"He's not going to like it."

"There's nothing wrong with the shot! It's not even part of the narrative; I don't see why--"

"I didn't say there's anything wrong with it," Zhane interrupted as Ashley walked into the room. "I'm just saying he's not going to like it, and he's the one that decides."

"Who won't like what?" Ashley wanted to know.

Kristet shot her an appealing look. "Zhane thinks Andros won't approve a visual of him and Zhane on the Bridge together. There's nothing compromising about it!"

Ashley exchanged glances with Zhane, and he just sighed. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it," he repeated. "But Andros won't like it, and I don't want to be the one he turns to when he sees it on the news."

"Let me see it," Ashley told Kristet. "Then I need to talk to you, and Andros wants Zhane at the PD session."

Kristet adjusted her camera accordingly, but Zhane rolled his eyes at Ashley. "Did you tell him I have better things to do than hold down a chair while he and Marsie talk a million words a minute?"

"Actually, I told him he should send you to the Council meeting," Ashley informed him. "You're lucky he didn't listen to me."

Zhane gave her a horrified look. "Thanks for the suggestion! Friends have been fired for less!"

"You can't fire me," Ashley said with a smirk. "I'll tell Kristet what you named your zord."

"This is the shot," Kristet interrupted, glancing from one to the other as she offered her camera to Ashley. "It's from last night, but there's no timestamp and it might as well be this morning. It's part of the regrouping update that Andros suggested."

Ashley watched as the camera cut from the Quon fighter base to the Megaship, panning across the Bridge before skipping down the hall to show her and Kerone in front of the tactical board. "That's not from this morning, either," she remarked.

Kristet shrugged. "There are worse things than having the planet think you worked all night to keep them safe from another invasion."

Ashley decided not to answer that. "Where's this shot of Andros and Zhane? Have I already seen it?"

"Yes," Kristet said, shooting a look at Zhane. "It's the one where they're together on the Bridge, just before we see you and Kerone in the holding bay. Zhane is talking to Andros and then turns to leave."

"What's wrong with that?" Ashley frowned at Zhane, then added, "Can I see it again?"

Kristet altered the display without a word, and Ashley watched it once more. "Zhane, that could have been any of us. You're not exactly making out."

"Yeah, but it wasn't any of you," Zhane argued. "All Andros is going to see is that Kristet had a camera running when she snuck up on us last night."

"I didn't sneak up on you," Kristet protested.

"Andros needs to get over it," Ashley told Zhane. "She's a reporter; it's what she does. It's nothing compromising, and on top of that she's showing it to us before she sends it. What else do you want?"

"I'm not the one who's going to have a problem with it!" Zhane exclaimed.

"So tell him you didn't see it! Tell him I approved it! Which I did," she added, for Kristet's benefit. "I just need to talk to you for a minute, then you can send it to K-Wind."

Zhane just shrugged, apparently willing to let her take responsibility for their reporting shadow. "They in Bay Control?"

"Andros and Marsie?" She nodded without waiting for the answer, even though Bay Control was empty right now. "They're in the conference room across the hall. Andros says you have to be there to tell them how to make things sound good."

Zhane snorted at that, but he headed out into the hallway without protest.

"Can you come up to the Megaship?" Ashley asked Kristet.

Clicking her camera shut, the other woman straightened. "Of course," she said, though she looked a little wary. "What are we talking about?"

"You." Ashley lifted her digimorpher and snapped it open. "DECA, two to teleport."

Golden sparkles made the world glow before vanishing altogether. When the light faded from her vision she was standing in the holding bay, tactical board on one side and the Jump Tubes on the other. "Thank you," she said, smiling up at the nearest camera.

"I can see how you get used to that," Kristet murmured, glancing around.

"What, the teleporting?" Ashley smiled at the thought. "Yeah, I guess we are kind of spoiled. We'll have to get you a communicator so DECA can pick up your signal faster."

Kristet looked startled. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Kind of." Ashley pulled out a stool and sat down at the table, glad to be off her feet for a few minutes. The day had just started--hours ago, now--and she already needed a break. Several at once, if possible. "It's about the news segments you've been doing."

"What about them?" Kristet's composure didn't waver, and Ashley could only imagine what must be running through her mind right now.

"They're terrific," she said frankly. "We'd like you to keep doing them."

The other woman didn't bat an eye. "As long as you want."

"Well, I wanted to ask you about that," Ashley began. "You've been working for K-Wind for almost a year now. Do you have any long-term career plans?"

"My plans are contingent upon opportunity," Kristet said with a smile. "Why? Are you offering?"

"Yes," Ashley told her. "You don't have to decide now, and actually we'd like you to have a kind of trial period if you're interested. But we've been talking about finding a public relations agent for a while now. What do you think about leaving the reporting field?"

"Going private?" Kristet asked. "For the Power Rangers?" Her smile was dangerously close to a grin, and there was a hint of incredulity in her eyes. "You must know that if you advertised that position, you'd have people lining up to apply."

