Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.

Author's Notes: Finally an update! I'm sorry it's been so long; I've been so busy with school again this semester, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. I'm on break now, though, and I just had to update tonight. It's taken me a year and a half to get this far. Thank you so much for waiting so patiently for me to find the time to keep telling this story, and thank you, Power Rangers fandom, for the last three years. You guys are the best. :grin: I'll try to have more up within a month. Enjoy!

Chapter 34

"Astronema."

She straightened up irritably, frowning at Ecliptor. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the Yellow Ranger shrank away, the small pleasure she felt as seeing that spoiled by the words Ecliptor spoke next.

"Darkonda has returned to the Dark Fortress."

She gripped her staff as her body tightened in frustration. Darkonda was supposed to be halfway across the universe with Ecliptor following to keep an eye on him, leaving her free and unwatched as she drained Dark Spectre of his powers.

"Get rid of him, then," she snapped, "and do it quickly."

"He wishes to speak with you."

Astronema growled a curse under her breath, finding that she could still manage to smile when she turned back to the Yellow Ranger. "Don't go anywhere," she said sweetly. "Ecliptor will keep you company until I'm back."

She pushed past Ecliptor, striding into the hall. By the time she arrived at the Bridge, she was in a foul mood. "What," she growled, "are you doing here?"

"Ah, Astronema," Darkonda greeted her, his smile cold. "I have news for you."

"It had betterbe good." She was tempted to wave her staff at him menacingly, thinking better of it even as she did so. She might want to hear him out. "What is it?"

"I came across the Phantom Ranger on Onyx," Darkonda informed her. "We dueled when we were interrupted by two... unexpected allies of his."

"Well, who was it?" Impatient, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Just tell me and get off of my ship."

"You were a child, too young to remember," he said, and she bristled. "But perhaps Ecliptor has told you some of the history of the Karovan Rangers."


"Five years it's been." Tan's voice, skeptical and disbelieving, filled the small shuttle. "Nearly six. Are you certain?"

"Nearly." Arietis hesitated. The less he said now, the better. "I do intend for the Aquitans to scan their DNA."

"Yes," Tan said shortly. "Do that, and then any other test that the Aquitans have the capability to perform. Dark Spectre's forces have been searching for us, and it is entirely too convenient that they have made their reappearance now."

Arietis made a quiet noise of acknowledgment, sighing as he stretched his arms above his head. "How close have they come?"

"Cia was nearly caught on patrol a week ago." There was a brief pause. "We're still unsure whether or not the quantrons had time to report us before we destroyed them. Take care when you return."

"I will. But about this more pressing matter..." Again, he hesitated. The names that they had given him were not the same names that Tan knew them by, and he was unsure of which to use. "They introduced themselves to me as Dan and Jon."

"Those are not their names," Tan snapped at him.

Arietis sighed. "But they are the names that they've given me, and I'll not call them anything else until they have given me their permission to do so."

"Fine," Tan relented, to Arietis's surprise. "But do be sure of who they are before you call me again."

"Of course." He tried not to sigh. "As you wish."

Tan cut the connection with a few short words of farewell. Arietis gave in to the urge to sigh. He passed a hand over his face, tired, and sat there for a few moments more, not sure what to do next.

It came to him a moment later, and he tapped his communicator. "Cassie?"


Astronema rubbed her temples with a sigh. She'd thrown Darkonda off of the Dark Fortress out of spite, but her head still ached. There was no end to his incompetence. Why Dark Spectre had given him a dozen or more lives, she couldn't fathom.

"Ecliptor!" she shouted. "Get in here."

"Yes, my princess?" He was at her side in moments.

She smiled at him faintly. He, at least, was faithful to her. "You heard Darkonda's story."

Ecliptor inclined his head towards her. He didn't dispute the accusation. She hadn't expected him to. "Yes, princess."

"What do you think of it?"

"Dark Spectre will not be pleased with him if he is indeed telling the truth," Ecliptor answered slowly. "This could work to your advantage when you approach Dark Spectre and inform him that you've caught the traitor."

She looked at him, startled. "Oh," she said slowly, biting her tongue as she remembered. "Yes. That. I think it would be wise if I waited. Just to be sure," she added, when he looked at her as skeptically as he was able. "I would not like to be caught making false accusations."

There had to have been a better way to phrase that. She winced inwardly, holding her breath.

Ecliptor wasn't fooled. "But they are not false accusations, are they, princess?"

"No," Astronema said, sighing. "Of course not. I'm curious, though," she said, hoping that he wouldn't question her quick change of subject. "He could have killed them. Obviously, it would have been wiser to have done so. I'm aware that he enjoys prolonging the pain of his... victims--" She hesitated over the term, but continued nonetheless, "but would he be so willing to jeopardize his standing in Dark Spectre's eyes? He was not granted so may lives for nothing."

"Not for nothing, no," Ecliptor said quietly. He watched her silently for a moment after that, and something nagged at her.

Uneasy, Astronema turned away from him. "How did he know them? He told me that they'd gone missing nearly a year ago--he can't have been tracking them for that long if he was occupied with Dark Spectre's orders."

"That I do not know," Ecliptor said. "These questions would be best put to Darkonda himself, though I don't advise you to call him back to answer them."

"No," she agreed. "I don't want to see him here aga--"

"Hey, uh, Astronema?" Elgar laughed to himself as he poked his misshapen head into the room.

"What?" she growled. She was not in the mood to deal with him now, on top of everything else. "It had better be good."

