December 18, 12750  Seven years earlier
0820 hours 

"mommymommymommymommymommy!!!"  Yipped the young vixen as her mother groggily looked at the clock.  The family had gone out to dinner the night before, and Ray and Kari had engaged in more 'baby making practice' when they got back and the kid was in bed.  Kari looked  over at her still snoozing husband, Ray was off today while she had to fly a mission with the Crown Prince of Barovia.  Luckily, he was going to be solo, and her job was to find him and shoot him down (simulatedly) as many times as she could, looked like it was going to be a fun day. 

"What's up squirt?" she asked as she got up and padded over to the bathroom. 

" Lt. Colonel  Fisher is at the door asking for daddy", replied Rebecca, proud of the fact she had recently memorized the Freelands Forces ranks 

"Huh? murmured Ray half asleep, sitting up himself. he reached over and pulled on a pair of shorts, he might have gotten used to nudity around the family, but a Colonel was a different matter 

"Then why did you wake me? asked Kari from the bathroom. 

Rebecca giggled "oh, can I go for a walk with Tina? we were gonna go down to Redfish point looking for shells." 

"Changing the subject are you? Sure, just don't be gone all day" she said as she came out, Ray going to the door and Rebecca hugging her quickly before scampering back to her room for her knapsack. 

Ray walked over to the door to see the hospital commander, LtColonel  Latania Fisher, a female feline with dark gray fur "Sorry to wake you on a Saturday Major Thatcher, but we have a problem." 

"What's wrong Ma'am? he asked as he invited her in.  she lived in the house behind them, and sometimes stopped in to visit, her ten year old son had a crush on Rebecca (though he would die before admitting it publicly, a fact of  amusement for the grown ups) 

"I know its your day off, but we need you in today. Seems Jeffrey was out at Spinnakers last night , and fell off the upper deck..broke his arm in three places..." 

"Again?" groaned Ray.  Lt Furman had been a walking accident since he arrived at Tyndall,  spending more time in the hospital as a patient than treating them. He sighed "We need to take up a collection to get that boy a sense of balance." 

Col. Fisher grinned "Don't think it would do to much good in his case" 

Ray nodded, then sobered a moment " Col. there's something else.   I'm., I've decided to ..how do I say this," 

"Resign your commission and go into family practice?" she asked . 

The fox blinked stunned "how, how did you know?" 

Latania smiles softly "Because I've known you for a lot of years, plus we're neighbors and work together.  I've seen what its been doing to you, but didn't want to bring it up.  However, you've been in almost 17 years, so how about this instead?  Move you into GP for the next three years till you have enough to get your retirement." 

"but, I thought because of the shortage of trauma personnel I couldn't do that, I already tried earlier." 

she hugged  Ray softly "If its the choice between losing a good doctor, or letting you work somewhere else, I'm sure Sector will let me have my way. Besides, I have a few favors I can call in." 

Ray smiled softly  "If  you can convince them to let me out of surgery, I'll stay."

She got up, smiling at Kari as she emerged from the bedroom, dressed in her green flightsuit ready for work "Morning Kari, gotta steal your man today." 

"Longer than just today I heard " she said with a smile, snugging Ray softly. 

The feline nodded then headed for the door "I have to be at Escambia Navy base , and its a two hour drive up the coast so I better get going.   See you on Monday Dr. Thatcher, we'll start the paperwork for your transfer, and I'll make a few calls.  Col. Fisher left, followed by the pounding   feet of Rebecca scurrying down the hall, pausing to hug Ray n Kari. 

"I love you bye bye!" she said as she scampered out the door, tail swishing in excitement. 

Kari giggled n hugged Ray warmly "that kid has too much energy this early.   You feeling better hon?" 

He nodded and snugged Kari softly "Better than I have in years.  Gotta go take a shower now, wanna scrub my back?" he said wit a smile. 

his wife grinned then shook her head mock sadly "gotta do a few things at work , we don't fly till 4 this afternoon, so will be back late tonight."  She kissed him warmly "I love you babe." 

"Love you too, have a good flight." 

She smiled and picked up her kitbag and helmet, then headed out to her bike, while Ray headed to the bathroom for a COLD shower before work.
 

