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Chapter 19: The SWAT Upgrade

—

Bridge walked the hallways in a carefully calculated route, every few minutes passing by Kat’s lab. One by one, he watched as the science staff left, heading home to their families or maybe, in a few cases, an empty apartment.

Not for the first time, Bridge envied them a little bit. True, they weren’t power rangers – but whatever happened, they could leave it all behind at the end of the day.

He saw Boom leave and, a few minutes later, Kat left as well. Bridge took a deep breath, and entered the room. Walking past a counter, he pocketed a small beaker of glowing green chemicals.

There was still two assistants in the lab, working late on their projects. The first ignored him completely, absorbed in her work. The second, however, looked up and greeted him. “Hey, Bridge. Do you need something?”

Bridge tried not to fidget nervously. “No, I was just looking for Boom.” On the table to his left, he could see Dr. Keppel’s experiment laid out on a table, with the asteroid fragment suspended in a vial of clear liquid. Waiting until the lab assistant looked away, Bridge slipped the green chemicals into the vial.

“Sorry, he just left,” the scientist said.

“It’s… it’s okay,” Bridge replied, before backing out the door. “I’ll come back later.” As soon as he turned the corner he started to run.

—

Even those who couldn’t hear the explosion felt it – a single moment when the base itself seemed to tremble. Some, like Sky, were close enough to see the brilliant flash of light and heat. “Are you okay?” He asked, helping a scientist to her feet.

“That… that came from the lab,” she managed breathlessly. “I have to go… they might need my help!”

“No,” Sky said. “It could be dangerous; you should stay here. Find somewhere safe – I’ll go help.” Ignoring her protests, he carefully picked his way through the glass and debris scattered across the hallway. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure in a green-trimmed uniform slip down a side corridor, running in the opposite direction.

‘Was that… Bridge?’ Sky wondered. It was impossible to tell from this distance, but it could have been the green ranger. Leaving the wreckage of Kat’s lab behind, he turned and began to follow.

—

Jack had just left the cadet dorms when he heard the alarm. A moment later, the hallways were full of confused and frightened cadets, and every one of them expected Jack to have all the answers.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he repeated for the tenth time, squeezing his way past a group of first-year cadets. Hurrying down the main corridor, he followed the throng of people headed towards the science lab. Catching a glimpse of Sky, he called out, stopping the blue ranger in his tracks. “Sky, what’s going on?”

“There’s been some sort of explosion in Kat’s lab.” Sky craned his neck to look over Jack’s shoulder. Jack turned around to look, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Let’s go then,” Jack said, a little confused.

Sky hesitated for a split-second, so briefly that Jack almost thought he imagined it. Then they both headed towards the lab, Sky trailing a few paces behind. It was only later that Jack realized that Sky had been running the opposite direction from the explosion.

—

The hallways were empty as Bridge approached Cruger’s office – everyone, security included, had gone to investigate the commotion. Peeking around the corner, Bridge caught a glimpse of a camera.

Taking off his glove, he concentrated on the camera. Waiting until it turned away, he reached out. This time, the energy came on demand, green lightning arching across the distance. The camera sparked and stopped immediately, and Bridge could smell smoke, rising from the blackened lens.

Looking around one last time to make sure no one was nearby, Bridge entered Cruger’s office. The doors were unlocked, and a few papers were scattered across the desk. He could sense the commander’s presence – almost as strongly as if Cruger was actually there.

Bridge sat down in the single, oddly-shaped chair and looked around. The office itself was strangely empty; there were no pictures, only several awards and a large SPD logo on the wall. The furnishings consisted of a single shelf, a desk and a chair.

If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that Cruger had just moved into this office. ‘Maybe he never unpacked,’ Bridge thought. It seemed unlikely – Cruger had been on Earth for decades. ‘Maybe he didn’t have anything to unpack. Or maybe he plans to leave as soon as Gruumm is defeated.’

