AUTHOR'S NOTES: We're back! Man, that was a fun two weeks. Time to get this story going again. Very talky one this time around (again), but it's time for the confrontation between Ruby Flight and Ironwood...and a little something from Neo.

Between Kostrzyn and Miedzyrzec, Republic of Poland

29 August 2001

Neo Politan watched the forest go by in the darkness from the window of the Mercedes SUV. "I have to go to the bathroom," she suddenly spoke.

There were three other people in the SUV: the driver, a German military policeman who rode shotgun—literally; there was a shotgun nestled between him and the door—and the woman who sat next to Neo, who had identified herself as a Hauptmann Wolff. She was the one who answered. "No."

"I really have to go," Neo insisted.

"You can hold it."

"I can't." Neo shrugged. "Oh well." She squirmed around a little, then leaned back and relaxed. "It's not my seat cushions."

Wolff abruptly realized what Neo intended to do. "Stop the vehicle!" The driver hit the brakes and pulled over. Mumbling curses under her breath, Wolff opened her door and went around to let Neo out. "You sick little…use the woods." She motioned with her head towards the woods just off the side of the road. Neo held up her hands: they were in handcuffs. Wolff shook her head. "You can still get your pants down. Go." She unholstered the pistol and took two steps back from Neo. "Before you consider trying to escape, remember that General Ironwood sees you as a bonus at best. I doubt he'll mind if you get shot out here." Neo gave a short nod and began walking into the woods. The SUV was alone; the convoy that had taken Neo and Arthur Watts out of Berlin had split up, to foil any attempts at rescue by Cinder Fall or Salem herself.

Wolff followed Neo at a short distance, behind a row of bushes. Neo stopped next to a tree, and looked over her shoulder. "Privacy?"

The Hauptmann pointed the pistol at her. "We're both girls. Now do your business."

Neo sighed again and awkwardly took down her pants and underwear; Wolff at least turned her face away. Neo did what she had to do, but as she began to pull up her panties, she suddenly stiffened, groaned, and fell onto her face. Wolff rolled her eyes. "Nice try." She waited for Neo to give up and get back to her feet, but a full minute passed, and the other girl was still motionless. Wolff awkwardly waited another minute; she felt embarrassed now, standing in dark woods in the middle of Poland with a diminutive assassin lying face down and her bare rear in the air. She stepped forward. "Stop it," she said. "What's wrong with you?" Wolff got closer; Neo was not moving. Finally, one hand still gripping the pistol, Wolff reached out and turned Neo over. The girl fell over, splaying bonelessly out in the grass, her eyes wide and unseeing. "Mein Gott," Wolff whispered, wondering if the assassin had somehow taken cyanide. She bent over to smell at Neo's face, remembering from a movie somewhere that someone who had ingested cyanide usually smelled of bitter almonds.

That was when Neo struck. There was a long, flexible, razor sharp blade between the fingers of her right hand; they had thoroughly searched her at the Berlin hospital, but the thin blade had been concealed in the waistband of her underwear. Quickly, she thrust the blade behind Wolff's ear to the hilt. Wolff's eyes widened in surprise, she gasped once, then she collapsed forward. Neo stabbed again, but it was unnecessary: the Hauptmann was dead.

Neo worked quickly. She found the keys to her handcuffs, unlocked and took them off, then got dressed. She grabbed the pistol and worked her way a few yards through the woods, then checked the road. Wolff had chosen her route well, but fatally: it was deserted. She then stealthily crept up to the side of the SUV, using her small size to her advantage, and took up position against the driver's side door. The driver had helpfully rolled his window down, and the two men were chatting about what was taking Wolff so long. Neo popped up, shot the driver in the side of the head, then killed the soldier riding shotgun with her second shot.

Once more, she worked swiftly. Neo was not strong enough to drag both men into the woods, so she settled on dumping them out of the car and rolling them into the ditch along the side of the road. The keys were still in the ignition; it would be easy enough to take the SUV and head somewhere, anywhere: Neo had dozens of contacts in Europe, boltholes she could disappear into. She hesitated, then smiled as she had a better idea. She owed neither Cinder nor Salem a thing, but there was her revenge against Ruby Rose—and now she suddenly had her best opportunity to take that revenge.

Neo ran back into the woods, grabbed Wolff's body, and began stripping the corpse. Wolff was rather short, Neo had noticed.

