Folk Tales 17:One wolf and three Pigs

One wolf and three pigs....

There was a forest which today may not exist anymore, but when it did there lived three pigs. They were named One, Two and Three, as there was no names to named on except by the number. As there was three of them, they lived in forest quite close to each other and watched out for each other.

Because they is a big bad wolf in the forest too, and his name is Zero. He is the only Big Bad Wolf, and there is none like him in this forest.

So one day, the Zero was hungry and he decided as there was the pigs to feed on, so he went up to the straw house of the pig named as Three. Three built his house with straws as it was the available material there, and it provided shelter. Zero on seeing the feeble design of the straw house, tore away the materials to get at at the pig. But Three was smart as he has left through the back door to run to his other pig’s house. Now the second house belonging to Two was made of wooden planks as it was situated near some trees. Two used the tree trunks to made planks and build his home. On seeing Three running  towards his house, he opened the door to admit his brother. On entering the house, Three immediately slammed the door and latched it. Then he said, ‘Zero is looking for me to be his dinner.’ So Two then said; ‘Is that so? If he does not eat you then I am next in line as I am Two’. They both nodded and poor Three unlatched the door and walked out to face Zero was salivating at the lips.

We will now pay a moment of silence to Three.

The next day, Zero came to the house of Two and he also tore it down. Two ran to One’s house which is made of stone, as he lived near the quarry inside the forest. Two rushed in and latched the door. He told One, Zero is coming for him as he is next. So One went out to see Zero, and spoke to the Big Bad Wolf. ‘You took Three, and now you want Two. Don;t you think you are reducing us to extinction? What would the forest be like without us as Pigs?’

‘One, I agreed. You see there are still two of you and I am the last of the Big Bad Wolf. If I don’t eat, I may die and there will be no more Zero. So please do not let my kind become negative in the world.’

For some time, One thought of the logic and decided to offer himself to be eaten. So he was, and we run out of minutes so we will proceed on with the story.

Now there is Two and Zero in the forest, and soon enough Zero trapped Two in the forest.

‘You can’t eat me, as I am the only Pig left like you’, pleaded the pig.

‘But you are Two and that means there are others of you around. So you won’t be the last to be eaten’, replied the Big Bad Wolf.

So Two was eaten thinking he is after all number Two. Just as Zero ate Two, he was eaten by a Tiger. Before he died, he asked the Tiger; ‘how can you do this to me? I am Zero.’

‘I know, but I am actually consuming more than you. I am also eating One, Two and Three. I am just following your rationale. My name is Minus One.’

( We are unique in this place, and not another set of numbers. So be one that matters, and don’t let others consume you or soon we will be counted off. )

Ugly 1 Part 5

Have your thruster's rev up for this part... or is it your limbs.... gee, must be the coffee.. or rum..or coffee and rum...

5

‘You ready? On my mark ,we will rush them and complete this mission.’

I looked up from Medic patch on the left thigh to her. Cecilia, my wingman is on her haunches ready to pounced across the open range and hit the heavy gun position.  I nodded my head as aknowledgement and grabbed my PK-235. I checked the last clip of ammo and re-acknowledged her request. Here we are, two pilots in the large muddy hole created by a conventional warhead. We are the last of the rescue team, and even our rescued personnel has gone to the maker.

And across us is the last heavy gun position belonging to the enemy stopping us from reaching the rescue craft.

It all started at midday when we flew in with the marines. There were six of us, including me and Cecilia, and we are do a pickup of one pilot who has crash landed here. Its not our role to do rescue but Command could not find pilots to go into the Hot Zone, even though the rescued personnel is one of the top commands staff. Whoever rescue him will be accredited and awards could be pinned on, but no one wanted it posted on their body capsule.

But not for Cecilia; she volunteered both of us and here we are.

The Hot Zone is hot with no cover except manmade ones and crater from conventional warhead. The craft is destroyed by self destruct and the Colonel is hiding in the crater. But he is pinned down by heavy enemy fires from two position and they are not letting him go home. We arrived on the cue and landed at the far end but nobody told us the battle lines has moved. We are now behind the enemy lines, and near those enemy position. They were kind to let us run the gauntlet with no shots on us; the marines went in and met the Colonel. Then the enemy took their number on the craft causing major damage and we had to bailed out. Both Cecilia and myself rushed to the crater and met the team.

And from then on, it was a series of firing practice and decoy runs. It was one of these runs, the sargeant of the marines managed to reach one of the enemy position and lobbed in his grenades. It took out that position but we are still down to one more. And we are also down to three personnel; both Cecilia and the Colonel. The Colonel told us he spotted a craft at the back of that position and if we can reach it, we can go home. So we planned and told ourselves we can make it. That was when the Colonel raised his head too high to calculate the required distance to run, and they ran him down with one volley. So we are down to two of us.

‘Go!’ she shout and I raised myself over the crater to run on my injured leg to the left while she took the right. As I was running, I was shooting at the enemy position with every bit of accuracy I could muster. She was doing the same but she has a PK-450 and she is bursting power from her hips. We will trying a pincer move and it seems to work, as the cannons took time to adjust to our plan. It went instead for Cecilia as she has the bigger gun. I stopped and went down my knees, while taking aim at the position. I was aiming at the gunner who was aiming at my love. I shot him at the side of his face beneath his helmet. And then I took my second shot at the other soldier, getting him on the chest before I ran out of ammo. Damned situation to be in, but I heard no shots from the enemy position. I slowly got up and walked over there limping most of the steps, and I looked into the enemy position. There was only dead men in there, and one smoldering heavy gun. It was then Cecilia came rushing in with her PK-450 and she did not released her trigger until the ammo ran out.

We looked at each other and walked onto the area where the craft mentioned by the Colonel was supposed to be. Its but its an old burned out shell of a transport craft. We lost five men for a burnt out metal piece. I took comms to contact for a new rescue pickup, and got aknowledgement of it coming soon. If we had stayed cosy in the crater, maybe all seven of us could have been alive, but we had to play soldiers to showed our courage.

Like this coming mission for the UGLY GETZ.

‘Command, we have a distress call from Transport 350ALPHA on route to Carrier Two Fleet. Do we respond?’ I saw the coordinates and the craft is near the Carrier Two Fleet position.

‘Negative, Ugly. Carrier Two can take care of their own. You are to maintain course.’ Shucks, how can Command said that. Transport 350ALPHA is ours and she is transporting cargo to Carrier Two, so technically placed, that is our boys in trouble there. I know Mason wh pilot that craft; he owes me his collection of BAT’s cards from the last bet which he lost.

I plotted my course and noticed if I shift by one point on the last number, the new course will collide with the coordinates of Transport 350ALPHA. I did exactly that and told the squad to follow me in. ‘We are going to test the new fuel on the thruster. So let contaminate the space with our exhaust.’

We did and we came to sight of Transport 350ALPHA. According to engagement rules, you do not avoid assistance if you see on your visual. So we saw one craft of our being engaged by three Lions. So we provided assistance.

‘Recon, do your sweep from below at 35 degree angle. Apollo, sailed in from the top at 25 degree angle. I want them  in a crossfire. I will come in head on but above the 350. Lets put the Lion’s tail.’ We came in like the experts and complete the job within the time frame.

It was then Recon hail us on comms; ‘ Lions on the prowl at your fore. Scanner picked up ten of them coming in fast and fierce. Looks like we hit the cubs and the main pack is out for us.’

‘UGLY GETZ; you are on your own on the floor. Do your dance and come home safe.’ So we flew on ahead in formation for the new pack of Lions. Its the kind of odds we like to play with; the outnumbered ones.

