"Hey, hows Jess handling things, Trent told her" Jason asked as soon as he saw Eric standing in Jess's kitchen
"She knows, still in bed asleep with this migraine as well, Trent doesn't want her up doing stuff until it's fully out of her system, he mentioned that if she pushes herself before then, migraines can flare up again, he wants her fully recovered" Eric said informing Jason, Ray and Clay of the current situation
"I take it she's flying out" Jason asked
"Yeah, along with Trent, Sonny and myself, now before you have any disagreement over who's going, Trent and I were invited personally by Jay as we're going over some of his new gear, they asked for another member of Bravo to come along, and Sonny did volunteer, but he is also the logical choice to go, and I will feel a lot more comfortable with him being where I can see him, he doesn't get in anywhere near the amount of trouble with Jess around" said Eric, Sonny was definitely a wild card when it came to certain situations, more than once he'd had a phone call at 3am from the police to come and pick him up. For his own sanity with this trip, it was going to be much easier to simply take him along,
"You know that's true" Ray said laughing
"So what are we doing while you're gone" Clay asked
"Jason and Ray, I need you coordinating with Alpha with regards to this Al-Tabari package, I know we're going to be waiting on those translations, but there is some intell ready to go, start brainstorming, Davis will be on hand to help you analyse what's coming in. Clay is needed to make a start on those translations, Lindell mentioned something about a computer program you and Jess use for translations, should speed things up" Eric said having already spoken to the Base CO
"Yeah, it could knock out majority of the work she needs to do without her even looking at it, she'll need to proof the results but will have both audio and written transcripts to work of" Clay said, he'd been surprised at the program when she first showed it to him,
"Where's Brock" Ray asked looking around
"He'll be here later, he's got some work to do with Cerbs" Eric said
"Its going to be okay buddy, you've done these tests before and aced them every single time, you've got this" Brock said scratching Cerbs behind the ears while they were sitting in the waiting area of the base kennels and training facility, these tests were noting more than a formality
"Brock" came the voice of a female as she walked out a door leading to the back area
"Kieran, how'd my good boy do" Brock asked greeting the trainer
"Not great, he faltered on a couple of big ones, particularly the audio side, and he's tender in his hind leg, I think its time to consider retirement for the guy, he's lost his drive, he's done 3 years which is a long time for a tier 1 hair missile" Kieran said summarising the results from the test and what she had observed
"Time to let him just be a dog" Brock said softly looking at his faithful sidekick for the last 3 years, he knew that day would come eventually, it always does, the day when a handler and their dog have to separate and say goodbye. Some handlers become so attached and continue to work them pass this time, it usually had a tragic ending
"Think its time, he's served his country and deserves a chance to rest" Kieran said, she knew the pressure that this decision could put on people, they usually needed a bit of time to process everything
"You ready to hang your armour up buddy" Brock asked looking Cerbs straight in the eyes, try and work out what he was thinking. Cerbs just rested his head on Brock's lap and shifted his eyes up to look at Brock, he didn't know exactly what it was but suddenly he saw this look of exhaustion in the dogs big brown eyes
"Did you want time to think about it, or would you like me to start his discharge paperwork" Kieran asked looking at the pair
"Start the discharge paperwork, you wanna go and check out your kennel one last time" Brock said finally, fully processing his own feelings about what was happening then pushing them aside, he couldn't think about what he wanted, this was about what Cerbs wanted
"I'll get the paperwork started, any idea on where he will retire" Kieran asked, this was often the first concern some handlers had when retiring their dogs, and it was often a excuse they would use to justify their decision to work them beyond the point where they'd had enough
"I was going to see if Petty Officer Turner will take him in, they have a bond, he knows her property, and her fiance and 8 year old daughter will be moving in in about 4 weeks and she's dog mad, first thing she wants once they get here as before now both parents have been on active duty, so she's had to move around a lot, not had a settled enough environment for a dog" Brock said recalling the conversation that they had had yesterday, Jess had spoken to him about helping Zalie to find a dog when she moved over as she had always wanted one, but because of family commitments it had been impractical before now. Jess wanted to make sure that whatever dog Zalie got was an ideal match for her, not just some puppy because it was fluffy and cute
"Sounds like a ideal match" Kieran said, an 8 year old was around the age where most kids can handle majority of pet ownership responsibilities. Older dogs you knew their personality and things like their size, not just left to chance like it was with puppies, and military dogs were extremely well trained and loyal to their owners
"Come on Cerbs, we'll get your gear ready, no time to pick up the ladies so you can bump fluffy butts" Brock said laughing as he tried to get Cerbs to keep moving towards where his on site kennel was located, but Cerbs had just suddenly stopped and sat in front of the occupied kennel and looked the other dog over, the other dog noticing the visitors walked over and looked at Cerbs before sitting down as well and they just stared at each other
"Something tells me he may not be wanting to bump fluffy butts, they're both sitting and looking at each other, its as if Cerbs is sizing her up" Kieran noted, there was no signs of aggressive behaviour between the pair, it was as if they were in deep telepathic communication with each other
"Haven't seen her in here before" Brock asked suddenly noticing the connection that the trainer noticed
