The first day of the trial had arrived and Newtech City was in lockdown. SPD had cordoned off sections of the city to allow for the transportation of Scorpion Cartel from the intergalactic airport to the courthouse in the center of the city through Pine Ridge. The drive down to the airport had been quiet and tense for the B Squad rangers. Unknown to B squad, Fire squad and Astro rangers, the Dino Fury rangers were also watching the Transport, they had to protect their city. Absolutely nothing could go wrong.

The three car convoy arrived just as the SPD Special Operations transport ship touched down on the landing strip. Stepping out into the sunlight was the instantly recognisable profile of Supreme Commander Cruger. Just behind him was one of the other Supreme Commanders of SPD, Andros and his wife Ashley Hammond. It had over eleven years since either of them had stepped foot on the planet and the native Terran Ashley looked pleased to be back home. The pair was now in their mid forties but still looked in remarkable shape for their age.

Next out of the transport ship was the accused Fresno Bob who was closely guarded by someone familiar to the SPD Rangers, current yellow Space Ranger Charlie Mathews. Just behind her was a tall dark skinned man dressed in a similar uniform to Charlie. His hair was twisted into a number of short dreadlocks and a single diamond earring sparkled in the midday sun. B Squad knew from their briefing that this was Demi Johnson, SPD Special Operations and the current blue Space Ranger.

Once pleasantries had been exchanged the various members of the convoy set off their assigned vehicles. Sky would take point, leading the convoy whilst guarding the two Supreme Commanders. As the two best fighters present, Charlie and Travis would be travelling in the armoured truck containing the accused. The other members of the party would be following behind with Ariel and Z in one vehicle and finally Bridge and Syd in the other. The journey to the courthouse normally took around fifteen minutes but Commander Cruger had instructed Sky to take a steady pace to avoid the risk of any incidents. A trial run suggested that even on the deserted streets it could take up to half an hour to complete the journey.

For Z that felt like an absolute age, it certainly gave her far too long alone with her thoughts. Charlie had been acting weird for the last couple of days. Things had been a little strained between them but the situation had really gone downhill since the football game. When Charlie returned from her errand that afternoon she was unusually quiet, even resisting the urge to playfully tease and taunt Sky throughout their meeting. Z noticed the strange ways the green ranger kept looking at her over the last few weeks. Sometimes she caught Charlie staring like a lovesick puppy yet other times with utter shame. It was really confusing Z and it was getting to the point where she felt like she should say something. But for the last few days there had been nothing, sometimes they went hours without saying a word to each other.

As the journey continued Z kept searching the roof tops, briefly getting a glimpse of the Dino rangers. About half way to the courthouse, her passenger finally had enough of the silence, "You are the worst tour guide in history Z", Ariel teased, "don't quit your day job".

"Hmm", Z mumbled, shaken out of her thoughts, "yeah, sure".

Ariel sighed deeply, "Alright spill it", she began, "if this is about the mission you've got nothing to worry about".

"It's not that", Z replied, "more of a personal situation".

Z finally focused on the road, feeling a little relieved that she had managed to keep following the convoy whilst barely paying attention. She really didn't want Ariel to continue with her line of questioning but the Special Ops officer wasn't giving up, "Did you and Matthews break up?" she began, "shame, you two looked made for each other".

"Me and Charlie?" Z almost choked on her breath, "we're not together and never have been". The yellow ranger gripped the steering wheel of the cruiser a little tighter, "What the hell made you think we were together?" she snorted.

"Please Delgardo I've got eyes, I saw the way she looked at you the last time I was on Earth", Kenzi stated, "like a starving man would stare at a juicy steak".

Z wasn't sure she liked being compared to a piece of meat but Kenzi's crude description actually made sense. Knowing that Charlie fancied her made Z feel a little nervous, she hadn't been with a woman before but she wasn't opposed to the idea. Charlie had a few things going for her and Z thought the yellow ranger was definitely easy on the eye. She had that slightly dangerous edge to her too but maybe that was also the problem. Charlie had walked a dark path before and despite her protestations, there was always a chance she could do so again. After spending her childhood on the wrong side of the law, Z was very happy with life now and didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that.

This led her to a couple of questions, why hadn't Charlie spoken to her about this and what would Z do if the green ranger ever worked up the courage? Looking back over the last few months it was clear that Charlie had felt like this for a while. The yellow ranger was so startled that she nearly lost control of the cruiser. She took a couple of deep breaths to slow her beating heart before making sure that the vehicle was pointing in the right direction, "I'm back and I'm focused", she declared. Out the corner of her eye she could see Ariel smirking in her seat. A few seconds of silence followed before Z continued, "Do you really think Charlie likes me?" she asked in hope.

"Trust me, that girl-" but Ariel never got the chance to finish her sentence.

