Chapter Seven
Another night came upon them quickly and, once again, sporadic bonfires lit up the strike team encampment. Daniel stared up at the stars which lit up the sky as clearly as in any night he had ever seen. There were no city lights or population pollution to diminish the view. That was one plus that Daniel would add to his list of glass half full thoughts.
It had been a day since the last aerial assault and they still hadn’t devised a strategy that seemed worthy enough to take flight again. Daniel wouldn’t ask his pilots to get back into their cockpits unless he was more than confident that the next strategy would produce results worth the probable loss in numbers. If they could devise a strategy that could take the compound without losing a single pilot, that would be even better. However, Daniel’s assessment from the previous flights had proven to him that this compound would be taken by chipping away at it until they exposed the vulnerability that would allow them to achieve their ultimate objective. That would ineluctably mean more losses.
He sat with a few of his squadron leaders in a circle around a fire whose heat was inviting to him. Thor, whose appearance earned him every bit of his name, was not your conventional pilot. He was a towering, pretty faced mass of muscle. A long ponytail trailed down his back, helping to perpetuate his nick name. The other pilots often joked that he wielded his Pouncer like Thor's hammer, as he flew aggressively. He was known to stand toe to toe with a target, firing round after round until the enemy exploded in front of him and he plowed through the debris like Mjölnir before continuing onto the next target.
Then there were the brothers, Nehemiah and Ezra. They were pure bred Jersey Italians. Although Nehemiah’s was a little more pronounced than Ezra’s, their strong Jersey accents were undeniable. Ezra was a little taller than Nehemiah, but neither of them were big men. Although in their mid-twenties, they both still looked fresh out of high school. That younger brother older brother high school dynamic often showed up.
Minerva’s black hair bounced in the same way he remembered. At times he still caught himself smiling unconsciously at from thoughts of the past. Rarely had there been a smile from her in the past five years. Almost everyone here knew the Minerva of those five years. He had the privilege of knowing a different Minerva. Even now when he looked at her he saw that Minerva; a perfectly balanced woman in every sense of the word and a pilot. Duty and life was not hard for her to balance. It was an admirable quality. But now… but now she was someone different. That small frame carried a lot of baggage, but all 5’1’’ and 120lbs of her was a skilled focused pilot with the attitude to match.
Rikki was the same tomboy he remembered from when he’d first met her. Her hair was always pulled back in a ponytail and she was always looking for a challenge, which she usually met. Such a carefree, flamboyant pilot who understood a Pouncer and people equally well. She was equally skilled with people and a Pouncer.
Lamp was still a cool, laid back, pretty boy type. He was even and rational. He’d helped Daniel keep his head many a time. He'd spent a lot of time in the sky, launched many missiles, fired many rounds, but he never appeared to walk around with war in his body language.
It was good for his psyche to see his fellow pilots engaged in jovial, relaxed, and hearty conversation about a myriad of topics other than the pilots and friends they had lost, the overwhelming circumstances of their situation, or the objective ahead. Different ranks, groups and squadrons sat amongst each other, but when they weren’t flying, none of that mattered. Everyone was equals.
He was reminded again that they were all keeping a promise that none of them ever verbally made. No one complained.
“So, we’ve got a lot of pilots with a lot of time on their hands and that can get dangerous,” Rikki explained with a half empty beer bottle in her hands. “Back home, we usually pass the time with me taking you rookie’s money.”
“Let you tell it!” Thor interjected. “You still owe me money from the first basketball game we finished before our flight out here.”
“The jury’s still out on that one, Thor. We were in the middle of a rematch when the Go light came on, so I don’t think that’s money you’re ever going to see,” Rikki justified. Everyone laughed. “Back to what I was saying – a lot of time on our hands, so your beloved Wing Commander here inspired me with an idea.”
“How’d you do that Commander? Sounds like a lot of hard work,” Nehemiah joked as he took a swig of beer.
“OHHHHH! Good one, Nehemiah!” The group of pilots erupted.
“With my challenged dexterity,” Daniel said. The group again laughed.
“Trust me, Nehemiah, it was hard work. But not in the way you think,” Lamp added. “I can attest to that. Just be lucky we don't have time for P.T. around here.”
"I'll take your word for it commander," Nehemiah said between another swig.
“You guys are not going to stop my brilliant idea with your circuitous banter,” Rikki interjected. She took another swig.
“Circuitous banter? Bright ideas and big words. You’re on a roll today, aint ya, Rikki?” Ezra jabbed her.
