Disclaimer: The moon is backwards in Tasmania. Oliver the yellow lab puppy reminds me of Legolas. Suzy has a black cat named Ash. Saban copyrighted "Power Rangers" but not rucksacks. I don't understand that, because really, which one is more versatile?
Different Circumstances
by Starhawk
For just a moment, everything was right in the world. Drifting in the hazy realm between dreams and wakefulness, she felt Saryn's gentle caress against her skin, and she let out a contented sigh as she turned toward him. He wasn't lying beside her, though, and she cracked her eyes just enough to see what had gotten him up.
It was darker than she'd expected, and all she could make out was his shadowy form perched on the edge of the bed. She frowned a little, realizing she didn't recognize their room. "Saryn?" she whispered, confused.
"I know I shouldn't have come," he murmured, stroking her cheek again. "But I had to see for myself that you are well."
The dull ache in her abdomen was enough to remind her. "Justin promised," she said with a sigh. She reached up to catch his hand and kiss his fingers comfortingly. "He promised nothing would hurt our babies."
She felt him stiffen, and suddenly his presence was gone from her side. Before she could protest, dim illumination flooded the room. The last lingering wisps of sleep vanished as she recognized the medical bay on Eltare--the place to which she had been brought after a third wrenching dimension shift had finally succeeded in tearing her away from home.
Saryn stood over her, but he was a spectre in Phantom black rather than Elisian red. His hair was short enough to spike, too long to be neat but too short to lay flat. His eyes were as sharply blue as ever, but they were flat and unrevealing, with none of the echo that she was used to.
"Cassandra?" The word was little more than a whisper as his eyes traveled across her figure. "What happened?"
He didn't know. She struggled to sit up, knowing it was some indication of his trust in her that there was no wariness in his tone. He had no suspicion that she was anything other than who he expected her to be, no idea that the person he had come to see was lost somewhere in another dimension.
"I'm not... Cassandra," she said, swallowing hard. There was the wariness, now, his features going blank as he hardened his heart against her. It hurt, no matter what she tried to tell herself. It hurt to see him look at her like that.
"Your presence has something to do with JT's emergency briefing," he said impassively. "I excused myself on the pretext of repairs, making an assumption I should not have made. At least--" His composure faltered for a moment, and he looked away. "At least tell me where she is."
He was putting things together in his mind too fast for her to follow. She didn't know what conclusions he was reaching, but there was something going on that she didn't understand. He was too quick to accept her as an imposter, too quick to assume that his "Cassandra" was now beyond his reach... almost as though he had expected it, somehow.
"I don't know," she admitted carefully, trying to watch him and get comfortable on the edge of the bed at the same time. She winced when a stabbing pain flared in her gut and then vanished, making her gasp. She didn't miss his abortive gesture toward her, as though he couldn't help himself. "You--you know about Justin's experiments?"
He frowned a little, reminding her that his "Justin" went by another name. "Justin is a friend of JT's, as I recall. From..." His eyes widened slightly, and he trailed off.
"Another dimension," she finished. "JT calls it 'transition', right? Moving someone almost instantly from one place to another by way of another dimension..." Linnse had told her what she knew of it before insisting that Cassie try to sleep. "It's better than teleporting, because it has unlimited range. But--"
"But the technology has not successfully completed a single trial," he interrupted. "There have always been problems with interference from the other dimension."
Cassie tried to smile. "Well, speaking as someone from that 'other dimension'... yeah, we'd noticed."
He was staring at her as though he'd never seen her before. And while it was technically true, it was also disconcerting. She shifted awkwardly, adding, "JT thinks your Rangers took our places in our dimension. He said he would try to switch us back as soon as he could."
For a long, uncomfortable moment, he didn't answer. When he did, though, it was only with a question. "Is she all right?" he wanted to know. His voice was soft, and he looked away at last as though he had said something unforgiveable. "If they are now where you were before... are they in danger?"
She shook her head quickly. "No. At least, not Cassandra. The others are probably fine too, but I wasn't with them when all this happened. I don't know exactly what's going on with them."
He lifted his gaze to hers again, and the look of loss was heartbreaking. "Don't worry," she said gently, wishing she could do more to comfort him. "My Saryn will look out for her." She smiled a little. "He's a sucker for Cassie clones, I promise."
"Your Saryn?" he repeated softly. She couldn't interpret the flicker in his eyes.
"Yeah..." Her smile faded, and she sighed before she could stop herself. "He's probably putting himself through nine kinds of hell right now. And Justin, too... I wouldn't want to be him when Saryn catches up with him."
"He would--act openly on your behalf?" There was an odd note in his voice.
"What do you mean?" She couldn't figure out how to make that sentence mean anything more than the obvious, and the obvious was just that. Of course he would, so why bother asking?
He didn't answer, glancing down at her stomach again and then over at the monitor next to the patient bed. "Are you... you are with child?" She got the feeling he meant to make that a statement but couldn't quite do it.
