DISCLAIMER: Nope not mine.

SUMMARY: This one's hard to summarize because of the time jumping. Anyway, here's a new chapter. I know it's been a while but hey, RL is a pain in the butt.

MegaShip en route to Phaedos 2025

"Billy, we should be arriving on Phaedos in about two days. Why don't you go down to the simulation deck and get in a bit of a workout? It'll help you relax." Andros was planning on doing just that himself as soon as he made sure the course was laid in and the ship would go exactly where it was supposed to.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to do the same thing in a bit. I just want to make sure that the ship is set for the flight. She's a newer ship and I'm not sure if they got all the bugs worked out yet."

Billy nodded. "So you want me out of the way in order to call Phaedos and warn them that we're on the way?"

Andros chuckled. "I did want to surprise them with your arrival but if you want to be here when I contact them, that's fine." As he started to fiddle with the communications equipment, he chuckled again. "Tommy always did say that you were too smart for your own good sometimes, Billy."

"Phaedos, this is MegaShip. Phaedos, do you read me?"

"We read you MegaShip. Andros, how are you?" Tommy asked as he came on screen. "Billy? Is that really you?"

"It's me, Tommy. It's really great to see you again. Is Kimberly there too?"

"Hey, Kim, it's Billy." Kim bounced into the screen with a smile.

"Did Dad just say Uncle Billy's coming?" Syd's voice made Billy's eyes well up with tears.

"I knew it. I knew she was still alive," he whispered.

"Of course she is, Wolf."

"Dulcea! Are you well?" Billy inquired of the Master Warrior.

"I am, Billy. And you?"

"Better knowing that my friends aren't dead. Where is Jason?"

"Resting. He came in with a bullet wound. He's healed up, thanks to Sydney but I think we wore him out today. Sydney had to go into the forest as part of her training and she faced the dino skeletons. It nearly gave Jason a heart attack to watch her fight them." Kim was giggling, remembering the way they'd had to fight the skeletons when she and her fellow Rangers gained the Ninjetti powers.

"Kim, it's not funny. He almost got trampled by that damn Trike." Tommy was trying to sound stern with his wife and failing miserably.

"Yeah. Sydney had to save him from the dinosaurs and she pulled the exact same move Tommy did. Yanking a bone out of the neck and riding it down as it fell apart."

Billy chuckled at the memory of Tommy doing that and then his mind put Sydney in the same position and he laughed even harder. "I think I would have paid to see that one."

"You really have mellowed with age, Billy. You haven't used not one big word since this conversation started," Kimberly teased.

"That's Becky's job now. I have to do the translations for everyone else."

"We should be putting in there in about two days, Tommy," Andros announced. "I hope you're ready for us."

"We will be. It'll be good to see you guys again." Kim wrapped her arm around Tommy's shoulders and squeezed just a little. "It'll be almost like old times."

Billy smiled and nodded.

Just then, an alarm went off on the console. "What's going on, Andros?" Billy asked at the same time as Kim and Tommy spat out the question.

"Tommy, I have to go. The ship's picking up someone tampering with the systems. Apparently, someone's on board that shouldn't be." Tommy nodded and they cut the connection. Andros and Billy left the bridge wondering who was on the ship and what they were after.

*****

Sky was trying to shut off the alarms when the two senior Rangers found him outside the engine room.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Andros demanded.

"Sky? What are you doing here?" Billy asked at the same time.

Andros turned to Billy. "Do you know him?"

"He's one of the SPD Rangers. He works with Syd. This is Schuyler Tate also known as Sky."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to find out what happened to Sydney. I wanted to know why she disappeared."

"Why?" Andros asked. He wasn't happy that the young man had snuck on board like that.

Sky ducked his head. "Because I care about her."

Billy felt a bit of sympathy for the young man sneak in. "You more than care about her." It wasn't an accusation just a statement of fact.

Sky's eyes jerked up to look at the former Blue Ranger. How could he have been so intuitive when it comes to emotions? "How do you know?"

"I've seen this before. Between Tommy and Kim. Between Carlos and Cassie. Between Andros and Ashley. It's pretty obvious that you love Sydney and you just never knew how to say it."

Andros just looked at Billy, amazed. He had seen the emotions that had existed between him and Ashley before they ever decided to act on it? "Billy, my friend, you are just scary when it comes to what you see."

"I just look carefully at what I see. Besides its not like you weren't pretty obvious about protecting Ashley while you guys were in uniform." Billy was teasing Andros about his feelings for Ashley. Andros smiled.

"I guess I didn't hide things very well." He turned back to Sky. "Well, since you're already here and I'm assuming you've been trying to tap into the communications, I guess it's too late to try to turn around and take you back to earth. Did you tell Commander Cruger where you were going?"

Sky simply hung his head. "I guess we'd better call the SPD first," Billy noted.

The three turned around and headed for the bridge.

****

"Commander Cruger, this is the Megaship. Come in Commander Cruger."

"This is Cruger. Andros, Billy, how are you?"

"We're fine, Commander. Unfortunately, we aren't making a social call. We seem to have found someone you may have lost." Andros gestured and Sky stepped into view.

"Ranger Tate! What the hell are you doing?"

"Anubis, I understand what he did. Although he went about it the wrong way." Billy didn't want this young man in too much trouble. After all, he just wanted to know what had happened to the woman he loved.

"We will discuss this when you return, Tate. What do you plan to do with him in the meantime, Billy?"

"He's going to have to go with us. We can't turn back now. We are expected somewhere within the next two days and if we turned back, we'd never make it in time. We'll keep him under control." Sky didn't know what that meant and he wasn't real sure he wanted to know. "He's just going to have to do exactly as he's told for the next several days."

Billy gave him a hard look as did Andros and Sky knew that the former Ranger meant exactly what he said.

"That very thing could possibly influence my decision on how to deal with this. Remember that, Ranger. Your behavior in the next several days could be the determining factor in what happens with your career." He focused on Billy for a moment. "Billy, I'm counting on you to bring my Ranger back to me in one piece."

"Your trust is well-placed, Anubis. I assure you."

Billy signed off and turned to Sky. "I guess we should find you a room to stay in. And, fair warning, if your presence here endangers our mission in any way, I won't hesitate to turn you over to two people that will take care of the problem permanently."

Sky had the feeling that for the rest of this trip, he'd be best off just staying in whatever room they gave him.