Emily had a little over a day to get everything together to leave. She talked one of the Navy Seals to take her on one last drive around the island. Steven and a few of the guys went with her. They bugged her about her orders until she told them about it.

They stopped on the windward side of the island to have lunch at one of the Chief's in-laws place. He surprised them by showing up. It was really good food and the Chief paid for everyone. They stopped at the rock that everyone thought was a bear but Emily still called a chipmunk to take pictures. They grabbed a few coconuts that had fallen to the ground and broke them open to drink the milk while sitting on the limestone by the sea.

Emily spent the rest of the afternoon getting her paperwork straightened out and got her plane tickets. She was flying to Japan first then to Hawaii and from Hawaii to Los Angeles. The first leg of her journey was eighteen hours of flight time. If you add the time changes for crossing time zones and then adding in she was crossing the international date line she was going back in time to the previous day. Her flight flew out of the Island on Tuesday at six in the morning she was scheduled to arrive a little past eight in the evening on the Monday in Los Angeles. She was crossing the international date line somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. All the math made Emily's head spin. It took the lady who was issuing the plan tickets on base a while to explain it all to Emily.

She headed to the barrack to pack. It took her longer to pack than she thought it would because of all the crap she had bought on the island. She left a lot of things for her roommate to go through to see if she wanted any of it. She got out her dress uniform and looked at it. She had a lot more ribbons than she did eight months ago.

She got the Silver Star ribbon for taking out the Pyromancer at the very start of her time in Afghanistan. She was awarded the Bronze Star for surviving an ambush and killing the super known as the Butcher. She was awarded her second Bronze star for the Battle of Rudbar where she was ambushed by three Main class supers. She was awarded her third Bronze Star for taking out a tank single-handedly when a rogue platoon attack and assassinated the Afghan new Main type super. She was also awarded her second Silver Star and a POW ribbon for being a prisoner of war and killing several high ranking OCS members in her escape attempt. She also received her third Purple heart during that time.

Her last ribbon the Distinguished Service Cross which sat atop of all the other ribbons was awarded to by the Vice President of the United States while she still was in the hospital for her actions at KIAI air station. She still had a picture somewhere of the Vice President shaking her hand while she was laid up in her hospital bed. According to a General who visited her, the President of the United States wanted her to get the Medal of Honor for her actions but she was still serving out her NJP at the time. This was the best he could do. She was currently the most decorated Private in the Army.

The cost of all those ribbons was ninety-four lives lost and almost three times that many wounded in her battalion. First Platoon in Charlie Company was decimated with a two-thirds of their members dead or wounded. The second platoon had a few also but the third platoon took a major hit during the assassination of the Afghan Main type super. During that one battle, a little more than half the platoon was either killed or wounded. Charley Company was the hardest hit of any Ranger companies since the Vietnam War.

It didn't hit her how many people had been killed or injured from her Company until she was recovering back in the states and she met quite a few people from her company still recovering at the hospital. Even with the high casualty rate the brass and the politicians were happy. Both the number one and two in command of OCS Afghanistan were dead by her hands. On top of that the number two leader overall OCS in the world, a super named The Magus, was also dead by her hands. He and the Number one OCS in Afghanistan had been trying to steal her powers at the time with plans to sell her as a slave afterward. She stabbed The Magus in the forehead with his own knife. She also recovered a lot of intelligence right before she was wounded during her escape attempt, the United States military and NATO forces were really hurting the OCS around the world.

She was brushing the lint off her Dress uniform when Mandy came in. She didn't say anything as she ran over to Emily and hugged her. She told Emily to get dressed in something nice. They were going out one last time. Mandy and the Navy guys took her to Jeff's Pirate Cove one last time to see the sunset and if possible to see the green flash as the sunset. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast and there was no chance of seeing the green flash. They did have dinner at the bar and stay up pretty late before Emily drove them all home in Mandy's car.

The Chief and the rest of the Team showed up in a white van the following morning while it was still dark to drive her to the airport. There was a lot of jokes and snickers on the way to the airport. Enough that Emily was getting nervous about what they had planned to do to her. Arriving at the airport the Seal Team followed her in and right up to the security checkpoint.

The Chief smiled and held his hand out for Emily to shake. Standing behind him was the entire Team who were smiling. Looking concerned Emily shook the Chief's hand. As she grasped his hand she felt something in his hand. Pulling her hand back she noticed he had given her a bronzed coin.

Before she could look at it in detail the Chief called out “Private Emily Emerson, stand too.” Guessing that meant to stand at attention for the Navy Emily snapped to attention. “For embodying the essence of the Navy seal team the two The Diesel Unit….” The Chief started to say.

“Expected that she can't float worth a damn.” Someone in the team said.

“...and displaying great character and moral fiber….” The Chief said as he was interrupted again.

“She makes a damn fine DD.” Someone commented.

“...In the face of adversity….” The Chief went on like no one was interrupting him.

“Yea there is no way I could go to a bar without getting a drink.” Someone muttered loudly laughing.

“I award you this challenge coin as a token of our appreciation ….” The Chief said smiling.

“Even if you're a no-good ground-pounding Army Jackhole.” Came the catcall.

“With this coin, comes some great responsibility….” The Chief said pulling out another coin.

“Yea so don't lose it.” Came the response from a voice she recognized as Stevens.

“If someone from this Unit who has a coin and pulls out his or her coin you must pull your coin out. Failure to have your coin on your person will require you to pay the penalty. The penalty is that you must buy the person a drink for every grade you have in the military. You as an E2….”

“Still!” Someone shouted.

“You are required to buy that person two drinks. If you have your coin on you at the time of the challenge the person who is calling you out must buy you two drinks. Now go little Private and make The Diesel proud.” The Chief said finally finishing. “At ease.”

Emily relaxed and looked at her coin. The bronze coin had stamped on one side with the Navy Seal symbol on the other was a six-man team on a small boat that looked like they were heading into battle. “Thanks, Chief,” Emily said her voice heavy with emotion.

“Bring it in.” The Chief said as the entire team hugged Emily in one great big group hug. Emily thank the members of the team each personally with hugs. By the time she was done saying goodbye she was nearly late for her plane. Eighteen hours later Emily landed in Los Angeles back on American soil again.