Disclaimer: I only steal from Saban because I like the characters so much. It's no excuse, but it is a bizarre form of flattery…

Liberation
by Starhawk

Phantom blinked as the deep red color of teleportation faded from his sight. Around him, the features of the Delta Megaship came into view--darker than he remembered, and he wondered if the Astro Rangers kept the ship on standby when not in use.

Then something more than the dimness registered, and he frowned. "Why the Control Room?" he asked, looking around the small space in which they found themselves.

"Delta Megaship, lift off," Andros ordered. He addressed, not the computer, as Phantom would have expected, but the Battlelizer on his wrist.

They could all hear the engines come online, but the Control Room had no viewscreen on which to monitor their progress through the atmosphere. Andros gave Phantom with a puzzled look. "Where else would we go?"

*Did I miss something?* "The… Bridge?" Phantom suggested hesitantly, wondering if something had happened that he didn't know about.

"There's a Bridge?" TJ asked, with a straight face and curious tone. If he was joking, he was doing a superb job.

Phantom looked at Cassie, but she seemed as genuinely surprised as the rest of them. "It is a spaceship," he said slowly, still unconvinced that they were serious. "It has to have a center of operations."

Andros shrugged. "I assumed that was the Control Room. This is where you sent me with the activation disk."

"Because this is the most secure location on the ship," Phantom agreed, trying not to show his dawning amusement. "And it is possible to run the entire ship from here--but it was not designed to always be so controlled."

He turned his head to speak directly to the computer. "KERI, transfer the four of us to the Bridge."

There was no answer, and the uncertainty swept over him again. After all, this had been their ship for months--perhaps they had programmed it to respond only to the Astro Rangers' voices.

"Who's Keri?" Cassie asked, breaking the silence.

The look he gave her must have been one of pure amazement, for she folded her arms across her chest defensively and glanced at TJ. The Blue Ranger shrugged.

"KERI is the onboard computer," Phantom said at last, feeling as though he were in another alternate dimension. "Surely you have interacted with her before."

At that, Andros shifted uncomfortably. "We never had any reason to activate the computer. We've always controlled the Delta Megaship with the Battlelizer."

Phantom tried not to choke. "You operated the entire ship by remote control? Constantly?" The Delta Megaship had a sophisticated autopilot, but that was ridiculous.

Andros nodded, glancing at the Battlelizer on his right wrist.

"I didn't even know the Delta Megaship had an artificial intelligence," TJ put in.

"Me neither," Cassie agreed. "It's always worked fine the way it is."

Phantom was silent for a moment, wondering how to ask without making it sound condescending. "Do you--wish this situation to continue?"

Andros shrugged, looking a little chagrinned. "To be honest, I'm not sure how to change it. But Ashley and I agreed yesterday that it would be a help to have a second computer system…"

He looked over at the others. Both TJ and Cassie nodded, which Phantom took for group consensus. Walking over to the front of the room, he paused beside the diskreader and reached for his ruby.

Stone clenched tightly in his hand, he hesitated--then, taking a deep breath, he pulled the chain off over his head. He heard a surprised inhalation from behind him, and felt the familiar psychological twinge as he removed the crystal. It was hard to depend on it so much, but the alternative--

He pushed that thought away. Tapping a few controls, he triggered the Delta Megaship's activation code. A scanning beam emanated from the console, and he placed the ruby in its path.

The violet light of the beam flashed blue when it touched the stone, and Phantom glanced over his shoulder. "Cassie, may I borrow your morpher?"

She removed it and pressed it into his hand without question, and he saw TJ and Andros exchange looks. Only then did he realize that he probably ought to have asked for Andros's morpher… but Cassie had been closer, and it was too late now.

He set Cassie's morpher next to his Power crystal, and the scanning beam turned green. "It requires at least two Power signatures to confirm the activation code," he explained, laying his hand on the console. "Please put your hand next to your morpher so the computer does not think I stole it from you."

She smiled as she did as she was told, and he found himself watching the way her lips curved and remembering how they had felt on his. It had been so hard to let her go after the Megaship crash-landed…

He gave his head a shake, and looked back down at the control panel in front of them. It had confirmed the presence of two holders of the Power, and the end of the sequence ran past almost too quickly for the eye to follow.

