Part Six

"What is this...the FOURTH successful kidnapping Captain Mutiny's gotten away with?" Kai grumbled, his hands tightly fisted around a baseball.

"Unfortunately," Maya answered Kai glumly from her perch on the highest bunk in the guys' quarters. "Fifty people have been taken within the last three months."

"We should have been able to stop them," Mike insisted, staring at the table before him as the battle continuously replayed in his mind. "We've done it before; why should this be any different?"

Damon joined in on the conversation from where he sat before the computer database, searching for information on the newest captured citizens. "Deviot's bein' all weird now. He sends Nabotron to do his dirty work and then he goes into the main GSA building looking for whatever; and we ALL know there's only one thing that monster's after..."

"The Galaxy Book," they all voiced in unison morosely.

"I doubt Deviot is trying to get his hands on that book to get out of the Lost Galaxy," Kai remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Mike laughed sardonically. "He just wants to see what other powers the Galaxy Book can give him," he paused somewhat absently. "We need a plan to free all those slaves and then we've gotta figure out how to get out of here with that book."

Noticing that one person had failed to speak up during their discussion, Maya jumped down from her seat and chuckled, waving her hand in front of Leo's dazed face. "You're more of a leader than Leo is today, Mike," she teased, snapping Leo out of his daydreaming.

"Hmm?" he replied in surprise, jumping a bit on the low bunk he sat on.

The other four Galaxy Rangers laughed at the Red Ranger's expression. "A little preoccupied are we, little brother?" Mike smirked, throwing the football that was on the coffee table in Leo's direction.

"Only a little," he came back, catching the football with his quick reflexes. "I think I'm going to propose to Karone tonight."

Four pairs of eyes widened, four jaws dropped and four gasps were emitted through the quarters.

"No need to be surprised," Leo cautioned them wryly, eyeing his friends as they instantly recomposed themselves.

Damon began to speak. "It's just that..."

Leo cut him off abruptly. "What? That I'm too young? I just turned twenty and Karone's twenty-four! And if it's about our age difference then..."

"LEO!" Kai shouted, shutting his young friend up as well as calming him down. They could all hear the rambling nervousness in Leo's voice about his decision. "It's not anything like that. It's just that all of us were SURE that Karone would be the one to propose first!"

Leo appeared completely taken aback.

"Except for me, of course," Maya chimed in nicely, glancing around the room at her three other men. "What did we decide on again? If I won..."

"...we would clean your quarters for a month," Kai, Damon and Mike groaned altogether, bringing a grin and wink to Maya's face.

"You guys bet on us?" Leo regained his voice, still somewhat unbelieving. Then again, why shouldn't he have believed them? He would have done the same thing.

Damon grinned knowingly as he came over from the computer database to where the other four were sitting. "We sure did," he confirmed, resisting the slight urge to burst out laughing. "We believe in you two...someone HAD to relent eventually!"

A blush rose in Leo's cheeks and he was suddenly totally entranced by the lacings on the football in his hands. He then glanced up at his friends again, a thought crossing his mind. "Did you guys bet on whether she would say yes or not?"

"What's there TO bet on, Leo?" Mike relayed to his brother in assurance. "It'll be a cold day in July when Karone rejects YOUR proposal."

The Red Ranger couldn't help but grin at the confidence his brother offered him. All he could really hope for was that Mike was right.

"Back to the topic at hand," Leo urged, removing the attention from him back to their main focus: saving those slaves. "We need to free those slaves."

Everyone promptly agreed, their thoughts turning to coming up with some sort of plan. "What we need is a strategy," Kai declared, using common sense and thinking out loud for all of their benefit. He placed the baseball aside and began tinkering with the three-dimensional chess set towering on the table. "We need to find a way to get into the camp without anyone noticing."

Mike leaned back, musing over the Blue Ranger's words. As the silence befell them all, the plan jumped into Mike's head and he blurted it out anxiously. "I've got it," he informed, four pairs of eyes falling on him. "I'll let them capture me; they don't know who I am. They'll take me straight to the slave camp. Once I'm there, I can help them escape and I'll call you guys for back-up."

"What if they realize that you're who you are?" Maya questioned, still skeptical of the idea but not about to object to it either.

"I don't think they'll realize that," Mike assured, taking one of the chess pieces, a pawn, and rolling it over in his fingers. "Besides, I'm gonna give up without a fight if they do..."

