"Megaship, this is Mega V1," a voice declared, interrupting the muted intership chatter of the Defense as it came over the comm system. Six very familiar zords appeared on the edge of her tactical map, dumping residual hyperrush velocity as they came screaming through the outer fringes of the fight. "The cavalry has arrived."

Cassie grinned at his cockiness in spite of herself, but there was no denying that she was glad to see them. The Aquitians' megazord transformation had taken them out of the fight for several long moments, and it had set to blasting through the lines of velocifighters surrounding Dark Spectre's ship immediately afterwards. Now it was wreaking havoc on a concentrated section of the shipboard defenses, leaving her and the Defense wing to hold their own against some very angry velocifighters.

"It's about time you got here, Mega V1," she said, counting on DECA to relay the message. "We didn't give you those zords so you could keep them in the garage."

"Didn't Dimitria teach you to play nice with people from outer space?" Rocky answered, slamming Mega V1 straight through one of the velocifighter waves.

"She must have forgotten the part about evil monarchs," Cassie said, admiring his "punch and see" strategy. It was funny, but he treated battle exactly the same way Andros did--she wondered if it was the zord. "DECA, can you send the our new shield specs to the Mega V zords?"

"I am sending that data now," DECA answered, and Cassie wondered if her reply was a little too quick for her to be only following orders. Andros had never told them what degree of free will the onboard computer had, though her ability to prank TJ suggested it was considerable.

"Dark Spectre can teleport through our shields," Cassie said, before Rocky could ask. "He got most of the team before we caught on--you're going to have to adjust your shields to keep it from happening to you, too."

"Are you the only one over there?" Rocky asked, sounding startled.

"I'm the only Ranger," Cassie said, shooting a sideways glance at Linnse. "Are the Defense ships showing up green on your displays?"

"*That's* who those are!" Justin's voice exclaimed. The Mega V zords' network enabled all six zords to listen in on each other's conversations. "Yeah, they're green. And they're good!"

"My shields are set," Rocky said. "What about the rest of you?"

Cassie heard the chorus of agreement, and she offered silent thanks that the Power had given the Mega V zords' pilots such a thorough understanding of the technology. This might work out after all.

"Hey, who invited *those* guys?" Justin's voice demanded suddenly.

Her tactical screen blipped a warning even as she registered the question, and she swore. Apparently Dark Spectre had decided it was time to stop fooling around. The vessels around Rysia were shifting, and this time it wasn't just a single battleship--the system's entire occupying force was converging on their battle.

"We can take them," Rocky said confidently. "These zords are amazing!"

*So is the Megaship,* Cassie thought. *But it's like being pecked to death by ducks.* No matter how many they destroyed, the velocifighters just kept coming, and the shields were rapidly approaching critical. Andros would kill her if anything happened to his ship.

"You were right about your friends," Linnse muttered, her voice just low enough to be below the level DECA would pick up and transmit. "They're not up to it."

Cassie glared at her, then realized she was studying the tactical readout on the main screen. Following her gaze, she had to admit that Linnse was right. The "Earth Rangers" simply weren't prepared--but the Power of their zords was doing a good job of making up for it.

"They can't help it," she said, returning most of her attention to the thruster controls. "The Power doesn't give you tactical training, just knowledge of your abilities."

"They have *no* battle strategy," Linnse complained, poking the Megalaser controls more viciously than she needed to.

"You can't expect them to," Cassie said, annoyed. She pushed the starboard thrusters hard, swinging the Megaship around on an intercept course with one of the incoming Rysian battleships. "V1 and V3 are the only ones who've even flown before, let alone fought outside an atmosphere."

"You certainly know how to pick your replacements," Linnse said dryly.

Cassie spared a glance for the main screen, watching three of the Mega V zords swarm the Rysian fleet. What they lacked in experience, they made up for with sheer armament, and they seemed to know it. The occupational fleet didn't give them a moment's pause. She could only hope they weren't overconfident.

"No!" Linnse exclaimed suddenly. The frustration in her tone was obvious as she raised her voice enough for DECA to pick it up and transmit it. "V2 and 6, coordinate your attack before you hit each other!"

