The Vaults of Heaven (AU)

[Wolfman]

Maybe: he's in the main storyline as well. In that, he and his family got into West Berlin the day before the Wall went up...

That was mentioned in Visit by the Fourth Estate, wasn’t it?

[Matt Wiser]

You are correct, Young Padawan.

[Wolfman]

And here I thought I was a Jedi Knight…

[jemhouston]

Beware of anyone identifying as Sith.

[Wolfman]

So Say We All!

[Jotun]

Maybe: he's in the main storyline as well. In that, he and his family got into West Berlin the day before the Wall went up...

Got a link or something?

[Wolfman]

Maybe: he's in the main storyline as well. In that, he and his family got into West Berlin the day before the Wall went up...

Got a link or something?

It’s a little further down the first page of stories, listed as Fourth Estate…

[Jotun]

Maybe: he's in the main storyline as well. In that, he and his family got into West Berlin the day before the Wall went up...

Got a link or something?

It’s a little further down the first page of stories, listed as Fourth Estate…

It is Wolverines and Chiefs. No immediate relation to Kapitänleutnant Hardegen, the U-boat skipper became a politician in Bremen.

[Wolfman]

I thought it was mentioned in Fourth Estate…

[Jotun]

I thought it was mentioned in Fourth Estate…

No harm done. I used the forum’s search function.

[Matt Wiser]

We haven't heard Colonel Hardegen's full story. That may be revealed later...

[Poohbah]

14 October 1989
TASK FORCE ACHERNAR HQ
Williams AFB, AZ

Mantell was on duty in the Communications Center. He'd just made the morning tour of the commo spaces and entered "All systems functioning properly" when the FLASH YANKEE alarm sounded.

He headed over to the teletype that was spitting out a message on yellow paper, waited for it to line feed four times, and pulled off the printout.

He read the message.

YYYY RHMCSUU
U 141112Z OCT 89
FM SECDEF PHILADELPHIA PA
TO ALMILACT
MOD LONDON UK
MOD OTTAWA CAN
MOD SYDNEY AU
MOD CHRISTCHURCH NZ
AFNORTH OTTAWA CAN
AFSOUTH GRAND ISLAND NE
SUBJ//CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES/
RMKS//1. AT 1800Z, A CEASEFIRE WILL GO INTO EFFECT IN THE NORTHERN THEATER.
2. ALL COMBATANT COMMANDS TO MAINTAIN VIGILANCE AGAINST POSSIBLE RENEGADES.
3. THIS WILL BE THE END OF MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA. THERE ARE STILL TASKS REMAINING, PARTICULARLY THE ACCOUNTING AND REPATRIATION OF POWS AND EPWS. THAT SAID, I EXTEND A HEARTY WELL DONE IN PARTICULAR TO ALL PERSONNEL OF THE US, UK, AND COMMONWEALTH ARMED FORCES, WITHOUT WHOSE DEDICATION TO THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM THIS DAY OF VICTORY WOULD NEVER HAVE COME.
4. CARLUCCI SENDS.//

BT



NNNN

* * *

General Downing read the message and sighed. "Well, that explains the phone call I got from Bragg yesterday." He looked up at Mantell. "Try not to get too thoroughly trashed this weekend, Chief. Para 3 refers."

Mantell blinked, then said, "You think we're going to do a rescue mission?"

"It's possible--and only a real threat to invade the place is going to make diplomacy possible. If it goes, I want you on it. Planning, certainly--but if the mission is a go, I want you leading one of the assault teams. That is precisely where you would belong, and I will argue that all the way to the President if I have to. Monday morning at 0730, in the conference room, let's start sketching out the plan."

"Yes, sir."

"In the meantime . . . celebrate. That's an order, Chief."

* * *

14 October 1989
Doubletree Suites

He stepped out into the late afternoon, stopping to savor the golden light on the skyline.

"You OK, Josh?"

Helen's voice.

