The Ranger's Initiative

by Lawliet Veneziano

After many years of being protectors now the Rangers are being hunted, and the only ones who can save them are a mismatched and unlikely group. But with the public against them, the military after them, and even their own wanting them taken in, can a group of mismatched ex-Rangers really save the world and their friends? Or will they fail even to save themselves?

6. The Meaning of the Name

There was a moment in time in which Billy was tempted to be upset at Tommy; it was when, after being picked up like a sack of potatoes and thrown into the open hangar of the Astro Megaship, the bespectacled ex-Ranger made contact with some boxes, slamming right into them. It was a very negative moment and he was left feeling sore and less than happy to tell the truth. But shortly after managing to get back onto his feet, a little disorientated admittedly from the impact, and dusting himself off some, Billy felt the momentary anger melt away to more important matters.

Namely making his way up to the cockpit, where Andros surely had to be to get this ship going. He looked around in search of the way further into the ship, barely taking note of the sound of footsteps; the shake of the ship though as it roared to life and nearly threw him from his feet once more, was much harder to ignore. He gave a slight yelp, soon answered by a familiar yelling "Tommy!" and his head turned to look at Tsuki, her attention still down below, where all the guards and his own old teammate still were.

The ship continued to shake as it rose and he rushed over, nearly tripping as he grabbed onto her arm and caught her attention; she turned her head to look at him and Billy frowned some. "Come on, we soon join with the others immediately."

"But Tommy," she tried to argue but did not resist as he pulled her away from the ramp, trying to get them to more stable sections of the ship, and ones where the chance of falling out into a crowd of people trying to capture them was much lower.

"He is Tommy Oliver; he will be fine." And Billy did want to believe that, though he did fear for a second as they made their way towards the door and out into the first of many hallways in the ship, that he might not be. But the ex-blue quickly convinced himself otherwise; Tommy had to be okay. There was no allowance for otherwise.

The two were in the elevator leading up to the main control room, Tsuki's knowledge of the Astro Megaship proving more than a little useful, when the ship made it's final push against the chains and broke free; the force with which it moved caused the lights to flicker and the power to stop for a moment. Billy frowned as he looked up, not entirely sure what he felt about that; he found himself letting out a breath he had unaware of holding and a slight pressure against his shoulder. He turned his head again to see Tsuki leaning against him; her hair had fallen over her face and she was quiet, not moving immediately. A frown crossed his face and he reached down, brushing back her hair. Her eyes were closed but as she was still standing, simply leaning, he was certain she wasn't really asleep.

"Tsuki?" he spoke softly.

"Hnn," she barely responded, continuing to lean.

The elevator stopped again and the doors opened to their destination; still she didn't move.

What he did then was more instinct and automatic muscle memory than anything else; with a swift, effortless sort of movement, he lifted her up, shifting her blue long bag onto her lap, one arm supporting the undercrook of her knees while the other held her from behind her upper back. She rested her head against his shoulder, one arm wrapping around his arm to better steady herself; he simply smiled and walked into the room without a backward thought.

Andros was fast at work at one of the consoles, a glimpse of his expression betraying the seriousness of this situation. Hayley was at his side, hands on the console as she discussed something with him just out of earshot of Billy; as she finished speaking Andros nodded and she made her way over to a different area of the room, her limp and strained movements not going unnoticed by the man. A further scan of the room revealed the locations of Merrick and Illeana, the former sitting in one of the chairs in the room with his still unconscious sister on his lap, a look of utter wonderment captured upon his face as he too seemed to be glancing around the room. Billy knew little of the other Wolf Ranger or his team but it occurred to him that his was the expression of one who had never come in contact with such things as this ship offered.

The absence of two others, the only other members of this group, stuck with him though and Billy opened his mouth to speak in time for the elevator to open once more behind him and his attention, and his alone, was pulled back towards it. Tommy walked in, taking one look around then at Billy himself before speaking, "Is she okay?"

