Chapter 13

Karone couldn't exactly explain why, but she felt something inside her shatter into a million and one pieces at Zhane's words. Beside a slight tightening of her arms around Sky, she gave no other outward sign of how she felt. She stared at Zara as the baby happily pillowed her head against her father's shoulder. Zhane shifted nervously from foot to foot. Eventually Karone buried everything under a practised smile.

'She's beautiful,' she said and released her hold on Sky. Something must have clued the girl Karone wanted to get out of here, because she immediately hopped up and ran off, the other children following her example. 'I should go,' Karone muttered, getting up herself and carefully walking back into the sunshine, deliberately keeping her steps slower than she wanted them to be.

Once outside she wandered around the ruins until she heard someone call her name. Looking up she spotted the old man from earlier with a vaguely familiar man and woman. She plastered the smile back on her face and made her way over to them. 'Kinwon,' she properly greeted the Karovan leader now. 'I'm sorry, you two look familiar, but I don't remember your names,' she continued honestly.

'Tykwa,' the woman nodded at her. 'We never met, so don't feel bad.'

'Kaydiar,' the man introduced himself, a smirk appearing. 'It looks like the Megaship took quite a beating.'

'You should've seen the other guy,' Karone quickly joked. 'But really, you should ask Zhane about it, though. I woke up from cryogenic stasis with him passed out on the floor beside the tube, badly beaten and the Megaship practically falling apart. We fixed what we could with the parts we had on the way to Eltar, took on supplies there and fixed the systems Zhane deemed essential to allow a visit here. He said you had mechanics who can help us patch her up?'

'Eltar had mechanics too,' Kaydiar pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

'Mechanics with little knowledge of Karovan technology,' Karone replied. 'And Zhane likes to keep it that way. If they won't share their technology with us, then he's not sharing either.'

'Zhane is not made for politics,' Tykwa shook her head.

'Maybe not, but he does have a good reason to keep your location as secret as he can,' Karone sighed.

'You've met Zara then?' Kinwon asked gently and Karone nodded.

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised, really,' Karone said ruefully. 'He always had a way with the girls on the colony and he'd been seeing Ila for a long time. It's good to see he's taking responsibility and doing right by them.'

'How long has it been since you woke up from stasis?' Tykwa asked suddenly, changing the subject.

'A week?' Karone guessed, scrunching up her face in thought.

'And you've been working on patching up Zhane and the Megaship, plus keeping Zhane from starting an all-out war with Eltar over our location and their cloaking technology?' Tykwa continued.

'Basically,'

'Then you and Zhane are not working on fixing the ship while you're here. Kaydiar is considered our head mechanic and he worked on building her under Argon. He's perfectly capable of overseeing the repairs while the two of you take some time to relax,' Tykwa ordered, before turning to an amused Kinwon. 'What do you think?'

'I completely agree,' Kinwon nodded. 'You spend thirteen months in cryogenic stasis healing form life threatening injuries. If you don't take a break, you might just work yourself right back into it.'

Karone agreed reluctantly. They meant well and were actually right, but that didn't mean she'd have to like it. Tykwa gently laid a hand on her arm and smiled. 'Come on, I'll give you the grand tour. I think we could even see about getting you a place to sleep here instead of on the ship, if you want,' she offered, starting to lead the girl away.

'Karone,' Kaydiar called after them. 'Where can we find the spare parts?'

'Cargo bays two and three,' Karone replied over her shoulder with a wave.

A few hours later Karone was sitting against the crumbling wall of a ruin that had been temporarily assigned to her. She'd be sleeping between boxes, but she found she didn't mind. The first stars were starting to appear in the darkening sky and she was watching them in fascination. Already she could tell the night sky would look vastly different here than it did at home.

Someone approached cautiously, but she didn't take her eyes off the stars. 'Hey, could we talk?' Zhane's voice was unusually quiet.

'Sure,' Karone sighed and tore her eyes away from the sky to look at him. 'Zara with Ila?'

'No, Caleb is watching her for a bit,' he answered, dropping down next to her. 'She's asleep now anyway.'

'Caleb? He's here? I didn't see him,' Karone exclaimed.

'He was on outer perimeter sentry duty all day. Just got back. He was more than happy to watch his niece for a little.'

'What about Ila?'

'We have an agreement. Whenever I can visit, I take care of Zara, except for the nursing part. I already miss out on a lot.'

'You could just stay here. The rebels would have a ranger to help protect them and you wouldn't have to miss another thing. The three of you could make a happy family…'

'No, we couldn't,' Zhane interrupted her, shaking his head. 'Did you forget I told you Ila and I aren't together? We decided whatever we had going on wasn't a good environment for Zara. I guess we should be grateful for being young and thoughtless or it might have taken us longer to realise we were never going to work together.'

'Oh,' Karone muttered.

'And as much as I hate I'm missing out on her and I can't visit as often as I would like. What kind of example would I be setting for her if I broke a very old promise to my best friend in the whole universe?' he smiled soflty and held out his hand to her.

She placed her hand in his and let him draw her into a one armed hug, pillowing her head on his shoulder. 'Thanks. I'm sorry for acting the way I did.'

'No worries, I did kind of spring her on you without a warning. And I did almost the exact same thing when I first found the rebels and Ila was obviously pregnant.'

Karone giggled. 'And look at you now.'

'Will you come properly meet her tomorrow?'

'I'd love to.'

The metal of the ship was cold on her back, even through the layers her clothes, as she lay on its roof observing the stars. She wasn't complaining and neither was the person lying next to her.

'So, Eltar?' she asked.

'Yes, Dark Spector is gathering forces to lay a siege on it. He called Mondo to him too.'

'I know, I was listening in on the transmission. Shame, he was keeping things somewhat interesting around here.'

'Will you be leaving too?'

'No, Zordon is here. Dark Spector may eventually conquer Eltar, but it's worth nothing without a victory over Zordon too.'

'True,' he nodded. 'What will you do if you're not leaving?'

'Spy on the rangers, do an odd job every now and then so people won't forget about me.'

'I've heard of one that might interest you when I was on Onyx. Apparently some pirate named Toxic Diva is looking for the instructions to Muranthias and the ritual of Maligore.'

'I wonder who might have those in their possession,' she smirked. 'And I wonder who would spread the rumour they might be willing to sell for the right price in Onyx tavern a month from now.'

'And what would this bounty hunter be willing to pay for the spreading of that rumour?'

Wordlessly she rolled on top of him, claiming his lips in a heated kiss.