Legal: I do not own Power Rangers, or the associated names, characters, places, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.
Rating: T – may be some mild adult themes including violence and language.
In his quarters, Ravi was standing before his bed, on which he had laid out about ten different shirts, and twenty different ties. Thanks to his upbringing in the military, he'd been raised to be quite particular about his appearance from a young age, never being in anything that wasn't clean and pressed, save for when he was just returning from training or combat. At all other times, even in jeans and t-shirt style affairs, he was very much a buttoned-down and freshly pressed kind of guy. This, though, was rather excessive even by his standards.
The one benefit of military functions was that the choice of attire was often not an issue. For formal occasions he would be required to turn up in uniform and all he would have to do after that was ensure it was clean, pressed and polished to the appropriate standard. Of course, that would only help if this was a military occasion.
"You know, traditionally it's the girl that takes all the time getting ready." Roxy teased him as she came in from the shower, dressed only in a robe, drying her hair. Ravi was too busy starting at the outfits to really register what she had said. Instead, he turned towards her, making a quizzical 'hmm' sound. "Ravi, its only dinner with your mom."
He appreciated Roxy trying to make light of the situation, but there was a lot more to it than that. It wasn't just dinner with his mom. It was the first time they'd arranged to meet out with their duties since their…unpleasantness.
Commander Shaw was a strong, decisive and successful leader, but she was also someone that could admit that sometimes she made mistakes. When Ravi was in the Ranger program, she had seen that he was being subjected to abuse and scorn by the other cadets. The field was very competitive, and so there were many that were willing to use any advantage they could to advance themselves and hamper their competition. When it was discovered Ravi was the Commander's son, it didn't take long for accusations of nepotism to rear their ugly head. Nothing could be further from the truth, Commander Shaw would never play favourites when people's lives relied on her decisions over who became her Rangers, but that didn't silence the venomous tongues and jealous minds.
No matter how hard Ravi trained, or how highly he scored, the accusations still followed him that he was being coasted into a Ranger position. The frustration was tough to bear, but it seemed Ravi wasn't the only one that found it difficult. Seeing how miserable her son was, trying to prove himself to people who would likely never change their tune, she had made a rather desperate and unexpected decision herself.
She had become aware of his relationship with Roxy, completely unbeknownst to her son, and had seen what she thought was an opportunity for him to give up of his own accord and still win. She had instituted a rule forbidding relationships between Rangers in the hopes that Ravi would choose Roxy over being a Ranger. She had reasoned that any tour of duty would be perhaps a few years, but true love, the real thing, would be forever, and that was the kind of choice no one could blame him for making. Unfortunately her plan had backfired horribly.
He had been raised with a deep sense of duty, to view doing his absolute best in all things as something he owed others. If he tried his best as a Ranger, but failed and someone lost their life, that would just be a tragic fact of life. No one could be completely perfect. But if someone lost their life because he had quit and let someone less prepared take his place? That was something Ravi would never have been able to accept, and so he had sacrificed his own happiness. Once all this came to light, Ravi had been furious, understandably so. He had pledged he would do his duty and serve his time as a Ranger, but that he and his mother were done. It was a rift that had hurt them both and almost proved enough to completely destroy their relationship. He had refused to even speak to her outside of official business.
Fate had intervened in an unexpected way though. When Zoey and Nate's relationship came to light, Ravi had done something that he had never even considered doing for himself, something that he had always refused because he'd feared it would confirm the rumours of nepotism that plagued his career. He had asked his mom to change the rules and allow them to continue to serve. During that talk, they had both been able to finally fully discuss what they felt, and it was hearing her talking about her love for his father, and seeing that same love between him and Roxy, that he finally realised that though her actions were questionable at best, that they had come from a place of love.
Now, they were hoping to begin rebuilding their relationship, one step at a time. The anger didn't just go away overnight, and he wasn't sure that he would ever forgive his mother for not just discussing the matter with him directly, but he had promised he would try. The first stage, dinner with his mother in her quarters.
"I just…I just want this to go right." Ravi told her. "What do you think? The black shirt with the blue tie?"
"I think your mom would be happy whatever you wear. She wants this too." Roxy assured him, looking out a dress. Ravi just looked at it.
"You really think you should wear that?" He asked her. Roxy looked at the dress.
"What's wrong with it?" She asked. "It was fine for the Collins Industries' Charity Gala."