It took him a moment to realize what Tommy meant; the action of picking Tsuki up once it had come to him that she might not have the energy to move any longer under her own power, that the events that had occurred thusfar and all the usage of her power within the short range of a day had drained her and it just had finally gotten her, that had been a reflex, an old trait from old days when things were easier. Or at least different. But the knowledge that it had taken hold without his realizing immediately what this looked like, and especially when it was Tommy who had brought it to his attention, caused a bright shade of red and heat to color Billy's cheeks. He cleared his throat and adjusted Tsuki, who barely opened an eye at the motion from Billy and sound of her current boyfriend's voice. "She was having significant difficulty with her equilibrium and could not properly ambulate so I decided to assist her."

Tommy raised an eyebrow and was silent for a moment before a friendly sort of smile crossed his face and he reached out to gently stroke Tsuki's hair. "Dude, all you had to say was 'yeah'. But I always have liked that about it."

With that he stepped away and towards Andros, his attention pulled towards screens and readouts; his expression turned serious, back to the matter at hand. He took a moment to take it in before turning back to the ex-Red. "Andros, what's our status?"

"We should be beyond the exosphere soon enough," Andros answered brow furrowed, tapping away before turning to another screen, "I am not certain about the abilities of the government right now with the primary NASADA building the way it is now but them following us up here is not the biggest problem we have."

"What is?" Billy inquired, making his way over.

"Well to start," Hayley chimed in from her station, "The assholes who took Andros in tried to examine the Megaship. I say tried because the method they choose seems to be jackhammer; the engine rooms are barely working and the computer systems look like a three year old got access to all the passwords."

"DECA?" Tsuki spoke softly, almost inaudible to the humans in the room.

Not to the ship though; there was a shriek like an excess of static, causing the room to collectively wince, before a familiar voice to at least two of them spoke, "Y-y-yes Ts-Ts-Tsuki."

Andros' frown grew and he looked up, his expression a mixture of sadness and pure contempt. Tsuki moved a little and Billy let her while still holding her, the red eyed swordswoman turning her head to look up. "What did they do to her?"

"I don't know," Andros said hesitantly, getting up and going to another station, pushing some buttons, pulling some levers and DECA's voice, stuttering and uneven as "she" tried to answer Tsuki's question "herself", stopped, "Likely when they tried to hack the Megaship's computer it damaged her. In addition..."

He stopped and he looked away guiltily. Tommy crossed his arms, catching it and spoke next, "In addition to what?"

Andros turned to Hayley who refused to look at them. "We had no choice; we weren't certain if Billy would be able to actually properly redirect the attacks and we don't know what else they might have done. Hell it's bad enough that they were even able to start hacking the Megaship; it's an alien spaceship for god's sake, and supposed to the top of it's line, and our idiot government was able to somehow break in? We had no choice..."

"What happened?" Billy asked now, getting a bad feeling about this.

"We shut down the majority of DECA's functions," Andros answered.

"We didn't shut them down; we destroyed them," Hayley corrected, causing Tommy to frown, "We had no choice, Tommy; apparently the ship is equipped with a last resort sort of measure in case it gets captured and we used it. A virus; it broke down all the functions of the ship except a few, putting them offline and incapable of being accessed by either those aboard the ship and those outside."

Billy frowned deeply, his heart plunging; as someone who now had to depend on the ship to stay alive and free, it bothered him to know it was now rendered almost useless. But at the same time it was more than that. He knew the original Astro Megaship had been the primary Megazord for Andros' team and while he did not know if this Mark II was the same, it still pained him as a Power Ranger, even ex, to know a fellow (ex) Ranger and a (ex) mentor had damaged the processes of what might be a Megazord, especially after all the times he himself had had to watch his own Zords, his friends Zords, suffer because of enemy attacks. At the same time the scientist in him, the soul of inquisition and invention, fascinated as he was too by the sight of the alien tech that was the Astro Megaship, was hurt to see such a beautiful thing damaged like this. Especially before he could get a good look at it for himself as it had been.

He swallowed all that back though, every thought and pain, and tried to focus. The majority, most of them, he had to know what was left and he knew Tommy and Tsuki were probably curious as well. "What functions were left untouched by this final measure?"

