"It seems like…" Andros sighed and shook his head. "The only thing they both agree on is the fact that Karone isn't going to be safe with us."

The five Rangers had been "burning the midnight oil", as Cassie put it, for nearly four hours now, and deep, crippling fatigue was beginning to come over each of them; try as they did to ignore it.

A pot of synthesized coffee sat in the middle of the table, largely untouched despite the late hour and their collective weariness. No one seemed willing to break the fragile, pensive mood by reaching across to refill their mugs, and as a result, each of them had dozed off at one point or another during the night.

This time, it had been Ashley who had succumbed to the web of slumber, and Andros' sudden and sharp words now seemed like an unwelcome alarm clock.

She had been two minutes into a dream, one which was reluctantly now quickly fading back into her subconscious.

A yellow dress, one that brushed the floor as she walked. A parasol over her shoulder. A tray of sweet cakes and a pitcher of lemonade, and someone coming up the walk. A smile on her lips.

"Isn't it four o'clock yet? I was expecting someone at four," she said in a teasing tone. "But since he isn't here yet, it couldn't possibly be four."

"Alright," he said, shaking his head. "I'm late."

And then what? A kiss?

"You can make it up to me if that's what I think it is in your hand." Another smile. "How did you know?"

How did he know what?

"Someone suggested it to-"

It was gone.

Now, she blinked back her pleasant reverie, and shook her own head. A thought had been playing at the edges of her mind as she was drifting off, and if there was ever a time to voice it, it was now. She had hesitated before, hoping someone, probably TJ, would come up with something. Perhaps even the same idea she had.

The night wasn't getting any younger. No one had spoken.

"Andros, maybe we have to think about…" she trailed off. Something stuck in her throat.

A lemon cake?

"Think about what?" Andros was saying.

She cleared her throat.

"What Karone said. She said she knew a way to destroy Dark Specter, didn't she?"

Andros' red-rimmed eyes widened.

"I am not going to let her go back to the Dark Fortress. That's out of the question."

Ashley nodded, licking her lips.

"But… what if we went with her? She could get us on the ship, and I'm sure we could buy her enough time to detonate the bomb."

Cassie was somewhat desperately looking from Ranger to Ranger, nodding before Ashley even finished her sentence. Carlos slowly began to rock back and forth, pondering the implications of the idea. TJ was looking thoughtfully at Andros.

"She could be right, Andros."

"It's a risk, but so is just sitting here," Carlos admitted.

"I don't know why we didn't think of it before," Cassie said.

But Andros didn't seem convinced. He got up from the table, his chair roughly scraping against the steel floor. Ashley gave him a concerned look as he turned his back to the team.

"I don't know, you guys."

Ashley looked at her teammates, then sighed and got up as well.

"You don't want her back on the Dark Fortress at all. Even if we were with her."

"No, I don't." Andros looked at her apologetically. "There's no telling what Dark Specter is planning. Going back there could be walking right into a trap."

"Could be," TJ said. "Anything could be a trap at this point."

Andros took a few frustrated steps around the table, and then returned to his seat. He slapped his palms down on the tabletop, and gritted his teeth. The others looked at him worriedly.

"I should have put my foot down," he snarled.

"Andros?" Ashley asked.

"I shouldn't have let Ecliptor on the ship." He met the eyes of his teammates. "I should have never let him on the ship in the first place."

"He would have been destroyed if you hadn't," Cassie said, her tone of voice unreadable. "You saw the kind of shape he was in."

He shook his head. Their eyes met, and it was clear that the same question was going through both their minds.

Was that a good enough reason? Was it worth it?

"I told him he didn't have to leave. He offered to leave, and I stopped him." Andros sighed. "Why did I do that?"

"You did it for Karone," Ashley said gently. "You heard what she said down on the planet. Darkonda took away everything she ever cared about once, and she wasn't going to let it happen again."

Everything she ever cared about. The words struck Andros deeply, and he turned away from the table again.

The implication, of course, being that Ecliptor constituted "everything she ever cared about". It wasn't that he was offended by her inadvertent omission of her brother as meeting that criterion, though it did hurt him to think of it.

