Author's Note: Hello everyone. If this is your first Christmas Alphabet Advent Calendar, you are going to be in for a treat. If you are a returning reader, welcome back. I will give you a bit of a warning, this story collection is a bit darker than my past Christmas Advent Calendars. But while there are some stories that will kick you in the feels, I promise that this collection includes a number of properly fluffy stories...especially when we get to the end of the that the PSA is done. Let's jump in to this year's story collection.

A is for All-Weather

Maru couldn't help but sigh…compared with every other vehicle on base, Blade's Quals Sheet was abysmal. While the mechanic had kind of expected that he would be lacking, his friend had just barely gotten certified, after all, he also hadn't expected him to be so far behind fellow aircraft. I mean Blade's Qual Sheet barely took up two pages…Cabbie's, well Cabbie's Qual Sheet was closer to forty. And Blade was probably never going to catch up with the C-119, Maru knew that if the helicopter was going to survive in the world of firefighting, he was going to have to step up his game fast.

Spreading out the Qual Sheets for the four aircraft on base, Maru tried to find some qualifications that he thought he might be able to assist Blade in getting. It was slow going. Some of the quals were clearly fix wing aircraft specific. Others were job-specific. But as he dug deeper, he discovered a handful of qualifications that appeared in every Qual's sheet but Blade's. After complying a list, Maru took the first task on the list and headed out into the evening to ask what it would take to get Blade this qualification.

"So, what is going to take to get Blade his All-Weather rating?" Maru placed the helicopter's qual sheet on the table.

"Maru, we are eating dinner." The base's Chief replied pointedly.

"Which makes it a perfect time to pin all of you down for a straight answer." Maru refused to drop the subject.

"Fine." The tired-looking Rockwell Commander turned to the oldest and most experienced aircraft on the team. "Cabbie, it's your turn to explain."

The C-119 grumbled, before pushing his bowl away and leveling an annoyed look at Maru. "You want the straight answer?"

"Of course." Maru grinned up at the plane, finally feeling as though he was making progress.

"I highly doubt that Blade will ever get that particular qualification. No offense to you kid." Cabbie leveled a kind look at Blade, who currently looked as though he wanted to melt through the main hanger's floor. "But you simply don't have the amplitude for it."

"Really?" The mechanic pushed.

"Really." Cabbie replied before trying to turn his attention back to his soup.

"But, everyone else here has managed to get it." The tug didn't try to hide the pout developing in his voice.

"And all the other aircraft on base are instrument rated." The old plane didn't even try to hide his eye roll. "And holding an instrument rating is required to be able to gain an all-weather rating."

"Oh…" Maru let his voice trail off, the mechanic chewed on his lip for a moment and Cabbie took advantage of the pause in the conversation to gulp down a couple of mouthfuls of his dinner. "Okay, Blade is going to struggle to get the instrument parts of an all-weather rating, but there must be some part of the skills that he can get passed off on…I mean he flies in rain just fine as long as he has line of sight."

"Night." The base Chief let the word hang in the air.

"What?"

"One of the most critical weather conditions that an all-weather aircraft can navigate is night. They need to be able to comfortably fly missions in the dead of night." The Rockwell Commander was clearly trying to be patient with his subordinate. "Blade, like most helicopters, struggle with nighttime navigation. It is not something to be ashamed of, it is simply one of the challenges of rotary-wing flight."

"So, if he could…"

"We will continue this conversation after dinner." Cabbie finally put a tire down.

"But…" Maru tried to protest.

"After dinner." The old warplane glared down at the mechanic and Maru finally relented, knowing that there were some battles that he was simply never going to win…but also recognizing that had been given permission to ask questions to his heart's content after the bellies on base were comfortably full. With that tidbit of knowledge, Maru couldn't help smiling a bit as he tucked into his own bowl of soup.

Term – All-Weather – An aviation term that dates back to WWII when many military aircraft lacked radar and other systems to allow them to fly in clouds, during precipitation events, or low light conditions (aka night.) Currently, the term All-Weather is still used when discussing the types of missions emergency services teams can fly and combines the capabilities of the aircraft and the training of the pilot. As a rule of thumb, All-Weather rated aerial firefighting aircraft are rare and often manned by form military pilots.