Disclaimer: I owe Saban thanks, for creating the Power Rangers, and Dawn as well, for her insight into TJ's character. Thanks! :)

Alone
by Starhawk

On board a ship almost exactly like the one he'd just left, TJ stood just outside the open doors to the Bridge. They had tracked the signal from Cassie's morpher to this location--but as he had feared, Cassie didn't seem to be anywhere in the vicinity. Inside, Divatox's voice was ranting over the comm channel while the ship's commander cringed in the face of her wrath. 

"What do you mean, you LET her get AWAY?!" the space pirate shrieked at the top of her lungs. "How much trouble can one little Ranger be? What are you DOING over there--SLEEPING!?" 

*Well, she hasn't changed,* TJ reflected, looking toward Carlos. The Black Ranger held a position identical to TJ's, on the opposite side of the doors. He cocked his head toward the sound of their old rival's temper tantrum, and TJ nodded. 

Holding up three fingers, Carlos started a silent countdown. TJ tensed, and when the last finger went down, the two of them swung around the doorframe and lunged onto the Bridge. TJ took out the communications console as soon as he had a clear shot, and Divatox's furious expression vanished from the forward viewscreen. 

Meanwhile, Carlos rained blaster fire on the pirahnatrons, who still didn't seem to be able to grasp what was happening. The ship's commander was yelling at them from where he cowered beneath one of the consoles, to little effect. Pirahnatrons simply weren't equipped for initiative, and they didn't respond well to situations that hadn't been planned out in advance. 

TJ fired several more times, more to add to the chaos than with the intent of actually hitting anything. But Carlos had sufficiently intimidated the Bridge crew, and as their blaster fire trailed off, TJ strode toward the commander with no fear of being stopped. 

Thus far, he had kept images of Cassie, unconscious or imprisoned somewhere, out of his mind by concentrating only on the action around him. Now, however, the Bridge was almost silent as he paced across its length, and he couldn't forget that it was her life at stake if he and Carlos failed. 

The being quivered beneath his console, and TJ ground to a halt directly in front of him, siting down his astroblaster at the alien's face. "Tell me where the Pink Ranger is," he growled, not in the mood for anything more civil. 

The commander stuttered something incoherent, and TJ shifted impatiently. Cocking his blaster, he demanded, "Tell me!" 

"TJ," Carlos's voice cut in. "Over here." 

His glare, still focused on the commander's face, didn't lessen. "What did you find?" 

"There's a disturbance two decks down," Carlos answered, and TJ risked a look over his shoulder. Carlos stood at one of the control panels, apparently reading a status report from elsewhere on the ship. 

"Cassie?" TJ asked, backing away from the commander but keeping his astroblaster at the ready. 

Even from where he stood, he caught the "duh" look Carlos sent in his direction. "Who else would dare, on one of Divatox's ships?" 

"Right." TJ scanned the Bridge, saw Carlos hold up Cassie's morpher, and nodded. "What are we going to do with them?" 

"Lock 'em in," Carlos opined. "With the comm system down, what are they going to do?" 

Ready to be gone, TJ just nodded again. "Suits me. Let's get going."  

Before he followed Carlos, though, he sent a single parting shot in the commander's direction. The blast impacted centimeters from the being's head, and the alien flinched. "If she's hurt…" TJ let the threat hang in the air, and he saw the commander gulp. 

Hurrying after Carlos, he saw the Black Ranger's head turn briefly in his direction. The other Ranger must have thought better of whatever he was going to say, however, for he was silent as TJ joined him in the corridor. Realigning his astroblaster, TJ's teammate took out the door mechanism with one shot, and the Bridge automatically sealed itself off from the hallway in which they stood. 

TJ was already moving down the hallway. Carlos caught up wordlessly, handheld scanner out and blinking Cassie's current location at them. "I downloaded their sensor parameters into the scanner," he explained when TJ gave him a surprised look. "I thought it would be handy to have a non-static location on her." 

TJ nodded. "Good thinking." *I'm glad *one* of us is,* he added silently, aware that he was not at his most rational right now. 

Carlos's sensor download had the added benefit of giving them a sketchy layout of the ship's interior, and they were able to reach their destination more quickly than TJ had expected. Nonetheless, by the time they reached the location of the original disturbance, the scene was quiet. 