"The onboard computer is online and activated," a female voice announced suddenly. Then the tone changed slightly as it added, "I am KERI, fluent in over four thousand forms of communications and capable of navigating ninety percent of the known universe. I am responsible for the everyday operation of all vital systems on this ship."

He was aware that the others were listening to the recitation, but he couldn't help noticing how gentle Cassie's hand looked resting on the console. It was all too easy to remember her hands--

*Focus,* he demanded silently, annoyed when the panel in front of him blurred for a second. These thoughts of her didn't surprise him; indeed, he was used to them--but it did bother him that they were distracting him to this degree.

*Tired,* his mind supplied, and he sighed without realizing it. He *was* tired, and the separation from his crystal, brief though it was, wasn't helping.

"Hey," Cassie said quietly, touching his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Strangely enough, the question--or her touch--cleared his mind a little, and he nodded at her. Her gaze continued to be skeptical, however, and she picked up his ruby from the console. "Don't move," she warned, and she lifted the chain as though she didn't trust him to put it on himself.

He closed his eyes as the ruby slid into place around his neck, wanting to watch Cassie but knowing that she was too close for his peace of mind right now. "KERI," he said, repeating his earlier command as he felt Cassie step away, "transfer the four of us to the Bridge."

When he opened his eyes again, they were standing in the well-lit command center of the Delta Megaship. The Astro Rangers were looking around in amazement, as though it had never occurred to them that such a place would exist. Cassie, in particular, had an expression of delighted awe on her face, and it made him smile to see it.

Andros got over his surprise the quickest, and within moments, he was at the scanner controls. "KERI, scan for signs of interdimensional distortion."

"Multiple distortions located," KERI replied immediately, and it was no wonder. Considering their position relative to Divatox's army, they had to be almost on top of the distortions.

TJ was at Andros's side in seconds. "Is there any way to identify the ship that Carlos and I were on? Ours was the only steady signal--it has to have been Zordon."

Andros nodded in agreement. "If I can link up with DECA from here, we should be able to download the power signature from their engines and match it to one of the ships in the fleet."

"I have established a link," KERI said, as the two Rangers started to blur together. Phantom blinked, and this time he felt the Power respond, clearing his vision and boosting his energy level a little.

Cassie had joined the other Rangers by now, and was pointing at something on the control panel between the three of them. "I'm dumping those coordinates into the nav computer. Andros, can you get us there in one piece?"

"Of course," Andros answered, sounding a little miffed.

"I think she's referring to that so-called landing of yours a couple of hours ago," TJ offered, obviously amused.

Already at the pilot's station, Andros gave them his characteristic irritated look over his shoulder. "*You* try setting down with only one thruster."

Without waiting for a reply, he engaged the lightspeed engines and announced unnecessarily, "We're leaving orbit."

"KERI, initiate the EM cloak," Phantom said, and to his ears his voice seemed to come from some distance away.

"EM cloak?" TJ repeated, but it was Cassie whose gaze locked with Phantom's. Looking up from the scanners, she seemed to see straight through him, and he knew she'd noticed his growing detachment.

She put a hand on TJ's shoulder, then stepped away from the console and started toward Phantom. TJ looked puzzled, but he busied himself with some aspect of the scanner readout and said nothing.

This time, things didn't just blur, they *moved*, and the Power did not help. He put a hand out to steady himself, and found Cassie beside him. The moment she took his hand, the room steadied again, but he let her guide him to a chair anyway. It did feel good to sit down, and better to have her fingers entwined with his, so he did not protest.

"Was it taking your ruby off, or are you just tired?" she whispered.

"A combination of the two," he said quietly, though he knew that such a short time without his ruby would never have affected him if his energy hadn't been so depleted already. "Mostly tired."

She leaned back against the auxiliary consoles, and her uniform stretched taut across her legs. *Not tired enough to ignore how attractive you are, though,* he thought wryly, trying to convince himself not to stare.

"I can't say I'm surprised," she said, startling him out of his reflections. Her soft tone was tinged with asperity. "One day of sleep can't make up for weeks without it."

"How did--" He shook his head. *I have to stop asking her that.*

She answered anyway, and it was not quite what he expected. "The logs on your starfighter told me," Cassie told him. "I accessed them by accident--you don't take very good care of yourself, do you?"