*****

"Thanks Alpha!" Karone chirped as she exited the Medical Bay and slowly wobbled down the corridor.

Walking towards the docking port exit so that she could return to Terra Venture, she hummed delightfully to herself. Everything seemed to be going her way now: she was healthy, in love and NOT being hounded by microphones anymore; at least not as much. If her life wasn't bliss, then she didn't know what was.

"I thought I'd find you here," a voice crept up from behind her.

The blonde grinned when she felt a pair of arms gently wrap around her abdomen and someone's warm breath at her ear. "I heard there was another kidnapping early this morning; how many did Mutiny get?" she queried. Karone may not have been an active ranger at the time, but she certainly wanted to be kept up to date on things. Besides, if she got down to business then, the pleasure part would come faster and she was definitely all for that.

"Another ten people," Leo groaned, his breath caressing her neck. "But that's not what I came here to talk to you about. That's actually the last thing I wanted to talk about."

"Really now, you can't just forget you're the leader of the Galaxy Rangers when I'm around. I won't let you," she hassled him playfully, feigning an innocence she most certainly couldn't possess even if she wanted to. "So why ARE you here, Mr. Corbett?"

They continued to stomp down the corridor together, Leo laying delicate kisses down her exposed collarbone causing Karone to moan out softly. "I wanted to talk to you about tonight," he answered seriously, lifting his lips away from her skin. "Care to join me for dinner tonight?"

"Who's cooking?" she demanded straight out.

Leo stopped in his tracks, Karone stopping along with him. "You have no faith in my cooking?" he gasped in mock hurt.

Karone laughed at his remark, patting his hand comfortingly. "Leo, it has been made WELL known that you can't even boil water," she teased sarcastically.

"Could you be any nicer?"

"If I wanted to, yes," she retorted, a smirk growing on her mouth. "But yes, I will join you tonight...so long as the cooking doesn't threaten my health."

He tickled her side, easily coaxing her to burst into a fit of unannounced laughter. "How does Kai's cooking sound?"

A glint of mischief entered Karone's blue eyes as she gradually ceased her laughing. "Sounds better than YOUR cooking!"

*****

"This doesn't feel right," Leo sighed warily, standing before the full-length mirror in the girls' quarters. He had managed to convince Maya to loan him the quarters, after reminding her of their plan, which was in the process of taking place. He also got her to get Karone as far away from the quarters as possible until the dinner.

Kai snickered lightly as he stirred the boiling spaghetti on the stove in the kitchen. "What? You've never worn a polo shirt before?" The chef poked fun at his friend while he tugged on the collar on his black polo shirt.

"If I'd never worn a polo shirt before, why would I have one in my closet?" Leo returned, rolling his eyes at Kai. "That's not what I'm talking about anyway. I don't like the idea of Mike going by himself to the slave camps."

Nodding his head, Kai understood the Red Ranger's hesitance at his brother's leaving. After all, this was the same Mike who fell into a crevice when they received their powers, leaving Leo alone on Terra Venture with strangers. "We really don't have too many choices. It's the only half-decent plan we've got at the moment." He lingered in his talking, staring down into his pot of spaghetti then glancing up at Leo, who was still fidgeting with his collar. "You didn't tell Karone about the plan, did you?"

"Of course I did."

Kai gave Leo a "I-know-how-you-think" glare, and Leo rethought his answer.

"Okay, okay, so I didn't tell her," he confessed sitting down at the kitchen counter. "I didn't think it was important."

"I doubt Karone will share your opinion."

Leo thought about his point before replying Kai. He was right; Leo knew that. Even though Karone wasn't an active ranger, she despised being left out. She didn't want to give off the impression of being incapable, nor did she want anyone to think that of her just because she was pregnant. "It's better off you doesn't know for now. It's bad enough Deviot chose to make a night attack, with Damon and Maya only fending him off."

Kai was about to speak up in agreement, when both his and Leo's morphers beeped. "Kai here," he responded to the call, setting his stirring spoon aside.

"Nabotron just took off with Mike in tow," Damon reported through the communicator. "Deviot wasn't around very long before he left; you might wanna check out our quarters now."

"On it. Kai out," he acknowledged, turning down the heat on the hot plates he was cooking on. "Let's go check it out." Kai nodded to Leo and the both headed out the front door towards their quarters.

