Q is for Quart

For the most part Maru was a pretty easy-going tug, but even a laid-back mechanic had limits and at the moment Blade was running right smack into one of those limits.

"No."

Ever since Blade Ranger had become the official Chief of the Piston Peaks Air Attack Team, Maru had known that it was only going to be a matter of time before they were going to have a proper argument…

"Maru." Blade practically growled.

…Maru just hadn't expected that argument to happen within three hours of Blade taking the post…

"I said no." Maru leveled Blade with a look of complete and utter exasperation.

…But now that the argument had officially hit, Blade was going to discover that Maru did in fact have a few hills he was willing to fight to the death on.

"I can't believe you wouldn't do this for the good of the base." Blade practically spat.

Oh…Oh he didn't just go there. Well, if Blade was going to try to play that card on him, Maru wasn't going to hold any of his punches anymore.

"You really think that?" Maru asked then when Blade moved to reply he held up a tine to silence him. "Blade Ranger, we have known each other long enough for me to know when you are playing dirty in an argument, but we both know what this argument is really about. It is about your fear of relapse. You are scared that now that you are in charge of the base that there will ride herd on you if you fall off the wagon and start abusing high grade again, so you are removing that possibility by removing the high grade all together…" At Maru's words he could see the Blade's anger getting hotter and hotter, but if they were going to get to the bottom of this problem, the mechanic was going to have make sure all of their cards were in the open. "Blade, I hate to break it to you but you're being a selfish slagging idiot."

"And you have so much room to talk." The helicopter's mood was practically volcanic. "I will have you know that I have seen you sneak off to romance a tin of high grade far too many evenings!"

"I will fully admit that my dependance on high grade is not a healthy one…but I can at least say that I use my vice somewhat responsible. You know as well as I do, that I have my fair share of demons and sometimes I have needed help chasing them off at nights…" Maru allowed his voice to lower in an attempt to draw Blade in and lower the heat of the argument. "But I bring us back to the point that this argument isn't about us, it is about the team. Is your high horse worth sacrificing the health and safety of your team over?"

"You have the gall to call me selfish and you are trying to make health and safety arguments to try to weasel in an exception for your preferred vice." Blade rolled over Maru's attempt at an olive branch with all the grace of a bulldozer.

"I am taking about Cabbie, Blade." Maru snapped as he leveled an unflinching look at his boss. "I am talking about Cabbie, and Windlifter, and a whole host of the larger aircraft we host during big fires. High grade might give smaller vehicles a buzz, for birds and vehicles with the big engines high grade is a mechanical necessity. If giving up my crutch of a drinking habit is what it takes make sure that vehicles under my care get the types of inputs, they need to be healthy, then so be it, but this is an issue of health and safety and I will not be budging on my position on this."

Blade gave Maru a long hard look, then finally looked away. "There really isn't room for compromise on this is there."

"Not as long as your compromise requires banning high grade from base." Maru laid things out as he saw it. "If you want to talk about creating a plan about how high grade is managed on base, then I think we have space to talk."

"Explain." Blade eyes narrowed, but it was clear that Maru had captured the helicopter's curiosity.

"Why don't we treat it like we do pain medications?" Maru motioned a tine in the rough direction of his hanger. "Pain medications can alter a vehicles judgement and behavior when taken, they also carry a risk of addition. As a result, all pain medications on base are held securely by me, the base mechanic, and I distribute the medication when the vehicle needs it. This allows our teammates to safely access pain management when their health needs it, while providing an important safeguard against possible medication abuse."

"Alright…I think I we can make that work…" Blade looked thoughtful for a moment. "But if I find any high grade left out where the smokejumpers can find it, I will confiscate it."

"I can work with that." Maru allowed a crooked smile to grace his lips. The game was on, but Chrysler, Maru knew that rules had been set in his favor. Because while Blade was tenacious as slag, the helicopter's stubbornness was no match for Maru's deviousness.

Term- Quart- A imperial unit of measure that was named because it equals one quarter of a gallon. Current only three countries officially use quarts (United States, Myanmar, and Liberia) but it does occasionally still get used in the British Isle or other countries in the commonwealth especially in cases involving alcohol or dairy.