Either way, he didn’t have time to worry about it. Bridge reached across the desk and turned on the computer. ‘Sorry, Boom,’ he thought, typing in the assistant’s password.

“Identity confirmed. Clearance 3.”

Typing a few more lines of code, Bridge pressed enter and held his breath.

“Identity confirmed. Clearance 1. Welcome, Commander. “

—

For once, Broodwing had actually told him the truth – the SWAT upgrades did exist and, not only that, there was an entire folder of information about them stored on Cruger’s computer. Bridge reached into his pocket for a datapad, but only found a crumpled piece of paper.

‘I must have forgotten it back in the dorms.’ Bridge realized, dismayed. But he had already come too far to abort the mission. Maybe Kat would be able to trace him – he’d have to live with that possibility.

Removing his badge, Bridge synchronized it with the computer. The transfer seemed to go faster this time, but Bridge stayed alert for any noise or flicker of an aura: being caught stealing from Cruger’s office would probably be a one-way ticket to KO-35’s prison moon.

“80%…”

“95%…”

“100%… transfer complete,” said the computer.

‘Gruumm told me to delete these files,’ Bridge thought, ‘but he didn’t say I couldn’t look at them first.’ Opening up the first document, he began to read. Skimming over the text, he opened the next file. It was a blueprint, detailing the design of the SWAT upgrades.

‘Without these, SPD won’t stand a chance,’ he realized. His finger hovered over the delete button, before drifting away. ‘No,’ Bridge thought. ‘I won’t do it. Maybe… maybe if I die, the Rangers can use these to defeat Gruumm.’

He pinned his badge back to his chest. It was warm to the touch and, in the dim light of Cruger’s office, seemed to be glowing slightly. The information on the SWAT upgrade was probably already at Gruumm’s ship, where Mora and Brooding would be waiting to sort through the data.

Shutting down the computer, he quickly left the office, closing the door behind him.

—

It took several hours for Kat to bring Cruger the damage report, three hours spent running between the infirmary and the lab, supervising the fire and clean-up teams, and making sure everyone was safe and accounted for.

“The main science lab has sustained serious damage,” Kat reported. “It will take several weeks to repair. Two of my researchers were injured, both seriously. We were lucky that there weren’t more people there.”

“Could it have been an accident?”

Kat hesitated. “It’s not impossible. The labs are full of dangerous chemicals and substances. I trust my staff, but someone could have made a mistake. However, we’ve had far too many of these coincidences.”

Cruger growled under his breath. For once, Fowler was right; something had to be done, and it had to happen before anyone else got hurt. “I want to know exactly what they were after.” He turned to leave the command center. “Tell me as soon as you know.”

—

Jack waited at the lab until the clean-up crews arrived, and people in suits began picking through the debris. He offered to help, but Kat practically ordered him away, and so he went looking for Z.

He found her in the dorms, sitting at her desk. “I wasn’t sure what I should be doing so I came back here,” she said. “I feel like I should help, but I don’t know how.”

“Kat seemed like she had everything under control,” Jack said. “I’m sure that Cruger will call us eventually.” He thought for a moment about how to phrase his next question. “Hey, Z? Have you noticed anything weird recently?”

“Like what?”

“Like… about Sky?”

Z hesitated. “Why?”

“Well,” Jack began. “Syd mentioned something to me, so I went to talk to Sky about it, and he just brushed me off. Which is pretty normal for him, I guess. But what really bothered me was that, today, after the explosion, I saw him running away from the labs. I mean, why didn’t he run towards them, like everyone else?”

“Maybe he was trying to get help, or something,” Z said. “I’m sure there are lots of reasons why he would have done that.”

“Maybe,” Jack said, unconvinced.

“Do you remember, a few days ago, when you came into the room and Sky and me were arguing?” Z said eventually.

Jack did, vaguely, remember it. “Yeah. You never told me what it was about, though.”

“I caught him looking over some files… really classified stuff, information on people who worked at SPD,” Z said. “He said he was investigating what happened to the megazord, and that he was on a special assignment from Cruger.”