"Yeah, actually, I am. I'm not going to get too hammered. And . . . well, this is what we've fought four years for. I'm at peace."

"Good to hear. Roberta and I are hosting a little get-together--Jeanna and Debs are coming as well. Would you like to join us?"

"I'd like that, actually."

* * *

Ribald songs were sung, adult beverages were consumed in varying quantities.

At one point, Roberta turned the stereo down, and Helen let out an absurdly loud two-fingered whistle.

Everyone quieted down.

"All right, people, I want to give the floor to a good friend, Josh Mantell, because he's a pretty smart guy and I want to hear what he has to say about What It All Means. Josh?"

Josh stood, and said, "Give me a minute."

60 seconds later, someone said, "DING!"

Josh laughed, and everyone joined in.

"All right. In 1985, we all heard the propaganda: America is weak, decadent, and will surely succumb to superior socialist discipline.

"Wasn't the first time anyone had said that. Won't be the last. Throughout history, martial, militaristic societies have said the same thing over and over . . . and they routinely get their asses handed to them by supposedly weak and decadent adversaries. We remember Sparta as a warrior state--but we idolize Athens as the cradle of democracy and intellectual freedom. Rome may have conquered most of Europe--but they also built roads and bridges still in use two millennia later, and built a body of law that forms part of the basis of our own legal system. We honor Rome as a society where being able to say 'Civis Romanus Sum'--'I am a Roman citizen'--was both a statement of pride and a demand for the authorities to respect the speaker's legal rights.

"England and the United States have been derided as mere shopkeepers and traders by adversaries ranging from Napoleon, to the Confederacy, to the Kaiser, to Hitler and Tojo, to the Soviet Union, nations that exalted military pomp and glory, with leaders who conceived of a society of obedient serfs and exalted leaders--and that they were the exalted leaders because they were obviously smarter and better-looking."

There was a round of laughter.

"They've all learned that we peaceful traders and shopkeepers, schoolteachers and auto mechanics, bikers and academics, whether born with a silver spoon in our mouth or on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, just want to be left alone to buy and sell, teach and repair, ride our bikes or study musty archives . . . and if you insist on interrupting us, martial glory and top-down discipline enforced by secret police are no match for freeborn men and women employing their ingenuity to achieve sheer bloody-minded efficiency at killing the enemy.

"The finest sniper I knew as a Marine enlisted on Day One after dropping out of Bryn Mawr. The first Air Force Special Reconnaissance Officer dropped out of MIT, where she had a full ride scholarship. The best squad leader I knew was a young guy from Watts who just wants to go home and work in his dad's hardware store. Some of you were short timers on Day One; some, like me, had a few years to go; others raced to the recruiter or were drafted; all of us heard the bugle call of duty and marched to the sound of the guns.

"Lenin once said that 'In the end, one or the other will triumph - a funeral dirge will be sung over the Soviet republic or over world capitalism.' Well, good people, you absolute badasses who helped put communism on the ash heap of history, I say screw that. Let the Commies mourn. Let us celebrate. Party on, my friends!"

There was a roar of approval.

* * *

Mantell woke up with Jeanna snuggled on his right, and Debs snuggled into Jeanna's back. They'd made come-hither eyes at him shortly after his speech, and he'd laid off the booze after that.

They'd been content to simply lie in bed together and share their war stories, and hold each other for comfort.

Jeanna eventually stirred, and said, "Good morning."

Debs kissed the back of her neck. "Morning, darling."

Josh chuckled lightly, and Debs blushed.

Jeanna said, "It's OK, Debs. He knows you love me, after all. And we have a date now. November 3rd, at Rancho Cañon. Will you marry me, Debs, my love?"

"Yes."

* * *

16 October 1989
TASK FORCE ACHERNAR HQ

Mantell placed his leave request in Colonel Zens' inbox, then went into the meeting.

A map of Cuba was on the wall. Pushpins covered it like an outbreak of chickenpox.

Zens looked at the map. "Jesus. That many camps?"

Mantell counted pins. "Fifty-three known camps?"