Once they reached the door, Leo pressed on the keypad and allowed the door to slide open. Together they entered the room and weren't one bit startled when they received an eyeful of a mess. Furniture was thrown around haphazardly, their beds completely stripped and clothes littered the carpet, the closets and drawers ajar. "Just like we guessed," Leo softly grumbled pushing a knocked over kitchen stool aside.

"I doubt anything's missing," Kai chuckled, navigating through the turned over furniture and broken glass. "If Deviot found what he was looking for, I'm pretty sure there'd be a giant scorch mark in the middle of the room."

Leo let out a short laugh. "Good thing we took the Galaxy Book into the girls' quarters with us, huh?"

As they both worked together to right the sofa off of the floor, Kai grunted, "Sure is. Now all we've gotta do is figure out how to get out of the Lost Galaxy and we're all set!"

*****

Nearly an hour later, Leo escorted Karone to the quarters where they were to dine in luxury. "Leo, these are my quarters you know. I already know how to get here," she jibed at him amusingly as he pressed on the keypad. "You're not going to..." Karone cut herself off with a surprised gasp.

The doors had slid open and she was the gazing into the living room where the furniture had been pushed aside to allow room for an elegantly prepared table for two by candlelight. Soft music whispered in the background, which Karone distinctly recognized as country music; Leo's obsession. She was beyond impressed; she was deeply moved by her boyfriend's effort.

Leo nudged her ever so gently, urging her inside the room that she dared not to enter for fear of ruining it's perfect beauty. "Did I scare you?" he chuckled, just about to tell the computer to raise the lights.

"No," she finally breathed, still enamored by the difference in her quarters, "it's just so beautiful...perfect."

At Karone's approval, Leo literally heaved a sigh of relief. He had wanted everything to be perfect. She had to remember this night to come, assuming everything would come off without a hitch and she would be spending those years with him. "I'm glad you think so." Leo stepped out of the doorway, the doors shutting behind him. He came up next to her and took her hand into his own, leading her to the table.

"I feel like a bloated horse," Karone moaned as she slowly sat down with Leo helping her maneuver and find a comfortable position, using pillows.

"How would you know what bloated horse felt like?"

"I've been hanging around you for far too long."

Karone's playful retort got them both laughing. "Here, my dear." Leo picked up a rose he had set aside and eloquently handed it to Karone. "Note that I did not call you, "my horse"."

She smiled graciously up at him as he took to his seat opposite her. "I noticed." She winked in assurance.

*****

"Yummy," Karone giggled through mouthfuls of chocolate mousse cake. "This is heavenly."

"Any type of sweet thing is heavenly," Leo grinned back, taking a bite of the cake off of Karone's fork. "Just like you," he murmured softly, his nose pressing into her soft and sugary-sweet smelling hair.

The two had finished their dinner and deciding that the stiff chairs they were sitting in weren't as comfortable as a sofa could be, they took their dessert to the sofa in the corner of the room. Karone held the plate of cake before her, leaning on Leo who sat behind her, a blanket draping them both.

Karone smiled, flattered by his statement. Silently, she acknowledged his declaration with a nudge of her telepathy.

Leo felt her emotional nudge in his own mind, and also smiled happily. His own prodding thought popped into his mind about the small velvet box sitting patiently in his pocket. There was no perfect time that he could think to pop the question other than right at that instant.

Slipping his fingers into his pocket quietly, he came out successful with the jewelry box. He remembered when he had found the very ring, how grateful he was that there was no form of currency on Terra Venture. Synthetrons like the one on the Astro MegaShip made that possible, but for things like jewelry and luxuries, bartering techniques were used. Good thing the seller hadn't asked for too much. "Karone?" he gently called her, stopping in her in the middle of her feast.

"Yes?"

Taking in a deep breath, Leo began to speak. "You know I love you, right?"

She turned her head to look at him funnily. "Of course I know," she assured firmly.

"And you know I'd do anything for you and our babies, right?"

"Where are you going with this, Leo Corbett?" Karone now had set her fork down on her plate and was deeply interested in his words. Her body turned so that she was now perpendicular to him, almost so that their bodies formed a cross.

Leo hesitated, both scared and unsure of what he was doing before he instinctively revealed the small velvet box and popped it open in front of Karone's bright and surprised face. "Will you marry me?"

He watched her features in anxiousness, but was sourly disappointed when her surprised face became mournful. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, something very similar to a sob choking its way out of her throat. "You have no idea what you're doing, Leo..." She sighed deeply, running her hand through her flowing blonde hair.