"Two," she agreed, unable to repress a small smile of pride no matter how inexplicably he was acting. "Twins... why? What's the matter?"
"Cassandra..." His strange inscrutable eyes were focused solely on her now. "Whose children do you carry?"
"Ours." His intent look didn't waver, and she frowned. "Mine and yours... who else's? Didn't we get married in this dimension?"
He turned away abruptly, and she bit her lip. She shouldn't have said that, but it had just tumbled out. How did she know what was going on? She was going to have to watch what she said around here, at least until she figured out where everyone stood.
"Do not take offense," he said at last. His voice sounded choked, but he managed, "Do not doubt that there is nothing I wish more than for that to be true."
She stood too quickly, and reached for the bed to steady herself. He must have heard her indrawn breath for he turned to catch her arm, and she smiled in thanks. He didn't return it. His eyes glinted, dangerously bright, and she lifted her hand to his face before she thought. "Are you... crying?"
He let go of her arm but he didn't back away. "What about Jenna?" he whispered, searching her face for answers. "And TJ? How did you manage to start a life together without hurting anyone else?"
She let her hand fall, startled. "Jenna's alive?" she blurted.
He paled, and she closed her eyes in mute apology. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I have to stop just saying things like that."
"No..." She heard him draw a shaky breath. "It is better to know than to wonder what might have been. I assume Jenna is--" He stumbled over the words. "She is not..."
"I shouldn't tell you," she said softly, reminding herself as much as him. "It doesn't have anything to do with you here."
"Please." She felt his fingers on her skin, and she opened her eyes in surprise as he turned her face toward his. "Please," he repeated, quiet but no less insistent. "I must know."
She knew she shouldn't do it, but she had no choice with him looking at her like that. "Elisia was attacked," she told him reluctantly, unable to look away. "You were the only Ranger that survived. Later you... you came to warn Earth, and that was when we met. We were married a year ago last week."
"And--" He seemed to brace himself. "TJ?"
"What about him?" Cassie could see the answer in his expression. "We're together?" she said, more quietly. She didn't even need to see him nod.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, not knowing what else to tell him. "We went out a couple of times, back in high school, but just as friends. I think everyone knew I fell for you as soon as we met."
His eyes glittered with unshed tears, but his voice was tightly controlled when he warned her, "You should know, then, that here we are--somewhat at odds. I do not expect you to involve yourself in a charade you had no part in planning, but I hope you will understand that I must treat you as I have always treated Cassandra.
"Which is?" she prompted. From the tone of his voice, she had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.
"Coldly." His words said one thing, but his eyes said something else entirely. "She is not my equal, and she is certainly not my friend. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I consider Cassandra to be the weakest of the Astro Rangers, and an unlikely choice for the uniform she wears."
She tried to step back and found herself pressed up against the bed. "Why?" she whispered, dismayed by her own reaction. It was horrible to hear him say those things, no matter how little she believed them.
"I love you with all my heart," he confessed, not taking his eyes from hers. His expression was anguished, and she knew suddenly that he didn't like what he'd said any more than she liked hearing it. "The only way to pretend otherwise is to treat you as beneath my regard."
"Oh," she said softly. "Then..." She tried not to flinch at the idea of hurting him like that in return. "Do I--?"
He nodded wordlessly.
"But I can't do that to you," she protested. "I can't... Saryn, you're my husband!"
"I am not," he said harshly. "Here I am nothing to you, and you would do well to remember it. I will not subject Cassandra to scrutiny simply to spare your feelings. You are not bound by the agreement we made, but do not expect me to be the person you know."
"What agreement?" She cast back desperately, trying to remember if he had said anything definitive about "Cassandra's" feelings for him. If he ignored her in public, what were they doing making agreements in private? What was TJ to her? Or Jenna to him, for that matter?
He was already backing away, eyes hidden in the shadows cast by low-level lighting. She could detect no emotion in his voice as he answered, "I'm relieved that you seem to be recovering, Cassandra. I hope you are comfortable."
He was gone before she could call him back.
***
The door had the Astro Rangers' logo on it, hand-painted and unofficial as it might have been, and that had caught his attention long enough to make him curious. It sat unobtrusively off to one side, as unremarkable as the other storage closets and maintenance outlets built into the bay. But none of the others sat slightly ajar as this one did, as though it hadn't been closed properly the last time it was used.
TJ put his hand into the crack and pushed experimentally, intending just to take a peek inside before shutting the door the rest of the way. It didn't open, however, and the chime of an electronic lock surprised him. The keypad next to the door was requesting his authorization.
Since when did he need authorization to get into a supply closet?
At something of a loss, TJ held up his morpher and let the keypad scan it. It blipped immediately, and the door slid open. The room gave the impression of being larger than he had expected, but since the lights didn't come up automatically he couldn't be sure. He fumbled for a similar keypad on the other side of the wall, but found none.
