Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Chryo Tech, Lt. James Emery and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar: I love you more than you know.
A/N: Sequel to the highly successful Parallels. It takes place only minutes after the Parallels finale.
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Future Shock IIAdam walked into the shuttle bay already in his ranger uniform, but with his helmet under his arm. He made his way over to Tommy, standing at attention.
"You wanted to see me, Commander?" he inquired.
"Yeah, the three of us are going on a trip," he said.
"The three of us?"
Just then, Carmen stepped off the shuttlecraft, getting a good look at Adam. "Ah, the prototype for the black ranger battle armor. I see you're putting it to good use," she said, admiring the uniform.
Adam glanced at her, then back at Tommy. "Who is this?" he asked.
"Adam, this is Lt. Commander Carmen Oliver…" he paused. "My daughter," he sighed.
"But how?"
"I'm from what you would consider the future." She took a step closer. "Admiral Summers and I worked for weeks to perfect the design for this uniform. Our intent was to establish armor like this for all the Chrono morphers, but the morphers themselves couldn't regulate the power inputs correctly. We had to manually reconfigure all the…"
"That's fascinating, but we need to get going," Tommy said, cutting her short as he walked up the ramp, getting in the shuttle.
"Where are we going?" Adam asked.
"The Omarian home world to get the Sphere of Omara," she said as the two of them made their way into the shuttlecraft as well.
"Isn't that the ball of light Tommy used to bring me back?" he inquired.
"One and the same."
"Closing bay doors, engaging engines," Tommy said, taking a seat at the controls and strapping himself in.
Adam hurried to the opposite control panel. "Engines engaged," he confirmed.
"Set a course for the Omarian home world," he said.
This time it was Carmen who answered. "Course plotted," she told him as she sat down, strapping herself into her chair.
The shuttle lifted off the ground, and the main bay doors opened, allowing them to exit. "Engage the hyper drive," he said.
"Hyper drive on line," Adam said.
Suddenly, there was a jerk as the shuttle shifted into hyper drive.
"According to these readings, if we stay on our current course at this speed, we should reach our destination in about thirty-seven minutes," Adam mentioned, then turned to Tommy. "You're going to get the sphere to save Trip and Camille, aren't you?"
"Spare me the lecture Adam, we're going to do this," he snapped.
"What? You thought I was going to try to talk you out of it? I'm with you on this one."
"Thanks man."
"So what's the deal with her?" he asked.
"We need her to get the sphere, it's a security precaution the Omaraians put on the sphere to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands," Carmen told him.
"Works for me."
Tommy turned to his daughter. Part of him wanted to reach out to her, get to know her. He regretted not being to spend time with Trinity, and he didn't want to make the same mistake with Carmen. "So…" he paused. "Jen and I ended up together, huh?" he inquired, trying to spark up a conversation.
"You know I can't tell you about the future," she sighed.
"If saving Trip and Camille will alter the time line, there's no hurt in telling me how things used to be for you," he mentioned.
"I suppose not." She took a deep breath. "Twenty years ago, which is five years from now in your time, Chryo Tech released a Harvenger on the city," she said.
"Harvengers? I've heard that name before, but I don't know much about them," he said.
"They're a cannibalistic savage race comprised of different beings from all over the universe," she said.
"So it's an alliance of some kind? A group of beings working together for a common purpose," Adam suggested.
She shook her head. "No, when I say comprised of different beings from all over the universe, I mean it. Literally." She paused. "The Harvengers kill their victims to feed, then use the remaining body parts to create more of their kind," she said.
"You mean like actual parts?"
"Yes. The body of a human, the leg of a Vorhsoth, the arm of a demon. Each Harvenger is different, each with its own unique body chemistry. Though there is still no medical or scientific explanation for it, the Harvengers, something in the Harvenger's blood has a mutating regenerating effect. After feeding, the Harvengers gather up the remains and create a humanoid body, then use their own blood to give it life. They exist only to feed, and to multiply," she said.
"How did Chryo-Tech get their hands on one of these things?" Tommy asked.
"No one knows for sure. The existence of the Harvenger race pre-dates any written history log that Time Force has. Rumor is that the Harvengers were responsible for Lord Zedd's condition. There are no confirmed reports, but some say they skinned him alive almost twelve thousand years ago," she said.
"That explains the no skin look he was going for," Adam said.
"If they knew what these things were capable of, why even try to contain one?" he asked.
"Their plan was to determine what was in the Harvenger's blood that caused the regeneration process. If they'd succeeded, it would have saved billions of lives. No more disease, ever," she said.
"But Time Force already achieved that. Genetic defects are removed from children before birth, so that prevents diseases," Tommy brought up.
"Yes, but this is different. If the source of the regeneration can be found, it would slow down the aging process in humans a million fold. For every ten thousand years, you would only age one," she said.
"They wanted to live forever," Adam sighed.
"Trust me, that's not all it's cracked up to be," Tommy mentioned, sighing inwardly as he remembered what happened to William.
