All the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these will come to you in time
On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak
Son of man look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Someday you'll walk tall with pride
Son of man a man in time you'll be
The Colonel offered to escort Whistler to the dimensional travel bay, intent on a little recon for himself. "So, what was behind this visit, huh? You usually don't bring good news, Whis. And on the rare occasions you do, you usually get into some of General Doyle's scotch before you leave."
Whistler eyed the wolf-creature in his peripheral vision, sly as ever. "Let's just say you might have to worry some about stayin' as boss #2, Maj. As for the scotch, bastard hides it in a new place every time."
There was a little howl of laughter. "Well I'll be damned. Sounds like you're bringin' someone in. All I can say is, about time."
"So you're not sore about the possibility of losin' your 2IC?" The toothpick in the demon messenger's mouth made its way from right to left, thoughtfully.
Maj shook his muzzle. "They want the job, they can have it. Not as glorious as I thought it'd be. Maybe I could go home, huh?"
"Don't count on it, Maj, not yet anyway." Whistler inhaled, hissing the air between his teeth before letting it out again in a long suffering sigh. "Well, got a feelin, ya know? Something big's gonna happen soon. Can't tell what. But two centuries of out and out war and ya gotta figure everyone involved 's sick of it."
Silver eyes darted upward at Whistler's seemingly random musings. "Are you saying…?"
Whistler held out his hands to stop the inquiry before it was finished. "Wait, wait, wait, I didn't say anything. I'm just saying that if some things don't start changing for the better, all of this could go down the hill, for either side."
Maj seated himself on his haunches, looking forward. "So… one way or another it could…"
Whistler nodded, tipping his hat up so he could look down on the Colonel. "One way or another, kid. Unless the things that are broken get fixed. And it doesn't help that the humans have got some gifted leadership, either. I'm out. Have other work to do."
Maj watched Whistler slip out the doors and past the guards, into the travel bay, fading into the darkness like oil. He used his hind foot to scratch contemplatively behind one ear as the doors shut behind the messenger.
"Got a flea, Colonel?"
The Colonel stopped scratching immediately and stood up, shaking his fur before turning to face the speaker. "Shouldn't you be getting the podium ready for the funeral, Major?"
She sighed. "I was, but Tauri took over. You know what a dictator he can be. Wouldn't let me say so much as a word."
Maj drew back his lips in a ridiculous dog-grin. "Gwyn, you outrank him."
She threw her hands up, inadvertently sending a cascade of incandescent white sparks raining harmlessly down in the air around her. "That's what I said. I'd lodge a complaint to the General, but…"
"He'd laugh at you," Maj finished. "I know I was tempted."
She shot him a dirty look. "This chain of command is fucked up."
"Two hundred years of war does that to an establishment."
She sighed and crossed her arms, and Maj wondered how much teasing she would take before that blue skin of hers turned red. Remembering the fireworks, he decided not to try. "Listen Major, why don't we head down to the Officer's lounge? Darnell owes me a favor, we'll make him distract Kaita and get us some whiskey before the meeting."
She looked at him levelly. "I'm not watching you lap up alcohol out of a saucer. You spray."
He chortled. "Yeah, well, I'm handicapped." He lifted a paw and shook it at her. "No hands."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doyle regarded the intercom for a moment, looking up from one of the letters he was writing. Handwritten, damn it. None of those reproduced shits that meant as little as the time they'd saved. His officers deserved better. **Ah, miracle of mass production. Wave o' the future.** Ignoring his own sarcasm, he turned back to the paper.
Dear Missus Kajerinale and family… I regret to inform you…
He paused and looked back at the intercom. **Can't even get the first one started, can ye, man? Not as if ya haven't written a million an' a half o' these before, ya still can't quite get the hang of it…"**
With a snarl of disgust, he dropped the pen onto his desk and pushed the intercom button with unnecessary malice. *Take that, you evil-doin' button. Ha.**
"Yes, General?"
"Seeza, put me through to housin', will ya?"
"Yes sir."
One beep later, and a tired sounding voice came through. "Yes, General?"
"Gem, Whistler stopped by. We got another one o' his graduates comin' up in the next day're so. Mind havin' one o' the nicer rooms we got free set up for her?"
Gem sighed. "Sure General, I'll see what I can do. Most of our rooms are going out to house injured and sick, but I'll probably be able to kick out one of the fast healers after the funeral."
"That'll be fine, darlin'. Thank ye." He pushed the button again, and the beep told him the connection had been severed. He stared at the intercom a moment longer. Shaking his head, he picked up his pen, and stuck the end into his mouth, chewing with his teeth. After studying the paper he'd written on a moment longer, he shook his head and balled it up, tossing it over his shoulder, where it bounced off the wall and fell into the trash can, atop a snow-cone shaped pile of previous rejects. With a deep breath, he started over.