"Lights?" They must have been voice activated, for the command worked. Peripheral illumination lit the entire room, casting a scene he hadn't expected into colorful relief. For a moment he just stood there, staring, until it occurred to him to call the others over.
Carlos peered over his shoulder, then moved past him into the room with an appreciative whistle. "They sure know how to hide their rec rooms around here."
"Wow," Ashley said, following him through the doorway. "We should have had one of these on our Mega V base."
TJ stepped aside to let Andros and Zhane by, then, as an afterthought, closed the door behind them. "I can count the number of hours we spent in the Mega V base, outside our zords, on one hand," he pointed out. "What did we need a lounge for?"
In fact, he suspected the room was less of a lounge than it was a hiding place. He had seen the planet, at least from the air, and he had seen the way the other fighters responded to them. He was willing to bet that no matter how bad the publicity and the pressure was surrounding Rangers in their own universe, it was nothing compared to what their counterparts were facing in the midst of intergalactic war.
"I need a lounge," Ashley announced, throwing herself down on one of the couches. "Especially if we're going to do that kind of patrol every day. I thought it was just guard duty--I wasn't expecting to fight!"
Andros and Zhane were silent, but he caught them exchanging significant looks. He wondered suddenly if this was more familiar to them than to any of the rest of them. He couldn't even imagine two eleven-year-olds trying to save an entire planet. Trying, and succeeding for years... Sometimes he forgot how lucky he was to live on Earth.
"I wonder how many patrol rotations there are," Carlos mused aloud. "Do they ever get a day off? How many other Rangers are there? There must be more than just us and the Eltarans, unless they have patrols that aren't led by Ranger teams."
TJ folded his arms, watching Carlos prowl the room. There was more than enough furniture for the five of them, from sofas to a pair of folding chairs set up by a small wooden table. Most of it looked secondhand, lending a distinctly comfortable feel to the room. There was even a sink tucked into the far corner, with a door beside it, and TJ wondered how they had gotten plumbing into this particular part of their zord bay.
"They must," Andros said at last, speaking for the first time. "No matter how many Ranger refugees they have, their defense can't depend on us or it's vulnerable."
"They may not have a choice," Zhane remarked, studying the opposite wall. "Our defense is autonomous, and we have the fighters and the training to keep it that way. They probably don't have either."
Andros didn't answer, but Ashley jumped in with her own questions. "What do you mean, 'Ranger refugees'? You think there are more Rangers than just us and the Eltarans? Why is the Astro team here, anyway? That doesn't make any sense to me."
Andros and Zhane looked at each other again. "We wouldn't have left KO-35 if there was anything left to defend," Andros said soberly. "And honestly, you guys wouldn't have left Earth defenseless in the middle of a war either. If we're all here, then you can bet we're not the only ones."
This time, no one said a word. The silence was conspicuous and unavoidable as the horrifying implications began to sink in. It didn't feel real, but it was, and the knowledge was overwhelming enough without having to live it.
TJ's communicator chimed, and he actually looked down at it in surprise before activating it. He and the other Earth Rangers weren't really in the habit of using them--they were too noticeable, and it was just as easy to pick up the phone. He had started to wear his again, though, and apparently it was set to the same frequency as the astromorphers in this dimension.
"This is TJ," he told his communicator.
"It's Jenkarta," a voice answered. "Is Carlos with you?"
"Yes," TJ said carefully, glancing over at Carlos. "Are you looking for him?"
"Not as such," Jenkarata replied. "His wife knows who you are, but she wants to talk to him anyway. Are you still in the zord bay?"
"Well... sort of," TJ managed, not sure what to think of that. His mind was torn between focusing on Carlos' "wife", and trying to figure out exactly what this person was telling him.
"When you say she knows who we are, what do you mean? And..." He grinned ruefully, catching Carlos' shocked expression. "No offense, but who are you?"
"I'm Jenkarta," the voice repeated, as though he simply hadn't heard the first time. "The Red Eltaran Ranger. And JT told her about the transition before he told us, so she's pretty well-informed. She's on her way down to you now."
"Right," TJ said, bemused. He lowered his communicator in time to meet Carlos' annoyed gaze. "What?"
"Couldn't you have asked who 'she' is?" Carlos demanded. "Someone who thinks she's married to me is about to show up at the door! It would have been nice to have a little warning!"
TJ had to admit he had a point. But he couldn't change it now, so instead he offered, "At least you know it isn't Ashley."
"Ha ha," Ashley retorted, from her sprawl on the couch. "Very funny. Could we go back to the part where Earth is gone and we're all stuck here on Eltare? How did that happen? And who are we fighting, exactly?"
"Dark Spectre?" Though his tone made it a question, it was clear that Zhane was offering the name as obvious fact, not a random guess.
