Disclaimer:The Power Rangers are the property of Saban Entertainment and I lay no claim to them. The character of Mackenzie Dekalb is property of Karilee who can be contacted at kajwr@twcny.rr.com. The character of Cassandra Jensen(the Emerald Ranger) belongs to Helen who can be contacted at helen0724@yahoo.com. Jeffrey Kincaid, Lord Crucible, and all other characters relating to them are mine. Should anyone wish to use my characters contact me at foi72@yahoo.com.

Mackenzie Dekalb sat in her bunk staring at the ceiling trying to fathom what she saw on the command deck. Ashley and Kincaid sharing a hug.

It shouldn't have bothered her. Ashley had a traumatic experience that turned her inside out as had all the nightfighters. 'She just needed reassurance that was all. There's nothing between her and Kincaid.', she thought.

'Sure she's pretty and dated lots of guys before Andros. Cassie even said Carlos was her boyfriend at one time before Andros.', she thought.

The minute she thought that Ashley dated Carlos once made Mackenzie's heart sink. 'She dated Carlos once then dumped him. Will she dump Andros for Kincaid as well?'

"No, Kincaid has shown no interest in Ashley.", there's nothing to worry about.", she said aloud. Then after a few minutes she got tired of the self-indulgence and decided to go for a walk.

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Mackenzie walked down the corridors of the mobile safehouse for what seemed like the longest time until she saw Cassandra looking out among the starry sky. Cassandra noticed her presence and greeted her before she could say anything. "Hey Mackenzie.", she said.

"Are thinking about that last mission or are you just stargazing?", asked Mackenzie.

Cassandra sighed before she could answer. "No I was just thinking. Mother's day is just around the corner. Before Crucible came I was starting a practice where every mother's day I would go and pay my respects to my mom's grave. Now it looks like I won't get the chance this year." A tear was starting to fall down her cheek. Mackenzie knew more would follow.

"Your mom's dead?", Mackenzie said.

"She died when I was five. I had no memory of her for a long time. It was not until I got the emerald crystal and went on a spirit journey that I remembered her. We were driving home after a trip to the playground. We were in a car crash. She died in the hospital after she passed on the emerald crystal to me.

"When I finally remembered her I wanted to know everything I could about her. I asked dad what she was like. I asked Zordon if he had any stories about her. It got to the point where I would stop by her grave and leave flowers while I talked to her. Doing it on mother's day seemed appropriate since I didn't know the exact date of when she died. Now with Crucible holding on to earth I don't have the chance to do that."

The tears flowed down Cassandra's cheeks and Mackenzie held her in the petite arms trying to comfort her. "I know how you feel. My mom's dead too."

Cassandra looked up surprised. "You didn't think I was who I was without a reason didn't you?" Cassandra noticed Mackenzie's sly expression and couldn't help but chuckle briefly. Then Mackenzie continued with her story.

"My mom was a nurse. She always wanted to help people. When she visited her patients she always made them feel important that they were real people not just someone who dropped of medication and gave sponge baths when they needed to be given. Mom treated me the same way. She had so much love for me and everybody else she wasn't afraid to share it with the world.

"She also was a hard worker. She worked up to save to buy the house we live in while dad tried to start a buisiness that went belly up. It wasn't before long that she wound up doing all the work while he turned into a deadbeat just sitting with his beer wondering when his dinner was coming."

"What happened to her?", asked Cassandra.

"There was a fire at her hospital some of the patients were trapped there. While the rest of the staff evactated the wing she stayed behind to make sure tha patients got out. Unfortunately she got too much smoke in her lungs when the firemen finally got her out. She died of smoke inhilation. It hit me pretty hard."

"What about your father?", Cassandra asked.

"He hit me pretty hard too. And I mean literally.", Mackenzie said. "But that's a different story."

Mackenzie then turned to look at the stars with Cassandra. "You know, I haven't paid my respects to my mom either.", Mackenzie said.

