Melting Ice

by Athena8472

When Zordon dies, he leaves one last mission for Tommy. To protect something that has been buried in ice for 10 million years. With the help of Andros and Zhane, he heads to Antarctica. Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics. Sentinel/Guides known. Second in the Celestials Series.

2. Chapter 2

Uncovering Truths

It had been a week since the service for Zordon and since Tommy received his last mission. He was on the mega-ship with Andros and Zhane as they dressed in extreme cold weather gear. They had to be ready to go because they would only have fifteen minutes before Alpha would take off again once they arrived. They were playing off the flight as a test run to ensure the repairs were holding up. They would do another one of these 'test runs' once they had located whatever they were searching for so that Alpha could pick them up.

"Everything ready?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, we should have enough supplies for about two months, but I honestly don't think that it will take that long." Andros said, "The only thing that we really have to worry about is the laser drill burning out before we get down to bedrock."

"How long do you think it's going to take?" Tommy asked as he finished lacing up his boots.

"It should only take about a week to drill down to the rock, but we don't want to draw any more attention than we have to. So, we figured bringing enough for as long as we can stay was best." Zhane said, "We must get back to KO-35 by the end of the summer. We're only staying so long because the others wanted to spend time with their families."

"As far as the other Astro Rangers know, Zhane and I are on a romantic getaway," Andros said as he pulled a neck warmer over his head. "We didn't know if you wanted the other Rangers to know about what is going on, and as soon as one Pink Ranger knows something, all Rangers know."

"Thanks, I wasn't looking forward to the interrogation from the others, and I know that some of them are going to be upset that Zordon only left a message for me," Tommy said.

"True." Zhane agreed.

Zhane had only met Zordon once, shortly after he had become the Silver Ranger; however, Andros has worked closely with Zordon as all Reds first did until they were independent enough to work solo. Zhane knew that most Ranger teams thought that they were close to Zordon, but Zordon had been mentoring teams for thousands of years. It would be an adjustment for all new teams not to have a mentor but to figure stuff out from trial and error and the nanite information downloads.

"Rangers, two minutes until landing." Alpha's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Final check, everyone. Make sure that you have everything and that the sleds are secure." Andros said.

They each went to the sled that they would be taking. There were three sleds: the first held the laser drill and tools that they might need, and the second and third were a mix, each having half of their food and other supplies, as well as their personal gear. They looked each other over to ensure they didn't forget anything before strapping on snowshoes and helped each other strap on the harnesses that would allow them to pull the sleds more easily.

A shudder went through the ship as it touched down, and then they heard the heavy clicks as the locks on the bay door slid open, and the ramp began to descend. A cold wind whipped through the cargo bay as the glacial -61°C air came rushing in. They could feel the cold seeping in even with their cold weather gear. They couldn't have exposed skin, or the biting cold would freeze it in seconds.

It took several minutes for them to offload from the ship, but as soon as they were on the ice, the ramp closed, and the ship took off, kicking up a storm of polar air that almost knocked them over. It was the middle of the night, not that that mattered because this time of year, it was 24 hours darkness. It was cold and dark; the only light came from the stars, a sliver of the moon, and headlamps. The landscape was completely barren; the only sound came from the wind whipping up the snow, the crunch of the hard snow under their snowshoes, and their harsh breaths as the cold burned their lungs.

"Well, let's get the mining drill set up," Andros said, his voice muffled by the layer of cloth covering his face.

Andros has begun to remove his harness. The other two followed his lead and unstrapped their harnesses before moving to start setting up the drill. They were pretty far from the coordinates that Zordon had given them because the laser couldn't drill straight down, and even if it could, they didn't want to damage what they had been sent to find. So, they would have to take the long way down instead drilling in a closing spiral pattern until they reached bedrock. They were doing the spiral so the tunnel gradient would be gentle enough for the drilling equipment function. However, their goal for tonight was to get below the surface and carve out a space to set up camp.

It took them about an hour to get the drilling laser set up and running, slowed down by the frigid cold and their heavy gear. Once the laser was up and running, it took them about four hours to drill deep enough to start digging out their living space while the drill continued. They blocked off the entrance with large blocks of ice to keep people from seeing the opening and to stop the wind.

It took them several hours to set up camp. They had carved out a cavern in the ice. It was tall enough that they could stand properly in it and deep and wide enough that they had space to set up two two-person tents, have their heater/stove with seating around it, and have an area to store unused gear and supplies. The cave would do for now, but as they got deeper, they would need to carve out another so they didn't need to walk several kilometres to get back to camp.

The following week fell into an easy routine. The drill was designed to operate in space, so it was prone to overheating while drilling planet side; the only saving grace was that the ice helped it keep cool, but they still had to shut it down. When running, the drill had to be monitored to ensure nothing was wrong and that it continued along the correct path. So the three Rangers split the day into three eight-hour shifts, watching the drill and changing out the power cells every three hours while letting the drill cool for an hour.

On the eighth day, they had made bedrock, and now they were only several meters away from whatever they were searching for. They decided to stop drilling to rest and be refreshed for their future exploration. The three men sat around the heater as Andros heated their food.

"Thank the Powers that we're almost done; I think I've forgotten what the sun is," Zhane complained from the camp chair he was lounging on.

"I think we all miss the sun and the heat." Andros agreed as he finished adding to the cooking pot.

There was a moment of silence.

"How old do you think this ice is?" Tommy asked, looking around at the cave that surrounded them.

"Well, I ran some tests; my computer says that it is around a million years old," Andros said as he stirred the food.

"So whatever is down here is older than that," Tommy stated, pensive.

"It has to be something left behind from the Great Alliance if it is that old," Zhane said.

"The Great Alliance?" Tommy asked.

The two Kalorians gave Tommy a perplexed look before realization lit up Andros's face.

"I guess you wouldn't have known, seeing as Earth is so cut off from the rest of the galaxy, and really this is the first time that we have had time to really talk," Andros said.

This was the first time the men were all together since they had started their mission. They worked in shifts; one was always with the drill, while another was sleeping, and another was prepping to go back down. There was some overlap, but not much.

"The Alliance of Four Great Races, also known as the Great Alliance, was an alliance of four Tier 1 species that existed in this galaxy for millions of years until an unknown disaster around 10 million years ago," Andros explained. "Even still, they are remembered today, and no race has come close to their level. The four species were the Ancients, the Nox, the Asgard, and the Furlings.

"The Furlings were confirmed to have died out about 10 million years ago, nothing is really known about them, and they didn't leave much behind when they disappeared. The Nox are still around, but they stay on their planet. They are an isolationist society of pacifists and are only known by rumours. People have visited their world, but no one has seen them, and some have tried to colonize the planet only to find themselves on another planet with no idea how they got there. They would have been considered a myth if not for the Eltaran confirming their existence.

"The Asgard have several planets that they safeguard in the Milky Way, but they don't have much to do with this galaxy anymore. They live in the Ida galaxy and have closed their borders to all, turning back any who venture there. There are rumours that they are in the midst of a war with an unknown enemy. The Ancients disappeared from the galaxy 10 million years ago; they were thought dead. Still, there were confirmed reports of them returning to the galaxy ten thousand years ago before disappearing for good. We know the most about the Ancients simply because they left so much behind, and most of it is dangerous. Planets with Ancient ruins on them are sure to have a Ranger team to protect them from someone abusing the technology left behind, but there are at least 1000 deaths a year from mishaps with Ancient technology. The last major galactic disaster was caused by Ancient technology. It caused the planet's rotation to change, wiping out the whole planet. The major piece of tech that the Ancients left behind is the Morphin Grid, and they are the originators of the Rangers."

"I wouldn't have thought that the race that created the Rangers would have left behind such dangerous tech lying around," Tommy said as he took a bowl of soup from Andros.

"Some people worship the Ancients as gods, but they aren't. They left behind many horrible things." Zhane said after accepting his food, "We know for sure that they are responsible for creating a species called the Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy; they eat humans. That galaxy is on the prohibited list, and a Ranger team, the Keepers, stops people from entering and keeping the Wraith in. I think that the last time a task force was put together to try and defeat the Wraith was about 250 years ago, and everyone died."

That was grim news and concerned Tommy about what they would find. Maybe that was what Zordon was warning them about. Maybe whatever was just several meters away in the ice was so reprehensible that even Zordon couldn't forgive their predecessors.