1545 hours 

Kari swore looking at her watch.  She and the rest of the flight were ready, and had been standing around the briefing room for almost two hours waiting oh 'His Excellence, Prince Malik' to drag his royal ass in.   She had already preflighted his aircraft  twice for him, making sure nothing could go wrong to upset his royalness and the foreign ministry twinks.Finally she saw his Luxus pull into the parking lot, the wolf leisurely getting out in his bright red flightsuit and sauntering towards the building entrance, his Freelands security protection right behind him, the ferret in the gray suit even more dour looking than usual. 

"Guess royal folks don't have to worry about escape and evasion if shot down." she commented to her wingman for this hop, Lt Ben Ripley, a  male bobcat. 

"You should know better than that Captain, us common folk cant shoot at the Barovian Clown Prince, lightning would blast us out of the sky before we tried." he said with a grin, causing the other pilots to burst into laughter. 

"THAT Will be enough of THAT!" growled Mr. Barnes from the Foreign ministry. They shut up quickly, visions of careers spent counting icebergs dancing in their heads.  The prince finally arrived, a stench of perfume wafting into the room, disguising his scent. 

The room stood at attention sullenly until he took his seat and Col. .Revil began the briefing  The mission was simple, Thatcher and Ripley would take off first, then the rest would follow to intercept, or try to anyway. Kari and Ben were two of the best he had, and the rest knew to let them through to the Prince at least once.  Many of them secretly wished it was not a exercise, the Barovians were not well liked in the Freelands, especially for their treatment of females, regarding them as less than animals, good for only childbearing.  As they cleared out of the room heading to the flightline, Kari found her self next to the Prince, a scent of blood clinging to his fur.  He saw her wrinkle her nose and turned to her. 

"I apologize for my earlier behavior Captain, sometimes I forget we have different customs.  I look forwards to the upcoming battle." 

Kari nodded, sniffing some more "Are you injured or anything Sir? I smell  blood-" 

"Oh, that, I went hunting this morning and lost track of time.  You have excellent game on this base." 

 Lt Ripley nodded from beside Kari "yes we do your Excellence, Last year I got a six point buck down around Redfish point." 

The Prince nodded as they walked out on the flightline, the whine of the big turbofans of the big C-15 transport taxiing by making further conversation impossible.  Kari and Ben walked over to their F 21D Gryphons, large twin engined fighters , with canards and twin canted rudders, the five stared flag of the Freelands painted on the wings, with the red and white stripes of the 325th Fighter weapons wing on  the rudders.  Kari checked her weapons one final time before climbing the boarding ladder, dummy missiles that relayed telemetry from the engagement to a main computer on the ground that kept track of each aircraft on the exercise, judging whether the simulated launch was a hit or a miss.   She climbed into the cockpit, her crewchief helping her strap herself into the seat and ejection harness, and handing her helmet with a grin.' 

"Kick some but Capt.!" the rabbit said with a grin as he climbed back down and stood by with the extinguisher.  He pointed at the aircraft with one arm, his other above his head holding one finger up twirling it in a circle. 

Kari nodded and held up one finger, her other hand engaging the starter for the number one engine, a low mournful howl rolling across the flightline as the turbofan lit and built up to speed.   The bunny ran over to the starboard side, repeating the gesture for the second engine, then when both were up and Captain Thatcher signaled she was on internal power, signaled another airman by the ground power plug, disconnecting the aircraft and curling the cable away from the Gryphon.
Kari ran a control check, moving all the flight controls through their full range, then shot a thumbs up to her crewchief.  Looking at her wingman,  seeing his anti collision strobes begin to flash signaling his readiness, she pressed the microphone button on her side stick.
 "Tyndall control this is Raider flight, ready to taxi over." 

*"Rodger Raider flight, taxi 3 left to runway24, cleared for takeoff, wind west at 5 knots over."* 

"Roger Control" she replied, signaling the ground crew.  The Sgt. pulled the chocks and saluted as she applied power, smoothly easing from her parking spot.  She gave him a salute in return as she turned onto the taxiway, Lt. Ripley following.   As they neared the end of the runway she got an idea, seeing the Prince's distinctive red flightsuit standing next to his F21, watching them
"Control, Raider Flight. Request permission for unlimited takeoff, over." 

In the tower the controller chuckled, checking with radar to make sure the sky was clear.  The hound dog grinned as he said "Roger Raider flight, your clear to 45 thousand, give us a good show eh?" 