‘Recon, break starboard and Apollo to the port. I will take the strays left behind.’ I am hoping to ease the odds with the Lions split up to take on us. But I was wrong in the numbers. Recon and ‘93 got her tail of two Lions to contend, while Apollo and Zeus got their pair too. But No.1 and myself got five of them on our nose.

‘No.1, we got to break formation. Take what you can get, and we will regroup later.’

Maybe it was his callsign because he had three of them on his sight, and I had only two. I nosed up and turned to port to line for a loop run, but they read my flight plan and kept on flying before they split to turn back on me. Now I have one on my nose and another coming on my starboard. I waited for missiles with my thumb on the countermeasures switch, but they did not fire any. Instead they came in with blazing cannons took some edges off my wings before I swerved off. Its my turn now for the clawing and I came in hot on the enemy coming at my starboard earlier.

My last turn put me on the same runway with that craft and I let loose my cannons. I could see the cannons blast shearing off the right wing on the Lion’s craft, causing it to spiral off on my starboard. But my victory is not defined yet, as I saw the blast across my bow. I had slowed down to take that last shot and it saved my life, because if I had move at my thruster speed, I will be in the line of fire by now.

Now I did a tight turn and lined up the Lion on my cannon sight. I pressed the trigger to let loose my ammo on the oncoming Lion. It tore off the Lion’s right wing, and it lost its flight momentum and went into a spiral. I followed suit with my cannons to give it the coup de grace. I then scoured the scanners for my missing No.1. I found him on my aft starboard, with two Lions’ to contend with. He must had taken one and now there are two left. I pedal down my thruster to come from the rear of the Lions; so fast that they did not had time to react. My forward cannons was doing the introductions and when I flew passed them, my wing’s gun took on the offensive. It must had been my lucky day as both of them got hit from that pass.

‘No.1, you’ okay? We cleared them off.’ I was watching the leftover of our battle when No.1 craft drew abreast to mine. I looked across to see No.1 and all I could see was lowered helmet in the cockpit. It was then I saw the punture holes on the side of this cockpit. They led from his cockpit to the nose, but it did not break the hull.

‘No.1, give me your status?’ But I got no status. He must had drawn his last breath when he came to my line fo sight. He is telling me to take him home for him and his craft. We lost no craft that, but only one very good pilot. Senior Pilot Gery Paul clocked in 129 sorties and 68 kills, but he saved one Scimitar today which is rare. We were never the same from that day. UGLY GETZ became more mean and selfish with their kills from other squad. We flew more patrol and messed up Lions’ attack more than we can count, but we did not lose our next members by flying, it was actually on friendly fire.

Lauren aka ‘93 was flying back from patrol and her engine stalled on the route. So she told me she needed to kick the gauges to kickstart on it. I told her to rush up as supper was on in twenty nodes. And if she is late, she will not get the picks of the dessert. When I landed, I logged in  as usual signalling that the squad is back. I forgot to mentioned Lauren is out there. When all crafts are back in the Carrier, the system takes over the defence of the Carrier; in this case it checks for advancing crafts and their signature or callsign. The system detected Lauren’s craft and established her ID, but according to the log records, she should be be in with the rest. So the system takes this is a rogue and initiate defences. The cannons lined her slow moving craft and blew it off the starboard. She never knew why and neither did we until Recon roughed up the Tech.

From then, we fly in and out together and never leave anyone out there unattended. But we took no new recruits as we did not want any.

‘Ian, if I turned out to be different person from what you know of me, would you still love me?’ I disliked it when she is one of those moods to ask me questions I cannot answer. I turned over on my bunk to faced the woman who shared my bunk and flight hours.

‘Cecilia, we are all different person under different circumstanes. Remember the Hot Zone, I was scared to death after being shot, but you were calm and planned the counter attack. But in other instances I was the one who was calm while you ran panicked.’

‘Ian, I am saying what if I am with the enemy like a spy; would you love me?’ I laughed at her remark and pulled her into my arms. ‘If you are with the enemy, then I may joined you there too. I can’t bear to live without you.’ She laughed at my reply and we both dropped the subject.

‘We are flying escort to the frigate Devan One back to her repair base at Trigan Quadrant. Keep your sensors on and those eyes open. Lions are seen in the nearby quadrant.’

Devan One is a Class H frigate 5,000 weight class with eight twin cannons and four missiles launchers, manned by one hundred crews. She took on a major hits in the last battle where her heroic acts saved  Carrier One from extensive damages by the Lions. She is now limping into the repair base with only twenty five surviving crews and her Commander Ellen Bain Lane, plus one big hole in her portside where the ammo store was located. The managed to seal and controlled the fire, thus saving the frigate from total collapse of the hull.. Unknown to my squad, I been briefed on a possible ‘fifth column’ in the ranks, and we are to try to flush the traitor out. According to Intel, the traitor may contact his side to arrange for a extraction and we want to be there to take it down. I am flying with Recon as wing man on the starboard while the other pair flies on the port. The sensor picked them up coming in fast.

‘Rhino’s! They got two Rhino, one Transporter and six Lions’, fast on our stern. The Rhino is a big craft with bigger cannons. She is shaped elongated with a curved up cockpit and they are normally called ‘tank ship’ for their formidable firepower . Below the cockpit is are her main cannons; all four of them. If the Rhino shoots at your craft, its possibility you need not be rescued at all. Rhino’s love to hunt frigates especially sick ones.

‘Uglies! Do ye worst....’ I urged in my squad to engaged and then I punched in the coded message. The Intel person will now lead the crew out of the frigate into the Transport 350Alpha on the top deck. It will housed the crew and take off for safety while we intercept the enemy crafts. The frigate will be set for auto destruct upon extraction.

Admiral thinks that the traitor will try to salvage the frigate as its supposed to contain the latest tracking system inside its frame. Admiral has been right so far; he said Rhino’s will come and scared the crew and then take over the frigate. So while Admiral play detective, we are on the way to bite some Lion’s tail.

‘Leave the Lions’; take the Rhino’s. Split them up and take them down.’ I went in the middle of the pack with my cannons blazing causing the enemies crafts to break for cover. I turn port with Recon and chased three of them Lions’ to run decoy. I saw on my scanner that the Recon and Apollo has led the other Lions’ too. That leaves Zeus feigning to run but he just did a sharp turnaround. He is gunning those Rhino’s, which is heading for the frigate. I cut off my thruster to drop the craft to a near stand still. I watched those three Lions over shot me on my port and starboard. Now I pedal in the thruster and went for the one on the starboard. Lone one out of the pack calls for some lessons in survival. My gun tore off his main thruster before I veered off to challenge the other two coming on my port.

I ran a zig zag course heading towards them, evading their cannons. It was then I noted the difference; they have no missiles.They are all armed with cannons like me. I can see the cannons firing on the wings and the nose, that tells me these squad is different. I heard of them; they are named the ‘Gunfighters’; paid mercenaries who took the cause for monetary gains. They have to be trained by my mentor turned professional combat pilot, Clarence Mitt. He was Command best combat trainer, and he fought with cannons. Like that way he taught me, come in close and clinch the deal.

‘Ugly, I see you are here. Been a while, son.’ That was the comms on the open band, for use in communicating with any near crafts; more like chat line.

‘Sir? I mean Commander. I see you work your magic on some new boys.’ I had to swerve to port to avoid those cannons from the Lion. Her mate is coming in from my port too, trying to set me up for a crossfire. I turned the stick to swing out further to avoid the trap.

