Ch 1

"Andros?"

Andros began rolling himself out from under his galaxy glider, knowing that any other response to the soft female voice on the other side of the room would result in a long discussion about how lack of communication had ruined her parents' marriage. But he was not reluctant to do so, as he was nearly done working and also knew that he would be greeted with a kiss. As he slowly poked his head out from under the glider, he immediately received a kiss on the nose.

"Hello to you too," he said with a smile, scrunching up his face a little as her lips made contact with him.

"Any luck?" she asked, sitting down on the cold floor to be closer to him.

"Who needs luck?" he asked, picking up a tool and snipping some wires. "I've been fixing these things since I was a kid."

"You almost done?" she asked, playing with his hair a little as she swept the ends of it from the floor.

"Almost," he replied, tightening a few screws. "Did you need me for something?"

"Well, I'll always need you," she said with a smile.

Andros eyed her carefully before answering, placing his tools on the floor beside him. "You're up to something," he said slowly, returning the smile and moving the rest of his body from underneath the glider as her eyes drifted away from him.

"No, I'm not," she replied quickly, further raising his suspicions.

Andros quickly scanned her with his eyes. There were no bruises or other injuries that he could see on her. But his eyes soon drifted to a small envelope in her hands. "What's that?" he asked.

"What's what?" she asked, failing to hide the envelope in her hand.

"The envelope," Andros said.

"It's an envelope," she said simply, though she knew well that it would not be enough of an explanation.

Andros smiled. "Did you want me to guess what it is?" he asked.

"You'd never be able to guess," she muttered to herself. "This isn't for your eyes anyway."

"My name is on it."

"Not yours," she countered, putting her hand behind her back.

"Arcadia," Andros began softly. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she answered too sweetly to be serious, meeting his eyes again when he took her hand in his. "Why would anything be wrong?" she asked, though she turned from him with tears in her eyes. They finally spilled over when she felt Andros thread his fingers through hers.

"Arcadia, talk to me," he said. "What is it?"

Arcadia turned back to him, tightening her grip on his hand and wiping away her tears with a free palm. "I… I can't go through with this," she said much calmer than she felt, gently shaking her head from side to side.

"With what?" he asked.

She did not answer him, looking helplessly into his hazel eyes. But Andros was well aware of her thoughts and he let out a sigh.

"You don't think that we can win either," he said sadly, releasing her hand. "Zhane doesn't either."

"That isn't what I said," Arcadia replied. "I hadn't even thought of that. But you know as well as I do that we won't win this war with Dark Specter without losing some of our own."

"Since when are you afraid to die for our people?" he asked as she scooted even closer to him and leaned her head onto his chest.

"I'm not," she replied, closing her eyes as the rhythm of his heartbeat began to calm her. "But I don't want to lose you."

Andros wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, stroking her light-brown hair. "How about you?"

Arcadia looked up at him and smiled a little. "It's not in the plan," she answered with a sigh. "But then again, loving you wasn't part of the plan either."

They sat silently for a moment, holding one another as they slowly rocked back and forth. Finally, Andros broke the silence.

"You aren't going to tell me what's in the envelope, are you?" he asked.

"Not yet," she replied softly. "Let's just do this for a while. The envelope can wait."

***

"Andros?" a firm voice said suddenly, tearing Andros from his thoughts. "Ground Control to Andros?"

"Hm?" Andros replied, shaking himself from the remnants of his daydream and meeting Zhane's eyes.

"You were in your happy place, weren't you?" Zhane asked, rushing by him to get to the screen in front of Andros.

"Not really," Andros answered, not sure that he was lying about that. Back then, it had been a wonderful moment but now the shadows of that day continued to haunt him day and night. Arcadia had been gone for a year now and the pain that had followed her death still remained. There was little that did not remind him of her now. Even as Zhane moved from station to station pressing buttons, Andros could not help thinking about how the times that he would find Arcadia pacing the floor of the bridge whenever she was upset about something.

"Well, are you planning on helping me with this?" Zhane asked, hurriedly pressing a few buttons as he looked up at the main viewing screen.

Andros looked around the bridge of the ship, realizing only now that DECA's alarms were going crazy. He looked to the viewing screen in time to see a shuttle heading straight for them.

"They're going to hit us," Andros said, rushing over to the steering controls.

"I already tried that," Zhane said. "We won't be able to avoid them unless…"

"We aren't docking them onto the ship," Andros said, shaking his head.

"We don't exactly have a choice," Zhane said, just as DECA's alarm stopped suddenly. It was eerily quiet on the Astro Megaship for a long while. Neither of them moved an inch until Zhane broke the silence.

"What happened?" he asked, using DECA's scanners to survey the outside of the ship.

"DECA docked the shuttle," Andros sighed, looking at the console in front of him before glaring at the small camera in the top corner of the room.

