Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force, Power Rangers in Space 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. Sierra Crane appears courtesy of… well, Sierra.
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~~
Amanda paced back and forth in her quarters with her arms folder. The look on her face, her entire disposition made it obvious that she was frustrated. "I can't believe they brushed us off like that," she snapped, kicking the table in the living room.
"And I'm sure taking it out on the furniture will make it better," Sasha mentioned.
Amanda stopped dead in her tracks, staring at her with a cold look in her eyes. "Don't you even care that they brushed us off like that? We could be value to this mission, we could have something to contribute," she paused. "Just yesterday they wanted to give me a morpher and send me off on a mission, now they're saying 'this is too dangerous. We can handle it,' What kinda crap is that?" she snapped.
"Did it ever occur to you that whatever destiny has planned for us is much bigger than this mission, and that Time Force doesn't want to risk anything happening to us before we do what we have to do?" she asked.
She sighed. "You're probably right, but that's not the point," she slumped down on the couch next to Sasha, putting her head on her shoulder. "A few weeks ago we were just cadets like every one else here. If they hadn't told us about our destiny, that we were meant to do something just bigger, I wouldn't be sitting here now waiting for fate to run its course," she said.
"That's why no one should know too much about their own destiny. Instead of allowing it to happen, you're waiting for it to happen,"
"Damn you and your Xybrian logic," she said with a giggle.
Just then, it happened…
The jewel on Sasha's forehead began to glow, and she leaned over, holding her head in pain. She screamed out, and the pain was so intense that she fell to the floor, putting her hands over her eyes.
There were images… or at least flashes of images. There was a field, or maybe a park. It was raining, and there was a huge, shadowy figure standing over… someone. There was blood everywhere, and…
"Sash, what is it?" Amanda leaned down, trying to help her up, but Sasha refused to move. "I'm going to go get help," she said, rushing over to the communications unit in her quarters.
"No, I'm fine," Sasha sighed, rolling over and letting out a sigh of relief.
Amanda noticed that the jewel on Sasha's head was getting dimmer, until final, it wasn't glowing at all. "What the hell was that?"
"I had a vision,"
"Does it always happen like that? I remember reading that Xybrian visions were common amongst your people," she said.
"They are, but the males of our species are able to withstand the visions more than the females," she said.
"So what happened? What did you see?"
"Something is going to happen. I saw a lot of blood, and a huge man wearing a metal suit with spikes of it. I'm not sure who he is or who hes going to get hurt, but whoever it was, they were hurt bad," she told her.
"That's not much to go on,"
"We have to do something Amanda," she cried.
"I'll contact Camille, see if she can help us dig up anything," she said, walking over to the communications unit. "Amanda to Camille, please respond,"
~~
"So what happened doc?" Camille asked in a panic.
Dr. Young stood over Trip, who was still on the examining table, going over his reports. "As far as I can tell, Trip experienced a vision. That isn't uncommon among the Xybrian people, so I don't think its anything to worry about," he said.
"But Xybrian's don't get visions unless there's something seriously wrong, or something terrible is about to happen," she pointed out.
"You're correct, but I'm only a doctor. I'm not qualified to determine what the vision was or whom it will affect. From what I can tell, the vision he experienced did raise his heart rate and blood pressure, but he's in no serious danger. Whatever he saw has nothing to do with him," he said.
'Amanda to Camille. Please respond,' a voice called out.
Camille instinctively reached for her morpher, but it didn't take her long to remember it was gone. She chuckled inwardly, then grabbed her communicator out her pocket. "I'm here Mandy, what is it?"
'Sasha just had a vision. I'm not sure what it was, but something terrible is about to happen,' she said.
"Have you informed anyone else yet?"
'No, just you,'"Good. Do you know where the special projects division is?" she asked her.
'Yes,'"Get Sasha and meet me there. I'll contact Khalil and have him join us," she said.
'We're on our way,'"You're not thinking of doing anything rash, now are you Ms. Summers?" Dr. Young asked her.