"If what we were sent here to locate is Ancient in origin, we might find something that we don't want to find," Andros warned.

After that, the three quickly finished their breakfast in silence before heading down the tunnel to the drill. Once the drill was up and running, they quickly made it through the last bit of ice to a metal wall. The laser had hit the metal, and it was absorbed with no damage to the metal.

They stopped the laser and approached the metal wall. The metal was silvery blue and looked like one smooth surface that appeared like one solid piece. The metal had a slight curve to it, so the structure might have been circular.

"What is this made of?" Zhane asked in surprise. The only metal he had ever seen absorb energy like that was their Power Suits.

Andros pulled out a small handheld scanner. "It looks like it is an alloy made of trinium, naquada, carbon, and another element that the scanner doesn't recognize. I've never seen it before, but it looks to be stronger than anything in our database. It's very similar to the composition of our Power Suits."

"So, we can't just blast our way through," Tommy said.

"No, I don't think that even with our combined mega-Zords, we could make a scratch on it," Andros said, pulling away the scanner.

"Well, if there is a wall, there should be a door somewhere." Tommy said, "We will just have to keep excavating."

It wasn't long before they encountered an entrance set slightly into the metal surface. It was only apparent as a door because of the size of the indentation; there were no seams where the metal met, and it looked as if it were a part of the wall. As they approached the door, a long vertical panel lit up blue at about chest level beside it.

The three men looked at each other before Tommy reached forwards to touch the panel. His hand didn't make contact before the door slid open, and lights slowly turned on sequentially down the exposed hallway. Tommy went in first with Andros and then Zhane in the rear. The hallway led them to the middle of the building, opening to a large circular room. The room they entered had benches and what looked like storage units lining the walls between several closed doors. It looked like this was a locker room for when people returned from outside.

"It's getting warmer in here," Andros said as he unfastened his jacket.

The room was slowly heating up, most likely in response to their presence. Not that it had been freezing as it was outside, but the room had been below 5°C when they first entered.

"Score! Found the showers." Zhane exclaimed as he opened one of the doors before rushing over to Andros and throwing him over his shoulder.

"Zhane!" Andros gasped from his position dangling over Zhane's back.

Any further protests from Andros were lost as the door to the shower room slid shut. Tommy rolled his eyes but understood Zhane's enthusiasm. They hadn't had more than a wet wipe bath in a week, and they were all feeling grungy, and he was sure they all smelled pretty ripe.

Tommy exited back out of the structure and made his way back up to their camp to grab some clothes. He was sure the couple would be glad to have something clean to change into once they were done. Tommy also grabbed some clothes for himself because he was next in the showers once they were done. The couple was still showering when Tommy returned, so he left their clean clothes in front of the door because he knew what they were probably up to.

Tommy continued to explore. The circular room had five doors spaced evenly around the room. The first led back to the hallway to the exit, while the second held the showers that Zhane had found. Tommy opened another door to see what looked like a small hanger. There were two cylinder-shaped ships with an angled front and rear, shaped as a parallelogram from the side. The hull of the vessels was a tarnished green copper-coloured metal. On the far side of the room was an obvious door along the outer wall. Tommy left the ships alone and went to the fourth door only to find that it wouldn't open, leaving Tommy to head over to the last door. When he opened the last door, it looked like a decontamination room. He could see through the glass walls and saw the stairs that most likely led to the next floor.

Tommy headed back into the main room and saw that the clothes he had left for the couple were gone, so he sat down and waited for the couple to return. Meanwhile, Tommy stripped out of his winter gear to his base layers; the temperature had warmed to a comfortable level. Soon Tommy was joined by a clean and embarrassed Andros and a satisfied Zhane. Tommy laughed at their antics before heading to the showers. The room was humid from the couple, but Tommy found a dry shower stall and had his first shower in a week. The water was hot and relaxing, and Tommy felt much better afterward. Once he was done with his shower, Tommy explored the room and was surprised at how familiar it looked; it wouldn't have stood out against any locker room he had been in. The only exception was a few stalls with strange glowing panels on the floor and ceiling. Tommy investigated momentarily but couldn't figure out what it was for.

Fifteen minutes later, he returned to the main room to find Zhane sitting on a bench with Andros straddling him and the pair making out. Tommy cleared his throat, causing Andros to break away and try to jump up; however, Zhane tightened his arms around his mate, preventing him from moving.

"If the two of you are done, I think we should head up to the next level," Tommy said, not really upset; it was nice to smell the happy and content pheromones coming from Andros.

Tommy was glad to see the pair relaxed around him. From what he had heard from the other Rangers, the two were relatively reserved in public.

"I did some investigating before I was distracted." Andros said, shooting a glare at the grinning Zhane, "It looks like this area is the airlock. There looks to be a decontamination room that leads to the upper floors."

"Yeah, I found that too, along with several small spaceships in what looks to be a hanger," Tommy said. "There was one door that I couldn't get into, but it's my guess that it's a weapons room."

"Yeah, that's what we thought as well, but for an Ancient outpost, that was pretty forward-thinking of them. Most have dangerous stuff like that lying around for anyone to pick up. They aren't fans of locked doors." Zhane said.

"True, but this is the first Ancient structure that I've heard of that is in such good condition. Most have lost all power and have fallen into ruins." Andros said as he disentangled from his mate.

"So, should we head up?" Zhane asked as he stood.

"Yeah, I don't think that we are going to find anything important down here," Tommy said, quickly scanning the room with his eyes again.

The three men made their way over to the door that led to the decontamination chamber. The chamber was large, with two glass walls on either end that allowed one to see to the other side where the exit was. The chamber's walls, floor, and ceiling were lined with what looked like lights and vents.

The three looked at each other in trepidation before Tommy finally moved forwards into the chamber. Once all three men were in the chamber, the door shut behind them, and they heard a hiss as the room pressurized. The light suddenly when out, and the soft white lights were replaced by blue lights, and the air began to cycle.

"Please proceed with decontamination procedures, remove clothing, then place it in the disposal unit. (1)" An automated female voice said in a foreign language as a panel on the wall opened.

"Any idea what that was?" Zhane asked, looking at Andros.

"I think it was something about our clothes, but I'm not sure. I can only read Ancient fluently, and there are only a few scholars that can speak it, but even they aren't sure of the actual pronunciation. But I can pick out some words." Andros explained as he narrowed his eyes in concentration as he tried to piece together what the computer had said.

"We probably have to strip; this place seems very concerned with contaminates," Tommy said, thinking back to his time in clean rooms when he was younger and had zoned bad enough to be hospitalized.

Andros nodded in agreement, "That makes sense. It probably wants us to put our clothes in that opening."

They then went about stripping down. It wasn't much different than stripping down in a locker room. They had stripped down to their underwear and waited.

"Please proceed with decontamination procedures, remove clothing, then place it in the disposal unit. (1)" The automated female voice repeated.

"I guess everything has to go," Zhane said with a cheeky smile before losing his underwear.

Andros blushed, partly in embarrassment as he slid off his underwear and partly in arousal as he saw Zhane's naked body. Tommy rolled his eyes and scrunched up his nose at the pheromones coming off the two. He was happy that Andros was mated so that his pheromones weren't appealing to him, or else he would have an awkward boner.

"Commencing decontamination process. (2)" The automated voice said before an orange beam ran over the group several times.

"Decontamination complete, please proceed (3)." The beam turned off another panel opened with three stacks of clothes within.

The men grabbed the offered clothes, realizing they would not get their own back. It was apparent which clothes were for whom. Each stack had a different colour shirt, one red, one silver, and the last white. They were surprised that the clothes were perfectly tailored, and they quickly dressed. The clothes provided were matching uniforms apart from the shirt colour. They were provided tall black leather boots, long light blue-grey pants, matching blue-grey jackets, undergarments, and the shirts were long-sleeved turtlenecks in their colours. They couldn't identify the fabric, but it was the most comfortable thing either Sentinel had worn. Even clothes specially made for Sentinels caused minor irritation; they were taught to ignore it, but it could cause a zone on a bad day.

Once they were dressed, the air changed as the chamber depressurized, and the door on the opposite side of the room opened, allowing them to proceed further into the building.

