Danger Close

by CoyoteXray

The Fog of War

He heard it. He was sure of this. Something had crashed into the trees somewhere along the wooded path to his estate.

He had looked to the sky above him, and saw the unusual gathering of craft overhead, bursting forth from the cloudbank before moving onward at an ever increasing speed. Why they would go through the dammed thing was beyond the estate owners imagination, but that was unimportant right now he thought, as he made his way down the gravel path.

He glanced once more to the grey wall overhead and groaned. He had protested to no avail the idea of parking them there. He just knew that all that shade was going to hurt his vineyard. It would have been smarter he argued to simply shut down the cloud factories for a few days and eliminate the whole issue altogether. But no, he heard, that would mean too much down time for the workers.

Someone was going to pay for this, he thought, even if he had to sick half of his friends in parliament on the issue.

He continued down the path, scanning the scene if front of him carefully. He had supervised the planting of the lane himself. He knew it like he knew the lines on his own face. This was one thing he was not going to trust to any of his staff. His reputation was at stake here.

As he got about halfway to the connecting lane, he finally spotted something. As he got closer, he recognized at least two large branches that had broken off one tree, one of which was still attached by the slightest stretch of fiber. He couldn't see what had done the damage yet, but he knew it had to be pretty big.

He slowed his approach, and slowly circled around to the side of the tree, studying the scene intently. There was something large in the midst of the debris. As he approached, he slowed even more. He could see something big, clad in blue cloth, sitting in the middle of the mess. He came even closer and studied the form, and saw the bright red tail, and the mane, and the straps around the waist.

He gasped. It was a earth pony, clad in a strange blue uniform. The poor creature was apparently wearing a parachute, but the device apparently was never used, as it was still clearly still in it's pack, and the wearer had hit the ground full force.

The land owner recoiled back, and sensed his breakfast forcing it's way up his esophagus. He turned away, and swallowed, hard, trying to get it back under control. He then turned and went back to the house, accelerating his pace the farther along he got.

---

The city of Manechester was one of the oldest in Equestria, long predating Canterlot itself. The city, unlike any other in the kingdom, was fully contained on the top of a mesa, which limited its growth, but also made it a natural fortress. The cliffs around it had been tested repeatedly by numerous invaders over the millennia, and it was home of one of the largest garrisons in the western half of Equestria.

The city up till now was still in celebration mode, with the streets already filling with civilians and vendors, and the buildings lined with balloons and banners. But, few were still in the partying mood as the crowd watched the ominous formation slowly traversing off to the south.

Meanwhile, spotters stationed about the city tracked the movements of the foreign fleet, periodically calling out coordinates into their headphones while hastily assembled crews continued to traverse the barrels of a dozen well placed artillery pieces, all while others scrambled to unpack ammunition and prepare for whatever order was coming.

From the enclosed observation tower atop the garrison’s main command post, a group of ponies huddled together around a pair of pedestal mounted field glasses, each taking turns watching what was happening in front of them.

“Uh huh…that’s one of ours all right,” said the young lieutenant at one of the stations as he observed the intruders, “It's the PC-19. She normally flies out of Coltlumbus. And it looks like she’s tied up to that lead ship.”

This caused one of the group, a large pegasus mare dressed in grey to shift towards a male unicorn dressed in green and state, “In case your curious, that is NOT the standard procedure for escorting a visitor as far as the R.F.C. is concerned.”

The other pony looked her way, and replied with a note of sarcasm, “Noted wing commander. Thank you for clearing that up for me. But…” he paused, his arm gesturing in frustration as he searched for what to say, “…I need a hell of a lot more than that if I’m to open up on them.” He then turned to a fellow guardspony who was monitoring the phone, “Have they been able to establish contact yet?”

“No sir,” came the reply, “Nothing on the radio, and no response to the flag hoist either.”

“Lieutenant, can you see any activity on deck?” the senior officer asked.

The young officer focused in on the flyers and answered, “I can’t get the right angle to see that much. The port side doesn't show any damage and she's still flying her colors. She's just…wait a minute. Sir, her forward main gun has been deployed.”

The two senior officers looked to each other, and the grey clad female asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, “Somepony definitely brought out that big old M-2. For whatever reason, that ship is...or was...on alert for something. ”

“Does it still sound benign to you sir?” the mare in grey asked.

