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.
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"You want to do what?" Camille snapped, standing up.
"Don't sound so surprised. I was the first person to use the red Chrono morpher. The only reason Tommy was even able to use it was because of a shift in the time line. He's going to have his hands full with the baby in a few months, and we'll need a qualified red ranger," he mentioned.
"We still don't have a pink ranger. Maybe we should focus on…" she paused, noticing the look on his face. "You want to give the pink morpher to Sierra, don't you?" she asked him.
His facial expression didn't change in the slightest. "I'm not going to do anything rash just yet Camille. Until I have proof that Sierra is my Sierra, I'm not even entertaining the idea. But ultimately, yes, I would like her to be a ranger," he said.
'My Sierra,' he sighed inwardly.
"Have you spoken to Jen about it?"
"I wasn't aware I needed her permission,"
"No, you don't, but it's a common courtesy that you ask. After all, she was the only person to use the pink Chrono morpher. In a way, its hers," Camille pointed out.
"No, they're property of Time Force. I've made a decision, and she'll have to abide by it," he said.
Camille paused, staring at Alex. "There's something you're not telling me," she said.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, but this is much bigger than just you getting back out in the field. You're up to something, you have an ulterior motive," she said.
"I do not, I just think…"
"This isn't about you getting back into action Alex, so what is it?" she asked.
"You know what, you're right. I'll discuss it with Jen first, see what she has to say before I make a decision," Alex said, quickly changing the subject.
"And what about Tommy? No offense, but he's been a great red ranger. I don't see any reason to change things if they're working so well,"
"Yes, he has, but it was never meant for him. This is something I have to do Camille," he told her.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to head back down to the infirmary to check on Trip. I want to be there when he wakes up," she said.
"Go ahead. We'll meet in the science lab at 1600 hours," he said.
* Angel Grove, 1998 *
Carlos walked into the hospital room where Tanya was sitting on Adam's lap. "I just talked to Andros, he said he's on his way here," he told him.
"Thanks man,"
"No problem, but I wish you'd tell me what this is about,"
"Lets just say I have a feeling," Adam said.
Just then, the doctor walked into the room with a chart in his hand. "Mr. Park, you'll be pleased to know that your test results are in and I see no reason why you can't be discharged in the morning," he told him.
"Why can't he be discharged tonight?" Tanya asked.
"I'd like to keep him here for observation just for the night. His heart rate has been a little high, and I want to determine if that is going to cause a problem for him,"
"I understand. I'll stick around, but I'll be home bright and early on the morning," he turned to Tanya. "You should go home and get some rest. I'll call you in the morning and you can pick me up," he said.
"But I want to stay with you,"
"You've been in this hospital with me for the last month, you should go home and lay in your own bed. Besides, I've only been awake six hours and I'm sick of the hospital food. Go get something to eat, and I'll see you first thing in the morning," he said.
"You sure?"
"Positive,"
"Alright," she kissed him gently on the lips, and then stood up. "I'll call you when I get home," she said, walking out the room.
"And you wonder why his blood pressure is up," Carlos joked.
"You should follow your own advice and get some rest Mr. Park, I'll come back during my rounds later this evening," the doctor said.
"Okay,"
As the doctor walked out the room, it was Andros who walked in, making his way over to the bed. "You wanted to see me?" he asked him.
"I'll let the two of you talk," Carlos said, excusing himself from the room.
"I know we've never met until now, but I think you're the best person to help me with my problem," he paused. "Everyone here is telling me that I've been asleep for the last month, but I remember differently. I remember someone from the future coming here and saving my life, then taking me to the future with them. I was there for at least a year, and I was a ranger again and…" he was cut short.
"Have you considered that it was just a dream?"
Adam shook his head. "No, I can't. I remember it all. The sounds, the smells, everything was all so real," he said.
"So how can I help?"
"Have you ever heard of Time Force?" Adam asked him.
He shook his head. "I can't say that I have,"
"They're a group of rangers from the year 3002. In a few years, you'll team up with two of the Time Force rangers to fight the Machine Empire on the moon," he mentioned.
His statement caught Andros' attention. "Why would we be on the moon?"
"Something about generals from the Machine Empire trying to bring back Serpentera, but that's all I know about it," he said.
"I've been tracking the generals of the Machine Empire for a little over a year now, making sure they never found Serpentera. It was last mission Zordon gave me before he was captured, and I haven't told anyone about it, not even the other rangers. How did you know about it?" he asked.