"Does anyone else think it's creepy that this place somehow knows our Ranger colours and clothing size?" Zhane asked as they started up the stairs.

"Yeah." Tommy agreed.

"It must mean that this is a Ranger base. I've never heard of an Ancient Ranger base; this place might be one of the first bases created by the Rangers. Do you know what this means? This could be the base of the Celestials." Andros gushed in excitement.

"Celestials?" Tommy asked, not understanding the excitement.

Zhane clucked his teeth in frustration.

"Did Zordon not teach you guys anything? I understand that you guys were a pre-contact society, but I don't get why he didn't teach you guys more about the history and traditions of the Rangers." Zhane said in frustration before answering Tommy's question. "Celestial was the name given to the first-ever Ranger team, most Ranger teams are lost to history, but even 10 million years later, they are remembered. Helios the Red Ranger, Selene the White Ranger, Eos the Pink Ranger, Endymion the Yellow Ranger, and Astraeus the Blue Ranger."

"Zordon never told you any of this?" Andros asked in surprise.

The men had stopped on the stairs on the landing for the next floor.

"No, he never told us. In fact, until the Aquitar team showed up, we all thought that we were the only Ranger team." Tommy said it was upsetting that their mentor had withheld such basic common knowledge information from them.

"That's odd, but now that I think about it, he didn't tell me either. I knew from the previous Astro Rangers." Andros said, thinking back to what Zordon had told him.

"Wait a second, aren't those names of Greek gods?" Tommy asked, thinking back to the names that he had just heard.

"Greek?" Zhane questioned, not knowing what Tommy was talking about.

"Most planets have legends about them, and their names are often folded into local mythology. KO-35 has legends about them. They were great warriors that saved the stars from going dark even as all the other gods died." Andros explained he had studied the Celestials as part of his Red Ranger training, and it was distressing that the Earth Rangers hadn't been educated about what the Rangers entailed. There was no excuse because Zordon should have told them, and Andros began to wonder what else the Earth Rangers hadn't been told.

"Huh." Tommy acknowledged, distracted in thought.

They opened the door to the next floor. The room was completely open and looked to be a medical center. There were beds laid out along the room's edges, and medical equipment was spread out around the large chamber. At the center of the room was a large circular desk, like a nursing station at a hospital. They quickly looked around the room before heading to the next floor. The next floor was open like the one below, but instead of medical equipment, it was filled with what they determined was scientific equipment. The next floor followed the previous two, but the fourth floor looked dedicated to mechanical equipment.

They continued up the tower; the next three floors were crew quarters. Each floor had fourteen small rooms and a large circular space in the middle with an eating area. Each room has a single bed, a desk, a dresser, and a bathroom area. The room wouldn't have looked out of place in a dorm; they were decorated the same. The room was bare of any personal effects and looked like they had never been lived in.

The eighth and ninth floors were also personal quarters, which were larger and split into four units. These quarters had separate rooms: two bedrooms, a large bathroom, a small kitchen, and a living area.

"This place gives me the creeps. It's like a ghost town." Zhane said as they explored the ninth floor.

"I know, it's completely empty and just waiting for people to move in," Andros said as he looked into another empty room.

"But not completely unlived in. Finally found some signs of life, or at least signs that someone was once here." Tommy called from the room that he had opened.

"Finally!" Zhane exclaimed as he moved to join Tommy, with Andros not far behind.

They entered the only unit that looked to be lived in. They moved around exploring the space but were careful not to disturb anything because going through someone's belongings seemed disrespectful. As they entered the living area, they noticed shoes by the door, tablets, and small black tear-drop stones scattered on the table. Little knickknacks were scattered around the room, and small things like extra pillows and blankets were missing from all the other rooms.

"Well, an omega lived here," Andros called from one of the bedrooms.

The others joined him, looking in and observing the nest placed center in the room. It was a small nest, barely big enough for one. The bed frame had been removed, and the mattress pulled to the floor, covered in blankets and pillows.

"If I thought that everything else was creepy, I take it back. This is creepier; it's like they just disappeared." Zhane said as he moved around the space, looking at the knickknacks.

"I agree. It's so strange to see a nest, and there be no scent." Andros said as he moved out of the bedroom.

"This whole place lacks a scent. It's disturbing. However, it does point to the fact that this place was built with Sentinels in mind." Tommy observed.

"There are legends on most worlds that Sentinels and Guides were gifts given from the Gods. However, Sentinels and Guides only appear in populations that have Alphas and Omegas in them. Completely Beta worlds don't have Sentinels and Guides, so there are some theories that they come from Ancients breeding with local populations. However, this is the first time there has been proof that the Ancients had secondary genders backing that theory up." Andros explained as he carefully moved around the room.

"This place would make the scholars on Eltar happy," Zhane said.

"Eltar? Isn't that Zordon's home planet." Tommy questioned.

"Yeah, they are the oldest known planet with a consistent Ranger team and have the most comprehensive historical database involving the Rangers. At least they did until their fall at the hands of Dark Spector. They're known to mentor younger planets with Rangers and were the closest thing Rangers had to a centralized command." Zhane explained.

"Huh," Tommy grunted in acknowledgement, then paused as he thought that over. "But they would know already, right? Zordon was the one who was sent here to protect this place, so it stands to reason that Eltar already knew about this proof. Maybe that is why Zordon sent us here because there are no more Elarians to protect this place?"

The two Kalorians paused in their search and looked at each other wide-eyed. They hadn't even thought the Eltarans would withhold information like this from the other Ranger teams. They understood withholding the data from the rest of the universe simply because there was a lot of religious controversy surrounding the Ancients. The two Kalorians were quickly coming to the realization that there was a lot that Eltar was keeping from other Ranger teams, and if Zordon hadn't left those messages, they would have never known. This was also potentially a big problem. With the fall of Eltar, countless places like this one could be lost from knowledge.

Like the two Kalorians, Tommy quickly concluded that there was a lot about the greater universe that Zordon hadn't told them. Tommy understood that this lack of knowledge would be a problem in the future, especially because other Ranger teams coming to Earth would expect him and the other Rangers to know this basic information. It could quickly become dangerous. Once they were done here, Tommy would need to ask Zhane and Andros for more information before they left Earth.

"Well, we should head to the next floor," Andros said as they finished exploring the room; they would re-examine that topic later.

The trio made their way up to the next floor, which was completely different from the other levels. It seemed to be the last floor because there was no next flight of stairs, and unlike the other floors, it was completely open, and there were no off rooms. It looked like a control room with an odd chair on a platform centred in the middle. Columns were evenly spaced around the room, housing computers and other equipment. As they entered the room, the light dimmed except for the ones over a pedestal coming up from the floor not too far from them.

"Well, I think we're being directed," Zhane said as they moved toward the pedestal.

The pedestal was made from the same silvery material as the rest of the building. There were no apparent controls on it, only a large blue crystal. Walked over to the pedestal, and there was a moment of uncertainty between them before Tommy moved to put his hand on the pedestal. Then the same automated female voice from earlier filled the room.

"Hyperuib Babutes detected new system users detected beginning information download and system update (4)."

There was a moment of silence before the same automated female voice spoke again, but this time in English.

"Download complete. System updates complete. New users authenticated from Grid. Beginning playback."

Over the pedestal, the light dimmed before a series of floor panels in front of the pedestal lit up. A hologram of a woman appeared before them. She was about average for a woman, around 5'10"; she had long silver hair, pale skin, and grey eyes and could only be described as unearthly beautiful. She was dressed in the same uniform as the three males. Her shirt was white, most likely denoting that she was a White Ranger. Though the three looked closer at the hologram, they noticed she seemed very tired and as gaunt as a Ranger could look.

Then the hologram began to speak. It looked odd because the audio didn't match the movement of the lip, most likely because the message had been translated.

"Selene's Log,

[Deep sigh]

"It has been a yearsix months since my last entry. I've been working on the outpost. The Alterans powered the outpost with a potentia; however, I have reconfigured the outpost to run off the Grid. Thankfully, there was still a fully functional Morphin generator on the Keres. Even though I don't need it anymore to Morph, it was easy to alter it so that it would draw power from the Grid. So long as there are Rangers, the Grid will continue, not that I think that there will be any more Rangers. I don't know how far the Grid extends, Helios and I didn't have time to test it after we activated it, but this galaxy is dead. We Alterans had been the dominant species of this galaxy, the Nox are content to their planet, and the Furling now face a slow extinction.

