Notes: I've wanted to write a "what happened after End of Time" fic for a wile. So, here's my best (or first) go at one. Thanks to Rach and Chris for patiently having bits and pieces of this thrown at them, playing devil's advocate, and keeping me cheered up (And on Rach's end, tirelessly fielding questions about certain portions of the organization). This originally posted on fanfiction.net as "The Long Road Home".

Home Is Where
by Selma McCrory (EstiRose)
copyright 2002

They had said their goodbyes, and left.

Still, the four time travelers were, to say the least, uncertain about their return. Despite assurances that they wouldn't be mindwiped (or memory adapted, as officially put), the whole team knew this might mean little. As it was, there was to be some small amount of quarantine involved, and large amounts of debriefing. And, as each of the four knew, if someone high-ranked recommended it, the four of them would be adapted.

Jen would fight tooth and nail, but given that she'd disobeyed direct orders several times now, she doubted she'd be heard. Captain Logan, Alex twice over... Time Force wasn't likely to be lenient on them.

As the Time Ship shuddered into the landing bay, Jen mentally braced herself. She was in uniform, her twenty-first century civilian guise shed quickly as soon as the ship had taken off. Each of them had taken a turn in a space where the rest of them couldn't see them quickly strip out of those clothes and into the uniform. Jen had thought it best, and to her surprise, they had obeyed. She was sure that they would keep the twenty-first century outfits, if Time Force would allow them, but all of them saw the sense in trying to please their superiors.

She could hear the door slide open, as could they all, but the tenseness that permeated the room only relaxed as the four suited medical technicians came in, trundling portable containment systems behind them.

One of the techs motioned towards her, motioning towards his containment unit. Of course. They couldn't be certain that the team was germ-free, so quarantine it was. As the tech opened the box, Jen climbed into it. When she was in, she could hear the transmission from the comm unit located in the containment unit. "Hold on. We'll be to medical holding in just a few minutes."

She nodded her head at the tech hovering over her, and felt the slight bump as the unit started moving, directed by the tech. Through the clear window, she could watch as the unit moved through the Time Ship, into the hangar bay, and down the corridors towards medical quarantine holding. She wondered if Alex had had to go through this when he'd returned last time. Probably. Or maybe he got out of it. She didn't know him anymore.

She didn't.

Jen had stopped understanding Alex since he'd come back, seemingly so cold and unfeeling. Oh, there were traces of the Alex that she loved. Back in the memory adaptation room, she'd seen the Alex she'd once known. Or thought she did.

Would Alex be the one to greet them? Probably. He was, technically speaking, the head of the Ranger team, even though he held no morpher. At least that was what Circuit had said.

The containment unit settled to a halt and the tech appeared again to unseal the box. Stepping out, she saw five containment boxes: one for each of the Rangers, one for their gear, no doubt. Lucas, Katie, and Trip were stepping out of theirs and looking around, while the fifth was indeed gear and was being loaded onto a table.

Finally, the techs were done offloading officers and gear, and one by one, filtered out into the secured airlock with their gear. Then everyone else was gone and it was just the Rangers and the misty room.

A more permanent version of their own viewscreen unfolded itself from a cabinet at one end of the room, need the windows reflecting night. "Hello, Rangers," Dr. Spencer, head of the medical department of Time Force, greeted them. "Glad to see you made it back." He had an old-fashioned doctor's robe over his standard uniform. "I'm sure you'll understand that you'll be here for a few hours while we're sure you're not contagious, and then I and my team will be out of your hair. If you need anything, please let us know. Spencer out."

The message was pre-recorded, but Jen felt her heart leap as she saw that the viewscreen could reach to the outside world. Hopefully. Katie was at her feet at once, tapping in the code that would let her talk to her family. The words "no outside contact" flashed on the screen and Jen saw her shoulders drop.

"They don't want us talking to the outside world," Lucas said, for all of them.

"No," Jen echoed. "We'll have plenty of chances, however."

"Sure, into jail," Lucas said. "Face it, we disobeyed orders."

"*I* disobeyed orders. You followed mine," Jen stated.

"But... Time Force won't see it like that!" Trip said, speaking for the first time since they'd come into the room.

"It was my orders, you were my responsibility. And I'll tell everyone that," Jen said firmly.

The looks on her teammates faces plainly showed they didn't believe her, but she'd survive. It was those outside her team that she would have to convince that any blame should fall on her shoulders. It was her idea, after all, to go back into the past. It was her idea to steal the Time Ship and the morphers. They had just been obeying orders, and she saw no reason for their careers to suffer.

"I guess we're going to be here a while," Katie said, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Trip chimed in.

"Let's get comfortable then," Jen said. The beds were the only place to sit, so the Rangers casually rearranged them into a diamond shape.

"How long are we going to be here?" Trip asked.

"It could be days, could be hours," Katie said. "How long were we here last time?"

"Circuit?" Trip asked, inviting the robotic owl inside his open backpack to fly out and 'perch' on the floor in the middle of the space.

"You were unconscious nearly a day, the first time," Circuit answered.

"A day?" Katie asked.

Circuit just swung his body, but didn't reply.

"We'll be out of here in no time, guys," Jen said, trying to maintain their morale. "And I'll get us out of here memories intact."

Three disbelieving looks answered her. She decided not to argue. There would be time later, or at least she hoped so.

"So, what is everyone going to do when they get out?" Trip asked, thankfully answering her silent prayer for some sort of distraction. "Maybe if they give us time off...."

"We've been gone for months," Jen argued. "They'll give us some time off."

"I hope so," Katie said. "Nothing's going to stop me from seeing my family again!" Her eyes blazed with a determination anyone sane would deny, and certainly not her teammates; Katie's family, her mother, brothers, and father, were all very close and the family had no doubt worried themselves sick about her.

"Lucas?" Jen asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing special. Catch up with a few of my racing buddies, that's all."

"Not with your family?" Katie asked, and Jen was only somewhat surprised. Lucas had never mentioned his family, never in their time together.

"Let's say it's a long story and leave it at that," Lucas said, his tone indicating he'd brook nothing further on the subject.

Jen gave him a small nod to indicate she wasn't going to pry. "Trip?"

"There's some family I want to see on Mirinoi," Trip volunteered. "I was supposed to go there two months after Ransik's trial."

"I didn't know you had family on Mirinoi," Katie said.

Almost at the same time, Lucas said, "I didn't know there was a colony of Xybrians on Mirinoi."

"I do," Trip said, "And... no, there isn't."

"Just a family or two?" Katie guessed.

Trip shook his head gently. "It doesn't come up often... but I'm not full Xybrian."

Jen couldn't resist staring. Neither could Katie or Lucas. "What?"

The Xybrian ducked a little and blushed. "My grandfather was human, from the Mirinoi colony. You didn't think Regis was a Xybrian surname, did you?"

Lucas shook his head. "I don't know much about Xybrians," he admitted.

"Me neither," Katie said, and Jen echoed it.

