A Mare Too Far Part 2

   

     The one good thing about being woken up at o’dark thirty is you get to see the sunrise. Show and I found ourselves in front of a gorgeous crimson sky prepping for our flight. There were two other flyers with us, as the forty pony squadron had been broken up into ten flight groups.  As two of the most experienced pegasi, we were assigned two rookies to mentor. Our real job would be to keep them alive long enough for them to get some blood in their feathers. We ended up with the twins, Flitter and Cloudchaser, known to us as Rookie One and Rookie Two; they’d get proper callsigns once they earned them. 

    I started my usual pre-flight warm up, Cloudchaser made a display of her stretching. She had managed to flip her self over and brace herself with her hooves above her head bracing herself in an inverted pose.

    Flitter rolled her eyes at her twin’s antics. The other filly had taken a section red ribbon and tied around her forehead like a bandana; the ends running the full length of her long sea blue mane. A second piece had been tied to the base of her tail, giving her the appearance that she had crimson streaks put in.  The ribbon was Show Off’s idea, it would make them easier for us to distinguish between the two of them in combat. 

    “Alright Rookie Two, stop showing off,” I chided Cloudchaser.

    She smiled at me upside down; the filly must have been born with a slinky for a spine. I made a mental note to keep that in mind for her callsign before making my way to the launching area.

    I turned to the two mares and addressed them with as much authority as I could fake.

    “Okay, ladies.  Here’s how we are going to play this, Lunatic and I will take the lead, you follow behind us about half a click back but stay within visible range. Sergeant Show Off is the pony in charge, follow his orders to the letter. Do you understand?”

    “Yes Sir!” they replied, cheerfully.

     I pulled out the dragon scale and gave it a quick kiss as the ground crew outfitted us with our weapons. Silver Lining shot me a smile as she loaded the lighting guns onto my wingman’s back. I slid the visor down on my helmet and gave her a nod, before turning my attention to the sky.   

    Our mission was to simply patrol the camp and intercept any threats. The twins held formation at a good distance, though it was difficult to see their azure pelts against the blue sky. I had them spread out so that if we were attacked the whole group couldn’t be taken out and so that I could talk with Show Off with some privacy.

    For the most part, patrol was uneventful. Every now and then we could see Quill checking tents.  His desperation was visible, even from where we were flying. I felt my hoof move to the dog tags resting over my heart.

    I looked back at the rest of our group to make sure that they were well out of earshot. I lifted the visor of my flight helmet and looked over at Lunatic, flying close to discuss the behavior of our CO.

    “You know, before I saw the size of this place, I had some hope he’d find her quickly; but now…”

    I couldn’t think a good way to finish that sentence, I was worried for Quill and I didn’t want to say what could be the truth. Luckily, Lunatic could tell what I was thinking and finished it for me.

    “But now we don’t even have the slightest idea of whether or not she’s alive.”

    “He’ll do anything to find her.” I sighed.

    “I know.”

    The rest of the flight was uneventful aside from a few stray clouds that diverted our attention. It felt strange to have such a calm mission for a change. I was so used to being under siege at the old hill that this seemed to be a relaxing morning flight.  

    The most excitement that occurred was a fight that we had to break up between two ponies arguing over which “Daring Do” novel was the best, which sent the twins into a giggling fit when they heard the topic of the argument. I think the fillies’ laughter diffused the situation better than anything we could do as the two stallions realized how stupid the fight they were having was.

    Quill flagged us down at 1800 hours on the dot, he was anxious to renew the search for his lost love. The captain was holding a clipboard and a pencil; I kept my distance, not wanting to wind up wearing some strange article of clothing.

    “Ready to begin again?” Quill asked anxiously.

    The short answer was no; the extra long patrol had taken a lot out of me. Show wasn’t much better off; he spread his feathers as far as he could and flapped a couple of times. He was trying to get a knot worked out of his wing.

    “Let us catch our breath, Quill. We’ve been on patrol all day.”

     Quill checked a clipboard and kindly gave us a reprieve.

    “Very well; you have five minutes. Captain, trim the last sweep of sector twelve.”

    So much for a reprieve, I thought.

    “If he trimmed a sweep, that means he had us booked solid from 1800 hours until dark…” I grimaced.

    Show lay down on the ground and stretched his wings out. I could tell one of them was giving him trouble because it didn’t have the range it normally should.

