A New Mission: Ash to Fire

Changing Plans

Zu hit every target she aimed for. Miles even had her practice with some moving ones using the pulley system. She was a natural, a great shot. She was even great at disassembling and reassembling the weapon despite only having conveyed how to via translation and not having done so herself. Miles and Zu didn't speak much for the majority of their training, but the air was somehow both cleared of the negative tension they had both been carrying since their kiss, and filled with a whole new type of tension, one that neither Zu nor Miles knew what to do with.

When the eclipse came, Miles brought his hands together in a clap and said, "Alright well I think you just fit five days of training into one morning, Miss Zu," trying to come across as light and professional as he could.

Zu gave Miles a gentle smile, then, as she does, abruptly turned around to walk away, hissing for Karuk. Miles smirked and whistled for Cupcake, both bioluminescent Ikran flying down from the darkness together, completely unbothered by one another's presence. Much different from the on-edge demeanor Cupcake used to exhibit around the aggressive, horned, and scaly Ikran subspecies.

Zu recalled her recently learned, Miles-taught whistling skills and was curious about how her Ikran would react to it. She brought her hand to her mouth and whistled at Karuk who twisted his head at the odd sound emerging from his rider. Miles was impressed to see that Zu still knew how to whistle after three weeks. Zu whistled at Karuk again and he just shook his body, his scales bristling, made a low hiss, and looked away.

"He does not like the whistle," she said, amused, facing her mount.

"Guess they like what they know." Miles whistled again at Cupcake who got visibly excited.

Both then hopped atop their Ikrans, Miles glancing at Zu's starry body.

Before they took off though, Miles said, "I'm gonna divert to the radio tower to leave a message."

Zu just nodded and flew off into the dark. Miles smiled, taking that as her saying she wasn't going to join him in that task, but that's alright. He'd already taken a lot of her day. Surely she wanted to get back and be able to do stuff in the village, or just relax, given the busy last few days of training. Miles and Cupcake then took off from the training area crater and headed for the radio tower. When he got there, he saw that there were again no messages but he uploaded a simple voice transmission:

"Bridgehead Command, this is Colonel Quaritch, Blue One. We've done weapons training for approximately one hundred warriors over five days. Fifty-six, uhh fifty-seven have been trained on ARs, and forty-five have been trained on TOXONs. We resume training tomorrow to work with the Hydras and get more of the TOXON trainees on ARs, as well as some hand-to-hand combat... They're learning fast... End transmission."

So that took care of that and Miles was being a good officer and RDA asset, seeking to assure Bridgehead of the mission's current success. He then flew back to the village, landing Cupcake on her usual ledge high on the rocky walls above their huts. His Marines were relaxing at their hearth below, enjoying their day off, and having a Mansk-cooked lunch under the eclipse.

Miles made it down to their accommodations and nonchalantly voiced, "Hello there, Marines," with a grin on his face. "Left a message for Bridgehead. Training update. Told 'em that starting tomorrow we're gonna get these folks on Hydras and some more ARs. Start some hand-to-hand instruction too," he said, taking a seat by the fire.

The Marines nodded and noticed his chipper attitude.

Lyle then said with a little smile, "Colonel, I heard you helped Zu get in some training time today. It go well?"

Miles was caught off guard by this question. How'd they know? They must have found out from her parents or someone in the village.

"Uhh yeah... Figured it's crucial for our translator to know her way around the weapons," he replied, trying to brush off the question.