
  "Well, I'm kinda busy right now," Peter replied.  "Maybe we can play that new
video game you got later."
  "What?  You're never too busy for comics," Jason said.
  Peter shook his head.  "Not in the mood right now."
  Jason shrugged.  "What are you so busy with?"
  Peter sighed.  "I'm writing a letter to this lady..."
  "A girl?  At school?  But..."
  "That's not so hard to believe, Jase--but it's not a girl at school," Peter
answered.  "She's someone I met back when that subway was trapped."
  "That was, like, a month ago," Jason replied.
  Peter nodded.  "That how long it took me to figure out how to write her a
letter."
  "How'd you do that?" Jason asked.
  Peter shrugged.  "I did a lot of looking."
  "So," Jason started to ask, "who's this girl you wanna get with?"
  "You don't know her but her name is Amy."


                                  Episode 44:
                     "Espionage!  The Sabotage of AstroMan"                   

     In the far reaches of the solar system, the gray, ice-covered planet Pluto
stayed in fixed orbit of the sun billions of miles away.  Beneath the surface, 
the dome covered underground structure housed the Nazitan outpost. Inside, Adol
the Great sat within his iron throne before a crystal ball upon a pedestal.  On
the floor Tortan, Ginara, Pleadia and Igan stood awaiting Adol's speech.
  "Congratulations team on a relatively successful mission against the
Astroranger task force," Adol said to them.  "Despite their long attempts at
resistance, we are closer now than ever before to having the power to form the
Infinitum Genesis Ring.  The one force not even AstroRobo can defeat."
 "With all but two solar spheres with us, Galaxy Task Force Astroranger doesn't
stand a chance against us," Tortan said.  "However, without those last two
spheres, we will never be able to form the ring."
  "Obviously," Igan spoke up.  "And, I have an idea on how we can make it easy 
to get them."  Ginara arched an eyebrow in disbelief.
  "I'm listening," Adol replied.
  Igan stepped forth.  "It appears to me that the main way the Astroranger task
force can enter any other dimension is with the aid of technology onboard their
AstroShuttle fleet.  If we disable the fleet, we will eliminate any possibility
for them to attempt to block our retrieval of the solar spheres."
  "One of them anyway--Earth's sphere will no doubt be under some city that the
battle team will show up at and try to protect," Ginara added.  "But, Igan, do
not be impractical.  Disabling the AstroShuttle fleet is obviously easier said
than done."
  "Indeed, Igan," Tortan backed up; "Do not waste our time with foolishness."
  Pleadia had his fingers at his chin while pondering.  "Not so fast, Tortan.
Igan may have a good idea and I think it might be possible to do just that.  Of
course, with the aid of a little strange looking cyborg I conjured up a long
time ago when Cyborg Braegon Toorima captured many human brain."
  Adol nodded.  "Go ahead.  But do not waste a lot of time with this.  We need
you working on the solar spheres we already have."
  "Very well," Pleadia replied.

     The sun afternoon sun shined against the west side of the Terranian's home
in Los Feliz, the suburban community east of the Hollywood Hills. Inside of the
laundry room, Will carried a laundry basket inside.  The door was left ajar and
in the hallway, Beverly, in her police uniform, walked by noticing Will loading
the washer.  Stepping inside, she said,  "Hey, Will."
  "Hi, Beverly," Will replied.  "Off duty?"
  Beverly nodded and took off her hat. "Yeah, finally; these new 6am shifts are
a killer but I'll get used it.  Listen, I'd like to thank you all for letting
me sleep in Amy's room for the past couple of days."  She walked further into
the laundry room.
  Will poured detergent into the washer.  "That's all right.  Who knew Sasha's
place was going to be fumigated for an infestation of termites?" Will said with
a smile.
  "Aheh," Beverly slightly chuckled.  She wasn't in the laughing mood.  "Will--
I'm not sure how I wanna say this."
  "What's up?" Will asked before turning on the washer.
  Beverly jumped up and sat on top of the running washing machine and looked at
Will.  "I'm real glad Ron was able to get your medical team to the SpaceBase to
remove the implant.  Especially since I was unconscious the whole time.  At the
same time, I feel bad that if it weren't for me, the rest of you wouldn't have
lost the solar spheres--real or fake."
  "Nah...  The Nazitans made you into their only way to get those prop spheres.
There wasn't anything you could have done," Will replied.  "It's okay."
  Beverly shrugged.  "I know, it's just that I was apart of the reason it all
happened.  I chose to become apart of the task force because I wanted to help."
  "Of course, but you weren't responsible for what happened," Will replied.
"Anyway, the important thing is that they don't have the spheres and only Dave
knows the true location."

