Part 1
Tara sat in her lab nearly asleep after working to the point of near exhaustion. With the Power Rangers now back in action it seemed as if someone constantly had to be in the Command Center. Since they were forbidden to tell anyone that they were the Power Rangers they had been taking turns manning the complex and keeping constant look out over the instruments and sensors.
Tara of course had always thought that she could use her time more productively than waiting for monsters to attack. Jason had mentioned to her that he found what appeared to be robot components. After checking them out Tara found that not only were there components but there seemed to be a enough parts to create a fully functioning unit.
The eager Tara almost immediately began to put the pieces together but ran into a few problems. Most of these were solved with relative ease, as she found blueprints in the Power Chambers computer banks. It appeared that this unit was a backup unit that was supposed to have been put together by the last group of Rangers but never was. The girl had worked feveriously to complete the work but found that a few vital components were missing. She had searched for weeks to find them but was never able to. Eventually she realized that she had no choice but to make the parts herself. Slowly but surely she pulled the parts that she needed from the Power Chambers computer replacement parts. She wasn't sure if it would work but was relatively confident that her design would function well.
The only real saving grace in the entire matter was the fact that she was able to locate a memory module that was left over from an older unit. The piece was easily integrated into her model along with a few improvements of her own. She had been working for that last 11 hours and wanted to get some sleep before activating the unit which she had dubbed "Alpha 7" and introducing her creation to the others.
After catching a few hours of sleep Tara woke up and headed directly to her laboratory, where she found her creation sitting exactly as she had left it. Alpha as she had taking to calling him was heavy but she managed to drag him out into the main control room and then covered him up with a large tarp.
She then made her way over to the communications console and activated it, calling all of the Rangers. One by one over the course of a few minute the rangers called in and she asked them to teleport in to the Command Center.
After the last person arrived she escorted them to the place just outside of her lab where she had left her creation.
"What's this all about Tara?" Jarrold asked.
"Yeah I was in the middle of something." Ashlyn complained.
"Probably beauty sleep." Tara commented. "Heaven knows you need it."
The others all snickered while Ashlyn let out a growl. "You want a piece of me? I'm getting sick an..."
Before she could finish her statement Tara cut her off "As you all know I've been spending a lot of time locked away in my lab working on various projects."
"Yeah maybe a little to much time." Bryan stated.
"I'm not going to argue with you there Bryan but I think that I've come up with a solution that will really help us out." Tara continued. "While he was looking for his Proto-Form, Jason found what appeared to be a box of spare robot parts. I took the time to inventory them hoping that I could use some of the components to repair some of the Power Chambers systems in case the broke down. Turns out that they were not spare parts but enough to build a complete functioning unit."
"So what are exactly are you trying to tell us?" Aron asked.
"Well I decided to put them together. Now mind you there were some missing pieces but I was able to use existing part from the main computer and was lucky to have found an old memory module from an older unit." Tara continued.
"Tara can you just spit it out?" Jason finally said.
Tara looked at him for a second and then moved over to the tarp and placed a hand on it. "Okay well everyone here is what I've been working on. Let me introduce you to Alpha 7." With that she pulled the tarp off to reveal a short red and gold colored robot with a stylized lightning bolt on its chest.
"It's not doing anything." Mark said.
"Not yet" Tara said as she reached around to the robots back. She pressed a button there and the lightning bolt began to glow and the robot stood completely upright and began to turn its head back and forth taking them time to focus on each of them. After a moment or so of this it through up its hands and began to run around the room frantically. "Ayiii Ayiii Ayiii!!!." Alpha 7 shouted as ran around the room. "Intruder alert, Intruder Alert!!! Must alert Zordon, must alert the Rangers!!!."
After a few more moments the robot stopped and looked around. "Where am I? This is not the Command Center." he then turned to look at each ranger in turn. "What have you done with the Power Rangers? Where is Zordon?"
Tara stepped closer to him "Alpha 7, I'm Tara and this is the Power Chamber."
"I must get back to the Command Center." he said almost ignoring her.
"What's wrong with this thing?" Bryan asked.
Alpha stopped for a second and then looked around. "Power Chamber. I am in the Power Chamber." Alpha ran past the Rangers and to the control console. After working at the console for a matter of moments Alpha got his bearings and activated a forcefield around the the Rangers.
"Hey what's going on?" Jarrold said in surprise.
"Intruders I have encased you in a forcefield. I must locate Zordon or one of the Power Rangers to sort this out. I apologize and hope that you understand." Alpha informed them.
"Alpha we are the Power Rangers. Now let us out of here." Tara ordered.
"Impossible. There are only 6 Rangers and you are not recognized as such." Alpha responded.
"Tara didn't you program this thing to know who we are?" Mark asked.
"I didn't think about that." Tara took a second to think "I know, it's the memory module. It must have been used in another unit." Tara turned around to look at the other Rangers and thought for a second. "I got it." she turned around to look at Alpha. "What is your designation?" she asked.
"I am Alpha 5, assistant to Zordon of Eltar and the Power Rangers." the little robot answered. Alpha began to work on the console. "None of the Rangers are answering. What have you done with them?"