The stallion in green gave the mare an annoyed glare and responded, “It could be a mistake by the crew, or an oversight."

"Sir...with all due respect....that's...a very big assumption to make here," the mare replied, "It's just not that simple to unmask the guns on that thing." She paused and took a deep breath and said, "If you have doubts one way or the other sir, let me go up there and do an I.F.F. inquiry…and then we’ll know.”

“No,” was the reply, “They’re getting out of triple A range anyway. And in case you haven't noticed, we only have a platoon's worth of Guard flyers here. If by chance they are hostile, we may not have enough firepower here to get you back. And…I don’t know just what you saw back in Los Pegasus. You may be totally misinterpreting the whole thing. And in case you're not paying attention, we have no communications outside of the damn city limits. And if somepony is going to end up starting a war here, it’s not going to be me. I'm not firing the first shot.”

The mare in grey sat down and stewed for a minute, her frustration clearly evident. She took a clearly audible deep breath, and replied, "That's assuming of course that the first shot hasn't been fired already. Anyway....it's probably time for me to move on." She stood up and moved towards the doorway.

But as she did, the colonel said to her, "For whatever it's worth coming from me wing commander, good luck."

The mare in grey looked back to him and answered, "Thank you," and then left the room.

---

“So major, what you're saying is that there shouldn’t be any natural causes for this little malfunction. Is that correct?”

The other officer answered, “Yes sir. All reports from the Los Pegasus weather station didn’t report anything even close to that area, and that report was from 5:15 in the morning their time, fifteen minutes before we lost contact. And there have been no signs of natural phenomena that could have damaged the lines.”

“So,” the general continued, “If it’s not natural, what kind of unnatural causes should we be looking at?”

The major continued, “I think we can rule out accidents, since according to the reports we've gotten the civilian line is apparently coming back on up despite the fact that they share the same damn infrastructure for at least the first thirty miles out of Los Pegasus; not that it helps much since that line's already clogged with traffic. And, of course the possibly of hostile action. It's not quite what we've come to expect though...I mean, taking the time to attack the communications system.”

The general simply smiled and shook his head and replied, "Major, I'm not even going to try and unpack all the issues I have with that comment. In the world of conventional warfare, that kind of attack is standard procedure. That's the difference between hocus pocus and plain old brute force." He paused and raised his arm, and tapped the side of his own head and added, "Got to keep an open mind major."

He then turned towards another officer, this one wearing blue. “Squadron Leader!” he called out, “What have we got in the southwest sector in terms of air assets!”

The other officer moved right, and located a clipboard. He flipped through the papers until he found something. “If everything’s going as planned, there should be three patrol craft up right now in that area. There are also two reconnaissance squadrons based in the area, along with a pursuit squadron at Coltlumbus, though unfortunately none of them are probably in the air right now.”

"What about the heavy assets?" the general continued.

The other officer flipped up a page on his clipboard, and answered, "Nothing in the area. "Endeavour" is on a mission to help out with a project in the dragon lands. "Intrepid" is in for dock work at Baltimare. "Mareitonia" is on routine patrol near Vanhoover. That would leave..."Cowpens", last reported leaving Manehatten, but still about a two days flying time away."

“O.K….so much for that. Radio still work?” the general asked.

“Yes sir,” the major replied.

“Can we potentially bounce a signal in to those patrol craft, and at least get some damn clue what they’re seeing?” the general continued.

The guard officer sighed, “Possibly sir, but it will be a damn slow process. And there is just so much that three patrol craft can see with the naked eye, even at their normal patrol altitude.”

General Black Jack answered, “Try it anyway. And while we’re at it, see if you can get recon up too, as much as you can muster…out to about…” he paused and gestured towards the map table, “…a one hundred mile radius from Canterlot out into our little dead zone. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” the major replied before quickly turning to comply with the order.

General Black Jack tuned back towards the rail, and towards the map down below. He knew the limitations he was fighting “This sucks,” he muttered under his breath.

---

A.K. Yearling listened to the presentation as closely as she could. The whole puzzle of communications for the military had puzzled her for a while now, particularly their reluctance to use magic. But hearing the whole thing broken down in detail here was surprising, and a bit disturbing.

She gave a wary glance to her right, and found Lieutenant Alydar still at her side, listening intently. That to her was surprising. "Didn't they train this kid before he got here? she thought. But, she thought, maybe not.

