#cyclone mocha

[studies-notes]

Tracker Cyclone Mocha Update Live

Cyclone Mocha Update Live: Coastal People of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar are Depression About Cyclone Mocha.

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[memenewsdotcom]

Cyclone Mocha makes landfall

[warningsine]

At least 145 people were killed when Cyclone Mocha hit the country this week, Myanmar’s ruling military has said.

The impoverished western state of Rakhine bore the brunt of the storm that on Sunday tore down houses, communication towers and bridges with winds of up to 210 kilometres per hour (130 miles per hour), and triggered a storm surge that inundated the state capital Sittwe.

The military government said in a statement on Friday that as of May 18 a total of 145 people had been found dead, including 91 in camps for internally displaced people. Earlier this week, it had said three people were killed by the storm.

Earlier this week, a humanitarian group working in the affected area said hundreds had been killed.

Rakhine has a large population of approximately 600,000 Rohingya people, a persecuted, mostly-Muslim minority that successive governments in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar have refused to recognise.

“Relief groups of respective states … are working on rescues and rehabilitation work along with charity civil society groups,” the military government said in the statement shared on its Telegram channels and on Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV).

However, the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations said relief efforts were stalled as they awaited permission from the military to deploy personnel and much-needed food, water and medical supplies to the affected regions.

At least 800,000 people are in need of emergency food aid and other assistance, the UN said.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) described “a trail of devastation” across Rakhine State.

The cyclone left “houses flattened, roads cut off by uprooted trees, hospitals and schools destroyed, and telecommunications and power lines severely disrupted,” Anthea Webb, WFP’s deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Bangkok.

“There are at least 800,000 people in urgent need of emergency food assistance,” she said, adding that “greater needs for food, shelter, water, health and other humanitarian aid are expected to be revealed as we reach more areas.”

Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and Bangladesh before the cyclone made landfall, as authorities scrambled to avert heavy casualties from one of the strongest storms to hit the region in recent years.

[buzznolimit]

Cyclone Mocha : plus d’infos en vidéos sur Buzz No Limit

En ce moment, les catastrophes naturelles se multiplient dans divers pays autour du globe. La dernière en date c’est le cyclone Mocha. Vous apprendrez que celui-ci a balayé le Bangladesh ainsi que la Birmanie. Il a provoqué des dégâts importants et causé la mort de trois personnes. Buzz No Limit fait de son mieux pour vous permettre de suivre la situation en proposant régulièrement de nouveaux…

[khademripon]

cyclone Mocha , cyclone Mocha news , cyclone Mocha last update , cyclone Mocha now position , cyclone Mocha Bangladesh , cyclone Mocha effect , cyclon

Bangladesh fears great danger from cyclone Mocha, prepares to evacuate half a million people | Bangladesh fears extraordinary risk from twister Mocha, plans to clear a portion of 1,000,000 individuals cyclone Mocha , cyclone Mocha news , cyclone Mocha last update , cyclone Mocha now position , cyclone Mocha Bangladesh , cyclone Mocha effect , cyclon

[thebharatexpress]

IMD Alart: कई राज्यों में होगी जोरदार बारिश ! चक्रवाती तूफान के चलते मौसम विभाग ने जारी किया अलर्ट…

IMD Alart : बंगाल की खाड़ी और उससे सटे दक्षिण अंडमान सागर पर चक्रवाती हवाओं का क्षेत्र बना हुआ है. मौसम विज्ञान विभाग (IMD) के मुताबिक, इसके प्रभाव से आज (सोमवार), 8 मई को एक कम दबाव का क्षेत्र बनने की संभावना है. मौसम विभाग चक्रवात की दिशा और इसके लैंडफॉल पर नजर बनाए हुए है. हालांकि, अभी यह स्पष्ट नहीं है कि मोका चक्रवात कहां टकराएगा? चक्रवाती तूफान मोका को लेकर बंगाल में अलर्ट है. ALSO READ- 4…

[banglakhobor]

