Chapter 2
#3 of Mage's Cold War
And now we get to see a bit more of Zhaneel introduced. Still not sure if I will continue this or not, depends on interest I suppose.
The last couple days had been a blur to Zhaneel, following the killing of the Makaar, and the arrival of the warrior gryphons had only managed to confuse the matter. It wasn't long before they were all whisked away in a departing helicopter and returning to their home base. She on the other had was bombarded with people in her command asking her all sorts of questions, she struggled to answer them as quickly as they were asked. Before the nightfall it was ordered she was to be relocated, to Limestone Maine... where those gryphons came from... where she would be... She looks down at the typewritten telegram she had received moment earlier... partaking in an immediate investigative hearing.
The little gryphon curled herself into a ball on her bed, keening softly to herself, the sound of the northern radar stations heating system fighting off the arctic cold the only thing giving her company. She'd been stationed here for years, these were her friends now, she could hide away her terrible small inadequate body here... but had she done something wrong? Why where they investigating her? She looked at the telegram again. She was on a Blackhawk Helicopter at 0600 tomorrow morning, fighting off another keen she finished packing the rest of her things into a bag she'd thought she'd never use again, and curled up on her bed, at some point keened herself to sleep after what felt like an eternity.
Morning came far too quickly, 0458 the alarm clock read on the wall. The reminder of how her life was about to change in a mere hour hit her... Looking over her room one last time; the conditions sparse and utilitarian, one light in the center of the room, exposed piping to power it and other outlets, the walls a dull gray, this room like the rest of the radar station sitting on arctic ice bolted to the hallway, the bolt heads poking through all around the door. The room not even decorated anymore, everything she used to have on the wall now in her suitcase. She stood onto the metal floor and ruffled her feathers before stepping into the corridor, her talons clicking against the floor making her way to the mess hall, might as well get a last breakfast. "Hi Mike" She said quietly to the cook in uniform behind the counter, a weak smile on her face. "Heyyy I was kinda wondering if I'd get a goodbye, listen I'm really sorry to hear your leaving, but hey.... Better you're out there then stuck in this place."
"Oh I'd much rather be here" She said with a weak look to the floor "I know all of you here and-"
"So let me get this straight, you'd rather be stuck here in the arctic" he said grabbing the items to make what he already knew she wanted for breakfast "than out there flying with some of your own kind? You don't mean that" he said with a scoff
"N--no she stammered" eartufts flattening as she tired to rebuke his statement "They want to... invesssstiagate me and- I'm no good at fighting and-"
He cut her off again, looking to her talking with his arms as the bacon sizzled on the grill behind him, picking up an egg "Well yeah... do you understand how big a deal it is what you did yesterday! The fact the Soviets got THIS close to the US, and it proves what they've been saying all along, this" He air quoted for emphasis " 'self restraint' policy isn't working. We detected them, sounded missile warning, and they didn't even get here until you took them out, they could've been well into Canada or the US before they were tracked again, below us mage energy tracking sucks" He said talking away, while Zhaneel was not comforted at all by his words, but he was right, the conflict between the two countries was escalating not deescalating like they said it would be, and all the checks and balances and moving parts to counter an attack or strike were time consuming, and as if to send the point home the ability to even detect magical energy, at least that used by the USSR was seriously lacking in the mainland US. Still all that being said she still didn't know what her part to play in all this was. She didn't have much more time to think about it before Mike had her bacon breakfast sandwich plated and sitting before her "but anyway... if I don't see you, best of luck, write us once in a while will ya?" he asked with a smile
"of course, I'll send some postcards and pictures" She said smiling and took the plate to a empty table and awkwardly sat in seats not made for gryphons
The rest of the day she was mostly on autopilot, moving from helicopter, to airplane, first stop, Pease Air force base... then Dow Air force base.... then--"Ma'am.... Ma'am" a male voice was saying as he shook her wing slightly, shaking her from a daze, as the loud KC-135 had clearly shut down again somewhere "Welcome to Loring Air force base Ma'am" the cold of the outside word in this place was nothing new to her, she just looked around outside for a moment before taking the brief glide down to the ground where she climbed into another vehicle, barely saying a word to anyone, as she was shuttled to check in, and finally left alone with her belongings in her new quarters. She sat on her haunch and let out of a gentle keen, muffled against her wing as she stared up at the empty ceiling, the sound of people and gryphons moving around outside her room. She took a breath and started unpacking, her talon 'hands' making easy work of it.
Until she was left with a book "Loring Air Force Base Welcome guide" emblazoned with gryphons in flight on the cover, opening to the first page she eyed the picture of Skandranon Raskae for a moment. She turned pages finally to a map of the huge base, she was famished and figured she could try and sneak to the mess hall before the big evening crowd showed up
When Zhaneel got to the mess hall the sheer magnitude of the building was hard to fathom for her, she quickly moved out of the way, meekly slinking her away around tables, humans and gryphons that thankfully at the moment were paying her no mind, save from a few stares that she felt burning holes in her hide. All the food choices laid out before her, and "Can I help you?" Said a apron clad human male from behind one of the display warmers of various large cuts of meat "N-no... j-just looking" Zhaneel managed to choke out, she knew no one here, not even the chefs, how could she know anyone here this place was so massive.
Zhaneel eventually settled on a meager portion of steak and cheese, French fries and a glass of Pepsi, mainly because it allowed her to sputter "I'll... I'll have what she's having."
She found a table in the far corner of the hall, void of anyone else and simply took to her messy meal not fit for a gryphon but, it was something to at least partially fill her crop with for now. She looked up at one of the TVs playing the news aloud to the still mostly vacant room "The US Military raised the DEFCON level to level 3, the highest it's ever been today, following an encounter with three Mak'ar by a Gryphon located at one of the United States distant early warning radar sights. The Air Force today claiming that is it reevaluating its early warning detection system and is quote 'alarmed' that such a close call was allowed to take place. The USSR meanwhile is claiming that it was operating over international territory and points fault on the United States for taking down three of its military members. The Air Force has declined further comment" Zhaneel turned away and just looked down at her food, shaking her head lightly "never should have..... why did I have to see them" she muttered to herself as she took a deep breath to maintain composure, all she had to do was survive this debriefing tomorrow