Andy was straightening up the infirmary, making sure everything was cleaned. She had a checklist of supplies and she was making a list of the ones they would need to pick up the next time they were at headquarters.

She turned when she heard Stinger in the doorway.

"Hey beautiful."

"Hey. How are you?" Andy smiled at him. "We need quite a few supplies... We have enough to last a while but if we have any major battles it might be a problem."

"We will be stopping by Headquarters soon. You can restock then. How am I...?" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

She looked at him a moment, "What's wrong?"

He smiled sheepishly, then grimaced. She suddenly noticed how he was holding his side with one hand, the other behind his back.

She approached him with a frown, "What did you do?"

"Training. Naga got in some lucky hits."

Andy sighed, "Come on, I'll fix you up." She waited for him to sit before scanning him over. She cleaned up a wound on his arm before wrapping a bandage around it. Next she focused her hands over his chest as she tried to mend his cracked ribs.

"Before you say anything, I know I'm distracted."

She paused her healing a moment and met his eyes, "Why are you distracted?"

"Jark Matter appears to be massing for an all-out attack on Earth. Shou wants us prepared. Naga was trying to get me to relax. But I can't." He sighed and wrapped his good arm around her. "I just want us to be able to stop fighting."

She nodded, "I know. But at least we are helping other people have longer and safer lives..." She then pulled away with a smirk, "I could think of a few better ways to help you relax than training though."

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Is that right? Do tell."

She just chuckled and winked at him before focusing back on healing.

"Okay people. Gather round." Stinger looked grim. "Reinforcements are on their way. We need to stall for time. Kotaro, are the Scouts ready?"

Kotaro gave a nod, "Yes. They're ready to go whenever you need them."

Stinger smiled. "We are going to take out as many as we can while still trying to stay safe. We'll lure indavers into traps, set charges, and try to figure out any information we can. Kotaro and the scouts will work on protecting civilians. Naga and Balance can work on hacking into any Jark Matter systems they can find to get information."

The group saluted before heading off to their voyagers.

"Let us know when the resistance members show up," Andy smiled at Raptor who was typing on her tablet. She turned to Stinger, "Do you have ideas of where to put charges or are we just winging it?"

He thought for a minute. "Targets of opportunity. If you find a ship you can blow safely, do it. Whatever will cause the most chaos for Jark Matter and cause them to rush somewhere Raptor can blast them." He kissed her. "I'll see you down there as soon as I update Shou."

Andy nodded, "Stay safe." She headed to the door, "Come on, Champ, let's cause some trouble."

She flew off in her voyager and found a good spot to land. She snuck around avoiding the large groups of indavers. She smiled when she finally found an area with ten Jark Matter ships. She wasn't sure if there were any troops on them but she knew it would still hit them hard, especially with all of the indavers surrounding the ships. Trying to figure out a plan, she remembered the jutsu she learned that could make her invisible. Within minutes she had snuck in and placed charges on each of the ships. She snuck back out and released her jutsu before blowing them all up. She felt the ground shake at the power of the explosions.

She started to head off to find more ships, but a group of indavers appeared. She started fighting them off, taking a few hits, but finally she finished them off. Before continuing on, she received a call from the Orion.

"Andy, I need you to come back up to the infirmary. We have a couple injured but I can't leave the bridge."

"Be there soon." She rushed back to her voyager, only running into a few stray indavers along the way.

She was surprised when she entered the infirmary to see Jiro and Kotaro.

"What happened?" She started pulling out supplies.

"I'm not hurt that bad, but Aniki dragged me here," Jiro complained.

"I wasn't going to risk you getting hurt worse," Kotaro answered from his own infirmary bed. "Indavers found one of the places we were hiding civilians. We finally finished them off and the other scouts are watching it."

Andy scanned over the younger first, "Just a couple of blaster burns. We can heal those right up, ok?" She smiled trying to calm him. She then moved to her teammate, "Blaster burns and it looks like you broke your leg."

Kotaro nodded, "I tried to do most of the fighting to keep the scouts safe..."

Andy nodded before grabbing medicine. She handed each brother some as well as glasses of water to take them with. She quickly bandaged up Jiro's burns and healed them a bit to stop the stinging. Moving to Kotaro she made sure his bone was in the right position before wrapping it up. She focused on healing his burns first but was stopped midway as she heard Balance and Naga show up.

Balance carried an unconscious Naga into the room and set him on a bed, "We were ambushed. I did get a bit of information though so I'm going to get it to Raptor."

Andy watched how slowly Balance was moving, knowing she'd have to do repairs on him as well.

Andy started scanning over Naga when she heard Raptor on the comm, "Reinforcements have arrived and have joined the attack." She frowned when she noticed multiple slices across Naga's body. She quickly made a clone and both started stitching him up. After cleaning all of the wounds and stopping the bleeding, Andy started healing up Naga using her energy. Balance reentered the room so the clone started checking him over.

Champ exited his Voyager and began to head towards the door. He stopped when he caught the sound of a soft groan coming from the side of Stinger's. He walked around and found him busily attempting to bandage a burn on his shoulder. The bull took in the bandaged leg and ribs, then cleared his throat. He would have laughed at the scorpion's startled look if he hadn't been worried.

Stinger glared for a minute, then returned to bandaging. "You should know better than to sneak up on me."

"I wasn't trying to, aibou. You should get yourself to the infirmary though instead of trying to take care of it yourself."

"Andy's a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Not going to burden her." Stinger sighed and closed his eyes. "Believe me if the infirmary was empty I'd go." He gave up trying to wrap the injury, settling on holding a bandage over it. Champ noticed the wrapping on the leg injury was beginning to change color from white to red.

"You know she's going to get mad at you if you don't let her help you," Champ answered. "It might be better for you to go in there now than to deal with her angry later."

Stinger huffed out a laugh. "I'd rather her be mad than wear herself out on healing me and not be able to help someone who really needed it."