"Because it's all in the history logs. I remember reading about it, and Tommy filled me in on most of the details," he said.
"Tommy Oliver?"
"Yeah,"
"But I thought you said you were in the future,"
"I was," he paused. "During your battle with the Machine Empire, Tommy was exposed to the radiation in his morpher for the first time in years. It had an effect on him, kinda like mine, and the other rangers took him to Bio-Lab to be treated. They put him in Cryogenic containment until they could cure him," he explained.
"But no one on Earth has the ability to cryogenically contain a human being at this point in time," he said.
"They don't now, but they will a few years from now. Even Bio-Lab didn't have the technology then, you were with them when they took Tommy to the lab. Maybe you showed them how to contain him until they could cure him," he suggested.
"If you want you say is true, we should talk to the rangers at Bio-Lab and see what they know," Andros said.
"They aren't rangers yet, they won't be until 2001," he said.
"So you want me to believe that you were taken to the future to be a ranger, but for some reason a month later you returned to the past and everyone is trying to convince you that you've been asleep for the last month?" he asked him.
"Exactly. I know it sounds crazy, but…"
"No, it doesn't sound crazy at all. I know what's happening to you. You have to come with me now," he insisted.
* Time Force 3002 *
She'd been in her quarters for over an hour now, but she loved every minute of it. For the last four years, she'd been trapped in a holding cell with her wrists bound to a wall, so being confined to quarters was a virtual paradise for her. She sat on the couch, simply sinking down into the pillows as she kicked her feet up, putting them on the table. 'God I missed this,' she sighed, closing her eyes.
'I've been gone so long, I've missed so much,' she thought to herself. She was convinced that Time Force must have made some remarkable breakthroughs of temporal mechanics since she left. 'The special projects division must have a lot of new technology, too,' she thought. Suddenly, she began to feel overwhelmed. Sooner or later, Time Force was going to put her back to work, but she was sure it would months, maybe even years to become familiar with all the new systems. Still, she was up for the challenge.
'Anything is better that being cooped up in that damn cell,' she thought.
Just then, her thoughts were broken as she heard a noise. It caught her off guard, and after she heard it for a second time, she remembered what it was. "Someone here to see me?" she thought outload.
She heard the sound for a third time. "Um, come in," she said.
The doors to her quarters slid open, and she walked in. "I hope I am not disturbing you," she said.
Sierra quickly stood up, getting a good look at her. Every detail, from head to toe, to the tone of her hair color to the light hazel brown eyes, everything was a perfect match. "You must be…" she was cut short.
"My designation is Model A6, but I am called KJ. I was modeled in your image," she said calmly.
"When I left, the design I came up with for androids was still in the prototype phase. I hadn't even constructed it yet, but here you are," she said, staring in amazement as she stood up, standing face to face with her.
"I apologize if this is disconcerting to you. I will leave," she said, turning to walk away.
"No, don't go. By all means stay," KJ followed her to the couch, where the two of them sat down. "Who created you?" she asked her.
"I was constructed at Chryo Tech, but my design is based from your prototype. I was created in your image with hopes that I would be able to infiltrate Time Force," she said.
"Did it work?"
"Yes, but when the time came, I was able to resist my programming and do what I thought was right," she told her.
"You resisted your programming?"
"Yes. Although the memory emgrams of those incidents were lost, I have been told several times by my friends that I was able to make my own decision and help prevent an invasion," she said.
"I never imagined that I would ever get one of my androids to look as lifelike as you do. I'm impressed," she said.
"I am glad you are please. I spoke to Counsel Member Collins, and he thought it would be useful if you are I were to get to know one another. In a sense, you are my mother," KJ said.
She sighed. "I guess you could think of it that way," she said.
"I took the liberty of accessing your personal files. I thought you would be interested to know the status of the rest of your family," she brought up.
'My God, why didn't I think of them sooner?' she wondered to herself. "What do you know about my family?" she asked her.
"Your mother is well, but your father passed away approximately 2 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 4 days ago. Your younger sister Myriah applied to the academy, but was denied. Your older sister, Shirley, was recently married and has a four month old daughter, Kia," she told her.
She paused. "How did dad die?"
"There were complications with his heart. Reports indicated that he had been treated several times for his condition, but without success,"
"Oh daddy," she sighed as a tear rolled down her face.
"If you wish, I can have your family contacted and brought here," KJ said.
