Disclaimer: Don't own the Power Rangers. Anybody you never heard of before is probably mine, but it doesn't matter because there's no money involved anyway.

Note: this is completely AU. Zordon never died. Everybody's in their early to mid-twenties. You'll recognize the other stuff I changed.

Legacy, part 12

"Oh, Lord," said Peter. "This is why we had no response from Iannos."

"Spirits," Taia whispered as they drew abreast of the landing coordinates. Billy slid his arms around her waist, drawing her back to lean against him, as they surveyed the scene before them.

Absolute devastation. Blackened hulks rose from the ground; chunks of twisted metal that might have been almost anything from a small spacecraft to a Quonset hut. Charred rubble littered the ground, which itself was scorched. What little vegetation there had been had turned to ash. The light was poor, the sun filtering through layers of smoke and steam, lending an aura of surrealism to an already unbelievable sight.

Taia began to shake. "The fault is mine." Her voice was ghostlike, her eyes huge and dark. "I should have been here, should have protected –" Her knees sagged; Billy caught her weight against him and carried her to a seat out of sight of the decimation that had been the main base of operations for the Xeryan underground.

Peter watched them, a muscle in his jaw clenching. Jason simply stared out of the thick window, speechless.

Tommy leaned forward suddenly, propelled by a realization. "Mr. C… where are the people?" Peter looked at him blankly. "The bodies. Where are the bodies? There aren't any – "

The older man finally caught on. "My God, I should be declared mentally incompetent. You're right, son." He fiddled with the console in front of him, read the results, and smacked his palm flat against the surface, hard enough to startle the others. "No traces of Xeryan casualties. No weapons signatures. Nothing to indicate that there was ever a battle here. Not… a… bloody… thing."

Billy nodded, the beginnings of a smile on his face, as he caught his father's train of thought. "Scorched earth policy."

"Exactly. Not Iannos' usual style, but not a bad idea," said Peter, approval in his tone.

Taia looked from one to the other, bewildered. "Scorched – earth? I do not – "

Jason crossed to his sister, crouching down to look her in the face. "So'Vran hasn't been here. They did it themselves, Tai, to cover their tracks." Her sudden slouch back into the seat conveyed her relief better than any words could have done.

"All right, then, Iannos," muttered Peter, more to himself than anyone else, "so where are you, and how do I find you?"

With a last glance at Taia to make sure she was all right, Billy joined his father. "If we knew what frequencies So'Vran is likely to be scanning, we could stay under the radar, so to speak." His long fingers tapped out a sequence of numbers. "This'll give us a wide-band sweep, but it's not without risk." He sent a questioning look toward the others, his index finger hovering over the final key. "So?"

Taia slowly got up from her seat, exhaustion in every line of her slim frame. Wearily she bent over the console, examining what Billy had programmed. Without a word she made a few adjustments, editing the sequence here, adding some numbers there. She nodded briefly, then left the cabin, barely navigating the narrow doorway, waving Billy away when he would have helped.

They watched her go. "Damn So'Vran for what he's done to that girl," Peter gritted angrily.

Jason put a hand on Billy's shoulder. "I'll go," he volunteered. "You take care of business." He went after his sister, concern on his handsome face.

After a moment Billy turned back to the computer screen and made a strangled noise. "What?" Tommy wanted to know.

Billy pointed a finger at the adjusted scanning screen, suddenly lit up with tiny, sparkling lights, moving toward their position. "Guys… we've got company."

*******************

The group of muddy, black-armored figures crept closer. They carried lethal- looking energy weapons that had seen better days; reflective visors obscured their faces. One of them gestured to the large silver pod. "Who do you think they are?" the helmeted figure asked another, his voice squawking through the communicator.

The figure in the lead shrugged, looking back over the group, then forward to the gleaming spacecraft. "Stay down."

The first figure made a grab for the second and missed as she lit out for the ship. "Damn it, Aji!" he growled into his helmet comm. "What are you trying to prove?"

"Shut up, Deorth, and keep your men down until I say so," she said. The dark figure reached the spacecraft and leaned back against the metallic shell, gesturing to the others. "Move into position."

"Caution, Aji. They could be friendly," said Deorth as he hustled into position with the others.

"I could be a medruni. But I am not," her voice crackled over the comm. "Hostile until proven otherwise."

"Aji…"

He was ignored. Aji's voice, over a broadband frequency, brooked no argument. "Attention alien ship. You will exit now and give yourselves into our custody, or we will open fire." The black-clad figures leveled weapons at the entrance, waiting. With a hiss of escaping air the door to the pod slid open; the watchers tensed.

A middle-aged man in a pewter-colored pressure suit came out, hands raised.

"Name?" Aji demanded.

"P'Tyr Krann." Two other men joined him; these were younger. Black-gloved fingers twitched ever so slightly on their triggers. "This is my son, Billy, and his friend, Tommy Oliver," the older man said loudly.

"How many others?"

"Two," P'Tyr Krann said. He seemed to want to say more, but waited.

Aji took careful aim at his head, ignoring the younger Krann's hissed intake of breath. "Bring them out."

P'Tyr called over his shoulder without taking his eyes off Aji. "Jason, Taia, you'd better get out here."

"Taia?" Deorth said involuntarily, lowering his weapon slightly. "Guardian?"

"Impossible," Aji snapped. "Guardian's dead."

"No," said Taia, stepping from the spacecraft. "These are friends, Aji."

Aji started, flinching back at the sight of her. "Lower your weapons," she bit out after the briefest pause. "Welcome back, Guardian." With that Aji turned and walked away.

*******************

"You were right, Tommy. Deorth here tells me the base has moved north of here." Peter clapped him on the back in passing as he led the troop of soldiers onto the ship. "Are you sure your docking bay will hold her?" This last was addressed to the Xeryan second in command.

Deorth removed his helmet, revealing a crop of spiky blond hair and a pair of intelligent gray eyes. He shrugged. "It should, though I do not know the exact dimensions. If it does not… we cannot leave the ship for So'Vran's armies to find."

Peter shot the soldier a grin. "Let's just hope she does. I'd rather not burn her." He fed the coordinates Deorth supplied into the navigational computer. "What about your leader?"

"Aji?" Deorth raised his pale eyebrows. "It has been a difficult week for her. She would perhaps prefer to meet us there." He glanced uncertainly at Taia, who looked confused.

"Was it I she sought to avoid? But – we have been friends since childhood…"

Jason chimed in. "So what's her problem?"

Deorth shrugged. "It would be best if we left this place; all your questions will be answered when we are safely at the base."