Chapter Three

His vision was dimmed and blurred, but Andros managed to stay conscious after taking the unexpected attack from Darkonda. He could hear the battle still raging between his teammates and the bounty hunter in the distance, but he could also see Cassie struggling to get to her feet. Andros knew by the distance Cassie had traveled after taking the blow that he had just withstood a powerful hit.

"Andros," Cassie was at his side again. Her voice was pained when she asked, "Are you okay?"

Andros groaned as he forced himself over onto his side, a movement that threatened to plunge him into the darkness of unconsciousness. Just as the darkness around the rims of his eyes seemed to meet in the middle it faded away and Andros felt his strength start to return to him.

"I'll be fine," Andros assured weakly. He looked to his left where his Spiral Saber lay useless until he snatched it up again. "But this battle's not over yet."

Gathering what strength he had left in him Andros stood up, perhaps he managed this feat by determination alone, he did not know. All that mattered right now was somehow finding revenge with Darkonda. How had the villain been so stupid to show his face today? Had they been fighting anyone else, Andros probably would have been counted out of this fight from the start. He felt like his anger was the only thing fueling him right now.

Before making a move Andros observed Darkonda battling the three other rangers. The villain was holding his own against the rangers, actually he was managing to do more than that. Darkonda was coward, but he did have good swordsmanship and he was putting it to good use against his three opponents. The site added more energy to Andros's fury. Was it because of what Darkonda had done to Karone and Zhane? Was it because Darkonda was proving that he could be a worthy adversary in a battle for once? Or was it actually Andros's teammates that were not getting their job done that Andros found himself upset with right now? It did not matter what the cause behind Andros's fury was, this battle needed to end, now.

"Let's go," Andros told Cassie before he led the way back into the fight.


Zhane slowly looked up when he thought he heard footsteps coming down the corridor. The pain that should have crept down from his neck into his back was no longer in existence. He felt so weak that he could barely make the movement at all.

Seeing the black and green image of Ecliptor walk into view surprised Zhane. He figured this would be Astronema again, or worse, Darkonda. Zhane felt like he was in a hazy dream as he watched Ecliptor open the door to his cell. No, it was more like a nightmare. Zhane felt numb to the pain that he had to be in, but he could still feel the panic as he watched Ecliptor reach up to release him from his bindings. Zhane soon discovered that he was not as numb to his body as he thought he was when the bindings let loose in a snap and he fell in a motionless heap to the floor of the cell. It felt like he was hit by a high leveled electric pulse when he first made contact with the ground, but that feeling was soon replaced by a worse feeling. All the muscles that had been pulled away from their natural setting and forced to remain in that one position for who knew how many days were now being filled with a hot coursing fire. Zhane could feel his body shuttering at the shock it was taking.

"Get up," Ecliptor demanded even as he grabbed Zhane by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up off of the ground. It was hard for Zhane to find his footing, it had been so long since his legs had known the feeling of weight being pressed down on them after all. He stumbling all through the corridors that Ecliptor led him through. He was led in so many different directions that it was not long before Zhane had lost his sense of the path they had taken. Ecliptor stopped only once to enter a key into a control panel to unlock a door. That door slid open slowly with a hiss. Zhane felt like fighting his captor to avoid being dragged into the room, but he simply did not have the strength to lift even an elbow against his foe. Ecliptor took five steps into the room and stopped as the door behind him closed. The smell of hot electricity and smoldering metal burned the back of Zhane's throat. Ecliptor announced, "I have brought the prisoner."

"Good." The voice brought Zhane's attention away from his concentration over trying to keep his feet under him and catch his breath to searching the room around me. His eyes combed over differentiating equipment, which uses appeared to range anything from perhaps torture to building the next greatest super weapon the galaxy had ever known. What caught Zhane's eye though was Astronema. Her back was exposed to Zhane at first, but she slowly turned to face her general and the silver ranger. Again, Zhane felt his heart sink at the sight of the beautiful woman turned half machine. She spoke in that new monotone voice of hers, "Bring him in and help me set him up."

Ecliptor hesitated for no more than two seconds before following his master to the center of the room. Zhane could not hold back a cry of anguish when Ecliptor suddenly lifted his sore, stiff arms back up to the position they had been moments earlier in the prison. His breath became jagged against the pain being inflicted on him while Ecliptor worked to chain his hands up once again.

Astronema pulled over a piece of equipment from a nearby console and then walked behind the silver ranger. Zhane could not get the details on what she had just brought over, but could feel something cold and heavy being lowered onto his head. Next he felt thin wires slowing being coaxed into one ear and then the other. He was barely aware of Ecliptor tying his feet down onto something on the ground. Zhane felt hopeless in his situation and fear was starting to sink in. He was not sure if he would even be alive in the next hour. He did not want this to be the end of the road for him, but he could do nothing to save himself.

