"Commander Cruger, come in this is Commander Corbett."
Cruger was standing at his post when the message from Michael Corbett of the Mirinoian base made contact. In the pit of his stomach Cruger knew something was amiss just by the sound of his comrade's voice; something was wrong, very wrong… "I'm here, Mike. Go ahead…' Cruger brought the communication up on the screen. Just as he did Kat entered into the room, she too sensing something was wrong the moment her eyes locked onto the screen where Mike's face was being shown, he looked just as he had all those months ago when two squads and several cadets had been killed, while on a mission on another planet. "What's the urgency?"
The middle-aged Commander sighed heavily, still reliving the details of what he had seen and heard, but knew he needed to tell Cruger what was going on. "At about 0600 this morning, my B-Squad Rangers, led by my son, entered into Varanox 12 to answer a distress call they had picked up while on a routine training assignment of traveling the space galaxy…" He cleared his throat, his face becoming very serious. "I'm afraid something terriable has happened, sir…"
Kat shared a concerned glance with Cruger, who was at a loss for words. He had been afraid ever since he had left the planet that something was going to happen and apparently something had. The only question now remaining was what. "What happened…?"
"….They're all dead, Lt. Logan, his squad ….even the prisoners. Nobody was left alive..."
He couldn't believe it, he had been afraid that something bad was going to happen, but he had never begun to imagine that it would be this bad. For a brief moment his thoughts turned to Logan's young nephew Willie, how was he going to tell the young boy his only remaining relative was now dead? ….But unfortunately tending to Willie would have to wait, as a more pressing issue remained …who was the killer. "…Was Mirloc among the dead?"
There was a long pause before Mike even responded, but his silence was more than enough. "I'm afraid that it only gets more complicated. The holding cell that Mirloc was being held in was occupied, but…" He started to reach his hand over to some type of control center. "Perhaps it would be better if you see for yourself. This is the video feed that my son sent to me, that the security cameras picked up." He bit his lips, eyeing them both. "…I should warn you …it's disturbing."
The picture on the screen soon switched over from Commander Michael Corbett to the prison holding cell where Cruger had talked with Mirloc. For a few short moments they watched as Lt. Logan showed a man wearing a dark black cloak in and then reaching for his harness, pulling out his weapon and handed it to the cloaked man, as if he didn't even have to think about it, almost as if he trusted his life with this cloaked man.
"….I have a bad feeling about this," whispered Kat, as she and Cruger continued to watch the video feed, listening to the chilling conversation between Mirloc and the cloaked man, which only brought on more questions. What were they talking about? The cloaked man seemed even more frightening than Mirloc, which scared both of them to a chill, because both of them knew that Mirloc was evil through and through, he was not the type to be scared easily.
And the moment the trigger from the blaster was pulled, making contact with Mirloc, that's when their worst fears came out. Kat's eyes and mouth both widened. "….Oh my…. I don't- I don't believe it!" Her heart nearly skipped a beat.
"It can't be…" Cruger couldn't believe his eyes, but the moment the blast made contact with Mirloc, the body shimmered to reveal another body, that of a Mimican, very much like the one the Rangers had faced called Slate, who ironically Mirloc had led them to. After that was when all hell broke lose, Lt. Logan stormed in with his officers, and the cloaked figure went on a gruesome killing spree, blood splattered all over the place and begging for mercy played out, but the cloaked man showed no sympathy as he killed everyone, no one was left standing. And for a brief, all too quick moment the cloaked figure turned around, staring directly at the camera, and that's when through the darkened cloak, they saw two glowing eyes.
"Doggie?" Kat turned to her old and trusted friend. "…You don't think?"
"Damnit!" he roared as he slammed his fist down. "We never recaptured him…"
The video feed then switched back to Corbett, whose face was grim, knowing that this would be troubling to Cruger. "I'm sorry, sir. …I know this must come as a shock to you."
"Yes. Very much indeed." Cruger sighed heavily. "I underestimated Mirloc; he is far more powerful than I ever thought."
"He fooled all of us, Commander…."
"Yes, but I should have seen it. I should have known the moment he was able to provide information about Slate that it was all part of his plan to escape." But that wasn't even the most troubling thing about this situation. "…And now I may have condemned Sky to death."
"Doggie, you should call Eric, tell him what's going on." Kat knew that Mirloc would be coming after Sky and wouldn't stop until the young Red Ranger was dead.
"….I'm afraid there is more, sir?"
"What could be worse than this?" asked Kat.