TJ caught the sounds of a firefight further down the hall, even as Carlos tapped the scanner and pointed in the same direction. They crept toward the noise, senses alert and astroblasters ready.

The stealth proved unnecessary--the pirahnatrons weren't expecting trouble from behind, especially on their own ship. As TJ and Carlos rounded the last corner, they came upon the alien fish clustered around a doorway that was being well defended from the inside. The pirahnatrons didn't even look around, until the first blast from TJ's sidearm. 

Half of them swarmed forward to deal with this new threat, while the others maintained their siege on the occupants of the room. "TJ!" Carlos yelled. "I'll hold them off; you get Cassie and Phantom!" 

It occurred to TJ only then to wonder what had happened to Phantom. Divatox had spoken of only one Ranger while she was ranting at the ship's commander. And to damage a homing device badly enough that it would stop transmitting would require, from most energy weapons he was familiar with at least, a direct hit… 

Ducking past the pirahnatrons, he heard Carlos shout, "Lunar Lance!"  

TJ smiled grimly as he raised his blaster. The Black Ranger's weapon of choice would be the end of a good number of pirahnatrons today--*and the rest,* he thought, slowing his pace enough to aim, *are mine.* 

The pirahnatrons in the doorway separated as he opened fire, shuffling in either direction, some on both sides of the portal as they frantically tried to find cover. The crossfire worked phenomenally well to reduce their numbers--better than it should have, in fact--and, watching the pattern of assault from within the room, TJ concluded that there was more than one person shooting in there. 

That in itself boded well, and he was almost sure he could distinguish the high-pitched whine of Cassie's Satellite Stunner amid the fighting. Still, even knowing how dangerous it would be to try and get through the door right now, it was an effort for TJ to remain where he was until the last pirahnatrons turned and ran. 

Once they were gone, though, he ran through the doorway without a second thought--and found himself staring down the barrel of Cassie's stunner. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, throwing both arms out to the side. "It's just me, Cassie!" 

The stunner wavered, then clattered to the floor. She came out from behind the console she must have been using for cover and, without a word, threw her arms around him. TJ hugged back, silently offering thanks that she was all right. 

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," Cassie said at last, stepping back. 

"I think I can guess," TJ replied, his gaze taking in her weary expression and disheveled uniform. Movement behind her caught his eye, and for the first time he noticed the person who must have been the second source of fire from within the room. 

A dark-haired boy leaned heavily on the console, blaster clutched tightly in one hand. His head was bowed, but his stance spoke eloquently of pain and fatigue. 

TJ nodded in his direction. "Who's your friend?" he asked quietly. 

Cassie followed his gaze, then shot TJ a startled look as she went to help her companion, stopping only to pick up her stunner. "You don't recognize him?" 

Now that TJ thought about it, the weapon he held did look somewhat familiar, but after a certain amount of time, every energy weapon started to look like every other. "Should I?" 

"Hey, guys," Carlos called, entering the room with his lance in one hand and scanner in the other. "Now would be the time--" 

TJ didn't even look around when Carlos cut off, transfixed by the sight in front of him. Cassie had taken the blaster from the boy's clenched fist and stuffed it into her belt next to her own weapon. Far from complaining, he seemed almost glad to be relieved of the sidearm, and TJ watched in amazement as Cassie touched his face gently, turning his head toward her. 

"Are you all right?" TJ heard her murmur. 

Her companion nodded slowly. "I am now," he said, voice hoarse as he let Cassie slip underneath his arm and help him away from the console. 

"Where's Phantom?" Carlos asked quietly from behind TJ's shoulder, but even as he heard the question, TJ knew the answer. The black-clad stranger in front of them *was* Phantom. He pointed without a word, and Carlos nodded in comprehension. 

"My morpher," Cassie said suddenly, looking away from Phantom to regard her teammates with a questioning expression. 

"Right here," Carlos said, his tone smug as he held it up for her to see. 

A relieved smile spread across her face. "Thanks, guys." 

"We're just glad you're all right," TJ assured her, flipping his own morpher open. "DECA, four to teleport." 

"Wait," Cassie interrupted. "DECA, can you send me and Phantom directly to the Medical bay?" 

