Disclaimer: Disney owns Power Rangers, not me. I make no money from this story.
The Astro Megaship Mark II landed at the outskirts of the Mirinoi colony, and was instantly the most popular place on the planet. As people crowded to stare at the ship, four brightly colored figures ran up to join them. It was only the long since earned respect the crowd held for their Rangers that let them pass through the crowd, and when the hatch opened, silence fell.
A beautiful woman stood in the door, her shoulder length, brown hair and bright smile familiar from so many news casts and documentaries. "Come on," Ashley called, waving to the Galaxy Rangers, "we don't have a lot of time."
The four Galaxy Rangers walked forward quickly, but mindful of the group behind them. As soon as they cleared the door, Ashley gave a final, bright smile to the crowd and shut the door. "Power down," the four said in unison as the hatch sealed itself.
"Ashley, what's going on?" Kai asked, "Where'd Leo go?"
Ashley's eyes narrowed, "I'll let Leo explain," She said simply, "Andros is still in the dog house over their little stunt." She walked back into the ship, leaving the Galaxy Rangers to exchange confused glances.
It was Kendrix who hurried to catch up with Ashley, "So, basically," she said, looking over at Ashley, "I should be mad at Leo?"
Ashley smiled tightly, "All the others are. Lya says that she's never heard of so many Reds in the doghouse at one time. The only one getting off lightly is Aurico, and that's because his team knew the whole story."
"How many Reds?" Kai asked from behind them.
"Ten, every Red who ever fought on Earth, except Rocky." Ashley replied as they entered the conference room where Leo, Andros, and the Astros, and Karone were waiting.
"So," Kendrix said, eyeing Leo, "Ashley says I'm mad at you, what did you do this time?"
"We, ah," Leo swallowed, "Andros and Tommy called us Reds to Earth because the remnants of the Machine Empire were trying to bring back Serpenterra. We won."
"This sounds familiar," Damon commented, he glanced at Kai, "oh, I know. This sounds like when you went after Trahkeena and left us a note."
Maya gave him a mournful look, "I thought you weren't going to do that anymore Leo," she said.
Leo glanced at the table, clearly ashamed, and Karone burst into laughter, "Oh, you guys are priceless, look at his face."
The Astros, with the noticeable exception of Andros, also began to laugh, and then the Galaxy Rangers joined in. After a few moments, Andros rapped his knuckles on the table, "If we're done teasing Leo?" He asked as silence fell. "Good, have a seat. I have, well, news, from Zane. Some of it's good, some of it's bad."
"Who's Zane?" Maya asked.
"Zane's the Silver Ranger," Andros explained. "He was helping me track the Machine Empire before he found out about this."
"Actually, we should start with Earth," TJ said, "their news is pretty big."
"What's up?" Damon asked.
"Earth's sending out another colony ship," TJ replied, "called Terra Quest. We've been asked to put together a Ranger team for it."
"The thing is," Andros continued, "Zane followed their proposed flight path, and there's serious trouble out there."
"What kind of trouble?" Kai asked, exchanging looks with his team. Leo met his eyes for a long moment before turning to Andros.
"The Troobian Empire," Andros said, "they've been around for centuries, if not millennia, and they're pretty peaceful as long as we don't go into their territory. They're expanding their boarders, and they aren't, exactly, giving their newly subjugated planets a choice. The leader right now is Emperor Arum, but most of the danger comes from his Warlord, Grumm. Grumm is ruthless, vicious and I wouldn't trust a new team against him."
"Earth won't change the flight plan," TJ said, taking up the narration skillfully, "we've tried, but they don't believe us. The government fully believes that any Ranger team can protect the colony. The thing is, Scorpius has nothing on Grumm and the might of the Troobian Empire."
"So, what can we do?" Leo asked.
"That's what we have to decide," Andros replied, "and we don't have long, because Earth's getting tired of our hesitation. If we don't provide them with a good team by the end of the week, they'll choose their own."
Silence fell as the group considered these words, finally, Leo looked up, "We need Mike," he said. When everyone looked at him, he raised an eyebrow, "Mike was the Magna Defender, and he's more familiar with GSA than most of us. He can tell us if our plans are totally insane or not."