There was a startled pause over the networked comm, and then Ali's uncertain voice replied, "What?"

The Rysian battleship opened fire, and Cassie waited past the last second to evade it. The lasers clipped the Megaship's starboard shielding, but the deliberate sluggishness of her maneuver served its purpose. She had a moment to look for Jeff and Ali as she waited for the battleship to take the bait.

"V2, break off!" Linnse snapped.

The imminent disaster crystallized in Cassie's mind even as she looked back at the scanner readouts on the battleship in front of her. "Jeff, do it!" she ordered, watching the battleship's weapons power up. She punched the thrusters to maximum and the Megaship sprang forward just as the other ship fired.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mega V2 scramble out of the way half a second before it would have sailed into Ali's line of fire. "Linnse," she demanded, "Can you coordinate them?"

The battleship's lasers missed their mark when the Megaship was suddenly elsewhere, bearing down on its attacker at half of lightspeed and still accelerating. She had no time to spare for the Mega V zords, and Linnse did have the training. The question was whether she had the concentration.

"They'll have to do what I tell them," Linnse warned her, after a moment of what Cassie thought was a rather surprised silence.

As the other battleship tried frantically to evade what must look like a suicide run, the Megaship pulled up infinitesimally to scream past overhead. The Megalasers raked the ship from stem to stern, setting off a chain of explosions that followed the Megaship as it drew away.

*That answers the question of whether she can concentrate on both at once,* Cassie thought wryly. Raising her voice, she said, "Mega V1, I'm handing over command of the Mega Voyager zords."

"To who?" Rocky demanded, sounding suddenly worried. She probably thought she was going to leave him on his own, and she felt a flash of sympathy for the six Mega V pilots. She couldn't even remember what it had felt like to drive Windchaser for the first time.

"Her name's Linnse. She's a wing commander from Eltare." She didn't try to explain anything about the Frontier Defense, but she threw in the mention of Eltare because she knew Rocky had known Zordon. With any luck, invoking the planet's name would go a long way towards making him trust her.

She saw the Rysian battleship's power curve settle down around zero, and it blinked to orange on her tactical readout. An isolated green blip drew her eye then, and she was about to say something when Linnse beat her to it.

"Mega V4," Linnse said sharply. "Fall back."

"She knows what she's talking about," Cassie put in, wishing Linnse didn't always sound so confrontational. "I'll explain later, okay?"

"Right," Rocky agreed finally. "V4, do what she says."

The Megaship arced around as Linnse ordered V4 and 5 into flanking positions, and Cassie followed up on Rocky's initial attack on the Rysian fleet. Between the Megaship, the zords, and the half of the Defense wing that joined them, they dove hard into Dark Spectre's occupying fleet and started to push it back.

She made sure to keep an eye on the Aquitians as much as possible, but their megazord had made it through to the actual surface of Dark Spectre's ship already. It had latched on and hunkered down for the duration, weapons blazing as velocifighters buzzed around it. Its very location protected it from both Dark Spectre's weapons and the Rysian fleet, and she thought it would be ironic if the Aquitians ended up being the safest of any of them.

***

The shriek of shearing metal was barely distinguishable from the squealing clamor of the alarm, but Zhane could see the brightness of heated metal tracing an outline across the wall. When it reached its origin at last the light started to fade, and there was a brief pause.

Then, with a tremendous clang audible even over the sound of the intruder alert, a section of the bulkhead exploded outward. He had been expecting it, they all had, but he couldn't help flinching as the twisted metal burst forward. He felt a little better when he saw Astrea start, too.

Cestria stepped through first, as calmly as though she was walking through one of the portals on her own world. She pressed her fingertips together and nodded quickly as she moved forward, not seeming to expect any acknowledgement from them. She gestured over her shoulder, and Aura appeared beside her.

"Five decks down," Astrea said, not bothering to greet them. "This place will probably be under siege in a few minutes; teleporting may be the only way to get there and back in time."

Cestria nodded. "We will accompany you while our teammates hold this location."