"Acknowledged," DECA replied, and TJ's world turned sparkling sapphire. As soon as it reformed, however, he knew something was wrong--his vision came back fine, but gravity had gone haywire. 

TJ stumbled as the deck suddenly wasn't where it had been before, and he slammed into the weapons' console. "DECA, what's going on?" he heard Carlos shout. 

"The Megaship is under attack," DECA replied, and perversely, her answer comforted TJ.

*At least that's something normal,* he thought. He knew the sight of Phantom demorphed and clinging to Cassie shouldn't bother him, but he couldn't deny that, on some level, it did. He was glad to have something else to think about. 

"We should have expected this," Carlos said, and TJ blinked. Realizing then that Carlos was referring to the attack, he nodded. 

"Power down," TJ declared, and Carlos followed suit. The ship shuddered, and this time they both staggered. 

"Divatox probably had the Megaship surrounded as soon as she realized there were Rangers on one of her ships." Carlos shook his head, obviously frustrated. "DECA, find Ashley and Andros and teleport them back here, now." 

Red and yellow light should have filled the Bridge within seconds, signaling their arrival. Nothing happened, and TJ wondered if it was impatience that made the time seem long. 

At Carlos's worried look, though, he knew it wasn't just him. "DECA?" 

"Neither Andros's nor Ashley's homing beacons are within detectable range," DECA replied at last, her tone no longer perfectly impassive. 

The ship shook again, and TJ grabbed at the console in front of him. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. Hitting the catch on his morpher, he went to signal Cassie--and exclaimed in annoyance when a beep sounded on the other side of the Bridge. Carlos still had her morpher, and with it, any possibility of contacting her directly. 

"DECA, tell Cassie we need her on the Bridge," TJ said. The lift doors opened on the end of his sentence, and Cassie raced out. 

"What's going on?" she asked breathlessly. 

"Divatox decided she doesn't want us hanging around anymore," TJ replied. He tried very hard not to add, "I told you so." 

This time, when the Megaship trembled beneath the weapons' fire of Divatox's army, Cassie was at her station in less time than it took to blink and firing back. Despite the severity of the situation, TJ had to smile at her determined expression. *She's not going to take that from anyone…* 

"They're gone," Carlos said suddenly. 

TJ looked at him, and the numb expression on his friend's face said it all. Nonetheless, he had to ask, "Andros and Ashley?" 

Carlos nodded. At the sudden silence, Cassie took her eyes away from the tactical display long enough to glance in their direction and demand an explanation. 

"Half the army's just--gone," Carlos said, staring at the viewscreen. 

"They must have taken off with Zordon as soon as Divatox realized she had spies on board," TJ said, thinking out loud. "The rest of them came after the Megaship--" 

"To make sure we wouldn't get away with whatever information she thinks we have," Cassie finished, squinting at her controls. Slapping the firing mechanism, she smiled evilly at the screen. "Gotcha," she muttered. 

Just then, the Megaship reeled from yet another hit. Clearly, what damage Cassie was doing to the enemy wasn't enough. "We need to get out of here," TJ said, taking Andros's place at the front of the Bridge. 

Carlos started to protest, but TJ cut him off. "I don't want to leave them either, but they're not *here*--we are, and we're getting pounded!" 

The Black Ranger didn't answer, but moments later, coordinates were coming from the navigation station, and TJ had a vector and course for the sanctuary moon. "DECA, hyperrush three," he ordered, and the stars streaked across the screen as she complied. 

They had been lucky--the remainder of Divatox's army hadn't completely surrounded them yet; it had been too scattered for more than a third of its force to reach the Megaship before the Rangers' ship went to hyperrush velocity. And hyperrush was possible thanks to the defensive fire that had kept damage to a minimum on the Megaship; he reminded himself to compliment Cassie on that later. 

As it was, they reached the moon in minutes. Slowing to thruster power only, TJ mentally crossed his fingers and let the ship coast into the fringes of the damping field that radiated from some invisible core. Static filled the forward screen, and it blinked out moments later. 

"Scanners are offline," Cassie reported a few seconds after the screen went white. 

"The navigation computer's down as well," Carlos said, folding his arms across his chest.

 "Nowhere to go, and blind as a bat," TJ muttered, liking this less and less. The only thing he distrusted more than failing instrumentation was Divatox, and that alone was what made him slow the ship even more, until they were at full stop relative to the asteroid. 

