For once, some news I received was good, and I'd been given a full week of light duty at the clinic. A few days there had also done absolute wonders for my mind and body. It would take time for me to fully regain my strength. Nothing, not even a healing potion, could instantly undo three months of not eating enough, but the other physical ailments were easy to fix. RadAway truly was a marvel of the times it was invented in. A few doses of it had erased the radiation exposure I'd endured, and while I might get cancer thirty years down the line, it made me feel so much better in the present. Besides, the cigarettes would probably give me cancer by then regardless. If I could get my claws on a steady stream of them anyway.

The last day of my light duties was a bit of a downer though, so I decided to save the one cigarette I'd scavenged from a drawer in the supply cabinet at the clinic until then. I couldn't really imagine that cigarettes were part of the standard inventory anyway, so it was just house cleaning. Nobody would miss it. Smoking in the clinic wouldn't set a good example for the patients anyway.

I still hadn't mastered, or really practiced, the art of breathing properly while flying and smoking, or keeping one lit while flying, so I saved my little indulgence until I landed on the outskirts of the base. With a lit cigarette in my beak and a little nicotine telling my brain that everything would continue to be nice and calm, I strolled toward the barracks. What would my next assignment be? If we were about to go on flexible field assignments, that meant there wouldn't be patrols for a while, right? Maybe a few days or a week of it before though. There had to be some preparatory time we'd go through, but for all I knew that would consist of Heidi showing up and telling us to fly off into the wild gray yonder. We'd see, I guessed.

Imagine my surprise then when I discovered the door to the barracks open and a female voice I didn't recognize coming from inside. “Oh, my partner isn't here?”

Lita answered with, “Nah, not yet. He should be here soon though. You might have heard of him though. Kaz? Kasimir? Longtalons?”

Uh huh, probably heard of me alright. What a way to introduce someone!

“I... do remember that name from somewhere. I don't think I've met him before though. Is he one of the Talons that received a commendation for driving back the Steel Ranger probe last week?”

“Commendation? Heh, no, he's-”

“-right here,” I interrupted, hopping up inside. Yeah, let's not introduce me to someone by telling them I just got out of the crater for killing someone, okay?

In addition to Carmelita and Serge, the room indeed contained a new and unfamiliar griffoness, who was completely obscured by her suit of armor. She spun to face me, showing the only part of her, other than her muted gray-brown tail and wings, that wasn't obscured by ballistic mesh fibers or steel plates: her, well, face. White feathers, red eyes and a gray-brown beak that was twisted into a tiny smile. “Kasimir Longtalons?”

“That's me.” I extended a claw. “You must be my new partner...?”

“Amalia Silverwing.” She returned the shake with a heavy, gauntlet covered claw. I... wasn't sure I'd ever even seen a pair of gauntlets on a Talon before. They looked like they would make it a little hard to use a gun with a normal sized trigger guard, and they had to get hot out in the field. And where did she get her helmet? The goggles kind of reminded me of the extra big radroach I saw that one time in the morgue back in Oatsfield. “It's nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Lita sat back and crossed her legs. “Hey, new girl, you can shed the tank you're wearing there. There's nobody shooting in here.”

“Uh... but wouldn't I be out of uniform?”

Serge smiled and shook his head, gesturing toward a seat at the table. “You're not on duty, so it doesn't matter. Really though, as long as you wear your breastplate nobody is going to bother you about it, and it does get really hot in the city.”

She hesitated, then unclasped the strap under her beak and removed her helmet. Short feathers, except for a few long ones at the front. At this rate I might have a good idea of what she looked like by next week.

“Heh, yeah. We haven't had a heatstroke case since I got here, but I'd rather you not be the first,” I said as I started removing my own gear.

Amalia snapped her talons, as best she could with the gauntlets on. “That's where I've heard of you. You're one of the medics, right?”

Well, that beat my other reputation, so I nodded and offered a modest smile. “Yeah, first platoon's medic.”

“See? You're in good claws with us,” Serge said.