SACEUR Tactical Headquarters

Near Poznan, Republic of Poland

29 August 2001

Ruby Flight—plus Pyrrha—got through the security check at the headquarters area and began walking to Ironwood's headquarters tent, joined by Ace Flight. The trip from the airbase had been made in silence, no one sure exactly of what to say, everyone confused about the sudden summons. Ruby had been watching Pyrrha worriedly: the Greek girl's face was a mask of calm, but she had known Pyrrha enough to know when the latter was trying to control herself. Yang had mentioned that, just before the call had come from Ironwood's staff, Pyrrha had suddenly asked Yang to join her for a workout at the base gym. That in itself wasn't unusual, but requesting it at nearly midnight was, especially when everyone was still trying to catch up on sleep.

It was Weiss who finally broke the awkward quiet. She looked at Elm Ederne. "Why would the general call us back without giving a reason? Has the ceasefire been broken?" That made no sense to Ruby: if the ceasefire was broken, likely they would already be in the air.

"You don't have to understand orders," Elm told her. "You just have to follow them."

"That's quite something, coming from you," Weiss pointed out, glancing at Elm's Luftwaffe wings. Elm got the reference and looked at her boots, embarrassed.

"If the general says he needs us now, he needs us now," Harriet put in. She seemed unusually subdued, and Ruby wondered if Clover had chewed her out for her behavior after Salem's announcement. The short pilot glanced at Pyrrha. "Where's Ren and Valkyrie at? And that Oscar kid?"

"Oscar went into town. I sent Ren and Nora to find him and bring him back to the base ASAP," Pyrrha replied.

"But the general said—"

"Shut up, Flying Officer," Pyrrha snapped. "I don't have to explain myself to you." Harriet's mouth closed, and Ruby blinked in surprise. Pyrrha never pulled rank on others. Then again, Ruby thought with a rueful smile, if anyone deserved it, it was Harriet Bree.

They reached the tent; the two guards at the entrance stood aside and let them in. The pilots stopped a respectful distance from Ironwood's desk and came to attention. Ironwood sat behind his desk, Clover standing at his right. The handsome man did not smile, which was also strange; Clover almost always had a grin for everyone, especially Pyrrha. Instead, he was stonefaced, showing no emotion at all. Uh oh, Ruby thought, either we're in really deep doo-doo, or he and Pyrrha had a fight.

"At ease," Ironwood said, and got to his feet. He winced in pain, and they saw the bandaged shoulder, the arm in a sling. "Before you ask, I was shot earlier, by Arthur Watts. Nothing vital was hit."

"Watts?" Marrow Amin asked. "Sir, the scientist that was working for Salem?"

"The same. We took him and—" the general gave Ruby a brief look "—and Neo Politan into custody earlier. We set a trap for them by using the Winter Maiden as bait. I'm pleased to report that the trap worked perfectly. Both Watts and Politan will be turned over to the CIA at the nearest opportunity. We have eliminated two more of Salem's pawns." He reached into a pocket with his good hand. "Or so I thought." He pulled out a small object and placed it on his desk. "I returned to my headquarters an hour ago and found this waiting for me. It was delivered before we intercepted Watts. From the description I received from my guards, the person who delivered it was almost certainly Cinder Fall."

Ruby saw what the object was: a black queen chess piece. "Sir?" she asked. "Permission to speak?"

"Not just yet, Captain Rose." Ironwood came out from behind his desk. "I called you all here to inform you of a decision I have made. It will not be an easy one to hear. To start, I want to say that I am quite sick and fucking tired of Salem being one step ahead of us at every time!" Ironwood's voice rose, surprising them all. "We reinforce our troops here. She's already massed tens of thousands of GRIMM. She has Watts manipulate the election, dividing us at the worst time. I learn about that, but there's nothing I can do because of all the bureaucratic bullshit with the EU Council. Robyn Hill and I make an announcement of cooperation; Salem undercuts us with her speech, further dividing us—to the point where we have parliaments debating on whether to fight her at all! We cripple Salem's forces, buy time to reinforce with blood—and her ceasefire allows her to replace her losses." He couldn't slam his good hand onto his desk, so he settled for kicking it. "Everything we do, Salem has a counter. I'm not even sure if capturing Watts will even have an effect. And now Cinder Fall is taunting me, with what happened at Beacon."