Dear Missus Kajerinale and family… it is with the deepest, most heartfelt sympathy of the United Kingdom of Kaylorin Protective Army that we write you today to inform you of the death of your husband…
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cordelia looked around. "It's very white."
It was very white. In fact, it was the 'looking-directly-into-headlights-and-not-blinking type of white.' She sat down. "What's with the flight delay? I thought the Powers had all-access passes to these kinds of things!" she called out, more to fill the silence around her than to actually complain. Mostly. **Skip could have at least told me to bring a magazine. Oh, or a change of clothes…** she looked down at her white dress. **Definitely voting for a change of clothes. Angel might have liked this number but I'm SO not messing this up fighting evil…**
"Cross dimensional waiting period, if you're interested."
She screamed and jumped up, looking around wildly. "Who said that?"
Skip materialized in a swirl of black. "Hey, Cordy."
She sighed with relief, hand at her chest, trying to will her heartbeat to return from hyper-lightspeed. "God, Skip! Warn a person, would you?"
The demon guide winked. "Sorry babe, thought I had more work to do, but apparently they got someone else working on it. Powers figured seeing me, the vampire might kill me. Because, you know, big...scary…black demon thing…" He raised his hands over his head like claws and made a horrific face, then lowered them and shrugged dismissively. "Honestly, this whole demon taboo needs to simmer down a bit." He leaned over to whisper to her. "Personally, I think I'm a way better guide than Whistler. He's kind of slimy."
She, of the confused, decided to humor him. "I'll bet."
"Anyway, since I had some free time, I thought I'd come up here and wait out with you."
"Yeah, about that. Why wait?"
He chuckled a bit at her impatience. "This isn't a Snickers commercial, Cord. Cross-dimensional travel is very complicated, at least on this level. And I mean on the divine level here, not your wacky-sorcerer-of-the-week-opening-one-to-banish-his-ex-girlfriend kind of dimension hopping. The Powers are all about balance, and they have to make sure the scales are ready to take you on the other end, check you over, etc. Throw the balance out of whack, and something like Connor and Holtz will happen again. So hence, the waiting period. It's not any worse than your usual Denver-LA layover, trust me."
She snorted and sat back down, cross-legged. "You obviously have never been laid-over in Denver." She paused, eyes narrowing. "If I have to wait, how come I didn't get to say goodbye to Angel?! Or anyone? What was the big, 'we have to go NOW now' speech?"
"Would have had to wait anyway, regardless, I figured the sooner we got you there the better. It's not so bad. Really." He waved his hand around, and a package of Oreo's appeared between his fingers. "Cookie?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a sound of what could only be described as quarter-hearted applause as Doyle stepped off the podium and the diggers began to layer dirt on the graves. There would be food in the commons area, and a special conference between officers to report on regiment status after the ceremonial customs had been dealt with for each individual soldier, according to their dimension of origin. He stretched a kink in his neck. The combination of battle pressure, 18-hour days and general duties made him ache from one tip of his spine to the other. He shifted back into human face. **Now only me skin can hurt. Yay.**
He looked up as Gwyn approached him. "It was a nice ceremony, Major. Flowers were lovely," he stated right off.
She sighed. "Tauri did it."
"Oh."
After a thoughtful pause, she stepped forward, uncertainly. "Sir? I just heard this myself, but Aun wanted me to tell you that he's not going to be able to make it to the Officer's meeting this morning..." she trailed off.
His brows knitted at her hesitant tone. It wasn't like her to not be straight to the point with him. "Gwyn, you'n I both know Aun never misses a meeting. What's wrong?"
She blinked hard once or twice. "Um, he's going to be in the infirmary. Aur's dying." She sounded choked.
The General's countenance fell. "What?"
"On of the recovery teams brought him in during the ceremony…just found him. His crystal, sir, it was cracked. He's got maybe six, seven hours left." She couldn't meet his eyes.
Doyle looked at the ground, new energy forming somewhere in him, angry energy. "Dammit. Dammit!!" He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. In a choked voice he began to mutter, "I need to go see him. I need to…I need to call his family…I…"
Gwyn put a shaking hand on his shoulder. "I was just going myself, General. We'll go together."
He nodded and let her lead him back inside. "What happened, exactly?" Doyle asked, voice breaking unintentionally. He cleared his throat and fiddled with the lapel of his jacket.