‘Yup, Ugly. Been a while. See you still got those skills in you. But watch your aft for surprises.. and send my love to Cecilia when you see her. ’ That was when he must had shot off part of my port wing; just enough for me to limped back. I looked at my rear and saw his craft. Its a Scimitar V2.0 and he has called on his boys to retreat. ‘There will be another day, but there may not be a missed call. Be careful, son.’

Zeus clinched the Rhino’s; destroying one and disabling the other. Intel also got their traitor, the navigator assistant with a string of confessions. And me, a date with a long hidden memory.

‘Son, I am leaving Command. I am going to fly professional; join the border wars. Care to join me? You are always welcome as my wingman.’

I looked at the elderly man who taught me how to survive in a Scimitar and saved my wings more than twice. He is my idol as a father and the only one I would allowed to call me ‘son’. But I just lost my wingman in a totally freak manner. Cecilia took my opponent in a suicide crash when I am stranded with no ammo on me. That was the last of the pirate’s and she flew her Scimitar in like a missile. I knew her loads was there, but she told they won’t disengaged on her console. So she is stuck with dead missiles on her rack.

Before she rammed the pirate, she told me on comms that she is love me and to remember her always. I did with my craft named after her and my callsign to Ugly. I also said no to my mentor and told I am staying in Carrier One as combat pilot to make sure I can save more like Cecilia. He left me that day just like Cecilia. I buried two love that day, and one just came to haunt me. 

‘Commander, Zeus requested for leave of absence. His wife just died from her long term illness.’

Don;t we all lose someone we love at some time, but we all come back to be with the ones still living.

MALE TALES Issue 1.083

Issue 1.083: Fabric of love....

There is a tale I wanna share with you...

Once upon a time, there was two young person who just met each other. As they are new to each other, they exchanged pleasantries. Soon they met again, and they exchanged conversation. And the meetings became more frequent, and one day, one of them asked the other, should we go for a date. And so they did, and from there more dates came to pass. All these times, they laughed and smiled at each other jokes, and never a harsh word was spoken. Both was kind and courteous to each other.

But you see the issue then was that the meetings took place only over a period of time, and its measured in hours, and after deducting the time spent on thinking, walking and the lapses of silences, the actual communication was only minutes. But it was those minutes which we cherished much, as it brought us joy and happiness.

Soon the two person decided to be a couple, ( and we have a noun now to use and less to type ). So the couple took on their relationship to a higher level, and they learned to see beyond the conversation, and physical being. They now indulge in the emotions and draft of the inner person. They see the person as one they can relate to, in terms of feelings and soon to come inner affection. They ignored the others and the surrounding and eventually see only themselves. Its a selfish relationship and was meant to be.

As the closeness became more apparent, they felt the need to co-exist in each other lives, so they took on the words of matrimonial vows; brief in words and weighted in beliefs. The couple now bethrothed were now as one, and the seams of the relationships gives way to show the hidden fabric of their life hidden or kept away before this day. For these couple, they need to embrace these new fabrics which is now untwinged from the seams. But sometimes, the fabric unfolded may not be all silky or well printed, but may had some snags and loose threads. But the couple now is in the realm of love now, and love can do wonders. It can heal the mind to see the best of anything, and so did the couple.

Soon the fabric of the individual life of each has expanded to its individual edges, and the mending of more weaker edges need to be stitched. And everyone who held the needle will know; it does prick at times when we do stitching. The pain it brings is best not to hidden from the other, for the comfort of the other is the best medicine for those prickly pains. But soon to be the fabric of the individual now joined by the edges through our stitching to become one all encompassing the couple as one, as it was meant to be when we become as one.

When it does, any new tears in the fabric represent a tear in the couple. To mend the tear, they must think like a couple, as that was what they wanted to be when they first got to know each other. If they hold onto that thought of love which they always had, no tear cannot be stitched at all. This new fabric is like love, just as the couple holds each other in close embrace snuggled within, the love they have will never allow any tear in that fabric. 

How is that ?

God made that fabric to be our love; forever binded to us at all times, and even we are apart in distance, the fabric of love will expand to hold us together. And no more prickly feeling of pains when we are in love.

My fabric is with Amy, we threw our needles away a long time ago, as we had no need of it.

Did you throw yours too?

Ugly 1 Part 4

4

I walked into the launch area dressed in my new uniform. It also carried the rank of Commander on the sleeve. I been promoted to my new position on the achievement of mine at Qaurdrant Q. Now I am in command of my own Scimitar Squad. No more second in command and running on the side to listen to orders. I run the new squad; they are named UGLY GETZ as in whatever ugly mission, its for us to do. I kept my ‘Cecilia’ but I got new recruits; new as in they just joined UGLY GETZ. Of the five in my squad, four are from remanants of previous squad; demoted pilots or problematric ones. Or the only one left in the squad. They stand out well on launch pad area, as they come in all shapes and moods.

First Officer Girard Monrail; previously of Apollo Team Carrier Five; demoted from Lieutenant Commander to First Office for msiconduct. He was sleeping in his quarters during the attack on the Fleet. He was too drunk to wake up.

Senior Pilot Gerry Paul; previously of Squid Team, Carrier Five, before they kicked him out for reckless flying and insurbodination. I liked that as he is my kind of pilot. He is also my Wingman.

Senior Gonzlaes Pedro; no misspelling there, its his name. He was previously of Zeus, Carrier Three but could to find ayone take him as team mate, so they offered him free transfer to any fleet. Some said he was previously a pirate in GEMA Quadrant; sold out the fleet.

Senior Maryanne Luis; previously of Recon Carrier One now send to Combat as she is always sneaking into Scimitars for patrol. Her only desire is killing those bastards who killed my baby in Colony 45.

Pilot Lauran Lin; newly Combat Academy graduate and crashed two Scimitars in one week on active duty. No squad wants her, but I took her on. She is a brilliant strategist in her class of ‘‘93. Could had gone for Intel but she likes to fly and crash.

My new squad of uglies and no one wants them. I paired them in random. I told them fly out there and select your position and wingman. They did after three tries and some comms conversation not be to be recorded. Now Girard aka Apollo flies with Gonzlaes aka Zeus, Maryanne aka Recon and Lauran aka ‘93. I fly with Gerry aka No.1. Gerry loves that call sign as he figures they will come for him first.

Our standard mission is to came out quick; recon over Quadrant when the Fleet comes out of the Jump. We are to patrol to the stern of the Fleet and make sure no Lions comes in on the Fleet. We all being briefed on the new stealth tech of the Lions but the Intel has counter measure in place. They called it NOS, for Non Stealth. Trust Intel to come up with a name and it will mean nothing unless you can crack it first. So all Scimitar are installed with NOS including mine.

We took off on the cue when the Fleet arrived. I took off first, followed by No.1, Apollo and Zeus, then Recon and ‘93. ‘93 flies last out for reason she is new and if she crashed, we are all out there. So no worries of us dying with her if she crashed on takeoff. I gave them the coordinates and flight pattern. Unlike other squads who likes to cluttered, I split mine to pairs and gave them specific areas. Each of the pairs patrolled their own areas, and if the call comes, we will matched up.

‘No.1, you can take point and sweep the horizon. I will watch your aft, and don’t throw any bad smoke on me.’ Now I loved No.1, as he is flying in random pattern but conserving fuel without undue acceleration. He is gunning the engine, but he keeps it throttling for the rush if its called.