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at the useless viewscreen as though it could tell them what they wanted to know. "DECA," TJ said at last, "reduce power levels to minimum. Might as well give them as little as possible to look for." 

"Reducing power," DECA responded, and the Bridge lights dimmed as the auxiliary panels went dark. "Full power is being maintained for Medical bay equipment and environmental controls only." 

TJ had the uncomfortable feeling that there was nothing left to do. He turned slowly away from the pilot's console, and faced Cassie and Carlos. Especially Carlos, who looked as though TJ had just betrayed everything he'd ever believed in. 

"Carlos…" TJ didn't know what to tell him. 

"I know," Carlos said, not waiting for him to finish. "I know; we did the right thing. But--it still *feels* wrong." 

TJ nodded, and Cassie sighed. "Right now we have to concentrate on how to get them back."

"The homing devices have a longer range then our morphers," TJ reminded them. "If DECA can't detect those, there's no way we can track them." 

"Unless we go after them," Carlos pointed out. "We could get a vapor trail on a fleet that size, no problem." 

"Not in the Megaship," TJ said. "We'll be visible the moment we leave this damping field."

 "Well, what if one of us teleports over to the Delta Megaship?" Cassie suggested. "It could bypass this part of space completely and pick up the trail on the other side of the sector." 

"There's only one problem with that," Carlos said, glancing across the Bridge. "DECA? Does Andros have the Battlelizer?" 

DECA's camera flickered. "Andros was wearing the Battlelizer when he left the Megaship." 

"Which means we'd have to operate the Delta Megaship manually," Carlos finished. "I'm not even sure it can be done. And that's the only other ship we have." 

*Except--* TJ's head came up, even as he dismissed the idea. But he caught Cassie's eye nonetheless, and the look on her face said that she had had the same thought. "No," he said firmly. "It's too dangerous." 

"So is being trapped on an alien ship with no way to call for help," she retorted. "I know; remember?" 

Carlos was looking at them strangely. "What?" 

"None of us know the first thing about piloting his ship," TJ told her, hoping it was true. He had no idea what she and Phantom talked about, but he was betting it wasn't piloting lessons. 

"Some things are universal," she insisted. 

TJ shook his head. "Carlos, help me out here!" 

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Carlos protested. 

"Cassie wants to take Phantom's ship after half of Divatox's army!" Even as he said it, TJ had to admit there was some merit to the plan, combined with a whole lot of idiotic bravery. But there was also enough impracticality to it to reassure him that he wasn't just vetoing the idea because he didn't want to send another teammate off into the darkness of space alone. 

Carlos considered the idea for a moment. "You mean, track them down and send their coordinates back to DECA? But we already know our communicators won't work over that distance--" 

"So use Phantom's communications system," Cassie replied impatiently. "Our communication signals aren't hyperboosted; our morphers are too small to have that kind of capability. But his ship must, or he'd never be able to communicate with anyone farther than a few million kilometers away." 

"But none of us know how to *do* that on his ship!" TJ repeated. "Phantom didn't exactly leave his ship's schematics with DECA the last time we saw him…" Looking sideways at the computer's camera, he asked, "He didn't, did he, DECA?" 

"I do not have information on the Phantom Ranger's ship, beyond the data collected by the scanners," DECA replied. 

TJ shrugged. "It was worth a shot." 

"I bet I could figure it out," Cassie persisted. He shot her an incredulous stare, and she returned it with a pointed look, tapping her temple. 

He shook his head, glancing in Carlos's direction. Carlos hadn't missed the silent exchange, but, not having any reference for it, he just looked bewildered, and TJ was willing to bet Cassie wouldn't talk about it in front of him. "No," he repeated. "It's too dangerous." 

She sighed. "Fine. You two work it out--I'm going to check on Phantom." 

TJ stared after her in surprise. *Cassie--sulking?* he wondered as the lift doors closed on her.

"What was *that* about?" Carlos demanded. 

He hesitated a second, not wanting to keep something from his friend but knowing Cassie would kill him if he repeated what she had told him in confidence. Finally, he shook his head: *no-win situation.* "I don't know," TJ lied. 