"New recruit, just finished training and waiting for a handler, she's slightly younger than our other graduates, but she's incredibly eager to learn and please, aced her training from day one, we've been wanting a slightly more experienced handler for her because she is that bit younger. You want to take her out, run some drills" Kieran asked noticing that Brock was now being drawn to her, and he was one handler who could compensate easily for her lack of age with his experience
"What do you think buddy, do you mind waiting around a bit, or would you like to go and stay at Jess's house and I'll come back" Brock asked Cerbs, he had already made his mind up to take the new recruit and put her through her paces, it was whether Cerbs would be content to watch while Brock worked with her
"Something tells me that he's wanting to see her in action, he's looking to pick his own replacement" Kieran said, dogs were often smarter and more intuitive than people gave them credit for, and Cerbs was probably not going to be able to fully relax unless he knew that Brock and the rest of the team had someone who could easily fill his role and keep everyone he loved safe
"Is that what it is, whats your name, Pepper, what do you thing Cerbs, you want Pepper to take your spot" Brock asked, Cerbs looked up at him then started pawing on the kennel door as if to say, come on, hurry up and let's go see what she can do
"He's definitely found something about her he likes" Kieran noted
"Lets grab your gear, see what your made of then Pepper" Brock said feeling that there was already a possible connection between them, he trusted Cerbs without question, and if Cerbs had noticed something about the pooch he liked, then who was Brock to question
"Heard from Brock, see where he is" Trent asked Sonny, concerned, Brock was seriously overdue
"Just mentioned that he's been delayed, thats it" Sonny said, Brock was never great at communicating over text message, Sonny pulled out his phone and passed it to Trent to read
"Hope everything is okay" Trent said still concerned as to what could be that important it kept Brock busy for the whole morning and part of the afternoon
"I'm sure it will be fine" Sonny said optimistically
"Well, what do you think of her" Kieran asked as Brock walked Pepper back over to where she was sitting with Cerbs, the pair had watched the whole thing
"Reminds me of someone else when I first met them, Cerbs what are you doing" Brock asked as Cerbs picked up his armour jacket and brought it over to where Pepper was sitting beside Brock, dropped it in front of her before sitting and barking like he was trained to do when he found explosive materials
"Well would you look at that, he's made his choice" Kieran said with a smile at what she'd just witnessed
"You want Pepper as our new hair missile" Brock asked kneeling down and looking Cerbs straight in the eyes, they had a bond between them, he was the best dog he'd ever had so far in his career, it was like Cerbs was telling Brock that this was his future, he was happy to step down as he knew that he and the rest of his team would be safe out there with Pepper
"Well I would say that's a big yes from him" Kieran said as Cerbs barked happily and started licking Brock's face
"So do I, get the forms ready, you're going to need to work really hard Pep, no slacking of, you ready for that responsibility, you've got big shoes to fill" Brock said looking at Cerbs then Pepper and giving them both a good scratch around the ears
"Hey, bout time you showed up, please tell me you have 2 pooches Brockoli and I'm not just seeing things" Sonny asked noticing the handler finally walk into the kitchen, he was in the process of making lunch for everyone
"I have 2, you're not loosing your mind Sonny" Brock asked as he unclipped the leads, Cerbs was immediately of and up the stairs, while Pepper just sat there and looked at Brock awaiting his command as he went to the fridge and pulled out the milk and pouring himself a glass. She didn't know this area or these people, so she wanted to stick across to Brock as possible
"What's to loose, he's already lost it" Ray said laughing standing on the other side of Sonny helping him
"Cerbs was officially retired this morning, this is Pepper, she'll be replacing him" Brock said filling them in on what had happened just as the others walked into the kitchen to grab some food
"And he's already off upstairs, one guess who he's gone looking for" Clay said with a boyish grin as Brock, Jason, Clay and Trent headed upstairs to check where Cerbs had gone
"Were we right" Jason asked, making his way to the third floor landing
"We were right, cuddles with his Jess, think he's asking to stay" Clay asked looking back at the group
"Wouldn't surprise me one bit if that's what he's asking" Brock said
"Is that what you're wanting" Trent asked looking at him
"Would love it for him to stay here" Brock said relieved slightly as Jess pulled back her bedding covers so Cerbs could snuggle underneath, there was zero chance of Jess saying no about him staying after watching that as Cerbs snuggled in nice and close to the sleeping EOD and closed his eyes
"You sure that he's not annoyed about suddenly being retired any you already have a replacement" Jason asked concerned
"No, all missiles go through testing every few months, thats where we were this morning and he failed his tests. Kieran the trainer and I talked about it, he's done 3 years, which is a long time at this level and he's done enough, served his country. He picked out Pepper as we were going to clean out his kennel, sat in front of her cage and they just stared at each other, wouldn't budge so I took her for some drills why he just laid there and watched, now kid you not but when I'd finished the drills and brought her over to where Kieran and Cerbs were waiting and Cerbs picked up his armour, dragged it over to her before dropping it in front of her and barking at me" Brock said recalling the situation which he had witnessed
"So he's selected his replacement" Jason said impressed, it was not uncommon for some team guys to help pick their replacements when they moved on
"Yeah, so I think that this is him saying please let me stay" Brock said pointing to the bed where the two were snuggled up together, the group watched the sleeping pair for a few seconds before heading back downstairs to have some lunch