Chapter 9

Kay opened her eyes and looked straight at Thallin's face, a weak smile upon her lips. "Hi Thallin... What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." She must have noticed the way he kept on averting his eyes from her body, because she then proceeded to take a look at herself. She paused for a second. "I'm NAKED!" she screamed, sitting up with her back to Thallin, her arms hiding what little they could from his gaze. 

Thallin took a step back and heard the door open, Izabelle's footsteps' sounding upon the floor' metal plating as she walked in, munching on a carrot. 

Kay was still trying to sort her thoughts, her voice mumbling ideas. "Thallin... What happened? Where's my flight..." She glanced over Thallin's shoulder to Izabelle's uniform and stopped short. "Thallin?!" she exclaimed, "Is that my flight suit?!" 

Standing up shakily, Kay advanced on Thallin, who retreated in front of her, trying to keep away from her reach. In two steps she was almost upon him, forcing him to dodge out of the way. Kay did not follow him, but rather continued towards Izabelle, who was finishing her carrot. 

"Is that my flight suit?" Kay asked Izabelle. "Why are you wearing it? Why don't you wear your own clothes? WHY DID YOU KNOCK ME OVER THE HEAD?!" she finished in a scream, closing in on her prey. 

Thallin watched in a sort of horrid fascination as Izabelle smiled a smile that would have driven most people up the wall. <Where did she learn that?>"In proper order," replied Izabelle, "the answers would be: Yes; Because Thallin requested I get suitable attire; I have none; I had to render you unconscious so you would not struggle when I removed your clothing." 

Kay digested the information for a fraction of a second, then suddenly dove in Izabelle's direction. Before she could reach her, however, Izabelle had grabbed her wrist, slid to the left then somehow managed to throw Kay to the ground. Dropping immediately after, Izabelle placed her right knee on Kay's back, forcing her to stay down on the floor. Thallin saw her bend down and whisper something in Kay's ear before applying pressure to a point on her neck, rendering Kay unconscious again. 

Thallin sat down heavily, the sweat on his forehead rolling into his eyes and stinging them. "Why... What did you do to her?" 

"I have changed her state from conscious to unconscious, thus allowing her time to recover from the trauma of my original physical actions upon her person, as well as allowing you time to acclimatise yourself with the situation and devise a method of minimal confrontation for mediation." 

"In other words, you gave me a breather." said Thallin. 

"I believe this was my meaning, yes." replied Izabelle while she turned Kay's body over. Thallin looked away. "What are your plans?" 

Thallin sighed and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. <I'm too old for this shit.> "First thing we've got to do is give her clothes back to her. She'll be easier to deal with then. Second thing to do is to see if we can get her off my case. The last thing I need is to have a vindictive pilot chasing after my head while I try to keep you under wraps." He saw Izabelle's mouth opening and spoke before she could. "Don't ask. It's an expression." Izabelle's mouth closed. 

Thallin stood up and walked towards the nearest wall, opening an access panel. Removing a blanket from the space revealed by the panel, he threw it in Izabelle's direction before heading for the door. "See if you can get her dressed before she wakes up again." A thought struck him and he looked at the body on the floor for a moment, his mind considering the possibilities. "Izabelle, how long before she comes to?" 

"I would estimate twenty minutes, Thallin. Why?" 

"I think I may need those twenty minutes." Thallin left the room and locked the door behind him, Izabelle already taking the Flight suit off. 

The computer terminal flashed queries and orders at him, a backlog of work having piled up during his convalescence. Thallin ignored them all, then called up Kay Landers' file. Reading through it, he gave a low whistle. <Commanding Officer, eh? NightHawk squadron. Let's see if we can give her something else to worry about other than me.> Thallin tapped in a few queries, bringing up a roster of pilots onto the screen. 