Mackenzie then turned to Cassandra with a mischevous look in her eye. "You want to do something about that?"

Cassandra turned and gave Mackenzie a smile. She knew what Mackenzie meant.

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Are you both nuts?!!", shouted Kincaid as the girls ran their request by him.

"Look Kincaid I know the idea isn't without risk, but we've been to Earth before when it was seized.", said Cassandra.

"That was different. When we were there the first time Crucible was setting up camp. Now he and his boys have a firm hold on the planet now. If you go there your chances of coming out are between slim and none."

"We're willing to take that chance!", said Mackenzie. "Cassandra and I really need to do this."

"Will you be taking the zords?", Kincaid asked.

"The emerald tigerzord is with me regardless of where I am. All I need to do is to call it and it's there. I don't know about the astro viper.", said Cassandra.

"I'm ready to take the astro viper out of here right now if I have to with or without your consent Kincaid.", said Mackenzie.

Kincaid started to weigh his options. They were going to go whether he said it was okay or not so he made the only decision he could.

"All right you can go.", he said. The girls cheered.

"But there are a few conditions." he then added. Then the girls sighed.

"This is serious. We can't have you going in identifying yourselves as rangers. Crucible may already have us on a 'capture on sight' list, if not a 'shoot on sight' list, so when you head for earth you will head in unmorphed as not to advertise that you are rangers. Second, if Cassandra can call the emerald tiger if needed then that will do for back up. I have to ask that the astro viper remain behind.

Mackenzie couldn't believe what Kincaid was saying. No astro viper? "Then how do we get there", she asked. "Crucible's boys might also know the shuttles by now!"

"There is a ship that will get you there. It's speed will allow you to break through any blockades you'll run across.", said Kincaid.

"It's in hangar three. Stop by hydroponics to pick up some flowers for your mothers before you go." The girls thanked Kincaid and went to their rooms to get ready for their trip.

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Mackenzie looked throughout the hydroponics bay until she found what she thought were good flowers. "White roses", she said. "Perfect."

Alpha came by to help her clip the roses so Mackenzie wouldn't be clipped by the thorns. Then Alpha placed them in a cyllinder big enough to be a carry on bag. "This will keep them preserved until you reach your mom's grave."

Mackenzie thanked Alpha and they went off to see what Cassandra was doing. When they saw Cassandra she had already cut a flock of carnations and tied them with an emerald band before she put them in her preserver.

"I worked in a floral shop one summer.", Cassandra explained. "Ready?"

"All set. Thanks Alpha.", said Mackenzie.

"Now you girls be careful. We all want you to come back in one piece." The little robot hugged the two girls and left the bay.

"Well we better see what Kincaid wants.", said Cassandra.

"Yeah.", agreed Mackenzie as she walked out. Cassandra followed but for the briefest second as she saw Mackenzie she noticed a strange look on her face. Like a brief smile at the mention of his name, and a twinkle in her eye.

"Mackenzie's not falling for Kincaid is she?", thought Cassandra.

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When Mackenzie and Cassandra made it to the launch bay. Kincaid was waiting near a ship of strange design. It looked like a cockpit with two torpedoes tied to the bottom of it. It kind of reminded the girls of one of the pontoon boats in Midway's Hydro Thunder game.

"We're flying in that thing?", said Mackenzie.

"This ship is called 'Speed Demon'. She mooves at incredible velocity that 98% of ship and planetary weapons systems cannot get a lock on her. She'll plow right through any blockade they have and get you where you need to go."

"What about weapons?", asked Cassandra.

"If you are asking about blasters there aren't any.", said Kincaid.

"WHAT?!", the girls shouted none too thrilled about flying an unarmed ship into hostile territory.

Kincaid tried to reassure them. "It does have a sunburst generator which is used to temporarily blind pilots so you can outrun the ships. The sunburst generator is also used to throw off any heatseeking weapons. It hast also caused the systems of other ships to overheat as well."

