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"From my knowledge, no one expected to be attacked. Especially by something that could take out two top-notch Redler pilots. That's why we sent the Whale King out there. No Zoid in the entire Alliance arsenal could take out a Gustav before the Whale King got there. But you'll have to take that up with Lieutenant COlonal Delosa and Lieutenant Colonal Bradshaw for that. Both your mission and your sister's mission were SOG. The Redlers and Whale King were SOTF."

He checked his report.

"I wasn't aware we'd taken POWs. I gues those two must be slacking a little."

He made a note on the paper to get a hold of them.

"Anyway, what was your assesment of the enemy situation? And i'm referring to the Alliance team, not the Sinkers."

The Colonel leaned forward a little.

"Thoughts elsewhere? Explain, Sergeant."

The Colonel nodded.

"I see your point. While I do have sympathy for you and your sister, I can't share your feelings for the current leadership. The government has changed since. So has the military leadership. Chairwoman Prittchart is on a witch-hunt to punish those responsible. Don't think of it as fighting for the government."

He leaned all the way forward, clasping his hands in front of him on his desk.

"Think of it as fighting for the people. For the citizens. To protect them from the Alliance. And from accidents like the one that happened to your family. Because I promise you this, if something like that were to happen again, I'd be calling people out. In public. Because off the record, I agree with the anger you felt. And no, I had no knowledge FAMT Six was to be sent out. I believe SOG sent them out due to the relationship between the two of you. THat she'd go through hell and back for you, and vice-versa. If I'd known about it, I'd have simply dropped everyone that was needed via Whale King Tango. And I'd've used FAMT 12."

He pulled out a small wooden box.

"But, there is a particular reason for calling you in here."

((As I said, the KGB grates on people's nerves. XD))

"You just did."

He couldn't supress the grin.

"But as for what it is...it's highly irregular. I'm doing it mainly because you damned well deserve it. And to throw it in the face of the KGB."

He opened the box.

"On my authority as Commander, Ebinay Air Base, Pan-American Coalition, I hereby battlefield promote you from the rank of Sergeant to Staff Sergeant, effective immediately."

In the box were two different Staff Sergeant ranks. One was the gold of Dress Uniform, the other was the olive drab of the utility uniform.

"You can refuse it if you want. The only people that now about it are you and I. I do have the orders written up if you happen to accept."

"That's up to your Platoon Sergeant, really. The most, is he'll make you a squad leader. Which means you'd be a leadership role for your team and another team. Though probably nothing at all, other than more rank, more pay, and having to pass on some of your knowledge and experience to the younger ranks."

He pushed the box towards the end of the desk.

"It's a battlefield promotion, so you are free to refuse it. According to your record, your leaders don't want to promote you due to your, and a quote, 'inherent lack of discipline and inability to conotrol his soldiers and his mouth.' However, due to your piloting skill, I believe that can be overlooked. Provided you have your men tonw it down a little while on the base."

"Well try. Because his record is borderline discharge. I don't think he'd want to get thrown out. Because I have no say in that."

He folded up a sheet of paper and passed it to his aide.

"Run this over to S-1 please/"

The Corporal nodded and left in a hurry.

"Well, when you put in for your leave, if it gets denied, slip it to my aide. Or to Captain Winters. I'll sign off on it. And your sister's too, if you feel like it."

He paused for a moment.

"I do have a question though. How do you like 1-10 CAV?"

"Ever heard of the name for pigeons? Disgusting rats with wings. So mice do fly. Place of origin is no excuse. I'm from backwoods Mississippi. I don't act it."

He chuckled.

"SOG does Border patrol...but they also do covert ops, raids, strikes against High Value Targets, and destroy targets of opportunity. Remember that Assault Hover that was destroyed a few months back? That was an SOG mission."

He pushed a sheet of paper towards jarid.

"The reason I'm asking is that Master Sergeant Callahan has requested that you be transferred from 1-10 to 3rd SOG. Captain Winters, while he didn't sign anything, nor make any statements, he agreed that it would be a good move."

"SOG takes entire teams. SOmetimes onesies-and-twosies...but normally they prefer an entire team, as that might be the only support the individual has.'

He tapped the paragraph where it asked for the entire team.

"The one catch is that you might be on a mission that requires you to be away from Ebinay for days. Or be 100% quiet. As in taking no shots except in self-defense."