Chief Ellis squeezed his shoulders and tried to work the kink out. It was an irritating persistant knot that wouldn't go away. He shouldnt be surprised, he had been at the controls of the Talon Class Medical transport SAGANAMI TWO FIVE for over seven and a half standard hours. The cockpit, let alone the ship wasnt exactly designed for comfort. It was designed rather for the extraction and short transport of the seriously wounded in this boondoggle of a war with the Alliance. It could also perform near orbit short haul Search and Rescue with provisioning and the addition of pre packed auxiliary fuel pods if needed. It's saving grace as Chief Ellis saw it was that although it was a purely utilitarian design with none of the clean sleek looks commonly found in the BUSHIDO or even FIREFLY transport classes it had character. And right now 'NAMI was being a real bitch.

He was headed back towards the southern end of Serenity Valley. It was difficult flying down in the weeds at speed like this, but it was the differance between survival and becoming a statistic for the unarmed transport. You would think the damn high command would get around to arming the Medical Transports for at least self defense against the goram Alliance air defense batteries. Even massed small arms could swat one from the sky. Seems like the weps always went to the shiney fighter squadrons who paraded around in thier jackets laden with patches and stories of daring do in near atmo.

But Ellis didnt really work himself up too much, because when you get right down to it, he couldn't remember the last time he had to buy his own drink during down time. It was a matter of personal pride whenever a a tired looking brown coat, usually sitting by himself or with others just like him would come up and ask "You fly MEDEVAC?" a simple "Yes" would usually be followed by a heartfelt "Thanks" followed by a handshake and a drink. For although the war and its stratagies may be beyond the ability for a simple pilot like Ellis to grasp (according to Comman