Silver Hills, Six Months Later

Eric sat on the giant wooden spool that sat in his front yard near where the birdcage hung. His eyes watched the two little birds inside flying around each other, playing their little game. It was almost like tag, at least the best tag little birds could play.

"Hi Eric!" A happy little voice called from behind him and Eric smiled gently at the little girl as she immediately looked at the cage. "How are they doing today?" She asked.

"They're good this morning, Alice." Eric replied with a smile. Alice lived next door to him with her single mom. The woman worked a lot, and when Alice wasn't in school she'd be either home alone, or would come over and watch Eric's birds.

"I like Saturdays." Alice commented as she watched the two little birds playing with each other.

"Why's that?" Eric asked her.

"No school." Alice grinned and wrinkled her nose at the same time. "Do you have to work on Saturdays?"

"Sometimes." Eric replied. "But not today."

"That's cool." Alice frowned. "But I think everyone should get a day off."

"Most people do." Eric said, watching her.

"My Mom doesn't, and when she does, she spends the whole day working on laundry and stuff. I wish we could just go away for a day." She said wistfully.

"I'm sure you guys will get a chance to do that someday." Eric tried to comfort her. "Your mom is busy with her new business, some day it'll be successful and she'll have more free time."

"I know." Alice frowned.

"Hey guys." A female voice came from Eric's driveway and he did a double take in surprise at who was walking toward him. It was Rachael's black corvette that sat there, but the woman who walked toward him had shoulder length blonde hair.

"Bronwyn?" He asked and she smiled.

"Hey, who's this?" She looked to Alice and extended her hand.

"I'm Alice, are you Eric's girlfriend?" She asked curiously. Bronwyn laughed.

"Haha, no, I have a boyfriend, I'm Bronwyn." Eric's eyebrows raised and she blushed. "Lucas." She shrugged.

"Oh, Eric needs a girlfriend." Alice nodded and Eric's head fell into his hands. Bronwyn looked like she was trying to hold back laughter.

"Does he now?"

"Yep, it's not healthy to be alone." Alice nodded. "That's why my Mom has me." She grinned and glanced at her house. "I'd better go do my chores before she gets home. Bye!" She waved to the two adults and the birds before running around the fence and into her house.

"She's cute." Bronwyn tucked her lips into her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Yeah." Eric frowned. "What are you doing here?" He glanced at Rachael's car.

"Recruiting you."

"For?"

"Well it's no fun if I just tell you." She grinned. "Come on, Rachael's getting Wes." She turned on the heel of her flip flops and started back for Rachael's car. Eric didn't move and Bronwyn frowned at him. "I'll let you drive." Eric finally moved and went into his house to grab his wallet before getting in the driver's seat of the shining black sportscar. "Pedal to the metal." Bronwyn grinned. "Driving is a lot more fun with these old cars." Eric snorted at her comment and revved the engine, keeping to the speed limit, annoying Bronwyn.

"Hola." Bronwyn called as they went into the Collins mansion.

"Hola to you too." Rachael yelled back from another part of the house and they followed the sound of her voice to one of the back rooms. The room was like a study, books lined every wall of the room, floor to ceiling. Wes and Rachael were in the middle at a huge oak table, both leaning over a communication screen that had yet to be connected. Rachael looked up and Eric had to force himself to keep walking with Bronwyn. A year in Spain had somehow made her even more beautiful. Her skin was tanned from the sunshine, and her hair had been cut shorter, feathered bangs around her face and reaching down just past her shoulders, but her face itself surprised him. While in her teen years she could have been described as 'emo', her face was clean of dark make-up and she now looked more like a young woman than anything else.

"Hey." She smiled at him and he nodded back, crossing his arms as he came to stand behind her.

"So you two are together again." He glanced between the two girls.

"I stole her from Barcelona, barely recognized her." Bronwyn grinned at her best friend who rolled her eyes.

"Just because I grew up a little." Rachael brought up a spinning emblem on the screen. It was a badge with three letters on it spelling SPD. "Ready?"

"Go for it."