Downing said, "NRO says that's a solid bet."

Mantell looked at the map again--and smiled.

Zens pointed at him. "I know that expression!"

Downing asked, "When warrant officers are smiling, it's usually too late to seek cover." Downing smiled, then said, "Give it up, Mantell."

Mantell said, "The air campaign needed to safely insert teams and extract teams and POWs is going to be indistinguishable from pre-invasion bombardment, sir."

Downing said, "It's been noted."

"And the only way to stop the invasion is on the beach, or not at all. Once we have a beachhead, that's it, we're going to own Cuba lock, stock, and barrel sooner or later."

Downing nodded.

"So, they're going to have to strip the interior garrisons to cover the coastline, sir. We then get a free ride."

"Thing is, NCA wants a full invasion as an option."

"And we still have it,sir. But the POWs are hostages. We're going to have to extract them either before or right at the start of an invasion, sir, or Fidel's going to start shooting them on international TV."

Downing looked at the map for a long moment. "Fifty-three targets, fifty-three assault teams, this is going to make COBRA KAI look like a platoon storming a hill."

* * *

Zens stuck her head in Mantell's office. "Your leave is approved. Back out to Ojai with your friends?"

"Giving Captain MacAllister away at the wedding."

"Her parents . . . ?"

Mantell said, "They don't approve."

Zens sighed. "Damn, that must be rough."

"Well, ma'am, my Dad always told me that love was blind, stupid, and crazy."

"Your Dad was a very smart man."

* * *

November 3rd, 1989
Rancho Cañon
Ojai, CA

Mantell walked Debs MacAllister down the aisle of the chairs. The sun was casting long shadows on the hills and providing a golden, sweet light.

When he reached Jeanna, he took Jeanna's hands in his left, and Debs' hands in his right, and brought them together.

He looked at each of them, and saw eyes shining with joy.

* * *

The justice of the peace was an older gentleman who looked as if he'd been doing this for fifty years.

"Do you, Jeanna, take Deborah to be your wife, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do."

"Do you, Deborah, take Jeanna to be your wife, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do."

* * *

"By the authority vested in me by the state of California, I pronounce you married. You may kiss the bride."

Jeanna and Debs kissed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have the privilege of introducing Jeanna and Deborah 'Debs' Canyon."

The attendees applauded.

* * *

"Josh?"

Josh turned and saw Melissa Canyon. "Ah, ma'am. Congratulations."

Melissa sighed. "Not exactly what I had planned. I need to talk to you for a moment."

She led him off to one side, then said, "I know you and Jeanna and Debs have been . . . intimate."

Josh said nothing.

"A gentleman never kisses and tells?"

"No ma'am, he doesn't."

She nodded. "I understand. Believe it or not, there is a point to all of this. I know you and Roberta and Helen have a past--any damn fool can see that from watching you three interact, so please don't lie about it."

"We do, ma'am. I once dated Roberta, and Helen was her roommate and friend--and I'd known, from various cues, that Helen and Roberta had been lovers before I showed up."

"And I'm sensing you have a past as well."

"Yes, ma'am."

Melissa looked at him expectantly.

"Ma'am, I did a stint at the rehab wing at Vandenberg in '87." He paused, then said, "Psychiatric rehab. Suffice it to say I was a hot mess. PTSD, moral injury, and I was starting to have early symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. They were actually a bit worried about the physical state of my brain--my intake MRI was not good.

"While I was there, I ran into someone I'd known as a TA at my high school through my junior year. Like me, she'd seen and done some ugly stuff. We became lovers while we were there. She died in the RamDyne mess, but she gave me the crucial info needed to take them down. If she'd survived the war, I would have married her. She's buried in Fresno."

"I see. And your relationship with my daughter?"

"Those four women--Jeanna, Debs, Roberta, and Helen--pulled me back from the abyss after Kathy died. Whatever else I might have done with your daughter, i love her very much for helping to keep me from eating a bullet over the past seventeen months. Along with Debs, Roberta, and Helen."