    I didn’t want to lie down, because I knew if I did I wouldn’t get up again. I settled for a glass of water from a nearby wagon and tried some minor stretching. I began trying to preen the stiff pinion feather that had gone from an annoyance to now being painful with overuse. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach it and had to stop trying as Famosity walked by. It wasn’t polite to preen in front of a mare.

    The Captain wandered over to where my wingman was sprawled on the ground. She whispered something in his ear and began to rub on his sore wing. I could feel myself blush; it felt as though I was sitting in on a romantic moment.  Suddenly, Show sat bolt upright.

    “Okay, you’re gonna have to stop,” He stated, quickly.

    “I thought you said it was helping.”

    The expression on Fam’s face was a mixture of confusion and concern. She was obviously worried that she had done something wrong.

    “It was; I just…” Show quickly tried to come up with a reason, but eventually gave up. “I’m good now, thanks.”

    Famosity looked down at the ground, pawing the dust with a hoof.

    “Okay…” She said quietly, and she turned to leave.

    It took a beat for me to realize what happened, but when it dawned on me I couldn’t help but smile.

    “She hit the right nerve, eh Show?” I teased.

    “Snap, I swear to Faust, if you do not cram a hoof in it, I will…”

    Whatever threat he was planning got cut off by Quill.

    “So are we ready to start?”  

     “Yes sir!” the two of us replied in unison.

    “I want to thank you both,” the lieutenant said. “You’re fine stallions. I know you won’t let me down.”

    I did a quick weapon check while he was getting clearance for us to start our patrol. Quill finally got a hold of the flight controller as I was finishing up my good luck ritual.

    We moved from waypoint to waypoint without a sign of the white unicorn. Everything was proceeding calmly at first; then chaos erupted. A line of gumballs flew across the open space between Lunatic and myself. I rolled left trying to avoid the deadly projectiles.

    “Ground fire!” Lunatic shouted, “Take evasive!”

    I looked down seeing several enemy units moving across the open plain, a particularly large CB was occupying a mobile turret and firing at my wingman.

    “Ground Control, Friesian Flight! We are under fire from enemy Triple-A, in sector nine! Enemy is advancing toward our line requesting reinforcements!” I shouted over the radio.

    “Friesian Flight, Ground Control; we read you, friendly ground forces inbound. Support as you are able.”

    I was hoping for some more wings, control! I thought, as I dodged more fire.

    “Lunatic, we are on our own! Ground Grunts only!”

    “Mule Fritters!” My wingman swore. “Alright, run a Steeplechase.”

    Steeplechase was an extremely effective maneuver, but could be disastrous when it backfired. The lead pegasi would fly low and draw the attention of the anti-air gun, and the trailing pegasi would come in at a steeper angle and hit the gun from above. The move worked well, but it could turn nasty if the gunner turned its attention to back flyer and it left the lead pegasus vulnerable. It wasn’t the most ideal way to deal with the AA but, with just the two of us, we didn’t have a lot of options.

    “Got it! Stay Frosty!” I shouted.

    “Just make sure you tag him!”  Lunatic shouted and began a shallow angle dive.

    I made a wide, arching roll, gaining altitude and bleeding off speed. Then I tucked my wings and dove at the enemy with as much haste as I could muster.  I saw the turret turn and track the low flying pony in front of me, causing me to coax more momentum from my dive; I had to be quick before Lunatic got splashed. I waited until the magical pipper on my visor was at the base of the turret and fired. I dragged the sight up the enemy line; lightning arced out crashing into the enemy turret splitting it in half and incinerating the driver. The advancing enemy line faltered, as the panicked bears scattered in all directions.

    “Got ‘im!” I shouted in the radio.

    “Good kill!” Lunatic responded, and he grabbed some sky.

    The ground forces had finally arrived and began exchanging fire with the CBs. Our search for Quill’s love was placed on hiatus as the battlefield was electrified with lightning spells. Lunatic and I had to guard the soldiers from enemy fighters or provide air support to fend off any Bravos that were trying to flank our own smaller force. We did our best to protect them, but there was nothing we could do to change the fate of the unlucky ones. I flew over the trenches and saw a downed pony being worked on by the medics. The poor filly had taken a round to the chest and the medical ponies were struggling to keep her from bleeding out; it didn’t seem to be going well.

    After two hours of fighting, we had managed to drive the CBs back to their line. The battlefield was once again quiet as if nothing had happened; the only evidence that the firefight took place was the bodies of the bears and the bloodstains of the wounded ponies.

