Tommy stood leaning up against one of the computer banks within The Command Center pinching the bridge of his nose. His fellow rangers, their parents, Zordon, and Alpha had been stuck in a circular argument for what felt like hours now. Jason, Zach, Trini, Billy, Zordon, and Alpha argued that there was no way Kim would willingly fight against them. Their parents were arguing that Kim must have chosen to join Zedd. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, having not known Kim, were trying desperately to quell the argument.
Tommy felt someone grab his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. He glanced over and saw Kat giving him a sympathetic look. He smiled at her and gave a small nod. He then inhaled deeply and tapped into The Force letting the familiar warmth of the light surround and flow through him. "Enough," he said in a calm but firm tone. Everyone grew silent and looked at him as his voice seemed to hang and echo in the room. "Kim wouldn't do this, not on her own." He looked over at Alpha who was looking at him almost nervously. "Alpha can you pull up an image of Kim with that new bow of hers on The Viewing Globe?"
"Of course, Tommy," the robot replied as he turned and pressed a few buttons on the council. Images of Kim in her new suit began to play on The Viewing Globe when one appeared that gave a good view of Kim's bow Alpha stopped it freezing the image of the former Pink Ranger on the device.
"Jase, Zach, Trini, and Billy, take a good look at her bow. Does it remind you of anything?" One by one each of the original ranger's eyes lit up with recognition.
"Oh man," Zach said shaking his head.
"No way," Jason added.
"It-it looks just like…" Trini began.
"Two of The Sword of Darkness put together. How did we miss this? Especially when she broke the bow apart and used it as two swords?" Billy asked.
"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Johnathan, Rocky's dad asked.
"Rita Repulsa, one of Zedd's minions, although we didn't know that then, had The Dragon Power Coin," Jason began.
"When my family and I moved to town my martial arts skills caught Rita's attention, and unfortunately, in a way, the coin reacted to me which meant I could use it. Rita abducted me, put me under a spell, and used me to attack the rangers. To increase the power of the spell, she gave me a weapon called The Sword of Darkness."
"Eventually, I was able to gain the advantage in a fight with Tommy and destroy the sword and break Rita's spell," Jason added, and for the first time since the realization had set in took his eyes off of The Viewing Globe and turned to look at Zordon. "Zordon, are there other um weapons of darkness?"
"It had been rumored so, now I fear we have proof."
"So what destroy the bow, save the girl?" Aisha asked.
"Possibly," Billy said rubbing his chin in thought. "However remember if we're dealing with one of Zedd's spells it might not be that simple. Zedd's magic is substantially more powerful than Rita's."
"But not unbreakable. Remember I managed to break free of his control," Kat pointed out.
Tommy sighed as he pushed himself away from the computer council and stalled toward the center of The Command Center's central platform. "Kat, honestly, I don't know how much of it was you breaking free, and how much was the spell simply lifting."
"What do you mean?" Kat asked with a look of confusion on her face.
"He had put you under a spell to attack Kim, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"While I do not doubt that your true nature played a significant part in breaking free of Zedd's control, I wonder if the spell had begun to weaken since the mission he gave you had been accomplished."
"That makes sense," Kat said slowly after a long moment of silence.
"So… what do we do?" Rocky asked.
"Just sit around and wait for her to attack again?" Adam asked.
"There's not a whole we can do," Jason said placing one hand on Adam's right shoulder and the other on Rocky's left shoulder. "I know it's difficult but you just need to be patient."
"In the meantime, there are some things we will need to do, like introduce the new rangers to our friends in The Rebellion. First, though, I'm going to teleport back to The Temple of Power and speak with Ninjor."
"Here you are, Tommy, good luck," Alpha said as he handed Tommy a simple-looking darkly colored wooden case. He opened it revealing a black felt lining and sitting on the lining were the damaged Power Coins. Each of them was heavily cracked, and the golden material was tarnished to a mixture of black and grey. He moved the case in the light of the chamber the coins lacked the glint of the color each represented, and he began to wonder if his plan would even be feasible.
"Thanks, Alpha."
"Tommy, what are you going to do?" Kat asked.
"First I'm going to see if Ninjor can repair these and give Jason, Zach, and Trini their powers back. We'll have to find three new rangers as well. Secondly, I'm going to see if Ninjor would be okay with me doing some training with Leia there. I think the temple's strong connection with the light would be beneficial. I plan on taking her to Dagobah as well."
"That makes sense, you said the temple was strong with The Light Side of The Force when we were there, and Dagobah had strong connections to The Dark Side and a more, how did you describe it, 'raw' form of The Force as well," Kat said nodding her head.
"Right," Tommy said with a nod of agreement. "When I get back the nine of us will teleport to meet with General Rieekan."
"Rebellion?" Aisha asked.
"General Who?" Rocky asked.
"It's a long story. We'll fill you in while Tommy's seeing Ninjor," Billy said with a slight laugh.
"See you guys soon," Tommy said before the familiar crackle of energy filled the air and he teleported away in a streak of white light.
Ninjor stood in his temple, looking at the monolith where the Ninja Zords waited for the rangers' call. The sound of crackling energy caught his attention and he turned to see Tommy materialize from a streak of white light. "Tommy, what brings you to the temple?"
"A couple of things actually," Tommy replied as he opened the wooden case. "First, the Power Coins. Can they be repaired?"
