Chapter 6

The following new characters appear in this chapter and the remainder of the story:

SGT Gonzales, Henry

Sergeant First Class, he is Denny’s Partner, 5 ‘-11’’ tall, 185 pounds, 32 years of age, black hair and brown eyes.

SGT Rodrigues, Philip

Sergeant First Class, he is Fran’s Partner, 5’-10’’ tall, 185 pounds, 30 years old, black hair and brown eyes

Denny

Male Jaguar, Gonzales’s Partner, 6’-1’’ long with a 30’’ tail, 30’’ tall at the shoulder, 340 pounds, a tawny yellow coat. His fur is covered with rosettes of several dots, but on his head and neck they are solid

Fran

Female Jaguar, Rodrigues’ Partner, 5’-2’’ long with a 27’’ tail, 29’’ tall at the shoulder, 245 pounds, the same tawny yellow color and similar makings as Denny

Nagual

Kaera in the Warrior state of her Jaguar, 8’-0’’ tall, about 700 pounds, her fur is a reddish brown color with white fur on her front.

The following character returns from previous stories:

MSG Platner

Master Sergeant, S-3 NCO, 6’-0’’ tall, 200 lb, 40 years old, brown hair, gray eyes

On reaching our headquarters, we found it manned sufficiently to be operational, but only by people filling in at other than their regular jobs in many cases.

Lieutenant Hue had returned and had been promoted to Captain. Sergeant Thyne Midthunnder had also been transferred here from the Partner Training School. She had only been here for a few days before being sent to an NCO advancement course. Many of our people were still at various courses or on loan to others. Kanisha was very glad to see us.

“Lord, this place has been like a revolving door, with people coming and going. It’s a wonder that we could get anything done at all. I’m glad that all of you are back,” she told us.

“We are all only back for a short time,” Trish told her to a frown. “Luther and Miranda are off to the Officer’s Basic Course next week for five weeks. Cleve and I will be here for some time, unless something comes up again,” Trish continued much to her relief.

“Good, I need a break. This has been a crazy six months,” she told us.

“Why don’t you take some leave for a couple of weeks and wind down. Cleve and I will keep things on track while you are gone,” Trish assured her. Kanisha left the next day on leave.

Leaving Trish’s office following that, I went to see how the S-2 / S-3 section was doing. I found Sergeant Platner there in charge of both sections. He had been promoted to Master Sergeant. He smiled on seeing me.

“Welcome back to the madhouse, sir,” he said. “How long are you back for this time?” he asked following that.

“As far as we know, the Colonel and I are finished with our schooling. Luther and Miranda are here for a week before going off to school again,” I told him.

“That’s good, sir. It’s been difficult keeping track of everyone with so many people missing. I ‘think’ we know where everyone is and when they will return, but with all of the turbulence because of the number of promotions and changes or additions to schooling and other things, it’s hard to be sure,” he told me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“People will go off to a school, finish it, and return. Then orders will arrive sending them off somewhere for a time to fill in for someone else or to do something else,” he told me.

“So headquarters is mining our people to cover other places,” I said.

“It looks that way to me, sir,” he agreed.

“How has the chow been?” I asked.

“With Hershel teaching at the cooking school all of this time, the chow has been okay. It’s not that the other cooks aren’t good, but Hershel really spoiled us with all of the great meals that he prepared,” Platner told me.

“We’ll just have to do the best we can and hope that we get everyone back, and that they don’t transfer them someplace else,” I told him in a worried voice.

Luther came in following that to check on the S-2 section, but they had even less to do than the S-3 did, and all of them were away at school or someplace else. It turned out to be a rather quiet week for the four of us before Luther and Miranda went off to the Administrative portion of the Officer’s Basic Course for five weeks.

Tuesday of our second week back, Kaera Melang arrived at out headquarters. The Colonel had received a message from SGM O’Cionaoith on Monday indicating that she was on her way here. Kaera appeared a bit bewildered on arriving. The Colonel greeted her happily.

“Kaera, it’s good to see you. We are happy to have you here at First Mobile Headquarters Team,” she told the young woman, who was now a Sergeant.

“I’m not sure how I was assigned here. They sent me to a different unit, a Team, but they didn’t accept me. They said that their Partners objected to my Magic,” she told us in an upset voice.

“It’s all right. We’re happy to have you here. Lucy will be glad to see you also when she returns from school,” the Colonel assured her. She personally got her signed in and took her up to the area where the other Magic users had their rooms. They were all still at the Magic School helping out there. I had checked out Kaera’s Talent when greeting her, and it was very strong. She wasn’t hiding any of it now.

Later, Trish returned and ushered me into her office for a private discussion.

“O’Cionaoith told me that it wasn’t the Partners that objected to her Magic. It was those on the Team. They all thought that she was much too powerful for them. Their previous Magic user only had a fair Talent, and she managed to step on an undetected land mine and was killed,” the Colonel explained before changing the subject rather suddenly.

“Cleve, we now have the making of half of a new Team,” she told me excitedly.

“What are you planning?” I asked.

“I need to get an appointment with Colonel Royal and see if I can get a pair of feline Partners and their Human Partners to create a new Team. That would give us four Teams, and we would be better able to manage the assignment of each Team. I just don’t know if there are any feline Partners available that are old enough and trained,” she told me.