"Jesus," Yang said, never one to stand on formal military ceremony. "Well, when they didn't find a body at Tsushima…"

"Cinder's alive," Pyrrha nodded, her voice tight, angry. She added something in Greek; Ruby didn't know what it meant, but it was filthy, whatever it was. Yang put a friendly hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, but the other woman didn't seem to notice.

"Sir," Blake said, taking a step towards Ironwood. "We're not finished yet, not by a long shot. We're with you, sir."

Ironwood looked at her. "Are you with me, Captain Belladonna?"

Blake's ears flicked back. "Sir?"

The general faced her. "Tell me, Captain…how did Robyn Hill know about the Commando Solo?" He fixed his gaze on first Blake, who returned it, though her ears remained flattened back against her hair, then at Yang, who couldn't return it. "At first, I thought she had simply learned it from her contacts in the Polish Air Force. Robyn and her Huntresses have been at Poznan several times, and she's very intelligent; she could have figured it out. But she confronted me with it at Jacques Schnee's little dinner party, and seemed to know a lot more than she was letting on." Ironwood did not blink. "Which makes me think someone told her. Someone who had contact with Robyn just before that little soiree."

Blake was silent, her lips a thin line, but it was Yang who spoke. "I told her, General." Ironwood turned towards her. "I told her." That wasn't true, Ruby knew; Blake had been the one to tell Robyn, but Yang wasn't letting her friend take the fall. "You're right, sir. The night Blake and I intercepted Robyn near Gdansk. I told her."

"You did what?" Elm exclaimed.

"We were trying to help!" Yang shot back.

"By going behind everyone's back? By sharing top secret information?" Marrow wore a stunned expression. "Holy shit, Captain!"

"And you let her escape, too!" Harriet shouted at Yang.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Yang replied, exasperated. "Robyn is on our side, you little shit. She always has been. She didn't shoot down that '141."

"Enough," Ironwood said, quieting them. He looked back to Blake. "Is that true, Captain?" The Faunus hesitated, then nodded. "So. Both you and Captain Xiao Long stood here in this tent, and lied to my face. You admitted that you violated orders and lied to myself and the AWACS about letting Robyn and her group get away. I understood that, and it worked out to the best—which was the reason I only put you two in hack for a few days as punishment. And now I learn that you still lied to me. You gave a mercenary highly classified information based on, what, exactly?" He kept speaking, cutting Yang off. "A hunch? Gut instinct? Women's intuition? Robyn Hill has proven time and time again that she cares about herself and her Huntresses first and foremost—Poland as well, true. But she is not loyal to me, NATO, or the EU."

"Sir, with respect," Weiss said, "none of this matters right now."

Ironwood whirled on her with such violence that Weiss involuntarily stepped back. "Loyalty always matters, Hauptmann!" He stabbed a finger at her. "It always matters!"

His outburst once more caused silence to descend on the tent. It was broken by the ring of Ironwood's phone, which made all of them jump. With one last baleful glance at Weiss, Ironwood stabbed at the speaker button on the phone. "What is it? I left orders not to be disturbed!"

"My apologies, General Ironwood." The voice was feminine, with a slight accent, but soft, even kindly. "This is Salem. I hope this is not a bad time."

All of them looked at the phone in shock, as if their enemy would suddenly materialize from it. "This is no time for jokes," Ironwood said, his face going pale.

"Oh, it's no joke, General. You're probably wondering how I got your number. Odd, that…I simply picked up the phone from where I am, dialed a number provided to me by the good Doctor Watts, got your command post, and asked them to connect me. When I told them who I was, and provided certain bonafides, they put me through." She paused. "Poor Watts. Am I correct in saying that he is now a guest of the Central Intelligence Agency?"

"How did you know?" Ironwood asked, stunned.

"I have my ways."

Ruby's fists clenched at the sound of Salem's voice. She'd heard it before on the television during Salem's speech, and she knew what her enemy looked like, from JINN. But this was Salem, live, as close as they would probably ever be. "We stopped Tyrian too," she said, angrily. "And we'll stop Cinder, and anyone else you throw at us."

"Who is that?" Salem asked.

"Ruby Rose," she answered defiantly. "Captain, United States Air Force."

"Ruby…Rose. Interesting." Salem chuckled. "Dear girl, their goal was never victory. It was merely as a distraction, as help."

"For what?" Ironwood wanted to know.