    “Well…That was fun,” Lunatic said, trying to lighten the mood.

    “You need a better idea of fun,” I replied.

    The sun was beginning to set as we returned to the landing strip. Quill was obviously frustrated with our lack of progress but there was nothing we could have done to prevent the CBs from attacking. Silver Lining and the rest of the ground crew relieved us of our weapons. The normally enthusiastic unicorn had sobered up a bit after seeing some action for the first time, yet she still managed to flash us both a smile as she stored our weapons.

    Famosity was waiting in the tent when we arrived, but Quill was no where to be found. I had assumed that he had gone out searching again.

    The two started to complain about Quill, I was too tired to care. Besides, I knew that trying to stop him would be like trying to stop Celestia from raising the sun. I sighed; maybe things would be better in the morning.

     

    ***

     

    The next morning Quill wasn’t in his rack, and that had my mane bristling.

    “Does anyone know if he even came back last night?” I asked.

    “I don’t know; I slept like a rock.” Show Off said, with a massive yawn.

    Famosity pawed at the floor of the tent nervously.

    “Last I saw, he headed out for a walk.”

    Oh, this can’t be good. I thought.

    “Well, he wouldn’t desert his post. I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.” Show said, firing a quick nod at the trenches.

    As far as I was concerned, Quill deserting was one of the better scenarios. I had been in Quill’s horseshoes, and if he was in the same place I was; he might have done something drastic.  I didn’t mention my fears to the others; Quill wasn’t the type of pony who would take his own life, but given his current state, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

    The three of us made our way down to the battle lines, picking up the twins on the way over. Mud from the trenches squelched under hoof as we trotted, not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but it was bearable for me at least. Famosity, on the other hoof, found the quagmire to be incredibly offensive.

    “This is disgusting,” Fam said. “I didn’t realize they were this bad.”

    She hastily peeled away from the rest of us, heading for the relative cleanliness of the advanced command bunker.

    “What’s the matter with the Captain?” Flitter asked.

    “She’s an officer,” was Show Off’s reply.

    The fillies exchanged confused looks; they were still too green to understand the joke. Show Off just pressed on with his briefing.

    “Alright ladies, listen up. We are on standby today, which means that we are to stay here at the rear lines until when or if we are called upon.”

    As if his words brought misfortune, Silver Lining came running up to us, splattering mud as she did.    

    “Sergeants! Sergeants!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. “Sirs! We have an emergency!”

    I spread my wings getting ready to fly to the arming station.

    “What’s wrong Private?” Show asked quickly.

    The private was gasping for air after running so hard in the slog.

    “Sir,” she wheezed, “We have a situation in sector 7.”

    She levitated a pair of binoculars so that I could see the area.

    “Buck it all,” I said, turning over the binoculars to Show.

    “Is that..?” He asked, “What’s he doing out there?”

    I looked up at the sky and saw that we weren’t the only one to notice the lone pony. Cloud ships began to descend on the battle field. We didn’t have time to wait.

    “Getting himself killed! Come on!” I shouted at my wingman as I launched myself out of the trench.

    Show turned to the two rookies waiting behind us.

    “Get armed and come support us when you can!” He ordered and quickly followed me into the sky.

    I kept my wings going trying to entice more speed from my feathers.

    “What’s the plan?” Lunatic shouted from behind me.

    I really didn’t have a plan; we were flying into a sortie in which we were outnumbered and unarmed. Chances were I was leading all three of us to our deaths. My mind raced to come up with some sort of strategy.

    “Fly out, grab him, and haul haunches back to our line.” I replied with the best plan I could come up with.

    “Simple and sweet,” my wingman stated. “I like it!”

     Out on the horizon, I could see the enemy rallying for an attack, the single pony on the battlefield proving too tempting for the bloodthirsty bears.  

    Mortars began to fall on the battlefield, showering us with dirt and debris. We were close enough now to hear Quill calling out.

    “Rarity, darling? Are you out here?”

    “He’s completely lost it!” I shouted as a shell exploded next to me.

    We finally reached where Quill was wandering about, oblivious to the chaos erupting around him. My wingman and I grabbed him under the forelegs and we tried to carry the kicking and screaming officer back to our line. After a stream of curses, Quill managed to connect his head with the bottom of my chin and he slipped from my grasp as I was dazed. He hit the ground and rolled before tumbling awkwardly into a foxhole. I pivoted on my wing, swinging back around and diving into the shell crater after Quill.