"Well I guess it's better than nothing.", said Cassandra as she got on board.

"Take care of yourselves. I want you to come back in one piece." Kincaid said to Mackenzie.

Mackenzie smiled for a second and then said, "Don't worry if something happens we'll steal an enemy ship and waggle the wings." then she got on board.

Mackenzie sat in the pilot seat as she fired up Speed Demon's huge engines and flew the ship out of the launch bay like a bat out of hades.

"Be careful.", said Kincaid as he saw the girls fly away.

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It wasn't long before Cassandra was bored with the journey, even though they had only been traveling close to an hour. Mackenzie was in the pilot seat but hadn't said a word since the ship had launched.

Many times Cassandra believed in the age old addage that silence was golden at certain times. But when a person was as quiet as the room they were just in it was quite uncomfortable.

Cassandra decided to break the ice. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Mackenzie then turned to look at Cassandra. "What would I do with a penny? Now if you offered a dollar for my thoughts I could get a Mountain Dew at a 7-11."

Cassandra snickered a little at Mackenzie's joke. "Just trying to make conversation. You looked pretty deep in thought."

Mackenzie nodded and went back to flying the ship. Then she asked "You and Adam are pretty close right?"

Cassandra was floored by the question. What was Mackenzie getting at? "We...enjoy each other's company."

"You two enjoy it a lot?"

"We've had some moments. Why? Have you found someone who's company you enjoy?"

Mackenzie sighed before answering. "There is someone who I enjoy being with. But right now I think that he enjoys his time with someone else."

Cassandra barely had a moment to think about it before the ship alarms went off. "Are we approaching earth?", she asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to take us out of hyperspace then hit the afterburners at full power as we go through the blockade." Mackenzie then pulled back the hyperdrive lever as it revealed the starry sky of space, earth in front of them, and a fleet of space cruisers surrounding them.

"Clusterfriggin hell!", said Cassandra.

"Hey that's my line!", said Mackenzie as she slammed on the afterburners heading straight towards earth.

Next thing the girls knew was the automated defence grid around earth was activating and trying to target them. But since the Speed Demon was going too fast they couldn't get a lock on it. They were almost home free until a shot from behind damaged the ship.

One of the tailguns from the ships they left behind got off a lucky shot. Cassandra cursed herself for forgetting about the sunburst generator to blind the ship tailguns.

"Navigation's out. Speed controls are locked." Mackenzie was giving out a shopping list of damage before she finally said "We're going down!"

Cassandra and Mackenzie buckled up for a crash as the smoking ship headed for earth. Mackenzie struggled to keep the nose up and find a soft place to land.

Mackenzie managed to find a river nearby as she turned the Speed Demon towards it. She then set the ship down on the water but one of the engines had broken free and the Speed demon was sent rolling over into the air before finally settling down into the water hard on it's side.

The ship started to sink after that.

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A guardsman patrol scanned the wreckage of the Speed Demon to see if any survivors could be found. They found no life forms and no life signs near the crash site. After three hours of searching the guardsmen were ordered to search down river towards the waterfalls in case the bodies went over. The guardsmen obeyed and went on their journey.

When the guardsmen were safely away two girls heads broke the surface of the water. One of them was holding a small oxygen cannister.

"It's a good thing those guys are leaving.", said Cassandra. "We didn't have that much air left in the tank anymore."

"Hell of a landing huh?", said Mackenzie. "No instruments, no landing gear, crash in the water, yeah I'm one whopper of a pilot." She had a sarcastic edge to her voice.

Cassandra tried to reassure Mackenzie while she was swimming. "Hey anyone else would have lost it all."

The next thing the girls knew their containers bobbed to the surface. Cassandra and Mackenzie grabbed them and swam their way to the shore.

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When they made it to land the two girls stood soaking wet and lost. "And ideas where we are?", Cassandra asked.

"How should I know?", said Mackenzie.

"Well you were driving!", Cassandra retorted.

"Well the navigation was out so I couldn't see exactly which river we came crashing into."

