Special Police DekaOps

8

Alone at last, well as alone as you could be in a public bar at any rate. Dan hid in the darkness the booth was able to provide. His beer was half gone at this point. For the first time in awhile he was actually able to relax. He actually envied the others at times, how they could just sit back and relax no matter what. Pierce could be seen joining them at times before he went home at night. Dan on the other hand, well there was a reason why he had to get out of there at times. He’s been living at OpsBase for a while now but he still didn’t feel comfortable there.

The team wasn’t the problem, they were a good bunch of kids. Dan laughed to himself, he was a couple of years older than D.E. and Boomer and he thought of them as kids. Even Rev was technically older the he was. He was used to hanging around the Major and Michelle was easy to get along with. No the problem was the entire situation, he was army and the others were police. Like he told Rev it was worlds apart, and he couldn’t get over it. Not for the first time he wondered why he told Pierce yes.

“Fast Track?”, a voice he recognized broke through his thoughts.

Dan looked over and saw two guys in civvies, one with longer brown hair than he remembered and the other with dirtier blond colored hair than his. His mood immediately changed, “Petey!”, he got out of the booth and grabbed the brown haired one’s hand. Petey dragged him in for a hug. He went to shake the other guys hand, “Andy how you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he said without moving an inch. Things were still frosty apparently.

“Come on sit.” Dan sat back in his booth and the other joined him. “Petey, you on leave or something?”

Petey leaned back and said, “I’m out man.”

Dan jaw dropped, god he was out of the loop. “Wait, Mr. ‘They’re going to have to bury me in my army greens’ left the army? Did hell freeze over?”

“And the Devil giving out free sleigh rides,” he joked. “Figured I went as far I could go and thought I try something new.”

Andy stared right at Dan. “At least he had a choice in leaving,” he said bitterly.

“Andy for the last time…”

“Dudes, chill,” Petey quickly said. “We haven’t seen each other in ages. Why ruin the moment with bad feelings.” Andy said nothing but he started playing with a napkin. “So what have you been up to Fast track? You pretty much disappeared after your last stint in the middle east?”

“I’ve been keeping busy,” he answered.

“Have you? Word going around after you disappeared was that you joined one of those space cops units.”

Dan tried to look like he wasn’t playing with his mug, “You heard wrong man.”

“Good,” Andy said. “Any Army guy joining that bunch of posers should be shot as a traitor.”

“No kidding,” Petey agreed. “Give me a good ol’ American tank over that alien crap any day.”

“And an AK over a laser rifle to blow them to hell,” Dan said getting lost in the moment.

“You better believe it,” Him and Petey touched fist. God this was just like old times. “So what are you doing then?”

“Or would you have to kill us if you told us?”, Andy asked, a bit of his old self returning.

“I would never kill you guys,” Dan told them. Then he added, “I’d beat you so bad that you’d forget, but I would never kill you.”

“That’s not a denial”, Andy laughed.

“Come on,” Petey said getting up, “I know a bar were the waitresses are hotter and wear less.”

“I’m there,” Dan said calling for his tab. The three of them exited and laughed like old times. They went about half a block before his OpsLicense went off and Petey checked his to see if it was his cell phone. “Damn it.”

“Duty calls,” Petey said and he handed him a card with a number on it. “Give me a call when you got some free time.”

“You better believe I will.” Dan quickly went off and turned a corner pulling his License out, “This is Stevens, go.”

“Cap,” Michelle said, “we got a situation about four block west of your position. D.E and Ace were sent out earlier to check out a disturbance that sounded like the Alienizers had something to do with. They just requested back up.”

“Why wasn’t I told about this earlier?”, he asked as he headed for the jeep.

“It was an unconfirmed rumor when we got a hold of it. The Major thought it was important enough to check out but not send in the full team.”

“ETA for Rev and Boomer?”

“You’ll beat them by a few minutes.”

