Disclaimer: Power Rangers are not listed in my assests for tax time. Sorry.
A/N: So, who thought I was joking about the Astros?
Kai rarely thought about leaving behind the sword; as a member of the GSA command staff, he had a lot to do on Mirinoi. Between duty rosters, guard postings and keeping track of the science department, his days were filled. He rarely had time to eat, let alone sleep, and in many ways he, Kai, had never been happier.
And yet, he missed seeing Leo appearing in Command to commandeer him for something, or joining Kendrix and Maya for supper after a long shift. He never saw Damon at all, the engineer was swamped with work on the various mechanical items it had been deemed necessary to have in the colony. Mike often mentioned Leo, so it wasn't like Kai heard nothing, but as the months went by and life on Mirinoi became a routine, he stopped hearing about his teammates. He found himself going days without remembering that he had once been a Ranger.
It should have worried him, but Kai had learned a long time ago that he couldn't change people. It wasn't like he was hard to find, any one of the Rangers could have found him when he was off duty.
Of course, he was on duty, and it was inspection day, when Kendrix and Maya appeared with a piece of paper and their swords. When Stanton heard what had happened, he quickly gave his permission for them to chase their crazy red ranger back to Earth. Fighting Trahkeena reminded Kai of all that he had missed about being a ranger and when they took their jet jammers back to Mirinoi, he was determined to make everyone promise that they would hang out.
When they returned to Mirinoi, the Galaxy Rangers found themselves outside of life on the colony. They reported for work and were passed over, or given easy assignments. Getting together for team nights became immeasurably easy; even Kai was getting tired of the make work. Finally, Kai knew he had to do something and so he did. It was easy; he walked into the prefabricated command building caring his quasar saber in one hand. "Commander," he said, keeping his tone even and respectful. As Stanton turned, Kai got a look at Mike's face, and the 'oh shit, he is going to die,' expression. "I'm going to ask you to be honest with me. Do you want me here, doing this make work or would you rather I find something else to do?"
"I would rather you were here," Stanton said, "but if you're going to be running out every day for a Ranger problem then you're a liability."
Kai inclined his head, he'd suspected as much. "The council has been talking about having the Rangers do some scouting in local space. Everybody likes the idea, but they didn't want me to have to pull double duty. With your permission sir, I think I make a better Ranger than I do a GSA officer."
"I think that I might have to agree with you," Stanton said.
"Thank you," Kai said, he turned on his heel and strode from the room. After hiking across the camp to the Rangers' jammer bay, he let his face relax.
"Well?" Leo asked.
"It worked," Kai said. "I've been officially released from duty to be a Ranger."
"Excellent," Leo said, turning to Damon, "somebody owes me charge time for my music player." Damon's glare promised something messy would be attaching itself to Leo sometime in the near future.