"… and that's the whole story," Tommy explained to them.
The three of them stood in a semi circle in front of Tommy as he leaned up against one of the control panels, going over the final details. He explained how he put the folder in his locker to ensure that he'd be able to remember what happened, and that he wasn't sure what Alex had done with Adam's body after he brought it back from the past.
"But it doesn't make sense. Adam had been a ranger on more than one occasion. To give him a morpher with that much power would kill him," Trip pointed out.
"Which is probably why Alex gave the black morpher to Lucas," Jen brought up.
"I see the four of you finally figured it out," they heard a voice say.
They turned around only to see Alex standing behind them wearing his deeply tinted sunglasses and his arms folded.
"How long have you there?" Camille asked.
"Long enough to hear that Tommy disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer by keeping information was he ordered to destroy, long enough to see that Trip was able to upload classified information from my personal data base, and long enough to figure out that you sent Katie to break into my office and steal top secret information from my desk. All of you can kiss your careers in Time Force goodbye," he told them.
Jen took a step forward. "You self-righteous son of a…" she snapped as she walked over to him, only to have Trip and Tommy grab her, holding her back.
"Something you want to say to me captain?" he asked, almost mocking her.
"Yes sir there is…"
"Well it's a shame I'm not interested in hearing it. Tommy, Trip, the two of you take Jen to deck eight for memory adaptation at once. From there, you are to return here for…" he was short short.
"No," Trip said.
"What did you say?"
"He said no," Camille repeated, taking a step forward.
"By refusing a direct order from a superior officer, you risk a general court martial and termination from your position. Now do your jobs and take her to memory adaptation before I have all of you relieved of your duties," he snapped.
Trip and Tommy let Jen go, but she didn't make a move. Camille walked over to Jen, standing behind her next to Trip and Tommy. Jen glanced over her shoulder, then back at Alex. "Looks like no one here gives a damn about your idol threats anymore Alexander," she reached over, taking the glasses off his face, putting them on herself. "I always wondered why you hid behind these damn glasses. What did you see when you wore them? Maybe it was a way to hide your own insecurities, or maybe they made you feel superior to everyone else. Not that it matters anymore, your time is up," Jen snapped.
"This is mutiny," he protested.
"Why yes, it is. Tommy, Trip, if you would be so kind as to escort Alex to deck eight for memory adaptation," he said.
"Yes ma'am," they said, grabbing Alex and putting his arms behind his back.
"You don't think you'll get away with this, do you? No one on deck eight will carry out your orders," he pointed out.
"You're probably right, that's why I'm sending Camille with you," she turned to Camille. "You do know how to operate the memory adaptation unit, don't you?"
"No, but I'm sure I can figure it out," she said.
"Good. You all have your orders, dismissed," Jen said with a grin on her face as they dragged Alex out the room.
~~
The three of them pulled Alex into the room, where Ensign Harris greeted them.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Get security up here now ensign!" Alex screamed.
It was Camille who walked over to Ensign Harris, putting her arm around him. "You can either walk away while we do what we have do to, or you can stuffed in the machine too. Its up to you," she told him.
Ensign Harris looked at Alex, who for the first time he could recall, had a desperate look on his face, then back at Camille, who hadn't changed her expression at all. She still seemed more than serious about her threat.
"See ya," he said, walking out the room.
Camille walked over to the control panel, going over some of the readings. "Looks like they were prepping Katie for memory adaptation, but haven't given her the procedure yet," she said.
"You're not going to get away with this," Alex screamed.
Camille walked over to him, swinging a right hand and hitting Alex, knocking him out cold. "Geez I've been waiting to do that for a long time," she sighed.
"So what do we do now?" Tommy asked as Alex hit the ground lifeless.
She pointed to a pod-like module up against the wall. The door itself was glass; there was a helmet of some sort inside. "We have to get him in there and put the head piece on him. His synaptic pathways will be blocked, and he will have no memory of any of this ever happening," she explained to them.
"But what if Alex has had the procedure within the last few months and we don't know about it? Giving it to him again could kill him," Trip pointed out.
"Sounds like an acceptable risk to me," Tommy said, mocking Alex.
