Author's Note: So. For those folks that don't know, I live with my husband and three cats. The kitten has decided his favorite sleeping place is on top of our entertainment center. At some point, the disc containing the next episodes I needed to write this story managed to make its' way underneath the runner-and not just like the edge of it, but somehow pushed to under the middle of the runner on the entertainment center. So now that this disc has finally been found, not only can I continue this story, but I also know single DVD discs are no longer safe on top and will go immediately back into their case.

Which is a really long way of saying "Hey, I didn't forget about this story, real life got in the way, but now I can continue, and he's Chapter 4!" ;)


CHAPTER FOUR

Somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy

"I see you've lost your informant, Broodwing," a gravely voice said.

The bat-winged arms dealer known as Broodwing gave a short bow to the voice. "A low-level lackey," he assured him. "Nothing more, Emperor Grumm."

The terrifying self-proclaimed emperor of the race known as Troobians leaned forward from his throne in the center of his flagship. Grumm was skeletal in appearance, save for the jagged horns rising from the middle of his skull. The right horn was severed in half. "And Cruger?"

Broodwing sighed. "Alive, unfortunately," he reported.

Grumm's red pupils narrowed. "Give me a good reason to keep you alive since you have failed me," Grumm told him pointedly.

The bat shivered, but fortunately, he had an ace up his sleeve. He offered a holodisc out in his palm and activated it. A singular figure outlined in the blue and green holo appeared. A young woman, exiting a mag train station platform at a run, heading out of frame. Broodwing rewound the footage so she was in the center, and froze it.

"Oliveira's daughter," Broodwing said, by way of explanation. "She's back. And I have it on good authority that Cruger is her guardian. Also…the Blue Ranger appears to be a companion of sorts."

Grumm settled back in his throne. "Interesting…" he mused thoughtfully. "Well, Broodwing," he said. "It appears your usefulness may continue."

Broodwing waited until he was out of Grumm's eyeline before breathing a sigh of relief.

"That went well," Mora told him, sitting in a corner brushing her doll's hair, making Broodwing jump. Broodwing had never seen the little humanoid alien Grumm had taken a liking to before. She seemed very humanlike, almost cute, but Broodwing knew the girl was gifted. She was able to make her drawings come to life. Some of Grumm's most terrifying monsters had come from the pages of Mora's sketchbook.

The little girl looked up at him with a bright smile. "He's gonna rip your wings off," she said happily, and returned to giving the doll attention.

Broodwing shivered.


"Oh, my God!" Syd squealed, throwing her arms around Luna. The taller woman staggered under the blonde's force. "You-you're here!"

Luna hugged her fiercely. "I'm here," she said. "Hi, Syd." She looked over Syd's head at Bridge, who was holding an ungloved palm in her direction, his eyes wide. Luna laughed. The sound was music to Sky's ears. "Bridge, really?" she questioned him with a smile.

The Green Ranger dropped his hand almost instantly, shoving it into his pocket. "I….just making sure," he shrugged, embarrassed. Then, he darted forward and enveloped Luna and Syd into the same hug. "I can't believe it! You're real! I mean, you've always been real, you're just…you're-"

"I've missed you," Luna said, meaning it, as she returned the hug. She let the two of them go, and the Pink and Green Rangers took a step back, happiness and surprise on their faces.

Syd punched Sky in the arm. "You knew?" she demanded.

He held up his hands in defense. "I've known for a grand total of like three hours," Sky protested. "And it was just as much of a shock to me!"

"Hey, maybe we should take this out of the hallway," Jack suggested, noticing the nurse on duty giving the group a stern glance.

Sky nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, good idea." Jack blinked-he still wasn't used to Sky agreeing with him. As they filed into the room, Z made sure to take note of the fact that Sky was holding Luna's hand as they went in, and, he let her go in first before following in after her.

Huh. She grinned, with a glance at Jack. The Red Ranger had a strange look on his face. In his defense, Z thought, it's been a weird day. Jack closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall. For the moment, the only noise came from the machines beeping around their commanding officer, and the nervous tapping of Luna's nails on the bed rail.

