Ben and Ribecka walk into the room, Ben shaking his head amusedly.  "How do you do it dude?  Ya get all the way through a major enemy attack without anything other then scorch marks...then get nailed by some local slime ball."  Ben goes to slap Kyle on the shoulder then stops, thinking better of himself.  "Gotta hand it to ya.  Ya got the touch."  Their eyes meet and Ben winks, a broad smile coming to his face.

"How many'dya take down?"

Kyle grunts as if rolling his eyes was too much effort.  His left ear was still ringing from the gun blasts in the car, but he was assured there was no permanent damage.  He was also assured that if the muzzle of the gun was any closer, the concusion would have shattered his eardrum.  As it was, it was simply pissed off.

"I've asked myself that a few times.  I've been through some pretty heavy battles, and I've had myself more than a few problems," he says flexing his scared hand, "but I've never been...carjacked before.  You know, I used to..."  He stops short and shakes his head.  "Well, I took three of them out of the action, but I don't know how many of them are out for good.  I know one was only unconcious when I left him, but the Acolytes took it from there.  You know, of all the crime I've seen, I've never seen it take four heavily-armed thugs to jack one car."

Ribecka steps forward.  "Well, enough of that.  How are you?"

"I'm fine.  This is a bit of an over-kill as far as I'm concerned.  The bullet went into the muscle, no bone was hit, no arteries.  Not even an exit wound.  It's the kind of feild dressing where you throw in some congealer, stick a pain killer in it, wrap it up and keep going."

"Yeah, I suppose, so..." she says, not one who's too familiar with feild dressings.  Splints out of twigs and survival skills are more her speed, most of those skills picked up from her Junior Outdoorsmen clubs as a child.  "Well, Apone wanted a chance to come visit you, but he's out doing the rescue thing.  He gave me this to give you, though."  She hands him the small wooden box he noticed she was carrying.  He wasn't sure what kind of wood it was, but it was treated to smell like old Terra's cedar trees.  He unclipped the small brass clasp and opened the lid on fragile hinges.  Inside were five medium-sized cigars. A small humidifying strip was stuck to the underside of the lid, assuring freshness.  "They're the ones he keeps in his pack for when he takes down an assault 'Mech."

"Five?  At least I know my men have lofty goals."

"Yeah, well, he also mentioned that you'd better share with him, he's had them for some time."  She pauses and looks down.  "We're all waiting for you to get back before the memorial service for the others."

He remembers the trouble she had in the Blizzard and closes the cigar box.  "How are you doing?"

She shrugs.  "I'm doing.  Haven't had a whole lot of time to dwell."

He gestures to a chair.  "If you need someone to talk to, I know what it's like.  I was there this time, too.  That chair will be here as long as I am, and we'll find a new chair once I'm out of here."

"I know.  I think when the time comes, I have someone to talk to.  But I might still take you up on the offer."  She doesn't indicate that Ben is who she's talking about.  After all, she's oblivious to the fact that Kyle already has a pretty good idea after the scene outside the Chariot a couple days ago.  A scene she didn't know he saw.

"Well, it's always there.  But now for something important."  He motions for her to lean in closer and whispers in a conspirital way.  "This hospital food reminds me of warmed-over shit.  Would you please, please, run down to the cafeteria and ask them to fry you up a hamburger of some sort.  Get a rootbeer too, although I'd prefer the real thing, and bring it back up here.  Have them put it in a "to go" bag for you, I don't think I'm allowed to have that stuff up here.  But damned if I'm going to survive a battle, a carjacking, and a bullet just to die of grease deprivation."

She grins widely and straightens up, looking at Ben with amusement over the order.  "Wanna go get something too?  It's on him," she says, nodding at her bed-ridden commander.

"Actually," Kyle interupts, "I wanted a chance to talk to him about the aerolance and Devin and my own suits, maybe figure out some sort of hardpoint to load us on for a recon drop.  No better time than the present."

"Ah," she says.  "Well, then I'm out of here before I get commited to this place from boredom poisoning."  She grins to both of them and walks out of the room, shutting the door behind her.  Ben stands there for a moment after the door closes before looking at Kyle.

Kyle puts the cigars on his tray and pushes it to the side of the bed.  He looks up at Ben, points to the chair, and speaks one question, the title at the end of the question having zero insult content.  "What's the story, flyboy?"

His eyes narrow slightly at the question and slowly walks over to the chair and sits down, brain running overtime between various responses.  He meets Kyle's gaze for a few seconds then turns to look back at the door.

"No story is alone," Ben finally says and turns back to look Kyle in the eyes.  "I don't know what mine is because I don't know what yours is."  He pauses a moment, thoughts still flying.  "Or was?"  He falls silent and leans back deeply in the chair, waiting for a response.

