Jen sat in Alex's office, looking around her. She hadn't been to her ex's office in a long time, since he usually talked to her in the Squad Room now, and was amazed at how little it had changed.
It had always surprised her that Alex kept both plants and mementos in his office, since they gave him away as the sentimental type he was and tried so hard to hide. She could see a prototype of a morpher, some photo cubes and - her heart skipped a beat - the engagement ring he had given her. It was the same one she had given back, displayed in a little glass box on a shelf behind his desk. It made her feel uneasy so she looked away from it, looking at the plants on the other side of the room instead and wanting Alex to come in as soon as possible.
She had to wait a couple more minutes before the door opened and Alex walked in, a tablet in his hand.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, closing the door and walking towards the desk. "Got caught up in something, as usual."
She smiled. "It's alright. What's going on?"
He pressed a button on his console on the desk and all the crystal walls of his office went opaque. "I need your help with something."
"An opaque wall something. It must be serious."
"It's not serious, but it is important. Have you ever met Commander James Robertson?"
She sat in silence for a minute, trying to remember if she had seen him at the debriefing of the Ransik mission, which most of the commanders had attended. She shook her head. "I don't think he was at the Ransik debriefing."
"He probably wasn't. James is the head of the Applied Sciences Division. He barely ever goes to things like debriefings, no matter how important the case."
"You seem to know him well."
"We met when he asked for my help testing the Time Shadow Megazord. We've become good friends since then."
"So, the Applied Sciences Division. I'm not sure there's much I can do for them."
"Yeah, this isn't about the Applied Sciences Division. This is about James." Alex took a deep breath and looked at her briefly before looking down at the desk. "I need a favor."
"You need a favor or James needs a favor?"
"We both do," he looked at her again. "James conducts research aside from his work in Time Force and he's working on an interesting project right now. An important project."
"What kind of important project?"
"He's trying to document and study as much as he can about the Venjix Event - the near extinction event from early in the 21st century."
"I know what the Venjix Event is."
"Well, he found information on a woman. He could only find her by an alias, and he wanted to ask you if you'd interview her for him."
"Interview her for him? How?"
"Travelling back in time." His face expressed clearly just how obvious he thought that fact should have been to her.
"He wants me to travel back to the 21st century and interrogate someone for his research?" Jen said with a raised voice to show she was slightly insulted. "I have real work to do here, Alex. Real criminals to catch. We just came out of a war!"
"I know but-"
"But nothing. The answer is no. If he wants to interview this woman, he can do it himself." She got up to leave and Alex stopped her by calling to her.
"He fears it might happen again." She turned to look at him and Alex continued, "He thinks the technological moment right now is perfect for an event similar to the Venjix one." He pointed at the chair. "Please."
She sat back down. "I still don't understand why he can't do it himself."
"Like I said, this is research he's conducting aside from Time Force. He will admit it's a bit of a crazy theory for now. That's why he wants to know as much as he can about Venjix, especially where it came from and how it was defeated."
"And he can't leave his post at Time Force, but I can."
"It's a lot easier for you, yes. But that's not why he asked me to ask you. He wasn't at the Ransik debriefing but he read the transcripts. He thinks your knowledge of the time period and your capacity to work alone as well as a part of a team are impressive, and he thinks you show great empathy, which makes you great for the kind of interview he needs." Jen fixed her eyes on him as he listed her achievements. "I have to say I agree with him."
"So he doesn't want someone to go to the past to do this interview he wants-"
"You. He wants you to do it."
She blushed slightly. "I'm flattered, but even if I agree, how will I get there? It's not like Time Force will lend me a time ship to do research, no matter if it's for a commander."
"You won't be using one of Time Force's ships. You'll be using one of James' ships."
She looked at him, her face frozen in shock.
"One of James' time ships?" She heard herself repeat.
"Yes, his research labs have a small fleet," Alex said nonchalantly. "As for the permissions, don't worry. That's where I come in."
"And who will take care of my cases while I am gone? Alex, I need some time to think this through."
"I will."
Her eyes went wide. "You? You will take my cases?"
"Personally. And I will do my best to close as many of them as I can."
And by that he meant all of them, Jen knew. Whoever this James Robertson guy was, he meant a lot to Alex if he was willing to be back on the street just so she could do this for him.
"He's a really close friend, isn't he?"
Alex didn't answer immediately. He got up and paced up and down the office a couple of times. He stopped and looked at her, as if he was trying to find the right words. "Shortly after we met, I found out, and not from him, that it was James who saved my life after Ransik attacked me. It was technology he had developed for his labs that saved me. He didn't bring it up or cash in on it, and I don't think he knows that I know he saved my life. It's his technology that keeps me alive, Jen, and yet, he has never mentioned a single thing about it."
"He sounds like a very humble man."
"He is. And if he asked me to shake Time Force from the foundation so he could test a theory, I would do it. I'm not letting you leave this office until you say 'yes'."
"If he means that much to you and if he asked for me specifically, how can I say 'no' to the man who saved your life?" She had gotten up and was standing very close to him.