"….I was just contacted by Dr. Zaskin from Earth, she told me that certain files in the database were hacked into and stolen at Bio-Lab…"
"What kind of data?" asked Kat, knowing that Bio-Lab had some very important data and if they fell into the wrong hands it could be a catastrophe.
"The kind that could alter history…"
The last call Eric was expecting to get early in the morning, nine o'clock to be exact, was from Holly Zaskin. She was Mike Zaskin's twenty-eight year old daughter, who four years ago had joined Bio-Lab's top team of scientists alongside her father, who happened to be his C.O. partner in the ownership of the company. "What?" Eric exclaimed into the phone, as he walked circles around the living room. "Are you sure…"
"Daddy, you keep blocking my TV show!" whined little Wesley, as he tried to look around his father to watch his show.
"Shut-up Wesley, can't you see daddy is on a very important phone call?" announced twelve year old Erin, as she sat in a chair reading her book.
"Be quiet, booger breath!"
"Now I remember why I went to the academy," muttered Megan, in annoyance at her brother and sister's bickering, as she set plates around the dinning room table for their guests that would be coming over for breakfast.
Ding. Ding. "Megan, could you please get the door, it's probably Tommy and Chase," Hayley called out from the kitchen, as she was getting their breakfast all prepared.
"Sure thing…" Megan answered as she set the last plate down and headed towards the door. When she opened it, not only did she find her favorite uncle and new-found brother, but Drake and Jenny as well. "Morning, everyone."
"Jenny!" cried Wesley excitedly, as he came running over to the group, very happy to see his sister's friend.
"Hey, she's my friend, bugger-breath!" Erin exclaimed, as she pulled her little brother a few feet away from Jenny and took her friend's hand. "Come on, Jenny, I'll show you my new dress that my daddy bought me."
"Okay!" Together the two young girls headed towards the stairs with young Wesley chasing after them.
"Hey, wait for me!"
"See what you've got to look forward to?" said Megan, eyeing Chase with a grin.
"…Oh they can't be that bad," grinned Chase.
"Hey Megan, is Sky around?" asked Drake, wanting to be able to talk to Sky before they all sat down to have breakfast, considering how their last conversation had gone all those months ago.
"….Ah, that might be kind of hard to do, since-" Megan's words were lost with her father's frustrated call.
"How could this happen? I thought that our security measures are up to date!" He ran his hand over his face, knowing that this wasn't good. The kind of information that had been taken wasn't the kind you wanted to be getting out, especially in the wrong hands.
"Problem at the company?" asked Tommy as they all walked inside, closing the door behind them.
"Yeah. I guess sometime early this morning some data was stolen, he's been on the phone all morning."
"What kind of data?" asked Drake, slightly concerned. He knew well enough that Bio-Lab still did contain information about the future he came from, information he knew would become troubling if it ever fell into the wrong hands or was used in the wrong way.
Over the years Megan had overheard a few conversations her parents had had with Drake, even one when she learned that years ago he had once been known as Alex Drake and not as Drake Alexander, as she knew him today. All she knew for sure was that there was something about him, that he had some big secret that only her parents and uncle Tommy knew about. She had figured that he might be CIA or some other top secret ops. One time she had even tried to find information on him online, but could find nothing, almost as if he didn't exist. "I…I don't know, he wouldn't say."
Just as Megan finished her sentence Chase's Ranger morpher began to beep. Three sets of eyes fell onto him as he answered it. "This is Lt. Ryder, go ahead…" In the pit of his stomach, he knew that Cruger would not be contacting him unless it was an emergency, and he had a feeling in the back of his mind that whatever Cruger might be contacting him about, might be somehow related to what Eric was talking about on the phone.
"Chase, I need you to report back to the academy immediately. Something urgent has come up and I require your assistance…"
"Okay. I'll get there as fast as I can …but Sky isn't here…"
"It would be better that he doesn't come and remains where he is."
"Why?" Chase was very aware of all the looks everyone was giving because of that statement; by now they had even been joined by Hayley who was sending concerned glances both at her son and Eric, who was still on the phone with Holly, but apparently had overheard what Cruger had told Chase.
"…Everyone is standing around you, aren't they…." Cruger didn't even need Chase to answer him. He knew well enough that they were standing around. And though he didn't like it, he did owe them all an explanation for his reasoning of not wanting Sky involved, not to mention the fact that it would be all over the news once word got out. "Just a short time ago, I was informed by Captain Corbett that Varanox 12 …was attacked, all officers and cadets, including prisoners, were murdered. But I'm afraid it gets much worse, it seems that for these last several months the prisoner who we thought was Mirloc turned out not to be him…."