He assumed the question was rhetorical, but he was still glad that Andros prevented him from having to reply. "I'm bringing us out of hyperspace," the Red Ranger said, and Phantom looked up in time to see the simulated starlines disappear from the screen.

In their place, Divatox's fleet swarmed into being around the Delta Megaship. He saw the other Rangers tense, and he squeezed Cassie's hand reassuringly. The cloak would hide them from the fleet's scanners, and, despite the viewscreen's magnification, none of the ships were close enough to catch a glimpse of them by simply looking out a window.

"I've got it," TJ told them, tapping the console in front of him. "I'm downloading the coordinates into our morphers now."

Cassie glanced down as her morpher flashed a confirmation of the data, but Andros paid no attention. "TJ," he said, and the Blue Ranger looked up just as Andros tossed a handheld scanner in his direction. "You were over there last time--you and I will go, determine Zordon's location, and see how hard it's going to be to free him."

TJ nodded, and Andros glanced over at the other two Rangers. His eyes slid across Phantom and came to rest on Cassie. Phantom tried not to take offense--he was still unmorphed, and he couldn't expect the others to be comfortable with someone who appeared as a stranger to them. Besides, Cassie was part of the team. *How well do I know any of them, really?*

Andros was saying something, and Phantom realized that he'd just missed almost all of the Red Ranger's instructions to Cassie. *Or maybe,* he thought ruefully, seeing Cassie nod, *Andros knows as well as she does that I'm not very alert right now.* The last thing they needed was another disaster like the one that had made them abort their rescue mission last time.

"Good luck," Cassie told them.

TJ gave her a half-smile. "Thanks--I think we'll need it."

He and Andros exchanged glances, then simultaneously extended their right hands. "Let's Rocket!"

Flashes of blue and red obscured their forms for a moment. As the light faded, two morphed Rangers appeared in their place. Then the two touched their morphers, and they were gone again--the sparkles of teleportation fell to the ground and vanished, leaving Cassie and Phantom alone on the Bridge.

Phantom turned where he sat to track their progress on the auxiliary scanner console, but she caught his hand as he reached out to touch the controls. "I'm on it," Cassie said, nudging him out of the way. "Just relax."

"I wish to help," he protested, hoping his voice didn't sound as plaintive as he suspected it did.

"Well, *I* don't wish you to help," she told him, smiling to take the sting out of her words. "I don't want you to collapse on me again, so take it easy."

"I should have stayed on the Megaship, for all the assistance I am providing," he muttered.

Cassie shrugged, frowning at the console. "Maybe. But then the Delta Megaship would still be running on automatic, and if you ask me, having KERI activated increases our chances."

He watched her bring up an image of Andros and TJ on the smaller screen set into the wall. "I can not believe you ran the Delta Megaship on remote control alone for so long."

She paused long enough to raise an eyebrow at him. "You didn't exactly leave us an instruction manual."

"Cassie." TJ's voice, pitched low but amplified by the speakers to an easily audible volume, intruded before Phantom could reply. "We're following the distortion, and from the information you guys brought back, I think we're heading for the ship's central work bay."

Cassie switched to an external view of the ship they were on, and after a moment, the scanners managed to penetrate the hull. "That's what it looks like from here, too," she agreed, studying the vague layout now displayed on the screen. "I've got a sketchy map here; I'm going to try and download it to your scanner."

Her tone was confident, but Phantom saw her hesitate. "Here," he said quietly, tapping the console. The commands were familiar, despite spending the past few months on a starfighter, and the message "Download complete" appeared after a minute.

"Thanks," she said, with a smile that could make anything worthwhile. "Do you have that, TJ?"

"Yeah," the Blue Ranger's voice answered. "We're--" He cut off abruptly, and Cassie used the link KERI had with the scanner to bring up the interior shot again. It showed both Rangers ducking out of the hallway they were in, and Phantom could only assume that they had encountered pirahnatrons.

"Come on, guys," Cassie whispered, and he looked over to see her staring intently at the screen. "Don't get caught."

He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what to say. It had been so long since he had had anyone to worry about; he couldn't remember the words. *If there ever were any,* he thought suddenly, still gazing at her worried expression.

