Part I: Promotions and Drills

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Naartjie - Afrikaans slang for a pretty young woman.

Tannie - Afrikaans for aunt.

Smadge - Slang for 'Sergeant Major'.


ACME Field Office
Manhattan, NYC
Nace, Armando, Deric, Ivy
06 April 2004, 1204

"Santa Maria!" Armando looking at his watch as Deric and Nace approached the table, "It's a little after noon, what took you guys so long?"

"What do you think," Deric replied as he took his seat beside Ivy, kissing his wife lightly after doing so.

"He actually asked Borgia out?" Ivy said.

Deric nodded as Armando took a sip of his water glass.

"And what did she say?" Ivy asked.

"She said yes," Nace replied, smiling.

At this Armando dropped his water glass, eyes going wide, "Carajo, Bilby! That's a miracle!"

"Miracle?" Nace asked, eyes narrowing, "How so?"

"Armando had some money on you either chickening out or Borgia saying no," Deric smirked.

"You wanker," Nace said, but his smile never faded.

He's been smiling almost nonstop since we walked out of the DA's office. Deric thought. This is a whole new side to Nace.

"So let me guess, Nace took a really long time to ask Borgia out?" Ivy asked.

"It wasn't that long!" Nace protested as he unwrapped his sandwich.

"Yes it was," Deric countered, "And I've got pictures of my watch to prove it."

"Okay," Ivy said, "How long did it take?"

"Put it this way, if I had known he was going to take that long, I would have gone to the hotdog vendor outside," Deric said.

Ivy and Armando promptly laughed as Ivy playfully punched her husband on the arm, "Well, you volunteered to go with him."

"Biggest mistake of my day," Deric groaned.

"She said yes," Nace said to no one in particular, the smile still on his face.

"It only took you over an hour," Deric smirked, "I almost had to ask her for you."

"I have to admit, this is a whole new side to Nace," Ivy remarked, "One that smiles for extended periods of time."

"If I didn't see it with my own eyes I'd think Nace got replaced with a pod person," Deric whispered to his wife.

Nace stifled a yawn, before standing up from the table and walking over to the beverage kiosk. A cup of coffee was most certainly in order. He filled the cup and headed over to the table, sitting down and taking a sip of it.

"Long night?" Ivy asked.

"You could say that," Nace replied, taking another sip of his coffee before stifling yet another yawn.


Westside YMCA
Manhattan, NYC
Alexandra Borgia and Serena Southerlyn
06 April 2004, 1722

"So he asked you out?" ADA Serena Southerlyn began as she and Alex walked out of the locker room, towards the racquetball court.

Alex nodded with a small smile, "That he did."

"Funny, I didn't hear a siren or any alarms go off when he did," Serena joked.

"That was one time, and he meant it for a student of his with somnolent tendencies," Alex protested as they approached the door.

"Yet you found it," Serena countered.

Alex couldn't help but redden slightly as Serena's grin widened, "There was also that Footloose story you were telling…"

"He was using that as a practical example for a class," Alex said, "I didn't trigger that one."

"You were still around when the thing did get triggered though," Serena replied.

"Fair enough," Alex sighed as she slid on her safety glasses.

"So a first date with an eccentric, Shakespeare quoting bomb disposal technician," Serena began as she put her own safety glasses on.

"That's not something you see every day," Alex replied as she unzipped the case containing her racquetball racquet.

"Ready?" Serena asked as she bounced the ball off the ground before catching it.

Alex nodded and with a small smirk quipped, "Let's see what you've got, Serena."

Serena returned the smirk before sending the ball flying and Alex scrambling after it.


Deric and Ivy's Residence
Brooklyn, NYC
Deric Storm, Ivy Darren-Storm, Nace Bilby
07 April 2004, 0705

Goliath barked eagerly as Nace stepped out of his parked Jeep and headed towards the front of Deric and Ivy's place. Deric and Ivy stood at the foot of the steps with Ghost on his own leash, the larger dog barked in return.

"I can't thank you enough for babysitting Goliath," Nace began.

"It's no trouble, Bilbs," Deric smirked, "Ghost loves having Goliath around to play with."

"He keeps pulling on my pants legs though," Ivy replied, "I might have to start wearing skirts more often."

"I wouldn't mind that, Red," Deric said with a smirk.

"That's herding behavior," Nace replied.

"Cute," Ivy quipped, "How do you stop that herding behavior, though?"

"Give him a pinch to the side of the neck and say 'no' when he does that," Nace replied as he handed the leash off to Ivy.

He crouched down and gave Goliath a hearty pat on the head, then scratched the canine behind the ears, getting a barrage of licks and nuzzling in return from Goliath.