Kari grinned as she lined up to the left of the centerline of the runway, Ben slightly behind her to the right.  She applied the brakes, locking the wheels as she brought the engines to full power, feeling the jolt as the afterburners kicked in.  The noses of both  aircraft dropped, compressing the nose gear struts,  twenty meter long flames pouring out of the rear from the raw fuel dumped into the superheated exhaust by the afterburners.  "GO!" She said into her microphone, releasing the brakes as the Gryphon shot forward , nose rocking back from the acceleration.  They were up to 150 knots in less than two hundred meters, already pulling the nose up. As soon as the wheels left the runway they retracted the landing gear, the speed building quickly, then pulled into a sharp climb, still accelerating as the Gryphon's had more thrust than their weight.  By the time they crossed the far end of the runway they were already  at two thousand meters and still climbing, the thunder like rumble as they went supersonic rolling across the flightline. 

Prince Malik stood there looking up with his muzzle hanging open, staring at the rapidly shrinking fighters.  Col. Revil couldn't resist a dig "Not bad for a 'infidel whore'  eh your Excellence?" 

The prince scowled and stalked back to his aircraft, muttering under his breath in his own language as Col. .Revil headed to the control center to watch the action.
 

1632 hours 

PFC Katrina Hawker panted softly as she led Rufus around the perimeter to the airfield.  She was part of the bases Military Police detachment, one of the dog handlers, which had caused no end of jokes for her squadmates, the German Shepherd she was paired with looking like a four legged copy of herself. Still she'd rather work with the dog than some of her companions, at least he never came staggering into the barracks late nights stinking drunk like her roommate.  He did have a good nose for drugs as well, he was actually not a attack dog ,but used for drug and bomb searches.  Still, the sight of a MP and large dog walking the fence did have a lot of deterrence value,  explaining why she and Rufus were stuck patrolling the fenceline while that prince asshole was here.  She sweated even in the winter air, encumbered by her body armor and helmet, her four legged companion also wrapped in armor, panting just as heavily.
Suddenly Rufus tensed, pulling at his lead whining, trying to pull Katrina off the road into the underbrush. 

"What is it boy?" She asked, seeing tiretracks and matted down foliage.  She pulled her side arm, slipping the safety off. There had been threats against the Princes life, and one attempt by demonstrators was made to infiltrate a naval base he visited in the northern Carlolingia city of Norfork.  She considered calling it in ,but as she reached for her radio Rufus barked and pulled the leash out of her hand. following quickly she gasped as she saw the two bodies in the underbrush, dried puddle of blood underneath them. Putting her weapon up she knelt by them , two preteen females with multiple stab wounds in their chests and abdomens, and by the blood on their legs probable rape as well.   With a start   she noticed  that the girls tails were missing as well, a sick feeling welling up in the pit of her stomach.. The one that looked like a squirrel was gone, but the vulpine was still breathing softly, Rufus whining piteously , licking her face.  She pulled out her radio and called for a medivac.
 

1647 hours 

Lt Michaux Beaverton was the head nurse on duty in the emergency room that weekend.  She had hoped for a quiet day, having had to work on her off day due to a strain of flu that had ran through the nurses of the hospital.  She sighed, swishing her black and gray furred tail as she waited for the ambulance to arrive, one was DOA they knew already, the other barely hanging on.  Dr. Thatcher was already in the scrub room getting ready for the other one, plus Col. Fisher has just returned from her trip to Escambia..  As the ambulance crew pulled in and carried their patient into the ER she went white under her fur, along with several of the others, as she recognized the girl on the stretcher. 

"OH God.  Get her into OR one, Mary, we need all the vulpine plasma on hand, Steve , get Col. Fisher down here NOW!  Shana, you get the Chaplain, I'll stall Maj. Thatcher as long as I can, now MOVE PEOPLE!!"    The room exploded into motion as they went hurriedly to their various tasks.  Michaux ran towards the scrub room, in the condition Ray was in these last few weeks, he didn't need to see his daughter like this.. 

Sgt. Steve Farmer ran breakneck down the hall to the commander's office.   As he burst into the room not even bothering to knock he blinked as  he saw Lt Col. Fisher in her underwear, a Navy commander standing behind her with his arms around her. Before they could  react he blurted out his news
"Col. They just brought Major Thatcher's daughter into the ER,   she's  been raped and stabbed, don't look good." 