"I just think my mom might prefer something a little more…conservative." Ravi suggested.
Another factor in Ravi's nerves was that this was also the first time he was going to meet his mom with Roxy formally as his girlfriend. They'd been a couple now for quite some time, but since Ravi had believed their relationship was secret, he hadn't actually introduced her as his partner to his mom. Roxy just came over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking him straight in the eyes.
"Your mom asked us to come!" She reiterated. "She will be delighted to see you no matter what we wear."
"I just…"
"Ravi, please, just calm down." She said soothingly, kissing him softly. "It's going to be fine. And, fortunately for you, I'm just a delightful girl that all parents love."
She released him, heading towards the dresser and picking up the dress. Ravi continued to look at her.
"Roxy, that is a little revealing." He stated.
"So?" She asked him.
"Roxy, mom loves you, but…"
"Ravi, I love this dress, and I want to wear it!" She told him flatly. "Since I'm cooped up in here and not going to work functions anymore, who knows when I'll ever get a chance to wear it?"
While it did give Ravi more time with Roxy, and unfortunate set of circumstances meant that Evox was once again using doubles of Blaze and Roxy as henchmen. This time, highly powerful robots. In order to prevent public panic, or potential reprisals from people confusing them with their doubles, Blaze and Roxy had been put under the protective custody of Grid Battleforce, meaning they were no longer allowed to leave the grounds. It was good to spend a lot of time with Roxy, now that she could no longer work at her aunt's firm, but she was always adventurous and prone to itchy feet.
"You can wear it another…"
"Ravi, I could always go like this." Roxy suggested, gesturing to her robe. "Now, which do you think will cause more of a stir, this, or the dress?"
Ravi mumbled a little, before Roxy smiled at him.
"I thought you'd see it my way." She answered, before skipping off to get changed. Ravi turned back to his own choices, trying to decide between shirts when he heard Roxy calling from the other room.
"You know, I will need a hand getting into this." She cooed. A bright smile crossed his face and he rushed in to help her.
Meanwhile, on a ship speeding through the trans-dimensional nexus, Kendall Morgan, former Purple Dino Charge Ranger was sitting in a cell.
She didn't know how long it had been since Ryjak had taken her from her home. She knew it had been at least a couple of days, but since they had jumped to the nexus after he had brought her on board, she had no frame of reference for her to know exactly how long.
The cell itself was small, with little more than a bed, a sink, and a toilet, most unusually though, the door was lying open. Not just unlocked, but actually open. But that was because Ryjak didn't need to close the door. Not for his prisoner.
Kendall was sitting, staring out the door of her cell at her Energem necklace, hanging on a pipe across the hall from her cell, taunting her with how close it was. She should be able to just walk out of the cell, just five or six paces, and take it, but when he had attacked her on the farm back home in Millport, he had put a compliance collar on her.
She could feel the weight of it still around her neck. She didn't quite understand exactly how the technology worked; she still had her own thoughts and feelings. She still knew she wanted to walk out and get her Energem, to search the ship for an escape pod, to get the Hell off the ship and try to find a way home or contact her friends to find a way to bring her back to her husband and daughter, but no matter what she wanted, all Ryjak had to do was give her an instruction, and no matter how much she wanted to disobey, she had to carry it out, no matter how much she tried to resist.
She held onto her hand, feeling her wedding rings in her hand for comfort. The only thing she was grateful for was when she was attacked; Matt had Claire over at his mother's place. He had left the farm for her to have a quiet night after her recent trip to help the Beast Morpher's Rangers. Claire had only been in their lives a little while now. The adoption agency had finally cleared the paperwork and delivered their daughter to them. It was taking a lot of getting used to, balancing her life between her work at the museum and ensuring that either she or Matt was able to care for Claire, but she could not imagine the devastation she'd have felt if anything happened to her daughter.
She looked up as Ryjak appeared in the doorway.
"Sorry about the bumpy ride, had a particularly shaky tail to shift." Ryjak told her. "Bloody Galactic Police. Always out to ruin a good day's collecting."
"Maybe if you stopped kidnapping people they wouldn't be chasing you?" Kendall suggested.
"Kidnapping?" He chuckled. She just tapped the collar in response. "Living cargo isn't really my thing love, that was more Sledge's deal."
"So, I should feel privileged that you kidnapped me?" Kendall asked him spitefully. He just looked to her and smiled.
