Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

All hail Rach, who rocks my world regularly. But not in an inappropriate way.

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 6

"All right. Any further questions?"

The Red Aux debrief was slowly wrapping up. Billy scanned the crowd, seeing several familiar faces, and even more that he didn't know except through Tommy's recommendations that occasionally crossed his desk. The debrief had been postponed from the evening before, due to the whole Kailey debacle, and even now Billy could tell Tom was still thrown by the fallout. He kept darting looks at Kat, who kept her own eyes studiously on her holopad. Billy shook his head. Never in a million years would he have predicted Tom could be such an ass.

The conference room door opened suddenly, and Eric Myers strode in, flanked by Scott Oliver and Maya of Mirinoi, a Green div. SC stationed to Earth recently. Billy quietly got to his feet and met Eric at the side of the room.

"Admiral," Eric greeted him. "Thought you'd better see this." He handed Billy a holopad.

Billy scanned the contents and frowned. He caught Tommy's eye. "Sorry to interrupt you, Commander. There's been a new development. Commander Myers?"

The room swung its collective attention to Eric, who cleared his throat. "We've had a report from NASA.The space shuttle launch scheduled for yesterday morning was hijacked. The bodies of the flight crew and astronauts were found in much the same condition as the deaths you've been reviewing on your holopads." There was a rustle while various Red Rangers consulted their pads, murmuring and nodding. "We were unclear how this information related to our current situation until this morning. Some years ago, after the discovery of Serpentera, Black div. placed a series of silent alarms on the ruins of the moon base used by Zedd and others. This morning those alarms went crazy."

This remark caused further consternation. Tommy took the floor.

"Thanks, Commander." He turned to the group of Rangers. "Well, it seems we know our perpetrator's destination. I'll need a volunteer squad to take the Galactic Interceptor and check it out." A forest of hands went up. Tommy grinned in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Rocky, I'll need you here. Cole, your expertise is still this planet, but thanks. Cassie, you've got command."

The pretty ex-Pink Ranger nodded as Tommy continued. "Wes, you'll second Cass. Carter, I'll want you on board too. Lewis, Vevila…" At this point Tommy faltered, and Billy knew why. Kat was far and away the best Red pilot going, and she'd practically knitted the Interceptor from scratch.

The blue-eyed Aussie knew too, and was pinning her husband with a laser-like stare. Tommy relented. "And Kat, you're at the helm. I want Alyssa here in the control room on full-range communications. Okay, everyone, let's get moving."

The members of Red Aux got to their feet and filed out, passing Billy on the way. He watched sadly as Tommy tried to speak to his wife and was ignored. Scott slipped out after his mother after staring coldly through his father.

Rocky joined Billy and offered a small smile; Billy gave his old friend a nod. Tommy came slowly over to them after the last Ranger had gone.

"So are either of you speaking to me?"

Rocky frowned at him. "If you want me to say that you're not a butthead, Tom, look somewhere else. You devastated that poor girl and you may have tanked your marriage, and for no real reason that I can see."

Tommy sighed, his shoulders slumped. "I…"

Billy scratched his chin. "Seems to me you need to come up with a better response than that, Tom. I love Kailey like my own, and if you ever speak to her like that again you'll answer to me." He sighed too. "That said, I do believe you didn't mean quite all of what you said. But you have some real fences to mend."

~*~

Miri yawned widely. Going on eight hours, she mused, checking her chronometer.

"Shall I spell you?" Ba'altesch's gentle basso interrupted her thoughts.

She smiled over at him. "No, I'm okay for now. Besides, you'd have to get all sterile."

"I don't mind, Dr. Cranston."

"I know you don't." She sighed. "Ba'altesch, I was thinking about what you said, that if you called me by my name it would mean you thought yourself my equal."

"Yes?"

Miri nodded. "You know I understand and respect your beliefs, Ba'altesch, and if you're really uncomfortable I won't push the issue. But I did just want to say one thing." She hesitated for a moment, then went ahead, "The thing is, we're not among your people. And among my people, the fact that you insist on calling me Dr. Cranston means that we're not friends. And I'd like for us to be friends."

There was a long silence. She looked over at him, concerned that she'd somehow offended him, and found instead Ba'altesch regarding her with tears in his black eyes. "My dear Miri," he said after another moment, "I do apologize. It didn't occur to me how it might appear to others. And I am honored to be considered a friend by a woman like you."

Suddenly a monitor on the stasis began beeping urgently. "What is it?" Miri's fingers flew over the controls, trying to compensate.

Ba'altesch had gotten to his feet and was concentrating on the readout. "An acceleration in the cloning matrix," he said. "The cell regeneration is speeding up."

Miri spat out an oath. "That didn't happen in any of the sims."

"And I am at a loss to explain why it's happening now."

"Can we stop it?"

Ba'altesch gritted his teeth. "I hope so. It's unlikely the body can handle this sort of stress."