<MIA, MIA, KIA, MIA, KIA, KIA... Jeezus, we certainly took a pounding. Let's see what we have in the reserve pool.> A few more taps and the screen brought up a new listing. <Well, that's more like it.> "OK," he continued out loud, "first candidate, Corporal Rick Hunter. No good, Skull squadron's already got him." Thallin tapped a key and Hunter's service dossier was replaced with a new one. "David Marshall. Fresh out of training. Previous military experience... Ex pilot! Perfect. Welcome to the NightHawks, Sergeant Marshall." 

A new dossier replaced Marshall's records. "Max Sterling. Just enrolled in the academy. Nope. Too inexperienced. Lance Vincent. Just graduated from the academy. Yep. Mike Saunders. Hospital intensive care. Nope. Augustine..." Thallin paused, considering the file in front of him. <Augustine... What a strange name. And he's still waiting for his MOS to come in.> "Why the hell not? Welcome to the NightHawks, Augustine. May you bring your commanding officer a lot of headaches and sleepless nights. And may you keep her off my back in doing so." 

<And now for Izabelle.> Thallin's brow furrowed as he proceeded to create a new service folder. "Lieutenant (jg) Izabelle Fate. Date of birth... Gender... Parents..." Thallin stopped and considered the dossier for a moment. "Lieutenant Fate, it seems you are due for a lot of back-pay. I'll have to make sure your new squadron leader gets it to you." With a few deft strokes of the keyboard, Izabelle fate found herself part of the NightHawk squadron, on special assignment with Lieutenant Braywater for the duration of his experiments. <That should really get Kay's goat.>Seventeen minutes later, the ranks of the NightHawks had been filled. Thallin had put in transfer requests and requisitions by the hundreds, until he was finally satisfied that the squadron had its full complement of pilots and support personnel. He was feeling tired after staring at the scene in bay 5B, which may explain why he then turned off the computer and stepped out of the lab without removing his name from the requisitions - an omission he would later regret. 

Thallin walked back into the bay, his arms full. Inside, Izabelle was sitting in one of the metallic chairs that Thallin had been using as a temporary bench, the blanket covering her. Standing a few meters away, Kay Landers was back into her flight-suit and glowering in Izabelle's direction. When Thallin walked in, Izabelle wordlessly got up and silently glided out of the room. 

"Ah, you're awake." Thallin called out to Kay. "I'm really sorry about that..." <Does she know about the tac-comp?> "about everything." He tossed the bag he had been holding under his left arm to Izabelle, signalling for her to leave the room to change during the brief instant when his back was turned to Kay. He swung back towards Kay and placed the tray down in front of her, taking care not to spill the hot chocolate from the three mugs upon it. 

Picking up a dish from the tray, Thallin handed it and a small glass of water to Kay. On the dish were pills to help with the migraine she was sure to have. "These should help with the pain. I would image that you would have quite a headache, considering." Kay took the pills and the water, swallowing them both. "This compress should help keep the swelling down," continued Thallin, retrieving an ice-bag from the tray and offering it to Kay. She reached over to grab the compress, her fingers brushing his by accident. 

Thallin's eyes went wide as his body fought his mind. He fought down the urge to lash out and grab Kay's neck and twist it until the bones snapped under his fingers. His legs weak with the strain of the conflict, Thallin sat down upon the floor of the bay, waiting as Kay placed the compress atop her head and looked around the bay. Finally, she turned her gaze back on Thallin and held it there while she took one of the mugs from the tray and sipped from it. 

"Izi explained the situation to me..." she started, causing Thallin to start panicking, "to a point." Thallin's heart-rate returned to normal. "I think that recent events are going to need some explanation. I don't care about security clearance. I'm the commanding officer of the NightHawks, so my clearance levels are higher than you think. Let's start from the beginning shall we?" 

Thallin opened his mouth to protest, then realised she had him cornered in an empty bay, with Izabelle next door changing. If he tried to duck out of this one, she would follow him to the lab and discover the vat. He would have to delay her long enough for Izabelle to return. "Oh boy." 

Forward to Chapter 10.
Back to Chapter 8. 

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