"Any first impressions from the air?, Cassandra asked.

"Well it looked like we were heading somwwhere towards the eastern part of the United States. So we're probably a good three thousand miles or so from Angel Grove."

"We also need to find a change of clothes somewhere. We can't keep walking around in these wet things." said Cassandra making reference to her wet green T-shirt and blue jeans. Mackenzie's white t-shirt and jeans were also soaked.

"There might be a house somewhere closeby. I say we pick a direction and go.", said Mackenzie.

"No argument here.", said Cassandra as the two drenched girls walked down the riverbank too who knows where.

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It wasn't long before Cassandra and Mackenzie found a deserted two lane road that looked like it might have been an interstate. As they followed the road they came across an intersection and a street sign that said the road they were on.

Cassandra recognized the road as an Ohio state route since she remembered that Ohio uses a silouette of it's state in designing the signs for their state routes. The number two-fifty seven said that they were on state route two fifty seven.

"So we're in Ohio.", said Cassandra.

"Isn't this Kincaid's home turf?", said Mackenzie.

"It's his home state. I don't know if we're close to his home city or not."

As they continued walking they came to what was apparently a zoo of some kind. But all the animals were gone. A lot of debris and rubble was laid around as it was apparent that this was one of the places that was damaged in the initial attack by Crucible.

After some more exploring Mackenzie saw a sign that said 'Columbus Zoo'. "So we're in Columbus.", said Cassandra.

"Kincaid's home town. Well one of them anyway.", said Mackenzie.

Cassandra then noticed a fleet of parked cars nearby. Some with open doors. "Let's see if any of those cars are cars we can use.", she said.

"We're not going to steal a car are we?", said Mackenzie.

"We need transportation to get to Angel Grove. And it looks like no one is coming back soon.", Cassandra said making reference to some cars with half opened doors. Some lifeless due to rundown batteries, others turned on their side. Cassandra was lucky that they found a silver Chevy truck with the keys in the door and the door unopened.

Cassandra got into the truck and turned the ignition. The truck started beautifully. She and Mackenzie put their floral containers in the back and drove out of the zoo parking lot.

"Next thing we get are dry clothes.", said Mackenzie. And Cassandra agreed.

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Cassandra and Mackenzie were driving for only a few minutes until they reached the outer city limits where a platoon of guardsmen were waiting.

"Those guys don't think we're still alive do they?", said Mackenzie.

"No it's probably just a routine patrol. I wish we had time to stop at a store to get our clothing changed."

Cassandra stopped the truck to where the waiting guardsman was standing. "What work crew are you a part of?", it said.

Work crew? the girls thought. Cassandra had to come up with a quick answer. "Uhh...work crew...1138."

The guardsman went into his computer data banks to see if there was a work crew 1138, and what it's purpose was. It later came out of it's trance and said "There is no work crew 1138. Step out of the vehicle."

The guardsman drew it's weapon when an explosion knocked his compatriots over. A volley of lasers cut through the guardsman by Cassandra and Mackenzie.

They turned to see a middle aged woman and a heavy set young man come up beside them in a silver van. "Come with us if you want to live.", the woman said.

Cassandra and Mackenzie turned the truck around and followed their two rescuers.

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After two hours of what seemed like endless driving on the back roads the girls finally reached the destination of the woman and the young man.

"Sorry for the long drive.", said the woman. "We have to stay away from the city areas. They're crawling with those robots."

"They're called guardsmen.", said Cassandra. "Why do we have to stay away from the cities? And why haven't we seen a soul out here in the country?"

"When the invasion had started people have been taken away from their country homes and hearded into the cities so rebuilding could go faster. They have been pretty much turned into work camps since they are the industrial centers of the planet.", said the heavy set young man.

"You two are out here.", said Mackenzie.

"I was deemed unfit to work.", said the woman. "My son escaped only a few days ago."

"With that body?", said Mackenzie. Cassandra shot her a look that said don't make cracks like that.