"Come on doc, you know me better than that," she said, walking out the room.
"I do know you, that's what worries me," he sighed.
*
He laid back on the examining table, unsure of what to expect. The doctor had run several tests on him in an attempt to explain the dizziness and headaches he'd been feeling the last few hours, and results were taking a little longer than he anticipated. 'What does it matter? Once they find the real Adam, they're just going to lock me away in a cell and let me rot,' he thought to himself.
"Adam," the doctor said, unsure of what else to call him. "I have the results of the scans we performed," he said.
"What do they say?"
"From what I can see, since you were created from a little supply of DNA, your body is having an adverse reaction to not only the transporter systems, but the air you're breathing is toxic to you," he said.
"How?"
"I suspect that when Chyro Tech copied Adam's DNA to create you, his DNA had already been effected by the radiation levels on the world he was on. They injected you with the cure, but the radiation had already begun to spread throughout your body like a virus, attacking your vital organs. Now, instead of your body filtering out the carbon dioxide in the air, its taking it all in, and its wreaking havoc on your body," he explained.
"Give it to me straight doc, can you cure me?"
"Giving you any treatment at this point would only speed up the process. Your DNA is damaged on a cellular level, and if I try to give you anything for it, it will only speed up the process," he said.
He paused. "How long do I have?"
"A day, maybe two, provided you stay away from the transportation systems and I give you oxygen treatments," he said.
"You want me to spend my last few days strapped down to a machine? I can't do it doc," he said.
"If you don't, you won't even have two days to worry about it,"
"There has to be something we can do,"
"I'm sorry, there isn't," Dr. Young said, walking away.
*
"You wished to see me Commander?" KJ asked as she walked into the science lab, making her way over to Tommy and Jen, who were sitting in front of the main control panel.
Tommy turned to her. "We need your expertise with this one," he turned around, directing her attention to the view screen in front of them. "We've been able to identify Adam's genetic signature. Since this signature is unique in each dimension, the systems will only lock onto our Adam when they find a match, but we have to assume that Adam can be in any dimension and any point in time. We were hoping that…" he was cut short.
"Yes Commander, I would be pleased to scan them for you. I am able to process information more quickly than a human, so a complete scan of every reality at every point in time should take me approximately," she paused, silently doing the calculation. "Seventeen minutes," she said.
"It would have taken us that long just to scan the first reality," Jen noted.
"I will report to you as soon as I find anything significant," she said, sitting down in front of the monitor.
Tommy and Jen headed for the exit, but as soon as the doors opened, they saw him standing there. "Commander, Captain, I need to have a word with you," he said.
"Sure, what's on your mind Alex?" Tommy asked.
The three of them stepped into the hallway. "I just spoke with Lucas a few minutes ago. Apparently he can't find any proof that Sierra was ever working with Chyro Tech on the creation of KJ, and she isn't be effected by any external force. With that in mind, I wanted to know how the two of you would feel about her getting the pink Chrono morpher," he brought up, then paused, allowing them to think things over.
"But I thought I was going to get the morpher back after I delivered the baby," Jen pointed out.
"You didn't plan on coming to work right away, did you? You should be at home with your baby, and your husband," he said.
"He's right Jen. There's no need to jump right back into things. Besides, I thought you were enjoying working with the cadets," Tommy mentioned.
"I am, but I miss being in the field. I felt like I was doing some good when I was out there fightin' the good fight," she said.
"I know how you feel," he turned to Tommy. "Which is why I want to resume my role as red ranger," Alex said.
"You want my morpher?" Tommy asked.
"I won't order you to hand it over to me, but I will point out that right now, your highest priority should be your wife and child. The red morpher was never meant for you, and I…" he was cut short.
"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Jen asked him.
"What do you mean?"
"Its not as easy as it looks out there, and what we do here is unlike anything you've ever done. Sure, you've gone through time and helped history along, and you've helped capture escaped mutants, but you're talking about exploring other realms of reality. I don't think you know what you're getting in to," she said.
