Yesterday was not so bad, considering that it was Monday, but seriously, the muses need to stop being so verbose 20 minutes before I have to pack up for work! They make me late!

*grumbles*

Oh, and if anyone's interested in reading the entire, unedited draft, let me know and I'll look into uploading it somewhere.

Day 13 Totals

Day 13:

Overall:

Excerpt From Today's Session:

Derek was shaken awake violently by Mal. The expression on the old soldier's face melted the fatigue away faster than the strongest cup of caf ever could.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked, pulling his boots on.

"We need t move. A patrol is coming."

With Mal and Zoë's help, Derek roused the rest of the Starlight Elite, sending the injured on ahead with Simon while the rest took down the camp. Zoë, in the middle of dousing the remains of the fire, said, "We should try and lead them on, destroy the trail and make a new one."

Derek nodded. He turned to the rest of his crew and called for attention. "Okay, people. Brianna and Bryce, I want you to lead everyone towards the village. Try your hardest to catch up with Doctor Tam and have your rear-guard muss up the trail. Mal, Zoë and I will head them off and make sure that they don't follow. Last thing we need is for them to ID us and storm the village."

The group gave a collective assent, and Derek turned to Mal and Zoë. "Let's do this thing..."

***

All pilots were trained in commando skills, on the off-chance that they ended up being shot-down and needed to infiltrate enemy territory in order to survive long enough for extraction, so Derek wasn't new to the deception that he and his companion were trying to pull off.

What he wasn't prepared for was actually seeing his adversary up close and personal. The three of them had made decent headway into the forest on a course that was parallel to the village before turning and heading for the fringe again. They hoped that by making it look like their quarry had gotten turned around and made it back into the mountains, the scouting party would be thrown off the trail.

As they were doubling back to rejoin the others, Zoë waved the men down. They didn't have time to climb the trees, so they faded into the foliage and prayed that they were well hidden. From his hiding spot, Derek couldn't help but peek at the patrol as it headed past.