‘Recon, your status.’ I know she is twenty degree off my port and below. She should be doing fine for her craft. In fact, all their crafts are the new Scimitar V.35 with the new engine and newly designed wings. Mine is the older Scimitar V.20 but I have the gun power in her. She is fitted with the four cannons, while those new ones has three gun in a triangular setup. Its designed that wasy for the cannons to tear a hole when hitting the target, while mine peels them like fruit skins on a doubkle blade splice.

‘Ugly, we are on the pitch and the batter are not showing.’ I knew Recon used to drive her son to the BAT’s game. Sadly he died so young or his mum would be able to see him become a pitcher today.

‘Apollo, bar’s open.’ I know of Apollo obessions, but he told me he was set up that day. The Commander fixed his drink and thought he would be slamed for missing the patrol. But he did not expect the Commander not to make it back. So was most of his peers. His excuse was rejected and his record was smeared. No one remembers your heroic acts, only your disgraceful ones.

‘Drinks are slow in coming, but we might not see much tonight.’

But I was wrong; they did come in. They came in on the other side; about three packs of Lions totalling twenty five crafts, cutting the perimeter open like melted butter on a hot dry day. The Fleet dispatched off three squads to deal with them, and we were asked to recon with the new squads.

‘Fleet, I beg to differ. We are cosy here and will like to spend the time cruising.’ I never heard the Admiral to be so vocal in his selection. I got back on my squad comms bandwidth; ‘watch for boogies. I am sure they will sneak in from the back windows.’

‘Ugly, we got readings. Twenty of them on my NOS coming in fast.’ That was Recon.

‘Okay, we do it by the numbers. And its called random pick. If you see them, take them down. I will radio the Fleet.’ I changed my bandwidth and told Fleet. The reply I got was expected; do ye worst.

I saw them coming in on my port and below. I pedalled in the thruster and dive for them with cannons blazing. I saw the missiles from No.1 and he got positive on both shots. He was then on my stern blazing with his cannons. We took down five of them that run, and we swerve back, I can see Recon chasing one which his tail smoking. Her cannons ripped off those main thrusters like paper strips.

Her wingman was doing a chicken run on the other. I sympathise with the Lion, for he may had found his match. At the last moment the Lion pulled out and ‘93 took his tail off her levelled cannons. I wouldn’t do try to the chicken run with ’93; she is one crazed babe.

Zeus was merciless as he gunned down two Lions in a row by flying at them. So was his wingman Apollo; they switched position and did the works well regardless. We cleared off eight of them, while two went through to be splattered into the side of the Carrier cannons. Two of the Lions turned tail and ran for their base. We wanted to pursuit but Fleet called us to come back. We won the skirmish but lost five of the pilots on the other battle. The twenty five crafts did not come close to the fleet, they just hit and ran for base; avoiding the new squads.

When we landed, ‘‘93 and Zeus got a rundown from the Tech Head for their flying. His words as I quote; ‘the next time you scratch this crafts, I will have you paint them scratches with your fingers.’ That is what he said to me everytime I come back from patrol.

Since we formed as a squad, I have not really met my squad in their free time. So I decided to join them in the mess. After some formalities, we sat down for a card game. And I lost my bets to them, and even my command for the next patrol. Zeus will take command in my place. And that was my first regret.

We were called to patrol the area ahead of Fleet’s arrival. The Carrier was doing some maintenance works and the whole Fleet stopped for it. But patrols were sent out to recon and ours was one. We arrived at the coordinates in formation.

‘Zeus, the command is yours. Take the lead and show us how you pirates do it.’

‘Yea, you hurt my feelings, Ugly. I ought to sent you my collection of bones to show which of your ancestors fought mine.’ We all laughed at his humour and we took our rides. Then the comms broke open with a distress call. Its from a nearby asteroid field.

‘I know those calls. They are pirates and setting up a trap there. Their ships will be clinging on the asteroids like leeches and when you come there, they hit at you before you can say hello.’ I know those deceptions, and the asteroids they cling on are barren rocks which sometimes distort the readings. Before I can call in command, Zeus was off with all thruster on. Apollo followed suit as wingman. I called on Recon and ‘93 to swing to the far side of the asteroids with specific instructions while No.1 and myself followed Zues from a distance. I saw Zeus goes in to the asteroid fields followed by Apollo. We were following behind with less than two nodes by thruster. And all hell broke loose on the comms.

‘Zeus, they are behind us and around us. We will fight it out.’ Then I heard Zeus shouting;’ Get out, Apollo. You are ...’ and I heard was static. And then the flashes of fire and sounds of explosions. Both No.1 and myself swung into action, catching three small crafts tailing a Scimitar. We let loose our rounds and blew them to smittens. Then I saw the Scimitar belongs to Zeus.

‘Break out, and reformed outside the field now.’ We did as per my instruction. ‘Zeus, where is Apollo?’

‘I dunno. He was there and then gone.’ I broke comms with him and contact Recon.

‘Yes, we found her. She is here. Coordinates send to you now.’

‘Okay, squad. Time to playback the odds. Go to these coordinates and send them our love.’ The three Scimitar swerve to port and flew in with main thrusters on. We saw the Pirate Mother Ship behind the large asteroid. Recon and ‘93 joined and we gave them the best of our regards. We blasted the hull with so many holes that she broke into three portion. And the small crafts of hers were all left with no ship to dock in. We pulled back to regroup and was to fly home when we saw a Scimitar coming in.

Its Apollo, and he signalled us he is alright. On landing, Apollo told us he was chased by three mini crafts and they shot out his comms antenna. He flew away to pulled them away from Zeus. In the chase, he zig zag his way through the astreroid field causing two of the mini crafts to crashed. The last one gave up chase and went back to the base. That was when he found his way out and traced us by the thruster leftover trail. I regretted zeus action could had caused me a pilot, and never was I place any bets on my command again.

But it was not to be on Centaur IV, when we were send to do planet surface recon; the physical walking and stalking method.

‘UGLY GETZ on the prowl.’ I looked at the squad all dressed in camouflage to suit this forest area, and armed in the PK-450 rifle. But they armed it with Grenade Launcher this time. We came in on three double seater Scimitar and flew in on low levels to reach the coordinates. There we landed on vertical gears in the forest clearing and covered the crafts with the camouflage blankets. I told ‘93 and Zeus to do guard on the crafts while the rest of them followed me. As combat pilots we do sometime get volunteered for such duties when the normal team are on other missions. Today our mission is recon of a forward base of the enemy and report activities. No contact is to be established unless provoked.

And on this backwater planet, anything is provoking including the reptiles inhabitants here; they disliked to be stepped on or woke up on their nap. And according to Intel, these reptiles are mostly poisonous and nasty. The later I know now, and the former, I am trying to avoid.

But easier said than done. I was on my front looking at the base. I read the numbers to Apollo while he records them. Recon is holding the flank with No.1 covering us from a distance with his modified PK-450 on a long barrel. It was then when I finished the last count, a nasty looking fanged reptile was in my sight. I managed to roll aside, but it got its bite into my left shoulder, biting through the combat jacket. Damn! It hurts like those burning rods of Conto. Apollo was quick to snapped the head off the reptile and watched its grey liquid for blood oozing out. Apollo gabbed the Medic Aid and removed the Injector. Its the miracle drug of all poison known to us. The Injector went into my neck and that hurt more than the bite. All I can remember was the bite then.

