New Alliances
"I have to go after her," Zhane's announcement shocked everyone on board the Astro Megaship. Everyone including his best friend, Andros. Zhane had come on board the Astro Megaship just before Karone left for the Dark Fotress in her attempt to reprogram the asteroid that Darkspecter had sent to destroy Earth. Andros recalled how Zhane's face at first paled when he saw Karone dressed up like Astronema and standing right in the middle of the ship's bridge. The sight would have terrified Andros too had he been away when it was discovered that Astronema was really non other than Karone, Andros's long lost sister. Had Andros not known she had deflected from Darkspecter's side he would have suspected an attack, just as Zhane must have. That was not the reaction that had confused Andros. No, it was the blush that came to his friend's face shortly after he must have realized there was no real danger on board the Megaship. Karone had responded to Zhane's stare with a half hearted smile. Andros had hoped that his sister was not too offended by his often too-eager-with-the-ladies, but-typically-harmless friend.
The exchanges did not stop there though. When Zhane heard of Karone's plan to invade the Darkfortress he became animate about the choice and even went as far to tell Andros, who did not need to be told, how the plan was too dangerous. Zhane tried perhaps even harder than Andros to persuade Karone from taking on the mission she had laid out for herself. He did not convince her even after he had pulled her to the side to talk to her privately. Just what had they talked about anyway? Andros did not know and perhaps he would never know. It was like Zhane knew Karone personally, but in reality they had never met before. Now Zhane wanted to rush off to the Darkfortress by himself to try to rescue Karone.
"Zhane, it's too dangerous," Cassie Chan argued with the silver ranger.
"Going on board the Fortress was too dangerous for Karone as well, but you didn't stop her," Zhane was quick to point out to Cassie and the rest of the rangers who blocked his path out of the Megaship's bridge.
"And we can all see how that was a mistake," TJ Johnson was the first to admit. His confession was made so calmly, but that did not manage to sooth Zhane's nerves.
"Yeah, and I see how eager all of you are to try to correct that mistake too," Zhane snapped back. It was uncharacteristic of Zhane to be so upset over anything. He was normally the voice of reason in tough situations.
"Zhane," Ashley Hammond spoke reproachfully.
"If none of you are willing to step up to the plate, then I am," Zhane ignored Ashley and cut off anything she may have added. He appeared ready to push through his teammates to leave the bridge, but Andros, who had been mildly paying attention to the exchanges spoke up before this could happen.
"I'll go with you," Andros announced. His own voice, weak from the shock of losing his sister just after he had finally been reunited with her after so many years, caught him off guard. He knew he had to help get his sister back, but even he could see that the journey inside Astronema's old ship would be a perilous one. It was a risk Andros knew he had to take though. He shook his head to ward away the shock he was feeling and then looked directly at his ranger comrades, all of whom were giving him their full attention now. Drawing on strength he did not realize he still had, Andros repeated his announcement firmly. "I'll go with Zhane. He's right, we can't just leave her behind after she risked so much to help us."
"Andros," Ashley pleaded as she stepped out of line with her group of Earth bound rangers. She stepped close enough to Andros to touch his stiff shoulder. "You can't risk it. If you and Zhane get captured while you're on the Darkfortress then we'll all be in a lot more trouble than we started with."
"We have to try." It was Andros's thoughts, but they came from Zhane.
"Guys," this came from Carlos Valerte, "I think we need to take a step back and regroup on this. There has to be another way."
"Right," Cassie agreed with a few nods.
"We're wasting time," Zhane snapped with a shake of his head. He quickly moved to leave the bridge of the ship through the hole Ashley had left in the wall of ranger that had been defending the exit.
Andros moved to follow only to feel Ashley's grip tighten on his shoulder. He looked over to see her eyes looking up at him, silently pleading him to reconsider his decision. It was a decision Andros would not be changing. No, he had searched for his sister for far too long to just give up on her now.
Andros woke up with a start, trying to sit up only to find every muscle in his body protesting the movement. He tried to cry out but only a pained moan came instead as his body fell limp back against the medical bed once again. All he could do was stare up at the flashing green lights over head in the dark room. Those lights almost instantly blurred from the tears that came to his eyes. Those tears were brought on by both his physical and mental pain. His thoughts and dreams had been haunted for days, he was not sure how many had passed, after he had once again lost his sister to Darkspecter. Not only had he lost Karone, but Zhane as well.
Zhane had led most of the way through the Darkfortress, he almost seemed to actually know where he was going inside the enemies ship. It was during this time that Andros had learned that Zhane had an interest in his sister, that he had actually even dated her before he knew who she really was. That had confused as much as it had infuriated him. How could someone possibly consider dating the same person he was at war with? Andros had to consider the source behind that question. If Zhane saw a girl who remotely attracted him he would no doubt be after her, even the princess of evil herself.
When the two companions found Karone inside the Darkfortress it had already been too late to save her. Andros was not so quick to catch on to that, but even he knew when it was time to surrender a plan and move to escape. Karone had been brainwashed and was now being controlled by some sort of machinery that Darkspecter's goons had placed inside of her. When Astronema called on Ecliptor to help aide her against her would be rescuers he was on the scene in a moments notice, followed by a legion of Quantrons. It had torn at Andros's heart and his conscious to make the decision to leave, but he and Zhane, even with their powers, were out numbered. They had to get out.
Zhane had actually been the one that convinced Andros that they had to retreat, or at least Andros had thought this was the case. He was not so sure anymore, everything had happened so quickly that his memory of that day seemed to distort and change itself everything three seconds. It frustrated Andros that he could not remember the details correctly, but he did know, all too well, the end results.