Latania paled, grabbing for her clothes, the raccoon behind her blinking in confusion.   "I'm on my way, have someone stall Ray as long as  they can."       Sgt. Farmer nodded and headed out at high speed, followed by Latania and the Commander. 

Ray was in the scrub room finishing up his preparations.  He had pushed his emotions to   the back of his mind, or tried to anyway, concentrating on the job at hand.  He was going over in his mind how he would proceed based on the information on the patients injuries  radioed in by the paramedics when  Michaux came in from the OR, standing there blocking the door.  He blinked for a moment at the unexpected action when Col. Fisher and a  male raccoon in a navy commanders full dress uniform stormed in the other door, the commander throwing his uniform jacket to the floor and beginning to scrub. 

Looking to Col. Fisher he stammered "Latania, what the HELL is going on around here?!?  There's a patient in there-" 

"Commander Blackstripe will handle the surgery Ray..." she replied , her  wet eyes saying more than her words. 

Ray paled, and turned, shouldering Michaux out of the way and heading into the OR, freezing as he saw the small form on the table, IV's in both arms trying to replace lost blood, a silver ring on the right hand of  the patient that he and Kari had bought for their daughters birthday last month.  He stood  there for several seconds then  turned to Michaux "Are we ready nurse?  I helped bring her into the world, and I'll be dammed if I let her go this easy!" 

Lt. Beaverton nodded hesitantly while Latania stepped up "Ray, you don't have to do this, Commander Blackstripe  is a pediatric surgeon-" 

Ray looked up from where he was checking the Chart, deciding where to start "Good, because we've a lot of work ahead of us, lets go Doctor." He said , turning to the table.   The raccoon nodded and stood on the other side, Col. Fisher  standing back against the wall, praying as they went to work.
 

1724  hours 

Kari grinned to herself as the G forces pressed her into her seat, grunting softly as her weight quadrupled.   They had flown out over the gulf and turned, the defenders rising to intercept  them as they approached the coast, a extremely simple scenario actually.   Prince Malik had separated from his wingman however, and now Kari was turning to fire. They were at too close range for  a missile shot, simulated or no, so she had to hold him in the sight for three seconds in order to register a kill.       Malik was better than he seemed while flying tandem with him, however he didn't have the advantage of the experience Kari had , both real combat and training.     She heard the curses over the radio as the Prince  tried to evade her  his engines glowing like twin suns as he lit his  afterburners trying to escape
"Now that was a real dumb move shit head "she grinned to herself as he increased the range, as her fingers switched from guns to the short range heatseaker missiles  "Good night sweet prince" she said into the microphone to her wingmate, getting an answering chuckle in return as  she tensed her finger on the trigger. 

<Mommy?>. 

Kari blinked, hesitating a second too many, as Malik's aircraft dove towards the gulf  below.   Ben Ripley blinked as well, she has a perfect shot.   Kari's aircraft didn't follow, continuing in a straight line.   He switched channels, speaking only with his wingman "Capt., what's wrong?  Something the matter with the Gryphon?" 

"no, everything's fine..." she said hesitantly, feeling something wasn't right. 

Back on the ground, Col. Revil definitely knew something wasn't right.   He stood there in the control center, the airborne exercise over the Gulf forgotten as he talked with the MP deputy commander, the  commander with his wife at the hospital, identifying their daughter in the morgue.   "Do we have any ideas who could have done this?" he asked the female otter.  She sighed "no sir, only that whoever dumped their bodies there has access to the secure areas of the  base, they were on the airfield side of the fence , and there are no tire tracks or any traces of anyone on the other side.." 

The badger nodded grimly "You say it happened within a few hours?" At the otters nod he continued "I want the base sealed, no  one in or out until further notice. That includes the highway, let the civilians go around." 

She nodded "They wont be happy sir"she reminded him  "also, the tires on the car that left the tracks there were high performance low profile ones, don't have the brand yet but working on it.  Half the airmen on the base have cars with tires like that though..." 

"Well, that's something to start from anyway have you found Thatcher's  father? I'm about to call her mother back in." 

"Yes sir, he's at the base hospital, on duty today, and currently in surgery with her." 

"All right, get your people moving Captain." He said as he took a deep breath and picked up the handset. 

Out over the gulf the radios crackled to life "This is Col. Revil, the exercise is terminated. All planes return to base, over." 

