Chapter Eighty

Rally Ranger

Kat sighed heavily as she stared down at the unconscious form of Julian, her dance partner for almost three years. Their chemistry onstage had been amazing from minute one. He was one of the best dancers she'd come across and they were perfectly suited to each other. They had starred in numerous productions, were making a name for themselves… and then he'd gone and fallen off a cliff.

More like a short hill, really, but still. He'd broken his left ankle and his wrist… and he'd had the misfortune to land upon a tiger snake. Thankfully he'd been hanging out with some friends who knew what to do in the event of a poisonous snakebite, and he was expected to fully recover from both broken bones and venom, but she was worried and stressed all the same. The ankle injury was enough to kill his career if it didn't heal properly, never mind the extremely dangerous snake he'd inadvertently annoyed. The doctors insisted that Julian would be fine, and their ballet company was already talking about physical therapists and personal trainers and so on, but she couldn't help worrying.

She knew it wasn't just Julian's injuries, though. She knew most of her turmoil had nothing to do with his ability to recover—it was mostly just the fact that he was opening an old wound. She had seen dancers' careers destroyed by injury before—a broken bone that was never quite the same, the months of inactivity taking their toll on the physique, the depression that tended to set in when someone who truly loved to dance couldn't walk for even a short while. Yet what really bothered Kat was a seven-year-old vision of Rocky being taken away on a stretcher, stuck in a hospital bed with a neck brace, barely able to move, forced to pass on his powers. It had been the ultimate end to something that had been more than a career for him—morphing had been like oxygen to Rocky, to all of them, and after one little accident he'd never gotten to morph again. She knew he had dealt with it, far better than most would have, but it had changed things for him and for all of them. It had been the reason they'd decided to move on to other things and pass on their powers—better to move on before it was permanently taken away. Better to accept change before change came for them in the form of catastrophe.

Rocky had made a full recovery himself, but he'd never again entered a tournament and there was something slightly reserved about him when he sparred and taught his classes. It had changed Rocky, in a way that was hard to place or notice. He was still funny and strong and generous and he still loved to fight, but there was something cautious about him now. Rocky was one of the few Rangers who no longer believed himself immortal. While they all knew, deep down, that the power couldn't always protect them, Rocky had been forced to face the fact that he was not invincible. On some subconscious level, they all felt as if the power had betrayed Rocky, and they'd left it behind before it could betray anyone else. It wasn't fair, it wasn't rational, but that didn't stop them from feeling it.

"Hello, Kat."

Kat glanced up from her vigil over Julian's bed. "Hi, Lenny."

Lenny had been Julian's best friend since they were three, and as one couldn't spend a lot of time around Julian without running across Lenny he'd become close to Kat as well. He came to stand beside her, gazing at her intently, as if each one of her emotions was written on her forehead. She wished, not for the first time, that he wasn't so damned observant. "How you holding up?" he asked.

"I…" Kat trailed off. She just couldn't bring herself to say, "Fine." Before she knew what she was doing, she blurted out, "I don't want to dance anymore."

Lenny's eyebrows shot up and he hastily laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Kat. Don't talk like that. You're just scared, thinking of all the things that could go wrong because Julian—"

"I'm not scared," Kat said firmly, and that was perfectly true. She had lost a lot of her fear response during her days as a Ranger. They all had—what was scarier than evil monsters? "I… I really don't want to dance anymore, Lenny. Not like this. It's fun and it's a part of me but there's so much else I want to do with my life. I'm not that three-year-old girl who always wanted to be a ballerina and eventually got her wish. It was just a hobby that I wanted to take a little further. I needed to move on and it was somewhere to move on to. I don't know what I'm doing; I really don't. I shouldn't be here. Australia isn't home anymore. It stopped being home the day I had my diving accident. I came back here to prove something, to show my own country I was still special, and it was foolish of me. I don't need to prove anything to anyone—I know I'm special. What does it matter if others acknowledge me?"

Lenny swallowed. "Kat, please, it's okay—"

"What am I doing, Lenny? I'm… I'm… I'm a ballerina!"

And with that, Kat burst into loud, disbelieving laughter. It was suddenly so funny. Here she was, back in Australia, living and dying with her career when she'd left the Rangers under the pretense of needing more time and energy to devote to things that weren't a matter of life and death. Now she never seemed to have enough time for the other things she enjoyed and injury threatened to destroy her team yet again.

