Dislcaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.
A/N: Random guy is NOT random. We will see him again. Mostly because Angel did not live in a bubble at school, but also because of other things. If you feel the need to relate this to the series, it's still before Looming Thunder, however, Angel has already warned that Lothor has morphers so the Thunders won't be quite the shock that they were in the series. His name is pronounced 'Alec'.
Elex groaned to himself as his weapons console began to beep, someone was trying to get a missile lock on him. Automatically, he disengaged the autopilot and spun his ship, breaking the lock, but not stopping his forward flight. After a few moments, the attempt to get a lock stopped and his communications array lit up. He reached over and switched it on, "Namaste," he said quietly.
"Pilot," a lazy voice said, "this is the Hyperwave, identify yourself."
Elek grinned as he recognized the voice, "Hyperwave, this is the Amaranth scout ship Shadow Stalker, crew complement is one and a cranky AI. I am looking for a purple haired girl by name of Angel Raven."
"Shadow Stalker," Angel said, her voice warming, "what are your intentions?"
"Well, my friend took off from school without getting her acknowledgement of graduation," Elek replied, "since she didn't say good bye either, I prevailed upon the good people at the Collegium to allow me to bring the acknowledgement to her on my way home."
There was silence for a long moment, "Shadow Stalker, you are cleared to land in the stern bay. Please remain in your vehicle until the bay is pressurized. Someone will meet you in the bay to escort you."
"Acknowledged, Hyperwave," Elek said. He took his ship around to the open bay and slipped in cautiously. His anti-gravs came on as soon as they detected the decking and it was easy to glide in neatly. As he began shut down, he watched the red light on the control panel until it turned green. He slid off his harness and headed out the back end and opened the hatch as soon as it beeped to indicate a secure seal. As he cleared the hatch, he heard the sound of two pairs of booted feet approach from the front.
Elek ducked under the wing as he slid his courier bag over his shoulder and found himself facing a pair of Power Rangers, one in dark red, the other in dark blue. "Namaste," Elek offered with a cautious bow, looking from one anonymous helmet to the other.
"If you would follow us," Red said, "we will escort you to the Bridge."
"Right," Elek said, "thanks. Lead the way."
The Blue Ranger turned and headed back, but the Red watched until Elek hurried to followed, clearly they weren't going to risk him wandering off.
As they walked, Elek darted little glances ahead at the Blue Ranger, not brave enough to open his mental shields all the way, but sorely tempted to find out what was going on. Between what Angel Raven had told him about the Warlord, his own research and the reports his brother had shown him from the Ranger archives, he had never expected to see two Rangers in the man's service. Especially not two that were so clearly wrong. He wasn't sure he could explain it, but there was something wrong with them, even in silence, he could feel something, it made him feel sick and uneasy.
Finally, they passed through a final hatchway and onto the bridge. The Blue Ranger cleared out of his way and Elek found himself hard pressed to keep his face blank. They looked like they were posing for a picture, for posterity perhaps. The man in the garishly hideous throne had to be the Warlord, complete with his mask. On the Warlord's right stood a black armored being with sword handles in his shoulder pads that made Elek wish he'd dared put his dagger in his belt and a green creature with a large white pack on his back and an aura of foolish innocence gone wrong. At the Warlord's feet were two girls he had seen in a photo of Angel Raven's, Mara and Kapri, the cousins. Finally, to the Warlord's left was Angel Raven herself, but she looked different, wrong. Elek scanned her in a heartbeat, noting that she'd followed through on the old threat to put a purple streak in her hair. Her skin was pale, made more so by the skin tight purple and black ensemble she'd chosen. His hand tightened into a fist, because he knew Angel hated that type of outfit, the type that covered everything and revealed little. Angel had always preferred tight fitting, low hanging gray pants, heeled boots, and a midriff baring purple top with a silvery, mesh over shirt when she could wear what she wanted.
"Namaste," Elek said with a bow, "I am Elekdreadin of the Amaranth and a schoolmate of Angel Raven."
"Namaste, Elekdreadin," the Warlord said, "welcome to the Hyperwave." He flicked his left hand, "I've heard stories about you from my daughter. Will you be staying with us long?"
"I cannot," Elek replied, "my family expects me home soon. I only wished to present Angel Raven with this," he drew the small plaque from his bag and activated the hologram of a star fighter on top. "Angel Raven, this is your confirmed license as a pilot and navigator."
"Thank you," Angel said and every instinct Elek had, all the ones that had been telling him something was wrong and several new ones, screamed at him. This was Angel, where was her joke? She had worked hard for her license, and had cracked jokes the whole time, why did she now act as if it was nothing?