"Are you sure you don't really need it?" Champ motioned to the leg wound. "There's plenty of infirmary beds, we can at least get you in there to rest until she's done with the others."

Stinger grimaced, standing slowly. When he tried to put weight on the leg, it buckled. At the same time, he grew lightheaded and his eyes began to roll up in his head.

"Come on, aibou." Champ caught him and lifted him up before starting to walk to the infirmary.

Stinger tried to smile, but couldn't be sure it showed. The lightheadedness was getting worse and just before they got to the infirmary door his strength gave out.

Andy's clone looked up from her tablet which she was entering in lists of injuries to the ranger's charts. The real Andy was still focused on Naga but she stopped when she realized Stinger was there.

"What happened?" Andy asked Champ.

The android shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I found him trying to treat his injuries in the Bay."

Andy sighed as she watched Champ put Stinger on a bed. She was glad there wasn't anyone else because there weren't many open beds left. Her clone grabbed new supplies as Andy scanned Stinger over. The clone unwrapped his leg and started stitching it as Andy focused on trying to heal the blaster burns.

Stinger regained consciousness and tried to rise. "I'm fine. Don't exhaust yourself. Just going to go… to the bridge."

She lightly pushed him back down, "No you're not."

He tried to glare at her. "There will probably be more injured. You can't wear yourself out."

"Unless more kyurangers came with the reinforcements, our team is taken care of. There's other medics who can focus on the resistance members," she kept trying to focus, "No one here is perfect but they aren't going to die."

"Just let her help you, Aniki," Kotaro spoke up from across the room.

Stinger sighed, then sagged as he passed out again.

Andy shook her head as she kept healing him. Her clone went and filled a syringe of medicine and stuck it into Stinger's arm. Soon though she felt herself getting dizzy so she released her clone, making it disappear.

After another couple minutes though she felt worse. She stopped healing and tried to step over to a chair but fell to the ground unconscious.

Champ quickly picked her up and moo-ed as he discovered she was herself injured. He touched his com. "Raptor to the infirmary please." He lay Andy on the nearest empty bed and waited.

Andy woke up and pushed herself into a sitting position. She noticed the brothers and Balance had been released but Naga and Stinger were still asleep. Raptor came over when she noticed Andy, "Did you realize you were hurt and ignore it or did you not know?"

Andy chuckled, "Which answer would get me in less trouble?"

Raptor shook her head, "You had bled quite a bit from the gash in your side. I stitched it up and bandaged it. There wasn't anything else big though."

Andy nodded, "How are they?"

"Alive. Healing. You better not work on healing them or else I will restrain you."

Andy smirked, "I know you will. Don't worry." She pushed herself up out of the bed and pulled a chair up next to Stinger, before she held onto his hand and rubbed circles into it with her thumb.

He stirred, eyes blinking open slowly. "Hey beautiful."

She smiled down at him, trying not to show how tired she was, "Hey love."

"You okay?" His eyes narrowed and he started to lift his hand to her cheek.

"I'll be fine love," she assured. "How are you feeling?"

"Not sure right now." He gave her a grin, then growled when he realized he'd been restrained. "What the hell?"

She frowned, "I don't know why you're restrained. Raptor did it." She stood slowly and went to get the key to unlock it.

He lay back and tried to relax. He hated being restrained and Raptor knew it. He wondered if something had happened to force it.

Andy undid the restraints before she noticed Raptor come back into the room. "What happened?"

She shook her head, "I came in to him freaking out. I think it was a nightmare, but once he settled enough I restrained him in case it happened again. I didn't want him getting up and stinging anyone by accident."

Stinger nodded. "Good idea. We don't want a replay of ..." He cut off his statement and tried not to look at Andy.

Andy frowned before sighing, "I wish I could take all of your nightmares away..."

Stinger kissed her cheek. "It's fine beautiful. You do a good job of keeping them away usually."

"What happened?" She asked quietly. "Was it while I was gone?"

He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Remember when I told you I was grateful for antivenin?"

She nodded slowly in response.

"I tried sleeping in the rec room the second night you were gone. Naga and Champ came in while I was having one. I stung them, then I stung myself. Champ managed to call Raptor in time. That's when we tried sedation."

Andy winced, "I'm sorry..."

Stinger chuckled. "Not your fault, beautiful. That screw up is completely on me and I've told you that."

"I could have refused to leave the Orion..." Andy suggested, "Maybe a lot of things would be different if I had."

She looked up when Raptor approached with her tablet.

"Now that you're awake, Balance found some information." She held it out to Stinger.

Stinger took it, reading quietly. Then he stopped and read aloud. "General Kojan has 'requested' all Jark Matter people swear loyalty to him." He grinned broadly. "Hmm, I'm requesting Balance gets a raise. He just discovered who took Armage's place."

He returned to reading. Suddenly he froze, face paling so quickly Andy got scared.

"Stinger?" She watched his eyes moving as he read quickly. "What's wrong?"

"I need to talk to Shou now." He tried to climb out of the bed, wincing as his injuries protested.

Andy rushed to his side and let him lean on her for support. After Raptor shot them a look Andy assured, "We'll come back soon."

Stinger growled. "You'll be back. I won't." He stood and almost fell as a wave of dizziness washed over him. "I've got too-"

"Love, you get to make one call to Shou and then you are coming back here. Honestly, you could probably make the call from here, so just get back in bed. I don't care what kind of thing is going on, you aren't in a position to deal with it yet," Andy insisted.

Stinger protested as she pushed him back. "I can't be on the sidelines right now."

"Don't make Raptor restrain you again," Andy pleaded. "You can go fight when you are released from the infirmary. Until then just tell Shou what's going on and let him take care of things."

Stinger frowned. "Jark Matter is about to invade Ophiuchus in 12 hours."

He leaned back as pain flared through him.

