Zhane didn't go to bed after he left Yi'mar in the door to his temporary room, instead, he returned to the Astro Megaship to put away his things. After a brief conversation with DECA, he took over the empty sixth Ranger bedroom and was pleased to find silver-gray sheets waiting for him when he pulled back the cover on the bed. He still didn't sleep; instead, he returned to his room, knowing that in the morning, Andros would come looking for him. As he arrived in his room, he felt his body beginning to slow down. He stripped down and slid between the sheets on his bed with a sigh. As he let his body relaxed, his mind drifted off into a gentle, silver light.
Andros let himself into Zhane's room quietly, waking Zhane from the half-doze he'd been in for the past half-hour, "Andros?" He asked, letting the covers fall off his head as he sat up.
"You're awake," Andros said, surprised.
Zhane smiled, "Of course, you didn't think you were going to sneak off without saying good bye, did you?" He shifted and patted the bed, "Come on, and sit down for a sec."
"Zhane," Andros said, sitting in the chair at the 'net consol. "You aren't mad?"
Zhane shrugged, "I want to go with you, Andros, but I know you. You don't want anything to happen to me. I'd be surprised if you didn't request for someone to sit on me or something to make sure I stayed."
From the guilty flush, Zhane knew he wasn't too far off, "Zhane, I just, you're the only family I have left."
"You have Karone," Zhane replied firmly. "She just isn't here right now."
"Yeah, but you, I can keep safe." Andros said. His communicator beeped, interrupting them, "This is Andros," Andros said.
"Andros," DECA said, "we have five minutes until our scheduled departure."
"Then give me five," Andros replied and flicked his wrist, killing the transmission. He stood, "I guess this is good bye."
"No," Zhane said, getting out of bed, "this is, see you later." He hugged his friend tightly, ignoring the scratch feel of Andros's uniform against his bare chest. "Don't get hurt, ok?"
"I'll try not to," Andros replied, sounding amused.
After a moment, they stepped apart, "See you later," Zhane said.
"See you," Andros agreed, he keyed a sequence into his morpher and vanished in a column of red light.
Zhane spun and quickly pulled on the black uniform pants and silver top from the night before. Over the top, he pulled on his brown jacket, and closed it, in hopes of down playing the silver shirt. He brushed his long, black/brown hair and opened his door to find Yi'mar waiting for him. "Ready?" Yi'mar asked softly.
"Let's do it," Zhane replied.
"I promised to take you to the library," Yi'mar said, "you can vanish from there."
"Let's go," Zhane agreed.
The two hurried through the compound to the Great Library, where the legends and teachings of past Rangers were stored. After checking in, they vanished into the stacks, moving quickly to get out of sight. Once safe, Zhane hugged Yi'mar, "You have my eternal thanks," he said.
"No need," Yi'mar said, "this is what a Silver does, little brother."
Zhane stepped back and lifted his morpher, "DECA, I'm ready to teleport." He said.
"Teleporting," DECA replied. Silver sparkles obscured Zhane's vision as he waved at Yi'mar one last time.
Safe in his room, Zhane quickly changed into his Astro jacket, and grinned in the mirror, "It's time," he whispered. "DECA, where is Andros?"
"Andros is on the bridge," DECA replied.
"Thank you," Zhane replied. He stepped out of his room and headed for the 'lift. Inside, he stepped to one side of the door, so as to be invisible from outside and waited.
The door slid open with a hiss, and moments later, Andros spoke up, "DECA, is the Megalift malfunctioning?"
"The Megalift is operating within normal parameters," DECA replied.
"Then why did the door open?" Andros asked.
"Perhaps there is someone inside," DECA replied.
Zhane pressed a fist to his mouth, he couldn't believe it, but DECA was helping him. It was a strange, yet joyful sight, especially given their long-term feud for Andros's attention; or rather, DECA had stood as the voice for his Ranger duties, while Zhane had served as the voice of delinquency. "Is there someone inside?" Andros asked his tone exasperated.
"Unable to determine," DECA replied.
"Fine, I'll look myself," Andros muttered.
Zhane held very still as Andros stepped into the 'lift's door frame, looking in the other direction. As his gaze swept towards Zhane, Zhane schooled his features into nonchalance. Finally, Andros's brown eyes met Zhane's. "Hi," Zhane said, "told you I'd see you later."