"I'm very sensitive about my weight.", said the man.

"Easy, let's settle down. You can shower in our guest house over there.", the woman said making reference to a small cottage nearby. "I'll have a fresh change of clothes for you too."

"Why are you doing this?", Cassandra asked.

"Why not?", said the man. "Besides we got a call that said a ship was coming down where we were and to keep a lookout for the pilots. So we just kept our eyes peeled for anyone in soggy clothing."

"Are you with a resistance organization or something?", asked Mackenzie.

The woman thought for a minute and said, "Or something."

"Well whatever you're with thanks.", said Cassandra. "Oh we didn't catch your names."

"My name is Catherine and this is my son Stephen.", said the woman.

Cassandra sensed a sort of familiarity from those names, as if she had heard them together before. "Is there anyone else around? Where's your husband?"

"Dad ran off with another woman years ago?", said Stephen. "Haven't seen him since."

Mackenzie started to feel the sense of familiarity too. "Are there any other children around? Brothers? Sisters?"

Catherine and Stephen buiried their heads down before Catherine spoke. "We did have a second son but he ran away from home years ago. We found out that he was killed later." Catherine then started to shed some tears. Stephen offered her some comfort.

"I'm sorry she still misses Jeff."

Jeff? both girls thought. 'As in Jeff Kincaid?'

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"I'm telling you the writing is on the wall. These two people are Kincaid's mother and older brother.", said Cassandra as she was putting on the change of clothes provided for her. An emerald green jacket and black T-shirt with blue jeans.

"The same mother and brother who abused him when he was growing up? Why are they saving us?", asked Mackenzie who put on a white novelty T-shirt that had Hillary Clinton wearing a t-shirt saying 'I'm with Stupid' and Bill Clinton wearing a t-shirt that said 'Stupid. Her ensemble was complete with a World War two bomber jacket and tan corderoys.

"And another thing. Why do they think that Kincaid is dead?" Cassandra later said.

"I don't know but maybe we should find out."

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Cassandra and Mackenzie then made their way to the main house where Catherine sat on the couch. Stephen was out. "We'd like to thank you for helping us.", said Cassandra.

"Don't worry about it.", said Catherine Kincaid.

Mackenzie was looking at the pictures on the mantle. She noticed one of Kincaid standing on it. "Is this boy your other son?"

Catherine stood up out of the couch and grabbed the picture. "Hey, hey hey, don't get huffy. He just looked like someone I thought I knew."

"Someone you thought you knew?", she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, he said that he had come from an abusive home and ran away to his grandma's to get out.", Mackenzie later said.

The words sent Catherine reeling and she then started to cry. "I'm sorry.", she said. "I don't mean to be like this. But I miss my son so much. Was his name Jeff?"

"Yes it was.", said Mackenzie.

"I knew him too.", said Cassandra. "He told me the same thing."

"Look I know I wasn't the best parent in the world. But when Vincent left things got so crazy and my boys got hurt by what happened. I never wanted Jeff to run away."

"He didn't think he had much of a choice. He thought he would have gone crazy if he stayed.", said Mackenzie.

"But I loved him, didn't he know that?"

When there is a lot of...fighting going on some emotions get lost in the shuffle.", said Cassandra.

"Oh well, I guess it's too late now.", Catherine said. "Jeff's gone."

"We never found out how Jeff died. What happened?", asked Cassandra.

"Even we don't know. We got a report from the police that said that the power rangers found him and that some space monster killed him.", said Catherine.

"The Power Rangers said that?", said Mackenzie.

"Yeah, I don't know which mahines they had though."

'Neither do I.', thought Cassandra. 'Ashley indicated that she never met Kincaid before when she was rescued. Adam made no mention of knowing him either' She made a mental note to ask Kincaid about it later even though it was more likely that he would stonewall her on the answer. 'Well if he does that I can always go to the book of Zordon.', she later thought.