"No, you're just a bargaining chip. I've got a sweet deal lined up that should get me a major haul for my collection." He informed her. "You'll be off the ship soon enough, don't you worry about that."
"Wait, you're planning to trade me in for some collectibles?" She demanded. "I'm a human being, not a Pokémon card!"
"Come with me, slave." He told her, waving for her to follow him. "Leave the Energem where it is though."
Kendall wished he hadn't remembered to add that addendum to his instruction. As she was compelled to walk out of her cell, following him along the corridor, she could only look to the Energem necklace hanging on the pipe, dangling so close she could just reach out and take it.
He led her down the corridor, taking her to another room. He stood before the door, keying in a code. Kendall tried to get a look at the code, but he saw her trying to look.
"Close your eyes, slave." He chuckled. Kendall let out a sigh of exasperation as her eyes closed, denying her the ability to watch him enter the code. She listened, hearing him enter at least ten digits. Another blow to her options, a ten digit code had around 1,000,000,000 possible combinations. Trying to brute-force it would take weeks, even if it didn't have any kind of emergency protocol for too many wrong choices being entered. Without that code, that door would remain closed, even if she did manage to somehow circumvent the collar's control.
The door opened, and he headed inside.
"Open your eyes and follow, slave." He told her. Kendall didn't have a choice in the situation. As she walked into the room, she was amazed by what she saw.
"Oh good grief!" She exclaimed. Ryjak smiled proudly.
"Here you see the finest collection of artefacts assembled from all around the multiverse!" He told her proudly. "Some of it cost me a pretty penny. Other items...well...let's just say they all have a price attached!"
"I...I recognise all of this." Kendall told him. Her eyes rested on a massive blaster, and her heart grew cold. She turned towards him. "This...this is..."
"I thought you'd recognise this." Ryjak said, picking up the huge weapon. "Sledge really loved swinging this around the place didn't he?"
"But...how did you...?"
"When you Ranger types are finished with your enemies, you have a habit of not hanging around to see who else is there. It's all just pose for the explosion then off you go!" Ryjak told her. "When that lunatic Sheriff Skyfire blew Sledge's ship sky high he left a whole treasure trove just floating around in space! Took me quite a while to salvage it all, I can tell you!"
Kendall started to wander, looking around the artefacts on display. It was a monument to misery and destruction. Astronama's staff, the Psycho Rangers' data cards, Korrag's sword...
"Just don't touch anything." He told her as she was reaching out for a sword. She just groaned, before looking around. "You're impressed, I can tell!"
"That's not the word I'd use." She grumbled. She paused as she got to a bunch of flowers suspended in a force field. She looked to them, and then to him curiously. "From an admirer?"
"Just someone who thought he was funny." Ryjak, snorted. "I sent him a crowbar!"*
"Lovely." Kendall responded. "So, with this 'fine' collection, what exactly am I getting traded for?"
"My current employer seems to want what's in that lovely little head of yours." Ryjak told her, poking her on the forehead for emphasis. "In return, once he defeats the Beast Morphers Rangers, he's promised me a major haul."
"The Beast Morphers Rangers?" Kendall gasped. "You're working for Evox?"
"And once I deliver you, he's promised that I'll get to keep all that lovely tech that your little friend there has assembled in his vault." Ryjak told her. "All that Ranger tech, all nicely packed in one place, nicely gift-wrapped for me!"
Kendall could only imagine what Evox would want with her. Her hand strayed back to her wedding rings, something that Evox noticed.
"You know, those are quite nice." He stated. "Hand them over, slave!"
Kendall knew there was no practical reason for him to want them. They had literally no value to him. However, she could do nothing as she watched her own hand pulling them off and dropping them into his palm.
"Return to your cell, slave. Don't leave until I tell you." He instructed her. "And don't touch the Energem either."
Kendall turned on the spot and headed out of the vault, leaving Ryjak to admire his collection, heading dutifully back to her cell.
Back in the Beast Morpher's world, Commander Shaw was just putting the finishing touches on the preparations for dinner. After so long being at odds with her son, she was desperate to make sure that everything was perfect. She had broken out the best table wear she had, she had spent hours preparing her son's favourite dishes, and she was currently checking the mirror, trying to decide if this outfit, probably her fifth or sixth, she was losing count, was really the right one.