     A silver-bodied motorcycle drove down Florence Avenue in Inglewood.  Ron,
its driver, wore a silver helmet, black fingerless gloves, a thick white
jacket, rugged jeans and basketball shoes.  He signaled while turning right.
  The large brown sign: Inglewood Mortuary came into view when Ron drove his
bike into the parking lot.  His red brake light illuminated when approaching
the entrance where he slowly drove to the right.
  Kneeling beside his motorcycle holding his helmet, Ron looked at the
tombstone of Lucy, the young lady he'd gone out with before her confrontation
with Titan-Ginara.  Clenching his gloved fist, he began to remember that day...
   Titan-Ginara looked down upon MercuryAstro on the ground.  "Why do you
 use the last precious few moments of your life so wastefully, white
 Astroranger?" 
   "You are a fool to think you can kill us so easily!"  MercuryAstro replied.
   Titan-Ginara stepped forth.  "It has not been easy but I will certainly
 contribute to your slow but steady extermination!"  She leaned down and
 waved the back of her hand to smack MercuryAstro.  Lucy saw Titan-Ginara
 prepare to strike the white Astroranger and started running after him.
   "MercuryAstro, get out of the way!"
   He turned to see Lucy charge after him and looked shocked.  "Lucy??"  What
 is she doing here? he thought but a split second went by when she slammed
 into his body.  MercuryAstro fell back out of the way but Titan-Ginara's
 giant hand swung against Lucy's body batting her back.
   JupiterAstro and VenusAstro jerked as they watched Lucy land on the
 sidewalk with a trail of blood leaving her temple.  MercuryAstro tumbled over
 and rolled over several times.
   He got up on one knee to see Lucy lying on the ground.  "Luce!"
 Lucy layed unconscious in the white Astroranger's arms.
   "Come on, talk to me."  Lucy came to and looked into his visor.
   "Lucy!" Mercuryastro cheered.  VenusAstro had remembered the name.
   Lucy's eyes fell shut again but her lips parted to speak.  "Ron, I'm not
 going to make it."
   "How do you know who I..." MercuryAstro started to ask.
   "Last night...  You were--talking, in your sleep," Lucy answered.
   "I'm going to miss you," MercuryAstro replied.  "We only just met!"
   "If my spirit is still around, I will look over you always..." she said
 while fading.  VenusAstro looked down in sadness over her friend's loss.
 MercuryAstro set Lucy's deceased body on the ground and stood up.  "I don't
 believe this..." 
 MercuryAstro looked up and pointed at giant-sized Ginara.  "Ginara, you will
 be punished for your crimes against humanity!  I personally will guarantee
 it!"
In the mortuary, Ron exhaled.  "I regret not knowing you better, Lucy."  He
felt responsible for her passing away.  If only I had've stuck to the mission,
Ron thought to himself.
  A computer monitor came up from behind another tombstone with graphics on the
screen displaying a round face showing an evil smile.  The monitor was the head
of an almond colored robot with a tower computer in its chest.  On it's left
arm was a keyboard with keys that had unknown symbols instead of letters and
numbers.
  Ron removed a flower from his jacket and laid it upon Lucy's grave and stood
up.  "As my New Year's Resolution--I'll get Ginara for what she did to you."
Ron's bike was kicked over and he looked behind himself at it on the grass.
"Hey, what's the big idea??"
  Cyborg Micron, on heavy iron legs and feet stood six and and a half feet
above Ron who looked at the robot flex its completely metal-made arms.
  "Ho crap!!" Ron said jumping back.  The incredibly flexible robot briskly ran
towards him.  Already regretting putting on tight fitting jeans, Ron ran away.
     Micron high-kicked and Ron cartwheeled out of the way.  From the
cyborg's point of view, Ron was a moving stick figure in its internal
display as it calculated his every move and the next best possible
attack.
  Micron punched ahead and Ron back flipped, making his basketball
shoes knock its big black fist high up.
  Cyborg Micron dropped low and spin-kicked the back of Ron's knees.
He fell onto his back.  "Ough!!"  
  Ron rolled over just before Micron's foot stomped into the ground.
  "That was close!"  He pushed off his hands and onto his feet again when the
back of Micron's fist swung against Ron's face.
  Ron tumbled over and got up on one knee with blood in the corner of
his lip.
  Cyborg Micron pushed a button in its chest ejecting a floppy diskette
out of its built-in disk drive.  Sparks exploded and Ron hopped away
from the blast.  Rolling over he looked up at the cyborg running after
him again.  "What's up with this thing?!"
  Ron tumbled under a roundhouse kick from Micron and then knocked
away its fist punching towards him.  Ron's abs caught the cyborg's shin
kicking into him.
