Race Against Time
Chapter 2: Wreckage
By: Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: November 22, 2005

Summary: Spoilers for Endings Pt. 2 - 5 yrs. post Endings Pt. 2, and the infamous B Squad Rangers are invited to celebrate Cruger's reassignment to General and head of SPD HQ and Sky's promotion to Commander, but something goes awry, and they have to race against the clock to save one of their friends before it's too late.
Ships: Syd/Sky, Bridge/Z, Jack/Ally, Cruger/Isinia, Kat/Boom
Rating: T, for now
AN: I put a very small twist in this…hope you like it.

--

Her chest heaved as she crouched in the darkness that had set in around her, her mind racing. The weird looking guys with gold faces and silver clothes had been chasing her for nearly two hours.

It had started out simply enough. She had come out of the shuttle, munching on an apple, and had seen them checking out the wreckage of the destroyed craft. She had attempted to say hello, but had been met with a flying fist, which had knocked her back on her butt.

After that, it seemed like instinct had kicked in and she began fighting them, noticing that when she hit them they weren't human, they were robots. If she hit them hard enough, and in the right spot, she knew it would disable them.

Her only problem was that they out numbered her a hundred to one.

After realizing that they were bent on taking her captive, she began running and hadn't stopped. As she rested now, she found she could hear a voice among them.

"FIND HER YOU FOOLS! DO NOT LET HER ESCAPE!"

'How do I get myself into these kinds of situations?' she asked herself angrily, and then balked at the thought. How would she know if she got herself into more of these situations before the shuttle crash? She had no memory of her life before landing on this planetoid.

She was shaken from her thoughts when she heard the robots getting closer. Taking a deep breath, she began another sprint further into the foliage, hoping to outrun them.

--

Sky couldn't help but smile. Cruger and he were sitting in what would classify as the backseat of the shuttle while Bridge sat up front, being navigator for Z, who was handling the craft like the pro she was. This trip almost reminded him of their trip to the planet where they got their SWAT training, only that trip, Bridge had been badgering them all with questions while he and Jack sat in the back reading, and Syd and Z were going at each other's throats in response to Bridge's questioning.

"What are you grinning about back there, Blue Boy?" Z asked, turning her head after she and Bridge had set the shuttle on autopilot.

"Thinking about when we flew to visit General Silverback to get our SWAT training," Sky told her, grinning wider. "And hey, no colors anymore, remember?"

Z smirked and shot Bridge a look, which made Bridge laugh before she turned around and teased Sky again. "You'll always blue to us, Sky. Just like Jack will always be red, I'll be yellow, Bridge green and Syd pink."

At the mention of their lost Pink Ranger, each of them went silent and looked down at the morphers clipped to their belts, morphers that hadn't seen the light of day in over two years. Sky had been sentimental enough, and maybe had subconsciously foreseen the need to keep them, so he'd put them in the safe in his office after they'd retired from active Ranger duty, and there they'd sat until just before the four of them had left Earth.

The sudden beeping of the console brought them all back to the present. Turning, Z let out a soft gasp. "We're nearing the outpost academy perimeter. They'll be requesting clearance codes soon."

"I'm ready," Doggie told them, closing his eyes, the sudden image of a young and very innocent Sydney suddenly popping into his mind. She had adored pink even as a youngster and that had led him to his ultimate choice of Pink Ranger for her when she'd proven she was ready for the responsibility. There was guilt there, in his heart, that he was responsible for what had happened to her, and to his other "Children". Opening his eyes to face the oncoming challenge head on, Anubis felt himself resolve to make sure she made it home, safe and sound, come hell or high water.

--

She was sore, even more so now then before. After running for hours on end, they had caught her. "Good. You're awake."

Her voice hitched in her throat when she finally got a good look at the leader of the weird robots. He had three faces, was tall, and he looked to be part snake. "Who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he laughed at her, bending close. His breath smelled bad and he was giving off a scary vibe that made her skin crawl. "I'm going to use you, little one, to do what Gruumm could not."

"Gruumm?" she squeaked, not liking the sound of that name; it gave her the creeps almost as much as the creature before her.

"Yes Gruumm, but you wouldn't remember him, would you? Our doctors say you have amnesia. I'll bet you don't remember anything from before that shuttle crashed."

She set her face in a stony expression, hoping not to give away that he had guessed correctly. The creature before her merely laughed.

"Don't worry, Pink Ranger, you'll soon see what I have in store for you." With a flourish, he swept out of the room, leaving her chained to the wall and her head throbbing.

"Pink Ranger? What's a Pink Ranger?" she asked out loud, though she didn't expect anyone to answer her.

"You're a Pink Ranger?" a soft voice called out, startling her.

"I…I guess so. Who are you?"

"What do you mean, you guess so?"