"Alpha what if we can prove that we are the Power Rangers?" Tara asked.
"How are you supposed to do that?" Jason asked.
"If I'm not mistaking he would recognize your mom." Tara suggested. "All we have to do is bring her here."
Jason nodded and turned to look at Alpha. "My mother is Kimberly Hart. If you let us go get her she will explain everything."
"That's not possible. Kimberly Anne Hart is only 16 years old. You are nearly that age yourself." Alpha responded. He waited another second and then made a decision. "Alright I will allow one of you to leave to get her."
"Alright Jason you go." Jarrold decided.
"Ayiii, Ayiii, Ayiii. She will go." Alpha said pointing to Tara. "I will teleport you to the city and you will return with her."
Tara nodded and after a few seconds of Alpha working on the controls Tara disappeared in a streak of purple light.
Tara found herself on the outskirts of Angel Grove and after taking a moment to get her bearings began to walk into the city 'I wish I'd spent more time here than locked up in that lab.' she thought. The girl had only been to the city twice since it was rebuilt mainly becuase she preferred to spend most of her time in the lab. She knew that Jarrold had been staying in the house that they lived in when they were children but she was more than comfortable sleeping in the Power Chamber.
It was the middle of the day and several people were out and going about their lives as though they didn't have a care in the world and the Vandairre weren't even a threat anymore. In some ways this made her proud. The people of this city trusted the Power Rangers to protect them. However it also worried her, she was concerned that everyone would get to relaxed and then if a time ever came that the Rangers were not there to protect them the citizens of Angel Grove would fall easy pray to the monsters that plagued the planet.
Tara looked around to get her bearings. She knew that didn't live to far from what should be her house but not having visited often made it difficult for her to remember an exac layout. A small girl ran past her and she watched the girl for a moment and then recognition struck her. 'That's Arons little friend Kari.'
Tara made her way to the little girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl let out a surprised yelp and then turned around to see who was touching her. When she saw that it was Tara a big smile came across her face.
"Hi Tara. Where have you been?" Kari asked.
Tara looked at her for a second trying to think of an excuse for her lack of presence all this time. "Uh, I've been helping a friend work on something." she finally settled on.
"Are you done with that now? Are you going to be staying in Angel Grove with the rest of us?" the child inquired.
"Well I'll certainly be around more often." Tara answered.
Several other children started to gather around the two. They seemed to have been playing some sort of game and Tara had interrupted it. "Everybody this is Tara. She's a friend of Arons. She saved me." Kari announced to the congregation of gathered children.
"Wow so you must be like some sort of hero or something." One boy said.
"Nah she can't be." another boy blurted out. "If she was she would be wearing a costume like the Power Rangers."
The other kids seemed to nod in agreement. "So are you coming or what Kari?" one of them asked.
"Actually I would like to borrow Kari for a few minutes. It won't take long I promise." Tara cut in.
"Sure I'll help." Kari cheerfully answered while waving the others on to finish their game.
"Do you know a lady named Kimberly?" Tara asked Kari.
"Yeah she lives a couple of houses down from me." Kari answered.
"Can you take me to her?" Tara asked.
"Come on." Kari said, grabbing the older girls hand. "I'll show you where she lives."
The lights and alarms in the Power Chamber began to go off. The Rangers all jumped up and turned to face the Viewing Globe. Alpha was running around frantically throwing his hands in the air. "Ayiii, Ayiii, Ayiii, Ayiii, Ayiii. This is not good Rita is attacking..." Alpha glanced over the instruments for a moment "Wait a minute their not attacking Angel Grove." Brought up the image on the Viewing Globe. "And those are not Putties or any of Ritas other monsters for that matter. Boy I sure wish Zordon was here to explain this all to me."
Jarrold moved closer to the edge of the forcefield. "Alpha those are Emperor Nicandros' Soldiers. If we don't go stop them they are going to destroy that city and hurt those people."
"I'm sorry but I can't let you out until I have proof of your identities. This could be some sort of trick by Rita." Alpha said.
"Look Alpha you could teleport us out of the Command Center and we can fight the Soldiers. You won't have to let us back in until Tara brings Kimberly back here." Jason suggested.
"I'm afraid that's not possible. If you are the enemy then you will attack the real Power Rangers when they show up to fight those creatures and it will be my fault for letting them run into a trap. I really do apologize but I can't allow you to leave just yet."
"You idiot we are the Power Rangers!!!" Ashlyn screamed. "Jarrold I'm going to knock your sisters teeth in when we get out of this."
"Calm down Ashlyn, he's only following his programming." Aron said in an attempt to reason with the upset Yellow Ranger.
Ashlyn slouched down in a corner and pouted. "All I have to say is that she better hurry."
"I'm sure she'll make it on time." Mark confidently stated. "We just have to trust her."
"Yeah well one things for sure. I'm going to make sure she stays out of that lab. That girl is like some sort of mad scientist." said Bryan.
"You got that right man." Jarrold chuckled.