Chapter Thirty: Time
"End of File One." The computer said.
Omega Ranger leaned back with his eyes closed. He sighed.
"Well, that's a lot of information in just one file... Gee, this is crazy!" He said, standing up from the console to stretch.
He looked around at The Hall of Legends, looking a little different from what he had just witnessed from the time Zordon met the Guardian. Time Force and SPD tech could be seen, strewn about here and there. Omega then let his mind wander after the grueling few hours that he had been archiving old files. He remembered his first encounter with The Hall of Legends...
. . .
Time Force had their hands full one day, when a Mutant known as Gluto had escaped his cryogenic sleep. Apparently he had frozen himself in the year 2001 during the final attack against Ransik, but he took something with him no one knew about: a small device he had commissioned Frax to make for him when they had first traveled back from the year 3000. The device was meant to, if one were captured by Time Force, go off at a time programmed by the user and release them from their sleep. It was a device the intended prisoner could swallow, making it unnoticeable.
Gluto wrecked his way through the Time Force headquarters. They could not stop him, being taken offguard by his sudden escape. Gluto's plan had been to go back in time and change things for his own purposes.
Omega remembered that day when he was called up. It had been not long since he and Nova had changed and secured their own timeline, by travelling back to the time when Grumm was first starting his invasion in 2025. He had been considered a hero among his associates, and was curious to see what his newest assignment would be.
"Sam, we need your help." Dr. Kat Manx had said to him as he walked into her office/lab area.
"How may I be of service?" Sam asked in response, flashing a cheesy smile.
"Our affiliates at Time Force have let us know they have a Mutant on the loose. Here is his file. Read it after this briefing."
Sam looked at it for a moment. He saw the case file as "Gluto" and skimmed through to see some pictures about him. It included a background and relevant fight information. He looked back to his superior officer as he finished skimming it.
"This Mutant is rushing through the building, and from what they can tell from his incessant monologuing and also the direction he is taking, he is gaining on a location in the facility storing a Trizyrium Crystal culture. He seems to be wishing to take a ride back through time like he did before."
"Okay, so why do you need me to go after him? Why can't Time Force handle it?"
"Ever since Time Force anchored their timeline, they haven't had a... particular interest in other timelines. If our timeline changes, then it gets overwritten with a new one, but their's stays intact. They deal more in studying the effects of time travel now rather than protecting the future because, well, they have already succeeded in that."
Sam grunted. "Are you serious? So, if the timeline changes and we get overwritten, they don't care about our blood being on their conscious?"
Kat gave him a sad smile. "This is strictly off the record, okay? Listen... according to what my sources say, the scientists up top at Time Force seem to think it is not murder to not stop us from being overwritten. They see themselves as the prime timeline and we are just an... after effect. We weren't supposed to exist anyway. Our timeline is a result of the timeline being changed after Captain Scotts and her team had returned to the year 3000."
Sam nodded. He knew the story more or less. Paranoid about the future changing after narrowly being able to stop the loss of their timeline, Time Force used some sort of science Sam did not understand to detach their timeline, making it so if anyone traveled back in time, the year 3000 and on would progress unaffected, while the timeline from which they detached would suffer the consequences of time travel, being subject to be overwritten and deleted completely from existence.
"Sooo... you want me to make sure they try their hardest to stop this, right?" Sam asked.
"Of course the Time Force Rangers will try their hardest, don't get me wrong, please!" Kat said. "What I'm afraid of is if they fail... I just don't see the powers that be over there stretching themselves too much to help us save our future."
"Makes sense to me. I'll gear up and get over there." Sam saluted Kat and made his way out.
In The Hall of Legends, Future: Omega Ranger remembered how it had felt to be permitted access to Time Force's era at the time. They were a very elitist type of community. Only the highest of personnel from his time were allowed to go there. As he finished his preparations, he pulled out from his locker the Omega Crystal. He remembered how he had felt taking it out again. He hadn't touched it since he returned home from helping the B-Squad.
The Omega Crystal was a special crystal, along with its "sister" the Nova Crystal. They were a high powered energy source derived from a mixture of different power sources, but mostly Trizyrium Crystals. The special molecular bonding, as far as he understood it, allowed him to travel through time and also across timelines to other dimensions, such as Time Force's.
He had asked Nova if she were coming, too, but she said she had not been permitted. Time Force didn't want too many agents from his dimension crossing over unnecessarily. Omega remembered how bitter he felt toward Time Force for how small they always made people from his timeline feel.