"The general power to the ship for one," Andros said and sighed lightly, "We can do some basic piloting though the ship can't move very well anymore; Kira went to check on the infirmary but I'm fairly certain the systems for the cryogenic chambers and medical equipment is kept in a secure network location and were purposefully excempt. She has that boy that Tsuki found with her. As for everything else, I can't say for sure without checking; DECA is currently at about," he paused for a moment, looking at a screen before answering, "6% operating capacity. She can talk-"

"Barely," Tommy interrupted and Andros frowned.

"But she's not able to access any records," the ex-red continued and rubbed the defunct morpher around his wrist, "She is little more than an infant in terms of ability now," there was a noise like grinding and then quiet, deadening silence and he bit his lip before checking things, "And we're outside the exosphere but the ship has stalled; it might take a minute to get things back up and running so we can move again."

"Great," Tommy said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. Billy watched him as the man paced some, looking frustrated. Not that Billy blamed him for that; they had managed to escape the people after them, for now, but the ship they were aboard was severely handicapped now. And there was of course no saying if and when the government would come up to try and capture them, and with the Astro Megaship and DECA the way they were now, there was a good chance they wouldn't get away next time.

Hayley finally was looking at them now and cleared her voice. "So we should probably get the ship going and get away from Earth sooner rather than-"

"No," Tommy interrupted again, causing further frowns, "We are not going anywhere."

"Tommy," Hayley started but the man put up a hand.

"Andros, this ship has teleportation functions like the previous model right?" The ex-red furrowed his brow then nodded.

"Yes but the virus destroyed the primary controls for it; it's basically useless at this point," he answered..

"What kind of damage did it do exactly?"

Andros looked at Hayley; she answered, "Basically an complete system wipe but more extensive; it not only wiped everything but scrambled the programming to the point of rendering them near impossible to repair. Only the functions Andros mentioned were spared."

Billy winced and looked to Tommy who seemed to be thinking that over, nodding. "Right but only near impossible?"

"Tommy," she said frowning and tried to walk towards him, holding onto the consoles as much as she could to steady herself as she did so, "It would take me months if not years to reverse the effects of that virus."

"What about if you have two more computer geniuses to assist you?" His question seemed to take her off guard and she blinked for a moment before her eyes drifted. To Billy, still holding Tsuki in his arms; he smiled lightly, picking up on Tommy's meaning almost immediately and Tsuki gave a semi-wave.

The ex-mentor turned her gaze back onto her old friend. "Tommy..."

"I'm not saying immediately and I'm definitely not saying everything," he said, "I just need the teleportation system back online."

"Why?" she asked shaking her head, "Do you really want to go back there? Tommy, they want us locked up or worse, dead. We'd be better off just getting away from here, as fast and as far as we can get before they get their stuff together and come after us."

"We cannot abandon the earth," Tommy said sternly.

"They abandoned us!" Merrick looked up from watching over his sister, holding her to him as he stared at Hayley, joined in this by the others who were conscious in the room. Tsuki bit her lip and Billy shifted his feet some, not sure how to respond to that.

There was truth to that simple statement, Billy knew this well. His return to Earth had not been to some happy reunion with his old teammates, to a country that still saw the Power Rangers as "heroes"; he had almost been crushed in a cave-in, he had been hunted by one of his oldest friends, he had found his beloved laboratory in shambles and ran around a compound that once used to be the base of some of his greatest allies and now the place where his fellow Rangers were being imprisoned. He had been chased by guards, soldiers, and now here he was, standing aboard a broken down ship, holding a physically exhausted Tsuki, and in that moment, just looking at the others it hit him the complete state of things. Tommy's clothes were ripped and dirty, bits of leaves still stuck in his hair; he was still standing but it wasn't like Billy didn't see the way he too leaned against the console behind him. Andros and Hayley looked like they had gone through hell, the extent of their injuries, the horrid state of their clothing, and the lost and pained look on both of their faces, traced with anger and betrayal in the expression of the latter. Merrick's clothes were wore and while he seemed mostly devoid of damage, his sister was not so lucky; Billy could still make out the rope burns on her wrists, and her clothes were no less ripped up than any of theirs. Tsuki too looked exactly as she should after running through a forest, running from guards, teleporting so much she couldn't even stand up straight, and Billy knew he didn't likely look much better; he could see the cracks on one of his lenses, it was honestly starting to give him a headache and he didn't like that. There was not a member of them who looked to be in any way "okay" and he knew why that was, and why Hayley was so upset. Because he couldn't say that she was wrong and that hurt. Still, he told himself and glanced at Tommy before shaking his head; still...