"Kat, listen to me. I know you're going through something. I know you're worried about your future and Julian's future but he's going to be just fine and he'll be back in tights in no time. You can't live your life scared that what you have will be taken away. Don't try to tell me you don't love dancing—"

"Of course I do. I love dancing. I love lots of things. I love spaghetti, but you don't see me reordering my life so I can spend more time with spaghetti, do you? No. No, Lenny, I need to move on. Not because Julian's hurt or because way back when Rocky got hurt but because I'm twenty-four and I'm not ready to dedicate my life to anything and I swore to myself I wouldn't live and breathe for one reason and one reason only and I've just now realized I don't live and breathe for ballet. I'm just pretending to."

Lenny took a deep breath. "Look, Kat, I hate to be the bad guy. You know I want to be there for you, but… you can't do this. Not now. You can't tell Julian you want out while he's lying flat on his back in a hospital bed. He's going to need you and deep down you need him. You guys have to pull through this together."

Kat shook her head. "I know. I won't abandon him, Lenny, if I can help it. I just… I can't watch this again."

"Julian isn't whatever you're comparing him to in your head," Lenny said sternly. "He might have opened an old wound for you, but you can't fault him for it. He'll get better and you guys will be back onstage in no time."

"I don't want to be 'back onstage,' Lenny. It's… it's a substitute, is what it is. Just like Tommy racing cars or Adam doing stunts. It's an adrenaline rush and a pretty costume." She chuckled and shook her head, staring down at Julian as he slept. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. This is why Tommy's a paleontologist and Trini works in computers and Jason, Rocky and Kimberly teach. The thrill isn't enough; it's just a distraction."

Kat sighed heavily. Part of her felt stupid for telling this to Lenny, of all people—her dance partner's best friend, the guy who would pat Julian on the shoulder when Kat told him she was leaving. And she was leaving. Soon. As soon as she could without crushing Julian. She'd chased a dream, lived it, and now it was over. Time to wake up.

Then, as if the gods themselves were sending her a sign that she was on the right track, a series of cheery beeps sounded from the old communicator still strapped to her wrist.

Kat froze, then grinned. "Excuse me, Lenny. I have to take this."

Lenny frowned. "Take what?"

"Phone call," she clarified, moving to go around him and out into the hall.

"What are you talking about? Your phone got run over yesterday and—"

"I borrowed my mother's phone for the day, since Julian is hurt and I'm spending so much time here," Kat replied, and the fib came out fabulously easy. She hadn't had to make an excuse to leave suddenly in a very long time, and even though the pang of guilt for lying was still there, it felt good to do something so familiar again. With that, she sauntered out into the hall.

She wasn't sure what had brought on this moment of clarity but it felt incredible to slip out into the hall, casually glance around for people who might overhear, and begin scanning the place for somewhere she could talk without being interrupted. Though she probably could have picked out a number of places, Kat chose to duck into a janitor's closet.

Kat lifted her wrist to her mouth. She and Aisha wore their communicators almost nonstop, as they were the only ones who weren't still in North America, save those who didn't live on the planet. The gang usually called her cell first to check if she was alone before calling the communicator, but unfortunately when Lenny had called to tell her Julian was hurt her cell phone had fallen out of her car window and smashed against the pavement. Three vehicles had rolled over it before she could process its absence, and she hadn't gotten a chance to replace it yet.

"Kat here," she whispered into the communicator.

"Hey, Kat. You alone?" It was Adam, and automatically she noted that there was no trace of impending bad news in his tone.

"Sure." She sat down on an overturned five-gallon bucket and shifted a mop out of the way so she could stretch out her legs. "How've you been?"

"Great, great. Missing Tanya a bit, but she's coming home tomorrow. How's Julian doing?"

Kat frowned, puzzled. "He's going to be fine, but… I thought Tanya said she'd be in Africa until next month."

"That was before Billy came back to Earth."

Kat leaped to her feet, slammed the top of her head into a shelf, and failed to notice even as the sharp pain went through her skull and bottles of cleaning products began falling like foul-smelling grenades. "Billy's back?"

"Yup. Got into town a few days ago. Apparently there was a little miscommunication and we didn't all find out until yesterday. Thank god for that thing with the purse snatcher and the media or we might not have figured it out until Saturday—"

"Purse snatcher? Media? Billy?"

"Long story."

"Shorten it for me, please?"

