A WINTER'S TALE
BY: THE BARD

Chapter One
To Err is Human

  "Tree!"

  "What?....OW!"

  Lady Jaye threw out some choice words as she ripped the night vision goggles off and rubbed at the bump that quickly began to form on her forehead. Quiet laughter rose up from behind her and she turned to glare at the source.

  "Impressive. I haven't heard language like that since Shipwreck backed into a hot cannon" The figure moved easily towards her despite the almost pitch black of their surroundings. He was not wearing the night vision enhancers.

  Snow began to fall gently around them, barely visible in the moonless sky. Cloud cover blocked out all but the scantest ray of light. The woods around them were silent save for the occasional crack of a tree as the water inside the trunk froze in the bitter cold.

  "Look, Lowlight...this is ridiculous. Even with these bloody light intensification specs I can't see a bloody thing." She threw them at him in disgust and he caught them easily, "In fact, they make me even more disoriented than wandering around blind."

  "You could always echo-locate..." Stalker emerged from the brush to their right, startling them both, "I bet they can hear you all the way back at the base camp."

  Lowlight pulled out a cigarette and sighed as the old vet gave Jaye a disapproving look.

  "'s not her fault. She shouldn't be wearing those things anyhow. If she is going to night patrol with me, I'd rather she trust her own senses..." He pulled his jacket closer to him as a brisk winter wind whipped through the trees. Damn it was cold.

  Stalker didn't even turn to the sniper, although he certainly registered what was said for instead of dressing her down he merely shook his head.

  "Duke and Flint have ordered us back from the perimeter." His breath steamed out of his mouth. "I am going to collect Leatherneck and Gung Ho. You two ok on your own?"

  Lady Jaye looked up but before she could open her mouth, Lowlight put his hand on her shoulder and nodded yes. Stalker's eyes narrowed as he considered the female joe before disappearing back into the night.

  "Damn it Lowlight...I could have handled that myself..."

  "You are in enough trouble as it is, girl." he muttered as he walked past her, heading back, "Best keep a low profile until things die down..."

  He wasn't quite sure what went down three days ago to get her in such hot water with the brass. Word had it she disobeyed a direct order. Not a smart move on her part, but understandable given the circumstances. Most of the other Joes would do the same given the situation. It wasn't really her fault it backfired, was it?

  "Noble intentions and bravery are all fine and good," Duke's lecturing tone echoed in his ear as he addressed the Joes immediately after Jaye and the others returned, "but we must always remember we have a mission to complete. Orders are orders...you are not raw recruits that I need remind you of this... "

  The other Joes seemed to take Jaye's side, despite the fact that her screw up led them all to be out here in the middle of nowhere, freezing their asses off when they should be home with their families. It was close to the holidays after all.

  Lowlight didn't mind, though. He never really liked this time of year. Too many bad memories. Any time that should be spent with 'family' tended to leave a bad taste in his mouth.

  He looked back to find her silently trailing along behind him and lifted his cigarette to his mouth for one last long drag before flicking it into the snow beside him. Best not think about that...he wanted to be able to sleep tonight.

  "Halt! Identify yourself!"

  A low growl rose from the area near the source of the familiar voice.

  "Its us Mutt...Lowlight and Lady Jaye. Call of yer dog..."

  "Junkyard!" Jaye cooed in delight as the big Rottweiler emerged from the woods ahead of them. At the sound of her voice, the snarling black fury tilted his head and whined softly before breaking in to a body shaking tail wag...leaping towards her like a puppy.

  "Jeez, Jaye...I wish you wouldn't do that..." Mutt walked towards her with his flashlight and pulled the dog back onto the leash as she gave the dogs head one more pat. "And YOU..." he turned to his dog "...are supposed to be ferocious. Do you have to act like such a fool around women?"

  "Typical male..." Jaye smirked.

  "Very funny." Mutt looked up smiling, "You guys are probably freezing. They left some hot food in the mess tent for you..."

  He was interrupted before he could finish as Flint came out of the gate behind him.

  "If you two are finished dawdling out here, you are needed in the command tent STAT." He shouted before turning back towards the camp.

  Lowlight looked up at Lady Jaye. Her face was stone cold...He knew enough to keep his mouth shut. Whatever he said now would only get him in hot water with her. And besides, if anything it was Flint who was being an jerk about the whole thing.

  Jaye was well liked and as he said to her when they set out tonight...anyone would have done the same. And besides, she had guts and she was a damn good soldier. Everyone made mistakes. Which is why it seemed so odd that Flint had come down so hard on her.