"Xybrian family names are passed along according to gender. My sister and my mother have a very Xybrian surname, Yelos. Dad and I are both Regis, because my human grandfather's surname was Regis." Trip paused. "Grandpa got married to grandma because his mother owed a Xybrian family an honor debt, and he was the one who got to fulfil it."

"Huh?" Jen asked, knowing the same uncomprehending stare was coming from both Katie and Lucas.

"It's very complicated," Trip said, blushing even deeper. "The medical unit knows I'm part human, but I don't explain it to anyone else because nobody would understand."

"It's okay, Trip," Katie said, reaching out to touch her teammate's shoulder. "You're still you."

Lucas nodded wordlessly. Jen smiled. "It'll stay with us."

"Thanks." Trip tried to duck into his armpit again.

"So, Jen," Katie said, clearly trying to get the attention off Trip, "How about you?"

Jen shook her head. "I don't know... I'd just notified my family about the engagement when it all happened. I don't know how to explain to them that I've broken it. They *like* Alex. Or think they do."

Three heads nodded wisely.

"I guess I'll... find out." With that, she clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to say more.

"You will, and it'll be good, girl," Katie said, trying to motivate her.

Trip nodded.

"You're family's not shallow," Lucas offered. "They'll accept it."

"I know, but...." Here again, words failed her. What life was there for her in the now when her heart was in the then, with a particular Wesley Collins?

"They'll accept it," Lucas said.

"They will," Trip echoed.

She turned away. "Maybe we... should rest," she said, trying to avoid the subject. "There'll be a lot going on tomorrow, and we'll need all the sleep we can get."

Jen knew the others knew why she was cutting off the discussion like that, and also knew they wouldn't let her get away with it for too long. Fortunately, they would be out of there soon, or at least she hoped. She didn't want to make a fool of herself now.

Eventually the others caught the hint as she remained silent, each lying on their respective beds. It would be a long day tomorrow.

* * *

The early dawn was what woke Trip.

He had been an early riser, growing up on Xybria. He'd get up each morning to see his grandfather, before anyone else in the house heard them. For a long while, Trip hadn't understood his grandfather's spidery grey-black hair. why his grandfather looked so different. It was only later that he'd learned the difference between species.

His grandfather, Ryan, had spoken of distant worlds, of what he remembered of his home on Mirinoi. Grandfather had been all of eight when he'd moved to Xybria from Mirinoi. His mother had owed a Xybrian couple a child, for the child they'd lost, and when he celebrated his birthday, the next day he'd been loaded onto a ship and sent to his new family.

What Trip remembered most was how his grandfather delighted in playing the earth game hide-and-go-seek. Provided it was dark enough, the two of them snuck outside and had a wonderful time together. Of course, mother and father knew the truth afterwards, but it was worth those times of defiance. Grandfather wasn't allowed to do much on his own - just read and talk and play games in his room - but for Trip he'd do things, even if it got the both of them in trouble. Or at least Trip. If they ever punished grandfather, except put him back in his room, he never saw it.

There was no place to hide in the quarantine room. Which was too bad, because what Trip wished for was a good game of hide-and-go-seek right now. He got up, nonetheless, and watched out the window.

"Morning," Katie's voice greeted him from behind. It had taken her forever to wake up, at least as far as he could tell. Maybe there had been some gas in here to make them sleep, though he had thrown parts of it off given that he was not full human.

Full human? Part human? Had he ever seen himself that way?

No, because prior to leaving home as part of an exchange program, the only human he'd ever known was his grandfather. He was raised as a Xybrian, he thought as a Xybrian, and that was it. Besides, Grandpa Ryan, as he had insisted on being called, was an honorary Xybrian. So, by Xybrian culture Trip was not three quarters, he was full.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully.

"Trip," Katie said quietly, "Any chance you could get the viewscreen to... you know?"

He knew what she was asking. She wanted to talk to her family. It was something she'd wanted to do ever since they'd boarded the ship, and she wouldn't rest until she did. He didn't blame her. "I can try," he said honestly. Of course, that would only work if they hadn't confiscated his tools from his backpack during the night. He had a suspicion that last night was intended to have that happen, plus the chance for the medtechs to go and do any bio-info gathering. He walked over to where their stuff was stored.

Surprisingly, at least some of his tools were there, enough that he *might* be able to override the block. Some part of his mind knew that he was disobeying orders, but then again, since he was going to be court-martialed for one thing, why not add another? He gathered up his small tools and approached the viewscreen.

It took him a little while to figure out where the panel was, a consequence of his brain having shifted to "repair twenty-first century stuff", something far more useful for keeping oneself in pizza.

He pressed a particularly small tool to a certain point, and was rewarded by the screen going into diagnostic mode. He came around again, typing what would be needed for the machine to go into full diagnostic mode, which would allow Katie at least a few seconds to tell her family she was safe.

But the unit refused to go into full mode. He frowned, tapping another series of controls. "What's wrong?"

"I think they either changed the maintenance procedure," Trip said, "Or this is a newer model."

Katie studied the unit. "You've done this before, right?"

Trip nodded. "Several times, but...." He tried one last thing before carefully sliding the system back out of maintenance mode. Hopefully nobody would notice.

"Don't worry, Trip. I'm sure you'll find a way around it." Katie guided him to one wall, sitting him down. "You're one of the best techs I know."

Trip blushed a little. "Thanks."

"No, I mean it." Katie paused. "How did you get to be a technician, anyway?"

"By accident," Trip answered. "Well, kinda. My talent's not ever been very high, so I had to find a job that didn't require very much talent. One of the best places was the Xybrian equivalent of the police. Or at least the beat patrolmen." He hoped she understood the reference to some of Wes' old movies. "There weren't a whole lot of us, and we weren't hugely funded, so... I kinda ended up doing the technical repair stuff. And found myself enjoying it."

Katie nodded. "I know you said you had prior police experience."

"Not like Time Force. Xybrians are generally so honest that we don't need a whole lot in the way of police. I spent a lot of time just being visible. I didn't spend a whole lot of time dealing with crimes." He looked towards the window. "It seemed so strange to me when I came to the academy. I wasn't really trained on Xybria. I was a hopped up guard. There was no way I could have gone straight into the force on my own."

"And... I remember. You'd just moved to Earth permanently when we met at the academy."

Trip shrugged. "I like Earth. I don't know why. Maybe... maybe it is because my ancestors came from here. Maybe because it was so different from home. I really don't know." He looked at his trademark backpack, so plainly visible, styled after some long-lost maker of clothing's backpack style. "It probably wasn't what the exchange program intended, but I got back home and couldn't stay. That's when I came back."

"But you're alone here," Katie said, encasing him in one of her famous hugs.

"No, I'm not." Trip smiled, thinking of what was on the table in his apartment, not so many miles away from here. "My human grandfather's family were genealogists. Any city I walk on here on Earth... chances are there's some family connection. And, over the ages, some people have migrated from Mirinoi to Earth, though no close relatives. But we keep in touch. This is home, Katie. To me, this is the best family I could have."