  Ron kept up and shin-kicked it in the chest.  Ron's second kick found
his foot stuck in Micron's large hands.  The cyborg lifted him up and
Ron flipped backwards into the air and onto his feet again.
  Cyborg Micron's ankles were spin-kicked by Ron's white basketball
shoe-covered feet knocking it onto its back.
  Ron stood up while breathing heavily.  "Now to get the hell outta here!"
  After lying flat on its back, Micron came straight up, stiff as a stick,
pounded its fists together and prepared for another round.
  Ron jumped back while his eyes opened wider.  "I don't believe it!  Whoever
came up with this guy was probably drunk."
  A slot in Cyborg Micron's right arm began to ejected perforated printer paper
at Ron.  He jumped into the air before it had a chance to mummify him.  Ron had
jumped off the cyborg's flat shoulders pushing it over.
  Ron somersaulted onto the grass, landing on one knee and stood up to turn
around and face Cyborg Micron.
  After tumbling over, Micron took a computer mouse from its left hip and flung
it into the air.  Ron looked at it fly through the air before the cord wrapped
itself around his neck.  "Uh oh!!" he said while trying to pull off the wire.
  Cyborg Micron pulled against the cord when it finally just gave it one great
tug.  Ron was jerked into the blue sky and flew over Micron's head.  "Woah!!"
  Ron landed on the grass again, just barely getting up.  "Aw, son of a bitch!"
The screen in Micron's monitor-shaped head cleared as a white bubble of light
blasted into a stream of energy shooting out of the display.
  The white light hit the ground, instantly creating a fire filled explosion,
blowing Ron sky high.

     On Pico and La Cienega Boulevards, Dave wheeled a shopping cart filled
with bags of groceries up to the back of Tom's truck in the parking lot of Jons
Supermarket.  Tom pulled out his keys, turned of the alarm and remote-unlocked
the doors.  Dave carried two bags with each arm into the back of Tom's truck
and closed the back door. He walked around to the passenger door, opened it and
sat inside.
  Tom started the ignition.  "I still cannot believe we spent $89 on food!"
  "A box of Cerrios for $6 a box," Dave read off the recept.  "Heh--Generic
Mills should enjoy their massive profit margin."
  Driving in reverse, Tom backed out of the parking space and started to drive
towards the street.  "Anyway, I went over to to Sara Bergstrom's house last
night."
  "Oh yeah?" Dave asked.  "Got that mess straightened out about the kiss and
all that?"
  Tom shrugged.  "Not really--she was too pissed off about something else and I
just knew telling her that we didn't really have anything romantic going on was
only going to make things worse."
  "Didn't want her to take it out on you, right," Dave acknowledged.  "So what
was her problem?"
  "Her ex-husband distributed pictures from their honeymoon photo-album via the
Internet," Tom answered, "and it finally got back to her that they were out on
a web site somewhere.  Probably someone from that computer users' group that
Ryan ditched her's for."
  "What kind of photographs did they take?" Dave asked.
  Tom looked at the road ahead and said, "Nude ones, Dave."
  "Oh," Dave replied.  "OH!"
  "Yeah, those were private pictures of Sara and Ryan (her ex) doing it on an
abandoned beach in Mexico among other things," Tom said.  "So, she went to go
to Stephen's 'Southbay Computer Users' club to get 'em removed."
  Dave nodded.  "I wonder why anybody would do that?  I know that where we come
from, nobody cares about a naked body but regardless, distributing something
deemed private is a crap thing to do."
  "Sara described Ryan as someone so lame as to do it.  In her own words, she
said, ``I'm gonna get that son of a bitch if it's the last thing I do.''  Daria
is not one to be easily angered, like Amy--and Sara strikes me the same way,"
Tom pondered.  "It must have taken this and other major blows to really get her
this angry."
  "Speaking of Daria, how did you propose to her?"
  "Dave, that was a long time ago...  How am I supposed to remember something
like that when I don't plan on doing it again given that we're together," Tom
replied.  He grinned and said, "And it will stay that way as long as she has
anything to say about it."
  "Heh-heh," Dave lightly chuckled.  "I was hoping you would remember, if not
for entertaining her, helping me out."
  "What do you need help with?"
  "Proposing to Amy."  Tom looked at Dave with shock as a car horn was heard
passing him.  Dave used his index finger to turn Tom's head back to the road.
Tom looked at him again, anyway.


 ACT II:

     At Inglewood Mortuary in Centinela Park--Cyborg Micron pushed a button in
the tower-computer in its torso.  Another diskette ejected from its floppy
drive, projecting it at Ron.  "Uh oh!" he shouted when sparks had exploded from
the lawn.  Ron fell away from the cloud of smoke.  In the grass, Ron hit the
ground and rolled on his back, using his legs to stop his momentum.
