"...and then we wandered around for awhile trying to find our tracks, but
the snow had covered everything. We did manage to figure out what direction
to walk to hit the stream from the map, though, and then it was just a
matter of following it back up to the road."

Chit looked up from the piece of paper he'd been absentmindedly shredding
to see if Bill was still paying attention. He was.

"And that's, um, it," he said, flicking his tail and smiling nervously.
The BHX looked pensive. "There were too many of them for us to finish off
the warren by ourselves, we figured it was best for us to report their
position so you could send out a strike force..."

"Thank you for your report," Bill said grimly, "It's a pity you couldn't
manage to wipe them out, we're stretched very thin right now."

Chit fidgeted. "There were too many of them!" he chittered, "They're faster
than devilbunnies, too! Or, well, than I *remember* devilbunnies being, it's
been a while, but they CLIMB TREES!!!"

Bill stared at him evenly. Chit tried to match his gaze, but turned away
after a few seconds when he realized that he didn't *want* to win. At
least, that was what he told himself later, thinking over the incident.

"I have another question, sir." There was no response. "Um, you know we
didn't manage to get back in until Friday night, and graduation was
already over, and I know you said I had to get back in time for graduation,
but --"

Bill chuckled. "Talk to Emerson." Chit winced. "Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," Chit chittered, scurrying for the door, "Sorry."

"How'd it go?" Remus asked as Chit scurried out and past, not looking up. 
"Oh, that bad." He smiled weakly. "Ah, well, what's he going to do, fire me?"


A few minutes later, Chit reached the door to Emerson's office and paced back
and forth, tail twitching nervously. You have to go in there, he said to
himself, it'll only be worse if you put it off. For one thing, you won't know
where to sleep. Hee hee hee.

And so, in he crept...

"Hi!" he said in something far from his best cute cheery voice, although it
was the best he could manage.

"What do you want?" Emerson asked, looking up from a pile of papers. "I'm
out of sunflower seeds."

"I need to know -- that is, I mean, um... [chitter]"

Chit scurried a quarter circle to the side before turning himself back
towards the desk, then almost kept turning the other way... his instincts
were screaming at him to run away, and Emerson's amused gaze didn't help
one little bit. Finally, his circuitous route took him within range of the
desk, and he leapt to the top before he could stop himself, and stood there
rigid, staring into the Sargeant's eyes.

"Hi," he chittered.

"What is it, Chit," Emerson said, sitting back in his chair and putting one
hand to his forehead. "What is it *now*?"

"I-- I-- I was wondering if you could give me the certificate for completing
basic training. I was on a special mission for the BHX and missed grauation.
I mean he said that it would count for field training and..."

"Oh, that," Emerson said, standing up and opening a file cabinet. He flipped
through the files for a while, then placed a tiny business-card sized
diploma carefully on the desk in front of the squirrel, still chattering
away.

"...and so I mean if you could --" Chit blinked, reading the card. 

	+------------------------------+
	| This diploma certifies that  |
	| _____Chit_Squirrel____       |
	| has completed the NoCo basic |
	| combat certification course  |
	| and is therefore promoted to |
	| the rank of __Private_______ |
	| in the Army of Fudd.         |
	| Approved: __[scribble]___    |
	| Sic Semper Tyrranis et       |
	| Cuniculo Demonaicus!         |
	+------------------------------+

"Um..." Chit said picking it up to stare at it from several angles. It still
looked real, even when turned upside down! "Um... thanks!"

Sgt. Emerson sat back down and turned to his papers. "You can stay in the
main barracks for now, we'll decide whether you'll be sent out to another
base or stay here for further training shortly. Congratulations, Private.

"You can let go of me now."