"Kia hora te marina, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana,

Kia tere Karaohirohi te i mua i tou huarahi_ May calm be spread

around you, may the sea glisten like greenstone and

the shimmer of summer dance across your path."~ Māori blessing.

.

"The Pelorus Affair"

The shock wave from the explosion hit the white and blue Ranger in seconds, smashing the safety glass and knocking the helicopter off kilter. The power from the blast sent the aircraft spiralling out of control as it dove across the sky.

All the bells and whistles on the instrument panel were going off, giving loud warnings to the pilot that his helicopter was losing altitude rapidly...as if Illya Kuryakin wasn't already aware of that.

He pulled on the cyclic with his right hand, trying to adjust the pitch of the rotor blades to pull the chopper out of its downward spin, his left hand on the throttle trying to maintain the air speed, and his feet were furiously working the anti-torc pedals as he attempted to keep up the nose of the helicopter.

But his efforts were futile as the chopper continued to drop. At the last minute he released the controls, raising his arms defensively in front of his face as the machine smashed to the ground.

When he awoke, the helicopter was lying on its side as he hung suspended by the safety harness. He kicked the door away with his foot then released the belt and drew himself up to the opening.

Blood coming from a head wound ran into his eyes, making it difficult to see as he pulled himself up and out, falling over the side to the ground with a thud, but as he tried to focus his vision he realized it was quite blurred. He knew that he had been very lucky in that the rotor blades had failed, otherwise he and the fuselage would have been cut to bits.

He could detect light, but could barely discern the shapes around him, feeling a moment of panic at his lack of vision, until he forced himself to relax. A few minutes later his eyesight improved, still a little out of focus but at least he could view his surroundings. What he saw was unexpected; he knew there would be damage from the explosion, but nothing like this.

The once green and lush landscape was now a wasteland as a strong wind blew swirls of smoke and dust around him and what was left of the trees.

Illya was in shock, and the effort to raise himself up from the ground felt surreal and disconnected. His head began to spin, but he forced himself to his feet, then reached into his jacket pocket, feeling his communicator still there.

"Open Channel D-Solo." He grimaced as the pain coursing throughout his body hit him when he let himself lean back against the wreckage. It felt like nothing was broken, to his amazement.

"Napoleon are you there?" he gasped as a sharp pain hit him when he felt blood running down his face from his head wound.

.Napoleon Solo was travelling at top speed in a stolen sedan, glancing upwards periodically at his partner who was travelling by helicopter. They had only minutes to get far enough from the compound before it was too late...but then it already might have been too late. The two of them just hoped they'd both live as the farther away they got, the better their chances of survival would be. On the other hand, injury was going to be a given.

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light, then looking into the rear view mirror he saw in the distance a cloud of red, orange and black suddenly mushroom up into the sky. "God help us," he whispered as he steeled himself against the blast wave.

Then came the tremendous boom that was followed by a concussion that hit the rear of the car, lifting it upwards like a toy and sending it hurtling end over end, tossing the agent inside like a rag doll. The vehicle ceased its movement, finally ending up on its roof.

He was hanging upside down with only his seat belt keeping him from falling and preventing his neck from being broken while he was pummeled inside the car as it flipped. Holding one hand out to catch himself, he released the buckle as he dropped down, then squirmed out of the window to the ground.

Solo realized that it was all gone; what had been a tree-lined rural road was now a barren landscape. Every bit of life was damaged or destroyed. There were a few skeletal trees remaining, and nothing moving but a dust-filled wind blowing around him.

The chirp of his communicator startled him for a second, calling him from his haze, then looked at the wreckage of the car and was shocked that he was uninjured.

"Solo."

"Are you alright?"

"Surprisingly, yes. How about you."

"Head injury, I am quite dizzy at the moment."

"Stay put, leave your communicator on. I'll come to you."

Napoleon switched on the homing signal, its intensity indicating that Illya wasn't that far away. He headed in the direction he'd last seen the helicopter above him and as the tone became more rapid, he knew that he was getting nearer to his partner. Twenty minutes later he climbed over a ridge, seeing the Russian sitting on the ground, leaning against the wreckage of the Bell 47J helicopter.

Illya lifted his head slowly as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively he moved to draw his Walther from his holster, but when he saw it was his partner, he stopped.

"This is really bad," Napoleon called to him.

