"Kalika, the Princess of Evil, has arrived on Inquiris and is starting her fight against us. We believe she hopes to conquer Inquiris for the uses of those who are part of the evil empire of Dark Specter. We have been told that other groups of evils in the universe have started their campaign against other planets and so Inquiris is alone in this battle. Fortunately, the rangers of Earth have come since they are the sworn enemy of evil and Earth is being spared. The Royal Inquirian Family and the elders are asking that everyone be on their guard for future trouble. That is all." Captain Cherabus ended his announcement.

"Gee, that sounded like he was just telling them the entertainment news." Zhane commented dryly. "I could have sworn the message was, 'be prepared but I'm sure you won't be fighting since other rangers are here.' Didn't it sound like that to anyone else besides me?"

Cassie tried her best to give him the 'look' but was unsuccessful. Sirena, Andros, Phantom, Jason, and Tommy were at their meeting with the Admiral off in another part of the defense buildings.

"Excuse me," A soft voice spoke up. They all looked down to see one of the younger trainees who looked to be about 8 or 9-years-old. "Are any of you part of the astro space ranger team?" She asked.

"Why yes, some of us are." Ashley answered sweetly not wanting to scare the little girl. "Can we help you with anything?"

"I was wondering if you could give this to Miss Sirena Lightstar." She handed them a small box wrapped in purple. "A man asked me to give it to her, but I couldn't find her and now I've got to go back to my class."

"Sure." Kim took the box. "A man huh? Maybe it's a secret admire." She shook the box curiously. "Does it have to be Sirena who opens it?" She asked allowing the curiosity to show in her voice.

The girl shrugged. "The man just said to give it to her. I've got to go now." She said waving to an older woman dressed in a trainee uniform also. "C'ya." She ran off after the woman.

"I think we'd better let Sirena open that, Kim." Trini said pointing. "After all, it is for her."

Kim grinned. "But I don't see her name on it..." She said innocently.

"Kim....." Aisha smiled. "I know I'm curious too and I'll bet we're all curious about it. But what would Sirena think if the box holds something important and we'd open it and possibly broken it too?" She asked.

"Oh all right...." Kim groaned handing the box to Ashley. "You keep it, I might be tempted to take a peek and go too far."

Ashley smiled as the took the box. "Sirena should be back any minutes now so we probably don't have to wait long."

* * *

"What?!" Andros yelled not believe what the Admiral was saying. "The Inquirian force did a good job in the end sending Kalika on the run. Why do you have to pull them out now?"

"Cause it's no use if we waste lives. We know we can't defeat Kalika so it's just a waste of lives out there fighting her." The Admiral said in a calm voice. "Besides, the Inquirian council has decided."

Jason was so angry at the Admiral he could burst. "Wait a minute, you can't just pull your troops out of a battle leaving us to fight it. Sure you may not stand a chance up against Kalika but all we need are people to help us destroy her. You say it's a waste of lives fighting her, but what about our lives? Your people aren't the ones fighting her day and night, we are!"

"Cool it Jase, it's no use getting worked up about this." Tommy set a hand on Jason's shoulder trying to calm him down even though he, himself was getting angry at this subject.

Phantom Ranger sat in one of the chairs waiting for the rangers to calm down before he would begin speaking. "Admiral, Inquiris is part of the alliance, no matter what the outcome is, everyone must keep fighting on if we are to keep the balance of good and evil in our favor."

"No, I'm sorry Phantom Ranger, Inquiris cannot win against Kalika. You don't understand, a few days ago, we had a sign. All the elders and people of importance here received it. It foretold of Inquiris' doom at the hands of Kalika. We cannot escape fate just as Eltar's Zordon did not escape it. We can't win."

Sirena sat up looking the Admiral strait in the eye. "Admiral...." He turned a shade whiter. "Where are the Inquirian rangers?" She waited for an answer. "I know there are six of them, and I haven't seen any. Or in the city, all I see is civilians. Why aren't there any people from the higher status out there mingling?"

