*Hey everyone, I'll be posting about 3 little sidestories here with more of a focus on light hearted humor and friendship. After all, even in the middle of a fierce and serious intergalactic war, there's still plenty of laughs and absurdity to be had.

Mission Log: Supplemental 01

It was a crisp and cold early December morning as Lieutenant Erik Dobermann Jr. stood in his quarters ironing a pair of slacks that were part of his duty uniform. Sunlight streamed in through the windows while a light snowfall sprinkled down outside blanketing Atlantis Base in a pristine white layer of snow. While he worked, he divided his attention between his task and the video call being taken from his desk nearby.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but you know I can't just take time off whenever I want," Erik sighed while his daughter Sarah pouted on the other end of the line, "I was home for a while just a week or two ago. I have work to do here."

"But Papa, this is important!" Sarah protested with a petulant huff. She crossed her arms and began whining, "All the other kids' parents are going to be there for the school recital. We're going to be singing Christmas carols and decorating the school and having cookies and..."

"Sarah..."

"Please Papa? Just for one day?" she insisted, "As long as the bad aliens don't attack you can come, right?"

Erik sighed and tried his best to gave her a somewhat stern look, "I'll do my best to come, but no more whining. You be a good girl and get ready to go to school today, all right? We'll talk later."

His daughter gave a bright smile and kissed her hand to the screen, "I promise I'll be good Papa! Thank you!"

As the call ended Erik shook his head and gave a sigh. When he finished ironing his extra set of pants, he folded them up and then walked over to his desk. He saw a stack of datapads that he still had to deliver today. He had done some reports and paperwork and needed Martin to sign off on them... which gave him an idea. He took a datapad and quickly began drafting a document. He wasn't certain his scheme was going to be successful, but if he was going to try and make it to Sarah's recital, it was worth a shot.

A little while later, Erik headed down the hallways of the base until he came to Martin's room. He rang the chime and waited a few moments before he heard his friend give a muffled reply on the other end. It sounded like "Enter."

Erik strolled in and stopped as he spied his commanding officer laying in bed with the covers over him. A vaporizer was working in the corner and a handful of tissues were on the bedstand as Martin sat up slowly. The Red Ranger looked haggard and miserable. His nose was red and he looked like a mess. Erik approached slowly, "Uh... Captain? Are you okay?"

Martin sniffed and waved it off while speaking through a stuffed nose, "Not really. Turns out a common flu bug did what the Xenos couldn't do for a year... completely knock a Ranger out of commission."

"You picked it up while visiting home?"

"I spent one of my last days of vacation going tobogganing with Chrissy. Serves me right I guess," Martin sighed as he sneezed, "Now what is it Erik?"

The Blue Ranger quickly held out a stylus pen and the datapads, "Oh sorry to bother you sir, but I just needed you to sign off on these reports. They're due today."

Martin took the pen and quickly initialed all of them without looking, "Fine. Good. If that's all, I'm going to go back to bed."

"Right then... feel better Martin," Erik said with a straight face as he collected the datapads and hurried out of the room. Once he left, Erik grinned as he held up the last document of the stack, "I know I'm feeling better already."

Meanwhile, Ella Catalano ambled about the base's mess hall kitchen. There had been a lull between the morning breakfast rush and lunch leaving the Pink Ranger a few hours to have access to the cookware. In a way, she was fortunate to be allowed to be there. The cooks on base tended to be a bit protective of their domain but Ella had been lucky she made friends with the head female chef. Only during off hours had Ella been allowed to play around in the kitchen but even then she used that time wisely, not only to experiment with her recipes, but also to befriend the other cooks there too.

On that particular day, she was hard at work making a special cake. Jake's birthday was coming up and she wanted to give him a special treat considering he was the newest and most junior member of the squad. She hummed a cheerful tune as she finished baking the last layer of the cake and pulled it out of the oven. Soon enough she'd put it together and layer some frosting over the top. While she prepared the filling and the mixed the frosting, she stopped and wondered what the rest of her teammates were doing today.

In the R&D lab, Jake Massey sat on a lab stool and spun around on it idly. Nearby, Dr. Lucy Beckett was busy on her laptop programming computer code into a robotic device on a nearby table. She glanced up and gave a sigh to the Silver Ranger, "Corporal, do you mind? You're distracting me."