He saw Cetaci step forward to stand with them just as Astrea turned to Saryn. Something must have passed between them, because Saryn shook his head. "I have never teleported more than one other person at a time."

"I can do it," Astrea said. "Everyone will have to stand close together, though; we won't have much room when we arrive."

It must be Andros' mental picture of the prison that she was planning to use to teleport them. She couldn't be as calm as she looked--he knew she would rather rely on her own memory, and she had mentioned her fear of "teleporting blind" to him before. But she seemed perfectly composed, and he stepped closer without question.

"There is no need for you to go this time," he heard an Aquitian voice say, and he saw Astrea glance over at them impatiently.

Cetaci was frowning at Delphinius, barely visible in the shadows of the inside of the hull. The Black Aquitian Ranger had gone so far as to catch her arm, physically preventing her from joining Cestria and Aura. "I will go because it is my duty," she told him.

"I want Cetaci to come," Cestria interrupted. "She and Aura are best suited to this."

"Aura is," Delphinius agreed. "It is no longer Cetaci's responsibility, as you yourself pointed out. She would be of more use to us here."

Zhane saw the White Ranger stiffen at that. "It is not your place to tell me where I am needed," she informed him. "I will go."

"You won't," he told her firmly.

"We do not have time for this squabble," Cestria said, sounding as annoyed as Astrea looked.

"Then let her stay here," Delphinius protested. "Surely there is no reason for all three of you to go."

"It is *not* your decision," Cetaci said coldly.

"It isn't yours, either," he retorted, and Zhane was just short of leaving them *all* when something he had never thought to see happened. Cestria exploded.

"Stop it!" she shouted. "Do you have any idea how *childish* you sound? If the two of you do not stop this ridiculous bickering, then I will invoke my authority as leader and Billy, Aura and I will replace you *both*!"

A sparkling curtain of violet fell across his vision, so familiar that he knew what was happening immediately. Astrea had never had any patience for other people's fights. When she knew what had to be done, she didn't permit argument.

The prison reformed around him, and he tried to repress a shudder. It was true that he hadn't wanted them to take Andros away. But it was also true that his friend's presence had been the only thing keeping him calm in the dark, enclosed space. The threat of losing his company had been too much to take.

Andros and Ashley were leaning against each other, sitting back to back in a cell meant for one. Andros' eyes locked with Zhane's as soon as he appeared, and the look of utter relief on his face was unmistakable. Next to them, Carlos stopped pacing and TJ looked up from his place on the floor.

"Well," the Blue Ranger drawled, getting to his feet even as Ashley and Andros scrambled up. "If this is what interrogation looks like these days, I'll take it."

There was a sound like static electricity followed by a loud crunch, as though a rock had been wrapped in cellophane and used to smash a milk jug. The force-shielding on the cell bars flickered unsteadily and then vanished altogether, and Zhane turned in time to see Astrea unclenching her fist. The control panel by the door looked like it had imploded.

Saryn was staring at her. "Was that necessary?" he asked mildly.

She only held up her left hand, and her staff shimmered into existence. "Stand back," was all she said.

They all complied, and she turned it on the first of the electronic cell locks. Ashley flinched as the violet electricity sliced the lock in half, an explosive fission that Astrea went on to repeat twice more.

Andros pushed the door open as soon as she moved on. Carlos kicked his open, with more force than was probably necessary. "On my list of good places to spend Sunday afternoon, Dark Spectre's prison was somewhere between the middle of the sun and the dentist's office."

"Everyone get close together," Astrea ordered, yanking TJ's door open for him. "We don't have much time." She glared at Cestria and Cetaci as she said that, and Zhane rolled his eyes as Cetaci glared right back at her. The White Ranger was irrepressible.

They shuffled closer together, Zhane reaching out to cross wrists with Andros as his friend joined him. Ashley reached out to squeeze his shoulder, and he smiled at her as Astrea took her place in front of them.

She kept her staff this time, resting it against the floor and gesturing impatiently with her right hand. Zhane expected her flourish to signal their teleportation, but nothing happened. He waited a few more seconds, but still they stood motionless inside the prison facility.