"Well, apparently Billy went back to Angel Grove last Saturday at the same time as Kimberly and Zack, and Tommy rolled into town with his new team, and there's been nonstop chaos ever since. They hit the beach and sparred and went up to the Power Chamber ruins and somehow some guy we went to high school with tried to steal Kimberly's purse and Tommy decked him, so they had Billy use Zack's morpher to turn the mugger into the cops but the mugger saw Tommy and there was this huge thing on the news about Tommy being the first Black Ranger—"

Kat giggled. "Irony sneaks up on you."

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "T.J. and an old reporter friend of Jason's helped us straighten it out though. Anyway, Rocky and I called them yesterday and found out so we all met up, went to a carnival. Rocky and Zack and the new Red, Conner, hooked up with some axe murderers after we all got kicked out for getting in a knock-down drag-out fight with some clowns and then last night there was this thing with Aquitian water mixing with beer and all I really remember is wildebeests but Tommy somehow ended up posing as a ninja stripper—"

"Adam? You lost me at 'axe murderers,' never mind wildebeests and strippers."

"You wanted me to shorten it."

"I should have known better. But enough about clowns and ninjas, tell me about Billy! How is he? Is he good?"

"He's great, Kat. It was so nice to have him back. Like the old days, before things got… complicated. Before the Zeo Powers and Aquitar. I don't know how long he's staying but I think we might sit on him and tie him up if he tries to leave again. It's so funny to see them back—you know, Jason, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, Zack, Tommy, how they were before Jason, Trini and Zack went to the Conference. They really are a team, you know? Like we were with Sha before she left."

Kat smiled, a little sadly. She had never known what the six of them were like together—the six of them had never been in the same room after she'd joined up, but she had always been aware that within the team there were other groups. The original five, Rocky/Adam/Aisha, the gang and Tommy. It had always felt strange to be reminded that she'd come late to the party, be it through some funny story of Aisha's about childhood with Rocky and Adam or the way Billy used to talk about Trini, Zack and Kimberly. The Rangers had always accepted her at face value, always made her feel like she'd been a part of them her whole life. It had been the best part of being a Ranger, far better than weapons and power and even zords.

Adam cleared his throat, probably wondering if he was making her uncomfortable. "Uh, anyway, the reason Billy's back in town… they're having another Power Rangers Day in Angel Grove Park on Saturday."

Kat's eyebrows rose. "I thought they stopped doing that after the entire town got kidnapped."

"They did. The mayor decided bringing back the old Rangers would boost tourism, give the town some publicity—all the new teams popping up, people are starting to forget Angel Grove a bit. I'm sure he has a million reasons, but when it comes down to it, the city is expecting the Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, Black and White Mighty Morphin Rangers to show up in the park on Saturday. So Trini convinced Billy to come back and T.J. wants to organize a major party tomorrow evening; we're inviting every team we can get in touch with. Tanya and Aisha are flying in tomorrow. I was kind of hoping you would, too. We all were."

Kat opened her mouth, then closed it. She would feel kind of guilty about leaving Julian alone, but he was fine, really, would probably be released soon… it might be hard to get a flight… but Billy was back. She hadn't seen him in ages, only for a few minutes at Jason and Trini's wedding, but they talked as often as they could over her Aqua-phone…

"I'll try my best," Kat told him. "Seeing you guys again… it sounds like exactly what I need right now."

"If you can't get a flight, let me know. Tanya could maybe get you a private plane."

"I will. I can't wait to come home."

Home. Kat hadn't called it that in a long time, but somehow calling it that made it truer than it had ever been.

"Okay. …Um, hey, Kat?"

"Yes?"

"It's… it's not going to be weird for you, is it?"

"Weird? Why would it be?"

"Well, you know, Tommy and Kimberly are going to be there and they're kind of… chummy…"

"So they're together again?"

There was a long, almost-panicky pause. "Um, no. N-not that I know of."

"So they're friends again?"

"In… in a weird way, yeah. Kind of trying to… forgive and forget."

"Good for them," Kat said sincerely. She'd felt very badly for Tommy after Kimberly had dumped him, and she and Kimberly hadn't really talked since. They'd exchanged a few tentative letters at first, but the letters had been practically impersonal, just dry bits about their individual lives, the sort of thing one might put in a thank-you note to a distant relative. Then the incident with Divatox had come up, after which Kat had never been able to contact Kimberly. She'd tried, numerous times, but she hadn't known how to approach the Tommy subject, and every time she tried to put her thoughts to paper that Kat knew what it was like to turn against one's friends it always came out as if she was asking for an apology for Kimberly's actions. Kimberly, likewise, had stopped writing afterwards, and as the weeks went by not only did Kat keep failing to verbalize her thoughts but she couldn't figure out how to apologize for not writing in so long. Before she knew it, a couple years had passed and she hadn't heard anything about Kimberly, wasn't even sure the address was still valid.

