Here we go, second shot!
Like I said, Orpheus's only backstory is that he's friends with Doggie, and he's a Commander. That's it.
Esme has a little more going on, but it's pretty much covered here. Like I said before, she comes off as a little perfect here, but she does have failings (for instance, she can't fight for shit). This just happens to be what she does best.
Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist, nor do I have any degrees in psychology, other than a few college courses. The situations here are purely fictitious, and not meant to offend or insult anyone. Thank you for your consideration.
Jack woke up with a yell.
He bolted up so quickly that he very nearly banged heads with Commander Orpheus Phantasos, which was only avoided because the Commander himself slumped backwards, falling to his knees on the floor as a green-clad nurse wearing the SPD insignia dashed over and helped him into a chair.
By that time, Jack had started to get his bearings, and realised he was lying on some sort of medical bed, with wires attached to something on his head. Panic started to set in, and he reached up to yank them off, only for his arm to be grabbed by none other than Kat.
"Don't do that! This machine is very delicate." She reached up and, after a few clicks, removed the helmet.
"What is—" Jack sputtered, and then, "Where is—" Kat moved aside, so that he could see the whole room. Around them were the rest of B Squad, but, differently than Jack, they were surrounded by medical staff and equipment, and being loaded on to gurneys while people yelled orders about things he didn't really understand. Still, he could see that Z was kicking, forcing a nurse to hold her legs, and Syd even sounded like she was humming, despite appearing unconscious and an oxygen mask over her face.
"What's going on?" Jack finally managed, as one of the nurses hustled over and began checking his vitals.
"What is going on, Cadet," Said another voice he recognised; Cruger, "Is that you are very lucky." Doggie turned to look at Phantasos, and Jack saw concern in his eyes. "You alright there, Orpheus?" The pale Commander waved a hand at Doggie.
"Oh, I'll be just fine in a little bit." Jack looked between them.
"Wait… I don't… Everyone was…" Cruger reached over and put a hand on the Cadet's arm.
"It's quite alright, Cadet Landors. I assure you, yourself and your Squad will be right as rain in no time." The Commander went back to linking his hands behind his back. "Now, after you've got a clean bill of health from the medics, I want to see you in the control room. We'll explain more there." Then, Doggie helped Orpheus to his feet, and served as a crutch as they left the room.
Doctor Felix examined Jack and told him that, aside from some severe stress and shock, he was predominately fine.
"I would advise taking it easy for a few days. Your Squad is recovering well, but you've all been through quite an ordeal." The Doctor told him, then turned away to clear up some medical supplies, sourly muttering when he thought Jack couldn't hear him. "Always said these simulations would cause trouble…" The Red Ranger was quickly cleared to attend the debriefing in the control room, however, and his curiosity made him hurry out, though he swore he'd return to check on his Squad.
He entered to find Kat and both Commanders. Phantasos was sitting down on a chair someone (probably Boom) had carried in, and was holding a mask to his mouth, connected via tubing to an air bag. Jack didin't recognise the stuff the machine was pumping into the mask; it certainly wasn't oxygen. It was an iridescent, silvery haze that didn't seem to be entirely gas. Kat was hovering over him and the machine, her face a mask of worry. Orpheus, who had had his head bowed almost to the table top, clutching the mask to his face, looked up when Jack nervously mumbled something to announce his presence, lowering the mask, but holding it to his chest to keep the smoke-like air from escaping.
"Anubis." He said, making Cruger turn around.
"Ah, Cadet. Thank you for joining us. I trust you're well?" Jack shrugged.
"Nothing life threatening. Just psychological, apparently." He became increasingly aware that Commander Phantasos was gazing concernedly at him. "And, I don't mean to be rude, but… What happened?" Orpheus sat back.
"Well, Cadet. What's the last thing you remember?" Jack hesitated, trying to think.
"The… The Drax were here, and… And SPD was destroyed… But… But that—"
"—Was an illusion." Phantasos finished. Jack blinked.
"What?" The Commander took a moment to have another inhale from the mask, then moved it again.
"You knew this going in, but it's understandable that your memory would be a bit confused." At this point, Cruger joined in.
"Orpheus is a Morpheian;" He explained. Jack couldn't help a small snort.
