He wasn't even sure why he had lied. He knew very well that Mora was alive and well. Well…if you consider what has happened to her as being well. She was no longer an innocent child; she was no longer good. Gruumm had turned her. Twisted her thoughts into his own making, making her believe they were responsible for the deaths of her parents. Gruumm even was able to get her to kill Zhane and Karone two of the remaining members of her family, and she didn't even know it. Probably never would, if Gruumm could help it.

Cruger realized that Mora had become his enemy, their enemy. That is why he couldn't tell Wes and Eric who she was. He knew if they knew the truth, that would change things, change the way they would think, the way they would do things. They wouldn't be able to see past the infant child they both had known her to be. After all, both of them were fathers. How could they see past the child she had been? He couldn't ask them to do that. It couldn't place that burden upon them.

Maybe it was wrong for him not to say anything. He hadn't even told Kat. And he didn't plan to. What good would it do? Mora was under no spell, she was childlike and believed whatever Gruumm told her, because he had take her. Fed her the lies, which now she believed to be true; she trusted him completely.

Maybe it was his fault what happened. He had been the one to contact Andros asking him for his help. He had asked for Andros and his team to come to Sirius. Cruger sighed and bowed his head. He grew weary, but wouldn't allow himself to fall asleep. Because if he did, then they would come back, creeping up behind him, haunting him over and over and his nightmares would live on.

Cruger entered into the mainframe computer and pushed a few buttons. He opened the file and up came a photo of Andros and his family, little Mora in Ashley's arms. The perfect little family, that once had been, was no more. He pushed a few more buttons and a message popped up asking to terminate. And he stayed like that for a few moments just staring at the photo and then let out a soft breath. "Forgive me old friend." And the file was gone, erased from the memory of the computer. No one would ever know the truth; only he and Kinwon held the truth behind Morgana's true identity. For better or worse, it was done….

Oct. 4, 2007

"Have a safe trip, Dad." Wes hugged his father goodbye. Collins was leaving for an eight day business trip and would be back in time for Sky's birthday next Saturday.

"Thanks, son. Try not to let anything happen to the company while I'm away."

"That's what I'm here for."

Collins then bent down to hug his grandson. "And then you, young man, when I get back we're having a party."

"Yeah. I can't wait for you to get back, Grandpa!"

Collins grinned. He hadn't quite heard enough of Sky calling him grandpa. He had come to like coming home, seeing his grandson. It was almost getting a second chance at being able to watch Wes grow up all over again, only this time it was his grandson. He looked at his watch. "Well, I should be going."

"Have a safe flight, Alec," smiled Lisa who was standing by Wes's side with her arm wrapped around Wes.

"Thank you, Lisa. I'm expecting you to keep those two in line, while I'm gone."

"Don't worry, I have everything under control."

"Sir, the car's ready," announced Philips, coming through the front door.

"Right." Collins took one last look at his family before departing. So much had changed over the last couple of years. Wes had grown up so much more, first with becoming a responsible father to his son, then finally being able to move on with his life, with Jen no longer in it. He had even been able to move on with someone else in it. He couldn't be prouder. "Bye!" He waved and headed out the door.

The three watched as the car pulled out of the long driveway and headed down the road. Wes picked his son up. "And now we got to get you to school. It's Friday, so that means..."

"We got all Saturday and Sunday to ourselves!"

"You better believe it." Wes turned towards his wife and kissed her on the lips. "See you after work, honey."

"Okay, sweetie." Lisa smiled and watched as Wes and Sky departed into Wes's truck and headed down the road in the opposite direction in which Mr. Collins and Philips had gone.

He had been sitting in the airport for hours. In fact most of the time it seemed like he was living in them, eating out of vending machines. But every once in a while he was able to get a decent meal from some nice stranger who must have felt sorry for him. This hadn't been where he saw himself at this point in his life; he was thirty-five years old. But this had been the path he had chosen and he knew he couldn't go back on it. It had been the right path. But only two years later, he found himself considering another path.

A path which, if he took it, would have dramatic life altering effects. Effects so great, he wasn't even sure if he should take it, take the risk; risking what he had worked so hard to hide. Alex sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face. These were one of the times that he really hated himself and he knew no matter what path he took, it would be the wrong one, either way. Some days he wished that he didn't know what would happen, that he had never looked it up, if only he could go back and stop himself from looking up that file in the history banks, if he could erase it from his memory, if only…. there was another way…..