Still, she hadn't really held a grudge against Kimberly on Tommy's behalf—none of them had. Kimberly was well within her rights to break up with him, and the only thing her friends could do about it was try to cheer Tommy up. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it wasn't Kimberly's fault she'd met someone else and moved on. People broke up all the time. The only upsetting thing about it that had affected Kat was that Tommy no longer wanted a long-distance relationship with anyone, and Kat couldn't pretend it hadn't been for the best in the end. Kat certainly didn't have time to call someone every day, or even every week, and Tommy had moved on with his own life, graduating from college, becoming a teacher, starting his own Ranger team. It had bothered her at the time, but Kat had come to see Kimberly's effect on Tommy as more of a blessing than a curse.

"So it won't upset you to see Tommy and Kimberly again?"

Kat was startled. "Of course not, Adam. Why would it? It might be awkward, yes, but certainly not debilitating enough to keep me from coming back and seeing Billy if at all possible. Not to mention everyone else. And I'd love to meet Tommy's new team—I suppose everyone else has already made all the good jokes by now, but I'd love to take a shot at him for picking up a new color. Remember the days he'd have when he'd come to school dressed in all green and mutter something about trying to assure himself that the white wasn't taking over?"

Adam laughed. "Yeah. He keeps wearing two or three of his colors at a time—doubt he could pull off all four at once."

"I imagine he's gotten creative about how to do it, though."

"Probably. Well, listen, I'm going to try and get in touch with Hayley—"

"Hayley, Tommy's friend? The one who knows about us?"

"Yeah, her. Tommy said she'll have the number of the Ninja Storm Rangers. I'm kind of interested to meet them—a secret ninja academy sounds like my kind of place. He said he'd have her call, but, you know, Tommy's memory…"

"Ah. Well, I suppose I should get back to Julian and try to find a flight out to—"

The door to the closet opened. A fifty-something janitor blinked at her in surprise, then inspected the cramped closet, as if wondering where her companion was.

"Hello," Kat said cheerfully. "Can I help you?"

"Need mop," he muttered uncertainly.

"Here you are, sir," Kat told him, handing him the bedraggled floor mop. "Have a lovely day."

He took the mop, stared at her in confusion, and started to say something. Kat smiled at him and pulled the door closed. "Everything okay?" Adam whispered.

"Yes. I'm in the custodian's closet, and the janitor needed a mop. Makes one miss the hallway outside the Youth Center."

Adam chuckled. "Well, I'll see you when and if you get here."

"I'll beep you to let you know I'm on my way. By the way, my cell phone had a freeway accident, so I've only got the communicator at the moment."

"Okay. I'll let the guys know."

"Thanks, Adam. See you soon."

Kat dropped her wrist and exited the closet, ignoring the suspicious custodian mopping a few yards down the hall. She moved purposefully towards Julian's room; she'd let Lenny know what was going on and then head home to make travel plans. With any luck, she'd be able to find a flight that would let her arrive in time for the party; if not, she'd just have to settle for showing up for Power Rangers Day.

She smiled benignly at the clerk as he checked her identification, matching her face to the photograph on the cheap piece of plastic. He nodded, handed her license back, and ran her credit card.

It was amazing, really. Blending in on Earth had been much easier than she'd imagined. Maybe someday soon she'd be able to convince Doggie to join her; they could do some good on this planet. He was still fighting the Troobians—his entire planet had been decimated five years ago, one of the first to fall to Gruumm, and he wasn't ready to give up dreams of revenge just yet. He was helping the Aquitians realize just how dangerous Gruumm could be—the destruction of Sirius and of the Space Patrol Delta organization had gone unnoticed by many solar systems, and Doggie was having a hard time rallying support against Gruumm, who for all intents and purposes appeared to be one upstart in a dilapidated ship. The armies, the fleet, the allies—Gruumm was keeping them in reserve, bringing them out only when he planned to completely destroy an entire planet, making sure no one knew how large his forces were. No one really took Doggie's wild claims of huge armies and endless resources seriously, but maybe now that all those criminals had escaped detainment on Xybria…

Don't, she told herself sharply. It's not your problem anymore.