His mouth hung slightly agape, staring at the woman in his lap. They had professed their love to each other and confided in one another months ago. They had created three new lives together, all of them swelling within her beautiful belly. Yet, there she was, nearly rejecting his offer of marriage to solidify the family and love that they already had. "I do have an idea, Karone," Leo protested in a hushed tone, hurt by what she had implied with her words. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and our children."

"No..." Karone lifted her head and gazed longingly into his eyes, hurt swimming within them. She knew what she had meant, but Leo didn't seem to grasp that just then. "You don't want that, Leo. You can't trust me...I might want to leave you for some adventure and fall in love with some other man and..."

He quickly subdued her voice, pressing his finger to her lips. "I trust you," he declared, caressing her neck with his hand. "I may not have in the beginning, but I do now. I trust you because I know you for you." Karone tried to whip her face away from his, but he denied her and made her face him once more. "You've changed, Karone. I've changed. We've changed each other for the better...I know you won't run away, I know you won't leave me because I can feel you." Leo demonstrated what he meant by slowly nudging her mind with his one of his strongest thoughts and emotions, a smile curving on his lips.

She gasped delightedly as she felt the emotion of pure love run rampant through her body, not her own, but Leo's. "You, you, you...can touch me!" she stuttered out, beyond amazed.

Leo nodded gingerly, placing a soft and warm kiss to her mouth. "Yes, I can."

"But how?" She was now grinning, trying to resist the deep urge she had to laugh out loud happily and triumphantly. Never had she before felt such a strong bond before to anybody; not Andros, not Ecliptor, not even Zhane. Karone had been able to use telepathy with each one of them at one time, but the connection was never so stable and solid. Leo didn't even have the ability of telepathy, nor did he have the mental training to perform it, yet he so easily relayed his unadulterated emotions to her in a fashion that overwhelmed her entirely. It had to mean something; Leo and her were destined, fated...whatever, but they fit one another perfectly. If anything, what he had done had washed away her doubts and fears. She knew this wasn't going to be a repeat of a painful past memory.

Leo studied her, her face a lit with a wonder - a true wonder - that contained real excitement and discovery. "I don't really know myself," he replied truthfully with a chuckle. "And I don't care either. I just like knowing I'm connected to you." He hugged her and brought her body to his, his chin set on the crown of her head.

Karone smiled softly to herself, feeling the rumble of their unborn children within her in the dim quietness. "Yes."

"Yes what?"

Leo was now looking down at her again, an idiotically happy grin on his face, as she answered, "Yes, I will marry you."

*****

"We really should look into getting our own quarters."

"I wonder where Maya slept for the night?"

"She didn't sleep in here, that's for sure."

THWAP!

"OUCH! Why'd you do that?"

"The pillow wanted to become friends with your face, that's why."

"Did your magic tell you this?"

Sheets rustle.

"Yes, it did. It said, "Karone, the pillow wishes to meet your new fiancé." After I heard that, I couldn't just deny the pillow's wishes, now could I?"

Silence.

"Leo...don't you dare start that. You know I'm sensitive there!"

Loud moan.

"Come on, Leo...what if the others suddenly walked in on us doing this?"

Sheets rustle again.

"You have a point there. It's almost seven in the morning. Maybe we should get up?"

"You get up first. My back hasn't felt this good in ages; I should sleep on the floor more often."

"Not without me, you don't..."

BEEP!

"Leo, your morpher-"

Moan.

"Ignore it. It's not important right now."

BEEP!

Loud groan.

BEEP!

Heavy breathing.

"Leo, just go answer it."

"I don't know where it is!"

"Just follow the sound."

BEEP!

BOOM!

"Crap!"

"Computer, lights." The lights within the quarters went on, dousing the darkness. Karone propped herself up on her elbows and looked at Leo. "What'd you run into?"

"One of the chairs," Leo grimaced, holding his left calf hiding underneath the bed sheet wrapped around his torso. The chair was lying on its side next to him. "I think I'll be alright once I find my morpher and yell at who's calling right now..."

BEEP!

Leo wandered over behind the sofa and found his morpher carelessly tossed on the floor. He swiftly picked it up and strapped it to his wrist once again. He activated his communicator and yelled, "Who the hell is this?"

