The pilots who were to be long-range fighters grinned happily; the others looked their disappointment. The colonel went on giving the details.
"The long-range ships will deploy and go in under the leadership of Lieutenant Wilson. He will have detailed evasion orders."
The boys listened to the rest of the briefing impatiently. Stan stayed after the others left. Colonel Holt went over the plan with him, then Stan hurried out to get his group together. Sim Jones met him as he entered the flight room. He gave Stan a cold look.
"Did you engineer this, Wilson?" he asked.
"I did not ask to be put in command, if that's what you mean," Stan answered.
"You act like you thought you had to take over here," Sim said and his eyes blazed.
"Wilson has forgotten more about flyin' than you'll ever know," O'Malley cut in. "And ye better remember that."
"Easy, now. This is a teamwork job," Stan said. "Your orders are to cover our long-range ships. They'll be heavy and gas logged. My planes have to get to use all of that extra gas, Sim. What we're doing is trying to break the jinx on the fighters."
"Yeah? It smells bad to me. I think you're trying to get yourself an extra bar on your shoulder."
Stan's lips pulled into a straight line. "I don't care what you think of me, personally, but you better cover my flight, and cover it right."