Captured
By: Jeanka
Zineen waited until the tin head put her down before making any sort of fuss. She was set down on the deck of the bridge of the flagship, The Dark Fortress. The little girl immediately ran for a back room. None of the Q-trons' programs reacted fast enough and Zineen was already inside when they began to move.
Suddenly, a new voice caused the Quantrons to halt. "Let her go," a deep voice told them.
Zineen got herself under a desk and turned to see who had spoken. She knew how Ecliptor sounded and this person was not him. From where she was, all she could see was the bottom of his black cloak. The Q-trons walked back to their posts as the cloaked figure came into the room.
"Do not act like your sister," the voice said. Zineen gasped. She couldn't understand how he would know that. "She came to us and so will you."
He stood directly in front of her, but she didn't look up. "She was our princess. Don't you want to be a princess?"
"Why did she leave?" asked Zineen. Every little girl wanted o be a princess. There was no reason her older sister should not.
"The Power Ranger tore her away from her happiness," said the voice.
Zineen glared at the boots she could see. "You're a liar!" she cried and moved farther under the desk. Andros was a Ranger and Karone was her sister. This man had no idea the loyalty she held toward her family.
The cloak moved to where she couldn't see it anymore. "Child, you deny yourself everything."
She closed her eyes and reached out to grab onto someone's mind. There weren't many aboard who had a brain. Most were programmed and many of the monsters did not live aboard the ship.
The creature wearing the cloak had a brain. His mind was dark, but at least she could use it to project herself out.
"What are you doing?" he inquired tapping his temple.
She felt him look at her image and try to block her out. It didn't matter to her. No creature could match the abilities of a half-Eltraian. From listening to his thoughts, she knew he wasn't.
Zineen turned from starring at him to looking around the room she was in. There wasn't much to look at. This was designed to be a room of strategy to inspire victory. In this room were Astronema's old desk, her decorations, and her guards. "She wasn't happy," said Zineen.
"But she had everything she wanted," said the creature. "So could you."
Zineen glared at him. "Let me go," he demanded. His sudden relaxation alarmed her. She turned to see a Q-tron put something on her neck. Before she could call out, everything went dark.
Andros arrived on the bridge and immediately activated the sensor field. "What are you looking for?" Luana asked.
If he hadn't been empathic, he wouldn't have been able to tell she was afraid. "Zineen was taken," he said.
"And what are you going to do about it?" demanded Luana.
He put his hand on the communication terminal and pushed a pushed a button. A second later, "This is Zhane," filtered through the room.
"Is Karone with you?" asked Andros.
"Yeah, why?" asked Zhane.
"Zineen's been taken," Andros said looking over at Luana.
"That's not good," commented Zhane. "Then, I assume she's aboard the Dark Fortress."
"That would be my guess," replied Andros.
"Andros," Luana whisper forced him to feel her emotions. There was a terror he couldn't place. "She's not here," she said putting her fingers on her temple and closing her eyes.
"What?" asked Zhane, hearing Luana's voice, but not understanding what she had said.
"Get back up here," demanded Andros. "Zineen's not projecting anymore."
"Well be right there," said Zhane and closed the channel.
Andros looked at Luana, but his mind was searching for Zineen. All of the siblings projected constantly to each other, even while sleeping. Zineen was gone, completely silent.
A flash of Silver with a purple outline signaled Zhane and Karone's arrival. "What do you mean by gone?" asked Zhane.
"I can't feel her and I can't see her. I can't sense her," said Luana. "She's gone."
"What could cause a child to go out of the scope of two powerful half- Eltraians?" asked Zhane.
Karone raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. The half-Eltraians had to be Andros and Luana, but Andros had never told her he was half-Eltraian. Did that make her half-Eltraian too? No one had ever told her. Then again, most would be afraid to turn the princess of Darkness into a mental psychopath.
Andros looked from Karone to meet Luana's gaze. "A Recon," he said hesitantly.
"Or?" prompted Zhane.
"A spider," said Luana almost inaudibly.
Zhane frowned and Andros tensed. Karone said nothing. A spider was a small eight-legged device implanted on the back of an Eltraians neck to block out all mental abilities. Nothing goes in and nothing can get out. They were almost impossible to remove.
"How did the UAE know she was here?" asked Zhane. "I thought I would have been kept a secret."
"It was supposed to be," replied Luana. "I don't know how they knew. Unless, they've been tapping into your communication system. Then, we might have a problem."
"We should test it out sometime," said Zhane.
"Not now," said Andros. "First, we need to get back Zineen. Whoever is in charge over there obviously knows she's half-Eltraian and this is a dangerous thought.
"Maybe we should call for help," quietly suggested Luana.
"Wait a second," said Karone, stepping forward. "You're just going to wait for back up when you have so many resources?"
"What kind of resources?" asked Luana.
Andros gave her a funny look. He fully expected her to somewhat be aware of their assets. "Well, me for one," started Karone. "I know the Dark Fortress inside and out. Then, we have two of the universes best trained Rangers. And you, Luana. As a half-Eltraian, you could render everyone aboard that ship helpless. "
"Let's do it," said Andros. DECA and Alpha immediately began scanning for weaknesses and teleportation sites. Karone tapped into the Dark Fortress's computer network and got DECA to load the coordinates. "Oh, one more thing," Karone said turning to look at everyone. "There are Grid detectors all over the place. Don't morph."
"I have located a window. Prepare for teleportation," said DECA. Andros moved everyone to the back of the bridge. "Teleporting."
TBC