"Ok, but it's not like you are the one and only person who can stop them. I know you want to help, but you have to take care of yourself first. You can't take care of anyone else if you don't take care of yourself."

Andy noticed the look Raptor gave her and knew she'd bring up how Andy had been healing the others while she was injured, "Don't even."

Stinger would have laughed if he wasn't fighting the urge to pass out.

"Raptor, go call Shou and tell him about the attack, then set a course for Ophiuchus," Andy ordered. She watched Raptor leave the room before she lifted her hands up to Stinger and started healing him, "I know you're going to try to fight no matter what, so I might as well heal you the best I can so you are at least semi useful." She smirked.

He chuckled painfully. "Semi useful huh? Smartass. And I order you to stop right now."

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow but kept her hands steady in the same spot.

"Dammit Andy, I said stop!" He grabbed her hands. "I know you got hurt too, so stop. I'll be fine so you better rest."

She took a deep breath trying to prevent herself from snapping at him. She spoke quietly without meeting his eyes, "You're hurt worse than I am and you're the commander. You want to fight so badly but you can barely stand. It's either I try to heal you so you can fight like you want to or I can sedate you."

"I don't want to fight but I have to." He released her hands before continuing. "And you wouldn't dare." He met her eyes challengingly.

"You don't have to. That's the thing you can't seem to get through your head. No one would blame you for sitting it out because you are injured," she stood up. "I'm going to go see what the plan is. I'll tell you when I get back, ok?"

She headed out of the room but left a clone in the hall to prevent him from sneaking out. When she got back she noticed he looked asleep so she quickly filled a syringe with sedative and stuck it in his arm. She then pulled the restraints back around his wrists.

Andy went down to the bridge and looked at her teammates a moment before speaking, "I've restrained and sedated Stinger. So unless one of you wants to be in charge, I'll do it." She looked at Raptor, "How long until we get there?"

Raptor cocked her head. "Why did you do that? And we will arrive in eight hours."

"He is insisting on fighting but isn't letting me heal him to at least give him some kind of chance at surviving," Andy informed. "How long until resistance backup arrives?"

Raptor consulted her tablet. "Two or three hours after we do."

"At least they'll make it in time..." Andy thought as she sat down. "Kotaro, how are the scouts doing on Earth? Have there been any left over indavers attacking?"

"Earth is safe for now. Jiro is back down there too. I'll probably head back after we save Naga's planet."

Andy nodded, "Balance and Raptor, tell us any knowledge on Ophiuchus that you think would be helpful. Let's figure out a plan." She looked around, "I know I'm still hurt, and we are down Naga and Stinger, but I know we can get through this and win."

After an hour of discussion, a plan was made. Andy went down to the infirmary, half to check on Stinger and half to see if Naga was awake to give any more information.

She found Stinger halfway out of the restraints and pissed. "I can't believe you actually did it."

"You need to rest," she scolded.

He glared at her. "What's happening?"

"We are on our way there and have a plan. There's literally nothing for you to worry about right now."

He ignored her look and continued wrestling with the restraints. He gave a small gasp, reaching for his leg with his free hand.

She shook her head and approached, raising her hands to start trying to heal him again.

He growled. "I will sting you. Stop." His hand moved, coming away red. He looked down with a frown. "Dammit."

She put her hands down, "First off, I want to say I've been trying not to argue with you today, but you make it so incredibly difficult. I don't know how many times I have to say, from a medical standpoint, if you aren't released, it doesn't matter if you are the commander or not, it's my job to keep you here until you are healthy. It doesn't matter what else is going on. My priority as a medic is making sure people are healthy. Doesn't matter if my patient is Supreme Commander, President Ohtori or you. You brought me aboard this ship to be a medic, don't complain when I do my damn job." She stepped away for a moment and grabbed some stitching supplies. She came back and started restitching his leg up, "From the other standpoint, as your wife, I just want to protect you. I was hoping after everything else we would finally quit fighting about this shit but you are still as stubborn as ever. I just want to keep you safe, because I love you. Yet you keep trying to fight when you are in no shape to and keep arguing with all of us even though we are just trying to help you. I don't know what else to do at this point except restrain and sedate you when you get like this. You're more likely to die if you go out fighting when you are already hurt. I'm just trying to keep you alive." She cut the string and cleaned the wound up again before placing a new bandage over it.

He hung his head and chuckled humorlessly. "I was ten when Scorpio left the first time. I was seventeen when he betrayed me. Our parents died when I was too young to really remember. I have been alone most of my life. I'm not even sure anymore why I can't accept help. Especially from you. I must be an idiot." He looked up and gave her a wan grin. "I'll cooperate with whatever you think needs to be done."

She reached down and kissed him, "I just want to keep you safe." She pulled away before quickly sticking a needle in his arm, "Just rest and relax. Everything is going to be fine. I love you."

He smiled before his eyes closed and he slumped on the bed.

She sighed and watched him a moment before fixing up his restraints. She made sure all of his limbs were tied down, including his tail. She then set up an IV drip to hopefully keep him asleep throughout the whole battle.

She checked the unconscious Naga over before giving the sleeping Stinger another kiss, then she headed back up to the bridge.

Andy shook her head as she saw more indavers approaching. She'd been in a decent area, trying to find out what she could while avoiding fighting. She had a few small tussles but had been doing well until the indavers found her position. Fighting off as many as she could, she knew she would still be outnumbered. No one on her team was nearby so she couldn't call for backup.

She pushed herself, taking out indaver after indaver, until she finally saw the world blurring in front of her. She felt herself start to fall before completely blacking out.

She woke up hearing talking, she fought to bring her attention to focus when she heard something about a trade.

Stinger had just become conscious when there was a video flashed on every monitor in the infirmary.

"We have this girl. We will trade her for the Kyuranger Commander. You have three hours to decide. If you try to rescue her she will die quite slowly and painfully."