“Right, Stevens out.” Dan got there in no time and found Ace and D.E. struggling against a twelve foot tall gray humanoid looking figure in some shredded clothes. He saw nothing like that in the SPD database. Dan switched his License back to Change and ran in. “Emergency! DekaOps!”, there was a quick digital flash and he was in his black and red DekaSuit. Ace had reached in and grabbed the things shirt. It ripped off as the thing threw her. D.E. and Dan caught her before she hit the wall. “Status report!”

“We’ve been better,” D.E. told him.

“We got a report of an Alienizer in the area and found the Hulk’s ugly cousin, or he found us,” Ace informed him.

“Right,” Dan said. “Let’s try to subdue this thing then figure out where it came from.” They pulled out their D-Rods and surrounded the thing. Dan took a swing at it’s knee and D.E. did the same. Ace was able to get a D-Whopper around one of it’s wrists while it was distracted. Quicker than he thought possible it grabbed D.E. by the head with his other hand and threw him further down the alley. “Terry!”, Dan shouted before a back hand sent him flying into a wall hard. It ripped off the D-Whopper as Ace backed up.

“That’s it,” she took out her License and switched it to Judge, “Target Orders!” The alley went dark and the X and circle started flashing before the X shined brightly. “Eliminate target,” Ace hooked her License to her D-Shot as the thing turned around. Dan head cleared in time to see the eagle tattoo on it’s back.

“What?”, he was stunned. Ace called out for a strikeout and was ready to pull the trigger. Dan ran in and slapped the barrel down as she fired, “NO!” The blue energy stream missed by inches as the thing jumped out of the alley. Dan watched him leave, where did it get that tattoo?

“Cap what the hell?”, Ace demanded but he ignored her, and prayed to God that wasn’t an Eagle.

***

“What you did was inexcusable!” the Major yelled in his face. The others were staying as far away as they could in the control room, except Michelle who stayed by her table. But she was looking very uncomfortable. “You intentionally let a target get away. What in the hell was going through that head of yours?!”

Dan clinched his fist and turned his head away,” I don’t have an excuse sir.”

“That’s because there’s no excuse for this! If that thing kills anybody it’s on your head.” The Major walked away and tried to calm down. “I can’t over look something like this. You’re confined to base for the next two days, and you better hope nobody dies from your mistake.” Dan said nothing in response. He just took out his License, slapped it on the rail and walked back to his quarters.

“Cap, that’s not what he…,” Michelle started before the Major put a hand on her shoulder.

After the door closed he said, “Give him some time to cool off.” He turned to Ace and D.E., “Exactly what happened?”

“We told you everything,” D.E. told him.

“Well tell me again,” he snapped. “I need to know every little detail. I’ve known Dan since he was a grunt back in basic. He wouldn’t do anything like this without some kind of reason.”

“I don’t know what we left out,” Ace said. “Unless it was that marking on it’s back.”

“Marking?”, Pierce was desperate at this point. “What marking?”

“The thing looked like it had a tattoo on it’s back, might have been a bird, I really didn’t pay much attention to it.”

“I got a good look at it,” D.E. said, “it was a bird.”

The Major found a piece of paper and a pen and handed it to them. “Draw it for me.” It took a several minutes but Ace and D.E. were able to make up a rough draft of what they saw.

Rev studied it for a bit, “The Captain has as similar marking on the back of his shoulder, does he not?”

“Now that you mention it,” D.E. said, “it does look like that eagle tattoo he has.”

“That might explain it,” the Major mumbled. “The Eagles.”

“All right I’m lost now,” Ace said

“Cap was tight with a bunch of guys back during basic,” he explained. “Somehow they ended up being called the Eagles. I have never seen a bunch of guys who worked so well together. They watched each other back no matter what the problem was and they didn’t leave each other behind no matter who gave the order. There was a running joke with the commanders at the time. If you wanted a job done right you better have an Eagle on it. If you wanted it done to perfection you needed at least two. But something drove them apart while I was helping Mynx set things up for the program, he never told me what exactly happened.”

