Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos are property of Disney and/or Saban Entertainment. I am using them without permission. KJ Sheldon, Lt. James Emery, Trinity Oliver, Camille Summers, Amanda "Mandy" Scott, Mr. & Mrs. Mathew Scott, Leo Claw and the "Omega Project" are property of yours truly.
A/N: This fic takes place about a week after the end of Future Shock II.
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* Stone Canyon, California *
"Everything is going according to plan, sir. Our operatives are in place, and we'll be ready to implement our plan within the next 72 hours," she told him as the two of them stood in front of the screen, reviewing the information.
In all honestly, it was her greatest accomplishment. Actual living skin and tissue over a complex exo-skeleton, equipped with artificial intelligence, even molded to resemble her. It was a masterpiece, a living work of art. In the beginning, she was against the idea of sending it out in the field without the proper testing, but it had been weeks now, and the unit was functioning better than she originally projected.
So why wasn't she pleased?
"I read your last report. Time Force did in fact receive our second operative, but they have yet to check in with us," he mentioned.
"Yes sir. It's only been six hours. I expect to hear from our operative within the next three hours. If not, we'll send the first operative to access the situation,"
"Excellent work Dr. Crane," her superior officer told her, putting his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "If this goes off without a hitch, there will be a huge promotion in it for you, not to mention all the funding you'll ever need,"
"Thank you sir,"
"Is there something wrong Dr., you look concerned," he mentioned.
She shook her head. "No, everything is going well ahead of schedule. I'm fine," she lied.
"Very good. I'll expect your report on my desk no later than 1500 hours," he said, walking out the room.
Dr. Crane continued to stare at the screen, admiring her work, but left with the uneasy feeling that somehow, something was going to go wrong, and her greatest accomplishment would be lost forever.
* New Silver Hills, California Time Force Headquarters *
"So what's the verdict doc?" Tommy asked as he walked into the infirmary, hoping to get an update on the situation.
It was Dr. Young who walked over to him, quickly glancing over the information on his chart. "I did as you asked and ran a scan on his molecular buildup, and it came back positive. He definitely isn't from any other reality and is indigenous to our dimension, but there were some unusual readings in his blood work," he said.
"How so?"
"It seems… different. I ran a comparison of the last blood sample I took from him before his disappearance and compared it with the blood I just took from him. It matches, but there are minor differences. From what I can tell, it's from his exposure to the levels of radiation on the world he was on. Plus it didn't help that there was a major time variance there," he told him.
"But, in your opinion, it is Logan?" he asked.
"Sounds to me like you want me to convince you," he brought up.
"Its just that the last time we thought it was Logan, he made a real mess of things around here. I need to be absolutely sure that it's really Logan before we let him out of here and allow him back to work," he explained.
"I understand commander. If you're asking my professional opinion, its been medically proven that he is Charles Logan, all the way down to the hair follicles and blood type. Granted, there's still a variance in his blood, but again, I blame the exposure to radiation," he told him.
"Thanks doc,"
"I'm suppose to have a meeting with Counsel member Collins at 1500 hours to discuss Logan's possible return to work. If you like, I can report back to you afterwards,"
"No thanks, I'll have a talk with Alex later," he turned his attention to Adam, who was laying on the table across from them. "Is he going to be okay?" he asked.
"His body has gone through a lot in the last twelve hours, and if not for the technology in the Morpher filtering out most of the radiation, he wouldn't have survive. He should make a full recovery in a few weeks, and even after that, I don't recommend he use his Morpher for a while," he said.
"How long?"
"Its impossible to say at this point. I'd have to run a series of tests on him without the Morpher to see how his body is responding to the treatments," he told him.
"Thanks for the update doc," Tommy said, making his way out the room.
~~
As soon as he stepped into the hallway, Katie greeted him. "So how is he doing in there?" she asked them as the two of them walked down the hall.
"Why don't you just go in there and check on him?"
"He doesn't want to me. I tried, but he started screaming for me to leave. I don't think he wants me to see him like that, hooked to machines and struggling for his life,"
"I wouldn't say he was struggling for his life, but it'll be a while before he'll be able to come back to work," he said.
