Almost two hours later, the rangers and Leia regrouped in the castle's entrance hall. They had all split up to explore and assess their possible base of operations away from the rest of The Rebellion. Tommy had taken Leia and inspected the castle's ramparts and other defenses. "What did everyone find?" he asked as they all came together.
"I found the armory," Jason said glancing in the direction he had come from. "Not much in the way of guns, or heavy weapons, but plenty of components for lightsabers."
"Any Kyber Crystals?"
"I didn't see any crystals, not sure if I'd be able to tell a Kyber Crystal from any other."
"Alright, at least we have the other components when we need them. Anyone else?
"The food storage units are packed full. Most of it's probably been there for like twenty years at least. I gotta say though they sure know how to preserve tasty food here."
"You ate food that's been sitting around for twenty years?" Jason asked looking at Zack in disbelief.
"Hey I was hungry," Zack said with a shrug.
"This place has plenty of medical supplies," Kat said pointing down the hall she had come from. "The Medical droid there assured me all the supplies were in good working order."
"I found the archive. I think you'll love it there Tommy, there's tons of information about The Force, The Jedi, The Sith, and this entire galaxy there."
"That will be helpful. Billy?"
"I investigated the castle's foundations," he said as he pointed at the heavy door that led to a staircase leading down beneath the castle and into the mountain. "There is a turbo lift there that leads to a clearing not far from where we landed The Ultrazord, speaking of, I found a hanger. By my calculations, it should be more than structurally sufficient to house The Ultrazord."
"Good," Tommy said with a nod. "Leia and I walked the ramparts and other defenses. If we have to make a stand here, It should be difficult for the Empire to attack the place. There is no shortage of guns capable of hitting orbital targets and a shield generator capable of creating a shield around the castle strong enough to create a shield around the castle strong enough to withstand just about anything.
"Hopefully, it won't come to that," Jason sighed.
"Agreed, come on, we better get Leia back to the fleet, and ourselves back home," Tommy said before looking at Billy. "Billy, where's that turbo lift?"
"This way," Billy said as he led them to the stairs and down below the castle. As they crossed a large open room on the way to the turbo lift, Leia stopped dead in her tracks.
"Leia? Are you okay?" Kat asked. Leia looked at Tommy with a confused look on her face.
"Don't you feel it?" Leia asked.
"What?" Tommy asked with a raised eyebrow. Leia did not answer, instead, she turned and started walking towards one of the walls as if in a trance. Tommy began to follow her and just as Leia reached the wall, she reached out with her hand and pressed on one of the stones that made up the wall. There was a loud click, then a grinding sound just before the wall slid aside revealing a large cave with countless clear crystals protruding from nearly every surface.
"Are those..." Kat began but left the question unasked.
"Yeah, Kyber Crystals," Tommy said with a smile on his face. "One of them is calling to you, go and find it. We'll wait here."
"Alright," she said before walking into the hidden cavern. She reached an intersection and turned left without so much as a thought. She continued, carefully making her way across a narrow bridge. "Why is this never easy?" she asked herself as she began to climb up a steep incline forcing her to climb on all fours. "Whoa!" she shouted when she began to slide back down when she neared the top. Acting on instinct she tapped into The Force and lept, grabbing onto the narrow ledge and pulling herself up. As she got to her feet she saw a large cluster of crystals, at the top of it, was a single crystal that seemed to shine brighter than the others. Slowly she reached toward it and it changed colors from clear, to a dark blue that reminded her of Alderaan's oceans. The Crystal broke free from its home and slowly floated to her outstretched hand.
"I see you were successful," Tommy said with a smile when Leia returned to the entrance to the crystal cave.
"I was," Leia said proudly as she held up the crystal.
"I knew you would be," Tommy said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, I've taken the liberty of putting several lightsaber components on The Ultrazord."
By the time they had returned to the fleet, Leia had constructed her lightsaber. She had made it from polished chromium with black plastoid accents, a red plastoid activation switch, and black textured rubber strips around the grip. As soon as she had finished it, she and Tommy began training in lightsaber forms by having her follow his movements.
