I knelt down inside of the carrier ship, the sounds of bullets pinging off the hull as we came to a halt, "Dear holy father, please guide me through this fight with your holy hand, and let me survive so that I may repent for the sins I have committed in this unholy war," this was the prayer I said before every drop because the chances of me surviving were almost zip. I wasn't nearly indestructible like the SPECTREs, or faster than a bullet like the Pilots. I was just a simple grunt fighting for a company that could promise my family a good life, even if I died.

I serve my family even in death, and that was all that mattered to me. Family above all, that was what my father told me before he died and I took it to heart. Just before the doors opened, and the zip-line shot out from the ceiling of the carrier into the ground, alarms started to ring, and that meant that the ship was about to blow up. I grabbed onto the line and slid towards the ground with my partner behind me, but the ship blew before we were able to hit the ground. We ended up on the rooftops, and that was somewhere neither of us wanted to be. Without talking, we both started running towards the edge of the building and jumped off. Or at least I did, when I hit the ground, my partner wasn't with me. I could only guess what happened to him, and as soon as I saw an enemy pilot jump from the rooftop I was just on, to another, I knew what had happened and knew that I was lucky to still be alive.

I saw another of soldiers in the next building, and knew my best chance was to get to them. I ran across the street, firing at some of the militia forces. The commander of the friendly detachment was the same rank as me, meaning their real commander had gotten killed, "Where are we going?" I asked as I took cover behind the door. There was at least twenty enemy troops two streets down, meaning that it would be impossible to make a run in the direction that our objective was going towards.

"I don't know," the commander said as he sat on the ground in defeat, "let's face it, we have no business in this battle. The pilots are tearing everything apart, and we have no fall back point with the rest of the IMC forces."

I almost cursed at the luck I had, then I remembered the pilot on the roof before and took a deep breath, "Specialist," I called to the man wearing a radar-pack, "what are we looking at outside?"

"I'm seeing twenty-three enemy grunts, six SPECTRES, and at least six enemy pilots in our vicinity. Basically, a we're screwed sandwich if you ask me," the Specialist said as he checked his weapon, "So, are we going to die in a blaze of glory, or die hiding like rats?"

I looked at him as if he were crazy, "I would prefer-"

"Contact! Enemy pilot!" One of the soldiers shouted, interrupting me as he aimed out the door and started firing from the hip.

"Make you shots count!" I shouted as I pulled the weapon up to look down the sights, firing at where the pilot was, but every time I fired he moved and the only thing I hit was the walls behind him. I started backing up as I was firing, going deeper into the hallway when one of our pilots appeared from out of nowhere and jump-kicked the enemy. I nearly dropped my gun from the surprise, and looked at the men next to me, "Looks like luck smiles upon us," I looked down the hall, "We need to fall back, we are too deep in enemy territory and will die if we continue to wait for new orders."

"So, where to?" the commander asked as he stood up, "Looks like you are giving the orders."

"I'm just trying to survive," I started walking down the hall, "and as to where to go, let's go away from the enemy. Everyone keep your weapons up and be ready to fire," I pointed at the two soldiers farthest back, "You two watch our six, and alert us if someone is trying to get the drop."

"Understood," the two soldiers said as they started walking backwards.

"I'll be damned if I die here today," I told them as I reloaded my weapon. I hoped I wouldn't have to kill anyone, and that if I did god would forgive me. I took point, seeing as none of the other soldiers offered, and gave the command to move out of the building once we got to the other side, "We'll be out on open terrain once we get into the streets, so look back periodically in case tangos show up."

Everyone nodded and I started running through the street, turning back and aiming behind me as everyone else hurried towards friendly controlled areas. When there was no one left I turned back around and ran with them. The rest of the squad started following my example, every now and then someone would look back, and we kept running until we heard gunfire, and bullets wizzing past our heads. We all hit the deck as we turned around. There were five enemies on our six, and I stood up and opened fired. With the combined accuracy of the entire squad we were able to take them out. I looked around and saw that one of us was shot through the head, and another was hit in the leg. Without thought, I grabbed him, and slung his arm over my shoulder, "I'm not going to leave you behind," I said as I started dragging him with the rest of the squad, who was already running back towards the base of operations. I was nearly there until I heard more bullets. I turned around partially, and saw that this time it was a pilot. Without stopping I aimed my rifle towards the enemy, and started firing. I felt a sharp pain in my leg as I collapsed to the ground and heard the man next to me grunt in pain as he was shot again.

I rolled away from the soldier, and kept firing at the pilot, who obviously thought I was dead. The surprise was enough to get him to panic, and he had already been wounded by another pilot. I saw his body fall to the ground in front of me, and knew he had died. I started trying to stand up, but knew it would be impossible since the bullet that hit me went through my leg. Keeping my weight on my good leg, I picked myself up, then my comrade, and with his help, walked towards the base. I felt really lucky, since there was a medi-vac waiting at the base to take any wounded soldiers that hadn't been killed away from the battle. With the help from the rest of the squad that was already there, me and the other soldier got onto the shuttle and it warped out of the planet's atmosphere.

I felt extremely lucky that I had survived that battle, especially with how many encounters I had with enemy pilots. When I turned, I saw a pilot who was missing his arm look at me, "I saw what you did. If it wasn't for you everyone in that base would be dead or severly wounded. I thank you for that," from the voice, I could tell it was a she, "You have a good aim, why haven't you tried applying for the pilot program?"

"I didn't think i would qualify for the pilot program," I told her honestly, "I was never really good with machines," I closed my eyes, "besides with my leg like this, I doubt I could continue to fight."

"I lost my legs in pilot training, trust me, prosthetic are worth it," she told him as she lifted her pant leg, revealing that her legs where mechanical, "I'm sure you'll make a great pilot. We need as many of them as we can get. As you've seen, we aren't immortal."