“Do you believe him?”

Z suddenly looked very serious. “I don’t know.”

—

The waiting room in the infirmary was full of worried people – friends, family and co-workers of the injured scientists. The only one who Sky noticed, however, was Bridge, who was standing slightly apart from the crowds, looking concerned and little uncertain.

Sky studied him further. The green ranger seemed a little shaky and his cheeks were flushed, like he’d been running.

“Hi, Sky,” Bridge said, finally noticing him. He gestured towards the closed infirmary doors. “I hope they’ll be okay. I dropped by to see… I don’t know them very well, I mean, I’m not close friends with them or anything, but I spend a lot of time in the labs so I know most of the people there.”

“Yeah,” Sky said. “Where are you heading now?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe I’ll go to the rec room – do you want to come?”

Sky shook his head. “I promised to help train one of the C-squad cadets. If she remembers,” he added belatedly. That particular cadet, although competent, could be a little scatter-brained. But she was innocent, thoughtful and guileless – in fact, she sometimes reminded him of Bridge, the way Bridge used to be…

“Hey, Bridge?” Sky asked. “Where were you earlier?”

“Um…” Bridge fumbled for a little bit. “Well, first I got up and made some toast, and then I went to the…”

Sky shook his head. “No, not that early. I mean, just now. When the lab exploded.”

“I didn’t even hear it. I came after a cadet told me about it… I was on the other side of the base.”

Sky frowned. “I could have sworn I saw you there…”

“No,” Bridge said. “You must’ve seen someone else.”

—

Mora put a tiny plate down on the table and then, moving towards Cindy, placed another. The plates were followed by matching teacups and napkins until, finally satisfied, Mora sat down and poured a cup of tea.

Stirring in several squares of sugar, the pictomancer sipped her tea and watched the krybots pass in front of her playroom. First there was an orange one, and then a blue one. A few ordinary krybots walked by, followed by Broodwing. The bat was angry about something – Mora was sure of that. One of his many schemes was probably not going as planned, and now he was sulking.

Mora smiled sweetly. “Broodwing, do you want to have tea with me and Cindy?”

“I’m too busy to play with little girls,” Brooding huffed and hurried away, his cape swirling behind him.

She watched him leave and took another sip of tea. “Grown-ups think they know everything,” Mora said, turning to Cindy. “Especially Gruumm. He thinks because he’s emperor that he’s always right.”

She put the cup down. “But he doesn’t know about Broodwing, does he? Broodwing’s sneaky. Sneakier than Gruumm thinks. I know he’s up to something.”

“Gruumm won’t listen to me,” Mora pouted. “He wants to do it all on his own.” She picked Cindy off the chair and stared at the doll thoughtfully. “Maybe I should let him.” Cindy’s head flopped backwards, her remaining eye staring at the ceiling.

“You think so too?” Mora said. “Okay, then I won’t help him at all.” She looked back out on the hallway, where the receding figure of Broodwing could still be seen. A safe distance behind him, a pair of krybots followed the bat, watching his every move. “Well,” Mora admitted. “Maybe just a little.”

—

Jack paced across his room, from one end to the other. He bit his lip anxiously, plagued by doubts. It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t even fair. It was incredibly unlikely; in fact, the idea sounded ludicrous. But maybe Z was onto something. Maybe… could Sky be the traitor?

‘No,’ Jack thought. ‘He has the skills, and access to all the required areas. But he has no motive.’

“Sky would never do anything to harm SPD,” he said out loud, trying to convince himself. However, the thought had been inserted into his head, and wouldn’t go away so quickly.

‘I should at least talk to him about it,’ Jack reasoned. Maybe Sky would have an explanation, some reason for his behavior. Walking into the corridor, he knocked on Sky’s door.

“Come in,” Sky said.

Jack entered the room, and watched as Sky searched his desk. Eventually producing a clipboard, the blue ranger turned to face him. “Jack, I’m kind of in a hurry…”

“I have just one question,” Jack said. “Earlier, when Kat’s lab exploded, where were you going?”