When Astrea turned around, he knew something was drastically wrong. Her words only confirmed it. "Magical teleportation has been locked down."

She glanced at Saryn, and he reached for his ruby. Seconds later, though, he shook his head. "Mine as well. We will have to go on foot."

Astrea didn't hesitate. "We'll stay belowdecks as long as possible?"

He nodded. "Should anyone get separated and have to make their way alone, the Aquitian megazord is five levels up in that direction." Saryn turned and pointed, as though it would do them any good through the walls. "We will have to make our way to the end of this corridor and turn right until we come to a junction that will take us straight up. At the fifth level, take the right corridor of the junction and continue until you reach the megazord."

"It's hard to miss," Zhane put in, unable to resist. "It's right behind the huge gaping hole with scorch marks around it."

"Yes," Saryn agreed, not looking at him. "They burned through the hull, so when the megazord leaves, that corridor will become a vacuum. It is imperative we are all onboard."

"I think we've got that part, Saryn," Zhane told him, trying desperately not to fidget. "Let's go."

Saryn caught his eye this time, and Zhane almost thought he saw sympathy in the other's eyes. "Agreed," was all he said.

"Kerone?" Andros said, regarding the destroyed control panel. "I think you'll be opening the door for us."

Zhane expected her to heft her staff again, but instead, she just stepped closer to the panel and put her hand over it. There was a moment's pause, and then the door slid open without complaint.

Three fur-covered, fang-toothed aliens stood waiting for them. The corridor behind the creatures was filled quantrons, a good half of them armed with their trademark serrated Q-blades.

***

On the Megaship, Cassie looked up. Dread swept through her, battering at her focus and threatening all rational thought. It was her own dread, not his, but he was the cause nonetheless. She knew that sudden feeling of intense concentration all too well.

She glanced over at Linnse. The other woman had paused as well, alerted by Cassie's sudden hesitation. "Something's wrong," she said, her eyes drawn irresistibly back toward the tactical map.

***

The nearest of the cat creatures backhanded Kerone with enough force to knock her to the floor. Her staff clattered across the metal deck, vanishing into a violet sparkle. She swung her arm around with a growl, letting loose an electric fireball from the palm of her hand.

The cat creature staggered back, but the other two brought their weapons to bear and Carlos reached for his morpher. His wrist was bare, but an energy blast from somewhere to his left announced Saryn's transformation. His first shot vaporized one of the cat creature's weapons, and Carlos heard Aura and Cetaci call on the Power simultaneously.

Cestria was only a second behind them, and the four morphed Rangers opened fire on the force beyond the doors. He scrambled out of line of sight from the doors, saw Zhane yell at Kerone to move, and winced as the cat creatures bombarded the opening with laser fire.

Kerone didn't back down, climbing to her feet to stand with the four Rangers. Staff back in her hand, she marched forward--straight past the other Rangers and out into the hallway. Somehow the weapons didn't touch her, and she struck one of the cat creature's weapons out of his hands with her own staff.

Saryn and Cetaci were right behind her, and the quantrons surged forward. *This is ridiculous,* Carlos thought, grabbing a quantron as it slipped through the doorway and slamming it up against the wall. The energy weapons were losing their effectiveness in the increasingly confined space, and none of the Astro Rangers were going to hide while the others fought for them.

As though Andros had read his mind, he and Zhane threw themselves into the fray. Someone had disabled the last cat creature's weapon, but the things had teeth for a reason and the quantrons' blades were just as much of a threat--more, with their massive numbers.

He didn't know exactly when the quantrons had the morphed Rangers surrounded, but they weren't just slipping through the sides anymore. There was no time for anything but punch, duck and react as he tried to hold his own against the flood of armored soldiers.

Metallic arms snaked around his neck from behind and he shoved himself backward, slamming the quantron against the prison wall. The arms did not let go, and another quantron spun toward him with its Q-blade raised. He grabbed the arms around his neck and was getting ready to whirl when the quantron evaporated into a flash of light.

