Proudly edited by the wonderful kelev.

This fic is dedicated to kelev. Thank you so much on so many different levels.

The characters Ewan, Mirage, Orde, and Comet are property of kelev. Rex is the intellectual property of Dragon Tamer. All characters were used with the permissoin of their respective creators.

It was an ordinary October morning, as ordinary as any morning could be in Nome. The weather was already getting colder, but the first snow’s had yet to fall yet, but it was coming soon and when it did the sleds could start running again and the sled dogs could get back to work. However, Ewan didn’t have to worry about that. He could pull a sled if he wanted to, but that wasn’t his job. He was a police dog. Ever since his master had brought him the force Ewan had a chip on his shoulder to prove that there was nothing that he wouldn’t do to uphold the law. At first he was inexperienced and reckless, but with his mentor Orde’s instruction he soon grew into an incredible asset to the K-9 unit. Orde was about four years older than Ewan. He had originally lived in the Middle-East, but his master moved to America to pursue his judicial training. After two years of schooling, Orde’s master found his true calling in justice and moved to Nome as a member of the first real police force of the city. Orde became one of the founding members of the K-9 unit and had risen to rank of Captain. Everybody looked up to Orde and aside from Rex, the chief of the K-9 unit; he was the highest ranking member on the force. It had been Orde’s job to train Ewan, and although he was a tough nut to crack, Orde had made Ewan into an effective police dog.

This morning Ewan was in a particularly good mood because today was the day that Ewan was being promoted to sergeant. He had been working for years on the force and now with his promotion to sergeant it felt like he was finally getting some respect as an officer. Ewan ate his breakfast quickly that morning. His barley noticed it was his favorite meal, kielbasa, but he didn’t care. While his owner was having coffee, Orde walked in to find Ewan waiting for him.

"Well now," yawned Orde, still trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. "Excited much, are we?"

"I couldn’t sleep at all last night Orde," said Ewan. "I was up all night thinking about this promotion and what it means for me."

"Big dog in the force now eh," said Orde with a smile.

"You have no idea," said Ewan. "Ever since I was a pup I’ve always dreamed of being a police dog and now with this promotion it feels like my dreams or coming to completion."

Orde smiled. "Well now, keep dreaming because we’ve got a big day ahead of us. First we have the morning meeting, featuring your promotion, then dispatch at ten. Then we’re on patrol all day and we might have to cover a night watch depending on whether Jason is willing to cover our shift tonight or not. You know his mate is expecting a litter any day now."

"Yeah," nodded Ewan. "Hey, speaking of mate, I’m going to go ask Mirage if she’d want to go to my award ceremony or not. I’ll catch up to you later at the meeting," he said as he headed out to the back porch.

"Another day another adventure," sighed Orde, mentally preparing himself for the day’s work. As he did so he chanced to gaze out the window where the thermometer was placed. The temperature read 31 degrees. Orde uttered a deep sigh. "Another day another degree. Why do these bloody winters start so early?"

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Mirage and Ewan had been mates for about a year now. Before she had met Ewan she had lived on the streets her whole right and had little to no friends. Consequently, she was a little rough around the edges, but ever since she had met Ewan she had adopted a whole new outlook on life and had become a much more pleasant dog to be around. However, she did retain some of her old habits and one of those was the fact that she was not a morning person.

Currently, Mirage was quietly sleeping under the porch. She had never liked the idea of being "owned" by anybody, and when she and Ewan became mates she was perfectly happy to sleep under the porch or in the town’s boiler room when it got colder. She was just enjoying a dream of a long luxurious stroll on the beach. The sun was shining and the breeze was softly blowing the salty spray into her face. The air was fresh and cool and as the waves beat slowly against the sand beneath her paws they seemed to hush peace. But then, all of a sudden, the waves began to sound different, like a familiar dog calling out her name.

"Mirage, Mirage wake up," called Ewan from the front end of the porch.

Mirage opened one eye and the groggily asked, "Ugh, what is it Ewan?"

"Today is the big day," beamed Ewan. "The day I get my promotion and it would mean a lot to me if you came."