Andy took in the words they were saying and her heart sank, "Don't do it!" She yelled hoping her teammates heard her. "Please don't let him do it!" She suddenly felt really dizzy as pain erupted in her head. She tried to look up at what caused it but fell unconscious before she could fully lift her head.

Stinger swore as he wrestled with the restraints. How the hell had Andy gotten captured? He angrily yanked as he thought about it. Three hours was plenty of time to get down there IF he could get these damn things off. He froze as the door slid open.

Raptor glanced up from her tablet noticing Stinger was awake. "Commander, you are in those for a reason, please quit fighting them." She shook her head as she tried to decide if she should up the IV dose or just give him another shot full of sedative.

"Let me go. I have to save her."

"Oh you heard that?" Raptor shook her head, "Don't worry, we are trying to come up with a plan."

She decided to up his IV so she fixed it up before retightening his restraints. "Just rest."

Stinger tried to argue, but his eyes slid closed as the sedative quickly put him to sleep.

Andy tried to push back the nausea as she came to consciousness again. She noticed her hands were tied together, before realizing her hand was numb. She wasn't sure if it was from the ties or an injury but she hoped if she made it through this alive she didn't have any more permanent damage.

"Time for the show," she heard a voice and tried to look up but pain shot through her head the second she tried to move it.

She remembered the ties on her wrists being grabbed but the next thing she could focus on was bright sunlight hitting her eyes making her wince.

Looking in front of her, she saw Champ and Kotaro in their suits. The others were nowhere to be seen and she tried to figure out what they were doing.

"Hand her over now." Champ's voice boomed.

"Where's the commander?" The voice she recognized from the video spoke.

"Sorry, but he's unavailable." Kotaro replied calmly. "So give Andy back."

"I told you, I will only trade her for the commander. If he's unavailable I guess she'll just have to die," he laughed coldly. "I can make an example out of her."

"Even if you kill one of us, the others will keep fighting," Andy growled out.

The Malistrate backhanded her, then punched her in the ribs. "We are going to kill all of you eventually. But our leader wants the commander who keeps getting in our way first."

Andy coughed before whispering, "Even if you kill us, more people will join our side and fight against you."

The malistrate smiled menacingly. "No one will join after they see what we do to you."

"You'll never win," she spoke softly but confidently.

"We'll see about that won't we? Take her to the execution site."

Stinger groaned. Damn Raptor. He had a plan but no one would listen. Jerking his tail in annoyance, he lay thinking.

Champ walked down the hall heading to the bridge. He glanced into the infirmary as he passed by and stopped when he saw Stinger was awake.

"How are you feeling, aibou?"

"Like I had a night out with Tsurugi. What's going on?"

Champ shook his head, "Just working on some plans. Trying to figure out our next move."

Stinger raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me your plan didn't work."

"Just hit a snag. We'll figure things out."

"Unh huh." Stinger was unconvinced. "Would you like to hear my plan?"

Champ sighed and fully stepped into the infirmary, "What's your plan?"

"I can use the futago kyutama and clone myself like before. That way Andy will be released. Then the clone will disappear."

Champ stared at him for a moment, "That could work. What if they don't release her?"

"I can hold my clone long enough to figure something out. If she's able, I'm sure we can get away without too much trouble." Stinger rattled the restraints. "But you gotta let me out of these. Clone would look pretty ridiculous."

Champ chuckled, "Maybe." He was quiet while thinking, "So the real you will stay here on the ship?"

Stinger rolled his eyes. "Yes. I will stay." He grumbled, "bunch of mother hens…"

"We just care about you, aibou." Champ answered. "I guess it's the best option we have right now." He reached over and started undoing the restraints.

Stinger rubbed his wrists. "I'll get it and clone myself, then meet you on the bridge."

He left the infirmary, heading for their quarters. Grabbing the kyutama, he quickly cloned himself. Whispering in its ear, he waited till it left the room before hurriedly exiting the other direction.

Andy winced as the straps around her were tightened, pulling the spiked board behind her closer. She could feel a few hundred spikes driving into her skin, blood dripping from each one. She kept a confident look on her face though, trying to not give her captors a show.

"You might be strong now, but soon enough you'll start feeling the effects of the poison that was on those spikes," The malistrate laughed.

She sighed, wondering why she didn't think to expect poison, but then felt a jolt of pain rushing through her head that reminded her she probably had a concussion so she wasn't thinking clearly anyway.

She felt pain suddenly, almost blinding her. If she wasn't restrained up to a board she probably would have fallen. Once the wave died down a bit she slid her arm the best she could, scraping it across the spikes, to reach her leg. Her hand glowed for a second as she analyzed her own energy and confirmed the poison.

A few indavers came and pulled the straps tighter starting with the ones on her wrists. She also had some on her ankles and one across her middle that were soon tightened as well. She worried thinking of how long the spikes could be and wondering if they'd soon start digging into any organs. She could tell they were already more than half an inch into her body.

Soon she felt her lungs struggling to take in air, making her take short and increasingly painful breaths. She focused on attempting to ignore the pain, and was just thankful it was her instead of Stinger going through this.

"STOP! I'm here so you can stop with your demonstration now."

Andy opened her eyes at the voice, hoping she was just hallucinating it. Her eyes landed on Stinger and she struggled to talk loud enough for him to hear, "Who let you out?"

Stinger shot her a cocky grin. "Champ. And don't worry, I have a plan."

She was about to answer when pain coursed through her again making her squeeze her eyes shut.

Stinger's lips tightened as he turned to the malistrate. "I came as agreed. Let her go." He waited for the response. His hand tightened on the vial of antivenin he'd liberated from the infirmary. He had to give it to her soon or it would be too late.

"Your three hours has passed," the malistrate chuckled as he waved a hand. "But I'll still take you anyway." A large group of indavers suddenly surrounded Stinger.

Stinger raised his hands. "I'm unarmed." He showed his wrist which was empty of his blaster. "Let her go and I'll come willingly."

