Scavenger Falters (The SkyRyders Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  “Ginnie. As soon as she clears her MAC lab evaluation next week, I’m sure she’ll be a captain. Can’t we have MAC assess her today instead?”

  General Powell clearly did not look pleased. “I have to be honest, here. I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that any of those flyers are dunking it. I refuse to believe my captains are coercing flyers into dunking their test.”

  “We can’t afford not to try this, General. We’ve only got two viable sky divers right now.”

  “What if we remove the shooting criteria? Clearly Abrams would have failed had you not obtained him training in weapons.”

  “Had I seen anyone else like Benjamin, I would have saved them too. There hasn’t been anyone else, sir. You’ve got a lot of good flyers, but I’m trying to find great ones. Had Benjamin gone through another test himself, he would have ended up in the bottom dwellers. I need to see if there are others in that group.”

  “And to do this, they need to report to Abrams?” She could tell Powell was not convinced her plan had merit.

  “Yes, or to someone else they can trust.”

  “Well, I’m not going to MAC with this plan, so here’s the best I can offer. I’ll make Abrams captain today, and give him the whole lot of them as his squad. But he’s clearly going to need help running a squad three times the size of a normal unit. So pick out some flyers that you believe can help him manage the squads, and I’ll field-promote them to lieutenants and assign them to the squad as well.”

  Before she was even aware of her actions, she had put her arms around the general and hugged him. “Thank you, sir!” Realizing she had just hugged General Powell, she released him and ran from the room.

  She found Benjamin and explained her plan.

  His eyes rounded in pure terror. Flying he could do, but asking him to lead a squad… “I can’t do it,” he said. “No one will listen to me. I’m just sixteen years old.”

  “They will listen to you!” she assured him. “Look at me: I’m a twenty-one-year-old colonel. If they can deal with that, they can deal with a sixteen-year-old captain. Besides, you know it’s got to be better than what they have now.”

  He remained unconvinced.

  “Benjamin, I need you to do this for me. I know it’s not easy for you. But I need you to step up and do it, even if it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do. I need you to let these flyers know that only their best will be acceptable.”

  “Can I have a say in my lieutenants?” he asked.

  “Of course!”

  “Then I’d like Ginnie Dyson and Daily News,” he replied.

  “You’ve got them!” She approved strongly of both choices.

  Ben sighed. “Well, I guess the fun’s over now.”

  Alisha ruffled his hair. “Come on, Captain. We’ll still have fun. Wait ’til you learn the pop and hop.”

  Chapter 37

  Logan stared at the general as if he were insane. “You agreed to what?”

  “To transfer immediately the bottom thirty-three flyers under Captain Abrams’ control,” General Powell restated.

  Logan struggled to keep his temper under control. “Benjamin Abrams is not your soldier,” Logan reminded him.

  “Technically, he is for another week,” the general countered. “So for this week, he’ll have command of the squad. Alisha believes it may bring out some hidden skills. I don’t think it will. But she was adamant we should try, and so I told her to select some additional Ryders to help him out, and I’d field-promote them to lieutenants.”

  “Who did she choose,” Logan asked.

  “I was only familiar with the one from your team…Ginnie Dyson. The other is a Daily News. Don’t know the fellow.”

  “Ginnie can’t be promoted until she clears her MAC evaluation.”

  “What’s her rank now?”

  “Sergeant.”

  “Easy mistake for me to make. I’m sure MAC will catch the error after next week.”

  He knew what the general was saying. He’d announce to the troops she was a lieutenant today, but next week after this experiment had played out, he’d send her back to her previous rank, without a single thought as to how she’d be treated by the rank and file once she returned to their level.

  “I’ll agree to this plan on one condition.”

  Powell looked up in surprise, as if the idea that Logan needed to agree to the plan had never crossed the general’s mind. “What’s your condition?”

  “That if this plan works, I get half the flyers that come from it.”

  “You said you don’t believe this will work,” the general observed.

  “Neither do you,” countered Logan.

  “Fine. When this is over, we’ll select off members. You starting with Abrams.”

  “Abrams is already mine. I’ll start with Ginnie.”

  “Fine!” General Powell snarled and stood up. “Well, let’s get over to the field and get this project going.”

  Logan followed the general out, wishing the man would slow down his pace. The pain in his legs was out-screaming his ribs at the moment.

  “I don’t think that tub is doing you a bit of good,” the general complained. “You’re walking like you’re a hundred years old.”

  “Don’t let me hold you back, General,” Logan replied.

  “It’s all right. We’ve plenty of time,” Powell replied in something as close to an apology as Logan was likely to receive.

  “Did I mention your girl hugged me today?”

  “Alisha?”

  “Yeah, I figure she must be pretty desperate for attention when she starts hugging me. I thought you were going to be nicer to her?”

  “I am trying,” Logan replied. “I didn’t say a thing when she sent me off halfway through my lesson today.”

  “But you said you passed?”

  “I did. However, she was going up again with Ben, and flat-out told me I was not invited.”

  “Why the hell would you want to go back up if you had already passed the maneuver?” the general demanded.