Melissa's eyes widened. "I had no idea."

"Your daughter is a wonderful person, and I can see that you've done an amazing job in raising her."

"Thank you." Melissa paused, then said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but my brother's here and he wants to pitch a job at you."

"I'm going to Pocatello next fall. Air Force is paying my way through the University of Idaho so I can take a commission."

"That's interesting. My daughter intends to move to Pocatello--she thinks it's going to take off. I wonder if there's a connection."

"Ma'am, all four of those women are Up To Something with respect to me."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I'm okay with them being Up To Something. After all, I do have the final say."

Melissa chuckled. "You don't know Jeanna very well, do you? She's pretty strong-willed."

Mantell smiled. "Ma'am . . . earning this beret doesn't mean you're a robot. It means your willpower was sufficient to overpower your body's limits." He paused, then said, "And I won't sign onto anything that will hurt Jeanna--or Debs, or anyone else."

Melissa closed her eyes for a few seconds and sighed, then opened them again.

"You really mean that."

"Like I said, they've kept me from hurting myself. It would be exceedingly poor form on my part to allow any of them to get hurt."

Melissa let out a delighted laugh, then said, "You really do have a marvelous sense of humor."

* * *

Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III, codename Archangel, approached Josh. "I must say that whatever you told my baby sister, it has certainly set her mind at ease."

Mantell said, "She's just worried about her daughter, like all right-thinking mothers should be."

Archangel nodded. "Indeed. Listen, I want to run an idea by you. I understand you're planning to go into the Reserves. Have you thought about a day job?"

"Computer software development and computer security, sir."

Archangel nodded. "In the private sector?"

"Yes, sir. Actually, I'm thinking of going into business for myself. I've been defending capitalism for four years, maybe I should try practicing it."

Archangel nodded, then took a business card out of his pocket. "Well, here's my contact information if you need a reference. And I'll keep you in mind if my agency should ever need an outside consultant. You'll still have to compete for any contract work, but your resume is extremely impressive for someone so young."

"Thank you, sir."

"Least I could do."

* * *

18 December 1989
TASK FORCE ACHERNAR HQ
Williams AFB, AZ

Downing walked into Mantell's offce, prompting Josh to stand to attention.

"At ease!" Downing smiled, then said, "You're going. If it goes at all, you're going." He handed over a thick envelope. "Read-ahead package for your target. It's a prison camp south of Holguin. Best start saying your good-byes; after the New Year, you're going extended TDY to a facility north of Las Vegas for training."

* * *

December 31st, 1989/
January 1st, 1990
Doubletree Suites
Phoenix, AZ

Jeanna led the countdown.

"Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Everyone drank a toast to 1990.

"It's gotta be better," Helen said.

Mantell nodded.

The party in Mantell's room wound down, and the four women helped Josh clean up. Jeanna looked into the bedroom and saw the duffel packed up.

"Be careful."

"Always am."

Roberta said, "Seriously, Josh. I want you back alive."

Mantell nodded once, and Roberta kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "Be safe."

Helen came up and kissed him on the cheek. "You don't have permission to die."

Debs came next, saying, "Until we see you again." She kissed him gently on the lips.

Jeanna was last. "Come back alive and with all of the parts still attached." She kissed him, then wrapped her arms around him for a long moment.

After taking the trash to the dumpster, Josh went back to his suite and lay out on the bed. He was asleep in minutes.

[Matt Wiser]

Any guesses as to Josh's target in Cuba? I know, but I ain't telling.

[Wolfman]

I can think of a possibility, but I’m far from certain.

[Poohbah]

02 January 1990
10th Special Reconnaissance Squadron ("Buffalo Wings")
Area 51
Nevada Test Site

"Chief Warrant Officer Mantell reports, sir!"

Colonel Nicholas Fury grinned. "You're out of uniform, Chief."

Fury handed Mantell a message from Air Force Personnel Center, confirming that Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Joseph Mantell was authorized to pin on his CW3 bars.