It really wasn't. She had relocated to Earth four months ago, and had been amazed that for all their Power Rangers, all their space travel, all the attacks from mutants and aliens, their technology was incredibly primitive, which made it easier to blend in. Creating an identity had taken a few short hours, and suddenly she had money, an apartment, and a history as a human woman named Dr. Katherine Manx.

The name had come from Doggie. When they'd first met, fighting together in the ground forces of a ragged Space Patrol Delta force on the dying planet of Heuno, she and Doggie had regarded each other with the natural animosity of their races. She'd called him "Doggie," he'd called her "Cat." As their camaraderie grew, the names became terms of endearment, and other members of their unit had used them as well, until she began to think of herself more as "Cat" than "Manx," her given name. She supposed there was some subconscious indicator in there, something about the fact that nearly every member of her race was dead now so she wanted to remind herself of where she came from and who she was, but she didn't want to dwell on it much. Doggie had chuckled when he'd heard she was "Dr. Katherine Manx" now. He'd only asked why she'd changed the spelling, and she'd explained that her native language only had fourteen letters and "C" wasn't one of them; as such, she kept forgetting which way the letter "C" faced. As she was well-known for her vast intellect, she hadn't wanted to risk forgetting how to write her own name.

"Sign here, please."

The clerk put a slip of paper down in front of her. Katherine Manx, she wrote, and tried not to laugh.

She handed the slip back and glanced out the window again. He was still there. A guy with short, spiky dark hair, dressed in fashionable street clothes and fancy sunglasses. He had been following her for at least three blocks before she'd made it to the corner market, at which point he'd stood across the street and watched, assuming she couldn't see that far, didn't notice him. He was apparently unaware of how good her vision was, which would work to her advantage.

"You know what?" she told the clerk. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to need plastic, not paper."

The clerk glowered at her a bit but transferred her belongings to plastic bags. She didn't have much—milk, cheese, bread, butter, and some Meow Mix for snack food. The stuff was addictive. One of Earth's better accomplishments.

She thanked the clerk and hefted the bags carefully, already coming up with plans for all worst-case scenarios. She hoped the boy who was following her wasn't going to start something. She was quite hungry and wouldn't appreciate any delays.

She started down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of her apartment. Then she cut down an alleyway and ducked behind a dumpster. A moment later, hurried footsteps sounded and a male voice whispered, "Damn."

Kat carefully hefted the bag with the Meow Mix, praying it didn't burst in the coming fight and cursing herself for leaving the house without a weapon. She was always trying to minimize her own suspicion—hat over the ears, makeup and hairstyle designed to cover the markings on her face. She knew that if she was apprehended by Earth's authorities, being an alien would have been bad enough without worrying about a concealed weapon, and her hand-to-hand skills were sound—but the guy moved like he had training, and he was doing fairly well at stalking her. If it hadn't been for her eyesight, she wouldn't have figured it out.

Kat carefully filtered out the less-than-pleasant odors of the alleyway and focused on those pertaining to the young man. He had that too-clean smell of a human who cared too much about their appearance. The gel in his hair, the perfume of his soap, the cologne clinging to strategic bits of his skin, the detergent and fabric softener and shoe polish… she imagined a human woman would think he smelled nice, but to Kat his scent was cloying, almost overpoweringly so.

She started to focus on the other scents clinging to him—the ones that he'd picked up in his home and favorite hangouts, all the places he'd been. A few of them seemed rather foreign, as if he came from a very bizarre place that few Earthlings went… but before she could place anything else, a series of beeps sounded, and a woman's voice crackled over some sort of electronic device. "Yeah?"
"It's me. I lost her. I'm in an alley four blocks south of the—argh!"

Kat had meant to do a slightly better job of ambushing him, but she couldn't risk him giving his position to reinforcements. Letting out a hiss, Kat swung the bag of Meow Mix into his face.

He stumbled back but didn't fall. Bad sign—it meant he was used to fighting, to taking and receiving heavy blows. Kat released the bag, letting it slam against the dumpster and fall to the ground. Refusing to be distracted by thoughts of lost Meow Mix, Kat hissed again and moved into a fighting stance.

"Um, hello," he said cautiously. "I'm Lucas. What's your name?"