  Ginara's legs landed in the graveyard while Ron, seen between them in the
distance, pulled himself up out of the grass.
  "You again?" Ron rhetorically asked.
  Ginara touched her temple before her eyes began to glow when the jewel in her
forehead-mounted tiara shined and then shot a ringed ray of yellow light. After
the ray hit the lawn, a cloud of dust had burst from of the grass leaving Ron
no choice but to tumbled over.
  When he stood up, Ron blocked Cyborg Micron's long metal arm with his arm and
elbow-jabbed its tube-shaped rubber abs.  Micron immediately returned to an
erect standing posture after barely bending from Ron's blow.
  Cyborg Micron grabbed his leg, then his arm.  Over its head, Micron lifted
Ron above itself and then threw his entire body into the air.
  In the sky, Ron yelled while he swam through the sky.
  Against a tombstone, Ron's body landed on top of it as he flipped over and
onto the grass behind it.
  Ginara put her hands on her hips.  "Had enough?"
  Ron his left and then right hand over the top of the tombstone and pulled his
head up showing his face with cuts and bruises.  "You got that right, Ginara!"
  Ron stood up, against the bright blue sky, blocking the sunlight.  He swung
his arms round, bringing up his right fist holding his diamond genesis stone.
  "ChangeForm to MercuryAstro!" he shouted. Pushing forth his ring, he shouted,
"AstroCharge!"  The stone on his golden ring flashed brilliantly.
  Ron's face appeared in front of blackness when his head dissolved into a dark
silhouette.  His body also a black silhouette in front of a red grid, a white
bar of light scrolled across Ron's body from left to right.  When the light had
returned to the left, she was in a shiny white Astroranger uniform.
  Within another flash, the mask of MercuryAstro's helmet appeared in the field
of tombstones when he assumed his three-way mercury insignia battle pose.
  "Good thing we're in a graveyard, we wont have to go far to bury you!" Ginara
said before charging after him.
     Intuitively, MercuryAstro ducked Ginara's high-spin kick, turning
to face her from behind.
  She turned around and blocked the white Astroranger's high-kick to
her side which bounced bounced off her hands.
     Ginara's shin-kick ran into MercuryAstro's wrist-guards and had to
swat his fist before he was able to punch her.
  MercuryAstro whacked Ginara's counter-punch off target before her
knee-kick bounced off the white Astroranger's palms.
     The white Astroranger stepped in close and swung a fast fist at
Ginara.  When she ducked, MercuryAstro stumbled forward.
     Ginara kneed him in the ribs, causing the white Astroranger to bow over.
  When MercuryAstro erected himself, Ginara punched him in the helmet
knocking him back.
  In the grass, the white Astroranger's body hit the dirt and rolled over and
over.  He was really angry because, despite giving it all he had, MercuryAstro
only managed to match her move for move.
  "Waste 'em!" Ginara commanded. Cyborg Micron stepped ahead of her and put its
large fists in front of its monitor's screen; when he removed them, a bubble of
light built up and pulsed forth in an extremely wide white light.
  MercuryAstro stood up.  "Not again!"  All of a sudden, he found himself
launched into the air by the force of a tall fire-filled explosion.

     At the Metro Red Line subway station on Flower and 7th Streets, Amy looked
at a Metro 40 bus schedule she got from her purse trying to figure out how to
get to the southbay. At the same time, Peter, wearing a thick jacket, jeans and
shoes, sat on a bench, looked around.  He held a gift-wrapped box while looking
for her.  Wearing her usual ensemble of pink stretch pants and white body suit,
Amy pushed a button on the elevator while waiting for it to let off passengers
on the platform level underground.
  Peter noticed Amy standing by the elevator and immediately stood up.  "Hey,"
Peter called out while walking towards her.  "Amy."
  Amy looked over and slightly recognized the preadolescent boy. "Oh, hi--Peter
right?"  The elevator began to return to the street level.
  He nodded with a big smile. "I'm surprised you remembered.  It's been a while
since we took the subway together."
  "Yeah," Amy nodded while the elevator door opened.  "Funny we should run into
each other again." Someone with a bicycle strolled into the elevator, taking up
all of the space when they pushed the button closing the doors again.
  "Hey, uh?" Amy called when the elevator began to descend again.  "Great."
  Peter looked at his package and then at Amy again.  "So, uh, how are you?"
  "Fine I guess," Amy answered.  "You?"
  "I'm okay--Christmas Vacation ends this up coming Monday so I've been trying
to kick back and relax in the meantime," Peter answered.  "What've you been up
to?"  The elevator was ready again and Peter pushed the 'P' button again.
  Amy shrugged and looked down  "Making a living.  Not much else, I'm afraid."
