AN: The language that follows is a real language. I did not create it; I am borrowing it from AH/AY, who started using it for her Kerovian language.

Chapter One

Karone bolted straight up in bed as she recalled the dream she had just had. No, it wasn't a dream—it was real; it was a memory… To be precise about it, it was a combination of both her memory and her brother's memory. Why, she thought. Why had she ever let Andros share a direct memory of her best friend being taken away?

As she thought of her brother, a tear rolled down her cheek.

She had seen Zhane taken away in her own mind, even though she had not been present that day. She had been sick in bed with a high fever, as she had been for the entire week before. When she thought about the fever, she remembered that even at the age of six, Zhane had cared for her. He wasn't like most boys at that age, scared of girls and the stupid girl germ they called the Avara.

To think the last time she had actually seen him was in a fever's delusional state. She remembered him saying something to her, but to this day she still didn't know what he had said. Maybe she couldn't remember because of grief from what he had told her the last time she could remember seeing him, before the dreaded memory she had had.

"Karone?" A voice emitted from the walls, a relief from her thoughts. "You wished to be notified when the high members of the UAE began to gather for the annual meeting on the Sumerian planet."

Karone stood up and straightened her uniform before drying her face and walking out of her room. Heading to the launch bay, she walked past the table where she had left her food the night before. She had eaten late and fallen asleep on it, so she had just gone straight to bed. Running up the platform, she jumped into the white tube.

Arriving on the Sumerian planet, she hid her glider and slipped a black cloak over her Ranger suit, which from her yellow neck guard down to her toes was completely white, not counting the markings on her chest. She slipped on some black gloves to cover her hands. As she walked about, she encountered several villains she recognized and others she didn't. Divatox and Rita were fighting over something, which didn't surprise her.

What did surprise her was seeing Ciarán Bevan there. She had thought only the high warriors, agents, and sorcerers were allowed in this meeting. She got her answer when someone near whispered that he had come of age and Dark Specter felt that Ciarán could handle running one of Dark Specter's wars on his own. A second rumor told her that should anything happen to Dark Specter, Ciarán would be in command. Gee, she thought, he must have done some really evil work to be Dark Specter's heir at the age of seventeen—assuming that the rumors were to be trusted.

As she had hoped she would, she gathered much new information. However, in the end, she was caught when she didn't drink the juice with the others. She should have known, but one, she thought it smelled bad; and two, she couldn't eat anything with her Ranger mask in place. She ended up running back to the ship as fast as she could.

Karone got there only to find four strangers onboard. Standing in the doorway of her command center, she gasped at them. They were walking all over her command deck and DECA was letting them. She tried to think of what her brother would do if he was in her place. It took her only a minute. Of course he would run and get to a place that was safe for him that he could defend himself from.

However, that wasn't her. She liked to go face on with her prey. She raised her arms after getting their attention and powered down, while cursing DECA in Kerovian. She didn't know if it was her curses at the computer or the fact that she demorphed right in front of them like that.

"Whoa, the White Ranger is a girl?" The one in green walked towards her, just slightly.

She stared back at him for a minute. Of course I'm a girl, isn't that what it usually means if the Ranger suit has a skirt? Some of the females might go around dressed in the men's uniform, but I have never seen a females outfit on a guy. Is he stupid?

The boy in red walked forward. "Hi! I'm TJ, and what's your name?"

I want to answer; they seem nice enough. But… Andros would already be mad if he was here and had he seen the move I took, Karone thought. Maybe… I can still find out if they are honest… I'll pretend I don't speak their language. That wouldn't be a lie; I do speak other languages, including evidently their own. Let's see if they are skilled in Kerovian.

Karone gave them a strange look and said, "Ní thuigim bhur teanga."(I don't understand your language.)

"Huh?" the girl in pink asked, looking at Karone. "Is that your name?"

Karone looked at them again. "Do they not understand even word of Kerovian?"

"No, Cassie. By the look she gave us, I don't think she understands us." TJ looked at Karone and smiled. "Let's try this again." He pointed at his chest and said his name, slowly sounding out the letters, "TJ."

Karone smiled. "Finally we're getting someplace." Pointing back at TJ, she said, "Tá do ainm TJ?" (Your name is TJ?)

She pointed back at herself. "Tá mo ainm Karone." (My name is Karone.)

Cassie smiled and pointed at herself. "Cassie."