"I don't think you are really in a position to make offers." The malistrate waved once again making the indavers point their weapons at Stinger. "At this point, I don't care if you come willingly. You had your chance and you failed to show. You're both mine now." The indavers started attacking him trying to push him down to be tied up.

Stinger fought, knocking several back. Until one came up and slammed his weapon into the scorpion's head. He fell, semi-conscious as the indavers quickly bound him.

Andy had been trying to focus on the fight silently rooting for Stinger. She cringed when she saw him go down and they tied him up. She tried to focus enough energy to make a clone or do anything that could help him but all her focus went into trying to stop hurting as the poison made its way further into her bloodstream. She desperately wanted to talk to him, remind him that she loved him, but she couldn't manage to make her mouth open.

The malistrate laughed before ordering, "Keep him still. You two, go get another board so he can feel the same pain his teammate is dealing with."

Stinger weakly struggled, feeling stupid. Had he really thought this plan would work? He met Andy's eyes, silently apologizing. The indaver holding him tightened his hold and the Sasori ranger grimaced. As the others returned, Stinger considered attacking them but ruled it out. The risk to Andy was too great still.

Andy finally got her face muscles working a bit and silently mouthed out, "I love you," to Stinger before pain took her over again.

He returned the sentiment sadly as the indavers finished setting up the stand. As they marched him up beside her, he lost his footing and bumped her arm. He winked as she felt a needle pinch. Then he was being strapped in, much faster than she had been.

He refused to let anything show even as the indavers kept tightening the straps. The only sign of the pain he was experiencing showed in his eyes. His mouth was a straight line, his adam's apple bobbing faster with every breath.

His back arched but he still refused to make a sound. His breathing was slowing, his eyes drooping.

Andy looked over at him, when she realized she was feeling a little better. She moved her hand just enough to analyze herself again, noticing there was antivenin in her system fighting the poison but still knew she couldn't do a lot with the injuries she had.

She noticed the indavers and malistrate were entirely focused on Stinger now so she put her energy into making a clone. She winced as she heard the Malistrate striking Stinger but didn't look over. She got the clone to untie her before taking her hand and being yanked off the spikes. She had tried to stay quiet but the pain made a groan escape her lips. She looked up quickly noticing she had gained the attention of the indavers. She used her clone to help her fight them off, finally taking them all down. She turned and watched the malistrate hitting Stinger again, pushing him further into the spikes.

"Stop hurting him," Andy growled out before the clone started fighting off the malistrate.

Andy rushed over to Stinger and undid the restraints, "Are you ready?"

Stinger forced his eyes open, nodding weakly.

She took his hand and tried to ease him off the spikes. Her clone kept the malistrate busy but was not doing much outside of being a distraction.

Andy helped Stinger sit, "Stay here."

She ran over and helped her clone fight the malistrate. Even though she had the antivenin in her system, she had injuries from the spikes, her head was still screaming, and the stitches from the wound on her side had popped hours ago. She knew she wasn't going to be able to fight much longer. She let the clone disappear hoping to save herself a little bit of energy.

Stinger forced himself up. The only clear thought he had was that Andy needed him. He shook uncontrollably from the poison and blood loss, but refused to stop. He summoned the last of his energy reserves and kicked the malistrate several feet away. Then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed in a heap.

Andy looked up at the commotion, seeing her teammates coming toward them. She dodged an attack from the malistrate before rushing to Stinger's side.

Champ tossed her a syringe before running straight at the malistrate. She quickly stuck it in Stinger's arm before scanning him over. She knew he'd be able to start clotting again now that he had antivenin but she focused her energy into trying to heal him and stop the bleeding quicker. She only got about a minute of healing in before she passed out, landing on top of her still unconscious husband.

Champ glanced back and shook his head before he punched the malistrate. Grabbing his axe, the bull slashed the creature, causing him to explode. Turning away, he went over to where his teammates lay. "Dammit aibou." The android picked Stinger up as Spada and Kotaro took Andy. They headed for their voyagers quickly.

Andy sat up quickly upon waking up, gripping her side in pain as she looked around the room. She calmed down a bit noticing where she was. She sighed and shook her head when she noticed Stinger was in the next bed still unconscious. Finally, her eyes landed on Champ who was sitting nearby, "How is he?"

"Alive. Barely." The bull moo-ed in annoyance. "The idiot."

"He said you let him out..."

The bull snorted. "Yeah I did cause he told me some crap about a plan that actually sounded good."

She nodded, "Sounds like him. I'm not mad at you though. Him on the other hand..."

The android stood. "I'm mad at me. I should have known he was going to do something stupid. But his idea did work the way he intended on me."

Andy shook her head, "I just don't know what to do with him. I think I finally get through to him and convince him to quit running off and trying to do dumb things, but the next thing I know he's doing it again." She wiped a stray tear away, "I told you a couple years ago how he just keeps playing with my heart like a yo-yo. With how far we've come, I know he loves me and I don't question that. But I'm still being a yo-yo going from being sad and worried when he's hurt and just wanting to let him deal with it himself because it's his own damn fault he's hurt. I don't plan to ever leave him again, but I wonder how long I can keep dealing with this dumb scorpion."

"Don't worry." Stinger's low voice answered. "This is the last time you'll have to." He slowly rolled off the bed.

Andy cringed when she realized he had probably heard everything she said. She pushed herself up and slowly moved over to him, "Love, I might complain about you sometimes, but more than anything else I love you. I just wish you cared about yourself as much as I do."

Stinger shook his head. "No, you're absolutely right about everything. And I'm sorry. You deserve better, the Kyurangers deserve better." He looked at Champ. "There's a set of envelopes for Shou and Tsurugi. Make sure they get them."

He gave Andy a sad smile. "Remember I love you and I always will." He headed for the door, trying to keep his face neutral.

Andy rushed after him, "Where are you going?"

He didn't turn. "Somewhere I can't hurt anyone again."