Carlos looked at him, with an expression that said he knew very well TJ was holding something back. "Right." 

TJ shrugged uncomfortably, knowing that anything he said now would only aggravate the situation. "Is there any way to plot a probability curve on that fleet's destination?" he asked, more to change the subject than because he thought it would work. 

Carlos stared at him a moment longer, then turned to Ashley's console. "Maybe," he said, to TJ's surprise. "If we can work with the information the Megaship's sensors were picking up while we were--busy. Specifically, anything DECA noticed as Divatox's army broke up, and the vectors of the ships that were leaving…" 

He trailed off, working on something TJ couldn't see. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, TJ stared at the disturbing blankness on the forward viewscreen. Even if Carlos found something, they were still left with the same issues they had just been debating--but it made him feel better to have something to do, and it gave TJ a chance to… well, worry. 

He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else they could have done. What if Andros and Ashley were even now trying to get in touch with them? *Did we give up too soon?* he wondered, but could find no answer to the question. 

And Cassie… He couldn't forget the way she had stalked off the Bridge. *Does her idea have a chance? Could she really intuit the controls of Phantom's ship well enough to fly it? And should we have let her try anyway?* 

What it came down to, TJ knew, was that he hated waiting. He hated not being able to do anything to remedy a situation, and more than that, he hated the feeling that there *was* something he could do, if only he could figure out what it was. 

So he stared at a blank viewscreen and fidgeted--until an announcement from DECA brought him upright in the chair where he'd been slumped. "Hangar bay doors opening." 

*No.* He knew, instantly, what was happening, but his mind tried to deny it. *She wouldn't…* 

But she would, and it was one of the things that had made her accept the Power when it had been offered to her. Cassie's sense of duty, no matter how she tried to repress it or rebel against it, always won out in the end. She was one of the most loyal people he knew--and she wouldn't stand by and watch when she thought there was something she could do. 

"DECA." Carlos looked up from the scanner console. "Who's leaving?" The way he asked told TJ that he knew perfectly well, but couldn't keep himself from checking. 

"Cassie has left the Megaship aboard the Phantom Ranger's ship." 

The thought crossed TJ's mind distantly that Cassie *hadn't* been sulking, after all… *Should have known better,* he thought, unable to suppress a twinge of admiration for his teammate's daring. 

"DECA," he asked, "can we communicate with Phantom's ship?" 

"Close-range communication is nonfunctional, due to the damping field," DECA told him. 

"But we can hyperboost it, right?" Carlos prompted, turning to another console. "TJ." He gestured his friend over, and TJ waited impatiently for the screen to resolve into a coherent image. 

Cassie's face appeared seconds later, and TJ couldn't help sighing. "You could have told us, Cassie." 

"I did," she reminded him. "You thought it was too dangerous." 

"It *is* too dangerous," Carlos interrupted. "But… good luck." 

She smiled. "Thanks, Carlos. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything." 

She was about to break the comm link, and TJ couldn't leave it like that between them. "Cass--be careful." 

"I will be," she promised. "We're *going* to get them back, Teej." 

Seeing her there, perfectly comfortable in the midst of alien technology, convinced him more than anything else could have--but about what, he wasn't entirely sure. "I know." 

Cassie nodded at them both, and her image on the screen faded out, to be replaced only by blankness. 

***

When Andros's communicator produced nothing but static, Ashley tried hers. She flipped her morpher open and pushed the required buttons--with no better results than Andros. 

"What's going on?" she whispered, as the two of them huddled out of sight in a small control room off the main corridor. "Are our communicators being jammed?" 

Andros shook his head. "We wouldn't even get static, if they were. Somehow, the Megaship must be out of range." 

"What?" she exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her mouth. Or at least, she tried--her helmet reduced the effect somewhat. 

"I don't understand it, either." Doing something to the scanner, he told her, "I'm adjusting to detect stellar radiation--hopefully we can get a location fix from that." 

"You think *we're* the ones who are out of range, not the Megaship," Ashley realized.

He shrugged. "It makes more sense to think Divatox had a sudden change of plans than it does for the Megaship to just leave." 