Karone nodded and responded with a smile. "Cassie."

Then, looking at the others in the room, she pointed. "Céard tá bhur ainm?" (What are your names?)

"They might not understand me, but I understand them. Maybe this way I can learn something from them. Besides… this pointing like an idiot game is fun. If I do decide to keep them around to help, I will never let them live it down."

The girl in yellow smiled and said her name while pointing. "I'm Ashley."

Karone nodded and repeated the name. "Ashley." She turned and pointed again to the other three. "Cassie, TJ." When she got to the boy in green, she gave him a questioning look.

The boy in green smiled at Karone and pointed at his chest. "My name is Carlos. I think Karone is a beautiful name, just like you are." He stepped closer to her.

Karone let her eyes go wide in surprise. "Is he hitting on me? He doesn't even know me."

"Tá tú duaislúil bheith ag cliúsaíocht le mise?" she yelled. (Are you hitting on me?)

She reached out and smacked him on the face.

Ashley smiled. "Carlos, I think you should stop now. It appears she just rejected you."

Carlos backed away, rubbing his face. "How do you know? Where she comes from that could mean yes."

"Oh yeah, then body language would also have to have different meanings—she sure looked angry." Ashley smiled, already liking Karone.

Alpha walked over to Karone and greeted her in his mixed up babble. Karone cocked her head to the side.

"Oh… ah, that's Alpha. He got sort of banged up in the event that forced us here. His speech ports are fried," TJ said. He smiled ruefully. "Like you would understand me."

Karone looked at Alpha again, then at TJ, "TJ,tá sé briste?" (Is he broken?)

She knelt down and opened Alpha's access port. After looking inside for a minute, she responded, "Smaoiním dhéanfainn iarracht ar ag cóiriú sé." (I think I can fix him.)

She stood up and walked out of the room, coming back with a small toolbox a few minutes later. Kneeling down again, she started playing around with a few of the tools and replacing some computer chips.

Ashley and Cassie just watched. Karone apparently had just offered to fix Alpha, realizing from his babble that he was broken. As they watched, Karone started to ask Alpha questions. Each time she did something, his voice changed and got clearer, but he spoke in her language.

When finally Karone was satisfied, she stood up and set the tool box up on a console. Alpha did a little dance and ran over to the Earth Rangers. "I can be understood again, yippee!"

Ashley stood up and looked at the girl she hoped would accept them. "Thank you, Karone! We weren't sure if we could ever get him fixed."

Karone walked back to the small group and spoke. "Níl aon taifeadadh dar dáta a glór aosta agam, amhlaidh tú seo an mhórchuid de mo saothar." (I don't have a recording of his old voice, so this is the best I could do.)

TJ looked at Alpha. "Do you understand her?"

"Of course, TJ. She speaks a version of Kerovian. The planet KO-35 is an ally of Eltar so, naturally, I was programmed to speak their languages. She just simply didn't have a version of my old speech card or a recording so she did the best she could."

Ashley looked at Alpha and asked, "Could you ask her what her mission is?"

Alpha looked at Karone and then back to Ashley and the others. "I don't need to ask. I know what her mission is; it is to protect her people while serving in this war that sprang out between the UAE and the allies of Eltar."

"Could you tell her that our mission is almost the same and that we should work together, because we sure need the help?" Cassie asked.

Alpha did. Karone thought for a moment before she responded. "Tá mé ní cinnte tá ár misin cosúil go leor, ach dhéanfadh sibh iarracht obair in éineacht. Má sibh fonn a bheith or cuidiú, cuirimid tús le cuidiú le cóirigh sin, deirim sibh, tú cuibheasach simplí. "

"She said she's not sure your missions are similar enough, but she will try to work together for right now. If you want to help, you will assist her in repairs that she thinks you can handle." Alpha translated for them.

All of them began nodding except for Carlos, who was leaning against a bulkhead, just watching as he had been since Karone had hit him. After a minute, he stood up straight and said, "Fine!"

Karone smiled and left for a second, returning with a larger toolbox and a small flat rectangle. She headed to Alpha and whispered some instructions to the little robot.

Alpha turned to Carlos. "Carlos, will you assist me? Karone wants some items from the cargo bay."

Carlos nodded reluctantly and followed him.

Karone lay down and slid under a console. She started poking around. "Thabharfá mé an micriríomhaire léasar, TJ?" (Can you hand me that microlaser, TJ?)