"I'm aware of the risks, and this is something I want to do. What? The two of you thought you were going to be doing this forever? You thought you'd be out saving the universe everyday and still have time to mix bottles and change diapers at the end of the day? I think this is best for everyone right now," Alex explained.
Jen paused, turning to Tommy. "Could you give me a few minutes alone with Alex?" she asked.
"Sure. I'll be in our quarters if you need me," he said, kissing her warmly on the cheek, then walked away.
She waited until Tommy was gone before she said anything. "Okay Alexander, what's really going on?" she asked.
"I don't know what you mean Jennifer,"
"Yes you do. What's with the sudden burst of family values? You always told me that duty came first, period. Now you're saying we should stop everything we're doing for the baby so you can get back in the game?" she snapped.
He sighed. "I'm doing this for you Jen,"
"What?"
"I lost my first true love four years ago, and there was nothing I could do about it. I searched for her, but back then, we didn't have the resources that we have now, and my search came up empty handed every time. Finally, Sierra was declared legally dead, and it left a hole in my life. It took me almost two years to move on with my life, and then I met you. What we had was wonderful, it still is, but I lost you too, eventually. I don't want you and Tommy to end up that way. I don't want you to be sitting on your quarters when the call comes in that something happened to Tommy, and I don't want to be the one who has to explain to your child that its parents were in some kind of accident and won't be coming home. Damn it Jen, just for once, listen to me. Stay home with your family, because if you don't, you'll regret it the rest of your life," he explained to her.
She moved in closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, kissing him gently on the cheek. "I'm sure Sierra will make a great pink ranger," she sighed.
"You mean you're okay with this?"
"Yes. And for once, you're right. I need to be with my family. I'll tell Tommy that you'll be resuming your role as red ranger, and explain to him that it's the best for everyone involved," she said.
"Thank you Jen,"
She started to walk away, but stopped. "Alex, I hope you and Sierra can patch things up," she said, then walked off.
"Yeah, me too," he sighed. Once Jen was gone, Alex walked into the science lab, where KJ was working. "KJ, I need a favor," he said.
"What can I do to be of assistance?" she asked him, never taking her eyes away from her work.
"Sensors detected a portal opening from our time to the year 1998, I need you to activate the slipstream and send me to those exact coordinates," he said.
"Are you expecting the others to join you?"
"No, I am not. I'm doing this one alone," he said.
"Are you sure that is wise?"
"Just activate the slipstream," he ordered.
"Stand by," she said, inputting the correct commands.
Alex walked over to one of the storage lockers, inputting his authorization code, and then opened it, pulling out the red Chrono morpher. "Do you know if Camille had a chance to reset the DNA recognition subroutines for the red Chrono morpher yet?" Alex inquired.
"She has been in the infirmary with Lt. Trip since returning from Chyro Tech, I do not believe she has been able to the adjustments you requested," she said.
"Fine," he put the morpher back in the locker, shutting it. "Open the portal," moments later, the slipstream activated, and a blue swirling vortex appeared. "Have Camille get down here and reset those morphers while I'm gone," he said, stepping through.
The vortex began to shrink, eventually closing altogether.
*
Camille led the three of them into the special projects division, allowing them in. "Computer, initiate security protocol Summers 216," she said.
'Authorization accepted. Security protocols in place,' the computer answered.
"Good, now we won't be disturbed," she walked over to a control panel, inputting a code, and moments later, an image appeared on the screen. "Sasha, is this the guy you saw in your vision?" she asked her.
Sasha got a good look at him. "Yes, that's him," she said.
"His name is Univex, he is a inter-dimensional collector. He goes from world to world, reality to reality, collecting things. His favorite trophy is Power Rangers," she told them.
"So Sash had a vision about this overgrown hedgehog, what are we suppose to do about it?" Khalil asked them.
