Chapter 4: Line of Defence

It had been two days since the Karone and the others had returned from Mirinoi with the five Quasar Sabers and things had been fairly quiet. Kendrix had allowed Maya to sleep in her apartment since she was illegally on Terra Venture, while Leo was crashing with Kai and Damon who had moved in together. As for Karone she had her own place assigned to her and as much as she liked her new friends, she did enjoy her alone time.
Since she was a guest on Terra venture, thanks to her brother, she had no assigned duties. So the last two days for her had been unpacking and relaxing. However now she was getting bored and with most of her friends working she had no one to talk to. She had checked Leo and Maya's rooms but they were nowhere to be found. Having nothing better to do she decided to go for a walk.
Karone, like most of Terra Venture's inhabitants, lived in the main city located in the largest dome on the ship. She had not had a chance to go and investigate the other domes yet, but she had heard that they each contained an environment from earth. Mountains, beaches, forests and so on. For now though she was stuck in the main dome, the city, without a car.
She found herself wondering through the largely open streets of the city looking around. She couldn't help but be impressed by how they'd managed to make it feel so similar to Earth. There were shops, restaurants, cars, parks. She'd even heard there was an old fashioned market somewhere. She wasn't looking for anything in particular at the moment but it was nice that there was verity. Looking through shop windows, nothing seemed to catch her eye so she continued walking at a leisurely pace down the street
Eventually Karone found a park, its tall grass reaching up over her shoes. The plants were larger than on earth with thin trees that provided little to no shade, not that anyone needed it. The ship's domes all had automatic tempter settings that were controlled from the command centre.
The park had a clear path through, however planets had started to grow over it already. Karone thought about telling Kendrix but she saw little point in complaining. What with her new powers as well as a full time job in the command centre, she knew Kendrix would be busy.
As Karone walked through she spotted Mia and Leo water planets. Since they hadn't spotted her, Karone thought it'd be fun to give them a scare and moved behind them quietly as not to draw their attention. As she got closer Mia started to water a plant with Leo and then Karone jumped at them and screamed as loud as she could. Leo dropped his water can and jumped around to see who it was, but Mia didn't seemed to be phased by it.
"What the-" said Leo still startled. Bending over as he caught his breath, he then stood back up smiling at Karone. The two laughed at one another but Mia seemed like she was somewhere else.
"Mia" said Karone concerned as she putted her hand on her shoulder. Instantly Mia spun around and swung at Karone with the watering can. Luckily Karone saw it coming, and thanks to Astronema's training, she ducked under it and came back up in a fighting stance. She was ready for a fight but then Mia seemed to snap out of it and dropped the water can.
"You ok?" asked Leo putting a hand on Maya's shoulder. When she shook her head Karone knew it was ok to let down her guard and lowered her fists. "What is it?" continued Leo.
"Didn't you hear them?" asked Maya confused with him.
"Hear what?"asked Leo.
"The animals?" said Maya looking at him wide eyed, but all Leo could do was respond with a shake of the head. Maya then looked to Karone to back her up, but she answered the same as Leo, shaking her head. At this point Maya lifted her morpher to her mouth and pressed down on the communication's button.
"Damon can you meet me and Leo at the park?" asked Maya as she began walking.
"Sure, everything ok?" asked Damon.
"No" said Maya closing the communication's line as she walked with Leo and Karone behind her.

While they waited for Damon to arrive Leo and Karone continued to question Maya about the animal cries she claimed to have heard.
"Are you sure?" asked Leo for the seventh time, as Damon pulled up in the small cars. The only cars on Terra Venture were small two seaters, since people could get to most places by walking or the underground train network.
"What's the problem?" asked Damon as he got out the car and followed an angry Maya as she stormed towards the landing bay, where they'd hidden the Mega ship.
"Maya thinks-" started Leo but Maya quickly cut in.
"I did hear the animals" snapped Maya as they kept walking.
"What animals?" asked Damon confused and awaiting someone to inform him on what had happened.
"Maya says she heard animals cry out in pain" explained Karone from the back of the group.
"Then why are we heading to the landing bay, there won't be any animals there" said Damon.
"They're not on Terra Venture" said Maya as they entered the building.
"What?" said Damon, now even more confused than when he entered the conversation.
"Is the Mega ship ready?" asked Leo.
"The Mega ship? Look before we go I just want to tell you that the navigation is fried, the shields aren't repaired, the engine barely works-" Damon listed a many of the faults with the ship as he could before Maya interrupted him.
