Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related materials copyright Saban Entertainment. All new characters and all story contents copyright B.L. Schroeder.

Author's Notes: This takes place five years [2002] after the prolouge. This is another chapter of the Intergalactic War Saga. When you see the word "telepathize", it will mean they are speaking telepathically.

Rebirth
by: B.L. Schroeder

The space craft sailed through the universe. It's glowing radiance left a trail of light behind it. Inside the craft, Varox soldiers marched up and down the many vast hallways, to make sure none would enter or leave the ship.

Inside another chamber, dark and gloomy, the only light came from the bluish glow of the cryogenic tubes, housing the bodies of the former rangers who had given up their existence to save the planet Earth. Each lay within, naked, still, lifeless. Frost covered the tubes, blurring the bodies of those within. A Varox walked through the quarters, for it's earth-hourly inspection. He stopped, and stared into a cryogenic tube, the tube which housed Tommy Oliver. "I do not know why," thought the Varox, "but I feel his spirit is stronger than the others." With it's sharp finger nail, the Varox drew an "X" in the frost over Tommy's heart. The Varox than returned to his duties.

But, the Varox's mark upon Tommy created a crack in the cryogenic chamber. Freezing air escaped the tube. Then, a blue substance began to drain out of the chamber. Tommy's eyes opened. He suddenly realized that he could not breathe. He banged on the chamber's walls. He could not break them. Suddenly, he noticed the crack in the wall. He quickly pounded upon that point, his throat becoming strained and tight. Finally, after emense pounding, he was able to break the chamber, sending a glass-like material shattering upon him.

He quickly sat up, taking a long breath, then letting it out, slowly. He was freezing, and then noticed the strange looking robes in the corner of the room. He quickly ran and grabbed one, wrapping it around him. Suddenly, he realized where he was, and that his friends and former teammates were also within the surrounding chambers. "Awe, man..." Tommy sighed. Tommy quickly searched the room, trying to find a way to awaken his comrades, without hurting them. He was able to find a lever. Though worried about the consequences, he quickly pulled down the lever. He suddenly saw a thick layer of freezing air rise out of the chambers, followed by the oozing of the blue liquid. The chamber walls opened, and the former rangers slowly woke up from their unnatural hibernation.

Tommy realized his friends were freezing, too, and so he grabbed the robes and passed them out. He finished passing them out, and quickly ran to Kat, embracing his love with the passion which had built up over the past five years.

"I love you Kat," Tommy thought.

"I love you, too, Tommy." Kat loved the present Alpha had given the rangers. The remaining Morphing Grid proved to useful, creating a telepathic link between each former ranger.

"Um, guys? Don't we need to get out of here?" T.J. asked.

"Yeah, but how?" Carlos asked.

"Let's go back to the original plan. It's not like we have anything to loose," Adam was a high-spirited as ever.

"Allright," T.J. said.

The Varox returned for his earth-hourly check on the rangers. He suddenly realized that there was a sudden chill in the air. He then realized the empty chambers, but too late. Rocky jumped down upon him from his hiding place in the ceiling, wrapping his arms and legs around the creature. Adam tackled at the Varox from it's left side, and T.J. from it's right, making the Varox huff in loss of breath. Tommy jumped toward the Varox, almost gliding from one side of the room to the other, his arms spread to be able to grab the Varox. The Varox went down hard upon the impact from Tommy, being knocked unconscious. The four men climbed off the Varox, and Tommy grabbed it's laser rifle. "Everybody talk through the Morphing Grid. We need to stay as quiet as possible," Tommy telepathized the other former rangers through their telepathic link. The former rangers continued onward.

They turned a corner, coming to a four-way fork. Tommy turned to the left, and T.J. and the other former rangers followed behind him. Suddenly, from up ahead, four Varox saw the former rangers, armed with laser rifles. They pointed them at the former rangers, ready to fire. The former rangers quickly turned, running down the hallway. "It's too crowded. Everybody split up. We'll regroup later. We can still communicate through the Morphing Grid," T.J. telepathized to his fellow former rangers.

"Okay," Adam telepathized.

