Standard Disclaimer: While the work is original fiction, the characters are not and are property of whoever owns The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers these days. No money is being made from this work of fiction, no copyright infringement is intended or implied.

(This story takes place during the episode titled "Renegade Rangers", wherein the Ranger team apparently turns traitor and joins a ruthless gang of cutthroat bandits known as the Black Hole Gang.)

Reminiscing

Her hair was the wrong color.

The room was dim, mostly lit by one emergency light over the bulkhead and the distant starlight beyond the portal, but Shane Gooseman's enhanced senses didn't need more than the merest fraction of the available light to make out the woman lying next to him in the big bed.

Daisy Omega was not an unattractive woman. Her features were strong - handsome, his teammate Doc might say, doubtless with a roguish wink that might get him kissed or slapped - or shot, if he aimed it at Daisy. She was tall, leanly muscled, with just enough feminine curve to hip and breast to make a man remember she was a woman, and with enough fire in her eyes to make it impossible for a man to forget.

Golden brows knitted into a frown of concentration over narrowed green eyes as he watched her sleep. He could smell the musky scent of satisfaction and spent lust on her skin. A second, experimental sniff told him that her pheremone load had leveled out.

Not bad, Gooseman. Considering it was your first time.

He tried to take at least a little satisfaction in passing the test. Daisy trusted him enough, wanted him enough, to let him get close. Her trust, her pleasure, would favorably color how she looked at the rest of his team.

It bothered him, a little. That same trust would, after all, end up allowing the Rangers to arrest both Daisy and the Black Hole Gang she led with such success. The rules of engagement were clearly defined, though, and he was too much a soldier to harbor regrets. Except for one.

In a small, very private corner of his mind, Shane entertained a brief fantasy that the hair spread over the pillow next to him was a darker red, straight and silky and more than long enough to pool over his arm and chest if he held her. It would smell lightly of vanilla and honey if he touched it. Would there be a difference between how smooth her hair was and how smooth her skin was? Would the heat of her body next to his actually warm him, too? How would her scent change in the aftermath of loving?

Loving? Gooseman, you asshole. Don't you dare mistake what happened here for love.

He shut the door on his little fantasy and mentally padlocked it. Not that he would ever say anything about it, and not that Niko would pry - if she could, which was doubtful. He had, after all, been trained to keep at least rudimentary telepathic scans out.

None of his training had ever been able to keep his fantasies about his teammate out of his head, though.

Goose's lips twisted in a very small, very wry smile. In some ways, tonight had been easy. Cunning, ruthless, determined Daisy reminded him of the supertrooper females he'd grown up with. He knew the rules there: make your opponent want you more than they wanted caution, more than power, more than security. More than anything.

He had no idea what the rules of engagement were when you wanted your best friend in your bed.

Daisy stirred, made a small purring sound in the back of her throat. In her sleep, her hand searched for him, landed on his arm. Shane ruthlessly suppressed the urge to shake her off. He'd never blown a cover yet, and wasn't about to start now. Not when his teammates' lives, and his, rested on his ability to keep the Black Hole Gang's boss thoroughly snowed. He tuned his senses to his environment and closed his eyes firmly. He wouldn't sleep tonight, but it wouldn't be a problem. He'd gone without rest for longer periods and under much less strenuous circumstances.

And it really wasn't Daisy's fault that her hair was the wrong color.

Several halls away, in a quiet room, Niko wept in her sleep.