Lita grinned and tapped the chair again. “Mmhmm. Come on, take a load off. So, 'Amalia.' You have a shorter version of that? Mind if I call you Amy?”

Amalia eased into the seat. “Uh, well, some do call me that, but I prefer Amalia for professional use.”

“Hah, professional? I like that.” Lita grinned. “C'mon, we're all family here, right Kaz? Serge-ent? They just call me Lita too. See, nicknames all around.”

Serge rolled his eyes. “Please, don't call me that. I tell her not to but she doesn't care. If you want to go by Amalia, then that's what we'll do.”

“Thanks. Yeah, I think I'd prefer that.”

Lita shrugged. “We'll wear you down soon enough. You'll see.”

“Right. Anyway.” Serge held a claw up to me. “Kaz, I'm glad you're here since I've got your new assignments. Our platoon is going to be heading out next week, but for the next eight days we're going to still be in the city. We've got to audit everyone's equipment, run a few exercises and so on before deployment. But, since we're still in the city we have to continue our posting as city watch. That means that you'll be resuming your patrols tonight, and since Amalia is here now you'll be taking her with you.” He glanced toward the door to the sleeping area. “I hope you're both rested up. If not you'd probably best get some sleep while you can.”

For the first time that I could remember since I got to Fillydelphia, I actually was pretty well rested. I'd even caught a brief and unintentional nap at the clinic earlier that day. I'd also learned that Zella apparently wasn't a tattler, but I still didn't intend to make that a habit. “I'll probably lie down in a minute.”

“I probably should too,” Amalia agreed. “I've been up since six this morning.”

“Good, Kaz can show you your bunk then. You'll be heading off at around midnight, so you've got plenty of time to get settled in.”

Lita crossed her arms. “You'll get to meet Leigh and the Jolly Orange Giant then. That's when their shift is over.”

“Uh... okay?”

Serge filled in the gaping holes with, “Corporal Leigh Dawnshower and Private Isaac Clawmarks. The other to members of our squad.” He pointed a talon at Lita. “As you've probably started guessing, we tend to pair off the same way for our shifts. Carmelita and myself, Leigh and Isaac, and now you and Kasimir.”

Amalia nodded and flicked her eyes between us. “So, uh, was it just five of you before? The lieutenant said that she had some staffing issues to work out.”

A heavy silence fell across the room. The kind of silence that tapped me on the shoulder and whispered into my ear that I had some explaining to do, and that if I didn't someone else would and possibly in a less forgiving light. “It's... it's kind of a long story. I'll fill you in later, okay?”

Well, that couldn't have been too reassuring, and it showed. Amalia nodded slowly and glanced over to the other griffons at the table. “Oh... okay.”

The awkwardness crept back into the room, which was broken this time by Carmelita changing the subject. “So, new girl, you smoke?”

She bobbed her head a little in an unsure manner. “I've been trying to quit.”

“Good idea,” I chimed in. Hey, I had to at least pay beak service to my job as looking out for everyone's health.

Lita chuckled. “Heh, look who's talking. When's the last time you smoked, Kaz?”

“Uh... five minutes ago.” But mostly because I didn't have many opportunities before then.

Lita pointed a thumb my way. “Just picking. Anyway, if you need smokes you can get them from Sam, but just make sure you do it outside, okay? Heidi gets really bent out of shape if she catches anyone smoking in the barracks, and you don't want to see her bent out of shape.”

Whoa, what? That's where everyone was getting cigarettes from? All this time and nobody ever told me? Ugh... whatever. It was probably for the best anyway. Sam was a nice deterrent to me smoking so maybe I could quit myself. Although maybe Otto could issue them too?

Amalia smirked nervously and nodded. “I've... kind of heard a little about her, yeah.”

“Don't let Lita spook you. Lieutenant Blackfeathers isn't hard to get along with if you do what she asks, and she's just doing her job.

“I understand. Everyone said the same about Sergeant Tornfeathers in basic.”

Lita chuckled again. “Right. You ought to fit right in here.”

