Happy Veteran's Day. Remember to thank those who serve and protect our country. I thought today would be apropos to update this fic.

Thank you for your reviews Whiteknightredcross and Bugsymutt. I appreciate them.

I do not own any of the characters.

Cover Girl walked to her room. The day had started and the base was starting to bustle with activity but she was lost in thought.

"Pssst, Cover Girl, over here." A voice came from the side.

Cover Girl looked around. She spotted Shipwreck hiding behind some parked jeeps. She took a quick look around before jogging over. When she reached him, he had sat down again. She slid down next to him.

"So how is he?" He asked.

She gave him a sideways glance. "Who?"

Shipwreck snorted. "You don't have to hide things from me. How long have we known each other?"

Cover Girl sighed. "Beach is fine. But… ah things are confusing."

Shipwreck mirrored her sigh. "Yeah, love does that to ya."

Cover Girl looked at him. "Who said anything about love?" She demanded.

"Oh come on. I've seen how you two look at each other." Shipwreck plucked at some grass on the floor.

"Well, there's nothing going on, if that's what you think." Cover Girl snapped.

"Even if there was, you don't need to worry about me talking to anyone about it. But I'm sure Beach is reading you the whole need to follow rules act?" Shipwreck guessed.

"What do you think?" Cover Girl leaned against the jeep and looked into the sky.

"The problem with Beach is that he can't see a good thing in front of him." Shipwreck clucked his tongue.

"He's right. Relationships can be dangerous." Cover Girl tried to defend him.

"Hasn't hurt Flint and Jaye." Shipwreck pointed out. "And you know why they don't want fraternization?" He didn't wait for her to answer his rhetorical question. "So it doesn't compromise the chain of command, appear like you're partial, or create a problem. I can't see any of that happening with Beach Head, can you?"

"Wow, you've given this a lot of thought." Cover Girl said looking at him.

"I'm not just a pretty face." Shipwreck grinned. "Look, if you ask me, Beach is just scared and using rules to… keep himself safe… if you know what I mean."

"Beach isn't scared of anything." Cover Girl scoffed.

"Honey, nothing scares a man more than being rejected by someone he loves." He said sagely.

"That what scares you?" Cover Girl asked curiously.

"Oh, heck no. I've been rejected so many times it just rolls off my back. But sometimes what scares me is losing someone I care about." He said wistfully.

Cover Girl couldn't help but think he was talking about a certain water breathing lady. She knew nothing she could say would make that pain go away. She just placed a reassuring hand on his. Without looking at her, he took it and gave a squeeze before letting go.

"Well, it's getting late. I snuck out to look for Polly, but can't seem to find him in his usual places. I figured if I sat outside long enough, I'd spot him. Darn bird, more trouble than he's worth." He said fondly. "I think I see him now." Sure enough in the distance a tiny speck grew larger. Shipwreck got up, dusted himself and took a few steps forward before extending his arm. Polly landed on his arm and climbed to his shoulder. "Where you've been you sorry excuse for a feather duster?" He asked playfully.

"None of your business." Polly whistled.

"Oh really? Well, ten crackers says otherwise." Shipwreck walked away talking to his pet.

Cover Girl remained sitting. Something was unsettling her. Polly looked like he was coming from the direction of the communications building which was no where near the cafeteria. Polly never left Shipwreck's side except to sneak food. Then his curt response to Shipwreck also raised some alarm bells. Polly usually gave as good as he got but somehow his response seemed serious, not the usual playful banter between the two. Getting up she knew she should be going back to her room before she got caught disobeying more orders but the nagging feeling would not leave her alone. Looking furtively around, she went to the communications building.

Everything seemed normal. She walked to the back. Nothing was amiss as far as she could see.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" Cover Girl turned around to see a green shirt walking over to her with his fire arm at the ready.

"Easy there, it's just me." Cover Girl said sternly.

"Oh, I… I'm sorry." The green shirt immediately apologized lowering his weapon. "We've just been on edge lately with the synthoid thing and all."

"It's okay." Cover Girl said magnanimously. "We're all a little jumpy."

"I know, I almost shot Shipwreck's bird. It startled me flying around. I shooed it away. What if I had killed it? Shipwreck would have done me in." The green shirt babbled.

"Did you see where the bird came from?" Cover Girl tried to remain calm.

"Not really, I was just doing my rounds. But it seemed to be flying from that direction." He waved his hand carelessly. Cover Girl looked. It was from the direction of the medical ward.

"Thanks." Cover Girl trotted off.

0o0

Snake Eyes and Timber arrived in Lifeline's office.