A sudden and violent explosion rocked the armoured truck, sending it sliding wildly out of control. Z slammed on the brakes and swerved quickly to avoid the crashing into the out of control truck. In the process though she lost control herself. Her cruiser fishtailed before doing a complete 360 degree turn. The yellow ranger barely had time to register the lamppost coming into view before a violent crunch assaulted all of her senses.

Everything was dark for Z but a small part of her brain was conscious enough to pick up on some sounds coming through the radio.

"What the hell was that?"

"Something hit the truck"

"I'm getting the Supreme Commanders away, anyone able to pursue do so".

The next thing Z remembered was a strong pair of hands pulling her out of her seat. Her eyes fluttered open but the bright sunlight was too much for her to bear, "Easy" she heard a calming voice, "I've got you". The dino blue ranger gently dragged her across the road away from her cruiser and across the street.

When she stopped moving Z attempted to open her eyes again. This time her vision was filled with the familiar blonde locks of Syd, "Welcome back to the land of the living", the pink ranger greeted, "you had us worried for a moment". Demi had run off attempting to stop the people trying to free the Cartel.

Z grunted some kind of response before taking a quick glance over Syd's shoulder. Her cruiser was bent around a lamppost with the main point of impact on the driver's side. She counted herself fortunate that the impact had been just behind her seat, otherwise the situation could've been much worse, "Where's Ariel?" she saddened asked in a panic.

"Over here Delgardo", Ariel's voice called out, she was standing up apparently uninjured with her morpher ready to use, "takes more than a little shunt to keep me down". Z had to admire Charlie's attempt to put on a brave face. Judging by the size of the cut the green ranger must be in a significant amount of pain. The medical team would have her fixed up pretty quickly though and probably without any major scarring. It didn't seem like the appropriate time to bring up personal matters but since they were alone and minutes removed from escaping certain death, maybe this was the perfect time. Just as Z was about to begin, she noticed Charlie struggling to stand up, "You should stay seated", she cautioned her partner.

Lina's focus though was on an alley just over their shoulders, "Someone's watching us", she replied with a hushed whisper. She hobbled to her feet and summoned a blaster to her hand. Z was still feeling dizzy from the crash but she just had to get up and provide backup to her partner.

The pair cautiously limped their way into the alley, checking for any intruders. There was an exclusion zone of a block imposed on the convoy route so no one should've been in the area. Seeing there was no one in the alley, Z slowly lowered her weapon, "There's no one here Charlie", she commented.

"Look harder little girl", a strong male voice taunted from above their heads. Standing on a fire escape above their heads was an African-American male with dark curly hair. The man vaulted over the metal barrier and dropped the storey down to the ground, landing softly in front of the women. It was then that Z noticed he was dressed in a dark blue boiler suit with green accents. She suddenly flashed back several months and realised who this mystery man was. This was the green ranger for the disgraced Timforce, "Hello Lina, been a while", the man continued, "and how the mighty have fallen".

"Cliff Daniels", Lina gripped her weapon even tighter, "how the fuck did you escape containment?"

The TimeForce green ranger chuckled, "Oh, it's like that", something suddenly caught Cliff's attention, "They're playing my song", he gave Lina a mocking salute, "we'll be in touch soon". He turned on his heel and sprinted down the alley away the two women.

Z felt close to collapsing and judging by the shaking arms on Charlie, her partner was feeling the same way too. Another set of footsteps coming up fast from behind shocked Z into action. Fearing that another member of A Squad was coming to attack she spun around quickly with her weapon ready to fire. She was a little embarrassed and surprise to see Supreme Commander Cruger suited up as the Shadow Ranger eying the blaster curiously, "Sorry Sir, you surprised me", she apologised.

"So I see", Cruger began, "good reactions though Officer Delgardo". He eyed up the two women carefully, "You look like you've been in the wars".

"The rest of TimeForce are free Sir", Lina blurted out, limping towards the Commander, "I suspect they were behind the attack".

The Commander sighed, his shoulder slumping slightly, "And with the Supreme Commanders in town too", he grumbled, "there's an ambulance waiting, go get yourselves checked out, that's an order".

Z nodded and carefully wrapped her arm around Charlie's waist, gently helping her down the alley. There was a vacant look in the green ranger's eye and Z suspected it wasn't just due to her injuries. Her old team had escaped from containment and on the loose. Something told Z that they weren't looking to play nice either.

Ruby and Demi stood on a rooftop nearby " Well that went well" Demi said, Ruby chuckled " Trust it to happen in our city, now we have Evil TimeForce as well as those two psycho path rangers" Ruby said. " Hope Jessi comes back soon " Demi said. " She shouldn't be too much longer" Ruby said " Come on leta get back to base "