"Chief Henrix, get in here!"

"Yes, sir--hey, Josh! Good to see you again! Yo, Alyssa, Chief Mantell's here!"

Sophie Henrix and Alyssa Miller entered the office, and Fury's grin widened. "Chief Henrix, I'm tasking you with giving the oath of office. I think it's appropriate that a good friend give the oath if possible."

"Yes, sir."

"All right. Attention to orders!"

Everyone came to attention.

Fury opened the folder and began reading.

"The President of the United States of America

"To all who shall see these presents, greeting:

"Know Ye that, reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and abilities of Joshua Joseph Mantell, I do appoint a Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the United States Air Force, to rank as such from the 20th day of December, 1988. This Officer will therefore carefully and diligently discharge the duties of the office to which appointed by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging.

"And I do strictly charge and require those Officers and other personnel of lesser rank to render such obedience as is due an officer of this grade and position. And this Officer is to observe and follow such orders and directives, from time to time, as may be given by me, or the future President of the United States of America, or other Superior Officers acting in accordance with the laws of the United States of America.

"This commission is to continue in force during the pleasure of the President of the United States of America for the time being, under the provisions of those Public Laws relating to Officers of the Armed Forces of the United States of America and the component thereof in which this appointment is made.

"Done at the City of Philadelphia, this 16th day of December in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty-Nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 214th.

"By the President: George H. W. Bush."

Sophie then gave the oath.

Fury then said, "All right. Got your mission packet with you?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, as you can see, the mission is conceptually simple. But with 53 of these missions going at once, it's pretty damn complicated. However, we are sucking in the best talent from all over the Allied Special Operations Community for this mission. Special Air Service from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, Delta Force, SEAL Team 6, Canada's Joint Task Force 2, MARSOC Raiders, and, of course, Air Force Special Operations. You're going to be jumping into Holguin South, and it's going to be an absolute banger, as our counterparts in the SAS would say. I want you to talk to Henrix and Miller; they were both on COBRA KAI. Your team is being assembled as we speak. Phase I is a lot of basics: parachuting from low altitude, movement to objective, breaching, shooting, extraction. Phase II will be held at Vieques Island, and will consist of practice assaults on camp facilities and tropical acclimation. Phase III, if it comes to that, will be The Day of Days. Launch from multiple sites in the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean, possibly in conjunction with the big invasion."

"Understood, sir."

"Very well. You're getting Charlie Flight, your senior NCO is Master Sergeant Cage."

* * *

Master Sergeant Xander Cage was a bit younger than Josh, pretenaturally alert, and had roughly as much hair on his head as a cue ball.

"Good morning, sir."

"Good morning, Master Sergeant. All right, let's go over our people and the training schedule."

"That fast?"

"Colonel Fury trusts you, I trust Colonel Fury, that's all I need."

Cage smiled. "Same here, sir. So, we've got four sections, each consisting of three squads. There was some horse-trading beforehand, sir, all based on the size of the prison camp we're hitting . . . "

* * *

Mantell looked at Cage, who looked back at him and said, "That was shit. No excuses, sir."

"Not assigning blame, Master Sergeant. We're new, we don't know each other. That's going to change."

* * *

07 January 1990

Cage punched the stopwatch and looked as if he'd bitten into a lemon.

A rotten lemon.

He showed the stopwatch to Mantell, who said, "Airman Hayes, you've got to move a lot faster than that."

"Oh, yeah, sir? Let's see you do any better."

"Master Sergeant Cage, you heard the man. Randomize the targets and let me know when to move to the lane start."

Cage pushed a few buttons on the console. Mechanical noises came from behind the tire "walls" of the kill house.

"And we're ready, sir."

Mantell moved up to the door, donned his M17 mask, and shouldered his weapon.

Cage shouted into his headset, "GO-GO-GO!"