The former rangers split up at the four-way fork. T.J., Carlos, Cassie, Ashley, and Justin ran down one, feeling most comfortable together. Justin looked back, to see a Varox chasing them, charging up his rifle. "Run faster!" Justin telepathized to his friends. They saw an opening ahead, and ran even faster. As they came closer and closer to the opening, they realized it was a doorway to a large room. As they entered the room, they noticed that it was completely empty.

The Varox which had chased them down the hallway quickly stopped and gave a smirk. He stepped back from the room. "Close!" he commanded. A door quickly locked down. "Stupid 'rangers,' " the Varox said as he pressed button and the outside control panel. The former rangers watched in horror as the farthest wall began to break apart, revealing the empty void of outer space. The former rangers were quickly sucked out of the ship. For a moment, they struggled to breathe. But soon, everything went black.

T.J. awoke, quickly realizing he was in a bed. "A dream?" he thought to himself. "No, it couldn't have been. That was way to real." He quickly pushed his way out of the covers, and jumped out of the bed. Unfortunately, he soon realized that he was on the top half of a bunk, and fell to the ground, hard. "Oh, man. That'll leave a bruise," he said, while rubbing his rear end. He noticed that there was someone in the bottom bunk. He stood up, slowly, and realized that it was Justin. He looked around the room, and realized that Cassie and Ashley were also lying in bunk beds. He telepathized to them to wake them up, "Rise and shine, boys and girls!" They all quickly sat up in their beds, Cassie hitting her head on the low hanging ceiling. "Sorry, Cass."

"Wha...?" Ashley sleepily tried to make out the word.

"Don't ask me. I'm as much in the dark as you guys," T.J. told them.

"Whoa, Justin!" Ashley exclaimed, pointing to Justin, who had a major case of bed-head. All the others laughed.

"What?!" Justin asked, looking around, then feeling his hair, realizing that it was standing up. "Funny."

"Um, Teej? Where's Carlos?" Cassie asked, as all of the former rangers got out of bed. They realized they were wearing new, earth-like clothes.

"Whoa. I don't know. Where'd he go?" T.J. asked rhetorically.

"Let's go see if he's out there. It looks like we're on a pretty big ship," Justin said, looking out the door while straightening out his jungle of hair.

The former rangers followed T.J. out the door. They made their way down the hallway. They heard two people coming toward them and talking. "Hide," T.J. telepathized. The former rangers hid behind the corner of the wall, ready to greet, or fight, the people.

"...So, Alpha and Zordon made Turbo Powers? How does that work?" Billy asked Adam.

"I'm not sure. I think it's kind of like a new Morphing Grid," Adam told his friend.

"Okay. I was wondering because..." Billy stopped when he noticed the empty bed beds in the room where they had put T.J., Justin, Cassie, and Ashley. "Adam, look at the room," Billy telpathized.

"They're gone," Adam telepathized his response.

"Look," Billy pointed to the finger sticking out from around the corner.

"Okay. One..., two...," Adam telepathized, and then physically yelled, 'THREE!" Adam and Billy jumped at the former rangers. Ashley squealed a high-pitched scream. "Oh, man. That wasn't the effect I was going for."

"Adam? Billy?" T.J. asked in surprise.

"Whoa. How are you guys here?" Cassie asked.

"Long story," Adam explained.

"Well then start now," T.J. said.

"Okay. See, when we slit up, the rest of us went down two other hallways...," Billy began.

"When we got to the end of the hallways, we were all in this huge docking bay. It was open, and we could see the stars, but we weren't being pulled out..."

"Whoa. This is too weird," Kimberly commented.

"Really. It's like something invisible is blocking it," Adam though aloud.

Suddenly, the three Varox which had chased the former rangers entered the room. They charged at the former rangers. The former rangers fought valiantly against the Varox, but they were soon cornered, with nowhere to go. Then, a door which had not been there a moment before opened, an revealed to figures.

"Let them go," one of the figures said. The Varox turned, and were greeted by a spin kick from a Red Ranger. A Silver Ranger jumped out of the door, and greeted another Varox with cork screw kick.