"For me, of course." Another chuckle. "I should think it was obvious, General. They are all pawns. At best rooks. They were there to buy me time, James. And time isn't on your side, is it? But it's always been on mine." They could hear the smile in her voice, the assured confidence. "But trading barbs isn't why I called, General. I do think the people of Poland have suffered enough. I've yet to hear from the European Union or anyone else regarding my offer of peace, but they are politicians—they will talk until the world ends. So I thought you and I might negotiate something more private."

"There's nothing to negotiate," Ironwood told her.

"Hear me out, General. All I want from you is JINN. Hand that over to me, and I will extend the ceasefire indefinitely, until the politicians make up their minds."

"And give you all of that information, at your fingertips?" Ironwood laughed derisively. "That's not going to happen."

"What information? The keys to the Maidens? I'm certain Ozpin wasn't stupid enough to put that on there. Nuclear launch codes to the weapons that supposedly were destroyed after the war? We both know those aren't there either. No, General, all I want JINN for is to expose the lies that we have been told by those self-serving cowards that claim to be our elected leaders. That's all I want." Her voice was gentle. "General, I am tired. I am tired of the bloodshed, of the death. We've both seen too much of it, yes? I've gained my revenge on Ozpin; he's dead. Now all I want is justice, to be left alone."

"You're lying," Ruby said, then added, "Natasha." Salem was silent. "Oh yeah. We know who you really are—at least everyone in my flight does. JINN showed us. She showed us everything. You don't want justice, Natasha—" Ruby injected as much contempt as she could into that one word "—you want everyone dead. You want the world dead. You want revenge, all right—you want revenge for surviving."

"You are playing with fire, child," Salem finally replied. The gentleness was gone, the mocking tone with it. There was real anger there now. Ruby glanced at Yang. Get her, her sister mouthed.

Ruby did. "You've won some fights," she admitted. "But you've lost them, too. You may have beaten us at Beacon, but we won in Japan. And we're going to stop you here. Bet on that."

"Did you say your name was Ruby Rose?" Salem said after a pause. Ruby nodded, then remembered Salem couldn't see her, and confirmed that. "Ruby Rose. Your mother was Summer Rose, then."

Ruby's mouth dropped open. "How did—"

"Summer Rose said almost those very words to me, Ruby. Many years ago."

"My…mother?" The wind was taken out of Ruby's metaphorical sails. She began to shake.

"Oh yes. And she was wrong, too. Brave, determined...and wrong."

Ruby fell to her knees, her legs suddenly unable to support her weight. "Oh God," she whispered. Summer had found Salem, after all. "You…oh God. You killed her." Ruby couldn't hold back a sob as her world collapsed around her. Summer wasn't out there, waiting for her daughters to rescue her. Ruby's quest to find her, to discover her mother's fate, had ended with horrific clarity. Her mother was gone, at the hands of the woman on the other end of the phone. Summer Rose would never return, as dead as if her grave on the North Carolina hillside wasn't empty after all. It had all been in vain, everything.

Ruby bent forward, her stomach suddenly cramped, the tears running down her face. Yang was beside her in an instant, hugging her sister, pulling her close, her own eyes filling: Ruby remembered Summer only as a vague memory, of russet hair, of motherly love, the smell of strawberries and cookies. She was something of a ghost. For Yang, the memories were far more real, her real mother, the woman who she remembered had kissed her goodnight, had bandaged her skinned knees, had laughed with Yang as she chased her around the backyard.

"It sounds as if Captain Rose has nothing else to say," Salem remarked casually. "A shame—her speech was quite good. Better than yours, James."

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking whore bitch!" Yang screamed.

Salem ignored the outburst. "My offer stands, James. If you have not communicated with me in 24 hours, I will renew my attack. And I will destroy your army, and you will have failed again. The EU will not come to your aid. The cowards in Washington DC will not either. We both know this. You are alone, General. And I am legion." The line clicked off.

"Holy shit." Marrow was the first one to speak. "That's who we're up against?"

Ruby was trying to stop crying, still held by Yang. The rest of them looked to Ironwood, who was leaning against his desk, clearly trying to get hold of himself as well. "General Ironwood?" Weiss asked hesitantly.

Ironwood took a deep breath, adjusted his uniform, and straightened. "Very well, then. If it's war she wants, it's war she will get."

"We're not giving her JINN, then," Blake said, as a statement.