"If ever I heard an understatement that was one" Illya mumbled, then fell forward to the ground. He awoke several minutes later cradled in Napoleon's arms, his blond hair being gently stroked by his partner's hand after the blood was wiped from his eyes with a handkerchief.

"We really have to stop meeting like this," Illya joked quietly, "people will begin to talk."

"They already do," Napoleon smiled.

"You realize that we may have been exposed to a good deal of radiation." Illya said.

"Now that was your turn at making an understatement. But I think the Solo luck may have been intact again as the wind was and still is blowing away from us. You'll be happy to know I called in an S.O.S. and a medivac is on its way." He cocked his head to one side, " As a matter of fact I think I hear it now."

The air was whipped around them as a Huey helicopter landed beside the wreckage. Medical technicians exited carrying two stretchers, but Solo declined for himself, indicating for them to just help his partner.

They arrived at an U.N.C.L.E. medical facility less than forty-five minutes away, and both agents were whisked off to be checked for radiation poisoning. Solo had some sore muscles, but was uninjured, Kuryakin needed stitches in his scalp, treatment for a mild concussion and superficial lacerations.

Both men were deemed to have been lucky not having sustained any serious injuries but the radiation they had been exposed to was questionable. But as a precaution, they were given doses of potassium iodide as a preventative measure and confined to medical for observation.

Both men had notorious reputations for bad dispositions and being uncooperative when in medical, but Kuryakin more so than his partner and so to alleviate the nurses from running back and forth between the complaining men, they were assigned to the same hospital room.

Only a few hours had passed and Illya was as usual dodging his medications, and an exasperated nurse ironically named Candy Sweets finally lashed out at him.

"How would you like it if I stopped you from doing your job? I know you don't like this, but you're not being very fair to me, and I get tired of it Illya...I really do."

"Hey Candy, I've been a good boy," Napoleon smiled, giving her his best puppy dog look.

"Oh Napoleon, please don't start! " Then she burst out in tears she left the room. Bursting into tears, she rushed out of the room.

"Now you've gone and done it tovarisch, you made her cry." Napoleon jabbed at his partner for his callousness.

"Well then you make it up to her, I am sure you will think of something."Illya huffed, crossing his arms in front of him.

Illya was ordered to stay in bed making him all the more surly, while his partner dressed in his pajamas, robe and slippers at least had the mobility to move about their room for all the good it was worth. Solo was just as antsy, and wanted to get out of there as well.

"You still have your headache?" Napoleon looked over at his partner; his face seeming a little puffy to him, and his skin appeared a bit pink, but he put that off to his partner just being a bit peeved.

"What do you think?" Kuryakin said, covering his eyes with his hands as he was finding himself overly sensitive to light. "Could you please draw the curtains, the light is really bothering me."

"Worse than when we arrived last night?"

"A bit."

"Anything else bothering you?"

"Only your annoying questions, Dr. Solo."

Napoleon clicked his tongue. "No need to be testy. What, I can't worry about you?"

"I will let you know when it is time to worry my friend, thank you. Now please be quiet. I would like to take a nap."

"Lunch will be here any minute, don't you want to wait?"

"I am not hungry."

That gave Napoleon cause to worry. Illya Kuryakin was never, not hungry and armed with that bit of information, he walked out to the duty nurse's station to let someone know about his partner's loss of appetite.

"Mr. Solo, please go back to your room. We are aware of Mr. Kuryakin's loss of appetite. He hardly ate his dinner last night, nor his breakfast this morning. We are monitoring him carefully for any other signs of radiation sickness."

Napoleon suddenly realized that Illya could be dying right before his eyes...hell he could be too. They had taken the full force of the blast and he wondered if the doctors were lying about the amounts of radiation they had been exposed to, just to soften the blow.

He walked back to his room, pulling up a chair beside Illya's bed as he slept. Then a moment later one of partner's eyes opened, peeking at him.

"Please tell me that you are not going to sit there and stare at me while I sleep?"

"Ugh... no, I wasn't. Sorry I bothered you. I'll just go lay down too" Solo bluffed, not wanting to give away the fact that he was now really worried about him.

"Thank you Napoleon. I think I will be fine. Please do not concern yourself with me." Illya tried cracking a smile as he sensed Napoleon seemed more tense.

An hour later Illya was surrounded by several nurses as he began heaving his guts out. It was then they decided to move him to a private room and that Napoleon was not happy about at all.