বদলাবে আবহাওয়া, বাড়বে অস্বস্তি! ফের বজ্রবিদ্যুৎ-সহ বৃষ্টি উত্তরবঙ্গে

পরবর্তী দু-তিনদিনে তাপমাত্রা দু’তিন ডিগ্রি কমবে। আজ ও কাল গরম থাকবে। সঙ্গে বাতাসে রয়েছে জলীয় বাষ্প তাই আর্দ্রতাজনিত অস্বস্তি বাড়বে। আগামী রবিবার পর্যন্ত ভারী বৃষ্টির সম্ভাবনা নেই দক্ষিণবঙ্গের কোনও জেলাতেই। Source link

[energynews247]

Dangerous Cyclone Mocha heads for Myanmar and Bangladesh » Yale Climate Connections

Tropical Cyclone Mocha (pronounced “Mokha”) formed in the North Indian Ocean’s Bay of Bengal Wednesday night and is poised to become a dangerous major hurricane that will make landfall on Sunday just south of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. At 8 a.m. EDT (12 UTC), May 12, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center rated Mocha a category 2 storm with 105 mph winds (1-minute average), moving northeast at 7…

[studies-notes]

Cyclone Mocha Update Live: Coastal People of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar are Depression About Cyclone Mocha

#cyclonemocha #cyclone_mocha #Cyclonemocha2023 #cyclone #Mocha

Visit our website and informed for stay safe.

[lieutenantfloyd]

What I think Top Gun characters would order at a coffee shop

Rooster: Blended lemonade, maybe an iced coffee if he needs the caffeine.

Hangman: Is too "manly" to order anything, but secretly hopes someone buys him a cake pop or a rice crispy bar.

Bob: Apple Juice and a lemon loaf.

Phoenix: Iced americano with vanilla syrup.

Maverick: Chai latte and an almond croissant.

Coyote: Blended strawberry lemonade and a bag of turkey jerky.

Payback: Flat white with almond milk.

Iceman: Earl Grey Tea with a splash of whole milk.

Cyclone: The darkest, most bitter black coffee you can imagine. Adds a pack of madeleines to his order when he knows Maverick will be around.

Warlock: Iced chocolate mocha, or a matcha frappe when he's feeling fancy.

[warningsine]

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of people hunkered down Sunday in monasteries, pagodas and schools, seeking shelter from a powerful storm that slammed into the coast of Myanmar, tearing the roofs off buildings and killing at least three people.

The center of Cyclone Mocha made landfall Sunday afternoon in Myanmar’s Rakhine state near Sittwe township wind speeds up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. Earlier, the storm passed over Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island, causing damage and injuring people, but turned away from the country’s shores before landfall.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses, electrical transformers, cell phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said the storm also tore roofs off of sport buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

Rakhine-based media reported that streets and basements of the houses in Sittwe’s low-lying areas were flooded, and that people in low-lying areas were trapped in their houses and unable to communicate. Much of the area is cut off from telephone and internet service after high winds crumpled cell phone towers.

More than 4,000 of Sittwe’s 300,000 residents were evacuated to other cities and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools located on the city’s highlands, said Tin Nyein Oo, who is volunteering in shelters in Sittwe.

Lin Lin, the chairman of a local charitable foundation, said earlier there was not enough food in the shelters in Sittwe after more people arrived than expected.

Titon Mitra, the U.N. Development Program representative in Myanmar, tweeted: “Mocha has made landfall. 2m people at risk. Damage and losses are expected to be extensive. We are ready to respond and will need unhindered access to all affected communities.”

On Sunday morning, several deaths caused by wind and rain were reported in Myanmar. A rescue team from the country’s eastern Shan state announced on its Facebook social media page that they had recovered the bodies of a couple who were buried when a landslide caused by heavy rain hit their house in Tachileik township. Local media reported that a man was crushed to death when a banyan tree fell on him in Pyin Oo Lwin township in the central Mandalay Region.

