Jason awoke with a thud as he felt himself being rather unceremoniously dropped on something. Shaking his head, he saw some sort of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he waited for the room to stop spinning before he could make out the form of a tall blonde, gently placing Billy on the other examining table. The Blue Ranger looked like hell. There were deep gashes in his face, one whole side of his head was blackened with burnt flesh and his hair was burned away on that side. Looking down to the dripping sound on the floor he saw a pool of blood forming under the table. A pinprick to his arm later, and the darkness took him again.



Swimming up from the pain and nausea Jason once again forced himself awake, the only thought in his mind was the last image he'd see of Billy lying there in the sick bay. In the distance, he heard a woman's voice, "Quite frankly Admiral, at this point I don't give a damn what you want. I'm keeping Commanders Scott, and Storm, AND Major Cranston, and few other select military personnel. Everybody else in this Command Center wearing a uniform will be dismissed and out of here within the hour. I'm exercising my rights under Article thirty-three, Section A Subsection C of our contract." There was a pause while the other person on the line spoke.

The voice continued, "That's your job Admiral- not mine. My job and this team's job is to defend the planet and make sure that the human race survives. You already let one of Kilpatrick's agents in here. I'm not taking a chance on losing anybody else I care about to that son-of-bitch. You wouldn't listen to me when it came to Melissa; you're going to listen to me now." Again, there was another pause, "Tell them the Omi-tech technology has been compromised, so I and Major Cranston are declaring this base on lockdown until further notice. Whatever technology you see coming out of here from this point on stays here. If the Joint Chief's don't like it, I can stop production on every contract I have with the US military and return your money." Jason finally placed the voice as that of the rather high strung, Ms. Storm.

There was the sound of closed door, and then Commander Storm was standing over him, "Feeling better Commander?"

Jase tried to sit up but the world suddenly spun and he felt like his head and neck were about to explode. "Oh…"

"Easy, take a couple of deep breaths. The nausea should go away momentarily," the doctor told him while steadying his back. "You took quite blow to the head."

"Billy?" Jason forced the red haze that was building in his vision back down. "I saw a woman…." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes against the pain, as he gestured toward the now empty bed, "she brought Billy in."

"Yes," Doctor Storm steadied him blushing for some reason, "Bill is going to be all right. He just needs to rest while his healing factor kicks in and the Power finishes healing him."

Jason swallowed hard, "He looked like half his face had been burned off."

"He got caught in some of the backwash of that explosion. He'll be fine." Doctor Storm assured him. "He was simply more injured than you were, so he's having to spend a little longer on the table. He should be up and out of here by tomorrow at the latest."

"Kim, the others?" he asked of his team.

"They're all fine," the Doc told him. "As a matter of fact they should all be traipsing in here any moment now to find out how you are." Holding up his hand, three fingers splayed out he asked, "Now how many fingers am I holding up?"

Absently Jason told him, "three."

The doctor smiled, and must of seen something in Jase's face that amused him. "Now I'm going to ask you some pertinent questions Commander."

"Shoot," Jase told him.

"Date of Birth?"

"July ninth."

"All right, rank?"

"Lt. Commander, no wait Commander."

"Bill's birthday?"

"October fourth."

"Where do you plan on taking him to dinner on his Birthday?"

"Mr. Ko's Garden," Jason answered quickly without thinking.

"You seem to have come out of this without too much damage." The Doctor smiled, "But of course I'm not sure what your brain was like before you kissed that bulkhead."

Jason looked up at the doctor, "Uh Doc, do you usually ask your patients about their friends' birthday?"

Absently the doctor answered, "Oh my method of questioning is different for each patient. I usually try to pick something that's important to each of them. Why?" Jason just shook his head, and immediately regretted it. Before he could say anything the doctor said, "Keep doing that and you'll rattle your brain even more."

"How is he doctor?" Kim asked coming through the door followed by the rest of the Ranger team.

"Oh as hard headed as ever I imagine," the doctor told her.

"What about Billy?" Trini asked.

"Bill's going to need another day or so," the doctor told her.

Before he could say anything else, Ms. Storm came out of the office in which she'd been. She nodded toward Jason and asked, "Ben is this one ready to travel yet?"

The doctor looked at him closely, "Actually, walking around would be good for him right now. Get some blood flowing."