Basic? Basic training? I didn't remember anything like that during my orientation. Things may have changed since then, but that wasn't that long ago.

Serge clapped a claw on the table and stood. “Speaking of the lieutenant though, I need to go talk with her. You've all got your orders, so do what you need to do.”

As he left, Lita said to Amalia, “You'll get used to him being gone most of the time. If I didn't know better I'd say he and the lieutenant were having an affair or something.” An annoyed groan trickled back through the door.

“Uh huh...”

Carmelita waved a claw and laughed. “C'mon, I'm trying to lighten the mood here but you're not giving me much to work with. You just have to relax a little. You can't take this whole job too seriously or you'll snap.” That didn't get a laugh out of Amalia either, so Lita got up and stretched. “Okay then, how about this? Either of you two eaten yet? Why don't we go get some dinner and hit the cot?”

Sounded good to me, and Amalia got up too.

“Oh, but first, you've really gotta take all of that armor off. If you wear that in the mess hall you'll never hear the end of it!” Probably from her, no less.

Amalia sighed and started fiddling with the clasps. “If you say so.”

“There you go. We'll get you in shape in no time!”

Midnight rolled around fast, as it always did, but just like the day preceding it I found myself remarkably well refreshed and ready to get up and on with my assignment for the night. Amalia had beaten me by at least five full minutes though, and by the time I wandered into the lounge to coax the coffee pot into giving me some caffeine she was already suited up and getting acquainted with Leigh and Isaac.

“Ah, so... you don't talk much?”

Isaac grunted and nodded toward Leigh, who explained, “Not at all, actually. Got hurt a while back.”

Amalia pulled back a hair as he parted the feathers on his neck to show the ragged scar. “Oh, I see. Sorry to hear about that.”

Leigh nudged her partner. “He looks tough, but don't worry. He's a big teddy bear most of the time.”

“Unless you're a coffee machine,” I mumbled. Tiny droplets of brewing coffee formed around a crack in the pot and streamed down the side. Apparently that particular piece was rare enough that we wouldn't be receiving a replacement 'for the foreseeable future.'

Leigh eased into her usual seat at the table and unfolded her portable terminal. “He already said he was sorry Kaz. We can't do anything about it.”

“I know. Just... this is my life here, you know? I need it.” I held a mug up toward Amalia and asked, “You want any?”

“Thanks, but I'm fine. We're kind of running behind here as it is...”

Fair enough. “Yeah, I'll take mine with me.” I unscrewed the lid, blithely ignored the warning against filling my canteen with anything but pure water and poured as much in as it would hold. That was probably just to encourage us not to pour beer or worse into it anyway. Heidi wasn't going to care if I had coffee out with me. “Okay, let's go.”

I grabbed my bags and slung them over my armor, which forced me to adjust my pistol holster for the dozenth time since I attached it. Isaac snickered as he did the last eleven times, and I hurried out into the dark and muggy night.

As we lifted off and circled to gain altitude over the base, I asked, “This is your first time out?”

Amalia pulled her goggles down and nodded. “That's right. Lead the way.”

I felt like I should really be tutoring her on this whole thing, but I wasn't sure what to say really. It hadn't been but a few months, but I couldn't remember for sure if Ida had gone over any details with me on my first time out. Nothing was coming to mind, so I hoped that meant there wasn't anything in the first place. I mean, really, even after I'd done it that long I wasn't entirely sure if there was more to it than just flying our routes and responding if we saw obvious commotion that wasn't already being handled. Even the densest griffon would understand that much, and I didn't expect that the Talons would hire anyone that deficient.

For her part, Amalia was doing a much better job of it than I did on my first outing. She kept pace with me, just behind and to my right, and each time I glanced back to make sure she was still there I saw her carefully scanning the roads and buildings below for activity. This might have been her first patrol in Fillydelphia, but it was clear that she knew what she was doing. Maybe she worked for the caravans before or did private contracting somewhere? She didn't mention it over dinner, but maybe I could convince her to tell me a little if I told her my story. I'd promised to do that anyway.