She must have seen the exuberance in his eyes, for she answered, "I guess... you've got quite a family here, too."

"I do," Trip said. "I just don't really talk about it in the way that you do. It's not how I was raised. I love my parents and my grandparents and the people in my village. But Xybrians aren't as affectionate as humans, at least not outwardly, and I find... this is my home, Katie. This is where I belong."

She had no answer as the sun started to shine through the window.

* * *

Katie and Trip were sitting on the floor by the window, just talking, when Jen woke up. She frowned. Usually she'd be the first up... but then again, she'd just been through a trip through time. No pun intended.

"Morning," Trip said.

"Good morning," she replied. "What time is it?"

Trip shook his head. "I don't know. If we were in Silver Hills, it'd be... probably seven or so in the morning. I've lost track here."

Jen nodded briefly and turned towards the viewscreen, calling up the local time and date. It was just before six am, on June 18, 3000. Which meant that time hadn't passed the same for her own time as it had for her team. She frowned. With her internal clock, she should have been up with the dawn, some twenty minutes before.

"We think they drugged us," Katie volunteered in answer to Jen's unasked question. "Trip got up before I did. I guess it worked less on him than it did on the rest of us."

Jen's blood ran cold at that. "Drugged?"

"Guess they needed to do some stuff that required us being unconscious," Trip said. "I kinda... I kinda guessed they would, but I didn't think they would."

She ignored the contradictory statement. "That's not one of Spencer's policies," she stated with certainty. She'd dealt with Spencer many a time, and the doctor wasn't into sneaky tactics like that.

"No," Katie stated. "I don't like this."

They were interrupted by Lucas waking up. "Morning," he said, aimlessly taking a seat where the three of them were gathered. "What's up?"

"Figuring out why Spencer would authorize sleeping gas," Katie said.

"Hey, I know of this guy... named Pierson. That sounds like something he would do," Lucas said. "I had him for my physical last time and... he doesn't care much about how you feel about things. A real Dr. Frankenstein."

Jen nodded briefly. She got up and keyed the viewscreen again, and it obligingly spat up a schedule. "Looks like... more medical exams, and debriefing at twelve, or whenever the medtechs get through."

Some aborted rollings of eyes amused her. "Look, we'll get through this. We all will."

Lucas snorted. Trip coughed.

The door to the quarantine suite rolled open, allowing several white-suited techs in with various forms of medical equipment. Of course, some of them were so exotic that they could be mistaken for torture equipment.

"Good morning, Rangers," he said, "My name is Dr. Lawrence Pierson. I'm here to oversee your examinations, and then we have temporary quarters for you until you can be debriefed. He motioned to where two junior techs were setting up a privacy field. "One at a time. Regis, you're up first. Please accompany me."

The three watched as Trip disappeared behind the privacy field with Pierson. The techs mostly disappeared with the exception of one or two assisting the lead doctor.

"So, what's your plan?" Lucas asked, the three of them staying as far away from the medical techs as possible.

Jen shrugged. "I take the blame. You three go on with your lives."

"You know, I don't think that Trip's going to stay with Time Force," Katie said conversationally. She shook her head. "I don't think I'm going to either."

"How do you know?" Lucas asked idly.

"We were talking this morning." She looked over at Jen. "I don't think he'd go home to Xybria... but I think if he's no longer a Ranger he might leave Time Force... maybe go to Mirinoi to be with his family. As for me... I guess I don't want to be away from my family. Ever again."

Jen nodded. "It's your choice," she said simply. "I know you miss your family a lot."

"A lot," Katie said, "Enough... it's going to be tough."

Taking that into consideration, Jen said, "Time Force might still want you."

"And they might not," Lucas said. "I kinda want to get back into racing, myself."

"Jen?" Katie asked. "You're the most likely of us to be kicked out... how about you?"

"I don't know," Jen said simply. "I really... really haven't considered it." She was lying, she knew, but she really didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't like she'd really had time to consider.

"Jen," Katie said warningly, letting her know that at least one teammate knew exactly what she was delaying about.

Jen drew in a breath. "My family's been Time Force ever since there was a Time Force," she said. "I've been raised to be a Time Force officer. I've never really considered anything else."

"Well... we could go into business together," Katie suggested. "It worked for Nick of Time."

"Nick of Time worked because there was a previous Nick of Time."

"Yeah, well we still managed to run a business," Katie argued. "Think about it."

Jen made a face. "All right. But what?"

"Well, there's always a need for odd jobs," Lucas suggested helpfully.

"I am *not* doing another odd jobs shop!" Jen exclaimed.

"Walker!" Pierson exclaimed. "Your turn."

They turned to see Trip walking out from the privacy field. "Guess it's my turn," Katie said, making a face. She walked towards Pierson and was soon out of sight.

As Katie disappeared, Trip joined them. "That wasn't too bad," he said.

"What'd he do?" Lucas wanted to know.

"Well, he took a blood sample and scanned it, and then a skin sample... he put it through all sorts of scanning machines... then it was just a routine checkup. It wasn't bad at all."

Jen found herself slumping in relief. Maybe she'd make it through to the interrogation after all. And then she'd live with getting herself kicked out of TIme Force. This time, for good, since she doubted Alex would be there to save her this time.

"Hey, Trip, what do you think about starting our own business?"

Trip perked up. "I think that's great! When do we start?"

"Not yet," Jen said. "Guys, let's wait and see what happens, first."

Trip's head bobbed up and down. "It sounds like a great idea."

"Do you want to stay in Time Force?" Jen asked cautiously.

"Well... Trip considered. "I don't know. If it meant we could stay in contact with Wes and Eric... then, maybe." He paused. "I have some cousins on Mirinoi... they were going to come back to Earth and start an import business. They asked if I wanted to join them, after Time Force captured Ransik."

Jen nodded. It seemed they would probably lose Trip. If Time Force decided to keep the team, then what would they do without Trip? Would Alex decide he wanted to go from red to green? He just might.

Lucas nodded. "I kinda like the Odd Jobs shop. I really liked it."

Jen smiled. "Even when you were picking up garbage?" she asked, reminding him of that particular odd job.

"We did some weird stuff... but it wasn't ever boring." Lucas smiled reminiscently. "I really liked doing that. It was... something new."

"You just liked it because it got you out of tactical lectures," Trip teased.

Lucas grinned. "Well, that too."

"Hey!" Jen exclaimed. "Those were *my* tactical lectures, and you needed them."

Shrugging, Lucas said, "Sorry. It's just...."

"I make a boring lecturer?" Jen asked, arching an eyebrow up.

"Well, yeah." Lucas obviously didn't feel like hiding his feelings.

Trip snickered.

"Kendall!"

A minute later, and they'd gotten Katie back, and Lucas had retreated to the privacy screen. Probably for his own safety.

"So?" Katie wanted to know.

"We haven't decided anything," Jen said.

"It's a great opportunity!" Trip said.

"He's right," Katie said. "I mean, we're rogue. They're not going to forget that."

