Change
"I'm not so sure about this, sir," Kat had frowned as new Commander Doggie Cruger surveyed their new cadets. The academy had just opened, and while it was her idea to open it to the average human masses (if nothing else for the volume of bodies) they looked...average to her.
"Trust me, Kat," he had said, eyes forward and critical.
"I do," she muttered; that much hadn't changed.
"I'm not sure about this, Commander," Kat had frowned as he dismissed the newly selected B–Squad, including the thieves, Z and Jack. She knew who they were as much as he did but it was still a factor for which she hadn't accounted for entirely. Things would be different, and Syd, Sky and Bridge would have to adjust to that first hand.
"Trust me?" he had asked her stiffly.
"Of course," she sighed, almost put off that he would have to ask; that hadn't changed.
"Are you sure, Doggie?" she had asked when he told her to keep the Cat ranger morpher.
"I'd feel better knowing you had it," he sufficed to say in his worry for her. This was quite a surprise but he was willing to take the change if it meant she was safer. "I trust you."
"Good," she smiled; that hadn't changed.
"Doggie, no," Kat had pleaded tearfully, hearing of Cruger's plan for Omni.
"Trust me, Katherine," he had said it so tenderly that she nodded, heart crying out.
"Always," she nodded and did as he asked; that hadn't changed.
"Are you sure?" she had asked him when he said that he was making Sky red ranger.
"Trust me?" he asked her with a smile.
"Of course, and Sky, I'm just asking," she shrugged; things hadn't changed much.
Jack left, though, and Sky became the red ranger. Bridge became blue, though she had no doubt he'd become red as soon as Sky became a Lieutenant Commander (a rank she had held in honorary as Cruger's second–hand). Syd reclaimed her ususal color but had become the top trainer for new cadets, surprising many, showing off the valiance that had been developing in her for years. Z, between checking on Jack and SPD, had also become a renowned delegate to other forces across the galaxy. Similarly, she took on the color of black ranger, to honor her father. Eventually a new yellow and green ranger were found, as promising cadets from squads D and C, respectively. Although Cruger and Sky became occupied as commanders, Cruger remained as Shadow ranger artillery, as well as the Cat ranger, on command of Sky, who remained on base.
"I guess some things do change," Kat muses to the Sirian to her left.
"Indeed, some do change," Cruger answers, though her cryptic musing is still confusing.
"I mean, Jack is in charge of a major charity organization, with Ally. Z is a top diplomat and our first female black ranger in archive. Syd has become an outstanding trainer and she would be leader of C–Squad by now if she hadn't refused to leave B–Squad. Bridge is a great red ranger, and excellent mentor to the new rangers on the team. Sky is an excellent Lieutenant Commander—not that I'm surprised; he learned from the best." Kat smiles at him, now, and places her fleshy hand over his scaly paw. "You, though...you're the same. You haven't changed."
"Neither have you," he smiles at her. Their gaze is deep, and meaningful. He doesn't ask if she trusts him because, really, he has always known the answer and the question seems silly. "I guess some things really don't change...some do, though, and that's good too."
"Yes, it is," she agrees as she steals a kiss from her husband of almost a year. She guides his paw to the small bulge of her torso. "This will be a big change."