"Aur's regiment got hit the most severely, Breia's corps cut him and his men off from Tauri's group, surrounded them and slaughtered most of them. Aur wouldn't leave when his Sergeants offered a backdoor…"
The Irishman blinked back tears. **Just what we need now, man. Fer the only female officer ta see you break out with th' cryin' like a babe…** Taking a deep breath, he shook himself back. "There's nothing we can do?"
She shook her head. "Archimell has him on something for the pain, but he can't do anything else but make him comfortable."
They turned a corner and two huge pressurized sliding doors slid into the wall, allowing them access. On the other side, nurses and orderlies were still scrambling, dealing with injured from the recent battle, dealing with the dying. Doyle put his hand on the shoulder of one nurse rushing by, and startled, she stopped, looking up at him. She almost seemed surprised to see that General Doyle would be all the way down here. "Sir?"
"Aur, where is he?"
"Lieutenant Aurelin is down this hallway, sir…" she pointed behind her, "…first room on the left."
He nodded and removed his hand, letting her continue, scurrying to wherever it was she had been going. Regarding the hall like an enemy, Doyle gazed down the length, a swelling tide of dread churning in his belly. He swallowed.
"Sir?" Gwyn put a hand on his forearm. "Sir, if you don't want to, I can send the Lieutenant your regards…"
He quickly shook her hand off. "No, no. I'm goin'. He deserves that much. Deserves a whole damn lot more." He strode forward with more courage than he felt. At the door, he took a deep breath and knocked, quietly.
"'S Open."
Creaking it open, he peered inside. "Aun?"
"Sir?" The haunt-eyed Captain peered up at him from his brother's deathbed.
Doyle lowered his voice. "How is 'e?"
The Captain closed his eyes and looked down at the floor. "Slipping, sir."
Doyle stepped inside, Gwyn after him. He looked down at the bed, took in the pale, sea foam color of his Lieutenant in stark contrast to the vibrant verdant of his brother, who sat at his bedside. The emerald in his forehead sputtered and crackled, a lightning shaped hole splintered down the center of it. "Oh, Aur…" The sadness in his voice was heart rendering. "Oh Aur, I'm so sorry."
Weakly, a tail peaked out from under the bed and jabbed at the General half-heartedly. "None of that, sir. None of that, hey," Aur croaked. "My own fault, yeah." He chuckled hoarsely, slitted yellow eyes flickering dark for a moment. "Didn't see the bastard till he was right behind me."
Aun leaned over his brother. "Hey, take it easy, take it easy."
"Was a good fight though, huh General? We drove 'em back. Bastards were cryin,' hey."
Doyle blinked fiercely. "Yeah, Aur. We did great."
"Sorry to leave you, on such short notice…" Aur managed a feeble wink. "Know we need all the help…" he wheezed, "we can get."
Doyle placed a hand on his officer's shoulder. "Whistler came by, Aur. Said they were bringin' one up from Earth, me own home. Don't you worry about anythin' now then. Just relax. Take it easy, eh?"
A raspy laugh escaped from between the lizard-man's clamped teeth. "Yeah. Take it easy. Relax." He sounded skeptical, but in good humor anyway. "Ay, ay, sir…grant a dyin' officer a last request, eh? Eh?"
Doyle leaned closer. "Of course, Aur. Whatever ye want, my friend."
"Closer." Aur beckoned with one hooked claw. "Closer, sir, if ya could, sir."
Doyle obligingly leaned in. "Yeah?"
Aur's voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "I want…" his voice died off, and he licked dry reptilian lips. "I want…"
"Whatever you say, Aur. Just lemme know."
"I what…ya to get laid sometime this century…it… it helps with the stress, hey." Then he burst out into a snort of laughter, which soon turned into a series of hacking coughs.
Doyle couldn't help but smile a little. "Don't got time for women, Aur."
Aur accepted a sip from a bedside glass from his brother. "Hey, always time for women, General. Always time."
Aun frowned again, a knitting of his scales to form a V in the middle of his forehead. "Hey, last request, you should have gotten me General's good Scotch, hey." Then he smiled, watery, but there.
Aur snorted and looked over Doyle's shoulder. "Gwyn?"
She put on a brave front, a small smile. "Hey, Lieutenant."
"Hey, take care of Aun, will you? He's a mule sometimes."
She smiled and nodded. "I outrank him."
He laughed. "You do." The emerald on his forehead fizzled, and he jerked in pain. "Argh…damn it."
Doyle and Gwyn both backed away, looking at Aun. "We'll leave you two alone…" Doyle stated quietly. The Lizard-man nodded and moved to his brother's side without another word. Taking one glance behind their shoulders, Doyle and Gwyn left together.
Outside the door, the General's composure shattered. "Oh God, Gwyn. Damn." He leaned against the wall. "Aur's… he's…"
She nodded. "So brave."