Ashley appeared as he lurched forward, throwing the quantron over his shoulder. The clang as it impacted with the floor was drowned out by the echoes of fighting around them, and Carlos tried not to flinch at the weapon Ashley held in both hands.

"Present from Kerone!" she shouted over the clamor, hefting one of the cat creature's energy weapons. "Duck!"

He followed her order without question, and the rush of energy overhead made him glad he had. He spun, just in time to see the flash of vaporized quantron fade into the prison's prevailing shadows. "Does that thing have any setting other than vaporize?" he yelled, flinging another quantron against the bars of a nearby cell.

"Does it need one?" Ashley demanded, her back pressing against his as she brought her weapon to bear on another of the metallic soldiers.

"Rangers!" The cat creature's screech penetrated the melee, and Carlos' eye was drawn to it as it lifted a hand-like appendage over its head. "You will not triumph so easily!"

*Triumph?* Carlos thought, smashing his fist into a quantron's chest. *I'd settle for surviving, myself.*

He felt Ashley shift, right shoulder hitting his left as she swung her heavy weapon around. A quantron tumbled out of her way, propelled by a black blur that could only be Zhane, and the deadly discharge of the cat creature's own weapon vaporized it before it could finish its declaration.

The object in its hand, released before Ashley's shot struck the creature and rendered it nothing more than a harmless flash of light, continued its fall to the floor. It struck the metal deck with a tremendous burst of sound and not much more--until Carlos saw four colored flares sparkle through the midst of the battle.

"They're demorphing!" Ashley exclaimed, slamming the barrel of her weapon into a quantron's helmet.

That was impossible; he knew it could never happen. But the two red flashes were side by side, and when the energy faded from Aura and Saryn their Ranger uniforms were gone. He swore as Saryn fell to his knees, cut off from the Power that kept him alive, and the expression of utter despair on his normally calm features leapt out at Carlos through the surrounding chaos.

The blunt side of a quantron's Q-blade caught him in the neck, just above the shoulder, and Saryn crumpled to the floor. As the quantron lifted its weapon again, though, Aura was there to shove it off of him, sending the quantron staggering back with a violent kick to its chest.

"Carlos!" Ashley's shout was punctuated by the roar of her weapon, and it occurred to him to wonder how she could stand the repeated recoil. "We have to get out into the hallway!"

"There's more of them out there!" he yelled back, feeling her take a step away from him anyway.

"We have to!" she repeated, and he followed her lead as she started to edge toward the doorway. Then Andros was there, repeating Ashley's instruction to get out as he whirled under her weapon and closed up their loosening defense.

"What about Saryn!" Carlos ducked another blow and plowed into a quantron, football-style, driving it away from his teammates. Andros' answer was lost in the noise behind him, and as he and the quantron slammed up against the bars he felt the mechanical being deactivate.

With the bars at his back he turned, scanning the fight again. Aura was crouched at Saryn's side, a snarl in place of her usually placid expression as one of the cat creatures approached. She launched herself at it with little regard for style or strategy, and Carlos could only watch in horror as it raked its overlong teeth across her shoulder.

He lashed out, narrowly avoiding a quantron to which he had not been paying attention as he pushed away from the cell bars. He jabbed another in the gut and had time to look up as a figure in black appeared behind the cat creature he had his sights set on.

Cetaci lifted a Q-blade over her shoulder, driving it down onto the creature's back even as Aura went limp in its arms. The Red Aquitian Ranger tumbled to the ground as the cat creature screeched in pain, and Cetaci slammed the Q-blade home again.

Carlos threw himself to the floor beside Aura, feeling his skin tingle as an arc of violet electricity shot past overhead. Kerone's staff knocked a quantron away from them as Cetaci dropped down next to Aura. An Astro flight suit materialized on Saryn's other side, joining Kerone in their defense, but Carlos was too distracted to be sure who it was.

"The fangs must have been poisoned," Cetaci shouted at him over the sound of battle. She pulled her fingers away from Aura's wrist and pressed her fists against the Red Ranger's chest. "Do you know how to breathe for her?"