While that was going on Dan was in his quarters. His bomber jacket and shirt was thrown on the bed. He was staring at that same tattoo in his mirror for a long time before looking into his own eyes. Not liking what he was seeing in there Dan went to the other wall and started shadow boxing. After a few punches he looked up and realized he was looking right at a picture of him and his buddies back in the Army. Dan was in the center with Petey and Andy on one side with Barry and Jason on the others. An Eagle banner hung behind them. A happier time, before the trial…. His fist shattered the glass of the picture frame as he let the frustration over take him.

***

Those two days went by slowly as Dan mainly stayed his quarters. Michelle and the others tried to get him out but he wouldn’t listen. When his time was up he immediately went to the Major and asked for a week to find out what was happening before he sent the case to DekaRail, if he hadn’t already. It took awhile but he finally got that week. Luckily they found out Michelle had somehow forgotten to pack what evidence they had for DekaRail during those two days. The Major wasn’t happy but he let it go. “That’s two you owe me,” she teased him.

It took her no time to locate two names for him, Barry Nordstrom and Jason Hart. Petey and Andy were with him when he got the call if it was one of his friends it wasn’t them. The first name he checked out was Barry. He was living in a nearby suburb from last report. He found the place he was living at with no problem. Dan hid behind a tree as he saw Barry in his wheelchair playing with his daughter Danielle. He stayed there for a few moments just watching them, he couldn’t believe how big that girl has gotten since the last time he saw her. He should have tried to find them sooner and mentally kicked himself. Dan left wanting to believe she be afraid of her father if he did turn into that thing.

Jason location was, expectantly, a veteran’s hospital a couple of cities away. Dan found his room with nobody questioning him but surprise to find it was empty. The room looked like it hadn’t been used in awhile. Did he die or something? “Excuse me,” he said to a passing by nurse, “What happened to Sgt. Hart?”

“I’m not sure I can tell you,” she said. Dan pulled out his fake Springfield PD ID and badge and showed it to her. “A little out of your jurisdiction aren’t you?”

“I’m following a lead for a case I’m working on. I’m a little surprised it led me to an empty room.”

“Then you might want to check with the local police then. They covered the place pretty good.”

This wasn’t sounding good, “What happened?”

“Sgt. Hart disappeared a month ago.”

“No,” Dan whispered.

“Kidnapping a guy in a coma. I mean how low can you go?”, she walked off saying. So Jase was still in his coma, but now he had two mysteries to worry about, and hope weren’t connected. He saw a set of pajamas hanging in the closet, on a hunch he checked it out.

“Stevens to Base,” he said into his License.

“Base here,” Michelle answered. “What is it Cap?”

“I’m scanning a pajama top and sending the info to you. Compare it to the shirt we got from the target the other night.”

“On it,” she replied. A few seconds later, “Ours is dirtier but it’s a near perfect match.”

Dan resisted the urge to pound the wall. It was looking more and more likely that thing was Jase. “Thanks Michelle, Stevens out.”

***

Petey phone started ringing, without thinking he answered it, “Yeah?”

“Petey, it’s me,” Dan said.

“Fast track, I didn’t think I hear from you so soon.” Or ever for that matter.

“Yeah I know. Petey did you know somebody took Jase?”

“Yeah man,” he tried not to sound nervous, “I found out when it happened. Where have you been?”

“I just found out,” he sounded distraught. “Why would anybody take him in that condition?”

“I don’t know man. There’s a whole lot of sick people in this world. It could have been one of those freaking aliens for all I know. Look, I got to go I’m getting another call that might be the one I’ve been waiting for.”

“All right, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Right, later,” he quickly ended the call and looked over at Andy. “How did I let you talk me into this?”

“Cause we’re the only real friends we got,” he told him. “And you didn’t exactly reject the idea when I told you we could help Jase out.”

“Yeah, help him wake up and walk. Not turn him into that thing in there.”