Authorities in the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which lay in the storm’s predicted path, said earlier that they had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people, but by early afternoon it appeared that the storm would mostly miss the country as it veered east, said Azizur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department in Dhaka.

“The level of risk has reduced to a great extent in our Bangladesh,” he told reporters.

Strong winds accompanied by rains continued in the Saint Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal in the afternoon, but feared tidal surges did not take place because the cyclone started crossing Bangladesh coast at low tide, Dhaka-based Jamuna TV station reported.

About a dozen islanders were injured, while some 300 homes were either destroyed or damaged, leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily reported. One woman was critically wounded, it said.

U.N. agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances with mobile medical teams in sprawling refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River Delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.

“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Cyclones, giant storms similar to those known as hurricanes or typhoons in other parts of the world, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters, especially when they hit densely populated coastal regions.

[14carrotghoul]

Fic Pride Weekend

Rules: Post your favourite line or passage from as many of your published works as you’d like. Let yourself feel proud of your creations! Tag as many people as you post snippets, so your fellow fic friends can be proud, too.

Thank you to @cha-melodius for tagging me! Have added so many of y'all's wonderful fics to my list from this tag game so I wanna see what y'all are proudest of! Tagging @read-and-write- @dumbpeachjuice @sherryvalli @cultofsappho

@happiness-of-the-pursuit @suseagull04 @indomitable-love @tintagel-or-cockleshells @welcometololaland

@orchidscript @xthelastknownsurvivorx @inexplicablymine @junebugclaremontdiaz @myheartalivewrites and anyone else that wants to share their personal favorites!!!!

Déjame Ver Cómo Es Que Floreces 

[...]Thirdly, and most importantly, the music that’s playing is his music, not some flowery French waltz. These are songs that he’s heard since before he could talk. Songs that remind him of Saturday drives with his dad hunting down their favorite flavors of Helados at several grocery stores (mamey for his dad; pecan for himself). Of cleaning with his grandmother when she babysat until she dropped everything to watch her novelas. Smearing masa on corn husks until his fingers went pruny on Christmas Eve. Raucous birthday parties that are responsible for his well-earned anxiety near bouncy castles.

Solo Déjame Estar Junto a Ti

Alex nods decisively and says, “H, you are my choice and the absolute love of my life. I love you and I love your heart and I love your mind and I love the way you’re about to freak the fuck out when I say you have bewitched me, body and soul – ” he pauses because Henry’s chest positively heaves with a sob “ – and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” His smile widens and he opens the box. “Henry Fox, will you marry me?

True Blue

Henry wades further into the ocean, the Ionian lapping gently against his ribs before he tugs Alex closer and cradles him, whispering poetry in his ear, all sun-kissed skin and besotted smiles; his own private sun tucked safely in his embrace, nourishing him with his endless blaze.

Henry helps. Of course he helps but he's not always enough to cut through his cyclone of a brain; he hasn't been around when he fucks up and cracks under the pressure and spirals into panic attacks and unwise pulls of Maker's Mark straight from the bottle. Henry is there, holding him and helping him breathe and it makes him love him so much more for staying and fear far more deeply because eventually everyone leaves. Henry insists he never will but he doesn't get it he doesn't get it he doesn't get it. He is so alone and he is never alone - not as long as he's getting secretly photographed by fellow students at the library or being blasted on Fox News as their latest scapegoat for everything wrong with America or taking selfies with a barista when all he wants is a triple shot mocha and a fucking break.

Impossible to Ignore, Impossible to Ignore 

His brain is a perpetual maelstrom of immigration law and prayers in Nahuatl and stupid shit like Fergie singing the national anthem. It never shuts the fuck up. However, just being in Henry's presence makes everything else fade away. Wait… FUCK.  Henry looks away, alerting Alex to the fact that he's been staring at him in silence like a total weirdo. For good reason, though, because even though he never entertained the idea that he's into guys, Henry's face - even when exhausted and gray - is inarguable proof of a higher power. Like aurora borealis or the first time he heard Dreams by The Cranberries.

