Chapter 3

The following characters return from the previous story:

SGT Natalie Maharaj

MSG, Team Leader of Team A-31, Clare’s Partner, 5’-11’’ tall. 175 pounds, 36C-25-36, 39 years old, long black hair worn in a bun, brown eyes

Clare

Female Tiger, Natalie’s Partner, 111 inches long with a 34 inch tail, 38 inches tall at the shoulder, 350 pounds, not quite 5 years old

SGT Dixon, Max

SFC, former Team member, now handles Mike the Cougar, 6’-1’’ tall, 210 lb, 36 years old, brown hair, gray eyes

Capt Laura Mellifont

Captain, Veterinarian, 5’-11’’ tall, 168 lb, 36C-24-36, 32 years old, auburn hair, gray eyes

SGT Dan Khawam

SFC, Millie’s Partner, 6’-0’’ tall, 195 pounds, 34 years old, brown hair, gray eyes

Millie

Female Bald Eagle, Dan’s Partner, 40 inches body length, 7’-4’’ wing span, 13 pounds, younger that Samson and Sara

Moran, Laurine (Lori)

MSG, Team Leader of Team A-23, handles Mindy the Cougar, 5’-10’’ tall, 156 pounds, 36C-24-36, 34 years old, long blond hair worn up in a bun, hazel eyes, fully enhanced

Ward, Artemas (Art)

SFC, handles John the Falcon, 6’-0’’ tall, 185 pounds, 32 years old, brown hair, gray eyes, fully enhanced.

Reed, Abaigeal (Abby)

SFC, handles Jen the Falcon, 5’-9’’ tall, 144 pounds, 36C 23-35, 32 years old, short auburn hair, green eyes

Mike

Mountain Lion, 8’-4’’ long from nose to tail tip, 33 inches tall at the shoulder, 250 pounds, a 36 inch tail, enhanced

Mindy

Mountain Lion, 7’-2’’ long from nose to tail tip, 33 inches tall at the shoulder, 170 pounds, 33 inch tail, enhanced

John

Gyrfalcon, 25 inches body length, 56 inch wingspan, 3.5 pounds, 13 inch tail feathers, enhanced

Jen

Gyrfalcon, 28 inches body length, 65 in wingspan, 5.0 pounds, 13 inch tail feathers, enhanced

The following new characters also appear in this chapter:

Thyne Midthunnder

SSG, handles Chet the Eagle, 5’-9’’ tall, 135 pounds, 25 years old, long dark chocolate brown hair, hazel eyes, a number of enhancements

Chet

Male Bald Eagle, Thyne’s Partner, 38 inch body length, 7’-3’’ wing span, 13 pounds

It was a good thing that the Colonel had insisted that Kanisha go on leave with the first group released, as orders soon began to arrive.

The first orders were for the Partners. Clare, the Tiger, was to report to the Partner Training School in two days. Millie, the Eagle, was to go with her. Mike and Mindy, the Cougars, were also to go with them. John and Jen, the Gyrfalcons, would remain here until their eggs had hatched, and the chicks were old enough to fly before they were to report to the School.

Bob and Susie had also been requested. They were to help train the other young Tigers. Samson and Sara had also been requested to return. The School wanted them to breed again, as there was a need for more Eagles as Partners.

We, that is Tiger Team, remembered the trouble that we’d had in getting our Partners back previously. It was therefore decided that each member of the affected Teams would accompany their Partner on the trip to the Training School to ensure that they were treated properly. This would involve a good number of people, but we considered it necessary to ensure that our Partners were treated with the respect that they deserved. The Colonel had cleared this with S-3, since it involved the movement of numerous people as well as the Partners. They, in turn, had been worried about moving that many Partners unattended at the same time. Doctor Mellifont would also be accompanying us to the Training School.

Our arrival at the airport on Continent Two was a bit different then the first time. We were met by the new Commander of the Partner Training School, his Executive Officer (XO), and the School’s Chief Veterinarian. They had brought plenty of transportation with them, so we didn’t need to mix the Tigers with the Cougars while moving them. Those from the school seemed very surprised that the different Partners got along so well.

“They have worked together for some time now and learned to tolerate each other,” the Colonel told them in explanation.

The new Commander of the Partner Training School was a former enlisted man who had been seriously wounded near the end of a very important mission. He had been promoted to Officer rank on recovering, but was unable to return to field duty due to his injuries. He had been promoted several times because of his abilities and had a deep understanding and appreciation of Partners and their needs. There wouldn’t be any Partners shipped out of here in cages while he was Commander of the School.

