By Another Name (Editing)

The Mission

For Jim, who sadly passed way on the 5th of January 2012, and who will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

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When I woke up I ached all over from spending a night hunched over. Static was already up by the fire and by the smell of it making bacon. Glancing round I saw that Cub and Angel were up and looking at the bacon with longing.

Getting up I felt my neck crack and winced. The muscles in my legs and arms were full of knots; I started to massage a particularly nasty one in my arm, feeling the pain shoot up my arm every time I moved my hand or put pressure on it.

I started stretching, reaching to touch my toes in different directions. First forward, then on both sides, then I arched my back over as far as I could.

After five minutes of various stretches I went over to Crow and Ice.

"Wakey, wakey" I called to Crow till he woke up "Breakfast's nearly ready."

"Mmm" he said sitting up "Smells good."

"Go ask Static for some then." I told him going over to Ice and kicking him. Not enough to hurt him too badly.

"Wake up!" I yelled.

"What was that for?!" he yelled sitting up.

"Revenge" I cackled "Now we're even."

"Even for what?" he asked half asleep.

"For when you kicked me awake." I reminded him

"That was weeks ago!"

"You can never escape revenge from me!" I laughed giving him a hand to help him up. "Come on, Statics cooking bacon for breakfast."

"Where'd he get bacon?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Go ask him."

"Hey, Static! Where'd you get bacon from?" he called out.

"One of the tribes got hold of a stash a few days ago. They brought it over a few nights ago. Thought it'd make a nice surprise." he replied, forking it out onto some plates.

Happily we tucked into the streaky bacon. Normally only the rich could afford fresh meat, everyone else had to make do with canned or dried. For rebels meat was even harder to get hold of since generally the farms were to the south, on the other side of the city from the wastes.

After everyone had finished I collected the dirty plates, then dumped them on Crow so he could wash them in the lake while the rest of us packed up to move.

Just as we all got in the van I thought I saw something white moving in the sky... but then it was gone. It was probably just a trick of the light.

We got to the new camp and set up, all the while I managed to avoid being alone with Static. After dinner I sat back on my bedding and looked up; there it was again! Defiantly a bit of white moving about above me. Just a dot, nothing more... but it worried me.

"Crow!" I called anxiously.

"What is it?" he asked coming over, looking concerned.

"Look up there, see that white dot up there." I said pointing.

"Where?"

"To the right of Orion's belt. See?"

"Oh yes, I see it,” he nodded “Nothing to worry about” then called: “Static, we're going to get a message in a few minutes!"

"What's that mean?" I asked, confused.

"It means,” Replied Static pausing dramatically “ It means that HQ is contacting us."