But what truly struck, hurt, and confused him was that his sister could truly, deeply care about someone who had done nothing but lie to her and deceive her for his own sinister ends.

"I just don't understand how… how can she care so much about someone like him?" he asked.

"Well, it's... It's because she's human," Ashley whispered. "Think about it. Why do any of us care about people who do bad things? It's because we're human and… and we can forgive them. When you really love someone, that doesn't change. Ever. No matter what."

TJ shot Cassie a meaningful look, and she sighed.

"Or else…" Cassie said, her voice a croak, "She's scared of what he might do to her if she gets away from him."

Andros whipped around and gaped at her.

"Scared of him?" he asked. He looked at the floor and frowned.

She shrugged, and TJ put his hand on her shoulder and elaborated.

"How much do we really know about them? Yes, Karone's your sister, but you said yourself that she's unpredictable. And all we know about Ecliptor is that he's…"

"Mean," Cassie finished.

"So, what are you saying? That she was afraid to leave him behind because she thought he would come after her?" Andros shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. He's just one more enemy. She's in greater danger now with him on the ship than she ever would have been if he stayed behind."

"And she knows it," Carlos said suddenly.

The others looked at him.

"And she had to have known it before, don't you think?"

The others said nothing, and he stood up.

"Well, he worked for her, didn't he? She would have had to know that he had a tracking device."

"Carlos, you don't think…" Ashley trailed off.

"I don't know. What if she is hoping she gets caught?" Carlos finished. "What if she doesn't want to get away, and Ecliptor being here was just insurance that she'd be found?"

"No! I thought we were past this!" Ashley exclaimed. "We all trust her, don't we? She saved us from Darkonda. She proved that she's on our side!"

"For now."

Everyone stared at Andros, who had spoken so quietly that none of them were certain they'd even heard anything. He turned around slowly, and on his face was an expression of painful realization.

"She is on our side… For now. I should have seen it before."

"Seen what?" Ashley cried.

He paced a bit, letting out a sad little laugh.

"Astronema, my sister or not…" he winced, "Is one of the most brilliant strategists I've ever encountered. Think about it, guys, have we ever known her to not have a backup plan?"

"A backup plan?" Cassie frowned.

"I asked her if she trusted us, and she said she's working on it. Working on it. She doesn't trust us yet. She had to have a backup plan in case…" he shook his head. "She changed her mind."

"Oh, Andros," Ashley murmured.

"You don't think she's hoping Dark Specter finds her?" Cassie asked.

"No. No, I know she isn't. She wants to trust us. She wants to be good. She wants it desperately, but something inside her isn't letting her completely let go."

"So maybe it isn't us she doesn't trust," TJ said thoughtfully. "Maybe it's herself."

"And that could be why she's so desperate to get to Dark Specter first! If he's destroyed, she'll have no choice but to stay good!" Ashley cried.

"But if he's not…" Carlos reached for the coffee pot.

Andros suddenly let out a strange, eerie-sounding laugh. The others' heads snapped up in surprise.

"What's… so funny?" Cassie asked, laughing a little herself, out of nervousness.

"It's just that…" Andros rubbed his head. "I've spent all this time looking for my sister. I was always desperate to find her, desperate to save her at all cost. It just… never occurred to me that she might be afraid of being saved."

He looked upward, a dreamy look in his eyes.

"You don't know how many times I sat up all night, just imagining the day I'd finally her. She'd always come running up to me with a huge smile on her face, and she'd jump into my arms and… we'd be like kids again. Just like kids again. And she'd always say…" he swallowed a lump in his throat, "'Andros, what took you so long?'"

The others were quiet, each silently comparing Andros' dreams to the events of reality.

Cassie remembered the way Karone had come so close to opening up, only to catch herself and lock her true soul back up underneath her cold exterior. Indeed, it was an act of fear. Of self-preservation even more desperate than Cassie's own struggle to keep her perspective in check.

Andros gave a shaky sigh, and picked up his cup. He dropped it back in the Synthetron for recycling, and shook his head.

"This is too much," he said. "It's just too much for right now."