Peter closed his eyes to take a deep breath but his heart kept thumping rapidly
and strongly when he opened his eyes.  Regardless, he could not afford to let
more time pass so he spoke up.  "Hey, uh, I never had the chance to thank you--
for sticking with me when the...  The, uh--you know, uh, subway got trapped..."
  Amy smiled.  "In emergency situations, the best thing to do is help others in
panic or distress.  Vulnerable circumstances force people to rely on each other
since that's all you have at times like that."
  "I know.  I just wanted to express my gratitude with this gift," Peter said
handing her the pink and silver wrapped box with a red bow attached to the top.
  Amy was surprised at this show of appreciation.  "Uh, Peter--I can't..."
  "It's okay, I didn't buy it, I made it," Peter said.  He gave her the box and
said, "Go ahead--open it..."
  Amy shook her head, using her hands to push the package back to him.  "No, it
wouldn't be right."
  "Don't you even want to see it?" Peter asked.
  Amy pondered.  "Well...  I..." she started to answer before her cellular
telephone rang.  "Just a sec."  Peter nodded when it rang a second time.
  She removed the phone from her purse while it rang a third time and pulled up
the antenna.  Amy put it up to her hear and said, "Leven here."
  While Tom drove his black truck down Florance Avenue, Will rode between him
and Dave.  "Amy, Ron managed to page us using that new emergency speed dial
feature on the cell phone but he isn't answering the phone anymore when Beverly
tried to call him back," Will said into his telephone.
  "Does Doctor Hopkins know where he is?" Amy asked over her telephone.
  At the subway station, Amy stood by the public telephones listening to her
phone when Will answered.  "He managed to trace the call back to Inglewood
Mortuary."
  Tom argued with Dave while Will tried to hear Amy over his cellular phone.
"Preliminary sensor readings from the TurboShuttle console say there's a cyborg
on the scene along with Ginara.  (Guys?!  Shhh!)"
  Amy looked at Peter.  "Oh great, I'm on my way," she replied before hanging
up.  "Peter, I'm sorry, I gotta go.  It's an emergency."  A Metro bus was
stopping in front of a bus stop on the corner of the station.
  "Hey, wait a second!" Peter replied.  "How will I find you again?"
Amy ran down the steps towards the bus when she stopped to turned around and
looked at Peter.  "Try the white pages!"  Amy climbed aboard the bus when the
doors closed and drove away.
  Peter watched the orange-striped bus drive into traffic and then looked down
at his box.

     At Inglewood Mortuary, Ginara stood in the graveyard next to Cyborg Micron
when MercuryAstro barely managed to stand up again.  "I'm not going to let you
beat me again!" he shouted while pointing at them.  "This time, you're going
down for the last time!  Moleculatom Weapon!"  Waving his arms through the air,
he braced the holster on the left side of his silver belt.
  Drawing it, he turned it upside down into his left hand while using his right
fist to draw a white beam of out of the base of the hilt.  "Dagger mode!"  When
the beam disappeared, his weapon became a dagger. "You're finished!"  The white
Astroranger leaped into the air.
  In the sky, MercuryAstro plunged ahead with his dagger about to strike.
  When he landed, Cyborg Micron punched the Moleculatom's blade away.
The white Astroranger turned around and spin-kicked while the cyborg
already ducked.
  MercuryAstro pushed his dagger straight into Micron but its fist
hammered his arm down; Cyborg Micron then kicked his chest in.
  When the white Astroranger wouldn't fall the first time, Micron made
sure of it by punching him across the chest so hard, sparks flew out of
his uniform.
  MercuryAstro hit the grass and rolled out before he could stop himself.
Cyborg Micron walked over to him and raised its foot.  The white Astroranger
looked up and saw the heavy, metal made cyborg start to drop his foot on his
chest.
  A green arrow shot Cyborg Micron in the chest causing sparks to blast out of
its chases, knocking him back.  In the grass, the boxy robot tumbled over and
rolled onto its back.  Ginara grabbed its shoulders, pulling it up.  "Get up,
you piece of junk!"
  Running away from his Green HydroCycle, JupiterAstro helped MercuryAstro to
stand up.  "Are you okay, Messuta?"
  "Not really but I could've been a lot worse off if you all hadn't have showed
up when you did," he replied.  "Be careful you guys, that cyborg may look goofy
but, as usual, it's serious business."
  SaturnAstro nodded.  "Man, what a place for a battle.  A mortuary."
  "Australis, you and Nashiran deal with it," MarsAstro said.  "Lotia and I are
gonna handle Ginara."
  JupiterAstro put two fingers up and nodded.  "We're ready to bake 'em."
  VenusAstro pointed.  "Looks like they're pre-heating the oven for us!"