Somewhere along the way, during their retreat, Andros and Zhane became separated. On purpose it would seem, since Zhane had announced to Andros that he had a plan. The next thing Andros remembered was Zhane reversing course. Instead of heading for their escape route in the hanger bay, Zhane rushed through a wide corridor. Andros could see immediately that whatever his friend was up to it was not a good idea. He tried to follow after Zhane, but was quickly stopped by a wall of Quantrons.
"Get out," Zhane instructed over his communication device.
"I'm not leaving with out you," Andros managed to respond before being thrown off balance by a blow to his left side. He fell into a roll before coming back up onto his feet again.
"Go!" Zhane's communication was weak and distorted, but Andros got the message. With a sinking feeling in his stomach the scene from two years earlier had started to replay in his mind. Zhane, jumping in front of Andros, took the blow that had been meant for him during that fight on KO-35. Zhane had almost lost his life that day and once again Andros gathered that his friend went on that same kind of suicide mission. As much as it had pained him to do it, Andros turned and continued on his journey to the Velocifighters. It had not been an easy battle to escape, Andros still did not know how he made it back to the Megaship alive.
With another groan Andros forced his pain studded muscles and joints to move. He managed to get his right hand over to the left side of his bed where he pulled the rest of his body over and off of the bed. He barely managed to get his feet under him in time and even then almost collapsed to the ground anyway. Shuttering at the pain that rippled through his body only brought on another wave of pain that made his vision darken. Andros managed a wince, but did not dare move otherwise for a full minute. He took a few slow breaths to try to regain some strength to move. He was glad that none of is Earth friends had stuck around tonight to monitor him. It would have made getting out of that bed impossible, not to mention he really did not like them seeing him in this state of mind or body.
Somehow Andros managed to make it to the bridge of the Astro Megaship. It had been a slow and painful journey. Now that he was here a new wave of emotions washed over him. Sadness, despair, regret, and even some hopelessness began to creep up on him. Would he ever get Karone back? Andros lifted his head up to stare at the viewport, it was the same viewport that had shown him his last image of his sister. Instead of monitoring his sister, it now just showed the emptiness of the space that the Megaship lazily wandered through. Andros's thoughts drifted toward his best friend. Where was he now? Was he even still alive? These were thoughts that Andros was all too familiar with. Now those thoughts and the feelings that came with them were twofold. He wondered if there was any hope in helping Karone now that she had been brainwashed. He wondered if he would ever see Zhane alive again. The only thing Andros was thankful for right now was that he was alone so that no one saw the tears that were now flowing freely down his face.
An all too familiar sinister laugh came from a nearby corridor. Zhane lifted his head, a move that seemed to cause electricity to course down from his neck into his back. He did not flinch away from the movement though as he watched for Darkonda to emerge, as he often had, from the direction his laugh rolled into the prison from. When he did appear his body quivered with a new round of laughter, this time it came from amusement.
"I never get tired of the sight of a ranger just hanging, around the Darkfortress," Darkonda spoke once he finished laughing. "And the most powerful of all of them for that matter." Darkonda's laugh turned dark. "Of course with out your morpher you're just as harmless as any human out there now aren't you?"
Though he was weak from being beaten and from not having proper nourishment for possibly a week Zhane glared angrily at his captor. This of course only caused Darkonda to laugh again.
"Darkonda," Astronema's monotone voice quickly cut Darkonda's laugh off. At least someone around here could shut the creature up.
"Yes, you're highness," Darkonda said as he turned towards the direction he had entered the room from. He bowed from the waist as a show of respect that he did not have for the princess of evil.
"Leave," Astronema instructed.
"But I was just about to-"
"Leave," Astronema repeated in the same manner that she had spoken the word before. Although Zhane was not familiar with expressions from Darkonda's species he could get the sense that the rebel was seething at being told what to do by someone he felt was inferior to him. It brought a small bit of pleasure to Zhane to witness this exchange between Darkonda and Astronema, but just enough to bring a smirk to his face.
When Astronema stepped in to take Darkonda's place in the room Zhane felt his heart drop and his empty stomach turn over. He did not think that it would matter how many times he saw her, Astronema's new appearance would always be painful to take in. Her pale skin only served to make her red eyes appear even brighter, causing her to look like she was just a breath away from death. And the electronics that pocked through her skin sent chills down Zhane's back.
Astronema's visits with Zhane came far and few between. When she did come she did as she was doing now. She did not speak a word, rather instead she would stand gazing blankly up at him. He would give just about anything to know what her thoughts were, if she had any of her own. Sometimes Zhane thought he saw a glimpse of sadness in Astronema's eyes, but he knew better than to believe that this was anymore than wishful thinking.
"Astronema," Zhane croaked through his dry throat. He always tried to talk to her, but it never brought a response from her.
"You can serve a better purpose than being a wall hanging on my ship," Astronema spoke evenly. That was more than Zhane ever got from the woman, but he did not like the sound of this. The smirk that came to Astronema's face just before she walked out of the prison room proved to frighten Zhane even further. He could already picture how Astronema was going to use him to lure the rangers into a trap. Zhane knew that his friends were more than capable of fighting Darkspecter's goons with out him, but it was not going to be an easy battle. They were going to have to fight with everything they had, and they were going to have to be willing to make sacrifices. Zhane lowered his head, the movement cause more fatigue in his shoulders and back, but just for a moment. His physical pain was nothing to match with the sorrow he felt for his friends, and for Astronema.