She quieted, letting Andros do the recalibration while she stood guard at the door. The last scanner adjustment had revealed what neither of them had wanted to believe--the interdimensional distortion signal they were picking up was false. They weren't sure how it was being generated, but the signal itself was resonating through whatever metal this ship was made of, causing the "echoes" they had been seeing. A real distortion wouldn't do that, and they had reluctantly concluded that they had been chasing ghosts. 

Ashley crossed her fingers, hoping this time the scanner would tell them what they wanted to hear--although, when she thought about it, she wasn't sure what that was. *Would it be better to discover that this ship took off across the galaxy with us on board, or that the Megaship and probably the other Rangers had abandoned us?* 

Neither option was particularly appealing, and she looked over her shoulder, suddenly needing to know she wasn't alone. Andros paused what he was doing and looked up as she turned, giving her a quick thumbs-up. 

She smiled, even though he couldn't see it, and nodded. *How does he know?* she wondered, returning her gaze to the deserted hallway. *I've always been the one to cheer people up, but he seems to know when *I* need cheering…* 

Footsteps interrupted her train of thought, and she tensed at the familiar splashing sound. "Andros," she hissed, motioning for him to step further into the shadows. 

He complied without hesitation, and she stayed where she was, waiting for the source of the sound to show itself before she ducked out of line-of-sight from the doorway. The pirahnatrons came into view moments later, a supervisor goading them onward. Ashley withdrew to crouch just inside the doorframe, straining her ears to catch the supervisor's words. 

"You heard the boss," the alien was grumbling as the group rounded a corner and started down the hallway Ashley had been watching. "The whole ship--and no slacking just because you think you smell lunch. We can't afford to have any more Rangers snooping around." 

Ashley did her best not to gasp. *They found someone,* she thought, her mind racing. She dismissed TJ and Carlos as soon as she thought of them--they were too sharp to be caught off guard by anything but the worst luck. But Cassie and Phantom… 

Ordinarily, she had as much confidence in Cassie as she had in any of her teammates. But Cassie had gone into this mission with an injured partner, and Ashley couldn't shake the feeling that those two were the weak link. *We let ourselves believe Phantom could do it…We made him into such a legend as the Turbo Rangers; I don't think we even considered that he has the same weaknesses as anyone else.* 

The pirahnatrons passed by, peering into the room as they went but not stopping to search it. *After all,* she thought, watching them pace awkwardly away, *they have an entire ship to cover, and they're hungry…* She grinned to herself, more in relief than in humor, and backed away from the door. 

A hand on her shoulder startled her, and she turned to find Andros holding the scanner up for her to see. Two Power signals, one red and one yellow, almost on top of each other, were centered on the screen. But the surrounding spatial landmarks were strange, and it took her a moment to orient herself. 

Finally, she recognized the course of the comet they had seen the night before--almost off the screen now, and definitely headed in a different direction than she remembered it. The nebula that had been distantly discernible from the Megaship that morning was now prominent in the lower left-hand corner, and Ashley knew with sinking certainty that they were a long way from where they had been only half an hour ago. 

"The army must have taken off when Divatox realized there were Rangers on board," Ashley whispered, and she could almost see Andros's alarmed look. "Not us--I think they found one of the other teams. The supervisor that just went by with those pirahnatrons said something about not wanting to find any more Rangers snooping around." 

Andros's wordless exclamation was quiet, but nonetheless frustrated. "Cassie and Phantom."

Ashley nodded. "That was my thought, too." 

"I *knew* he was a liability," Andros fumed softly. "I shouldn't have let him go…" 

"Hey," Ashley interrupted. "You couldn't have known this would happen, any more than the rest of us. You heard Cassie at breakfast--she *chose* to go with him, and she probably knew better than anyone what condition he was in. It's not your fault." 

"Maybe," Andros sighed. Then, with the focus that had made him their leader, he shook it off. "Either way, though, I think you're right. Divatox's primary goal is to keep Zordon, and our presence on her ships threatens that. As soon as she realized she had spies on board, she would have taken off with Zordon and most of her army, leaving some of her ships behind to deal with the intruders." 

"TJ and Carlos," Ashley said suddenly. "What if they're on one of the ships that went with Divatox too?" 

When he didn't answer, she touched her communicator. Andros made a motion toward her wrist, and an eerie feeling of déjà vu settled over her. "It's worth the risk," she insisted. "There's no other way to know." 

