Delivery of Hope: DERPY Report

   In the wake of the terrible global conflicts of the early 22nd century, famine and sickness threatened to cause further loss of life.  With the scope to which conventional fighting had spread, national infrastructures took longer to rebuild than originally predicted.  Urban highways and rural roads made the distribution of food, medicine, and other forms of aid to refugee camps by ground virtually impossible.  Additionally, many camps were located in uneven terrain where large cargo airplanes could not land and geographic hazards made para-dropping relief unfeasible.  For the thousands of desperate people displaced by the war, the situation was bleak.

   However, a female Pegasus pilot crafted an ingenious plan to supply the refugees.  She outfitted her Pegasus aerodyne with a strong crane that could be operated by her copilot.  She then consulted with her friends on board the airship where she was stationed so they could help her create care packages that she could give to the refugees of a nearby camp.  The result of the crew's efforts was a compilation of foods that could sustain multiple families for weeks.  They were named MUFFINS (Major Unit of Fortified Food, Intelligent Nutrition) and also contained supplies such as water purifiers, seeds and tools to aid the refuges in starting their own moderate gardens to produce their own food.  These care packages were loaded into the aerodyne and flown out to the camp.  The Pegasus was able to vertically land in the limited space and deliver the first load of her life-saving crates.  Over the next few days, her crew assembled MUFFINs for her to deliver.  As she flew for hours with little rest, she had a tendency to make her craft wobble in the air as she landed.  Unbeknownst of the real cause of her odd behavior, the hungry children of the camp believed this to be her way of greeting them.  They nicknamed the pilot Ms. Ditzy Do and cheered and waved at her arrival.
  
   Realizing that it was not safe for a lone pilot to fly for long durations with minimal rest, the other pilots on the airship joined in the relief operation.  The production of MUFFINs was increased as dozens of Pegasi flew around the clock to deliver packages to as many camps as they could reach.  Soon, word of their actions spread across the world.  However, there was a problem with providing Pegasi to the relief services.  Once again, Ms. Ditzy Do found a solution.  She proposed that all of the factories that were making Pegasi for combat take their unpainted and unmodified stock and send them to be used in the supply service.  These grey craft appeared across the skies around the world to the delight of those in need.  The Pegasi became known as DERPY (Delivery of Emergency Relief Packages Yankee-class) and their ability to deliver food and medicine saved the lives of countless people.  Within a year of the first supply run, factories produced a special Pegasus variant at the pilots' request.  The new version had an altered windscreen that gave the aerodyne's front an asymmetrical appearance yet allowed the copilot an improved field of vision when operating the lift crane.  Wherever they flew, the odd and slightly comical nose of a DERPY brought feelings of hope and assurance to the people who saw them that they had not been forgotten.

   The pilot who started the relief missions and her friends who first helped her were awarded for their initiative and resourceful thinking that healed a world that had seen much strife.  When the aftermath of the war was finally sorted out and the refugees were allowed to return home, the DERPY Pegasi were not fully retired.  Ms. Ditzy Do and her daughter started an airmail company and many of the airlift pilots from the old program were hired to deliver packages and mail to remote areas that would otherwise be cut off from the world.  The name was altered to stand for Distribution of Express Rural Parcels Year-round and the now famous grey and yellow Pegasi became a welcome sight for those on the edge of civilization.
  
   Though they do not see as much action as they did before, the story of the pilot who started a wave of hope will never fade.  In a time where so much had gone wrong; it was comforting to know that something could go right.