A Love That Haunts the Land [I am particularly proud of the bonkers plot and characterization in this, especially Pez and Raf, but also Nora's introduction below fills me with so much fucking joy]

Alex lives with his best friend/ex-girlfriend/sister-in-law Nora, who Henry meets for the first time while half-naked (and not the half he would've preferred).  She waltzes into the flat with a mischievous glint in her eye, slides onto the couch with them, and steals the remote for their sound system without saying a word. A few seconds later, she's blasting “WAP” and brutally murdering whatever shred remained of the mood while Henry clutches a throw pillow between his legs and begs desperately for the ever-so-elusive release of death. "Do you, like, mind?" Alex yells over the mantra of there’s some whores in this house.

two homes (side by side) 

His deep laugh kicks with the power of a bucking bronco, taking the whole room into hysterics with him – especially if the little ones are around (and they are always around). Abuelo Alex warms the space and fills it with grand and irreverent energy. He weaves tales so magical the kids don't believe him until one of them will chirp, “Is it true, Grandpa Henry?” And he nods sagely, if only to hear them gasp with delight.

Tiempo de Vals 

Before they call it and head back, Alex warns, "FYI, June has a crush on the other guys in the court that aren't related to her. So - you know - you're in the danger zone." "That won't be a problem." Henry blushes again (seriously, does this guy have a condition?) which makes it harder to believe him. "June's not the type of person I'm interested in, and she knows it." Alex half-jokes, "Why not? Are you racist or something?" "I'm gay," Henry answers with an amused huff. Without missing a beat, Alex kisses his teeth in mock disappointment and drawls, "Dodging the question, I see." Henry rolls his eyes and can't help but smile. "You're a menace." "Well, you're not beating the racism allegations with that attitude."

[mossyfart]

Whoahh Intro Post ‼️

Name: Forest

4+2+10

Pronouns/Lables

Sun, Rising and Moon: ♓ ♋ ♈

Hobbies: Pottery, Art, Writing (I never write)

Primary Fandoms (There's a fuckton more but I'm not listing them all): Doctor Who, Torchwood, Good Omens, David Tennants filmography (TOTA, ATWI80D and Broadchurch especially), WWDITS, OFMD, Hannibal, Dead Boy Detectives, CoD: MW, Stardew Valley, Criminal Minds, Riordanverse, Tim Burton Movies, Studio Ghibli, TSOA

Regularly updated favorite Whoniverse stuff

--

Partner: Gay ass bf (@f1x-it-felix)

Pets: Mocha (Dog), Patches, Buttons, Willow, Zoey (Cats), Fujimoto, Smaug (Bearded Dragons), Kiri, Nagini, Yoshi (Leopard Geckos), Dumpling (Hamster), Zero (Ball Python), Assortment of fish

--

Favorite colors: A very specific shade of dark teal and a very specific shade of maroon/pink (💀)

Favorite songs:

Favorite singers: Hozier, Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, Ozzy Osbourne, Will Wood, Queen, Chappell Roan, Mitski, Oingo Boingo, Petshop Boys, DEVO, The Smiths, The Beatles, David Bowie, Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Favorite authors: Rick Riordan, Neil Gaiman

Favorite books: TSOA, Magnus Chase Series, Good Omens

Favorite fic types: Hurt/Comfort, Hurt No Comfort, Whump

Favorite show: ......Do I even need to answer this-

Favorite movies: SWEENY TODD

Favorite musicals: SWEENY TODD, Heathers, Rent, Percy Jackson, Ride the Cyclone, Dear Evan Hansen

Favorite holiday: Halloween

--

Extra:

-Beginner in Norwegian

-Trying to write my own book and failing miserably

-I also have some fics in the works but those aren't going well either jssjskkskda

-I can NOT initiate conversation normally 💀

-I makea da sawiches

-Audhd go brrr

-Tiktok and Pinterest are the same user

-Always looking for friends and moots! :3

-I yap A L O T 😿

[labyrinth-runner]

Hold My Hand Ch. 2

Synopsis: Jag! Reader realizes she has to try and apologize to Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson for getting off on the wrong foot.

