The mocking laughter and the threat to his young pilots - it overwhelmed anything else. There was very little that could provoke him to anger anymore, for he had seen everything. But he had sworn to preserve the lives of his fledgling pilots, and he so often could not save them from their own mistakes, and the merciless guns of the enemy.

One of the legion of enemies taunting them with the prospect of their demise would not, could not, be tolerated. He moved quickly, accelerating towards the source of the voice. He fired his pistol again and again, to keep his opponent's head down. He leaped over a downed branch, booted feet extending first, hoping to catch them off-guard. His opponent expected caution, he reasoned - and would be denied it.

He would still take the man alive if he could - but if he had to die so that his pilots must live, then so be it.