Omega remembered using the Omega Crystal, after morphing into what was at that time his only Ranger mode, at The Entry and arriving just as Gluto had gotten past the last of the Time Force officers. He remembered how Gluto had used the crystals to interact with his Omega Crystal, having the intensity of so many Trizyrium Crystals send him lost into the ether outside of space and time.
From there, Sam's adventure had begun. He remembered how it was when he had landed in The Hall of Legends for the first time. He had met the Guardian who explained to him he had kept the power and knowledge of all rangers in that special place outside of space and time. Omega Ranger had come to realize via what he just seen in the Power Ranger Archives that the Guardian had probably just grabbed him out of a vortex as he floated in the void Gluto had sent him, as he did with Zordon so many years ago.
He and the Guardian had used the Guardian's connections to timelines to communicate with past rangers to help them collect the crystals back from Gluto and those who helped him. Along the way, Lord Zedd had proven himself to be a menace and took over the entire operation, going so far as to be able to break into The Hall of Legends itself. Omega remembered fighting his way through the Inner Sanctum of The Hall after the Guardian himself tried to defeat Zedd. The wear and tear of being in The Hall for so many centuries, though, had weakened him and he was unable to finish the deed. In the end, though, Omega Ranger was able to stop Zedd's plans and defeat him in his power Zord, Serpentera.
After all of that, Cruger and Manx were able to convince Time Force to go through all of the times affected by the event and delete everyone's memories, to protect the secret of Time Force before people were supposed to have a knowledge of it. And, like the Guardian had asked him to, Sam lied on his reports, stating he had an active hand in each battle and had secured Gluto on his own.
All the while, Sam had taken a liking to The Hall of Legends and would come back from time to time in secret, visiting the Guardian and learning to become a better fighter with him. the Guardian had never told Sam, however, of his origins. Sam had always figured the reason for that was that, although they had grown close, Sam still worked for the government and the Guardian had always said he didn't like the government.
Too many people willing to stab each other in the back. the Guardian used to say about them. That went on for a couple of years.
One day, Sam had gone to The Hall to find the Guardian fallen to the ground. He had said his time had come, and his body could not handle the stress of The Hall. At that moment, Sam's life changed forever: the Guardian passed onto him his powers, entrusting The Hall of Legends into his care. The Guardian's powers were transferred to Sam, mixing with his SPD morpher to create a second morpher. As Sam had looked down in shock at the new morpher, the Guardian went to the sleep of death, his body disappearing as he did. Even at the present moment, Omega could not help but choke back a tear thinking of his close friend leaving him.
For close to a year after the Guardian's passing, Sam had not returned to The Hall of Legends. He hid his new morpher in his room, not wanting anyone to find it and ask about it. He had been afraid SPD or Time Force would take it away from him.
"Sam! Move out! We gotta go!" Sam remembered Warren, his roommate, yelling at him one day.
The alarm shortly sounded after his roommate had demanded him to follow. Grunting, Sam made his way to the main command room where Commander Sky Tate waited for them.
Omega remembered looking at the five SPD Rangers already at attention in the room. Sam slinked into place next to the Pink SPD Ranger, Boom. As he did, while continuing to stand at attention, Boom had elbowed Sam in the ribs, causing Sam to let out a gasp.
"Ah! Omega. Nice of you to join us. That will be three miles you owe me before the night is up for being late." Commander Tate said.
Ever since he had taken Anubis' place at SPD Earth, he had run a very tight ship. Discipline was his motto.
Still without looking, Boom gave a smirk to Sam. To get his revenge, Sam tried to elbow Boom.
"Hey! This isn't a playground! Tack on three more miles, Omega!" Sky yelled at Sam. Boom did all he could not to laugh out loud and invoke Tate's wrath himself.
Tate then showed the Rangers the situation that caused the alarm through projections: Leslie Utahime from the SPD branch belonging to the planet Marig had chased a band of aliens to Earth. They were a gang using a deadly virus called Gold Snow to infect the inhabitants of planets, then they would offer them the antidote at an extraordinary price. Gold Snow was some sort of new virus at the time, so no one but its makers had the cure. The virus transformed those infected into mindless machines, leaving their families devastated and willing to do anything to fix the situation. Detective Utahime was requesting SPD Earth's help since she had chased the fiends to their sector.
"Nova is already there. Take caution: they may have Gold Snow with them." Tate warned.