"I know where we're going" said Maya as she typed in the access code to the Mega ship and the doors opened. The four stepped inside and the doors closed behind them as they entered the bridge of the ship. Each of them set to work so that the ship would be ready for takeoff.
Once they were nearly ready, Leo decided to call Kai and Kendrix who were in Terra Venture's command centre.

"What do you MEAN you're leaving?" asked Kai irritated with Leo's rash decision.
"We won't be long" pointed out Leo "We're just going to check on these animals Maya heard and then we'll be right back"
"Right back. And how do you plan on getting back if the Navigation isn't working" snapped Kai furiously.
"Seriously Leo, I don't think you've thought this through at all" said a concerned Kendrix.
"She's right" cut in Kai, letting his opinion of Leo well known. "There are protocols to follow. Not to mention you're bringing Karone"
"What's wrong with bringing me?" asked Karone from across the room at the sound of her name.
"No offence, but you're just a civilian, we're the ones with the power" admitted Kai.
"I agree" said Maya rather quickly, "I don't think it's safe for you"
"Why not?" asked Karone folding her arms and glaring at Maya.
"We can defend ourselves. You can't" pointed out Maya, thinking she was in the right.
"I KNOW how to defend myself" said Karone stepping towards Maya.
"It doesn't matter anyway cause none of you are going anywhere" said Kai jumping back into the argument.
"Just for the record, I agree with Kai" piped up Damon which got him a glare from everyone on the ship.
"We'll be back before you know" said Leo as he ended the video chat. The last they heard from Kai was his ferocious voice saying "LEO" and the picture turned to black. "Well let's get going" finished Leo as he and Damon got ready to take off.
"No" said Maya firmly before they could do anything.
"Aren't you the one that wants to go?" pointed out Damon.
"Yes but Karone can't come" said Maya reviving the argument again.
"She's fine" said Leo continuing with takeoff procedures.
"No" said Maya once again.
"Look, when we get there I can just wait with the ship if that's what you want" said Karone, trying to meet her half way.
"No" said Maya stubbornly, "This is Ranger busyness" that hit a nerve for Karone. She couldn't believe she had finally made friends of her own and now they were pushing her away because they were Power Rangers. Because they were 'protecting her'.
"Fine" she said turning to leave "I wouldn't want to get in the way of your Ranger duties" mocked Karone as she stormed out the bridge. She could hear Leo calling for her to come back but she knew Maya didn't want her there and she did have a point. They were rangers and she was not, the thought irritated her. Was this what it was going to be like, her friends abandoning her every time something more 'important' showed up? She began questioning whether or not it was worth keeping them as friends if she'd never get to see them.
Stopping as she existed the ship, Karone looked back to make sure no one was watching and then entered a code into the small key pad at the side of the door. The camera above the door then came to life with its red glowing leans.
"Greetings" said the female computer voice.
"D.E.C.A, do me a favour and look after these guys for me" said Karone.
"Of course Karone" replied D.E.C.A which made Karone smile at the ship's A.I, before she left the ship.

Since Kai and Kendrix had scolded her, all Karone had done was sit her room moping. The two had left to go after the other Rangers and for the second time today Karone was feeling left out. She knew that they were more powerful than her but still, she could handle herself in a fight and had more than enough experience.
It had been hours since her friends had left and she hadn't moved from the edge of her bed. Finally getting sick of feeling sorry for herself she decided to go out for another walk. Her friends might not be back for hours and she needed to lift her spirits up, perhaps this time she'd find something to buy, or new friends.

After walking around and finding nothing interesting, Karone ended up at the edge of the domed city. Looking up into the sky, she couldn't help but notice something wrong with it. Even though it was a holographic image generated to make everyone feel more at home, Karone could see something in the distance that didn't look like a projection. The strange thing about the dome's projections was that if anything got within a certain range of the ship then it would be visible through the projection. What she was seeing looked like a ship.
Suddenly alarms started to sound and the Commander's voice came in over the speakers.
"We are under attack. I repeat we are under attack. All units prepare for combat. All civilians please make your way to the nearest safe zone. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill" Not surprisingly everyone started to panic and run for their lives. But not Karone, she wanted to know who was attacking them. At this point she thought of herself as the only line of defence, since the Rangers were gone.
The ship had gotten closer now and Karone was trying to analysis it, see if she could remember it or perhaps spot a weakness. The ship was shaped like a centipede with curved moon tail and bug head front. Everything about the ship screamed insect, even the way it moved through space, it looked like how an insect moved normally.