"We're not rogue." Jen felt she had to make that clear. "*I'm* rogue. You're following orders."

"We didn't have to follow you, Jen," Katie said. "We could have disobeyed you. We didn't. We helped you steal the ship."

"After I forced you," Jen reminded her. "I ordered you to come, and you obeyed, like good Time Force officers."

"She's not going to believe we came because we wanted to, is she?" Trip asked Katie.

Katie shook her head. "She's always been good at missing the blindingly obvious... like Wes."

"Guys!" Jen exclaimed. Why were they doing this to her? "I know what I ordered you to do, and that's it."

Her two subordinates shared a smile, and she turned away. She could hear the two of them excitedly discussing their new venture. She inwardly shook her head. She'd make sure they had careers left in Time Force, if they wanted them. Even though she'd enjoyed the Odd Jobs shop, that was back in 2001. She didn't have it in her heart to start up a new one.

And for good reasons, too. A particularly good reason named Wes. To have a shop without him around... it didn't seem worth it. He may not have been used to manual labor when he started with them... heck, he was the rawest of new recruits, but he'd made up for it in enthusiasm and there'd always be something missing from any shop they started up. She had to discourage them.

She looked towards the privacy curtain in irritation. How long would this take? She wanted the exam over with, the interrogations over with, so that this would be over.

"Scotts!"

It was her turn. Lucas walked out from behind the curtain and gave her a thumbs-up. She smiled at him and left her team to their schemings. "Ah, Captain Scotts."

"Captain?" she asked, frowning.

"Well... I guess you got promoted while you were out. Sorry about the surprise." He made a motion towards a semi-mobile bed. "Up you go."

Jen got up obediently as Pierson took a small extractor and got a blood sample. "Your team is in amazingly good health, Captain," he said, running the extracted blood through a machine as he spoke. "The only one I haven't examined is Wesley Collins, who I take isn't in the room with you."

Her heart seized up at that. "Wes... Wes is a citizen of the twenty-first century."

"Ah," Pierson said, nodding simultaneously at the results and at her statement. "It must be some sort of computer glitch. Unless they somehow mean for me to go back a thousand years to examine him. They could, you know."

"A twenty-first century civilian?" Jen echoed, trying to keep as much official attention off Wes as possible.

"The holder of a Time Force morpher, and a sworn officer," Pierson reminded her. "Therefore, someone that falls under Time Force authority - and as a medical officer, our superiors have the right to order medical examination for him. I rather doubt it, though. Travel to the past isn't to be taken lightly." He paused. "Perhaps they're considering bringing him here. If the contamination's bad enough...."

Jen froze. "Contamination?"

"If he's been exposed to enough that he becomes a danger to his own time...." Pierson glanced over at him. "Pull up your sleeve, please."

The doctor expertly extracted a skin sample. "I've never seen it happen... but I've never been called to put together a medical file for someone born a thousand years before, either."

Jen shivered.

"Cold, Captain?" Pierson asked. "Or perhaps...." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Let's proceed with the exam. Perhaps you harbor something non-infectious, but... or maybe you'll need to stay in quarantine a while longer. Let's proceed."

The exam was thorough and impersonal. Pierson's random comments slowed and stopped as he went through the paces. "Nothing that I can detect... but maybe you'd be best spending some time in Medical after your release, Captain." He gave her a stern glance. "Can't be too careful."

That only caused Jen to shiver more.

Finally, Pierson was done. "Go ahead, Captain, and tell your team to gather their gear. I'll tell my superiors that you're ready to debrief. And please, report to medical when the debriefing is done. Just because nothing is showing up doesn't mean there's nothing there."

Jen nodded curtly as Pierson started putting his gear away. As she left, she could see the privacy screen go down. "Pack up your gear," she said. "We're leaving."

There was only a bit of excitement on the three faces. "Where are we going?" Trip asked.

"To temporary quarters," Pierson called. "Please hold on. Then you can go for debriefing."

Once the doctor had managed to get his stuff together, the quarantine room door opened and several techs streamed through. A young woman who wasn't in a clean room suit stepped forward. "Rangers? This way please."

Jen glanced at her team, and they straggled along behind the woman out of the medical quarantine section into a section prepared for those rare officers who had to spend the night at Headquarters. Jen had been in this part of HQ before; the quarters would be spare, but livable.

"Captain... you're in here. Lieutenant Walker... in here. Lieutenant Kendall, in here. Squad leader... you're in here." The nameless woman nodded. "I'll bring each of you in when it's your time. Until then... I'm afraid you're going to have to stay inside your individual quarters."

"But..." That was from Katie.

"Have a good day." The woman nodded, indicating the discussion was over. "Inside."

The other three looked at Jen, and she nodded. With rebellious looks, the other three went inside their indicated quarters, Jen following by going into hers. The door slid shut.

The room had a terminal to let her bring assorted literature up, and its own private bathroom, but other than that... well, it was temporary quarters after all. They'd either be released to holding or let go to their own quarters.

Jen rested her head on the bed pillow, and without realizing it, fell asleep.

* * *

The door to Trip's room slid open. "Squad Leader Regis," the nameless woman stated. "Come with me."

She turned around sharply, and Trip tried to adjust to an apparent promotion, as well as being disoriented. He'd always had the world's worst time with jet lag. Never mind the time-travel equivalent.

He followed the nameless officer down several hallways. She finally stopped before one and keyed it open. "Thank you, Fiona," a voice inside called, and Trip froze up. Of course the debriefing would involve the head of his department. Before the officer could rebuke him, he stepped inside as if nothing was wrong.

The door closed behind him and he stood to attention, but not before noticing the three before him. One was the head of the Crime division, Director Croom, and two people completely unfamiliar to him. "At ease. Please, sit down," Croom said pleasantly.

He'd heard once that Croom was only pleasant when he was about to tear somebody apart. Still, being the good officer that he was, he sat down.

"This is Mr. Lanius and Ms. Storie, two of the members of the Committee."

Trip inwardly nodded. It meant that technically speaking Croom wasn't the most powerful person in the room. The two civilian members were, and he'd better watch his step, as Wes put it. "Pleased to meet you," he said.

The two merely nodded towards him. Croom steepled his hands. "Now, let's start this debriefing. Squad Leader Regis, start from the beginning, when Captain Scotts first proposed the plan to take the morphers into the past."

Trip nodded. "It was the morning after we'd lost Ransik," he said. "We'd just come to the prison, and Lieutenant Pullings - Alex Pullings, Jen's fiance - had been killed by Ransik. Or so we thought at the time."

"Go on," Storie said. Croom spared her a glance.

"I think I remember Katie - Lieutenant Walker," he said, remembering her new rank, "Telling her that Ransik had gone through a time hole and there wasn't any way to follow him. And Jen - Captain Scotts - said yes, there was. Right after Alex was declared dead, Jen came to us. We were already in trouble because of losing Ransik, so what she proposed was crazy... but I guess the only thing we could think of was that we'd lost Ransik. She proposed that we steal the time ship and chase after Ransik. So we did."