Kyle nods at the evasion and considers it.  "I have more stories than we have time for right now, my friend.  The story I'm looking for is the one where my APC pilot is spending a lot of her off-duty time with the hotshot pilot."

He picks up his water and takes a sip before clearing his throat and continuing.  "Don't bother telling me that you were under the impression her off time was hers to do with what she pleases, because as long as her off-duty activities don't detract from her job, it is her time.  But she's under my care.  I'd like to know the situation, point blank."  He points at the door where she just left as Ben looks at him calmly, showing no emotion.

"That girl isn't in a position to defend herself from emotional advances.  She's survived some pretty nasty stuff back where she's from, she made it to Outreach where she made it through some equally nasty things, finally making it here where she gets engaged in a pretty heavy action, an action in which she not only lost some good friends, but she saw their burn out corpses up close and personal.  I guarantee you she still smells the smoke of their skin in her hair and clothes.  On top of all that add lack of sleep and the fact this girl has had no military training to prepare her for any of this. 

"You can basically have your way with her," Kyle continues and fire erupts in Ben's eyes.  "You can play the sensitive hero, give her a shoulder to cry on and she'll fall for you.  You can play the tough soldier who fears nothing, she'll take strength in your bravery and, again, fall for you.  She's nineteen years old," Kyle comments and the fire in Ben's eyes is quenched instantly, "and she just turned that on the transit out here.  My dau--"

Ben's expression softens and he looks down.  Kyle starts to wave his right hand, but feels the tug of the IV's that they had to put there because of the scarring on his left, which he waves instead.  "Now I'm not accusing you of any of these things, not at all.  But I'm not about to let something happen to her, so I want to know where you stand.  Shoot straight with me."

Ben thinks for a few seconds before raising his eyes back up to meet Kyle's and the mask
falls over his face again.

"That is a fair question," he says calmly, his eyes going back to the floor as he thinks some more.  "But it appears you have her best interests at heart," he continues reastablishing eye contact.  "I give you my word of honor I do NOT intend to hurt her.  I will NOT love her and leave her.  That's one of the more basic precepts ingrained into the Synod's doctrines and I intend to follow those teachings.  As for the rest...I won't put forth an image I'm not just to draw her into the spider's web so to speak.  Any possible relationship would be undermined by that.

"I'd rather have NO relationship then one based on a lie.  I can't say I won't hurt her though.
Sometimes life hurts and there's just nothing you can do about it.  But I will NEVER do anything with the intention of hurting her.  I give you my word of honor on that.  And if that's not good enough, ask the nurse to bring in a Bible and I'll swear on IT."

Ben continues to face his mask-like expression towards Kyle and refuses to break eye contact.

Kyle looks back at the man, gauging the look in his eyes.  He nods.  "I believe you.  I didn't think you were out to do anything dishonorable, but I'm not going to leave something like that to chance if I can help it."  He sips the water again.

"But let me ask you this: Are you prepared for a relationship like this one?  I don't know if you've ever had a relationship with a co-worker, but this isn't like a supermarket.  She can get injured, she could die out there!  So could you!  The entire company is putting its trust in both of you and we can't afford to have your minds elswhere simply because your significant other is getting shot at somewhere below you.  You have to remember that's her job, let her do it.

"I don't know if you've been through it before, but it is not easy.  It's almost guaranteed that one of you are going to get hurt in this day an age, as part of a merc company."

He shakes his head.  "I've..."  He sighs.  He's known this man for a little over three months, and known him personally for much much less.  He begins in a whisper.  "Look, I've had this type of relationship.  They have almost no chance of working!  I had a wife and a daughter, they weren't even combatants but they were targeted.  Because of me.  They're both gone now, and I was too for quite some time."

Ben exhales softly as he remembers the handouts everyone was given on the other members of the Dark Knights to help them no each other better.  He remembers that a wife and child weren't mentioned in the roster for the man named Kyle Mathis.

"If someone out there finds out you're in love with another member of the company, they have you by your heart, and believe me, it is not as easy to maintain professionalism in that situation as it may seem right now.  Are you prepaired for that?  For the constant worrying, the fear every time the radio link gets overun by static?  Think long and hard about that question."

Ben looks down at the floor, mulling over Kyle's statements.  "I don't know," he finally says, looking up at Kyle.  "I've never let myself get into a relationship like this before.  I've always been afraid I might get hurt, or that I might hurt her.  And anyways...I was an aerojock, better then the rest.  I was busy impressing the line of command with the performance of myself and my squadron.  We were busy partying after destroying the enemy.  Working on our fighters.  Or just practicing new manuevers.