It was now in striking range of the Terra Venture and began firing its green lasers. To everyone's surprise though, the laser shots passed through the dome and hit several buildings as it flew over. None of the hit buildings were near Karone but she could hear the screams from the other side of the dome. The blasts must have had some kind of phase technology, thought Karone, or perhaps the dome had some kind of transparent shield around it allowing blasts to pass through it.
Either way the ship stopped being Karone's concern when two aliens beamed down nearby. One was Furio in his traditional red armour; the other looked like some kind of Elvis Presley impersonator with red skin, jelled up black hair and a crab claw for a hand. In his more human hand he held a blaster which he instantly began firing at the surrounding civilians.
"Hey!" shouted Karone getting their attention.
"Well, well if it isn't my old friend" teased Furio pointing his sword in Karone's direction. Karone didn't care about the dangers, she wasn't going to let these two hurt anybody on the ship.
"Allow me" said the Elvis alien, even his voice sounded like an impersonation of Elvis Presley.
"No" said Furio putting his hand in front of the alien "She's mine Radster. Continue your destruction until the Rangers come out and then bring me the Quasar Sabers"
"No problem" said Radster happily as he ran off continuing his destructive rampage. Karone went to run after him but Furio cut her off.
"Leaving so soon"
"Get out of my way" said Karone gritting her teeth angrily. She knew Furio was tough but she needed to protect the citizens and keep Radster's attention on her, at least until the rangers got back.
"You want past then you'll have to beat me" said Furio taking up a fighting stance with his sword ready to strike. Karone felt the urge to bring out her weapon, but that would require her to use her Astronema powers and that was too risky. She hadn't used then since her battle with Andros on the Dark Fortress and when she had used them as Astronema it always made her feel... evil. So for now, at least it was her fists and instincts against Furio and his sword.
It was karone who made the first move, running at Furio. His mistake was swinging too soon and allowing Karone to see his sword coming. She dropped to her knees and slide under his sword before quickly jabbing him in the leg with her fist. This brought Furio down to her level while Karone continued her attack. Getting to her fee she hit Furio with several jabs before then finishing her attack with a round kick to the back of Furio's head.
In the distance Karone could hear the mixture of blasts and screams from the city. Prioritizing the citizens over Furio, she made a run for Radster, hoping Furio wouldn't recover fast enough to stop her. Unfortunately he did, with an energy blast from his sword, Karone found herself on the ground. She managed to push herself up, but the pain coming from her back made it hard to do much more. Turning to Furio she thought she saw a smile, probably satisfied with his hand work.
At this point Karone knew she had no chance against this man without her powers. Her first attack had been luck and nothing more. Glaring at Furio, Karone held out her hand, as if holding something that was not there. Furio watched her confused and for a moment he thought the girl had lost her mind. Then a purple glow formed in her hand, so bright it was unmissable, as if it was life reborn. The purple glow then spread out, dropping to the floor and reaching up forming a diamond shape point. Then after a bright purple flash, a staff appeared in Karone's hand. A long staff of metal with red diamond blade tip.
Karone, still felt unsure about using her Astronema powers, but with the Terra Venture on the line it wasn't like she had much of a choice. Furio, though originally amazed, had now struck another fighting stance ready for the next round. He wasn't the only one that was ready; Karone could feel the pain in her back fading and her strength and stamina increasing. Maybe this was the right decision, she thought to herself getting into a fighting stance similar to Furio's.
"Where did you get that?" asked Furio as the two stared tensely at each other.
"What's it to you" snapped Karone, feeling her anger growing uncontrollability.
"You have no idea what you're doing?"
"I know more than you think" said Karone before attacking. Twirling towards him with her staff above her, Furio was surprised by her movements and how she managed to keep it up for so long. Because of her powers she could spin for longer than normal without getting dizzy. Quickly she struck with her staff; however Furio had gotten lucky and blocked her attack with his sword. Karone spun around and struck again, but once again Furio got lucky with his blocking. He was getting on Karone's nerves and without realising it she was now gritting her teeth and was glaring angrily at him. Something about her was making Furio feel uneasy and he backed away.
With Furio on the retreat, Karone aimed the diamond tip of her weapon at him and let lose a bolt of purple energy. The blast hit and Furio lost hold of his weapon, stumbling backwards. Karone charged forwards and slashed upwards cutting Furio across the chest with her weapon; sparks flew as Furio fell to the ground.