"Wow. Say that three times fast." He stopped his snickering when he noticed Orpheus glaring at him over his mask. Cruger just continued as if the Cadet hadn't said anything.
"A Morphian is a species that has an intense proficency for psychic and mental powers. They can connect with others minds; thoughts, feelings, even effect what they see. This ability has allowed him to be of exsquisite use to SPD, in particular, our training program. Working with Dr. Manx, he was able to develop a machine that could create similar circumtances—a safe, controllable, false reality. At least, we thought." Orpheus stretched his back like it was aching, then picked up the tale.
"You and your Squad were participating in a training simulation preparing for the possible assualt of the Drax; the purpose was to train you to prepare for the event of colossal destruction of SPD. If the Drax were to completely destroy all of Earth's other defenders, what would you do? That was why you hardly mourned. But there was something else you didn't know—a second purpose: failure."
"Failure?"
"Yes. That simulations was designed so that, no matter what happened, or what you did, the situation would inevitably get worse. This was kept a secret from you so that we could gauge your response against insurmountable odds. If you had known, you wouldn't have been giving your all, which you had to do for the simulation to serve it's purpose." Jack looked between the two Commanders, his feelings varying between understanding and seething.
"So… You intentionally put in a situation that you knew we'd fail!?" Phantasos ducked back into his mask, and Jack felt a little guilty when the Morpheian's breaths were a little heavier than before, indicating the Cadet had hit a nerve. "I… I just—" But Orpheus was shaking his head.
"No, I understand. Especially given the problems that arose… I can't blame you for being upset." The Red Ranger frowned.
"Problems?" Cruger and Orpheus exchanged looks, and then the seated Commander continued.
"Like I said, you were aware that the situation was a simulation when it started; you knew that whatever happened, in reality, you were safe at SPD HQ.'
'That all changed when Cadet Tate died."
Jack chewed on his lip, thinking back to the moment in, what he now knew was, the simulation. At the time, it had seemed absolutely real, and the sight of Sky's lifeless eyes was burned into his memory. The humming sound of Orpheus' breathing apparatus brought him back to the control room.
"… How?" The Morpheian Commander took another deep breath from the mask before he responded.
"When Sky died, it triggered, particularly in you, and extreme emotional reaction. Now, the equipment was prepared for things like this—programmed that, when someone died in the simulation, they would wake up, and designed to handle the psychological spikes that would naturally result in witnessing the death of a friend or comrade. But the response you had was far beyond anything either I, or the mechanics, had ever encountered. It was so powerful that, somehow, your subconscious seized control of the simulation from both myself and the machine." Jack didn't try to stop his jaw from dropping.
"That's impossible. I can't—I don't—There's no way—"
"I'm not sure how you did it either, but it happened. Seeing your Squadmate dying triggered a subconscious force of will that overpowered all other holds on the illusion. It was so powerful that the minds of your team began to bleed into it. Cadet Tate's subconscious became so convinced that he had died that his vitals started flatlining on this end." The Red Ranger stumbled back, and found himself falling into a chair that Boom had suddenly produced behind him. He nodded thankfully to Kat's assisstant, staring, aghast at the two men before him.
"You're saying that I killed them?"
"No, not exactly. Fortunately, we have medical alerts in place, and we were able to get professionals in. But there was only so much we could do in this area, so we had a dilemma; if we forcibly removed him from the simulation, in the state he was in, the resulting psychological shock would kill him—if we left him as he was, his own subconscious convictions would kill him. We moved some of the medical equipment in here while I and my assisstants tried to find the problem—but when we started losing Cadet Drew, I knew there was only one option."
He must have been referring to Syd staying behind in the Safehouse after forcing Jack through the tunnel. Her face right before she closed the hatch had also engrained itself into Jack's mind, a heartbreaking concoction of fear and bravery. He had to wonder what it had been like for the people on the outside, with Sky's vitals already dropping, for Syd to start going Code Blue again. The Commanders watched him for a moment, giving him another pause to think as Phantasos inhaled again before continuing to talk.