Ninjor took the case in both hands and looked at the damaged coins. He slid his left hand under the case and picked up the cracked and faded Dragon Power Coin between his right thumb and index finger holding it carefully at the edges. An almost eerie silence fell over the area as Ninjor silently studied the damaged coin. "I believe so, but it will take time."
"Thank you, and I'd like to ask your permission to bring my Padawan here if you wouldn't mind?"
"Your Pada-what?"
"My student, that I'm teaching to be a Jedi like me."
"If you believe time here will help them, yes."
"Thank you, Ninjor," Tommy said with a nod before teleporting away.
Meanwhile in the Command Center, Billy, Jason, Trini, Zach, and Kat, had just finished filling Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and their families in on the situation in the other dimension. "So what you're saying is unless this Palpatine Sidious guy revealed all of your identities the way he did your parents wouldn't have found out you are The Power Rangers if this Darth Vader guy hadn't attacked Tommy when he dropped you off at home?" Aisha asked.
"Yeah," Kat answered with a nod.
"Wow, that's certainly a memorable ending to a first date," Kat's cousin Kelly said shaking her head.
"I know as long as I live, I'll never forget the sight and sound of their swords clashing against one another like that," Heather said with a shudder as she imagined the sight and sounds of the night she found out her daughter was The Pink Ranger.
Tommy materialized between the central platform and The Viewing Globe. "Hey bro, any luck?" Jason asked as Tommy stepped up onto the platform and made his way to one of the computer banks.
"Yeah," Tommy replied as he began hitting buttons and bringing up locator beacon data. "Ninjor believes the coins can be repaired in time."
"Finally," Zach said clapping his hands together, "some good news."
"So what are you doing now?" Aisha asked.
"Locating General Rieekan. Looks like he's at Echo Base on Hoth. Grab the thermal gear The Rebels gave us and an exo-suit. The Rebels may be able to mass produce them, and I'd imagine they'd be very helpful for them, be ready to teleport in five," Tommy answered before heading toward the changing area. The other rangers including the newly minted Red, Black, and Yellow Rangers followed him. From where he stood Jack Oliver couldn't help but smile at his nephew.
"You're a natural leader kid. It's a good thing your team has you, and that this world, and now I know countless others have people like you guys fighting for them," the Naval Officer thought.
A few minutes later, all nine rangers stood near The Viewing Globe now dressed in thick and heavily insulated snow gear in shades of white and grey that would act as camouflage as well as keep them warm in a snowy and cold world. Next to the teens was a mannequin dressed in one of the exo-suits.
"Ready guys?" Tommy asked glancing around at his team.
"Ready," the other eight rangers answered together. The nine teens pressed their communicators and vanished in colored streaks of light. The steaks left Earth and broke through the dimensional barrier.
On the remote ice-covered world of Hoth, the teens materialized a few yards from the entrance to the main hanger. Even through their thick clothing, they could feel the biting cold of the frigid world they were now on. They ran for the hanger quickly identified themselves and were shone into the base and to the command room.
"General, Princess," the guard escorting them through the base said as they walked in. "The Rangers and their friends to see you."
"Thank you, Corporal," General Rieekan said as he and Leia rounded the clear double-sided screen they were looking at as data continued to scroll across it. The nine teens saluted General Rieekan, Adam, Rock, and Aisha joining once Tommy and the others had done so. The older man returned the salute before motioning them toward where he and Leia had been. "Commander, Lieutenants it's good to see you."
"Likewise, General," Tommy replied. "We brought one of the exo-suits. Your tech guys are looking into trying to produce more for widespread use within The Rebellion."
"Thank you, Commander. Who are your friends."
"Well, long story short, our powers were damaged in a battle and we had to split up when we went looking for new powers," Tommy began.
"So, Zach, Trini, and I stayed behind to protect Angel Grove while Tommy, Kat, Billy, along with our new friends here went searching for new powers," Jason added.
"I take it you were successful?" Leia asked.
"Yeah, uh I'll let you guys introduce yourselves," Tommy said stepping aside.
"Uh, hi General, and um…" Rocky began as he looked over at Leia.
"Leia," she said with a nod and extending her hand.
"Rocky, Rocky De Santos," Rocky said shaking Leia's hand them General Rieekan's.
"Adam Park," Adam said as he offered his hand to the two.
"Aisha Campbell," Aisha said as she shook their hands.
"Since you three are rangers now," General Rieekan said as he went to a cabinet opened it up, and pulled out three Lieutenants badges. "Welcome to The Rebellion, Lieutenants."
"We're Lieutenants just like that?" Aisha asked with a look of shock on her face.
"I've seen firsthand what you rangers are capable of, having an officer's rank will help out in the field," General Rieekan explained.
"I couldn't agree more," Leia said with a nod.
"Trust us, we were all shocked by suddenly being officers in any kind of army too," Kat said with a slight laugh.
The three new rangers looked at one another and slowly nodded. "We won't let you down," Rocky said as he took one of the badges.
"Count on it," Adam said with a nod.
"I'm in too," Aisha said as she took the last badge.
"Again, welcome aboard," General Rieekan said before his expression turned gravely serious. "Truth be told, Commander," he said turning his attention to Tommy. "We could use your team's help."
"What do you need, General?"
"We're trying to coordinate an extraction operation of an Imperial Officer who wants to defect."