This was her chance, thought Karone, her chance to finish him. She pointed the tip of her weapon at Furio and prepared to strike. Furio looked up at her, his eyes full of terror. He knew this was the end. Karone pushed down with her weapon ready to pierce the alien, but something stopped her, with the weapon only just breaking through Furio's armour.
Karone pulled away holding her weapon at her side, still looking down on Furio.
"Leave" she ordered, but the alien rose up instead. He was weakened and holding one hand across the wound Karone had just given him, but none of that seemed to matter to him. He was more focused on Karone, he was analysing her trying to understand her. "Leave!" repeated Karone louder.
"What's your name?" asked Furio, she could almost see the thought process going on in his mind.
"Karone" she answered. For a moment nothing happened and then Furio smirked. Before Karone could get anything out of him he was gone in a bright green flash.
With Furio gone, all she had to do now was deal with Radster. However before she moved on to him she had to make a decision, to keep using Astronema's power or not. She looked at the weapon in her hand, remembering what had nearly happened moments ago. She had almost killed some, an evil alien yes, but still. Karone knew that was a slippery slope for her. One wrong move and Astronema might take hold, like she had for so much of her life. She knew she had to stop otherwise there might be no going back. After a purple flash of energy from the staff it was gone and Karone was once again as powerless as anyone else. She felt empty, but knew she couldn't use it again. Power is like a drug, she reminded herself before the screams came again. Snapping out of her thought process, Karone made a break for the city as fast as she could run.
Upon entering the city it wasn't hard to find Radster in the middle of the road blasting the buildings around him. Karone wasn't ready for this fight, as she still felt weak from the last one. Without her Astronema powers, the pain from Furio's attacks had returned putting her at a disadvantage against Radster. But she wasn't going to stand by while he destroyed her new home.
Karone was about to make her move when a blast from Radster hit a nearby building causing rubble to descend on the two children below. Spiriting at full speed Karone managed to grab both the kids and jump back just as the rubble hit the ground. Landing on her back only made the pain worse, but at least the kids were safe. Refusing to stay down Karone got to her knees and told the kids to "Go and hide". The two said their thanks and gave Karone a quick hug before running of, she couldn't help but smile. She'd never saved anyone before, it made her feel... good.
However after the hard landing, her back was in more pain than ever and she was nowhere near a fighting state.
"That's right! Bow down before the King" shouted Radster, enjoying himself as he terrorised the citizens. Karone felt the need to do something but without her powers she would only get knocked down again, still.
"Stop This!" shouted a Karone, loud enough to attract the Radster's attention.
"I don't think so" said Radster as he aimed his blaster at her.
"These people have done nothing wrong" pleaded Karone, hoping for once the bad guy would stand down.
"Doesn't mean I can't bring them some quality entertainment" said Radster before firing his blaster. It shot the ground in front of Karone causing her to flip backwards and land on her front; at least it wasn't her back. Radster then returned to his random shooting with Karone lying on the ground. She was weak, but she had to keep going. Try and save as many people as she could, at least until the Rangers got back.
Stubbornly Karone managed to push herself back up, shaking as she did so. Standing as tall as she could she called out to Radster again. This time when he looked back he saw a half slouched girl holding her chest with burses all over.
"Back for more" said Radster aiming his blaster again.
"Take your best shot" said Karone, gritting her teeth as her anger built. She wasn't about to take another blast like that, if he fired she'd pull out her powers and finish him with one blast like she had with Furio. The alien fired but before Karone even had a chance to think something else took the blast for her. As the smock from the blast cleared Karone spotted in between her and Radster was the Red Ranger.
"Leo" said Karone with relief, about ready to fall over. Leo turned to her and took hold of her to stop her from falling.
"Take it easy" said Leo, she couldn't see it but Karone had a feeling he was smiling at her so she smiled back.
"Awe, how touching" said Radster before firing two more shots at Karone and Leo. Leo turned swiftly and spread himself out, ready to take another hit for Karone. But he didn't have too. Before the blasts could hit two Quasar Sabers slashed by and took the hit from the blasts.
"Back off" demanded Damon, standing to the right a few steps ahead of Leo as the Green Ranger. Beside him was Maya as the Yellow Ranger, who had blocked the other blast.
"About time you lot showed yourselves" grunted Radster ready to fire again. But Kai and Kendrix were quicker and jumped over the others and slashed with their Quasar Sabers sending Radster back.
"You want us, well here we are" said Kai in an authoritative tone ready for more.
"Ye" said Kendrix backing him up.