Word count: 3200~

Warnings: Mentions of death (We are solving a crash case)

Pairing: Beau “Cyclone” Simpson x Reader

You could hear the wind whistling in your ears. Panic settled in your chest at the realization that the airplane you were flying no longer was closed. Wind whipped at your chest, threatening to rip you from your seat. You closed your eyes tight, hearing the alarms in the background informing you that you were losing altitude. The scent of smoke tickled your nose, alerting you to the fact that your wing was on fire. You tried to scream, but it was trapped in your chest. The alarms blared louder and louder as the hard deck came racing towards you. Your hand wrapped around the lever for ejection, but nothing happened. You tugged and tugged. The alarm rang in your ears-

You woke with a start, sitting up straight in bed. Your breathing came in pants as you took stock of your bedroom around you, your hands fisted in sheets that were wrapped around you.You gently released the sheets. Reaching over, you turned off the alarm on your side table. 

6 am. 

You hated having to wake up earlier than normal to account for going to a different base. Swinging your legs over the side, you got out of bed, running a hand through your sleep-tangled hair and groaning when it got caught in a knot. You padded towards your shower, knowing that the only thing that was going to get you through today was a hot shower to start and then breakfast from Spill the Beans on your way in.

The familiar lighthouse of one of your favorite coffee shop stood like a beacon of hope on your Tuesday morning.  You were about to order your go-to, a La Vida Mocha and a French Toast bagel with agave and vanilla spread, when you thought that maybe you could use this as a proverbial olive branch to the Vice Admiral. You didn’t know what kind of coffee he was into, so you just got him a Hot Cinna-bee, because that was your go-to conversion drink for anyone who was new to Spill the Beans, and a plane jain bagel with plain cream cheese. 

With the coffee and bagels in hand, you walked into his office, placing your offering on his desk.

He raised a brow at you, putting down his pen. “What’s this?”

“Breakfast,” you replied, plopping down into the chair you’d waited in yesterday. “We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, so I thought I’d bring in a peace offering.”

He looked at the coffee and bagel in front of him. “So you brought me breakfast.”

“Only a monster says no to bagels and coffee.”

“But you don’t even know my order.”

“I made an educated guess.”

He peaked in the bag, a slight tug to the corner of his lips. “A plain jane?”

“No muss, no fuss.”

He took a sip of the coffee. “Cinna-bee?”

“Well, how’d I do, Vice Admiral?” You raised a challenging brow at him.

“I prefer La Vida Mocha,” he said before taking another sip of his coffee.

You shook your head, taking a sip of your coffee. “I wasn’t big on bagels when I lived on the East Coast, but for some reason, a bagel and coffee just brings me back home.”

“Nothing beats a bagel from New York or New Jersey, just over the river,” he agreed.

“You’re from the East Coast, too?”

“Mhm. I miss the beaches, sometimes. These are fine, but-”

“No gulf stream,” you replied, eyes alight to find someone who got it.

“Exactly. You know, my dad would do the polar plunge every winter,” he replied with a shake of his head. “That was when we lived in Newport while he was going to the War College.”

“So the Navy’s in your blood,” you replied, pulling apart your bagel to eat it in pieces.

“You could say that.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I suppose I should set you up with your own space here.”

“You don’t want to keep sharing a desk?” you asked with a smirk.

“Unless you plan on bringing breakfast every day...”

You felt heat spread in your cheeks. “I don’t plan on needing to extend another olive branch, Vice Admiral.”

“Cyclone.” He replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “You can call me Cyclone.”

You scrunched your nose up a bit. “I’ll try to remember that.”

He got up, coming around the desk to you. “There’s a conference room down the hall that you can claim. It has a white board and a cork board. I’m not really sure what a JAG needs to do their job.”

