Communicat-OH

Chapter 4: Lightspeed Rescue Day-Off Debacle

Captain Mitchell paced behind his desk every now and then glancing at the four men seated in front of him. All of them were soaking wet and covered in what he hoped to god was algae and mud. His daughter, Kelsey, and Ms. Fairweather, furious enough to spit fire, had brought them in by their collars and dumped them on the floor before leaving in high dungeon without so much as two words. He demanded an explanation and only Carter, with his deeply ingrained habit of submitting to authority, was able to tell him but he even stumbled and stuttered. Captain Mitchell sat down and deliberately clasped his hands on his desk, "Explain this to me one more time."

The men looked around uneasily and Carter cleared his throat, "Well sir what happened was -"

HOURS EARLIER...

The team had been given the day off to just relax. The girls took off somewhere while the men chose to do some light training. Around noon, the guys were getting hungry so they cut through the park to get back to the aquabase. On their way, they noticed the women by the park's pond having a picnic.

"Hey look," Chad jerked his chin in their direction. "Looks like the ladies are having lunch without us."

"Mm-mm-mm Ms. Fairweather looks awfully nice without that labcoat on," Joel moved towards them but Carter caught him.

"Easy there cowboy, you shouldn't interrupt girl time."

"I wasn't going to interrupt," the other three rolled their eyes.

"Sure you weren't," Ryan scoffed.

"I wasn't," Joel insisted. He leaned in and whispered, "Why interrupt when you can listen in?"

"Are you seriously suggesting we spy on them?" Chad looked at him like he was nuts.

"Why not?" Joel grinned. "See that beautiful – conveniently placed – clump of bushes over there. If we crouch behind it we can hear everything they're saying."

"And if they catch us?" Ryan asked.

"We say we were trying to pull a prank on them and they caught us," Joel said obviously.

Ryan thought about it for a moment, "Sold." He and Joel shook hands.

"Me too," Chad joined in.

Joel turned to the red ranger, "Carter..."

"I don't know," Carter shook his head. His face was crossed between being nervous and sorely tempted.

"Oh come on fearless leader," Joel wrapped an arm around the man's shoulders. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to what Dana may say?"

Carter teetered on it for a second, "Fine I'm in." They backtracked and crept around to make sure the girls didn't see them. They managed to get behind the bushes without being seen and with careful maneuvering settled in to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Kelsey – sighing "I'm so glad we got this day off."

Dana – "Me too. Dad said we needed a break, can't say I disagreed with him."

Ms. Fairweather – "At least you two see outside, I'm stuck in the lab twenty-four hours a day. LITERALLY!"

Kelsey – "Well at least you have company."

Ms. Fairweather – "Yes, because I do so enjoy Joel dogging my every footstep. It's like having a puppy except this one is taller, faster, and every time it speaks, rather than cute barking, it asks you on a date." The men were working hard not to bust out laughing at the look on Joel's face.

Dana – "You forgot the hot part. Don't lie, I know you've checked him out."

Ms. Fairweather – "Well there is that." Joel gave them his mega-watt smile and winked. "What about you Dana? I've seen where your eyes go when Carter comes back from training."