As  the other  aircraft acknowledged the order Kari pointed the nose of the Gryphon towards the shore 150 km north and lit the burners,  punching through the sound barrier   Ben slammed his throttles forward to keep up with the rapidly accelerating fighter
"Kari what's wrong?!?" 

"I DON'T KNOW!" she almost screamed, trying to keep calm as they flew towards home. 

1738 hours
Ray and Pete worked frantically, trying to repair the worst damage first.  There were over a dozen stab wounds in the chest , lungs punctured in 9 places, but somehow the heart was missed.  Ray was oblivious to anything else besides his task, praying to whoever might be listening. "If I  do nothing else in my life, please let me save her"
 

1752 hours 

Kari pulled back on the throttles, the white sands of the shore only 30 km ahead.   She bled off her airspeed as she descended,  able to see the peninsula Tyndall was on, the blue green waters of Andrews bay surrounding it,  Bay City in the background, steam  rising from the papermill.  As she dove for the earth she heard the voice again, knowing somehow it didn't come from the radio.
<Mommy, I'm cold...>
She banked hard, popping the speedbrakes and flaps well over their rated speeds, ignoring the flashing lights from the warning panel as the Gryphon shuddered, speed dropping as she lined up for the runway 10 km ahead, still going over 300 knots.
<I love you mommy> came the voice again, before silencing
Kari was going 240 as she crossed the threshold of the runway , she slammed the throttles forward, engaging the reversers still 10 meters off the ground, titanium alloy panels in the vectored thrust exhaust closing and forcing the power forwards, the Gryphon shuddered as it quit flying , slamming into the ground, the main struts bottoming out as she hit, then rolling out and coming to a stop in less than 300 meters.  Ben looked on with amazement from above, there should have been no way to do what she just did as she taxied quickly to the hardstand.
 

1802 hours 

"Give me more suction here!" Said Ray as he worked...seeing no response he glared up at the operating staff, heads hung down.  Michaux looked at Dr. Thatcher, tears staining her surgical mask "Ray...her EEG has been flat for ten minutes, she's gone..."   she said.
Ray shook his head "NO!! I WONT LET HER!!" , trying to think of something else to try.
Latania stepped forward, putting his arm around his shoulders "Ray, there wasn't anything that could be done to save her..."she said, as Dr. Blackstripe nodded .  She led Ray out from the OR, taking him to her office.  She set him down and sent for the chaplain, then shut the door.
He looked up at her nearly sobbing  "Latania, c c can I be alone for a min?"
She nodded, slowly closing the door  behind her, glad in the knowledge that her office was on the first floor instead of the fifth like his, and that she had nothing in the office he could do anything with before the chaplain arrived.
Inside the office, ray got up and looked out the window.  Seeing the fighters coming in across the way he hung his head..how was he gonna tell Kari he killed Rebecca?  Feeling the syringe and bottle in his pocket he palmed in the OR , he wondered if he was gonna fuck this up as well, as he filled the syringe with enough muscle relaxant to kill a elephant. 

 He Didn't.

Kari went through the shutdown sequence, the ground crew checking over the aircraft.  She really began to get scared when her crewchief didn't even have a stroke at her treatment of his aircraft on landing, just took her helmet quietly and helped her down, his eyes moist.  Col. Revil 's car pulled  up, but before he could get out a MP ran over and stuck his head in the door. 

"Col. sir? " Said the canine "Just got word from the hospital.. Dr. Thatcher committed suicide...overdose.  He was the one who operated on the  victim...I , I guess he couldn't handle losing her" 

The badger sighed and leaned his head down to the steering wheel   "Damn, how can I tell her? Was bad enough  before..."  regaining his composure as best he could, he stepped out of the car and walked over  slowly. 

Kari looked up fearfully at Col. Revil "Sir...what happened? What's wrong?" 

"Kari....well....." 

"Did something Happen to Rebecca!" She said frantically, searching his eyes. 

Col.  Revil nodded and looked away for a second.  "They found her and her friend Tina in the woods...Tina was dead, Rebecca died in surgery...and Ray......he, he...Killed himself."

Kari felt the world shatter around her as   the darkness claimed her, falling to the tarmac unconscious.  Col. Revil picked her up gently and put her in the back of his car 

"Call my wife and the Chaplain, I'm taking her to my house. She doesn't need to be at the hospital or her home right now.."  putting the car in drive, he headed off, swearing to make those responsible pay.