The Admiral tugged at his collar. He checked his watch. "Our time is up, I have a very important meeting with the state representative from the southern region and so you must go." He ushered them out forcefully trying to not let it show.

Jason looked annoyed as the door closed. "Geez....how rude. So Si, why were you asking for the Inquirian rangers? What do they have to do with this?"

"I believe I know the step Sirena was taking." Phantom Ranger broke in leading the way. "She knows that no matter what or who is endangering anyone, rangers must always defend. Even if it means their death. So in a way, the Inquirian rangers have to be here to protect the planet. They would help us."

Tommy made a face. "So why aren't they here then? Sirena made a point of bringing up that only civilians were in the city. What was that about?"

"Sirena?" Andros asked. "What was that about?"

Sirena put a finger to her lips as she walked over to a closed door. She pressed her ear against it listening for something. A small click sounded and the door swung open. "Let's go." She stepped inside.

"Sirena....we aren't allowed in there." Andros tried to grab her but the door swung shut. "Uh oh....." He tried the door knob only to find it locked. "She is gonna get us into a lot of trouble here."

Phantom glanced worriedly down the hallways checking to make sure no one was coming. "How did she get in? Could she have locked the door?"

Jason stepped over trying the door knob. "All the doors are locked down this hallway remember? Me and Tommy tried them on our way to the Admiral's when we had to go to the bathroom. Either Sirena has a skeleton key, or she knows how to open these doors locked or not. And I don't see a keyhole."

Tommy came back around the corner. "Someone's coming." He hissed. "It's some guy and he looks like he works here."

Andros and Jason stepped away from the door and tried to look like they were discussing where to go just as someone turned the corner reading a manual. Phantom tried to keep himself from looking at the door and hoping Sirena wouldn't pop out. The guy walked strait for the door Sirena had disappeared into.

"Uh..." Tommy stepped right in his path. "Do you know how to get back to the main auditorium? We've kind gotten lost here." He said thinking up an excuse to get him away.

The guy looked up surprised. "Oh, it's down that hallway." He said pointing to a side corridor. "Just ask the lady at the desk for the code to open the elevator. I would take you myself but I've got a lot of studying to do. Not to mention to try and avoid the Admiral." He said rolling his eyes. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself, the name's Adrian. You must be the rest of the rangers of Earth. I saw most of them sitting outside the main auditorium."

"Yeah, we had to go see the Admiral about the defense situation." Jason grinned. "He's not the kind of guy to let someone else take charge or something."

"I avoid him as much as I can." Adrian held up a free hand. "None of the trainees like him. The rangers don't either. Although I don't blame them. Hey, where's Sirena? She wasn't with the other rangers of Earth and she's not with you. Don't tell me she slipped away to have another talk with the Admiral...."

Andros shrugged. "I hope it's just that. She kinda disappeared and we've been looking for her." He tried to edge away from the door and draw Adrian's attention elsewhere. "As long as she doesn't breach some sort of security or something, I won't have a heart attack."

"Then you've got something to worry about. Sirena knows all the access codes in this place. If we had the entire defense force looking for her, she'd still be able to slip away. When we, Sirena and Karin and I, were younger and dreaming of being power rangers, we'd sneak in here and just wander around." Adrian laughed. "The Admiral had a cow when he found out that his office was messed up and someone breached all the security levels but they never discovered it was just three kids."

Phantom had been keeping quiet and throwing unnoticed glances at the door, but now he spoke up. "You mean she could be going through secret military files and slipping in and out of labs right now?"

Adrian nodded. "But don't worry, she won't get caught. Never has been, never will. The only other person besides Karin and me who know of her sometimes nightly trips is Dimitria. Sirena swears she figured out the codes herself, but I have a feeling Dimitria gave her the ones she couldn't crack."

At that moment, the door swung open and Sirena stepped out with a confident and successful look on her face, that was...until she saw Adrian. The look disappeared afterwards. "Uh oh......" She said stepped right over to Andros and Phantom Ranger. "I didn't take anything from any of the computers or files."

"That I have no doubt. You probably memorized it." Adrian rolled his eyes. "If anybody asks you, I'm in my dorm studying. If you don't say that, I squeal." He walked past them and through the door shutting it behind him.