"You are correct, Hayley," Billy spoke and attention turned to him, "We have been abandoned; the people we once swore to protect, that we regularly placed our lives on the line to safeguard against danger, have now turned their backs to us and are content it would appear to allow for our incarceration and potential extermination. We are fugitives from the law and wanted for the mere matter of being who we are...were," she nodded solemnly and opened her mouth to speak but he continued, subconsciously pulling Tsuki closer to him, "But still...we cannot abandon them in return, especially not in this situation. We may no longer be the beacons of justice and life in their eyes that we once were but we cannot allow fear and darkness to defeat us in this painful time. There are still those who believe in the light of the Morphing Grid, there are those who require our assistance still. We did not become Power Rangers to be perceived as saviors; we took upon ourselves the Power so that we could indeed be the protectors of that which we care about and that which we do not, equally so."

Hayley blinked and there was silence once more; it was broken though after a time by a noise. A chuckle, erupting from the form of the science teacher standing with them; both looked to him and Tommy was smiling, the sort that immediately retrieved the image of a younger boy, a younger age. And that was what Tsuki and Billy both saw looking at him, a young man with far longer hair, dressed in green an somehow both weighed down more and far more light. He looked at his old teammate in kind and his eyes seemed almost to twinkle. "I couldn't have said it better; maybe simplier but never better."

"We have a responsibility to assist those who still need us," Merrick spoke up nodding, "As a knight of Animaria I cannot condone retreating even in this situation, not if there may be something else we can do. Though I am not sure what else there is at this moment."

"We can get you guys the ability to teleport without having to use me," Tsuki chimed in and wiggled a bit, Billy finally letting her down; she was wobbly on her legs, readjusting her bags, resetting the one to her back and reached out to hold onto his sleeve, Tommy simultaneously putting a hand on her arm to help her stand. She turned her head to look at him and she smiled gently back at him before letting go of Billy and standing as straight as she could, an act that made Tommy chuckle again; she continued to speak, "We'll need it if we're to make use of the data Billy and Tommy managed to save from the computers back in the Dino Lab, before it got..."

She trailed off and Hayley looked down. "I didn't tell them, I swear."

"We don't think you did," Tommy assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him and he smiled gently, an assuring sort; the elevator opened for the third time and this time Kira walked in, alone. She stopped for a moment, feeling the tension that still clung to the air and frowned, looking around. "Is everything okay?"

"Nope," Tsuki said and the yellow looked bothered by that; she waved it off, "It wasn't to begin with anyway; how was the infirmary?"

This question interested Billy and Andros as well, in addition to Merrick who shifted Lana in his arms before Kira could answer. She rubbed her head. "Good; I can't say I fully understood most of what was in there but it looked mostly untouched so I assume it was left alone by the military types. I left the kid there on one of the beds; he still hasn't woken up." Her attention was drawn towards Merrick then. "Looks like he's the only one..."

Merrick frowned and looked at his sister again before nodding solemnly. "It is concerning I must admit..."

"Let me see her again, Merrick," Tsuki said and tried to walk over; her legs gave out below her as she did though and she fell to the ground unceremoniously.

"Tsuki!" cried three voices and while Andros stayed at his station, eyes wide in concern, Tommy and Billy both rushed to her side; the former helped her to her feet, the latter's hands twitching to do so but he forced himself back, remembering how he had reacted so immediately before. Tommy got her to her feet again and she winced in pain before pulling her arm away from him. "I'm fine..."

"You are not," he said frowning, "Fine people do not collapse."

"I'm just a bit weak; I used up a lot of energy using my powers," she said sharply and stepped away from him carefully, Tommy watching her carefully as she slowly made her way over to Merrick.