“Oh captain!” came a call from behind.

The quartet turned to the sound and A.K. spotted a tall blonde maned unicorn mare in a well decorated green uniform, who asked “May I have a quick word with our visitors?” Almost as soon as she spoke, A.K. Yearling and her escort found themselves surrounded in a bright yellow aura, and they quickly floated across the room till they were practically muzzle to muzzle with the stranger.

“Thank you my friends!” the stranger said, “I shall endeavor to keep the interruption brief, I assure you!” and then looked towards her surprised audience.

“Good Morning! My sincere apologies for my abruptness my friends, but I've been so anxious to speak to you Ms. Yearling,” the stranger said, “I mean, I am probably the second greatest one of your fans in the whole headquarters, with the possible exception of our young friend here,” she said gesturing to the young stallion standing there, and then added “Oh my, but I am being so rude. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Major Yeux Brillants. I do work in various things, but mainly intelligence.” She then held out her arm for a hoof shake.

Yearling could only stare for a minute, as her mind rushed to catch up. She quickly did the math in her head as she scanned the pony in front of her; the perfectly coiffured mane and tail; the light gold tinged fur; the vaguely familiar face with the bright blue eyes; and the decorations and qualification badges on the uniform, and decided to take a chance.

"Indeed," she finally answered, taking a moment to complete the hoofshake. "It's...good to meet you too. You know," she said, pausing and pointing towards the strange officer, "I think that I recognize your name. I believe that I have spoken on a couple of occasions with your sister. She's...done modeling work for a couple of my book covers. She's...uh...quite delightful."

Major Brillants's smile disappeared and her head tilted slightly in obvious surprise. But, it was only for a second. She smiled again and answered, "Ah...yes...you have met Fluer? Oh yes, of course, one should expect such things amongst celebrity types I suppose. Indeed," she paused before adding, 'that mare doesn't tell me anything I swear it. Ah...but yes, my little sister is quite the charmer. I shall have to get after her about keeping secrets though. I mean...she knows quite well that you are my favorite author."

"Oh really," Yearling replied, "I'm quite flattered."

"Oh please," the major answered, "I am quite sure that you hear such things all the time." She then turned to the young lieutenant standing with them and asked, "My good fellow, would you mind terribly if I were to borrow your charge here for just a moment or so. I promise that I will return her as soon as I can."

Alydar seemed to shrink a bit, his disappointment plainly obvious. But he quickly straightened up and answered, "Yes ma'am."

"Good fellow," Brillants replied, and then turned towards the offices that lined the adjoining wall, pausing only for a moment to encourage Yearling to follow along behind her.

"Come come my friend," she said as she went, "we just have to talk. If nothing else, you just have to tell me what other things my chatterbox sister has told you about me."

---

Somethings there.

Marble heard it...off in the distance.

She raised her head...and looked around her.

'No...' she thought, '...nothing nearby.

And then...there it was again.

And once again she looked up...and scanned her surroundings.

And then...she scanned the horizon...and she saw it. A large formation of ships...crossing over the northern horizon.

They weren't like any she had seen before. and she should know. She'd made a hobby out of watching the various airships that passed by on the air corridor that bordered the edge of her family's rock farm. But, she had never seen ships with markings like that before. And, were those gun ports on the side of that one?

There was no sound, other than the distant buzz of their engines. And soon, the strange formation disappeared over the horizon.

Marble sat down and pondered what she saw.

'What does this mean?' she thought.

---

‘An hour…another damn hour,’ he thought as he strode around the perimeter of the room. He knew that every pony around him was capable. They would do what they could. But, what he wouldn't give for some magic portal or spell of some type to speed this process up.

“Sir?” came a voice from behind.

He turned, and found himself facing his chief communications officer who continued, “We’ve just got a message from the Coltlumbus armory. I think that we’ve got a major problem.” Her magical aura held out a clipboard, which she directed towards the nearest table. General Black Jack followed, and as soon as it landed, he moved over and carefully read through the message it contained.

“The Storm King?” he asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied, "As you can see, the unit who reported said that one of our intelligence officers wrote up the report and confirmed the i.d.," the other officer responded, and continued, "but...they only identified him simply as..." she paused, and peaked over to the report on the table, "Hellhound 14 Delta. Should we take this seriously?"