"Which is why we're not advertising," Ashley pointed out. "We don't want just anyone, no matter how good they are. But we all like you, and you've done a fantastic job these last couple days.

"We're not asking you to leave K-Wind right away," she added quickly. "Like I said, maybe a trial period to see how you fit in, whether you can stand us taking over your life, whether Andros can handle giving up some responsibility, that sort of thing."

Kristet didn't answer right away. Finally, though, she said, "I'll tell you the truth: it sounds like a dream assignment. But to be honest, I don't know if I'm going to live up to your expectations. I haven't done any public relations work, and I'm not even sure exactly what you're looking for."

"Ultimately, we're looking for someone to take over press conferences and the coordination of official coverage." Ashley shrugged a little, surprised by how intimidating it sounded when she tried to describe it. They'd been doing it themselves since... well, since before the quest. "For now, we're happy to have you keep doing what you're doing. You tell us when you're ready to do more."

Kristet just stared at her. "You have an awful lot of faith in someone you've just met," she said at last.

Ashley had to laugh at her expression. "Kristet, do you think any of us have any public relations training? It's not like we learned how to handle the media at some special Power Rangers school. Trust me, you're already doing way better than we can, and we've been practicing for months!"

Kristet shook her head in wonder. "And you just... trust me? Just like that?"

"Well, we talked about swearing you to secrecy, or making you take some sort of blood oath," Ashley said with a grin. "But it made Kerone nervous. So yeah, basically we're just going to trust you."

Kristet didn't look convinced, so Ashley added, "The Power draws people who will do good with it. I'm betting it chose you just as much as it chose us. It's too much of a coincidence, otherwise."

Kristet just shook her head again, but she didn't argue. "Well, I'm in this for as long as you'll have me, so just point me toward the next story."

"Great." Ashley smiled at her. "Do you want to sit in on the PD session so you have some background for the press conference this afternoon?"

Kristet blinked. "Yes," she said, with only the slightest hesitation. "That would be great. I just need to transmit the regrouping brief first."

"DECA can do that for you," Ashley said, pushing herself to her feet reluctantly. Time to get back to work. "I'm right when I say there's nothing wrong with scene on the Bridge, right?"

Kristet paused. "I wouldn't have included it if I thought it was going to be a problem."

"Good." She wasn't sure why she'd asked, but it did make her a little nervous to override Zhane's protest without having seen the whole story. "I'm going to go hold the Council's hand, as Zhane would say. Are you all right getting back to the base?"

"Yes--" The way Kristet broke off made Ashley look at her questioningly. "It's just... the other Rangers. Can I get some coverage of them today, too?"

"Yes..." It was Ashley's turn to hesitate, and she frowned a little. "No. Sort of. Kerone, yes. Ty, no."

Kristet waited, and Ashley sighed.

"We can't let you talk to Ty," she said bluntly, studying Kristet's reaction. "He's... having some problems, but we can't let on that anything's wrong. We need the rest of the planet to think everything's normal."

"Can he be seen?" Kristet wanted to know. "I mean, can he be on camera at all? I won't ask him to say anything, but it would be good if he was in a couple of shots with narrative explaining what he's doing."

"Sure," Ashley agreed quickly. "That's fine. He and Kerone are at the hangar. I don't know if you want to head over there before the PD session or between that and the press conference, but Kerone can tell you what they're up to there."

Kristet glanced at her camera, maybe checking the time because she nodded once. "I'll go now," she decided. "As soon as I send this. Thanks."

"Thank you," Ashley said, relieved. "Thanks for... letting it go."

"Don't think I'm not curious," Kristet admitted ruefully. "But I know my job."

That was all she said, and Ashley didn't know whether to feel guilty or grateful. She couldn't work it out in her own mind on short notice, and her thoughts were already spinning ahead to the Council meeting. So she settled for repeating, "Thanks," as sincerely as she could.

This was not a good plan.

It had started with the lack of planning involved in the actual preparation of said plan. It had reached a point where she had no idea where she was, how she was going to get out, or what Andros would do when he realized they were missing. Intermediate obstacles had included getting rid of Kristet, getting in touch with JT, and convincing Ty that really, Rangers did things like this all the time.

This was not a good plan. But good plans never worked, so she was still optimistic.

She was also lost. Ty wasn't much help, nor was he expected to be. She ought to know how to get where they were going--this was her ship, after all. Unfortunately, it was her ship after it had been through several major battles and at least one unsupervised refit. What kind of damage had it taken that access to the lower decks had to be completely restructured?

"You're lost," Ty whispered. It was the first time he had spoken since they'd arrived in JT's dimension, and she didn't know whether that was good or bad. She didn't have time to psychoanalyze him right now.

"I'm not lost," she hissed, catching his shoulder to draw him back. "I know where we are and where we're going. It's just the in-between that's a little hazy."

He looked at her, and the look said more than words.