You suppressed a laugh. “Ah yes, a white board and a cork board. Truly, the only things I ever wish I had when I was doing my job.”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “3B. It’s all yours.”

You gave him a small, playful salute on your way out. “Thank you, Cyclone.”

The conference room wasn’t anything to write home about. There was a white board on one half of the front wall, and a cork board in the other half. In the middle of the room was a long conference table with chairs around it. A projector was in the ceiling. You knew it wasn’t an updated conference room, you’d seen the tech in those. This just reminded you of one of the study rooms in your college library back in the day.

No matter, it was functional and you had a job to do. Reaching into your briefcase, you pulled out your case file and began to organize the photos on the cork board so that you could see the whole crash. Then, you uncapped a white board marker and stood back. 

You sighed. “What’s my angle?”

You wrote your defendant’s name on the board in script. You wrote innocent next to it. You really wanted to follow it with a question mark, but you didn’t. A person was innocent until proven guilty, and you had to remind yourself that. You still weren’t quite sure what to do next, so you made a timeline of the pilot’s flight, trying to see if something happened during the time he was in the air. It all looked like a jumble of numbers.

Taking a step back, you sat on the conference table, your feet swinging as you took it all in. The photos were gruesome, but it was hard to marry that bad of a crash with the flight data. 

“Hard at work or hardly working?”

You turned to see Warlock leaning against the doorframe, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

“Little bit of column A...” You tilted your head and groaned. “Maybe Column B.”

“Have you ever flown before, Lieutenant?”

You shook your head.

“So this is all pictures and data with no context,” he said with a resolute nod. “I’ll have him clear his afternoon to show you the crash site.”

“Who?”

“Cyclone.”

You swallowed a lump in your throat. You didn’t want the Vice Admiral to see you struggling this hard to do your job, especially since you were trying to appear more competent than yesterday. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’m sure he’s busy.”

Warlock waved you off. “He’s just set to talk to some Cadets about the Top Gun program. I can handle that.” He pointed at your data. “That’s more important.”

“Alright.”

He nodded, turning to leave. He paused. “You know, the two of you want the same thing. You want to do your job, and he wants you to be able to do your job and be able to help the pilot. He’s not your enemy.” Satisfied with his nugget of advice, he left you there.

Your shoulders drooped forward. You hadn’t viewed Cyclone as an enemy. Not really. However, you weren’t confident at how well of a working relationship the two of you could have given that you were just different people. Your short breakfast had given you some hope, though. And, you couldn’t deny that you wanted Cyclone to like you. Not just because he was a superior officer. No, your need for Cyclone’s approval was deeper than that, and you didn’t want to admit it. You’d never had a crush on another officer before, and you weren’t quite sure this was the time to have that happen. This case was already hard enough. Crushing on Cyclone would only make it harder.

The majority of your time after lunch was spent in anticipation of touring the crash. You tried reconstructing the scene on your white board, but Warlock was right. It was hard to picture it without walking the topography yourself. You couldn’t see what surrounded the area.  A headache was already starting to come on as you sat back on the table, rubbing your temples with your fingers.

“That’s not very promising, Lieutenant.” 

Your eyes flicked over to see Cyclone in the doorway, arms crossed in front of him as he looked at your data. “Does anybody knock on this base?”

The corner of his lips tugged up ever so slightly. “Warlock said you could use a field trip.”

“I would hardly call it a field trip.” You replied, watching him walk towards the middle of your boards. He stood directly in front of you, back to you as he looked at them. When he turned, he was standing almost between your knees. 

He cleared his throat and took a step back. “I have a jeep waiting.” 

You nodded, grabbing your phone and shoving it into your pocket so that you could take videos. 

He walked quickly and with a purpose. You knew he wasn’t the type of man who would idle in a place. You took two strides to his one as you attempted to keep up.