Kat sprang at him. Even though she'd startled him, Lucas was unbelievably fast. He darted to her right and she sailed by harmlessly, but Kat hadn't won the Unlariandran Hunting Award three years running for nothing. She landed on her hands and launched herself back and to the side, straight at Lucas's chest, but she collided with the dumpster with a resounding clang. She'd lost sight of him, but she didn't have time to find him; she was flying forward now, and it took some quick agility to twist in the air and land on her feet.

"Wow," Lucas remarked from a good twenty feet away. "They weren't kidding about the cat-people thing."

Kat's eyes narrowed and she leaped at him, fighting, clawing, kicking. He landed a few good hits but whatever his orders had been, hurting her didn't appear to be among them and he didn't do much but deflect her blows. A few dizzying moments later, Lucas was flat on his back and Kat was kneeling on his forearms, squatting over his chest and staring down into his eyes. He didn't look scared, just… on guard. Cautious. Also a bad sign.

"Who do you work for?" Kat demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted.

"Right," she snorted. "Why do they never talk until after you make them bloody?"

His eyes widened. "There's no need to make me bloody. I just want to talk."

Kat bared her teeth in the frightening smile that warriors of her race prided themselves on. "It was a rhetorical question."

Kat lifted her hand, sharpest fingernail extended, and slowly began lowering it to his face. She was only a couple inches from Lucas's cheek and fighting the urge to snicker at the rising panic in his eyes when a woman's voice shouted, "Hold it!"

Kat looked up. A brunette girl was leveling some sort of weapon at Kat's head. She was athletic, no older than twenty-five, but she had a commanding presence. And she was wearing pink.

Three others were standing behind her—a man in red, a girl in yellow, and a guy with green hair that could have passed for Asian, but Kat recognized him instantly as a Xybrian.

Color-coded.

She glanced back down at Lucas. His shirt was blue. Kat rolled her eyes.

"Let him go," the pink girl ordered.

Kat climbed off of him quickly. "You're Rangers."

The girl lowered the weapon, surprised. "Yes. We are."

"Which ones?"

"Time Force. We're from the year 3003."

Kat cocked her head to the side. "I recognize you now. You fought in the year 2001, correct? Against Ransik?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "I'm Jen. This is Katie, Trip and Marcus." She nodded at the girl, the Xybrian and the man wearing red in turn. Then she jerked her head at Lucas, who was carefully feeling his face for disfiguring scratches. "I believe you've already met Lucas Kendall."

Kat nodded and picked up her bag of Meow Mix, inspecting it critically. Still intact. Good. "So. What do you want?"

"We're on a very top-secret mission," Marcus said importantly. "And we need your help."

Kat rolled her eyes. This was just what she didn't need. She was alone, safe, living out her life on a planet that had other warriors to fight the wars. She had television. She had Meow Mix.

She picked up her bag of groceries, extricated the large carton of milk, and opened the flaps and took a swig. This planet had really good milk. The preservatives and the varieties… not to mention things like yogurt and half-and-half. This was a beautiful planet and she wasn't going anywhere. There were plenty of people out there in the universe to go on top-secret missions. They didn't need her.

"I hate to break it to you," Kat said slowly, taking an almost possessive swig of her milk, "but I don't do missions anymore. I got tired of all the little nuances like being shot with laser cannons and my entire unit being wiped out by Troobians while the rest of the universe insists that Gruumm isn't a serious threat."

"This isn't that kind of mission," said Jen, shooting a warning look at Marcus. He nodded and fell silent, deferring to her.

"Regardless, I think it's time to move on with my life," Kat said firmly. "I'm already a hundred and twenty-seven in Earth years. It's time I started enjoying my life."

Trip frowned. "That makes you twelve in Xybrian years, doesn't it?" Katie looked questioningly at him. "Twenty-two or so, human years," he translated.

Kat made a dismissive hand motion and took another swig of milk, wishing she was at home where she could drink it properly, with a saucer or at least a bowl. "It doesn't matter. I'm through fighting."

"This mission doesn't involve fighting," Jen said firmly. "We're actually more interested in—Lucas, would you put the stupid mirror down?"

Kat turned to see Lucas holding a small mirror, inspecting his face. "What?" he demanded defensively. "She went for the face."

"Anyway," Jen said loudly, "this isn't about fighting. We need your expertise."

"As what?" Kat asked wearily.

"A scientist," Trip supplied.