“Nowhere. To the lab, of course.”

“No, I was going to the lab. You were going the other direction,” Jack pressed. “Where were you going?”

“I don’t have time for this, Jack.” Sky tried to leave, but Jack moved to block the door. He didn’t mean to say it, but the words slipped out before he could stop them. “Why, because you blew up the lab?”

Sky looked at him disdainfully. “First of all, I’m not the spy. Second of all, you don’t have any proof either way. So if you have something to say, Jack, then bring it up with Cruger.”

—

To Be Continued

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–back–   (oOo)   – next–

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Chapter 18: The Second Assignment

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Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie straightened a stack of loose papers on his desk. Putting them aside, he picked up the top note in the stack, giving it a cursory glance.

‘Ah, yes. The Earth situation’.

It was clear that Commander Cruger was incapable of even securing his own command – weeks had passed, and still there were no leads, no results.

Someone had sabotaged the Delta Squad Megazord and infiltrated the base computers, and all indications were that they had escaped scot-free.

There had to be consequences for such things. Someone had to be held accountable. How would it look that Space Patrol Delta, the sworn protectors of the galaxy, had allowed such a thing to happen under their watch?

If this information was leaked to the public, the scandal could cost him his reputation, his very career. Fowler picked up his desk phone and hesitated only a moment before dialing the private number of Commander Anubis Doggie Cruger.

—

Boom stared at the page in front of him. The text swam, then swirled and then seemed to form little patterns on the paper. An ominous, growling noise came from his stomach, earning him a nasty glare from one of the lab assistants.

The doors swung open, and Boom did his best to look busy. Kat, usually an icon of patience, had been on edge lately, and he definitely didn’t want to get on her bad side – 147 years was plenty of time to learn a thing or two about revenge.

Sneaking a glance at the newcomer, Boom sighed in relief. “Hey, Bridge.” The grumpy assistant was still giving him the evil eye, and so Boom gathered his things and got to his feet. “Do you want to go to dinner or something?”

“Sure,” Bridge said, but his attention was immediately drawn to a complex looking project, with several vials of chemicals carefully arranged on a table. “What’s this?”

“Oh, that?” It took Boom a moment to remember. “Dr. Keppel is analyzing some mineral samples from an asteroid…  Interamnia 702, I think.”

“Isn’t that the asteroid which they mine Sarconium from, the one which had that accident in 2015?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Sarconium is… um… unstable when mixed with certain chemicals.” Boom looked up, puzzled. “Why?”

Bridge shrugged. “No reason, really. Are you ready to go?”

—

Jack was walking down the hallway when he saw something very strange.

Bridge and Boom were walking down the corridor, talking animatedly to each other. Sky, who was usually so directed and  goal-driven, was staring after them, seemingly lost in thought. “Hey,” Jack said, clapping Sky on the shoulder. “What’s up?”

Sky jumped in surprise. It was slight, so subtle that only someone who knew him well would notice it. “Jack. I didn’t see you,” Sky said. “I was just… wait, what?”

Jack repeated himself, and watched Sky’s expression shift from confused to guarded in an instant. “I don’t know,” the blue ranger said. “Why?”

“Well, I heard some things and came to find out what’s really going on.”

Sky felt a sudden, intense stab of anger. “Heard from who?”

“Nobody, really.” Jack silently berated himself and wished he had never brought it up. Sky hated gossip almost as much as he hated criminals and could hold a grudge longer than anyone.

“It was Syd, wasn’t it?” He should have known better – Syd was an excellent Ranger, but she was never very good at keeping secrets, especially about other people. “Nothing’s wrong,” Sky said. “Syd just needs to learn to mind her own business.”

“We’re a team,” Jack replied, “If something’s wrong, it’s all of our business.”

Sky shook his head. “Not this time.”