Ashley made a face at him too. "I know that," she informed him. "But we didn't run into him on patrol. So who was out there? Who sent the velocifighters? Who's in charge of the Dark Fortress? Because I don't see Kerone around anywhere, and if Astronema's as powerful here as she was in our dimension..."
"We might be able to convince her to switch sides!" Andros took a seat on the arm of Ashley's couch, looking around as though Astronema might appear among them at any moment. "The Rangers here must keep track of as many major villains as they can get information on. We should be able to find out something about her from the security network--or maybe KERI can tell us, when we get back to the Megaship."
"Yeah," TJ interjected, as that comment reminded him. "Who's KERI, anyway? Isn't she the AI from the Delta Megaship? What's she doing with DECA's job?"
"Since when does DECA get days off?" Carlos put in, from the armchair he'd taken over minutes before. "Or was she just being sarcastic?"
Andros frowned, and his gaze darted back to Zhane's. "In times of siege," he said slowly, "AIs sometimes share duties. It keeps them from burning out under the constant strain.
"Or at least," the Red Ranger added, looking a little uncertain, "that's the theory. KO-35 never had the resources to put it into practice."
"They're computers," Carlos said, as though someone might have missed that fact. "How can they burn out? They're built to do what they do."
"And you're 'built' to stay alive," Zhane pointed out. "But when you're stressed, say by a giant war or two, it gets harder. Just because she's a computer doesn't mean she's all-powerful."
"DECA might disagree," TJ muttered. As he had hoped, the remark prompted a smile from Andros and a laugh from Ashley. Carlos didn't look convinced, but Zhane didn't seem inclined to try and persuade him further.
"So what do we do now?" Ashley asked a moment later. "I don't have anything against KERI or Eltare or anyone here, but I'd like to go home eventually."
"You're not the only one," Andros said emphatically. "I don't want to think about what KO-35 is going through with three of its Rangers missing."
"It didn't actually lose anyone," Zhane reminded him. "When we came here, they went to our dimension. The team still exists, it's just... different."
"Poor Kerone!" Ashley said suddenly. "Cassie and I were with her when we got yanked here. She must be totally confused by now."
"I hope they didn't recognize her." Carlos' words were more than a little alarming, given the level of tolerance someone from this dimension could be expected to display toward an ex-villain. That was to say, none. "I guess she's fine to defend herself, either way."
"I wonder what TJ thought when he showed up on Earth in the middle of my--our family," TJ corrected. "Bet that was kind of a shock."
"I'll be lucky not to get myself killed," Carlos predicted. It was disconcerting to hear him refer to his counterpart in the first person, but then, it had been equally awkward for TJ to call his by his own name. Regular grammar just wasn't up to this kind of thing.
"Cetaci will probably shoot me on sight for acting strangely," the Black Ranger continued. "She's just been waiting for the opportunity. And Delphinius is just as touchy lately. I wish they'd get over their issues already and leave the rest of us alone."
"At least we're all together," Ashley murmured.
"Plus we have JT," Andros added, obviously following her thoughts better than TJ. "It's not going to be easy for them to even figure out what happened."
"Justin will be able to explain," Ashley reminded him. Then she paused. "He will, won't he? He didn't have anything to do with it this time..."
"They'll have to track him down first," Carlos pointed out. "No one's going to know who I'm talking about if I start asking where 'JT' is. And that's only if I don't assume that suddenly being surrounded by aliens means I've been captured."
Andros and Zhane were giving each other that look again. "I hadn't thought about how they'd react to the Aquitians," Zhane said. His tone was loud enough to include everyone, but he was clearly addressing Andros. "Or Kerone. Maybe it's a good thing we were alone in the zord bay."
Andros nodded thoughtfully, but TJ saw Ashley look away. It wouldn't have been so obvious if she hadn't been watching them just as closely as TJ was while Zhane spoke. He frowned, remembering how strained things had been between Andros and the others three months ago. It seemed like they should have had plenty of time to work things out, but maybe not.
"I guess we can't blame them," Carlos said grudgingly. "They don't exactly have it easy here. And we'll probably screw things up for them just as much as they will for us."
"I don't know about that," TJ countered, still trying to picture his counterpart in Sanborn. "At least everyone here knows that we're not who they think we are."
There was a knock on the door, and Carlos straightened abruptly. "Easy for you to say," he muttered, and TJ saw Ashley shoot him a sympathetic look. Zhane reached out to hit the keypad, but the door slid open before he could get to it.
"Hi," Karen greeted them, a little awkwardly. She hesitated in the doorway, glancing around at them all before adding, "I'm Karen Vargas. Sorry to intrude, but I thought maybe you could use someone other than JT to answer questions."
TJ stared at her in surprise. Her hair was longer, pulled back into a ponytail that she had never bothered with on Earth. Her shirt bore the Astro Ranger logo, and it was darker than anything she'd been wearing lately. Otherwise, though, she was the same teammate he had left in Angel Grove not two days ago.
