Weakness on the reverse line

“I want to know the second we have shadows,” Jordan says, “all eyes to the sky tonight.”

“We have eighteen ships flying to the reverse line tonight.”

“And I want people tracking each one. No one is allowed below fifteen hundred feet.”

“Carry has three schedule landings, it was just posted.”

“What are they, does it say?”

“Prison ship, with a guard, and the third’s not specified.”

“Alright,” Jordan says, “I want five ships in the air, watching them as soon as they shadow. They can land at Carry, but nowhere else. Our ships will form a blockade, and escort them out of Island airspace when they launch.”

“I can send Howe, Leir, and Datuh for sure. Maybe Geeta, but so far she’s covering southern patrol.”

“Definitely Mure, possibly Fijh.”

“Leir will lead,” Jordan says, pulling an island map across the board. “And I want Mure on the back.”

“And if someone leaves the designated flight path?”

“We stop them.”

0---

“Sir, we have a weakness on the reverse line. Two, actually.”

“What do you mean, a weakness?”

“We lost two of our six anchors.”

“Lost?”

“They’ve turned back, patrol ships are taking their places.”

“Where the hell are they going?”

“One is landing in Carry, I don’t know about the other.”

“On orders, I presume?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well who are they, and can we find actual replacements?”

“Njord is landing in Carry, and Haast is heading west fast. That’s one each of pure fire, dark side, earth, weather, and two life.”

“And if we shuffle the line, it’s likely to snap four times over. What Flight are they again?”

“Both 7, under Commander Lawrence.”

“Then get him on the radio ten minutes ago, I want to know what the hell he’s going to do about this.”

0---

There shouldn’t be anything left to burn, not after so many years, but the fire always finds more.

It’s inching closer and closer to the base with every day; the Sampson Lull pushed it back considerably, but that was fifteen years ago now.

That was their last respite, and it lasted a few years.

It took two tries to get it right, and some say the cost was too much.

Probably Carry would be ash by now if they hadn’t succeeded in the end.

Fress was there, as was Lawrence, and Jordan. They escaped to see the sky again. So too were Beaty, Lohoran, Nome, Fuller, and Sampson. They have empty graves and a memorial, buried in the ash.

So too were Arthurs, Mahea, and Norman.

They were buried in a concrete box below the Institution, but are soon to be dug up, to breathe fresh air, to die all over again.

0---

A return to 2007 Additions.