He nodded mutely as she began what could only be the Aquitian version of CPR. "Do it!" she ordered, not pausing, and he tilted Aura's head back and pressed his mouth to hers.

He could hear the distant crackle of Kerone's staff, and he knew the noise in the room was no less than it had been before. But the body he and Cetaci labored over was so still, so bereft of the energy and spirit that had made it *Aura*, that its silence filled his mind to the exclusion of all else.

Cetaci was saying something to her fallen teammate, but he heard nothing. He forced himself to concentrate on the steady intake and exhale, breathing for both of them for as long as Cetaci would try.

As unaware as he was of anything but the flow of air through his lungs he almost didn't see Cetaci pause, catching Aura's wrist again as the girl twitched feebly. Aura rolled her head to one side, gasping as he let her go and caught up almost immediately in a coughing fit.

Kerone's voice was the first thing to penetrate his returning awareness, and he heard her yelling the same thing Ashley had been telling him earlier. "We have to get out of here!"

Cetaci pressed her palms to Aura's chest, and a glow swirled around her hands. The White Ranger seemed to wilt as the light faded, and Carlos reached for her instinctively.

"I'm fine," she said, yanking her hands away. She fumbled for the Q-blade she had dropped and lifted her gaze to his. "Can you carry her?"

"Yeah," he said, glancing down at Aura. She was lighter than she looked, as he knew from the countless times they'd helped each other in and out of zord cockpits, and she was clearly in no condition to walk. "No problem."

"Then let's go," Cetaci said, struggling to her feet. He said nothing when he saw her lean on her Q-blade to help her up, knowing she wouldn't appreciate his questions even if they had time for them.

He slid a hand under Aura's shoulders and another beneath her knees, gathering her in his arms as he levered himself up off the deck. Kerone covered for him, electric purple lightning bolts radiating outward as the group was herded toward the door. At last he caught a glimpse of TJ, carrying Saryn's unconscious form, with Cetaci and her stolen blade at his side.

As they fought their way to the door, Kerone and Cetaci were forced to defend all six of them--but the quantrons were somehow less vicious than they had been before. Blades were missing their targets, and punches seemed confused. The phenomenon baffled him, until it occurred to him that he was finally seeing Kerone's magic from the inside.

"Keep moving!" Kerone ordered, as they passed through the door and got a firsthand look at the carnage in the hallway. There weren't enough disabled quantrons to account for the number he had seen when the doors first opened, but it was impressive nonetheless.

The pounding of metal boots from the direction Saryn had told them to take made him hesitate, despite Kerone's insistence and the sound of Cetaci's blade humming behind them. He caught TJ's eye and knew that the other Ranger had heard it too. "Uh, Kerone?"

"Back *up*!" she snapped. He turned, to see Cetaci holding the doorway as best she could while Kerone concentrated all her focus into the glowing sphere in her palm. "Cetaci, move!"

The White Ranger threw herself aside, and the quantrons surged forward--just as Kerone tossed her miniature firebomb at them. The concussive force of the explosion knocked her to the floor and sent Carlos staggering backwards, but it blew a hole in the quantrons' ranks like nothing he had ever seen.

Kerone was scrambling to her feet even as the source of the footsteps made itself clear. An entire troop of quantrons came around the corner, coming from the same direction the others must have taken and effectively cutting off the only escape route.

At least, the only one Carlos was aware of. Kerone grabbed Cetaci's arm to help her up and gestured impatiently down the corridor in the other direction. "Go!"

He went, with TJ on his heels and Kerone and Cetaci right behind them.

***

The light stabbed at her eyes and she jerked upright, aware only of the roaring in her ears and the panic that was urging her to her feet. Something held her back, kept her from moving, and she struggled, casting about for context as she tried desperately to remember where she was.

"It's all right," she heard someone saying. "Hold still." For another endless second, she couldn't place the voice, the lights around her, or the noise coming from so nearby.

Then familiarity adjusted the focus of her eyes, turning the unrecognizable objects into the Bridge of the Megaship. She relaxed, letting the hands press her back against her chair as she fought for some memory of what had just happened.