"There was no way for me to take back control from the outside—I had to personally enter the simulation. However, this lead to the possibility of myself becoming just as trapped as the rest of you, but I had to try." Another moment with the mask interrupted his story. "However, when I entered the illusion, even a Morpheian like me was overwhelmed by the sheer subconscious noise your three minds were producing. I was so effected by the belief of your collective subconciousness that I nigh forgot my original purpose, and was swept up in the simulation myself. As the other effected minds disappated, however, with the apparent deaths of Cadets Del Gado and Carson, I was eventually able to return to myself—and realise what I had to do."
Jack remembered all those events in perfect detail, too.
"Yeah… You stabbed me!" He had to think for a moment. "Wait… How did you even do that? You weren't carrying a blade or anything!" He thought he saw a small smile on the Commander's face as he raised his right arm and flicked his wrist, causing a long, thin blade that had been hidden in his coat sleeve to slide out; another flick sent it back in.
"Never go anywhere with out it, even simulations." He adjusted the sleeve before stopping to breathe again. "I had to kill you in the false reality in order to wake you up—as the original progenitor of the usurpation, you were the only one the original failsafe would work on."
Cruger watched Jack intently, while Phantasos went back to his mask.
"As you can see, things became immensely complicated as a result." Doggie sighed. "I'm putting you and the rest of B Squad on sick leave until such a time as we can be certain of your health, both physical and psychological. While you are recooperating, all of you are required to visit Doctor Eseme Moa, SPD's resident psychological officer."
"A shrink?" Jack wanted to protest more, but Cruger glared at him, and he shut his mouth.
"You are dismissed, Cadet." The Red Ranger turned to go, only to pause, looking at Orpheus.
"I… Have to ask…" The other Commander might have smiled again.
"While I am accostumed to alternate climates, it is a simple matter that my people evolved with a specific respritory system. Breathing Morpheian air helps me recover and heal faster from extreme exertion—such as having to force my way through a comandeered simulation. Using my abilities takes a toll."
"That reminds me," Cruger interjected, "Cadet Landors, you are to start having training sessions with Commander Phantasos in order to strengthen your mental control when you are both well enough to do so.
"But… I'm not…"
"That doesn't appear to matter, Cadet." Orpheus interrupted. "You have a very strong brain on your shoulders, young man. If you don't learn to focus and master your own will and mental prowess, you might find yourself in a similar situation to this." Images of his Squadmates' faces right before they died flashed through Jack's head. "It's best for their safety, and yours, that you learn to handle it." The Cadet swallowed.
"Alright. Just let me know when." Then, he saluted, and left the control room.
Doctor Eseme Moa looked much younger than expected, with high, sharp cheekbones and salmon-colored hair in intricate braids. Younger and… Blue. She wore a slightly different uniform than most of the other female officers, one that was almost the same colour as her skin, and her forehead was adorned with a triangle whose points were marked by three glowing circles. Despite her severe appearance, however, she was a gentle woman, with a motherly smile.
Syd was the first person to have an appointment with her, or maybe just the most willing. The Pink Ranger was huddled in on herself, legs curled up on the windowseat of Dr. Moa's greenhouse, while the therapist herself tended to her flowers. At least, Syd thought they were flowers. Moa had insisted that she preferred 'alternate' forms of psychology, like trying to make her visitors comfortable, and not confining conversations to her office.
"You know… At the time, it just… Felt like the right thing to do." Dr. Moa made a sound that told the Cadet she was listening, even though she didn't look up. "And, you know… I wish I could say that I was so brave, and that all I thought of was the good of the planet, but…" Tears sprang to the girl's eyes. "But I wasn't! I was scared! I was scared out of my mind! I didn't want to die!"
Eseme paused in her gardening to come over to sit beside Syd, removing her gloves.
"Of course you were afraid. Dying, I'm told, is quite a reasonable fear."
"But I'm not supposed to be scared, right? I'm a protector of Earth! I trained for situations like that! 'No sacrifice is too small for the greater good,' or something. I'm the Pink Ranger! I'm supposed to be a hero!" Moa reached over and patted the Cadet's hand softly.