Ginara and Cyborg Micron stood side by side while firing several beams of light
at the Astroranger task force.
  Huge fire-filled explosions erupted from the graveyard forcing the task force
to leap away from the flames.  The five of them rolled over, their boot-covered
feet stopping them.
  MarsAstro stood up followed by the others.  "Battle positions, everybody!"
  "Galaxy Task Force," they all shouted, putting their fists up and then arms
out into a V.  "ASTRORANGER!" assuming their individual battle positions.
  "Astroranger Comet Kick!" MarsAstro commanded.  The five of them leaped into
the air.  In the sky, the entire Astroranger task force jumped into a flying
side kick.
  Ginara fell back onto her back along with Cyborg Micron.
  MarsAstro drew the weapon from his belt's holster and held it in front of
himself.  "Moleculatom Weapon!!" he ordered.  "Blaster mode!"
  All five pointed their weapons ahead of themselves before shouting, "Fire!!"
Five rays of yellow light were replaced with fine beams of electric blue light.
Multiple towers of sparks blasted Ginara into the air, dropping her once again.

     At the Nazitan outpost beneath the surface of Pluto--Tortan watched the
battle on Earth through Adol the Great's crystal ball.  Tortan looked at Adol
and clenched his fist.  "Adol, do something!"
  "Relax, Tortan.  This is all apart of our plan," Adol reassured.  "By the
power invested in me by Lord Vahora of Procyon III, I, Adol the Great, command
you to _grow_, Ginara!"  The pinwheel on his wand spun faster with increasing
speed.  "Multiply your size one hundred fold; make your strength one thousand
fold and augment your powers ten thousand fold!  Grow, Tortan and become
Titan-Ginara!"  Bits of light began to stream into the globe giving a visual of
Ginara on Earth in the mortuary.
  Rising against the sunlight brightly illuminating the clear blue sky was the
ninja-styled warrior, standing over 150 feet in height. Titan-Ginara flexed her
arms before bringing them apart.
  The five of them jumped backwards and looked up at her who towered over them.
Titan-Ginara touched her temple causing the jewel within her forehead's tiara
shined, shooting down a ringed beam of yellow light.
  "Incoming!!" VenusAstro shouted.  A huge dust cloud blew up with the force of
the blast lifting the Astroranger battle team into the air, two at a time.  The
smoke cleared and SaturnAstro got up on one knee.
  "Okay everybody," JupiterAstro said, "let's get this over with." MercuryAstro
nodded.  All five of them stood up.
  "Galaxy Task Force Command--Astro Shuttles Blast Off!" they all shouted.
  In the zero-gravity take-off bay at the bottom of the SpaceBase, the force
field maintaining air-pressure inside of the take-off bay was activated.  The
doors began to open, showing Earth in outer space, as indicated by the warning
signal.  The afterburners flared with rocket propulsion prior to moving the two
shuttles, two rockets and one space shift out of the shuttle bay.
    In outer space, the five AstroShuttles had left the take-off bay as the
SpaceBase became invisible again.  The fleet began to travel towards the planet
Earth at maximum velocity.
  In the city--MarsAstro was joined by the others while they watched the green
CommandShuttle lead the red CombatShuttle, pink RescueShuttle, white
TurboShuttle and black SolarShuttle fly between skyscrapers.
  "All aboard!" the red Astroranger called out as they crossed their arms.  The
team became glowing spheres of light prior to traveling towards the cockpits of
the shuttle fleet.
  Within the CombatShuttle's cockpit indicated by the Mars insignia, MarsAstro
had materialized before sitting in his seat.  The chair lowered onto the floor
and rolled forth while the console slid towards him.  "CombatShuttle manned."
  Inside of CommandShuttle's cockpit, JupiterAstro nodded and assumed control
of his console.  "Acknowledged, AstroFleet now under manual pilot," the green
Astroranger replied while looking at MarsAstro in an inset window apart from 
the display of the city ahead.
  Cyborg Micron looked into the sky and its monitor-shaped head had grown two
rectangular shaped boxes on each side.
  MercuryAstro clenched his fist while he held his wrist.  "Cover me guys, this
time, Ginara's mine."  The white TurboShuttle flew ahead of the others.
  Micron pushed a sequence of keys on its forearm-situated keyboard.  The boxes
on the side of its square-shaped head began to emit an oscillating ray of blue.
  The nose cone of the white rocket ran into the waves of blue while flying and
TurboShuttle began to lose control of its flight path.
  Inside of the cockpit, MercuryAstro twisted the navigational spool along with
the altitude sliders but had difficulty doing so.  "Uh oh!  They're jammed!!"
  "What's going on??" VenusAstro asked while watching TurboShuttle spiral down.