"The four intruders have been identified as human," DECA informed.

"They're not intruders if you dock them onto the ship," Zhane said, rolling his eyes and turning to Andros. "We should probably go find them before they find us."

"You think they might be dangerous?" Andros asked, opening a compartment in the console behind him and removing an Astro Blaster from it.

"They're human," Zhane answered with a shrug. "You're going to blast them if they are?"

"DECA's scanners have been wrong before," Andros replied, though he changed the blaster's setting to its lowest as he followed Zhane to the Megalift.

Only a year had passed since DECA's first mistake of that kind, when three supposed humans had been docked onto the ship after sending out a distress signal. His friends' endless trust had resulted in asking them to stay on the ship until the necessary repairs were done. No one was more surprised than Andros when he awoke the next morning to find that their ship had been taken over by three of Dark Specter's toughest monsters and that his teammates were powerless to stop them. Even after they had found a way to land and corner the monsters on the planet of Wateth, the Astrorangers were no match for them and they fell one by one. Several minutes later, only Andros and Zhane opened their eyes again to their fallen friends and a damaged Astro Megaship.

So Zhane knew why Andros had to be so cautious, but even DECA had told them that the odds of her making the same error again was one in one hundred thousand. Even his first thought had been to grab a blaster but these were just humans, likely confused about their shuttle being swallowed up by the large ship and just as worried about who or what they might find behind every door that opened.

"DECA, where are they?" Andros asked, playing with the setting on the blaster as the Megalift seemed to take forever to move.

"Two are on Megadeck Four," DECA replied. "The other two are Megadeck Two."

"I'll take the ones on M-2," Andros said. "You get the ones on M-4."

"Hold on," Zhane said as the Megalift stopped on M-2 and changing the setting on Andros' blaster with a frown. "You're not 'taking' anyone. Use words first."

"Words got our friends killed," Andros hissed at him, though he kept the setting on his blaster.

"Firing on them first can get us killed too," Zhane replied. "And words didn't kill our friends… and being nice didn't either. If talking with them is completely out of the question, then call me on your communicator and I'll help you. Don't use your weapon."

"Fine," Andros said as the Megalift opened and he slowly walked down the hallway toward the infirmary, keeping his blaster by his side until the doors closed again and Zhane was out of sight.

The diplomatic approach was fine for someone like Zhane who could talk to just about anyone, but words did not always work for Andros nor did he want them to. Actions spoke louder than words and these humans would know from the moment that they saw him that this was his ship and that he was not a person to mess with. Although, as he continued down the hallway with his blaster pointed in front of him, he wondered if there was a chance that the humans were only wandering the ship trying to find a way off of it.

Andros stood waiting by the entrance to the infirmary, hearing something clatter to the floor just inside. He let out a breath and glanced quickly into the room with his blaster ready. The two humans inside stood turned away from him, having not heard him behind them, picking up the tray of bandages and scissors that had fallen to the floor.

"Ashley, be careful," the dark-haired male whispered as he steadied the tray onto its legs as she placed the scissors onto it.

"It was an accident, Carlos," Ashley said softly, grabbing up the rolls of bandages that were by her feet and placing them onto the tray. "But we are looking for people on this thing, aren't we? Why are we being so quiet? If someone hears us, then maybe they can help us leave their ship."

"But if we scare someone, then they might think that we're the enemy," Carlos replied and Andros lowered his blaster a little. "And I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to fight my way out of here."

These were definitely humans. Monsters never went through the trouble of making up names amongst themselves. He stepped into the room and began walking to them, stopping in his tracks as the light-brown haired female in front of him caught his eye and his blaster fell from his hands. He opened his mouth to call out a name but nothing came out and he was glad that his mind had slightly more sense than his mouth. Even with the same hair color and body type, he knew that she was not and could not be Arcadia. And as the humans turned to him, he was able to convince himself further that she was not Arcadia.

"Who are you?" Carlos asked, narrowing his eyes at him as he glanced down at the blaster on the floor.

"You're on my ship," Andros said, finding his voice again as he tore his eyes away from her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ashley and this is Carlos," Ashley answered. "And we don't want any trouble."

"Then, what do you want?"

"A way off of your ship," Carlos replied. "Or a ride to Kor'es."

"Why would you want to go to Kor'es?" Andros asked. "There's nothing out there."

"Dimitria told us that –"

"Dimitria?" Andros interrupted. "You're Power Rangers?"

Carlos and Ashley exchanged a glance briefly and Ashley stepped forward. "We're the Turbo rangers from Earth," she said. "But we lost our powers and programmed our shuttle for Inquiris to look for Dimitria."

"She told us that Dark Specter was after some ancient relic on Kor'es," Carlos continued. "Maybe as far as you know, there's nothing out there but she'd have no reason to lie to us. And we plan on going."