"Cassie?" The same voice that had spoken before sounded wary, but the grip on her arms loosened a little.

She blinked, wondering why that sounded strange. She turned her head and almost pulled away, startled to see Linnse crouched beside her chair. Only then did she realize that it was the first time the other woman had called her by name.

"Yeah," she mumbled, straightening up as Linnse let go of her. "What happened?"

"I was hoping you were going to tell me," Linnse said, her tone dry. "The Defense wing is covering for us, but you were totally unresponsive for a few seconds there. Do you remember?"

Cassie frowned, lifting her hand to her neck absently. She gazed without seeing at the tactical map on the main screen, trying to remember what could have made her black out like that.

Her hand froze, and her eyes widened as she stared at it. "Saryn," she whispered. "They separated him from the Power."

"They took his ruby?" Linnse demanded.

She shook her head. "No... I don't think so. I'm not sure." She hesitated, but her concentration was an exercise in futility. "I can't feel him anymore. He must be unconscious."

"Like you," Linnse murmured, obviously frustrated. "I don't know how long he can survive without the Power."

"Me neither," Cassie admitted, rubbing her neck again. She didn't want to tell Linnse that he wasn't unconscious because of that. It must have been the trauma of the blow that made her black out, especially with their thoughts as close as they had been at the time. "That is the *last* time he goes into battle without me."

Linnse gave her a small, preoccupied smile. "I said the same thing, once."

She bit her lip, watching Linnse take her place at the weapons' console again. "I'm--sorry," she offered, not sure what else to say. "I... I know what it's like to not have him."

Linnse snorted. "It's not like that. But I find it funny you can say that, considering the way he's been fawning over you nonstop for the last two weeks."

Cassie tried not to blush, remembering the three-way conversation of the night before. Though it had been heaven at the time, that was as close as he had ever come to "fawning" in the presence of others. She could count on one hand the number of times he had kissed her in public.

"I met him more than a year ago," she said quietly.

Linnse looked up. "What?" she asked, her expression startled.

"See?" Cassie said, trying to smile. "He never even mentioned me, did he. We barely spoke until about a month ago, but still... I wonder if he would have ever said anything, if you hadn't seen us together after the battle at Aquitar."

"It isn't you. It's him," Linnse muttered. "He's never been very forthcoming about his feelings."

"You noticed that too, huh?" Cassie asked gingerly, trying to prompt another small smile from her.

Linnse gave her a sharp look. "We've been friends for years; of *course* I noticed. I may not love him the way you do, but he's my responsibility."

Cassie frowned, too surprised by her choice of words to retort that she had only been making a joke. "What do you mean, your 'responsibility'?"

Linnse turned back to her console. "Nothing. Can your computer--"

"Linnse, wait," Cassie insisted. "What did you mean?"

Linnse sighed. "You're as bad as I am." Before she could question *that* comparison, the other woman said, "Look, you know about Elisia."

Since she seemed to be waiting for an answer, Cassie nodded.

"Then you know I was the one who brought him back. I made him stay behind when his teammates went on. He was their *leader*; he never should have been separated from all of them. But at the time I didn't know Jenna wasn't going to make it."

Cassie's eyes widened. "What? But--Jenna died on Elisia!"

Linnse shifted uncomfortably. "That's what we told him. She didn't survive the trip to Eltare, but I didn't find that out until later. And it didn't seem right to tell him how long she was alive... afterward."

Cassie swallowed. "No," she agreed at last. "You did the right thing."

"Did I?" Linnse didn't look at her. "He would have died if it wasn't for me. He *wanted* to die. It wasn't my decision to make."

"Don't say that," Cassie told her fiercely. "He was meant to live. He had to."

"But don't you see?" Linnse finally turned on her, her eyes strangely bright. "He *didn't* live! He never felt anything after that, never wanted anything except what we wanted! It was like his spirit died with his teammates, and he was just counting the days until he joined them!"

"That's not true!" Cassie shouted, ignoring the tears that stung her eyelids. "He wanted to live--not right away, but he did! He told me!"

