//------------------------------//
// A Few Years Back... 
// Story: Special Delivery 
// by Willow Arqueiro 
//------------------------------//

Afghan
Near to Military Base
2nd Lieutenant Dash strolled into the bar after her brief court-martial that had demoted her. She shook her head, remembering the stupidly awesome maneuver she had pulled with her wingman not two seconds behind her.
She savored the feeling of being in her jeans and a V-neck, much more comfortable then the flight suit.
She looked to the corner and saw a few Marines still in trousers with OD green shirts and dog-tags hanging around their necks, playing pool. She smiled, nothing there worth chasing she thought.
She sashayed over and sat down at the bar looking to see what kind of beer they served here.
A guy sat down next to her, he was wearing jeans with his combat boots and a plain gray shirt. "Any reason a guy like me could buy a girl like you a drink?" he asked.
"Depends, have I done you a favor recently?" she smiled coyly.
"Well I could use one; do you know an Aviator that risked his plane to save a small squad of Marines? I owe that man a beer, and I've been asking around trying to find him." when Marines said they owed you a beer, they hunted you down to give it to you.
He ordered two beers and Dash sipped on her's, she put it down and asked,"Did you catch the name of this guy?" then went back to her beer.
"Yeah, and his plane. He was flying a Harrier and I heard his Squadron leader yell his name over the radio. Somethin' like 1st Lieutenant Dash I think." Dash choked on her beer and sputtered out, "Well Damn," the memories from the night before flashed through her head.
"I take it from your reaction that you know this person, I also need to find his wingman." said the man.
"Well first of all it's a her, and I believe you have already bought her a beer," was all she said. Now it was his turn to choke, and he just about sprayed beer everywhere.
"Well then, I guess I should thank you." He nodded at her with a deep and sincere, "Thank you."
"You still haven't told me your name," she said pointedly.
"Oh sorry, I am Sergeant Armor. Squad leader to the squad who's ass you saved." he nodded chivalrously.
"No prob, I just wished I hadn't had to get court martialed for it."
He choked on his beer again. "Wait, you got court martialed for saving my sorry ass squad, what exactly did you do? I only remember a Harrier hovering next to the building, spraying bullets inside."
"Well it kinda went something like this, she said thinking back.

"All right, Flight Delta two-four, head back to base. Heading 204, cruise at 2,000 feet." came the flight leader. 1st Lieutenant Dash responded with the standard. "Roger, flight leader. Adjusting heading to 204 and climbing to 2,000 feet. 1st Lieutenant Lane," her wingman even back then, “Follow me back to base."
She angled her nose up and pushed the throttle forward to accelerate. Lane followed behind, staying in proper wingman position.
She locked the controls in autopilot and started fiddling with the mic system to pass the time. She flipped through the channels available to her, mostly containing troop movements and orders. She flipped through bored, when she reached it.
"We need reinforcements! We are pinned down on the third floor of the *static* building, coordinates are *more static* at the central plaza!" came a garbled transmission. She cut the signal and switched to her flight com.
"Sir! Requesting permission to support friendly ground units below!" she looked down and saw the plaza approaching quickly.
"Negative, lieutenant Dash. Proceed as planned," came back the reply.
"But sir!" she said hotly.
"Another word and I will have you court martialed for insubordination!" came back curt reply.
Another voice came over the radio, this one her wingman. "Dash! Are we going to help them or not?!"
"I am, you stay here and don't get court martialed!"
With that she flared her flaps open and threw down the throttle, pointing the nose straight down. "1st Lieutenant Dash! Get back in formation now! That's an ord.." she cut the com link.
"So what's the plan as we dive down?" asked Lane.
"ThunderLane! I told you to stay!" she shouted. He sped up a little and flipped so they were back to back.
She looked at her "up" and saw him shrug, "Obviously I didn't," he said.
"Ok then, snap hover and rake the building," she said.
She pulled the nose up and flared the flaps harder, trying to stop before the building.
"RainbowDash! We're going to fast! We need to break off!!" came ThunderLane.
"Stay behind me, and do as I do!" she sent back.
Getting closer, she realized Thunder was correct, they were going to fast. She reached a hand for the throttle ready to slam full. Fifty feet from the building she switched it to hover and slammed the throttle up and pointed the nose straight up. She craned her neck and saw the building still rushing towards her. She threw the landing gears down and bumped into the side of the building, nose up vertical. She looked over and saw ThunderLane on the wall as well. The two planes seemed to hang there for a little while then drifted off and leveled out.
For the first time, RD say the flashes of lights that marked bullets being fired, the only problem being that shots were being fired from both sides at each other.
"Marine squad, which side of the building are you in?" she said after switching to the correct frequency.
"North! North Side!!" came back the desperate cry.
She looked at the south side and saw three or four men in bomb disposal suits engaged with the Marines. She and ThunderLane switched to guns callously. The pulled their triggers almost together, fuselage mounted cannons pumping out lead that tore through what the Marines had labeled as "Juggernauts".
"Well, our work here is done." She called to the Marines and her wingman. "See ya guys back at base, 1st Lieutenant Dash out!"
With that, Dash turned away and gunned the engines, moving forward and up until she could safely switch to cruise mode. ThunderLane was right behind her with, "How bad do you think the court martial is gonna be?" he asked, a little nervousness in his voice.
"Well, let's hope that they take into consideration that we just saved a sorry assed group of fellow Marines."
Within twenty minutes they were back at base and hauled off for a court-martialing.

Dash finished up her story, loving the look on Armor's face.
"I still can't believe you would risk that to save me. What'd they do to you? They didn't give you a dishonorable discharge, did they?" he asked fearfully.
"Nope, me and ThunderLane were just knocked down to 2nd Lieutenant and jettisoned from that flight." she gazed at her beer thoughtfully, "What were you guys doing in there anyways?" she asked.
"Intel recovery op. Apparently there was supposed to be information on where Osama Bin Laden was hiding. As it turns out, it was a trap." He chuckled, "and boy am I glad I got got in it if it meant I got to meet you." he said, looking over at her.
"So I don't know if it's the beer or what but you've been able to make me open up like that of nobody but Lane could do." she smiled. "I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing or, worse,  a dangerous thing."
"Well then, how do you feel we take this further?" he asked, holding out his hand.
"I think that would be a great idea if I ever heard one." she said, taking his hand.


Two years later, they broke up badly and refused to even think about each other when they were transferred out of Afghan and to separate places and detachments...