Disclaimer: Power Ranger is owned by various people, none of which are me.

Author's Note: I'd first like to like to thank my muses. Next I'd also like to give credit to Brandon B. and KingCillaty ver. 3 for re-inspiring my Power Ranger muse with their Jack/Z SPD stories as well as thank all the other Jack/Z writers out there. Keep up the great work. This story is set near the beginning of the episode "Reflections" but then goes into my own AU. The only couple I'm sure it's going to have is Jack/Z.

SPD: Elite Defenders

Chapter 02: Answers, Secrets, and Regrouping?

After the A-Squad's disappearance, Z, Syd, and Bridge turned to Jack for answers.

"Jack, what did you do? You didn't destroy them did you?" Z asked still in amazement.

"Not hardly," he answered dryly before sighing as he rose to check on Sky, "Sky you ok?"

"I'll be ok," Sky answered with a hiss of pain as Jack helped him up.

Turning back to the rest of the rangers Jack continued, "I teleported them out."

'Teleported?" Bridge asked in surprise. "I didn't know we had a teleportation system."

"Most people don't," Jack assured with a nod, "It's still experimental, and as far as I know only those in the Science Division working on it, Kat, and Commander Cruger know about it. I only know about it because they felt it best if each active ranger squad-leader knew in case of emergencies."

Sky frowned a bit at this knowledge but quickly hid it as the others took in Jack's news.

"Wait," Syd burst out, breaking the silence, "you said they let all active ranger squad-leaders, does that mean that the Red A-Squad ranger knows about it too?"

Jack's expression hardened and he drew grim, "More than likely, which means if they get in here again that probably won't work as it's sure to be a target now."

The rest of them were forced to agree with him.

"But why would they turn on us?" Bridge asked, voicing the question on many of their minds.

"I don't know, but let's head to the Med Bay and check on the Commander, hopefully either he's up for questions or Kat can shed some light on this for us," Jack replied as he began to lead the rangers out to get answers.

-----

Hearing the doors to the Med Bay slide open, Kat turned from were she was finishing patching up Commander Cruger.

"Rangers are you ok?" the scientist asked seeing the rangers enter tiredly.

"We'll be ok, but you can give up a quick check up later too be sure," Jack answered for the group.

Kat nodded, while Cruger sat up straighter at their entrance.

"Rangers report!" he ordered with a growl of pain.

"Not so, much rangers anymore, Sir," Jack replied grimly.

"What!" Kat asked with a frown.

Jack pulled his morpher and lightly tossed it to Ms. Manx, "See for yourself, but our morphers are fried. Turning back to the Commander, Jack continued, "After making sure everyone was cleared we engaged the A-Squad in battle as we had little choice else."

"I see," Cruger acknowledged with a nod, "Continue, what happened next?"

"They wiped the floor with us!" Syd blurted out.

"Yeah, we didn't stand a chance," Bridge agreed somberly.

Jack winced at their statements but nodded slightly in agreement, "They aren't that wrong Sir. I had summoned my battlizer and gone to Cyber Mode and had begun to win against the Red A-Squad ranger when the rest of his team converged on me after knocking mine back. I was holding my own for a while but they soon over powered me and knocked be back into the others, forcing them to de-morph. I was about to go to Sonic Mode . . . ."

Hearing Jack's pause, Cruger and Kat got a bad feeling

"RIC's gone, Sir," Sky voiced sadly picking up the story, "They destroyed him and then blasted Jack out of morph. As we were about to morph back into action, they struck, firing on our morphers."

The rangers all rubbed their hand being reminded of their still throbbing pain.

"We'd have all been dead then, if jack hadn't demolecularized us and pushed all through the wall we're up against," Bridge injected, before taking a curious expression, "which I'm still wondering how he did."

"Well, Cadet Landers?" Commander Cruger asked while next to him Kat also lifted a brow, wondering too.

"Well, Sir as Z will confirm, I've always been able to use my powers on something or someone I'm touching," Jack explained, "I never demolecularized more than one person before though."

Nodding Z, added, "And I hope he doesn't have to anytime soon, it wasn't easy on him."

"Z . . ." Jack began.

"Jack don't take try and play off that you're fine, I know you better," Z interrupted, not wanting to hear it. "You and Sky both put yourselves out there more than any of us. You two are probably the only reason we're all still alive now, but you've both paid for it. Sky's still trembling a little and you may be hiding your tiredness from everyone else but I know you use to always feel a bit drained when using you powers on me, I can only imagine how draining it was to use it on four other people!"

"Elizabeth, calm down," Kat walked over and put a hand on Z's shoulder, "I'm going to give all of you a thorough assessment after the debriefing, but for now let's continue."

Z nodded and gathered herself as Syd also put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Sorry."

"No need, Cadet Delgado," Cruger replied before focusing on Jack and Sky, "Would one of you like to shed a little light on what happened?"