"So is he okay?"
"Dr. Young says he'll be fine in a few weeks," he said.
"Good," she sighed with relief.
The two of them stepped onto the elevator, watching the doors close behind them. "I didn't know the two of you were… seeing one another," he mentioned.
"We're not, at least not officially. We talked about it over the holidays and agreed that it was something we'd both be interested in pursuing, but then this happened and…" she stopped. "I'm sure he'll be fine,"
"Of course he will. I've known Adam for a long time, and I've seen him get out of worse situations before," he assured her.
'Trip to Katie, come in,' a voice said.
Katie reached for her Morpher. "Katie here. What's up Trip?" she asked.
'I'm picking up an unauthorized transmission in the communications room. Its KJ,' he said.
"But who could KJ be trying to get in touch with?"
'I don't know, but I thought I'd contact you before I told Tommy about it. I knew you'd want to handle this one yourself,' he said.
Katie couldn't help but look at Tommy and crack a smile. "Thanks Trip, I'll check it out," she said.
"What do you think she's up to?" Tommy asked.
"I don't know," the elevator door opened, and Katie stepped out. "But I intend to find out," she told him, walking down the hall.
~~
Katie walked into the communications room, only to see KJ sitting in front of the controls.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
KJ turned around. "Greetings Kathryn, I will be with you in one moment," she said, turning back to her work.
"You're not suppose to be in here without authorization," she said.
"I do have authorization,"
"Who?"
"Counsel member Collins gave me permission to run tests on the communications array. I will be complete in a moment," she said.
Katie stood over her shoulder, reviewing her work. "What are you trying to do here?" she inquired.
"I have found a way to increase the efficiency of the communications array by over 47%. With the modifications I'm bringing on line, we should be able to communicate with someone from the Fikus sector," she told her.
She paused. "You're doing this for me?"
"I understand how important it is for you to contact someone from that region of space, but instead of regenerating, I worked on ways to improve the range of our communications systems. I thought you would be pleased," she said.
"I am pleased. Thank you KJ,"
"Anytime Commander,"
"I'll leave you to your work, just contact me when the modifications are complete," Katie said, walking out the room.
*
She'd been locked away in her lab for hours, going over variable and calculations. To ensure no one knew what she was doing, she severed the connection from her lab to the main computers. 'The last thing I need is interruptions,' she thought to herself. She had even gone so far as to take off her Morpher, leaving it in the science lab while she worked.
It had taken her quite a while to align everything, but she was fairly convinced that this time, it would work. The tests she ran in the past had… less than successful results.
"Okay Leo, take it from the top," she said, leaning over his shoulder as Leo sat in front of the computer.
"I've managed to stabilize the interlocking morph sequences so it doesn't overload the power converter, but I'm worried about this variance in the secondary morphing pod," he said.
"Looks fine to me,""Yeah, it looks fine, but if that variance complicates the morphing sequence, your entire central nervous system could collapse," he told her.
"I'm tellin' you, we've gone over this in simulations a million times, what could go wrong?" she asked him.
"Its just better to be safe than sorry," he cautioned.
Camille picked up the Morpher itself, which was sitting on the table next to the computer. It was much more slender than a standard Chrono Morpher, but much wider. The Morpher covered almost half of her forearm as she put it on, admiring it. Next, she reached for the second one, which was identical, putting it on the opposite wrist.
"Just imagine how Time Force will congratulate us when we successfully reinvent morphing, creating the single most powerful Morpher in the known universe," she said with a smile.
"Or they could fire us for possession of illegal materials and for unauthorized genetic experimentation,"
She smiled warmly, recalling exactly how different she was back then. She was much more free spirited, willing to take risks, while Leo was the more conservative one. 'Funny how things change,' she thought to herself.
Camille picked up the Morpher, opening a small compartment on the side and examining the wires closely. She used a pair of tweezers to pull the wire out, stripped it, and then connected it to a different set of wires. As soon as she did, the lights along the side of the Morpher lit up, blinking in sequence.
"I think that's it," she mumbled to herself, putting the Morpher on her wrist.
