The Carrier Zord was quiet tonight, Taylor had been fortunate, she never had to make one of those calls before. Silently she told herself that she was never going to make another one.
The former yellow ranger reach the door to the gym and was greeted by the sound of someone pounding one of the punching bags. She opened the door with a sigh and stepped inside, "He's still going," Jessi said before she fully stepped inside.
"And you're still here," Taylor replied dryly, "I told you to get some rest hours ago." Getting nothing but a small shrug from the young woman, she turned her attention to the latest red ranger. He was striking the bag with ferocity and power that she'd never seen before. After one strike there was a loud snap and the bag dislodged from it's mounting, slamming into the wall ten feet away, "How many bags is that now?" she asked Jessi.
"Lost count after the fourth," the Silver ranger replied, Taylor glanced at the floor, spotting several discarded cans of Red Bull at Jessi's feet. Nudging one of the cans with her foot, the blonde slowly lowered herself down, "What have you found so far?" she asked
"Most the files are encrypted," Jessi began, "none of the decryption programs are working though." She pushed the enter key and several images flashed up, "According to this the aliens have been extra busy lately."
"Nothing new," Taylor mused outloud,
"Yeah," Jessi cast Taylor a puzzled look,
Taylor let out a strangled laugh, she had fought beasts from thousands of years in the past and her husband battled against criminals from the future, "I've heard of stranger concepts," Taylor said simply, ""Seriously," the two women jumped at the sound of Andros's voice, "I thought I told you to return to your quarters." The Colonel looked over and reluctantly stopped punching the bag, "Same for the two of you," he added towards Taylor and Jessi.
"Sorry, lost track of time," Jessi apologised, "if you have five minutes though, I might have a candidate for the Strata ranger
Andros checked his watch, "Sure." A couple of taps later and the dark haired woman turned her laptop towards the officers, "Angel Grove High School?" he asked, "I fail to see the connection?"
"A High School senior?" Taylor frowned, "is that wise?"."
Jessi shook her head, "Most ranger teams have been teenagers. Plus this teen is worth checking out."
Taylor looked towards Andros who offered a shrug in response, "It's a start I guess but first you're going home to get some rest," she held up a hand to stop Jessi's complaint, "Angel Grove High School at 0800 tomorrow."
Jessi stood up with a groan, snapping her laptop closed and stiffly walking towards the door, "You too Colonel, try and rest up," she added towards Ren. The young man paused and saluted the officers before walking away, "I'm worried about him," she said once Ren had left the gym.
"Ren will be fine, " Andros said, Taylor nodded " Jessi seems pretty solid, I'm sure she'll pass on what she knows to the rest of the team."
Andros looked glum, "What team? I've just come out a conference call with the President, he's pulling funding for Project Zenith." He let out a loud sigh, "We'll have to work with whatever and whoever we've got available."
Taylor gaped for a moment, "But that's ridiculous," she spat, "They expect one trained cadet a scientist and a rookie to be able to handle that?"
"It doesn't matter what I thought, the politicians made that perfectly clear," Andros spat, "The morphers, zords and basic weapons arsenal are ready to go, it just needs someone to use them."
"And someone to oversee the project," Taylor finished.
"Are you volunteering?" Andros asked.
Taylor nodded, "This is Ranger business, I'd be offended if I wasn't at least considered. One condition though," she added with a slight pause, "if I am to mentor this team, I'd want the appropriate rank."
Andros's face was blank and for a moment Taylor wondered if she'd overreached. Andros turned to walk away but as he did, he said, "Get the team together and we'll talk the quicker you get the last ranger the quicker I can return to KO 35 and assist them," he left the gym, leaving Taylor alone in under the harsh artificial lighting.