She grabbed his hand trying to stop him, "I'm not letting you go anywhere without me. I don't care how many times you hurt me, or any of that. I love you and I'm going to follow you wherever you plan on going."

He removed her hand. "You're now in charge until Shou or Tsurugi say otherwise." He gently kissed her. "Live your life and be happy. Don't wear yourself out too much, though without me I don't think you'll have to. Goodbye Andaka."

He left the infirmary and went to the voyager bay. Minutes later, the Sasori voyager flew out and disappeared.

Andy looked at Champ with tears in her eyes. She was fighting off the panic attack that was trying to take her over, "I... I'm going after him. I don't know... just watch the ship," her thoughts were racing faster than she could process. She pushed through the pain and made her way to her voyager, setting it to search for his. She flew off, hoping she could find him soon.

Stinger clutched the controls, desperately trying to stave off the darkness creeping on the edge of his vision. He had to stay conscious long enough to get where he was going. If he crashed afterwards it would be well deserved and too long coming. He forced himself to focus as the planet came into view. Keying in the sequence, Stinger attempted to land. Within seconds, he knew he'd made a mistake. A large sandstorm rammed into the voyager and he was bounced around the cabin until his head hit the shield glass hard. As he blacked out, he hoped Andy would finally find happiness without him.

Andy had tracked Stinger down and watched his ship hit a giant wave of sand. She tried to take control of it after calling and getting no response. Unfortunately, she didn't get control in time and she watched it crash down onto the planet. She landed carefully trying to avoid the wind. The second she landed she was out of her voyager running toward his. She opened it up and noticed his head was bleeding.

She considered trying to heal him there but noticed some sparks coming from the controls. She quickly made a clone to help her carry him over toward her voyager. She then grabbed the first aid kid she always had stashed away and started bandaging him up. Before healing him, she checked the systems. She shook her head when she realized where they were. Planet Needle. Stinger had fled home. She was at least thankful that they weren't likely to run into Jark Matter. She moved back to where she had laid him out and focused on healing. When she felt herself getting dizzy and tired she just lay cuddled into his side, before falling asleep.

Andy woke up and panicked when she realized Stinger was gone. She pushed herself up and out of her voyager running back in the direction of his voyager. She stopped suddenly when she noticed Stinger.

He was slowly stumbling toward something she couldn't see. As she followed, she realized he was crying. He fell to the sand several times, but always rose and continued. Passing his voyager, the kyuranger finally stopped and let himself sink to the ground in the middle of several dilapidated and destroyed tents. He slowly curled into a ball and sobbed.

"Stinger?" She approached slowly not wanting to startle him. "Love? Can you hear me?"

His body was shaking, but his voice was clear. "Why did you follow me?"

"I told you, I love you so I'm going to follow you wherever you plan to go," she stayed a few feet away not wanting to push things.

He shook his head. "I release you from your vows. You need to go find someone who can make you happy."

"You make me happy. Yeah I get pissed at you, yeah you can be a pain in the ass. But none of that matters compared to how much I love you. I don't care if you want to release me from my vows or whatever, I'm not leaving you. I don't care if I have to spend every moment of my life chasing you across the universe. I am not giving up on you."

He stared at the destruction in front of him. "I almost died here." More tears began to streak his face as his fists clenched. "I should have died here. Would have saved everyone a lot of grief." His voice grew soft. "I won't hurt anyone but myself anymore." His tail rose and approached his own chest. He closed his eyes as it prepared to strike.

She rushed over, almost instantly appearing in front of him. She wrapped a hand gently around his tail, "Don't you realize if you do this you'd be hurting me and everyone else on our team?" She tried to talk quietly to calm him, "You survived for a reason. I don't know what reason, but there has to be one. Don't just throw that away." She looked at him confidently, "If you still want to do this, I guess I won't stop you. Just remember, I will follow you anywhere."

He froze, opening his eyes. His face was panicked. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that! I'm trying to keep you alive! That's why I left. I won't be able to stand it if one of my stupid plans gets you or one of the others killed! This way everyone lives…" His tail lowered as he was wracked with sobs again.

She pulled him in for a hug, "Remember how you keep telling me you don't think you could ever find happiness again if you lost me? That's how I feel about losing you. Even when I was being stubborn and left when you wanted me reassigned, all I did was stay in my room depressed, not really living. Plus, your way doesn't let everyone live, because you aren't counting you in everyone." She rested her head against his chest, "I love you."

He sighed, the sound desperate. "You deserve someone who doesn't make your heart a yo-yo. I'm tired, Andy. So damn tired." He grimaced as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You don't get to decide who I deserve. I want you," she took a deep breath. "I wish I could take all of your pain away and make you the happiest you could be. I'm so sorry that I can't."

He held her tighter. "The fact you want to is more important to me."

He took a deep breath as his body reminded him he hadn't recovered fully yet. He wasn't about to remind Andy of that though.

Andy was about to say something else but she swayed a bit. She stayed half hugging him but focused on keeping herself upright. She pulled one hand away momentarily to touch her side and make sure she hadn't started bleeding again.

"Are you okay?" Stinger looked at her worriedly. He pushed his own discomfort away and concentrated on her.

"I'll be fine," she nodded. "Neither of us should really be out of the infirmary yet..."

"Yeah," He admitted slowly. "I didn't expect you to follow me."

"You should just assume by now I'm going to come after you no matter what." She sighed, "Though I didn't think this through either honestly. I just didn't want you to be out here alone."

Stinger chuckled. "After what you told Champ I figured you had had enough. I was certain no one was going to come after me. I was hoping for it honestly."

Andy smirked, "I'm sorry if I ruined your plan." She looked up at him, "Champ and I care about you more than anyone else. Sometimes we just need to rant a bit when you piss us off. That doesn't mean we want you to run away like this..."

Stinger smiled wryly. "This last mission really rattled me. Seeing you like that…" He grimaced at the memory. "And my stupid plan. All it did was get both of us hurt."

