Elandra

Elandra of KO-35 is the Orange Stellar Ranger, wife of Black Stellar and White Monster Ranger Marco Smith, mother of River Merrick.? As the Venus Ranger, she has the power of healing, and as a Karovan from KO-35, she has learned telekinesis and her tears are powerful enough to resurrect the dead.? She also acted as the main technical advisor to the team during her pregnancy.

Character History
Elandra was part of the refugee group Zhane joined in 1998.? Sixteen years old at the time, Elandra developed a crush on him and the idea of Rangers in general, stealing one of his uniform jackets when he wasn't looking (and she still has it in a trunk somewhere).? During the rebuilding of KO-35, she learned how to build morphers and Zords, although she lacked inspiration for a set of powers, or a crisis to use them in.

However, Elandra was part of the team sent to investigate some strange happenings on the Cimmerian Planet.? The ship was drained of power by the Weeping Angels, but she managed to keep it from crashing too badly.? Finding the four Clerics who had come along with the Angels, she helped them into the ship, and together they repaired it and escaped.? She developed a rapid rapport with their leader, Cleric Marco Smith.? The few Weeping Angels who had escaped through other ships were picked off, and the Cimmerian Planet put under quarantine.

Marco stayed with her on KO-35, as its technology level was closer to the 51st-century-universe he had left behind.? After a few years, he proposed, and Elandra accepted, and they began developing the Power Rings and Stellar Zords as a couple, thanks to his interest in medieval Earth astronomy.? When the Weeping Angels escaped again in 2011, they were more than ready.

Morning and Evening Star
Unbeknownst to either Elandra or her husband, she became pregnant with their son shortly before the Weeping Angels' escape.? As time went on, and five young adults joined the team, Elandra brushed off her (mild) symptoms on the food or the space travel or the fighting.? However, while healing Rex and Tony from the Creeping Terror attack, she happened to glance down at herself with her X-ray vision activated, and realized what was going on.

She informed Marco, who immediately ordered her to turn in her Power Ring.? Elandra protested, pointing out the new threat of the Alchemist and Monster Rangers, and insisted that she was capable of fighting.? They had several more arguments of this kind, especially after Elandra realized that every time she morphed, her daughter developed approximately three days' worth for the duration of the fight.? Finally, they came to an agreement: Elandra would become a reserve Ranger, participating in the fights when needed and remaining on hand to heal wounds.? The others were upset by this news, and took the revelation of her pregnancy with varying levels of excitement or irritation.

Elandra took on a more technical role at this point, advising the team and helping Rex build his Demi-Zords.? Whether by coincidence or fate, he had only designed six of them, and Elandra had to rely on her Swan Zord for the duration of her time as a Ranger.

After Marco was captured in an invasion of the Hexagram, Elandra and Rex shared the leadership role, she directing the Rangers to their fights and he managing battle strategy.? She mentored Tony and Rachel through a few personal crises, but then was struck unexpectedly by her own.

Marco had not been captured at all, but simply rejoined with the being he had bonded with back on the Cimmerian Planet : Ivan Ooze.? They were the Alchemist, created to keep the Stellar Rangers active so that Marco wouldn't have to go back to the low-technology life that had been smothering him.? Furthermore, Ivan had promised to help Marco find his way back to his own universe.? When the pair called the Satellite Base to tell the Rangers this, Elandra went into denial.? It took a few battles and invasion for the realization that Marco had abandoned her and their child to sink in.? She finally allowed herself to cry in order to resurrect Igor Fischer, and then saved the rest for future use.? Kaiden comforted her through it.

Shortly after returning to Ranger duties, Elandra was kidnapped by Red Monster Ranger Charlie Hammond, who took her back to the Hexagram in order to heal his dismembered Blue Ranger.? Even now, Elandra clung to the faint hope that her husband could be turned back.? It took him physically striking her and threatening their unborn son to drive the truth home.? Having healed the Blue Ranger with her tears, Elandra was imprisoned in a holding cell in a lower deck of the Hexagram.? However, being left alone, she used her telekinesis to unlock the door and escape, just in time to prevent the execution of the defecting Blue Monster Ranger.

A battle broke out, and Elandra was injured, triggering premature labor.? Although she managed to heal herself (and her baby), by the time backup arrived, it was too late to stop.? Rachel took her to the nearest hospital, and River Merrick was born at four o'clock the next morning, approximately three months premature.? Elandra gave the doctors her Power Ring so they could finish the baby's development, and within an hour, he was a fully-developed but premature-sized infant.

Once Elandra returned to the Satellite Base, it was time to begin packing up the Ranger project.? She departed first, returning home to KO-35 with her son.

Personality
Elandra is businesslike and blunt, sometimes sarcastic and very stubborn.? Regardless, she is perceptive of emotions, and when she see sthat someone else needs comfort, she gives it gently.

Arsenal

 * Copper Power Ring


 * Venerean Bow


 * Swan Zord

Trivia

 * Elandra's name is based off Perelandra, C.S. Lewis's name for Venus.
 * River was originally named Kendrix Shayla, although even that was a switch from the original Shayla Amelia.? However, the author was writing a mega-crossover entitled Power Rangers: United at that point, and intended to include Stellar Corps.?  With Lost Galaxy there, during the time while Kendrix was dead, the imagined scene of Elandra discussing her baby with the group was tantalizing.?  The facts that Elandra herself has no connection to Amy Pond, no reason to keep the name her husband picked, and a genius like Kendrix, made it logical.?  Power Rangers: United died, but the name remained until the author decided to change the baby's gender.