    I tackled him just as he was trying to clamber out of the foxhole, throwing him back into the mud. We wrestled for a half second before I managed to pin one of this forelegs to the ground. Lunatic managed to secure the other one, but Quill was fighting with us like a pony possessed.

     “If you don’t let me up this instant, I will see you both hanged!” He bellowed at us.

     I had enough; I threw a hard right that caught him in the side of the muzzle.

     “Get a grip, soldier!” I shouted. “Just listen to yourself.”

    The lieutenant blinked away whatever trance he had been trapped in.

    “I…”

    Whatever, he was going to say was cut off by Lunatic.  

    “Quill, I know it’s hard, but for Faust’s sake, you’ve got to hold it together. With a traitor somewhere in the upper ranks, our little family is all we’ve got. We can’t go having you get blown to bits.”

    The earth pony stared at Show, then turning to me. He seemed to be back to our reality now, so we let him up. He sat quietly staring at the mud, while the war raged overhead.

    “I…I apologize,” he said finally. “I never slept last night. I kept justifying maybe she’d be somewhere out here if I kept looking.”

    I looked up at a sky that was rapidly filling with enemies.

    “This is not the time for apologies Lieutenant!” I yelled. “Our wings are really in the cirrus now!”

     “We need to get out of here,” Lunatic said, “I’ll…”

    A small female voice cried out amongst the mortar shells.

    “I say, is someone out there?”

    Quills ears perked up.

    “Could it be?” he asked, and then made another mad scramble to get out of the foxhole.

    Show grabbed him and pulled him down to the ground.

    “Keep you head down Sarge!” My wingman shouted. “There a war on.”

     “Rarity, darling?” Quill called out, his ears strained .

    “Oh Quill! I knew you would come for me! I’ve been stuck out here all night and the mud is going to stain my coat if I stay here much longer! And I’m terribly hungry; I could eat a whole flower bed.”

    I couldn’t believe it.

    “You’ve got to be bucking kidding…”

    A shell exploded close enough to ring our ears; all three of us hit the deck as we were showered with dirt.

    “Show…Please.” Quill begged.

    I could see a plan forming in Show Off’s head, me made his way to the edge of the foxhole.

    “Hold on, I’ll check,” I shouted at him.

    Of the three of us in that crater, I had the least to lose. I crawled up to the lip of our little shelter; keeping my head as low as possible.

    “Corporal? Can you hear me?” I yelled as loud as I could. 

    “Yes.”

    “Okay, Corporal I need to figure out where you are. Grab a stick or something and tie some fabric to it.”

    “Okay, done.”

    I took a deep breath to steady my heart rate.

    “Alright, wave it above your foxhole.”

    I poked my head about the ground just high enough to see at ground level. Back behind us there a blue ribbon waved back and forth. I looked toward the enemy line to see a squad of CBs jumping through craters and closing up on us quickly. A gumball skipped in the dirt in front of me, and I instinctually ducked back down.

    “She’s 15 meters to the right, back behind us,” I informed Show. “And we have Bravos inbound.”

    “Okay, I’m going to go over there and get her; you two wait for my signal and then get back to our line as fast as you can.”

    “Thank you Show…for everything.” Quill said gratefully.

    “Thank me when we’re out of here.”

    I thought about how far it was from our foxhole to Rarity’s.

    “That’s a lot of open space to cover Show, be careful.”

    He considered this.

    “Corporal! Are you armed?”

    “Yes, but I’m running low on ammunition.”

    “Corporal, my name is Sergeant Show Off, I’m a friend of Quill’s. I’m going to get you out of there but you are going to have to cover me on our mark.”

    “Y-yes Sir!” came fearful reply.

    I looked over at my friend, he nodded me to start counting.

    “Good luck, Show.”

    He glared at me.

    “Buck it all Snap, you never tell an actor ‘good luck’,” and then he laughed. “Count it.”

    “Three!” I bellowed.

    Show jumped into the center of the foxhole.

    “Two!”

    He began to rapidly work his wings; spraying flecks of mud everywhere.

    “One!”

    He crouched down.

    “Suppressing!” I shouted as loud as I could.

    Show launched himself from the foxhole. I could hear the sound of a lightning gun being fired and then the return fire from the Charlie Bravos. And then silence.

    “Show?” I called out.

    I held my breath waiting for a reply, the agonizing seconds seemed to go on for years.