"I suppose one day my nieces might return, but until that day, I'm going to sleep. I found a stasis chamber in the outpost, and I plan on entering it. I had thought that I would be able to use the Astria Porta to travel to Atlantis, however the Astria Porta will not connect, I believes that they have disabled theirs.

"I promised Helios that I would live, but even I am not strong enough to live on a deserted world. I don't want to lose my mind to loneliness as I waste away until I take my life, because that is the only way it would end.

"I'm leaving behind everything from the Keres's computer. I hope that if someone finds this, they won't judge us too badly, we did the best we could, and I hope that whoever finds this can understand that. We were not a perfect people, we made mistakes, we were not gods, as many lower races saw us. I hope that the ones watching are my my nieces and that I will see them once again, but I don't have that luck.

"I'm going into stasis. If the Grid fails, the chamber will shut down, and I will have died in my sleep, never knowing what happened. In some ways, I hope that I never wake, but I made a promise, and that is the only reason I haven't taken my life. I've made it so only a Ranger can enter this place so that this technology doesn't fall into wrong hands.

"I hope that anyone who finds this and listens can forgive me for what I did. If you can't, leave. The outpost will reseal itself, and I will have never known.

"Signing off for the last time,

"Praevian Selene the White Ranger, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Eos."

The hologram finished speaking and seemed to go into a standby mode, as the three males stood there stunned.

"By the Holy Rings." Andros swore. "This truly is the base of the Celestials."

"Eltar and Zordon must have known. There is no way that they didn't. Why wouldn't they have told the other Rangers?" Zhane mused.

"Query not found, please rephrase question." The hologram spoke, causing the three males to pause.

"It's interactive." Tommy stated, "Did you guys notice that she used the same phrase as Zordon, asking for forgiveness."

"Yes, but I wonder what she wanted forgiveness for?" Andros wondered out loud.

The hologram suddenly changed at the questions. It was the same woman, but her appearance had changed. Her hair that had been pulled up into a bun was falling out, she was covered in dirt, soot, and what looked to be dried blood. Her uniform was damaged with rips and burns littering the fabric. She looked very tired, as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

Once again, the hologram spoke.

"Captain's Log,

"It's been four days since my last log. The good news is that the engines will be ready in the morning and we will be being the return trip to Terra. The bad news is that we have had out first death due to plague. It was one of the critical condition patients, so no one is panicking yet, but it is only a matter of time. People are starting to get sick, right now it is in the early stage and they all are putting it off as lack of sleep and stress, but soon it will get worse.

"I've had to think about what I'm going to do. I can't let someone get crazed and destroy the ship, because there have been reports of incidents like that in the past. I've secretly been fixing the brig and the teleportation system. They are non-essentials, and I can't explain to the crew why I'm fixing them.

"I fell like a horrible person. I'm planning on containing scared and sick people until they are too weak to fight.

[…pause…]

"I'm going to have to watch them all die.

"End log"

As soon as the hologram finished speaking it returned to the image of the uninjured woman. There was a moment of silence as the three Rangers processed what they had just heard, and quickly came to the same conclusion.

"Andros, do you think that it could have been a plague that was the unknown disaster that wiped out the Ancients and the Furlings?" Tommy asked, wanting to confirm is suspicions.

"From the sounds of it, yes." Andros replied, looking a bit pale at the thought. "It would explain why only Selene would have survived if she had been the only Ranger on the ship. Rangers are immunity to all sicknesses, the only thing that could effect us is something engineered specifically for Rangers, and even then, we adapt so quickly that we would only be down for a couple of hours."

"Do you think that she killed the crew?" Zhane asked, asking what they all had been thinking.

"Of the 35-surviving crew of the Keres, and the 64 survivors of the battle at Valsharosh, Praevian Selene euthanized 62 of the survivors, 9 of the survivors were euthanized by the ship's doctor, 16 of the survivors committed suicide, and 12 died from injuries from the battle or complications due to the plague." The hologram answered.

A shiver went down their spines as their fear was confirmed. A Ranger had killed most of their crew, and it was the reason that the Eltarians had kept this place a secret.

"What was the plague?" Andros asked the hologram.

"The Plague was engineered by the Ori. The plague was an airborne pathogen, which was extremely contagious. Once infected the patient was contagious and asymptomatic until 12 to 16 days later, the situation was compounded since the test for the virus would not show positive until day 6 of the incubation progress. Those with strong Healing gift would show no symptoms, they became asymptotic carriers of the Plague only succumbing to it once they used their gift to heal others. These factors along with heavy use of the Astria Portas allowed the virus to travel far before quarantine was initiated. At the end of a three-year period there were less than 100 000 surviving Alterans from the previous 3.2 Trillion in the Avalon galaxy.

"Symptoms would start with fever, chills, headache, light sensitivity, shortness of breath, and coughing. Within 7 to 14 days, symptoms would progress to pneumonia, seizures, skins legions, loss of felling and mobility in limbs that quickly progressed into tissue necrosis of the limbs. Once necrosis set in, gangrene and/or sepsis would quickly take hold. It would take the patient then die 3-10 days later. This resulted in the plague has a 100% fatality rate.

"It is to be noted that the plaque could cross species barriers, it was speculated that it had been specifically engineered too. The Furling population had a survival rate of 98.1%, however it left those infected sterile, leaving the Furling effectively extinct. The Asgard, like the Alterans, had a 100% fatality rate, however the plague affected them more severely. Within 12 hours infected Asgardians would experience complete organ failure. Due to the rapid onset and death the Asgard were able to effectively quarantine within the Ida galaxy. The only known race not effected were the Nox."

The information was horrifying. They were used to enemies that fought them physically, they couldn't conceive of an enemy that would engineer a plague and unleash it on the galaxy at large. These Ori had effectively wiped out 2 races from the galaxy in such a horrible way. The three young men couldn't image the apathy and callousness needed to create and use something like the Plague.

"Who are the Ori?" Zhane asked the hologram. He needed to know if they were still around, if they were still a threat.

"The Ori and the Alteran are the same species originally known was the Altera. However, they divided due to major cultural and philosophical difference between the two groups in regards to Ascension. This schism occurred approximately 50 million years ago.

"The Ori are ultra religious, following the religion of Origin that was founded after the Ascension of the first Ori. Origin was established when these first Ascended Ori could gain more power from their worship of those still in the physical plane. These Ascended Ori would interact with the physical plane giving knowledge and power to their followers. This allowed the Ori to dominate the planet. The Ori deemed all that didn't follow their beliefs as heretics, and demonized other Ascended as evil and who were selfish in hording their knowledge.

"At the end of the thirty-year period the only Altera that hadn't converted to Origin lived in small village in an isolated mountain range. The Altera who lived there were pacifists that believed that science, knowledge, and self awareness was the Path to Enlightenment or Ascension. Those that Ascended from this village practiced non-interference with the lower plane. The Altera knew that their way of life would soon end in the wake of Origin, so instead of using their advanced technology to attack the Ori they created a space ship to leave the planet and their galaxy becoming the Alteran."

Once again, the information was incomprehensible as they quickly put together the pieces. This outpost was most likely from when the Ancient disappeared from the galaxy 10 million years ago. That meant that the Ori still had enough malice after 40 million years of separation to wipe out an entire race, and not just that race but any that were allied with them. It was unconceivable and terrifying.

Even their greatest enemies didn't want to wipe of entire races, they wanted people to rule over. There were some exceptions to that rule, but they were few and far between, and were often dealt with quickly. It's true that their enemies tried their best to kill off the Rangers, but they tended to leave at least some of the civilian population alive enough to rebuild. Even Dark Spector hadn't killed off all the Eltrans, but he had left them in ruins. Dark Spector had destroyed their technology and infrastructure and it would be decades before they recovered, and with that crippled the network that linked different Ranger teams.

"What happened to the Ori? Are they still around?" Zhane asked, the background was nice, but it didn't assuage his concerns.

"There is insufficient data to postulate status of the Ori. There is no known way to monitor the Ascended plane, nor are there intelligence satellites within the Ori galaxy." The hologram answered unhelpfully.