  "Come on, Lowlight...I want to get this over with..." He watched her as she disappeared into the camp.

  "Man...what's up with him lately?" Mutt asked quietly, tilting his head towards the command tent where Flint was holding court.

  "Who knows..." He answered as he absently gave Junkyard a pat on the head.

  The thing is, he had a pretty good idea what was going on. One thing about not being able to sleep at night was that you were privy to certain things that went on in the cover of darkness. Things that people dare not reveal in the light of day.

  Secrets.

  He sighed and turned to follow her. It was none of his business, and if Flint even suspected he knew what was going on he would be in for a world of trouble. He was a great commanding officer, and a good guy...but if what he suspected was true then Flint's entire career held in the balance. He doubted he would take kindly to what he would certainly take as spying.

  He flinched as he remembered a time long past where he was caught 'spying'. His father was not an understanding man. Too bad he was too drunk to remember he had left his little 6 year old soul locked in the darkness of that closet...

  Absently, he reached into his pocket for another cigarette. No. He would keep this to himself. He would put it in the vault where he kept everything he learned on his nightly forays through headquarters.

  He was good at keeping secrets.

***************************************************************************************************

  "Brrrrrr...I hate winter." Duke shook the snow off his gear as he made his way from the mess tent to the command center. "White Christmas...bah...humbug."

  "You're talking to the wrong person." SnowJob grinned as he strode along beside him, holding a cup of hot coffee in his hands. "To me, there is nothing like waking up to fresh powder..."

  "Sir!"

  Duke slowed to allow his Warrant Officer time to catch up. "Sir...the patrols have returned and are ready for the briefing." Flint's posture kept its rigid stance of pure military attention as he adjusted his pace to fit the amble Duke had set.

  "At ease, Flint." He waved his hand dismissively. "And will you stop calling me 'Sir'...we've known each other too long for formalities."

  Ever since he returned from that last disaster of a mission, his old friend had been a caricature of the perfect officer. He certainly sympathized with the man...he had barely gotten his team out of that situation alive. Retreating from the enemy was always a blow to your pride. But for some reason, Flint had taken his penance to the extreme.

  "Gung Ho and Leatherneck report that they came across an old trail a couple of miles to the east of our position. It was partially obscured by the new snowfall, but enough of it was still visible to make a positive ID of Viper boot prints."

  "Good. Then our recon was right on target. We are in the right place." Duke rubbed his hands together in a futile attempt to warm them up. "Leave it to COBRA to run an operation out of Alaska in the middle of December. Did our other team find anything?"

  Flint tensed slightly and turned to watch the ground in front of him.

  "Nothing."

  Duke studied his second carefully as they came to the entrance to the huge command tent.

  "Flint. You did what you had to do. She disobeyed a direct order and is enough of a soldier to know the exact consequences of those actions. Woman or not, she had to be disciplined. She is lucky she got off with just a slap on the hand." He didn't add that Flint had come down a little harder than he should have. He was surprised at the ferocity of the man's reprimand. "She'll get over it."

  He doubted it would be anytime soon, though. The look Lady Jaye gave the two of them as they entered the tent was hardly contrite. Furious was more like it. She stood off to one corner with Low Light, Alpine and Bazooka, who were chatting quietly among themselves.

  Suddenly, Alpine gestured wildly in the air and said something that caused all of them to break into laughter. Jaye's eyes brightened in amusement and Duke thought that maybe she was beginning to except her reprimand and move on. Which means that his second in command might not be far behind...

  "Would you mind sharing with us what you find so amusing, Alpine?" Flint asked in his best commanding officer tone. Duke turned to find him stock still and glaring at them.

  Duke sighed. Then again, maybe not.

  Lady Jaye glared back and opened her mouth to reply but before she could Low Light put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Upon seeing this Flint clenched and unclenched his fists in an attempt to calm himself. Duke knew him well enough to recognize the signs of an impending confrontation and decided to intervene.

  "OK...enough chit chat. Lets get this over with. I am sure we all want to get home in time for Christmas Eve, and I for one am not thrilled with the prospect of spending any more time up here in the great white north than I have to. I am frostbitten in areas of my body that I didn't know existed."

  He motioned for Flint and SnowJob to join him on the makeshift podium, and the two Joes followed obediently. As he expected, Flint was now all business as his mind shifted completely to the task at hand.

  Good.

  He did make a note to himself to find out what the hell was going on. He didn't like Joes fighting amongst themselves. They had to work as a team, and right now two of his best looked ready to wring each others necks. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to this rift than met the eye.