"Shut up, Leo," the voice, which was Damon's, snapped. "We just figured out how to open the portal to get us out of the Lost Galaxy."

"What?!" Karone cried in surprise, staring at Leo.

"How?" Leo's voice was filled with amazement.

"While you and Karone were together, the three of us spent the night working with the Galaxy Book. We got the portal to open about an hour ago."

"Where is it?"

"If you look out the window and to the left, you should see it," Maya's voice explained.

Leo literally ran towards the full-length window on the opposite side of the quarters, and gazed outward. "Do you see it?" Karone asked eagerly from her spot on the floor still.

Before his eyes, was a swirling circular mass of colors nearly twice as big as Terra Venture itself seeming to be waiting for them to enter it. "How long will it stay open?" The question finally struck Leo to ask, as he remembered his brother and how Mike was still in Mutiny's slave camps where he had yet to call for their help.

"We don't know," Maya answered her friend's question, having taken over the explanations. "Kai's down at GSA Main Control and told us that they're starting to head towards the portal. It doesn't leave us a lot of time to go rescue Mike and the slaves."

"Damn," Leo cursed softly to himself, leaning against the window. He brought his lips up to his morpher once more and spoke. "We need to get a hold of Mike and find out the soonest time he can have those slaves ready to go. Then we'll work up from there with the plan."

"Alright," Maya agreed. "We're on the MegaShip right now, so you might want to come over here."

"I'll be there."

As the young leader finished his conversation with the Yellow Ranger, another pillow flying at top speeds marked him directly on the forehead causing him to fall back into the wall. "What is it with you and pillows this morning?" he grunted in bewilderment at his fiancée.

"A plan." Karone declared hotly, gradually rising from the floor with a blanket draped around her nude body. Her rather angry eyes met his and bore into him; Leo felt a flush of frustration sweep over him from her. "You had a plan, you enacted the plan from what I can tell...and you didn't tell me!"

"It wasn't important-"

"Mike is rescuing the slaves from Mutiny!" She cut him off and snapped, "That's pretty damn important!"

Leo's mouth hung open for an instant, trying to come up with a legitimate comeback to her argument. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you'd go all "gung-ho" and want to go down with Mike or something." The words flew fleetingly from his throat as he didn't pause to think about just what he was saying. "You don't seem to realize that you're eight months pregnant with OUR children, Karone! You can't just throw yourself into danger whenever you see fit! I'm all for undoing all the evil things you've done by doing good deeds, but putting your life on the line every chance you can get isn't the way to go about it!"

Karone marched over to where her soft pink camisole laid haphazardly on the floor and carefully picked it up, dropping her blanket to pull the piece of clothing over herself. Following, she grabbed the rest of her garments and put them on, one by one, in the tense silence.

He stood his ground, watching her as she slowly dressed herself and eventually faced him. Her face no longer held a fiery anger, but was replaced by a startling solemn look of distinguished calm. "I learned how to fight as Astronema in many ways." Karone lingered around the kitchen counter for a moment, and as Leo studied her from his place he was reminded of the stories she had told him of her past engagement to Zhane. She had had to decide what was best for Zhane, for his own sake. Suddenly, Leo was confronted by the same decision to make for her.

When his eyes caught upon her moving hands, easing the glimmering ring he had just presented to her the night before from her fingers, he ran over to her and ripped her hands away from one another; the ring remaining attached to her finger still. "Don't you dare," Leo swore lowly into her ear, his voice shaking with fear.

"It's not your decision to make," she spoke, her voice utterly hollow and devoid of emotion. "You can't make me marry you."

"I never said that."

"Then why are you stopping me?"

Leo's hands set against her arms and he leaned into her softly, his chest pressed into her back. His pursed lips were buried into her wispy blonde hair, hidden behind her ear. "Because if you take off that ring it will be the biggest mistake of your entire life."

"You can't prove that." Karone's voice hummed with a wavering confusion at his answer to her question.

"I can prove it," Leo countered her quietly. "I'm the only person you've ever loved, Karone; you know that. Zhane was Astronema's true love, not Karone's. If you try to throw away what we have because of the arguments we may have or your fright at losing me because of those stupid arguments or even your lack of faith in our love, then you are making a mistake; a big mistake.

"If you can't believe yourself, then believe me. Have faith in the love that I give to you unconditionally. Have faith in the arguments we have that only make us closer. Have faith in knowing that I could never leave you when I love you far too much." Leo turned her head to face him with a gentle caress. "Don't throw us away, Karone, please don't. We need each other."