"Go for what?" Wes asked, but the emblem started spinning and disappeared revealing a large blue dog in its place. Both Wes and Eric were startled and stepped back but Rachael grinned.

"Hello Commander Cruger." She nodded.

"Lieutenant Collins." The dog spoke, nodding to her and then acknowledged Bronwyn. "Lieutenant Scotts."

"Commander." Bronwyn greeted him. "These are the two we were talking about, Wesley Collins, and Eric Myers." She gestured to each of the guys who nodded, still taken aback by a talking dog. Rachael turned around and started to explain.

"Commander Anubis Cruger is a part of a police organization that operates from the farther regions of this galaxy and the next one." She explained. "They're interested in putting a base here on Earth, and contacted us through Time Force to help them."

"They picked us?" Wes asked with knit brows.

"Us and a few other former rangers." Rachael nodded. "We've been invited to tour the Alpha Base."

"Yes, it would be our pleasure to show you our operation as we hope you'll be inclined to help us protect your planet. Your planet has been chosen due to the successive attacks from the past eight years, adding you to our SPD arsenal, we feel it would be beneficial to us and you." Commander Cruger said from the screen. "Andros of KO-35 will be bringing by his Astro Megaship Mach 2 to bring you within the next week."

"We'll be at NASADA then." Rachael nodded in agreement. "Good bye until then."

"Good bye and good luck rangers." Cruger nodded and disappeared from the screen as the SPD emblem returned.

"That was interesting." Wes looked as if he'd just experienced the weirdest thing in his life.

"That was a talking dog." Eric said looking between the girls who were smiling.

"Rachael's face was pretty funny when she first met him too." Bronwyn giggled as Rachael rolled her eyes. "I'm kinda used to seeing aliens."

"Well aren't you lucky." The dark haired girl wrinkled her nose as she started packing up the things. "I'm excited to see the base." She grinned as Wes helped her pack. "From what we figure, it'll be a great addition to the protection of Earth, something along the lines of Lightspeed Rescue on a much larger scale."

"I liked the Lightspeed Rangers." Wes commented thoughtfully. "We just saw Carter." He looked at Eric who shook his head at Wes.

"You weren't supposed to mention that." He muttered and looked at Rachael and Bronwyn who both looked curiously at them.

"Oh yeah." Wes grinned.

"You did that on purpose." Eric accused with a frown.

"Yeah he did." Rachael laughed, "Now spill." Wes launched into a full account of their Forever Red Mission, all the details of seeing the past red rangers and seeing the newest one, Cole, again. Eric even put in some details, keeping Wes' story accurate.

One Week Later, Astro Megaship

Rachael sat in one of the chairs on the bridge of the newer model of the Astro megaship, thrilled to be in space for the first time. Time travelling had gotten old since she'd done it so many times, but space was something different entirely, and although Bronwyn would never want to admit it, she was excited too. At NASADA they'd met Andros and his wife Ashley, his sister Karone and her boyfriend Leo Corbett on the ship. After waiting for a while one of the Wild Force rangers, Danny Delgado showed up with former yellow ranger Tanya Sloan. It was an odd combination of people, but Tommy Oliver was meeting them at Alpha Base later along with a few other former rangers.

Trying to be social with the former rangers, Rachael went over to Tanya, Karone and Ashley to try and make conversation. The three women welcomed her warmly as they started talking, Bronwyn coming over a few minutes after. Ashley's hands were wrapped carefully around her largely pregnant belly, a look of pure joy on her face.

"Andros didn't want me to come." She smiled and looked down. "But I wouldn't let him leave me." She grinned widely looking at the other girls who laughed. "Only a month left, I'm not letting him out of my sight."

"I don't blame you." Karone nodded at her sister-in-law. "Having you here distracts him from how much he distrusts Leo." She rolled her eyes.

"Why doesn't he like Leo? He seems like a nice guy to me." Tanya asked curiously.

"I'm his little sister, and after me being, well Astronema, he's a little protective." Karone blushed a little.

"Oh older brothers." Rachael rolled her eyes. "Wes hasn't let me break a nail since I broke my arm in our last battle."