She reached for the second Morpher, putting on the opposite wrist, admiring the both of them. It had taken she and Leo years to perfect the design schematic, and now, she was convinced that it was ready for a trail run.
She put her arms down at her side, and then bent her elbows as the morphers collided with one another near her chest, making an X shape with her forearms. "TIME FOR, TIME…" before she could finish her sentence, there was a surge of power, and a wave of electricity raced through her body. It was enough to make her collapse to the floor, hitting her head on the side of the table on the way down.
~~
"Camille sweetie, do you hear me?" she heard a voice say.
She managed to open her eyes slowly, only to see Trip standing over her with a concerned look on his face. "Cammy, you're okay," he sighed.
"What…"
"Looks like you hit your head pretty hard," he reached for his Morpher. "Trip to infirmary, I have a medical emergency in…" she quickly reached up, grabbing his hand.
"No… I'm fine," she groaned.
"You don't look fine. What were you in here trying to do in the first place? I called you, but…" he paused as he noticed the two morphers on each of her wrists. "Oh no, you didn't," he sighed.
She sat up, making it back to her feet. "Don't be mad honey, I had to do it," she said.
"No, you didn't. I understand you made a promise to a friend, but if keeping that promise means killing yourself in the process, I…" she cut him short.
"I told you I'm fine. I must have missed a phase variance in the Morpher, that's all. I'll work on it again and then I'll try it again,"
"No, you won't," he snatched both the morphers off her wrists, throwing them to the floor. "What you're doing here is illegal. This is what got you fired in the first place, do you really wanna start this again?" he snapped.
"I'm old enough to make decisions for myself, and I'm going to do this," she told him.
"Do you even have any idea what you're doing? Developing a Morpher takes years of research and planning, not to mention an entire staff of people working on it. There's no way you can know what you're getting into with this," he said.
"So what are you gonna do Trip? Tell Tommy? Tell Alex? Have Time Force come in here and strip my lab apart? This is something I have to do, and if you're not going to support me on this, I'll do it without you," Camille told him.
"I'm sorry," he turned his back to her. "I can't help you this time," he sighed.
"Then I guess I'm on my own," she groaned, walking out the room.
*
Dr. Crane paced back and forth in her lab, waiting to hear from her operative. It had been nearly seven hours, and her operative was a little over an hour late from their scheduled communication. As the wait got the best of her, she began to assume the worst. 'Those damn Time Force brats figured it out and are probably on their way here right now to…' she took a deep breath. 'Relax Sierra, you're blowing this out of proportion. He'll contact you soon, I'm sure of it,' she told herself.
No sooner than she sat down did the small light on her control panel blink. She quickly opened a subspace channel. "Report," she demanded.
'Everything is going according to schedule. I'm piggybacking this signal off one of their own carrier signals. They won't be able to detect it, but its audio only,' a voice said.
"Very good. Have you been able to access the slipstream?"
'Negative. There's been a lot of debate about allowing me to return to duty. I assure you, once I am released from the infirmary, its only a matter of time before I gain access to the slipstream,'
"And you're sure no one suspects you?" she asked.
'No one here has any clue ma'am. As far as they know, I am who I say I am. Its only a matter of time now,'
"And the second operative? Have you established contact?" she asked.
'No, the opportunity hasn't presented itself to contact the operative, but it will,'
"I'm very proud of you. Just get in there and do your job. The sooner its over, the sooner you can come home," she said.
'I look forward to it. I must terminate this transmission. Prolonged use will allow them to detect it. I will contact you when I have more information,'
Dr. Crane closed the channel, leaning back in her chair with a devious smile on her face. "Did you hear that Univex? Its only a matter of time," she sighed.
Just then, he emerged from the shadows. There were spikes that seemed to cover his entire body, and he had long, flowing golden hair. His eyes had a sinister glow to them as he walked over to her.
"I've invested a lot into this plan of yours. For your sake, this better work," he warned.
"Trust me, it will,"
~~
Preview: Academy daysNext time on Parallels II: Time Force Academy welcomes its newest cadets. Meanwhile, Jen gets settled into her new position.
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