  "I don't know!  I'm trying to keep it steady," MercuryAstro answered.  "Can't
keep the nose up!  I'm goin' down!"
  "Hang on, Messuta!" JupiterAstro interjected.  "I'm coming!"  CommandShuttle
banked around in an attempt to use its towing beam and allow for a controlled
crash.
  In the graveyard, Cyborg Micron changed its focus when its head began to send
a waving ray of purple light into the sky above.
  The nose of CommandShuttle had suddenly pointed straight up before going into
a full circle.
Inside, JupiterAstro was almost thrown out of his seat when he regained control
of his console.  "What the hell??"
  MarsAstro looked at the CommandShuttle do loopty-loops on his cockpit's main
screen.  "Australis!  What are you doing?!"
  "Nothing!!" he replied while turning dials and pushing buttons. "I can't stop
this thing!"
  Meanwhile, Titan-Ginara exhaled a great amount of wind from between her lips.
  "Scatter!" MarsAstro commanded.  The red and pink shuttles banked off to the
sides but SolarShuttle was caught in the center of the 200 mile per hour winds.
  There was severe turbulence causing a great amount of rocking but SaturnAstro
held steady.  "That's it, you're toasted!" he said.  "Firing all weapons!"  The
black Astroranger loaded rockets and lasers and pushed the fire button.
  From Cyborg Micron's digital point of view, he pulled down a scan of the
rocket's internal systems, showing a schematic revealing the weapons systems
charging up--all within a few milliseconds.  Micron's face emitted the purple
ray of waves into the sky it had transmitted before.
  The black rocket didn't do anything but fly directly into RescueShuttle.  In
the cockpit of the pink Astroranger's ship, VenusAstro put her arm in front of
her helmet's visor as after seeing the SolarShuttle crash into her.
  SaturnAstro almost leaped out of his seat when he saw the pink spacecraft in
front of his rocket.  "Oh no!"
  In midair, both AstroShuttles side-swiped each other, blasting sparks from
the hulls of both ships.  
  "This isn't good, Astrorangers!!" MarsAstro said.  "Australis!  What the hell
is going on?"  A window on his screen opened up showing the cockpit of the
CommandShuttle.
  JupiterAstro looked around after his ship resumed ordinary flying.  "I don't
know but these are some insane malfunctions!  I'm trying to trace the source."
  "I'm almost afraid to do anything," MarsAstro replied.  "Nashiran, Messuta,
Lotia--do you read me?"
  The white TurboShuttle was able to vertically lift off.  "I do," MercuryAstro
answered.  "The shields held us together but I have no clue about what just
happened."
  "Never mind that, we'll figure it out later," SaturnAstro radioed. "Right now
we need to form AstroMan and get rid of Ginara."
  VenusAstro nodded.  "I agree.  Let's do it, Sheratan."
  MarsAstro sat within the cockpit of his red AstroShuttle, CombatShuttle.
"Merge to form AstroMan."  A five-way view of all cockpits showed the white
gloves of the Astroranger's fists pulling back a large black lever.
  Red and Pink Shuttles landed on the ground as feet and legs while green
CommandShuttle's nose folded under the ventral hull while its jet packs slid on
to the sides to become shoulders.  The craft connected to the legs, forming the
torso.  Meanwhile, Cyborg Micron ran through the graveyard before leaping into
the air, turning into a glowing sphere of blue light.
  Like a shooting star, the blue sphere came at the forming robot while the
white TurboShuttle and black SolarShuttle hooked up to the shoulders.  The two
AstroShuttle's slightly parted in the center forming elbows and fists out of
the boosters.
  Inside of tubes running throughout the interior of the massive robot, chairs
on tracks rolled each Astroranger to the primary cockpit.
  AstroMan's head ascended from between its shoulders--through its red visor,
one could see the Astroranger battle team rising into place.  On the bottom
level, JupiterAstro and SaturnAstro occupied the control bank there while the
top bank was manned by VenusAstro and MercuryAstro.  MarsAstro manned the
middle and center station and placed his hands on the controls.  "Merging
sequence complete."
  Pulling away to show all of the multi-colored robot, its fists' knuckles were
together.  AstroMan's red visor gleamed into a twinkle in the upper corner when
bringing its fists apart; a field of stars in outer space appeared behind
itself showing the planets Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
     Walking in steps to the side, Titan-Ginara and AstroMan did not
take their eyes off of each other.  Suddenly, AstroMan's fist pounded
Ginara's chest.
  After the sparks left her armor, she kicked its side causing sparks
to fall from its chases.
     A maze of tubes, tunnels, catwalks, elevators and ladders were found on
the inside of AstroMan's torso.  Airlocks and hatches were seen where
electronic data and hardware resources were shared between limbs.  Long optical
cables acted as nerves while artificial muscles were driven by hydraulic
pistons and gears.