He stepped away from her and sat down again. He took a couple of deep breaths while Jen sat back down. "Good, thanks for agreeing. Here are the details." He handed her the tablet he had been holding when he came in. "James will program one other stop in your ship. There's someone he'd like you to pick up before you get to Corinth. He will help you further with the interviews."
Jen did a quick scan through the information in the tablet. "All this equipment is at my disposal?"
"From James' labs, yes."
"You keep saying 'James' labs' instead of Time Force's-"
"That stuff doesn't belong to Time Force, Jen. This is not a Time Force mission. This is an everything goes research mission. All that stuff belongs to James, not Time Force." He opened his drawer and pulled out a black box. "However, this does belong to Time Force," he said, opening the box and holding it so she could see its contents. Inside was her morpher. She looked at it and felt like she was being reunited with an old friend. "Take good care of it."
She took the device and he put the box in front of her. "You can't put it on while you're still in this time. They can track it. It's still locked to your DNA." She put the device back in the box and closed it. "It's almost lunch time. Have lunch and meet me at the main gate. I'll take you to James' labs."
"Do I at least get to meet him before I leave?"
"He was very adamant that he would be too busy elsewhere to meet you before you left. Which is code for 'I need an alibi and I will make one'."
She smirked. "He sounds like a charmer."
"Well, I know you don't keep up with this kind of thing," Alex said getting up to lead her out of the office. "But he 's quite the ladies man. And the gentlemen's man too." He opened the door to indicate she should leave.
"I'll see you after lunch."
"See you."
After lunch, Alex drove her to what he kept referring to as 'James' labs'. James' labs turned out to be a very famous multibillionaire interplanetary applied sciences company that produced everything from ships to medication. Jen remembered something that had been in the news recently about this company.
"Alex." He grunted to let her know he was listening. "Wasn't this the pharma company that created the test for that alien plague that was causing all those deaths last year?"
"The test, the treatment and the vaccine. All developed personally by James."
"He developed them himself?" She scoffed, as if a such thing was ridiculous. "I'm sure that's what he told people-"
"The press release credited the research team of the pharmacological division for the development," Alex told her, briefly taking his eyes off the road to glance at her. "But James did it himself. I know that for a fact because his assistant kept calling me to drag him home. I never could, not until he was finished. He slept on the floor, ate poorly, and wouldn't stop talking to himself. I thought he had lost it. But then he developed the test, and right after that, the cure. You'd think that was enough but he wouldn't go home until he was sure both things would be available to anyone who needed them-"
"For free," Jen interrupted. "I saw it on the news. Very generous of him."
"That's James."
When they arrived, Alex got out of the car and she followed his lead. Jen waited while Alex talked to a nice looking young man who smiled at her.
"Sergeant Scotts," he said, walking up to her. "I'm Charles, Mr. Robertson's assistant. He told me about your mission and everything has been set up."
Jen was barely paying attention to him. She was looking around, searching for the gigantic portrait of James Robertson that was bound to be somewhere. Her eyes fell on Alex and Charles, who were looking at her as if waiting for an answer.
"Sorry, I got distracted by the surroundings."
"Yes, the atrium can be quite a sight," Charles commented. "Mr. Robertson has very fine taste and it is important for him that his employees like their environment." Jen wondered why there was no portrait and asked Charles about it. The young man let out a little laugh and smiled. "That's not how Mr. Robertson does things."
"I told you he is very humble," Alex reminded her.
"Please, come with me," Charles said and they followed him out of the atrium and through the various buildings, until finally stopping in a hangar where Jen finally saw the ship she would be using for this mission.
She was expecting something similar to the bulky, round, and yellow time ship Time Force had, but this ship was very different. It was much smaller, sleeker and the overall design was very elegant.
"Cool," she said, staring at it.
"The newest model. Interdimensional storage units allow for less weight and bulk, and it contains our most advanced engine and state of the art time travel technology," Charles recited. "And she's all yours."
"It doesn't need a big crew, then?" she asked, her eyes still glued to the ship.
Charles exchanged a look with Alex and cleared his throat. "I mean, she's literally all yours." Jen still didn't look away from the vehicle.
Charles looked at Alex for help. "He means the ship is yours, Jen," Alex repeated. "As in, it belongs to you."
That got Jen's attention. She looked away from the ship and over at Alex. "What do you mean the ship belongs to me?"
"Mr. Robertson thought it would be a nice thank you for accepting this mission," Charles explained.
"What am I supposed to do with my own time ship?" Jen asked him. She looked at Alex. "Why is your friend giving me my own time ship?"
"He read the transcripts of the Ransik debriefings," he reminded her, giving her a meaningful look. "Perhaps he thought you'd like to visit someone in your time ship."
Jen closed her eyes. "Alex, this is really not-"
"Necessary?"
"-kind of him," she said. "It sounds like a cruel thing to-"
"Do for someone who is in love with someone from another time?"
"-do to you," she finished.
He looked at her and his expression softened. Then he smiled at her. "You win some, you lose some, Jen." He looked at the ship. "I will take care of the permits every time you want to see him."
Jen didn't know what to say. This kind of thing was the reason she had fallen in love with Alex in the first place. He had arranged it so she could visit Wes whenever she wanted to, instead of hating her forever.