"Why should I borrow trouble?"  He looks down at the floor again and his shoulders droop slightly.  "But things are different now.  I made a choice and was 'asked' to leave the League.  After they took my rank," he finishes, fingering the bright spots on his off-white jacket.  "Life is not what I once thought it was.  Months of wandering around Outreach have changed me.  And this battle has burned out much of the...aerojock...I once was.  I'm more...balanced...now."  His eyes drop to the floor at each pause as he looks for the proper words, then return to Kyle.

"Before I would never admit I refused to enter a relationship because I was scared.  Now I can.  And now I also can ask myself one other question.  'Is it right to refuse a relationship because of the chance that I might get hurt?  Or that SHE might get hurt?'  Bluntly put, I don't know if I'm ready or not.  I DO know that during that last fight I never broke formation or ignored orders to rush down and protect her though.  I wanted to but I didn't.  I knew that the rest of the company could protect her better then I, and that I was in a better position to protect THEM from aerial attack.  AND I know that if I were to keep her protected in a glass cage where nothing could ever hurt her it would destroy her."

His eyes go back to floor again.  "A quote I once heard I think sums this up well.  'We are all born with a death sentence.  And there is no parole.'  I may die tommorrow.  But I have chosen to truely live until then...not just exist."

Ben stops talking and leans back in his chair to listen while Kyle thinks for a moment before speaking.  "No, you didn't break formation, not this time.  Probably not next time.  But then again, the Chariot only came under fire a couple of times, and thanks to her abilities, never even got scorched.  What happens when the shot does land?  And I'm not sure what things are like up in the air, but I know that even down here where things happen about quite a few times slower than the speed of sound that a moment's hesitation can have a lifetime of reprocutions.  You might not break formation, but if your mind wanders for just a second, I think you know what can happen."  Ben nods in understanding and before Kyle continues.  "Besides, you two have just started out, at least she's just recently started dissapearing and showing up again with you.  I don't know how close you two are yet, but I doubt love has set in.  What happens when it does?"

"I don't know," Ben responds.  "I've never let myself find out."

Kyle shifts uncomfortably and sits up, against the nurses orders from earlier in the day.  "I've seen your record, and I've seen a little bit of you in action.  You know what you're doing up there, you really seem to have a feel for it and I know you're well trained.  Just consider what I said."

"I will," is Ben's only response.

Kyle feels his back begin to ache from laying down all day and gives in, slumping back into position.  "I'm not going to stand in the way if you're going to go ahead and go with this, unless of course my mens' lives are endangered because of it.  But there's something else to think about.  I have no idea, none, what the Major would say about this.  I don't know what the Knight's policy is on such things, I didn't bother looking because it didn't effect me," Kyle continues as Ben's brow furrows.  "But you'd better find out, and if there is a reg against it, you'd better decide what's more important to you, because I will enforce it for my pilot.

"I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm doing everything I can to mess things up, I'm really not.  I'm just making sure you understand what's up the road, because a lot of it will probably happen, I've been there, I know."

Another sip of water.  "This shit they're pumping in me dries me out like you wouldn't believe."  He pauses as Ben breaks into open laughter and glares at him for a moment.  "Anyway, think about all I've said, consider it long and hard.  If you have any questions or if the two of you, or even just need help or need some advice or a talk, you know where to find me."

Ben nods in agreement.  "Oh I will.  If I have any problems, I definitely will.  Though I don't think they will be as bad as you do.  But then I've always been a hopeless optimist," he comments, laughing at himself.  "But I'll ask the Major about the regs," he says as the door opens and Ribecka walks in.

"Regs?"  She looks back and forth between the two men.

"Ah...the regs about modding my fighter," he responds in a confused tone of voice that said "what other regs could I be talking about?"  He turns back to Kyle.  "Anyways," he began, possibilities running through his brain as fast as he could think.  "I'll put the two possibilities up for his naysay.  A self-contained system inside the fuselage where I'd have to pull out a medium laser and maybe one or two heatsinks if we are talking both BAs, or a sled system that I could attach to the bottom of the fighter like a bomb rack.  Again, I'm betting he'd like the second way better as it wouldn't take my fighter out of commission to get it ready."

"I'd have to agree, that would be an easier method and it would give us a hell of a jump on recon."
 
Becka looks at both men with a grin   "Well, I don't want to interupt your...stimulating conversation," she starts, the word "stimulating" being forced through her teeth as though it was a force-fed morsel, "but I have a matter or great importance here."  She pulls her hands that appeared to be clasped behind her back out and shows them the brown bag she has.  "I believe this package is for you."
 
"Oh, that looks nice..." Kyle starts, staring at the spots where the grease has soaked through the bag.  He takes it from her and unwraps it slowly, savoring the smell.  Everything was on it and the sauces were dripping onto the wrapper laying on his chest.  He closes his eyes for a few moments and brings it to his mouth which opens slowly to accept the treasure.  The first of the heat emminating off of the burger reaches his saliva-covered tongue a spilt second before the burger rips away causing him to snap his eyes open and his mouth shut with a growl.  The nurse wrestles it away from him despite his efforts, ripping it apart before him.
 
