Chapter 6

A week later Clean sat in his office musing over his new roommate. After they had hashed things out the first evening, things had gone very smoothly. She'd moved the few possessions she had into her room the next morning and was back into work that afternoon. He'd asked around discreetly and found out that she'd gone straight into Training Flight and started studying for her first flight. Amazing, the average new aviator took this time settling into a house and had to be forced into studying. It's like they thought they didn't forget anything while they took a month of from flying to move!

Clean shook his head. Fortunately, Willow was standing out amongst her classmates for being studious. He'd tried to be on her first flight today to assess how she did but the day before another instructor had gotten sick and training put him on that flight instead. By the time they landed, it was too late in the day for him to get put back on her sortie so he'd missed out.

He glanced at his clock again. They should have landed almost an hour ago, he certainly could hear any engines running from his office, so she should be coming back in for debrief soon.

"Clean, got a moment?" Lt Col Stahl poked his head into Clean's office.

"Sure," he nodded and followed the colonel into his office. They sat at the same small table they'd been at when he'd introduced Clean to Willow.

"I know Lt Puckett and Bender aren't back yet but I wanted to run this by you first. I'm thinking about giving Bender a new job and putting Lt Puckett in as my exec. What do you think?"

Clean took a deep breath, "I'd like to see how her first flight went."

"I know, I know. But, if it goes well, and Bender was on there so he should be able to give me a good report on it, then I think she'd be a good fit. She'll be where both of us can keep an eye on her and an eye out for her." Stahl looked a little unsettled.

"An eye out for her?"

"Yes, I've heard rumors of some mumbling and grumbling about letting her fly," he looked at Clean's passive face. "Some people don't think that her type should have access to nuclear weapons."

Clean's expression hardened. "And how do you feel about it, sir?"

"I approved her orders to come up here fully knowing what job she would be doing. If she can do the job and do it well then I feel no differently about her than any other aviator in this squadron."

Clean nodded.

"Look, everything I've seen and heard so far tells me that she's already smarter than most of our combat qualified copilots so all that remains to be seen is how she performs in the jet. She's an asset and I won't let her be a liability. That's why I'd like her in the front office."

"Seems like sound logic to me."

"Good. Bender shouldn't be too upset. I'm going to put him in charge of Training Flight so; he'll be directly under you." Stahl took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Bender's going on leave in a few days, when he gets back I'll have him start training her up."

"That should work out well. The full moon is coming up so Will will be unavailable the next couple days as well."

Stahl gave him a small smile. "Will, huh?"

"Sorry sir, Lt Puckett."

"Clean, it's ok, really. You live with her; you're bound to become close. In your case, I can overlook a little familiarity."

"Yes, sir," he said blandly.

"How are things working out so far?"

Clean cleared his throat, trying to figure out what Stahl meant. Did he mean how was she as a roommate? Or more? He decided to go with the safe answer. "She's a very tidy roommate. Quiet too. So, no problems to speak of."

"And how does she feel about you as a Liaison?"

"I think she was hesitant at first, we both were, but she doesn't seem to have any problems with it. You'd have to ask her."

Stahl seemed mildly disappointed by his answer. "Very well." He looked at his clock. "They should be back in here shortly, I'll ask her when she's done debriefing."

Across the building Willow and her crew had just finished their debrief and were wrapping up the loose ends.

"That's it for today, thanks for the hard work everyone." Will's pilot told them all as they packed up.

"Puckett, can I have a word with you before you run off for the night?" Bender asked her.

Will finished zipping her backpack and nodded, "Sure."

"We can head back to the front office; Beth should have gone home for the night." He held the door for her. "Good flying today, unlike my student." He rolled his eyes. "Smart kid, just had a bad flight."

"Thanks." She smiled. "So, what's up?"

"Not yet, let's get to my office first."

"It's about two days from now isn't it?"

He nodded. She gave a deep sniff.

"You're office won't work then," she told him. He gave her a quizzical look. "If I'm right, Colonel Stahl and Clean are in Stahl's office."

Bender gave the air a quick sniff, eyebrows furrowed. "Huh."

"Still working it all out, huh?"

"Yeah."

"It'll come in time, there's a lot I can teach you too." They stopped at Bender's office and looked in. From the doorway, both could see Clean and Stahl in his office.