"DECA," Andros said, "contact Mike Corbett, please."
"Contact made," DECA replied.
"Mike," Andros said, "This is Andros, Red Astro Ranger."
"This is Mike," Mike replied, his tone surprised and cautious.
"Are you busy?" Andros asked.
"No," Mike said, the word drawn out as if he was trying to figure out why the Red Astro Ranger wanted his attention.
"Can you come to the Megaship? The Galaxy Rangers and my team could use some advice from you concerning the GSA and colony policies." Andros said.
"I can be there in five," Mike replied.
"How about we just teleport him?" Ashley asked.
"We can teleport you," Andros said.
"All right," Mike said, amused.
"DECA, teleport Mike Corbett here, please," Andros said.
"Stand by for teleportation," DECA said. Moments later a black/white stream entered the room and resolved into Mike Corbett.
"Well," Mike said, blinking, "that was interesting. What's going on?"
"Earth is sending out a new colony venture," Leo said, "the Astro Silver Ranger has information suggesting that their proposed course will be extremely dangerous, but Earth isn't listening. They want us to give them a Ranger team, but if we don't, they'll choose their own."
Mike frowned, "With what morphers?"
"Lightspeed has created a second set," Andros said. "The thing is that Earth-based morphers work best on Earth. If you want space rangers, your best options are Eltarean morphers. Earth is too proud to ask Eltare for help, probably because Eltare will tell them what we did. Sending a colony on that course right now is akin to a suicide mission."
"So what can we do?" Mike asked.
"Have a seat and we'll figure that out," Leo said, gesturing to the empty seat.
Mike sat down, and silence fell again. Each of the Rangers was so deep in their thoughts, turning over the puzzle, that when Maya spoke, they all jumped. "We can't let them go undefended," she said. "If Earth is going to be that stupid, we just can't."
"But if we use the Lightspeed morphers, they won't have enough power," Carlos objected.
"So give them Eltarean morphers," Karone offered.
"How do we get them?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know, Kendrix gave me mine," Karone replied.
"Most planets build their own," Andros said, "and they work best on home soil."
"The Astro morphers aren't like that," Cassie said.
"That's because Eltare gave them to us," Andros said. "They don't just hand out morphers like candy, though."
"I have an idea," Damon said, "why not let Earth chose the team, and give them the Lightspeed morphers?"
"Because, the morphers will be weakened away from Earth," Andros said.
"What if we got Eltarean morphers and made a second team, one Earth doesn't know about. A group to back up the Earth team," Damon said. "They don't use the morphers unless they have to."
Understanding dawned on each face, except Mike's, "Wouldn't that be sacrificing the first team?"
"No," Cassie said, "it's like Earth used to do. They fought with the Power they had until it wasn't enough, and they upgraded the moment they realized it wasn't enough. With teamwork, they can do it."
"There'd be a lot of rivalry with that," Kendrix said, "Rangers are territorial."
The Astros looked at Andros, bemused, "What?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing," Ashley said. She paused, "Wait, what if it was like what we did. When our Power wasn't enough, we went looking and found Andros, who gave us stronger Powers."
"We pick the team," TJ said, catching Ashley's thought, "and when they need to be stronger, we give them a new team."
"But how?" Carlos and Kai asked in unison.
"We can't just expect to find another Andros, can we?" Damon said.
"Andros," DECA interrupted, "Zane is approaching Mirinoi and wishes contact."
Andros turned to the nearest view screen, "Put him through."
The screen went black, and then lit up with an image of Zane, careless grin and all, "Hey Andros. What happened to 'meet me on Earth'?"
Andros sighed, "The situation's gotten worse, Zane. Earth refuses to consider another course. Get down here, we need your help."
"Yeah, about that," Zane said, "I brought some people you should meet, Andros." He shifted focus on the camera, and two young men came into view, "Meet Ris'ine and As'ris, from one of the planets Grumm has captured. They are Rangers."
"Bring them along," Andros said, "and hurry. You just solved our big problem."
He turned to the group, "Count on Zane," Ashley crowed, "best timing ever!" She punched her fist in the air.
"If they're willing," Andros said, "they have a chance to say no."
"But they have to," Cassie said, "Especially if we point out they have a chance to get their planet back."