"Come on!" the Silver Ranger cried to the former rangers. The former rangers looked at one another, then quickly made up their minds to enter the door. Dodging the two rangers battling the Varox, who were increasing in number, the former rangers made their wy to the door. They shuffled in, and quickly realized they were on a large vessel.

"Hurry up!" the Red Ranger cried. The two fought off the ten or so Varox which had gather in front of the door.

"DECA! Close the outer door!" the Silver Ranger cried. With one final kick from the Red Ranger, the door flew down, sealing the rangers and former rangers from the Varox.

"Um, we've got some friends on the Varox ship," Trini informed the Red and Silver Rangers.

"Wrong. They're out here," the Red Ranger said. "DECA, reel the four humans in."

"They're in space?" Kat asked in disbelief.

"Four?" Tommy asked.

"Lifeforms onboard," a female voice announced.

"Not anymore," the Red Ranger said, him and Silver Ranger pushing through the group. They made their way down the hallway. The former rangers followed them. They cut into a large room. They grabbed a hi-tech box. The Red Ranger pushed a button and the box opened. "Here are your clothes." He and the Silver Ranger left, as the former rangers went through the box trying to find the clothes they had entered the Varox's ship with.

"...So, the guys here on the Megaship had an eye on us the whole time? They were waiting for you at the space hatch?" T.J. asked, trying to let it all sink in.

"Right. Evidently, they had been tracking the Varox ship for a while because of us. By that time, you had gone unconscious. A second later, and you would've been dead," Billy explained.

"Adam? Where's Carlos?" Ashley asked.

Adam and Billy looked at each other. "We don't know. Before we left, we searched the Varox's ship for organic life forms. There weren't any. Carlos just...disappeared," Adam explained sadly.

"How could he just disappear?" T.J. asked.

"We don't know how long you guys were out there. The Varox may have grabbed him, but we didn't read him. Or another ship could've come...," Billy faded out.

"So, Adam? Where are the 'Lightstar Rangers'?" Ashley asked, trying to change the subject.

"They're on the bridge. Come on." Adam and Billy led them down to the bridge.

"...Andros, we can't just leave them on Earth," Zhane said. He quickly lowered his voice. "Don't you remember it from when we were down there? It was chaos."

"I know. But, that's they're home. They need to get back there," Andros said.

"Listen. I miss KO-35 as much as you do. But, we can't make it better by leaving them on their planet," Zhane rubuttled. Andros was stunned. He knew Zhane knew him, but he didn't know he knew him that well. Almost as if on que, the door slid open.

"Hey, Zhane, Andros? These are the sleeping beauties," Adam told them. He pointed to each one as he said their name. "Cassie, Ashley, Justin, and T.J.--or Big Red, as we like to call him." T.J. shot Adam a dirty look. Adam smiled and winked at T.J. as he and Billy left the room.

"Big Red?" Andros asked, as he approached T.J.

"Long story."

"Wow! You're...human," Ashley said, rather shocked.

"Earth isn't the only place where humans live," Andros replied.

"Hi. I'm Zhane." Zhane shot Ashley a smile. Ashley couldn't help but giggle. She quickly cut it off.

"Ashley," she said calmly.

"So, Big Red. You're the boss, eh?" Zhane asked.

"I guess..." T.J. said, finally excepting he would never live down the nickname.

"So, where to? Aquitar, Edenoi...? I hear Edenoi's wonderful this time of it's year." Zhane purposely left out Earth.

"Earth's just fine with me. As Dorothy would say, 'there's no place like home,' " T.J. said.

"Who's Dorothy?" Andros asked.

"Oh, never mind," Cassie answered.

"Earth, huh? Okay...," Zhane went to the controls. He looked at Andros with a 'what now?' look as he pressed in Earth's coordinates.

"Well, I guess we'll go mingle. Wanna come, Justin?" Cassie asked.

"I guess so," Justin said, not very anxious to go into a room filled with people at least four years older than him.

"Come on!" Ashley cried. She grabbed one arm and Cassie grabbed the other as they dragged Justin down the hall.

"Well, gotta run. Hey, you guys want to come?" T.J. asked.

"Sure, why not?' Zhane asked, as he and Andros joined T.J. "So, who is the one with the brown hair?" Zhane asked. Andros looked a little uncomfortable with the comment.

