Page 21 of Winds of Death (War of the Alliance #4)
“You’ll need to get your name added to the waiting list for a gas mask.
” Lije gestured at the strange contraption hanging from his belt.
It was made of green canvas with glass goggles set in it and a canister over where a person’s mouth and nose would be.
“It protects against chlorine gas. That’s the chemical the Mongavarians unleashed the day you crashed. ”
“The army requisitioned as many gas masks as they could from factories, but there’s still a shortage.” Pretty Face grimaced as he motioned at his own, rather empty belt.
“It hasn’t been too much of a problem.” Stickyfingers, too, lacked a gas mask on his belt. “Thanks to King Weylind and some of the other elves. And there haven’t been too many gas attacks yet. Your dacha has seen to that.”
Fieran made a mental note to check in with the weapons supply sergeant after he reported to Colonel Dentley. “Anything else I should know?”
“Little Aldon is in the process of disbanding.” Aylia caught up with them and gestured in that general direction.
“The army will only provide gas masks for military personnel. Right now, the danger is somewhat negligible, given that King Weylind is here and able to shield the base from chemical attacks. But the army no longer wishes to be responsible for civilian safety.”
“It’s made things rather dead boring.” Pretty Face heaved a sigh as he grimaced. “There’s very little to do on days when we don’t have a patrol.”
“Are most of them setting up shop outside of base?” Fieran tilted his head toward the west, farther into Escarland.
“Yes. It’s calling itself Defense City.” Stickyfingers shot a look toward Tiny of all people.
“It is not so easy to simply walk there, even when leave is given.” Lt. Rothilion did not sound too disappointed by that. After all, he had not been so enamored with the entertainments offered in Little Aldon.
This would change the feel of the base. It was truly becoming a military operation with the defense complex locked down.
He’d only been gone a little over two weeks. And yet it seemed like far longer had passed, given all the changes.
Lije grinned and also shot a look at Tiny, who had dropped to the back of the group. “Not that the long walk has stopped Tiny.”
“Yeah, he and the donut girl—” Pretty Face started to say something, but Tiny swung a punch at him. Pretty Face dodged with a yelp, his hands going to his face. “Not the nose!”
Tiny rolled his eyes. “Don’t say stuff that deserves a punch.”
“I wasn’t going to, this time! Besides, I can’t help it if I’m leery of getting hit in the face.” Pretty Face gestured at his own face before he sent a smirk Fieran’s way. “After all, I have it on good authority that I have a rather nice nose.”
Fieran groaned and ran a hand over his face. “Don’t tell me. I made some comment while drugged.”
Seriously, someone should have stuffed a gag in his mouth. He struggled to filter his words when he was fully aware of what he was doing. Apparently he had absolutely no filter when drugged out of his mind.
Pretty Face smirked and tapped the side of his nose. “You’ve apparently always liked my nose.”
Fieran groaned again and ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s get back to Tiny and this girl in Little Aldon…”
That sounded like a much better topic than whatever Fieran might have blurted or, worse, sung while he’d been out of his head.
“Well, after your crash and you were sent home, we went into Little Aldon…” Lije trailed off, a sadness in his eyes.
“Looking to drown our sorrows in soda and donuts.” Pretty Face took up the tale readily enough, though he stayed out of Tiny’s swinging range. “That’s when we ended up in a donut shop run by a troll man and his daughter. And Tiny…”
Tiny shot Pretty Face another look that had Pretty Face dodging to put Stickyfingers between himself and Tiny’s fists.
“When word came that Little Aldon had to disband, we volunteered to help them move their shop.” Stickyfingers grinned before he patted his stomach. “They thanked us for our help with donuts.”
Pretty Face smirked in a way that made his thin mustache waggle. “And she thanked Tiny with a kiss. Probably inspired by all the muscles he was showing off.”
Tiny muttered under his breath, his gray skin darkening with his embarrassed flush.
“Well, good for you, Tiny.” Fieran dropped back long enough to give Tiny a slap on the back.
This would’ve been a good moment to bring up that Fieran and Pip were courting, but Fieran bit back the words. Pip had wanted to be there when they told the flyboys together, and he wasn’t going to spoil that for her.
All of them stepped into the hangar, and Mak met Fieran with a back slap that had Fieran staggering forward a step. “Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back.” Fieran returned the gesture, trying to pretend he wasn’t still trying to regain his balance. He really wanted to sit down and rest, despite the fact that he’d been sitting for hours while flying.
But he couldn’t rest just yet. He nodded to his pilots as he turned toward the door that led toward the other bays in the hangar. “I’d better report in to Colonel Dentley.”
The flyboys finally stopped following him as he strode through the hangar bays until he finally reached Bay 12, which Colonel Dentley had turned into a command room and office for the three squadrons.
Colonel Dentley stood near the back of the room with his adjutant Lt. Busher at his side with his clipboard. The table with the charts and maps had been moved out of the way to create more space in the center of the room.
Capt. Fleetwood, who was now the senior captain, stood on the other side of Colonel Dentley with Lt. Hadley from the late Capt. Kentworth’s squadron beside him. He must be the new commanding officer for that squadron.
A few of the bomber pilots were filing from the room, and Fieran halted and waited for them to exit before he stepped inside.
After marching across the room, he stood at attention before the colonel. “Capt. Laesornysh reporting for duty.”
“At ease, Laesornysh.” Colonel Dentley nodded to him. “It will be good to have you in the skies again, although General Laesornysh has stepped in rather admirably.”
“So I saw.” Fieran tried to keep his tone professional, but his shock over that still leaked through.
At another nod from the colonel, Capt. Fleetwood and Lt. Hadley stepped forward, greeted Fieran, and filed from the room, leaving Fieran alone with Colonel Dentley and Lt. Busher.
Colonel Dentley swept a glance over Fieran. “While you have been cleared for duty, I’m putting you on light duty for at least the next week, perhaps longer. I will not risk you or your squadron by putting you on long patrols before you’re ready.”
“Yes, sir.” Fieran nodded. As much as he wanted to argue, he could feel his own lingering tiredness. It was the right call, even if he wanted to pretend he was back to full strength.
“In a week, we will also be receiving new recruits.” Colonel Dentley clasped his hands behind his back. “Most of them will be going to fill in the losses sustained by the other squadrons. But I will be assigning four of the new recruits to you.”
Fieran waited. Based on Colonel Dentley’s tone, there was something else going on.
“After a great deal of debate, army policy was changed to allow Escarlish women to join Alliance Flying Corps units. As your squadron is currently the only integrated Alliance Flying Corps squadron at the moment, I have no choice but to assign them to you.” Colonel Dentley’s voice held the barest trace of something beneath his professional tone.
If Fieran were to guess, he was one of those who disapproved of allowing women to serve.
“I’m happy to have them.” Fieran had no trouble with adding a few Escarlish women to his squadron. He already had female elf pilots and a female mechanic. He might as well add four human female pilots to his motley squadron.
After all, many of the early aviatrices had pushed the boundaries just as much as the male aviators like Capt. Arfeld. He saw no reason to bar them from serving. Many of them had far more flight hours than the male pilots currently being rushed through training.
Besides, Escarlish women were allowed to serve in the navy, either on ships or airships, as long as they were an integrated Alliance ship where elf or troll women already served. It only made sense to open the Flying Corps the same way.
Fieran had to suppress his grin. Aylia and Pip were going to be thrilled.