For his part the wolf warrior watched her as well, the concern in his eyes though not seeming to be exclusively over her; there was a wariness and suspicion, not because he saw her as a danger but because of for who she was approached. She looked back at him and gave him a small nod before leaning down before him, reaching out carefully towards Lana. At first he pulled back, an immediate reaction that seemed to be more instinct than anything; quickly enough though he relaxed enough to let her touch Lana's hair. The red eyed woman looked at him for a moment more before turning her attention back to the sleeping one; she gently brushed back her hair, seeming to be trying to examine her. Carefully she opened one of Lana's eyes, checking it before letting it close again. She then removed something from her messenger bag, a small box, and opened it, looking through it. "Hmm let's see..."

"Is she okay?" Merrick asked hesitantly.

"Seems to be about the same as me," she said then elaborated as she saw the ancient warrior's brow furrow, "Lana's physically exhausted, probably mentally too; it's no surprise really considering what I assume she had to go through. I have something that might be able to help, wake her up and everything though I can't guarantee anything."

Tsuki removed a syringe and a small bottle from the box; Merrick looked at it and bit his lip for a moment before regarding Lana again. He didn't really know what to do about this, or if he should allow this at all. But he was worried and he didn't believe Tsuki would do anything that might seriously harm Lana. Ultimately he gave a short nod and Tsuki smiled back at him before preparing the shot.

In the end it took only a minute; she administered the shot with the expertise of someone used to treating others and after a few seconds of waiting, excruciating for Merrick as it was and far too long for all the others waiting and watching to see what would happen, Lana started to stir. It was just a twitch at first, a shifting, and then a light moan, confusion and grogginess mixed together in a hazy form in her eyes as she finally opened them and awoke. She saw Tsuki first and then her brother; it was his name she called out first, uncertain of what she was seeing. "Merrick?"

He though could not help but smile. He struggled to not hug her tight to him, wanting so badly to do so, to hold his beloved sister again but he told himself it might not be a good idea, that it might hurt her. Instead he nodded and brushed back some of her hair from her face.

The gentle motion seemed to put her at some sense of ease though the unfamiliar surroundings, closer to a Zord cockpit than anything but very different, made it hard to be entirely comfortable; she sat up best she could, wincing in pain at the motions and looked around hesitantly. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Aboard the Astro Megaship," Tommy answered from where he was, "We rescued you from the military base in Angel Grove."

"Rescued me?" she repeated and he nodded; she was silent for a moment, trying to process that. Her head felt fuzzy though, and her memories didn't feel like they quite fix together; she frowned and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Where's Jason?" After the words left Lana's lips all the air left the room; a chill, akin to a bucket of ice throw on them all, entered and no one answered at first. Merrick continued to watch his sister but Tsuki turned to look at the others, specifically Tommy and Billy.

The latter was calm, or at least trying to seem so; he shook a little, though he couldn't decide for what purpose, whether because of the cold or for fear or perhaps anger. He didn't speak though, uncertain what come out if he did try to. The former though, the former was not under impression of confusion at why his fingers dug into his skin as he crossed his arms or why his expression darkened suddenly.

It wasn't him that answered her though but another, the even tone of Andros' voice sharpened to an edge that startled even him. "Definitely not here."

It did not escape her notice though the way he reacted and Lana turned to the only face she really knew, directing her gaze back to her brother. "Merr, what happened?"

"What do you remember of the most recent events?" Tsuki asked Lana and the woman turned again.

She tried to remember, and then regretted doing so. She gripped the edge of her shirt tight in her hands. "The arrests you mean?"

"Arrests are one way of putting them," Tommy said and Tsuki turned to give him a sharp look; he blinked and put his hands up in defense.

Lana frowned. "I heard about things of course; Jason was one of the first the government went to. He wanted to help them with getting things settled-"

"Didn't know that was what it was called when you break into people's places and take them by force," Hayley mumbled and Lana looked at her, frown deepening.

"It's," the Animarian woman started then stopped, hesitating for a moment, wavering, "It's only the ones who resist; this whole ordeal, it's for the benefit of everyone. The Rangers just..."