"Oh yeah, right before you almost died twice." Bronwyn frowned at her and they laughed together, sharing stories of stubborn red rangers and their many near death experiences as rangers.

Eric watched the girls laugh out of the corner of his eye as he sat with Wes, Andros and Leo. Rachael looked happy, making him mentally sigh; there was no getting over that girl. He'd gone out with Taylor probably twice, the first was pretty good, giving him a little hope, but she was uneasy around him, and he with her. Their second date had the pretenses vanish and they both realized nothing was ever going to come from this, so they said their farewells early and Eric retired to his little house to watch a hockey game and wonder what Rachael was doing. He thought about the one kiss they'd shared a lot. When she'd woken up in the hospital the next day, she said she didn't remember anything that had happened the day before, even the other rangers leaving was a surprise to her. Eric had been crushed she didn't remember it, but after days of thinking about it, he decided it was better that way, she went to Spain and he stayed, watching Wes have what he needed.

Apparently before saying good bye to Jen, she and Wes had agreed that they weren't going to be able to have a relationship over a thousand years, and that it would be best for them to try and see other people. Wes hadn't gone out at all, but, as luck would have it, he literally ran a girl over when he was out on a day off. Courtney was a very pretty girl who was Rachael's age, only a year or so younger than him, and her calm manner was just what Wes needed in Eric's opinion. He was goofily happy whenever he went out with her, and just made him even happier all the time, which meant that Eric had to deal with him in close quarters about it.

"Anyone know the current team?" Andros asked with a crease in his forehead, the comment bringing Eric back from his thoughts, tearing his eyes away from the dark beauty.

"No, I haven't heard anything since we stopped." Danny shook his head. Leo frowned and leaned against the computer consol with a thoughtful look.

"I think I heard there've been some things going on in Blue Bay Harbor." He said, "I don't know if they're rangers, I think so though."

"Blue Bay Harbor." Wes repeated. "I haven't been there."

"That's impressive when your father owns most of California." Eric quipped quickly, getting a frown from Wes but grins from the other three.

"There it is." Andros announced. They'd been travelling for four hours at the fastest speed the megaship could reach, and now they were in eyeshot of the planet. The girls came over to look out the large window to see it. Rachael stood between Eric and Wes, her eyes glued to this planet she'd never even heard of until the last few days.

"Wow." She whispered at the planet that was still pretty far away, but at least now in their sights. He found it hard to watch the planet instead of her, but Eric managed to look out to the amusement of Ashley, Andros, Karone, and Leo who were all seasoned space travelers. "It's strange that I think of time travel as nothing, but this makes me stare in awe." She smiled at the absurdity. Eric couldn't help but smile with her; she was so pretty when she smiled.

"That's a very interesting way to look at it." He commented, looking at her with a smile.

"And you don't look half as bad when you're smiling." Rachael lifted her one shoulder at him before turning back and returning to where Ashley was sitting. Eric watched her go and shook his head to try and clear it of whatever confusion the dark haired beauty was causing in his mind. God he loved her.

Hours later they entered the planet's atmosphere, and soon landed in the large open docking bay the huge base had set up around them. Bronwyn hooked her arm through Rachael's, nerves shaking through her. Rachael laughed.

"Don't you know what happens here?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm nervous." She frowned and Rachael's mood instantly changed at her friend's comment. If Bronwyn was nervous that meant something was going to happen to affect their futures, but it wouldn't be too terrible if she was still going with them.

"Welcome to SPD." Andros said finally as he shut down the Megaship.

"Let's do this." Ashley tried to stand, but a look of pain crossed her face, Andros at her side in an instant.

"Maybe you should stay onboard." He frowned as she shook her head stubbornly.

"You should." Leo agreed and looked to Karone. "You stay with her?" The blonde nodded.

"I don't need to see a base, just take some pictures for me." Karone smiled and took Ashley's arm, forcing her to sit down again. Defeated from weariness, Ashley sat down and laid her hand over her large stomach and nodded as Andros kissed her head and went to the door with the other rangers.

