Chap 1

Trouble Kelp held out his hand to help Holly into the shuttle, but she deftly ignored him and clambered in by herself. Commander Root, still covered in paint rolled his eyes at her and passed Kelp the unconscious forms on his brother, and the Sprite and Dwarf, before climbing into the cockpit himself.

Trouble smiled at her as he pushed past, and started handcuffing the criminals to the wall at the far end, and patted them down once more to check for concealed weapons.

Holly sat on the plush leather seat staring at the little silver acorns she held in her hand, fairly oblivious to the goings on around her, and it wasn't until Kelp sat down next to her that she realized that they were flying.

"I'm going to be the first LEPrecon to be on suspension before they've even set foot inside the department aren't I?" she said Kelp, as she brushed her hair out of her face. He laughed appreciatively.

"I'm sure saving the Commanders life will get you off the hook", he popped his collar "not to mention the LEP's most decorated Captain"

"Who got his initiation score beaten by a little girlie" she replied slyly. Captain Trouble Kelp was the kind of elf who always won, and could be described as a very sore loser.

"What have you done to your eye?" he asked, changing the subject conspicuously quickly as he turned her face to get a better look.

Holly had a gash down the side of her face and her left eye was blackening nicely. She jerked her head out of his hand when he touched it, he eyes filling with tears of pain.

"Sorry" he muttered "hold still". He placed one hand on each of her cheeks, and very carefully moved his thumb to the corner of the cut. Heal he thought, and little blue sparks flowed down onto her face, repairing the wound and reducing the swelling. A few stray sparks drifted down her neck into her suit, causing the small elf to shift uncomfortably on her seat. Kelp raised an eyebrow, a gesture which made him look, in Holly's opinion, and indeed of the general female population of the LEP, very attractive.

"I fell over when I was going to the shuttle after Commander Root was apprehended. All the way down a very stony hill as it happens…" she explained turning red, which caused him to laugh again as he reached over to the hidden fridge and grabbed two bottles of nettle beer, tossing one over to the new recruit.

"You're gonna fit in just fine with the lads you are" he said saluting her with his bottle "trust me".

And impeccably, she did.

They arrived at the LEP police plaza with very little delays, but as they approached the door, a mob of people appeared apparently out of nowhere. Masses of reporters bombarded the Commander with questions about the arrest and whether or not it was true. Holly's wrist was grabbed by one determined pixie, who stuck a camera and microphone in her face. On both sides of her, Root and Kelp were being harassed too, and it was all she could do not to pass out with panic as two strong hands grabbed her shoulders and dragged her through the double doors.

"Are you alright Short?" asked a very angry Root as he pulled the cage with the three convicts through the door. Kelp let go of Holly's shoulders and rushed to bar the doors from the media trying to get in.

"Yes sir I'm fine" she replied formerly.

"Good" said Root "now normally I would take the new recruits for a tour of the department and get them kitted up personally, but I have some criminals to take care of." he eyed her warily, then said gruffly "you understand that don't you"

Holly didn't hesitate to agree that the convicts were much more important than she was, and no she wouldn't make a complaint if the Commander left her in the capable hands of Captain Kelp.

"Good. Maybe you're not so bad after all" he muttered as he walked off in the other direction, pushing the cage in front.

The two remaining elves stood for a moment, unsure of how to proceed, when finally Kelp broke the tension.

"Let's get you out of those clothes then" he said, then added "and into some official LEPrecon gear" as Holly threw him what could only be described as a suggestive look. She laughed openly at his awkwardness then followed him down the corridor.

They reached the Recon department and entered using Kelp's clearance card, and they ducked into the male locker room.

"Recon doesn't… as yet… have Female locker rooms, so you'll have to make do" he explained apologetically.

He took her to a cupboard and reached down to the lowest shelf and produced a pair of black combat trousers, and a dark green t-shirt. "We also don't have female sizes" he said, turning his back so that Holly could change.

She quickly stripped off and pulled on the clothes, tying the top at her waist so it wasn't so baggy, and pulled the tie on the trousers as tight as they could go.

"Captain?" she asked, causing him to turn around "do you have a belt I can use?" she let go of the trousers, and they slid down till they were slightly lower than her hips

"Yeah sure" he said, unbuckling his own "and call me Trouble when the Commander isn't around" he fumbled with his belt, and somehow managed to wedge it tight "D'Arvit" he breathed, "it's stuck"

Holly tutted and crouched down to take a look for herself. She pulled on the course material and managed to shift it.

"finally" she sighed and whipped it out from around his waist, which would have not been a problem, except that at that exact moment, Private Chix Verbil walked in with a whole group of sprites just coming off the clock.

Trouble stood, horrified, as the whole group of them jumped to the conclusion that Holly was undressing him.

In all fairness, she was, but it didn't have half the connotations that the overly chauvinistic sprites would assign it.

Holly stood quickly and did the belt up on her own trousers to the jeers of the crowd. She picked up her old uniform off the ground and folded it neatly.

"What should I do with this" she asked Trouble, keeping her head down, and then added deliberately "Captain"

This got the catcalls going again, and one particularly loud sprite called out

"Trouble! You dog, you've even gotten her calling you captain"

Holly shot Trouble a look, and he started to move out of the room.

"I don't know about you Private, but I get all of my men to refer to me as Captain" he said as he pushed his way through the crowd. This comment passed unnoticed by most of the crowd, apart from a few raised eyebrows at the thought that this… girl would be one of the Captains men.