"Just what?" Tommy asked, "Just have to roll over and let themselves be captured, tied up, beaten?"

She bit her lip. "You don't understand..."

"What about those who have gotten killed?" the man continued, trying to keep his voice even and calm and struggling.

"That's why they're doing it," she answered, "To help those who have been killed."

"I don't mean just the civilians," Tommy said, the words coming out just a bit too sharply, "I mean like Ethan."

She didn't seem to understand and looked at him. "Ethan?"

"My teammate," he said and again it came out too sharp, too much of an edge; his fingers dug in more, "He resisted when they came for him and they killed them; they shot him. Is that 'helping' him? Will that fix the damage that's been done in the past, bring that little boy back to life?"

Lana froze and it took her a second to recollect herself, shaking her head, feeling anger creeping in at the way he spoke to her, in response to his own. "Jason had nothing to do with that, he only wants to help."

"Jason came up to my house, the house of a man who has been working as a science teacher for the last ten years, a man who hasn't been an active Ranger since then, with tanks and an army," Tommy responded, "He gave the order to shoot me, to shoot my ex-student and teammate Kira, to shoot my girlfriend Tsuki; he helped them to destroy my house, to chase us through the forest in order to capture us."

"I...I..." she stammered and shrunk a bit at first, "He had to have a good reason...you're Tommy right? The ex-Green of Jason's team; you're a legend after all, he just was trying to be careful in case-"

"In case what?" He interrupted.

"You're dangerous," she said flatly and looked him in the eye, "He told me about you, about how you used to be evil," Tommy flinched, "how you've been a Ranger so many times, more times than anyone else; dealing with someone like you, of course he had to be prepared for anything."

"Jason didn't need fucking tanks to fight me when we were kids," Tommy said blood trickling down his arm, "Why would he need them now?"

"He just wanted to be careful," she said and shook her head, the fuzz persisting, feeling something was wrong, something was missing, but she was unsure what, "But Jason...I'm sure he didn't mean for any harm to come to you, any of you. He would never want anyone to die."

"Well unfortunately people have, people who wanted to move on with their lives, people who just wanted normality," he spoke, "And Jason is complicit."

"Jason had nothing to do with your friend's death," Lana said sharply.

"Jason Lee Scott was the one who shot Ethan James." The matter of fact statement froze both combatants and they turned, as did the head of everyone else to the one who spoke.

Andros was facing them and the expression on his face, serious, quiet, seemed to denote no humor to his words, no joke or exaggeration. Lana and Tommy were both speechless and it was she who spoke first, her voice shaking slightly. "Y-you don't know th-that."

"Yes I do," he answered with no hesitation.

"How?" Hayley asked, sounding like all the breath had been sucked out of her.

"Because DECA hacked the security cameras and I saw it with my own two eyes," he said to her.

"That's a lie," Lana said though there was nothing behind it but desperation; her head hurt more and she winced, Merrick gently touching her head, speaking her name but she ignored him, "Jason didn't...he wouldn't...where's your proof?"

"Gone," he said frowning again, "The virus destroyed it along with everything else; the tape is gone but I still saw it. I," Andros paused for a moment, to breathe it seemed but Tsuki made her way over as she saw the tears in his eyes; he waved her off, with a gentle smile, before continuing, "I watched as the forces started banging on the door, as Ethan told Hayley to escape, as she tried to resist and finally left. I saw it as they broke down the door and rushed inside, as the soldiers started yelling before Jason started talking to Ethan, trying to get information from him. He demanded the data on Tommy's place, on the locations of other Rangers, a bunch of stuff," he looked at Hayley who wouldn't look at him, "He wanted to know where Hayley was and Ethan..."

"He didn't give any of it up," Hayley said softly.

Andros shook his head before turning back to Lana sharply. "Ethan was a loyal Power Ranger, better than Jason or I; he refused to give anything up, to betray any of his fellow Rangers. And he died for it; Jason tried to arrest him and when Ethan resisted, when he refused to talk and he refused to go, he got shot in the heart. And Jason was the one holding the gun that ultimately took his life."