    “I’m good,” his voice rang out from Rarity’s location. “Get ready to move!”

    “What do you think the signal is?” Quill asked.

    There was a bright flash and the crackling of electricity.

    “That!” I shouted and grabbed Quill.

    The two of us sprang from the crater, I picked Quill up and flew as fast as I could while burdened with another pony. We passed Rarity’s foxhole, a brilliant blue ball of electric magic was blossoming a few yards from it.

    Clever, I thought. He overloaded her lighting gun.

    Gumball bullets flew around us as I flew, but the closer we got to our line the less accurate they would be. We were almost halfway there, when I felt a shadow wash over me. I looked at the ground and recognized the shape; a cloud ship.

    Not good, was the only thought that entered my mind.  

    Unarmed and weighed down, we were sitting ducks to the enemy fighters. The shadow pulled ahead of me and he was about to dive on us, getting ready to take out his prey. But before I could take any evasive action, lighting cut the sky above us and the shadow dissolved into tiny specks. I looked up to see an azure blue pegasus with a long red ribbon training behind her.

    Flitter loosed another volley at the enemy and then turned to escort us back to the line. The CBs must have been in retreat, it wouldn’t be worth killing four ponies if it meant having to take on our entire front.

    I made it the first trench and deposited Quill quiet unceremoniously into the sludge and dove in behind him. As soon as I landed I hit him again; my hoof catching him square on the nose.

    “What the buck is the matter with you?!” I shouted at him.

    He stared at me with wide eyes, blood from his nose dribbling into his mustache and down his chin.

    “I-I’m sorry, but you of all ponies should understand…”

    “Of course I understand, Quill, that’s why you should have come talk to me before doing anything stupid.”

    “You’re right…I just…”

    “I understand, Quill…sorry about the punch.”

    “It’s alright.”

    I could help but smile at him; I hadn’t really meant to hit him so hard, but he did kind of deserve it.

    Flitter landed behind me, I turned to thank her. She was visibly shaking from head to wingtips.

    “You okay, Rookie?”

    She raised the visor of her flight helmet; tears were streaming down her cheeks.

    “I…I killed him.”

    The poor filly was in a state of shock; it had been her first sortie. I trotted over and gave her a hug, trying to comfort her the best that I could.

    “You saved us, private. Thank you.” I said quietly.

    This seemed to stop the shaking, but I could feel the tears drenching my flight suit.

    “Go find your sister and get something warm from the mess tent, you’ll feel better,” I said, looking her in the eyes. “After that meet me at the E Club and I’ll buy you and Cloudchaser a cider, alright?”

    She nodded distantly and took off again. I turned back to the lieutenant.

    “You’re paying for that cider, you know.” I chided.

    “Of course.” He replied.

    “Alright, let’s find this mare of yours that has been causing all this trouble.”

    “Yes,” Quill responded, “let’s.”

    “Oh, and lieutenant…after this we have to go to Las Pegasus, because you are one lucky son of a mule.”

    Quill laughed, and began cleaning the blood off of his face.

    “I’m lucky I have friends like you,” he said. “Though I’m not sure I need to be hit in the head anymore.”

    The two of us navigated the maze of trenches back to the rear command bunker where Show, Fam and Quill’s love were waiting. Upon seeing the white mare, Quill galloped up and kissed her deeply. Famosity and Show cantered over to where I was standing.

    Quill and Rarity whispered something to each and the walked back toward the camp tails intertwined. I sighed, they certainly were cute together.

    “I’m glad we found her,” Famosity said, tears welling in her eyes.

    “What do you mean ‘we’,” Show Off chided, and was rewarded with a mint green hoof across his face.

    “You’ll learn to keep your mouth shut one of these days.” I teased.

    “Not likely,” he replied, rubbing where Famosity had struck him. “Looks like our little family just got a little bigger.”

      Famosity’s ears perked up at that statement.

    “So, does that mean we get a bigger tent?” 

    “Faust, I hope so,” Show stated.

    Fam seemed to have her priorities confused, we were alive and we were together that’s what counted.

    “At least you won’t be the only filly anymore,” I suggested hoping that it would provide her with some consolation.

    Unfortunately, I don’t think it helped much. Fam’s ears pointed to the ground and she fussed with a small rock on the floor, as if a sudden realization came over her.

    “Show, tell me I’m prettier than her.”

    My wingman didn’t hesitate with his answer.