He nodded reluctantly, and she hoped she was right. "Carlos?" she said into her communicator. "TJ? Can you guys hear me?"  

She was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when only static answered her. On the one hand, she hadn't blown anyone else's cover. But on the other, that static meant she and Andros were alone out here… 

On impulse, she touched her communicator again. They'd assumed Cassie and Phantom were the ones who had gotten into trouble, but there was a chance they were wrong. "Cassie?" she asked.  

Static was the only reply. 

More clattering in the hallway alerted them, and this time, Andros drew her with him into the shadows. "You're *not* standing in the doorway again," he whispered as they hid behind a bank of consoles. "I've never been so scared in my life." 

Surprised, she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him. "Coming from a Power Ranger, that's a little extreme." 

His head turned toward hers, and she was sure she had just gotten the Look. "You know what I mean." 

This time, the fish squad went so far as to shine light into the room as they passed, and one or two actually slowed enough to pause by the door before moving on. "That was too close," Andros muttered, when the sound of retreating finfeet had died away. 

Ashley nodded emphatically. "We need to get out of here." 

"We need to get off this ship," Andros corrected. 

Ashley raised her eyebrows. "And how do you suggest we do that?" 

He held up the scanner once more. The display had changed yet again--now it showed a rough layout of a ship, presumably the one they were on, with two sections highlighted. Looking closer, she could make out the dual red and yellow blip that indicated their location, but the other dot remained a mystery. 

"Escape pod," Andros explained. 

"How do you *do* that?" she demanded. "That scanner isn't a video game; there are limits to what it can do!" 

Ashley could hear the grin in his voice when he answered, "Magic." 

"Great," she replied wryly. "One of your scientific explanations." 

"I'll show you," he said, stepping out from behind the console bank. "Later. Let's get out of here first, okay?" 

Ashley crossed her arms. "You still haven't explained why we're going to be safer on an escape pod than we are here." 

"Because it's only a matter of time before someone thinks to scan all the ships for "alien" bioreadings. On a ship full of pirahnatrons and other non-humans, the two of us won't exactly blend in." 

"Right," Ashley said, straightening. "I'm convinced; let's go." 

Andros's map worked better than she'd expected, and they made it to their destination with a minimum of detours. The little backtracking they did was thanks to two more harrowing pirahnatron encounters--which served to further convince Ashley of the need to get off the ship.

"After you," Andros said, hitting the control panel next to the hatch. The door rolled open, and Ashley climbed through. It wasn't a true airlock, since the time required for air pressure to equalize was often more than crewpeople fleeing a shipwide catastrophe could afford to wait, but it was cramped enough that it might as well have been. 

The pod itself wasn't much better, but at least there was room to maneuver. She heard the door clang shut behind Andros, and he dropped into the pod a moment later. "Ready?" he asked, sounding somewhat breathless. 

Ashley nodded, but she was starting to have serious misgivings about spending an indefinite amount of time in this tiny space. *I'm not claustrophobic,* she reminded herself. *I'm not claustrophobic…* 

Andros did something to the instrumentation at what could be considered the front of their escape pod, and the vessel shuddered violently. Ashley felt the pod's wall slam against her side, and heard Andros apologize over the accelerating hum of their single engine. 

"S'okay," she managed to reply. Pushing herself upright once more, she added, "Inertial damping on this thing could use a tune-up, though." 

"If the dampers are the only thing out of sync on this ship, we'll be lucky," Andros replied, playing with the controls some more. 

"What are you doing?" Ashley wanted to know, crawling forward to look over his shoulder. "And if you hold up that scanner one more time…" 

"Actually…" Andros pointed at the scanner, which was even now dumping information into the pod's navigation computers. 

"You've got to be kidding me." 

Andros shook his head. "Remember that sweep we did of stellar radiation? There was an interference pattern nearby that's characteristic of stars with planetary satellites, and if we can land this pod somewhere, we'll have our ticket home." 

At first, Ashley didn't understand. Then she saw him raise his right wrist, and, in a sparkle of red, the familiar outline of the Battlelizer appeared. "The Delta Megaship!" 

"Exactly," Andros agreed, satisfaction evident in his tone. "The only problem is that, without DECA to regulate our teleportation signals, we can't teleport directly onboard. We'll have to set down somewhere and physically transfer from ship to ship." 