"What did she say was out there?" Andros asked, still avoiding eye contact with Ashley as much as possible as his eyes continued to lie to him with every tiny glance.

"Can we expect any help from you?" Carlos asked.

"Excuse me?"

"If you aren't going to help us, then we aren't going to tell you anything," Carlos said, folding his arms. "You know about Dimitria, so you must be a ranger too. If you're willing to help us, we'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Believe me, I'd like nothing more than to be rid of you, your shuttle, and your friends," Andros replied. "But if you couldn't avoid colliding with this ship, maybe there's something wrong with your steering. Zhane and I can check out your shuttle and send you on your way if that's what you really want."

"Is it just the two of you here?" Ashley asked.

"Yes," Andros answered, turning from them and motioning for them to follow him to the Megalift. But when he turned around, they had not moved. "I'll take you to your friends now."

"Before we follow you to wherever," Ashley began, wringing her hands a little. "Could you at least tell us your name?"

"Andros," he said simply as he exited the room and opened the Megalift doors and waited until he heard their hurried footsteps behind him before turning back to them.

* * * * *

Zhane took his time walking down the corridor toward the exercise room, not wanting to scare the humans that he could hear whispering to one another.

"How did we get here?" a female voice asked with a sigh. "I mean, what if we can't find anyone here? How do we leave?"

"We'll deal with that when we get to it," a male voice responded. "But we know that there is intelligent life on this ship or else we wouldn't be here right now. We just have to find them."

"Or it," she replied. "It could be a monster trying to trick us or something."

"Or just two humans with a mission from Zordon," Zhane said, making them jump as he stepped into the room. They looked warily at him for a moment, determining him to be friendly when he smiled a little.

"I'm Zhane," he continued, walking up to the black-haired female whose almond-shaped eyes took his breath away and smiling. "And you are?"

"I'm Cassie," she said, failing to control her blushing cheeks. "This is T.J."

"It's very nice to meet you," Zhane replied, lightly kissing her hand before releasing it. "So, what brings you to our ship?"

"'Our' ship?" T.J. asked.

"My friend Andros and I," Zhane explained. "We're the Red and Silver Astrorangers. And based on the uniforms that you two are wearing, I'd bet that you just came from… Inquiris?"

Cassie and T.J. glanced down at their white pants and jackets that covered their shirts that were pink and red, respectively.

"How can you know that from a uniform?" T.J. asked.

"Inquirians are kind of picky about who can just walk into certain buildings," Zhane replied with a shrug. "They won't allow anyone in to see Dimitria unless they are… I believe the phrasing they use is 'bathed in white'."

"We were Power Rangers on Earth," T.J. explained with a nod. "But Divatox destroyed our command center and we traveled to Inquiris to see about getting some new powers. But when we arrived, Dimitria told us that there were no other ranger powers that she could give us."

"But she said that there was some ancient something or other that we could use to get our powers back," Cassie said, trying not to grin as Zhane continued to smile at her. "She said that we should look for it on Kor'es. Does that sound right to you?"

Zhane's smile finally faded enough to answer her. "There isn't much of anything on Kor'es," he said. "Just dirt and sand. But I've never heard of anything that can give a ranger their powers back."

"We aren't entirely clear on everything yet either," T.J. replied. "But if you release our shuttle, we can stop intruding on your ship."

"Actually, knowing that you're former rangers and everything… Andros and I wouldn't mind getting you there and helping you out any way that we can," Zhane said. "After all, without your powers, you might need some help getting there without worrying about being followed. In fact, maybe you guys would be interested in the other four Astro –"

"What are you doing?" Andros asked suddenly from behind him with Ashley and Carlos following close behind him. "I volunteered to look at their shuttle, not invite them to stay forever."

"Oh, come on, Andros," Zhane replied. "They're Power Rangers too and they're going to need help getting to Kor'es. It'll be a one year voyage in that shuttle no matter what we do to it. For us, it'll be a month or two… Besides, there are four of them and four Astromorphers."

"I can't believe that you'd give away Camilla's morpher just like that," Andros said, shaking his head.

Zhane lowered his eyes with a sigh. "It isn't hers anymore," he said quietly. "Our old team is gone… and these guys need our help."

"No," Andros said firmly, looking at the two rangers he had not met yet. "I'll take a look at your shuttle and I'll even agree to get you close enough to Kor'es to shorten your voyage… but no morphers."

Andros turned to walk away, inadvertently meeting eyes with Ashley and he quickly cut his eyes away from her. "No morphers," he said again, breezing past her just as quickly.

Author's Note: My next attempt at a story inspired by Bellavision's... vision. :) I hope that I find a way to do it justice. It'll be a long one, but not fifty chapters long (as far as I can tell so far).