Karone was awkwardly silent, taking in Leo's face; his hardened features somewhat softened and light to her eyes: a familiar, yet unfamiliar sight. "I thought you had the trust issues..." she slowly sputtered, the smallest of smiles cracking her lips.

Leo returned her gesture with a small grin. "Trust isn't a stable thing...it's gotta be renewed once in awhile. I guess I should know that firsthand." He soothed her with a wink.

She gradually returned her gaze to her finger where the ring he had given her gleamed in its place. The setting of diamonds and amethysts were arranged along the circumference of the golden band, stopping just before her fingers cut the rest of the ring off from view. When she had first seen it that night, she immediately thought to her first engagement ring - the simple golden band she had received from Zhane after three years spent together. Since they had first met, Karone had always paralleled Leo to Zhane somehow. It wasn't fair to compare Leo to Zhane, she knew that now, and it didn't seem to matter because she knew they couldn't be compared. Karone loved the first one, while Astronema loved the other.

"I guess you do," she replied back in agreement, the smile growing upon her lips as she held her hand up before herself, gazing fondly at her ring.

*****

"We leave now," Damon declared quite bluntly as Leo and Karone strode onto the bridge of the MegaShip. He stood before the main steering controls of the ship, maneuvering it already so it pulled out of its dock on Terra Venture. "Mike's already rounding up the slaves in the camp and waiting for us."

"The sooner, the better," Leo chimed, sliding into the middle seat of the front console. Karone lagged behind and took a seat at one of the consoles that lined the back of the bridge.

A deafening silence settled over the ship as they waited ten minutes for the ship to arrive in orbit of the planet.

Maya could sense the terseness of the silence, taste its bitter flavor, smell it burning, see it being pulled ever so taut as well as hearing the deafening roar. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew exactly where the silence was coming from.

Karone.

Everything seemed to be honed in on Karone. From Damon's shadowed glances of worry to Kai's anxious apprehension, it was all about and directed towards Karone.

Maya couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of the attention her friend was getting, how the spotlight so nicely shone upon her, completely leaving the rest of them to be her little "buddies". As that very jealously rose in her thought however, she immediately squelched it. Jealously wasn't her forte and she wasn't about to make it her forte. The very thought that she had considered herself to be jealous of Karone made bile slowly crawl up her throat. Her friend had been through Hell and frankly, she didn't think that was worth being jealous over. When described to her the first time, the concept of Hell didn't exactly appeal to Maya.

Then there was Leo, who was giving off odd vibes. Anger mixed with love. Fear mixed with strength. Loneliness mixed with comfort. It was more than odd; it was weird. He looked weary, but exuded a persona of absolute intensity. It drove her crazy how Leo was a walking paradox, yet he couldn't see it. Hopefully, all of that would fade once they were out of the Lost Galaxy.

"There it is," Kai announced just before DECA could, causing Maya to lift her eyes from her console and look upwards at the viewscreen.

The planet swirled in the colorful space surrounding it, standing out like a mudstain on a beautiful white dress. There wasn't anything that looked to special about it as far as Maya could tell, but there must have been something special below the surface if Captain Mutiny went to such great lengths to attain slaves.

Maya turned to face her fellow teammates anxiously; anxious to rescue Mike and those slaves and anxious to get out of the Lost Galaxy altogether. "Let's get this done."

*****

As soon as the ship set down on the dusty and deserted planet, the four rangers who could morph did morph and split up into different directions. Kai stayed to secure the bridge, while Leo and Damon headed towards the MegaShip's boarding ramp and Maya ran off to find supplies for the refugees. Karone sat in her same seat in the back of the room, seemingly forgotten, but not appearing to mind at all.

"Karone, are you alright?" Kai finally spoke up after a few lone minutes. They both really had nothing to do until all of the refugees finished boarding, and the dead silence was driving him up the wall.

"I'm fine," she replied with a gentle smile, watching as Kai removed his helmet to look her eye to eye from where he stood in front of the pilot controls. "Just off in my thoughts...not like I have anything else to do."

He thought her last words came out sounding slightly bitter, but he chose not to pursue the subject. All of them knew how much Karone hated being on the sidelines, but that couldn't be helped. If Karone hadn't stopped herself from going into battle willfully for the sake of her children, he was sure that he or one of the others would have forced her to stop.

