It felt like Tommy waited forever, floating above the desert, waiting to hear from Kimberly - or anyone - what had happened. He couldn't see what was going on directly beneath the airship and the radio was ominously silent, so he had no clue what the situation was.

Then, out of nowhere, he caught sight of something in the sky. A lone glider approached from the east. Katherine and Aisha would have both had gliders. So where was the second one?

The radio crackled sharply, nearly startling him out of his skin. "You're a sight for sore eyes," Katherine commented, her voice nearly lost in the rushing of the wind. She was the one in the glider, then.

"Where's Aisha?" Tommy radioed back.

"Lost her glider the other day," Kat told him. "There was an accident. It happens sometimes. The thing was junk after that. She's fine, though, as far as I know."

That made him feel a bit better, at least. "Any idea what's going on down there?"

"Hard to say. I'll get back to you when I'm on the ground," Katherine responded.

After that, it was just Tommy and the ominous silence again for several long minutes. As Katherine descended and landed her glider, he even lost sight of that.

It was hard to just sit and do nothing. After an eternity his radio crackled back to life. It was Kat again. "We're coming up, and we've got refugees. Hold her steady, these people haven't used an airship before," she instructed. Tommy did his best to obey.

He had never imagined that his first real flight would turn into this. Whatever this was. A rescue mission, he realized. And not just for Jason and the other Rangers, but for all the innocent people they'd rescued. It was suddenly starting to sink in why Trini had seemed so convinced that he might be a spy or a slave trader when she first found him out in the desert.

It was only a few more minutes before Jason entered the cockpit. His face was haggard. He looked exhausted.

He dropped himself into the copilot's chair without a word. Tommy fought against the urge to ask questions, knowing he wouldn't get an answer yet. His best bet, he knew, would be to ask Kimberly about it later.

It was several minutes before Kat came over the radio again. "Everyone's on board and the ladder's been retracted. You're good to go. I'm going to run one more sweep to make sure we didn't miss any stragglers, and then I'll be along."

Tommy radioed back an acknowledgement and started to turn the airship around. It was hard to keep his mind focused on piloting the ship when he kept sneaking glances over at Jason, who was as stoically silent as ever and also appeared to be covered in dried blood. Where had the blood come from? Kimberly had told him that strange and dangerous creatures stalked the desert. She had even showed him sketches of them. But he had not seen any sign of those. All he'd seen during the approach was people.

That was something he did not particularly want to think about.

Luckily, Kimberly came back into the cockpit while he was deciding not to think about it anymore, providing him with a convenient distraction. He hoped that she would fill him in on what was going on, but instead she went to Jason, crouching low beside him and whispering. "You did what you had to," she murmured soothingly.

Tommy kept his eyes straight ahead, occasionally dropping his gaze to check the instruments arrayed around him. What he really wanted to do was stare at Jason and Kim, but he knew he shouldn't intrude. Whatever was going on, they clearly thought it wasn't any of his business. And he supposed that meant it wasn't any of his business.

He listened in on them anyway. At this point, he would take any clue he could get as to what was going on.

"The elders will understand," Kim went on. "They always do. They know what it's like out there. They're as opposed to the slave trafficking as you and Trini -"

"Don't you think I know that?" Jason cut in. His tone was so harsh that Tommy couldn't help but glance over in alarm.

Quietly, Kimberly said, "Those people think you're a hero. Maybe you should try acting like it instead of sulking in here." She stalked out on that note, leaving Jason to seethe. He was remarkably good at it. Tommy knew better than to butt in, so he kept his mouth shut and his eyes forward.

It was going to be a long flight back to the 'Hold.