Disclaimer: The Power Rangers aren't mine. The Karovan rangers are.

Chapter 3

"Hey."

Ashley glanced up, startled, her face relaxing into a smile as she spotted her best friend. "Hey, Cass."

"How's your shoulder?"

"It's all right," Ashley said, gingerly touching her shoulder with her right hand. Her left arm hung limply in a sling, though it didn't ache as it had the day before.

"Glad to be going home?"

"You could say that," Ashley said wryly, staring out into the blackness of space, dotted here and there with bright stars. "The last few days have been... interesting."

Cassie laughed, just the tiniest hint of bitterness in her tone. "At least it's over now."

"Yeah..." Ashley sighed. "I just got used to it, you know? And now... I don't know what to do without it."

"You'll figure something out," Cassie said with much more confidence than she felt. "We all will."

"Yeah, but..." Ashley hesitated. "It feels kind of weird, putting Earth in the hands of two people not even from Earth."

"They wanted to," Cassie reminded her. "And they're strong, even just the two of them."

"You like them?"

"Yeah," Cassie said after a pause. "Zhane and Karone, anyway."

"And Andros?"

The look on Ashley's face told Cassie everything she needed to know. "Ash, what about Ben?"

"Ben?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You know, that one guy? Your boyfriend for the past year?"

"I know who he is," Ashley snapped. "What's he got to do with Andros?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Ashley hesitated. "Okay, maybe he's kinda cute... but as a person, he's... well, he doesn't seem very friendly, does he?"

"No," Cassie agreed. "He doesn't."

"So there's no reason I should like him," Ashley said, her voice not quite firm. "Besides, I... I love Ben."

Cassie didn't miss the hitch in her friend's voice. "Do you really?"

"Yes," Ashley said quickly, too quickly for Cassie's liking. "There's nothing he could ask for that I wouldn't give."

"Ash..." Cassie fixed her with a long look. "That's not love."

"I have to go," Ashley said abruptly, and fled.


"No."

Zhane rolled his eyes as though Andros was being deliberately difficult. "Andros - "

"No," the other repeated, more forcefully. "I don't want them here."

Karone sighed. "Look, Andros, can you honestly tell me that you think Zyanya wouldn't want her powers passed on? What about Kir? Renn? Zeah?"

"I... No," Andros muttered, wincing at the last name. "But why them?"

"Their powers are gone," Zhane reminded him.

"Which is even more of a reason why we shouldn't trust them," Andros argued. "If they lost their Turbo powers, why should we believe that they won't lose the Astro powers?"

Karone eyed her brother warily. "Andros, Earth needs rangers. We're rangers who have no home to fight for. The least we can do is help them out here."

"Why should we?" Andros snapped. "What have they done for us?"

"Andros, at best, KO-35 was a planet of two thousand. Earth is a planet of five billion. If we don't defend them, there is no one else."

"That's their problem, not ours ," Andros said stubbornly. "They failed."

"As we did?"

Karone's voice was soft, and very sad. The harshness left Andros's eyes at his sister's dejected tone, but he said nothing. His gaze flickering from one to the other, Zhane saw both struggling to maintain their composure.

"Come here," he said softly. He pulled Karone into his arms, holding her close as Andros made a point of staring at the wall opposite them.

"I'm all right," she whispered, though he knew she wasn't.

"We didn't fail them," he insisted, stroking her soft blond hair. "We're still fighting, aren't we?"

"Yeah," she agreed. She smiled then, an incredibly forced smile, but it was better than no smile at all, Zhane figured. He squeezed her once more before releasing her, his blue eyes narrowing at the pain evident in Andros's eyes.

"So that's what this is about."

Andros bowed his head forward, his gaze fixed steadily on his hands. His silence was all the answer Zhane needed, and with a near-growl of frustration, he'd seized his friend by the shoulders, forcing his head up again.

"Andros, listen to me," he said firmly. "Zeah's gone. I know you don't want to accept that, but it's been two years! You can't - "

"This isn't about Zeah," Andros cut in, his face dark. "And I don't want to hear it."

"So this is about Kadri, then?" Zhane's face softened slightly. "Look, Andros, just because one yellow ranger died and the other turned out to be a... er, well - "

"A lying bitch," Karone supplied, her gaze almost amused as she eyed Zhane. "Andros, Kadri and Zeah and these four rangers are six different people. You can't hold onto the Astro morphers just because of what happened to those two."

Andros said nothing, but the look on his face told Karone quite cleary that he knew he'd lost. Sighing heavily, he stood, striding over to the stand where four Astro morphers lay, each secured to a brightly colored bar.

"Fine," he said sullenly, freeing the yellow morpher of its restraints. "But not this one."

"Andros - "

"No, Karone," he said softly. "I'm still the red ranger and I say not this one."

"Well," Zhane said slowly, eyeing Karone as Andros stalked away. "I thought that went rather well, don't you?"


Ashley glanced up, stiffening as she saw Andros freeze in the doorway to the engine room. The moment their eyes met, Andros looked away, but not before Ashley had caught a glimpse of all the pain lurking just beneath the surface.

"Hi," she said softly, offering him a tentative smile.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I was just... thinking," she said finally. Though she knew he wouldn't appreciate it, Ashley couldn't help asking, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he snapped. "And you shouldn't be here."

"And why not?" she snapped back, not caring that he was probably right.

Andros hesitated, not having an answer. "You just shouldn't be," he said finally.

"That's not a reason."

"It should be," he nearly shouted. "This is my ship and you don't belong here."

"Your ship?" Ashley looked at him in surprise. "Zhane and Karone said the Megaship belonged to the Astro rangers."

"It does."

"You told me yesterday that you weren't a ranger."

"I... I'm not," he muttered.

"You were the red ranger, weren't you?" Ashley asked knowingly. Andros glared at her, but at least he didn't look away again.

"Yes," he admitted. "I was."

Almost against her will, Ashley felt her heart aching for him. There was so much pain bubbling up in his hazel eyes, so much hurt... She wondered what had happened, but somehow couldn't bring herself to ask.

"How's your shoulder?" Andros asked abruptly.

"It's fine," she assured him, startled. "I... thanks for wrapping it."

It was Andros's turn to look startled. He stared at her for a moment, frowning. "I... I'm sorry," he blurted out. The fingers of his right hand unclenched and he flung something at her. Ashley caught it instinctively, inhaling sharply when she realized what she was holding. It was the yellow Astro morpher, identical to the purple one worn by Karone.

"Andros, what... "

Ashley glanced up, intending to demand an explanation. Her voice died away as she realized that he was gone.