"It's just, uh, that the--uh, you know--the Psycho Rangers. They're getting a bit, uh, antsy waiting for you and all, and with the Yellow Ranger just there..."

"Tell them to wait," she snapped. "They'll do nothing without my permission first."

"Well, uh..."

She rubbed her forehead. "Do you want to play with Scrudley?"

"No!" Elgar all but yelped, and she felt a momentary flash of pleasure.

"Thenget in there, and get them under control," she snapped. "I'll be there soon."

"Do you think that is... wise?" Ecliptor asked her quietly, the faintest hint of amusement in his tone as Elgar left the room.

"Oh," she said, smiling, "no. Not at all."


This was bad. Ashley pulled on the cuffs, swallowing hard. She could hear the Psychos outside her cell, and drew her legs closer to herself. They had been standing out there, pacing, for what felt like hours now, and she didn't know why.

"Never thought I'd be wishing for Astronema," she muttered aloud to herself, sighing. I need to get out of here.

But how? She couldn't fight all five of them, even if she could somehow break out of her cell, and then there were the cuffs to take into account. No, she wasn't going to be able to fight her way out of this one.

Think, Ash...

It came to her a minute later, and she groaned silently at her own slowness. Her morpher was still strapped around her wrist, covered by her sleeve and by the cuffs. She could feel it digging into her skin if she twisted her arm just right, and sighed, wondering first why they had let her keep it and then why it had taken her so long to notice.

Give yourself a break, she told herself finally. She clumsily pushed her hair out of her face, rubbing her tired eyes. It's hard to think with a concussion.

Not that it had ever stopped Andros from trying, if what Zhane had told her was true. Ashley almost smiled. If Andros could escape from Darkonda without his morpher, then she could escape from the Dark Fortress with hers.

Somehow.

Astronema's voice in the hall broke her away from her thoughts, and Ashley bit her lip. She couldn't understand the words anymore clearly than she could understand what the Psycho Rangers had been saying earlier, but Astronema's tone was sharp and angry. That didn't bode well for her, but if it would keep the Psycho Rangers away for just a little longer...

Ashley was sure now that she'd seen a flash of Karone earlier. If she could just talk to her, somehow...

But Andros and Zhane had been the ones to get through to her the first time around, and they hadn't been able to this time. She remembered the two broken hearts that had come back from the Dark Fortress, sighing quietly to herself.

It was probably wishful thinking on her part, she admitted to herself. If she could somehow give Andros his sister back, she would do it in a heartbeat. After everything that he'd been put through in his life, he deserved at least that much, and there was no one else who would love Karone the way that Andros did. The way that Zhane did.

It wasn't fair. She almost laughed. Here she was, a prisoner on the Dark Fortress, thinking that it wasn't fair that her captor didn't know that her brother loved her and wanted her back.

Except that it wasn't fair, and it might matter someday. She doubted that Andros had it in him to fight Karone to the death. She didn't know about Zhane, but she knew how loyal he was to both Andros and Karone. She could only guess with loyalty would win in the end, if it came to be tested.

And it probably would be tested. There was no better way to destroy the Rangers than to force them to choose amongst themselves, she realized suddenly.

A sick feeling slowly formed in her stomach. Was that why Astronema had brought her here? To force her friends to choose between their safety and her own?

Ashley would fight for herself, and her friends would fight for her. She knew that Andros would fight for her. What she didn't know was if Andros would kill for her, but she was certain that she had no right to ask or expect it of him. For so many years, he had had no other purpose in life but to fight Astronema and Dark Spectre and to search for Karone. She knew it would kill him to hurt Karone, even as Astronema.

If he was forced to because of her...

Ashley swallowed. She didn't know what she would do then. Even if he forgave her for making him choose, he would never forgive himself. Either way, she would lose him, he would lose everything, and their team would fall apart.

That was a cheery thought. Ashley bit her lip. She had to get herself out of here, before her friends tried to rescue her and walked straight into some trap of Astronema's. As if going up against the Psycho Rangers on Astronema's ship wouldn't be enough of a trap, and she knew that they would risk it to save her.

She couldn't let them risk that. She didn't know if they even knew where she was, but she couldn't let them risk so much saving her if they didn't have to. She had to get herself out of here before someone was hurt.

Ashley twisted her arm slowly, trying to work her morpher free. If she had just that much of an added advantage, maybe she could make it past them. That was if the door opened and they didn't catch her on her way out, assuming that she could also manage to successfully evade Astronema, Ecliptor, the Psycho Rangers, and who knew how many quantrons, and all on their own ship. The odds of that were not in her favor.

Still... if she had a chance, then she had to take it.

She sighed in frustration when she couldn't seem to twist her arm free. The cuffs were on too tight, and she couldn't brace herself against anything. She didn't know if it would even help any if she could, but she looked around the empty cell and felt another wave of desperation.

The door slid open then before she could try again, and Ashley jumped. She abandoned her attempts to work her morpher free as Astronema watched her from the doorway. Ashley held her breath as she came closer, still silent, her expression unreadable.

The door clanged shut after her, and Ashley swallowed hard. She wasn't surprised by it, but for an instant, she was terrified. It wasn't as if she was waiting for anyone else to keep Astronema from whatever she was going to do next, but the cell suddenly felt smaller. Much smaller, and Ashley felt that much more trapped.

"Yellow Ranger."

The words startled her. Astronema didn't say anymore, still watching her, and Ashley bit her lip. She didn't want to provoke her, but...

She had to try. Not only for Andros, but for herself, for Zhane, for all of her friends.

"Karone," she said softly, pleading quietly. "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me. You have to listen to me."