"What was their last known status?" Andros asked as Zhane growled in frustration. Andros figured that even if the status was 10 million years old, it might give them some clue on if the Ori were still around.

"The last know contact with the Ori on the lower plane was the battle of Valsharosh, where the remaining Ranger forces, along with Alteran volunteers fought to destroy the Praegrandis Astria Porta. This battle was the last known engagement in the Ori-Alteran War, and removed the Ori forces from the Avalon galaxy, pushing them back to the Ori galaxy.

"The Ascended plane was completely cut off from the lower plane with the activation of the Morphin Grid. It is unknown the status of the Ascendance, both Ori and Alteran."

Andros's mind worked quickly as he tried to piece together the facts that he has just learned.

"Why would the Alterans create something that would cut them off from something they obviously desired?" Andros asked.

"The Alteran Council did not approve the creation of the Morphin Grid. The grid was created by Doctor Hyperion, who was considered a dangerous radical due to his believes that the Ori would return. Doctor Hyperion went against the orders of the Alteran Council, ultimately leading to the assassination of his wife Theia, and the destruction of Doctor Hyperion's research base killing Doctor Hyperion as well as all his staff. Before Doctor Hyperion's death he was able to create prototype of the grid, know as the Morphing Generator, giving birth to the first Rangers. It is only known that the Morphin Grid was completed days before Doctor Hyperion's death, and it was only years later that it was activated. The Grid was activated by Red Ranger Helios, and White Ranger Selene after the death of Pink Ranger Eos, Blue Ranger Astraeus, and Yellow Ranger Endymion, during the attack on Valsharosh."

All of three men became to feel sick as the bloody history of the origins of the Rangers. It was suddenly not so surprising that the Eltarians had kept this from the other Rangers. It wasn't the illustrious beginnings what anyone would want for the origin of the Power Rangers, protectors for all. It was becoming clear that the origin of the Rangers was dripping in blood. It seems like the Rangers were born of a legacy of death and tears, and it made them all sick to think that even today that legacy continued. Because as much as Ranger won, they lost as well.

"What happened to Selene?" Tommy asked.

"Praevian Selene remains in stasis, condition stable." The hologram answered. "Verbal request required for reanimation."

"This must have been what Zordon was speaking about." Andros whispered mostly to himself.

"The bloody origin of the Rangers." Zhane summed up the revelation.

"And also, a decision." Tommy said as he looked away from the hologram to the two other Rangers. "Do we leave Selene here, like all the other Rangers before us? Or do we revive her?"

There was a pause, almost as if the universe were holding its breath.

"Is what she did really all that unforgivable?" Zhane asked them. "Can we really fault her for killing her crew? I can't even image being put in situation where the only options are killing a person or allowing them to waste away in agony. As for what her people did, can we punish one person for the sins of their people?"

Tommy and Andros nodded in agreement. Selene had been given an impossible choice, to watch either a slow horrific death or a fast painless death. They couldn't blame her for the decision that she had made. They also wouldn't blame her for the faults of her people, because she was not to blame for them.

"Though I understand now why the Eltarans didn't wake her." Andros said before explaining. "Eltarans have a very black and white view of the world. Good and Evil, no real middle ground, or forgiveness. They would never be able to forgive her for killing her crew, but they would not kill her, dirtying their own hands. That's not even touching the legacy of the Ancients, and we all know that they have much to answer for."

"So, they left her frozen for 10 million years. As punishment." Zhane stated astonished.

Andros nodded. "It's also why they would have hid her away from the rest of the Rangers. To the Eltarans, Rangers are scared warriors and given great power within their society, they are revered. Something like a Ranger who killed people under her protection, would have thrown their people into chaos, and goddess only knows what the Ancients did. We already know that they created the Wraith, it's quite possible that they did much worse."

"It does make you think about just how much the Eltarans Rangers hid from us." Tommy said darkly. He did not like the fact that so much was kept from him and the other Earth Rangers, and it really did beg the questions on how much more was hidden.

Both Andros and Zhane shared a leery look, this was starting to become a real mess. With the Eltarans in ruins, it was only a matter of time before more secrets came to light. If this was to set the precedence, then they were going to encounter real problems within the galactic community. For almost 2 million years the Eltarans had been the stable foundation of the Ranger community, without them and with the secrets that they had kept coming to light, it was sure to be a chaotic time to come.

"Once again, the real question is, do we seal this place back up, or do we let her out?" Tommy asked again.

"I vote that we let her out." Zhane said. "She is no help to anyone sealed away. She can't redeem herself frozen in this place. Not only that but can you image what we could learn from one of the first Rangers."

"Is it right though?" Andros argued. "She has been asleep for 10 million years, everyone and everything that she knows is gone. You heard that first log, she hoped that her nieces would be the ones to wake her."

"I would rather be dead, then stuck in this limbo state for eternity." Zhane argued back.

Andros reared back like he had been hit, causing Zhane's face to soften as he pulled Andros to him.

"That's not what I meant." Zhane whispered as he comforted his mate.

"I couldn't lose you, too." Andros whispered tearfully as he thought back to those 2 years Zhane had been in stasis as he healed.

"I don't blame you, and I'm happy to be back with you." Zhane whispered into Andros's hair.

Tommy looked away from the pair, giving them some privacy. As he looked away something caught the corner of his eye, he turned and for a second saw his peregrine falcon spirit guide. He moved away from the pair and walked over to where his spirit guide has been seconds before. He came to an alcove in the wall that looked like it was frozen over. He could see that there was something in the ice, but it was obscured by frost. He wiped the frost away with his hand until he had cleared part of the surface so that he could see what was inside. He was greeted with the sleeping face of the woman in the hologram, Selene the first White Ranger.

Tommy was struck by how peaceful she looked. He could almost pretend that she was just asleep and not frozen in stasis. He wondered, what was the right thing to do? Should they leave and forget she even existed, or wake her? Was leaving her tantamount to leaving her to die a slow death, if not now but when the power finally failed. Was it unfair to wake her to such an alien reality, everything that she knew was gone? If it were him, he didn't know what he would want. But the real question was, would he regret abandoning a fellow Ranger to this half life. The answer was yes.

Andros and Zhane made their way over to him and peered through the ice.

"She is unearthly." Zhane commented.

"True. It is no wonder people thought of them as gods if they are all as beautiful as she is." Andros said.

"I think that we should wake her." Tommy said, "It wouldn't be right to abandon one of our own in this place. She shouldn't be tucked away like a forgotten museum piece."

Andros paused for a moment before he responded.

"You are both right, I too believe we should wake her. I just wanted to point out how difficult that it is going to be, not just for her but for us as well. Someone will have to watch her and help her assimilate to modern life. We are vastly behind the Ancients technology wise; this is going to be kin to one of us having to live in a society that still believes fire is the newest invention."

Both men acknowledged Andros's point, because it was a fair one.

"We should wait until she is awake and able to tell us what she wants to do. She might not even want to stay here." Tommy said.

The trio made their way back over to the hologram.

"What is the reanimation process for stasis, and how long will it take her to recover?" Andros asked the hologram.

"The reanimation process takes only five minutes. Once the Glacies Speculo recedes the subject may regain conscious briefly before falling unconscious. The subject's body temperature will be low, however breathing and heartbeat should fall within normal range. Burns are possible on exposed skin and on skin that was constricted before entering stasis. Subject should regain concsiouness within 4 to 12 hours. If the subject has not regain consciousness within that time frame, medical treatment is required." The hologram answered.

"We should bring her to the nest that we found." Andros said, knowing that his fellow omega would appreciate waking up in a familiar nest, even if it had lost its scent.

"Start the reanimation." Tommy ordered the hologram.

"Reanimation commencing. Time to revival four minutes 58 seconds." The hologram stated before blinking out of existence.

"Once again, this place is creepy. How does it even know how we measure time?" Zhane asked, even if this place what the base of the Celestials it was unsettling how this place seemed to know so much about them.

"It was most likely when Tommy put his hand on that pedestal. The computer stated that the 'update was complete', it likely extracted the information from the nanites in our bodies. Like what happened when Ranger teams met one another." Andros postulated.

"That makes sense." Zhane agreed.

Andros saw the look of confusion on Tommy's face so he explained before Tommy could ask.