"Good boy," Nace smirked, "Now you be good for Oom Deric and Tannie Ivy."

"Tannie?" Ivy asked, eyebrow raised.

"That's Afrikaans for 'aunt'," Nace supplied, "And Oom is 'uncle'."

"Oh," Ivy replied as Goliath barked.

"Anyway, I'd best be going," Nace replied, after petting his dog one last time. Then glancing at his watch as he stood up.

"Have a safe trip, Bilbs," Deric said as Nace headed for the cab that would take him to the airport.


Dequar Road Base
Praetoria, South Africa
Nace Bilby, Benjamin Vaas, and Nathaniel Danvers
09 April 2004, 0748

"Oi, Wanker!" Benjamin Vaas shouted as he lit a cigarette.

"Good to see you too, Baz," Nace commented as he strode towards the red brick building that served as 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment drill hall.

"Seems they'll promote just about anybody," Nathaniel Danvers said as he blew a cloud of smoke into the air.

"Screw you, Dinger," Nace replied with a toothy grin as he approached his old mates, receiving a good natured punch on the arm by his friends. Nace returned the gesture to Baz and Dinger in turn before setting his backpack down on the ground.

"So how's New York?" Baz remarked.

"Interesting so far," Nace replied, "I'm working at the ACME Field Office in Manhattan. We've got a cycle of new probationary agents we've been training up."

"You as a teacher," Dinger laughed, "I can't picture it."

"Heh, why can't you?" Baz shot back before taking another drag of his cigarette, "Come on, don't you remember all the trivia Nace pushed out any time we had an idle moment."

"Oh, yes. However it did win us a few free drinks at the pub whenever it did trivia night," Dinger quipped.

"Hah," Nace replied, "I'll have the pair of you know I borrowed a page or two from old Fosby's book."

"Oh bugger," Dinger groused, smacking his forehead as he did so, "Which part? The monotone lectures? The setting of booby traps? Or the setting the trash can on fire?"

Nace sarcastically said, "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha, Dinger. You're a bloody scream. For one I'm not South Africa's Ben Stein."

"You've not gone into the other two," Baz observed as he blew a cloud of smoke into the air.

Nace waved his hand in front of his face, "That's because you didn't let me elaborate on the other two, wanker."

"Well what about the other two, Bilby?" Dinger asked.

"I've set a couple booby traps, mainly because one student fails to stay awake in class," Nace replied, "And I do believe the last one is arson. The last thing I want is to have to deal with the DA's office."

"DA?" Baz asked.

"Oh, District Attorneys are what the Yanks would call our State Attorneys. They're the sort that prosecute criminals," Nace replied.

"So how did the booby traps work out?" Dinger asked.

"Both worked quite well, though the first hit an unintended target," Nace replied with a sheepish expression on his face, "One of the representatives from the District Attorney's office tripped up a pressure plate I built into a student's chair."

"Alright, bru, heard the summarized version, let's hear whole booby trap story. This sounds like it beats anything Fosby did," Dinger said, with a toothy grin.

"Dinger, for the record, you're a wanker," Nace replied before telling the story of the siren.

"Hah! I love it!" Dinger said, leaning against the building and letting out a great belly laugh.

"So in attempting to mimic Fosby you wound up getting some woman from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to trip a pressure switch connected to a siren under a chair?" Baz added, laughing all the while.

"What are you willing to bet she's some frumpy sort that got a bloody heart attack from the siren?" Dinger guffawed.

"I'll have you know she's quite the opposite," Nace replied.

"Oh, let's hear this," Baz said, toothily grinning before punching Dinger on the arm to get his attention.

"Wot?" Dinger asked.

"Evidently while you damn near inhaled your own cigarette laughing," Baz quipped, earning a glare from Dinger in response, "Bilby said the woman from the DA's office was rather the opposite of the frumpy bird you were honking about."

"So, Bilby, evidently she's quite the naartjie?" Dinger asked.

Nace nodded, "She's about 5'10", Italian ancestry if her last name is anything to go off of, slender build, fair skin, dark brown hair that comes just slightly below shoulder length, brown eyes about the color of the best chocolate…"

Baz and Dinger both saw Nace's ever expanding grin as they both took drags on their cigarettes. As Nace's voice trailed off Baz smirked, "Someone's got it bad."

Nace's smile remained in place, "I've got a date with her next Friday."

"That's your first date in what? Six years is it?" Dinger replied.

"Oi, what's going on here," James "Tiny" Frantz said as he strode up to them.