TJ started picking through the toolbox she had brought in, not totally sure what she was asking for. After he had searched for a few moments, Karone poked her head out from under the console.

"Not that tool box. The one I used to fix Alpha with." She covered her mouth with a grimace; she had forgotten the rules of her own game.

Ashley and Cassie opened up the toolbox she had said and handed the tool to TJ, who took it and then turned around. "Wait, did you just tell us that in English?"

Karone knew she had been caught in an awkward situation. She stood up and hung her head. "Yes, I did. All this time, I understood you perfectly as would most Kerovians. We are all taught, at a young age, to speak many different languages and our native tongue is based off of many Earth languages. I just chose to speak a dialect that I heard was little spoken on Earth. I am sorry, but I didn't trust you and I was using a different language to find out if you were trustworthy."

TJ crossed his arms and looked at Karone. "Well, now you may trust us, but you for sure lost my trust."

Carlos and Alpha walked in with a huge box in Carlos' arms. Carlos saw Karone standing with her head hung. "Huh… What happened?"

"She lied to us, Carlos. She spoke English all along. We are going to be leaving as soon as we can," TJ said, glaring at Karone.

Ashley and Cassie moved to stand next to Karone. "TJ, you and Carlos can leave if you want, but we are staying here," Cassie replied.

"Yeah! Us girls have to stick up for something and we choose that we are going to stick together. After all, we have the same mission," Ashley added.

TJ turned to Alpha. "Alpha are you with us?"

"Ay-yi-yi, I hate when you guys do this to me. I'm afraid I'd have to stay with the girls on this one. The box I brought onboard with me has information from Zordon that needs to hook up to the Megaship. He intended for you five to work together. For Zordon's plan to work, the shuttle needs to stay with the ship."

"Fine, we will find another way to get home," Carlos responded.

"If you two are desperate to go back to Earth, I can take you once I get the engines working again," Karone said solemnly.

Ashley looked at her. "Hey, Karone, what happened to the ship that it's so damaged?"

"Yesterday, I was heading to a space port to pick up some supplies when I got attacked by one of the local ships of the UAE. It turned out that it wasn't the warlord himself but one of his lackey's. I was attacked by Ciarán Bevan, who had seen me on the scanners while taking his master's ships out for a joyride and I am afraid we will be seeing more of him." She paused and brought up a picture of him on screen. "He was recently relieved of his warlord's control; he is now his own warrior and has been given his own ship. He is a long way off from being a warlord, but he is nonetheless being trained by Dark Specter and his personal servant, Ecliptor, to take Dark Specter's place in a few years or so.

"You must be a wuss," Carlos laughed. "He looks like he isn't much older then we are, I don't see how someone so young can be skilled enough to do what you say…"

"You think I am a wuss? Well, maybe it is a good thing that I hit you and an even better thing that you are leaving as soon as possible. He was destroying planets at eight years old and at nine, he wounded my father's companion's leg so that he could never fight again," Karone said. She shut off the screen and turned to Cassie and Ashley. "Are you two sure that both of you want to stay here with me?"

Ashley nodded and so did Cassie, so Karone indicated that they should follow. Out of curiosity, TJ and Carlos followed the three girls as they stopped outside a supply closet. Karone disappeared inside and called them in after. When Cassie and Ashley returned, they were dressed in a uniform exactly like Karone's.

"Wow, these are so cool! So, we are officially members of the crew?" Cassie asked, spinning around in front of TJ.

"Not yet… You are missing the one biggest part of the uniform," Karone said, handing them each a wristband with a small box on it.

"Are these morphers, like the one you have?" Ashley smiled as she accepted one from Karone.

"Yes, they are morphers. Cassie, you'll be Pink and you will be Yellow, Ashley." Ashley and Cassie just smiled and raised their hands up to admire their new best friends.

"Wow, Cassie, Ashley. I guess this deserves a 'congratulations' as well as a 'good luck'. You've made another team; you must be very proud of the fact," TJ said, smiling.

"It's late, so if you would like, I will show you the rooms that you can use." Karone led the four down the corridor to the Mega lift, where she ordered it to go to the living decks. Once there, she pointed to the first room on the left. "That is my room, and Ashley, you can have the room next to mine. Cassie, the one next to Ashley's is yours."