Tsuki bit her lip and Lana refused to look at Andros again. His words were damning and part of her wanted to believe it wasn't true, that Jason wouldn't do that, kill a fellow Ranger in cold blood like that. But the blocks in her head buzzed and she could swear she saw something in the static of her own messed up memories, heard voices, an argument.

This isn't right.

You're not okay, this isn't okay.

Don't do this.

"It's not true," Lana said and rubbed her wrists.

Billy noted and spoke, "Lana, you were tied up."

"What?" she said looking up at him.

"Your hands were bound when you were brought into the base," Andros said simply, "You kept screaming and trying to escape."

"Wh-why?" she said and she pressed back against Merrick, "I-I...don't remember...ugh," she put her hands on her forehead, her hair falling over her face, "It hurts so much, brother."

"Lana," Merrick said and tried to brush back her hair, "Lana..."

"I don't remember being...anywhere," she said, "Why can't I remember? How do I know they didn't kidnap me? You probably...no," she knew that wasn't true; it wasn't like the talk Jason. She knew what she said, what she wanted to say, wasn't true, "Merrick, it hurts so much..."

He frowned and looked at Tsuki. She shook her head gently. "The shot I gave her wouldn't cause memory loss. There is something else going here."

"Merrick," she whimpered and leaned against him, still holding her head.

Don't do this, please.

This is for the good of everyone.

This is for the safety of everyone.

It's for you as much as anyone else.

"Murder," she mumbled, barely audible, tears forming in her eyes, "Murder...isn't for the good of anyone."

"Lana," Merrick said gently, looking at her once more.

Tommy frowned and shook his head, lowering his arms, "No, no it isn't."

There was more silence, no one seeming willing to speak at first. They simply stood, and sat, there, aboard their broken ship, now floating just outside the earth's atmosphere; it was more than a difficult situation. This wasn't even far from ideal; to Tommy, and to many of them, it was the opposite of ideal. Billy was first to move again, though he did so wordlessly, approaching Andros' console; the ex-red looked at him and opened his mouth to speak but the scientist simply handed him a disk without a word. The Kerovian stared at it for a moment before putting it into the computer, tapping away again at keys and buttons before a variety of new information flooded the screens; his eyes widened and he spoke, "Wow."

"What the," Hayley said and looked at what had appeared, "Wait, isn't this..."

"As Tsuki said we took the information off the computer at the Dino Lab," Tommy said, not quite smiling though there was some happiness in his eyes, a spark, "We planned to combine it with the information DECA has, had to make our next plan but...well..."

"This is more than what I actually happened to tell the truth," Andros said, "Save for the things on my team and my sister's at least."

Tommy nodded. "I thought so; the Lost Galaxy team is hard to get a lot of data on. It's a shame that-"

He was interrupted this time, not by the voice of another, but by the loud shriek and flashing red of an alarm. Hearts dropped immediately and Andros tried as best as he could to pinpoint the cause, far from the only one in the room to fear the chance that it was a rocket coming to try to board them or worse. Billy joined him and Hayley, Tsuki and Tommy did their best to assist as well, all five working frantically as Kira, Merrick and Lana watched.

Andros of course was the one to find it first but as he spoke, his voice shook with confusion, "It's the communications. They're...working again."

Hayley blinked. "That's impossible."

"No it's true," he said and checked his data, "According to this we're picking up a distress call but how...?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Tommy said and leaned over to try and read what Andros was seeing, joined by those able to come and do the same, "Where is it coming from? Do you know who it is?"

"It's probably a trap," Hayley said frowning, "I mean gift horse? Ever heard of a Trojan horse?"

"We cannot ignore a call for help," Tommy retorted, "Besides according to this it's probably not a trap but the genuine thing; actually I'd be willing to bet that it's not. Only the real deal would have been able to use this to contact us."

"Use our communication network?" Tommy shook his head.

"So where is it coming from? Who is it?" Billy asked the question everyone wanted to know the answer to.

"The Wind Ninja Academy; the Ninja Storm Rangers are calling for us."

(Lana is not mine of course but Tsuki is; I apologize to Ash ( .com) for butchering her character but I promised angst.)