The room was dead silent, the only sound that could be heard was the phone dropping from Eric's hands and hitting the ground. "Sir, are you saying Mirloc's at large?" asked Chase.
"Yes… But I'm afraid that it doesn't end there, it seems that Mirloc hacked into Bio-Lab's systems and stole information regarding time travel. Kat and I believe that Mirloc plans to travel time…."
"To do what?"
"We're not sure, that's why we need you to come back to the academy…" There was a short pause. "….But you do know where Sky is though, right? He is somewhere safe?"
Eric's face turned white as a ghost, not having any idea where Sky could be. He had hoped that Sky had just taken off to blow off some steam and would return to the cabin, but that was late last night and no one had seen or heard from him since.
Sky stirred awake as he felt little drops of water hit his face. He slowly opened his eyes, unsure of his surroundings, he had a massive headache and everything was blurry around him. "Hey kid, you okay?" asked a man hovering over him, as he splashed more water into Sky's face.
"Huh…. What?" Sky muttered, still feeling the effects of his drinking spree.
"Must have been one hell of a party you went to, but you are on private property, kid."
Sky shook his head as he ran his hand over his face, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. His memory was a little fuzzy. He pushed himself up, wobbling a little, and blinked his eyes a few times to get a better picture of where he was. "I'm not on private property…." Sky leaned against the wall as he tried to get a hold of himself. "…This house belongs to my family."
The man, who appeared to be some sort of gardener, looked at Sky strangely. "Nobody has lived in this house ever since Alec Collins died…"
"Yeah. Well, I've been away for a while." Sky eyed him sharply. "…Look, he was my grandfather, okay, so you don't have to call the cops. In fact I am the cops, I'm with SPD."
"….Schulyer." The man chuckled to himself. "I thought you looked familiar, it's been a while."
"Yeah." Sky really wasn't in the mood to go down memory lane with the gardener that he supposed had known him from childhood. "Look, you wouldn't happen to have a key by any chance? I left mine back at my apartment in Newtech City."
"Yeah, sure." He pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the door for Sky. The Myers family had left him in charge of keeping the house up, making sure the lawn was taken care of and so on. "…You okay, you seem-"
"I'm fine," Sky quickly answered as he walked through the front door. "Thanks for opening the door."
Once inside, Sky headed upstairs to take a shower, just letting the hot water pour over his body, hoping to get rid of the headache that was pounding in his head and the sickly feeling in his stomach. He knew he had overdone it; he had never consumed that much alcohol before, but at the time it was the only thing that seemed to help with his anger and frustration with everything that was going on: his relationship with Syd, his issues with Cruger and Chase, and then finding out that his whole life had been one big lie. He had so much on his plate that he felt like his mind was going to explode.
Sky turned off the water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist before stepping in front of the mirror. Even with the shower he was a mess; his eyes were reddened from the drinking and the rough night of sleeping outside on the cold ground. He splashed some water on his face, trying to get rid of that look, when he looked up. He saw an even more frightening view of himself. "You really are a pathetic sight, ranger boy…" He heard himself sneer. "…You're not even worthy of being called a Red Ranger."
"Shut the hell up!" Sky yelled as he smashed the mirror with his fist, shattering it. The horrifying reflection of himself in the mirror was gone, but now had been replaced with several images of himself, with the same look, staring at his now bleeding hand, breathing heavily. Sky sighed as he raised his hand to the sink, picking out the pieces of glass in his hand and then wrapping it with a towel. He entered into the bedroom to get dressed, all the while ignoring the ringing sound from his phone, telling him he had messages.
Once dressed, Sky walked down the stairs into the living room. He had wrapped his hand up with some gauze and bandage that he had found in the bathroom. He took a moment to look around the large living room, a place now that only reminded him of the lies that had been told to him. It seemed as though his whole life had been one betrayal after another. His eyes fell onto a family photo, one that had been taken just a few weeks before his father had been murdered by Mirloc, but now he didn't know what to think of the people in the photo. He wasn't sure how they could have ever really cared about him, they hardly knew him, but most of all ….the part that made him the most angry and upset was the fact that he wasn't sure if he really loved them or if it was just put into his head. He snapped out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone, Sky took his phone off his belt and looked at the screen. It was Eric.
The phone continued to ring; for the next hour and even more, Eric was continually trying to get a hold of him and for a moment he considered answering the phone, at least to tell Eric that he was all right and not to call him but… then in the slight reflection in the phone, he saw a flash of his reflection, but changed slightly, like before in the bathroom. "….Don't answer it… You don't need him… We both know you're better off on your own… Besides, why would anyone want you anyways…"
Frightened by what had just happened Sky flung his phone across the room, hitting the wall, completely breaking his phone into pieces. He took a few quick breaths and ran his hand over his face, thinking that perhaps he was hallucinating. "I've got to get out of here…."