Then TJ snapped the scanner shut, and KERI lost the visual. Cassie sighed, looking away from the screen and catching his eye. He tried to smile. "They'll be all right," Phantom promised, more to cheer her up than anything else.

"I know." She glanced involuntarily at her morpher. "They can call for help if they get into serious trouble. But that doesn't make not knowing any easier."

Hearing the echo of the same words she had said to him earlier, he winced. For once, though, she didn't notice. Instead, she walked around him to call up something on the auxiliary navigation console, and he breathed silent thanks that she didn't seem inclined to pursue the subject.

"We're pacing the fleet," Cassie said abruptly. "We're probably out of range of the Megaship's scanners by now, but we should still be able to contact them if we have to."

"Except that that would mean breaking radio silence," he pointed out tiredly, gazing at the image of the fleet now displayed on the viewscreen.

She put a hand on his shoulder, and he could hear the amusement in her voice as she said, "Which would give away our position; I know. I was just making conversation."

He turned his head, surprised, and she patted his shoulder. "For someone who's exhausted, you're incredibly tense," she remarked absently.

He nodded without meaning to. He was not used to being unmorphed around others, and it was more stressful than he had expected. The other Rangers didn't seem to know exactly how to respond to him anymore, and he felt a little lost himself. But he couldn't tell her that when it obviously meant so much to her that he not morph.

"I am just worried about your friends," he said at last, hoping that was enough of the truth that she wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't the *whole* truth.

If she knew, she didn't mention it. She did put a hand on his other shoulder, though, and he knew what she meant to do before she asked, "Do you mind?"

He hesitated, knowing he shouldn't let her do it. It would either distract him to the point where he couldn't think, or relax him enough that he wouldn't be able to keep from falling asleep. But frankly, he was too tired to care anymore.

"Saryn?" Cassie asked again, and he smiled involuntarily at the sound of his name on her lips.

"I do not mind," he answered finally, and her fingers began to knead the too-tight muscles of his shoulders and upper back. He bit his lip to keep from crying out. It felt *good*--he hadn't realized how tense he really was until now.

"Thank you," he whispered, letting his eyes slide shut.

"Anytime," Cassie answered quietly. Her hands pressed against his back, warm and soothing, and he barely noticed as sleep stole in and claimed him.

***

*Her arms slid forward over his shoulders, and her hands began to run teasingly across his chest… As he turned his head toward her, she was there to kiss away his protests and press her body close, answering his unspoken need with a hunger of her own--*

He came awake with a start, sitting upright and staring around the Bridge with uncomprehending eyes. Cassie looked up from where she stood at the main scanner console and smiled at him. "You all right?"

He swallowed, aware of the swiftness of his own breath and the pounding of his heart. "I--I must have dozed off," he muttered, unable to meet her gaze.

"I figured as much," she said dryly. "It's okay; you haven't missed anything. Andros and TJ are inside the work bay, up on one of those catwalks we saw. They can see Zordon from where they are, but Andros is afraid he may be surrounded by some kind of anti-scan shielding. He and TJ are recalibrating the scanner now to make sure it doesn't set off any alarms when they turn it on the time warp."

"That is… good," he managed, watching her hands move over the console. *Gods,* he thought, frustrated with his inability to get his mind off of her. *Her teammates are over there, risking their lives for Zordon, and all I can think about is her.*

Cassie was frowning at him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

To his horror, she came out from behind the console and started to walk toward him. "Yes," he lied hastily. "I am fine."

She was not deterred. Coming to stand beside him, she laid a hand on his forehead, and he closed his eyes. "You feel a little warm," she said, and he tried to stifle a chuckle. That dream had been real enough to make his pulse race, and with her standing so close, "a little warm" didn't begin to describe it.

Her gentle kiss startled him, and his eyes flew open. "You looked like you needed it," she offered with a smile, by way of explanation.

*You have no idea,* he thought, staring into her eyes.

Something in his expression must have communicated itself to her, for her smile faded slowly. Leaning forward, she kissed him again, more seriously this time, and he tried very hard not to let it affect him.

But his efforts were in vain, and in moments he was returning her kiss--with far less control than he had planned. Her hands pressed against his shoulders, and he stood, drawn irresistibly closer to her as their lips melded together.