I don;’t know what the best to do; a bullet in the head or the Injector. But he is out of circulation now. I looked at Recon and told her to take our flank. I slipped the commander on my shoulder and carried him. I ran through the same path we took earlier doing our best that the legs can do. No.I joined me and offered to carry the Commander. I shooked my head and ran on with the injured man on my shoulder. It was then, the patrol stumbled on us. I mean stumbled as I literally ran into them; a small patrol of four guards crossing our path, or ours on theirs. But they were stun to see me and the injured commander. They were taken down by Recon and No.I before they can react. Both those two had their PK-235 drawn for close quarters.

I ran on feeling my legs about to give way, and so I had to lowered him down. The other two joined me and took flank cover position for any firefight. I was a trained medic before I joined Combat Piloting, so I tried to recall my training. I looked at the wound and see its swelling big, and looked nasty. Bloody Injector did not work on this bite. I grabbed the Medic Aid and extracted the Wrist Administer. I put it on and let it run its juice into me. Then I grabbed the Commander and threw him on my back. I left my other equipment behind except the recorder. Then I ran again for the crafts while Recon and No,1 takes flank again.

There it was when the shots came in from the flanks. I did not turned to looked but I think Recon and No.1 are laying cover fire. I was not ready to dropped the Commander to play hero as I ahd no rifle then. I left it with the Commander’s at the last location. I just continue my pace while the shooting went on behind me. I heard explosions and more shots.

Then I reached the crafts and saw ‘93 and Zeus had removed the camouflage blanket. Zeus is now laying cover fire from the craft. At this level, you can see the effect of the cannons on their target. It ripped the trees off their trunks and branches even before the leaves hit the ground. I felt no sympathy for the reptiles caught in the crossfire as they were not going to fed on by the others as there was nothing left to feed on. I dropped the Commander onto the rear seat of the Scimitar and jumped into the pilot seat. I rev up the engine and engaged the vertical lift off. I could see Apollo joining Zeus while Recon is lifting her Scimitar with ‘93 in it. We all closed our cockpit cover and flew up.

‘Missiles on the aft. Countermeasures released and we are going home.’

I hit atmosphere in record time and reached for the comms; ‘Git Medic on the landing bay. I am coming in hot.’

The Medic told me I was lucky to have reached in time. Or it would had been ugly for me. I asked who brought me back and they said it was the squad.

When I asked the squad, they all owned up as a team. I guess I got my UGLY GETZ in their places. Sadly the Intel told us the details were not acceptable as we should had got in closer to the base. Apollo spend three days in the Brig for his reaction on the Intel officer. They send in another squad; this time the Marines and they never returned. So we were called in again, and we went in with six Scimitar and in one sweep we took the base out for good.

No more intel was required after that. Its one large water hole for reptiles now.

Folk Tales 34; Painnachio

Painnachio ....

Now there was a young boy who lived with his father, the puppet maker, in this small town in a some place we forgot the name. But we all remember the boy as he is very popular and funny at times. You see this boy has a unique feature; his nose grows when he tells a lie, so everyone comes to him to hear him speak the truth.

And our story begans now.

Painnachio was walking back to his father’s shop with hunched shoulders and some bruises. So the father whose name was Geppeta saw his son apperance and he threw down his tools to comfort his son. After all he has only one son, and this son was a gift by the Fairy Godmother.

‘What ails you son?’ Geppeta wipes his son’s tears as they rolled down the cheeks. He also slowly brushed off the dirt on the child clothes. ‘Did they hurt you again?’

‘No, Dad. I felled in the drain and hurt myself’, replied Painnachio but his nose grew an inch. That tells us Painnachio lied to his father.

‘No,Son. You lied to me. Your nose showed me your lies’, said the concerned father as he hugges his son closer to him. ‘I am your father, and no lies need to be created for me’.

Painnachio sobbed his eyes out and could had filled a barrel if the father did not stopped him; ‘ I think at this rate, you will be dehydrated, so stop crying. Tell me what really happened.’

Now Painnachio looked to the man he called his father, when in fact that man is actually his inventor.

You see, Painnachio was made of wood like the puppets in the shop, except his inventor loneliness called for love of a son, and this was heard by the Fairy Godmother. As he was making a wooden puppet then named Painnachio, the Fairy Godmother used her magical wand to change the wooden puppet into a real boy. 

But there was a condition to his production; his nose will grow when he speaks of lies.

The Fairy Godmother meant well, as she wanted the boy to be truthful to his father, but she did not understand the implication of her act then.

So Painnachio related to the Father of his day, and how he was forced to tell the truth, and when spoken out, it brought him more pain. As some truth cannot be spoken but to be kept as secrets. Since Painnachio is a good boy, everyone tells him things including secrets at times. He then spoke of secrets’ of theirs as if it is his.

Painnachio wished he had not changed into a boy and would like to remain as a puppet. As a puppet, he is devoid of feelings and can’t talk like a boy. And no one can force him to tell the truth and if they hit him, he will just not feel any pain.

But second secret he had was if he become back a puppet, he will hurt his father who loved him as a son. So he does not want that to happened too. So he prefers to suffer his pain as a boy in  silent than to see his father suffers as a lonely man. 

Now that both secrets are out, both father and son wept in tears for they felt the pain of each other.

And came the Fairy Godmother, who said, she can put things back to normal if they want. But only if they want it.

Both Painnachio and Geppeta looked at each other and they both shook their head.

‘The pain I feel is on the body and not of my soul. If I am selfish to rid myself of this, I am hurting another soul in the making. I think I will stay as I am’ replied Painnachio.

And so they lived on with each other, in pain and joy they both shared.

( When in times of pain, we looked to those moment of joy for the healing powers. )

The Conflict in the Circle

An Excepts:

Generals and Emperor

General And General, Two of one rank,One dark and one short of a limb.
One is tall, and wears silk.A cowl with a devious smile
The other twisted in mind and body.Sweet seduction be gifted
His thoughts drips with greed of a land coveted by many
It truly a pact of the devil with the lord.

Friend’s at a glance of the eye, foe’s hidden behind the sight
And works for the same, plotting kind to the comfort of the emperor.
Keenly wrapped for the New Land Buts its dances in the shadows of malice.

Emperor he is, not seen or heard most times
Among the people he rules, jealousy by his mother
She corrupt his soul and ruled in his name.

He is still emperor in name; Generals, strike in my name
Set against ,my allies; Cost me my friends’ lives.
Force that day of my victory; for its end my concern for the others.

But not known to him, the generals promised nothing that will befall him.
His mother knows and she sought the realm, palace alike, roused the other servants
pledged their life to the cause of protecting her son from the generals
but they fear their own necks than the mother

Only a lone loyal guard, long in service seen but not heard too.
Only the guard can stop the generals or he will die in that pledge.

The emperor of New Land has protection now
a sigh of hope against the generals but can one do against two on that day
or is it New Land’s end, we will see in this tale.

Neither of us care to know how this twisted tale will tell
but we hope wellness will prevail when the battle ends.
and bringing on the end,of either the general or the emperor
So that we as the people can live on peacefully alone.

( Inspired and written by Jimmy Loong. Sept 25^th 2011. )

Ugly 1 Part 3

3

I counted twenty five technicians and fifty guards, on two rotations. Four towers with heavy armaments and twenty alert sensors at the entrance of the cave and near the cave. There is two Missile Launcher; some distance away but one on each side of the cave. Those are the bastards who took Cecilia. The Launchers are guarded by two guards each on the rotation basis.