She narrowed her eyes at him. They had not come by his information easily, and she still wasn't convinced that he had told them everything. She knew he hadn't told them everything. She just hoped he had told them as much as would help in this situation. She wouldn't be here for anyone short of a teammate.

As if to emphasize her thoughts, the wail of the intruder alert began to ring through the empty hallways. Footsteps wouldn't be far behind, and she closed her eyes briefly. Kyril.

I'm fine, he answered. It wasn't me. I don't think. Maybe there's a camera down here we missed?

She grabbed Ty's shoulder and nodded down the hallway. They took off, skidding around the corner and following her best guess--or she was following her best guess, until she came within a breath of slamming into a black-clad figure that shouldn't have been there. Ty swung around her, stunner in hand and embarrassingly quick to react.

He didn't fire. She could only stare. JT had told them they owed him. We have a Ranger on the Dark Fortress, he'd said. The condition for his help was that they found her and freed her. It was only fair, he'd informed them, and if they were going to be breaking out of the prison levels anyway...

She hadn't expected to round a corner and come face to face with Ashley. And if her expression was anything to go by, she hadn't expected to run into them, either. But what did she see when she looked at Kerone? Unescorted, dressed in a black bodysuit that was definitely not standard Ranger gear, Ashley was clearly no prisoner. And she didn't look very happy to see them.

Kerone drew herself up, assuming a stance as close to Astronema's as she could manage. "What are you doing here?" she demanded imperiously, trying for indignant in lieu of either a positive or negative reaction. With any luck, she could be startled now and fall into character later.

"What are you doing here?" Ashley shot back. Unimpressed by the posturing, she didn't look like someone who expected to be brushed aside. On the other hand, unless Kerone misread her, she was doing a little bluffing of her own. "Since when do you respond to intruder alerts?"

Kerone narrowed her eyes, considering. Ashley didn't have a weapon, so she obviously wasn't responding to the alert herself... yet here she was, wandering the lower decks alone. "You set it off," she said abruptly. "You triggered the intruder alert."

Ashley was eyeing her with the same speculative expression. "You're not Astronema," she countered, watching Kerone's reaction carefully.

"So much for introductions," Ty interrupted, glancing over his shoulder as he kept watch over either end of the narrow corridor. "Can we do this somewhere else?"

"Andros sent us," she told Ashley quickly. While it wasn't entirely true, it was close enough and hopefully it was something Ashley wouldn't question. "We're here for you and one of the other prisoners: Ryse, of Calijyt?"

"He's gone," Ashley said, frowning a little. "You didn't know?"

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Ty asked harshly.

Ashley glanced at him, a wary look that didn't so much dismiss him as assess him for immediate threat and find him lacking. "A team came for him yesterday," she told Kerone. "Rangers, Astronema said--from Calijyt? Didn't they make it back?"

Kerone frowned back. JT hadn't said anything about a rescue attempt. And if they had managed to infiltrate the Dark Fortress once, why hadn't they gotten Ashley out then? She didn't doubt that JT would conveniently forget to share information that important, but it didn't make any sense.

Metallic footsteps were the first warning she had, and they turned out to be no warning at all when Ashley slammed her foot into Ty's wrist, knocking his stunner away and twisting his arm around behind his back. "Quantrons!" she shouted, catching Kerone's gaze briefly. "Over here!"

Kerone tossed her head, violet sparkles drifting across her body and vanishing before the metal soldiers appeared. Cassie's likeness stood at Ty's side, and she saw Ashley give her a wry look as she shouted for the quantrons again. The less they knew about who they were "capturing", the better off she and Ty would be.

We have company, she told Kyril.

Me too, he thought back at her. I'm safe enough here for now, though. You?

You think she can? Kyril asked.

She rolled her eyes as the quantrons cuffed her hands together and started to shove her down the hall. Same to you, she thought dryly. Because this was really a situation where "careful" was going to get them anywhere. She heard Ashley yell after them, "Take her to Astronema!" and then a grunt that sounded like Ty taking rougher treatment than she was getting.

Right. Careful. That would help a lot.

The intruder alert had been silenced by the time she was pushed into one of the interrogation rooms, and she looked around for the cameras automatically. They weren't there. She frowned and looked again, peering through the magic for the hidden surveillance that had to be there. That she found, but standard equipment, anything that could be monitored by anyone other than Astronema... there was none.

"Get inside," Ashley's voice snapped, and she turned in time to see Ty's angry silence spread through the room like a cloud. "Admit no one but Astronema," Ashley ordered the quantrons outside, then slammed the door shut behind them.

"Tell me the truth," Ashley said, turning and backing up against the door. "We only have a few minutes. Why are you here?"

Maybe there was a time for the truth, but this wasn't it. "The team from Calijyt didn't make it," she told Ashley in Cassie's voice. "Ryse has something we need, information in his head that we can't let anyone get. We came for him first, you second."