"Absolutely not. The fact that she's demanding it shows that Salem is desperate. All right." He looked up at Weiss. "Our first order of business is making sure that Cinder Fall cannot reach the Winter Maiden. We will evacuate Fria to central Germany. I will have Colonel Schnee and Penny Polendina oversee that. If necessary, Colonel Schnee will assume the duties of the Maiden herself." Weiss' eyes widened when she realized what that meant: Ironwood was going to order Winter to kill Fria, if it came to that. "Secondly, we must secure JINN immediately. It must be locked away again, where no one can find it so easily."

Blake checked on Ruby, but her flight leader was still in shock. "Sir. Ruby Flight will be honored to escort JINN to wherever it needs to go—"

Ironwood stopped and faced her. "That's quite something, coming from you, Captain Belladonna. You and Xiao Long have done nothing but lie to my face, and now you expect me to trust you with anything?" He looked down at Ruby. "And let's not forget who else lied to me." Ruby dried her eyes on her shirtsleeve and slowly got to her feet. "You know, don't you, Captain Rose?" Ironwood's voice was steel. "You used JINN. You were ordered not to, but you did. Not just once, but several times. In contravention of direct orders from Director Arashikaze. Ensign Pine told me about that. I was willing to let that go, because the knowledge you gained was important. Now I'm not so sure." He regarded each of Ruby Flight in turn. "You lied to me, Ruby. Your sister and Captain Belladonna lied to me. For all I know, Hauptmann Schnee has lied to me as well. Lies after lies. A military is built on trust, Ruby. I trust you to be a good fighter pilot and obey the lawful orders of those placed over you. You trust me to issue those lawful orders. We obey the orders of politicians, no matter how stupid or misguided those orders may be, because that is how our nation has worked since 1776. And you, Ruby Rose, have betrayed that trust."

"And you haven't?" They were all stunned to hear Pyrrha Nikos speak. She had been quiet since they had entered the tent, but now her green eyes were blazing. "Trust works both ways, General, and you have not exactly been forthright with us."

"That's an insurbordinate thing to say, Major," Ironwood warned.

"I don't give a damn." Pyrrha did not back up. "Yes, we should obey orders, General—when those orders are just and lawful ones. Our military, the ones I have served, were not based on blind obedience. Generals trusted their subordinates, and subordinates trusted their generals. And you have not trusted us for a moment since we arrived, General."

"I think you now know why, Major," Ironwood returned.

"Perhaps, General," Pyrrha countered. "Yes, Ruby and Oscar and the rest of us disobeyed orders to use JINN—but there were mitigating circumstances, and you know it. Yes, Ruby should have told you. Yes, Yang and Blake should have as well. I don't agree with that. But there are things you haven't told us, General. You insist that loyalty is paramount, but you don't seem to care that, as I said, loyalty flows both directions."

"I don't have to listen to this—" Ironwood began, but Pyrrha cut him off.

"How about your order to Clover to get close to me?" She shot a murderous glance in Clover's direction. "Oh yes, General Ironwood, I learned that tonight. Clover told me. I'm unstable, yes? So Clover was ordered to begin a relationship with me, to keep an eye on me, to use me." A single tear welled up and drifted down Pyrrha's cheek. "Use me to keep an eye on the 77th. You knew Qrow Branwen wouldn't obey that order, so you got someone who is fanatically loyal to you to do it." Her eyebrow twitched. "What was your next order, General? Have Clover sleep with me? He at least had the decency to refuse to do that."

Ironwood was staring at her. "Major Nikos, I gave no such order."

"Then one of you is lying to me, sir." Another angry glance at Clover. "And there are other things, sir. It's interesting that there were nuclear NEST teams present at that mine we liberated. What did you find there, General?" Ironwood didn't reply. "You don't trust us—how can you expect us to trust you?"

Ironwood continued to look at her. "I expect this from others, Major, but not from you. You have served two countries with the utmost of heroism and gallantry. This insurbordination is quite frankly, incredible."

Pyrrha reached up to her left breast and tore off the silver USAF wings that were pinned there. "I have no country, General." She threw them on his desk, turned on one heel, and left the tent.

"Holy shit," Marrow said again. No one corrected him.

Ironwood picked up the wings and ran his fingers over them. It was his turn to look at Clover, but the other man was expressionless, staring into space. "The timeline has changed," he finally spoke. "And so we must change accordingly."