Baz glanced upward at the powerfully built, bald fellow that approached, "Evidently Nace sorted out a first date in New York."

"So she's what? Your supervisor or something?" Tiny quipped.

"Piss off, Tiny," Nace replied with a smirk.

"Well, you did fall in love with a nurse after being wounded during the war," Tiny said, grin widening.

"You wanker," Nace replied.

Tiny guffawed, "And last time I checked military nurses are commissioned officers."

"Piss off Tiny," Nace repeated, rolling his eyes.

"We should celebrate that after this drill," Baz replied.

"Of course that will involve industrial quantities of alcohol, right?" Nace asked.

"Too right," Dinger added before taking yet another drag off his cigarette.

"I'd best get indoors before the pair of you poison me with second hand smoke," Nace said with a roll of the eyes.

"Hah!" Dinger laughed, blowing smoke in Nace's direction.

Nace shot him the finger as he entered the building, nearly running into a tall, slender, balding, dirty blond haired fellow with a long nose.

"Sorry about that, Staff," Nace said as he addressed the man.

"No worries, Bilby," Staff Sergeant Robert Prinsloo replied before Nace turned to one side, letting him out of the building to address the soldiers standing outside, "Right, you lot, assemble inside."

Nace glanced over his right shoulder, just in time to see Dinger and Baz stubbing out their cigarettes and tossing them into the ash tray over the garbage can. He recognized several soldiers, some of them veterans of the war but also several new ones.

"New blokes from the latest Training Cycle," Dinger observed.

"You've got two of them in your new team," Prinsloo whispered. "Baz, you'll get one of the new blokes, Dinger you'll get three. You'll get to meet the new blokes later, but look sharp for now, the Smadge and the Colonel are on their way."

A stocky, barrel chested African man strode into the room and Dinger quipped, "Speak of the devil."

"Attention," Warrant Officer Mhlongo, the unit's Sergeant Major or 'Smadge', shouted.

Several chairs scraped across the floor as the assembled soldiers stood to attention. A gaunt fellow with tousled brown hair with a touch of grey strode purposefully towards the room and Nace recognized him as Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Neuland, the newly minted commanding officer of 2.1 Commando.

"At ease, lads," Neuland said as he paced up and down the front of the classroom with long strides, "As you can see 2.1 Commando, indeed all of 2 Recce Regiment has some new blood fresh out of the Training Cycle. To you new blokes, welcome. My Troop Commanders and Staff Sergeants and team leaders will ensure you are in good hands."

Nace studied Neuland as the man paced up and down the front of the classroom, he knew him by reputation but not personally. They say he's a fair sort, a stickler for standards. And he's a veteran of hundreds of small team operations.

"To you old hands, I shall rely rather heavily on your experience to integrate these new blokes into the unit. Having fought alongside several of you during the war I have faith that you will do so. Do not prove me mistaken."

A pair of hazel eyes regarded every man in the room through the brief silence. Then Neuland wryly grinned, "Right, now the first exercise for us will be a parachute jump followed by a foot march back to a rendezvous point. Your Troop Commanders have the schedules and the particulars."

Another pause as Neuland let his words sink in and Nace found his mind racing. Good training for the new blokes and us old hands too. Nace thought, remembering many multi-hour, multi-kilometer hikes through rough terrain following parachute jumps to go after enemy units.

"Shared hardship through realistic training, a proven way to build cohesion in a unit," Neuland continued, "That's the point of tonight's exercise. We leave for the airfield at 1600 today and jump at midnight. I'll see you gentlemen then."

"Attention!" Mhlongo bellowed and the assembled soldiers of 2.1 Commando stood to as Neuland calmly walked out of the room.

A flurry of activity followed as the different groups of soldiers wandered off to find their particular Troops. Nace saw Tiny walking by with an athletic looking African man and a wiry fellow of Indian descent.

"Nace, this is Jacob Nyathi and Zafar Younis, the two new blokes for our team," Tiny said, indicating the African and the Indian man in turn.

"Good to meet you," Nace said, shaking each man's hand in turn, "Ready for tonight's jump?"

Nyathi nodded, smiling toothily, "Looking forward to it."

Zaf added a wry grin of his own, "All things considered I'd rather ride a jeep."

"Still scared of heights?" Nyathi said with a lighthearted punch to Zaf's arm.

"Right," Nace said, "Head to the quartermaster and draw your kit, and sort out something to eat and meet here in a couple hours."

"Right," Zaf nodded and he and Nyathi headed off to do just that.

"Oi," Dinger said as he approached, "Captain Munro wants to see all team leaders, meet up in our Troop day room."

Nace wordlessly followed his old comrade out of the classroom.