"Oooooooh, somebody else isn't allowed in there." Sirena trilled. "Let's go catch up with the others and I'll let you in on what I found out." She walked off with the others following. "Believe me...... I didn't take anything." She said again sensing the exchange of looks between Jason and Tommy.

* * *

"Sirena finally you're here! We're dying of curiosity!" Ashley shoved the purple box at her when she arrived. "This little girl said some guy gave it to her to deliver to you or something like that. Go ahead, open it! We've been holding it forever and it took all of our strength just not to rip it open ourselves."

Sirena held it up to her ear and shook it. "Curiosity killed the cat ya know...... and it's about to take a few more." She handed it to Andros. "You hold it until we get back to the ship. I don't want to open it just yet."

Kim's eyes widened. "You can't do that to us! We've been holding the thing forever and I really want to know what it is! C'mon! Just take a second and open it, if not for your sake, for our sake......."

Sirena giggled. "I was only joking.... here......" She handed it to Kim. "You open it then.... I seriously don't know anyone here who'd give me something like this. It's probably some sort of joke or something."

Cassie jumped up. "Well open it Kim.... we're all dying to know what it is too." Most of the girl crowded around Kim and she opened it.

Trini rolled her eyes. "Sirena, why didn't you open it yourself?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I guess it's just cause they're more curious than me." The knot of girls broke as Kim pulled out a locket. "Hey, I lost that here when I was 10." Sirena took it from Kim. "Gee, it looks almost new too."

Kat reached in the box and pulled out a slip of paper. "There's a note here too. Maybe it explains." She held it out for them to see. "Hey Sirena, I always knew you liked that old locket and I had a feeling you'd kill me if you found out I was the one who lost it at the Gold place. You know, the place where they melt down stuff. Your locket is probably apart of someone's pendant or jewelry somewhere. When the Admiral announced that the rangers of Earth have arrived, I remembered reading somewhere that you'd joined up with them. I had a feeling that you'd remember somehow that I was the last to have your locket before it disappeared so I had another one made as fast as possible. Hope you get it cause I heard Earthlings are always curious. Hope to see you around. Signed Adrian."

"Why that no good rascal! That locket was my favorite and he had to loose it." Sirena sighed. "Oh well, I can get him back later."

"Wasn't Adrian the guy we met on our way back here?" Tommy asked.

Sirena nodded. "If I had known then, I don't think he would have been able to get his 'studying' done." She muttered. "Let's go someplace where we can talk and I'll explain some stuff to you guys that I managed to dig up."

Zhane threw a confused looked. "Managed to dig up? Whatever happened to 'what the Admiral told us?' Or is Sirena trying to get all the credit?"

"She dug it up. Even we don't know. The Admiral practically kicked us out of his office." Jason said still angry about the subject.

"It wasn't all hopeless." Sirena said reminding him of her little detour through the computer files. "I got some info on exactly what's going on and I can fill you in once we get out of the government buildings. Somebody might overhear in here." She added lowering her voice a notch or two.

Half an hour later, the large group was settled in one of the many great restaurants on Inquiris. They had managed to convince the manager to give them a private room saying it was important.

"Okay, it's like this...." Sirena started once everyone was settled and the brief conference with the Admiral out already. "The computer files in that room show a plan for an underground lab-like place underneath the city here. That's where all the rangers are. Most of the high officials are also there, but they're testing some new sort of weapon or something like that. That's the reason why they can't help us." She leaned back after getting everything out. "Pretty lame if you ask me."

"That's it?" Kim asked. "Couldn't they spare a day or two from testing and help us? Aren't the people of Inquiris more important than a new weapon?" Sirena shrugged. "Geez... people here are so.... different."

Andros fingered the appetizers they had ordered. "But that still doesn't explain why the Admiral was so nervous. There's got to be something else not mentioned in those files. Do you think we could get in again?"

"Sure, but I can't take more than three people with me or else we'll be discovered." Sirena nibbled a little trying to get something down. "I think I have a pretty good idea on how to get to the underground lab, but..... we'll kinda need some native help here."