The first couple of hours went by uneventfully. We circled the ammo foundries, ducked out of a particularly acrid smelling cloud that we flew into, and came out near the petroleum refinery or whatever it was that kept vomiting those sticky black clouds into the air. It was probably responsible for the mess we just flew through, come to think of it, and for a moment I was coveting Amalia's goggles.

She drifted further ahead and wiped at the lenses before turning her attention back to the streets. Something caught her eye, and she banked a little to get closer. She flared her wings to come to a halt in the air and rapidly gestured for me to come get a look. Oh boy. “What do you make of this?”

We were flying right over one of the larger metro terminals in the city, which had been converted over to some kind of mine judging by the carts of rock and rubble littering the plaza it sat in. At first I had no idea what she was even going on about, but a moment later I saw a slate gray pony poke his head out of a shattered window, look up and down the street a few times, then clamber his way out and onto the platform.

Okay, I had to admit that it looked a little unusual. This wasn't anywhere that slaves slept or lived, and if it was a working zone he really shouldn't have been alone. A sinking feeling in my stomach accompanied our descent toward the platform. Please don't let this be a pony stealing food again... please...

I'm reasonably sure the stallion wasn't expecting us. He squealed and launched a full half meter into the air as I fell onto the platform a few paces away. Without a word, Amalia had circled around and landed on his opposite side, cutting him off and giving him nowhere to run. She had her rifle in claw, but wasn't pointing it at him. Yet at least. “H-holy... goddesses, don't shoot!” He plastered himself against the wall, which creaked under his weight. If he tried much harder he probably could have made an escape right through it.

I still hadn't gotten used to having only a pistol and no rifle in my claws at all times, so when I realized I was unarmed I just held a claw up. “Hold on, just calm down. We just want to know what you're doing out here by yourself. Who are you? Who's your manager?”

He inched away from Amalia and her gun and locked eyes with me. “Uh... S-Silver Rush. That's me, that is. M-my master is Lodestone.”

“Right, so tell us, Silver Rush. What are you doing out here by yourself?”

He swallowed and glanced at Amalia's gun again. “I-I... nothing. I just needed some fresh air.” He coughed a couple of times. “The air's getting really bad down in the mine. We had a cave in a few days ago and the, uh, the ventilation is shot. Boss says he can't spare ponies to go clear it, and we're all dying down there. Uh, figuratively. Right now anyway. I was about to pass out... dang miner's lung is getting worse.” He grinned sheepishly and coughed hard again. “Better to take a minute to catch my breath than to pass out and not work at all, right?”

He was positively covered in soot, and I swore I saw particulates floating around in each cough, but unless his boss told him to come out here he just couldn't take a break.

“Kasimir, do you want me to go find Lodestone?” Amalia asked.

I was about to decline the waste of time when Silver cocked an eyebrow at me and coughed and hacked out, “Kaz-Kasimir?” He cleared his throat and wiped the soot off of a hoof. “That's an interesting name I haven't heard in a while. I don't, uh, suppose you've ever been in a little town called Oatsfield? Princesses... it's a long way from here. I'm just running my mouth.”

That was too much of a coincidence to just brush off. “That's where I lived for a long time, yes. Have we met?”

“Is your mom Elise Longtalons? A doctor?”

Okay, not a coincidence anymore. “Yes...?”

He hacked out a little chuckle. “You probably don't remember me. You were just a little squirt back then, but your mom fixed me up once years and years ago. I had a bad accident on the road on the way past Oatsfield. Broke both legs on my right side when our cart threw a wheel and landed on me. Thing weighed a ton. Literally.” He pointed a hoof my way. “Oh, but I remember you. You kept poking around the place when I was waiting for my legs to heal up enough to leave. Your name stuck with me for some reason. Guess griffon names just stand out to ponies.”

Oh, wow. He knew my ma and me from that long ago? This pony could be a treasure trove of information, but there was no time to prod him about it. “I... I guess so. I had no idea you knew my ma.”