“Hey, Commander, what does that mean? Like we’re circus-like or something?” Nehemiah giggled. “You calling us clowns, Rikki?”
“No, it means detouring, although in your case, Nehemiah, your definition could apply,” Lamp said with a laugh.
“I get good ideas every now and then, ok, Ezra?” Rikki said. “Now, we are going to use the soft sand here to the advantage of our entertainment. The game goes like this: we mark off a square area, about the size of a volleyball court, and we draw a line across the middle – that’s the playing field. There’ll be four people to a team. We use two helmets which sit on the ends of the middle line, one per team, and two helmets in the middle of the back lines – one per side. You guys with me?” Rikki explained.
“Yeah we’re with ya. One thing though, not many pilots wear helmets so they're going to be kind of scarce. How are you going to talk those few into giving up their helmets?" Nehemiah asked.
"Come on now Nehemiah. You know I can be persuasive. You doubt me. Why? It's a waste of your time. Do something better with your time young man. Now, if you'll allow, me I'll get back to my brilliant idea.”
"Ok, my apologies. We're with you. Go ahead,” Nehemiah said.
“We use the standard caps of beer bottles as you see here,” she held up one. “To start the game, each team chooses a player to kneel down and flick a cap into the furthest helmet. Once the person does, their team can begin.”
“Begin what?” Minerva asked.
“The objective: sprint across the field, grab the other team’s helmet and place it on their line without getting knocked down, then grab the other team’s midline helmet and place it on the other team’s back line. The best part; all physical contact is legal,” Rikki finished with an open arm bow.
“Hey, Rikki, that actually sounds pretty good,” Ezra offered.
“I have to admit I’d be interested in playing that game,” Thor agreed.
“Hey, we have to make do with what we got,” she said as she sat down.
“Sounds too much like P.T. to me,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Lamp seconded as they both got up and walked away with laughter.
“Ah, you party poopers!” Nehemiah said as the whole group threw bottle caps at them and shooed them along.
“You say that now, Nehemiah, but you haven’t walked through that sand yet,” Lamp said as they exited.
“Good stuff, Rikki,” Ezra said.
“Yeah, but what are we going to wager?” Minerva asked. "I aint gonna rough house in the sand with none of you for nothing. Plus, I know there's always currency at the end of any challenge you set Rikki.
“Good question, we aint got no money.” Ezra added.
Rikki stood up. “I thought about that, too. It’s going to be the currency of our time.” Her arm with her beer shot straight up in the air. “I bet you beer!”
; “We’re working on my stash right now, as I’m so generous, but who else brought beer?” Nehemiah asked.
“I asked around and I found out about eighty percent of the pilots brought beer – all kinds.” Rikki giggled. “I haven’t even talked to the resource crew yet, but I’m willing to bet they brought about that much as well, and that their stuff is a little more fancy shmancy.”
She plopped down, pleased with herself.
“Well, shit,” Ezra held a beer up to the sky. “Here’s to you, Rikki.”
The group responded in verbal agreement.
Bonfires burnt and the conversation continued on. Topics covered everything from the best beers, the beers they would miss to pilot tall tells, and on to challenges like how far do you think I could throw this beer cap? Eventually Lamp came back to the site and rejoined the conversation that had died down
“What’s up, 2nd place?” Rikki asked Lamp as he sat down.
"That’s a nick name you earned.” Lamp said. “I don’t know why or how you kept up that delusion,”
“She seems to be pretty confident about that to me, Commander,” Nehemiah egged him on.
“I guess false confidence is still confidence,” Lamp returned.
“I bet you two beers to one that I can out race you to the edge of that mountain range, no problem, from ground to finish line,” Rikki challenged enthusiastically.
“You must be drunk already,” Lamp exclaimed.
“I could beat you that way, too.”
“Listen, you’ve been deluded about this for a long time. I would gladly take this opportunity to shatter your dreams of being a better pilot than me.”
“Where and how do you want to do this?”
“Right now and with our own Pouncers,” Lamp challenged.
“You are on!” Rikki said as she stood.
“Anyone want to judge this?” Lamp asked as he stood.
“No, no. Not me,” Nehemiah said. “I don’t want any part of this or the aftermath.”
“Me either,” Thor said. “We are living off limited fuel. When the Wing Commander comes to chop heads off, I don’t want to be around.”
“Yeah, this little challenge is between you two,” Ezra chimed in.
"Minerva, you wanna put some money on this? Lamp asked.