You’d expected there to be a driver in the jeep, but it was just the two of you. He kept his eyes trained on the road, or at least you assumed he did because you couldn’t see with his sunglasses in the way. You could barely have a conversation over the hum of the jeep and the wind in your ears, and if you could, you didn’t know what you’d say. Not only were you driving to the sight of a plane crash, you were driving to the site where a person had died. There was a solemnity to the trip that made you feel more uncomfortable than the heat of the day. You unbuttoned the top two buttons of your shirt to give you more air, feeling like you couldn’t breathe. 

The Californian desert spread out in front of you like a sea of sand. The grass was dead from the drought, turning it into a straw-like entity. Cyclone drove the jeep up a hill. As soon as the car crested the top, you could see the crash site.

Debris was strewn haphazardly as if a toddler had taken the plane and shook it empty its contents before throwing it against a rock face. The nose was smooshed into it, and one of the wings rested ten feet behind the rest of the crash. The ground was still scorched from where the plane had caught on fire.

You let out a low whistle. “It’s amazing that one of them walked away from this.”

Cyclone’s expression was blank as he scanned the site, hands on his hips. “It’s not the worst I’ve seen.”

You bit your lip. You’d forgotten that the Vice Admiral had flown for years before achieving his rank. No doubt he’d seen things, maybe even experienced them himself. “So, does anything look out of the ordinary?”

He took a few steps towards the crash, peering into the cockpit. “The seatbelt is intact.”

You tilted your head. “Isn’t it supposed to-”

“In really bad crashes, like this one, the response team would cut the seatbelt to get the pilot out as fast as possible. This one’s not cut, so the seatbelt wasn’t on properly when they got here,” he replied.

“Maybe the pilot undid it himself before he died?”

Cyclone shook his head. “You’d never undo that. If you went to eject, you wouldn’t be strapped in, and the weapons system operator sustained head trauma in the flight so he was gone before they hit the ground.” He squinted at the wreck and shook his head. “Something about this is off.”

“What is it?” You were struggling to see what he saw and that irked you.

“I don’t know. I’ve seen a lot of crashes in my time. This... this is different.” 

“Foul play?” You asked on instinct.

“No. At least, not on the part of the pilot.” 

The sun dipped down over the dunes on the horizon, warm reds and oranges bathed Cyclone in a warm amber glow.

“We should go, Lieutenant. It’s getting late. The desert gets cold at night.”

Almost as if on cue, you found yourself shivering at the mention of the temperature. He reached back into the backseat of the jeep and pulled out his bomber jacket, offering it to you. You shrugged the worn leather jacket over your shoulders. Closing your eyes, you drank in the sandalwood scent that washed over you as he turned on the jeep, pulling back onto the road.

“Do you want to get a drink?” He asked, driving back a little slower than he’d driven to the site.

You thought back to the wreckage, thinking back to your brother’s crash. You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I could use a drink.”

He scribbled an address down on a piece of paper and handed it to you. “See you there.”

When you got to the bar the Vice Admiral had sent you to, The Hard Deck, you were confused. The beachside establishment didn’t seem like his typical haunt. You’d expected.... well, you didn’t know what you expected, but this wasn’t it. The voices of drunken Navy officers drifted to you over the sand. Peeking in through the window, you quickly spotted the Air Boss at the bar already nursing a whiskey. With a shrug, you walked in and joined him.

“I’ll have one of whatever he’s having,” you told the woman behind the bar. 

She raised a brow at Cyclone. “Didn’t think you’d have company, Vice Admiral.”

He shot her a look. “She’s just visiting.”

You didn’t know why, but his comment stung. You took a swig of the drink the bartender put in front of you, letting it burn all the way down. “Do you come here often?” You nodded towards the bartender who’d already moved on to another patron at the end of the bar.

“If you’re asking if I’m an alcoholic, Lieutenant, the answer is no. But, Penny’s bar is a particular friend to our service men and women so I like to support her business,” he explained, leaning back to look at you.

Casually, you tried to look at the signs around the bar, deciding not to scrutinize him back. You listened to the music playing from the jukebox. The sounds of pool balls clacking against each other. The laugh of the people around you. You couldn’t quite force yourself to be as jovial as them. You thought back to your conversation at the crash site.