"And after that?"

"Well...."

The trio questioned him for what seemed like hours. They'd gone into detail on each and every mission Jen had logged. What concerned him were the expressions on the council members' faces. They were deciding something, and he was sure the team wasn't going to like it.

"Dismissed."

With that, the door slid open. "Fiona, make sure he gets a bite to eat," Croom instructed.

"Yes, sir," she said, taking trip by the elbow. As if on cue, Trip's stomach growled. The three members of the debriefing committee smiled various smiles, Croom's fatherly, Storie's indulgently, and Lanius' obviously fake. But Trip didn't have time to dwell on that before Fiona took him out and towards the commissary.

* * *

"Lieutenant Walker," the nameless woman said after Katie's door slid open. Katie was up in an instant. "Follow me, Lieutenant," the woman said.

Katie was led down the same corridors as Trip had been, some time back, but she didn't know that. What she did know was that she was starting to itch under the cuffs of her jacket; never a good thing.

As the nameless aide ushered her in, she looked at the three debriefing her, trying to remain as calm as possible. However, an itch had to be scratched. "Fiona," Croom directed, "some anti-itch cream."

"Right away, sir."

"Now, while we're waiting for Fiona to come back with something," Croom said pleasantly, "Why don't you tell me about how all this got started, with the attack on the prison... or even before."

So the question and answer session went. Katie was in the middle of explaining Wes' permanent placement on the team when Fiona arrived with the cream.

"Thank you, Fiona," Croom said. "Lieutenant, let's finish that up and then we'll have a brief break while you put some cream on that itch."

"Yes, sir. As I said, Captain Scotts was reluctant to put him on the team. However, after that, she realized we needed him. Something we realized far before that."

"I see, Lieutenant," Croom said, sounding amused. "Let's have a brief break. Fiona, the cream?"

The aide handed the cream tube to Katie, who used it to clear up the itch. The itch, once taken care of, was gone almost instantaneously. Katie watched Croom and the two Committee members confer as her itch cleared up. Something had clearly excited them, and she wasn't sure what. In fact, she was almost afraid to know.

"Lieutenant," Croom said, "Are you ready?"

Katie nodded.

"Good. Now tell me: what was the effect of Captain Scott awarding Wesley Collins the rank of Ranger - a totally artificial one - on the team?"

Katie frowned. "The effect, sir?"

"On Wesley Collins' life. We know he was sworn in. And since he had to have some kind of rank, 'Ranger' is perfectly acceptable. But how did it affect his life? How did it change?"

"At first... well, he was still living with his father, and doing everything he'd been doing before," Katie said. "But... there was this incident with Tentaclaw, where he realized he couldn't be both. But he was pretty disillusioned with his father by then, too."

"Ah." Croom seemed to nod. "Tell me more about what you know about Wesley Collins."

Unnerved somehow by the question, or the gleam in the eyes of the debriefing committee, Katie held her tongue. They questioned her over and over about certain things, left others untouched, and she had to wonder if she'd been the first to be questioned or if they'd done someone before her.

"You may go now, Lieutenant." With that, Croom dismissed her. The aide, Fiona, was at her side in an instant.

"This way, Lieutenant." Fiona led her back to her quarters. "I took the liberty of setting up lunch in your room," she said. "Have a good day, Lieutenant."

With that, Katie was left alone. She sat down on the bed, ignoring the steaming lunch. They had to let her contact her family soon. They had to.

But, for the moment, there was nothing but an isolated terminal, food, and the quarters. Katie threw herself on the bed and hoped that Croom would make a decision soon... or that the Committee members would.

* * *

"Lieutenant Kendall," the aide said as the door slid open. Lucas had been resting on his bed, bored by the meager offerings on the screen. He sat up slowly, sauntering past the aide.

"Follow me Lieutenant," the aide said, leading him down corridors. The door to the debriefing room opened, and without allowing Lucas a word, or even a wolf whistle, she turned on her heel and was quickly gone from sight.

Lucas walked in, arms behind his back, trying to look as formal and as bland as possible. Not that it was really possible, of course, but he'd recognized one of the three and it wasn't good news.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Kendall," Croom said pleasantly. "Have a seat."

The debriefing commenced. It was the usual boring stuff: how did they get the idea to steal a timeship, what was their first move, why did they take so long to contain Ransik, and so on. Lucas resisted the urge to yawn.

"So, Lieutenant," Croom said, leaning forward. "Explain how you got the twenty-first century traffic ticket."

"I had no idea of traffic laws in the twenty-first century," Lucas explained. "I thought everybody drove fast there."

"Ah," Croom said. "Relax, lieutenant, this isn't a courts-martial, and I'm not going to demote you for a mistake. At least that one." He smiled; it was apparently some attempt at humor, for the Committee members smiled as well.

"Sir." Lucas thought that was a rather bland response.

"Did you take any measures to not do that in the future?" Storie asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. I learned the traffic laws of that time and place, and got my driver's license."

"And didn't speed after that, I assume," Lanius said.

"Well...." Lucas thought to the times where he'd had to chase after criminals. "*Most* of the time. Except in pursuit."

"Ah," Croom said, interrupting Lanius. "Now, tell me about a later incident, involving the criminal mutant Contemptra...."

Lucas inwardly groaned.

Several hours later, the group seemed satisfied, and the aide was called in again. "Fiona, escort Lieutenant Kendall back to his quarters. Oh, and also fetch me a viewscreen."

"Right away, sir," Fiona said, ignoring Lucas except to nudge him gently in the direction back to where he'd been deposited before. She seemed to take great glee in getting Lucas back to his quarters. Lucas could swear she was smiling as his door closed between them.

* * *

The door alert sound woke Jen from her nap. "Wha?" she asked nobody sleepily as she remembered where she was. She dashed into the small bathroom to straighten up.

"Captain? Are you in there?" The aide who had brought them there was peeking owlishly into the room.

"I'm here," Jen said. "I'm ready."

"Right this way then," the aide said. The woman led her quickly and efficiently to a corridor containing a set of meeting rooms, both large and small. One door slid open to reveal three people sitting behind a table. The one in the middle was definitely Croom; the other two she'd seen before. Probably two of the Committee bigwigs. She saluted the three of them formally.

"Sit down, Captain," Croom invited. He introduced the other two, and as Jen suspected, they were Committee bigwigs. Inwardly she groaned.

"As you're probably aware, we debriefed the members of your team first," Croom said. "All four of them were very cooperative."

"All *four*?" Jen asked, startled. Trip, Katie, Lucas and... unless they'd asked Alex, but he wasn't of lower rank.

"Yes." Croom folded his hands in front of him. "It occurred to the three of us that nobody had ever thought of debriefing Wesley Collins, even though he is, if somewhat tentatively, a member of Time Force with a completed mission. We sought to correct that. And he was extremely cooperative with us. Extremely cooperative. Good officer material, had he come from our time." There was a gleam in Croom's eyes that Jen didn't like. Pierson's words came back to her. First the medical file, and now the debriefing. Now all that was left was... well, Wesley Collins was a member of Time Force in all but training now, and Jen wouldn't put it past the bigwigs to decide he needed that training... or worse, needed to be in this time.