Far from objecting, she clutched his tunic and leaned into him, making his skin burn everywhere she touched. He let his arms slide around her, holding her tight against him as her tongue sought entry into his mouth. *If she's inexperienced,* the thought sprang unbidden to his feverish mind, *I may not survive once she knows what she's doing…*

The idea of teaching her made him tremble, and he ran one hand up her spine to caress her neck as their kiss intensified. She imitated his action, and he moaned, unable to believe how the simple touch drove him out of his mind. *Gods, she learns fast,* he thought, almost incoherently.

He knew he was out of control and didn't care--until she withdrew her hands and pushed against his chest. She looked down, effectively breaking their kiss, and he found himself kissing her forehead, her temple, anywhere she would allow.

"Please, stop," she whispered, pushing harder.

His body screamed at him not to listen to her, and he actually hesitated, hating himself for it even as it happened. Pulling away was the hardest thing he had ever done, but he managed, stepping back and clenching his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her again.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, not lifting her eyes. "But I'm--" she was breathing as hard as he was, and she had to pause several times just to inhale. "I'm backup for… TJ and Andros, and… I should be monitoring them."

"I understand," he said, going to stroke her hair and stopping himself with an effort. "*I'm* sorry," he added. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the urge to wrap her in his arms no matter her protests and never let go. "I should not have--gone so far."

"No--" She looked up at that. "It was my fault… you're tired, and I shouldn't have done that to you."

He closed his eyes on her appealing figure, not sure he could only look. "I *am* tired," he agreed, his frustration resurfacing. "I'm tired of missing you, Cassie. I'm tired of not being with you… and I'm tired of wanting you so much that when I *am* with you I can't think of anything else!"

When she didn't answer, he opened his eyes again, watching expressions flicker across her face almost too quickly to read. She was startled at first, then apology took its place--followed by one he had not expected to see: agreement. "I know," she said softly. "I feel like that, too."

*Then why?* his mind cried. *How could we let so much time pass without speaking?* But he knew why--because he had not believed she could love him. Because he had not trusted what he had seen in her eyes every time they met.

"Tonight?" she said, very quietly, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes. She held her right hand up, open, in front of her.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was offering. "Tonight," he breathed, barely daring to believe what she was saying. He clasped her hand with his, and she leaned over their joined hands to kiss him lightly.

"Cassie!" TJ's voice over KERI's speakers made them both jump. He drew in an unsteady breath as she let go of his hand and hurried back to the scanner console.

"Something's wrong with Andros," the Blue Ranger hissed over the comm link, alarm in his tone. Cassie went to bring the interior visual back, all her attention now on her teammates as he tried to calm his heart and focus on the issues at hand.

When the main viewscreen flickered, it was suddenly easier--for there, in the shadows of a catwalk nearly buried against the work bay wall, the Red Ranger was on his knees, hands clutched to either side of his head. TJ was at his side, astroblaster out and ready as he glanced over his shoulder.

"What happened?" Cassie demanded, even as she instructed KERI to lock on to Andros's morpher.

TJ shook his head, turning so his back was to Andros and he could see in both directions down the catwalk. "I don't know! One minute he was fine, and then--"

"I'm bringing him back," Cassie cut him off. "I'll be over in his place in a moment, Teej."

"Right." TJ shot one more worried look at Andros before the sparkle of teleportation carried the Red Ranger away.

In a shower of red, Andros appeared on the Bridge, still hunched low to the floor. Phantom ignored the brief dizziness that abrupt motion caused to go to his side, falling to one knee to gaze into the Ranger's expressionless visor. "Andros?"

To his surprise, the red uniform disappeared instantly, and the look on the other's face was one of concentration, not pain. Eyes closed, hands still holding his head, Andros muttered, "It's Zhane…"

The words startled Phantom even more than Andros's appearance, for that was a name he had never thought to hear the Red Ranger speak again. He looked up as Cassie joined them, a frown on her face. "What's 'zhane'?"

He glanced back at Andros, but he did not seem inclined to reply. His eyes moved behind his eyelids, and Phantom could only wonder what the other Ranger was seeing. "Zhane was a friend of his, from KO-35," he told Cassie. "I had thought him dead for several years…"

Andros must have been aware of them, somehow, for as Phantom watched he shook his head slightly. "Not dead," he murmured. "Suspended. He's--he's waking up, now."