Carlos was already on his feet, clearly trying to cover his own shock. "I'm Carlos," he said, echoing her introduction. "I guess you knew that, but..." He grinned disarmingly. "It seems like the right thing to say."
Karen's face lit with an answering smile. "It does, doesn't it? I mean, you look like my husband, but I've never met you before in my life. It's weird."
"You're telling me," Carlos agreed ruefully. "You're a Ranger in our dimension, you know. For Earth. It's funny seeing you in black again."
"Oh, please!" She slapped her hand over her eyes and peeked out at him between her fingers. "Tell me I'm not pink!"
Carlos chuckled, and TJ found himself relaxing a little. She was just as outspoken in this dimension, it seemed. At least it would be hard to offend her, and they could probably count on her to tell them the unvarnished truth. He wondered, fleetingly, what had happened to Aura and her teammates. Was Aquitar still holding out, or were they here on Eltare too?
"You're the Yellow Ranger," Carlos was saying, motioning for Karen to take his chair. "And watch what you say: Ash is right there."
Karen gave her a horrified look, and she made such a point of not saying anything that it only made her feelings more obvious. Ashley actually giggled at her expression. "Now I know where my color stands," she said, directing the comment in Andros' direction.
He chuckled, sliding off the arm of the couch to sit beside her. "Everyone knows yellow is the best," he told her. "She's probably just jealous."
Belatedly, it occurred to TJ that Andros wasn't wearing red. He had noticed it before, but his consciousness had relegated the observation to the back of his mind. Now it brought it out into the light, holding it up for his inspection, and began speculating wildly.
Zhane shifted as Karen started to retort, catching TJ's attention with his expression. He was studiously intent on Karen, and then Carlos when he tried, laughingly, to placate her. Zhane's position seemed wrong too, leaning back against the wall by the door, but TJ couldn't put his finger on why.
"So what you're saying is that there's only one color you would have been happy with," Carlos teased, leaning against the back of the chair as Karen settled herself in it.
"Is it too much to ask you to share?" she countered, tilting her head back to look up at him. "You always were selfish. Like there isn't enough black to go around!"
"And you seem to have found most of it," Carlos remarked, picking at the sleeve of her shirt affectionately. "Nice design. Where do I get one?"
Karen laughed delightedly. "This is yours! I thought you were never going to stop grumbling the first time I took it..." She trailed off, her smile fading. "I've been wearing it since you've been gone. I figured you'd be back today, so." She stopped abruptly, shrugging.
Carlos' hand settled on her shoulder protectively. "He's with people that will take care of him," he told Karen quietly. "I promise you that. He's probably safer than any of us, if it comes to that."
She reached up to squeeze his hand, giving him a distracted smile. "Thanks. That does make me feel better. Even if I'm not sure that 'safer than us' is saying much," she added wryly.
"How long have you been at war?" Ashley wanted to know. "Eltare was conquered two years ago in our dimension, but--"
"The Border was attacked years before that," Andros interrupted, looking at Karen questioningly.
"Five years since the Border fell," she answered. "KO-35, Elisia, Aron, Calyjit... They were the first, and for a while they were the last. When they all went at once, reinforcements swarmed into this part of space, and we held the new border for three years after that. We thought we'd reached a kind of stalemate, a new equilibrium.
"It turned out that Dark Spectre was just getting new forces into position," she said with a sigh. "He attacked Earth and Eltare at the same time. His forces had encircled half the League, and the Astro Rangers had to choose. They could fight and die on Earth, or fall back to Eltare where they had a chance of making a difference."
"We ran?" Carlos sounded incredulous.
Karen gave him a sharp look. "Your death wouldn't have changed anything on Earth. At least the Eltaran systems are defensible enough that we stand a chance here."
"Who says we would have died?" Carlos demanded. Privately TJ agreed, but he had a sinking suspicion that he wasn't going to like the answer. "It's looked bad before, but we stuck it out."
"KO-35 and Elisia lost more than half their Rangers trying to defend their homes," Karen told him. "Aron's entire team is gone, and in the end, what did it get them? Last we knew, troops on Aron outnumbered civilians three to one. And KO-35 is a slave world."
There was silence for a moment, and then Ashley asked in a small voice, "What about Elisia?"
"Elisia's free by default," Karen said with a shrug. "Its entire ecosystem collapsed under the assault. No one could live there now if they tried. Anyone that survived either fled or was taken prisoner by Dark Spectre."
Ashley didn't have any answer to that. No one did.
"You said Eltare was conquered?" Karen asked, breaking the silence herself. "How are you all still here? Isn't Justin on Eltare? JT said the location was important for their transition work."
"The occupation was overthrown last fall," TJ told her, when no one else seemed inclined to answer. "After Dark Spectre was destroyed, his troops were easier to push back. Eltare is still in the process of rebuilding, but it's been free for almost a year."