"Sir." Jen folded her hands in her lap, the better not to strangle Croom with.

"As I told Lieutenant Kendall, this isn't a courts-martial." Cloom leaned forward. "We want to know what happened. Any judgments will come later. Right now, we simply want to know what happened."

"Sir." Jen gave a slight nod.

"Now, go back to before you left our time... and incidentally involved Wesley Collins in the doings of Time Force. Let's start with the day of Ransik's escape through time."

"Sir. My squad and I were responsible for transporting Ransik to the prison. Unfortunately, we had not examined the possibility of any allies still being loose. His daughter, Nadira, and a henchman named Frax, a robot, helped him to escape. Luckily, Officer Regis was able to psionically track down where Ransik had gone. We followed him to the prison, arriving in just enough time to see Captain Pullings fight and collapse."

"What happened then?" Storie wanted to know.

"Alex- Captain Pullings - demorphed. Because of our... relationship, I moved to try to do something for him. He told me... he told me to go after Ransik, and that there was a timeship with the other four morphers in it."

Croom nodded. "So, you didn't really leave on your orders. You left because of a superior's orders."

Jen shook her head. "Alex made me promise to go after him. It wasn't really an order."

"I see." Croom had the tone which made Jen think of blackboards and fingernails. She remained still. "And you took your team after Ransik in hot pursuit."

"Yes, sir."

"Continue on, Captain. Tell us about your arrival in 2001, and your meeting up with the new fifth member of your team."

Biting the inside of her cheek to keep in focus, Jen knew it would be a long time before they released her... and her fate hung in the balance, no matter what Croom said. No matter what, this would matter.

Jen met it head on.

Finally, Jen's debriefing ended. Croom stood up, reaching out a hand. When Jen put hers out, he shook it heartily. "Thank you Captain." He looked up as his aide entered. "Fiona. I believe Captain Scotts is expected at Medical after her debriefing."

The aide nodded. "This way, Captain Scotts. I've notified them that you're ready."

*Oh, good,* Jen thought, but she let Fiona lead her from the conference area back to Medical.

A medical aide took one look at Jen and Fiona, and Jen was quickly directed to one of the exam rooms. She sat there, hoping this wouldn't take long. Of course, what did she have to go back to? Temporary quarters with no contact with the outside world.

Maybe she shouldn't be in such a hurry.

The door to her examination room slid open, but to Jen's surprise, it wasn't Pierson who entered. It was Spencer, the head of Medical. "Good evening, Jen."

"Is it evening?" Jen asked in surprise.

"Well, seven o'clock," Spencer said. "I guess you've had a busy day."

"I slept most of it," Jen confessed.

Spencer smiled at that. "Not a surprise, given what I've been told." He took a scanner and started running it over her. "Pierson said you were shivering in a warm room."

"More over what he was telling me than anything else," Jen said. "I wasn't cold at all."

Spencer smiled even wider. "That is Laurence for you, unfortunately. Thankfully, he's got a minor medical crisis on his hands... and with your current situation, and my seniority, I was able to get in to see you."

Jen gave a brief nod. "Do you know why they're restricting access?"

"Well, for one thing, I think nobody's quite sure what to do with you and your team. You could be renegades, and then again, you're heroes. Plus... well, I don't know if you realize it, but the public's caught word of our Ranger team in the past. It... leaked. People notice. I think... at least this is the scuttlebutt that I get... is that senior management's feeling protective. Have you noticed that everybody you've been in contact with is either senior staff or been here a long time? Even the medtechs that evaced you... that's usually below them."

"And Pierson?"

Spencer grimaced. "Is somebody's pet. I don't understand why- he has the sensitivity of a floor mat."

"I noticed," Jen said. "He mentioned something about putting a medical file together for one of my 2001 teammates." She hoped Spencer would tell her something, anything. If not, she could lean on her family connections... if she found someone high enough ranked that they could see her.

"Ah, bureaucracy." Spencer grimaced again. "He's a sworn officer, therefore, we *must* have a file for him. It's been proposed that *I* go back, only if it's because I'm a little... eccentric." He indicated the old-style medical robe and stethoscope.

"Maybe," Jen said cautiously.

Spencer raised his eyebrows but said nothing about that. "Well, I can't see anything that would be a medical problem. Just Pierson being Pierson. Which is a relief - I have enough of your relatives spending plenty of time in Medical, thank you!"

"Who now?" Jen asked idly.

"Oh, the usual suspects, plus that cousin of yours in her first year of the academy that couldn't fall safely to save her life," Spencer said. He smiled reminiscently. "Between the Scotts, the Alecs, the McDonnalls, the Hahns, Wells... I feel like I'm a family doctor. And distantly related to boot. Ah, the hazards of being a shirttail relative."

Jen gave a brief smile at that.

"Anyway, I figured you'd appreciate a friendly face before they shut you up in your quarters again," Spencer said.

"Thanks," Jen said. "For that."

"Oh, no problem." Spencer said. "I'll try to find some reason to get ahold of you. And, if I can, pass along your greetings to Wes. If they make me go."

"I hope not," Jen said. "But...."

"But... as I said, your actions made him an officer, and somebody figured he had to have a file. So... we'll see."

"I only swore him in because I wanted a legal foot to stand on when he was on the team. He was never meant to be a permanent officer." Jen let Spencer put the scanner away. "He didn't need a personnel record."

"Apparently, the Committee feels different," Spencer said. "Anyway, I guess I get to send you back to your quarters. I'll try to see if I can find out what's going on with your team."

"Thanks," Jen said, smiling.

* * *

Fiona was waiting when Spencer escorted Jen out of the examination room. "This way, Captain," she said. The aide's face was unreadable, though Jen tried her best to read what wasn't there. She was soon escorted back. "When will we...."

The aide was too fast. "I'm not authorized to give you answers, Captain Scotts. Dinner, yes. Answers, no."

Jen nodded. She hadn't expected to get much out of Fiona, but she'd had to try. Plus, she didn't really want to argue right now, not with her team's future in the balance, and any hope she had of getting Time Force to leave Wes alone, even though he still carried a morpher.

As the door slid shut behind her, she sat down on the bed. There would probably be a day or two of waiting before either Croom or the two Committee members on the panel decided anything. There was no hurry, after all. Just let Time Force's Ranger team be stuck in temporary quarters, ignored, until someone could decide what to do with its renegade team. Just because Croom had seemed relaxed during her debriefing didn't mean he was.

"Jen?"

She was hearing things. She looked over at the display screen. Yes, there was the incoming message signal. "Trip?" she answered, keying the display. No picture showed, but....

"Hi, Jen."

"Hi, Jen," Katie's voice echoed.

"You're back," Lucas said.

"Guys?" Jen asked, not sure she could believe her ears.

