Chapter 24

The next morning, when Thad stepped into the ready room, he wasn’t really surprised to see Reggie and his team already there.

“Good morning, guys,” he said. “I hope you all got plenty of sleep.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Reggie said. “We decided to go over the tapes one more time before we got started.”

While Reggie was talking, Thad stepped over to the catering table and poured a cup of coffee. He grimaced at the tepid drink.

“Just got here, Hmm”, he suggested.

Burt and Katie blushed; however, Reggie just grinned. “Well, it sure seems like it anyway.”

“I certainly hope you three are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for this.” Thad stepped over to the wall phone and called catering. “This is Lieutenant Sawyer. Could you please send up a coffee service to the Dragon ready room?” He paused for a moment. “Oh, really? It’s already on the way. Well, I’m sorry to have bothered you. It seems somebody forgot to mention that to me.” Thad looked over to the Charlie team, all of whom were suddenly very interested in their monitors.

Just as Thad hung up the phone, a catering tech wheeled a service cart into the room. At first, he didn’t notice Thad but was paying attention to Reggie and his team.

“I told you one pot wasn’t going to be enough, Lieutenant.” Then, when the tech spotted Thad, he blushed. “You, you, you’re him, aren’t you?” He gushed.

That depends,” Thad chuckled. “Who’s him?”

“You, you’re the boss dragon. You’re Lieutenant Sawyer.”

Thad looked over towards Reggie and his team. They were trying very hard not to laugh or even look interested. Turning back to the tech, Thad Smiled, “Yes, son. I’m Lieutenant Sawyer.”

“Oh wow,” the tech exclaimed. “The guys aren’t going to believe this.” He then reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out several cards, shuffling through them. He pulled one out and asked, “Could you sign my card, Lieutenant?”

Thad took the card and looked at it. On one side was his picture, on the other side was a brief biography. Thad smiled at the tech, “Who should I make it out to?”

“I’m Frank Taylor, Lieutenant. Gosh, the guys ain’t going to believe this,” he repeated.

When Thad handed the card back, he asked, “So Frank, do you want to be a pilot?”

The kid got a shocked look on his face. “Gosh, no, Lieutenant. I want to get into a homestead just like you. You were raised on the Sawyer homestead, right?”

Thad was speechless for a moment. Then he pulled a napkin off the table and started writing on it. “I’ll tell you what, Frank. Setting up a homestead isn’t easy or cheap. And it’s nearly impossible to do it on your own.” He handed the kid the note. “Take this and talk to Willie Arnold in Bravo flight. He wants to start a homestead when we get to the far side. You guys should have lots to talk about.”

Just then, Lieutenant Commander Morse came into the room. “Lieutenant Daniels, it’s time. Are you ready?”

The three pilots stood, “Thanks, Lieutenant Commander. Come on, guys, it’s showtime.”

Charlie Flight stepped out of the room and headed towards the flight line, and they were waiting for Starfire.

As Reggie walked to the flight deck, he reviewed his concerns about his Starfire during training flights. He had been bothered by what he referred to as blips. Nothing dangerous. They were more irritating than anything else. Occasionally, there would be a momentary pause in the electronics, not even a full second, just enough to be noticeable. He had brought it up with Leroy Krieger, his crew chief. The chief had gone over the Starfire with a fine-tooth comb, but found nothing. The electronic section had also gone over the avionics, again, nothing. Even Chief Collier had looked at things and was unable to find a problem. It was decided that the blip was just an idiosyncrasy for that particular Starfire. No other Starfire reported the same issues. After a note was placed in the Starfire’s maintenance log, the problem was forgotten, except by Reggie.