DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE (AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE IT TO BE) SO DON'T SUE ME

Chapter 7: Silver

Andros sighed in frustration as Deca lowered the Megaship down through the atmosphere of a barren desert planet. Clouds that threatened to crash all systems on the Megaship had forced them to abandon their search for Zordon temporarily.

"Should we go explore?" Ashley asked. "We might as well, while we're here."

"I'll go," Cassie agreed. "It's better than being cooped up in here until the storm passes."

"Yeah, okay," T.J. said. "As long as we go somewhere cold for our next vacation."

"Andros?" Ashley asked. "Are you coming?"

"Someone has to keep you guys out of trouble," Andros said with a grin.

So you do know how to joke.

Aloud, Ashley said, "Carlos? What about you?"

"I'm not staying here alone," the black ranger said quickly. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, "I don't think Deca likes me very much."

"I wonder why," Cassie murmured. The rest of them stifled their laughter.

"Deca, alert us if anything changes," Andros ordered. "We should go down morphed. The air might not be breathable, or we might be attacked."

The others nodded. "Let's rocket!"

Even through the protection that their suits offered the planet was a sunbaked ruin. The rangers spent several hours wandering around, always keeping the Megaship in sight.

"Hey what's that over there?" Cassie asked, pointing.

"Mirage," Carlos said.

"No, it's moving," T.J. said, frowning.

"Hey, you guys," Ashley said. "Maybe we should -"

"Run!" Andros shouted.

Coming toward them was a horde of natives. The rangers took off back to the Megaship.

"Deca, lower the doors!" Andros shouted into his communicator.

"System unable comply," Deca replied.

"Dammit," Andros shouted. "We must have brushed those clouds. Deca, tell Alpha to do it manually."

"Affirmative."

"Think they're friendly?" Andros asked Cassie as she drew her Astroblaster for good measure.

"Nope," she said, hoisting her weapon.

"Me either," he said, drawing his.

"Here they come," Ashley said, stepping closer to Andros and taking a defensive stance. Something seemed odd about the way she was standing, and Andros realized that she had positioned herself between him and the natives. Had it been anyone else, he would have taken it as an insult to his ability to fight, but because it was Ashley, he was oddly grateful.

Just as the natives charged at them, the doors to the Megaship slid open, and the rangers ran on, firing a few warning shots to cover themselves.

"Deca, lift off!" Andros shouted as soon as the doors had closed. For a moment nothing happened, and he worried that they had taken more damage than he realized but then the engines roared to life, and they were in the air.

"Power down!" they all said together, taking their seats in the bridge.

"It is not advisable to continue under present conditions," Deca warned.

"Andros, will you take over?" Cassie asked. "The rest of us can go check out the engine room. I don't think I'm the only one to notice how long it took to get into the air."

"I'll be fine," Andros said. "There's not much to do now but monitor where we are."

There were several engine cables loose. Ashley and Carlos remained on the ground feeding them up to Cassie and T.J. who were reconnecting them.

"All done," T.J. said. "Now all we have to do is- is that a door?"

"Door?" the other three repeated, confused.

"It's either a door or a whole in the wall," T.J. insisted, leading them to a corner. He was right, there was a door and it was ajar.

"We're not supposed to know it's here," Ashley said. "It's hidden."

"Should we go in?" Cassie asked. T.J. had already opened the door and stepped in.

"There's a dead person in here," he announced. "No, wait, he's alive."

"What?" Ashley cried, forcing her way past him.

The walls were covered with monitors all showing the vital signs of the person in what looked like an ice covered coffin. He was still alive. Ashley placed a hand on the lid of tube and wiped away some of the ice that had collected on top of it. Instead of the face she had expected to see there was a black-visored silver helmet.

"Asleep," she whispered to herself. "Oh, Andros . . ."

"Who is he?" Carlos asked in a hushed voice.

"His name is Zhane," Andros said from the doorway. "He's the Silver Ranger."

He walked into the room as they whirled around to face him. Andros refused to meet anyone's eyes and instead walked straight to the tube.

"He's been here for two years," he said shortly. "He might never wake up."

His hand hovered over the lid of the tube for a moment and then he turned and stalked out.

"We should leave," Ashley said, and the others nodded their agreement. As they filed out, Ashley cast one last glance at the 'sleeping' silver ranger.

"Deca, where's Andros?" Ashley asked once they had returned to the bridge to find it empty.

"Andros is in the workbay," Deca replied after a pause.

"I'm going to talk to him," Ashley said, standing up.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Cassie asked her.

"No, but I'm going anyway," Ashley said and left.

She found Andros standing in the workbay with his forehead resting against the wall.

"Andros?" she said softly. "Do you want to talk?"

He shook his head, still not looking at her. "But please don't go," he said so softly Ashley almost didn't hear him.

She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. For several minutes they stood there, and Andros hid his face against hers and squeezed her so tightly that she couldn't breathe.

"The storm has grown," Deca announced. "It is impossible to continue."

"We should go back," Ashley said. Andros released her only reluctantly. He nodded.

When they returned to the bridge, the others were frantically trying to keep the Megaship steady.

"There's no way," Andros said. His face was calm and showed no signs of his earlier desperate loneliness or the anxiety he was feeling now. "We have to land again."

"Engines failing," Deca announced. "Prepare for crash landing."

"Ay yi yi yi yi," cried Alpha hysterically. "Rangers, what do we do?"