—

Piggy had stayed in many unpleasant places in his life. He’d seen his share of prisons, both SPD and otherwise, and out of all of those, Gruumm’s dungeon rated somewhere between that holding cell on Alandria and the tiny cargo hold in which he’d arrived on Earth. In other words, it wouldn’t be half bad… if it wasn’t for the company.

“You really need to lighten up, guys. Can’t we just all get along?” Piggy asked. The krybots guarding his cage said nothing, only shook their weapons threateningly. “Anyhow, I know this really good joke,” he continued, not discouraged in the slightest. “So a krybot, a Power Ranger and a monkey walk into a bar…”

The krybots didn’t laugh. In fact, they didn’t so much as twitch. Piggy sighed. Cyborgs these days just had no sense of humor.

—

It was chicken and rice day in the cafeteria. Not that Bridge didn’t like chicken and rice, although toast and chicken would have been far better. He just wasn’t that hungry… and hadn’t been for quite a while. It was bad for his health, and Kat would probably notice it eventually.

Recently, though, he couldn’t bring himself to care about things like that. There were a thousand other things to worry about – like what Broodwing was planning, and what Gruumm and Mora would order him to do next.

Boom had left a little earlier, saying that he had to go back to work. As he walked back to the dorms, Bridge heard a soft buzzing noise in his ears, followed by a familiar voice.

‘Ranger…’

Bridge quickly looked around, making sure no one was in hearing distance.

The voice came again. ‘Ranger, can you hear me?’

“Yes, I can hear you. What do you want, Gruumm?”

“Emperor Gruumm,” the Troobian corrected, but Bridge ignored him. Gruumm would never be his emperor, no matter what happened in the end.  “I am very pleased with the information you sent us,” Gruumm continued, “but for our plan to succeed, we need something else… something more.

“Like what?” Bridge asked, already dreading the answer.

“The scientist you call Kat has been developing an upgrade to the Ranger suits,” Gruumm said, “Broodwing tells us that it exists, and is called the SWAT upgrade. You’re going to steal it, and erase the data from the mainframe.”

—

‘Maybe Syd’s right,’ Jack thought. ‘Maybe something really is going on with Sky.’ He’d tried to talk himself out of it, telling himself that it was only his imagination and natural paranoia at work. However, that same paranoia had saved his life several times on the streets, and he knew better than to ignore it now.

And so he watched Sky. Jack watched him in the rec room and on the training grounds. He noticed how Sky watched everyone, as if waiting for something to happen.

Sky was distracted; curt to the point of being rude, even. He was defensive and secretive, even more so than usual. In fact, Sky hadn’t been so tense, so openly hostile since… well, since he had first joined the squad!

Even worse, it looked like Bridge was in on it, too. If Sky was acting overly secretive, Bridge seemed to be avoiding everyone, himself included. In fact, he rarely saw Bridge anymore except at training sessions, or if there was some sort of emergency.

‘They know something, and I’m going to find out what it is,’ Jack thought, determined. He was red ranger, which meant that he was supposed to be in charge – why did it always feel like he was left out of the loop?

Jack got to his feet, and went to look for Bridge.

—

Bridge wasn’t sure whether sabotage, like everything else, was just easier the second time. Or maybe he was just more reckless, and cared less for his own fate.

‘Gruumm wants me to steal the SWAT upgrade,’ Bridge reasoned. Rigorous scientific training had taught him to think through problems in steps, to divide them into little, easily analyzed pieces. ‘I can’t break into Kat’s labs again. They’re too closely watched, especially now.’

‘But there are only a few computers that would have access to that information.’ Anything about the SPD upgrades would be highly classified… if it even existed. Bridge had his doubts – Broodwing was hardly a reliable source of information. On the other hand, he doubted the bat would do anything to antagonize Gruumm, particularly now.

“Well,” Bridge thought, “there’s the computers in the command center.”

That was out of the question. The command center was never empty and besides, it was under constant surveillance. Which left only one option, an option so bold and unexpected it might actually work.

—

To Be Continued

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–back–   (oOo)   – next–

Does anyone know when/if this will show on MTV here in the US?