Shockingly, the body in question groaned. Miri practically jumped out of her skin. "Holy – what the hell is going on?"

Jason's body arched, hard enough to knock the stasis bed controls askew. He seized, his torso jerking violently. Miri threw herself across him, trying to hold him still. "Ba'altesch! Compensate!"

"Trying!"

The duo in the steri-field thrashed and fought, Miri shouting at the unconscious man. "Dammit, you will not die on me now! Do you hear me? This is not an option!" She sprawled across him, using her body weight to keep him from crashing to the floor. An elbow caught her across the jaw, and she saw stars. "Ba'altesch! Do something!"

As suddenly as it began, it stopped, Jason's body relaxing. Miri dropped her head against his shoulder. "Thank God. Good job, Ba'altesch."

There was a pause. "I didn't do anything, Miri."

"What?" She scooted down and listened to the broad chest. Nothing. "Nonono NO!" Miri jerked herself upright, laced her hands together and began to compress his chest. "You listen to me, Jason Scott," she gritted between compressions. "My father needs you. Therefore I need you. And I don't like it when men let me down. So I suggest you knock this off right now and GET BACK HERE!"

"Miri?"

She thrust her twined fists into his chest again.

"Miri…"

And again.

"MIRI!"

"WHAT?"

Ba'altesch smiled. "I've got a pulse."

"Oh." She pushed a flyaway tendril of hair off her forehead, then bowed her head. "Thank God. Only another, what, thirty-two hours of this?"

The body under her shifted, and impossibly, a pair of dark brown eyes opened and squinted up at her.

Ba'altesch cleared his throat. "Somehow I don't think it'll take that long…

~*~

"ACC, this is Interceptor. We are skirting the target area; no visual sign that there's anything unusual."

Alyssa nodded and adjusted the comm signal so that the image came in sharply on the big holoscreen at the back of the room. "Coming in loud and clear, Cassie. Proceed with flyby."

Billy, Tommy and Rocky stood a short distance behind the comm console and stared up at the screen. The palace looked much the same as it had when they'd gone after Serpentera, Rocky mused. Stark, cold, ruined. He'd been held in the bowels of that erstwhile palace – well, more times than he cared to count. It had always seemed a threatening place to him, at least in hindsight, but now, as the Interceptor swung around for another view, it just looked old and tired.

Kat's voice came across the link urgently. "Cass – see that?"

"Ops, anything on scanner?"

Wes answered her. "You bet, Cap. I got one – no, two life signs, but they're not like anyth–"

A white-hot bloom obscured the screen. There was a brief burst of muffled shouting, and then the comm link went dead.

"Alyssa!" Tommy bit out, color draining from his face.

"I'm trying to re-establish the link," she threw over her shoulder, her voice panicked.

Billy ran forward to help, his long fingers scrambling over the commlink. After a few moments, he turned to Tommy, his face grim. "Nothing. There's nothing."

~*~

Kat set her jaw, her hands sure and steady even as the Interceptor careened toward the surface. Behind her, chaos reigned.

Cassie dragged herself into the command chair from the floor where she'd been thrown. "Report!" One of the younger Red Rangers, Vevila, pulled out a medikit, while young Lewis wielded a fire extinguisher in an attempt to keep the entire bridge from going up.

Wes coughed through the thick black smoke that poured from his console. "Ops offline," he began, staggering away from the damaged unit. He found an auxiliary terminal and began to assess the ship. "We've lost lateral stabilizers, we're leaking atmosphere and port thrusters are shot. We're only alive thanks to some expert flying, frankly. Oh, and at a guess I'd say the captain has a broken leg."

Cassie nodded and thumbed her comm. "Any hope of hyperspeed, Carter?"

Carter's voice crackled through the ship's communicator from the engine room. "Not unless you have a magic wand," he said dryly.

The ship sheared abruptly to the sound of groaning metal.

"Any ideas?" Kat bit out from the helm. "I'm running out of options here."

Cassie shrugged, biting her lip at the pain the simple action caused. "Set us down without killing us?"

The elegant blonde grinned tightly. "You got it."

The next moments were a terrifying jumble. Kat mentally focused on the faces of her children and let her fingers do the walking, knowing from long experience that trained reflexes were as effective as conscious decisions in a situation like this. But despite her best efforts the Interceptor hit hard, jolting and shrieking, gouging a deep furrow in the lunar landscape. Finally, with a shuddering groan, the Interceptor ground slowly to a halt on the barren surface of the moon.

As second in command and with Cassie injured, Wes stepped up. "Everyone accounted for? Good. Activate atmosphere chips. We're going to have to evacuate until I can get a lockdown on the engines and make sure she's not going to blow on us."

Each Ranger tapped their comm wrist units, enclosing themselves in personal atmosphere bubbles that would protect them from the cold vacuum of space. Carter joined them on the bridge; between them he and Wes hoisted Cassie up and the six left the Interceptor to assess their situation.

