"Well well well, what do we have here?" he inquired.

"Blake, I need your help," she sighed.

"I always knew you would come crawling back to me," he mentioned, stepping aside to let her in.

Camille walked in, closing the door behind herself. She remembered, at one point, how Blake's cocky attitude was appealing to her, but in retrospect couldn't figure out why. Not much had changed about Blake, his hair was still rather short, and his eyes were still an intoxicating shade of brown. 'Not that I noticed,' she lied to herself.

"It isn't what you think," she said.

"You have no idea what I think," he told her.

"Yes I do you. You think I'm here because I miss you, or because somewhere in your delusional mind you think I want to be with you again. Trust me, that couldn't be any further from the truth," she said.

The two of them had broken up on bad terms, and this was the first time she'd seen him since he gave her the ultimatum: leave Time Force to be with him, or it was over. Obviously, she decided against him, and although there were times when she missed him.

"Don't flatter yourself Camille, I don't want you back either," he snapped.

She blushed. "I just thought that……"

"I know what you thought. I was an asshole when we were together, I know that, and I do regret the way we broke it off, but we're both better people for it now. So lets just drop it," Blake suggested.

"Deal."

"So what brings you all the way over here?" he asked.

"Its about your brother, Roger," she sighed.

"If you're here to offer condolences and tell him how wonderful he was, or how it's an awful lose of life, I'll save you the trouble. Its all I ever hear about now days," he said.

"I'm here so you can help my friend Katie," she said.

He paused. "You mean the woman who killed him? You want me to help the bitch that murdered my brother?" he snapped.

"It isn't what you think,"

"I saw the video tape Camille, I know what happened. She walked in, pretended to be his friend and snapped his neck," he said.

"I know what you saw, but it isn't what you think," she paused. "Do you remember the research I use to be about alternate universes?" she asked him.

"Some of it."

"Time Force has allow me to perfect it, and now, we're able to travel to different worlds. I'm part of a unit assigned to go to these worlds and learn as much as we can. They made me a Power Ranger for Gods sake," she said, holding up her morpher.

"I'm impressed, but what does this have to do with my brother?" he asked.

"The Katie who killed your brother was from another reality. She came here trying to take over the city, but we were able to stop her. Since then, she's been taken back to her own world where she will be punished fairly. Now our Katie is here being sentenced to death for something she didn't do," she explained.

"What a minute, death?" he asked.

"Roger's wife is demanding the death penalty," she said.

"We still do that?"

"When someone is murdered, Time Force asks the immediate family what they feel is suitable punishment. Roger's wife opted for death," Camille said.

"Roger and Cynthia weren't even together when he…" he paused, gathering himself. "It wasn't her decision to make," he said.

"That's why I'm here. You're his brother; you're all the immediate family Roger had. I need you to put a stop to this before they kill my friend," she said.

"How? What can I do?"

"Tell them that Katie is innocent, tell them you don't want her sentenced to death," she said.

"When is the sentencing?"

"In about 45 minutes," she said.

He paused, simply looking at her. "The last time I saw you, I forced you to choose between me and what you had worked for your entire life. I didn't support you the last time, but I won't make the same mistake twice. I'll do what I can to save your friend," Blake said.

"Thank you,"

"Wait a sec, 45 minutes? Theres no way we're going to make it all the way to Time Force headquarters in 45 minutes," he said.

She extended her hand to him. "Come on," she said.

He reached out, grabbing her hand as she pushed a button on her morpher, and the two of them disappeared.

(*)

"Oh my God," Blake mumbled in amazement as he found himself standing outside Time Force headquarters. "How did you do that?"

"I'll explain it all later, right now we have a murder to stop," she said.

The two of them headed inside as Camille led him down the hall, around a corner and into the counsel's chambers. By the time she arrived, Tommy, Alex and Trip were already there waiting for her.

"What took you so long?" Trip asked.

"I have to go get help," she said, motioning to Blake.

"Who is this?"

"This is my friend Blake. Blake CaSteel," she introduced.

"You mean hes…"

"Roger's brother," Blake said.

"Excellent. Now he can explain to the counsel that he doesn't want the death penalty. He can save Katie," Tommy said.

"That's why we're here," she said.

"I've asked for the counsel to join us here before the sentencing. They should be here any second now," Alex mentioned.

Before any of them had a chance to respond, the three hooded figures walked into the room, taking their positions at the podium.

"Why have you requested our presence?" one of the figures asked.

"Your honors, we have recently discovered that Cynthia CaSteel and Roger CaSteel were recently divorced, thus making her position as immediate family void. In turn, we have found his biological brother, Blake," Alex explained to them, motioning to Blake.

"You were his brother?" another figure asked.

"Yes your honors,"

"It will take time to establish the validity of your claims. Blake, you must consent to a DNA test to confirm your identity,"

"I understand your honors," he said.

"Alexander, escort him to one of the testing centers. If your claims are valid, he will be given the option to determine Kathryn's fate," the last figure said as the three of them seemed to float out the room.

(*)

Ransik stood on the opposite side of the force field, staring at Katie, who had a void expression on her face.

"I can't believe that such a civilized society could resort to such a primitive form of punishment. The death penalty was outlawed over three centuries ago," he said.

"It's a system that has worked for years. With a law of this magnitude in place, there hasn't been a murder in New Silver Hills in almost twenty six years," she paused. "Except for you," she sighed.

He sighed. "I understand what you're saying, and I can see how it could prevent people from committing murder, but isn't the counsel just as bad for justifying your murder? Killing you won't bring Roger back," he said.