"Your point being....?" Zhane asked taking a sip of his drink.

Sirena shrugged. "You wouldn't mind if we got some help from people on this planet would you? I promise they won't squeal or anything like that."

"It's best we do this ourselves. We wouldn't want to get anyone in trouble if we're discovered." Phantom Ranger said quietly. "But first things first, we have to worry about Kalika."

"We're still going to need help with her." Tommy said matter-of-factly. "Whether we like it or not, we're going to need those Inquirian rangers."

Sirena looked at her watch. "I think I can get them. If me and Karone aren't back within um...... six hours, get back to the ship and stay there. Don't ask about anything, I'll explain later." She jumped up. "C'mon Karone."

The two girls left leaving a mass of confusion. As the door swung shut, they all broke into wondering questions. They stopped as the door opened again. Adrian and a girl stepped in.

"Adrian...." Jason said remembering him. "Uh.........."

"We heard everything, and we won't squeal." The girl assured them. "My name is Karin." She sat in one of the empty seats, Adrian taking the other. "For a ranger, Sirena's getting pretty rusty in knowing when she's being followed."

"Um...... well, some skills do go down the drain if you don't work on them always." Tommy managed a tight smile.

"We know you're wondering why we're here, so we'll get to the point." Adrian folded his hands and unfolded them. "After seeing Sirena come out of the room, I went in myself and instead of doing my filing job, I wanted to see what she was looking at. You could say I got curious too, anyway, there's a large part that she must have missed of Zordon and Dimitria alerting the other planets about a time when Dark Specter would be trying to take over the entire universe and maybe succeed if something wasn't done. Well, Inquiris, Eltar, and Aquitar have done something about it." He paused taking a deep and shaky breath. "A weapon was devised. It was called project Eschat. Eschat is a monster. I can't believe they're actually trying to use him."

"Eschat?" Aisha asked. "Um..... who would that be? Or what would that be?"

Andros shook his head. "Isn't Eschat a legend? I've never seen him before, only heard stories. Eschat is a supreme evil." He explained. "He's suppose to be more powerful than Dark Specter or anyone we've ever been up against."

Karin shook her head. "No, Eschat isn't a legend. He's real. He was put into a cryogenic freeze and kept on Eltar. But now they've brought him here. They're planning of thawing him out and using him to destroy Dark Specter. He's what they're testing right now. If Zordon or Dimitria were here, they wouldn't have allowed this. Or even the elders. But they're all on Triforia having a break."

"Oh no, Sirena!" Phantom Ranger stood up. "And Karone."

Karin shook her head. "I wouldn't worry about them. Sirena's leading and she can get out of any trouble they might run into. Even if it's Eschat."

* * *

Sirena led the way through the darkened halls of the defense force. They had been able to slip through all the security motion detector sweeps, and so on. She led the way back to the Admiral's office. After a few seconds at the door, it swung open not activating the alarm system.

"Okay, let's see.... the entrance to that underground lab of theirs would be... somewhere in this room." Sirena walked over to the bookshelf moving her hands along the sides. "Karone, you look over at the closet."

Karone opened the door to the closet and stepped in. "So what kind of entrance are we looking for?" She asked.

"Nevermind, I already found it." Sirena stepped back as the bookcase swung open with a click. Karone walked over closing the door to the closet. "Let's go..."

The two slipped down the door shutting behind them. The descent was long and they stopped frequently listening for anyone coming. They finally reached the bottom meeting a long hallway. There were several doors on both sides, but a large reinforced metal door caught their attention at the end.

"Wanna bet that's the lab where they're doing the testing?" Karone asked pointing. "Not many people use reinforced metal on their doors as just a spare room or an office. Even if it holds top-secret military information."

"No bet, that's the place." The two walked down approaching it silently and cautiously. They knew that if it opened anytime soon, they'd be caught. Sirena pressed her ear against it moving her fingers to several different parts of it. "Even if it is reinforced, they're still dumb enough to put the same codes on it. I wonder if it's suppose to keep us out, or whoever's in there in."