"According to internal sensors, someone in the science lab has opened a portal to the year 1998. Apparently that's where Univex has headed. I also know that someone from Time Force has gone back to try to stop him, but they will fail. Univex has been preparing for this moment, and has more than enough power to destroy anyone in his way," she said.
"So what do you want us to do?" Amanda asked.
"I'm sending the three of you back in time to stop him," Camille said.
"But you just said that he can't be stopped. How do you expect us to stop him?" Sasha asked.
"About a year ago, we were attacked by a group of beings called Harvengers. They were completely unstoppable, so we had to find a way to contain them. Trip and I designed a containment system that would drain them of their energy, and I think it can be applied to work with Univex. I want the three of you go to the past and trap him inside one of the containment units," she said.
"Sure, we'll just ask him nicely to step inside. That'll work," Khalil sighed.
"I want you to use this," she handed Amanda a small device, no bigger than quarter. "This is mini site to site teleportation unit. All you have to do is put this on him, and I'll be able to do the rest. I won't lie to you, this is going to be a dangerous mission, and chances are you might be killed. You're only cadets, so I can't order you to do, but Time Force needs you right now. Can I count on you?" she asked him.
"I'll do it," Sasha said.
"Me too," Amanda said.
"Someone is going to have to keep an eye on you two. I'm in," Khalil said.
"Good," she turned back to the computer. "Computer, synchronize the mainframe with the mainframe in the science lab, then preparing for a site to site transport to the last coordinates input into the computer from the lab," she said.
'Working,' there was a pause. 'Synchronization complete, ready for teleportation,'
"Remember guys, just get this on him and get out of there. I'll handle the rest," Camille said.
"You got it,"
"Computer, initiate teleportation sequence," she said.
There was a flash of light, and the three of them were gone.
* Angel Grove 1998 *
Andros arrived at the coordinates, but everything appeared to be calm. There weren't any people as far as the eye could see, which struck him as strange. 'Where is everyone?' he wondered. From the looks of things, there was no sign of a struggle, so he quickly ruled out that there was some sort of battle in the area recently. He was about to contact the ship when…
"Welcome red ranger," a menacing voice called.
He turned around, getting a good look at him. "Univex, I should have known," he said.
"You and the other rangers have ruined my plans for the last time. This time, I will destroy you," he told him, rushing towards Andros with his staff.
Andros was able to avoid being hit, going for a sweep, but Univex did a backflip, avoiding it. Andros went for a kick, but Univex swatted him away. He tried again, this time with corkscrew kick, but no luck. Univex swung his staff again, but Andros caught it, snatching it away from him.
"Lets finish this," he said, charging at him with the staff.
"You're right, lets," he said coldly, emitted a laser beam from his eyes, hitting Andros in the chest. That was enough to knock him to the ground, dropping the staff in the process. Andros powered down, gripping his chest in pain as Univex stood over him, ready to stab him with the staff. "You have been a formidable opponent ranger, but it ends here,"
He cocked back with every inch of strength he had, but when he lunged down, something snatched the staff out of his hands. Univex turned around, only to be kicked in the face by…
"Your time is up Univex," Alex said, standing firmly with the staff in hand.
"You will die by my hand human," he said, rushing towards him.
Alex threw the staff at his legs, forcing Univex to trip on it, taking him to the ground. Before he had a chance to get up, Alex put his hands behind his back, locking him in electromagnetic handcuffs. "You are under arrest," he said proudly.
"Impudent human," Univex groaned, snapping the cuffs seemingly without effort. He gave Alex a backhand, knocking him down. "I am immortal, I am eternal, I cannot be beaten," he snarled.
Andros was back on his feet, kicking Univex from behind, but it only managed to make him stumble forward. Alex tried for a sweep, but Univex kicked him, taking him back down. "When will you impertinent humans realize that I cannot be defeated?" he snapped.
Just then, there was a flash of light, and the three of them appeared. "So you're the big bad everyone is making such a fuss about. Funny, I expected you to be taller," Amanda said, standing face to face with Univex.
