Jasper lay reclined on the roof of the Humvee, his head propped up by his discarded helmet as he tried to squint into the night sky and discern some recognizable constellations. He was interrupted from his musings when another helmet popped above the roofline, and he managed to identify his bunkmate in the darkness.

"Meyers."

"So this is where you've been hiding out, Whitlock. Thought you'd gone AWOL or some shit." His friend hoisted himself up next to Jasper and took in the view with a low whistle.

"I'm on watch. A little hard to be hiding out fully elevated and in view of the enemy." Jasper leisurely picked up the night vision binoculars off his chest and scanned the horizon line with them before passing them off. Meyers accepted them and did his own sweep of the area, before setting the specs down on the roof and relaxing back on his hands. The seconds ticked off in the stillness before his friend spoke again.

"Its too f-ing quiet, man. Gives me the creeps, you know?"

Jasper didn't want to say anything, but he too had that pinching feeling in his gut like the hammer was about to drop, so he nodded in agreement.

The black sky seemed to shimmer in front of his vision, and then he saw it – one perfect streak of light zipping overhead.

"Did you see that?" Meyers perked up the same moment Jasper sat up at attention.

"Yeah. They said there might be a meteor shower over the next few weeks, but I didn't think we were in the right place to see any of it."

The two seemed to hold their collective breath, eyes fixed on the sky, willing another tail of light to pass. A small flicker in Jasper's peripheral vision had him looking along the horizon again, the pinching in his gut tugging at his senses. Grabbing the binoculars he scanned repeatedly all around them. On his second pass back along the southern desert he saw it – small shadowy figures hurriedly moving in preparation.

"Meyers…." he hissed warningly, at the same time he struggled to adjust the binoculars, pushing the zoom to the limits as he tried to desperately identify what it was he was seeing. The one word was enough to get his comrade to snap to attention, and he felt more than saw his bunkmate crouch into position behind him scanning out in the same direction.

"What do you see, Whitlock?"

Just as the image came into focus, the insurgents turned on a spotlight and the whiteout of the glare burned Jasper's eyes through the night vision. "Fuck!" Jerking back he pressed his fingers into his lids, willing the blind spots to cease.

"Missiles," he managed to spit out as the pain in his eyes receded. "Looks like they're setting up a P.A.D. to take out the drop tomorrow."

"Shit," was Meyer's succinct reply. "I'll head down and wake up the Corporal."

Jasper nodded distractedly and listened with half an ear as Meyers started talking into his comm device while he raised the binoculars to his still spotting eyes again. The image made him suck in a breath as he was basically staring down the barrel of a rocket launcher aimed directly at his position over 1500 feet away. The whiteout flared in the lenses as Jasper threw them down and then leaped across the roof of the Humvee to tackle his friend and push him off the roof.

"Meyers! Get DOWN!" He managed to roll his friend off the roof, and only waited a second to ensure his landing area was clear before he jumped off the Humvee feet first into the sand and took off after him at a dead run for the camp as the shrill whine of the projectile increased behind them. Then there was a second where the night air held its breath before the Humvee behind him exploded into flames.

. . . . .

He felt his mind empty as he focused on his movements and breathing.

Stroke, stroke, stroke, breath. Stroke, stroke, stroke, breath.

He ducked under the water and turned his body, his toes gripping the solid side wall of the pool on more instinct than calculation before he pushed off to surface again to repeat the cycle. His arms and the pain in his back burned lightly, but the muscles in his legs felt lighter as he released the tension that had been building up over the past few days. The thoughts and what ifs about Peter's prognosis threatened at the edge of his mind but he forcibly pushed the matters out of his head and went back to focusing on the rhythms of his exercise. He was just rounding his thirty-seventh (or was it his thirty-eighth?) lap when a streak of fire raced down his back, causing him to pull up short and grab for the side of the pool. The water poured in rivulets over his face and into his mouth as he braced himself and tried to breathe through the stabbing sensation. His ears detected the echoing thud of footsteps over the wash of noise flooding his hearing from the pain, and opened his eyes to see a strong hand extended before him, platoon ring winking in the reflection of the overhead lights. Jasper blindly grabbed for it and was practically hoisted out of the pool without any effort before he lay back on the cool tile floor in hopes of numbing himself somewhat. Fully wiping the water out of his eyes he found himself staring up into the face of Major Hoff. He struggled to right himself so he could salute, but the elder man just waved him back.

"No, no, no, Lieutenant. Don't get up. I didn't haul your ass out of the pool so you could pay your dues, I just didn't want you to drown." His mentor glanced around before gesturing to Jasper's duffel on the nearby bleachers. "You got your meds in there I can fetch for you?"

With Jasper's pained nod he went over and retrieved two pills and the bottle of water from the bag and crouched down next to the prone form on the deck of the pool, casually focusing his vision to the dim sky visible through the higher windows as the younger man struggled to sit up. After swallowing the dose, Jasper brought his knees up to rest his forehead on as he struggled to breathe slowly until the medication finally began to take effect. Major Hoff simply draped a towel over his shoulders and sat next to him in companionable silence. By the time Jasper could muster the energy to try standing, his legs were chilled and stiff, and he thought his butt must have gone numb from sitting in the same position so long. He stumbled over to his bag on the bleachers and dropped heavily onto the bench, the residual pain sending another lick of fire up his back from the jarring. He dimly registered the superior officer take a seat beside him as he stared at the floor and tried to control the waves of pain by focusing on his breathing.

"Heard your family got into a lick of trouble earlier this week," the Major stated conversationally. "I know that during basic training it seems like we're trying to beat the self preservation out of you, but you have to remember to take care of yourself. You won't be worth nothing to your family if you set yourself back focusing on them."

Jasper managed a nod to show that he was listening. As the pain began to recede and his breathing slowed, he felt the Major grip his shoulder briefly in support.

"Still hurts like the devil, doesn't it? Its been 15 years and some days I wonder if I'll ever wake up without feeling mine in the morning," he tapped his leg in explanation, then shifted and pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. "Anyway, enough with the chit chat. I got some good news for you. Seems like you could use it. She's small, and its still experimental at this point, but we're footing the bill for the training. So you just need to take the certification to work with her and do the upkeep." The Major stood and handed Jasper the envelope, who took it with shaky hands and just held it for a moment disbelievingly. "Looks like your family is getting even bigger, soldier," the Major Hoff said in his flatly sardonic tone. Jasper struggled up off the bench to salute him properly, which the Major returned, and then extended his hand. "I know you can do it, Lieutenant. You're the best man for the job."

"Thank you, sir," was his automatic reply.

It was only after he was alone that Jasper wondered whether the Major meant with his family, or his new companion.

-tbc

Thanks for sticking with me!