Jack and Sky both shared a look before Jack bit the bullet and explained, "I got us to the Command Room and locked it down, but I knew that wouldn't hold long. So, I ordered Sky to put up a shield, while I armed the others with civilian rifles. I began working on an idea at one of the computer consoles. When the door was opened, Sky held them at bay for as long as he could. It turned out to be just long enough, as just as his shield shattered and he fell, I got done. They were able to blast a few consoles though, before disappearing in beams of light."

"Disappeared?" Kat muttered with her brows creased in confusion before understanding showed, "You used the teleportation system!"

"It was the only thing I could think of that might have worked on such short time," Jack sighed.

Cruger raised a hand to stop whatever Kat may have said next, "I'm sure he knew the possible dangers, Ms. Manx." He then addressed the rangers, "You all did well considering the circumstances, crews have already been sent to the lower levels to deal with the fire caused by the explosion, and all of you have at least bought us some time before another attack. Although, how much time is not know and likely very little."

"Understood, Sir," Jack nodded at the commander's words, "but what my squad and I are wondering is do either of you have any ideas on why A-Squad would turn on us?"

Kat and Commander Cruger shared a look before Doggy nodded his assent for her to tell them.

"If, I had to hazard a guess I'd say they were reprogrammed," Kat sighed before growing serious, "what I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the cadets chorused.

"A-Squad was really a series of cybernetic bio-droids," Ms. Manx explained, "Remember Sophie? Well A-Squad was like the predecessors to her, although at the time we didn't know she was cybernetic."

Feeling that the rangers needed some time to absorb this news, Cruger interrupted, "I know this is a bit to take in Cadets, so let's continue this later. After Ms. Manx as check you over, we'll meet in the Command Room in two-hundred hours from now to go over damages and plan our next move."

"Yes, Sir!" B-Squad chorused with a salute.

"Good, dismissed!" Commander Cruger commanded with a nod as he slowly rose and left the Med Bay.

-----

Two hours later B-Squad, Commander Cruger, and can be found in the Command Room. They were also joined by Boom as they all went over computer panels, trying to assess the damages done. Already they had made plans to join the crews in the lower levels and help there when they were done. Which they thought might been soon as they were making good progress in the Command Room.

"Boom how are things going over on your side with the surveillance systems?" Syd asked coming over to see if he needed a hand.

"Doesn't look that bad," Boom replied distractedly as he was in the process of splicing some wires together, "I've managed to get the major part back online, so now if there's an attack we can at least get a visual."

"That's good," Syd commented as she pushed a strand of her blond hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, on the down side the security cameras for this area down were also knocked out and I think we may have lost months of prior video footage," Boom continued on, "But I think I might have got that fixed now."

As Boom said this the wires he was working on sparked a bit before settling down.

"There, now let's just see how much we lost," Boom said as he pressed a few keys to bring up the first viewable scene going back in the databanks from today.

Hearing this everyone else in the room turned from what they were doing and gazed at the screen as well. After a good period of white static a blurry scene came up. The scene cleared up just a little so that the figures of the Commander and Sky could be made out. The visual may not have been the best but the audio can in perfectly.

". . . What if I made Syd Red Ranger?" the voice of Commander Cruger was heard asking.

Sky's voice could be heard answering with voice that seemed to hold a bit of perplexity and surprise that he would have to point out such a thing, "Sir . . . she's a girl."

Next time in SPD: Elite Defenders: Chapter 03: Two Steps Back: Just as it seemed things were on the right back another setback has happened, this one internal. How will the rest of the team especially react after finding out something Sky may wish was never found out? Also where did the A-Squad rangers end up after being teleported out of SPD Command? And what new plan is Gruumm cooking up? Stay tuned and find out.

Ok, before any Sky fans yell at me and think I am going to bash the guy calm down. I'm not going to bash him but as I said in the pervious chapter I am going to bring up some issues that I think needed to be dealt with long ago. This is going to be the first, well second when you count my idea of what happened to A-Squad. This idea of showing the possible aftermath of Syd finding out what Sky said about his reason she should not be leader is something I have always thought should have been touched on. I think it is especially so for all those who are going to write a Sky/Syd pairing. I have nothing against the pairing beyond that it's not my favorite Syd pairing but I think if you going to pair them together that issue should be dealt with. What Sky said had to be one of the most sexist things a ranger has ever said if not the most sexist. Mind you I wouldn't have made her leader either, but for a guy who had known her as long as he did, he should have had a better explanation than 'She's a girl'. Even with the little the viewing audience knew about her from the tiny bit of show that was seen in that first episode a person could have come up with a better reason than that. Even his answer for why not Bridge as leader was better than that and it wasn't all that great either. Anyway, sorry for kind of ranting there, I just know that very moment, Sky said that he had lost any possible chance of being red ranger and I've always wondered what would happen if Syd ever found out what he said. Don't worry though; Sky's issues won't be the only ones I touch on. Anyway, Read and Review. Peace.