Bob, Susie, and Clare rode on the first bus with the Colonel, Natalie, and me along with those from the School. Samson, Sara, and Millie along with Joel and Dan Khawan rode on the second bus along with Doctor Mellifont who was taking care of Sara. Mike and Mindy who were accompanied by Laurine Moran and Max Dixon were also on that bus. The third vehicle was loaded with all of the Partners possessions, as they had acquired a number of things on their various deployments. They were things that they were very fond of.

Arriving at the School a short time later, we were greeted by a number of those being trained to be Partners. Bob and Susie’s last cubs, Flower, Ivy, and Rick, were there as well as Samson and Sara’s chicks, who hadn’t been named when we last saw them, were also there to greet their parents. Our Partners had a joyful reunion with them. Our Partners were greatly surprised to see how large their offspring had gotten while we were away. The old Tiger, Henry, was there to greet them also. The Cougars were a bit sad, as there were no Partners there to greet them, but they got over it quickly.

Shortly after we arrived, trouble raised its ugly head when the School’s Veterinarian introduced the Eagle that they wanted to mate with Millie. Though she is a bit smaller and younger than Sara, she had a mind of her own, and immediately let her objection to the proposed male Eagle be known.

With a loud squawk, she was off of Dan’s arm and attacked the other Eagle with her beak and the claws on her feet while beating him with her strong wings. The male Eagle quickly took off from the perch he had been sitting on and flew away with Millie hot on his tail as she continued to try to attack him. It required several minutes for Dan to convince her to leave the other Eagle alone and return to him.

The School’s personnel had been very surprised by this. The Vet in particular seemed stunned that Millie wouldn’t accept the Partner that she had chosen for her.

“But that was our most advanced trainee and the strongest flier here,” she objected to Dan when Millie had returned to his shoulder.

“Millie definitely did not like him and wasn’t going to mate with him and have chicks. Do you have any other Eagles?” Dan asked after speaking with Millie for a time. She had settled down a few minutes after landing.

“There is one here that I like,” Millie sent to all of us after a time, as she gazed in a particular direction.

“What does she mean?” the School Vet asked in an unsure voice.

“It appears that she has been in mental contact with one of the other Eagles here and wants to meet him,” Dan told the Vet to her shocked surprise.

“You’re sure of that? We didn’t hear her talking to anyone,” the Vet objected.

“Oh yes, it appears that some Eagles can converse on a wavelength that we can’t hear. Apparently the one she is interested in is named Chet,” Dan told her, to another shocked look from the Vet.

“But ... but Chet is one of our worst students. He has been here so long that he was given a name. We have been ready to remove him from the program. He doesn’t follow instructions and is a slow learner. In fact, he is much older than the other Eagles, and that was another reason that we were going to drop him,” the Vet complained.

“Well, he is the one that Millie wants and the only one that she will settle for,” Dan told her.

“All right, we’ll try that. If it doesn’t work out, we can try something else,” the School Commander agreed and called one of his people to have Chet released.

An Eagle, nearly as large as Samson, soon appeared in the sky over the School’s buildings. Millie screamed on seeing him, and took off so fast that she nearly beat Dan in the face with her wings. He, however, managed to duck in time as she took off. Following that, we were treated to the mating dance of Eagles as they swooped and dove around each other and danced in the sky for some fifteen minutes, or more with loud cries. They eventually settled on two perches near Samson and Sara.

In the meantime, the Colonel had been conferring with the School Commander.

“Does Chet have a Human Partner?” she asked.

“No one has been assigned to him as he had been doing so poorly. We really had been considering dropping him from the course of instruction. Of course, that would have meant destroying him, and we were very reluctant to do that. His present handler is a young woman named Thyne Midthunnder. She has been working with him for five weeks now and has made some progress with him.

“Hers is an unhappy story,” the School Commander told Trish. “Previously, she had a Falcon for a Partner on a Team. On an operation, the rebels blew up an entire building to catch her Partner in the air. She had been very close with her Partner, and the loss affected her greatly. She and the others on the Team made very sure that they caught those responsible for the Partner’s death, and the entire rebel organization. None of them lived to stand trial, as a Marine aircraft took out their headquarters along with everyone in it. Thyne was sent here to help her recuperate,” the School Commander finished.

“She sounds like someone who would fit into our unit very well. Can I speak to her and see if she is interested and if Chet will accept her as his Partner?” the Colonel asked.

“Yes, I think that would be an excellent solution to several problems. I’ll have her join you and your Team, and we’ll see how things develop,” the School Commander agreed and called the young woman. She arrived shortly.

“Sergeant Midthunnder reporting, sir,” the young woman said with a salute as she approached the School Commander and the Colonel a short time later.

“At ease, Sergeant. This is Colonel Ferguson. She is the Commander of Special Operations First Mobile Headquarters Team. She would like to talk to you about joining her unit as the Partner of Chet the Eagle,” the School Commander told the shocked young woman. She didn’t appear to know what to say.