Oh. that is way too funny! The dog from The Square Triangle?? Love it!

Really like it so far -- which is saying a lot, because I'm no dog lover.    How soon will we get more?

(Oh, BTW, abso-tively loved the image of Sultan slobbering on the Commander!) 

Part three is up - working on the epilogue.

The epilogue is up, but I'm debating as to whether or not it adds anything but a downer. Let me know what you all think. 

The epilogue is perfect! Don't change a thing. The fact that we know that Sultan passes, only makes him that much more special.

I always thought Straker could deliver a good eulogy.

Fantastic story, Deb. Bravo!

Sultan likes cats - he told me so himself. He just wishes they would learn to speak proper dog.   

Writer's Notes: I don't normally do writer's notes but the boards have been so dead...

I have a dog. And the challenge was for a 'four-footed hero'. (I'm surprised nobody has written a story about a heroic rodent, but one might show up.  )

I have a habit of starting stories in the middle and this one's no different - we start with Nils and Sultan waiting to start on their first search for SHADO then backtrack to find out how Nils (a lowly SHADO security guy - AKA red shirt) ended up with the dog from Square Triangle.

And there were some interesting issues with the Square Triangle - Foster's assumption that the dog would be able to follow the alien's trail despite all the strange people and the trauma of losing his human partner was a bit of a stretch even when I saw the episode the first time. So some backstory for Sultan was in order - a partially trained (and highly capable) search dog would fit the bill.

And of course Jackson's ahead of everybody in recognizing what a treasure SHADO has stumbled onto - and sending Sultan to look for Straker... let's say that Jackson has a devilish sense of humor. 

Nils isn't a Control Room operative - I wanted someone for whom being called into Straker's office implied being called on the carpet. Someone who only knew Straker by reputation so Straker's orders for creating a SAR corps for SHADO would be a surprise..

On real Search and Rescue dogs - one of the hallmarks of SAR dogs is their capacity for play - and searching is the bestest game ever created, no matter how seriously the humans take it. And the relationship of human and dog in SAR is a true partnership.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts while writing this story!  I thoroughly enjoyed it and can tell that you researched well before starting out.  I'm a cat person myself, but couldn't figure a way to write a different sort of story about a cat and the commander when Pam's kept intruding saying it had already been done!    That said, I really liked Sultan and the many wonderful images you gave us through the story.  BTW, why don't you write behind-the-scenes on your stories?