“An unfortunate side effect I wasn’t expecting,” said a blue white haired alien in a purple coat. “But a very interesting one at that.”

“Screw that!”, Petey exploded. “Are you any closer in fixing this?”

“Not without returning him to his previous vegetative state.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Petey calm down,” Andy said. “The doctor is doing everything he can. Look, get some air and clear your head.” Petey did just that but he still didn’t look happy. When they were alone he said, “That Agent you told me about better deliver.”

“Chatrox in rather new but the bosses are pretty high on him.” He turned to the window and watched the gray thing in the holding cell he designed. “Don’t worry comrade, you’ll get your money soon enough.”

“I didn’t do this for the money,” he said a little too quickly. “I did it to help Jase.”

“Yes, I’m sure those loan sharks I overheard you worrying about will be impressed with your loyalty to your friend.” Andy shut up. “You might be interested to know that the field test for the recall device I implanted in his head worked perfectly.”

“It better have. It took me forever to convince Petey to take a night out on the town with me the other night.”

“Your friend is very lucky comrade,” the alien doctor told him. “So far he is the first successful test subject of my super soldier treatment. Agents galaxy wide will play both sides of any conflict, selling the process to the highest bidder. Then they will come to me looking for better weapons to use. A beautiful repeating cycle, don’t you think so comrade.” Andy remained quiet, disgusted with himself.

***

Rev was working in something in the med bay lab when Dan walked in. He didn’t move, but he did say, “Good day Captain. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Maybe Rev,” Dan pulled up a stool and sat next to him. “Do you have any idea what could make a guy turn into what we faced the other night?”

“I have been pondering that very notion since you and the others reported it.” Rev stopped what he was doing and bug eyes stared at him. “My first thoughts were that his genetic structure was altered dramatically. I had other theories as well but the restructuring theory is the only one that makes sense with the facts I am aware of.”

“Genetic restructuring is illegal galaxy wide,” Dan said recalling what he could remember of galactic law. “Is there any Alienizers experimenting in this field?”

“Far too many I am afraid,” he sighed. “Several who are unaccounted for at the moment.” Dan raised an eyebrow at that one. “I made a silent inquiry into the SPD database while you were confined to base. So I was left to figure out how this was done.”

“Do I want to know how many options these guys got?”

Rev looked like he was smiling, “Not as many as you think Captain. Most genetic resequencers use some form of radiation. Even those that use nano machines need a small amount to get the restructuring started.”

“How fast can something like this be done?”

“I would need to know the estimated time line.”

“I should have asked if Jase was getting any visitors before he was taken,” he muttered. “Can this resequencer be small, say you can fit it in a briefcase?”

“The device itself needs to be able to house the subject in question.”

“So they couldn’t carry it in. Say at least a month.”

Rev thought it over for a moment, “There are several form of radiation that could do that.”

“That narrows it down I guess.”

“Captain I might add a resequencer is very difficult to get a hold of. More than likely it as built on site using local materials. I might also add that current Earth technology is not exactly up to the galactic standards needed for such a device.”

Dan got what he was hinting at, “So chances are good that it was cobbled together and might have some leaks.” He got up and patted Rev on the shoulder, “Thanks, now I got to see if Michelle can help me locate a stray source of radiation.”

“Actually I already went over this with Michelle while you were out,” Rev told him. “She would not exactly do the scan. The Major told her that this was your, and I am quoting her, ‘fool’s errand’ and that you were on your own. She did, however, tell me that I had until she went and got a cup of coffee and returned to find anything on the scanners. She took longer than I anticipated.”

Dan smiled to himself, that was another one he owed her, “Did you find anything useful.”

“I discovered a source of A-Theta radiation, something commonly used for this sort of thing, around the docks by the river. Michelle returned before I could pinpoint an exact location.” He returned to the device he was working on, “I modified this scanner to detect A-Theta radiation.” Rev handed him the device, “Good hunting Captain.”

“Rev…” he began.