"Can't the computer on the Delta Megaship do it?" she wanted to know. 

He shrugged, and she thought he looked a little uncomfortable. "It was never fully activated. Between DECA and the Delta Megaship's remote control, we didn't need a second operating system." 

"That's something we'll have to change," Ashley muttered. "But for now, we have no way to get aboard, except…" Suddenly realizing that this had been his intent from the beginning, she shook her head. "You had a plan all along!" 

"We still don't know if it's going to work, though," he cautioned. "There's no way to know if any of the planets will have an atmosphere we can survive in--and even if they do, we still have to reach them." 

She wasn't sure whether to be indignant with him for keeping her in the dark or exasperated with herself for not figuring it out. "Next time, *tell* me," she said, unfastening her helmet and shaking her hair out. 

He looked over at her and paused. "I would have, really. I just wasn't sure we had time." 

"I know," she said, smiling to reassure him. "And you were right; I just like to keep up, you know?" 

He nodded, and, after a moment, went back to the navigation controls. She watched, but it didn't take long for his commands to the escape pod's computer to surpass her rudimentary knowledge of starship piloting. So she stopped trying to follow along and just gazed at him while he worked, wondering what his expression looked like behind his visor. 

"That should do it," he announced at last, taking his hands off the console and reaching up to remove his own helmet. 

Still loose, his hair spilled over his shoulders, and Ashley smiled again inadvertently. His red hair elastic was on her wrist--she'd forgotten to give it back before they morphed. 

"Our course is random enough that it shouldn't set off any warnings on their tracking systems," Andros continued, oblivious to her musing. "And they didn't notice us leave--the escape pod bays must not be programmed to notify the computer when a pod launches, so they won't be looking for us." 

"That's the good news," Ashley agreed. She could read his expression well enough to know that wasn't everything, though. "So what's the bad?" 

He glanced over at her. "Well… we have minimal hyperrush capability with this escape pod. It's going to take more than a day to reach this solar system. And--" 

"And?" Ashley prompted, not sure she wanted to know. 

"The inertial dampers *aren't* the only thing not at peak efficiency on this ship," he told her, glancing down at the console in front of him. "Environmental controls aren't as good as they could be, either. The air recyclers should hold out until we get where we're going, but I'm not sure about the temperature regulators." 

Looking up again, he met her worried gaze. "I think we'd better stay morphed. It may get a little cold in here." 

Despite the seriousness of his statement, Ashley couldn't keep a smile from spreading across her face. "I'm not worried," she said, wondering if she could make him blush. "You're here--we'll find a way to stay warm." 

It worked. Andros blushed, and her smile widened. "Sorry," she said, not feeling at all apologetic. *He's so cute when he's embarrassed…* "I couldn't resist." 

"You're doing it on purpose," he accused. "You're *trying* to make me uncomfortable!"

She squirmed. "When you put it like that, it doesn't sound very nice, does it?" Ashley admitted.

"It isn't!" he exclaimed, but he didn't sound particularly upset. "I've never been in a--" Andros hesitated over the word. "--relationship before, and I don't have the faintest clue what I'm doing. The least you could do is help me out a little…"

She doubted he realized how that sounded, but his tone was too plaintive for her to resist. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, planting a quick kiss on his lips before drawing him closer into her embrace. "You're doing fine," she assured him quietly. 

Feeling his arms go around her, it struck Ashley just then how interesting her life had become since the day Tanya Sloan had handed her a Turbo key all those months ago. She had been prepared for change when she started at Angel Grove High, but no one had told her that saving the world would become a regular extracurricular activity. 

Now, here she was, about to enter her senior year in high school, and she was halfway across the galaxy, with new Power and a boyfriend from another planet. She let out her breath in a half-chuckle, and she felt Andros shift. 

"What is it?" he asked quietly, making no move to let her go. 

"I was just thinking…" She wasn't sure how to explain it. "The last few years have turned out much--differently than I expected." 

Now he did move, drawing back far enough that he could search her expression. "Do you--are you sorry?" he asked, his tone worried. 

She didn't even have to think about it. "Not at *all,*" Ashley told him. Aboard a chilly, isolated escape pod, light years from home, she stared into his concerned brown eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."