"Don't you mean beer Lamp? Nah, I argue enough with the Wing Commander," she said then finished the last swig of her beer. She tossed the beer bottle into the fire, stood, and began to make her exit. "Don't need another reason. You two fly your hearts out. I'm going to get some sleep."
“That’s fine, because the distance at which I am going to beat Lamp is going to be so big, it won’t need to be judged,” Rikki said.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know how wrong she was when we get back,” Lamp finished.
The two overzealous pilots walked off and headed toward their Pouncers.
“Line ‘em up right over there,” Lamp directed.
“With pleasure, Group Captain,” Rikki prodded. They climbed into the cockpits of their Pouncers, revved them up, glided them over to the imaginary starting line and set them down again.
“You want to count it down, or shall I?” Lamp said into his com.
“The pleasure’s all yours.”
“Alright. 3, 2, 1,” Lamp ran off the count down in a flat, even meter.
The two aircrafts lifted off the sands and sped off. For about a mile they stayed neck and neck. With a quick push on the breaks, Lamp jolted his Pouncer left and behind her.
“Conceding defeat already, Commander?” Rikki asked. “I can understand you sparing yourself the embarrassment of a real loss.”
“Not today, yesterday, or in a month of days, rookie,” Lamp said as he pulled back on his stick, hit the gas and jolted over and in front of Rikki.
She quickly put on the air breaks, threw her Pouncer sideways and attempted a barrel roll over his Pouncer. Lamp dropped his nose, threw his Pouncer in the other direction and countered her barrel roll with one of his own. The two planes spun around and around each other in an impressive acrobatic display that could only be performed in a Pouncer. Rikki spun her Pouncer around to face Lamp’s and slowed down until the nose of her Pouncer was almost touching his as they both sped toward the finish.
“Hey, Lamp, want a kiss?” She said with the nose of her Pouncer only feet in front of his.
“Yeah. Let me show you what you can kiss,” he replied.
He backed off a little then turned his Pouncer 180 degrees in one quick spin, the back end of his Pouncer now at the front of hers. The two still continued to travel at break neck speed, with both Pouncers in reverse.
“Ooh, kinky,” she laughed. Lamp flipped his Pouncer above Rikki’s and traveled inverted as he starred down at her in his cockpit. “You gotta be on top, huh?”
“But of course.”
“If that makes you happy. But…” Rikki spun her Pouncer back around to face the quickly approaching finish line. She pushed down on the power and accelerated. Lamp flipped his Pouncer around and caught up to Rikki. For the rest of the way they jockeyed for the lead, but as the edge of the mountain range sped their way, they pulled nose to nose and finished tied.
“So the debate continues,” Lamp said.
“It appears so,” Rikki agreed. “Where do you want to set them down?”
“Set them down over there,” Lamp said. The pilots decelerated, glided over to a clear patch of sand and idled down. Hitting the release button for her cargo bay, Rikki opened the latch to her Pouncer and climbed out. She walked to the back of the Pouncer and started up the ramp.
“Nice flying, Group Captain,” she said as Lamp stepped up the ramp and into her Cargo bay.
“Why thank you, Squadron Leader,” he returned, then pulled her into an embrace.
“How angry do you think Daniel’s going to be about us using the extra fuel?”
“I don’t know. If we lied and told him we finally settled the debate, he might be glad.”
“I still feel kind of bad, hiding this from him,” Rikki admitted.
“I know, right? It’s a surprise we’ve managed to hide it from everyone.”
“How long have we been doing this?”
“Not long enough, but it’s the one thing I’m glad we brought with us through the Phase.”
“Come here.” She kissed him softly.
“It’s been three days.”
“A long time.”
“Too long,” Lamp reinforced.
“I hate that I had to fly you way out to the middle of nowhere just to be with you.”
“What are you talking about? Everywhere is the middle of nowhere out here,” Lamp pointed out.”
“You got a point. What do you think your Wing Commander would think if he knew?”
“Daniel would give us both hell until we couldn’t take it anymore. Especially about the fact that we hid it from him. We have to help make it easy on him though; no fraternizing between officers and pilots. We have to help keep the chain of command intact by keeping up appearances.”
“All that shit should go out the window. There’s nothing to protect out here. What are they going to do, lock us up in the brig?” Rikki said.
“I know. Let's just keep up appearances until this siege is over at least. Besides; I kind of like our privacy.” He wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her with a passion that crossed realities.
Crest and Shield Book 2: an O R D E R mini Page 7