“Not to talk about work after hours, but you mentioned seeing a lot of crashes. Have you ever crashed?” you looked down at the ice in your glass, swirling it around to avoid looking at him.

He downed his whiskey and raised a finger to Penny for another. “I’ll need at least one more drink if we’re going to talk about that.”

Your brow furrowed as a silence settled into the space between you, broken by the clink of the glass as Penny put it down in front of him. He looked deeply into the glass like it held all the answers at the bottom.

“I was in Iraq,” he eventually began. “Back when it started as the War on Terror. With a name like that, you just assumed that you were doing the right thing. You didn’t question why we were there. At least, I didn’t during that first tour. When I got there, I’d only flown in training. Nothing’s truly deadly, and you’re not flying for your life.” He took a sip of his drink before turning to look in your direction. He didn’t look at you, but rather he looked through you. “Everything looks the same when you’re flying over stretches of desert. Our mission was to take out a band of insurgents in a hideaway. The mission was fine. It was the trip back. We got hit by a sandstorm. It was like being trapped in a snow globe that someone shook up. When I finally got visibility, I was heading straight for a rock face and I had to eject. My parachute deployed a little later than it should have and my landing was rough. My wingman saw the crash and a helicopter was close by for a supply run. They picked me up hours later, injured from the fall and almost dehydrated.” He flicked the purple heart on his chest. “It’s how I earned that.” He shook his head. “It’s still not the worst crash I’ve seen.”

“What was that like?”

He tapped his Bronze Star. “That’s a story for a different day, Lieutenant.” 

“Why do you do it?” you asked, leaning in. “If it’s so dangerous-”

“Lieutenant, if those ‘fly boys’ that you hold in such low regard didn’t fly, then you’d have ground support dealing with those missions. They’d be risking mass casualties to take the tower when a targeted air strike could minimize loss and have a better success rate. Those fly boys save lives.”

“By risking theirs.”

“It’s the job of the military to risk everything for everyone else. It’s my job.”

“You fly a giant ball of metal in the sky at death speeds in a way that almost certainly means death if you fail.” You couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do that.

His lip twitched slightly. “So maybe we’re all in it for the adrenaline. My life amounts to months of planning, but it comes down to split-second decisions.”

You shook your head, taking a sip of your drink. “I’m beginning to think you like it that way.”

He finished his drink and slapped enough money down to cover both of you. “DIdn’t get to where I am by being idle.”

“I’m not idle, Vice Admiral.”

He smirked. “Never said you were, Lieutenant. See you tomorrow. And for the record, I’ll take a habanero and jack cheese bagel.”

You watched him leave, a laugh breezing between your lips. 

You finished your drink and went home. It was still fairly early, and you weren’t quite tired. To be honest, you weren’t quite sure you wanted to sleep right now, worried that you’d have another nightmare. A quick glance at the clock let you know that it was almost time for the local news, so you decided to watch the daily round up of news stories while you sank into your couch.

The local news anchor was starting in on a story about puppies being found in the playground of an elementary school when a banner flashed across the screen: Breaking News. Your brow furrowed as you watched the anchor touch the piece in his ear, eyes wide.

“We have breaking news coming in about a military plane crash in the desert.” The screen cut to footage of a plane falling out of the sky like a meteor, fire spreading across the wings as it hurtled towards the ground. The plane exploded upon impact. Your eyes scanned the sky on the screen, looking for the tell-tale sign of a parachute that the pilot had escaped the inferno. There was nothing.

“Shit.”

[sataniccapitalist]

Why does God kick people when they’re already down?

[muhtesemz]

May Allah keep Saint Martin's Island safe tonight. May Allah keep everyone safe and sound there. Keep them in your prayers. Cyclone Mocha is approaching the coast after turning into a very severe cyclonic storm.

Photo Courtesy: Nakib Shah Alam