Mr. Collins sat along in his home office silently. He found himself opening one of his drawers and pulling out an old picture. It was of his wife and Wes, a little over sixteen years ago, that's how long it had been since he'd stared at this picture. It had been sixteen years since he had let her cross his mind. How could he let more than a decade go by while he hadn't thought of her? He had come close to thinking about her, back in 2001 when he restarted the building of the Raimei project, but back then he had been blinded by money, something he let himself be consumed by after her death. Perhaps it was to protect him from showing just how badly he was hurting.

Collins then heard someone walk past the entrance of his office. "Wes, is that you?"

"Ah yeah," a voice called back. A moment later he walked into his father's office. Wes watched as his father set the framed photo he had been holding face up on the desk. It was a picture Wes hadn't seen in years.

"How'd your visit with Dr. Brown go?"

"It went okay. Made me think."

Collins nodded his head. "Did it help?"

"Yeah. It helped a lot, made me realize some things."

"Good." Collins smiled and then looked back to the photo, he then handed it over to Wes. "I found this today, in my desk."

Wes stared silently at the photo, trying to see if she looked as he remembered her from all those years ago. "Mom." Wes smiled faintly and handed the picture back to his father.

"You're a lot like her, you know. Kind, caring, wanting to help others no matter what the risks are." Collins sighed. "I was just too blind to see it."

"Dad-" started Wes, knowing where this was headed.

"No, Wes. I was wrong to push you to do things my way, to change you."

"You've already apologized for that."

"Yes. But not for pushing you away when you needed me most. Your mother had just died and I sent you away." Collins sighed heavily. "I know that hurt you."

"But I'm okay. That was years ago, I'm over it. And I know it was hard for you too, you loved her very much, just as I…"

"Loved Jen." Collins smiled lightly. "I guess we have more things in common then we thought."

"Guess so."

Wes walked along the beach alone; feeling the cool breeze against his face, watching the waves hit the edge, and the sun beginning to set. It was so beautiful for a moment he was just lost in the scene and all his problems seemed to wither away.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Wes snapped out of his thoughts. He knew that voice from somewhere. He turned around and was face to face with someone he thought he would never see again. "Lisa?" It was Lisa, the girl he was supposed to marry, but just days before the big day he had called it off.

"Yeah. It's me, I was just passing by, and I saw your bike. Thought I might say hi. So, how you doing?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old." Wes shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah," Lisa sighed. "I hope you don't mind, but Eric called me a while ago and told me what happened. I'm sorry."

Wes nodded his head. Leave it to Eric to call his ex-girlfriend and tell her what had happened, although Wes suspected Hayley might have played some role. "Thanks."

"Want to talk about it?"

Wes remained silent for a moment. He really didn't want to talk about it, but he remembered what Dr. Brown had told him. The only way he would ever be able to move on was to talk about it. "Sure."

Lisa was blown away. She had never suspected the day would come for Wes to actually talk about what he was feeling. "Okay, let's go find a spot to sit down." The two walked over to some nearby rocks and sat down. "So?"

"I don't even know where to begin."

"How about at the beginning, when you saw her again."

Wes took a moment. This wasn't easy for him, talking about Jen, especially with someone who he at one time had been close to. "Well, I was overwhelmed. I wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go, but that's not what happened. I acted like I didn't care, said some cruel things to her, kept pushing her away. I was a jerk." Wes sighed. "I guess I was afraid to get close again, afraid to get hurt."

Lisa gently patted Wes on his shoulder. "I'm sure she understood that."

"Yeah. And even after all of that blew over and we ended up together, she never brought it up, like it was forgotten." Wes sighed heavily. "But then why end it, why go back to him?"

"Do you truly believe she went back to him? That that was the reason?"

"Yes…No," he sighed. "I don't know." He faced Lisa. "Something was wrong. There was something she wasn't telling me, something she was hiding. And it all happened after her talk with Alex, I even asked her, and she said it was him."

"Did she ever actually say it was him?"

Wes thought about it for a moment. All he had asked her was if she still loved Alex, and she had answered, yes. But she never stated that that was the reason. "No. But, I-I don't know."

"Maybe someday you'll get your answer."

Wes smiled. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because she loved you. And there's always a reason behind our actions, just maybe there was a reason that she couldn't tell you."

"Yeah. And why couldn't she tell me? We told each other everything."

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "I wish I could tell you, but I just don't know."

Wes smiled faintly. It had helped a little, talking to Lisa; it didn't make all the pain go away but he was starting to feel better. "Thanks, for talking about this with me. It helped a little. I guess that means I can't beat Eric up for calling you."

Lisa laughed and was pleased to get a smile and laugh out of Wes. "That's what I'm here for. If there's ever anything, anything at all that you want to talk about, you know where to find me."

Wes nodded his head. "Thanks. I'll remember that."

"Well, it's getting late, I should start heading home." She kissed Wes gently on the cheek. "Take care, Wes. It was good to see you again."