"Okay, Timber." Doc stuck a lab coat under the wolf's nose. "Get a good whiff."

Timber snuffled the material. He looked at Snake Eyes who gave a slight nod. The wolf began sniffing around. He walked out the door followed by Doc and Snake Eyes.

Timber wandered around the building meticulously smelling here and there.

"Hmm, it looks like he may be following Lifeline's path." Doc mussed as they walked down the hallway. When they reached the medical supply closet, Timber stopped and whined looking at his master. Snake Eyes opened the closet. Inside was a mess but no Lifeline.

"Looks like we found where he was… but where is he now?" Doc used his foot to move debris out of the way.

Timber was whining still circling the room. Doc looked at Snake Eyes who shrugged and signed. Timber thinks he's still here.

"Well, unless he's invisible, he's not here." Doc said wryly.

His communicator buzzed. "Doc, here. No, no luck yet. We'll keep looking. "

Hawk closed communications. He looked at Beach Head who was back in bed.

"They're still looking for Lifeline. When did you see him last?" Hawk questioned Beach Head.

"I was out when I came in. I don't think I ever did see him." Beach Head wrinkled his forehead.

Hawk muttered under his breath. Looking up, he fixed his gaze on him. "So you say Flint is gone?"

"Yes, sir. I was too late." Beach looked away.

Hawk sighed. "Not a good night. Lady Jaye will be devastated." As he walked to the door, he turned around. "Not a word to anyone yet. I need to contact a few people before we give official word."

"Yes sir." Beach Head acknowledge.

Hawk left the room. Beach Head waited until he heard his footsteps disappear. He pulled the covers off and went to a computer terminal. He knew that even though this was a medical computer it was still interconnected to the system on the base. From around his neck he pulled out his dog collar. With one swiping motion he pulled a small SD card that was attached. Inserting the card into the slot the computer started buzzing. A thin smile appeared on his lips.

Mainframe was about to go off duty. He stretched as his replacement walked in.

"Hey, Hard Drive. Ready for an exciting day of staring at the computer?" He joked.

"Shut up." He replied good-naturedly as he sat down in the chair. Just as Mainframe was about to leave he heard Hard Drive swear.

"Mainframe, get back here. Someone's loaded a virus onto the computer."

"What?" Mainframe dashed back. "Crap, it's opened a hole in our firewall."

"Someone's trying to download data from our servers." Hard Drive was furiously typing.

"Well, stop them!" Mainframe cried as he ran to another console.

"What do you think I'm doing?" He snapped.

Mainframe grabbed his communicator. "General Hawk? We have a situation."

0o0

To Beach Head it seemed he had been riding for hours but the clock on the bike indicated that it had only been 45 minutes. To get back to base at the rate they were going would take more than a day. They didn't have that kind of time. They had tried to radio base but something was blocking their transmission.

"We're going to need wings!" He shouted to Flint.

"What do you think I've been working on?" Flint yelled back.

Beach Head frowned. What could he possibly have been doing all this time?

The answer came when in the distance the swamp gave way to what looked like an airfield.

They pulled to a stop.

"What is this place?" Beach Head asked as he got off his bike.

"Lady Jaye was telling me about an abandoned airport around these parts." Flint said. He walked to a hanger.

"And how would she know about that?" Beach Head asked following him.

"Her family was backing some movie that was shot here. She was telling me that they left…" He stopped as he yank opened the doors. "Some of their equipment here, including a C-47."

Beach Head stared at the small plane in front of them. "Is it operational?"

"Only one way to find out." Flint grinned.

A few minutes later they were up in the air.

"I can't believe that this thing works." Beach Head said incredulously.

"Yeah but we only have enough gas to get us halfway." Flint said checking the fuel gauge.

"Better than nothing. Dang! Radio doesn't work." He growled.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Beach Head happened to glance out the window. He did a double take.

"Flint, we have company." Beach Head jerked his head out the window. Flint looked out and swore softly.

"Cobra rattlers!" Flint started evasive maneuvers.

"We're never going to out fly them." Beach Head said.

"I'm open to suggestions." Flint snapped.

They both involuntarily ducked as gunfire ripped through the side of the plane.

"They've hit the fuel tank." Flint said alarmed.

"Of course they did." Beach grumbled.

"We've got to land." Flint scanned below for a flat surface.

"Then we're as good as dead." Beach Head stated.

"Again… suggestions!" Flint glared at him.

The plane lurched as smoke started to fill the cockpit.

Yeah, sorry for more cliffhangers. I'm getting there.