Long Night Moon
The stretch of time between Christmas and New Years was always a special type of busy at Piston Peaks National Park. Park staffing was at its low winter which meant they barely had enough coverage to man the park. On top of that they had the flood of winter break vacationers filling every plowed parking space and groomed trail in the region. Everyone had buckled down, squared their tires, and just tried to power through so that they could reach the relative calm of January...but apparently some visitors clearly thought that the park staff didn't have enough in their trailers and decided to throw a monkey wrench into their work.
The first inkling something was a tire, occurred the day after Christmas when one of the Rangers on night patrol reported that they heard strange popping sounds coming from the back country. The following morning, after a quick search the source of the popping sound was found just off a popular trail when a ranger found the burnt remains of fireworks half buried in the snow.
At first, everyone was hoping it was a one off event...but when the sound of fireworks going off occurred in another corner of the park the following night, and the two nights after that it was clear that there was a group of visitors ignoring National Park's ban on fireworks. While the winter weather and snow did lower the risks related to this behavior, it didn't erase it all together. With how thin the firefighting capabilities in the park currently were, Ranger Jammer decided the best way to deal with the situation was to catch the firework launcher before they became an issue.
A search from the ground would be impossible, so a search from the sky was organized. Windlifter was called in. Blade mapped out locations where the two helicopter could keep an eye on the sky, while Cabbie planned out a grid that would allow him to keep an eye on the park below.
When the sun dipped in the sky, the three aircraft headed to take on their designated search positions. They started strong, as the night deepened and the temperatures dropped it started to get more difficult to focus on the task on tire.
"How much longer do you think we should stay out here?" Blade voice clearly indicated that both the cold and the late hour were starting to get to him.
"Sunset was only 45 minutes ago." Maru pointedly replied. "It isn't even fully dark yet."
"We are still in Nautical Twilight." Windlifter added sagely.
"What Windy said. You need to stay out at least until…" Maru paused as he chose his words. "What are we waiting for, Professor?"
"We should remain until the culprits are found or until Astronomical Twilight has come and passed."
"How about we leave when I say the mission is over?" Cabbie interrupted from his vantage place circling high above the park. "Preparing to fly the low level grid number 6."
"Rodger." Blade scanned the airspace in front of him. "Everything looks clear from my perspective."
"Everything is clear at Canopy Dome." Windlifter reported in a moment later.
"Alright." The sound of Cabbie's great engines spinning up to full power could be heard through his radio. "Going in."
The sixth grid of the park was very similar to the fifth. Chatter on the radio quieted as Windlifter and Blade kept their eyes on the sky making sure that an aircraft didn't accidentally wander into the closed airspace and watched out for flocks of night migrating gliders. This allowed Cabbie to keep his focus on looking for evidence of illegal activity on the ground.
Cabbie was zigzagging his way up V6 Valley at about 500 feet and had just passed Piston Peak, when things got interesting. Even though Blade couldn't see where the firework had been launched from, the Chief could clearly see the explosion fire and color as an aerial firework light the sky from his perch on top of La Parrilla. Just like the helicopter could make out when the second aerial firework exploded across Cabbie's belly.
Blade didn't bother holding his tongue as he swore over the radio. Moments later he managed to regain his composure. "Maru on standby...Cabbie please report your condition."
There was an unbearably long silence and Blade honestly wondered if he was about to have to plan a funeral because some idiot had decided to launch fireworks in a National Park. Then the radio crackled to life.
"That smarted." Cabbie sighed heavily and Blade let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The old plane clearing his throat. "I am diverting for an emergency landing at the Lodge...and I am pressing charges, and I promise those hooligans are not going to like the fine for that."
"Believe me, you will not be the only vehicle pressing charges." Superintendent Jammer voice joined the channel and Blade couldn't help but feel incredibly embarrassed about his earlier swearing. "The lodge landing strip will be lit up like a Christmas Tree for your arrival, while you are in bound do you happen to have the gps coordinates for where you got hit?"
"Rodger." Cabbie replied and spat out a series of numbers that Blade tuned out because he was listening to Windlifter making arrangements to pick up Maru and transport him down to the lodge.
In the end, the firework launchers were smart enough to stop lighting off any other explosives once they had accidently hit an aircraft, but they also didn't move fast enough to avoid the rangers that descended on their location. Even though Jammer called in the county sheriff to help with the arrests, Blade suspected that this incident was going to cause a sleepless night for many of the park's staff. Luckily, the Superintendent let Blade's focus be exactly where it needed to be.
"So how is he?" Blade asked the moment he stuck his nose lodge's main hanger after finally being rescued from his perch and guided to a proper landing spot by Windlifter.
"He is in great need of a proper cup of coffee." Cabbie smirked back only to wince a moment later.
"He shouldn't be drinking coffee, because he would be a lot more comfortable if he just took a nap while I sand out this burn."
"Maru, I am not going to successfully sleep with you poking things like that." Cabbie settled a little bit heavier on his tires, much to the mechanic's annoyance. "So, I might as well have my coffee."
"Fine." Maru threw up his tines. "And pointed a wrench in Blade's direction. You can get him one mug of coffee, but the coffee in the mug better be decaf…" He looked Cabbie dead in the eyes. "And it better contain at least two pumps of the most ridiculous flavor syrups that the lodge coffee shop is currently carrying."
"You are a cruel, cruel mechanic." Cabbie stated with mock bitterness, which managed to get a laugh out of the clearly tired mechanic.
Cabbie ended up falling asleep halfway through his coffee and Blade tried to stay up to keep Maru company until the mechanic informed him that he was more of a hindrance than a help. Cabbie was back in flying form by dawn, and was able to fully enjoy a mug of coffee, a proper one this time, with the thank you donuts that Jammer dropped off for their breakfast.
As Blade, Windlifter, and Cabbie took to the skies there was a special calm that had settled across the park. The period between Christmas and New Year might be hectic, but at least now that the firework launchers were caught there was a bit of hope now that everyone would be able to celebrate a quiet New Year.
Author's Note - Well, we have made it through another year, and man, what a year it has been. As we prepare to say goodbye to 2020 and enter 2021, I am wishing everyone safety and health in the upcoming year.