"How is he?" Sky started off the questions, deferring to Luna.

Luna bit her lip, looking at him. "Vitals are good," she reported. "Nurse said the painkillers should wear off any minute," she said. "They said he got shot?" she clarified, and Sky nodded.

"A former SPD cadet named Dru Harrington," Sky explained. He glanced at Syd and Bridge. "He, uh, he told me that he was working with Broodwing."

"Broodwing?" Luna's jaw dropped, and she whirled to face Sky. "You're sure?"

"There's a name I haven't heard in awhile," Bridge murmured. "I thought he disappeared."

"Not deep enough," Syd said darkly.

Jack raised a hand, awkwardly. "Uh, care to fill us in?" he asked, gesturing to himself and Z.

Luna's hands were white-knuckled as she curled her fingers around the rail. "Broodwing is an arms dealer," she explained. "Ten years ago, my dad was investigating him for some stuff." She took a breath and let it out slowly. "Broodwing killed my father. He's the reason I had to go into WitSec."

"Were they afraid he'd come after you, too?" Jack asked her.

"I don't know." Luna's voice was soft, and she was speaking more to herself than the group. "All I know is that I didn't even get to say goodbye before they hustled me away to Ceres V. Doggie told me I needed to stay there for my own protection. To blend in. Don't tell anyone why I was there." Tears pricked the corner of her eyes. "I was alone, and afraid, and I couldn't even confide in anyone. I didn't even get to come back for my father's funeral!"

Sky saw Bridge jam his hand farther into his pocket. The waves of emotion coming off Luna right now were making Sky want to punch something; he could only imagine what they were doing to an empath like Bridge. He made eye contact with Syd. Syd gently took Bridge's arm and slipped it from his pocket, threading his fingers through his glove. The tension left Bridge's shoulders, but it didn't leave his face.

Sky didn't have to be an empath to feel what Bridge was feeling. One glance around the room and they all could feel it, even Jack and Z.

"That….was for your protection," a voice cut in, and Luna blinked fiercely to clear her vision as Doggie Cruger slowly turned his head toward her. "To keep you safe."

"Commander!" Z breathed in relief. "You're awake!"

"Hard to keep…an old dog down," Cruger replied. He looked at Luna. "You shouldn't be here."

Sky put a hand on the small of Luna's back so she wouldn't explode on her godfather. "You're really not in a position to be giving me orders, Doggie," Luna pointed out. "I didn't get to say goodbye to my father. I sure as hell wasn't going to miss that chance with the only family I have left."

"Sorry you won't…get the chance," Cruger said. "I'm not…going anywhere."

"I'll go grab a nurse," Jack offered, pulling Z along with him. It was obvious to the Red Ranger that the group needed some time to talk, to process everything. He looked up, caught Sky's eye. The other man nodded once. Jack returned the nod as he slipped out the door, Z in tow.

"What's the status on…Dru Harrington?" Cruger asked, some of the SPD command slipping back into his voice.

"Contained, sir," Sky informed him. "Situation's been taken care of." He toed the floor. "Sir, about Dru-"

"We'll discuss that later," Doggie told him, and even in his weakened state, there was an authoritative command to the sentence. Sky clamped his mouth shut. "For now…take Luna back to HQ and set her up with somewhere to stay." He looked pointedly at Sky, Bridge, and Sydney. "Until we can make arrangements for her to return to Ceres V, you three are in charge of keeping her safe."

"You can count on us, sir," Syd assured him.

"We won't let her out of our sight," Sky said.

Cruger didn't miss the small smile that played on Luna's lips at that proclamation. But there wasn't anything he could do about it right now. "Dismissed," he said to his three cadets. Sky, Syd, and Bridge saluted.

Luna gave him a tender hug. "See you when you get out of here," she told him with a smile, and ran to catch up with the others.


When Dr. Kat Manx came in for her shift the next morning in Control, she was surprised to find Sky Tate already there, sitting next to a brunette woman with orange-streaked hair. The woman was wearing a light blue t-shirt and had her SPD-issued jacket tied around her waist. Her hair was up in a high, knotted ponytail, and she was sporting bright blue disc-shaped earrings that flickered different shades of blue depending on the light. "Sky, this area is reserved for-"

The girl next to him turned, and Kat's eyes shot up to her hairline. "Luna?" she exclaimed.