“Captain, I understand better than the others about what you did. True friendship and loyalty is a rare thing in this universe. Although I pray to the Great Spirit that your friend was not turned into the thing from the other night.”

Dan took the device and pocketed it, “So do I Rev, so do I.”

An hour later Dan was in the ready room getting into his gear, alone. Or he was until Ace and Michelle came in. They looked on as he finished gearing up. Dan Made sure he kept his back to them. “I’ll get the others,” Ace said.

“No,” he ordered. “I’m doing this one solo.”

“That’s not smart Cap,” Michelle said. “You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

“I’ll risk it. I’m good at filling the blanks remember.”

“Cap you’re not alone in this,” Ace told him. “We want to get the bastard that did this too.” She looked into his locker and her eyes went wide. She reached in and grabbed his badge and OpsLicense before he could stop her. Ace stared at them before looking him in the eyes. He couldn’t return the look and turned away. “You were going to leave these behind weren’t you?”

“I’m just complying with the Major wishes,” he said. He went to leave but Michelle and Ace kept blocking his path, “Get out of my way.”

“Dan you can’t make this personal,” Michelle told him.

“If that thing is Jason then it’s already personal. And I’m not dragging SPD into this.”

“If he was changed by an Alienizer than SPD is already involved.” Michelle took the black badge from Ace and pinned it back on his shirt. “You’re part of SPD now, and you took an oath to uphold everything it stands for. And I will be damned if I stand here and let you throw all of that away.” She grabbed the License and held it out to him. Dan reluctantly took it and put it back in its holster. She had a satisfied look on her face, “Now me and Ace won’t have to beat any sense into you.” Dan forced a half smile and left. “You better come back in one piece.”

Dan stopped at the door. He took the cap off his head and put it on Michelle’s. “I’ll be back for this,” he told her softly. In his regular voice he said, “Ace, you’re in charge until then.”

“Rodger,” Ace said and saluted. “Oh, I recently did an overhaul on one of the Hounds. Can you do me favor and take it for a long test drive? To say the river and back. Just to make sure the kinks are out of it, of course.” He nodded and headed for the hanger.

***

“What do you mean you’re sending him out for another test?”, Andy demanded. The Doctor was already activating the release protocols. “What if Petey comes by tonight?”

“Don’t worry about it comrade, he is far away from here. He will not be in.”

“God, you better hope so. If Petey ever found out…”

“If I ever found out what?”, Petey surprised him. “I knew I couldn’t trust you two.”

“Petey, listen to me, it’s not what you think.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot or something? I overheard you guys talking, some shit about super soldiers and all of that. I’m calling the cops.”

Andy and the Doctor both pulled out guns, so did Petey. “Let’s just talk this out,” Andy said trying to defuse the situation. “We’re all in this really deep.”

“God, is that the line you used on Fast Track? I would have turned you in too.” A shot went over their heads and they ducked slightly. In the doorway was a man in a black military style uniform and light chest armor. The only hint of color was the red star on his right shoulder. He leveled his SP-Shooter at them and came closer. Petey was finally able to get a good look at him, “Fast Track?”

“Please tell me you’re not involved in this.” As soon as he said it his entire demeanor went emotionless and he ordered, “Drop your weapons now and get on the ground.”

Andy charged, Dan sidestepped and tripped him to the ground. He kicked his gun away and kneeled down on his neck to keep down. He pointed the Shooter back at the others. “Damn it Andy,” Petey moaned.

“Drop your weapons now!”, Dan ordered again. Petey complied but the doctor stood there smiling. A Batsuroid dropped from the ceiling and threw a grenade. Ten Anaroids formed and stood between them.

“You are outnumbered comrade,” the Doctor said. “Perhaps you are the one who should drop his weapon.” Dan stood up, holstered the Shooter and took his License out of it’s holder.

Andy looked up and saw it in his hands, “You lying son of a bitch!” He got up quickly and knocked it out of his hands. The Anaroids choose then to walk foreword. Dan took out his SP-Shooter and knife and got ready.

