Dante Valderez watched impassively as the unconscious young woman strapped into the stretcher rise up to him from the churning waves below the large black helicopter. Her long black hair was flying erratically around her calm, unresponsive face, oblivious to the deafening thumping of the helicopter waves and the whining of the winch reeling the wire cable attached to the stretcher, bringing her closer to the black uniformed man standing over her. Below the hovering helicopter an orange conical life raft bobbed and swayed from the waves and wind buffeting it. Two young men were leaning out of the rectangular entrance to the raft, anxiously looking upwards at Dante and Leanna O’Regan, the stretcher holding her now reaching the opened side door of the helicopter. Dante reached over with one black-gloved hand to a bar at the head of the stretcher, and with his other hand held onto a handle just inside the door of the helicopter. The winch stopped reeling in the wire cable, allowing Dante to lift and swing the stretcher inside the cabin of the aircraft. He dragged the stretcher along the floor of the cabin and released the cable attached to it, and hooked a harness onto it. He flipped a switch on the winch to lower it to the life raft below, and gestured to the helicopter’s pilot to maintain the aircraft’s position.

As the cable slowly started to descend again, Dante knelt down beside the stretcher and removed the straps securing Leanna to it. He lifted the limp young woman from the raft and laid her to rest on the bench at the back of the cabin. She moaned slightly as Dante left her on the bench, to lean over the open cabin door again to see that the lowered cable had reached the life raft, and Lucky was grasping frantically at the harness at the end of it, pushing James away, who was also reaching for the harness at the same time. He hastily put it on and awkwardly signalled to Dante that he was ready to return to the helicopter.

Dante saw that Leanna was regaining consciousness and flipped the winch’s swift hastily to pull Lucky up and jumped back to the bench to stand over the young woman, who was now starting to regain consciousness. Her eyes opened groggily, blinking in the midday sun entering the cabin, and then focusing on Dante’s face, his mouth covered by the respirator mask and his bald, scarred head hiding the sun behind it and concealing his dark, piercing eyes.

“You,” she said in defeat and closed her eyes again. Dante helped her to sit up on the bench, and she blinked as the sun shone in her face as the older man stepped away.

“Help!” shouted Lucky from behind Dante as the harness clip reached the pulley at the end of the winch, making it squeal. Dante flipped the winch’s switch and pulled the young man with messy blond hair inside the cabin, who then hurriedly slipped out of the harness and pushed it back out the door, reversing the winch to send it back down to James, who had a clear look of worry on his face as he leaned out the entrance of the life raft.

Lucky sat down next to Leanna, who looked away when he opened his mouth to speak to her, crossing her legs. She pulled uncomfortably on her white t-shirt and shorts, pulling on her tangled hair with her fingers, attempting to comb it. Lucky closed his mouth, and then opened it again, saying hesitantly, “You should be glad we came back for you.”

Leanna didn’t respond, focusing instead on untangling her hair. Dante caught Leanna’s eye, giving her a cold, unsympathetic look. She held his gaze for a few seconds, shooting back defiance and a calm rage. She broke his gaze on seeing James appear behind him on the harness, and Dante turned around to help him into the cabin. She watched James extract himself from the harness, and Dante close the helicopter’s side door. James looked sheepishly at her, and sat on the opposite side from her from Lucky. Dante leaned into the cockpit to order the pilot to return to the QuadriStar, and sat down on the bench opposite the three fellow passengers as the helicopter banked and leaned into its new direction of travel.

Leanna wrinkled her nose and growled, “It stinks like puke in here!” James coughed in agreement, and Lucky hummed nervously, rubbing his lips with the back of his hand.

“That was me… I didn’t know what happed when the NSRI session ended,” Lucky said quietly. “I couldn’t help it! Suddenly I’m seeing what he sees,” Lucky said angrily, nodding at James, “and then just as suddenly I’m flying above the ocean. It’s all just a little disorienting.”

“Shut up!” Dante commanded, “And not a word from any of you for the rest of the flight!”

The two young officers sat up straight in their light grey uniforms, staring silently at the space ahead of them. Leanna glanced at the to men flanking her from the corner of her eyes, and then at Dante who was doing the same as them. She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back slightly. The bright sun streaming through the helicopter’s windows warmed the bare skin on her arms and legs, and her chin slowly sank to her chest as she fell asleep, comforted by the aircrafts vibrations and regular whomp-whomp of the helicopter’s blades.

Dante’s gaze changed to focus on the snoozing Leanna, followed by stern looks at James and Lucky on each side of her, understanding his unspoken command to guard her. Dante silently stood up and leaned into the cockpit, addressing the pilot, “How much longer before we reach the QuadriStar?”

“I’ve radioed in, and received the QuadriStar’s current position. We should meet up with the battleship in about an hour,” the pilot answered, breathing through his mouth as he spoke. “The stench in here is unbearable!”

“You’ll survive, captain!” Dante said, scanning the horizon ahead of them. The choppy waves of the dark ocean stretched to the azure blue sky and fluffy white clouds that filled it. “Could you imagine the reek of vomit of a thousand men in a field hospital, all suffering from radiation poising after a a guided missile tactical nuke attack that missed its mark?”

“Excuse me, sir?” the pilot asked nervously.

“Never mind the ramblings of this old SEA War veteran,” Dante sighed. “The SEA War is about to come to a decisive end. The QuadriStar will ensure that.”
​
*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***