Luna broke into a wide smile. "Dr. Manx!" she said, running out of her chair to give the other woman a hug. "Hi!"

Kat returned the hug, still confused. "I-what are you….?"

"Oh, we're just monitoring Syd and…Jack, right?" Luna turned to Sky for clarification. When Sky nodded, Luna turned back to Kat. "And Jack, taking on this guy outside the Event Center."

"No, I understand that," Kat corrected, still thoroughly lost. "I mean, what are you doing here?"

"I'm on desk duty for letting Cruger's would-be assassin into the building," Sky explained. "I expect Commander Cruger to deliver down a harsher sentence once he's back in the office."

"And he's under strict instructions not to let me out of his sight," Luna added. "Seeing as how I think I'm still technically in WitSec."

"About that," Kat said, completely flummoxed. "Shouldn't you be back on Ceres V?"

Luna shook her head. "Not happening," she said adamantly.

"Think we should call for some backup?" Syd asked over the comm.

"Nah, we got it," Jack responded.

Sky rolled his eyes. "Hey, for someone who spent the better part of a month whining about how I'm not a team player, you're sure doing a bang-up job right now, Cadet Landors."

"You can't come for backup anyway, Cadet Tate," Jack shot back inbetween punches.

"You have interesting day jobs," Luna noted with a sly grin Sky's direction.

Sky returned the smile. "You sure you don't wanna jump in? You've had combat training, right?"

Luna flicked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Oh no. I'll leave that to the professionals."

The two of them laughed. Kat stared at them, decided someone would tell her the whole story eventually, and moved over to her own console to get some work done. Before she could punch in her security code, another cadet tapped her on the shoulder with a message. "They're ready to release Commander Cruger," the cadet informed her. "They'd like you to be the one to sign the release."

Kat looked over at Sky and Luna. Luna seemed thrilled by the news. "Thank you. I'll be on my way shortly."

As she walked past Sky and Luna, she said, "Sky, quit making Syd and Jack suffer and send Bridge and Z to their location?"

Luna looked at Sky as Kat left the room. "What is it with you and Jack anyway? There's like, some serious tension there."

"Nothing I can't handle," Sky shrugged, before keying the mic to call Bridge.

Luna nodded. "Right," she said. She felt like someone had dropped her in the middle of someone else's movie, and expected her to know all the moving parts. It was good to be back, but…

Why do I feel like things aren't going to be the same?


"How is he?" Kat questioned as she affixed her signature to the paperwork the SPD medic had handed her.

The medic frowned. "His blood pressure spiked this morning, gave the nurses coming on day shift a nice wake-up call."

"Any idea what caused it?"

"No. Physically, he's fine," the medic said. "It was over as soon as it happened, so we don't think it's going to be anything lasting going forward."

Going forward. Kat sighed, handing the datapad back to the medic. "Nothing physically, anyway," she said under her breath. Kat tapped on the door and entered Doggie's room. The SPD commander was sitting up in bed, adjusting his uniform buttons. He looked up when Kat came in. "Am I getting released on good behavior?" he asked dryly.

"Work release," Kat shot back. Her green eyes met his. "Are you having the nightmares again?"

"Good morning to you, too, Kat." Gingerly, Doggie stood up and started making his way out of the room.

"You haven't had them in about ten years," Kat noted. "What brought them back?"

"What makes you think I'm having nightmares?"

Kat ears twitched. "Call it instinct," she said. "And the fact that I've known you longer than anyone, you're a terrible liar."

Doggie sighed. "A certain young SPD cadet brought them with her from Ceres V." Then, he blinked. "I'm fine," he assured Kat. "Just fine." He looked at her. "And as your commander, I am ordering you not to say anything to B Squad."

"Doggie- Commander-" Kat amended when she saw the look on his face. "This is something they need to know-"

"Not one word," Doggie growled, pushing past her.

Kat stared at his retreating figure, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, sir."