    “You’re the most gorgeous mare on this battlefield.”

    Good response, I thought, giving him a brief wink.

    He scowled back at me none too happy.

    “I’ve had enough brushes with death for today,” I said. “Captain, would you be so kind as to order us all to the mess hall? Show Off, you and I owe the twins a drink for saving our skins, plus I think they’ve officially outgrown the ‘rookie’ title.”

    “Let’s go eat.” The captain said.

    We arrived at the mess tent and got in line for dinner. The twins were seated at a table in the corner; both still looked a little rattled but the food had obviously helped calm their nerves.  I watched the cook slop more unidentifiable green matter onto my plate; at least I could identify the Hay Fries.

    “I think you screwed up,” I told the colt holding the ladle, “I can tell what this is.”

    Once again, I received nothing but a glare from the server.

    “That guy needs a sense of humor,” I said to Show Off.

    “I think he lost it in whatever this brown stuff is.”

    I laughed as we sat down at the twins table. Famosity busied herself by drawing gowns on the two fillies.

    “You did good today,” I said to the twins. “Both of you.”

      “Saved our lives.” Show Off added.

    The two azure pegusai gave us sober looks.

    “How do you do it?” Cloudchaser asked.

    “Do what?”

    “Go out there fight…kill, and then come on back like nothing happened.”

    I sighed; I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. The truth was, it wasn’t like nothing happened. We were just able to build a defense against the violence and I didn’t know how long that defense would hold. It could falter in two days or twenty years, but someday everything was going to catch up with us.

    “We just go out there and protect each other. You can’t think about anything other than the safety of your wingman. Block everything else out,” Show Off stated. “As long as you do that you can sleep well at night.”

    He gave the two rookies a broad grin.

    “And don’t forget to smile, it helps to smile and make jokes.”

    It was times like these that I was glad that he was an actor; there was a time when the two of us were more of a wreck than these fillies. At least his speech was better than the one we received from Lieutenant Lilly Liver, which consisted of degrading insults and simply telling us to get the enemy in the crosshairs and fire.

      I shook that bad memory from my mind, those days were behind us.

    Looking down at my tray I suddenly realized that I had eaten all of the hay fries and managed to get through half of the green slop.

    When did I do that? I thought.

    “Well my gentle mares,” Show exclaimed. “I believe that we owe you two some drinks. That’s how we settle debts here.”

    The fillies smiled at us. By this point Famosity had given them a full evening gown, jewelry and matching tiaras.

    “Okay, let’s head to the Enlisted Club.” I said.

    Show Off stood and gave Famosity a hug.

    “We’ll be back later.” He told her and we headed for the door.

    “Keep them out of trouble.” Fam called to us.

    “We’ll try.” I replied.

    “I was talking to the fillies.” She called back.

    We made our way across the camp to where the Officer’s Club and Enlisted’s Club stood.

    “You know, I figure Fam would be jealous that we are leaving her to go to a club with the twins.” I said to Show.

    “She probably is, but I’d bet bits to apples that she’s more concerned with the new mare moving in on her turf.”

    “That would make sense.” I said, and I noticed something moving in the corner of my eye.

    I checked again and thought I saw a pink tail disappear into the shadows.

     “Go on, I’ll catch up.”

    Show gave me a perplexed look, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he ushered the twins into the club with his wings.

    I looked over to where I saw the movement.

    “Agent Snow! I know you’re there,” I shouted.

    The truth was I didn’t know, it could have been her or it could have been a rat. Though when dealing with The Agency, there probably wasn’t much difference.

    The tall white unicorn stepped out from behind the tent.

    “I guess I’m getting too soft,” she said. “Oh well, it’s too late now.”

    “So I guess this is just a social visit.” I responded, incredulously.

      “No, is a second chance at my offer. I saw your little stunt today, I was impressed.”

    This had me worried; we had violated several regulations with our impromptu rescue mission. My fears must have registered on my face because the agent continued.

    “Don’t worry; I’m not going to run you in. This is just a second offer, you know I preen your feathers you preen mine.”

    Reached out and tugged a pinion feather from my wing.

    “First off, you don’t have feathers. Secondly, my answer is still no.”

    I turned my back on her and strode purposefully towards the E club. Then I realized, the feather on my wing didn’t hurt anymore. She knew exactly where my bad pinion was…she had been watching. I turned back around to confront her, but she was gone; her words echoed in my head.

    So little you know soldier.