"You wouldn't have joined us if we hadn't a common goal," Ashley pointed out. "We wanted to defeat Dark Specter and find Zordon. Protect Earth was just a part of that."
"That leads us back to morphers," Mike said, "Where are we going to get morphers from?"
"If they have the whole set, then it's not a problem," Andros said, "If not, we'll go to Eltare. With a plan to save the Earthers from themselves, they'll be more than willing to go along. Just remember, this all depends on those two young men. Now then," he tapped the table, "we have the files of all the approved colonists and command team. We're supposed to pick our team from that."
"So let's start on that while we wait for Zane and his guests," Leo said.
Andros nodded, "We have it all in the computer banks, and I suggest we split them up because there are over two thousand names."
"Let's narrow those choices down," Mike said, "Say, let's take out anyone under the age of seventeen."
"Why?" Cassie asked.
"They'll have the maturity for the job," Mike replied, "and by law, that's the age they can join other military matters."
"Top the list at twenty-five," Leo said, "because that's about the age you really start thinking about your own mortality."
"DECA, sort the colony finals and pull out those between the age of seventeen and twenty-five," Ashley said.
"There are four hundred, ninety-six names remaining," DECA said.
"DECA how many of those remaining have martial arts training?" Mike asked.
"Three hundred, fifty-three," DECA replied.
"All right, how far down do we want to narrow it?" TJ asked, "Do we want to go with top of the class, or mix it up. I didn't have any training until I became an Astro."
"What about taking out those with a record?" Ashley suggested.
"No," Leo said, "Because I had a criminal record before Kai had my record cleared."
Glances around the group, "We should go for those with high rankings," Andros said, "we want a strong team to start with. We have to give them a chance to win."
"All right, DECA, how many of those with training have a high degree of training?" Kendrix asked.
"Sixty-six," DECA replied promptly.
"Now that's a number I can work with," Leo said, "how should we divide these?"
"We should pair up," Ashley said, "with a certain number of files."
"By color?" Kendrix asked, sharing a grin with Cassie.
"Right," Ashley said. "Each color should look for possibilities in their color, boy or girl. Then we should pass around our rejects to see if they'd sound good in another color."
"Once we have a top three, we'll argue it out as a group, right?" Karone said.
"Right," Ashley said.
TJ leaned over to Carlos, "Notice that we aren't involved in this, right?"
Carlos grinned, "Just let them do this. They'll figure it out."
"All right," Ashley said, turning to Andros, "You and Leo are working together, Andros. TJ, you're with Kai. Carlos with Damon, I'm with Maya, Cassie's with Kendrix. Mike, Karone, if you two are going to help, would you two work together? We need someone to pick out the sixth ranger."
Karone glanced at Mike, "You want to?" She asked.
"I'm in," Mike said.
"DECA," Ashley said, "randomly divide the files into six groups, and download them to the Astro's readers. Send the sixth set to Karone."
Six chimes signaled the arrival of the files into the handheld computers of the Astro Rangers. TJ stood up, "Hey Kai, let's work on this in the glider bay, I'm hungry."
"All right," Kai said. The pair vanished.
"Well then," Ashley mused, "want to work on this in my room, Maya? I can put them up on the big screen."
"Sure," Maya said. Once begun, the other pairs began to scatter, leaving Andros and Leo in the conference room.
For half an hour, silence prevailed, save for quiet conversations around this ship, then DECA announced, "Andros, Zane has arrived on Mirinoi with his two guests, they are approaching the Megaship."
"Open the space hatch and gather the others," Andros ordered, bouncing to his feet. He hurried to the hatch and arrived just in time to be pulled into Zane's over enthusiastic hug. "Welcome back," Andros murmured.
"Glad to be back," Zane replied, he stepped back and turned, keeping an arm over Andros's shoulders. "Andros, this is Ris'ine, Red Yesinia Ranger and As'ris, Silver Yesinia Ranger. Ris'ine, As'ris, this is Andros, Red Astro Ranger."
Andros saluted the pair, "Welcome aboard the Astro Megaship Mark II, Ris'ine, As'ris. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."
Ris'ine, a blond haired man with dark blue eyes nodded, "Indeed, Andros. However, we hope to be able to join you if you fight against Grumm."