The accomodations of the men are inside the caves next to the crafts, and the technicians hardly ventured out to the forest. I reckon my best chances are either to walked into the cave and surrender, or go in guns’ blazing. That way they can main me, captured me, interrogate me, and maybe allowed me to demonstrate on how to fly the craft. Or I can take out the guards one by one, allowing for them to move into my gun sight position. That assuming I killed half of them by daylight and the other half by night time, I might make it there before their reinforcements arrived.  

But I think I got a better one. And this is how I will do it.

I went to the nearest Launcher and watched their routine. The two guards are relieved at near dusk by the two new guards. The relieved guards walked back to the cave. When they reached the sensors, they raised a receiver on them to clear the sensors. But the sensors are near the Tower which has one guard. Sometimes I see the guard on the Tower talks to the returning guards. So its tricky to walked just like that. I needed a diversion.

And I got it.

I took the first guard down at the Launcher with a head shot. When his friend turned to what happened, I shot him too in the head. I had to wait for the right moment to shoot, and that moment came when the guard went over to the nearby tree to released himself. When he came back, I shot him down from behind. I removed the bodies to the side and changed into the uniform. I could not find the receiver, so I assumed it is with the other guards; the one relieving them.

I then proceeded to work on the Launcher unit. I rigged it to fire at a certain time, and I was ready. The relieved guards came on time, and started asking for the missing man. I fired my PK-235 at his head and also to his surprised friend. I took the receiver and walked back to the cave. I stopped before the Tower to wait my timing. Then I saw the opportunity when the guard was facing to the other side. I quickly walked up and passed the Tower. I saw him looking down so I holler out; ‘wait...’ as if the other person has walked into the cave. “wait’ was one of the few words I knew. I was hoping that the guard on the tower cannot see far into the cave due to the dark shadows in the cave at this time. I know the lights will be turned on soon when its get darker.

I walked up the crafts to see them clearly. In my uniform the technicians were ignoring me and moreover it was near to their meal times. And they were leaving for their accomodations.

Its the Carrier Five Fleet crafts and they all showed marks of fire and damages. I noticed some of them had their parts removed and they willl not fly. It was then I saw the fitted one with the cannons intact. She has  fuel and ready for flight. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to see a technician talking to me, I know he is asking me what am I doing here, and I gave him my answer.

I lowered his body to the nearest pile of discarded parts in the near corner. I made my way back to the craft I saw earlier. I climbed in and sat on the familair seat I know of. I punched in the codes and the plane slowly rumbled to life. I checked the indicators and levels. Its low in fuel but I can fly it. Its low in ammo and only one gun is working. But it will fly.

By then the whole cave was lighted up and guards and technicians were running around. I pedalled out the craft and turned it towards starboard. As I did the turn, I pulled the trigger as I used to do always. I swerve the craft from there to port, strafing the other crafts. Some of the bullets must had hit fuel tanks because they are some explosions. It was then I rolled the craft out to the entrance and nosed up the craft. She took off on her own inertia and it was then the rigged Launcher fired its missile. I set the Launcher to fire its missile in a straight direction and the launcher was positioned to face the cave entrance. When I took off in the craft, I swung to the other Launcher which was calculating its countdown and arming its missile. I took my cannons to it, causing a massive explosion when I hit the missile itself. 

Then I was flying off the forest into the clouds and onto the open space. I am flying with no more ammo and low on fuel, but I have a working comms set. I called in the reinforcements and was rescued within the moment. The Carrier One made sure there are no more hidden bases there on Q101M1.

‘Lieutenant Commander Stone, welcome back to the fleet. Your report has been reviewed and we did find debris of Scimitar crafts in the area, and we acknowledge the return of one which is badly damaged. But we found no more new enemy bases. So it could be a clandestine operation of some pirates who is trying to salvage our crafts, and not our real enemies. But we are holding you in disobeying an order. You were supposed to fly recon on Q101 and why did you go to Q101M1.  We are not keen on your reply as during your absence, we lost five more pilots. So you are suspended on your charges if you return to active duty.’

Do I have a choice?

I did not care as I see my ‘Cecilia’ in her new body.

The markings of APPOLO has been replaced with STRIKER. And so are her missiles launchers,

Now a new set of cannons are in place. The rest are still the same; salvaged parts of some lost squadrons’. But to me, she is still my ‘Cecilia’ and I am married to her.

MALE TALES Issue 1.082; Planning 'pour vous'...

Issue 1.082: Planning ‘pour vous’....

I wanted to start the title as Planning for Dummies as in the series of Dummies books, but I shall not insult my readers..... we ain;t no dummies nor bunnies in stockings. So I searched for a word to describe my thoughts and voila! I had it ..... its called pour vous in French or in ‘for you’ in English.

So what is planning? We hear most people says it almost daily, from shopping for groceries and even lingeries ( I am serious here..... ) to complex mathemetical designs.

But do we know what planning do?

Some said we need to to plan for success or failure, or plan to fail or fail to plan.....

but its going to fail, why do we need to plan for it. Honestly, that will be a waste of time, if one plan to fail....... but some may just do that.

I know of one chap who plan to fail his exams so his gf will coach him in the subject. He is a total idiot ( which is what she actually called him. ) as she left him for someone who actually studied...talk of dumb blonde’s, this one is one dummy teen.

Do we really plan to fail. I mean for example, you want to plan to drown by the seaside, do you wait for the tides to overcome you, or do you plan to lie at where the tides can cover you at high tides or jump into the sea. I dunno, as its takes some effort of planning to do both, for all you know the sea line  could be fall out during low tides and you may had to walked rather far to reach it. Statistically proven, amost all sea drowning are not planned, so don’t even think of planning one.

Back to our issue here, do we plan at all?

One great man once told me, 99% of the people do NOT plan.... thats is good, or we will all be pondering all out lifes.

But 1% do, and only 1% of those who do plan, actually carries out their plan.

And out of the 1% who carries out their plan, only 1% actually succeed in it. Or completes it.

So statistically speaking, its 1% of 1%, of 1% which is very small in number.

How do we know if you actually plan your life?

I give you a simple example, I tested on a young teen about to come out to work. We drove down the street, and I asked him; ‘Do you know that 1% of the people on this street earns 99% of the money here? So do you want to the in the 1% or joined the rest of 99%?’

His answer was expected as it came out within three seconds of the ending of my question. We all know the answer, and I almost knocked down a man crossing the street. Luckily I planned my attention to look for earrant pedestrians although technically we would like to reduce them to pulp for endangering good careful driver of cars.

In case for those of who did not know his answer, he went with the majority.

I can’t failed him, as he was ( technically he was then ) in the 99% group. But some years later, I saw him slowly crawling out of that group into the 1% but he has yet to hit the balance 1% of 1%.

Time will tell if he does. Its called a desire to plan for plans. You see the 1% of the 1% of us, have this desire ( if I may used the term ) to plan although we know it may fail but we hang onto the thin thread of possible success.

That make us hold onto the concept of hope more than others.

And for the mass, we do ponder over a cup of coffee or the pint of half mug beer......to complete or not to, that was on our mind then. But heck if I am paying for it, I will complete it.

To my new reader(s) from Russia...

Добро пожаловать на мой блог, мои друзья. Пожалуйста, войдите и читать мои рассказы

Or in English ( I used Google Translate for the above )

Welcome to my blog, my friends. Please do log in and read my tales.

Folk Tales 16; Ton Thumb

Ton Thumb  ....

There was never a day which the poor Mother of Ton Thumb would never sigh, as she think of her son. Ton is not her only son; she has five to be exact excluding Ton, and they are all of normal as in normal by the view of the people.