"Have you been able to get a trace of him, Kat?" asked Cruger, as he hovered behind her. Years ago, back when Mirloc had first been arrested for the murder of Wesley Collins, they had implanted a tracking device in him with which they could monitor his whereabouts. It had been nearly forgotten but going over old records showed that he had in fact been placed with an old tracking device. They just hoped that Mirloc had been unsuccessful in removing it and that if he had traveled through time they would be able to pick up where he had gone.
"…No. The signal is weak; one second he's there the next he is gone." Kat sighed heavily as she typed into the computer quickly. "What I'm going to try to do is to create a transport link through the device that Mirloc has stolen from Bio-Lab and link it to our device that you'll give Chase to go after him." She turned to Doggie. "It won't be exact. They will be in the same time, but the location may be off slightly. So in theory, what should happen is that anytime Mirloc travels to another time period Chase will be thrown into that time also."
"…Sir!" announced Chase as he promptly walked into the room. "Reporting for duty."
"Good, you're here." Cruger left Kat to her work on the computer and walked up to Chase to debrief him on what would be going on. "Right now Kat is working on a device that should allow you to follow Mirloc through time and bring him in. Now there are a few things I need to go over with you about time travel, as it is not usually practiced in training."
"…Of course, sir."
"…Is something going on?" asked Z as she and Bridge walked into the Command Center. "…We were told that the base is under a red alert."
"Yes it is, but I need to speak with Chase alone regarding a mission I will be sending him on."
"What kind of mission?" asked Z, not liking the sound of Cruger's voice or the look on Chase's face: something was up.
"An important mission that may require him to travel through time, but he will be going alone on this mission." He eyed the two carefully. "The rest of you will remain here, I cannot afford having all the Rangers involved on this mission."
"Something bad happened, didn't it?" questioned Bridge. "….Because normally isn't it the Red Ranger who goes on these types of standalone missions ….did something happen to Sky?"
"I can assure you that for the moment Sky is fine, but due to certain circumstances he cannot be involved in this mission." He eyed the two hard. "Now if you two will excuse us, I must brief Chase."
Without another word both Z and Bridge left the Command Center, both knowing that more was going on here than Cruger was beginning to tell them. They entered into the common room, where they found a large group of cadets surrounding a TV.
"Grant, what's going on?" asked Z, as she and Bridge headed over to them to see what all the commotion was about.
"I think I know why we're under a red alert…"
Z and Bridge turned to the TV, and their eyes widened as they watched the galactic news report. "This is not good," exclaimed Bridge, now understanding why Cruger did not want Sky to be involved.
"Sky's going to be pissed when he hears about this," exclaimed Z. She understood Commander Crugers concerns for wanting to keep Sky in th dark, but she knew full well that her team leader was not going to be happy about being kept out of the loop.
"Why'd you lie to me?" Sky exclaimed as he stood in front of his father's gravestone. "How could you even look at yourself in the mirror everyday, knowing you were lying to your son?" Maybe he was being rash, acting like a crazy man, standing there in front of his father's grave, a place that was supposed to be meaningful and peaceful, but at the moment all he wanted to do was scream and shout at the man –he couldn't. No, his father had died long before he could ever tell him the truth.
The hard-head, stone wall Red Ranger struggled to control himself, pushing back his tears, not wanting to break down. He wanted to be angry; he wanted to be furious with his father for lying to him, for never telling him the truth. "You should have told me!" He took a deep breath. "Damnit, Dad! You should have been the one to tell me." Sky clenched his hands tightly together, just wanting to punch at something –anything. "Not some guy that I don't even remember, hell, I don't even know you." He was breaking apart inside, a lot more than he wanted to admit. He was hurt. Hurt that his father, his hero, the man he had looked up to and wanted to be just like, never told him the truth. "….I don't know anything that's real about my life anymore…."
Slowly Sky made his way back to the parking lot where he had parked his father's old motorcycle. Since his car was in Reefside and his own bike was at the repair shop back in Newtech, it was his only way of getting around. He was about to get on the bike and drive off, when his ears caught the sound of a kid listening to his portable radio.
"….Now in galactic news, SPD is under a red alert as one of the most dangerous fugitives is on the loose. Early this morning Mirloc…."
"Kid, turn that up." Sky felt a lump in his throat as he listened to the report, hoping against hope that he had heard wrong.