The door clicked open and the two closed their mouths slipping in. They seemed to be in a large control room type place. They slipped behind a stack of crates as they watched the people in it milling about. No one had seemed to notice their entrance or the door open and shut. A large window looked down upon some sort of practice arena or even a make-shift gym. The Admiral was clearly seen in the center of things talking and giving orders. A group of around five teenage-aged males and females were gathered in a corner talking amongst themselves. They were all dressed in identical uniforms, only with different colored wrist bands.

"Those are the Inquirian rangers." Sirena nodded to them. "The one wearing red is Sarmer. He's the leader. If we ever meet them, I'll introduce you. But Sarmer is the one to watch out for. You're either on his good or bad side."

Karone nodded. "I wonder the weapon is..." She trailed off as a side door apparently leading to the arena type gym opened. "Hey.... isn't that Eschat, the destroyer of billions of planets?"

"Yeah.... I thought he was cryogenically frozen when they caught him after a long and bloody chase." Sirena narrowed her eyes. "I wonder what is going on. This doesn't look good one bit. Nor do I like what I'm seeing."

"Dark Specter was bad, but Eschat was even worse. When I was growing up in Dark Specter's care, he frequently mention him saying how he was going to become another Eschat. He was a supreme evil." Karone muttered. "I had always hoped to meet him when I was evil. Now I don't really feel like it."

"I know what you mean. Just looking at him gives me the creeps." Sirena shuddered to prove her point. The two quieted down as the Admiral raised his voice. He was directing his words at everyone in the room.

"Now that we have made a deal with Eschat, we can all rest in peace. Eschat will go with our rangers and attack and destroy Kalika's and Dark Specter. And in return, he gains his freedom. Everyone, get a good nights, rest. Tomorrow, we attack. As for the space rangers, they'll help us." The Admiral smiled.

Sirena clenched her fists. "That scum bag..." She muttered angrily. "I can't believe him...... give Eschat his freedom? I'll show him." She jumped. "Admiral you can't do that! You forget how many warriors and rangers died just to trap him. You can't just let him go free like that."

Karone groaned. They were gonna be in a lot of trouble.

"Sirena Lightstar?" The Admiral tugged at his collar nervousness settling in again. "How'd you get down here? You weren't suppose to know of this."

"Oh I do now and I won't let you go through with it." She tried not to shudder when Eschat looked at her with this evil gleam.

He stepped forward. "Hmmmm..... Sirena Lighstar? Never heard of you. But then I've been in a cryo-freeze for so long, things have changed. I don't know you so well, and I don't care. You two are in my way for my freedom." He raised a hand at them letting loose several dozen black needles.

Both Karone and Sirena flipped over them easily pretty much getting the idea that they weren't ordinary sewing needles.

"Is that the best you can do?" Karone found herself asking. "Even I can do better than that." Her long-time not-in-use wrath staff appeared. It fired several blasts straight towards Eschat. He allowed them to hit him showing they caused him no harm. "Even Dark Specter weren't immune to those..." She found herself saying. "What is he made of?" She nudged Sirena. "Your turn."

The Admiral himself stepped in front before Sirena could try anything. "You two don't understand. We're doing this because Inquirian lives are at stake. We can't fight back, Kalika's too powerful. Your team might have the weapons, but we don't. Please Sirena Lightstar, work with us on this, please. Eschat will leave for another dimension once this fight is over. He has given us his word to never appear again."

Sirena closed her eyes to think. "I can't give you an answer on this right now. I have to talk with my team first and decide together. Hold off your attack tomorrow until you hear from me."

"Will do." The Admiral nodded obviously relieved.

"C'mon Karone.... we've got to talk with the others." Sirena turned and headed for the door.

Karone took one more look before allowing her wrath staff to disappear and follow Sirena out. The reinforced door closed behind them leaving the two alone to walk out. "Sirena, we're not really gonna work with Eschat are we?"

She shrugged while letting Karone know with a look that she had something else up her sleave.