"Flight to Silver Hills, California is ready to board." Alex heard, but made no attempt to move. Instead he stared down at his ticket. It was hard to imagine that one piece of paper held the destiny of several lives. The announcement was made several more times, and everyone in his section was boarding the plane, but he didn't move, didn't even blink.

"Sir, are you going to board the plane?" asked a woman who had walked over to him, after noticing he hadn't gotten up.

He looked up and stared her in the eyes and began playing the very question over and over in his mind. Was he going to board the plane and change destiny or was he going to sit back and let destiny take its course?

"Sir?" she asked again…

Alex bowed his head heavily as he read the history report on the computer. He even reread several times to make sure he heard right. As if things weren't bad already, this made things all the worse. The problem was he didn't know who it was, part of it was missing, and all he knew was that one of the former Silver Guardians Commanders died, October 6th, 2007

"Alex, is everything okay," asked Jen as she slowly walked into Alex's small home office.

Alex quickly clicked out of what he was doing and turned back to Jen. "Jen, you shouldn't be out of bed, you know what the doctor said." Alex gently picked her up and headed back into the bedroom.

"I know," she sighed. "I was just getting tired of being in bed all the time."

"I know." He carefully put her back to bed and pulled the covers over her. He bent down and briefly kissed her on the forehead. "Maybe tomorrow if you're feeling up to it, we can go to the park with Sky." And as if on cue, little baby Sky was heard crying from his room. Jen started to get back up, but Alex pushed her back down. "I'll check up on him. You rest."

"Thanks." Jen smiled faintly and watched as Alex left the bedroom, getting ready to close the door behind him. "Alex?"

He stopped. "Yes?"

"Everything's okay, right. The plan and everything?"

He didn't answer right away. Almost questioning himself if he should tell her the little he knew of the possibility. But… He forced a smile. "Everything's fine. I have it all under control. You have nothing to worry about."

She nodded her head, said something that he couldn't quite make out and then she fell back into a deep sleep. Due to her illness that was killing her slowly, that's all she really did now. Sleep. "Sleep well, Jen." He closed the door behind him.

"Sir?"

Alex snapped out of his thoughts. And looked up at the woman and then back to his ticket. As much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn't, even if in some way he felt he was letting Jen down, this was one thing he could not do. Even if there was some chance that it could be… "No. I guess I'm not." He handed her his ticket and walked away, not looking back, knowing if he did he might never be able to leave. After all, there is the chance that it's not him, that it's…

Wes was in his office going over paperwork when Eric walked in with a duffle bag. "Heading out to Newtech City?"

"Yeah. I'll be back sometime Monday night. Cruger has some work for me to do, tracking down a criminal, some alien freak called Mirloc."

"Sounds like fun," said Wes as he went through the files. "How'd Hayley takeing you being gone for a few days?"

"Fine. She knows my work is important, just as hers is, or will be once she goes back to work."

"That's good."

Eric nodded his head and looked at his watch; it was 8 PM. "Shouldn't you be home?"

"I'm leaving in a few. I just have a few more files to go through, then I'll be done. Dad left me in charge until he gets back, so I thought I get an early start, so Sky, Lisa and I can have the whole weekend together." He wanted to be able to give them both his full attention, especially with how much he has been working lately.

"Sounds fun. Maybe call Hayley, you know how she can get."

Wes laughed. "Already taken care of, she and Megan are meeting us for lunch and a movie tomorrow."

"Thanks. Well, I should be going."

"Right. Drive safe, Eric and hopefully I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Later, Wes."

"Bye."

The next day…

Eric was in the SPD Command Center with Cruger and Kat, going over Mirlocs file. Eric was trying to learn everything he could about MIrloc before he would go out and attempt to arrest the alien. There were very few files on him; most of the information they had on MIrloc was provided by Mike Corbett who had already encountered the alien and came close to losing his life, along with his team.

"So I take it I shouldn't wear my sunglasses when I approach this guy," said Eric, giving a sly smile.

"It could almost be a danger even to morph because of your helmet," stated Kat. There was still much they didn't know about Mirloc, but one thing was clear. They had to be very carefully not to use anything that had a reflective surface.

"Well then, I guess I won't be morphing."

"You might not have much of a choice," interrupted Cruger. "He's extremely dangerous. Mike Corbett and his team were barely able to hold their own against him."