“Do you think that he will approve the idea?” I asked.

“Unknown at present, but if he doesn’t, we will need to do some rearranging of the existing Teams, which may not work very well. They are all used to working together and changes may not be good for their functioning,” she told me. She managed to get an appointment to see Colonel Royal for Thursday of that week.

Thursday morning, we both arrived at Special Operations Headquarters at 0930 for her appointment. We were shown into his office shortly following that.

“What can I do for you, Colonel?” he asked after we were seated near his desk.

“Sir, I have half of a Team that has been assigned to my unit. There is a Magic user and a feathered Partner plus his Human Partner. What I need to complete the Team is some ground Partners, and of course, their Human Partners. Would there be any trained Partners available?” the Colonel asked. Colonel Royal stared at us for a short time without answering.

“You have an uncanny ability to appear at just the right time, Colonel,” he told us after a few seconds and smiled.

“Yes, we have recently received a gift of two large felines from a zoo on Earth. They are both enhanced and have been trained to work with Humans. They are currently at the Partner Training School with their new Human Partners, learning to work with them. They are each over three years old but are not the same age being several months apart in age. The zoo donated them as they had finished their study of them and had nowhere to keep them,” he told us.

“And when would these Partners be available, sir?” the Colonel asked.

“They should be available in two weeks or so. I had been wondering where to assign them, as we don’t have any others of that species,” he told us.

“What species are they?” the Colonel asked in a careful voice.

“They are Jaguars. They are larger than Cougars but smaller than our Tigers,” he informed us. The Colonel had a huge smile on her face on hearing this.

“I would be glad to accept them as part of the new Team that I already have started. We could call it Jaguar Team plus what ever Team number it would have,” the Colonel told him.

“That seems acceptable. Just who are the others who will be on this new Team?” he asked.

“I have a Sergeant Midthunnder and her Partner Chet the Eagle. There is also Sergeant Melang, a strong Magic user,” the Colonel told him.

“I will have Sergeants Gonzales and Rodrigues and their two Jaguar Partners assigned to your unit. Personnel will assign them a Team number,” he told us.

“How will they be traveling, sir?” I asked, entering the conversation. Colonel Royal did a double take and paused for a few seconds.

“Yes, you were the ones with the transfer-of-Partners problem. Currently, the Jaguars have a traveling cage. I would imagine they would travel in that along with their Human Partners, who are with them already,” he told us.

“Thank you, sir. We just wanted to avoid any traveling problems,” I told him. We left shortly after that. The Colonel seemed quite happy on the way back to our headquarters. That night she wore me out.

On returning from the meeting with Colonel Royal, Trish was a bundle of energy, checking on everything in preparation for the arrival of the new Partners, both the Jaguars and their Human Partners.

The next morning, following a strenuous night, the letdown settled in. It would be approximately two weeks before the newly assigned Partners arrived. About mid-morning, Trish called in Sergeant Melang to inform her of the pending arrivals. She was the lone member of the new Team available presently, as Sergeant Midthunnder was still away on temporary duty.

“You wished to see me, sir?” Kaera asked after reporting.

“Yes, have a seat, Sergeant. I have news for you about the new Team that the unit is receiving. You will be an important part of that Team,” the Colonel told her.

“Are these people here now? I didn’t sense anyone arriving,” Kaera asked a bit confused.

“No, we have about two weeks before the ground members of the Team arrive. The aerial member will be along in the not too distant future, although I don’t have an exact date yet,” the Colonel informed her.

“I see ... I think,” Kaera replied. “Will they have a problem with my Magic?” she asked.

“No, I believe that you will find that your Magic will be a very good fit for this Team. The ground element will be composed of two Sergeants, a Sergeant Gonzales and a Sergeant Rodrigues. Their Partners will be two Jaguars, but I don’t have the names of the Partners yet,” the Colonel told a very surprised young Magic user. Kaera stared at her in absolute shock for a short time.

“Jaguars!?” she finally asked, almost in disbelief.

“Yes, two Enhanced Jaguars of about three years of age. They were donated to Special Operations by an organization on Earth. We aren’t sure of their exact title,” the Colonel told her, hedging on exactly where they had come from.

“And I will be working with them?” Kaera asked still surprised.

“Yes, you will be supplying the Magic for the Team,” the Colonel assured her.

“Who are the other members of this Team? You mentioned an aerial Partner,” Kaera asked.

“Sergeant Midthunnder and her Partner Chet the Eagle will be the aerial component of the Team. She will return at some point, but she is presently TDY,” the Colonel told her.

“During the next two weeks,” she continued, “Captain Jensen will be working with you to explain the bond between the Human Partners and their Partners on a Team. This relationship and the working of the Team were unfortunately not covered at the Magic School. He will be sure that you know how Teams work, and what is expected of each Team member. He will also explain how your relationship with the Partners on this Team will be somewhat different from the traditional one,” the Colonel explained.

“The two of you can start on that now, as there isn’t anything pressing at the moment, but we never seem to know when something will occur,” she finished. Kaera and I left the Colonel’s office after being dismissed.

“We should find someplace comfortable for our talks,” I told her, as she appeared a bit upset.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Is there anywhere you could suggest?” I asked.