Harriet stepped forward. "Your orders, sir?"

He set the wings down. "Poland is indefensible. It always has been. The Vistula is the one natural barrier to invasion, and Salem has already crossed it. The next is the Oder River. Therefore, all NATO forces will begin a phased withdrawal to the Oder line. It will allow us to shorten our line, simplify our supply lines, create reserves, and force Salem to extend her supply lines and fight us on ground of our choosing. It will also force Germany to fight—the politicians won't be able to stop that now."

"Dear God, General!" Blake exclaimed. "There's no way we could evacuate in time! The Poles will never consent to that! You'd be leaving them to die!"

Ironwood nodded. "Yes, Captain. I would." He picked up the black queen next, rolling it in the palm of his good hand. "I can't win against Salem in Poland, Miss Belladonna, but I can damn sure lose to her here."

Ruby found her voice. "General, sir…we still have an opportunity. There's help coming, General! We just have to hold out a little longer."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but sometimes doing the right thing means making the tough decisions."

"And the right thing is to stand our ground!" Blake protested.

"I agree," said Yang.

"As do I!" Weiss added.

"Me too," Ruby finished. She checked Ace Flight's expressions. Vine was typically emotionless; there were times Ruby wondered if he wasn't some sort of advanced android. Elm was stoic. Harriet returned her look with contempt. Marrow at least replied. "We ran ourselves ragged trying to protect the groundpounders the other day. If Salem hits us with everything at once…"

"We can't just back down!" Yang shouted. "We're motherfucking Huntsmen and Huntresses!"

"That is true," Vine spoke at last, "but we cannot focus on one fight. Do you want to win a battle, Captain Xiao Long, or the war?" Yang had no answer for that one.

Weiss addressed Ironwood, trying to reach him. "Sir, what about the EU Council? What will they say?"

"Nothing. I will declare martial law throughout Poland and eastern Germany."

"But you don't have that authority—"

"I have the guns, Hauptmann Schnee. And I'm tired of waiting for people to make up their minds as to whose side they are on."

"What about Robyn, General?" Blake wanted to know.

"Wait, wait," Elm interrupted. "Who exactly are you people loyal to?"

"We're loyal to the people who are counting on us to save them!" Ruby shot back.

"That's enough. This isn't a democracy. I've made my decision." Ironwood's voice quieted them. "This isn't something I want to do, Captain Rose. It's something I have to do. To preserve our forces. I can't count on help coming, or reinforcements, or anything…or anyone, for that matter. So we have to save what we can. That's it. I have to trade space for time, and that means I can't save Poland. It's hard, but there is no choice." Ironwood tossed the black queen into a garbage can. "I would ask for your help in this, Ruby, but unfortunately I can no longer trust you. You have divided loyalties, you do not understand the situation, and you have proven yourself singularly untrustworthy. Perhaps the situation we find ourselves in is partially my fault, but there is no denying that you and your flight consistently and willfully lied to me."

"Then I suppose we're under arrest?" Blake asked.

Ironwood shook his head. "There is no time for that. If we were not looking down Salem's gun barrels, then yes, I might have you brought up on charges. But there is no time." He walked back behind his desk. "Captain Rose, Captain Belladonna, Captain Xiao Long, Hauptmann Schnee. You are relieved of your positions in my operations area. Your status as Huntresses is—temporarily—revoked, pending an investigation. Major Nikos has turned in her wings, and I will respect that as her resignation. Captain Lie Ren, Lieutenant Nora Valkyrie, and Ensign Oscar Pine are also involved in this, so I am relieving them as well. You will return to base, have your aircraft fueled, and you will fly from Poznan to RAF Lakenheath, where you will remain pending orders to return to the United States. I will forward a request to the Office of Special Investigation to begin an inquiry to a formal court-martial at a later date, if they deem it necessary. I will also write a short report to Rissa Arashikaze." Ironwood ran his fingers over his desk. "I will append a record of your commendable and valorous actions over the past few weeks to both reports, and recommend that a court-martial be avoided in favor of letters of reprimand." A letter of reprimand would as good as end Ruby Flight's careers, but it at least avoided criminal charges. "Perhaps they will be enough to avoid even that. But whatever Ruby and Norn Flights do or end up, it will not be here, in Europe, in my operations area. Your time here is over." He fixed Ruby with a hard stare. "You brought this on yourself, Ruby. Dismissed."