Great! You're really helping here, Cruger. "Well then, what do you suggest I do, sir?" There were days that it took everything Eric had not to lose it with Cruger, and this was becoming one of those days.

"Kat, could you provide Commander Myers with a non-reflective shield for his ranger helmet?"

"Yes, but…"

"Good." Cruger turned to Eric. "When Kat is finished you know what to do. I'll be in the training room with the cadets if anyone needs me."

Once Cruger was gone, Eric turned to her. "How do you put up with him?"

"Oh, he's not that bad. You just have to take him one day at a time." Kat started to head towards her lab.

"What is it with you and Wes, being okay to put up with a pain in the ass like him?" He couldn't understand how the two were so willing to put up with him and agree with whatever he had to say.

"Oh, I guess you could say we've had a lot of experience." She grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eric crossed his arms, starting not to like where this was going.

"Nothing." She turned and smiled at him. "Now, once I'm finished I'll call you down."

"Yeah," muttered Eric, watching her head down the hall towards the lab, as he mumbled to himself. A young cadet, seventeen or so, walked past him and Eric pulled him aside. "Hey kid, do you think I'm a jackass?"

"Ah. If I say no, does that mean I can move up to class C?" The kid gave him a weak smile.

Eric just frowned and shoved him aside. "Get out of here." Fed up, Eric headed towards his dorm. He slumped down on his bed and turned the radio on, just staring off into space, wondering if he was like Cruger. Headstrong, demanding, hard to get along with - he wanted to deny that he was like that. He wanted to deny that he and Cruger had anything in common, but deep down somehow he knew. He knew in some ways he and Cruger were a lot alike, more than he really wanted to admit. But one thing was for sure, he would never back down or abandon his duties; that was the one thing that separated him and Cruger.

"Commander Myers, ten of the A squad members are waiting for you in training room five," came a voice over the intercom.

"Great, choosing day," Eric muttered, as he got off his bed and headed out of his dorm towards the hall that led to each training room. Over the past few months he and Wes had been training twenty members of the A Squad to see which ones showed promise at becoming a ranger. Ten of the members had made the cut for ranger squad training, but only five would be chosen to become Rangers. He and Wes had already gone over the list of which five would fill the spots of the first to use the SPD morphers, but not before going through another year of training. The other five then would resume their spot on the A squad team.

Eric entered into the room, and found ten officers standing in stance waiting for his order. Four females and six males, all worthy of becoming excellent officers. A part of Eric wished he could select them all, but as of right now Kat was only working on five morphers.

"At ease." Eric moved into the center and looked at each of them in the eyes. "I want you to know, you all have done a great job over these past few months. You're all excellent officers." Eric bowed his head for a moment, gathering his words for how he wanted to phrase this. "But only five of you will move up to ranger level, and for the next year and even beyond, will go under intense training. You'll work harder than you ever have before. So with that said, if any of you believe it's not for you, you have the option of stepping back right now."

He waited for a moment, and as he had expected, no one stepped back. Eric smiled. "Good. But now comes the hard part. Commander Collins and I had a hard time making the decision, but there are only five morphers." His face became very serious. "So, that being said, would Cadet Tanner Wilson please step forward."

Tanner Wilson, twenty two, stepped forward. "Yes sir!" He saluted Eric.

"Congratulations, you have made it to ranger squad."

Tanner shook his hand. "Thank you, sir." Tanner then stepped around and moved behind Eric, as Eric continued with the list, calling the last four names, Colby Brown the eighteen year old that was the youngest of the A squad members. Dashel Jackson the 3rd, twenty-four. And then he called the two female cadets Heather Dawson and Gina White, both twenty-one.

Once Eric finished he faced the five who were not chosen. "On the behalf of SPD and Commander Cruger, Commander Collins, and myself, I want to thank you for all your hard work during these last few months. I salute all of you." Eric saluted all of them. "From this day forward you five will remain with high rankings and will have leadership of the A squad task force." He paused for moment. "You're dismissed."

Once the five had left, Eric turned around to face the five future SPD rangers. A sly smile came across his face. "Now the real fun begins. Over the next year you five will train together, during which time you will learn to work together as a team, learn to trust each other at all moments. Also in which time rankings will be placed of squad leader, who will be red or…" he grinned, "In some cases, pink. But as of right now it's too early to tell. Now, let's get started. Ten laps around the academy. Now!"

"Yes sir!" they all shouted.