"Dark Spectre was destroyed?" Karen looked wistful. "That must have been a party and a half. You guys must have had something to do with that?"
TJ caught Carlos' eye. "Us and some others," he agreed. "Three Ranger teams and an awful lot of fighters. We had inside information on Dark Spectre's battle plans."
"We can only wish," she said enviously, giving him a half-smile. "Is the League at peace, then?"
"Mostly." TJ glanced from Andros to Zhane, but neither seemed inclined to add anything. "There's been some trouble out on the Border lately, but otherwise it's pretty quiet."
"Must be nice," Karen sighed, leaning back in her chair. She was quiet for a moment, apparently contemplating the idea, but she shook off her reverie before long. "You must be horrified to find yourselves here," she added, a rueful grin touching her face as she glanced around at them.
"Maybe not horrified," Zhane objected, speaking for the first time since Karen had arrived. "Startled, definitely," he allowed diplomatically, "but not horrified."
"I'm horrified," Karen said bluntly. "Some days I wake up and I wonder how all this happened. One minute you're just this kid in high school and the next you're a refugee from a planet that doesn't exist anymore. It's depressing, but there it is."
"Did a lot of people get off of Earth before Dark Spectre invaded?" Ashley asked. She looked torn between wanting to know and not wanting to hear it.
"No," Karen said. And that was all she said, changing the subject with no attempt at subtlety. "So JT said you might be here for a while. Do you think you're up for it? We'd give you time if we could, to let you try to adjust or something, but if the Astro Rangers aren't back on patrol tomorrow we're all screwed.
"We really need you," she added, in case it wasn't clear. "There are multiple Ranger teams defending all of the Free Systems, but even so we're barely holding our own. If we lose even one person, much less an entire team, our defense will buckle."
Andros was staring at her, and TJ suspected his expression was no different. "How can you live like that?" the Red Ranger blurted out. "Even aside from the mental and physical strain, you can't fight a war without losing people."
"We do what we have to," she said simply. "And we have a lot of new Rangers lately. We try to spread them out--experienced with not--but when that's impossible we have to trust the Power to protect them.
"At this point," she added, when Andros didn't answer, "anyone who takes a morpher knows their odds are no better or worse than anyone else's."
"That could be a problem," Zhane said suddenly. "The morphers, I mean. We're not all Astro Rangers anymore. What happens when we try to morph?"
"What do you mean, you're not Astro Rangers?" Karen looked startled. "I thought JT said--"
She broke off as she saw Andros reaching into the pocket of his tunic. He pulled out a crimson digimorpher, which surprised TJ more than Karen. She just frowned, giving him an odd look. "You and Zhane have the same morpher?"
He nodded to Ashley, who held up a gold digimorpher. "We all do," she said, looking from Andros to TJ and Carlos before glancing back at Karen. "The whole Kerovan team, anyway. TJ and Carlos are still Astro Rangers, but they defend Earth now."
"The Kerovan team?" Karen repeated. "How did you--never mind," she said quickly. "Maybe you should try morphing before I jump to any more conclusions."
Andros and Ashley exchanged glances, and out of the corner of his eye TJ saw Zhane fold his arms. He clearly had no intention of taking her suggestion, but that didn't stop his teammates. They morphed simultaneously, flashes of crimson and gold overwhelming them momentarily.
As the light faded, TJ thought he saw their new uniforms flicker briefly, a diagonal chest stripe offset by something that looked like a pawprint. As quickly as that they were gone, replaced by the Astro Ranger uniforms that he and Karen had been wearing for months now, and he raised an eyebrow. Did that mean that he would morph as the Blue Ranger again?
"I guess that answers that question," Karen said, frowning a little. "You take the Power that exists for you in this dimension, not the one that chose you in yours. JT would probably love that."
Andros' uniform vanished, followed by Ashley's a moment later. The Red Ranger was looking at Zhane, though he averted his gaze as soon as TJ noticed. Zhane was staring off into the distance again, apparently oblivious, but his posture gave the lie to his expression. If he were anyone else, TJ would have said he was sulking... but he had never known Zhane to sulk.
"I guess we didn't need to be so careful when we went out on patrol," Ashley said, ignoring both of them. "JT told us to morph, but we didn't dare. It's good to know we can, even if it's not quite what we're used to."
"You went on patrol without being morphed?" Karen looked impressed. "That must have been rough. Were you covering for the Eltarans?" At Ashley's nod, she continued, "I thought so. JT kidnapped them all right after he talked to me, so at least you won't have to worry about them finding out. I wonder if he's going to tell the others, too."
"What others?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow. "How many Rangers do you have here, anyway?"
"Nineteen," she replied immediately. "You guys, plus JT, the Eltarans, five from Calijyt, and two more from Elisia. Other teams are organized throughout the Free Systems, but you guys are the most experienced in this part of space, so you're based here on Eltare."