A hint of sadness touched Ashley's eyes, but otherwise her expression didn't change. "You couldn't have known I was still alive," she said. Whether she was asking or trying to rationalize the "truth," Kerone shook her head.

"We didn't," she answered. "We thought you died months ago. Andros has been out of his mind with grief."

"Right." Ashley seemed more like herself when she rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he was devastated by the loss of one person. So who are you, exactly? And who's your friend?"

Surprised by her cavalier attitude, Kerone glanced at Ty. "He's connected to Ryse," she said honestly. "We thought we'd have a better chance with him along. I'm your replacement." She was counting on those last words to divert any curiosity about her first explanation, and she wasn't disappointed.

"My..." Ashley faltered, swallowed hard, and nodded. "Right. Of course, I knew they would choose someone else. I left my morpher behind so they wouldn't be short."

Kerone held up her left wrist, and a yellow astromorpher shimmered into place. Ashley nodded again, slowly, apparently taking that at face value. So she wasn't quite as battle-hardened as she appeared. Who trusted anything a shapeshifter showed them?

"Ryse is gone," Ashley repeated, tilting her head slightly as if listening to something on the other side of the door. "If Astronema's been able to track him, she hasn't told me. As far as we knew, he and his rescuers made it into hyperspace with power reserves to spare--I figured they were in another galaxy by now."

There was something in her voice... envy? Kerone studied her as best she could, but this wasn't her friend to begin with and months behind enemy lines had altered her expressions beyond casual recognition. She had to ask. "What about you?"

Ashley shrugged. "What about me? I'm still here."

"We can take you with us," Kerone insisted. "We got in here, and no matter what the quantrons think, we're going to get out. Come back to Eltare with us."

Ashley was shaking her head. "Astronema won't let me go," she told Kerone. "It's part of the deal. She gets to keep me, I get to live. It works out, really. I've done more here than you probably know back home."

"You've done enough," Kerone countered. "We can get you out of here--alive. It doesn't matter whether she lets you go or not."

"Actually," a new voice cut in, a sing-song note to the words. "I think it does."

Kerone spun, catching the last light of violet as it faded from Astronema's form. She had appeared in the middle of the room without a sound. Ty bristled, reaching for a weapon he no longer had, and Kerone considered the situation. Staff in one hand and a blaster in the other, Astronema had them at a physical disadvantage. But tactically speaking, there were three of them... and she had no idea who she was dealing with.

Astronema evened the odds by tossing the blaster to Ashley, that casual gesture saying more about her confidence than anything else. It wasn't that she had that much faith in Ashley's loyalty. It was just that she didn't doubt her own ability to take all of them at once--armed or not.

"So you caught these... intruders, all by yourself, hmm?" Astronema smiled at Ty, no friendliness in the expression. He bristled, and she only looked amused. "Good work, Aisling."

Ashley lowered her head, gaze fixed on the floor. "Thank you, my princess," she murmured.

Astronema circled Kerone, considering her with the same lack of concern she had shown for Ty. "Below decks, all alone, during an intruder alert and without a weapon, no less. Unless they disarmed you?"

Ashley didn't answer, and Astronema came to a halt in front of her erstwhile prisoner. "No, I didn't think so. You're too good for that. But not quite good enough to capture two Rangers all by yourself, I think."

Kyril, Kerone thought. We need you.

"I'll take those morphers," Astronema added, not bothering to look over her shoulder. Gaze still fixed on Ashley, she asked, "What were you doing below decks, Aisling?"

Kerone didn't move, and this time Astronema did shoot a glance in her direction. "Morphers," she snapped. "Now."

"He's not a Ranger," Kerone snapped back. "He doesn't have a morpher."

"Yours, then." Astronema glared at her, seeming to have forgotten Ashley. "Don't think I don't recognize your little bracelet."

She let the guise fall away, Cassie's image dissipating as she mirrored the person standing in front of her. "Do you recognize this?" she demanded, her normal voice an exact duplicate of Astronema's.

Astronema drew back, looking more aggravated than impressed. "Who are you?"

"I'm Astronema," Kerone replied, in the same haughty tone. "I'll be taking my 'prisoners' and leaving now. So glad we could have this little chat."

"I don't think so." Astronema didn't sound amused anymore. That was a step in the right direction. "You won't even make it past the quantrons."

Kerone smiled slightly, stepping through the violet curtain to Ashley's side. "Who says I'm going past the quantrons?" she inquired.

Astronema whirled, her eyes just a little wider at the show of familiar teleportation. "How did you do that?"

"I told you," Kerone responded. She couldn't say anything truer, and because of it, neither of them would ever believe her. "I'm Astronema."

She knew what Astronema was going to do before she even lifted her staff, and an identical weapon appeared in Kerone's hands. She spun it around and knocked Astronema's staff aside even as she leveled it at Ty. Astronema was fast: she came up swinging and Kerone felt fire slice across her shoulder as she danced back.