“Light it up!” Ace voice called out. Something small and black went flying over head. Dan had just enough time to lower his head and cover his eyes. The object exploded in a bright flash of light, disrupting the bots motor function momentarily while the others were blinded. Dan ran back and dove behind some crates. Ace, already in her DekaSuit, joined him shortly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Thought it was a nice night to do some field exercises,” she told him. He couldn’t see it but he knew she was grinning behind that helmet. “Michelle suggested that this might be a lovely spot for it. Lucky coincidence for you huh?”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to buy that bunch of bull, you know that?”

“It’s why you choose me for the job,” she said. While they were talking the Doctor was back at the controls.

“He’s out!”, he proclaimed after a moment. “He’ll take care of these people.”

“What?”, Petey said. “No you can’t.” He ran into the holding area as shots were fired and returned.

Dan and Ace heard the whole thing from where they were. “Go,” she told him, “we got this.” He nodded and went around to follow Petey taking the occasional pot shot at a bot or the control panel. When he got there the thing that used to be Jason was throwing things around the room. Petey was in front of it trying to calm him down, Dan pointed his SP-Shooter right at him.

“No,” Petey cried out. “I can calm him down!” About them Jason grabbed him by the back of his head, picked him up and slammed him into the ground face first. Petey wasn’t moving and he was a thought away from pulling the trigger.

“Jase!”, Dan shouted and he put away his weapon. Jase grabbed a crate and threw it at him. He dove out of the way as the thing grabbed a pipe off of the ceiling and water started pouring down on top of them “Jase calm down! Listen to me, please!” He tried to reason with him and dodge at the same time. Running out of ideas he finally went, “Stand down Sargent!” The thing seemed to understand that, “That’s an order soldier!”

The thing took a long look at him, he squatted down and grunted, “Da…Danny?”

He got through to him, “Yeah Jase, it’s me.”

Jase looked at this hands and back at him, “Help?”

“God I hope they can. But I promise you, even if they can’t, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they treat you right.” Jase looked around and saw Petey lifeless body and made a short crying sound. “That wasn’t your fault Jase, you didn’t know what you were doing. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

His eyes teared up and looked around again. “No,” he said as he picked him up, walked over and put him on top of the stair way.

“What are you doing?”, Dan asked as he walked away. Jase was heading for what looked like electrical cables. Panicking Dan looked down at the water covered floor, “Jase don’t do it!” He went to run after him but Rev and D.E. came up behind him and held him back. He looked at them and shouted, “Cut the power to this place!”

“Cap…,” D.E. started.

“Do it now!”, he shouted. Dan looked back at Jase, who already pulled the wires off the wall, “Jase no!” He stood there with the wires in his left hand, with his right he made the gun shooting motion the came up with. Cocked, locked and ready to rock. The he brought his right hand up to his head in a salute. Tearing up Dan returned the salute. Then Jase dropped the wires into the water. He jolted for what seemed like an eternity before falling to the ground. Rev and D.E. let him go as Dan fell to his knees.

Ace had judged the Doctor and the order was to take him alive. Andy was there next to him as Dan and the others walked out. “Dan you got to believe me,” he pleaded. “I didn’t want this to happen. I just wanted to help Jase.”

“Shut up,” Dan ordered, not wanting to deal with him at the moment.

Andy got mad and sarcastically said, “Yes sir, Lieutenant Fast track sir! The rules and regulations before anything else! Is there anything this lowly maggot needs to know Lieutenant Fast track sir?”

Dan stopped and got right in his face. “Yeah there is, it’s Captain.” His fist connected with Andy’s jaw before any of them realized it. Not that they would have tried and stop him if they did. Dan watched him lie there for a moment then said, “Get this son of a bitch out of my sight,” and stormed off.

“That was police brutality,” Andy said as Ace and D.E. dragged him back up to his feet.

“Newsflash,” Ace told him, “he’s still Army and he can do whatever he wants.”