* * *

The door to the room they were in opened again as Sirena and Karone stepped in. Neither had a very happy look on their faces. Sirena's face brightened a little when she saw Karin and Adrian but otherwise she gave no notice they were there.

"We didn't think you two would survive an encounter with Eschat, so in other words, you didn't meet him right?" Zhane asked. "Cause you would be alive if you did happen to meet him and started a not very nice fight."

"Oh we met him alright......" Sirena grumbled. "It didn't start out nice if that's what you mean........ And how did you know their 'secret' weapon was Eschat?"

"We told them." Karin looked down. "Not very loyal to the military, but this is about Eschat.... They've already defrosted him right?"

Karone nodded. "Now we have two choices, either work with him on sending Kalika out of here, or let him destroy us....." She looked at Sirena. "So what's your great idea? Fighting him won't be very pleasant since my powers don't even scratch him. But he's not that scary looking as the stories."

"I say we work with him..." Sirena held up a hand ceasing all protests. "But in the process, destroy him also....." She grinned. "I don't want to deal with him as much as you guys don't either..... And if this works, he'll be gone forever."

Tommy cleared his throat. "Um... if this guy is as powerful as I've been told, can we create a blast big enough to destroy him?"

Adrain nodded. "If two opposite powers collide and he's within two meters of the explosion, he'll be gone. That you don't need to worry about, what you do, is where are you gonna find two opposite powers?"

"Well, we need a positive charge and a negative charge......... Couldn't the Zeo Cannon and the Turbine Laser together create a big enough positive charge?" Billy asked. "From what I know of the Turbine Laser, it's pure positive energy."

Justin nodded. "I helped to design it. Now we've got our positive energy, where do we get the negative?"

Andros cleared his throat. "Negative energy comes from an evil beam if I remember. Well, Karone use to be evil, wouldn't she still have some of that negative energy stored in her Astronema staff or something?"

Kat had been listening quietly. "I'll admit I'm not a pro at chemistry, but don't the two charges need to be equal?" Billy nodded. "Will Karone alone be able to create a negative charge strong enough?"

"Well, negative energy comes from three main emotions.... hate, fear, and anger. Maybe me and Sirena can generate enough of that and feed it into our staffs." Karone asked. "It should work....."

"What do I have to be afraid of? Or even angry about?" Sirena asked sitting down.

Jason kicked her under the table. "Oh c'mon, everyone's afraid or even angry at something. You're not that pure hearted from what I know. Just tell us a few things you're afraid are going to happen...."

Sirena glared at him. "Well, I hate not knowing what's going to happen. And I'm afraid of the future if Kalika and Dark Specter win. But they're not strong enough to generate a strong enough negative beam...." She sighed.

"Oh don't worry about it you guys, when it comes time, I'll get her angry enough." Karone waved it off. "We just have to plan how to fire the two energy beams now. I do know they have to have a head-on collision so we fire at opposite sides, that'll mean one on either side of Eschat."

Zhane yawned. "We can improvise as we go along. Now can we get a good nights sleep?"

Sirena nodded. "I'll call the Admiral when we get back to the ship."

* * *

"Eclipter! What is going on!?" Kalika screamed staggering as she made her way to the bridge. She had woken up as the ship tilted with several loud explosions sounding. "And don't give me some nonsense that you don't know what happened."

"Uh..... Kalika...... I think the power rangers are attacking....." Elgar said as Kalika saw for herself the Megaship. "And the Inquirian air force and their rangers along with this other guy that looks kinda familiar."

Kalika glared at him. She had seen for herself the attack. Her eyes widen when they fell on Eschat..... Another explosion took out the power as the weapons failed leaving them a sitting duck. "Eclipter, get us out of here!"

Elgar's eyes bulged. "Auntie D!" He yelled as the Sub Craft came into view followed by two dozen of Dark Specter's war ships. "She's come to rescue us! I knew she wouldn't let us down!"

A string of red power flowed from Kalika's fingers circling Elgar and shocking him unconscious. "Fix the weaponry and the power right away!" She barked the order at several Quantrons. "I won't let that snide Queen embarrass me this much...... Eclipter, take over here, I'm going down to Inquiris myself....."