  “Well, Abrams had passed and he was going up.”

  “That boy is sixteen years old and weighs ninety pounds soaking wet. And he doesn’t have two cracked ribs. Logan, if you can’t make better decisions than this, you aren’t going to survive three weeks as a general.”

  “Thank you for the vote of confidence, sir,” Logan snapped.

  “All I’m saying is that you cannot expect to out-fly, out-gun, and out-last every one of your Ryders. That’s not your job. And if you attempt to do everyone else’s job, you will wear yourself out and demoralize your Ryders. I don’t understand your behavior. You are usually so level-headed.”

  Logan knew he was right. He had been making bad decisions these last few days. And they had come damned close to killing him.

  When he didn’t reply, Powell continued, “Here I was concerned you were going to embarrass the officers, and instead you’re the only Ryder in the whole damn Corps who can learn these new tricks.”

  “Except for Abrams, and he is clearly the better flyer,” Logan said.

  “Well, thank God for that,” Powell replied. “If not, you’d probably want to fly his missions for him. I can damn well assure you that he’s not ready to be a general yet.”

  Logan smiled at the image of tiny little Benjamin sitting at a general’s desk, bellowing orders to his men. No, he wasn’t ready for that and probably never would be.

  “Truthfully, I didn’t include Abrams in my thoughts because he’s no more a product of my making than Alisha. All I had managed to contribute to the boy’s learning was a vicious assault on his second day under my leadership. No, Abrams arrived with the talent. So you’ve become my only hope, Logan. You are clearly a product of the system. And if you can learn these maneuvers, there has to be hope for my Ryders. We just aren’t reaching them yet.”

  “They are struggling with the wind tunnel,” Logan admitted.

  “Did you struggle at first?”


  “Yes. It’s very different from flying. When you travel with the wind, you feel only a light breeze on your back. But in the tunnel, the wind is slamming you around in wild and unpredictable ways. And the noise is incredible. Mall kids may think it’s fun, but for a Ryder, it feels like imminent death.”

  “So how did you get beyond that?”

  “Anger,” Logan replied honestly. “I was so angry that I no longer cared if I lived or not.”

  “Well that’s hardly the best motivator,” the general sighed. “If everyone became as angry as you have been this last week, this place would be a powder keg waiting to explode.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t advice it either, given how clearly my anger has impaired my judgment.”

  ***

  Once they arrived at the training field, Powell grunted with displeasure. Besides the bottom dwellers there wasn’t another flyer there.

  Logan had no doubt general was annoyed that Abrams’ promotion would be announced to such a small crowd. He liked to do things in a showy, bravado manner. However, he had made a commitment to Alisha, so hopefully, he’d see it through.

  When General Powell announced Abrams’ promotion, there was immediate applause. However, when he announced that effective immediately the entire tier of Level One flyers would be under the command of Captain Abrams, the announcement was met with stunned silence. A hand rose in the crowd, and Powell recognized the soldier.

  “Excuse me, General. But are you saying that Captain Abrams will be in charge of us for training, or that he is our real captain?”

  “Effective immediately, he’s your real captain. Do you have a problem with that private?”

  “No, sir,” the private replied.

  Another hand raised, and the general recognized him.

  “How long will Captain Abrams be our captain?”

  “As long as he’s captain under my command,” the general replied and put a stop to the questions. “Now this isn’t a democracy. I’ve made a decision, and it stands. I expect you to obey every order your captain and lieutenants give you. Is that understood?”

  The bottom dwellers barked “Sir, yes, sir” in unison.

  “This is a bad beginning,” Powell muttered as he took his seat to watch the testing.

  Logan thought it could be a bad ending as well. The general would lose credibility with these men when a week from now Abrams was taken from them, for he heard the question behind their question. They were being offered a chance to come out of the closet and perform to their true level of skill, but if a week from now they returned to their old captains, they would pay dearly for their moment of sunshine. And unfortunately, for half this squad, that was exactly what would happen.

  The other half would be headed to the East Coast, where things were going so bad that even a bottom dweller would be welcomed.

  Chapter 38

  The moment the general announced Benjamin’s promotion to captain, Alisha whistled and clapped as loud as she could muster. The bottom dwellers applauded, but she could see the envy in their faces. They wondered how he had managed to escape the mandatory year of hell.

  When the general announced Ben would be their captain, there was utter silence as they tried to figure out what this meant to them. She knew what they were thinking. It was good news if Ben was to remain their captain and suicide if he wasn’t. The general’s unequivocal response on the matter turned the tide. She was certain that they would fly their best during the training. Now to determine if their best was good enough.

  Benjamin asked to speak with his group for a moment before the test.

  “Do you want me to go hang with the general?” she asked.

  “No. Actually, I think I’d like you right at my side. You can fill in for me if my voice gets so high that it can no longer be heard by human ears.”

  Alisha smiled. He might be terrified, but he still had his sense of humor.

