Author's Note: As any of my long term readers know, I have indirectly (and in some cases not so indirectly) written about the central event contained in this story in some of my other pieces. Several of you have specifically mentioned that it made you want to read the whole story, so I have been slowly picking away at it as my writing mood and muse allowed. Now all of the key pieces are in place and Mother Nature has landed me on bedrest for a week or two, so I will embark on the task of sticking it all together and presenting it to you.

Dedication: To Grandpa...COVID-19 took away the chance to give a proper goodbye, but I hope that you have blue skies and that your squadron saved your place in the formation.


Prologue - A Quiet Night On Base


The beans were a bit on the burnt side, but Cabbie seemed to be a bit more distracted than normal and neither Maru or Blade could have made anything better so neither vehicle had room to complain. The mechanic assumed that Cabbie's mild absent mindedness was due to laundry list of weather reports that he was listening to over the radio. There was a snowstorm coming, and as the park's primary avalanche abatement vehicle, the C-119 always did his best to stay on top of the latest info…even if it made him a less than desirable dining companion.

"Big storm?" Maru asked as he eyed the barrel of purple fuel that Cabbie pulled out after the meal had been consumed and the table had been cleared.

The big plane just shrugged. "Just was in the mood for it."

That peaked Maru's interest a bit. Purple fuel was the highest grade of Avgas on the market, and while Cabbie engines were big enough that he should technically be running on it all of the time, it was also as expensive as slag, so the old plane usually did without. That said, Lift, one of Cabbie's closest friends had sent the plane a couple of barrels of the good stuff and Avgas did have a limited shelf life, so there was not any reason that Cabbie should indulge when the hankering hit him. Still, Maru could help but feel like something might be a little bit off...Then he put his tine on it.

"Wait one moment." Maru ducked out of the Cabbie's hanger and made a bee line across cold tarmac to the maintenance hangar. Rummaging around in the spare parts, he was able to locate what he was looking for…a nice can of high grade that was well within Cabbie's consumption specs. Rolling back into the hanger, Maru placed the high grade in front of Cabbie and gave a properly smug smile. "Now this image is complete."

Cabbie looked at the high grade with a bit of amusement, then glanced over at Blade. The helicopter simply gave a shrug of his rotors. "Go ahead and drink it. We both know that if you don't Maru will never let us hear the end of it and we also both know that that isn't enough high grade to get you even mildly buzzed."

"You know he is right." Maru grinned between taking swings of oil from his own mug. "And honestly, it is medicinal. Purple gas is powerful enough that it would but some extra strain on your engines if you didn't properly lubricate them beforehand."

At that Cabbie stopped arguing and instead focused on coercing Blade into a friendly game of chess…which despite Cabbie's earlier apparent distraction he successfully trounced the helicopter three games in a row. Finally, the Chief finally got tired of the loosing streak and excused himself from the board. Cabbie then tried to convince Maru to take him on, but the mechanic knew the limits of his skill and also declined.

With that the evening was over. Cabbie ushered Maru and Blade out so that the old plane could get the sleep he would need to be properly rested to complete his work avalanche abatement work the following morning. Blade left with a polite good night, but Maru insisted on ribing him good naturally that a plane as ugly as Cabbie needed as much beauty sleep as he could get to make sure he was presentable in public. Then Maru closed Cabbie's hanger door and rolled up the hill to Blade's hanger where the two vehicles ended up talking long into the night.

What Maru didn't realize then, is he would always regret not taking Cabbie up on a round of chess or staying just a little bit longer, because that quiet night on base would be the last time that anyone saw Cabbie McHale alive.