Karone's vision was starting to blur and she could barely keep her eyes open. She knew what was coming next, she'd been knocked out before.
"Leo..." was the last thin Karone said before she felt her body drop and everything went black. Before she lost consciousness, while everything was black, she thought she saw a flash of purple followed the near silent shriek of an animal.

"Once again you fail me Furio!" shouted Scorpius from his chair, Furio kneeling before him, his armour still damaged from the wound Karone had given him.
"I'm sorry Scorpius. I ran into... a complication" admitted Furio
"I asked you to bring me the Quasar Sabers. Not excuses!"
"I'm sorry Scorpius. Please, give me another chance I won't fail you. I promise the Quasar Sabers will be yours" vowed Furio.
"Perhaps the Quasar Sabers aren't the only thing of value on Terra Ventrue" came the sound of a strong female voice. Both Scorpius and Furio looked to the archway that lead out of the room to see a woman covered in black bug armour. The part of her not covered was her face, which was coated with black lipstick and eyeliner that made her brown eyes seem black and evil.
"What do you mean my sweet Trakeena?" asked Scorpius in a nurturing tone to his daughter.
"Well" started Trakeena as she stepped into the room and put a hand on Furio's shoulder. "I believe Furio may already know" she looked into Furio's eyes and he knew what to say next.
"It's possible that an weapon once held by the legendary Astronema is on Terra Venture" said Furio looking to Scorpius.
"More than that" said Trakeena, knowing what Furio didn't. "Astronema herself is on Terra Venture"
"Impossible" said Scorpius in denial.
"Not Impossible father. You see when Zordon's energy wave turned villains like Rita and Lord Z into good hearted humans. For Astronema it merely sealed her away, inside Karone" at the sound of the name he knew, Furio rose from his position and took up a position next to Trakeena.
"That would be why she had Astronema's weapon" added Furio.
"Bingo" said Trakeena satisfied, unlike her father.
"Even if it is Astronema, why shouldn't I just destroy her?" asked Scorpius not wanting any competition for universal domination.
"She's trapped inside Karone. So if we capture her perhaps we can, 'change her mind'" suggested Trakeena with a snigger at the end.
"Very well. I'll allow it for you my princess. Furio! Go to Terra Venture and bring me the girl and hand her over to Trakeena" ordered Scorpius.
"As you wish" said Furio, leaving to find an alien to help him in his mission. While Trakeena stayed behind, rubbing her hands together in delight. The thought of having someone like Astronema at their side made her grin from ear to ear at the possibilities.

Slowly coming to was not fun, even the slightest move of her eye lids seemed to hurt. Once open, Karone looked around unsure of where she was. It was one of the rooms on Terra Venture, she recognised the design, but it wasn't her room.
Moving as slowly as possible, as not to hurt herself more then she already had, Karone sat up on the edge of the bed looking around. As she panned from right to left she spotted Maya sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room, staring at her. The girl's stare made her feel uneasy, but since she'd just recently lost everyone she'd ever known, Karone decided to let it slide. Getting to her feet, Karone couldn't stop herself from groaning, at which point Maya came over to make sure she was ok, letting Karone use her for balance.
"Thanks" said Karone as she limped across the room with Maya holding Karone's arm over her shoulder.
"It's no problem" said Maya helping Karone out the room.
"Where are the others?" asked Karone as the two, slowly, made their way through the hallways.
"At the guy's apartment. They're making dinner for us" answered Maya but other than that she didn't talk much for the rest of the walk. It took awhile but eventually Karone worked up the courage to ask her something that had been bothering her for a while now.
"Do you not like me?" she asked, watching Maya's face as she responded.
"No... I do... It's just..." something about Maya's answer made Karone nervous.
"What?" asked Karone hiding her nerves well.
"When I'm around you, I just feel... empty" the word made Karone look down in shame. "I'm not sure why and I do like you. I just don't feel, comfortable around you" said Maya shamefully. Karone respected her truth, and it brought her some form of happiness to know that Maya did like her. But she knew why Maya felt the way she did around her, it was Astronema. Somehow, even though they'd never met, Maya could sense her presence.
"I'm sure it'll pass" said Maya reassuringly with a smile, which Karone returned half heartedly. Knowing full well the feeling wouldn't pass and that there would always be this tension between the two from now on.
"Actually, would you mind taking me up to my apartment?" asked Karone "I'm feeling light headed and I think some more sleep would do me good"
"Sure" said Maya as she helped Karone limp along to her room.