Kat perked up before she could stop herself. Science. She'd graduated top of her class at a premier galactic science academy… but that had been ages ago. Her planet had been attacked by the Lurans, and every able-bodied citizen was called to join the military. By the time the Lurans were beaten back, the planet's defenses were so weak that Gruumm had had no trouble swooping in and wiping them out, and suddenly Kat was just a refugee from a dead world, hitching rides from planet to planet and taking whatever work she could. No one cared about her science degree, her brilliance—including her. She'd been busy just finding food and shelter, until she'd been stranded on Heuno and the Troobians attacked. Doggie had led the resistance, mostly ex-members of S.P.D. before it had fallen. She'd joined him, and they'd come very close to winning, until Gruumm had gotten the bright idea to fire blasts into the sea until tidal waves and floods threatened the people into surrender. She'd left the planet with Doggie, fighting with him, but it had never been about much more than revenge. She wasn't a warrior. She was a scientist.

"In case you haven't noticed," Kat said slowly, "I've never held a single position in the scientific field. My background's all military."

"But you have a brilliant scientific mind," Trip said eagerly.

"A mind that we're going to need," Jen added in a tone that brooked no argument and brought to mind the five of them strapping Kat down, leaning over her with scalpels and a jar in which to put Kat's soon-to-be-pickled brain.

"We know all about your background," Trip said cheerfully. "And your future. We're Time Force, remember?"

Kat stiffened. Time Force. The year 3003? Nine hundred ninety-nine years in the future. They could tell her a lot. They could tell her how to beat the Troobians, or if her planet would ever be rebuilt, or—

"Smile," Marcus joked, "you have a destiny!"

"Great," Kat muttered. "What exactly do you want?"

"We want you to help us begin the Earth division of Space Patrol Delta," Katie told her.

Kat frowned. "S.P.D. is dead. The separate bases have all been wiped out and—"

Jen shook her head. "Not all of it is gone. A few key members are left, rebuilding the organization in another galaxy, gathering what resources they can and hoping to reclaim their status as law enforcement of the galaxy. In about fifteen years, they'll have the Earth division up and running, using the research and technology you will have developed to better the planet and assist in the colonization of Earth by numerous alien refugees. And you and Anubis Cruger—"

"Doggie?" Kat interrupted, startled.

"Yes. You and he are going to begin work on a new stage in S.P.D.'s evolution. By the year 2025, you and Cruger will be in command of Space Patrol Delta's Earth headquarters. Your research will change this planet. And, by the year 3000, Space Patrol Delta will have evolved into Time Force."

Kat digested this, staring hard at Jen. From what she could gather, Jen was being truthful. Jen was determined to win her over… and if Jen was right, Kat would soon be able to put her talent and passion for science to good use. But it sounded too good to be true. Why would they share that much of the future with her? Wasn't that dangerous? Or had they been told to do this? Was this moment in the alley, with Kat drinking from a carton of milk and leaning against a dumpster while the Blue Time Force Ranger checked his face for scratches and the Red Time Force Ranger hummed a cheery tune, was this part of history?

"Well, then," Kat said slowly. "You say I'm supposed to found Space Patrol Delta's Earth division. So let's pretend I believe you and accept your bizarre little mission. What, exactly, does your little mission entail?"

"Well," Jen began carefully, "first, we begin to gather a team. Of modern-day Rangers, mostly. Those involved in the technology behind Power Ranger capabilities. Those who know about the morphing grid, and the physiology and sociology of Power Rangers. Then we begin the research."

"A team? How large is a team?"

"Fifteen people, including us," Jen replied, in a careful tone that made Kat suspect Jen was omitting something important.

"And how, exactly, are we going to gather up nine Earth Rangers?" Kat demanded. "That could take ages. No one has seen most of the teams in years. T.J. Johnson claims—publicly, anyway—that Rangers rarely reside in the city in which they fought once their powers have been passed on. Tracking them all down would be exhausting and beyond time-consuming—"

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Marcus. "We've got it covered."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Just about every single Power Ranger to date is going to gather in the same place," Katie explained. "All the ones on Earth and most of the ones who aren't."

Kat stared at her in surprise and worry. "Really? Why? Is there going to be an invasion?"

"Better," Lucas told her. "There's going to be a Power Rangers Day."

End Notes: This chapter was kind of weird, because the plot that we usually hide under copious layers of freak accidents broke through to the surface and presented itself. Coming up, though, we've got lost Conner, more Bulk and Skull, and a monkey, so hopefully that will make up for us being cruel enough to spend a chapter focusing on plot. Review!