"I guess... I guess they let us start talking to each other about two or three hours ago," Trip said. "The schedule says it was after you were taken for debriefing. I guess they disabled the communications functions on our morphers last night, but we were too drugged to notice for a while."

"We've been comparing notes," Lucas added. "About what our debriefings were like."

Jen leaned forward, knowing, as her team no doubt knew, that the communication was being monitored.

"Not much," Lucas admitted, though if that was true or if her second was just being cautious, she didn't know.

"They kept asking questions about Wes," Katie said. "They were really interested in him and our interactions with him. It's kinda like they were mostly interested in what effect our presence, and his time as a Ranger, had on him."

"They were asking an awful lot of questions about him," Lucas agreed.

"Yeah!" That was from Trip.

Jen nodded, even though her teammates couldn't see her. "They told me that they debriefed him, right before they debriefed me."

"Makes sense," Lucas confirmed. "When I was leaving, Croom ordered up a viewscreen."

"They might just be saying that they did," Katie contributed. "Just to make us think so. Time Force is pretty non-interventionist."

"Maybe," Jen allowed. "But... when I was being examined by Dr. Pierson, he let slip that they're putting together medical and personnel files on Wes." The last wasn't strictly true, but she wasn't going to get Spencer in trouble. "It might be bureaucracy, but...."

"Might not be," Lucas said.

"But Wes is from the twenty-first century!" Trip exclaimed.

"They gave out some pretty broad hints that they might bring him here when they were talking to me," Lucas told his junior teammate.

"Yeah, me too," Katie agreed.

"I think... I wouldn't be surprised. It depends on how they took what we said," Jen said, trying to give her team a signal to shut up. "In any case, we have to give them time to evaluate. They might not need to bring Wes anywhere after all. I say we relax, and let them tell us what's up."

"But...." That was from Lucas.

"Be *patient*," she said, knowing that Katie and Trip, though silent, would no doubt feel the same way. "We'll get our answers." She knew whether or not it was good news, they'd get their answers. Even if she had to pry it out of Spencer with an old-fashioned medical implement.

With that, she switched off the channel, and looked at the schedule. Dinner at nine... and no schedule for the following day. She settled back on her bed and prayed that something would happen soon.

* * *

"Captain Scotts?" the voice wound itself into her consciousness. The light was streaming from the door, blocked somewhat by Croom's aide Fiona. "I'm here to take you to breakfast and then we have some more questions for you."

Jen's stomach growled in response. "Let me get ready-"

"Of course, Captain, signal me when you're ready." The aide's lithe form shifted and the door closed between them. Jen dashed into the refresher, into the bathroom, wondering what she was in for this time. She had thought that she couldn't go possibly into any more detail, but apparently the panel didn't think so.

After putting on a fresh uniform which had mysteriously appeared the previous evening, she signaled Fiona. The aide led her silently back to the conference area, leaving her at the mercy, once again, of Croom and the Committee members.

"Ah, Captain Scotts," Croom said warmly, smiling as if he was a favorite uncle talking to a favorite niece. Lanius and Storie were on either side of him. "We've been going through the debriefings and we decided that there were a few more questions we had to ask you. Please, take a seat."

Jen sat down in the indicated chair, still more or less at attention.

"We want to focus mainly right now in that period of time before you left our century. Can you describe again for us the period of time between when you arrived at the prison and when you took the timeship?"

"Yes, sir." Jen began to outline what had happened.

When she got to the point where Alex had been lying, almost dead, Croom stopped her. "Do you remember, Captain, the exact wording of what he said?"

"I... yes, sir." They would be forever burned in her memory. "'Take my morpher... there are four more in the timeship. It's the only way you'll ever stop Ransik. Promise me that you'll never stop... until you catch him. Promise!'"

"Did you consider that to be an order?" Croom asked gently, unexpectedly gently.

"No... The only thing that I could think of was that my fiancˇ was dying and it was his dying wish. And since we were fired anyway... I didn't see any reason not to uphold the promise. Also... it was our fault that Ransik got free. It was only right that we go after him."

"Did you order your teammates to go?" Lanius asked.

"I... I ordered them, yes. Not formally, but I did."

"What did you tell *them*?"

"That we weren't going to stop until we got Ransik back."

Croom smiled. "And they didn't turn you in."

"No," Jen said, knowing that they could have, just like she had turned in Steelix... but none of them had. Was this what Katie had referred to when she was teasing Jen back in quarantine? Were they really all loyal as that?

"And after that?" Storie asked.

"We... took the timeship."

Croom nodded. "Thank you, Captain Scotts. Fiona will escort you back. It will be a few days before we can get you out of temporary quarters, but I believe the four of you have some reports to file anyways. Dismissed."

The ever-efficient Fiona appeared to escort Jen back to her room.

* * *

As Croom said, the team was left alone for a few days. Fiona and a few helpers turned up on cue for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but other than that, the Rangers were left alone and able to talk only to each other. Fiona was known to take requests, but not always.

Finally, though, after the reports were done and the team was starting to descend into boredom, Fiona returned with a set of four officers a squad and the four of them were escorted back to the briefing rooms.

To Jen's surprise, Storie and Lanius weren't there. Croom was, as well as Alex.

She felt her heart seize up as she looked at her ex-fiancˇ. He was there, in a Major's uniform, looking as impassive as he had when the four of them had first returned to their time, after Wes had tricked them into returning.

"I believe you know Major Pullings," Croom said. "Since the four of you left, we set up a new branch of Time Force, one that will handle operations into the past, and other parts of Time Force that don't quite belong. Such as the Ranger team. Special Forces."

Alex took up the explanation. "I'll be in charge of the Ranger team. Most of our job will be liaising with Temporal, and in some cases you'll be working with Crime, since that's what experience the four of you have. Even though you've increased in rank, Time Force sees the need to keep the basic squad structure in place."

Croom leaned forward. "We've had quite a discussion- well, I and many other parties have and we've come to the conclusion that however orthodox your methods were for recapturing Ransik, they worked. However, I trust that the four of you will try to come back to more standard methods now that you're back in time."

"There'll be no consequences, sir?" Jen asked, knowing that her teammates were just about ready to ask the same thing.

"Well... nothing that'll get you demoted, or reprimanded," Croom said. "After that... I'm not at liberty to say. You'll behave as is proper for your ranks, obey the orders of your superiors, and everything will return to normal. I think that you can all agree to do that?"

It wasn't a question. Jen's "we will" was echoed by her teammates.

Croom smiled. "Good. Now, I'm sure that you're all eager to get home, and talk to your families. You've been gone for a few months. However, there are some further details. Have any of you run across a phenomenon called 'Color Compulsion'?"

"I know that," Trip said brightly. "It's a phenomenon known only to Rangers, where they are automatically attracted towards wearing clothes the same color as their Ranger powers."

"Correct," Croom said. "Major Pullings here got through it by the appropriately colored underwear. I would advise you to take the same course, except on formal occasions." At the blank looks of several of the team, he clarified, "On formal occasions, the four of you will be wearing appropriately-colored undershirts, which we will provide to you. I believe Fiona will have them waiting in your temporary quarters when you get back there. You'll need them."