"Part of being on a team is trusting your teammates... I was happy knowing you were safe, and I knew the team would be there to try to rescue me eventually." She shook her head, "I'll admit I wasn't doing very well by the time you showed up... but I had hope things would work out. You need to trust that your teammates can still take care of things when you are hurt."

He rolled his eyes. "I do. But when Champ said his plan hadn't worked… all I thought was you were going to die."

"Sometimes the first plan or even second plan doesn't work but is eventually something will." She frowned, "I'm sorry I got captured and made this whole mess in the first place..."

He narrowed his eyes. "If you're apologizing for that then I have to apologize for every time that's happened to me." He shook his head. "Don't go there or we'll be here for months."

She chuckled, wincing at the pain she felt in her chest. She scanned herself over a moment before remembering the malistrate hitting her there. Of course she had cracked a rib. She realized she never actually managed to check what was wrong with her in the infirmary before rushing off after Stinger.

"Why don't we go sit in my voyager for a few minutes?" She suggested. "We can talk more there, but we both probably need to rest."

Stinger nodded tiredly and followed her back. By the time he reached it, he felt like he was going to pass out.

She reached up and kissed his cheek, "Let's nap. We can talk again after and figure out where we are going from here, ok?"

He gave her a soft smile as he climbed in and closed his eyes. He was asleep in seconds.

She curled up against him and used his chest as a pillow, following right behind him in falling asleep.

Andy woke up hearing the steady beat of Stinger's heart. She smiled before lifting her head off his chest. She lifted her hands and scanned him over noticing all the damage he had taken. She focused, starting on the worst wounds, as she pushed her energy into him using it to heal him. She frowned when she noticed her hands shaking but accepted it knowing it wouldn't affect how she healed.

"Andy? You need to stop." Stinger's eyes were partially open, his voice hoarse. "Concentrate on resting and healing yourself. Don't worry about me."

She opened her eyes and looked at him before letting her hands fall. "You were hurt worse than I was though," she spoke softly.

He tried to hide a grimace. "My plan. I take the consequences." He tried to rise, but fell back. He was quite clearly in pain but trying to hide it from her.

She got up and grabbed the first aid kit again. She struggled for a moment, trying to open up some medicine, but finally managed to get it. She grabbed one of the emergency water bottles before sitting back down and giving them to Stinger.

He shook his head. "You need them more. I'm going to see if I can reach the Orion." He gingerly sat up, waiting until the pain grew tolerable enough to move more.

She held the medicine out again, "I'm the medic here. Don't tell me I need them more when I'm the one who knows what injuries we both have."

He raised an eyebrow at her, ignoring the medicine. He kept trying to stand.

She sighed and set the medicine down on a little ledge nearby before watching him.

He slowly moved to the controls and tested the com before returning. "Must be another storm brewing cause I can't get a signal." He sighed, then reseated himself still ignoring the medication.

"How often are there storms around here?"

"Quite a few. Mostly sandstorms but occasionally we'd get floods." He tried to find a comfortable position. "Not sure if you saw the storm that took my voyager out but that's a small one."

"Some time, if you would be ok with it, I'd like it if you'd show me around... you know when we aren't hurt though."

He looked at her thoughtfully. "I might just do that." He avoided her eyes as a bolt of pain lanced through his abdomen. Damn malistrate had had a hell of a right hook.

She watched him and wondered why he seemed to be trying to hide his pain when it was so obvious. Even if she hadn't scanned him over and knew what injuries he had, she'd be able to see how bad he looked. "Please take the medicine, love."

"What if something happens and you need me?"

She pointed to each of her fingers as she silently counted off arguments, "I have weapons on me, I have my seiza blaster, my voyager has blasters too, and like I said, I'm still in better shape than you right now. You just need to focus on resting."

He chuckled for a moment, then grimaced. "Fine. I'll take the pills."

Her hand reached weakly out to grab them but their shaking caused one of them to fall. She noticed it slid by Stinger so she just held out the one she did have a grip on. "Sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry." He downed the first pill, then found the other one and downed it as well. He laid down with a smile, his head in her lap. "You don't mind do you?" He winked.

She smiled at him, "not at all." She struggled as she tried to steady her hand more to rub his hair.

He took her hand and kissed it. "Relax beautiful."

She sighed, "I hate when my hands don't want to cooperate. I don't know if it's from worry, the concussion, after effects of poison and antivenin, or just my brain still being dumb from that hemorrhage..."

Stinger shrugged. "Probably all of the above." His eyes were starting to close. "I'll try to stop worrying you though." He gave her a sleepy smile.

"Even when you aren't out doing dumb things I worry about you," she admitted. "Sweet dreams love."

"Really?" The words were slurred as the medicine dragged him under. "That's sweet…I think."

She sat there and rubbed his hair for a couple hours before he shifted off of her. She took off her jacket and made a pillow for him out of it.

She stood slowly and stretched her legs out before making a mental note of the things they needed to do. She could fly Stinger back to the Orion in her voyager but his wouldn't be able to make the trip. If they couldn't get ahold of the others because of storms, they were on their own.

She scribbled a small note on the package for a bandage, "Be back soon. At sasori voyager."

She slid it in front of Stinger before making her way out to see if the repairs were something she could manage.

A chittering roar woke him. For a second he lay trying to get his bearings. Then he heard it again and his heart dropped. Frantically he glanced over. No Andy. There was a note though and he read it as he reached for his blaster.

"Dammit Andaka." He opened the Iruka voyager and raced out, ignoring the protestations of his body. He slid to a halt as one of his boyhood nightmares appeared.

Andy pulled herself up from underneath the control panel of the sasori voyager when she heard a weird noise. She glanced out and noticed a scorpion the size of a voyager staring her direction. She pressed buttons quickly trying to get the voyagers blasters up and running.