"How did last night go?"

Karone grinned graciously for the change of subject. She did not want to talk about herself because she didn't think that there was much to talk about. Well, except for the fact that she had nearly screwed up her entire life earlier that morning, but that was just the exception to the rule. "The food was great," she acknowledged pleasantly, pushing the morose reflection out of her mind for the moment. "The chocolate mousse was the highlight of the night."

Kai chuckled, but soon hushed his laughter as they started to see people filing onto the MegaShip and flowing into the halls. He immediately grabbed his helmet and placed it back on. Karone also saw this and stared in amazement at the many people who had been kept trapped for so long in those camps. They both could see flashes of yellow as Maya ran up and down the halls handing out blankets to all the refugees.

What seemed like seconds later, Leo and Damon came back onto the bridge, a filthy and sweaty Mike at their heels. "MIKE!" Karone nearly leapt up and hugged her dear friend, not caring one bit for his state of disarray. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"It's good to see you too," Mike smiled and hugged her closely. "So how was Leo last night?"

The blonde pulled away, gaping at the man. "What? Does EVERYONE know?"

"Nearly all," Leo joked tersely, turning to face her for a second while helping Kai lift the ship off of the planet.

Karone gave her fiancé a mental nudge before returning her attention to Mike, who sat in the seat beside her relaxing as much as he could. "Leo didn't tell me about your little escapade 'til this morning," she relayed to him, grabbing the side of a console as the ship jolted a bit as it lifted out of the atmosphere. "When did you get taken?"

"Mike, does Captain Mutiny have any assault vehicles?"

Before Mike could answer Karone's question, he quickly fired out, "No. At least I don't think so."

Damon, who had asked the question, nodded his appreciation. "Good."

He then responded to Karone, "Leo didn't tell you? I thought he would. I got kidnapped early last night. I wasn't there long, but it sure was hell and then some."

"I would have gone with you had I known, and that's why Leo didn't tell me earlier," she finally forced out reluctantly. Leo was right about her being somewhat reckless and crazy when she got something into her mind. It was ironic because Karone just couldn't imagine Leo being her voice of reason...and yet he continually was. She was lucky for that. "But I'm glad you went-" She stopped in mid-sentence, her head snapping up in alarm as Maya's voice cried over her own.

"THE PORTAL'S CLOSING!"

*****

"Oh God, oh God," Leo muttered frantically as he ran down the hall towards the Jet Jammer Bay. "Why did you put your neck on the line, Mike? WHY?!"

As he ran, he could hear heavy footsteps behind him and he ignored the completely until he heard the voice that accompanied them. "LEO!" Karone's weary nonetheless piercing voice broke through his hearing. "Leo, wait!"

Instantly, Leo stopped in mid-stride and ran backwards to come face to face with the blonde woman. "Why are you running?" he questioned with deep concern. "Why are you following me? I've gotta go find Mike!"

Karone pulled Leo's gloved hand away from her cheek. She wasn't so sure he'd want to be touching her after what she told him. "I told Mike to go keep the portal open," she blurted out.

Leo's helmet was on, obstructing Karone's view of his facial reaction to her words, but she saw his fingers coil tightly into fists at his sides; she knew his anger. He made well sure she could feel his anger also, wave after wave pulsing like heat through her nerves.

"Ironic, isn't it?" He laughed tersely, shaking his head casually. "I go and do something that will anger you behind your back, and then you do it right back to me." She could sense his eyes bearing into her darkly. "But your revenge was bittersweet now wasn't it?"

Tears threatened to breech Karone's eyes while she stood and took his verbal slap. Never had she known Leo to be so angry...then again, she had never been seen as the endangering factor of his brother's life. She had only given Mike the idea, but Karone knew that for Leo that was more than enough. "It wasn't bittersweet and it certainly wasn't planned," she snapped back in a vain effort to hold back her many tears. "Mike chose to-"

Leo spitefully cut her off. "I have to go find Mike; I don't need to listen to this," he muttered, quickly running down the corridor away from his fiancé.

Karone frowned as she watched his retreating figure, still swallowing down her tears. As much as Leo may be angry with her for placing his brother's life in danger, she knew that she was right in the choice that she and Mike had made. "I'm sorry, Leo, but just like you were right about your decision, I'm right about mine. If saving all our lives means you being mad with me, then so be it."

To be continued...