Chapter 4

We all arrived at the waiting room of the Assignment Branch at 0800 the next morning, Wednesday. There wasn’t a long wait before the receptionist started calling our names.

“Colonel Ferguson, report to room A-7 for your assignment,” she called, and this was followed by, “Captain Jensen report to room B-5 for your assignment.” Trish and I were both up out of our seats on hearing this and headed for the appropriate hallway.

“Master Sergeant Luther report to room C-6.”

“Master Sergeant Miranda report to room C-7,” I heard the receptionist finish before reaching room B-5.

Arriving at door B-5, I knocked and heard a voice say, “Come in Captain and close the door.”

The room that I entered was large enough for a good size desk and a couple of chairs without crowding. There was a male civilian sitting behind the desk.

“Have a seat Captain Jensen,” he told me, indicating that this wouldn’t be very quick. There was already something on his computer screen, but I couldn’t read it from where I sat.

“You have been selected to attend the Officer’s Advance Course, Captain. Because of your recent promotion, however, you will first be attending the administrative portion of the Officer Basic course. This will keep you busy for five weeks, until the next class of the Advanced Course starts. The course is 18 weeks long.

“Following completion of the Advanced Course, you will rejoin your Team for the origination phase of the First Special Operations Mobile Headquarters Team. It is expected that it will require about six months to get things organized, and all of your personnel and equipment on board, so that you are operational.

“Following that, your Team will participate in operational exercises here on Ainalhai III until assigned to an operation that will require your unit,” the assignment officer informed me.

“When do I report to this Administrative Course?” I asked.

“You will need to report there on Sunday afternoon. I have printouts showing all of your assignments with the reporting dates and locations of each, that I will give you before you leave,” he told me.

“Now we need to discuss your Team’s Partners,” he continued with a smile.

“What about them do we need to discuss?” I asked in a concerned voice.

“I understand that you are the Team Commander even though there is a Lieutenant Colonel on your Team, and that there are four Partners. Is that correct?” he asked.

“Yes, there are two Tigers and two Eagles on the Team. There are a male and a female of each species. The Eagles had chicks while we were on Addison III. There are two Eaglets.

“Susie, the female Tiger, gave birth to three Kits on board the Aegean at about the middle of the trip here,” I continued.

“So the Kits are only a couple of weeks old then,” he asked.

“Yes, a bit over two weeks or so,” I agreed.

“A veterinarian will need to check the cubs. Is that possible?” he asked.

“I’m sure that Susie will agree to that,” I told him.

“The representative from the Partners Training School will call on you at your quarters tomorrow morning. That is the earliest that they had someone available,” the assignment Officer told me, before handing me several printouts with my assignments on them and the details of when and where to report on each one. I was released following that by being told, “Have a good day, Captain.”

On being released, I headed for the restaurant where we had met yesterday. We had all agreed to meet there when we had received our assignments. I wasn’t the first one to arrive. Miranda was sitting at a table when I got there. I joined her after ordering something to drink. I hadn’t received the strange looks from the staff that I had yesterday.

“Any problems?” I asked as I took a seat.

“Not really,” she replied, before asking, “Should we wait until everyone is here before starting to go over our assignments?”

“That would probably be best. There will be the least repetition that way,” I told her. We had only been sitting there for a short time when Luther joined us. He too ordered something to drink, but said little since neither of us were saying much.

The Colonel arrived a short time after Luther. She didn’t order anything, but took a seat before saying anything.

“May I presume that we all have assignments now?” she asked.

“Yes, sir,” I told her but went no further, waiting to see what she had to say.

“Let’s start with Miranda, as I believe she may have the least to say after what I was told. Go ahead, Lucy,” she told her.

“I start the Senior NCO Course in about 10 days. It is to last not quite three months. Following that, I report to the Magic Training School to help out there. When Mary Whelan retired, they created a more formal teaching arrangement. All of the teachers now work in a school type of environment. The facility is located some distance from the headquarters facilities in case there is an accident. When the rest of you finish your training, I’ll join you for the origination of the First Special Operations Mobile Headquarters Team,” Lucy told us before falling silent.

“Joel,” the Colonel said next.

“I guess that I’ll be in the same Senior NCO Class as Lucy, since mine starts in 10 days also. Until then I’m to exercise the Eaglets daily to ensure that they can fly well. Following the course, I’m to report to the Eagle Training School over on Continent 2. I’ll be helping to train Eagles to work with Human Partners. It seems that the smaller birds are being replaced by Eagles on quite a number of Teams. The hold-up is the availability of enhanced and trained Eagles. I was led to believe that Samson and Sara would be there also to help,” Joel finished.

“What about the Mobile Headquarters Team? Will you be on it?” the Colonel asked.

“Yes, sir. When you start organizing the unit, I’ll be joining you along with Samson and Sara,” Joel assured her with a smile.

“Cleve?” the Colonel asked next.