But not Ton; when he was born, his right hand thumb was enormous, and that actually scared the midwife then. But Ton was born to a very lovable mother who nurtured him, and always tell him; ‘Ton, you are no different from the other kids but you have a unique gift which one day will tell you more’.

So Ton lived his young life with the taunts and gossip of his deformity, but he has five sturdy and brave brothers who never left his side, and took on any others to defend their brother’s honor. Soon Ton grew up and he finds himself always shorter than the rest while his thumb just grew bigger.

So one day, his dying mother looked at her sons’ especially the one with the huge thumb, she said;’take him away to a place where people can see him for himself’. As that was her dying wish, the children agreed. Upon their mother’s death, they left the place called home for a long time, and took on a journey of ‘walk straight and look not back’.

On their journey, the people who saw Ton Thumb will comment on his deformity, and the brother’s fought them all. But they also in some places, found their new roots, so they decided to stay back to nurtured the new roots. Eventually, it was only Ton and his eldest brother Tin.

‘Brother Tin, follow me no more. You find yourself a home at the next town, and I will move on myself. Dinna worry, I will be fine.’ And so he did, with Tin staying back at the town.

Now Ton came to many places on his own, and he encountered many adventures. Once he plugged a dyke wall with his thumb while the mason was still fixing the gap. He also endorsed some products for good quality with his infamous thumb. Even some doctors studied his thumb, as it was easier to read his than the normal guys one. He was also invited to ‘thumb’ his mark outside a chinese theater when others actually left a palm print. The best was he was invited to support a Presidential candidate with the slogan; ‘Thumbs up!’.

By then, Ton Thumb was travelling in a limo in his travels, and he still can’t find the place his mum mentioned to him. But he did finally reached that place on his thirty six birthday, he arrived in a town called ‘Thumbs’.

Well, nobody there has a thumb like his, but they acknowledged his popularity improve the town’s image.

So he settled there, and a year later, he married a lady named Thumbelina. And they had ‘tons’ of kids. I know him as a good friend and am godfather to his kids. Ton actually ‘thumbprint’ every birth certificate of his children as he never learn to write or read.

( A defect at birth is not our own doing, and if others can learn to see beyond that will be their own doing. )

Ugly 1 Part 2

Episode 2

2

If there was a reason for me to join the flying school, it was the fear of death by dying for too long before it happened. I saw my parents died in their time; lingering hours of pain and anxiety. She was first, a victim of disease and then the disease took her life but not before she endured months of pain and more pain. He died from long hours of waiting and sitting in the walled cell. He was to be sentenced to death for the assisted murder of my mother, but he could not bear the pain she was having. She told him so, so he shot her in the bed. For that, he was send to prison for his merciful act. Yes he also shot the enforcement officer, but that man was trying to take away his life with the pointed weapon. He shot first and they took him down for murder. The debated for over sometime, and kept him longer than needed before they took the man to his death. But it killed him the waiting for the moment to die, he told me so.

And that was how I enrolled in the flying school on call for military pilots. I am one of the best in those days when I used to run those smugglers trades. I been doing it since I was aged twelve from basic runs to complicated ones on anything that can fly. My favourite is the old freighter of mine called Cicely and she runs like a fox although she looks like a old whore. I did not change her machines; I just tuned them up and cranked up some nuts and bolts. And of course a new booster pump on the thruster. She will outfly those newer machines with her think fumes of after thrust releases. Now I feel like her; an old shell in the mind of a young man.

I never liked to crash and this was my first as combat pilot although I crashed before but those were my old rigs. I tried to move all my limbs and they are responding although they are painful to move. I stretched my main body frame and felt the nerves sending flaks to my mind but its not broken any places. I reached for the cockpit emergency released button, and it should pop open the cover of the cockpit. I could not see out much as the cockpit is all covered in a silver coating for space flying.

Pop!

The released catch is sprung and the cover slowly raised itself to open. It slowly opened  my view to the outside environment, and all I could see now was green leaves and broken branches. Then the cover stopped opening as it hit a barrier to allowed it to open. But the space was big enough for me to crawl through. I took hold of my safety hinges and unlocked them to allowed me to move. Then I slowly raised my left leg to the open space on the cockpit. It was then I remembered my survival training and losing a leg was not in the training. I pulled my leg back in again and tried to raise my upper body. Its like pulling yourself from the jaw of the predator after it has taken a bite off you. But I did it and held myself up on the ledge of the cockpit. I peek out and see more of my surrounding.

It was then the whole place seemed to collapsed down. I felt the fall as I landed back on my haunches in the seat. Somehow the craft fell some height and now landed on someplace more solid. This time there was no barrier to the cockpit cover and it opened fully. I could see from my seated position that I am in a thick tree growth environment with some undergrowth around the tree trunks. I remembered my training on Troy IV, where this was quite similar. I remembered those creepy tree clinging reptiles whose favorite speech is a hiss to your face. I reached for my sidegun below my left shoulder. Its a standard PK-235; a handgun with eight rounds of ammo. They are designed to snuggly fit under the armpit and has a firepower to stop a raging woman on you, if you hit her on the forehead. But it will do for now.

I made it out of the cockpit with all my limbs in places. I am standing now next to Cecilia and watching her bruised body marks. She won’t fly for sometime unless she gets Tech’s help. She landed me on the trees and then when I moved, she landed me on the solid ground about a drop of 10 points. She clipped her left wing and her right one still looks okay. Her nose is dented and so are her fire power. I looked around the place and see only green foliage and trees. I looked back at the trail where Cecilia came in to land and saw almost a kilometre long of damages.

I reached for the compartment behind the cockpit on the outside of Cecilia. I pressed the codes and the unit dispensed off a long elongated metal box. It fell off onto the ground with a heavy load. I punched in the required codes on the panel on the top of the box to open the cover. Inside the box is my survival kit; a PK 450 Rifle, a backpack with emergency rations and medical aids for a stay of one moon cycle, some camping gears and misc items. If you put those items on your body, you will look like a Marine trooper on their routine marching patrol.  But I am not fit to carry even the backpack now. I reached for the medical aids and retrieved an Administer pack. Its like a wrist wrap but this one has a wide metal ring on it. Once you clasp it on your left or right wrist, it will administer you the needed dosage you need to feel like a man again and it helps you to heal your pains.

I feel fine now, and the body limbs are starting to feel like normal again. I slowly stretched my body to all the needed directions to loosen any stiff muscles. It was then I heard the flying sound above me. On instinct I crouched down and reached for the PK 450. It has an ammo of thirty rounds, and they can blast anything that comes near it. Its designed as a Marine rifle, but the Marines finds it lacks the range they needed, and the extra ammo power. So the flying boys adopted it; cut off the barrel to shorten it and threw away the fixed stock for a foldable one, and add in a night vision for the rifle. I grabbed the backpack and stored back the Medic aids, strung up the sleeping gear and the machete, grabbed the SW radio and backup battery. The rest I stored back in the survival case, and replaced it back in the craft.

I then proceeded to the left of me by instinct and started running to get a reasonable distance from the craft. I should had self destruct it, but I loved Cecilia to blow her up. I ran for some distance, skipping over branches and roots and clearing the undergrowth for a better path. I must had run for about one kilometre before I stopped to rest. Whatever it was pumping in my wrist is not compensating for my run, as I felt really tired. I strained my ears to listen for any sounds of pursuit but there was none. I looked around me and felt this was a good spot to rest. So I lowered my equipment and raised myself to the nearest top branch. I climbed up and soon find a comfortable place for my rest in between the main branch and trunk. I climbed down and slowly moved my equipment up to the nesting I created. Then after I have completed my tasks, I laid down to rest.