"We crash," Andros said stoically. "We can't stop it now."

"Can we coast?" Ashley asked. Andros looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Can you keep us in the air while we're losing speed so that there's less of an impact?"

"I'll try," Andros said. "Deca, divert all power to the engines."

The lights went out as Deca complied.

"We're flying blindly now," Andros said grimly. "Deca is off-line, too."

He heard Ashley shift position nervously.

We'll be fine. He was lying, and he knew that she knew it, but he wanted to comfort her anyway.

For several minutes they all sat stiffly in the dark, hoping the Megaship would lose speed quickly, or at least before all the other systems failed. Ten minutes after re-entering the atmosphere, Andros lost control of the Megaship and they slammed into the ground.

They hit the surface hard. T.J. and Carlos were thrown backward. Cassie was slumped over her console. Andros was tossed forward over his console and hit his head hard against the floor. Ashley landed near him, temporarily unconcious.

The lights flickered back on as the engines died completely.

"Engines failed," Deca announced, coming back on-line.

Andros groaned. His head ached and his vision was swimming, but he was alive. Alive was good. "Everyone all right?" he called.

"I'll live," Cassie said, sitting up.

"I just fell," T.J. said.

"Me too," Carlos said.

Ashley moaned and Andros crawled over to her as quickly as he could. "Ash?"

"I'm fine," Ashley muttered. "Just give me a minute."

Andros watched her worriedly, but Ashley managed to sit up. Grabbing ahold of a console, Andros pulled himself to his feet before helping Ashley to hers. She swayed and fell against him. He caught her and she managed to stand.

"What do we do now?" Cassie asked.

"Deca, can you put up anything on the viewing screen?" Andros asked.

"Affirmative," Deca said.

The rangers all groaned as they saw more natives surrounding the Megaship.

"Well, now we have something to do," T.J. said dryly.

"The natives just love us, don't they?" Carlos already had his morpher out.

"Let's rocket!"

Their suits temporarily healed some of the effects of the crash, but they were still weakened and outnumbered. Several minutes into their fight, Andros' communicator beeped.

"What is it?"

"The natives have entered the ship," cried Alpha. "Ay yi yi yi yi, what do I do?"

"Deca, seal all doors!" Andros shouted. "Alpha, can you use an Astroblaster?"

"The doors won't seal," Alpha said frantically. "There's too many of them."

"Disturbance detected in the healing chamber," Deca informed him, and Andros collapsed to his knees.

"No," he said flatly. "No, they haven't gotten him."

Andros, what are you doing? Dimly he realized that they were still in the middle of a battle and he saw Ashley protecting him. What's wrong?

They found Zhane.

Andros, you have to get up! Please get up!

Ashley's thoughts sounded terrified, and were enough to snap him out of his shock. He realized how many hits the others had taken trying to protect him. Filled with a furious rage, he got to his feet and charged blindly. They would pay for this.

They stopped and stared in shock and the natives ran off the Megaship, some thrown headfirst.

"Andros?"

"Zhane!" Andros cried joyfully. "You're alive!"

"Should I be dead?" Zhane sounded slightly dazed.

"Everyone back on the Megaship!" Ashley ordered, understanding that Andros was in no condition to lead and the others were too confused. "Time to go!"

"Deca. can you get us in the air?" Ashley asked.

"Affirmative," Deca said. "But it is still unadvisable to fly under the current conditions past the atmosphere."

"It's more unadvisable to stay here," Ashley said firmly. "Go!"

She turned to Cassie, Carlos, and T.J. "We're fixing the engines again. And unless there are any more of Andros' friends in there, we'll finish it this time. Come on."

"Where'd you find a team?" Zhane asked. "What happened? The last thing that I remember was KO-35 and then you and Ecliptor were-"

"That was two years ago," Andros said carefully. "You saved my life, and it nearly cost you your own."

"What else are friends good for?" Zhane joked. "It hasn't sunk in yet, but I'll adjust."

"They'll like you," Andros said. "You're a lot nicer than I am and for some reason they won't leave me alone."

"Where are they from?" Zhane asked.

"Earth."

"Really? Earth has rangers?"

"Remember Zordon's Power Chamber?" Zhane nodded. "It was on Earth."

"So they were underestimated then?"

"They were."

Ashley and the others returned.

"Power down!" the six rangers said together.

"So you're Zhane?" Cassie said. "I'm Cassie."

"T.J."

"Carlos."

"Ashley."

Zhane's eyes flickered between Andros and the yellow ranger. "I've never met a female Power Ranger," he said, taking the hand she offered him. "Never thought I'd meet one either," he added, giving Andros another searching look. "I can't wait to hear this one."

"I'll explain," Andros said hastily, before Zhane could say any more. "Come on."

"What was that about?" T.J. asked after Andros and Zhane were out of earshot. "Ash, I think Zhane likes you."

Ashley shook her head. "I don't think that's it."

"Then what was it?" Cassie demanded. "He couldn't stop staring at you."

"What do you think, Carlos?" T.J. asked.

"I think I know," Carlos said.

"So do I," Ashley said, remembering that Carlos had said Karone was dressed in yellow.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter was really long. It took awhile to work my way over to Zhane waking up. Good news: I got Zhane, now I just need Karone. As soon as I figure out what Karone is like, Zhane and Karone can start messing with Andros' head. Then the fun starts.