“I’m scheduled to start the Officer’s Advanced Course shortly, but first I’ll be attending the administrative portion of the Officer’s Basic Course. It will be 5 weeks long, and the Advanced Course is 18 weeks long. Following that, I’ll be joining all of you for the origination of the First Special Operations Mobile Headquarters Team. I was told that they are looking at six months for it to become operational,” I told them.

“What about your Partners?” the Colonel asked.

“A representative of the Partners Training School is scheduled to arrive tomorrow to discuss the Partners and their training. From what Joel said, it appears that he will be helping out there for a time,” I told the others, before adding, “A Veterinarian will also be coming to check on Susie and the Kits.” We all looked over at the Colonel when I had finished.

“I’ll be starting the Senior Officer’s Course in about 21 days. Before that I’ll be taking the administrative portion of the Officer’s Advanced Course. It appears that it will be from the class that will graduate before Cleve’s class begins.

“From what I’ve been told, the Senior Officer’s Course has very small classes, something on the order of three or four students per instructor. It will run 22 weeks even with those few students. Following that, I’ll be the one organizing the First S. O. Mobile Headquarters Team. There will be a number of others on the Team to handle the things that we obtained from the Army on Addison III,” she told us.

“Have you learned anything specific about the Mobile Headquarters Team?” I asked.

“Only that its makeup will be covered in all of our classes, probably near the end. It would appear that they want all senior people aware of what is being developed,” she told us.

“So, we will all be moving then?” Joel asked in a questioning voice.

“I would presume so, but apparently not all at the same time,” the Colonel told us.

“Any idea of what time the representative of the Partners Training School will arrive tomorrow?” Joel asked.

“I wasn’t given a time, only that they would be here in the morning. Let us presume that they will arrive early. If they don’t, we can start checking our equipment and the Partners’ equipment until they arrive,” I told them.

“That seems reasonable. Most of the offices here appear to open at 0730, so we should be ready by then to receive the representative,” the Colonel agreed. We ordered more to drink along with some pastries before returning to our quarters.

The representative of the Partner Training School, a Captain Monaghan, arrived at 0815 on Thursday morning along with a Dr. Dexter, one of the veterinarians at the Training School.

“Your Team and your Partners were quite a surprise when the information about all of you arrived at the school a few days ago,” Captain Monaghan told us after the introductions and greetings were all taken care of.

“How so?” the Colonel asked, taking the initiative.

“We had never had Partners for a Team arrive where both species had young,” Dr. Dexter told us, before adding, “Especially Eagles, as there is usually only one of them on a Team.”

“What about the lesser birds? Usually there are two or more of them on a Team,” Luther asked.

“Normally, there are no provisions for them to nest, and all of the Partners are usually needed by the Teams all of the time,” the Captain told us, before changing the subject.

“We are actually here this morning to go over with you, and your Partners, the plans for their transfer to the school, and what they will be doing there while all of you are in school,” the Captain added.

“Will it be just while we are in school?” the Colonel asked.

“For the Eagles, it normally would be, however, for the Tiger cubs, there may be a problem with that,” Dr. Dexter told us.

“Problem?” I asked, worried.

“Just how old are the cubs?” she asked.

“About two weeks plus old, maybe three weeks by now,” I told her.

“So, their eyes won’t be open for another five weeks or so, and they won’t start eating meat for another ten weeks at the earliest. Usually they don’t begin accompanying their mother on hunts until they are eight months old or so and then they spend a year or more learning to hunt. They usually leave their Mother between two and three years of age, but that is for normal Tigers.

“We have found that enhanced Tigers are ready to accompany their parents hunting earlier and learn to hunt faster, especially if both parents are there to train them. They will also be training them to work with Human Partners. Additionally, we have a few retired Tigers who help train older cubs when their parents are required by their Teams. I would say that you should have your Partners back in about nine months, Captain,” the Doctor finished.

“That’s not too bad. I was worried that they would be tied up for over a year and a half,” I told her.

“We’ve had great success with the current program. The limiting factor has always been a shortage of cubs,” she told me.

“Just where will they be staying?” I asked.

“We have an area of just over 100 sq. miles set aside for them. It is well stocked with game, and there is plenty of water in the area. It’s located in the temperate zone on Continent 2. We will be entering the autumn time frame while they are there,” she told us.

“When will you be moving them?”Joel asked in a worried voice.

“We will be moving all of your Partners in about six days. I understand that you have a nest for the Eagles and a den for the cubs and Susie. Those will go with them, while the Tigers’ cage will remain here. It will be serviced, repaired as needed, and upgraded. They can reclaim it when they return,” the Captain informed us.

“Where will the den be located?” I asked.

“There is a cave that it will be located in to keep the cubs safe. With both parents there, one can stay at the cave while the other hunts,” the Captain explained.

“If there aren’t any more questions, Dr. Dexter would like to check the Partners,” he told us.

“It would be best to check the Eagles first, as they would be resistant to me checking on them, if I smelled like a Tiger,” the Doctor told us. We all went up to the roof so the Doctor could check on the health of the two Eagles and the Eaglets. Being enhanced herself, she had no difficulty speaking to them about what she wanted to do.