"How does he know?" Cassie whispered.

"Andros's people are selectively telepathic," Phantom answered quietly, looking up at her. "You did not know?"

Her wide eyes were answer enough for him. "No…" She glanced back at the screen. "I have to go--you'll make sure he's all right?"

Phantom nodded. "Of course." He touched Andros's shoulder briefly, then stood for a moment to look her in the eye. "Please be careful, Cassie."

"I will," she promised. "Cross your fingers for us."

The words were strange, but he understood the sentiment. "I have faith," he told her quietly.

She smiled. "Me too." She morphed before his eyes, and teleported out within seconds. He let himself watch her arrival on the other ship via the viewscreen, then turned back to Andros.

The Red Ranger's eyes were open and clear now--more than clear; they actually seemed a little too bright. When he saw Phantom looking at him, he stood, catching the console to steady himself. Phantom offered his hand automatically, but Andros shook his head.

"I'm all right. Zhane--" His gaze unfocused for a minute, and he stopped talking.

Phantom waited, not wanting to say anything until he knew what was happening. He recognized that particular look from times past, when Andros would speak mentally with his partner and closest friend. But Phantom had believed that bond severed by death two years ago, and he did not wish to bring up anything that could hurt the other Ranger.

"Zhane's awake," Andros said, and Phantom suddenly realized he was trying--for the second time today--not to cry.

"We finished the scanner modifications," Cassie's voice interrupted. "We're going to try it on Zordon's time warp now."

Phantom walked around the main scanner console, keeping an eye on Andros as he did so. Tapping a few commands into the control panel, Phantom spoke into the link that had activated as soon as Cassie contacted them. "KERI has a lock on both your morphers--if there is any trouble, we will be able to teleport you back here immediately."

"I thought you had faith," Cassie replied wryly.

"I do have faith," he retorted. "I also have a sense of paranoia that has kept me alive on more than one occasion."

He heard the smile in her voice as she conceded, "Fair enough."

She nodded to TJ, and the scanner swung across the work bay to zero in on the interdimensional time warp that sat at the heart of the vast chamber. Phantom found himself holding his breath as he waited for something to happen, and he saw Andros move around the console to join him.

After a seemingly interminable pause, the readout on the console in front of them started registering incoming data on the time warp. Phantom relaxed just a little, and made sure KERI was recording everything TJ's scanner transmitted to the Delta Megaship.

The readout staticked without warning, and Phantom leaned forward. "There is a problem with the data flow," he told them, just as TJ exclaimed quietly.

"The lava in Zordon's tube is interfering with our readings," the Blue Ranger muttered. "The evil energy already in the time warp is making it hard to get an accurate scan."

"Can you compensate?" Phantom asked, watching the data transfer slow as the readout flickered again.

"Yes," TJ's voice came back. "But it's going to be a minute before we know exactly what we're looking at."

Phantom took the opportunity to glance over at Andros again. The Red Ranger gave every appearance of paying attention, but there was something wrong about the way he was gazing at the uplink data. Then it dawned on him--Andros's eyes weren't moving. *He is not actually reading the information,* Phantom realized.

"How's Andros?" Cassie asked, and he smiled at the echo of his own thoughts.

Andros blinked at the sound of his name, and he looked up. "I'm okay," he told the air, but he did not elaborate.

There was a pause, and the background noise coming from the speakers was suddenly muffled. The scanner was at such an angle that he could see Cassie turn toward TJ, and when KERI's speakers still remained silent, Phantom knew what must have happened. Cassie had to have muted her communicator, and was no doubt relaying what little she knew of Andros's current state to her friend.

He shot a look in Andros's direction, wondering if he had noticed. The Red Ranger's glazed expression said he had not, but as Phantom watched, Andros refocused on him. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's been a long time since I've spoken this way, and it takes more concentration than it used to."

"It is all right," Phantom assured him. "Your friend--is alive?"

A smile crept across Andros's face, and he nodded incrementally. "He's alive."

Phantom recognized the signs of barely contained emotion in his longtime acquaintance, and he felt a return smile in his own expression. The console flashed "Data transfer complete" before he could say anything, though, and he turned his attention back to the other ship.