"Well enough about my problems.", said Catherine. "What are you two girls doing here?"

"Would you believe we're trying to find a way to get to Angel Grove to pay respect to our mothers?", said Mackenzie.

Catherine was taken aback by that. "Are they dead?"

"Yes, Mackenzie's was killed in a fire a few years ago. Mine died when I was five. We didn't get to pay our respects much, and this was the only time we could do it."

"Well Steven is a truck driver. He can make out a route for you.", Catherine offered.

"Thank you Mrs. Kincaid we appreciate that.", said Cassandra.

The next day Cassandra and Mackenzie left for their back roads journey across America to get to Angel Grove.

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The journey wasn't easy since they had to stay away from the cities. Whenever a gas station came up they would pull in and fill up the tank because they never knew when they would stop again. They also had two gas cans in case they had an emergency on hand.

Catherine and Stephen even provided some food for the journey. Something else the girls had to conserve for the journey.

But their perseverence paid off as they made it to the city limits of Angel Grove. The girls got out of the truck to see the defences of the city limits. What they saw were a platoon of guardsmen escorting what seemed to be citizens of Angel Grove.

"Guard detail.", said Cassandra.

"Shall we go ahead and bust them out?", asked Mackenzie.

Cassandra was about to answer when she saw a face that she knew. He had long hair, olive complection, and he wore a race suit that looked like it had seen better days.

"Tommy?, she said.

Mackenzie was confused. "Who's Tommy?"

"Only one of the most famous power rangers of all time. He was the green morphin' ranger, the white ninja and morphin ranger, he was also the red turbo and zeo ranger."

"That's one helluva resume.", said Mackenzie. "Does this mean we're bustin him out?"

"Mackenzie, I'd bust those people out even if Tommy wasn't there, but now that he is it just make the rescue that much better." Cassandra then pulled out her emerald crystal. "Emerald ranger power.", she said as she morphed into her emerald ranger costume.

"Let's rocket!", said Mackenzie as she punched in her 3-3-5 code on her morpher to become the White Astro.

The girls then jumped down to face the guardsmen. "I'd suggest you back away from those people. This is going to get rough.", said Cassandra.

The guardsmen stood ready to attack. Tommy motioned for the people to back away as he saw the two ranger girls. When one guardsman saw what the prisoners were doing they tried to grab them.

"Emerald Ninja power storm.", shouted Cassandra as an emerald tornado came from her hands and swirled the guardsmen up into it.

As soon as the guardsmen were away from the people Tommy ordered them to scatter. Then he went to join Cassandra and Mackenzie.

"Cassandra I'm happy to see you. And whoever you are.", he said to Mackenzie.

"Just call me white astro.", said Mackenzie. Just then another platoon of guardsmen were coming down the road.

"This one's mine.", Mackenzie said as she brought her hands to her in a praying manner as she was letting her power build.

Tommy wondered what she was doing when Cassandra placed a hand on his shoulder reassuring him that Mackenzie knew what she was doing.

"WHITE ASTRO SHOCKWAVE!!!", she said as a blast of white energy cut through the guardsmen like a knife through butter.

"Whoa!" was all Tommy could say. Mackenzie staggered for a bit but then regained her balance.

"She's all right. She's weakened a little when she tries that. It's the most powerful weapon in her arsenal.", said Cassandra.

Tommy looked at both Cassandra and Mackenzie. "I've heard that there were stories that a few rangers escaped and were causing Crucible trouble. I didn't know you were one of them Cassandra."

"Yeah, me ,Ashley, Adam, Justin..." she looked at Mackenzie and she nodded saying that in was okay for her to say her name. "Mackenzie, and a guy named Kincaid."

"Kincaid?", said Tommy as he recognized the name. "As in Jeff Kincaid?"

"You know him?", asked Mackenzie.

"We've met.", Tommy then dropped the subject. "What are you two girls doing here?"

"We came to pay respects to our moms. It's something we need to do.", said Cassandra.