"When you mean a new Ranger team the nanites in our bodies share information, the longer you are together the more information is exchanged. Though the first thing that is always shared is language. Before I came to Earth I didn't speak English before I met the Turbo team. Any language that they knew transferred to me, and the ones that I knew went to them, this is so that Ranger teams can quickly work together without any misunderstandings. Languages are normally passed along through Range lines, it is only if a Ranger team is completely annihilated that the language chain is lost." Andros explained.

"But what are nanites, and why would they be in our bodies?" Tommy asked, not liking how they were speaking as if it were common knowledge.

Zhane and Andros shared a concerned look.

'He doesn't know.' Andros stated, disturbed by the level of ignorance that Tommy had. He had noticed that even his team were ignorant of some basics but with their campaign against Dark Spector there hadn't been time to bring it up.

'No, and I have a feeling that none of them know. I don't think that anyone of them were given the Choice.' Zhane agreed. He had never been a fan of Zordon, but this was borderline criminal.

The telepathic exchange was over so quick that Tommy didn't notice the pause.

"Nanites are microscopic machines within our bodies that are introduced by the Morphers. They are what allow us to access the Power so that we can Morph. They are also responsible for the physical enhancements that Rangers have and can access without Morphing. Morphing once or twice is not enough for the nanites to get a foothold within the body, but with continued use of the Morpher they become permeant within the body. They are also able to transfer information between Rangers, language is just one example, fighting skills are another, but those take longer to transfer." Andros enlightened Tommy on something that should have been explained to him when he first became a Ranger.

Suddenly something that had never really made sense to Tommy finally clicked. It had never made sense how someone like Billy with no fighting or physical activity background, could go from sedentary nerd to fighting putties. Sure at first Billy was horrible at fighting, but it only took a month for him to significantly improve to the point where he was no longer a liability, much faster than any normal human could learn.

Tommy was pulled from his train of thought when Zhane nervously asked a question.

"Were you give the Choice?" Zhane asked.

"What do you…?" Tommy stated to ask before he attention was pulled towards the alcove.

The ice, or Glacies Speculo, receded from Selene's body, and her eyes fluttered open. Grey eyes met brown, and suddenly Tommy's question didn't matter. Her eyes closed and her cold body fell into his arms.

Awoken from a Long Sleep

Andros looked down at the sleeping form of Selene within her nest. Andros had taken Selene from the stunned arms of Tommy leaving his mate to deal with the Alpha Sentinel Prime as he rushed the other half of the pair to her nest. Andros was impressed that the blankets and pillows within the nest were still good, he would have thought they would have disintergrated after so long. However, they were still soft and conformable as far as he could tell, the only thing that would be distressing would be the lack of scent.

It had taken less then a second to realise that Selene was a shaman level guide from the moment she awoke, and a couple seconds after that he caught the sent of omega. When she fell into Tommy's arms Andros felt the Sentinel Guide pair of Earth come together on the psionic plane, in fact Andros was sure that every Shaman and their Prime felt it. Andros was now shielding Selene; it wouldn't be good for anyone to figure out that they were in Antarctica. That's not to say that the other Shamans of Earth hadn't tried. There had been several polite knocks on his shield, but so far, the other Shamans were behaving themselves and not trying to force the issue.

'How is she?' Zhane asked telepathically.

'Sleeping. Her body temperature is slowly rising, I would say that it will be a couple of hours before she is awake though. How is the new Alpha Sentinel Prime of Earth?' Andros inquired.

'Stunned at first, it took him a couple of seconds to realise that you had taken her. I had to stop him from rushing down, and now he is just pacing and growling. You know that we can't keep them apart right.' Zhane stated.

'I know that, I don't think that Tommy will do anything dubious, but I didn't want her to wake and immediately have to deal with a territorial Alpha Sentinel. She is already going to feel adrift; I didn't think she needed this on top of having to deal with the fact that it's been 10 million years.' Andros explained.

'I don't know, it could be exactly what she needs, an anchor within this storm.' Zhane argued.

'Or it could worse." Andros retorted.

Andros looked over his charge and noted the extremely long hair and nails. It looked as if the stasis didn't stop all biological processes, only slowed them down to an extreme degree. Still after 10 million years her hair pooled on the ground, it remined Andros of the fairy tail that Ashley had told him about. The one with the princess with the long hair, trapped for years in a tower, there were some scary parallels to this situation.

'Zhane, can you bring me your grooming kit, as well as some food and water. Simple foods that are easy to swallow." Andros requested.

'Sure.' Zhane agreed.

It was several minutes before there was a soft knock at the door. Andros went to the outer door were Zhane was waiting with the requested supplies. Tommy was looming near the door but making no attempt at entry, Andros was sure that he was there to make sure that Zhane didn't enter the room. While Tommy was fine with another omega with his presumptive mate, he wouldn't be able to tolerate another alpha in with her if he was not allowed within the room.

"Thanks. I'll let you know if there is any change." Andros said, mostly for the growling alpha in the corner.

Andros closed the door and went back to the nest room. Andros carefully started cutting her hair back to about midback. He knew that there were some cultures that never cut their hair, but this amount of hair was crippling, and he would apologise to her later if needed. After the hair was to a reasonable length he started on her nail. Andros didn't really about his hair or nails, but it was something that Zhane enjoyed. Zhane liked taking care of Andros's hair, it was the reason Andros kept it long, and Zhane insured that Andros knew the benefits of a manicure. Andros cut back her nails so that she could actually use her hands, started to groom her hands. It was basic, but if it was good enough for Zhane when he cajoled Andros into giving him a manicure, then it would be fine.

'Any change, I've been told to ask.' Zhane asked with some amusement.

'I've fixed her nails and hair. I'm going to give her a bath and change her clothes.' Andros said, then thought about it for a second. 'Maybe you should tell him that last part.'

'Hahaha, I'm not suicidal.' Zhane answered. 'Are any other Shamans giving you problems?'

'No, but I have had a few curious knocks. They want to know who the newest shaman is, though now that I think about it, I could always feel her. She was in the background of the natural noise that any planet puts off, I'm sure that it won't take long before the other shaman realise this.' Andros said.

'It that going to cause any problems?' Zhane asked.

'It might. They are probably going to have to reveal themselves as Rangers to at least some of the other Prime pairs. Though we might be able to play it off that she is female, and that's why she feels like the planet, mother nature and all.' Andros planned.

Please processed with decontamination procedures and removed clothing then place them in the disposal unit

Commencing decontamination process

Decontamination complete, please proceed

Hyperion Nanites detected, new system detected, beginning information download and system update

The hologram finished speaking and seemed to go into standby mode as the three males stood there stunned.

"By the Holy Rings," Andros swore. "This truly is the base of the Celestials."

"Eltar and Zordon must have known. There is no way that they didn't. Why wouldn't they have told the other Rangers?" Zhane mused.

"Query not found. Please rephrase the question." The hologram spoke, causing the three males to pause. Though the audio and the hologram's lips matched this time, they were impressed at the quality.

"It's interactive." Tommy stated, "Did you guys notice that she used the same phrase as Zordon, asking for forgiveness."

"Yes, but I wonder what she wanted forgiveness for?" Andros wondered out loud.

The hologram suddenly changed at the questions. It was the same woman, but her appearance had changed. Her hair had been pulled into a bun, but parts were falling out. She was covered in dirt, soot, and what looked to be dried blood. Her uniform was damaged, with rips and burns littering the fabric. Any injuries she might have had, had long been healed by the nanites in her blood; only old blood marked the wounds. She looked exhausted as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

Once again, the hologram spoke.

"Captain's Log,

"It's been four days since my last entry. The good news is that the engines will be ready in the morning, and we will be beginning the return trip to Alterra. The bad news is that we have had our first death due to plague. It was one of the critical condition patients, so no one is panicking yet, but it is only a matter of time. People are starting to get sick right now, it is in the early stage, and they all are putting it off as lack of sleep and stress, but soon it will get worse.

"I've had to think about what I'm going to do. I can't let someone get crazed and destroy the ship because there have been reports of incidents like that in the past. I've secretly been fixing the brig and the teleportation system. They are non-essentials, and I can't explain to the crew why I'm fixing them.

"I feel like a horrible person. I'm planning on containing scared and sick people until they are too weak to fight.

[…pause…]

"I'm going to have to watch them all die.