TJ felt a chill at the thought that so many Rangers were only barely holding League territory against Dark Spectre. Was there still hope, or were they fighting a losing battle? Would they be able to see it objectively either way?
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Andros inquired. "Keeping us a secret, I mean. What's the point? It's not like we'd fool anyone who looked at us twice anyway."
"We'll probably have to tell the others here on Eltare," Karen admitted. "You spend enough time with them that you're right, there's no way you could keep it from them. But I don't think it's smart to announce to the rest of the world that we've misplaced six of our Rangers. It's demoralizing, for one thing, and it's a weakness that Dark Spectre could exploit."
"I guess that makes sense," Ashley said, looking a little apprehensive. "But... we're going to need more than a crash course just to find our way around, let alone make it look natural."
"Yeah." Karen looked thoughtful. "You're right, but I don't think it's impossible. With any luck, JT will work his usual magic and you'll get yourselves switched back quickly. Until then, though, I really think you should keep this quiet."
She was waiting for their agreement, TJ realized suddenly. "You're probably right," he offered, glancing around at the others. "You know how things work around here a lot better than we do."
Andros nodded slowly. "I agree."
"So do I," Ashley said, sighing. "It's the least we can do."
"Whatever you say," Carlos put in with a shrug. TJ couldn't tell if he meant Karen, or the group as a whole.
Karen glanced over at Zhane, and the rest of them followed her gaze. He shrugged, but it looked more forced on him than it had on Carlos. "Sure," he said at last. His reluctance was obvious.
"I'll give you a tour of the building, if you want," Karen offered. "We can get you extra communicators in Co-Op, and we'll stop by the medical bay to check on Cassandra." She paused, then asked straight out, "How pregnant is she? JT said she was expecting, but he didn't say how noticeable it was."
"It's noticeable," Ashley said fervently. "Very noticeable."
TJ shook his head, catching Carlos' eye briefly. The Black Ranger frowned too, and that was all the confirmation he needed. "It's not that bad," TJ corrected. "It depends on what she wears, really. She can cover it up pretty well."
Ashley didn't look convinced, but Karen nodded. "Okay. Hopefully Linnse will clear her to leave by the time we get there, and you can take her home. There are spare IDs in the drawer by the sink... Carlos, can you get those? Your communicators will get you around this building, but outside you'll need transit passes and apartment keys."
"Spare IDs?" Zhane echoed skeptically. "That sounds dangerous."
Karen raised an eyebrow. "It's more dangerous to go without while you wait for a reissue, I can tell you that. And I'm sure you can imagine how often Ranger IDs get destroyed. Besides," she said with a grin, "it's pretty hard to impersonate a Ranger, stolen ID or not."
Carlos was staring at one of the plastic chits he had retrieved from the drawer in question. "Hey," he exclaimed. "I didn't cut my hair!"
Karen laughed. "It looks nice short, too," she said, in a tone of voice that said it didn't really. He gave her a look, and she giggled again. "Well, I tried. It'll grow out; don't worry."
"I like it short!" He passed Ashley her ID after only a brief inspection. "Maybe you should cut your hair too, Ash."
She made a face at him, but she squinted at her picture obediently. "I can't tell," she admitted after a minute. "Karen?"
"Your hair is longer than hers," Karen agreed. "And a little lighter. If you put it up, though, I bet no one would notice."
"Andros," Carlos added, offering Andros his ID without a second glance. "You're boring," he informed the Red Ranger. "And Zhane, here's yours."
"He's consistent," Ashley corrected, still studying her card.
"Same thing," Carlos said, rolling his eyes. "TJ?"
The plastic card that Carlos handed him had a holographic inset in the upper left corner, and TJ studied it as carefully as the others had. It was his own face--a little grimmer, maybe, but no less recognizable for that. The inset had a blue border, which he assumed corresponded to his Ranger color, and the rest of the card was covered with code he didn't understand.
"What does the rest of this stuff mean?" Carlos wanted to know, dangling his ID in Karen's face. "You don't want yours, right? Want me to leave it in the drawer?"
"Yeah, thanks," Karen said absently. She was digging through her own pockets, and a moment later she came out with an identical plastic card. Carlos had kept Cassie's, and he returned Karen's backup to the drawer.
Interesting that she seemed to be the only one outside of the team that had a Ranger ID, TJ noted. He wondered if that was significant. How many people *had* been evacuated from Earth, anyway?
"Your name and your clearance level are under your hologram," Karen was saying. "Level one is as high as it goes. You're all level one," she added, looking up to point to the inscription on Carlos' ID.
"Most of the stuff on the right is medical information, race stuff and vitals standards," she continued. "It's as much for identification as it is for your health, but it comes in handy more often than I expected. The name on the bottom right is the Eltaran equivalent of next of kin, with their contact number underneath it."
TJ raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The name in the bottom right corner of his card was "Cassandra Chan".