"My Empress......" Eclipter was cut off as Kalika teleported off.

She arrived outside the palace in a civilian form. The streets were deserted so no one saw her slip in. She wandered through the hallways looking for several persons that weren't in their supposed places. "Oh c'mon Lord Krassus. Don't hide from me..... I won't hurt you..... that much." She chuckled softly to herself. She finally approached a closed door that refused to yield to her touch.

"No one is permitted into this room right now, so go away!" A harsh voice yelled softly. "Unless you want me to unleash the guard onto you."

Kalika smiled. "Eltar.... first to fall, Inquiris..... follows second....." She whispered. She set her hands against the door. "Smart...... but not smart enough...." She felt the thick wood and the thin layer of metal which acted as a barrier to anyone trying to get in. She forced into the many tiny cracks of pain her magic which made the entire door glow red. Deeper and deeper it went until it struck the thin sheet of metal. With slow forceful pushes, Kalika pushed them through the metal filling every crack and notch her magic could find in the wood. She stepped back allowing her magic to settle, she waved her hand in front of it clenching her fists and releasing. The door exploded falling in. Her magic retracted from the wood returning to her. She stepped into the room smiling at the astonished expressions.

"Wh-- who are you?" Lord Krassus stuttered seeing two of his bodyguards laying stunned on the floor trying to recover from the blast. They had been leaning against the door. "You were not given permission to come in here." He said trying to collect the power people felt in his voice.

Kalika smiled walking around stepping on the two bodies laying on the floor zapping the two men unconscious as well as placing sending a thread of her magic to play around the heads of the other guards, dropping them to the floor also. "Who am I? Why I'm hurt....." Kalika gave a mock hurt expression as she stopped in front of the bookcase. "I am Kalika, Princess of Evil...!" Her voice held the power as she shed her civilian form returned to be clad in her usual black leather garb.

"K-- Kalika......" Lord Krassus' color turned a shade whiter as did his advisors around him. He straightened up trying to retain his old power. "And what do you want from Inquiris? Surely the great Dark Specter can provide all you need." He commented with a hint of sarcasm showing he held no care to what she wanted.

"Perhaps you know the old saying...." Kalika ran her fingers along the bookcase leaving a trail of fire. "Eltar, home of the great sage Zordon..... fell first; Inquiris, home to the wise Dimitria...... fell second; Aquitar, the planet of water..... falls third; Triforia, the Gold ranger's home.... fourth; Edenoi, the place of learning.... fifth; and so on....." She snapped her fingers putting out the fire. "You do get the point of me being here do you???" She asked hoping not to explain anymore. "Good," She murmured seeing no questions. "I'm actually kinda in a happy mood today, so I'll tell you what, you may surrender to me without force." She smiled.

"We will not surrender. You cannot make us, and nor would we put our people to be slaves serving you. We have a powerful ally on our side that even Dark Specter himself wouldn't cross." One of Krassus' advisors declared rather haughtily.

Kalika's eyes flashed. She drew a circle in the air a thread of her magic leaving to encircle the old man's throat choking him to death. "Now see what you made me do....!" She yelled with anger. "You made me loose my temper...." The old man dropped from the hold of her magic dead. "Anyone else dare to try me.....?"

* * *

Captain Cherabus narrowed her eyes. Eschat did not look like much out in the middle of the battle. Even the space rangers were doing a lot better. "I hope he's just warming up......" She muttered to herself taking control of one of the wingers. She looked out around her the rest of the wingers in her squad flew perfectly in pattern taking care of the velocifighters.

"Captain, more velocifighters coming on our left. We have been separated from the main branch." One of the fighters to her left informed urgently. Being separated was not good since they depended on one another to watch their backs. Two ships to the far left blew up as the velocifighters moved in.

"Stick together and try and hit as many of those leaders as you can...." Cherabus ordered keeping her own head level. Panicing was not a good thing to do right now. She looked out surveying their position trying to stay calm. The main fleet was getting farther and farther away. "Crew, we're gonna have to fight for it.... and some of us might not come out alive." For once, a strong offensive attack was being asked of the pilots. Inquiris was a planet of learning like Edenoi, only they hadn't given up their weapons and rangers.