Ty was behind her now, joining Ashley by the door and grabbing her arm to hold her in place. Kerone wasn't sure whether Ashley would really intervene, but she was glad to see Ty in possession of her blaster anyway. She caught an electric purple wave on her staff and slammed it down, the energy disappearing harmlessly into the deck. She didn't bother throwing the attack back, knowing that Astronema could counter anything she threw just as easily.

Astronema didn't know that, however, and for the first time she looked a little uncertain. Staring from her staff to Kerone's, her gaze flickered to the two people behind her. Kerone didn't have to look to know that Ty had turned the blaster back on Astronema, and while it might not do any good, it did make their point rather effectively.

"There's no way off this ship," Astronema said at last, eyes narrowed as she considered the three of them. "You may be able to teleport across the room, but you can't get past the shields."

Kerone smiled, very deliberately. "Can you?"

Astronema's eyes widened, and Kerone could feel a third presence at her back. She turned her head a little, not taking her eyes off of Astronema. Just enough to catch Kyril in her peripheral vision. Nice timing, she remarked, certain he had just stepped out of the wall.

Thank you, he tossed back. I do try.

It could have been Zhane at her back, and she tried not to let on how familiar he sounded. "We got on to this ship," she told Astronema. "I promise you, we are getting off. With or without your help."

"You can't possibly expect me to help you," Astronema said disgustedly. "The moment you're--"

"You could come with us," Ashley interrupted, not waiting for her to pause. "Come back to Eltare. Meet your brother. Meet... meet everyone, at home."

Kerone wasn't the only one who her heard her voice crack on the last word. Astronema's face softened noticeably, watching the woman she insisted on calling "Aisling." Uncharacteristically, Ashley refused to meet her gaze.

"I've kept you here too long," Astronema said abruptly. "I should have let you go the last time Ecliptor insisted. But now..."

Now there was no way to make her "escape" look plausible. Kerone knew it, and Ashley had probably known it all along. "Send her after Ryse," she blurted out. "Send her after the Calijyt team that was here yesterday. She came from League space, didn't she? She has connections."

Astronema regarded her suspiciously. "Who are you?" she repeated, in the tone of someone who already knew but didn't want to believe. "Where did you come from?"

Kerone let the Astronema glamour fall away, leaving her standing before her dimensional alternate in the tawny trousers and colored tunic that constituted the uniform of the Kerovan Rangers. Her curls were shoulder-length and blonde, with only the single phoenix charm glistening behind her ear. She knew Astronema saw herself in the image she presented despite that.

"I'm you," she said quietly, even as the flash of recognition faded and Astronema began to shake her head. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you where I came from. But I was you--I am you--and the only difference between us is that I listened when Ashley told me I could be more."

Astronema just stared at her, her expression revealing nothing. "You're not from the future," she said at last. Her tone was absolutely certain.

"I told you you wouldn't believe me," Kerone reminded her.

Astronema shook her head, transferring her gaze to Ashley. "I expect news of the prisoner," she told Ashley crisply. "No matter what it is, no matter when. I will know who got him out--and how."

"Won't you come with us?" Ashley pleaded, her voice full of some emotion Kerone couldn't read. Happiness, homesickness, sorrow, she didn't know. "We need you, Kerone. We all need you."

Astronema lifted her free hand, and a small smile touched her face. She let her hand fall without a word, though, and she took a step back. "I'll miss you," she said quietly.

Then she glanced at Kerone, voice hardening as she lifted her chin and set her staff on its end beside her. "You have five minutes. I hope you're as good as you think you are." And she was gone, enshrouded and carried away by magical teleportation.

She glanced around at the others, positioning them in her mind, and their world went bright and sparkling. Their first jump was intraship, to the place where they had left Kyril earlier, watching their exit. It was a weak spot in the shields, a place where she didn't have to care so much about the magical enhancements that could, in fact, contain Astronema under the right circumstances.

She heard Ashley gasp as they materialized, the intruder alert already oscillating up and down the audible range--so much for their five minutes--and Ty moved to support her automatically. The world spun into violet fire again, three successive teleports with barely time to see between them. Choosing the sites had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done. Picking places based on the probability of their divergence from what she knew, especially given the magnitude of the differences between their dimensions, and with no way to check before she risked all their lives?

It had been an interesting exercise. She wouldn't have minded if it had been a little more academic and a little less practical, but it had gotten them in. Now she just had to make sure that it got them out again. Dark Spectre's territory was vast.

They paused for breath on a deserted mining asteroid that they were very lucky to hit--she had almost opted for a longer teleport in order to bypass this unlikely outpost, but JT had managed to confirm five of her locations in advance and this was one of them. Unfortunately, his confirmation meant very little in terms of her ability to see them in her mind, but at least she knew there was something there. And she couldn't hold onto Kyril as long as the others... they needed this stop.

She glanced over at him, alarmed to see him breathing as hard as Ashley. "You all right?" she asked worriedly, taking a step closer when he closed his eyes.