"You mentioned apartment keys," Carlos said. "Where do we live, exactly? And how do we get there?"
"We live all over the planet." Karen was so matter-of-fact that it took a moment for that sentence to sink in. "It's better not to gather all the Rangers in one place, for obvious reasons. Andros and Zhane actually live in the city, since they've been here since the beginning. You and I live clear across the world."
"That's quite a commute," Carlos replied, straight-faced.
Karen cracked a smile, toying with her ID casually. "It's less than a second by teleportal. There isn't one in here because you wanted a refuge, but there's one upstairs, just outside of Co-Op. Ready for that tour now?"
"We'd better get Cassie first," TJ interjected. "If she's up to it, she's going to need to see this too."
"Right," Karen agreed, getting to her feet. "We'll hit the medical bay first, then."
Carlos shook his head, gesturing gallantly toward the door. "After you."
***
It wasn't his brightest idea ever. He knew that. Lurking about the corridors of a Ranger-controlled building was bad enough without deliberately doing it in the presence of others. Not only was it unproductive, it was more than vaguely suspicious if he happened to get caught.
What it came down to was the fact that he didn't really care. Or rather, he did care, but not enough to stop. Saryn had been aware for several months now that his behavior was becoming dangerously obsessive, but a convenient side effect of obsession was that it overwhelmed all rational concerns.
She emerged from the medical bay on TJ's arm, and the old familiar helplessness washed over him. Just looking at her was frustrating, unnerving, and most of all... indefinable. She was, quite literally, the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. But what did her appearance have to do with anything? He had appreciated beauty before without being plagued by this inexplicable--yearning.
That was the only word for it, truly. He yearned for her. He yearned to be in her presence as he had never longed for anything before. Yet he could put no name to the feelings that overwhelmed him when he actually found himself there. Some of the friction between them was real, after all--it was embarrassing to be so incapacitated by another, and his inability to overcome it frustrated him no end.
She was saying something to one of her teammates, and he crept a little closer in an effort to overhear. She wore a blue jacket several sizes too large for her, clearly on loan from the man she was leaning on. The jacket disguised her form so thoroughly that she might have been the same person JT had tried to bring through transition this morning, and Saryn was suspicious enough to wonder if that had been the intent.
"We'll go to Co-Op next." Karen's words drifted down the corridor toward him, barely audible over the distance and half-obscured by the hum of the ventilation systems. "You'll probably be there more than anywhere except your zords, so you'd better know how to find it without asking."
"Tell me again how you expect us to fool anyone?" Cassandra asked, confirming his suspicion about her jacket. "We're complete strangers here. We don't even know who we are, let alone anyone else."
The answer was lost as Karen turned away, leading them down the corridor in the opposite direction. He followed silently, his movement minimal and unobtrusive as he kept her always in his sight. He knew, intellectually, that this was not *his* Cassandra, but his heart could not resist the siren call of possibility that she represented.
The Silver Ranger glanced back once, but Saryn made it as far as the lift without running into serious trouble. He watched them disappear through the doors one by one, the others waiting solicitously for Cassandra and TJ to precede them before boarding. Hidden by stillness and shadow, he had every intention of remaining so until the doors closed behind them.
A voice at his shoulder came very close to making him break that resolution, but he managed not to flinch at Linnse's whispered inquiry. "How's the nightly stalking?"
He didn't answer until the lift doors were firmly shut. "Someone has to keep an eye on them," he replied, not moving. "All we know about their background and intentions is what they have told us themselves."
"Since when is the word of a Ranger not good enough?" Linnse countered, bracing her arm against the wall beside him as she continued to peer over his shoulder. "Or do you not believe her when she says they're yours?"
He did tense at that, fist clenching involuntarily. "Keep yourself out of my affairs, Linnse."
"I would, if you'd stop having them in the medical bay," she retorted. Then she seemed to reconsider. "Well, maybe I wouldn't. But at least it would be harder to keep up."
He walked away without another word.
"You're going to blow it, you know."
Saryn stopped abruptly. Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep breath and let it out, very slowly. "What do you want, Linnse?"
"In the other dimension, I mean." She ignored the question as she had ignored all his carefully worded explanations in the past. He was good at making the untenable sound plausible, but Linnse refused to listen. "Her Saryn is going to give it away."
He turned his head, not quite looking at her. "She said she wasn't with the others. Cassandra can deal with it before anyone else gets involved."
He could see her shrug out of the corner of his eye. "If that's what you want to believe. Just don't expect them to come back not knowing."
"They're different people there," he said, wondering why he let her draw him into these arguments. Maybe he just needed *someone* to talk to, as dangerous as it was. "No one will suspect us."
"Different circumstances," Linnse corrected. "The same people. And if you're counting on your little hating game to protect you, let me give you some advice: take your trysts somewhere else. There are too many eyes in this building."
This time when he walked away she let him go.
fin