"Come here," said Mirage gesturing Ewan to come under the porch. Slightly confused but not wanting to be rude, Ewan crawled under the porch next to her. "Now you know I love you and you know that I know this promotion is important to you." She stated, "But if I here another word about your promotion I swear they'll have to give you a Purple Heart."

"Sorry," said Ewan bashfully. "I guess I’ve mentioned it a bit much this week.

"Try every minute of every hour of every day this week," said Mirage. "Tell you what Officer Bigmouth, you go attend your ceremony and I’ll stay here and dream about how handsome you’ll look with your new collar, deal?"

Ewan was not happy about being called "Officer Bigmouth", but Mirage was tired and he decided that it was best that she got her rest. "Deal," said Ewan. "Okay Mirage, I’ll catch you later. We’re still doing lunch at one?"

"Mmmhmm, love you dear," she called out already drifting up into slumber.

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Ewan walked into the meeting room with his head held high that day. As he walked in all the other dogs greeted him and gave him congratulations on receiving his promotion. Finally, Rex, the chief, stepped up onto an overturned fruit crate they used as a podium and called everyone’s attention. "Thank you," he said when he had everyone’s focus. "Three years ago Ewan joined this police force because he felt that it was his job to do good in this world. And for three years of his life Ewan has shown determination, bravery, and intelligence. I can tell you all that I sleep sound at night knowing that there or dogs like Ewan making our town safe." "Ewan," he called out.

"Will you please come forward?" On command, Ewan came up to the podium. "Remove your collar," said Rex and Ewan did so. Lifting a brand new collar in his paws Rex said, "Ewan, for your exemplary talent in the face of danger in the pursuit of justice and your hard work and years of service to this police force, I herby promote you to the rank of sergeant."

Ewan was practically beaming as the collar was draped around his neck while the rest of the force hooted and hollered in congratulations. "Well done Ewan, dismissed," he said saluting him to which Ewan saluted back and returned to his usual seat next to Orde.

"Alright then," said Rex as the cheers died down. "Now that we’ve had our fun it’s time to get to work. Our first order of business is that someone’s been breaking into Mr. Chang’s dumpster behind his restaurant. He’s made his complaint to the city and I feel that it is important that we try to stop the perpetrator before any more action need be taken. Fillmore," he said to a husky in the middle row. "You’ll be in charge of guarding his dumpster tonight as the culprit is bound to return again tonight. If it is a dog, as I suspect it is, give him a warning. If he continues with these violations, I’m afraid we will have to bring him in. Our second item today, you all know that Mr. Kauk, one of our human officers, is being transferred to Hawaii and is taking one of our oldest officers with him, Ace."

"Lucky devil," whispered Orde to Ewan as he thought of how warm it probably was in Hawaii in January.

Rex did not here him and continued, "I just wanted to let you know that so that if you see Ace before he leaves, to wish him a Bon Voyage and to have a happy retirement."

"Finally, our last item, whenever one of our human officers leaves the human chief likes to get a replacement in as soon as possible. Unfortunately we also have to find a replacement for Ace as well. The good news however it Mr. Roberts has already found a replacement for Mr. Kauk and coincidently he also has a young dog of his own that could make a fine police dog, with a bit of training of course. Right now he’s with Officer Roland, but if you see him around make him feel welcome. That’s all we have today, dismissed," and with that the dogs dispatched to there duties or to go home after covering the night shift.

For the first time since he got it, Ewan looked down at his new collar. It was an ordinary leather collar, and hanging from the ring was a silver shield with "sergeant" engraved on it. As stupid as it was, he couldn’t help but gaze into the shield and marvel at the power behind the badge he now possessed.

"Enjoying your new toy, eh?" said Orde right there at his side ready to burst his bubble.

"What? Oh, sorry," said Ewan just realizing how stupid he must have looked. "I guess I kind of drifted off."

Orde rolled his eyes. "Do let it get to your head Ewan. You’ve done a marvelous job so far, but we still got work to do. Come on," he said. "We have to ask Rex about the radio,"

"What radi……..Oh, that radio." said Ewan as they remembered their problem. The humans had installed radios in every one of their