She shook her head. "No, I'm not ready for that yet. When the time is right, I'll go see them all," she assured her.
"As you wish,"
"What about Xander? What has he been up to these past four years? Did he get married? Any children?" she inquired.
"No. After you were abducted, he conducted his own investigation, but found nothing. Finally, you were declared legally dead and the investigation was stopped. He was promoted rather quickly afterwards, eventually becoming a member of the counsel. As for his personal life, I have no information. However, I can tell you that he is currently not married and has produced no offspring," she told her.
"And there isn't anyone special in his life?"
"Again, I am not aware of the particulars of his personal affairs. However, I have personally observed that he has a special interest in Captain Jennifer Scotts-Oliver," she said.
She paused. "Jen Scotts? I remember her; she was in her first year at the academy when Xander and I were about to graduate. I knew he had a crush on her,"
"On the contrary, she was recently married and is with child," she said.
"I bet Xander didn't take it very well," she sighed.
Although it had been four years, she knew the type of person Alex was. 'It takes a lot for him to open up, but when he does, he loves unconditionally,' she thought to herself.
"To my knowledge, he took the news of the engagement very well. He was extremely supportive," KJ told him.
"Good,"
'Tommy to KJ. Come in,' they heard a voice say.
"Excuse me for a moment," she stood up, grabbing her communicator. "I am here Tommy. How may I be of assistance?" she asked.
'Jen and I could use your help down in the lab if you're feeling up to it,' he said.
"Acknowledged. I will report to the lab at once," she said.
'Great. Tommy out,'"I apologize, but I must go. My assistance is required," KJ said.
Sierra stood up. "No, its fine. If you want to come back and talk again, that would be nice," she said humbly.
"I would like that," she said, walking out the room.
* Astro Megaship 1998 *
Adam walked onto the bridge of the Astro Megaship, amazed at how advanced everything looked. Most of it reminded him of being in the lab at Time Force. Andros motioned for him to follow him to a control panel up against the wall.
Andros sat down at the controls, putting a picture of a monster on the small monitor in front of him. "Have you ever seen this creature?" he asked.
He paused. "Yeah, I have. I was in Silver Hills… only it wasn't Silver Hills. There were these… these creatures, and then I saw him," he paused. "That's all I can remember," he sighed.
"His name is Univex, he's a universal collector. He goes from world to world, from dimension to dimension collecting things and selling it to the highest bidder," he said.
"Inter-dimensional Ebay," Adam chuckled.
"About six weeks ago, he stole a time travel device from the labs on KO-35. I think that Univex traveled to your time and was hired by someone to send you back to this time," he said.
"But why?"
"I suspect he wanted you out the way, which means he's planning something big in your time line. Sending you here and trying to erase your memories would be the perfect way to keep you busy," he said.
"Because he thought I would want to be here,"
"Don't you? You can be with the woman you love again, and all your friends are here," he pointed out.
He nodded. "You're right, but I don't belong here. I have to get back to my own time and stop Univex from doing whatever he plans on doing. Besides, I think my heart belongs to someone else now," Adam said.
"Heres the bad news: I have no way to send you back to your own time," he said.
"You said KO-35 had access to time travel equipment. We can go to KO-35 and…" he was cut short.
"Even if we did, you'd only to be sent to the future from this time line. It wouldn't be your time line anymore. You being here has already drastically altered the time line,"
"So do I get back?"
"The only way you could would be to go back to the exact point in time when Univex decided to change the time line, then go to the future and stop him from ever coming here," he said.
"So I have to go to the future, but I can only do it by going to the past?" he asked.
"In essence, yes, but there's another problem,"
"What now?"
"If you managed to get back to your own time before Univex uses the machine to send you here and stopped him, it will be as if this time line never happened, which means you never went back to stop him. It would cause a temporal paradox, which, in theory, could destroy the entire universe,"
"So what are you saying? I'm stuck here?"
"Unless someone from your time line manages to stop him and open a stable gateway from your time line to here, yes,"
"The other rangers should still be there, they could…"
"You have to assume that if Univex went through so much trouble to get you out the way, he managed to either clone you or send someone into Time Force to pose as you until his plan is complete,"
He sighed.
* Time Force 3002 *
They'd been reviewing files for over forty-five minutes, trying to find any traces of evidence that Chyro Tech had influenced Sierra. The truth was, he didn't want to find anything.