She looked at him as he looked at the ship. "I can't accept it." Both Alex and Charles looked at her for different reasons. "I will use it for the mission but I can't just keep the ship. I'm sure Commander Robertson will find better uses for it." There was a question in Alex's eyes. She looked away from him to stare pointedly at Charles who got the hint.
"I'll go double-check everything is ready for you, sergeant," he said, walking towards the ship.
Once they were alone, Jen and Alex just stared at each other in silence for a moment.
"James will not let this go."
"I'm over Wes."
Alex closed his mouth and looked at her. "Sorry, what?"
"I'm over him," she repeated, averting her gaze.
There was no need for any more explanations. "He wouldn't be the first love of your life you got over."
She closed her eyes, hurt by his words. "Alex, I'm sorry. I really thought I was doing the right thing for you-"
"This is not the time or the place to have this conversation." She nodded. "We'll talk when you come back if you want, but know that James will not let this stand. He will repay you somehow for helping him and he won't take no for an answer."
"Understood. I didn't pack or anything, what if it takes me longer than expected?"
"Knowing James, there are enough clothes of your size and style packed inside somewhere," he replied, glad to change the subject.
"How would he know my size?" she wondered as she walked towards the ship. "Did you tell him?"
"It's one of his many talents," Alex commented, walking behind her.
"Right." She remembered he mentioned James was a ladies' man. He probably had been with enough of them to guess sizes.
The inside of the ship was somehow even more spectacular to Jen. The ship was bright with many lights, the controls were elegant and the screens were sharp. It was a good example of the fine taste Charles had mentioned James had.
There was room for five people inside the ship, but it was obvious from the design that only one person was required to fly it.
"It seats five," she commented.
"Passengers," Charles told her. "She pretty much flies herself once she's been programmed. She will respond to commands and-" He pressed a button on the console and the screen showed a list of items. "-you can access all the equipment by pressing this button and then pressing the item on the screen."
Jen scanned the list of items. Some of the equipment seemed like odd things to pack for a research mission. She mentioned this.
"The ship is kept ready in case of an emergency. She is kept stocked with various equipment Mr. Robertson thinks may be useful."
Charles had said it before, but this time Jen noticed that Charles didn't refer to Commander Robertson by his rank. "Why do you call him 'Mr. Robertson'? You addressed me as sergeant."
Charles lean face went slightly red and he glanced at Alex. "James, I mean, Mr. Robertson doesn't like it when people address him by his rank."
"Or as 'Mr. Robertson'," Alex added, looking at Charles. "He asks everybody to call him 'James'."
"And everybody does," Charles added with a shy smile.
"Except his butler, who keeps referring to him as 'Master James', making him cringe every time." Alex and Charles both laughed, clearly remembering instances when this had happened.
"Why can't he just program his butler to call him James?" She asked. Surely a man of such wealth and wit knew how to program a household robot. Or had someone to do it for him.
Charles and Alex exchanged another knowing look. "James' butler is not a robot, Jen."
Jen just looked at them and then her eyes fixed on Charles. His personal assistant also wasn't a robot. Clearly James Robertson had a lot more money and charm than she had thought.
"You're not an android," she told Charles.
He shook his head. "One hundred percent human."
"And you are one of James'…" she didn't know how to put it politely. She didn't want to call him 'servant'.
"I serve James with great pleasure, sergeant. It's no big deal. His closest staff are all humans."
"James doesn't entirely like robots. He tolerates them as the part of life they are but he prefers working with humans," Alex told her. Ladies' and gentlemen's man, she remembered. "The story of his personal staff is fascinating but we'll save it for another day because whatever alibi he's giving himself for this won't last too much longer. You need to leave."
"Just sit down and buckle up. Put your right palm on the reader. The ship has been locked to your DNA, and, like I said, she will fly herself," Charles instructed. He handed her a black gauntlet for her left hand, which had a beautiful pattern on it. "This control gauntlet will also give you access to the equipment and you'll need these." He handed her two small metallic bars. "James has been developing them for Time Force. Quantic police batons." He took a moment to explain how they worked.
"Why would I need these?" she asked, looking at Alex. He had given her her morpher back too. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
Alex shook his head and looked at Charles who smiled. "James likes to cover all the bases. These are just precautions in case you run into trouble."
"Right," she said, not entirely convinced they were telling her the full truth.
Charles moved towards the door. "I was told you travelled in a Time Force time ship before. You will find your travel in this ship a lot more comfortable."
"Comfortable?" She really doubted being spun around at top speed could under any circumstances be comfortable.
"She doesn't spin, Jen," Alex told her with a smile, moving towards the door too. "You won't even notice she's moved."
With that, both men exited the ship. When they were a safe distance away, the palm reader glowed green, indicating the ship was ready for departure. Jen stared at it and swallowed. This James Robertson character sounded like the most eccentric billionaire she had ever heard of and here she was leaving everything behind for him without even meeting him.
As she put her hand on the reader, she wondered what she should ask James Robertson for as a 'thank you' present that wasn't the time ship.