“So am I fit?”

Boss placed his cards face up on the table and looked at Doc. It was late and they were sat in his office playing by the light of Docs desk lamp.

“You sod! Shall I just give you my bank account details and be done with it? Another drink?” Doc reached for the Rabbit Punch bottle “Don’t worry, it’s on prescription..”

“Yeah if you must. Anyway, am I fit for duty now?”

“What? Oh yes, yeah you can go get shot at again a lot. Fine by me and the Old Man. What is your hurry anyway?”

“It is that time of year. We have just been skirmishing and dog fighting, no gunship raids have come over the border in months – not since the big one. No bombers trying to flatten the base, just a shit load of quick little battles like they are testing us.”

Boss dealt the cards again.

“You think they are going to try something big soon? At Christmas?”

“They normally do. So I can take back Black section tomorrow and make sure they are ready”

“All the sections are ready. A bit jumpy perhaps, as you said – too many little quick battles. I was thinking of rotating some of the pilots off for some leave and…”

“No, don’t do that. Unless anyone is about to come apart we need them all here ready. Tis the season, and all that bollocks.”