A few things I forgot to add before: I OWN NOTHING! All mistakes are mine. And thank you for the reviews!

Chapter 2-Welcome to Space Patrol Delta

"Are you sure you have everything? Clothes? Toiletries? Batteries? Tool kit?" Rose asked Sophie as she and Mack stood with the other parents of newly accepted SPD cadets, secretly checking her husband's "cousin" for any glitches.

"Yes, Rose. I'm sure I have everything," Sophie replied as she glanced about at her new classmates.

"Leave the poor girl alone, Rose. Honestly, you'd think that you'd never had to send a kid off to school before," Mack said as he adjusted the collar of Sophie's uniform, acting like the proud parent that he was, in actuallity, not.

"Thank you, Mack. And will you please leave my collar alone?" Sophie turned to the former red ranger.

"I'm starting to think that we shouldn't have left her with Will and Ronnie for so long," Mack whispered to Rose, who in turn laughed. Sophie, however, didn't seem to have noticed.

Rose noticed that the younger woman was distracted, and looked to see what had captured Sophie's attention. She saw that it was the familiar form of one Commander Anubis "Doggie" Cruger who had noticed the two former rangers and was now walking towards them.

"Doggie! It's so great to see you!" Rose greeted the Sirian and reached up to hug her old friend.

"Rose, Mack. It's good to see you to. I take it this is Cadet MacKenzie?" He turned towards the woman who had been cautiously standing behind Mack ever since the towering blue dog had approached them.

Mack moved to the side and gently pushed Sophie towards the base's commander. Feeling a bit braver now that she had learned of the friendship between Cruger and her human guardians, Sophie stepped forward and, with a slight wobble, saluted her new commanding officer the way that one of the officers at SPD headquarters had shown her before she'd left. "Yes, sir!" she answered, feeling even braver when Cruger nodded his approval.

"Very good, at ease Cadet," he said before turning back to his two friends. "There will be a seminar for all of the parents at 1100 in the Kwan Room." With that said, he nodded once more to the trio before walking over to where his head scientist, Dr. Kat Manx, stood a few feet from a podium.

Sophie, who was still learning to control what she heard and how far away people had to be in order for her to not eavesdrop, heard the two aliens talk.

"Was that the Hartfords?" Kat asked her boss.

"Yes."

"And the girl? I thought that their kids were still too young to enter the academy, even as junior cadets." Kat returned Rose's wave before turning back to Cruger for an answer.

"Mack's cousin, Sophie MacKenzie. I have a feeling that she will have quite an impact on the other cadets. Is everything ready?" he asked, indicating the podium.

"I'm just waiting for Boom and Bridge's signal. They said that they had something to finish on the mic system before we could begin." Before she could say anything else, the group gathered was silenced by a loud BOOM. The two looked at each other before hurrying to where the sound system had been set-up.

"I told you we should have put in another set of wires and chips to off-set the amount of of data going through the speakers," Bridge told Boom before seeing his two bosses approach. "Oh, hey Commander, Kat. We'll be done in a few minutes."

Cruger sighed and walked back to where the podium had been set up. "That won't be necessary, Cadet. I have a feeling we'll be going off-script today. Will you and Boom please just clean this up while we make the key announcements?" Kat asked through clenched teeth before turning to follow her commander.

The group gathered had gone back to talking after the initial shock of Boom and Bridge's tinkering. Cruger just sighed once more before nodding to Kat who put two fingers to her lips and gave a high, shrill whistle. "Sorry, Sir," she apologized when she saw the pained look on his face.

"It's alright Kat. Thank you." He turned his attention to the people before him, raising his voice to what the B-squad called his "Commander voice." "If I may have everyone's attention! Welcome to Earth's SPD Academy. Two announcements: All cadets, please report to the senior cadets in the colored uniforms. All parents, please follow me." Without looking back, Cruger turned towards the automated doors and walked into the SPD building.

Kat added afterward, "You'll be able to see each other again at noon for lunch. Please do as the commander instructed." She, too, left the podium, but only to head towards the now dead sound system and her assitant and the gloved Cadet Carson.

"Bridge, please join the other rangers. Boom, the custodians will help you clean this all up," she motioned to the men and women in brown jumpsuits before going to the building's entrance to wait for the parents.

"Got it, Kat."

"Yes, Kat."

The sounds of people saying good-byes and see you laters and teh whines of new cadets complaining to their parents that they're too old to be kissed good-bye. Soon the group divided into two as the cadets and their parents followed their respective group leaders.

Rose turned to Sophie. "We'll see you at lunch, just like Kat said, okay? You be good, Sophie."

Mack laughed as he dragged his wife away from the new SPD cadet, "She'll be okay, Rose. Don't worry so much."

Sophie hugged them both before walking with her fellow newbies as they followed the rangers to their futures.


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