The comm link was abruptly unmuted, and Cassie's whisper came through loud and clear. "Are those what I think they are?"

Not privy to the conversation up to that point, Phantom assumed the comment had been directed at TJ. That assumption was confirmed a moment later, when TJ's voice answer grimly, "Teleportation locks."

Phantom brought up the specs that had just been uploaded to KERI's main data banks. As the others had observed, there were four teleportation locks attached at intervals to Zordon's tube--more than enough to keep the interdimensional being confined to a single point in space-time.

"We have to take them out," Cassie stated, looking away from the scanner to gaze out across the work bay.

"No kidding," TJ agreed wryly. "But the question is whether Zordon has enough power left to teleport out of there once we do."

"Can the Delta Megaship teleport him if he doesn't?" Cassie wanted to know.

There was a pause while Phantom considered the logistics of that. "We have no suitable containment facilities here," he said at last. "KERI, what is the nearest planet with an active time warp?"

"The planet closet to our present location with the ability to support interdimensional visitors is Aquitar," the computer replied calmly.

Phantom winced. *Aquitar is a long way from here.* "We might be able to get him there, but it will strain our systems--I suspect we will lose teleportation entirely."

No one spoke for a moment. They all knew what that would mean for the two Rangers still on board the alien ship. "For how long?" TJ asked finally.

"Indefinitely," Phantom answered. "You would need to return to the Delta Megaship before we attempted to teleport Zordon, or risk imprisonment by Divatox."

"But we can do that," Cassie said. "As soon as the locks are broken, we'll teleport back--there's no way Divatox's army can get the restraints back in place in the time it will take the two of us to return."

"*You* will not teleport back," Phantom said firmly. "*I* will teleport you, as soon as the locks are disabled. It is quicker and far less dangerous to rely on KERI than it is to do it yourself in the middle of a battle."

"All right," TJ said impatiently. "Then let's do it."

He and Cassie conferred for another few minutes, debating the best way to reach Zordon's time warp and disable the locks. Phantom contributed once or twice, but he could hear the efficiency of their interaction, and he was forced to admit that there was little more he could add.

"Okay," Cassie said finally, and TJ held out his open hand, chest high, to her. She clasped it, and Phantom's eyes widened. Minus the kiss, that was exactly the gesture Cassie had offered him earlier.

"Let's go." They nodded to each other and turned to face the work bay. Stepping forward, both Rangers flipped over the edge of the catwalk, leaping at least eight meters to the ground below.

Their action drew the attention of nearly every pirahnatron in the bay, but the two Rangers hit the deck running and made it a substantial distance before being intercepted. Even then, their momentum carried them through the first dozen or so soldiers, slowing only as they were overwhelmed.

*Another twenty meters,* Phantom guessed, watching the main screen intently. They would have to make it another twenty meters before they were within the optimal firing range of their astroblasters.

Though the two had planned to stay as close together as possible, Phantom could see Cassie slowly being forced away from her teammate. He was about to say something, for it was more serious than not having someone nearby to back her up. The two Rangers had only a ten meter corridor to either side of their current position, narrowing as they approached the time warp, before they were at such an angle that it would be impossible to hit all four of the locks.

Before Phantom could speak, though, TJ's axe appeared in his hand, and he yelled to Cassie to close up. She dove forward, hitting the ground in a roll that seemed to be a favorite move of hers. She came up with her Satellite Stunner in hand, and between their two weapons, she and TJ managed fight their way back together.

Back to back, the two Rangers took all comers, gaining ground slowly but certainly. The "slowly" part worried Phantom, though--the longer this took, the more time for Divatox to be informed and reinforcements to arrive.

Cassie knocked a quantron to the ground, and TJ turned, reaching out to her. Springing forward, she let him grab her waist and lift her off the ground. In what was obviously a well-rehearsed maneuver, he spun into his own attacker and she kicked with both feet, sending the fish being flying into another soldier.

She used her outward momentum and a little help from TJ to launch herself after the pirahnatron. But those in front of her cleared out of the way just a little too quickly, and Phantom saw the cargohauler coming through only a split-second before she did--not enough time for a warning.