"My dear, fear is a regular part of life. When I was in school for psychology, they were constantly reminding us that people who do things even though they are afraid, are brave. Those who know no fear? Well, they have thrill issues." That got a small smile. "Sydney, you and your friends were put through a terrible ordeal, where you had to experience the one thing most people only know once. No amount of training can prepare you for the real thing; actual, perceived danger, whether it is really there or not, is very different than a classroom. Yes, so maybe you were afraid, but what do you think Anubis felt when he saw the massive armies attacking his planet? Any and all feel fear, child, and there is much more bravery in admitting it than in hiding it." Syd played with the hem of her uniform, biting her lip.
"I just… I want to do my team proud, you know? Be one of those heroes that people write home about." A warm smile spread across the dark blue face.
"Haven't you read the papers, my dear? You already are. Now," The Doctor stood, taking Syd's hand, "Why don't you help me with these flowers?"
Bridge was next because he made no protest; he was even quieter than he'd been in the simulation. He sat one of the many couches in Dr. Moa's home library (filled with actual, paper books!) and hugged his knees to his chest tightly, gazing off. Eseme wandered about the room for a while, cleaning, but eventually became aware of the young Cadet watching her. Smiling affectionately at him, she crossed over to the couch and sat beside him, reaching over to rub his back. When he leaned into her arm, she leaned clpser and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, letting him silently lean on her shoulder. They sat that way for a very long time.
It wouldn't be exactly true to say that Z went kicking and screaming—though there was a large amount of complaining involved. Like Jack, her history had taught her not to put too much stock in therpists or psychology, and she spent a great deal of the first hour or so trying to get arise out of Dr. Moa. When that failed, she resorted to sulking. Eseme had decided that they would meet in the game room; and when the Doctor came over to her and offered her a deck of cards, Z accpted them for nothing else to do.
As they played (a game Z recognised, no less), Eseme struck up conversation, but seemed to want to talk about everything but the incident. Eventually, it drove Z mad enough to ask.
"Aren't you going to say something about what happened?" Moa seemed surprised.
"Why would I? It's not as if we're only meeting once. You'll talk if you ever feel like it, I'm sure. Also…" The therapist proudly displayed her hand, "… I am afraid I win."
"Damn!" Z yelled, then gave a muffled "Sorry!" when Dr. Moa raised and eyebrow at her.
They played well into the rest of the day, making smalltalk and giggling like old girlfriends, and the event concluded with Z demanding a rematch with more animation than she had acted since the simulation. She even paused at the door to give the blue alien a quick hug before jogging back towards the the headquarters and her dorms, with Dr. Moa waving until she was out of sight.
Sky hadn't wanted to go, either, but, in the end, he didn't have a choice. Dr. Moa wasn't surprised when she found him waiting for her in the garden, sitting on one of the stone benches by the fountain and staring into the water.
"Just think of it as a makeup meeting." She told him quietly. "Nothing else." He glanced over at her, but didn't get up when she sat beside him.
"I don't need this, you know. I was 'coma boy,' right from the beginning. I didn't have the same experience the others did."
"You always say you don't need this, and yet you always come back." They sat in silence for a little bit, then Sky nodded at the fountain.
"… Is this the one he helped you build? My father."
"Yes, it is. Well, admittedly, your father helped me build many things currently in the place in one way or another— I suppose that makes sense, giving how long he lived here and all." The Blue Ranger looked sideways at her. Dr. Moa had an almost dreamy smile on her face. In the time he had been talking to her since his father's death, she had been mostly unwilling to share details of her relationship with the elder Tate; and Sky had always suspected it was because she thought he might be upset on behalf of his long-dead mother.
"I'm sure she'd've been fine with him not being alone, especially while I was at school." Her head jerked a little, and he wondered if she'd heard him, but then she looked over and smiled gratefully. Sky looked around at the huge mansion he knew had once housed several tennants, his father included. "You don't have anyone else here anymore. Don't you get lonely?" She shrugged.
"A little. But then you come over, or Kat, or Anubis, or even Boom, or someone else from SPD, and it just fades away. But…" She turned on the bench to face him. "… You have cleverly put us off our topic of conversation." He groaned.
"There's nothing to talk about!"
"I've always found that being pushy works best with you; at the very least, I always learn something." He sighed, but continued shaking his head. She folded her arms, giving him an altogether too motherly look. Frustrated now, he stood up and strode past the fountain to the garden path; he was, of course, quickly joined by the Doctor. "You know, I saw the transcription and the records. You saved Cadet Landor's life in there, simulated or not."