Lucas remembered when Alex and Sierra first met. 'I introduced them,' he chuckled to himself. It was years ago, but he remembered it all as if it were yesterday…
"I can't believe we both got accepted to the academy," Alex said eagerly, looking over his schedule for the semester. "I hope we have some of the class classes," he said.
"I've got Quantum theories at 1100 hours, and a history class at 1230 hours," he mentioned as the two of them walked down the hall.
"History? When the hell are you going to need history?" he asked.
"You never know when it could come in handy,"
"Whatever,"
Just then, she walked over to them.
"Hi Lucas," she said cheerfully.
"Oh my God, Sierra?" he wrapped his arms around her, picking her up slightly. "Its good to see you," he said.
"You too. I see you got accepted to the academy,"
"Yeah, it took me two years, but I finally got in," he paused. "Sierra, this is my friend Alexander. We went to high school together last year. Al, this is my friend Sierra," he introduced.
Alex paused, nodding slightly.
"You're not by chance thee Alexander Collins I've been hearing so much about, are you?" she asked him.
He blushed. "I suppose I am,"
"Is it true that during your entrance exam, instead of picking one of the options for solving a pre-destination paradox, you offered Time Force a third alternative?" she asked.
"Yes, I did,"
"His alternative was so good that Time Force is going to make it a third option on the test," Lucas added.
"Good job,"
"Thank you,"
"Well, I'm outta here. I have Logan for my A.I. class. I hear he can be a real pain in the ass if you're late to his class," she said. "It was nice to meet you Xander," she said with a smile, then walked away.
"Xander?" Lucas inquired.
He shrugged his shoulder. "What?"
"You may be a brain, but when it comes to women, you're an idiot," he said.
"What is that suppose to mean?"
"You don't have to be a Quantum Mechanics major to know she was attracted to you, but you were too busy being 'dark and broody guy' to see it," he said.
"I am not broody,"
"Then why do you wear those sunglasses all the time?"
He paused. "I just don't like the light in my eyes,"
"We're in the building, there is no light. I swear, you'll always be a day late and a dollar short when it comes to women," Lucas sighed.
Lucas giggled to himself. 'Even now he has a problem talking to women,' he thought to himself.
"So, what do you think?" Lt. Emery asked him, breaking his train of thought.
"Think about what?"
"Do you think she did it? You think she had something to do with building KJ?" he asked.
"According to the files we got from Chyro Tech, it looks as though they continued with her reseach and built KJ without Sierra's help. I read a log entry that was dated a little over three years ago, and it had detailed information about Chyro Tech attempting to convince Sierra to assist, but she refused and she was locked away," he explained.
"So that's it, she's innocent," he said.
"Looks like it," Lucas said.
"That's good. We should report to Alex and let him know. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it," Emery brought up.
"Yeah, he will," he sighed. Just then, an alert went off. Lucas hurried over to the opposite side of the control room, sitting in front of the main control panel. "There's a temporal vortex opening in the past," he paused. "It looks like its originating from our time," he said.
"Where is the destination?"
"1998, somewhere in Angel Grove," he said.
"I'll alert Tommy and the others. Looks like we're going on a mission," James said, heading for the door.
"Wait," Lucas stood up. "I'll go. You stay here and go through the files one more time, see if I overlooked anything. If we do go on a mission, I'll contact you," he said, walking towards the exit.
"Yes sir," he sighed.
* Astro Megaship 1998 *
'Sensors are detecting a temporal vortex in Angel Grove,' D.E.C.A. announced, quickly getting Andros' attention.
Andros rushed over to the controls, activating the view screen. Adam, who was standing off to the side, got a good look at it. "That looks like the vortex from the Slipstream," he said.
They both watched as he stepped through the portal.
"Univex," Andros sighed. "But why would be come here now?"
"We don't have time to worry about it, we need to get down there and stop him before he does any damage," he said.
"You're in no condition for a fight. D.E.C.A., contact the other rangers and have them meet me in the park as soon as possible," he instructed.
'Acknowledged,' the computer answered.
"What about me?" Adam asked.
"I suggest you head back to the hospital. If you're not back soon, people may start asking questions," he said. "If I find out anything new, I'll let you know," he said.
"Thanks Andros,"
"LET'S ROCKET," he called out, transforming into the red ranger, then rushed off the bridge.
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Preview: Reunions pt IIINext time on Parallels II: Alex goes back to the past to contend with Univex.
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