The general just rolled his eyes and replied, "Yeah captain, that does seems like a safe bet. She is our chief of intelligence after all. For the record, that call sign belongs to Wing Commander Rider captain. So, which unit filed this?" the general asked.

“Uhmm," the younger officer hummed as she scanned the paperwork in front of her, "VR-23, the reconnaissance squadron homebased at Los Pegasus."

“Uh huh,” the general replied, “so it appears that we accidentally dropped that poor mare into the dead damn center of the bullseye. Swell.” He took a deep breath, raised his head and then said, “O.K., thank you captain. Now if you could, either yourself or one of your N.C.O.s need to go around and round up the usual suspects, including Major Brillants assuming of course you can figure out just where the hell she's gone off to."

"Yes sir," she replied, and she moved off to make it happen.

---

Yearling followed along, carefully surveying her surroundings as she went. Charm aside, there was something about this officer that just hit her wrong. Whatever it was, she was not going to be taken by surprise, or left without an escape route.

At one point in the trek, an older looking staff sergeant approached, and whispered something to the senior officer. There was a moment of conversation, but Yearling couldn't quite make out what was said, and the pair separated and Brillants gestured to Yearling to continue.

Finally, the two mares reached what Yearling assumed was the unicorn mare's office, and she directed Yearling to a chair while she positioned herself behind her desk. Yearling surveyed the scene as discreetly as she could, particularly noting the large collection of books on the shelves along the wall, including what appeared to be the entire collection of her own work, the creases and wear on the dust jackets clearly showing that they were not just there for appearance sake.

"Can I get you anything?" Major Brillants asked.

Yearling looked back again towards the front and responded, "Oh...uh, no...thanks for asking."

"Well, I must get myself a bit of tea, if that is o.k.." the major answered, "I swear, even in the middle of summer, I get a chill in my bones down here. It is...like living in a tomb I think." The unicorn's horn glowed, and in what seemed to be less than a minute, a steaming hot cup of black tea floated by Yearling's head through the open doorway. The major brought the cup to her lips and took an audible sip before directing the cup and saucer down to her desk.

"I hope that I wasn't out of line back there." Yearling said to Brillants, "Some things came up in conversation, and others by research that was sparked by said conversation."

"I see," Brillants answered, "It's quite understandable. You seem to be a cautious pony and you want to understand those you associate with. So...if I may ask, what is your reading of me?"

"Well," Yearling replied pausing to collect her thoughts, "You seem to me to be...a collection of contradictions."

"Really?" the major answered with a smile, "How so?"

"Well, I believe..." Yearling began, "if I can recall it correctly...you hail from a wealthy family....and your appearance, if I may say so, rivals that of your sister, yet I understand that you joined the Royal Guard as an enlisted pony, and then eventually earned your commission. And your uniform, and the tale that it tells, suggest a career spent in combat arms, particularly...artillery. And yet you work in intelligence," Yearling paused, and then added, "I'm betting that there is an interesting story there."

Brillants pondered for a moment, and then smiled and said, "There is...but I shall not waste your time, and I'll give the condensed version. Well, as for my background, my family is willing to save us from a life of begging if needed, but otherwise we were taught to blaze our own way through life. As for appearance, while I may have a certain style of my own, you will probably get a wholly different opinion of my appeal to a wider audience from...say...Photo Finish. And," she added with a chuckle, "I would not want Fluer's lifestyle anyway, as I like to enjoy a good hayburger on certain occasions, though that said, I do envy her relationship with Fancy. He is a wonderful stallion. And...as for my work, the queen of battle and myself are well acquainted, but I am by nature a problem solver, whether it is hitting a target, or solving a puzzle. It is what I enjoy."

"I see," Yearling responded with a smile, carefully noting the rather vague answers. But something caught her eye, tucked in between a couple of file cabinets. It looked like a large walking staff...and yet.

"Is something wrong?" Brillants asked, and then turned and looked to what Yearling was interested in. "Oh...I see, you're looking at that staff. That is fortunate. It is part of the reason I wanted to talk to you."

She levitated the staff with her magic and brought it over to her desk. It was mostly plain, long, and somewhat irregular along it's length, with a generic looking jewel placed at the top. "It is interesting...isn't it. At best, I admit, a crude representation of the original, but the texts are imprecise at best as to appearance of The Staff of Sacanas. As I remember it...the staff was the object of Daring Doo's most recent adventure, if my memory serves me."