She felt like crying. It was all still blank, except the vague memory of eyes of the deepest blue and arms that made her feel safe. "I don't know who I am. I crashed my shuttle, and my life before that is a blank. Who are you?"

A little girl with shoulder length, straight auburn hair and brown eyes crawled out of the corner. "I'm Nova."

--

"GENERAL ON DECK!" the commander of the remote outpost academy called as Anubis, Sky, Z and Bridge exited their shuttle.

"Commander, we need a conference room and the shuttle needs to have its supplies filled," Anubis barked as the middle aged Commander nodded, then quietly dispatched his next in command to do as Cruger asked.

"Sir, the conference room we set up for you is down the hall and to your right. We're in the process of preparing food for the four of you, and we've already established a secure communication with the SPD Academy on Earth. Dr. Manx is waiting to hear from you."

"Thank you, that will be all," Cruger spoke, dismissing the Commander as he and the others settled down in the conference room. Bridge and Z worked on the communications line, making sure it truly was secure before they sat back to speak with Kat.

"You made it?" Kat's voice was slightly distorted but her picture made up for it.

Cruger nodded. "Have we discovered anything more?"

"As of now, no. It seems Syd's homing beacon has died out. You'll be happy to know, you've only been gone four days, Sky, and the base is still standing," Kat teased, watching Sky give her one of his famous "looks".

"Very funny, Kat. How's Jack holding up?"

Kat smiled. "Just fine. You'll be happy to know, Ally gave birth this morning. We've got a baby boy, seven pounds ten ounces, and both mother and child are doing fine."

Z and Bridge shared a look before they each laid a hand on Sky's shoulders. "Give them our congratulations, Kat," Anubis told her. "This will be the last communication with you until we get Syd and head back. Take care."

"Stay safe, guys, and bring her home. Earth out."

Two cadets entered, each carrying two trays of food, and set them down on the table before Anubis and the others. Quiet and lost in their own thoughts, each of them sat down and dug into the meal, knowing it might be their last if they didn't make it out of the M51 Galaxy in once piece.

--

"How'd you end up here, Nova?" she asked softly. Sometime ago she'd been taken from the cell, and put in a machine that had given her a major headache before she'd been tossed back in with the little girl.

Nova cuddled close and sighed. She recognized the uniform the woman before her was wearing – it was the mark of an officer of SPD – but there was more. The woman's uniform had pink on it, signifying her rank as Pink Ranger.

"I don't know. My earliest memory is of this place. He's had me locked in this room so long, I don't remember anything beyond it."

Nova smiled softly. The Pink Ranger was unconsciously cradling her against her, trying to keep her warm. It felt almost motherly. "What about you? Have they jogged any of your memories yet?"

She shook her head. "No, but I have a few that came back to me when I saw this picture in a bag of what looks like my stuff after I woke up from the crash."

"Tell me?"

"There's people in it. Two look like dogs, literally, one looks like a cat, the others, they're more human looking like me. One's dressed in orange, another in red, one in green, one in yellow, me in pink, and then there's this guy in blue holding me."

Nova thought for a moment. "Sounds like your family."

"But none of us look anything alike. There's something really familiar about the guys in green and blue though, like I really should know who they are and don't. And the guy in blue, when I think about him, I'm reminded of the comforting smell of aftershave and strong arms holding me."

"He sounds like your mate."

"My mate?"

"Your…what is it…husband? The one you bound your life to?"

She looked down at Nova and shrugged. "I don't know, I just don't know."

--

Z blew out a breath, making her bangs move slightly. She and Bridge were up to their knees in mud trying to get the shuttle level since they'd landed in a mud pit. Her back muscles and legs were singing with pain, but she was determined to make sure the craft was flyable and ready to go when Anubis and Sky found Syd.

"Z, take a break," Bridge murmured, watching his wife give him a look, one he knew meant she was getting annoyed with him. "We've been at this for two hours, Sky and the Commander still aren't back yet. A tiny break won't be bad."

Just the look on his face had Z relenting. He was worrying about her, which put Z on edge because she knew if he worried too much, because of his powers, he could get sick from it. Bridge being sick on top of whatever might be wrong with Syd was too much.

"Sit with me?"

"Absolutely," Bridge grinned, plopping down on the ground next to her. They had three sides of the shuttle propped up by rocks and pieces of wood, so they could afford to take a break.

"Think they found her yet?" Z asked suddenly, choking back tears.

"Sky said he'd contact us as soon as they did."

Z nodded. A second later, both of them jumped when the familiar beeping of their communicators sounded. "Z here, go ahead."

"We found the shuttle, it crash landed. There's almost nothing left of it," Anubis spoke, his voice tight. Bridge and Z shared a look that said he didn't sound happy. "There's no sign of Sydney, anywhere."