"And at the time I did it, I thought dying would simply wake me up. It wasn't a sacrifice. Hell, doing it is what messed everything up!" He waved a hand in apology when he got the 'language' look, but continued to march sourly down the path.
"However, according to the records, it was the moment he realised you were dying that Landors effectively took over the simulation." Eseme probed gently. "So, you did have a small amount of time where you truly believed you were dying." Finally, Sky stopped walking, looking tiredly up at the clouds.
"It was small, Eseme. It doesn't matter."
"I think it matters to both of us. And to Cadet Landors." He turned sharply to face her.
"Jack? What does Jack have to do with this?"
"In that small moment where you were dying, where you believed you were dying, did you regret it? What you had done to save him? Did you only do it because you knew it wasn't real?" He hesitated for a long while before answering.
"No." He confessed, eventually. "No, I didn't regret it. And… When I did it, I didn't even think about the consequences, or that it was a simulation. It was just… An instinct. I had to protect him—I had to get him out of there." There was another long silence as Sky thought carefully. "He's my friend." He concluded at last, then repeated it more firmly. "Because he's my friend. Not just because he's the leader. I wanted to protect him because I… I cared." She was giving him the motherly look again, but this time, he didn't mind so much.
"Would you do it again? If the situation were real, and even if death was a sertain consequence. Would you do it again?" This time, Sky's answer came without hesitation of any kind.
"Yes."
Jack pretty much wanted to forget the whole situation, but both his dreams, and Cruger's prders made that impossible. Upon arrival, he was amazed at how large and beautiful the therapist's home was, hidden away in a corner of the city. It looked like something from another planet—and, given that Z had told him the Doctor was an alien, it seemed likely that she would base her home on Earth on just that. She opened the door before he got to it, and gave him a flawless smile that made him just a little nervous.
"Oh, wonderful. There you are. I was hoping you'd join me for tea." Her tone was pleasant enough, and the invitation sounded sincere, so even though he didn't even like tea very much, Jack nodded. Her smile widened, and she stood to the side and beckoned him in.
She ushered him into a seat in what he thought was called a drawing room, and then began bustling around getting trays and cups.
"So, I've heard a great deal about you over the years, Jack." He was unable to discern whether that 'great deal' was good or bad, but now she had him curious.
"Really, from who?" Memory suddenly served that Boom had mentioned coming here a few times, and the Red Ranger promptly felt the need to add, "Anything Boom has told you is probably highly exaggerated…" She laughed, and he wondered if it was about him, or Boom.
"Oh, yes, I've spoken with Boom. But I have actually heard about you from another source, not at all given to exaggeration." Finally, with everything set up, she sat across from him. "Do you want me to tell you what everything is? Oh, but you're from Earth, aren't you? I suppose you know."
He did know, though he couldn't clain to have eaten anything on the tray before. The small sandwiches and tarts were things he'd seen on television and in displays before. It was a little strange to have an blatantly alien woman following the decidedly Earth custom, but he had honestly seen stranger.
"So, you're the Red Ranger. How's that been going for you?"
"Fine." He could tell she knew he was lying, but she made no comment, instead deciding to talk of something else entirely.
"I'll be honest, Mr. Landors, I am unsure of how to proceed with you. Out of your whole Squad, you were the one who had, possibly, the most difficuilt of experiences." In looking for an excuse not to talk, Jack grabbed one of the cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches from the tray and stuffed it in his mouth. Dr. Moa giggled at him. "Is the idea of confiding in me so horrible to you?" She crossed her legs. "Well, at the very least, tell me what you think of the sandwich." He quickly nodded, and gave her a thumbs up, making her laugh again. "You know, I can understand why it's so hard for you to confide in someone—both you and Miss Del Gado have been primarily self-sufficient for most of your lives. Even your parents were hardly ever around, taking up jobs as missionaries to other planets. A job that unfortunately claimed their lives." Jack paused in his chewing to swallow, just a little dejectedly. It made sense that she'd know; SPD likely had the resident psychologist read up on most of the officers in her jurisdiction, but he had just found out himself a month ago.