"End log"

As soon as the hologram finished speaking, it reverted to the previous image of the uninjured woman. There was a moment of silence as the three Rangers processed what they had just heard and quickly came to the same conclusion.

"Andros, do you think that it could have been a plague that was the unknown disaster that wiped out the Ancients and the Furlings?" Tommy asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

"From the sounds of it, yes," Andros replied, looking slightly pale at the thought. "It would explain why only Selene would have survived if she had been the only Ranger on the ship. Rangers are immune to all sicknesses, the only thing that could affect us is something engineered specifically for Rangers, and even then, we adapt so quickly that we would only be down for a couple of hours."

"Do you think that she killed the crew?" Zhane asked, asking what they all had been thinking.

"Of the 35-surviving crew of the Keres and 64 survivors of the battle at Valsharosh. Praevian Selene euthanized 62 of the survivors, 9 of the survivors were euthanized by the ship's doctor, 16 of the survivors committed suicide, and 12 died from injuries from the battle or complications due to the plague." The hologram answered.

A shiver went down their spines as their fear was confirmed. A Ranger had killed innocents, her crew, and it was the reason that the Eltarians had kept this place a secret. If it had gotten out that a Ranger as revered as the original White Ranger had killed allies, many would turn on the Rangers.

"What was the plague?" Andros asked the hologram.

"The Plague was engineered by the Ori. The plague was a highly contagious airborne pathogen. Once infected, the patient was infectious, undetectable, and asymptomatic until 12 to 16 days later. The situation was compounded since the test for the virus would not show positive until day 14 of the incubation period. Those with prodigal-level Healing gifts would show no symptoms. The Healers became asymptotic carriers of the Plague, only succumbing to it once they used their gift to heal others. These factors and the heavy use of the Astria Portas allowed the virus to travel far before the quarantine was initiated. While the war was ongoing with the Ori, the virus could not be contained and ran rampant. At the end of three years, there were less than a hundred thousand surviving Alterans from the previous 3.2 Trillion in the Avalon galaxy.

"Symptoms would start with fever, chills, headache, light sensitivity, shortness of breath, and coughing. Within 7 to 14 days, symptoms would progress to pneumonia, seizures, skin lesions, loss of feeling and mobility in limbs that quickly progressed into tissue necrosis of the limbs. Once necrosis set in, gangrene and/or sepsis would soon occur. It would take the patient 3-10 days later to die. This resulted in the plague having a 100% fatality rate.

"It is to be noted that the plague could cross species barriers. It was speculated that it had been specifically engineered too. The Furling population had a survival rate of 98.1%; however, it left those infected sterile, leaving the Furling effectively extinct. The Asgard, like the Alterans, had a 100% fatality rate; however, the plague affected them more severely. Within 12 hours, infected Asgardians would experience complete organ failure. Due to the rapid onset and death, the Asgard were able to effectively quarantine within the Ida galaxy. The only known race unaffected was the Nox."

The information was horrifying. Rangers were used to enemies that fought them physically. They couldn't conceive of an enemy that would engineer a plague and unleash it on the galaxy at large. These Ori had effectively wiped out 2 races from the universe in such a horrible way. The three young men couldn't imagine the apathy and callousness needed to create and use something like the Plague.

"Who are the Ori?" Zhane asked the hologram. He needed to know if they were still around and if they were still a threat.

"The Ori and the Alteran are the same species known initially as the Altera. However, they divided due to significant cultural and philosophical differences between the two groups regarding Ascension. This schism occurred approximately 50 million years ago.

"The Ori are ultra-religious, following the religion of Origin founded after the Ascension of the first Ori. Origin was established when these first Ascended Ori could gain more power from the worshipping of those still in the physical plane. These Ascended Ori would interact with the material plane giving knowledge and abilities to their followers. This allowed the Ori to dominate the planet. The Ori deemed all that didn't follow their beliefs as heretics, demonizing other Ascended as evil and selfish in hoarding their knowledge.

"At the end of the thirty years, the only Altera that hadn't converted to Origin lived in a small village in an isolated mountain range. The Altera who lived there were pacifists who believed that science, knowledge, and self-awareness were the Path to Enlightenment or Ascension. Those that Ascended from this village practiced non-interference with the lower plane. The Altera knew their way of life would soon end in the wake of Origin. So, instead of using their advanced technology to attack the Ori, they created a spaceship to leave the planet and their galaxy, becoming the Alteran."

Once again, the information was incomprehensible as they quickly assembled the pieces. This outpost was most likely from when the Ancient disappeared from the galaxy 10 million years ago. That meant that the Ori still had enough malice after 40 million years of separation to wipe out an entire race, not just that race but any allied with them. It was inconceivable and terrifying.

Even their greatest enemies didn't want to wipe out entire races; they wanted people to rule or slaves. There were some exceptions to that rule, but they were few and far between and were often dealt with quickly. Their enemies indeed tried their best to kill off the Rangers, but they tended to leave at least some of the civilian population alive enough to rebuild. Even Dark Spector hadn't killed off all the Eltrans, but he had left them in ruins. Dark Spector had destroyed their technology and infrastructure, and it would be decades before they recovered and had effectively crippled the network that linked different Ranger teams.

"What happened to the Ori? Are they still around?" Zhane asked; the background was nice but didn't assuage his concerns.

"There is insufficient data to postulate the status of the Ori. There is no known way to monitor the Ascended plane, nor are there intelligence satellites within the Origin galaxy." The hologram answered unhelpfully.

"What was their last known status?" Andros asked as Zhane growled in frustration. Andros figured that even if the status was 10 million years old, it might give them some clue on if the Ori were still around.

"The last known contact with the Ori on the lower plane was the battle of Valsharosh, where the remaining Ranger forces and Alteran volunteers fought to destroy the Praegrandis Astria Porta. This battle was the last known engagement in the Ori-Alteran War and removed the Ori forces from the Avalon galaxy, pushing them back to the Origin galaxy. The Ascended plane was completely cut off from the lower plane with the activation of the Morphin Grid. It is unknown the status of the Ascended, both Ori and Alteran."

Andros's mind worked quickly as he tried to piece together the facts he had just learned.

"Why would the Alterans create something that would cut them off from something they obviously desired?" Andros asked because it didn't make sense.

"The Alteran Council did not approve the creation of the Morphin Grid. The grid was created by Doctor Hyperion, who was considered a dangerous radical due to his belief that the Ori would return. Doctor Hyperion went against the orders of the Alteran Council, ultimately leading to the assassination of his wife, Theia, and the destruction of Doctor Hyperion's research base, killing Doctor Hyperion and all his staff. Before Doctor Hyperion's death, he created a prototype of the grid, known as the Morphing Generator, giving birth to the first Rangers. It is only known that the Morphin Grid was completed days before Doctor Hyperion's death, and it was only years later that it was activated. The Grid was activated by Red Ranger Helios and White Ranger Selene after the death of Pink Ranger Eos, Blue Ranger Astraeus, and Yellow Ranger Endymion during the opening attack of the war at Valsharosh."

All three men began to feel sick at the bloody history of the origins of the Rangers. It was suddenly unsurprising that the Eltarians had kept this from the other Rangers. It wasn't the illustrious beginnings that anyone would want for the origin of the Power Rangers, protectors for all. It was becoming clear that the origin of the Rangers was dripping in blood. It seems like the Rangers were born of a legacy of death and tears, and it made them all sick to think that even today, that legacy continued. Because as much as the Rangers won, they lost as well.

"What happened to Selene?" Tommy asked.

"Praevia Selene remains in stasis, condition stable. Verbal request required for revival." The hologram answered.

"This must have been what Zordon was speaking about," Andros mainly whispered to himself.

"The bloody origin of the Rangers." Zhane summed up the revelation.

"And also, a decision," Tommy said as he looked away from the hologram to the two other Rangers. "Do we leave Selene here, like all the other Rangers before us? Or do we revive her?"

There was a pause, almost as if the universe held its breath.

"Is what she did really all that unforgivable?" Zhane asked them. "Can we really fault her for killing her crew? I can't even imagine being put in a situation where the only options are killing someone or allowing them to waste away in agony. As for what her people did, can we punish one person for the sins of their people?"