Stinger saw Andy's alarmed face in the cockpit and took a deep breath. This was probably going to earn him another lecture, but if he didn't do it Andy wouldn't be around to give it to him. Attaching his blaster to his wrist, the kyuranger aimed and fired. It bounced off the thick shell, but he was only trying to distract it. As it turned towards him, he dove for cover and continued firing.

Andy's eyes grew wide as she noticed Stinger was awake and shooting at the attacker. She watched as the blasters finally turned on, quickly aiming and firing at the creature. After a couple shots, it finally quit moving and fell forward. Andy rushed out to check on Stinger.

He lay unmoving on his stomach, head on one arm. Slowly he rolled onto his back and looked at her. "You are still trying to give me a heart attack aren't you?"

She winced, "I knew there was no people here... I forgot there could still be giant scorpions..."

He shook his head in dismay. "My fault. I should have warned you they were still around." He very slowly sat up, breathing very shallowly.

"Let's get you back inside." She held out a hand to help him up, "I think I'm almost done with the repairs on your voyager. Let's go there and I'll finish them up after I look you over again."

He took her hand and pulled himself up. His face paled, but he said nothing as he followed her.

After getting into the voyager she looked for the first aid kit. She pulled it out and approached Stinger. She held out the medicine from it waiting for him to take it.

He stared dazedly at it for a second, then took them dry. He almost fell but caught himself. "Remind me never… to do that again." He gently wrapped a hand around his ribs as he struggled to sit down.

She helped him down before scanning him over and working on healing him some more. She closed her eyes as she focused wishing she could just instantly heal all of his injuries.

He felt awful. The only time he could remember feeling worse was after using Antares. He tried to stay awake, but finally gave in to the blackness threatening him.

Andy kept healing him for a few more minutes before finishing up the repairs. She decided Stinger would be able to heal better on the Orion so she made sure he was safe before flying the Sasori voyager up into the sky. She remote piloted her own voyager and quickly found the Orion. When she landed, Champ met her in the bay.

"I figured you two might need some help."

Andy blinked sleepily, "thanks." She waited for him to get Stinger before heading to the infirmary. She was going to check over him but Raptor soon entered and insisted she could take care of it.

Andy climbed into one of the beds before quickly falling asleep.

Stinger's eyes opened as Raptor began the scan. Groggily, he tried to sit up looking for Andy.

"Lay down, Commander. Andy's fine she's just asleep," Raptor informed.

He looked at her for a minute, then did as requested with a relieved sigh.

She wasn't sure Stinger would stay awake through her scan but she spoke, half to him and half to her tablet to record for his chart.

"Stitches still healing on the leg wound from the Earth battle. Shoulder wound also from that battle is still healing. Hundreds of spike wounds, bruises, and two broken ribs from Ophiuchus. A few of the spikes pierced one of his kidneys. Those are still healing. New wounds include another broken rib, more bruising, and a head injury."

She looked down at him. He always looked younger than he was when he slept. She set up an IV but decided against the restraints for now. If he tried to leave again though, she'd permanently attach them to the bed.

Andy woke slowly, hearing Raptor talking. When she finally opened her eyes she realized Naga was getting released from the infirmary. She sat up, pain rushing through her head. After a few moments the pain died down. She looked over and smiled when she saw Stinger sleeping peacefully.

Stinger's eyes slowly blinked open. He lay there trying to decide if he actually wanted to stay awake or not.

Andy watched him for a few seconds before asking, "Are you ok?"

Stinger raised his head to look at her with a smile. "Am now." He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Just trying to decide if it's worth it to be awake right now."

Andy yawned, "You probably need more sleep." She sighed, "I wish these beds were a bit bigger so we could just lay next to each other."

He nodded. "Me too. Especially since I can't really move right now." He motioned to the IV.

"And if I did, Raptor might lecture me."

Raptor reentered the room and looked at both of them, hearing the last few words he said, "Why am I lecturing you this time?"

Stinger looked sheepish. "If I moved over to Andy you might yell. Or worse restrain me again."

Raptor looked at the couple before shaking her head. She headed over to Andy, "Can you stand?"

She raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Probably." She pushed herself off the bed and watched Raptor push her bed over to Stinger's.

After locking the two beds together Raptor laughed, "With you two always in here I've considered just making a double bed like this, but it makes it harder to restrain you. For now, though, I think it can be allowed."

Andy smiled and gave thanks before climbing in and cuddling against Stinger.

Stinger thanked Raptor with a chuckle as he wrapped an arm around Andy.

Once Raptor left the room again, Andy looked up at Stinger, "How are you feeling?"

Stinger sighed. "If not for the IV I probably would be very grumpy."

"You are always grumpy in the infirmary," Andy smirked.

Stinger rolled his eyes. "Alright you have a point. What I meant is I would be in a lot more pain." His tail twitched a little where it was wrapped around her leg. "I wish I'd gotten to destroy that creep instead of Champ."

"You'll have plenty more creeps to destroy," she smiled before closing her eyes. "I'm glad the IV is helping, but I kind of meant how are you feeling emotionally?" She paused before adding, "You were just back on your home planet and had been feeling suicidal again... I just worry about you."

He paused, thinking. "I think I needed to go back, to lay those demons to rest finally. I don't think you'll have to worry about that particular problem anymore."

She nodded against his chest, "Even if I seem mad at you, remember I'm always here. I'd rather you talk to me and tell me how you are feeling than having to chase you across the universe..."

Stinger chuckled. "I know, and I promise I will from now on." His eyes were heavy but he fought the pull of the medicine. He and Andy needed to finally settle this. "I am not going anywhere of my own free will. My heart is completely yours now and forever."

Andy was finding it hard to stay awake with how comfortable Stinger was as a pillow. She spoke quietly, just loud enough for him to hear, "I love you, Stinger."

His arm tightened around her. "I love you too, Andy. More than you will ever know." He smiled, finally surrendering to sleep.