"Sorry Doc," Jake said as he stopped his spinning, "I'm just really bored today. Everyone else already has other chores or errands to run. Julian told me you were working on something interesting so I figured I'd take a peek."

"Well... he wasn't lying," Lucy shrugged as she unplugged the robot and put it into a little enclosed pen, "Look at this."

Jake watched curiously as Lucy punched in a few commands into her computer and the little robot in the pen sprung to life. It was designed like a crab with several legs and a central body about the size of a football. When it received the signal, it rose up on its legs and began to scuttle around the pen. "You made a remote-control spider crab thing?"

"Not just any spider crab," Lucy pointed out. "This one uses some advanced Artificial Intelligence codes derived from the new Adventi database. I've been busy upgrading your weapons, but this has been an experimental side project of mine."

"What are you trying to accomplish?" Jake asked.

Lucy sighed patiently, "If the Adventi and Xeno Machina both have common origins, perhaps this AI will give us some clues about our Xeno enemies. They're bound to use some similar programming or techniques for their droids so if we can understand their behaviors and tendencies, we may have an edge when fighting them."

"Brilliant… but it does sound a bit dangerous too, don't you think?" Jake mused.

"As long as we're careful about it," she replied. "Now, I'm going to go on a quick bathroom break. If you want to make yourself useful, you can keep an eye on the droid here for a few minutes."

Jake gave an easy salute as she left the lab, "No worries Doc. I can do that."

A few idle minutes passed and Jake watched the robotic droid scuttle around its pen. He took a pencil and poked at it a few times watching in amusement as it reacted, almost like a real creature would. "Hmm… why don't you and I give Dr. Beckett some really interesting data to analyze."

He reached in and picked up the crab droid before removing it from its enclosure. He watched as the little droid scurried around and tried to get a sense of its new surroundings. Moments later, the lab doors opened and Lucy walked back in, but not before her eyes went wide in shock. "Jake? What the…"

Seeing its opportunity, the crab droid scuttled along the floor and zoomed out of the lab, right under her feet. She jumped a moment before turning furiously on the Silver Ranger, "What have you done?"

"I'm sorry Doc," Jake said recoiling in surprise, "I was just having a little fun with it! It seemed harmless enough!"

"That thing is an experimental AI! Who knows what it's going to do or where it might go!" Lucy exclaimed in outrage, "We have security protocols in the lab for a reason! If we let that thing interface with other systems on the base, there's no telling what might happen!"

Jake scratched his chin with a serious nod, "Understood. Then we'll just have to blast that thing before it gets away!"

As he took off running out the hall in pursuit, Lucy adjusted her glasses and tossed her labcoat aside to follow him, "No! Don't do that! Wait for me!"

While all that commotion was going on, Erik strolled through the base's central atrium obliviously humming his own cheerful tune. As he made his way toward another wing of the base where the transporters were located, he came across Erin Reilly who was on her way to do some research on another project. Erin stopped her comrade and gave him a curious look, "Erik! Hey! What's going on? Why are you out of uniform?"

Erik attempted to wave it off casually, "I'm going home for the day to see Sarah sing at her school holiday recital."

"And the Captain actually granted you a one day pass?" she asked skeptically.

Erik produced the datapad with the document and signature, "See for yourself."

The Yellow ranger studied the order for a moment before looking back at Erik, "What are you playing at Dobermann? I smell a con here."

Erik walked with her and put a conspiratorial arm over her shoulders, "Maybe Martin was feeling generous… especially because he's sick in bed today and a little more open to suggestion."

Erin returned his sly grin, "Ah… I see. You know, this information is going to cost you."

"Not to worry. Seeing as how I'm the acting squad commander today, I'm deferring my authority to you. That means you will have the power to cancel all our afternoon workouts and training drills."

"I like the way you think sir," she chuckled with a devious laugh, "All right. We have a deal."

Erik winked, "Great! As of this moment, you're in command today but I'll need you to do one more little favor to pull this off."