While doing community service in a distant system, both of his parents had caught ill and died—not only had they never got to learn he was a Ranger, but he'd never gotten the chance to try and reconnect with them, now knowing what he did about their history with SPD. Even worse, they'd been due back to Earth for a spell in a few weeks.
While he'd been musing, Dr. Moa had been watching him carefully, her brows beneath her marked forehead knitting together.
"… Have you told the rest of your Squad?" He shook his head. "You should. I think you're juts as aware as I am how well they'll understand" She was right; he was aware. He knew that Sky was already an orphan, Syd's mother was still around but had very little time for her, Z's parents had dropped her off at school and never looked back, and Bridge… Actually, he knew next to nothing about Bridge's family situation.
"… Yeah, I know." She picked up a tart and began nibbling on it dantily.
"The fact of it is, Jack, you're not on your own anymore. You don't have to rely totally on yourself. You had Elizabeth before,' (he was vaguely surprised Z didn't suddenly appear to complain about the use of her full name) 'But now you have the others, too. And, I think, that, deep down, you know that. You know that, and now you're afraid of losing it—that's why you took Sky's death so hard; because it opened the possibility of you being alone again; it only got worse after Miss Drew and Mr. Casron died as well." She finished the small dessert, dusting nonexistant crumbs off her fingers. "That was what you felt at the end, wasn't it? Alone?" He didn't want to admit she was right (he didn't like admitting that other people were right), but he knew that he had thought that exact words while gazing at the destroyed Mothership. She kept the silence by calmly taking some sips from her teacup and pucking upa sandwich, which she ate in the same, calculated, lady-like method that she had the tart.
"… I was supposed to protect them." He'd mumbled the words in a monotone, and wasn't sure she'd heard until she responded.
"No. You're supposed to protect each other. They have just as much responsibility for you as you do them. You may be the Squad leader, but you are a part of the Squad. You have to respect their choices and calculations. Especially in a moment of truth, our lives are our own to give and use as we please." She set her tea down. "I guarantee you, Cadet Landor, that, despite the consequences and results of their actions, none of your Squad regrets their decisions." He snorted.
"Did they tell you that?"
"If they had, my telling you that theey did would be a breech of confidentiality. Right now, however, I am simply telling you of the conclusion drawn by my analysis of B Squad's history."
"Then how is it a guarantee?" Her smile took on just a hint of smugness.
"Simply because, Cadet, I am very good at my job." She was making him uncomfortable again, so he picked up the teacup in front of him, taking a quick, small sip; only to discover she'd given him coffee.
"… This is!" She was laughing again.
"I'm SPD's resident psychologist! You really think I didn't know that you're not fond of tea?"
"But you said…?"
"'Tea' is a specific mealtime—a shortened version of 'teatime.' British, I think." Now he really wasn't sure what he thought of her. The clock chimed, however, saving him from further discussion. "Oh, would you look at that. Out of time. Well, no matter, we'll see each other again." She stood, showing him to the door the same way she'd shown him in. Walking out, however, he stopped and turned.
"Hey?" She stopped in closing the door.
"Yes?"
"How do you know Sky?" She blinked. For the first time, he seemed to have caught her offguard.
"What makes you think I know him?"
"Because you called him 'Sky.' Everyone else, you either said 'Miss' or 'Mister,' or their full first name. But you called him by his nickname." She gave him a look from the corners of her eyes, and he got this strange sensation that he might have impressed her somewhat.
"You are an interesting boy, Cadet Landors. And you are right; I do know Sky. I was friends with his father."
And, with a small flourish, she closed the door.
A note on Eseme: In case it wasn't clear, the basic of her story is that she knew Sky's father and may (or may not) have been in a relationship with him. After Officer Tate died, she ended up becoming Sky's therapist, because a boy who loses his father dos something like that at that age should probably see someone about it. My excuse for her not appearing in Canon is that Sky didn't want the others to know about it, because he wouldn't. Like she says in the story, he doesn't like it, but he does keep coming back.
Thanks for reading. I do not own Power Rangers SPD or any of it's related items. I know this ends suddenly, and I could probably write more... But for now, this is what there is.