"You too." Wes watched as Lisa walked up to her car and drove off into the night.

Collins sat at his desk, almost shaking and looking slightly stressed and worried. Today was the day when he and Andros were going to tell Wes everything. And nothing scared him more. He was afraid if he told Wes the truth about what he had done, that he might lose his son forever. If that happened, he couldn't blame Wes; Wes would have every right to be angry at him, maybe even hate him for it.

"Mr. Collins, it's good to see you again," said Andros as he walked up to Collins' desk.

"It is good to see you as well, Andros." Collins stood up and shook Andros' hand. "I presume everything went well," Collins asked as he sat back down.

"Yes. On both KO-35 and Mirinoi, the negotiations went fine. And Sirius isn't too far behind, as well as Tangar; the Tangarians are interested in becoming part of the alliance. Commander Cruger will be arriving on their planet in the near future to make arrangements."

"I see." Collins paused for a moment. "And what of the planets Eltar and Aquitar you told me about a few weeks ago?"

"Those planets have always been allies to both Earth and KO-35; arrangements are being set to make alliances between the others, as well as Triforia." Andros smiled. "So as you can see, Earth has many friends."

"Yes. I believe it does."

"So what time is he supposed to be here?" asked Andros.

"Any minute now," Collins sighed.

"Would you like me to tell him? Maybe it would be better coming from me."

"Thank you for the offer, Andros. But I believe I need to be the one to tell him."

Andros nodded his head. "I understand." Not a moment later the office door opened and Wes walked in.

"Wes, please sit down," announced his father, as he closed the door behind him.

Wes took a seat next to Andros. "Andros, you're back. How'd everything go?"

"Everything went fine."

"Good." Wes nodded his head and then turned to his father. "So, you guys are going to be telling me about what's going on?"

"Yes. I will let Andros explain the Academy part of it and then I will fill in the rest."

"Okay." Wes turned to Andros.

"All right. The reason I've been coming here back and forth and to other planets, is not only because of setting up alliances, but also for a military base of operations called Space Patrol Delta. Bases will be set up on all planets. It will also be a school for grades six and up. After they graduate they'll have the choice to remain with SPD and become a law enforcement officers."

"Hold on a minute. You want to change the Silver Guardians; to not only expand their law enforcement abilities, but also to become a military school?"

"That is the idea. We are also in the process of setting up special tech class, where age sixteen and above will be able to enroll and see if they've got what it takes to become part of these special operations classes. It's just in the beginning stages; we hope in a few years to start setting up these classes, so for now it will be training technology and law enforcement."

"Okay. But then, what does this have to do with me?"

"My team and I will become the first Class A ranger squad; our main purpose will be keeping the peace and assisting with other planets. But for our base on Earth, we need a ranger stationed, which is where you come in."

"Wait a minute; you want me to become a SPD ranger? But I already have ranger powers."

"As of right now, no one will be getting new ranger powers. Upgrades will be made to all of our morphers. Dr. Manx in the process right now of creating the first set of SPD morphers, but it may be a few more years until the project is complete. She still has a lot of information to cover that was gathered over the years."

"Okay, I get all that. But why me, why pick me?" That was one thing that didn't make any sense to Wes, there were plenty of others out there that he believed were ten times better than he was or would ever be.

"Well, for one, your father is helping fund this project. Two, you have the training and knowledge, and three, one of the best suggested you for the job."

Wes thought about it for a moment, knowing it couldn't have been Eric. Eric had known even less than he did about what was going on. That only left one person. "Tommy."

"Yes. I had gone to him and offered the position. He turned it down and told me to offer it to you. He said you're a good ranger, you put others before yourself, and you get the job done. That's exactly the kind of ranger we need." Andros looked directly at Wes. "So Wes, do you want the job?"

"I'll take the job, but I want Eric to play an equal role in this."

"Done. It will be good to have two rangers. You two will be in charge of training and hand selecting those to one day become the first to use the SPD morphers."

Wes nodded his head. So far, nothing too bad, just a little more responsibility on his part, which wasn't a bad thing. It might be a little overwhelming, but he was sure he would be able to handle it. "Okay. Sounds good." He looked to Andros and then to his father. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Mr. Collins."

Collins raised and waved his hand, assuring Andros he could handle the rest of this conversation. "Thank you Andros."

"Well, if that will be all I should be going. Dr. Manx needed to see me." Andros started to get up.

"Yes. She told me last week about a trial run on the morphers. Tell her I will be with her shortly."

"I will do so." Andros turned to Wes. "Wes, it was good to see you again."

"You too." Wes shook Andros' hand and watched as he exited his father's office. Wes was getting ready to do the same, until…

"Wes, wait, there's more. Something I should have told you a long time ago."

Something in his father's voice told Wes he wasn't going to like this. He slowly sank back down into his chair and looked at his father, feeling uncomfortable. "Okay." And Wes could see his father looked just as uncomfortable, maybe even more. "I'm not going to like what you have to tell me, am I?"