A short while later, Erik walked out to the transporter room still wearing his civilian clothes and carrying his duffle bag. He saw Julian sitting nearby manning the transporter controls. Ever since he had been discharged from the medical ward, Julian wanted to keep active and was placed on light duty. Caldwell had allowed the younger tech sit behind the controls and regulate all the transports for the day.

As he approached, he graced Julian with an angelic smile, "Julian! My friend! Glad to see you back on your feet. How are you?"

"I'm good Erik, thanks!" Julian answered before raising a confused eyebrow, "Uh, Lieutenant? What are you doing here? And why are you dressed down to your civvies today?"

The Blue Ranger continued smiling and produced a datapad, "I'm glad you asked. I'm headed back to Munich on a special one day pass. Would you like to do the honors and beam me there?"

Julian took the datapad and studied the document. It looked legitimate and even had Captain Sterling's signature. It was a little unusual, but everything seemed to be in order. The tech shrugged and powered the transporter before hesitating, "I don't know. I'm just going to double check with Captain Sterling… just to be sure."

Before Erik could fret, Erin strolled in to the room and headed straight over to Julian. She gave a cute smile and flipped her hair aside in a playful flirtatious way. "Julian! There you are!"

She walked over and placed her hands on his shoulders giving an affectionate little massage, "You silly boy, I heard you were working here today instead of taking it easy."

Julian sighed in contentment for a moment, "Oh… well you know, it's hard to keep a good worker down. Can you give me a second? I was just going to give Captain Sterling a call and…"

Erin gently took his hand away from the comm switch on the panel, "Martin's not feeling well today. You don't want to bother him. Do you? If he gets pissed off, then he'll be mean to the whole squad today… including me. You don't want me to get punished now… do you?"

Julian gulped as Erin gave an innocent doe eyed look causing his resolve to completely melt away, "Well… no."

"Great!" she exclaimed suddenly reaching for the transporter control to activate it, "Then let's send Erik on his merry way right? Cheers Erik!"

Erin gave her accomplice a cheerful wave as the transporter powered on and teleported Erik back home to Germany.

Julian glared at her for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to continue with that neck massage for a few minutes? It felt nice."

Before Erin could oblige, the doors of the room opened and a small ten legged crab droid raced in. It was followed in moments later by Jake, Lucy, and a handful of UNAF marines posted on security details. "What in the world?"

They watched in amazement as the droid swiftly raced around the room, running rings around its pursuers and leading them in circles. A few marines chased it around the transport platform before it came back and crawled up Dr. Beckett's leg. Before she could swat at it, the droid leapt off and jumped into Jake's hands, surprising him. Before the Silver Ranger could snatch it, the droid dropped to the ground and ran under his legs out the door while two Marines tackled Jake trying to get the robot.

"What is going on here?" Julian demanded but his own mentor shook her head and breathlessly pointed after their objective, "Test droid… got loose… gotta catch it!"

Julian and Erin exchanged a puzzled look before following the growing search party out the door and after the rogue bot.

The Rangers and their allies continued to dash through the base chasing the robot while other base personnel jumped aside or added to the commotion and chaos. They continued the chase as it led to the housing section for male military officers. Unbeknownst to him, Bharata Timothy stepped out of the showers and made his way back down the hall to go change in his room. Aside from his shower caddy, he wore nothing but a green bath towel around his waist. As he whistled a tune, he heard a door at the other end of the hallway open behind him. To his surprise, he spun around at the sounds of clinking robotic legs, a horde of rushed footsteps, and people shouting over each other. In a heartbeat, he was tripped from behind by the crab droid and fell over while nearly getting trampled by its pursuers. As the droid ran off, Jake paused a moment to help his teammate up.

"What the hell was all that?" the Green Ranger exclaimed in outrage.

"No time to explain. Rogue AI. Just come with us," Jake said before clearing his throat, "Oh, and you might want to readjust your towel. You'll give all the girls on post a show."

Bharata sheepishly fixed his towel and hurried out of the hallway with Jake in hot pursuit. The moment the noisy crowd left the hallway, another door opened and Martin emerged. He wore a pair of red flannel pajama pants, a white night shirt and a very annoyed scowl on his face.