A short silence echoed through as each pilot and gunner thought of what they were going to do. "Roger that, captain...." One pair's voice floated through followed by the rest. Each of them said a soft prayer afterwards.

Cherabus smiled a little. "Then let's get to it!" They got into an offensive attack pattern and flew through. Already they'd lost three of their most important wingers. The formation wasn't that great but it was okay. Getting back to the main fleet took some time and some sharp shooting. They had managed to loose only another winger which was good. "We've done it crew! Now let's get with the others and protect Inquiris!" Captain Cherabus was beaming that her fleet had made it through.

* * *

The two earthling teams, Morphin and Zeo, were crammed together onto the bridge of the Astro Galaxy Megaship. They were spread through out evenly enough so that each had enough personal space to work.

Justin and Billy were working on the Turbine Laser and Zeo Cannon to make sure they could fire and were in tip-top condition. They planned to feed the power into the Megaship's lasers so the ranger wouldn't have to be outside of the ship.

"That should about do it...." Justin announced from his area of work. He had just finished setting the Turbine Laser's wires together again. "You done with yours?" He asked crouching down beside Billy.

"Affirmative." Billy closed the panel on his project. "The two should have connected energy cells now. We should start linking them right away in case things speed up outside." He nodded towards where a visual of the fight was displayed. "You link this end of the wire to the computers, and I'll link the other end to the Turbine Laser and the Zeo Cannon." He handed Justin the end of a long wire. In the middle was an energy converter the two had built. It would filter the power generated so the Megaship's computers wouldn't get overloaded and blow.

* * *

The click of the transmission brought a smile of delight to Kalika's face. Krassus and his advisors were sitting defeated as Dark Specter's troops began taking over the functions. They had just sent a transmission to call in their troops. The fight was over and Dark Specter had won.

Kalika smiled as a transmission of Dark Specter appeared. "You have done well Kalika....." He congratulated her in his raspy voice. "My troops will take over the functions of Inquiris and a new ship will be provided for your conquests." If he could smile, this would have been the time. "You know where to head for next. The other leiges will be warned to stay out of your way." Dark Specter's face disappeared and was replaced by Rita and Zedd's who were yelling and screaming their hatred. After them was Divatox, with no doubt the same thing.

"You may think you've gotten on Dark Specter's good side but we'll see...." Divatox sneered. "Kids shouldn't be playing with power like that. I know what you really wish to do. You wanna be Dark Specter's trusted servant and then over-throw his power completely so you'll be the supreme ruler of the universe. But I'll open his eyes to you and the next thing you know, you'll be flat on your snide ass working for me!!!!" She jabbed a finger at herself before closing the channel.

"So much to do, so little time...." Kalika smiled teleporting to her own ship seeing that Dark Specter's troops were doing their job properly. "Eclipter! Transfer all our supplies and troops to the new ship Dark Specter sent us. And then set a course for Aquitar. Divatox can take care of these losers while we move on to bigger fish!" She smiled satisfied as Elgar began to come to.

"Yes my empress...." Eclipter turned to set new coordinates.

* * *

"What?! This is preposterous!" Ashley yelled pointing to where the Inquirian fleet was returning. "They can't give up this easily! They'd be giving their planet to Dark Specter on a silver platter."

Andros frowned behind his helmet. "They have their reasons. I just recieved something from the Admiral, Inquiris has surrendered to Dark Specter. There's nothing more we can do here." He added seeing teleportations from the Dark Fortress to a new arriving ship. "Kalika's leaving, and on a new ship...."

"What do we do about Eschat?" Cassie asked. She pointed to where he was still playing with several velocifighters.

"We have to destroy him." Karone said flying in.

Andros nodded. "TJ, Carlos, Ashley, Cassie, get back to the Megaship and tell the Zeo rangers to get ready with you. And fire on my ready signal."

TJ nodded. "We'll be waiting." He led the other three Earthlings back to the Megaship.