No Quarter Given (SSE 667) by Lindsay McKenna Page B

like you never make it. Your body isn't adjusting to flying. It's just a matter of time before I wash you out."
    The irony that it might be her body betraying her ability to get her wings frustrated Dana to the point of tears. She swallowed hard, holding Griff's accusing look. "Lieutenant, I'm not giving up. I'm not throwing in the towel." She jabbed a finger at him. "Dammit, I'm not a weakling! You've accused me of it enough that I swear I'll never quit."
    He flung her a lethal smile. "If you don't, I'll make sure you do."
    Dana's eyes widened enormously. As he turned away, she reached out, jerking him to a halt. "Is that a threat, Lieutenant? I've heard that kind of tone before, and I don't like it. If you try and wash me out for any reason other than a fair one, I'll press charges."
    Griff froze, glaring down at her. The set of her mouth and those blue eyes narrowed with defiance told him she was serious. Wrenching his arm out of the grasp of her hand, he snarled, "Coulter, you're going to fail yourself. I'm not going to have to do it for you. Airsick students don't last more than two weeks."
    Dana stood there, her chest heaving with the need to cry. Damn him! She spun away, heading back to the trainer to pick up her helmet bag and the embarrassing burp bags. AVM Parker was standing there, holding them out to her.
    "You okay, ma'am?" he inquired.
    "I'm fine."
    Parker shrugged his thin shoulders and offered her a slight smile. "Buck up, Miss Coulter. He gave you a passing grade, didn't he?"
    "Yes." Barely.
    "You know he Boarded both his other students on this last session, didn't you?"
    Stunned, Dana stared up at the young crew chief. "Uh, no. No, I didn't."
    "Mr. Turcotte's a stickler on learning landing procedures. You know, he was Top Gun at Miramar two years ago."
    Dana's heart sank. "No, I didn't know that."
    "Yes, ma'am. He's a Top Gun. One of our best." Parker offered her a bit more of a hesitant smile as he patted the trainer affectionately. "If you can see his job through his eyes, and what he was to accomplish with you in six short weeks, maybe you can understand his driving need to qualify you. It's a hard, thankless job. I watched your landings. You did pretty good for a first time."
    Tension bled out of Dana. She knew she had a friend in Parker, and she was grateful for the information about Griff. "I—thanks, Parker."
    "You got a little problem with airsickness?" With a groan, Dana said, "It's not a little problem." "It'll go away, Miss Coulter. Don't you worry about it." He watched Griff in the distance. "Be strong for him. If you are, he won't fail you."
    Strong. Dana quietly thanked Parker and dragged herself back to the ready-room locker area. How could she maintain this degree of high emotional drama every other day and survive? The last hour had been accomplished on nothing but pure adrenaline. Suddenly, Dana was whipped. After taking a hot shower and changing into her summer uniform, she felt numb. Forcing herself to move, she hurried to make her class on egress procedure.
    ***
    Griff watched Dana critically as she circled the trainer Friday morning. She looked pale as hell. Her hands shook as she took the discrepancy log from Parker and signed it off. Guilt nagged at him. He'd made up his mind that if she was airsick today, he was going to force her to quit. Still, the stubborn set of her mouth and her blue eyes armed with challenge gave him second thoughts. He'd find out soon enough if the airsickness problem was going to gradually fade away, or remain.
    Dana was all business in the cockpit. She'd barely slept the past two nights, having nightmares about getting a 1.9 from Griff for not landing correctly. Worse, she was in a heightened state of panic about her airsickness. Manny had told her that a lot of other students had acute airsickness and had gotten over it. Ignoring the building cumulus hanging around the airport, Dana concentrated on the takeoff. It was perfect! As she had done so many times