"God, I could kill 'im, fer not gettin' out… kick his damn stupid ass fer gettin' himself killed…but damn it…"
She looked at him with luminescent topaz eyes. "He would never leave his men."
Doyle sighed and closed his eyes, face tilted heavenward. "He never would." After a few moments, he took another breath and righted himself. "An' we have to go see about the reception…"
"Sir, maybe you should get some sleep? Maj and I can handle the reception."
"No, I can't. We 'ave to start doling out compensation payments an' arrange fer the families flyin' in tomorror to pay respects… I can't…"
She strengthened the resolve in her voice, was pleased when it didn't crack as expected. "Sir, Maj and I can handle it. We speak more demon languages than you anyway. If anything, you'd only be underfoot."
Doyle eyed the blue creature, the face of pixies his mother had told bedtime stories about as a lad in Ireland looking back at him. "Gwyn…"
She shook her head. "I insist, sir. Maj will insist too. The officer's meeting isn't for another five hours at least… get some rest. By the time you wake up you'll thank me for it."
He ran a hand through dishelved hair. "Alright, Major. Alright. But the second somthin' goes off kilter, I want a wake-up, okay?"
"Okay."
"That's an order, Major."
"Yes, sir."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They never did wake him up for that meeting. Instead, Maj had slipped into Doyle's room while he'd been sleeping and laid out a full report of the gathering as well as a plate of lunch. As if that made up for it.
With an enraged litany of muttering, Doyle began to get dressed, realizing that there were a mere handful of hours before the new officer was arriving and he had yet to inform the base. Hastily donning his standard issue slate-gray uniform and running to the sink to splash some water on his face, he grabbed half of his lunch and the folder with the report in it, marching out of the Officer's quarters and towards his office.
Upon reaching the door, he swung it open and poked his head in, seeing his secretary, who was in the midst of licking and sealing each and every one of the consolation letters he had managed to finish before the funeral. He spared her a sympathetic glance as he chewed a piece of bread. "Seez, ya mind callin' the Officers into the conference room again? Bastards didn't wake me up an' there was somethin' I needed to tell the lot that they might not 'a been aware of."
"Sure thing, Doyle." She made a face and put down the envelope she had been licking. "Right away?"
"Right away, darlin'. Thanks." He leaned backwards and shut the door, turning around to head straight for the conference room. **No time to even mourn…is Aur still with us? When did 'e go? Is Aun okay?** He reached the conference room and slipped into the doors, flipped on the lights. **No time… no time. War to fight…** Five minutes later, his Officers all scrambled in, some looking wary, seeing the expression on their General's face. The majority of them began to regret going along with the Colonel's harebrained idea that the General didn't need to be in on the officers' meeting. Some, Maj and Gwyn mostly, looked nonplussed.
Silent and stone faced, Doyle sat with arms laid on both armrests, one finger tapping. They gathered in the seats around him. "You wanted to see us, sir?"
Doyle stopped tapping. "Yeah. Thought I'd announce that a new officer's…"
"Joining us, we told them already, sir," Maj interrupted.
Doyle eyed his 2IC. "Maj, you don't shut yer pipehole this second an' I'll skin yer hide an' use it fer me winter coat." He could, too.
The wolf's jaw snapped shut. "Aye, sir."
The General turned back to the rest of his officers. "As I was sayin'… new officer's arrivin' in about 2 hours…3 hours…" he sighed and closed his eyes, looking like a massive subterranean headache was emerging from the sewers of his mind to wreak havoc in downtown Tokyo. "Urm…Maj, when did Whistler show, 'xactly?"
Maj grinned. Man needed him after all. "'bout 12 hours ago, sir."
"Thanks. Yeah, so about three hours. I need all the ceremonial shit set up in two."
"We started preparing for his arrival already…" Gwyn announced, but Doyle cut her off with a hand.
"It's a 'she.' She's comin' from Earth, probably won't eat anythin' that don't 'moo' or 'cluck,' if at all, knowin' Earth women. She'll be tired after the cross-dimensional layover… her chamber's gotta be perfect, or at least clean of blood. Soon as she arrives we'll announce her to the troops, get a lay o' her experience, an' then commence with Aur's funeral." He grit his teeth. "After we bury 'im… get an analysis on her, we'll let her get settled. Kal, I want you to start sending out commissions for a new regiment, to be completed within a month. She should be ready by then."
They were silent.
He cleared his throat. "You all got that memorized, then? Questions?"
No one raised a hand.
Doyle stood up. "Good. Dismissed." He left the room first.
All the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these will come to you in time
On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak
Son of man look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Someday you'll walk tall with pride
Son of man a man in time you'll be