"All right, Bro," Tommy said. "You heard the doc, stop gold-bricking and get your butt up." He shook his head, "You would not believe the trouble we're in."

Jason immediately, rolled off the table, and looked around. "What'd I miss- besides the Admiral really being a man, and blowing up the Admin offices?"

"Well, let's see. Admiral Hazard, the REAL Admiral Hazard is on leave with her new grand daughter in Hawaii. It seems the fake Admiral Hazard was an agent of an international terrorist by the name of Robert Kilpatrick," Mic said. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw the doctor tense and clench his fists. "Right now, we're on our own." She looked down at her watch, "As of ten minutes ago, Commander Scott, you are in official command of all military personnel on this base." She gave Jason a knowing look, "which will consist of yourself, my brother, Major Cranston and few other key personnel that I consider to be trustworthy." She smiled at him, "I would tell you that you were in charge of Doris, Ben's head nurse, but to be honest with you she scares me too much."

Jason nodded, immediately going into command mode, "What's our status?"

She smiled at him, "By the book, we're out of the fight for at least a month. All the Omni-techs have been destroyed, the Administrative sector is unsalvageable, and your Harrier has been stolen and shot down." Suddenly her voice shifted to a Scottish accent, "But you don't have a month, and I don't play by the book. So if you nine will follow me, I've got a surprise for you."

The other Rangers turned to Jason. He understood, they weren't entirely sure about this woman. Something in his gut, however told him to listen to her. If Billy trusted her, then that was good enough for him. "What about Billy… uh.. Major Cranston? When can I… uh… we see him?"

"You can see him sometime tomorrow, Commander," she spoke to the room, but she locked eyes with Jason.

"Actually, if you'll stop by later this evening, Commander Scott, I'll arrange for you peek in on him," the doctor told him gently.

Stopping at the door, Ms. Storm turned back to her brother, "Oh is there anyone besides Doris you want to keep, and is there anyone you need?"

The doctor looked up thinking for a moment before answering, "Can I have access to that little guy you've got stowed away in the basement?"

"Well, you'll have to ask the little guy stowed away in the basement, but I don't see a problem with it."

He shook his head, "Not unless you can get your hands on Vasquez and Robin."

"They'll be here by dinner." She told him. Jase noticed that the flighty demanding aircraft technician was gone from the woman's personality. Now there was only an efficient and rather ruthless businesswoman. "Anyone else?"

Doctor Storm shook his head, "That's all I need."

"They'll be here." She turned to the other Rangers, "Now if you ladies and gentlemen will follow me." Exiting the door she reached into her pocket and pulled something out, "Commander Scott," she handed him a sleek-looking watch. "Here, put this on."

Jason looked down at the device, it looked like an upgraded version of the old communicators, right down to the red stripe on the band. "What is?"

"You're new morphers," she said. "I'll explain later."

Jason held his tongue. There was too much coming at him too fast, and he couldn't get the image of Billy's burned and bloody face out of his mind.

As if she could read his mind, Ms. Storm said, "Billy will be all right, Commander." Jason noted that for the first time, she referred to their mutual friend as Billy and not Bill. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "His injuries were more severe than yours, but he IS healing. He will be well by tomorrow."

Jason turned to look at the others, for a moment. He felt their support and strength flow into him. He was their leader, and they trusted him- that, more than anything else gave him the strength to hold his tongue until he had more information. He wasn't happy about the way things were going. There were too many unknowns, too many things that were popping out of the woodwork- too many surprises for him to be entirely sanguine about the situation. He kept wanting to grab his friends and get them hell out of danger, but he knew that wasn't an option. He'd learned in Command school how to be patient, and what battles to fight. He would wait and gather more information. Now if he could just get rid of that damn buzzing at the base of his skull.

Entering a lift behind the short red-haired woman they listened as she explained. "Major Cranston,… uh…, Bill, and I knew that this project's security had been compromised. We knew that the Omni-tech's technology had already been stolen, and was being prepared for other uses." She smiled at him, "However Bill and I have something in common. We both like our back up plans and we never let on about everything know or have."

The lift stopped and the doors opened to darkness beyond. Stepping out of the lifts she called, "Lights!"