"I'm--" He reached out blindly, keeping his eyes shut but obviously looking for something, and she took his hand without thinking about it. His fingers clenched around hers hard enough to hurt, but he nodded calmly. "I'm all right."

"What's wrong?" Ashley murmured, as though her voice could give them away in the near darkness. The only light was the violet luminescence from Kerone's staff, and it was fading faster the longer they waited.

"I don't teleport well," Kyril told her, a hint of humor in his voice. "That's all. I'm ready," he added, grip loosening a little but not letting go.

He didn't interact with magic well, was what he meant. He wasn't used to it, and she knew it was harder for him to let it touch him than it was for him to let more tangible things affect him. She wondered if he had had to learn physical touch the way he was trying to learn magic... and if it had been as hard. How long ago had he died, anyway?

"Four more jumps," she told the others. "The last one is going to be crowded; it's a neutral trade center on the fringes of the monarchy. JT's supposed to get us out of there as soon as we signal him." Unspoken was the reminder that they needed to draw as little attention as possible, in case he didn't.

"Neutral, huh?" Ashley muttered under her breath. "Not conquered yet, is all."

"It's easy to be non-aligned when no one has any interest in you." Ty's agreement was bitter and somewhat startling, given that it was the first time he had spoken since they encountered Ashley. While Kerone hoped his new silent policy was temporary, she did wish he would choose his moments a little more carefully.

She slid her arm around Kyril's, keeping their hands together as she took another step closer, and she saw Ashley trying not to look at them. "Ready?" she asked the others.

"Ready," Ashley agreed firmly. Ty gave a curt nod, but Kyril just squeezed her fingers. When she caught his eye, though, he nodded too, and she called up their next destination in her mind.

The light flared again, exhilarating to her and dizzying to Ty, if past complaints were anything to go by. For Kyril she suspected it was exhausting, an exercise in concentration that he couldn't afford to let lapse. And for Ashley... who knew what it was like for Ashley? In their dimension, Ashley loved teleporting. Here, it must have been months since she teleported anywhere. Maybe more.

The neutral trading post appeared around them at last, its commercial hub flowing above them while incoming freight rushed past on their level. This wasn't a passenger transfer point, which was part of the reason they were there, but there were enough people around to notice their arrival. Kyril was drifting.

Doing a double take, she realized it really wasn't her imagination. She squeezed his hand warningly and he was standing at her side again, looking perfectly normal. She nodded at Ty, but he was already triggering his digimorpoher. JT had buried a manual homing signal inside the device, amplified by the Power and supposedly instantaneous. She hoped he knew she was marking the time in her mind.

Just like that, the rumble of cargohaulers was gone and they were surrounded by violet dimness. It was oppressive after the cavernous trading post; she could feel the walls around her even if she could barely see them. This wasn't where JT had meant to send them, was it? She could feel Kyril silent at her side, no longer breathing and clearly bracing himself for whatever the light revealed.

"Lights." Ashley's voice made her start, and she stared in total noncomprehension as the illumination revealed a small room filled with haphazard furniture and the bright but unpredictable colors of a Ranger team.

Ashley sank onto the nearest object, head dropping into her hands as her shoulders shook. "Oh my god," Kerone heard her whisper. "Oh my god..."

"Ashley?" Ty was closest, and there was a note in his voice that had been missing for days. It was concern. Concern for someone else.

"Yeah," she whispered, lifting her head again. Her eyes shone with tears, the one that escaped down her cheek quickly followed by another. She let out a half-sigh, half-sob, but she was beaming at them even as she brushed the tears away. "I didn't think I'd ever see this place again."

A chime from the door was the only warning they had before Andros and Zhane burst into the room, coming to a complete halt not two steps inside as both their gazes went straight to Ashley. "Ash?" Andros' voice was even softer than hers had been, but Zhane just lunged forward and wrapped her in a bear hug. He knocked her off the arm of the sofa and back onto the cushions, heedless of her physical or emotional state.

A muffled yelp was the only protest Ashley made, her breath coming in gasps as Zhane hugged her harder, yanked her up, pushed her against the back of the couch, and generally mauled her in the name of welcome. It was impossible to tell whether she was laughing or crying, but her arms were tight around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder the moment he was still. She hadn't stopped shaking, and it took Kerone a moment to realize that Zhane was crying too.

"Thank you." Andros' whisper reached their ears, but he didn't take his eyes off of Ashley and Zhane. "We owe you more--" He swallowed hard. "More than I can tell you."

Kerone glanced over at the doorway where the remaining Astro Rangers had gathered. They had pushed their way in, eager to be there, to see for themselves, to believe that their teammate really was alive... and reluctant, too, to interfere, to intrude, respectful of this outpouring of emotion. Maybe wishing they could share it. Zhane could be uninhibited enough for all of them.