“Yep, she's a good griffon.” A nervous grin crept back onto his face. “No offense, but, uh, mercs like the Talons kind of make most ponies scared of griffons. Not her though. You know, I'm actually surprised you're here instead of doctoring like her, as much as you stayed in that doctor's office. Guess there was only so much demand for a doc in a little place like that.”

“Yeah, you could say that.” I didn't plan on going into details though. Neither the place, nor the time.

Silver wheezed and thumped a hoof against his chest. “Probably shouldn't be talking so much, and I'm holding you two up. So, uh, let me get back down to the mine and I'll get out of your manes. Err, feathers.”

“Hang on.” I rifled through my medical kit and pulled out a healing potion. Both Silver's and Amalia's eyes widened at the sight. I unscrewed my canteen, poured a little lukewarm coffee into the cap and added a couple of drops of potion to it. “Here, take this. It'll help a little.”

He hesitated, but held out a hoof to accept it. His eyes flew open altogether as he sucked it down like a shot of cider. “Whew, that felt great. Coffee? Do you know how long it's been since I've had coffee? Months. Thanks a million. If I strike any gold down there I'll save you some.”

I chuckled and returned the cap to my canteen. “Thanks, but that's not necessary. You do need to get back to work though. We've all wasted too much time as it is.”

He sighed and picked himself up. “Yeah, I reckon so. Sorry about that, but you really helped me out here. Tell your mom I said hello next time you see here, okay?”

“I will.” Even if it would be a very, very long time, barring a catastrophe that killed me in the short term. Not too unlikely I guess.

As he squeezed back through the broken window, Amalia slipped over. She watched him canter off back down into the depths of a nonfunctional escalator and cut her eyes to my first aid kit.

“Something wrong?” I asked while slinging it back over my side.

“Yeah. I, well... I... guess I just wasn't expecting things to be quite like this.” She turned back to looking through the window.

What did she expect? A mountain of slave corpses at every corner and Talons gleefully shooting any that didn't walk in perfect single file lines from one workstation to the next? She hadn't struck me as the psychopathic sort. “How so?”

“I guess you really take Master Red Eye's broadcasts pretty seriously in the city, don't you?”

Whoa, whoa now, those were potential fighting words. Red Eye was about the absolute opposite of me, as far as I was concerned. “I don't understand...”

She shrugged, not taking her eyes off of the empty room beyond the window. “They told us in basic that things would be different here than anywhere else Talons were deployed. That Master Red Eye ran a tight operation and we'd have to set an example.” She finally looked back and nodded toward the bag at my side. “He says that all of the slaves are valuable workers. I figured that nobody paid any attention to that, but you do, don't you? I didn't know we were even allowed to give stuff like that to the slaves.”

“Uh... well... we're really not. But a couple of drops won't be missed and if it made him think he felt better, then he really will. Everyone wins, you know?” Yikes, here I was potentially poisoning a new recruit's vision of how the rules worked in this city. If I wasn't careful she was going to run afoul of the lieutenant. “But, yeah. I've been told a time or two that I'm 'soft on the ponies.' It's... not my job or place to make calls like that I guess, but... I'm just trying to keep things going smoothly.”

Amalia nodded slowly and fixed me with her piercing red eyes. “You're an outsider, aren't you?”

Boy, was today Blow Kaz's Mind day? What did that mean? “Uh, outsider?”

“Yeah, you know. Hired from outside of the Talons?”

“Weren't you?”

She shook her head. “No. No, I was hatched and raised as a Talon from the beginning. Fillydelphia is the first place I've been that wasn't only a Talon base.”

“Oh...” Wow, she was one of the griffawns that Vonny told me about. It felt like a lifetime ago now, but I saw the eggs every time I was at the clinic and remembered what she told me they were for. So, the Talons had been running that program for what, twenty five years or more, judging by her age? And I was meeting one of these Talon youths? How twisted could her viewpoint of the world be if she'd been raised by griffons like Sam or Heidi? A lifetime of discipline and training and no childhood? Shit, she was probably going to rat me out to the lieutenant after this. Better start thinking of an excuse.