As the six Rangers arrived on the scene, they saw a ranger fighting an enemy, both of whom they did not recognize.
The Gold SPD Ranger turned to greet the newcomers. "Hurry up! They already turned Nova Ranger into one of those... things! This is her here. Careful not to hurt her!"
The battle had rolled on for hours: they were having a difficult time getting the villains to come out of the building in which they had holed themselves. What was making everything difficult was the number of robots defending the place, all infected with Gold Snow. And, one by one, the Rangers were getting infected by the virus as well. In the end of it all, the only two Rangers left were SPD Pink and Omega Ranger.
The two did all they could to claw their way to the building without hurting the victims of the money making scheme gone too far. As they got closer, one of the villains threw a handful of Gold Snow at Omega Ranger. He remembered how he felt as he saw it falling toward him, not enough time left to completely dodge it. Then, he found himself okay as SPD Pink, Boom, took the hit for him.
Omega Ranger had stood there, shocked. The man who had first became a ranger immediately after the events surrounding Gluto due to his constant dedication, had become a ranger with the ability to save people. And although noble, it didn't stop there from being only one Power Ranger left to stop the virus.
Omega Ranger looked around him. He was fatiguing. He only had a short way to go until he would be able to get into the warehouse, but he knew he didn't have the energy to follow through once he arrived at the building. Concentrating, Sam focused his mind on the morpher the Guardian had given him. Through both his ability to cause objects to teleport and his connection to that special morpher, it appeared in his hands. Powering down and strapping on the new morpher, Sam became what he thought of at the time as the battlizer version of the Omega Ranger.
The superior energy he received from the Power Egg enriched Trizyrium Crystal powered morpher was more than enough. He easily paused time long enough to blow past the robots and arrest the alien gang. What happened afterward, however, was what was important to Sam.
Time Force officers had come down from their dimension to interrogate Sam. After some time, they discovered the wonder that was The Hall of Legends. They saw everything through Time Force cameras as Sam showed them around. He did not reveal to them where the ranger powers were kept in the Inner Sanctum, but did show them everything else. Within a year's time, Time Force and SPD had taken jurisdiction over The Hall. Only Sam was able to stay in The Hall, due to his morpher, so he got the "promotion" to be The Hall's keeper and, most importantly to Time Force, an indexer of history.
Every few months, Sam received a new era assignment to index into the Time Force archives. It was a rare event in his current day and age for him to see battle.
Omega shook his head as he snapped out of the trance that had taken him down memory lane. He turned back to the console.
I had completely forgotten about being rejected by The Hall due to the Trizyrium Crystal's radiation...He thought to himself.
He had thought he had all the time in the universe to get his work done. He then remembered that didn't have the robe the Guardian had. He was starting to fear. He didn't know how long, even in suit, he could sit and absorb the radiation The Hall of Legends would emit before he would fall just as had the Guardian.
He sat back down on his seat at the Chrono Workstation. He looked over his notes on his secondary monitor where he indexed what he saw. Going over it a second time didn't make it any less amazing to him. He felt as if he had been watching a special "Who's Who" of the universe. Being able to see beings like Zordon and Sentinel Knight interacting was an amazing experience for him. The birth of Lord Zedd and Scorpius. The beginning of Rita Repulsa's reign of terror, and enigmatic figures like The Queen and Master Estro.
"Computer: run a search for Ultimecia."
Sam said that as his thoughts fell on The Queen and the things the Guardian had told Zordon about her in a different timeline. He had never heard of her and wished to know more.
"One result available. Subject found in 'The Bleed Through Project' archives. Future: Omega Ranger currently does not have authorization for this project. Access denied." The computer replied to him, leaving Omega frustrated with the restrictions Anubis had placed on him.
"Well, I guess only time will tell when it comes to The Queen and anyone else. I gotta keep plugging away..." Omega then used his hands to scroll through the "folder" he was assigned to do first.
"I gotta do this, for the future."
He thought of the attack on SPD, where he saw someone else in his ranger suit attack his comrades. His friends. He knew he had to finish the archiving if he was to ever go back and save everyone.
"Open file two in this folder, computer."
When the file opened, Omega watched as the hologram appeared. While he began to type what he saw, the Red Ranger he had last seen at the old headquarters for the United Alliance stepped forward to speak with Zordon.
THE END
TO BE CONTINUED IN ORIGINS PART TWO: THE ORDER