When Ecliptor stood Astronema nodded to the machine before pointing back to the console she had retrieved the device that was now located on Zhane's head from. Ecliptor returned the nod before walking over to the console and grabbing a circular piece of metal that was hooked up with some sort of tube that led back to the console. Zhane swallowed dryly as Ecliptor returned with the device. Astronema helped Ecliptor wrap the item high around Zhane's chest. The item was much heavier than it looked.

"This should give us the results we want," Astronema spoke thoughtfully.

"I am certain you have done a complete job of preparing the device," Ecliptor spoke dutifully. Zhane caught a vibe that Ecliptor was just as confused about what was going on as he was.

"Astronema," Zhane whispered to get the woman's attention. She turned slowly to face him. Zhane tried to swallow again, this time to moisten his dry throat, but the effort was useless. He tried to speak again, but the attempt almost sent him into a coughing fit.

"I wouldn't worry, silver ranger," Astronema spoke evenly and took a step towards Zhane. She reached out a hand to touch his face. Her fingers rolled down his cheeks almost seductively. Her eyes met Zhane's before she continued, "You will be quite useful soon."

"What are you going to do?" Zhane managed to croak out. Astronema smirked evilly and her eyes grew hard with determination.

"It's not what I'm going to do, silver ranger," Astronema answered. "It's about what you will do to help me defeat the rangers."

With those words Astronema ran the palm of her left hand down Zhane's face until her fingertips touched his chin. She placed pressure on the side of Zhane's head to indicate that he should look to her left. She stepped away from him to walk over to the wall Zhane was now staring at. Had he had the strength to do so he would have tried to plead with Astronema not to continue on with her plan, but all Zhane could do was watch in silent dread. What was Astronema up to? What was going to happen to him? Would there be away for him to help his friends get out of whatever she had planned?

Grasping a large dark clothe on the wall Astronema pulled it down to reveal five ghostly machines that were mostly hidden behind thick pillars of smoke. Zhane's breath caught in his throat at the site of the machines. Once the smoked thinned slightly Zhane could see that the machines were humanoid, each with its own distinct color. It unnerved Zhane greatly that the colors on the machines matched those of his five remaining ranger teammates.

Astronema turned to gaze at Zhane once again, the smirk on her face looked to be full of malicious intent.

"You, silver ranger," Astronema spoke as she walked over to the console her general now stood at. "Will be the one leading my new army."

"No," Zhane felt himself start to panic. The pieces of Astronema's plan were starting to be placed together for him. His heart lurched in his chest when he caught sight of his morpher sitting on top of the console in front of Astronema and Ecliptor. Wires were connected to the device that had much of its protective exterior removed. Astronema was about to do the same thing to him that Dark Specter had his minions do to her. After being brainwashed, Zhane surmised, he would be turned into one of the machines that Astronema just introduced him to.

"Astronema, don't do this," Zhane started to plead now. He started to feel a tingling feeling rise in his chest, at first he thought that he might have just been quivering with his new found fear, but then the electrical shock increased. Electricity coursed to out through his body into his limbs, causing him to shake involuntarily, but the wattage was not powerful enough to do any real harm. Whatever Astronema was doing, she was doing it slowly. Undoubtedly she could see how weak Zhane was and knew that this would have to be a slow process at first.

"Astronema, please," Zhane pleaded again, the words came out shaky against the pain and the convulsing that he could not stop his body from doing. Astronema of course ignored the plea and dramatically increased the strength of the power being sent into Zhane's body. Zhane yelled against the pain, "Karone!"

Calling Astronema by her real name did nothing to effect her. Zhane cried out again and again with the rising torment that he was being forced to endure. He feared for his friends. What would he be forced to do to them after this? Perhaps it was best if he did not survive this day.


"He's too weak," Ecliptor announced to Astronema. She stood studying the silver ranger, he had lost consciousness only moments earlier. Ecliptor was right, the silver ranger was weak from his imprisonment, but Astronema believed that he still had plenty of life left in him.

"He will be fine," Astronema disagreed with her general. "The brainwash will be the most difficult part for him, by then his powers will already be converted. The power will serve to sustain him."

Astronema knew, however, that the process of infecting the silver ranger's morpher with the virus she created would do its toll on the silver ranger as well. The young man had survived this long though, that was a good indicator that he would make it to the end of the process. The power transfer, which was simultaneous to the virus transfer, was also going to be brutal for the silver ranger to endure. The new power that the silver ranger's morpher was gaining had to be introduced to his body slowly. If it worked out the way Astronema had planned it that same brutal power transfer was what would end up keeping the silver ranger alive while her virus took over his morpher's system.

"Everything will work out," Astronema assured her general when Zhane's body stopped convulsing and settled into intermittent tremors instead. The transfers were complete. Now all that was left to be done was the brainwashing process.


