Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. Pity!
Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed, followed or made E for Excalibur a favourite.
691 Squadron is fictional as is RAF Hawksridge.
I read a lot of Fan Fic where the author mentions school and studying, I'm not going to be like that, I left school in the '80s and this is the biggest thing I have written since then.
I will try and update this regularly but working night shift at a hospital and sleeping during the day leaves not much time for other things.
Yes you might have guessed it the idea of Bradley James in RAF blue is appealing to me! Or the rest of them come to think of it.
Anyway enough of my rambling thoughts hope you enjoy chapter two!
Chapter Two
It was two months later when the crew arrived at RAF Hawksridge from their OUT (operational Training Unit). RAF Hawksridge was a feeder station to the main bases in Lincolnshire such as RAF Scampton. They were joining 691 Squadron.
When the crew arrived they were sent for by the base commander. He introduced them to Wing Commander Tristan 691's Commanding Officer.
"Glad to have you on board. I have looked at your progress through OUT and you all have done very well, they tend to think you have the makings of a good crew." W/C Tristan said.
The seven men all let out a breath they did not know they were holding and looked at one another and smiled.
The Wing Commander continued, "We have just been equipped with the new Lancaster bomber so you will not be getting some old clapped out crate to fly. You will have your own aircraft, take good care of it."
"Thankyou sir". Arthur said.
"Well off you go, keep working well and we will all get along fine," Tristan said.
"Sir." The seven men said coming to attention.
Outside the wing commander's office they gathered Arthur turned to them, "Right let's get our kits stowed in our messes and met at the door of the sergeant's mess in an hour."
An hour later they met and decided to go to the NAFFI canteen for a cup of tea.
As they were walking towards it two WRAF Flight Lieutenants walked towards them everyone saluted, the NCO's the Flt's who returned their salute and the Flt's to Arthur. After they had walked past Elyan did a double take and turned around and ran after them, catching them up he said, "Gwen what are you doing here?"
The girl this was addressed to turned, "Oh my Elyan it's you!" And gave him a big hug much to her friend's amusement and also that of the crew who had backtracked to see what Elyan was up to.
"So Elyan are you going to introduce me to your friends?" The girl asked.
The crew especially Gwaine thought Elyan had caught up with an old girlfriend.
Elyan said pointing to each man in turn "Of course, Gwen this is my crew, Arthur Pendragon he's our pilot, Merlin Emrys he's our flight engineer, Leon Parker our navigator, Lance Wright our bomb aimer, Percy Orson our wireless operator/ airgunner and this is Gwaine O'Connor our front gunner, everyone this is my sister Guinevere Madden."
"Hello." She said, "Please call me Gwen everyone does." She turned to her friend, "This is Morgana Swan."
"Hello" Everyone chorused.
Arthur looked at the two women they were so different. Gwen had a dark complexion with brown eyes and from what he could see sticking out from under her cap dark hair. Morgana had a pale complexion with green eyes and dark hair.
"How long have you been here?" Arthur asked.
"We have been working in the base medical flight for six months." Gwen said, "We are nurses."
"You have just become a part of my fantasy." Gwaine said to Morgana with a glint in his eye and a roguish smile he took her hand and kissed it.
"Thankyou I think." Said Morgana with an amused smile on her face. She thought how she would like to get to know this Irish rouge.
Arthur looked at Gwen and felt a slight rise in his temperature as she was looking at him and smiling warmly. "I have to get to know her better." He thought.
Arthur said, "It is lovely to meet you, we are on our way to the NAFFI for a cup of tea would you care to join us?"
Gwen said. "Thankyou very much but unfortunately we are about to start our shift, could we take up your offer another time? Sqn Ldr Hughes, he is the doctor would not be impressed if we turned up late for duty."
"Of course." Arthur said with a smile thinking how he would like to meet Guinevere as he had come to think of her alone to get to know her better.
After bidding the girls farewell the crew went and found their cups of tea. But a couple of them had their minds elsewhere.
That afternoon the crew went out to look at and check out their new aircraft. As they walked toward the Lancaster they could see the call sign on the fuselage JJ-E.
"Well it's obvious what we are going to call her isn't?" Asked Gwaine.
"What?" Was the reply from the others.
"Excalibur! We have Arthur, Merlin and Lance, are you sure it isn't Lancelot?" Enquired Gwaine.
"Yes Gwaine I'm sure." Said Lance.
"I don't know about you but I like the sound of that." Said Leon.
"Yes sounds goog I like it." Said Arthur.
"Me too." Said Elyan.
"I like it." Said Lance.
"Good name." added Percy.
"Merlin?" Arthur asked.
"No don't like it." Said Merlin deadpan.
"Too bad." Said Arthur with a smile.
That evening at the Rising Sun pub they raised a glass to Excalibur- the team was complete.