Author's Note: This prompt was suggested by PHL_Plane_Spotter


S is for Situational Awareness


Windlifter regretted the decision the moment that his tires left the ground…but by then, his tanks were full of retardant and the rest of his team was already heading towards the fire. He squeezed his eyes shut for just a moment, took a deep breath and steeled himself to complete the flight in front of him. Unfortunately, no amount of deep breathing was going to keep the waves of bay, and when he nearly clipped a cliff, it became abundantly clear that he was a liability in the sky.

"Chief." Windlifter breathed through the pain as he tried to keep himself level. "I can't make this dump. I need to get back to base."

"Why?" The lead helicopter glanced briefly towards him as he tried to orchestrate the firefighting ballet in front of him.

"I just really need to get back to base…" Windlifter finally replied when he realized that he didn't have the brainpower to allow him to successfully string a more complex sentence together.

"Fine." Blade practically snarled. "Cabbie, follow him back."

"Wilco." The older plane replied with quick efficacy as Windlifter turned his nose back towards base, but blessedly the C-119 didn't say any more during the journey back to base. The Skycrane was incredibly grateful for the silence because he wasn't sure if answer a question and fly in a straight line at the same time.

The relief that Windlifter felt the moment his tires hit the tarmac was immense because the waves of pain had narrowed his vision to the point that he was seeing double. Maru had rolled upon him, a question clearly on his lips, but he had taken one look at the Skycrane's eyes and immediately helped him to get his tank off and shooed him into the safety of his hangar.

Finally situated on the grounding safety of his sleeping mat, Windlifter could allow himself to relax slightly. He was in too much pain to sleep, but he could at least close his eyes which helped take the edge off things. There was a soft screeching noise as his hangar door was dragged partially open, then the sound of familiar treads rolling across the concrete floor of his space.

"Windy?" Maru's voice was little more than a whisper, but it echoed through the Skycrane's braining like a gunshot.

"Yes?" Windlifter croaked back, wincing at the sound of his own voice.

"It's okay I will make it quick." Maru spoke as softly as he could manage as he gently patted the helicopter on the nose. "I have got some meds here, that will help you sleep. Do you think you can keep them down?"

Windlifter didn't bother saying a reply. He just opened his mouth and allowed Maru to place the bitter pills on this tongue. He winced as the full taste hit him, but he dry swallowed hard and an instant later there was a straw in his mouth and the awful taste was drowned out by the tang of ginger ale. Windlifter then heard the creak of the hangar door once again closing and the helicopter was once again left alone with his pain. Thankfully the meds did in fact help and the Skycrane was finally able to slip into fitful, dreamless sleep.


Blade was on the warpath the moment that his tires had hit the tarmac. The only other helicopter on his team had bailed without an explanation on a fire leaving them short tired, and he was slag bent on finding out why. Before his rotors had completely stopped spinning, he was already rolling towards Windlifter's hangar, only to find a pissed looking mechanic staring him down.

"Shh." Maru hushed the new Chief, which only made Blade more frustrated.

"But…" The helicopter didn't bother trying to quiet his voice as he protested.

"Blade shut it." Maru didn't need volume to speak with force. He pointed sharply at his hangar and didn't budge until Blade actually started moving. Once they were parked inside of the mechanic's hangar, Maru poured himself a mug of coffee and sighed heavily. "Windlifter is grounded for at least the next 24 hours, and if you don't want that to stretch to 48, I suggest you let him properly sleep of the meds."

"Meds?" Blade asked incredibly confused, his eyes starting to flicker toward Windlifter's hangar.

"Yes, meds." Maru spat back. "Windlifter was experiencing a full-blown migraine and was half-blind by the time he arrived back to base. If I could have dosed him with something sooner we might have been able to cut the headache short, but it was too late for that by the time he got there so all I could do was dose him with painkillers so that he could sleep it off."

Blade made a soft O sound. He stared at the floor, so he didn't have to meet Maru's eyes. "I messed up didn't I."

"Yes, you did." Maru gave Blade a soft pat on the landing gear. "But so, did I. I should have noticed that Windlifter was off this morning at breakfast and pulled him from the flight line then, but we don't know that Windy is a stubborn-aft vehicle that doesn't like to admit his own weaknesses."

"That he is." Blade chewed his lip thoughtfully. "What do we do to prevent this in the future?"

"Once he is feeling better, we will have a long chat about not hiding the fact he is feeling sick." Then a smile cracked across Maru's face. "And then we give him a hard time about continuing to hide when he feels under the weather until he gets it through his thick skull that it is okay to ask other help every once in a while."

"I think I can do that." The helicopter said, holding himself with a bit more authority and confidence.

"Good. Now go brief Cabbie." Maru said with a shooing motion when it became clear Blade needed some extra encouragement to leave. "The old bird has been doing his best to stay out of my way, but I can tell he is chomping at the bit to get some news."

That got a good chuckle out of Blade and without complaint he headed out to chat with the team's jump plane before starting in on the day's paperwork.


End Note: I hope this story helped to statch your hurt comfort itch. But now that we have reached the end, what are your ideas for the letter T?