"You're fooling yourself," Linnse shot back. "I was *there*; I know. He didn't care about anything."

"But he's changed," Cassie insisted, trying to force herself to calm down. She was instinctively reacting to Linnse's intensity, and it wouldn't do any good to let the woman provoke her like this. "He's not the same person he was then. He *does* care now."

"Maybe," Linnse muttered. "But I thought you were his way of giving up. I didn't know about your link. I thought he revealed himself to you because he *wanted* you to betray him, because he's somehow survived every fight he's gotten himself into and he was trying to find some other way to escape this life."

"No," Cassie said, back on sure footing at last. "He loves me. There's nothing you can do to convince me he doesn't."

"Oh, he loves you," Linnse agreed readily. "I thought that was his mistake. To convince you, he would have had to show *some* feeling, and as soon as he did he wouldn't be able to just turn it off again. But if he had picked you because he thought you would turn on him, the fact that *his* feelings were suddenly real wouldn't stop you."

"I'd never hurt him," Cassie said calmly. "Not knowingly. Not ever."

Linnse studied her for a moment. "I believe you," she said at last. "I really do. I didn't know it was even possible to empathically link with a human, but you wouldn't know what he was feeling if it wasn't."

"Def-1 to Megaship," a male voice interjected, and Cassie looked up in surprise. She could be wrong, but it sounded as though DECA had amplified that transmission to get their attention.

"Computer, unmute the audio," Linnse ordered.

"Her name is DECA," Cassie murmured, and Linnse glanced at her.

"Audio link reestablished," DECA replied.

"This is the Megaship," Cassie said automatically.

"Thanks for watching our backs, Def-1," Linnse added. "We're ready to go again."

"Good," the wing commander answered. "We're going to need you. Dark Spectre's reinforcements just arrived."

Staring at the tactical screen, Cassie could see that for herself. The Parikat fleet was bearing down on them from the edge of the Rysian system.

***

They paused at the corridor junction, and Kerone seemed to consider for a moment before gesturing. "This way."

Carlos hoped she was only conferring with one of the others when she hesitated, rather than actually being unsure. He'd hate to get lost on a ship like this, especially with quantrons right behind them--they only had one chance to get it right.

"I can--" Aura caught his attention before he could take off after the others, and she struggled against him. "I can run faster than you can carry me."

She sounded like her normal self, but she still didn't look very good to him. He would have refused, but she was impossible to hold when she wanted to stand on her own. Reluctantly, he let her legs slide to the floor, keeping his arm around her shoulders just in case.

She took one step forward. He was so busy making sure she didn't stumble that she had to drag *him* back when a crackle of energy sliced across the hallway in front of them. The glowing forcefield stretched from wall to wall--with the others on the other side.

"Kerone!" he shouted, but she had already turned around. She motioned to TJ to keep going as she and Cetaci started back, and he heard the snap as another forcefield sprang up further down the hall.

She stopped in her tracks, glancing over her shoulder. He thought he heard her mutter something, but her next words were perfectly clear. "They're sealing the prison level! Everybody go up, fast--we'll meet on the next deck and go from there."

"Come on," Aura said, darting for the ladder on their side of the junction. A field sprang up on the other side of it, and he needed no more urging.

He scrambled up the ladder right behind her, pulling himself out into the darker corridor above. The intruder alert stopped abruptly, and the ringing in his ears was easily audible in the sudden silence. They exchanged glances.

"That can't be good," Carlos muttered.

A snap from right next to his feet made him jump, and he stared in horror as the portal they had climbed through was filled with a luminescent forcefield. He stepped forward, hoping to get a glimpse around the corner and find the others--just as another forcefield sprang up to meet the ceiling inches in front of his face.

"We have to keep going," Aura said. "They must be starting on the lowest level and working their way up."

He waited for her to ascend, climbing quickly after her as she disappeared. "Well," he said, trying to be optimistic, "at least the quantrons can't follow us anymore."

Aura didn't answer, and as he followed her through the opening in the deck he knew why. Quantron visors glittered down at him as soon as he lifted his head.