“No he can’t,” Andy argued.

“Look one more word out of you and I’m going to feed you to my friend over there,” she pointed over to Rev. He looked peaceful but Andy still looked like he was about to piss himself and shut up.

***

Jase’s funeral was set for a morning service two days later. Dan waited until late afternoon to visit his grave. He stood there for a moment before taking a beer can out of his jacket pocket. He drank half of it then slowly poured the rest on top of the grave before walking off. Not wanting to return to base he ended up sitting on a bench in the park holding his head in his hands. He barely registered a body sitting down next to him. A hand holding a penny entered his vision, he looked over to see it belonged to Michelle. He pushed her hand away saying, “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“The beginning usually works for me,” she said. “Or you can answer something that’s been bothering me and the others. Like why that guy was calling you Fast Track.”

“A nick name they gave me,” he explained, “I was usually the first one out of us getting promoted. Everybody joked about it, but I guess it was a bigger problem than I thought because things started breaking down around the time I made Second Lieutenant. Suddenly I wasn’t one of the guys anymore in their eyes, particularly Andy’s.”

“And that’s what split the group up?”

“No, it might have made the cracks but that wasn’t it.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I was walking around base one night. I saw some lights and heard some noise coming from supply. So I checked it out. Andy and a couple of others were robbing the place. Before they noticed me I heard one of them say something about the black market. Andy saw me and started begging that I keep quiet and that this was the only time he did this and swore that he would never do this again.”

“So he was upset that you turned him in, what a jackass.”

Dan didn’t look at her, “I walked away and didn’t report it. I put my friendship before my duty and never said anything to anybody. The idiot was caught red handed anyway by the MPs ten minutes later. He swore up and down that I sold him out to the MPs. Nobody believed his claims that I was there and saw the whole thing. I kind of knew how he felt. Four of the closest friends I ever had and only one believed me when I told them I kept quiet.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to yourself in for withholding information.”

“I was about to, but Barry talked me out of it. He told me why should I ruin my record over him. I never should have listened to him.”

“I’m glad you did,” the Major said behind them. Ace and the other were with him.

“Major,” Dan said as he stood up. The Major walked around the bench stand next to him.

“I always wondered what happened between you guys. Now I know. I’m not going to condone what you did back then, but I’m not going to hang you by it either.” The Major put a hand on his shoulder, “I’ve seen a lot of guys ignore their conscious to get ahead in their career over the years. It was very rare that I’ve seen someone ready to sacrifice their career in order to keep it clear. I’m proud to say I trained one of them.”

“Here,” Ace said holding a bag, “we chipped in and got this fixed for you.” Inside was the picture of him and his buddies in a new frame. The other thing in the bag caught him off guard.

He pulled out the second, empty picture frame, “What’s this for? You guys figured I’m going to go off and break the other one too?”

“Actually,” Ace pulled a camera out of her pocket, “we figured you could use a picture of your new group too.” Michelle took the camera as they surrounded him. “Wait, Michelle you got to get in here too.”

She shook her head no, “You guys are the team, not me.”

“Michelle that’s BS and you know it,” Boomer said. “You’re part of this team too.”

“Come on Michelle,” Ace and D.E encouraged her. She still back off.

“Get in the shot Lieutenant and that an order,” Dan said with a smile.

She smiled back, “Sir, yes sir.” She handed the camera to the Major. He held up a hand before they could say anything.

“Cap, let me remind you that I am the only person in this unit you can’t give an order too. Besides, somebody got to take the picture.” He took a few steps back as they got into position. Dan just stood there with his arms crossed. Ace stood to his right and copied his pose. Michelle got behind Dan and wrapped her arms around his neck. Rev stood to their left clasping his hands behind his back. D.E. and Boomer put an arm around the other shoulder and made a peace sign with their free hand. The Major made sure the camera was ready to go and he said, “Emergency.”

“DekaOps,” they all said as he snapped the picture