The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 6 by Heather Ray (free ebook reader TXT) 📖

addressing Tommy, she could discern the gist of the surprise he was about to reveal. Still, there was another side to the equation that Kim couldn't help but feel extremely interested in.

"He's my son," Tommy decided, nodding his head slowly. "It only makes sense, doesn't it?"

Anthony nodded. "Yours... and Katherine's."

Until this revelation, the Blue Terran Ranger was too engulfed in the swirling world of her own emotions to pay much attention to the rest of the story. The parentage of Brittany Lee was more than enough to keep her attention occupied. However, at the mention of her name, Katherine lifted her head sharply, her crystal blue eyes wide with astonishment.

"Me?" she reacted, her arms falling to her sides. "Me? And...Tommy

?"

At the row of nods that answered her question, Katherine's gaze returned to the floor. A frown of confusion crossed her brow, and she bit her lip as a river of possibilities entered her mind.

It wasn't that hard to believe that she and Tommy would have married in some alternate timeline. It couldn't be denied that she felt quite strongly about him earlier in her career as a Power Ranger. Especially if Jason had married that Emily person, and Kimberly had married Trevor Monroe...it only made sense.

But, was that how it happened? Or, did she have something to do with Kimberly and Tommy's break-up? How did Jason factor into all this? Brittany had expected that he already knew his future wife. Did that mean she was already in Angel Grove, ready to walk into his life?

The possibilities were pounding on her mind, giving her a rather sharp headache.

"But that's not all," Tommy said grimly, letting go of Kimberly and slowly approaching the assembled Starlight Rangers. "If that's all you had to say, it wouldn't have merited this kind of attention. Especially since you've already revealed the rest of your identities. There's something else...something I should know."

He paused, glancing at the two arrowhead pendants that hung from his neck, swaying against the vibrant gold of his shield.

"...something, about the arrowhead."

Rebecca couldn't help but smile slightly. The Tom Oliver she was familiar with was certainly quite insightful. He could usually tell when someone was hiding something, or holding it back. True, he had a hard time noticing some obvious cues, particularly about romantic interest in him, but in general he was quite good at perceiving dread or discomfort.

Sometimes, she wondered if he were on the verge, as it were. If he had some special perceptive power like her empathic insight.

"You're right, of course," she said, in her smooth, breeze-like voice. "The other person Goldar kidnapped...the one who owns the second half of the arrowhead, is David Trueheart. He's your brother."

Tommy's eyes widened, and he froze completely. His lips parted slightly, and then his eyes fell from the Starlights, and passed around randomly, blinking quickly.

"I...I have a brother?" he whispered, once he recovered his voice.

"We have an image of him," Billy said quietly, typing a few buttons into his computer. Then, the large screen of the main viewer blinked to life, with a large still of a young man. His coloring matched Tommy's perfectly, with rich bronze skin, thick dark brown hair, and fathomless dark eyes. With the small exception of a more rugged facial structure, he almost looked exactly like Tommy.

"My God..." Kimberly gasped, her hand unconsciously rising to her lips. "The resemblance is uncanny."

Tommy's hand once again rose to the pendants hanging from his neck. He pulled the leather chords over head, and gazed at the matching stone arrowhead halves as they spun from the chords.

"We have to find them," he said sternly, his eyes still fixated on the arrowhead halves, "Tanya, Rocky, Adam...did you pick up anything?"

"Oh," Tanya uttered, snapping out of her pensive daze to glance again at the results of the various scans. "We're only receiving scattered images heavy in static. It's almost as if the scanners were jammed somehow."

Billy frowned deeply, walking towards the computer terminal the three assistants were working on. "That's strange," he muttered, "Goldar doesn't have the ability to scramble the CAC's scanners. Maybe if we were trying to scan the Moon or something, but not Earth...so close to the CAC..."

"Maybe it wasn't Goldar after all?" Alexis suggested.

"No, it was definitely Goldar," Rocky interjected. "Or at least, he was present. The scrambled images do show a rather jumbled furry guy in gold armor, so it's definitely Goldie."

Tommy's lips pressed into a tight line, and he slipped the leather chord back around the neck. "So, Goldar has a few new tricks up his sleeve?"

"That's what it looks like," Adam said.

"Then we'll one-up him," Kimberly said firmly, her gazed fixed on Tommy and his distant expression. "We always do."

Chapter Twenty-Four

"This was not

part of the plan," Micah grumbled, his knuckles whitening as his grip clenched tighter on two of the bars that comprised a small cage. He was as wary as a fox, his gaze darting at every moving shadow in the fire-lit, stony chamber he found himself trapped in. With the exception of the iron cage in the corner of the room, and the three large torches that flickered an amber blaze in the other three corners, there was nothing else in the room.