"I know a back way to Angel Grove cemetary. You can follow me.", Tommy said.

After the two girls demorphed and picked up their containers they followed the former red ranger to where their mothers rested.

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Mackenzie placed the white roses by her mother's tombstone as she kneeled down. She then started to talk. She talked for hours about how she was coming in her life, and how she became the white astro.

Cassandra told of her exploits as well as she kneeled down to place the emerald banded red carnations on her mother's grave.

And both girls said how much they missed their mothers and wished they were with them now.

When the girls were finished Tommy stood waiting at the bottom of the hill. He had found a way to get them off the planet.

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Kincaid was standing on the command deck of the mobile safe house wishing upon hope that some sign that Cassandra and Mackenzie would come. It wasn't long before the target sensors picked up a ship.

Kincaid looked at it and found it was a guards fighter. "Hardrive weapons at ready!", he ordered.

"Hailing frequencies open sir.", said Hardrive. Kincaid was confused. 'Why would a guardship open communications?' he wondered. "Put it through on the comm station.

Kincaid then turned to find Cassandra and Mackenzie smiling back at him. "Sorry about your ship, but we did what we had to do.", said Mackenzie.

"I'm glad.", said Kincaid.

"Oh we've picked up someone else.", said Cassandra as she motioned Tommy onto the screen. "I see you're back from the dead.", he said.

"Good to see you too Tommy. Come on in the landing bay girls." Kincaid broke communications as the girls brought the fighter in for a landing.

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As the ship landed Kincaid stood on the deck as the three passengers came out of the guardship.

Tommy came over and shook Kincaid's hand. "So what brought you out of hiding?", he asked.

"Alpha, and this team.", Kincaid said. "I've made arrangements to get you to a resistance base. There may be a cell or two who could use some advice from a former red ranger."

"Thanks.", said Tommy. Just then Ashley, Adam and Justin ran out and gave Tommy a group hug.

Cassandra and Mackenzie followed Kincaid out and Cassandra asked. "Why does your mother think you're dead?"

"Because at that time I was, and didn't want anyone looking for me."

"You know she misses you.", Cassandra said. "I think that she's sorry for what happened to you growing up." "Cassandra don't try to butter me up.", she thinks I'm dead. I like it that way."

"She's your mother!!Doesn't that mean anything?", Mackenzie shouted.

"You loved your mothers. Mine almost drove me crazy.", said Kincaid.

"We're not asking you to go back home.", said Cassandra. "We came back from a trip to honor our mothers because we loved them and wanted to show we hadn't forgotten them."

"Didn't you love your mom at one point?", Mackenzie asked.

Kincaid fell silent.

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Catherine Kincaid was sitting in her chair thinking about the two girls who knew her youngest son when the comm screen appeared. The face of the red Night Ranger appeared. "Catherine Lee Kincaid?"

"Yes?", said the mother.

"I don't have much time so I'll make this short. Jeffrey Kincaid is alive and well.", Catherine's heart seemed to burst when she heard that.

"Where is he?", she demanded.

"I can't say right now since he is involved in a special mission with the power rangers. He isn't permitted to discuss it with anyone. Not even family.", said the red ranger unaware that the red ranger was her own son.

"He did ask me to send this message. It's already downloaded into your message center. I have to go Mrs. Kincaid. Goodbye."

"Wait!", she said but it was too late communications were cut off. Catherine Kincaid then went to her message board and read the first communication from her youngest son in a long time.

Dear mom,

I wish I knew what to say, but I'm at a loss for words. As you can see I'm alive, and happy with what I'm doing. I can't say what it is though and I don't think I ever can. If I put you through grief I'm sorry. I wish I could take everyone's pain away including my own. But please understand I needed to find my own way in life. I couldn't be pointed in directions anymore. But one day the path of my life will lead me back home, and maybe then we can be a family again. Please leave a light on for me.

Your son

Jeff

And after that Catherine Lee Kincaid cried tears of joy.