"Okay, we got it; Harvengers are evil, Chryo-Tech's plans for immortality go down the drain. So how did you stop them?"
"Stop? There is no way to stop the Harvengers. Each time they create a new Harvenger, it acquires that being's strengths, but none of its weaknesses. Because of its ability to regenerate, it continues to heal itself, and continues to create more of its kind. The only up-side is that they're not too bright. They were easy to capture, but containing them became a problem. Admiral Summers and I constructed a containment module for them, but they set us up. We'd captured over a dozen of them, but they broke free and killed every Time Force officer they got their hands on. My group and I were the only ones left, but they began to pick us off one by one. Eventually, I realized that the only way to stop them was to travel to the past and prevent them from coming to Earth in the first place," she explained.
"What makes you think saving Trip and Camille will stop the Harvengers from coming here?"
"It won't. In the previous time line, they came as well. We all did our best, but eventually the Harvengers were too much for us. I've given you knowledge of what is to come, with the hopes that you can prevent it from happening altogether. Admiral Summers and I found a way to contain the Harvengers, but by the time we did, there were too many of them," she told them.
"So you want us to save Camille and Trip so they can build the containment module early, then we stop the Harvengers from multiplying?" Adam asked.
"Right. At this point in time, they will be much easier to control,"
"If the time line changed, why do you remember the previous time line?" Tommy asked.
"The energy signature in the Chrono morphers shielded me from the changes in the time line," she held up his wrist, revealing the pink Chrono Morpher. "The other rangers were shielded from the shifts, but none of them survived," she sighed.
"Where were Jen and I? Why didn't we try to help you?" Tommy asked. Before she could answer, the look on her face was explanation enough. "We were killed, weren't we? Jen and I were killed by the Harvengers," he groaned.
"Worse, you became Harvengers. After we get the Sphere of Omara, save your friends and put history back on track, none of that will ever happen. None of it will matter," she said.
"And what if we can't put it back on track?"
"Then the world as you know it will come to an end," Carmen sighed.
*
"Look at this," Jen said, directing his attention to a series of wires underneath the control panel.
Lucas stared at them. "What?"
"I'm not the foremost expert on this, but it doesn't take a genius to know that someone sabotaged the Slipstream," she said. "Look at these wires, they've been cut. The malfunction in the targeting censors wasn't a malfunction at all, someone wanted Trip, Camille and the others to get lost somewhere in time," she explained.
"But who? Who would have access to the science lab and would know enough about the Slipstream to know which wires to cut?" he asked.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." The two of them slid from under the panel, making it back to their feet. "Computer, give me surveillance records on the science lab within the last week," she said.
'Working,' the computer answered.
"What are you doing?"
"The computer keeps an active log of everyone who comes into the lab. The door is voice activated, and only authorized personnel have access to the lab. If I can narrow down who was in here over the past week, we should find out who sabotaged the Slipstream," she explained.
The doors to the science lab opened, and he walked in.
Jen was the first one to notice him. She and Lucas quickly stood up straight and saluted him. "Admiral Logan," she said.
"At ease," he paused. "Lt. Kendal, you're dismissed. I need to talk to the Captain," he said.
"Yes sir." Lucas turned to Jen. "Keep me updated," he said.
"I will."
He nodded at the admiral one final time, then made his way out of the lab.
"I just talked to Alex. He told me that Tommy took a shuttle to Omara to get the sphere. Is this true?" Admiral Logan asked.
"Yes sir."
"How could you allow this to happen? You know what kind of damage that sphere can do, that's why we shipped it off to another planet. We had to be sure that something with that much power never fell into the wrong hands," he said.
"Permission to speak freely…" She was cut short.
"Denied. You don't understand the seriousness of the situation, do you, Captain? Using the sphere has consequences, consequences that you can't begin to comprehend," he snapped.
"I am aware of that sir."
"Are you really? When Alex used it to save Wesley's father in the 21st century, it led to the time line being altered. Wes never took over his father's business, and was forced to fight along with the rest of you. Frax built the Doomtron, and the combined energies from the Trixyruim crystal were enough to open the vortexes in the sky. Those vortexes weakened the Ozone layer, adding to pollution on the planet, which led to the Orgs being resurrected on Earth. The Wild Force rangers were called upon, and an entirely different time line came into existence because Alex decided to take destiny into his own hands," he explained.
"I had no idea sir. If I'd known…"
"Of course you didn't know. Alex's decision to have Tommy heal Adam and bring him to the present led to the mutant attack in the past, which is why Camille and Trip were killed. Now Tommy is planning to use the sphere and revive them, but he has no idea what the consequences will be if he does," he told her.
"With all due respect sir, I…"
"Save it, Captain. Tommy may have good intentions, but this will be the death of us all," he said.
"What can I do?"
"There isn't anything you can do, it's out of your hands. When Commander Oliver returns, if I can't convince him not to use the sphere, he'll have to be eliminated," he said.
"You'd kill him?"
"To ensure the safety of the entire universe; yes, I would," Admiral Logan sighed.