Air Force Base Waterkloof
Praetoria, South Africa
Nace, Zaf, Nyathi, Tiny, Dinger and Baz
09 April 2004, 1710

"We rig up soon," Nace said as he headed over to Zaf, Tiny, and Nyathi.

"And we jump too," Nyathi grinned toothily.

"The sooner the better," Zaf replied, looking somewhat nervous.

"I bloody hate parachuting too, Zaf," Nace replied.

"Really?" Nyathi asked, incredulous, "How many jumps do you have again?"

"Fifty-four," Nace replied, calmly, "Other than twelve training jumps, forty-two of them entailed facing desperately homicidal blokes with automatic weapons on landing."

"And you hate jumping, still?" Zaf asked.

"It's not a natural act to throw yourself out of a perfectly functioning aircraft," Nace replied, "Anyone who says they're not scared or nervous before a jump is either lying or is completely batfuck."

"Hah!" Dinger laughed with mock contempt.

"Case in point for the latter," Nace replied calmly.

Baz and Tiny laughed at Dinger's expense. Dinger reddened slightly, "Hah! Parabats are hardly frightened."

"Parabats?" Zaf asked.

"Slang for 44 Parachute Battalion," Nace replied, "Baz and Dinger served a year and a half in the Parabats before they joined Recces."

"Parachuting is a real rush," Nyathi said, "All this jump needs is a swig of good whiskey and we're in business."

"You're batfuck," Zaf said with a wry grin.

"I could use a Knob Creek on the rocks," Nace replied.

"Knob Creek?" Nyathi asked, curious.

"It's a Yank brand of bourbon."

"Bourbon?" Nayathi asked.

"Basically a type of whiskey, made in one region of the US," Nace replied, smiling, "Developed a taste for it in New York City."

"I could go for a stiff drink," Zaf smirked.

"What would you be doing if you weren't parachuting from a plane tonight?" Tiny chimed in.

"Probably waiting tables at TGI Friday's at Victoria Wharf in Cape Town to get through my next semester at university," Nyathi replied.

Zaf said, "Spending time with my wife. She's in the second trimester."

"Really?" Baz said, "First one?"

Zaf nodded, and promptly was the recipient of at least one hearty pat on the back from Baz and Dinger.

Baz exclaimed, "Congratulations!"

"What about you, Bilby?" Zaf asked, "What would you do?"

Nace smiled, "I would probably be enjoying a first date with a rather nice young woman I met in New York City."

"It's official," Dinger smirked, "You've got it bad."

"Oh bollocks to you lot," Nace smirked.

"Right! Time to get rigged up, lads!" Prinsloo's voice echoed into the hangar.

Nace and his teammates were fitted with their parachutes, which included having their 70 pound backpacks rigged between their legs and weapon cases slung under their arms. Thus heavily burdened they waddled down the tarmac, boarding a turboprop powered C-47.

The steady whirr of the turboprops as the aircraft began to taxi jolted Nace out of a light doze and then the aircraft lifted off.

Nace mentally played the lyrics of the song Africa by Toto as the aircraft continued its steady climb.

Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you...there's nothing a hundred men or more could ever do...Nace thought, and as he felt the aircraft level off his mind switched over what to do next. Wait for the command to stand up.

His eyes glanced upward from under his helmet to the high tension steel cables running along the length of the inside of the aircraft's fuselage. Then hook up, check my equipment, and then head for the door and exit.

"Stand up!" the shout came from Nace's right.

He heard it echo as he and several of his mates closest to the jumpmaster shouted it down the aircraft. Pushing with his legs he got to his feet, under the weight of his kit, parachute and reserve chute.

"Hook up!" came the order.

Again the command was echoed down the aircraft and Nace hooked the static line into the steel cable above his head.

This is it. Nace thought, with a slight gulp. And then he crossed himself, his pre-jump ritual that he had done through fifty-four previous parachute jumps.

He felt the rush of air as the jumpmaster opened the side door, looking out into the night sky. The red lights that bathed the fuselage's interior changed to green and Nace saw Captain Munro, at the head of his stick of jumpers turn right, handing his yellow static line to the jumpmaster, before exiting the aircraft. Another soldier in front of Nace was out next and now it was his turn.

Shutting his eyes Nace jumped into the African night, feeling the air rushing around him, counting to himself. One-one thousand. Two-one thousand. Three-one thousand. Four….

Before he could finish the count of four seconds he felt his fall being arrested by a stiff jerk. He looked up to see the olive drab silk of his parachute canopy above his head.

No holes, good. Nace thought, as he floated earthward.


TBC