Yearling's smile disappeared, and her eyebrow rose, and she answered, "Yes...that's true. It seemed like a good subject, but it took a lot of research."

"I can well imagine," Brillants answered, "It has been an object of my own curiosity as well of recent. Anyway...ultimately she was unable to recover it, and the tale went another direction, which is most unusual for one of your stories. But, you were rather opaque as to why? What happened there? Did you have a theory as to what became of it?"

"We are, of course....speaking in terms of fiction," Yearling answered, the warmth long since absent from her voice, "but...as I wrote...it was...obtained eventually by another party."

"That...wouldn't happen to be the Storm King, would it?" Brillants asked as she gazed over the rim of her cup as she took another sip of her tea.

Yearling felt her blood go cold within her, the alarm bells in her head becoming almost deafening. She straightened up in her chair and asked, "Major...am I in trouble here?"

Brillants leaned forward onto her desk, and said with a smile, "Not in the slightest bit my friend. But unfortunately, your secret is out to more than just you're closest allies, all thanks to our nosey friends at the D.I.A.. But, they have concluded, as have I, that you are truly on the side of the angels. Otherwise of course, we would never have let you come here. In fact," she continued, leaning forward across her desk, "I am fully prepared to show you everything that they have shown me concerning you personally. But...I need to ask a question first. I have received a report of a possibly hostile incursion by the Storm King's forces near Los Pegagsus. I need to ask, if I may be so forward, how worried should I be?"

Yearling's gaze hardened and she leaned forward, her hoofs resting on the edge of the desk, and simply answered, "Very."

Brillants closed her eyes and nodded, and then turned and used her magic to open one of the file cabinets, and then levitated from it a large envelope obviously full of paperwork.

"I shall give you as much time as you require, after which...you may do as you wish," Brillants said to Yearling as she slowly moved out from behind the desk, "and...for what it is worth coming from me...a pony who has violated your obviously much prized privacy...I'm sorry...." she paused, and placing a hoof on the other mare's shoulder continued, "...and thank you", before exiting the room and leaving the other mare to her reading.

---

"So," the general chimed in, "I need to talk to somepony in that damn castle, preferably immediately, and tell them that I'm increasing our alert status. You all know the deal. You all have any thoughts about this?"

He glanced around the room at the assembled officers discussing the question. Not surprising, one was missing. 'Standard damn procedure', he thought. Glancing around he spotted her, coming out of her office and slowly making her way in his direction.

"Dammit Red!" he called out, "are you going to be part of this...or are you doing your army of one imitation again!"

"My apologies general," she answered as she quickened her pace to a trot, "but as they say 'greatness cannot be rushed'! And yes, I hear you. Your voice travels quite well actually."

She reached the platform and approached her commander and said, "Pardon if you can my tardiness sir, but given what we discussed yesterday, and the recent reports, it seemed to be a good idea to expedite my planned interview of our esteemed guest."

The general waited a second and then asked, "And...?"

"In short, she believes that the Storm King has the staff," the major answered, "and that we have a serious problem."

"The Staff of Sacanas?" General Blackjack asked, "The one that can..."

"Absorb magical energy and redirect it to the bearer," Major Brillants answered, "...and obviously pose a existential security threat if used against our princesses."

The group went silent for a moment, but finally one R.F.C. officer spoke.

"Sir, we need to intercept this intruding force immediately, with every damn thing we've got. We can't let them reach the capital."

"Indeed flight leader, if we can indeed assume they're hostile" the general replied, "But that said, we don't need to scatter our force over hundreds of square miles either, so..." he paused, and then turned to Brillants and asked, "Do you think that you have enough magical firepower here to pull off a pulse?"

Brillants turned and moved to the adjoining railing. She put her front hooves on the railing and scanned the ponies around her, clearly doing the math in her head. Then she turned and got back on her hooves and replied, "Of course."

"Make it happen Major," the general answered, and then turned to the others and commanded, "Captain, pass the word to all units....including at the damn castle that we're taking the alert level up to three. And that means that I want Canterlot on air defense alert...and yes that does include those damn lawn ornaments that used to be triple A batteries. Squadron leader," he said, turning to another pony, " I want two pursuit squadrons on ten minute alert. We'll send them up as soon as we have an idea of an intercept course. Also, put two attack squadrons on twenty minute alert, just in case. And as for you colonel," he added as he looked to another pony, "Pass the word...this command is hoisting the black flag...immediately." He glanced around the assembled group one more time and asked, "Any questions?"

