A/N - I thought I'd better get this up, since I've had a new reviewer. This one's for you, XPhoenix, good to have you reading too. To the rest of you, I hope this chapter will have been worth the wait. :)

10. Vertical Velocity

The group, now consisting of equal parts Havener and Earthling, waited mere seconds before the sound of spinning rotor blades met their ears. It was a sound that all of them were familiar with. Jak's mind flashed back to when he first mounted Keira's A-Grav Zoomer all those years ago and wondered if the sound belonged to a vehicle of similar design. He soon saw that the source was closer to the now repurposed Krimzon Guard transports that he'd used as recently as the day before they had come to this world on one of his trips between Spargus and Haven.

"Chloe, how…" Drake began asking as a Chinook helicopter became visible above the tree line.

"A favour from a mutual friend. Sort of," she said casually, keeping her eyes transfixed on the twin-rotor transport.

"A mutual friend?" the bemused man repeated, failing to be heard over the increasingly loud sound the helicopter was making.

The Chinook span 90 degrees as it hovered over the clearing, its distinctive long body slotting between the trees easily, with space to spare. The rear hatch whirred mechanically open, but the rotor blades did not power down in the slightest. Chloe hopped in first and, following the green-shirted woman, the group embarked, the ramp closing as soon as the last person set foot inside. Along each side of the interior was an uncomfortable looking metal bench, with a large open floor space in between them. Towards the front was the door to the cockpit, into which Keira had already disappeared, fascinated by the flickering control panels.

Daxter had dismounted from Jak's shoulder and was standing, wide-eyed in front of Chloe, staring up at her chest.

"Is he always this blatant about staring at breasts?" she asked the blue-eyed elf.

"Yeah, pretty much," he replied. "It's best just to let him get it out of his system,"

"How did you find us?" Nate cut in.

"Ah, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" she said cheekily.

"I'm serious, Chloe. We haven't had contact with anyone outside of this chopper in about a week," he urged.

"Nate, calm down," Sully said, laying a hand on the man's shoulder. "I told her,"

"What?"

"What are you complaining about? She saved our asses, didn't she?"

Drake chose not to formulate a proper response, grumbling to himself instead.

The helicopter skimmed low and fast over the canopy of trees, rustling them violently with the draft from the rotors and shaking water free from the topmost leaves, sending it cascading down to the forest floor. The sun, barely above sunset, spread its gentle light on to the Chinook and the very tips of the forest's greenery, casting long shadows. Flocks of birds soared far in the distance, soaking up the day's final rays of sunshine. Seeing them from one of the craft's small circular windows, Jak reminisced about his own flying experiences; from the early days of the A-Grav Zoomer and leaping around on a Flut-Flut to piloting the Precursor Monk's glider and eventually using his own Light powers to take to the skies.

"You ain't the bird watching type," Daxter chirped, having reassumed his position on Jak's shoulder.

"Just thinking about home, buddy," Jak said absent-mindedly.

"Don't start getting mopey on me, Jakky boy. We'll see home again soon," the elf's best friend assured him.

Jak smiled. "Yeah."

The distinctive, slightly gravelly voice of Keira called out from the cockpit to the occupants in the rear. "We're nearing our destination. Let's hope we're headed towards the right place or we'll be cutting it awfully close."

None of them needed reminding how important it was they find the final artefact quickly.

The Chinook slowed down, hovering over a cluster of unusually coloured trees, buffeting them with the air stirred up by the rotor blades.

"We can't land, so we'll have to drop down on the rappelling ropes," Chloe said, unfastening some catches on the floor. "Take a pair of gloves, hold on and slide down to the ground,"

"If we can't land, what's this thing going to do?" Drake asked.

"He'll find a clearing and set down. At most he'll be ten minutes away," she replied, picking up her Barrett and handing it to Jak. "I think you might have a lot more use for this than me."

Jak felt the weight of the weapon in his hands, jammed it up against his shoulder and, satisfied with it, slung it across his back. He nodded his thanks and gripped onto the rope, allowing Daxter to hop on to his shoulder before sliding quickly down to the ground. He was followed by Drake, then Keira, after which Sully and Samos came down simultaneously, the latter on the former's back. As soon as Chloe hit the floor, the rope retracted back into the Chinook and it left swiftly.

They stood in a tightly packed cluster of thin trees, which swayed gently in the early evening breeze. Keira led the way with her locator, Jak striding alongside her like a 5 foot 10 bodyguard. Suddenly, the young woman stopped, causing her boyfriend to backtrack a couple of steps to realign with her.

"What's up?" the warrior asked.

"We're right on top of the artefact, but I can't see where it could be," Keira replied, glancing around.

The whole group gathered in the area, searching all around for any sign of the object. They kicked through leaves, broken branches, piles of dirt and various other substances that none of them wanted to know the origins of. After ten minutes of hard searching, they had all but given up on finding it.

"Y'know, it might help if we knew what it looked like," Nate said rather irritably.

"Judging by the readings I'm getting, it has to be a Power Cell, but it's been inactive for a long time," the mechanic said.

"Hate to break it to you, but we've never seen a Power Cell before," Chloe mentioned.

"They're spheres made of Precursor metal, with three insets. When inactive, these insets hover a short distance from the surface. It shouldn't be active, so it should be easy enough to spot," Samos explained.

"Oh," came the surprised voice of Elena. "You mean like that?" she pointed above them and sure enough, suspended by a net, was a glowing orange sphere.

"We weren't right on top of it, it was right on top of us!" Daxter shouted incredulously. Jak turned his head to look at the pants-clad Ottsel, raising an eyebrow. "What? What are you looking at me like that for?"

Jak simply raised his eyebrow even higher at his lifelong friend.

"Why do I have to go up there?"

"Aren't you always saying that you're the hero, Dax?" Keira said, smiling. "Now's your chance to prove it! You wouldn't want to disappoint the ladies now, would you?"

"Ah, Keira, I may be a spoken for Ottsel but you know my soft spot. Specifically for those two soft spots right there," he gestured to her chest and hopped down from Jak's shoulder, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, one Power Cell coming right up!"