Tommy and Andros nodded in agreement. Selene had been given an impossible choice: to watch a slow, horrific death or commit a fast, painless euthanasia. They couldn't blame her for the decision that she had made. They also wouldn't blame her for her people's faults because she was not to blame for them.

"Though I understand now why the Eltarans didn't wake her," Andros said before explaining. "Eltarans have a very black-and-white view of the world. Good and Evil, no real middle ground or forgiveness. They would never be able to forgive her for killing her crew, but they would not kill her, dirtying their own hands. That was not even touching the legacy of the Ancients, and we all know they have much to answer for."

"So, they left her frozen for 10 million years. As punishment." Zhane stated, astonished.

Andros nodded. "It's also why they would have hidden her away from the rest of the Rangers. To the Eltarans, Rangers are sacred warriors and given great power within their society, they are revered. Something like a Ranger who killed people under her protection would have thrown their society into chaos, and goddess only knows what else the Ancients did. We already know that they created the Wraith; it's quite possible that they did much worse."

"It makes you think about how much the Eltarans Rangers hid from us," Tommy said darkly.

Tommy did not like how much had been kept from him and other Earth Rangers. It really did beg the question of how much more was hidden. In the years to come what would be unearthed because of the fall of the Eltarans. How many more horrors would they find hidden within the base's computers.

Andros and Zhane shared a leery look; this was becoming a real mess. With the Eltarans in ruins, it was only a matter of time before more secrets came to light. If this was to set the precedence, they would encounter real problems within the galactic community. For almost 2 million years, the Eltarans had been the stable foundation of the Ranger community. Without them and with the secrets that they had kept coming to light, it would surely be a chaotic time to come.

"Once again, the real question is, do we seal this place back up or let her out?" Tommy asked again.

"I vote that we wake her up," Zhane said. "She is no help to anyone sealed away. She can't redeem herself frozen in this place. Not only that, but can you imagine what we could learn from one of the first Rangers."

"Is it right, though?" Andros argued. "She has been asleep for 10 million years; everything she knows is gone. You heard that first log. She hoped that her nieces would be the ones to wake her."

"I would rather be dead than stuck in this limbo state for eternity," Zhane argued.

Andros reared back like he had been hit, causing Zhane's face to soften as he pulled Andros to him.

"That's not what I meant," Zhane whispered as he comforted his mate.

"I couldn't lose you, too," Andros whispered tearfully as he recalled the two years Zhane had been in stasis as he healed.

"I don't blame you, and I'm happy to be back with you," Zhane whispered into Andros's hair.

Tommy looked away from the pair, giving them some privacy. As he looked away, something caught the corner of his eye; he turned and, for a second, saw his peregrine falcon spirit guide. Tommy moved away from the pair and walked over to where his spirit guide had been moments before. He found an alcove in the wall that looked frozen over; it almost looked like a hole in the side of the building, but the ice was too smooth to be from the glacier. Tommy could see something in the ice, but it was obscured by frost. He wiped the frost away with his hand until he had cleared part of the surface so that he could see what was inside. He was greeted by a woman's sleeping face, a familiar face from the hologram, Selene, the first White Ranger.

Tommy was struck by how peaceful she looked. He could almost pretend she was asleep and not frozen in stasis. He wondered what the right thing to do was? Should they leave and forget she even existed, or wake her? Was leaving her tantamount to leaving her to die a slow death? If not now, then when the power finally failed. Stuck in purgatory for eternity. Was it unfair to wake her to such an alien reality, with everything she knew gone? If it were him, he didn't know what he would want. But the real question was, would he regret abandoning a fellow Ranger to this half-life. The answer was yes.

Andros and Zhane made their way over to him and peered through the ice.

"She is unearthly," Zhane commented.

"True. No wonder people considered them gods if they were all as beautiful as she is." Andros said.

"I think that we should wake her." Tommy said, "It wouldn't be right to abandon one of our own in this place. She shouldn't be tucked away like a forgotten museum piece."

Andros paused for a moment before he responded.

"You are both right; I, too, believe we should wake her. I just wanted to point out how difficult it will be, not just for her but for us as well. Someone will have to watch her and help her assimilate into modern life. We are vastly behind the Ancients' technology; this will be akin to one of us living in a society still believing fire is the newest invention."

Both men acknowledged Andros's point because it was a fair one.

"We should wait until she is awake and can tell us what she wants to do. She might not even want to stay here." Tommy said.

The trio made their way back over to the hologram.

"What is the reanimation process for stasis, and how long will it take her to recover?" Andros asked the hologram.

"The reanimation process takes only five minutes. Once the Glacies Speculo recedes, the subject may regain consciousness briefly before falling unconscious. The subject's body temperature will be low; however, breathing and heartbeat should fall within the normal range. Burns are possible on exposed skin and on constricted skin before entering stasis. The subject should regain consciousness within 4 to 12 hours. Medical treatment is required if the subject has not regained consciousness within that time frame." The hologram answered.

"We should bring her to the nest that we found," Andros said, knowing that his fellow omega would appreciate waking up in a familiar nest, even if it had lost its scent.

"Start the reanimation," Tommy ordered the hologram.

"Revival commencing. Time to revival four minutes 58 seconds." The hologram stated before blinking out of existence.

"Once again, this place is creepy. How does it even know how we measure time?" Zhane asked.

It was starting to bother Zhane because even if this place was the base of the Celestials, it was unsettling how it seemed to know so much about them.

"It was most likely when Tommy put his hand on that pedestal. The computer stated that the 'update was complete.' It likely extracted the information from the nanites in our bodies. Like what happened when Ranger teams met one another." Andros postulated.

"That makes sense." Zhane agreed.

Andros sighed when he saw the look of confusion on Tommy's face, so he explained before Tommy could ask.

"When you meet a new Ranger team, the nanites in our bodies share information. The longer you are together, the more information is exchanged. Though the first thing that is always shared is language. Before I came to Earth, I didn't speak English before I met the Turbo team. Any language they knew transferred to me, and the ones I knew went to them. This is so that Ranger teams can quickly work together without any misunderstandings. Languages are normally passed along through Ranger succession lines; only if a Ranger team is completely annihilated is the language chain lost." Andros explained.

"But what are nanites, and why would they be in our bodies?" Tommy asked, not liking how they spoke as if it were common knowledge.

Zhane and Andros shared a concerned look. Andros opened their bond so that he could speak to Zhane telepathically.

'He doesn't know.' Andros stated, disturbed by the level of ignorance that Tommy had. He had noticed that even his team was ignorant of some basics, but with their campaign against Dark Spector, there hadn't been time to bring it up.

'No, and I have a feeling that none of them know. I don't think that anyone of them was given the Choice.' Zhane agreed. He had never been a fan of Zordon, but this was borderline criminal.

The telepathic exchange was over so quick that Tommy didn't notice the pause.

"Nanites are microscopic machines within our bodies introduced by the Morphers. They are what allow us to access the Power so that we can Morph. They are also responsible for the physical enhancements that Rangers have and can access without Morphing. Morphing once or twice is not enough for the nanites to get a foothold within the body, but with continued use of the Morpher, they become permanent within the body. They can also transfer information between Rangers. Language is just one example, fighting skills are another, but those take longer to transfer." Andros enlightened Tommy on something that should have been explained to him when he first became a Ranger.

Suddenly something that had never really made sense to Tommy finally clicked. It had never made sense how someone like Billy, with no fighting or physical activity background, could go from sedentary nerd to fighting putties. Sure, at first, Billy was horrible at combat, but it only took a month for him to significantly improve to the point where he was no longer a liability, much faster than any normal person could learn. In less than a month, he went from a liability on the field to a competent fighter on the team.

Tommy was pulled from his train of thought when Zhane nervously asked a question.

"Were you given the Choice?" Zhane asked, strangely emphasizing the last word.

"What do you…?" Tommy started to ask before his attention was pulled toward the alcove.

The ice, or Glacies Speculo, receded from Selene's body, and her eyes fluttered open. Grey eyes met brown, and suddenly Tommy's question didn't matter. Her eyes shuttered closed, and her cold body fell into his arms. Tommy's whole world focused down to the cool body in his arms.

1. Please proceed with decontamination procedures, remove clothing, then place it in the disposal unit.

2. Commencing the decontamination process

3. Decontamination complete. Please proceed.

4. Hyperion Nanites detected, new system users detected, beginning information download and system update