As much as the air felt heavy and uneasy enough that I was starting to feel a little nauseated, I just didn't know what to say at that point. Should I ask her not to tell any of the officers about what I'd just done? Beg her? Tell her? I had more seniority but didn't outrank her, so I really couldn't order her. Dammit...

Amalia kept uneasily looking between the broken window and me, clearly as at a loss for words. “We should get back on patrol.”

So she wanted to drop it? Just like that? Uh, okay. Sure. That was probably for the best. I could think up some excuses while we finished our rounds. Maybe I could pull her aside that night some time and, uh, explain things a little better. I had to hope that she was somewhat receptive to my way of doing things, or this was going to be a very challenging partnership.

I thought about taking her to the abandoned schoolhouse that Ida took me to that time. I promised to tell her my story, and she could tell me hers. It could be a nice, long, private chat. There was so much I wanted to know about what it was like to grow up as a Talon, and surely she would be interested in knowing what it was like to be an 'outsider,' as she called me.

Trouble was, we'd wasted time already so I didn't think we could pull it off without someone missing us, and that would get ugly fast. Maybe one day when we were on the evening shift. With some luck we'd get rotated to that before deployment, and I could talk with her some.

Too bad that meant she could still tattle on me that afternoon if she wanted to.

The afternoon arrived faster than expected, as it oftentimes did. We'd returned from our patrol around lunchtime, quickly ate and hit the cot without so much as breathing a word of our encounter with Silver Rush. That was good.

Having Serge wake me up about four hours later and explain that our squad was being called up for field exercises for the rest of the day was decidedly less good. Unlike earlier, I had to drag myself out of bed and do my level best to not look completely groggy and useless. Amalia looked a little dull herself, but didn't complain once.

We were joined by the rest of our squad and ushered to the armory, where Serge said we'd be performing some marksmanship drills and examinations until dinner. It made sense to do that before we were all thrown outside and put up against things that would be shooting back, and up until then I'd always wondered who used the shooting range and when. There were probably periodic drills even for the platoons on city watch, but the timing just meant that I hadn't seen any.

Well, I was seeing one now. The lot sectioned off for the armory wasn't exactly packed, but there were at least three other squads there in various stages of firing down the range, cleaning their equipment or being inspected by Sam. Heidi was positioned behind the line of griffons at the range, watching as they rattled off shots at the gaudy makeshift targets. The goddess Celestia picture was notably absent and had been replaced by the image of a pony in powered armor with several points marked on the joints in red. Weak spots I guessed?

By the time we formed up in a presentable line behind her, I was desperately wishing I had some ear muffs or plugs. By the fifth volley from the squad ahead, I was hearing little more than ringing and bangs. A sign stenciled into the armory wall warned that hearing protection had to be worn at all times while using the range, but was frustratingly unhelpful in pointing out where to locate any. Once more I was coveting Amalia's gear, since her helmet had to provide some relief from the pressure waves assaulting her eardrums. A certain lavender griffon next to Heidi seemed to be fortunate enough to have acquired some, judging by the string attached to the sides of his head. If anyone would be lucky enough to get them, he would.

At long last, the firing ahead came to a merciful end and the squad removed the magazines from their weapons before turning to face the lieutenant. Some words were exchanged that I could no longer make out, and Heidi and Egon swept the line of targets. Eventually their sergeant, something Blackbeak I think, gestured for them all to go join the groups stripping their weapons at the far side of the yard. Heidi waved us all closer.

Before they left, each trooper pulled out a set of earplugs and passed them on to us. With a hint of trepidation I accepted them from the blue griffon ahead of me. Used earplugs? Uh... kind of gross, but better than going deaf at least. Nobody put theirs in yet, so I didn't either.

“Fall in,” Serge directed our way. We all lined up neatly in front of the lieutenant and stood tall. Amalia put her claw up in a salute, which was actually the first time I'd seen anyone do that. I guess she really had learned things differently in her fancy basic training. Well, if nobody else in the squad did it, I wasn't going to. Serge pulled out to the side and said, “The squad is ready, ma'am.”