Jen arched an eyebrow.

"It's all part of trying to get your lives back to order, Captain," Croom said, smiling indulgently once again. "Allow the press and the public a chance to see their heroes are alive, well, and back with us will make reintegration into your normal lives much easier. Plus, we can't have the press tromping all over a crime scene trying to get a glimpse of you, can we?"

A murmur of agreement somehow made its way through the four attending Rangers.

"Then it's set. Fiona will take you back to your quarters... and then the press conference will be in a few hours. The schedule will be on your viewscreens. You're free to contact your families. Dismissed."

* * *

Alex accompanied Fiona and the four Rangers back to quarters. Fiona simply said, "Your can now come and go as you please, and you can now talk to whoever you wish on the outside. I will see you later, Rangers." With that, she headed off to places unknown. Jen hoped she'd seen the last of Croom's aide.

Jen saw Lucas ready to make a comment on this, stopped only by Alex's presence. Ever since Alex's one trip to 2001, he'd landed on Lucas' bad side, and she knew that the other Ranger wouldn't trust Alex for anything much. He keyed the door to his quarters, still frowning, and disappeared inside. Katie made a motion that basically asked if Jen wanted any of them to be present. Jen gave a little shake of her head, and Katie nodded and disappeared into her room. Trip disappeared without asking, perhaps sensing something needed to be resolved between her and Alex.

She looked awkwardly at her ex-fiance. Alex looked as if he wasn't quite sure what he was doing there, either. "Maybe we should go inside," he said.

Jen gave a brief nod, keying her door to let her enter. She knew that Alex had some things to say, and so did she. Best that they say them in private. Sure, the rumormill might run rife, but the memory adaptation techs probably had spread it about that she had given Alex back his ring. On the other hand, Allici Roberts, the head tech in Memory Adaptation *was* one of Alex's friends so she might have been able to keep things quiet. Maybe.

Alex sat down in the room's desk chair, while she sat on the bed. A long minute or three of silence reigned between them, and none of the questions or statements she had in her head really wanted to come out. They were either to hurtful, too dumb... even though she knew they had to talk, she realized she wasn't quite ready to talk.

"Are you going to have problems being under my command?" Alex asked breaking the silence.

It was the last thing she expected, and the most Alex thing... at least the most this-Alex thing... that she'd ever heard. Finally, she shook her head. "I trust you."

"That isn't quite what I asked." Alex's face was stony. "I'm not asking if you trust me. I asked if you're going to have problems being under my command."

"I don't know," Jen said. "I shouldn't, but...."

"I know," Alex said. "I can't say this will be easy, for you or for me. But I don't intend to discriminate against you... against any of you." He paused. "I think command wants to get us used to working with each other. Or it's their form of a punishment for what we both did, when I sent you after Ransik."

"A punishment?" Jen echoed.

"From my sources," Alex said dispassionately, "The Committee took a keen interest in which of us was responsible for the four of you taking the timeship. Fortunately for both of us, the council was split on whether I gave you an order or not. Putting you under my direct command, from what my sources say, was somewhat of a compromise. They wanted to leave us in our misery... or maybe give us enough rope to hang ourselves."

Jen nodded. It would be something the Bigwigs would do. Sometimes their actions made little sense to those in the rank and file.

"Jen... I have to ask... are you in love with Wesley Collins?" The question had been forced out, somehow.

"Yes," she said, with unwilling honesty. It hurt to see the expression on Alex's face... but the two of them had changed. She, in the course of her stay in 2001, and he, in the face of his death. She still wasn't sure what had caused the behavior that he'd exhibited in his one and only time in 2001, but this was the Alex she had known... if it was an Alex far more remote and distant. The Alex that most people knew.

"I... thought so." He stumbled over the words, most unusual for Alex. "I thought you should know in advance... The Committee's been consulting with Temporal for the last week. They want to know the feasibility of bringing him here."

"Why?" Jen felt morbidly compelled to ask.

"Because many of the people who reviewed the recordings of your debriefing - your team's debriefing - think that while you may have saved the present and the past, you did have one casualty. Wesley. They think that he might be too contaminated with future knowledge to stay in his time."

Jen gave a stiff nod. After what Spencer had hinted, she wasn't surprised. The personnel record, the medical record, everything. "Do you know if they really talked to him?"

"Wesley? Oh, you mean did they debrief him? Yes. After Lucas and before you. They felt it necessary. Besides, in giving him the oath, you gave them permission to do that, even if you didn't intend to."

"They didn't need to do that," Jen said, knowing that Alex had little to do with it but needing someone to vent on, and there was still something there for Alex, somehow.

"They did," Alex responded. "He is an officer, you're responsible. Are you surprised?"

"No," Jen said, knowing that the Bigwigs were politicians at heart, and therefore did illogical things. "But... he should have been spared."

Alex shook his head. "He is a Time Force officer, and a Ranger. He falls under Time Force authority." He got up. "I'll leave you time to prepare for the conference. After that, you have some time off. Enjoy it. I'll expect the four of you to report to my office a week from next Tuesday."

With that, Alex left and she was alone. She threw herself on the bed again, not knowing what to do, feeling tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

But she could not cry. She could not cry. She had to think of something - anything - to save Wes. It was the only thing she could do.

* * *

Trip accessed his home comm from the one in his temporary quarters. Sure, he should be going to the office, but since they hadn't been kicked out of the quarters yet, it was still private. There were a veritable horde of messages that he deleted without a single thought, and quite a few from members of the press wanting to speak to him as a member of Time Force's now-famous Ranger team.

One message, however, caught his attention. The tag on it was "Lonri'ja'nil'sa Regis", which was his grandfather Ryan's official Xybrian name. Trip called it up.

Much to his relief, his grandfather's face came up on the screen and not some reporter's. "Hey, kiddo," his grandfather said. "The family asked me to call you, since you're not talking to most of them." He smiled. "Personally, I don't blame you. Anyway, now that you're back in our time, the family's coming to visit, and I've decided to tag along."

That last statement was delivered with a much sadder smile, since Trip knew as well as his grandfather that his grandfather didn't go anywhere without the family's say-so. He was a ja'sa, and ja'sa weren't allowed to do much of their own volition.

"As you can probably guess, even though I've got eight grandkids, and your sis is married, your folks want to make sure you have someone to carry on the family name. So, Amli, you know, Estri's daughter? She's coming along with us. Your folks hope to see you married before we all go home. On the good side, Amli's a mom already, so the folks might be content with an adoption, but I warn you, Amli's as dull as dishwater in the personality department. I mean it. Besides, I remember that you were smitten by that cadet ahead of you in the academy. I think Kyrie said her name was Kathy, or something like that. Anyway, thought you might appreciate the call. And the warning."

Trip smiled. Even with his family, a visit from Grandpa Ryan couldn't be *too* bad.

"See you soon, kiddo," his grandfather said, and the image winked out. Trip carefully saved the message.

tbc....