Andros was barely able to contribute to the fight, but he could see that Darkonda was wearing down just from being outnumbered by the rangers. It forced him to work hard to defend himself.

"Bring them together, guys," Andros commanded his team to combine their weapons to form their Quadroblaster. While his teammates followed their orders Andros snapped his weapon together with his Astro Blaster to activate its booster mode.

As Andros suspected Darkonda started to squirm and to look for an exit. Andros tried his best to hurry up the processes of aiming his charging weapon at Darkonda so that he could fire it before the villain got away.

"Next time rangers," Darkonda spoke an instant before disappearing in a cloud of orange smoke.

"No!" Andros yelled before bringing a fist down on top of his weapon to release his frustration. He wanted Darkonda to pay for capturing his sister and now his best friend. Andros did not want the bounty hunter to pay for his evil works tomorrow, he wanted vengeance today.

"That attack seemed random," Cassie spoke breathlessly as she limped onto the bridge of the Astro Megaship with the rest of her teammates. She had her arm wrapped around her chest but otherwise she appeared to be fine.

"Aren't all their attacks typically random?" Ashley questioned with a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't know," Carlos spoke up. "Cassie is right. Darkonda usually has a plan for his attacks, he's never been one to attack so openly."

"Perhaps he's Astronema's temporary replacement," TJ said thoughtfully. He eyed Andros as if studying him for a reaction. Perhaps he thought the comment might offend the red ranger. Andros really did not have a response for him, TJ could have been right. The only thing that Andros could contribute to the remark was to bitterly explain how Karone appeared as though she had already regained her role as Astronema the last time he had seen her. Why would there be a need for someone to take her place? No, the only thing that concerned Andros was the fact that Darkonda had been able to get away. Again.

The room fell silent. A few of the rangers exchanged unspoken conversations through glances while others looked blankly at the floor. Everyone was still going through the shock of the past few days. While most of them had little attachment to Karone, all of them were concerned over Zhane's fate. Part of Andros wanted to tell his teammates that the silver ranger might still be around if they had just tried to help him rescue Karone when they had the chance. To keep the peace Andros remained silent, for now.

With out saying a word Andros walked to one of the exits of the bridge.

"Andros, wait up," Ashley called from behind him after he had walked into the corridor. Andros felt his jaw tighten, he really did not feel like having company right now, even from Ashley. He kept walking hoping that Ashley would figure this out on her own, but, of course, she just kept following him. "Andros!"

Andros was forced to stop when Ashley grabbed hold of his arm, far more gently this time than she had before the fight with Darkonda.

"Ashley, I really don't-"

"I know," Ashley cut him off gently. She pressed her lips together. Her eyes twitched back and forth as she gazed down at the ground. It was not like her not to make eye contact, it was like she was trying to calculate her words carefully. When Ashley did look up Andros could see the sad concern in her dark brown eyes. "Andros, we all feel terrible about what happened. We all wanted this to turn out differently."

Andros literally had to bite his tongue to keep from making a retort on Ashley's statement. If the other rangers wanted things to turn out differently then why had they stood by while their friends put their lives at risk to save Karone? If they had come along perhaps Zhane would not have been captured. Of course, they had tried to stop Zhane from going in the first place. If he had not gone he would not have gotten captured. Plus, if the other rangers had tagged along, Zhane and Andros may never have made it as close to Karone as they had that day. The argument could go both ways, but somehow Andros could not help but feel a little resentful.

"We'll figure out how to get them back," Ashley promised. Andros was not so sure of that statement. He wanted to tell Ashley not to make promises she could not keep, but he did not feel he had the strength to do so right now. Not with out breaking down emotionally in front of the girl anyway. Ashley would not care if he did, but Andros preferred to keep his dignity. All he could do was nod his thanks to her and continue on to his quarters where he could finally try to get some rest.


Astronema stood before her newest ally and smirked with the pride of her accomplishment. Though the silver ranger now looked identical to the five machines that he would be working with, he was still human. His new appearance was brought on by armored plating only. The powers he now possessed were a combination of the ranger powers he already had and a little that Astronema had added from Dark Specter's power source for good measure.

Unlike the other five psycho rangers, however, the silver psycho ranger was not dependent on Dark Specter's powers to continue battling. His purpose for drawing on the overlord's power was simply to give him an added boost if he needed it for any given reason. It would also serve to drain Dark Specter's powers quicker when the time came for Astronema to take over his rule.

Stroking the fine metal of the silver ranger's new armor Astronema could not help but feel the chill of her upcoming victory. The rangers did not stand a chance against her new army. And Dark Specter would be a snap to defeat in comparison. Yes, Astronema was going to be the one that would defeat the rangers and take her rightful place as the ruler over the known universe.