Mantell kicked the door in and pied the corner, dropping the two bad guys in his sector. He then moved down the hallway to his designated cell, kicked the door in, and took down the guard holding a POW hostage, saying, "Room 4, guard down, three POWs, proceeding."

He continued down the hall to room 8, and this time dropped two bad guys hiding behind an overturned bunk, then cleared the left side of the room. "Room 8, guards down, four POWs, proceeding."

He then hit room 12, cleared the room, and stepped out of the simulated cell block. A pressure pad stopped the timer.

Mantell jogged back to Cage and unmasked.

"6.7 seconds, sir." Cage smiled. "That's the current record. Also, notice something else, people: he's not huffing and puffing like you idiots are. So, Hayes, start cranking those pushups."

* * *

15 January 1990

The NRO civilian said, "As you can see, we were able to go back and retrieve previous imagery to see how these facilities were built. So, Holguin South. Construction began in 1984. Standard camp arrangement, guard residential block here, admin offices here, and prisoner blocks here, here . . .

* * *

16 January 1990

The C-141 Special Operations Low Level II (SOLL II) aircraft didn't like flying this close to the ground.

The rear ramp opened, and "The Hawk" blew into the cabin, tearing at the assault teams' clothing, looking for anything loose.

The light turned green, and Mantell ran to the end of the ramp and leaped into the night.

* * *

Cage looked at the drop plot. "Better, sir. Not quite there, but not embarrassingly awful."

"Looks like second squad jumped out about five seconds late, and that threw everyone's timing. Talk to Sergeant Poyer and see what happened."

* * *

21 January 1990

Cage looked at the display and said, "You might want to run the kill house at full speed this time. They're closing in on your record, sir."

"Haven't seen you run it at 75%, Master Sergeant. That should humble me a bit, and keep them pushing until I do need to run it at full speed."

Cage nodded. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Mantell gestured to the display.

5.4 seconds.

"All right people, Master Sergeant Cage has the new time to beat!"

* * *

29 January 1990

Colonel Fury's voice was quiet. "All right, people, a how-goes-it. Alpha Flight?"

Sophie said, "We're working another jump tomorrow, I'm still not happy. Shooting and the kill house are just about there. Breaching is stellar."

"Bravo?"

Alyssa Miller sighed.

"I heard that."

"Breaching is my bane. I've got more exercises scheduled. Shooting is good, kill house times are good, and we aced the airdrop exercise yesterday. But breaching is a soup sandwich."

"Stay on it. Charlie flight?"

Mantell said, "Sir, I'm not entirely dissatisfied. Shooting and the kill house are meeting my standards. Breaching isn't quite as good as I want; it's meeting the minimums, but I want some cushion. I'm going to visit with Sophie and see what her flight is doing. Airdrop work is . . . frustrating. Some days we're landing dead on, other days we have people strung out halfway to the Grand Canyon. And it's never the same damn issue twice. We got anyone available who's a fully qualified jumpmaster?"

Fury said, "Well, there's me."

"Sir, we're running another drop zone op this evening. Would you please look over our operation?"

Fury nodded. "Absolutely. 2100 on Blue Ramp, right?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

30 January 1990

Fury said, "Walk with me, Chief."

Mantell took up station to the left of and one step behind Fury, who waved him forward. "C'mon, Chief, none of the Regular Air Force crap."

Mantell stepped up.

"All right. Your jumpmaster is following procedures, everything according to all relevant instructions for Airborne operations of this type. That's the good news. The bad news is this particular flight crew doesn't know what they're doing. And that's really bad news, because we got these crews dumped on us by MAC headquarters at Scott AFB. I'm giving CINCUSSOCOM a call in the morning. Some things, Chief, you can't fix, I can't fix, it requires a pissed-off four-star whose op is getting ruined to fix."

* * *

31 January 1990
Portneuf, ID

Roberta, Helen, Jeanna, and Debs were traipsing through the massive old farmhouse. It had stood vacant for two years; they wore hardhats, N95 masks, coveralls, and safety boots. Roberta had thumped the walls and floors with a mallet, and was satisfied.