‘Squad Leader Lieutenant Commander Stone, am I getting your attention in my briefing?’

I looked from across the room to faced the Flight Commander, Major Rebecca Long aka ‘Red Drag’. I nodded my confirmation and focus my eyes on the electronic board at the back of the Flight Commander. I was looking at the beautiful lady in the row ahead of me, second from the right of my current position. Her name is Cecilia Thames, Senior Pilot, latest recruit to the Team Striker 5. She was to replace my wingman of over twenty sorties who got hit in the last, and he was the only one who can stay long enough with me. And now she is trying to fill the void. I read her report and it said she graduated to combat flying only recently and before this she was with Carrier Recon Group; the ‘I bring your mails’ flyers. But since her graduation,she has notched in ten kills and one unconfirmed. As a Recon pilot, that is extraordinary good. Her call sign is ‘Red Head’ and she is red in her hair. Guess they think they are fierce in the fights.

But I disliked any ‘red’ callsign. They are a bane in my side when its comes to comms. Everybody wants to have their call sign; ‘red’ like ‘Red Baron’, ‘Red Ace’, or ‘Red Eye’. Or their team be called ‘Red Hot’, ‘Red-dy Now’ or even stupid ones like ‘Red Me’. Me, I am called ‘Ugly Darkling’ and once you know my call-sign, you remembered it well.

We were flying with the squad at some sector I cannot recalled. There she was on my stern and holding formation. There were eight of us, and ‘Red Drag’ was on point with her wingman, ‘ Jonah Jinx’. He is good pilot but too good when its comes to supersitition. He calls himself Jonah since his name is bad luck then the reversed of it is good luck. He survived many sorties and is the mascot of the squad. More to it, he has a good commander who take care of him. And he of her.

We spotted the enemies crafts; all ten of them returning from a nearby raid on the settlement. We gave chase and a space fight took place. We won the skirmish with no losses compared to eight enemies craft destroyed.

That evening, we had our celebrations and I got to know Cecilia better.

It was the sound of the broken twig which woke me up. I reached for the rifle strung across my body in the body strap and slowly wiped away the moisture on my face. I lowered the gun sight to see the ground below. It was dark and I could not see well into the darkness. I slowly raised the rifle telescopic to my eyes and peeked through it. I could see two of them down there, all dressed in their uniform and armed. They are all wearing googles for night viewing and must had been desperate to find me to work so late. One of them reached for his comms and spoke into it. I could make out the foreign words in every three words he spoke of. They are ‘searched’, ‘find’ and ‘moving’. Guess they did not find me. And are moving on. So they left the spot below and walked on. As for me, I remained on the branch and held my vigilance till day break.

As I sat on the branch, I thought back of my mission. It was a simple one; recon and return. ‘Q’ Qudrant is assumed to be free of any enemies and in fact it holds no military strategic importance. There are five planets in this quadrant with one big sun to give it life, if there was any. But the earlier survey said it hold no intelligence lifes. So the quadrant was locked for future explorations or colonies. But only the middle ring of planets are habitable for distance of the sun from them. And there is only one planet Q101 and one moon Q101M1. I know we are losing some settlements in some planets or moon due to the war but his place is way out of any trade routes and also popular quadrants. Now more so why are the enemies doing here when we are just exploring it.

I removed my wrist Administrator and pocket it back in the Medic Aids. Now I can explore my area and hopefully get out of this place. I left my backpack and gears on the tree,and climbed down. I have my weapons and I needed to see Cecilia, so I back track my trail. She is still there, but there is a difference. There are some guards wathcing over her, and they are only two of them.

One is searching inside the cockpit and the other is at the survival box trying to open it. Somehow he realised he can’t do it, so he took out his handgun to shoot at the panel. If he does that, the box will explode as its designed to do so in situations like this. I cannot allow it, so I took my rifle and took the shot at the man with the handgun. Then I raised my rifle to take the other who was trying to get outside his gun on the ground. My rifle fires silent shots which is one of the modification in the rifle we liked.

I stepped out of the treeline to approach Cecilia. I checked the enemy on the ground next to the survival case. He is dead, and so was the one in the cockpit. I lined up the dead enemies in a row, and removed their rations. I found the night googles and a set of long range viewfinder, plus a location indicator; its like an electronic map of the area. I then looked at Cecilia, and told her no one will ravaged her anymore. I will not permit it anymore. I set the self destruct and ran away.

I heard the loud explosion just before I reached  the camp tree.

‘Ugly, would you marry me one day?’ Cecilia has to asked me this question when we are on patrol. And this was the fifth time she done it. I means this is the comms and I don’t who else is listening. Maybe even ‘Red Drag’ and I hate her to catch onto me with that remark.

‘Red Head, can we discuss this off the comms? I think we got our company coming in.’ Cecilia knows my answer and it was always the same. I promised to marry her after the war, and not now or before it was over. I am not being selfish; its just I do not want her to be tagged a widow. But she does this to me every now and then. I know she is taunting me to keep our love alive. But right now, I am just keen to see this mission through.

‘Freighter Maryone, this is Striker team Five from the Military One Carrier. You are to follow us to these coordinates being send to you. Any attempt to leave the course set will result in the act of treason and we will do the needed to arrest your crew and the ship. Do you apprehend our instruction?’

She is a registered 50,000 ton cargo ship, but from Intel reports she is carrying weapons for the enemies. A freighter that size, she can carry more than eight of my craft in her; unassembled of course. Or loads of warheads. Their reply was a release of cannons fires at us. They are normally armed with two sets of twin cannons in the side, but this four sets on the sides and two more twin cannons on the front. That confirmed our suspicions of Maryone and confirmed the Intel findings. But Intel also did not tell she has flight bays builtin her sides. Now they are spewing mini crafts that are actually drones with cannons and mini warheads. There are four drones and they are controlled by the tracking system on the freighter.

‘Take out the freighter and the drones are dead.’ I stepped on my pedal and flew into strafe the freighter.

‘Answer me, Ugly, or I will die today.’ I hate woman with death wishes. But she took her death wishes too serious, because she flew in to the line of fire from the freighter and weave her craft in, and lay those cannons on the gunports. She is good as two of the drones got caught in the crossfire and was down.

‘Yes, woman.’

God, I hate this, but I am coming up from the top of the freighter with the remaining drones on my aft. They are shooting at my craft, but the missing shots are hitting the Freighter, which is something the tracking system does not compensate for. ‘Pulled out, woman. She is going to blow.’

And so she did as I do.

And we all had a good flight back for a long passionate night.

Two planet nights of evading the patrols and eating my given ration, I finally made headway into my escape plan. I found their base of operation. Its was not far where I landed but carefully concealed inside the mountain side. Its a cave on the mountain side, with a large entrance for a craft to pulled in. From my view, I can see crafts inside. So its a hangar for the craft; all sixteen of them lined for ease. And they looked like mine. Sorry, they are Scimitars in design, but they carry different squad markings. I see the markings of Apollo, Zeus, Thor and the other I know not of. I remember these belong to Military Five Fleet which were ambushed in Gema Quadrant. Half the fleet was destroyed and they lost almost all their crafts including the Scimitars’ squadron. The Scimitar was the ones covering the retreat and none came back to the new base. Maybe they are captured when they ran out of ammo or partially destroyed and recovered for repairs here.

But I saw no pilots, only guards and technical personnels. Too many guards to be exact.

So what can I do now?

Heck, its what I do best; taking reckless risks. For Cecilia.