Cassie put a hand on Andros' arm, smiling at Kerone when their eyes met. "Thank you," she repeated sincerely. "Did you..." Her gaze flicked over all of them, and her smiled dimmed a little. "Did you find your friend?"

Kerone shook her head. "He was gone--they said someone from Calijyt had taken him? Did you send someone?"

"Taken?" Cassie repeated, squeezing Andros' arm. Kerone couldn't help noticing that TJ was standing on the other side of Carlos and Karen: as far from Cassie as he could get and still be on the same side of the room. "You mean..."

"Rescued," Ashley interrupted, her voice breathy with tears and maybe a hiccup or two. "I thought he was rescued. Astronema didn't know for sure, but she was so angry--"

Zhane held her harder and all it did was make her start crying again. "Ashley thought the people who took him were from Calijyt," Kerone offered quietly. "She said they were Rangers."

Cassie shook her head, but Andros had yet to look away from the scene on the couch. "It wasn't Rangers," she said. "If we could risk that kind of rescue mission, we would have done it months ago--"

When Ashley disappeared. She didn't say the words, but Kerone heard them anyway.

Andros took a step toward the couch. Ashley was clinging to Zhane as determinedly as he was clinging to her, but she turned her head when Andros touched her shoulder. He dropped to the couch beside her. Still she didn't let go of Zhane, but she wasn't shaking as badly now and she didn't flinch from Andros' touch when he started to rub comforting circles on her back.

"We should go," Kerone murmured, glancing over at Ty. He wore an expression she knew well, a haunted look that had stared out at her from the mirror on so many sleepless nights the year before. It was an expression she saw less often on her own face now, and it shook her to see it on his.

"No, stay," Karen said quickly. She caught Kerone's eye easily, unlike most of the others in the room, and her smile looked genuine. "Maybe we can do something, try to trace your friend somehow--"

"I will," Ashley said with a sniff, turning her head to lay it sideways on Zhane's shoulder and wipe her eyes. "You know I'll do it," she added, her watery gaze looking for and finding Kerone's. "If he's out there, I'll find him, and I'll tell you. You already asked, you know."

Kerone just looked at her for a long moment, hearing all the questions she couldn't ask. Ashley had known. Had she known since they met that Kerone was lying? "I guess I kind of did," she said quietly. "But I wouldn't hold you to that, Ashley."

"I know." Ashley smiled tremulously. "That's why I'm going to do it."

She lifted her head then, resting her forehead against Zhane's for a moment before sitting up on her own and reaching out a hand to Andros. He took it immediately, looking torn between what he wanted to do and what was best for her. Ashley ended his internal struggle by leaning back against him and closing her eyes. His arms went around her and he drew her closer, burying his face in her hair.

"I think we have to get in line," Carlos told Karen in a stage whisper.

"Maybe we could take numbers?" she whispered back.

Before Kerone knew what they were doing, the two were rushing the couch, shoving in a good-natured and probably exaggerated way as they jockeyed for a position on the floor in front of it. Cassie laughed at them, but she reached out and gave Carlos a push as he passed, throwing him off balance and ensuring that Karen got the place closest to Ashley. The Black Ranger threw a baleful look over his shoulder at her.

"Interference!" he told Karen, sitting practically in her lap as she reached up to pat Ashley's hand reassuringly. To reassure Ashley that they were there or herself that Ashley was real, it could have been either one.

Ashley just smiled, not opening her eyes as she turned her hand over and squeezed Karen's. Then she cracked her eyelids and peered down at Carlos, her smile widening as she reached out to muss his hair. "I missed you guys," she whispered.

"Stay," Cassie repeated, looking at Kerone while the others continued to fawn over Ashley. While she was distracted, TJ took the opportunity to join them on the couch. "There must be something we can do to thank you."

"You don't have to thank us," Kerone assured her, a little embarrassed by the idea that they could have done anything else. "She's our friend too. I'm so glad that we could do something good for each other for a change."

Cassie seemed to know exactly what she meant. "JT will be forced to stop complaining about your dimension for a few days," she said with a laugh. "He won't like that! Come have something to eat with us, so we can all watch him being polite and grateful."

"I wish we could." She meant it, too. She did wish they could stay here longer, even if she thought Ashley might be overwhelmed very quickly. "We've been gone so long already, though, and our team needs us. Teams," she added, glancing at Kyril.

Only when Cassie followed her gaze did she realize that Kyril didn't know any of these people. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "This is Kyril, the Blue Elisian Ranger. Kyril, you... sort of know Ashley, Andros, Zhane, and Cassie--"

"Cassandra," the Pink Ranger corrected, and Kerone blinked.

"Sorry, Cassandra," she repeated. "And this is TJ, Carlos, and Karen. They're all Astro Rangers, except for Karen, who doesn't hold the Power."

"Oh, I hold the power," Karen said with a smirk. She poked Carlos hard enough to make him squawk, and she winked at Kerone. "It's just a more subtle kind of power than you're talking about."