Roberta took off her mask and helmet, and everyone did likewise.

"No mold, no signs of rotting wood, no signs of termites. Excellent maintenance by the bank. I recommend buying this place before someone beats us to the punch for the land."

Jeanna nodded. "I'm going to see if I can nudge them down a bit if I pay cash, but not too hard. You got your mods planned?"

"Rough idea. I'm going to experiment a bit with the space we called out and get an estimate together."

"All right."

That night, she wrote a letter to Josh.

Dear Josh,

Things are going well here in Portneuf, Idaho--it's just southeast of Pocatello, really close to Idaho State. The area is beautiful, wide open spaces, snow-capped mountains, a river running through it, beautiful parks with lush lawns . . . it's what the big players in San Diego are hell-bent on losing--and they won't know it's value until it's gone.

We found a beautiful old farmhouse--absolutely huge, you could sleep two dozen people without any trouble- that's owned by the bank; it comes with about 640 acres of farmland that Jeanna is going to parcel up once the bank accepts her offer. Jeanna is looking to get into real estate development here. Not sure if you heard, but Silicon Graphics and Oracle have started building major facilities in Pocatello. Jeanna thinks this is a long-term trend--when I asked her to explain it, she talked about tax incentives, national industrial policy, and then started to sound like the grown-ups in the Peanuts cartoons.

Debs, in the meantime, is making noises about becoming a Bannock County Deputy Sheriff. Jeanna is . . . well, she's worried. Cops don't get called in for life's good moments. Now, what you have to understand is that Debs comes from a family (extended family) of cops back in Washington. She's willing to part-time it, but this is going to be her home, and she feels an urge to help people be safe--and to be a good and decent cop. I know she's going to do it, and I know Jeanna will make her peace with it. (Part of what she loves about Debs is that interior mama bear streak she has.)

Helen has gotten a job as a financial analyst, and she has plans to transfer from the Regular Army to the 116th Cav in the Idaho National Guard.

Me? I'm happily wearing my FIGMO hat. UC Irvine, based on my work in converting shipping containers into housing, has awarded me a BA in Architecture. I am enrolling in Idaho State to get a Master's in Civil Engineering. I've interviewed with seven firms, including four national firms that have opened offices here; no firm offers yet, but I do have five follow-up interviews scheduled. Most of all . . . Dad finally answered one of my letters. Turns out that there was a lot going on right behind my back that I didn't know about. There's a lot to unpack . . . but I'm glad to have a chance at rebuilding our relationship.

About the only thing missing here is . . . well, you. You're a damn good friend and a wonderful sounding board. Jeanna says flat-out that you're welcome to stay here as long as you like.

Whatever you're doing, be careful. We're all praying for a quick armistice with Cuba. When you finally do come marching home, we'll greet you with a prayer and a psalm.

Helen, Jeanna, and Debs all send their love. As do I.

Stay safe.

Love,

Roberta

[jemhouston]

Archangel and Josh together, will the planet survive. That said, I can see Josh as the new leader of the Firm.

"Plans must be simple and flexible....They must be made by the people who execute them." ~ George S. Patton

For the first time in this story, I'm worried about Josh's survival.

I know you know this quote.

"There's only one way for a professional soldier to die. That's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war." ~ George S. Patton

[Wolfman]

I definitely think you got a point there…

[jemhouston]

I definitely think you got a point there…

I hope you mean Josh being the new boss of The Firm, but I think you mean Josh dying.

[Wolfman]

I think that you’re right to be concerned about Josh’s prospects of survival.

[clancyphile]

Archangel and Josh together, will the planet survive. That said, I can see Josh as the new leader of the Firm.

"Plans must be simple and flexible....They must be made by the people who execute them." ~ George S. Patton

For the first time in this story, I'm worried about Josh's survival.

I know you know this quote.

"There's only one way for a professional soldier to die. That's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war." ~ George S. Patton

Will Josh be read in on file A56-7W?