"Is that the best Time Force has to offer me? A child? You impetuous little girl, I will crush you with my bare hands," he said, swinging at her, but she managed to avoid it.
Khalil and Sasha gave him a double sabat kick, knocking him to one knee. Univex grabbed Amanda by the throat, lifting her up with one hand. "Its time to die bitch," he snapped.
Amanda pulled the device Camille had given her out her pocket, attaching it to his hand. Alex dived at Amanda, snatching her free of Univex's grip as Andros connected with a kick to the side of the head. Before Univex could hit the ground, his disappeared into a stream of light.
"What the hell are you three doing here?" Alex snapped.
"We were under orders from Ms. Summers. Besides, it looked like you could use the help, sir," Sasha said.
He nodded. "Good work you guys. Where did you send him?"
"Camille said she'd found a way to contain him. I don't think we'll be seeing Univex again any time soon," Khalil said.
Andros walked over to them. "Let me guess, Time Force, right?" he asked, extending his hand to Alex.
Alex paused. "What do you know about Time Force?" he replied, ignoring Andros' hand.
"Adam Park was abducted by Univex and brought here. He contacted me and told me he was from the future, now how Time Force had encountered Univex before. He…" he was cut short.
"Adam is here?"
"Yes,"
Alex reached for his communicator. "Alex to science lab, come in," he said.
There was a pause.
'Science lab here. This is KJ sir, how may I be of assistance?' a voice answered.
"Can you confirm that these temporal coordinates are from our reality?" he asked.
'Affirmative. The coordinates input into the computer were temporal coordinates. You are in fact in the past, our past,' she said.
"So Univex wins anyway. With Adam being here, the time line will be effected, and future history will be changed," Alex sighed.
"There has to be something we can do," Amanda said.
He shook his head. "No, there isn't. Adam was meant to die in that hospital. It wasn't until he died that Tommy brought him back using the Sphere of Omara, then brought him to the future," he said.
"Why don't we just take Adam back with us? Problem solved," Khalil said.
"It isn't that easy. If Adam just leaves, time won't progress the way it was meant to, and the time line will change again. There has to be a way to let them think Adam has died, but still get Adam home without disrupting the natural flow of time," he said.
'I think I have an idea. Amanda, I want you and the others to come home. Alex, I'll meet you at the hospital Adam is suppose to be in,' Camille said.
"You got it," he said.
*
Adam laid in his hospital bed, taking a deep breath. Part of him wanting to stay in the past, to stay with Tanya, but he knew he couldn't. 'I wonder how differently things would have turned out if I'd stayed with Tanya, and we'd gotten the chance to see how far our relationship could have gone,' he thought to himself.
The more he thought about it, but more he began to realize that it was completely out of his control. There wouldn't be a way to contact the future for another few years. 'Jen and the others won't come here until the year 2000, but if I try to tell them what's going on, it will disrupt the time line,' he reminded himself.
He began to contemplate what his life would be like if he simply stayed. 'I could be with Tanya, settle down, leave all this ranger stuff behind me. I could finally love on with my life,' he thought. 'But if I do, Tanya will never marry TJ, and they'll never have Theo. Theo is meant to play a role in the future,' he thought. His next option was to simply disappear. 'Sooner or later, Tommy and the others will figure out where I am and come for me. They'll be able to sort this all out,' he thought.
Adam got up, heading for the window and opened it. He quickly looked out the window, realizing he was on the third floor. "That isn't going to work," he said, and then headed for the door. As soon as he opened it, he saw them.
"Tommy? I knew you'd come," he said, wrapping his arms around him. "Come on, we have to get out of here," he said.
"You have to stay here until the doctor releases you man, you know that," he told him.
Adam took a step back, realizing that this Tommy had long hair. Behind him was Kimberly, who rushed over to Adam, wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm so glad you're okay. We came as soon as we could. We came a few times, but you were always asleep," she said.