She heard a knock on the door and went over, doing a last quick check of the room, before opening the door. Ravi and Roxy were standing outside, waiting.
"Good evening! Come in, come in!" Commander Shaw welcomed them, gesturing them inside. She looked to Roxy. She was wearing a sheer, backless red dress. "Wow, Roxy, you really look lovely!"
"Thank you, Commander Shaw." She answered, kissing her on the cheek. "I was just saying to Ravi, I'm not going to get a chance to wear things like this that often and who knows when I'll be able to wear it again?"
"Well, you look lovely!" She reiterated. "Please, come in, both of you! Would you like a glass of wine to start...?"
"Not for me, thank you." Roxy said, sniffing the air. "Is that...is that lamb tikka I smell?"
"It is." Commander Shaw answered, looking impressed. "You know your cooking."
"My parents used to travel a lot when I was a kid." She told her. "Oh, we brought you a pecan pie."
"Certainly an excellent choice for dessert." Commander Shaw commended her. "So, we have a little while before the first course is ready, why don't we head to the living room and get to know each other a little better?"
"Mom, you've known Roxy for ages." Ravi reminded her.
"She's known Roxy the cadet." Roxy pointed out. "Not Roxy her son's girlfriend."
"Exactly, now come on through." Commander Shaw told her. "Now, tell me, Roxy, how have things been for you here at the base?"
Elsewhere on the base, Betty was doing some rounds on the night shift. She had volunteered to do them to get closer to Cole, something of a decision that she was regretting. Not really because she later found out that Cole, the base heart throb, was actually gay, but because now it meant that for the foreseeable future, she was stuck with it.
It hadn't all been a bad experience, Cole had been pretty good about it all when he realised what was going on, but also because he made her brother happy. Ben still wasn't comfortable with the whole thing, having yet to tell his dad about himself, but she loved her brother dearly, and found the whole thing rather cute. She appreciated that Cole cared about him enough to be patient with him, and it was all rather cute seeing Ben getting excited when he went to visit Cole in the infirmary where he was recovering from his injuries in the latest Evox battle.
Of course, it meant she was on with two other night shift workers instead. One was Old Man Jones, a guy that had been a career private in the military who was now looking to wait out the clock until his pension kicked in with Grid Battleforce. She didn't have any problems with him, but he was pretty clear he was more interested in sitting in the security room monitoring the cameras with a coffee than walking the building, talking with his shift partners. And another who...she hadn't actually run into yet.
She got to the ice cream machine on one of the floors and decided to treat herself. One of the benefits of working on a base which was built largely to keep a child genius happy was free ice cream vending machines! She got herself a cone, stopping to lick it.
"Oh, please, tell me what it tastes like!" She heard a voice behind her. She shrieked loudly and jumped, throwing her ice-cream into the air, where it splattered on the floor. She held a hand over her heart. "Uh...what did you do that for?"
"Steel!" She shrieked. "You scared the life out of me!"
"Oh...sorry." He muttered. "I've been looking for you."
"You have?" She asked, beginning to clean up, tossing the cone away. Steel got another cone, handing it to her. "Why?"
"To do the rounds with you." He told her. She just furrowed her brows.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because, Nate works in the lab, Zoey works in the laundry, Ravi works in the gym, Devon's a janitor...I'm the only one who doesn't have another job on the base, so I figured I'd offer to help out a little more." He told her. "Nate and Zoey are studying together, so I thought I'd cover the night shift."
"That's really cool of you." Betty answered, taking the replacement cone. "Thanks."
"I just figure I should do more to help. I'm not a kid anymore; I'm almost six months old now!" He proclaimed. "So, what does it taste like?"
"I...don't really know how to describe that." Betty told him. "I mean, you don't taste anything, so what would I compare it to that you'd understand?"
"I guess." Steel muttered miserably. Just then, their communicators bleeped. Steel looked to it curiously.
"That's odd." He proclaimed. "It says it's from an unknown sender."
He activated his communicator.
"This is an urgent bulletin from the Galactic Police Force." The announcement came. "A dangerous fugitive has been sighted in this region of space."
"Galactic Police Force?" Steel and Betty chorused, staring at each other in confusion.
A/N: Just a little bit of fun, the section marked with a *, where Ryjak is commenting on gifts, refers to a real life incident with a well-known celebrity. Let's see who can get the reference.