That was stretching things a bit since we basically had to jump into our armor and hope that our weapons were in working order so that we'd make it on time. I'm sure the lieutenant would understand...

She scrutinized us each briefly, and of course, her eyes locked with mine for an awkward time. “Private Longtalons, where is your weapon?”

Huh? I placed a claw on the holster at my side. “Here, ma'am.”

She didn't look surprised or satisfied. “Of course.”

I guess she just felt the need to knock me down another peg in front of the squad. Oh, look, Kaz still doesn't get a big boy gun. Let's see how his little pistol compares to the rifles everyone else is using. Whatever. It wasn't under my control and I assumed this wasn't some kind of competition.

“Very well. Sergeant, when you're ready?”

Serge waved us all closer to the range and paired us off with a target each before taking one for himself. “Everyone, discharge one magazine at your target. You're being judged on accuracy and form. Aim for the center of mass. Fire on my command.”

We all put in our plugs, drew our weapons, readied them, and waited for the order. I grasped the pistol with both claws, hoping that Sam hadn't given me a complete piece of trash. I was rusty enough with shooting that I didn't need anything else working against me here. What was going to happen if we failed anyway? Were we going to-

“Aim.”

Oh, right. Pay attention. I held the pistol up and pointed it at the Steel Ranger ahead of me. Great, why'd I get the hard one? Was I supposed to shoot at the red marks or the center of mass like Serge said? Damn. Uh, just doing what he said then. Right at the body.

“Fire.”

My shot was a hair later than everyone else, but to my mild surprise the bullet went mostly straight and dug neatly into the wooden target ahead. Everyone else kept firing, so I braced and pulled the trigger again. Click. Wait, what? I know I loaded the entire maga-bang! Holy sh... That shot came two seconds after the trigger pull and landed half a meter off target, dead in the center of the visor of the Steel Ranger. Okay. Sure, that was intentional. But what was with the delay? What kind of major malfunction did this pistol have?

The next three shots went off without a hitch, thankfully. Of course, there should have been four more bullets in the magazine, so again I had this sinking feeling in my gut that Sam had given me a hunk of garbage he found in a sewer drain somewhere. Great. Since I had only a fraction of the ammo that the others did, I flicked the safety back on and waited for the others to finish. I could probably just check the chamber and see if I had a stoppage or something.

The shooting came to a stop, and I probably should have been paying attention to what everyone else was doing, but I was too curious to wait for the order to go and strip the weapon down. I pulled the slide back, and sure enough, there was the bullet halfway in the chamber. Great. I was going to be fighting this thing every minute we were out in the field. Was I going to be able to-

blam!

I threw the gun down and fell backward as something shot past hard enough for the wind in its wake to slap against my beak. What the fuck!?

Serge yelped and copied my ungraceful dive to the ground, clutching at his neck. Oh no, what happened? Had he been hit?!

We all dropped our weapons, snatched out our earplugs and crowded around him. “What happened, were you hit? Where?” I asked, already digging for my medical kit.

“I don't know!” He pulled his claw back and checked it over, but there wasn't any blood. I didn't see any on his neck either, or anywhere for that matter. The feathers on his neck had definitely been mangled by something though. He pressed the claw to his neck a few times and checked it, but no blood. “I think it just grazed me.”

“Who fired that shot?” the lieutenant demanded. She locked eyes with me again. “Was it you? I saw you drop your weapon.”

I held both claws up and shook my head. “No! No ma'am, it wasn't me. My pistol had a stoppage, but it didn't discharge.”

She didn't seem convinced. She stormed over to retrieve it, but just before she grabbed it an unexpected voice said, “It was me, ma'am.” Leigh held her head down and a claw up.

“What?” Heidi snapped her head around.

Leigh held her rifle up and showed that the chamber was empty and no magazine was loaded. “I had a stoppage too. When I went to check it, it went off.” She pointed at a gouge on the pony image ahead of her. “The bullet ricocheted off and went back that way.”