"Zhane," Andros said, "how, how did you get here?"
"Teleported," Zhane replied, stepping away from the wall. "It's the latest rage, I'm sure you've heard of it."
"We're going to have to go back," Andros said.
"Wait," Zhane said, he darted past Andros onto the Bridge, "DECA, that thing I asked you not to tell Andros, please, tell him."
"Andros, the Kerovan Ranger Roster has been updated," DECA said simply.
"What do you mean?" Andros asked.
"There are now two Kerovan Rangers," DECA said.
"Two?" Andros repeated.
"Yeah," Zhane said, "watch. Let's Rocket!"
"Zhane!" Andros stared, "You-you're Silver!"
"Well, yeah," Zhane shrugged, "Yi'mar said it was my birthright or something. Power down." He grinned at Andros as the morph vanished, "So, can I stay now?"
"Yes!" Andros said, his quiet reserve broke and he practically leaped onto Zhane as he hugged him. "Yes, yes, yes! Of course you're staying. Did you think I'd tell you no or something? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Because," Zhane replied, "I wanted to surprise you."
"Same Zhane," Andros said. "All right, take your position, Silver Ranger. We need to get back to KO-35."
Zhane took a seat at the navigation controls, "Let's go," he said.
"Nice uniform, by the way," Andros added.
"Came with the suite," Zhane said, "I like it to."
Andros coughed, "DECA, set a course for KO-35, maximum speed."
"Course set," DECA replied.
"Andros," Zhane said, turning to his friend.
"Yes, Zhane?"
"I'm hungry."
SWARSWARSWARSWAR
"You cannot be serious!" Kinwon said.
Andros stood, slowly, his thirteen year old face twisted into fury, "For all the respect I bear you Kinwon, I say this with all the respect I can. You have no authority over the Astro Rangers. We, and yes, by we I mean Zhane and me, are the defenders of this world at the order of the Council of Rangers. You, however, do have a choice. You accept that we are the Kerova Rangers, or we can leave and take our services to a world that needs us. I understand that Javor is looking to bolster their compliment of Rangers, and any world would be crazy not to accept Silver."
Kinwon stared at him, and then at Zhane, who stood behind his friend's seat. "But…it's…"
"Yes," Andros asked, quietly.
Zhane, who was trying not to let his amusement show, mused that in a few years, when Andros's voice matured, he'd sound quite threatening when he talked like that. Kinwon deflated, "We of KO-35 are honored to have two Rangers dedicated to our defense after Dark Specter's attack. However, we need to continue our plans for evacuation."
"I've briefed Zhane on the plans," Andros said, "He's volunteered to utilize the Delta Megaship as needed, while I will continue to pilot the Astro Megaship."
"The Delta Megaship hasn't been flown in years," Kinwon objected.
"Not since Green Ranger Andrea brought her to KO-35," Zhane agreed. "She's been well maintained, sir, at Andrea's request."
"Nobody knows how to access the AI," Kinwon said.
"I do." Zhane replied.
"How is it that you have come by this information?" Kinwon asked.
Zhane stared into Kinwon's eyes for a long moment, "Green Ranger Andrea Seabe of Nordicai was my mother, Kinwon. I arrived on the Delta Megaship with her and I have held onto the access codes and key card all my life. I would have released the Delta Megaship to the Rangers for the evacuation had the team not been compromised to the extent it was."
"And now?" Kinwon said.
"As a child, TESRA was as much my guardian as my mother, I'm sure she will have no problem working with me now." Zhane replied, amused.
Kinwon nodded, clearly defeated, and the rest of the council was silent, although from the looks of mixed approval, Zhane thought they'd probably only won a single skirmish in the battle he was going to drag Andros through. Before, when Andros had been the holder of a team with two names, either Kerova or Astro, depending on the person, he'd bowed to the council. Now, Zhane was going to take the lessons his mother had absently taught him before her death when he was six, and turn the Astro Rangers into a team independent of the Council. Having Andros fight for him in council, even if the threat of walking away was empty, was only the first step in creating a true Ranger team.