"Thank you." He muttered to Leo as he passed him without looking. Leo grinned as Wes came up next to him, laughing and taking his fellow red ranger by the shoulder. They didn't walk far before seeing many different creatures in the concourse, most of the Terran rangers seeing them for the first time. Rachael and Bronwyn were still arm in arm, Tanya following them near as Andros, Leo, Eric, and Wes walked in front of them.

"Guys!" They all turned to see Tommy coming down the steps toward them.

"Tommy." The four red rangers shook hands with their colleague before hugging Tanya and introducing himself to Rachael and Bronwyn.

"This way, Commander Cruger said he'd meet us upstairs in the lab, they're busy working on morpher prototypes." He motioned with his head for her to follow him and they did, winding through the metallic hallways past many cadets, all different shapes sizes and colors. Going into the lab Rachael felt out of place, her father owned labs, but she never liked them. The labs were the reason he'd been a workaholic and never been around for her and Wes after their mother died. She knew he felt the same way from the glance he gave her as they went in.

"Hello." The large blue dog from the video screen came forward and shook hands with each of them and gestured behind him to a feline looking woman. "I am Commander Anubis Cruger, and this is my assistant Dr. Katherine Manx."

"Pleasure." The feline said stiffly, nodding instead of extending her hand.

"We are in the process of creating the morphers that will soon be used to create ranger teams all over the galaxy." He began explaining, and didn't stop, going on a long winded explanation about how they should allow SPD to have an Earth Branch, and so on. Rachael gave up listening, instead watching the several people working in the room. A very handsome looking man had his eyes completely on Tanya, watching her every move, and grinning awkwardly when she caught him looking. There was a woman with dark curling brown hair falling around her head focusing perfectly on her work, not looking up once to look at the visitors, but occasionally looking annoyed that they were there with little twitches of her eyes. Rachael would usually assume this meant she was single, but a sparkling diamond on her third finger told her otherwise.

"Gavin?" Dr. Manx interrupted Rachael's thoughts as she addressed the man who was barely focusing on his work. "Could you go to the basement and get the Idonium Nine that we need?" She pointed to the chemicals laid out in front of her.

"Sure thing." He grinned at Kat and winked at Tanya before disappearing out of the room. A few seconds later the severe woman was pouring chemicals together and a weird type of vibration echoed through the room. Kat looked at them all, she'd felt it, but didn't know what. Rachael's hand flew to her stomach and her eyes to Bronwyn who was frowning with her eyes shut.

"That didn't hurt like I thought it would." She whispered quietly.

"What was that?" Rachael hissed.

"I can't say." Bronwyn shook her head. "The only reason I knew was because it's common knowledge where I'm from." She blinked a few times. "It'll all be fine."

"Are you all alright?" Cruger said concerned for the visitors.

"Yeah." Wes responded oddly, frowning while looking at his friends. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure, Dr. Manx?" Cruger asked in almost a legitimate growl. He didn't just look like a dog; he was definitely a dog based alien with similar characteristics. Kat was shaking her head while examining the chemicals the dark curly haired woman had mixed.

"I don't know." She sounded panicked. "The chemicals Adriana mixed for power leveling seemed to react with the fumes from Gavin's compounds for energy conservation."

"And that means?" Eric snapped he felt weird. It felt like chills had gone down his spine, but they were a warm pleasant feeling that was just weird.

"I don't know." Kat shrugged. "If you all felt something, I'll need samples to figure it out for sure, and even then I don't know what I'm looking for."

"And you want us to let you onto our planet?" Leo shook his head. "We don't need you coming to our planet, messing with our lives more."

"I agree." Wes shook his head. "I was onboard until this happened. I don't need to see the rest of the base; I'm going back to the Megaship."

"I'm with you." Rachael nodded, and Bronwyn silently stood by her. Commander Cruger looked as if his hopes were crashing around him and he had no control over it. But this was something even the most trusting of them were uneasy about. Tommy was shaking his head slowly, and started backing out of the room, the other former rangers following slowly and proudly, their heads held high as they exited the facility.

(Short, but totally worth it as I'm sure you could all tell exactly what just happened there, it comes in handy with my impending sequel, which will take an eternity to get posted, so don't be too anxious)