It felt pretty weird to be relieved that someone else had an accident instead of me, but I swear I was so relieved that it wasn't me that I was almost lightheaded. I could practically smell crater duty again...

Heidi scratched a talon along the dark gouge that used to be the painted raider pony's tooth, giving her a goofy grin. “Corporal, take your weapon to Sergeant Bladewind and have him check it. You too, private.” She pointed to my pistol lying in the dirt. “The rest of you, go join sixth squad in stripping your weapons for inspection. If you're able, sergeant?”

Serge was back on his feet and rubbing the side of his neck. “Yes, ma'am.”

“Good. Get to it.”

Leigh sighed and clicked the safety on her rifle. “Sorry, Serge. It really was an accident.”

Carmelita whistled. “Damn, Leigh. I didn't know you were that desperate to make sergeant.”

“It's not funny,” the smaller griffoness muttered. Behind her, Isaac growled at Lita.

Lita shrugged. “I'm not laughing.”

Serge directed Amalia over to the spot marked for us to dismantle our weapons and said, “Neither am I. Just drop it and do what the lieutenant said.” He rubbed his neck again.

It took me a few seconds to calm down enough to comply, and even as I grabbed and unloaded my pistol my heart kept fluttering. It wasn't me this time, but wow... Serge could have been killed right in front of us by accident. Just like that. I didn't have to look at Leigh to know how she felt right then. She'd never given me any trouble or snide comments about my own experience with this, but maybe now the others would kind of understand how these things just happened sometimes...

From behind us, someone I didn't recognize said, “Heh, I can't help but notice the lieutenant's little boy toy doesn't have to prove he can shoot like us.”

We all paused in place and took a moment to observe who just made that mistake. An orange griffon in another squad was leaned over and talking to a white griffoness to his side, clearly thinking he was using a conspiratorial tone. Maybe being partially deafened by a hundred gunshots threw him off, but he said it loud enough that Red Eye could probably have heard it on the other side of the city.

Carmelita grimaced. “Oh, shit. He must be new. Heidi's going to break him in like a new mule.”

Indeed, Heidi completely ignored Lita's comment and strolled toward him. He noticed her approach just in time to snap up straight and make the same expression someone would right after biting into an apple that went bad two weeks ago. I couldn't look, and averted my eyes to Egon, who was likewise doing everything he could to not watch.

“Excuse me, Private Updraft, but did I hear some doubts about my training and evaluation criteria?”

“Uh, uh, n-no ma'am. No doubts here.”

“Well, that's funny, because I could have sworn I heard some comment about Egon not living up to standards.”

“No ma'am, I-I'm sure he-”

“What Egon does is none of your concern, private. Worry about your own self and leave the rest to me.”

I still couldn't look. Boy, oh boy, this patch of dirt sure was interesting. Yeah, I should keep focusing on that.

Heidi went on. “In fact, if you're so worried about what a 'boy toy' of mine would do, why don't we find out? Go to my office. Now. Right now. I'll be there shortly.”

I glanced up in time to see the poor griffon take off and flap toward the station that her office was situated in. Wow, twice in the span of two minutes I couldn't express how glad I was that it was someone else this time.

Lita waved. “We'll miss you new guy.”

Heidi looked around, and immediately everyone stopped staring and went back to what they were doing. She stomped off toward Sam, saying, “Sergeant! You're taking over until I get back. Check Corporal Dawnshower's and Private Longtalons' weapons and direct the exercises until I get back. I have to correct a training error...”

Well, at least she gave him a direct order to fix my pistol. Maybe he'd actually do it this time? One could hope. What was I supposed to do after handing it over though? I guess I'd just have to sit around until Serge gave the order to do something else, and judging by the way he looked right then it didn't look like we'd be doing a whole lot else.

Once again, I hated to admit that I felt relieved, but... at least it wasn't me this time.

Level Up - Level 7!

Quick Recovery - It only costs 10 AP for you to stand up when you fall down.