Outside, they stared in amazement at the melted nose cone of the ship. "Okay, I got two things to say about this," Wes said, shaking his head. "First, I'll reiterate what I said before: it's entirely due to Kat that we didn't just dive into the surface immediately. I can't imagine how you held it together, lady, but that was some serious flying. And second, what the hell hit us that could do that?"

She flashed him a grin and walked up to the hissing ship, running a finger gingerly over the melted portion. "This is what happened to the victims, remember? Rita and Zedd's home melted to slag, all the bodies burned nearly to ash."

Carter, kneeling by Cassie, nodded agreement. "We sure got someone's attention. Question is, whose?"

"Mine."

Kat jumped. The voice was cold, harsh, somehow familiar… Figures materialized around them, and the Rangers froze in place. Ranks of mechanical soldiers leveled weapons at them. A dark form stepped forward.

"So predictable, even after all this time." The creature was tall and hulking, with black and blistered skin, sharp yellow teeth, and eyes that glowed red, like burning embers. He looked at each of them in turn, his gaze seemingly sharpening as it landed on Kat, who refused to shrink back. She notched her chin up, and the creature grinned.

"I see you don't recognize me, Katherine. I am hurt, after all the time we spent together, all the caresses I gave you." He chuckled at the look of disgusted horror that crossed her face and spread his arms wide. "Don't you know me, little kitten?"

She stared at him. "It's not possible." Her voice was hoarse, a raspy whisper. "It can't be. You were destroyed, when Zordon died!"

Goldar laughed again. "I see you do know me. Is it possible you missed me, in some dark corner of your soul?"

Wes interposed himself neatly between Kat and Goldar. "Who is this clown, Kat?"

With no more effort than if he were flicking off a fly, Goldar cuffed him aside. Wes hit the side of the ship like a rag doll, sliding to the ground limply. Kat stepped forward involuntarily, eyes blazing, fists clenched. Goldar chuckled. "Ah, well, we will have to catch up later, my dear. I do so look forward to many cozy hours together. But first I must meet your friends."

His gaze scraped over the two youngest Rangers, clearly out of their depth and obviously terrified. Goldar grinned widely at them. "Mmm." He smacked his lips. "Fresh meat."

From there his attention wandered to Cassie on the ground, in excruciating pain but putting up a defiant front. "Pretty…" the creature mused. He crossed to her and squatted in front of her, gently stroking a strand of her long hair between his fingers. "There is nothing quite so becoming as pain."

Carter shoved his way on front of her. "Back off, ugly," he hissed.

Goldar got to his feet, his expression considering. "And that is the second time in as many moments I have been defied," he said, almost conversationally. He reached forward and grasped Carter's throat, lifting him. The Red Lightspeed Ranger struggled, clawing at Goldar's unrelenting grip.

"Stop!" Kat cried, running forward.

Goldar batted her away without so much as looking at her. There was an audible crack as her ribs gave way; Kat hit the ground, winded. The younger Rangers ran forward but were held back by a phalanx of mechanical soldiers. Cassie screamed as Carter's eyes rolled back in his head and his tongue began to protrude.

"Oh, God," Kat sobbed, breathing shallowly. "You're killing him!"

Goldar chuckled. "That, my kitten, was more or less my intent." He flexed his fist once, crushing Carter's throat, and let the body fall lifeless to the ground. Cassie was weeping openly. Goldar looked around benignly. "Would anyone else like to challenge me, or shall we move on?"

~*~

"How long has it been?" Tommy asked woodenly, his voice flat.

Rocky glanced at the chronometer. "About four hours since their last communication."

"Oh, my God." Tommy spoke quietly, bowing his head. "Rocky, what am I going to do? How do I – what do I tell the kids?"

Rocky put a sympathetic hand on the other man's shoulder. "Damned if I know, Tom."

Tommy rubbed his hands over his face. "Ah, Rocko, what if that's the last thing Kat believed of us, that I loved Kim more than I loved her? What if I never get to tell her the truth?"

Rocky shook his head, and said the only thing he could think of. "I'm sure she knows, Tom. And you'll tell her when she gets back."

He could almost see the steel slipping back into Tommy's spine. "Yes."

Alyssa spoke suddenly; both men jumped. "Commander!"

Billy traced a finger over the monitor in front of him. "It's the Interceptor, Tom. She's entering our atmosphere." Rocky barely had time to breathe out a prayer of thanks before Billy spoke again, his voice sharper. "But her trajectory's all wrong and – holy shit, she's not coming out of hyperspeed! She's on a course to –" Billy cursed and hit the alert; klaxons sounded throughout the ACC.

The need for him to finish his sentence was eliminated when the Interceptor rammed into the polar ice cap on the eastern edge of the Antarctic and exploded.

The shock wave hit scant seconds later.