"What are you doing!?" he gasps, his damaged voice box cutting out half way through the question/plea.
 
"You haven't been checked off for this food yet," the nurse says calmly.
 
"It's...it's a leg wound!"
 
"Don't make me get out your cholesteral count, Lt. Mathis.  This burger is endangering your life more than the bullets flying at you!"
 
Becka tries hard not to laugh, which garners her a hard stare from Kyle.  "Um..." she begins.  "I'd...we'd better go and take care of...stuff."
 
"Yeah," he says, mock-seriously, "you'd better do that.  Thank Apone for me."
 
She nods and turns to Ben, waiting for his opinion on leaving.
 
"Anything else we should talk about now, Mr. Pryde?" Kyle asks him as he glares at the retreating nurse's back.  He turns back to look at Ben and licks the grease off of his fingers.  "If not, don't forget to ask the Major about that stuff ASAP.  Better to find out now, not later."

Ben fails at keeping a smirk of his face and he finally coughs suspisciously.  "Ah...no...I think we covered everything well enough."  He clears his throat forcefully, still not completely under control.  "And I'll definately see what the Major has to say."  He bows deeply, the smirk coming out fully now.  "Until we meet again oh great eater of hamburgers."  He winks and turns to leave with Ribecka.

Ben knocks on the major's door and waits for permission to enter before walking in.  He bows to the major and puts his hands behind his back and purses his lips.  "I've got another couple of things to ask you sir. One is more to cover my butt in case questions are asked....the other....well...."  He stops awkwardly and takes a breath.  "I guess the is ALSO to cover my butt."  He pauses for another breath and gets back into stride.

"First off, I need to ask you about modifing my fighter to carry BattleArmor for behind the lines insertion drops.  I think something similar to a bomb rack would work quite well for that.  It would be inexpensive, would NOT take my fighter out of comission for a long period of time while fitting it in, and would be easily replaced if it were damaged.  I'm betting I could carry one BattleArmor in each pod and sling one pod under each wing and still have room for a couple more bombs or so.  Imagine a saturation HE bomb dropped seconds before the insertion pods.  The pod would open up maybe a hundred meters up and the BA's JJs could drop them down nicely into the nice, flat, and burned out area the HE just fragged." He raises his hands as if to forestall any hasty response by the major.

"I'm actually only asking about this in order to cover my butt in case I'm asked if I asked..." He frowns as he traces as sentence back through his brain.  "If you get what I mean sir...."  He takes another breath. "But I really do think it has merit...."

The Major eyes Ben over a stack of invoices and reports.  "Your idea has merit, Mr. Pryde.  I'm not too sure how the infantry would like being dropped from a plane, but its worth some thought."  Ben nods at the major's response and releases a pent up breath.

"It was Kyle who asked for a way to be dropped from a fighter, sir.  Perhaps if you are OK with the idea, we should get a real planning session together for it."  The Major nods and returns to his reading, perhaps forgetting Ben had a second question, perhaps testing Ben.

Ben swallows and takes a deep breath. "On another note sir...I was wondering what your policies are on...um...relationships...in your unit.  I know the FWL's regulations only stop...relationships...between people in the same chain of command...that's what I assumed here...but Kyle said I should ask...just in case..."

Ben's eyes meet the major's and he swallows slowly.

The Major drops his papers across his desk and rises.  Crossing over the filing cabinet he opens the top drawer and pulls out a bottle of Glengarry Black Label.  He pours two neat glasses and returns to his seat.  "Have a drink, Ben."  he says placing a glass before the aerojock.

He leans back in his chair and looks intently at Ben, "I have no problem with my soldiers fratrenizing with each other.  I know that as a soldier, a warrior, we may die at any moment and its foolish to stop people from gathering what little happiness there is around them closer.  I'm not going to interfere with what you and Ribecka have."  The major grins at Ben's look of suprise, Don't look so suprised.  I may be locked away in my office with paperwork a lot, but I see things.  I think I knew you and Ribecka meant something to each other probably before you did.  You've got my OK Ben.  Just don't do anything wrong or I'll look the other way while Mr. Mathis rips out your spine."  The major's grin leaves his face as Ben swallows nervously and he leans forward over his desk.  "That being said however, if this relationship interferes with either you or Ribeka's duties in this unit or on your brain when in battle, then its time for me to step in.  Understood?"

"Understood, sir."  Ben salutes and turns to leave.  His hand reaches out for the door handle and his head turns back to the Major.  "And thank you."  He opens the door and walks out.

back to Ben and Ribecka