"No one felt this way until it was someone you knew. When I first learned about the counsel's decision, I thought it was a sick way of doing things too. Reminded me of the ancient west when gunslingers were allowed to settle problems their own way. I agree, it isn't the best method of justice, but it's been effective for hundreds of years. I don't like it, but it works," she said.

"But in your case, it shouldn't. You didn't do anything," Ransik snapped.

"I know baby,"

 "You can break out of there and you know it, just come on," he said.

She shook her head. "No, I have to do this," Katie said.

"But I'm nothing without you," he sighed.

"You'll be okay. The others will do what they can for you," she said.

The two of them were interrupted when Jen walked into the room along with two other officers. "Katie, its time," she said.

"No," Ransik snapped.

"I'm here to escort you to level 2 for sentencing," she said, walking over to the panel and deactivating the force field. The other officers aimed phasers at Katie as Jen stepped forward, cuffing Katie's hands in front of her.

"Everything will be okay Ransik, I promise," Katie sighed as she was escorted out the room.

(*)

With the exception of a chair in the middle of the room, the room itself was empty. The walls were a cold gray tone with no windows, and a video camera in each corner of the room to monitor the prisoner. The guards escorted Katie inside, sitting her down in the chair, and then quickly headed out the room, locking the door behind themselves. Katie noticed slight holes in the walls, no bigger than a needlepoint, but there were millions of them.

Meanwhile, Captain Logan and Alex were the only two officers allowed in the room to witness the sentencing. There were a few other scattered members of Time Force personnel doing their everyday duties, including one man who sat in front of the monitor.

"You'll be able to witness it here, on this monitor," he said.

"What's going to happen?"

"The room Katie is in will be flood with a toxic gas. Once inhaled, her nervous system will break down, her heart will stop and……"

"That is just sick," Alex sighed.

"I agree, isn't there a better way to do this?" Captain Logan asked.

"I assure you sir, there is no pain involved. She won't even realized anything is happening," the officer said.

"I find that hard to believe," he sighed, turning to Alex. "Where are those DNA results you promised me?" he asked.

"They're still analyzing them. They should be here any minute now," he said.

"Lets hope so,"

 At that moment, Cynthia walked into the room, staring at the monitor with an emotionless expression on her face.

"Mrs. CaSteel," Alex said, acknowledging her presence.

She nodded slightly.

"It's time sir," the officer said, putting his hand on the switch.

Alex began to sweat. All the work they'd gone through to find someone who could put a stop to all of this was for nothing. Katie was going to die, for nothing. 'This is bullshit. Complete bullshit. No wonder Lucas turned his back on Time Force,' he thought to himself.

"Stop," they heard a voice say.

They glanced over to see Cynthia with tears in her eyes.

"Mrs. CaSteel?" the Captain called out.

"I thought I could go through with this, but I can't. If that woman truly is innocent, killing her won't solve a thing. I can't watch her die for something she didn't do," she cried.

The captain motioned to Alex, who took the hint, hurrying out the room and making his way to Katie. He rushed around the corner, coming to the door and kicking it in. Katie turned around quickly.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Come on. Cynthia changed her mind, she isn't going to let them do this," he said.

"Really?"

"Yes really. Lets get out of here," he said.

~

Captain Logan and Cynthia watched the monitors with smiles on their faces as Alex helped Katie out the room.

"You did the right thing," he said.

"I hope so," Cynthia sighed.

Just then, the door flew open, breaking off the hinges as Camille and Trip raced into the room. "I have the DNA results, it's confirmed; Blake is Roger's brother. Stop the sentencing," Camille screamed.

"We already did,"

"Huh?"

"Mrs. CaSteel had a change of heart," the captain said.

 She paused, looking at Trip, then back at the captain, unsure of what to say. "Oh. Good then. Sorry about the door, I can fix that," she sighed.

(*)

The four of them sat around the table together in the science lab, each of them dealing with the situation in their own way.

"So what's going to happen to Katie now?" Trip asked.

"Blake has dropped all charges against her, she's free to go, but this is a huge blemish on her permanent record. I wouldn't be surprised if they pull Katie from the slipstream project," Jen told them.

"But what if something like this happens again?" Camille asked.

"Time Force has been forced to establish separate rules and regulations pertaining to the slipstream. Captain Logan is on the board that will put those new rules into effect to prevent this kind of thing from happening to anyone else," she said.

"It's not going to be the same with Katie around," Tommy sighed.

Just then, the doors opened and Alex walked in. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, walking over to the table.

"Not at all,"

"I thought you would be interested in knowing that Katie was sentenced to two years probation. She'll be allowed to stay on the slipstream project, but if there are any infractions within the project itself, she'll be released from Time Force and the project will be shut down," he explained.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you Alexander?" Jen asked, standing up.

"Actually Jennifer, the counsel wanted to shut down the project. In their words, 'it does more harm than good,', but I insisted that the work you and the others do here is important. I told them shutting down this project wouldn't be in the best interest of Time Force," he said.

"Really?"

"Yes really. I know I was a little rough on you before, but its only because I want you to be the best at what you do. All of you are doing an excellent job here, and one mistake shouldn't stand in the way of that. Hell, they threatened to shut down TI after that losing the Quantum controller in a time travel experiment, but we bounced back," he said.

"Thank you Alex, for everything," Jen said.

"Just doing my job. Speaking of jobs, all of you need to go home and get some rest, it's back to work in the morning," he said, walking out the room.