"….killed several officers and prisoners on Varanox 12. The fugitive known as Mirloc is reported to be on Earth. Anyone that sees him should stay away from him and to contact SPD personnel immediately…"
"Why didn't anyone call me?" Sky hopped onto the bike, helmet was placed tightly on his head as he sped off.
"Now, it is important to limit yourself from any contacts you may run into." Cruger knew he had to be very straightforward with Chase. Time was a fragile thing, especially when the time he was sending him to would be the past. "…Anything you say or do could have drastic results." He nodded to Kat, who in her hand held a small device that looked like some sort of gun, but not a typical blaster. "…If you should run into problems, use this memory wiper gun. It will erase the memory of anyone who has had contact with you, but then you must make a quick exit."
"Yes, sir," answered Chase, understanding the situation as he took the device from Kat and placed it on the other side of his harness. "When do we get started?"
"…You will be leaving in under an hour."
Chase nodded his head, knowing as much as Cruger and Kat that this was a very dangerous and risky mission, one he might not be able to come back from. But it was his duty as a Ranger and officer to bring Mirloc in and prevent him from doing any damage in the timeline.
Sky arrived back at the academy in a flash after he had heard the report about Mirloc; he had sped all the way back to Newtech City. He stormed down the halls of the academy like a man on a mission. He didn't even notice Sydney who was just a few feet up ahead of him, heading towards him in a rush, her face urgent. "….Sky, I need to talk to you…." She had just gotten to the academy a few minutes ago. She hadn't expected to see Sky, since last she knew he was still in Reefside, but she was glad to see him because she really needed to talk to him.
"Not now, Sydney." Sky moved past her as he turned down the hall in the direction to where the Command Center was. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her or anything that was going on between them right now; all he cared about was dealing with the Mirloc problem.
"But Sky, it's important… I think that-"
Frustrated and pissed off with the fact that Mirloc was loose and no one had contacted him on the morpher to let him know, he turned to her angrily, taking all his aggression and fury out on her. "Look, I don't have time for your damn petty problems, all right?! …I have more important things to deal with than you right now." He looked at her hard, a look that could send chills down your spine. "So just leave me alone, Sydney!" With that said he went back on his way, leaving Syd alone, tears in her eyes and her heart shattered.
"Why the hell didn't you contact me!" roared Sky, as he marched into the Command Center to find both Cruger and Kat standing around Chase, looking as though they were preparing for something big. He eyed Chase and watched as Kat placed some sort of device on his wrist, whether he was more angry or hurt he didn't know as he turned to Cruger. "Mirloc is on the loose, and you call him…."
"Given your prior history with Mirloc, I thought it best to call Chase and assign him to bring Mirloc back in." He locked his eyes with the angry young man. "It was nothing personal-"
"Nothing personal!" Sky raised his voice. "He killed-" He tensed up, feeling his anger burn through him. "…I was the one that let him escape in the first place. It should be me that brings him in."
"I'm sorry Sky, but I cannot risk you to go on this mission." Cruger stepped forward so he was face to face with Sky. "Given your emotional state, you would only be a danger to yourself and everyone else."
Chase gripped Cruger's shoulder, letting him know he had it from here. He looked at Sky sympathetically. "Look, I get it Sky, I understand, but we both know that when it comes to Mirloc you can't think straight." He stepped in front of his teammate, gripping his shoulder. "I promise you, I will get him for you. You have my word."
"I don't give a shit about your word!" Sky shoved Chase's arm off of him. "….I won't let you take this from me!" He grabbed a hold of Chase's wrist where the device was. "I'll be the one bringing Mirloc in." He looked Chase hard in the eyes. "Not you…"
"Sky, stop this; you're being irrational." Chase tried to fight Sky off of him, but couldn't.
"Sky, stop this at once!" ordered Cruger.
Kat's eyes lit as she saw that in the process of Sky's trying to yank the device off of Chase's wrist, he had activated it. "Oh no…" Before anyone could do anything, in a bright blue flash both Sky and Chase disappeared.
Cruger's eyes widened in fear, this was not good. Not good at all. Not only had Kat not been able to finish putting the last finishing touches on the time travel device, but now they had two Rangers missing. They could be anywhere in time and one of them was a high-risk factor right now. "Kat…"
"I'm already on it." Kat rushed to her computer, hoping to pinpoint where they could be, but the signal was weak and vanishing. "I'm losing them." Her heart pounded against her chest as she turned to Doggie. "…They could be anywhere, Doggie, and I don't know if I'll be able to get them back…"