He paused. "I went into my coma when you guys were on your honeymoon, didn't I?" he asked.
"Yeah man, but we still came. Some things are just more important," Tommy said.
Adam sighed. "Its really good to see you guys, but I need to be alone right now. You can come back in a while, okay?" he asked.
"Are you feeling okay?" Kim inquired.
"My stomach is feeling kinda strange, but I'm fine. I just need to rest," he said, hoping they wouldn't pry into the situation.
"We'll head down to the gift shop and pick you up something nice. I think I saw a stuffed frog down there," she said.
Adam smiled. "That would be nice," The two of them walked out the room, and Adam walked over to his bed, flopping down. "What am I suppose to do now?" he sighed.
"Adam?" he heard a voice say.
He looked up and saw her. "Camille?" he sat up. "Camille!" he sighed, rushing over to her. "Its great to see you,"
"Come on, we have to get you out of here," she said.
"I can't. If I just disappear, it'll contaminate the time line," he said.
"I came prepared," she reached for her communicator. "Camille to KJ, we're ready here," she said.
'Confirmed. Stand by,' a voice said.
Just then, Alex walked into the room, making his way over to them. "Lt. Park, its good to see you," he said.
"Same here,"
"I just saw Tommy and Kim in the hall. I'd forgotten how disconcerting that can be," he said.
There was a stream of light, and he appeared.
"Adam, meet Adam," Camille said.
"What? How is that possible?" he paused. "Oh, I get it, he's from another reality," Adam said.
"Do you remember the last mission you went on?" Camille asked.
"Yeah, I got left there for years. I barely survived, but one day I fell asleep and woke up here," he said.
"From our perspective, you were only gone two days. The time moved on much slower on that world, so for every year you were trapped here, it was only hours for us," she said.
"While you were there, a sample of your DNA was taken and I was created to replace you. Univex transported you here, to the exact point in time where you left, while I took your place at Time Force," the other Adam said.
"So you're a…"
"Clone? Yes," he said.
"Why are you here now?" Adam asked.
"My DNA is unstable, I'm dying. Its only a matter of time before my cellular structure will deteriorate until eventually, it collapses completely," he said.
"Adam has agreed to stay here while you return to the future with us," Camille said.
"But what about the time line?"
"The history logs mentions that you died in the hospital, after being the hospital for a month. The way you remember it, Tommy brought you to the future and had Carlos and the other space rangers to tell people you were sent to your family. That way, doctors wouldn't be able to perform an autopsy and discover you were a ranger. You had no knowledge of this incident until now," Alex explained.
"You mean all of this was meant to happen?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes. When the time line was changed and you were brought to the future, the space/time continuum adjusted itself. The history logs have always stated this is how it would happen, but none of us completely understood it until this moment," he said.
"You sure this is what you want to do?" Adam asked, turning to his clone.
He nodded. "It'll give me a chance to do something good for a change," he said, walking over to the bed and laid down.
"But what will happen when they do an autopsy?" he asked.
"His cellular damage is so bad that if they try an autopsy, they won't find anything," Camille said.
"Okay guys, lets go home," Alex said.
* Time Force 3002 *
"I know spent a lot of time in the hospital recently, but we need to be sure that the world you were on didn't have any lasting effects on your DNA. We wouldn't want you to end up like your clone did," Dr. Young told him as he began running tests.
"I'm just glad to be back," Adam sighed.
"I imagine it must have been strange for you, waking up and finding yourself reunited Tanya Sloan like that. Then to have to relive losing the love of your life," he said.
Adam glanced over at Katie, who was laying on one of the examining tables, then shook his head. "No, not at all. I am with the love of my life," he said, reaching over and grabbing Katie's hand.
Dr. Young smiled.
~~
Preview: Part of meNext time on Parallels II: Tommy and Jen get some startling news about her pregnancy. Meanwhile, Katie undergoes a procedure that could change her entire life.
~~