The only response was a few shaking heads.

"Good," he answered, "Now go do it."

And with that the assembled ponies quickly dispersed to carry out their orders.

---

It was almost 10:30 local time when curious eyes at Canterlot's airdrome spotted the batch of strangely dressed ponies trotting out to the end of the facilities principal runway. Most who saw the scene didn't think much about it at the time, as their attention was focused on the plethora of aircraft of every configuration that had assembled over the last fifteen minutes, trying to find somewhere to land on the already crowded airfield.

One pony stopped near a field telephone at the edge of the runway and waited while the others gathered around him. As he was on a small rise, he took advantage of it and began counting the assembled ponies in front of him.

"Hey boss," one of them called out, "What's the story here? I mean really, I've heard of groundstops, but this is an exercise in insanity."

"No kidding genius," another pony answered, "It's not just a groundstop. Everything that's up has got to come down."

"Oh heck," another flyer chimed in, "How does that work when a third of the population has wings? Sounds like crap to me."

The pony on the rise held up one hoof and commanded, "Hey, let's try and keep the snark to a minimum here o.k.? This day is going to be long enough as it is."

"So what do you think?" added another flyer, "I'm betting they've got this alert for the entire Central Command. Anypony want to bet against?"

"Yeah right," another added, "And I'm betting that this whole thing is a giant waste of time, and that my mom isn't going to make it to the concert if this keeps up." She turned and looked back behind her, "Hey Sting? What's your best bet?"

"Oh please, are you kidding? I would have taken that one personally," Sky Stinger chimed in as he approached, with Vapor Trail alongside him, "I mean really...did you get a look towards the castle. The airspace around there looks like a three-ring circus. Somepony out there must not be too damn worried."

"Sting," Vapor said in a voice only he could hear, "You've never even seen a three-ring circus."

"Hey," he replied in a similar voice, "You and I know that...but they don't," which made Vapor chuckle to herself.

"Yeah well, it would be a damn shame if some jerkweed ended up raining on somepony's parade," was the response. The group then lapsed into various conversations, at least till the ground crew arrived, along with the large wagon that carried the squadron's equipment.

"ALLRIGHT EVERYPONY!" the squadron commander called out, "I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT WE WILL PROBABLY LAUNCH WITHIN THE NEXT TEN TO TWENTY MINUTES, DEPENDING ON JUST WHEN THEY FINALLY GET AN IDEA OF WHERE WE'RE GOING! SO...WE NEED TO GET IN GEAR! FLIGHT LEADERS....GET WITH YOUR TEAMS AND GET GOING ON YOUR RADIO CHECKS! ANYONE NOT IMMEDIATELY INVOLVED IN THAT PROCESS NEEDS TO GET WITH THE GROUND CREW AND START LOADING UP! AND THAT MEANS FULL BATTLE RATTLE FELLOW TRAVELERS! DON'T LEAVE SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NEED BEHIND! O.K...LET'S DO THIS!!

Vapor Trail moved off by herself for a moment as Sting went over to locate his equipment. She reached back and turned on her radio, and prepared to call the tower when it was her turn.

"Uh excuse me...uh...Flight Officer?" came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw the squadron's newest member behind her, with her bright silver mane contrasting with the dull grey of her uniform and the R.F.C. crests on her front cannons showing her newly commissioned rank of Flight Aviator.

"Fair...you don't have to call me flight officer....not when it's just us...remember?" Vapor answered, "Just call me Vapor...o.k.?'

"Oh right...sorry Vapor," Fair Winds replied. "So...are you ready for this?" she said gesturing towards the group.

Vapor didn't reply at first, sensing the tension in the other mare's voice. She pondered her answer for a moment, and then finally responded, "Uh...in truth...not really. But...we've got a few minutes...so let's go and do what we can...o.k.?"

Fair Winds looked towards the group, and then back to Vapor, and after a moment responded, "Oh yeah...sure...that's what I meant...actually."

Vapor smiled, and answered, "Yeah...I know." She then gestured towards the others, which the junior officer took as her cue, and the pair walked over to begin preparing for what the day had in store for them.