  The two of them were pretty friendly, they worked well together and he suspected from the get go that his friend was quite taken with the charming young Intelligence operative, despite his denials. Flint knew the rules and was very serious about his career. Fraternization is a pretty serious offense under the US military code.

  No, as big a gigolo as Flint could be at times, he would never risk his career over sex.

  Duke glanced up at Lady Jaye once more, her face revealed nothing but her eyes never left Flint, who was trying his best not to stare back. Then again...

  He had better keep a closer eye on those two.

  "Alright Boys and Girls, we are in for a rough day tomorrow. One of our patrols spotted a Viper trail north east of our present position. COBRA is definitely around here somewhere. The images brought back from Ace's air reconnaissance brought back little in the way of solid evidence of a command center, and from other evidence gathered so far, we have concluded that the snakes have gone to ground. "

  Tunnel Rat spoke up, "So let's smoke 'em out of their hole!"

  "Slow down..." Leatherneck leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee before he continued "...We have to find them first...and that isn't going to be easy."

  Gung Ho nodded his agreement. "Its cold, its dark and if we aren't at the right place at the right time the snow covers any trace of a trail we can follow. We were out for a good three hours and were lucky to have stumbled upon what we did."

  "Not to mention the fact that they are still in possession of the weapon prototype that they stole from Fort Bragg." Stalker commented quietly. To his credit, Flint didn't flinch, merely nodded before calmly replying.

  "That's the reason we are here. We need to get it back or destroy it before COBRA figures out how to reproduce it. MARS would certainly love to corner the market with this baby."

  "At least they didn't get their hands on the plans." Low Light mumbled from the corner, "Thanks to Ripcord and Lady Jaye."

  Flint's expression did not change but his hands began to clench and unclench again. Duke shook his head in exasperation.

  "Alright...enough of that. It's all water under the bridge. Lets get on with it. It's late and I for one could use some sleep." He turned to SnowJob "It's your show..."

  "All right then. Wax your skis and get the snowcats ready...cause its time for a little snake stompin' in a winter wonderland. Here's the plan..."

************************************************************************

  "Would you mind telling me what that was all about, Dash?" Duke asked quietly as they finished off their inspection of the equipment. He was referring to his behavior at the briefing, and Flint knew him well enough not to be fooled by the non-chalant tone.

  "Its nothing..." he answered, but as Duke turned to stare back at him he quickly added "I'm just tired. Its been a long week..."

  Duke nodded, and continued walking down the line of snow mobiles, counting them quickly to make sure they had actually brought enough. They continued in silence and Flint thought that the subject was dropped.

  "She is untouchable, you know." Duke added as he leaned over to check the ammunition on one of the vehicles.

  Flint merely grunted in reply, causing Duke to look up suddenly, his expression changing instantly from one of friendly conversation to annoyance.

  "She is untouchable." He repeated, more firmly this time. "If you need to get your rocks off I can introduce you to some nice girls from just outside the base..."

  Flint's eyes narrowed in anger. "I don't think I like what you are implying, Conrad." He used his real name. This conversation was not between CO and second...it was between two old friends.

  "Then you had better pull yourself together. You have managed to work well with her for he past two years... I would hate to re-assign her to someone else, but if this continues..."

  "No." he said softly, but Duke didn't hear him and continued.

  "...There are several possibilities here. I can team her up with Cover Girl, or even Ripcord. She seems to work very well with Low Light..."

  "NO!" Flint stopped himself suddenly as he realized how forcefully that has come out. Dukes head swung around sharply.

  "Flint...you know the rules as well as anyone. Is this really worth your career? Both your careers?"

  He didn't answer. What could he say? How could he when he didn't know the answer to that question himself.

  They stood in silence, steam rising from their mouths as their breath hit the cold night air, until Duke sighed and shook his head in frustration.

  "Fine. Consider this your only warning then. I just hope you have enough sense to leave her well enough alone, because if I find out you have acted on this 'impulse' of yours, I won't be able to help you. Hawk will have to be told...and you know when he catches wind of this it will mean your job." He turned back to the task at hand, "Now get out of here...if you are so 'tired' you had better get some sleep. Dismissed."

  Flint nodded and turned sharply before stomping off into the night, his mind reeling.

  "It is too late, Conrad." He thought to himself, "You're too late..."

  He had acted on that impulse almost a year ago, and he hadn't come up for breath since.

  Flint smiled as he remembered that blustery New Year's Eve.

  No...he hadn't come up for breath since....

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Continued in Chapter Two!
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