  While his voice did start up an octave, he quickly found his stride and made a very compelling speech about this being their chance to be something other than a bottom dweller. “I’d really like to turn this whole troop on its head and make everyone wish they could fly like a BD. For I know in three months, had it not been for the test you are about to take, I would be here with you.” He then turned to Alisha. “Anything you’d like to add, Colonel?”

  “We cannot afford to go by the old traditions now. We are in war. We need every soldier to fly his or her best. So if you can fly, now is the time to let me see it!”

  By the time the first line of eleven came down, she knew they had struck gold. Three were standing within a foot of their mark. The others were all six feet or better. She smiled at Colonel Logan and Powell. The general pounded the colonel’s back.

  The second line resulted in five additional feet on the marks, but the others in the line didn’t make the cut. The third line had two with one foot in, and every one of the rest only a foot outside. Had they only done this a week ago, the general would have some flyers close to being trained. Out of the thirty-three bottom dwellers, twenty-eight of them showed great promise.

  When they added marksmanship to the equation, eight of the promising flyers fell out of the top twenty, but the rest remained. Before they announced the results, Alisha conferred with the general. “General, we need the other eight. Had they been in any other test group, they would have passed with these scores.”

  Powell looked to Logan. “Any suggestions?”

  “I have an idea, but it will require two bull-headed people to alter their stances.”

  “Well, no doubt I’m one of them,” the general complained. “So let’s hear it!”

  “Bring Anna back to teach them to shoot. Then let them and the five other BDs test with the twenty Ryders who will have their second shot tomorrow. I expect at least the eight will make the cut tomorrow and be better for the marksmanship lessons.”

  “Damn, but I can’t stand that woman!” General Powell sighed. “What do you think Alisha?”

  “If she’ll come, it will help.” Alisha replied. “She really is a great instructor.”

  Powell then addressed the group of trainees. “That must have been one hell of speech Captain Abrams gave, because no group of trainees has collectively scored this high.” General Powell waited as the group cheered and congratulated one another. “I am astonished and proud of each of you today. But I am also disturbed. I have evidently allowed good talent to go to waste. I promise you I will not make that mistake again. You will hear me repeat this to the entire fort. If any soldier is told to dunk his merit test in the future, I order that soldier to let me know immediately. I will have the captain out of this Corps so fast that your heads will spin.”

  The troop once again burst into applause.

  “Now to the problem at hand. We clearly have more than twenty superb flyers in this group. However, not all of you have acquired marksmanship equal to your flying. So for those of you who do not make today’s cut of twenty, there will be weaponry lessons tonight and tomorrow morning. I want to see improvement in those shooting scores when you retest tomorrow afternoon. Is that understood?”

  Feeling enough bravado in their “Sir, yes, sir”, he proceeded to read off the names of the twenty flyers who’d scored the highest.

  The next afternoon, after intense rifle training for the thirteen remaining bottom dwellers, they competed against the top twenty flyers taking their second chance to fly the test. Eight of the bottom dwellers easily took the top ranks during the exam. To everyone’s amazement, the remaining five of the BDs improved both their flying and shooting scores sufficiently to squeak through as well. None of the other ‘second chance’ flyers managed to score high enough to make the cutoff.

  Alisha nudged Ben. “This is one hell of a squad you’ve got, captain.”

  Benjamin’s smile stretched from ear-to-ear as he went down the line getting the flyers’ names and how long they had been in the Corps.

  When Alisha arrived three minutes late for din
ner that night, she had expected a stern reprimand from the general. Instead, she was greeted with a standing ovation from the entire table. She stopped and glanced behind her in case someone important had just walked through the door after her.

  Jack escorted her to the table. “No, it’s you they’re applauding.”

  “What for?”

  “For once again saving the Corps from its bad practices,” General Powell said. “There was not a colonel in this room who believed there was a decent flyer among the bottom dwellers. Yet, you not only believed it, but you devised a way to make them reveal themselves.”

  “You’re giving me too much credit. You’re the one who made Benjamin a captain and transferred the flyers to his squad.”

  “Only because you asked me to do so,” Powell replied. “No. The success from this project is entirely yours.” Then he smiled broadly. “And I’m expecting one hell of a success!”

  Suddenly Alisha felt her chest tighten in fear. What if she were wrong about them? What if they got stuck on the wind tunnel, the same as the others? “Well, let’s not count chickens yet,” she advised, but she could see no one paid her warning any heed. As far as they were concerned, those flyers were already as good as trained SkyRyders.

  “So how did the first group of bottom dwellers do in the wind tunnel this morning?” Jack asked.

  “They seem much more comfortable than the other groups. I’m thinking I should try to work with the most promising ones, personally. I did that with Benjamin, and it really seemed to move things along.”

  “Then do it!” the general said.

  Logan spoke up. “I think Alisha is raising an issue of time, sir. She cannot train the entire troop and provide personal training to the most promising.”

  “Then enlist some help,” Jack suggested. “Let Benjamin work with some of the promising ones as well. And take your high scorers on Man One and Two and let them start training others. Everyone has had their one shot now. Let’s not waste your time on those who didn’t get it the first time around.”