"There's nothing subtle about your power," Carlos grumbled, rubbing his arm pointedly. "Women these days. First the planet, next the galaxy."

"Only the worthy galaxies," Karen said sweetly.

"Pleased to meet you," Kyril told them, letting his amusement show. "The Cassie I know would agree with you," he added, nodding to Karen.

She just smiled at him, but Kerone saw Cassandra shoot him a sharp look. "We have to go," Kerone insisted gently. "I'm sorry, but we left people behind..."

"Right, of course." Cassandra spoke so quickly that it seemed impossible that she hadn't been about to say something else. "JT's upstairs; let me get him for you. Thank you so much for everything," she added earnestly.

The others echoed her thanks again, but the only gratitude Kerone needed was the look of sublime contentment on Ashley's face when she smiled at them.

"If you ever do something like that again," Andros began sternly.

"For the last time!" Zhane exclaimed. "Shut up already and congratulate them! You know you want to!"

"We didn't get Ryse," Kerone murmured, and Ashley squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. The sorceress was sitting at the table in the middle of the workbay, head bowed while Zhane held an ice pack against her other arm.

"So someone beat you to it," Zhane countered. "One less day he had to spend with the forces of evil. That's not a bad thing!"

"We don't know they were the good guys," Ty muttered. He was leaning back against the half-deck in front of the Jump Tubes, and it occurred to Ashley suddenly that he looked just as exhausted as Kerone. And he was all alone...

"Andros," she said quickly. "Make yourself useful and get them some dinner. Kyril, do you want anything?"

"Of course they were the good guys," Zhane said, twisting to look over his shoulder. "Who else would be as amazingly insane as the three of you? Sneaking in to the Dark Fortress' prison levels--that's crazy!"

"Suicidal is the word I would have used," Andros said dryly. He was standing in front of the Synthetron, somehow keeping an eye on all of them at the same time. "It didn't occur to any of you to mention this plan to the rest of us?"

"Hey," Ashley said, sliding her arm through Ty's. "Come on and sit down, all right?"

He jerked away from her, and she caught Zhane's warning look from the table. But it wasn't directed at her--and Ty saw it too. He hesitated, and Zhane lifted one hand to gesture him over. Ashley tried again, resting her hand on his elbow this time, and finally Ty allowed her to steer him over toward the table.

"What do you want, Ty?" Andros called.

She felt Ty stiffen, and she squeezed his arm reassuringly. "To eat," she said gently. "What do you want to eat."

Ty closed his eyes, stopping in front of the table but refusing to sit. "Why are you doing this?" he whispered.

She didn't pretend to not understand. "Because you're our teammate," she told him matter-of-factly. "And our friend. Sometimes that's all that matters."

Kyril set a tray down in front of Kerone, and she smiled up at him. "You shouldn't do that," she murmured. "I could have gotten it."

"Or Andros could have," Ashley added, distracted momentarily by the need to glare over at the Red Ranger. "I think dinner was his job."

Andros gave her the Look, and Kyril just shook his head, dropping onto the stool next to Kerone. "I wanted to," he said simply. "I have to keep in touch with things or I forget what it's like."

Ashley looked from one to the other, then lifted her gaze to Zhane. He removed the ice pack and stared at it as though it had done something particularly interesting, then pulled Kerone's shirt down over her shoulder. She didn't bat an eye--until he pressed the ice pack against her bare skin, and she flinched visibly.

"Sorry," Zhane offered, and he did sound repentant. But he didn't remove the ice pack.

Then Andros was there, sliding a tray in front of Ty before she had even registered his presence. "Sit down," Ashley urged, patting Ty's shoulder and then taking the stool at the end of the table. Andros sat down on Ty's other side, taking something off of his plate as absently as if it had been Ashley's.

Ashley smiled at Ty's bemused look, but when he and Zhane were the only two still standing he did reluctantly lower himself onto a stool. Zhane checked Kerone's shoulder again, and she shifted uncomfortably. "It's not going to heal just by looking," she informed Zhane somewhat testily.

"Might." Zhane's cheerfulness sounded forced. "How will you know if I don't try?"

Kerone sighed, but when she lifted her face toward his she looked more amused than annoyed. She patted his fingers with her free hand, smiling up at him. Zhane seemed to relax, smiling back at her without a word between them.

"Are you hungry?" Ty inquired, very politely. Ashley looked at him in surprise, but he was regarding Andros with a look of wry confusion. Andros was clearly munching on a second helping from Ty's plate, but he stopped when Ty called him on it and gave him a perfectly blank look.

"No," he said, as though he had no idea why Ty was asking.

Ashley felt a smile spreading across her face. She caught Zhane's gaze across the table and saw the Silver Ranger trying to suppress an identical grin. Nudging Ty companionably, she advised, "Just let it go. He only does it to people he likes."

Andros considered the vegetable in his hand, then held it up to point it threateningly at everyone at the table. "Did I mention," he began, "that if you ever do something like that again...?"