Of course, it would help if Zhane paid attention in the council meetings, but he didn't see the point. Andros had insisted he come, and Andros was the one doing all the talking. Zhane absently sat in the empty chair beside his partner and schooled his features into bland attentiveness. Behind the mask, however, Zhane was worrying at a problem he had kept from Andros. The secret identities of the future Astro Rangers. Here on KO-35, the occasional sense of others had faded a great deal, as if they were far away. Zhane wondered who they could be if they weren't Kerovans, and more important, would Andros accept someone other than Karone as his yellow ranger. Zhane knew that Andros would never admit it, but his dream was to find his missing sister and give her the yellow morpher. He'd accepted Lysia as the yellow because she'd had the morpher longer than Andros had held the red, and because Andros had never dreamed of being a Ranger before the morpher fell, literally, into his hands. Kristos, the blue ranger, had used the Red at first, despite it's poor response to him. When the clasp had broken and flew into Andros's hands, making the then twelve year old glow red as he held it, nobody doubted that he was the true red ranger. Kristos had willingly taken up the unused blue morpher with relief, Zhane remembered, although he'd been a decent leader, Andros had the drive and determination that Kristos had lacked.
"Zhane?" Andros murmured.
"Yes?" Zhane asked.
"Meeting's over, time to get to work."
Zhane nodded, "Let's go wake up TESRA."
The two young Rangers stood and left the building, then let DECA whisk them across the planet to the secondary space hub and home to the Delta Megaship. "Ranger Andros," the port master said as he approached, "This is a surprise."
"Greetings," Andros said, "this is Range Zhane, the Silver Astro Ranger. We're here to see the Delta Megaship."
"Of course," the man said, "if you would follow me, I'd be more than happy to show you to the hanger."
The pair followed the port master to the Delta's birth, and Zhane felt a rush of homecoming as he saw the old and battered ship that had been his home once. Leaving Andros and the port master behind, Zhane entered the ship with a feeling of awe. It looked much the same as he remembered it, with the marks of battle and the dents and dings from an active child. He touched a few of them, as the memories filled him. Places where he'd crashed into the wall, the near hole from getting a little too enthusiastic about weapons training. Finally, he entered the Bridge.
It hadn't really changed, but Zhane had unconsciously expected it to have. He ran fingers over the edge of consoles, remembering being little and trying to 'help'. As he headed for the AI interface, he felt tears well up, because his mother had died on the ship, struck by a sudden illness that nobody had been able to detect before it was too late. He touched the weapons board, and for a brief moment, he was six year old, "Zhane, run! Get help!"
Zhane shook his head and turned to the interface, taking the key card from around his neck. Of course, nobody had known it was the key card or he would have never been allowed to keep it. It was silver, and cast in the shape of a dragon. "My little dragon…" Zhane frowned and pressed the charm into it's slot. The board lit up and he tapped in the almost forgotten code.
Everyday you are my friend
I will promise tomorrow.
"Voice identification required," TESRA's familiar voice stated.
"Identification password," Zhane said, and then cleared his throat, "Go not gently into that good night."
"Voice identification confirmed," TESRA declared, "Zhane, you have grown up."
Zhane smiled shakily, "It's been eight years, TESRA, a lot has happened since Mother died."
"I am detecting morphin' energy about you, Zhane."
Zhane grinned, "I'm a Ranger now, TESRA, a Silver Ranger."
"Your mother would be proud of you," TESRA replied.
"Zhane," Andros stepped onto the bridge.
"Intruder," TESRA began.
"TESRA," Zhane cut her off, "this is Andros, the Red Astro Ranger, and my teammate. We're nominally based off the Astro Megaship, but we need your help."
"How may I be of assistance?"
Andros held up a disk, "We're covering evacuation of KO-35. Dark Specter's second, Princess Astronema, has targeted our planet for destruction. A second ship, such as your self, will increase the number of ships and runs we can make. This disk has the information."
"Who will I be working with?"
"Me," Zhane said, "Andros and the Astro Megaship computer, DECA, work well together, and I thought we could do the same."
"When do we start?"
Zhane closed his eyes, fighting off more memories of a happy childhood. "Tomorrow," Andros answered for him. "Non-essential colonists begin evacuation tomorrow. Once they're gone, we'll wait for the next attack, and hold KO-35 for as long as possible."
"Then you two should get some rest," TESRA said, "I will review the disk, and see what else has changed since I went inactive."
"Right," Andros said, he inserted the disk and reached a hand for Zhane, "Come on, let's go." Zhane hesitated, then took his friend's hand moments before TESRA teleported them off the ship.