After making a report with Admiral Ackbar the rangers left the fleet, activated the dimensional device, and returned to Earth. After sending their Zords back to their hiding places they teleported to The Command Center to fill Zordon in on what they had found. Both Tommy and Kat were surprised to see their parents waiting for them. "Mum, Dad, Mister Oliver, Misses Oliver? Is everything okay? Where are the others?" Kat asked her eyes darting between her parents and Tommy.
"Everything's fine, Kat," William said with a slight smile.
"Your Uncle Rob's just been transferred here. Aunt Kathy and Rachel just flew in to look at places and get Rachel signed up for school," Heather said with a smile of her own.
"Really? That's great!" Kat said excitedly at the prospect of seeing her cousin every day.
"I take it Rachel is your cousin?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah, she and I have always been really close."
"'Close'? You two were thick as thieves," William laughed.
"And, we have some news as well," Monica said as she looked at Tommy.
"Okay," Tommy said slowly not sure what to think.
"You're Uncle Jack's ship has been reassigned to Angel Grove Naval Station. He just got in this morning," James said with a broad smile.
"And the four of us got talking and thought it might be nice if we all went out together for dinner tomorrow night," Heather added.
"That sounds great!" Tommy said excitedly.
"I couldn't agree more," Kat said with a smile as she snaked her right arm around Tommy's left.
Late the next afternoon there was a knock on the door of The Oliver Home. "I got it!" Tommy called to his parents who were just finishing getting ready. Tommy was dressed in a dark green button-down shirt, with a black tie, black pants, black leather belt, and black dress shoes. He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of his Uncle Jack. Caption Jack Oliver was in civilian garb and wore a light blue button-down shirt, with a dark grey tie, black pants, belt, and shoes.
"Tommy?" he asked with an amused smirk. "When did you grow a beard kid?" Jack said as he pulled his nephew into a hug. "It looks good, even if it and the hair aren't regulation," he added teasingly. "How have you been?" He asked as Tommy led him into the living room.
"Good, I grew the beard last year. How long will you be in Angel Grove?"
"Well, I'm hoping a year or two, but you know how it goes. I go where they send me."
"Jack, good to see you," James said as he walked over and hugged his brother.
"Likewise, James."
"Jack," Monica said as the two brothers broke their embrace and she wrapped her brother-in-law in a hug.
"Monica, still putting up with this guy I see."
"Someone has to," she replied with a shrug.
"Very funny," James said with a sarcastic laugh."Come on, we don't want to be late," he added as he headed for the car.
"Where are we going anyway?"
"There's a new Japanese place down by the mall. Some of my coworkers have been raving about it since it opened about two weeks ago," James answered as he and Monica sat in the driver's and front passenger seats respectively.
"Oh, Trini and Billy ate there the other day," Tommy said, "According to them the sushi there is to die for." Monica made a sound of disgust.
"How you boys can eat raw fish is beyond me," she said with an exaggerated shudder, causing the three men to laugh.
A short time later, they met up with The Hillards outside of The Lucky Dragon, Angel Grove's newest Japanese steakhouse.
"Let's see here, going by Tommy's description of you, you must be Kat?" Jack said as he offered the young woman his hand.
"I am, it's nice to meet you Mister, or do you prefer Captain Oliver?" she asked as she shook his hand.
"Jack, please," he said with a smile.
"Alright," Kat agreed with a nod.
"Hi, I'm Heather, Kat's mum," Heather said offering her hand.
"Jack Oliver, I certainly see where your daughter gets her looks," Jack said making Heather blush slightly.
"And thank God for that," William laughed. "William Hillard," he said as he and Jack shook hands.
"Jack Oliver."
"This is my Sister-in-Law Kathy, and my niece, Rachel," William said motioning to the two.
"Glad to meet you both," Jack said with a smile and a nod. The two younger women could almost pass for sisters. The biggest difference at a glance, between Kat and Rachel was Rachel's dark brown hair.