TJ was there instead, knocking her out of the way. His arm was around the Pink Ranger's shoulders as they fell, and Phantom was suddenly aware of Andros's gaze on him. He wasn't sure when his hands had clenched into fists, but his tension was obvious to the other Ranger.

"They'll be all right," Andros said, quietly enough that it wouldn't carry over the open comm link.

Phantom nodded. "That's what I tell myself." He watched Cassie pull her fellow Ranger to his feet, and saw TJ put a hand on her shoulder before turning back to the pirahnatrons surrounding them. "But it is not what concerns me."

As soon as the words were out, he regretted them. What should concern him more than their safety, after all? But he couldn't help noticing the rapport between the two Rangers, a familiarity that he knew he didn't have with her. TJ's words haunted him again: "I've been there when she needed someone…"

"TJ?" Andros guessed, and the fact that he knew immediately what Phantom was talking about troubled him further. "They're best friends, Phantom; they have been since before I knew them. But that's all."

"So he says," Phantom agreed, knowing how jealous he sounded and hating it.

Andros shook his head. "If you don't trust her--what's the point?"

He looked away from the screen, startled, and Andros shrugged. "It's something Ashley would say," the Red Ranger said self-consciously.

Phantom thought about that, turning his gaze back to the battle taking place on the viewscreen. "She is wise," he said softly, after a moment.

Andros didn't answer, and Phantom looked sideways to see his gaze unfocused again and his face drained of all color. "What is wrong?" he demanded.

"Ash?" Andros whispered.

"What?" Phantom recognized the Yellow Ranger's nickname, but Andros had said it as though he were speaking to her.

Andros shook his head. His face was still pale, but his gaze was on the viewscreen again. "Nothing--I'll tell you later. Those two are going to need to come back *soon*."

Phantom let the contradiction pass as he followed Andros's gaze. "They are not close enough--"

He cut off as he saw Cassie raise her astroblaster. "She can *not* make that shot," he whispered, unable to believe she was going to try.

TJ kept the pirahnatrons at bay as she aimed, bracing the blaster on her left arm as she sited down the barrel. She fired, readjusted her aim, and fired again--Phantom could only stare as the two topmost teleportation locks were vaporized, leaving Zordon's tube unscathed.

"KERI," Andros snapped. "Lock onto the Blue and Pink astromorphers."

A single pirahnatron made it past TJ, slapping Cassie's astroblaster out of her hand. She dealt it a palm-heel strike that sent it to the floor, and leapt forward to knock another soldier away from TJ. "Cassie!" he shouted, and she looked up.

He tossed his own blaster in her direction, and she caught it out of the air with one hand. Once more, she counted on him to defend her, while her world narrowed to only target and trigger. TJ did not let her down.

Phantom watched in amazement as first one lock and then the next flared and vanished from the time warp's containment vessel. His hand shot out, hitting the control panel with the same accuracy that had just released Zordon from his imprisonment, and TJ and Cassie became colored comets' tails flitting across the void.

Even as the two reformed on the Delta Megaship's Bridge, Andros was reorienting KERI's teleportation lock. "Teleportation sequence ready," the onboard computer announced.

"Look!"

Phantom tore his eyes away from the console to look in the direction Cassie was pointing. "An energy surge has been detected within the enemy ship," KERI said, completely unnecessarily.

On the main viewscreen, now displaying an exterior view of the ship Cassie and TJ had just returned from, the signature glow of interdimensional teleportation was impossible to miss. White light fountained from the middle of the ship as goodness once more prevailed, streaking across the interstellar backdrop like a rainbow in search of a sky.

Then the flaring luminescence of Zordon's passage was gone. Cassie and TJ demorphed without ceremony, both still staring out at the stars. "He did it," Cassie whispered.

"We *all* did it," TJ said, clapping her shoulder. She smiled, and Phantom felt the jealousy stab at his heart again.

"KERI, turn this ship around," Andros said fervently.

"Yeah," TJ agreed, joining the Red Ranger. "Let's get out of here."

As the computer complied, and the viewscreen filled with starlines, Phantom felt Cassie's quiet presence at his side. He turned his head and found her regarding him with fond smile. In that moment, he was convinced she knew everything he had ever thought--and it was all forgiven. He fumbled for her hand, and she twined her fingers through his.