"Hey! Rocky, come on! That's too weird. Oh!" Kat complained at Rocky's current activity. He was eating a space colony delecacy: lunam; a large snail-like animal, topped off with green, slimy sauce.

"You know, this is good. It tastes like chicken!" Rocky announced, inbetween bites. "Yum!"

"Where's a bucket?" Kat asked, covering her mouth and running off.

"Kat, come on!" Tommy said, wanting to stay, but going after her anyway.

Rocky quickly finished the meal. "Where's Zack? I'll show him who's the king of stuffing your mouth!" Rocky got up quickly. He stumbled for a second, his stomach feeling queasy. "Hey, Kat? Where's that bucket?" Rocky ran off.

"Strange culture," Andros commented to Zhane. They were standing off to the side, watching the former Earth rangers.

"I know. Who doesn't like lunam?" Zhane asked. Andros looked at him as if he had said something totally wrong. "Okay. I guess it's an acquired taste."

The four former rangers who had recently awoke where playing a strange game of cards at a nearby table. They were trying to get their minds off of Carlos' disappearance.

"Let's say these are hearts," Justin said as he held up a diamond-shaped card with a four red spheres on it.

"Okay. That's it, right?" T.J. asked.

"Right, Big Red," Justin tried sneaking in the nickname. T.J began to reply, but decided to forget it.

"So, you're sticking to 'Big Red?' " Cassie asked.

"Well, do I have a choice?" T.J. asked.

"True," Cassie replied.

"Let's play cards!" Justin cried.

"Okay." T.J. began shuffling. It was rather difficult because of their diamond shape. After he finished shuffling, he passed out cards to everyone.

"Bucket!" Rocky cried. He ran behind T.J., where there was a large bucket-like container. Rocky quickly released his vomit, with a loud "Bluuuuuuuuhhhhhh." A small drop of vomit richocheted onto T.J.'s shirt.

"Oh!" T.J. cried, standing up and wiping it off.

"Oh, man. Sorry, Big Red. I promise it'll never happen again," Rocky promised T.J. "Zack! Show me the money, baby!" Rocky walked off.

"Well, that was interesting!" Ashley said.

"Yeah," T.J. sighed.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to be a little left out?" Ashley asked, looking around at all the older rangers messing around.

"No telling," Cassie said, sarcastically.

"Aw, don't worry. We're going home," T.J. told them.

"Let's play cards!" Justin cried, annoyed.

"Allright. Joker--the little squirl's-- wild," T.J. told the others. The four began their card game.

"Take him to the dungeon, Quantrons," a woman in a metal suit with blue hair commanded the four robots who were carrying Carlos. They carried him out of the room and down the hallway.

"Astronema, the Power Rangers did not track us. 'Carlos' is ours," a man told the woman. He was not human. His body was totally black, with green grid lines throughout it.

"Thank you, Ecliptor. Goodbye," Astronema told him, coldly. He turned and left the room. "Open a line of communication to Dark Spectre." A being which looked much like Maligore appeared on the screen.

"Astronema, have you capture 'Carlos?' " Dark Spectre asked.

"Yes. He is in my custody. Why do you need him?"

"Divatox informed me of something very convenient in his past. Escort him to Lunaria. When you arrive, hand him over to Divatox. She will handle it from there."

"Of course, Dark Spectre," Astronema told him bitterly. Dark Spectre's image dissipated from the screen.

"Elgar!" Astronema cried. The bumbling villian made his way to her.

"Yeah, what?" Elgar asked. He was eating some pudding.

"What did you say?!" Astronema asked, pointing her staff at him.

"Wha--!" Elgar cried. He threw his pudding behind him and into the hallway. "I mean, yes, oh mighty, powerful, beautiful Astronema?" Elgar groveled.

"Better. Set a course for Lunaria. And make sure Carlos is kept in restraints. We don't want him getting hostile."

"Yes, m'am!" Elgar said. He rushed out of the room.

Ecliptor stood in the hallway, pudding spewed across his face. "We have to do something about that moron!" he cried. He wiped the pudding off of his face and walked down the hall.

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