Shortly after entering they were shone to their seats and had ordered their food. Within ten minutes it was brought to the table. Tommy had ordered a spicy salmon roll, with tako nigiri and unagi sashimi. Both Jack and James had opted for The Angel Grove Roll, which consisted of fresh asparagus, yellow tail, diced garlic, and cream cheese. Monica had ordered the Teriyaki Chicken, as had both Kathy and Rachel. Kat decided on a spicy tuna roll with sake nigiri.
The group ate as they shared memories and laughs as they got to know one another. Suddenly just as they finished their meal, the TV made a horrible high-pitched screech that reminded Tommy and Kat of all the times Bulk had drug his nails along a chalkboard at school. When the screeching stopped, the image of a frail-looking man in a long black robe appeared on the screen. The robe hid most of his face, all that could be seen was his jaw and mouth. What flesh could be seen was sickly pale and covered in scars. From beneath the dark hood, two menacing-looking yellow eyes stared at whatever device was being used to make the broadcast.
"Tommy, is that..." Kat began after leaning close to Tommy so only her boyfriend would hear her.
"Darth Sidious, The Emporer, yes," he replied just as quietly. They watched as Sidious' thin lips curled into a grin revealing yellowed teeth.
"Hello people of the planet called Earth," Sidious began, his voice thick and oily as he slowly spoke. "You do not know me, but I am a new friend of Lord Zedd. He and I now have enemies in common. You call them 'Power Rangers.'" Sidious paused as his grin grew wider. "Today in my galaxy we celebrate the eighteenth anniversary of the founding of my glorious Galactic Empire. I can think of no better way to do this than by making an announcement that until now, Zedd for reasons of his own, he has not named. Both he and I both know just who these rangers are. What would you do I wonder, if you all knew," Sidious paused again as he began to cackle. Tommy and Kat looked at one another with horrified looks, and both sets of their parents looked at the young couple with concern.
"We should go," James said before looking to the waiter who had been bringing the bill. He didn't bother to look it over as he handed the man his credit card eager to get out of the restaurant before his son's and his girlfriend's secret could be announced to the entire world. Under the table, Kat grabbed Tommy's hand and gave a nervous squeeze, which he returned.
"One of their members is no longer a ranger and therefore of no consequence. The ones that you so readily cheer on are Jason Scott the red ranger, Trini Kwan, the yellow ranger, Billy Cranston, the blue ranger, Zack Taylor, the black ranger, and let's not forget, Katherine Hillard, and Tommy Oliver, the pink and green rangers. Happy Empire Day, my friends."
As soon as Sidious words left his mouth Jack, Kathy, and Rachel all turned to face the young couple. Tommy and Kat were looking around the room nervously. "Great, just great," Tommy thought. "Now not only are we in danger from Zedd's goons and Sidious, but anyone on Earth can target us or our families now."
"No, no, no, no! This cannot be happening!" Kat thought as she looked at her family quickly reaching the same conclusion that Tommy had.
"Come one kids, come on," Monica said as she began ushering them to the door. As soon as they were out of the restaurant and clear of the crowd inside, Tommy, Kat, and their families vanished in streaks of light, only to re-appear in The Command Center moments later.
Kath and Rachel screamed in horror as they saw Zordon for the first time. Jack took a moment to look around, seeing the look of concern on the face of every other person in the room. A group of teens that he did not doubt that his nephew's friends, and now he knew fellow rangers and the adults that must have been their own parents.
"Aunt Kathy, Kelly, try to stay calm, we're among friends here," Kat said trying to calm her aunt and cousin.
"Welcome, Kathy and Rachel Hillard, and of course to you as well, Captain," Zordon said. "I am Zordon of Eltar, mentor to The Power Rangers. I regret that our meeting could not be under better circumstances."
"And I am Alpha 5, please if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
"I need an explanation," Jack said his voice taking on the authoritative tone of command. "And just how long have you two known about this?" he asked looking at his brother and sister-in-law.
"Here we go again," Tommy thought. "Uncle Jack," he said his voice taking on the edge of command. "It's a long story."