Still, he was almost certain he wasn't in the Moon Palace, nor any Dark Dimension. It seemed too plain for that.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath, dropping his hands from the bars and falling back upon the cold stone floor. He gathered his legs to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them, rocking slowly.

That was certainly an understatement. The past hour had been passed sitting in the dark with his uncle. Of course, since David was so entirely confused by everything, he first demanded to be informed about the situation. But Micah was cautious to say too much for fear that their captor might be able to hear them, even if he was unseen. So Micah advised they should be relatively quiet, in an effort to prevent Goldar from learning anything about them that could be advantageous to him.

Goldar. It amazed the young Green Ranger how completely and utterly unprepared he was for their encounter. From his father's stories, Goldar had seemed to be a relative pushover. As the White and Red Rangers, Tommy had managed to face Goldar on dozens of occasions, and more often than not he sent the canine alien running. Micah mistook his father's ease at defeating Goldar for weakness on the latter's part. No, Goldar certainly wasn't weak. He was a seasoned and accomplished warrior, fully prepared to take advantage of the impetuousness Micah blatantly displayed at their confrontation.

His defeat was quite costly. If he had been a more rational Power Ranger, he would have insured his uncle was safe. He could have summoned aid, especially since he knew all the Starlight Rangers had teleported to the location.

In short, he messed up royally. He underestimated his opponent- something his father always stressed to be careful of -- and now he hand landed both himself and his uncle in perilous danger.

Thanks to a sheer turn of luck, David had dropped the arrowhead. At least that stopped Goldar from getting his furry blue paws on it, and hopefully the Starlights could retrieve it. Still, his blunder had surely crippled the mission. Now, the Starlights had to rescue them.

Could things get any worse?

Micah regretted pondering that question when the loud sound of metal clanging against stone ripped through the silence. He looked up, meeting the naked fear present in the eyes of his uncle, who sat across from him in the opposite corner of the cell.

It was pretty obvious who was making an approach, and Micah was quick to rise to his feet. He met Goldar's blood red gaze with an even, almost impetuous glare.

The ancient warrior cackled at the boy's display of courage. He then walked to the other side of the cage, and in one quick motion, he reached between the heavy bars, and grabbed the unwitting David by the collar of his shirt.

Micah shivered with horror as he saw the monster pull his uncle just inches away from his sharp fangs.

"So," growled Goldar, his stare penetrating David like a knife, "who are you? And what connection do you have to Tommy Oliver?"

"Who?" asked David weakly in honest confusion. Goldar's beady eyes narrowed.

"Don't play games, Human! You look just like him, and you had the second half of the arrowhead! Now start talking, for your own sake."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," David said, his voice slightly more steady and sure, "I don't know anyone named Tommy, and all I know is that the arrowhead is supposed to lead me to my destiny. I don't know what kind of powers it has. It was given to me by my father."

"Fine," said Goldar, reaching his other wide arm between the bars at blinding speed and grabbing David's neck tightly. The young man grimaced as he felt his throat constrict. "If you don't want to spill the information, then I'll spill your blood..."

"Leave him alone, Goldar!" Micah snapped angrily, instinctively jumping onto Goldar's arms in an effort to release his iron grip. "Even you should be able to see he doesn't know what's going on!"

Goldar was silent for a moment, regarding the flea of a human with interest. "Perhaps you're right," he said finally, dropping David. David collapsed heavily, rasping for breath and tenderly rubbing his bruised neck. "Perhaps I'm interrogating the wrong person."

Suddenly, a fierce chill swept through the chamber, instantly dowsing the three bright torches as if a winter wind passed through. Both Micah and David were startled by the sudden darkness that made it almost impossible to make out any forms within the cavern. Goldar stepped back from the cage slowly, being cautious not to stumble in the darkness.

"Lord?" Goldar asked weakly. Micah was astonished to hear the tone of Goldar's voice had changed so greatly. Only moments ago, he was fierce and confident. How, he sounded like he was trembling.

Who could instill such fear into a warrior like Goldar? From his parents various stories, it was clear neither Rita nor Zedd was capable of such a powerful dictatorship over Goldar's person.

"Where is the arrowhead?" a smooth voice answered. Whoever the speaker was, his voice was the very measure of calm. And his tone spoke of a quiet power, as if he didn't need to raise his voice to inspire fear.

Micah felt the cold of the room, and the cold contained in the speaker's voice. Whoever it was, he was certain it wasn't Lord Zedd.

"I...I don't know," Goldar stuttered in response. "Neither of them