Angel took the plaque from Elek and as their fingers brushed, her mind screamed at him, Help-get away-don't go-don't stay-not me-don't see.
"Come on," Angel said, "I want to put this away, and I can take you back to your ship at the same time."
"Ok," Elek replied. He bowed to the Warlord, "Nice to meet you, sir."
"It's been a pleasure," the Warlord replied, although his tone said it was anything but.
Elek followed Angel off the bridge, and wasn't totally disappointed when she flashed him a grin, "Sorry about that," she said, "Father has been upset about the operation lately, it isn't going well."
"Ah," Elek said, "I'd wondered."
"I'm just trying to keep my head down while things are so tense," Angel continued, "I nearly made my tongue bleed instead of asking if I could borrow the ship."
Elek chuckled, "I expected you to do it anyway. Things like tension never stopped you at school."
"I know, but he's my dad, you know?" Angel gave him a pained smile as her hand brushed his own. Traitor-betrayer-save me-help.
"Of course," Elek replied, struggling not to show any emotion at all.
"This is me," Angel said, she indicated a hatch. "Mind staying here for my father's piece of mind? I'll be right back."
Elek snorted, "I've seen your room, Angel. I'm more afraid that the piles of junk are going to come alive and attack me then your dad."
"Funny, Elek," Angel said before vanishing inside.
Elek caught a glimpse of her room, noting that it was, in fact, clean and frowned. Everything was wrong here and it worried him. He leaned against the bulkhead beside her room and raised an eyebrow at the two black clad creatures standing at the end of the hallway. From the minimal emotional aura he was picking up, they were constructs or automatons, not fully human.
"There," Angel said, "now, do you want to go to the mess or what?"
"I have to go," Elek said, "I'm expected home very soon." He shifted to stand away from the wall and nodded down the hallway, "Besides, we've got chaperones."
Angel followed his look and wrinkled her nose, "Kelzacks," she offered, "Father's minions."
"Speaking of which," Elek said, "what's with the Power Rangers anyway?"
"Hunter and Blake," Angel said, she shrugged and started down the hall, "oh, they're Earthians. We're here after that murkesko that killed mom. Apparently, he killed their parents too, so they allied themselves with Father to deal with it. The murkesko has tricked a couple of Rangers into protecting him so it's really taking us longer than expected."
"Angel, if the Rangers are against the Warlord," Elek began, alarmed.
"The murkesko has an identity here of being innocent," Angel said. "He's been murdering and framing others for his work for a long time. The Rangers think he's innocent and we haven't exactly had a chance to explain things to them."
"What if the Warlord is wrong?" Elek said quietly.
Angel stopped and shoved him up against the wall, her hand closing on his throat, sorry-help-sorry-wrong, "This being," she spat the word out viciously, "is the one who stole me, Elek, and would have seen me as a pretty little pleasure slave. I've seen the proof with my own eyes. His assassin killed my mother and framed my father for crimes he did not commit." She squeezed briefly, sorry-need someone-find someone-Elek-help-sorry, then let him go. "Don't tell me he is innocent of all crimes."
Elek swallowed and rubbed his throat, "All right, I won't."
Angel nodded sharply, then turned and started down the corridor again. Elek followed her after glancing back to see that the so-called Kelzacks were still following them. In the depth of his mind, behind his strongest shields, he wondered if they were chaperone, guard or spy. As they reached the hanger, he decided that it did matter.
They entered the hanger and walked over to his ship,, ducking around the far side to stand by the airlock. Angel held out her hands, "I'm sorry, Elek. I'm just frustrated that this is taking so long."
Elek smiled and deliberately opened his shields as he put his hands in hers, "It's alright Angel. I survived finals with you for three years, I'll survive today."
Skin firmly touched skin, Elek-help-Blue Bay Harbor-Shane Clark-Red Ranger-save me-look-skate-park-skateboard-find-help him-help me-help Thunders. Angel brushed her lips against his cheek and then broke the connection, her dark eyes locked on his, a tiny spark of hope glimmering deep within. "Come see me again," she said, "when this is over, won't you?"
"If I can," Elek replied, stepping back, "I maybe busy," he tilted his wrist slightly so that the miniature comm. activated and he tapped the button that would open the hatch, "Family business and all. You can come see me though, now that you're officially a pilot."
Angel laughed, "I'll highjack the ship and follow you."
"You do that, I'll keep an eye out for you," Elek replied and stepped into the airlock. He watched as Angel moved off and the door swung shut. By the time he made it to the bridge, she was already safe beyond the door to the hanger. As he strapped himself in, the light flicked to red, indicating that the doors were opening. In moments, he was able to back out of the hatch and fly off, activating his hyperdrive as soon as he had clearance.