The two of them stuff Alex into the module, but before they could close the door, there was an explosion behind them. They turned around as a group of creatures stormed into the room, attacking them. The creatures themselves appeared humanoid, but their heads were at least twice as big as the average human, and their skin seemed pale, almost colorless.
One of them gave Camille a backhand, sending her against the wall. Trip and Tommy rushed at one of them with a double sabat kick, which was enough to make the creature take a step back, but two more grabbed them, throwing them into the module. The glass broke on impact, and Alex freed himself, going after the creatures. He hit a leg sweep on one of them, then a back flip, kicking another creature in the face. As it stumbled back, a third creature grabbed him, putting his arms behind his back. The remaining two made their way towards him, but Alex kicked up, wrapping his legs around one of their necks and spun around, forcing the creatures holding him to let go, and snapping the other creature's neck. As it fell to the ground, another group of creatures stormed into the room.
Alex, Tommy, Trip and Camille found themselves back to back with each other, unsure of what to do next.
"Any bright ideas?" Alex asked.
"I vote for running," Camille suggested.
"I vote for kicking their asses!" they heard a voice say.
The turned around as the yellow ranger stormed into the room with a phaser cannon in hand, firing a shot at one of the creatures, sending it through the wall. Another one made a move, but the yellow ranger hit a spin kick, taking it down, then blasted it in the face at point blank range, taking it's head off.
"Come on," she motioned, and the others didn't question, following her through the hole in the room and into the next room.
"What the hell are those things?" Trip asked.
"I'm not sure, but when Alex brought me down here for memory adaptation, they attacked me in the prep room. I managed to escape, but the entire deck is swarming with those things," Katie explained.
"Where did they come from?"
"I didn't claim to have all the answers," she said.
"We have to evacuate the building, save the other officers," Alex mentioned.
"Communications on this deck have been shut off, not even the morphers will allow us to send a signal to anyone. If the rest of the building don't know what's going on by now, we have no way to warn them," she said.
"So we're trapped here," Camille sighed.
"It's begun," Alex sighed.
"What?"
"This is what the Admiral was warning me about. She said that Chryo-Tech would experiment with their own slipstream device, but it would fall into evil hands. She warned me that they would use the slipstream to open portals to every point in time, unleashing the most unspeakable creatures in the universe into our reality," he explained.
"So all these creatures are from another reality?" Tommy asked.
"It's only going to get worse from here," he sighed.
"So that's why the admiral sent you the black morpher, right? To stop this invasion from happening and altering the time line," Camille said.
Alex nodded. "The black morpher was designed to be more powerful than anything our scientists could have ever created. She hoped that with the morpher and with a 6th ranger, we would be able to change the past and give them a new future," he explained.
Just then, the creatures stormed into the room again, coming towards them. Tommy glanced at the others, nodding slightly.
"Lets do it guys," he said.
"TIME FOR, TIME FORCE," they called out in unison as their clothes were replaced by their ranger uniforms.
Each of them called for a Chrono saber and charged it. The red and blue ranger double-teamed one of the creatures, slicing its legs off with their sabers. As it hit the ground, another creature lunged at them, but Alex picked up the phaser cannon and fired, blasting a hole in its chest. One of the creatures picked up the yellow ranger, throwing her into Alex, knocking both of them over.
"It's not enough, there are too many of them," the red ranger screamed.
Just then, it was the black ranger who materialized from out of nowhere. He extended his arms as his golden blades extended from his forearms, stabbing two of them creatures in the throat. As they fell to the ground, he gave another a tornado spin kick, taking it down. Three more charged at him, but he reached for his disrupters, shooting them down as well. The last remaining creature jumped on his back, but the black ranger disappeared, and the creature fell to the ground. Before it was able to regain its footing, the black ranger re-materialized, stabbing it in the back of the head. It let out a sickening howl as blood gushed out the open wound.
With all the creatures down, the golden blades retracted back into his forearms. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, helping the blue ranger back to her feet.
"Yeah, thanks a lot Lucas," Tommy said, walking over to him.
"Lucas? Come on Tommy, give me some credit, I look way better in this uniform than he did," the black ranger said as he removed his helmet.
It was Katie who got a good look at him first. "Oh my God, it's really you," she sighed as she stared with amazement.