  Cyborg Micron crawled out of a tube and reached a catwalk where it held onto
the rail.  There was a considerable amount rocking occurring from the robot's
movements since the cockpit was the only location where sharp physical movement
was heavily buffered by force fields. Extremely powerful jolts occasionally had
almost knocked Micron off the top of the platform and into something boiling
below.
  Eventually, the cyborg came upon a ladder and climbed down onto a platform
leading to a tunnel, dimly lit by individual lamps hanging from the ceiling.
Cyborg Micron had discovered a very wide and very long cylinder that stretched
past the length of the chamber it'd entered.  According to its sensors, this
was the central electrical system similar to the spinal cord of human beings.
  It attempted to touch the ringed metal mass but an electric field shocked it;
sparks blasted Micron onto the iron-grill floor.
     Using the SunSabre, AstroMan thrust its blade at Titan-Ginara.           
She kicked up, turned around and kicked the robot across the chest
causing sparks to blast from its armor.
  AstroMan stepped back and fired a wide yellow ray from its visor and
when the beam reached Ginara's metal-plated chest, sparks erupted out  
of her armor.   
  Inside of AstroMan's back, Cyborg Micron was still smoking but managed to
lift itself off the floor.
  Pushing a button on its chest, a tray holding a compact disc slid out of
Cyborg Micron's chest before it removed the disc.  Walking up to a wall, one of
many panels were torn off by its bare hand showing blinking lights, many cards
inside of the wall and wires connecting it all together.  Micron inserted the
compact disc into a vacant expansion slot in the wall and pushed certain keys
on its left fore-arm mounted keyboard.
     Titan-Ginara locked arms with AstroMan; the giant robot broke the
hold and punched Ginara across the chest.  The first burst of sparks
was followed by another when AstroMan kicked her in the ribs.
  AstroMan brought up its sword and was going to strike down but
suddenly, the huge robot froze.
  SaturnAstro looked up.  "What in the hell?"
  "We were winning!" VenusAstro hissed.
  MarsAstro hit the enter key again.  "Australis, what's wrong??"  He continued
to hit the key rapidly.  "Ginara's gonna roast us in this thing, in a minute!!"
  JupiterAstro looked at his display with confusing when he threw up his hands.
"It looks like the command never made it from the cockpit to the motor computer
but the TestLink protocol shows everything is fine!"
  "Hey!!" VenusAstro shouted.  "The service elevator is in use and ascending at
emergency velocity.  Coming from...  Sector 7G."
  MercuryAstro looked to his left at the pink Astroranger.  "That is where the
data network core is!"
  Cyborg Micron stood on a platform that had quickly ascended within a shaft in
the back of AstroMan, along side the core made of metal and wires for data and
electricity.
  MarsAstro looked at VenusAstro.  "Seal off all entrances to auxillary and
primary cockpits!  Something is inside of AstroMan!!!"  Suddenly, the door in
the back of the cockpit had slid up and Cyborg Micron had entered the chamber.
  "Too late!" SaturnAstro shouted. "This is what did this!!"  VenusAstro jumped
out of her seat and onto the floor where she attempted to karate chop Micron.
  Cyborg Micron held up VenusAstro's wrist, grabbed her ankle and tossed her
over its own head.  "Aiee!" she shouted. Sparks exploded out of the screen when
the pink Astroranger's body crashed into it.
  SaturnAstro and MercuryAstro on different levels shot beams of electricity
from their Moleculatom Blasters. Cyborg Micro ducked and the beams shot out the
light tubes in the wall which had sparks burst before catching on fire.
  JupiterAstro jumped over the flames and punched at Micron but when he missed,
the cyborg grabbed his arm, knee-kicked him in the stomach.  Cyborg Micron used
its metal arm's elbow to hammer the green Astroranger into the floor as he
rolled off the platform.
  MarsAstro jumped off the second level and onto the third to tackle him from
behind.  "Guys, we can't let him take control of the stations!!"  Cyborg Micron
knew the red Astroranger was coming up the ramp so it turned around and fired
flash of white light out of the computer monitor it had for a head.
  "Aw, ugh, agh!!" MarsAstro yelled when multiple bright sparks exploded out of
his uniform like fireworks, lifting him off of his feet.
  Overhead, the red Astroranger dove head first from out of the bright blue sky
when he was followed by the black and white Astrorangers. VenusAstro along with
JupiterAstro also plummeted from the sky above.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . 

EarthAstro attempts to prevent Cyborg Micron from using AstroMan as a weapon
against the planet Earth while Ginara leaves for Mercury to attain its solar
sphere in Episode 45, "Reclaim the Warrior Robot!"

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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)1998 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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