Andros smiled slightly, "Come with me, the Astros and the local team, the Galaxy Rangers, were simply discussing an aspect of the defense." He gestured towards the conference room. "Zane," he said, as he started off. His friend and teammate fell into step easily, "It's not good."
"What happened on Earth?" Zane asked.
"They aren't changing course," Andros said, "They didn't believe us about Grumm. We're going to have to deal with things as they go along."
"What's the plan?" Zane asked.
"So far? Give them a team, like they asked. We know the Earth morphers aren't going to be strong enough, but they won't accept help without proof. We're going to upgrade the Power when they realize we were right, because they won't let us before. We're going to get help from Eltare." Andros said. He looked back at the Yesinians, "We also hope you two will help with this part, because it seems to be our best bet."
"Well, even if we can upgrade their power, it won't stop Grumm," Zane said.
"That's the part we haven't gotten to yet," Andros said as they entered the room.
"What part?" Ashley asked.
"What to do with the colony, because Grumm won't let them colonize out there. He'd see it as a challenge." Andros replied. "Everyone, the Yesinian Rangers, Red Ranger Ris'ine, and Silver Ranger As'ris; Ris'ine, As'ris, may I introduce to you the Astro Rangers: Ashley, Yellow Astro, Cassie, Pink Astro, TJ, Blue Astro and Carlos, Black Astro, and my sister, Karone, who served as the Pink Galaxy Ranger for a short time."
"Nice to meet you," Ashley said cheerfully, and Cassie nodded.
"Sorry about what happened," TJ said, "but we'll help."
Andros leaned towards Leo, "Introduce your team, Leo," he murmured.
"Oh," Leo said, "Uh, Ris'ine, As'ris, I am Leo, the Red Galaxy Ranger, this is my team, Maya, Yellow Galaxy, Kendrix, Pink Galaxy, Kai, Blue Galaxy, Damon, Green Galaxy, and my brother Mike, who was the Magna Defender."
Ris'ine inclined his head, "An honor, Galaxy Rangers, Magna Defender."
"If you will take a seat, we'll bring you up to date on our plans." Andros offered. Once everyone was once again seated, Andros spoke, "Our plans are based on two facts, the Earth's morphers will not be enough to protect the colony Terra Quest, and the Earth government will not acknowledge the dangers associated with their plans. We, the Astros, have been asked to put together a new team for the colony because of our reputation on Earth and our experience in space. We've agreed to do so, but we had a plan behind our agreement. Please know that this whole plan is contingent on your agreement, Ris'ine, As'ris."
"What is the plan?" Ris'ine asked.
"When the time comes that the Earth morphers fail to channel the Power at the degree necessary to defeat Grumm, we would ask that you arrive, with new Powers to give them, and to stay to lead the team," Andros said. "This will be a temporary measure, following which; we will somehow move the colony out of danger."
Mike cleared his throat, "Commander Stanton has me working with groups exploring the local systems. We've found three habitable planets with no sentient life. If the problem was posed to the commander properly, I'm sure he would agree to release one to the refugees from Terra Quest."
"We will do it," Ris'ine said, cutting through Andros's response, "on one condition. When the Terra Quest colony is safe, we can join those actively fighting Grumm."
"Deal," Andros said before anyone can respond. "We've been looking over the files for the new team, trying to narrow it down to the three best for the positions. Perhaps you two would be the final vote on your teammates?"
Ris'ine looked at As'ris, who nodded, "All right."
"Great," Andros turned to Zane, "Can you get them settled in for me? We don't have a lot of time to get this done."
"Sure," Zane replied with a grin. "It's no problem, Andros."
With that, the group broke up, back to trying to choose six rangers who would survive a fight that even the more experienced Astros would have hesitated to engage in.
A/N: So, I had the first five FINISHED chapters on a disk, along with the drafts of two more. Then I got sick and spent a day doing nothing. Somehow, the disk got erased. So I have to rewrite these chapters, and they aren't as, well, edited as I originally had them. I'm going to try to stick to my original once a week updates, but I'll probably be a little off because I lost those chapters. Thankfully, I have all the outlines on my computer itself, along with my notes, so I'll be able to recreate this successfully.