TJ and Carlos looked around, wondering where they would be staying. "TJ, you may use the second room on the right. Carlos, you may use the third room on the right. Please try not to mess it up during your short stay here; I would prefer not to have fixing your rooms on my chore schedule."

- 20 hours later -

TJ sat in Carlos' room. Cassie and Ashley were doing some training drills. As far as they knew, Karone was writing reports in her room. At least, that was what she said she had to do.

"Carlos, I've been giving this some thought today, and I think that I'm going to stay. I realized that maybe I was too harsh on Karone… She was doing what she thought was right."

"Well, I don't care. I'm going to leave as soon as we get back to Earth. I think Karone is crazy; I mean, she hit me," Carlos complained, rubbing his cheek.

"Carlos, come on! We're a team and you have to admit that you knew nothing about her when you started hitting on her. For all you know, she's got a boyfriend out there, wherever KO-35 is.

"We don't know anything about her; she is closed like a book. Maybe she's the type of girl that you have to get to know before she opens her pages and tells you her story. If you leave, you'll never have that chance. Come on, Carlos, give it a chance," TJ prodded, trying to persuade his friend.

"I'm sorry TJ, but you're not changing my mind," Carlos said, climbing into his bed as TJ stood up and left.

Outside his room, he hesitated about going to his own room. Instead, he walked across the hall to Karone's room and knocked. "Karone? I's TJ… I need to ask you something."

The door opened and he all but fell in, having been unprepared for it to open so fast. He hadn't realized that the doors could open without going for the release button, but then again, he was only a guest onboard and hadn't gone through the troubles of learning all the ship's quirks.

Karone was sitting at her desk with a computer terminal open, typing something up. When she heard him fully enter, she shut it down so he couldn't see what she was doing. She was wearing a white sweat suit that bore the same insignias as the grey uniform, and her dirty blond hair was braided.

"You wanted to ask me something?" She spun her chair around to face him.

"Uhh… yeah, and to apologize for yesterday. I was out of line and I'm sure now you had your reasons saying and doing what you did. I want to tell you that I want to stay if that is what you want me to," TJ said, a little unsure of himself.

Karone smiled and stood up. To his surprise, she shook his hand. "I learn quickly," she explained. "Yes, of course you are welcome to stay onboard; it's what Zordon wants. I hope blue is alright, as my brother has the red morpher."

"Yes, of course, blue will be fine." TJ smiled. It might take him some time to get used to not being in command, but he was sure that he could make this work.

"Of course I'll give you the chance. First thing in the morning meet me at the storage closet from yesterday and I will issue you your uniforms and morpher."

TJ didn't know how to respond. He just nodded and walked out of the room with a smile on his face.

Karone stood and watched him leave. "So he's finally going to accept that I'm in charge here. I knew from the beginning he looked like one that liked either being in charge or following another guy rather than a girl. That will change when Andros gets back, though…" She sighed and sat back at her desk to resume typing.

The ship was fixed, finally. They were getting ready to get underway for the short flight to Earth when a blast rocked the ship. Carlos was still adamant about returning to Earth and ever since TJ had joined Karone and the girls, he had kept pretty much to himself. As the ship rocked, he just happened to be walking past the command deck where everyone else was.

When the ship shook from another blast, he caught himself asking, "What's going on?"

"I had hidden the ship while we were repairing it," Karone yelled. "I just came out of my little hole and found and Ciarán Bevan has apparently been looking for us as well. He's found us and is trying to beat the heck out of us again."

"What can I do to help?" Carlos asked, struggling to get to a console next to TJ.

"You can take this," Karone said, holding the fifth morpher up like she was going to toss it at him.

"I said no, didn't I? Anything but the morpher. All I want is to go back to Earth and forget about space," Carlos shouted.

"Take the morpher and help, or face the chances that you will never get back to Earth. The only way we can beat this thing is relying on our morphed strength," Karone yelled back. "You can always give it back after this fight is over."

Carlos took it, and as everyone else, followed Karone's lead and morphed. It took some work including breaking open the code from the box Alpha had but they did it.

After the battle, Karone walked to Carlos and held out her hand. Carlos looked at her and looked at the morpher, but put his arm down. "You guys need me after all. If you don't mind, I think I will hang onto this and stick around."

Karone smiled. "Welcome to the team, Carlos."

Alpha jumped up. "Ay-Yi-Yi, they're finally a team. I knew it would work out."