Eventually, the chase led into the mess hall just as the preparations for the lunch hour were being made. Drinks were spilled and several soldiers and scientists jumped from their seats as the rogue crab droid continued to dodge and evade its pursuers. As it leapt off a table, it dashed by a female fighter pilot who had just returned from patrol and was sitting down to grab a snack. The young woman fell out of her seat in surprise and almost kicked the table over, getting in the way of Lucy and a few of the marines.

Upon changing direction, the droid zoomed into the kitchen just as Ella was finishing the large cake she had prepared and decorated. As the others barged in, Ella froze and looked up before raising her hands in alarm, "Jake! What are you doing here? Don't look!"

"Ella! Don't move!" Erin shouted in return as the droid crawled up the side of a sink and dashed down a counter top. Bharata and another marine tried to grab the droid but it slipped free and made a flying leap to escape. To everyone's surprise, the droid landed right in the middle of the cake and reared up on its legs, hoping to intimidate its pursuers in a last ditch effort.

Having no idea what was going on, Ella gave an alarmed shriek and called upon her Nova Blaster pistol from her morpher. She aimed her gun right at the droid as Lucy raised her own hands in panic, "No! Ella! Wait!"

Ella pulled the trigger and fired a single blaster shot at the rogue droid at the same moment Martin stormed in from the main kitchen door. The blaster bolt struck the droid, blowing it to pieces and spraying the entire kitchen with birthday cake. After the shot was fired, a long silence fell over the crowded kitchen as the Nova Rangers, their allies, and a few security guards stood staring at each other in amazement over what just happened.

The Pink Ranger slowly lowered her smoking blaster pistol before everyone looked up in alarm to see where the majority of the ruined cake had been sprayed. The Red Ranger stood with his entire face and the front of his t-shirt covered in frosting and goop. They stared as Martin slowly reached up to wipe away some of the mess from his eyes. In a deadly calm voice, he asked, "What is going on here?"

"Oh bugger," Jake muttered, "We're going to be doing PT drills until we puke."

Lucy bit her lip and tugged at her shirt collar, "Well… you see, there was this droid I was working on and it got loose and…"

Ella put down her gun and spoke over her, "Captain! I am sooooo sorry! I didn't' know…"

He held up a hand to silence everyone with surprising calmness, "You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know right now."

He slowly looked around the room, "Where is Erik?"

Erin cleared her throat, "He's uh… back home in Germany for the day, sir."

"On whose authority?"

Julian timidly stepped forward showing him the datapad with his own order, "Actually... on yours Captain."

The Red Ranger looked at the dataslate before nodding slowly, "I see. Well then… It seems everything is under control. I'm going back to bed then. Carry on."

Jake shifted uncomfortably expecting for him to still go ballistic and punish the squad, "Will that be all Captain?"

"Well… yeah. If Bara could go put on some pants too, then that would be great."

Martin turned and began walking out of the kitchen before pausing and turning around, "Oh, and Ella?"

She gulped and answered hesitantly, "Sir?"

He wiped some cake frosting off his cheek and ate it, "The cake is actually pretty good. Nice work."

As he walked out of the room, Bharata wiped away some frosting from his own face, "Well, that was… surreal. Let's start cleaning up before something else goes wrong."

Jake shrugged and picked up a towel, "So… on a scale of one to dead, how screwed are we?"

"My guess? We'll probably be wishing the Xenos would put us out of our misery first," Erin sighed as she began to lead the clean up effort, "Can somebody please hand me a wet mop?"

Later that day, the singing voices of children filled the school auditorium as Erik and his grandparents sat watching Sarah's class performing Christmas carols at the their holiday show. Just as Sarah had promised, the auditorium was decorated with painted Christmas murals, cut out snowflakes, and candycanes. While Erik sat filming the songs, his grandfather leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's great that you were able to make it to the show today, but are you really sure it was okay for you to take the day off? I know how busy and chaotic your job can be."

"It's okay," Erik shrugged, "It was a pretty slow day at the base and I'm sure everything was fine. After all, what's the worst that could have possibly happened?"

A/N:
Lots of thanks again to ChibiDawn23 for inspiring this plot idea. It was originally a simple premise of Erik sneaking out and it just grew and took on a whole new life of its own. ;)