Jase and the rest of the Rangers followed her out as she continued with her explanation. As the lights came up, all nine of them were in awe. They were standing in a perfect replica of the old Power Chamber- the only thing missing was Zordon's time-tube. "My God, it's like coming home!" Kimberly said, putting an arm around Adam's waist.

Trini ran her hand across a console, "I know what you mean. I can almost feel Zordon's presence here."

Ms. Storm smiled, "Sorry, that's one thing we couldn't bring back." Leaning against the console she continued, "This whole base started as an attempt by Bill to reactive the Ninjetti or Morphin' Powers and bring the 'Zords back online. He had discovered that the dragons were coming back and wanted to give Earth a fighting chance against them, but there was too much lost, too much technology that he couldn't reproduce by himself."

"That's where you come in I take it?" Trini asked.

Ms. Storm nodded, "Yes. About twelve years ago, Storm Avionics came into possession of an Alien battle cruiser of enormous size and potential. I have been slowly picking the technology apart and learning from it. The patents we've developed from it has given my corporation a considerable lead in the field of aviation, armory and weapons design." She smiled, "Not to mention, medicine, cybernetic interfaces, and multi-functional vehicle construction. Bill and I soon discovered that we were both working toward the same goal, so we decided to pool our resources and make this happen." She sighed, "However, there was a fly in the ointment."

"This Kilpatrick person?" Zack asked.

She nodded, and swallowed. Jase got the feeling that there was history there. "Robert Kilpatrick is probably the most successful assassin in human history. He's been at it for over six hundred years. He uses the most advanced technology he can get his hands on, and what he can't steal, he coerces other people to build for him. If they refuse, he starts killing their families. If they still refuse, he kills them, to make sure nobody else can get what he wants."

"And when did he take an interest in Billy?" Kim asked.

Sighing she said, "Up until this project, he hadn't. I think he infiltrated us to get at me or Ben."

"Why the doc?" Jase asked.

"Because my big brother can make someone's life hell when he sets his mind to it, and Ben is determined to see Kilpatrick dead."

"I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve it," Kim said. "But isn't that little blood thirsty? I mean we're Power Rangers, we don't take killing lightly."

"I understand that," Mic told her. "But in his attempt to get me to turn over Storm Avionics' technology to him, he threatened my family. When I refused, he had Ben's wife murdered." The woman looked down and shuddered, "On their honeymoon no less." Looking up, her gaze almost dared anyone to meet it. "Maybe you heard about the terrorist attack on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship about eight years ago."

Jason remembered it vaguely- mainly because it was so similar to what had happened to the Achille Lore cruise ship in the Mediterranean in the eighties. He wondered how he would react to someone threatening to kill on of his friends over something. He'd already seen how Billy would, earlier today. "I'm sorry for your loss," was all he could say to the woman.

"Melissa was one of the most vibrant women you'd ever meet. She was smart, funny, loving, and my brother loved her more than life itself. For him, killing her was worse than killing him." She looked around at the Power Chamber and changed the subject. "Bill and I are lot alike. We don't always tell everything we know, and we definitely keep something in reserve." Holding out her hands, "This is what we saved." Smiling she said, "Observe the viewing globe."

Every eye turned toward the familiar device. It showed, the old 'Zord bay, but in the place of Morphin' Ninjetti, and Zeo Zords was long bay holding a series of mechanical dragons of their different colors- two red, two pink, one blue, two black and one white. "These are the Dragonzords, and they're all yours." She smiled, and said, "And one more thing,"

Suddenly the stunned silence of the room was broken by an all too familiar high-pitched voice, "Aiyiyiyiyi, hello Rangers, it's good to see you again." A very sleek, humanoid shaped robot came out of one the corners.

"Alpha!" Trini said excitedly, as she ran over and gave the little mechanical man a hug.

"Thank you Trini, it's good to see all of you again too." If Jason hadn't known better, he would thought he saw the little robot sigh, "But I've got some bad news. Long range sensors have detected a Triforian battle cruiser, and an Aquitian dreadnaught braking into the system."

"Damn," Ms. Storm said. "We really needed at least another day to prepare."

"That's not all, Ms. Storm," Alpha said, "We've also detected at least two thousand dragons taking to flight." He shook his head, "this is not a good day to be a Ranger I'm afraid."