Chapter XCVIII: And Now For Something Completely Different

August 4, 2543 (UNSC Calendar)/

Uppergap Outskirts, Lambari, Campo Sorrisco System

"God bless those motherfuckers. God bless 'em." –Staff Sergeant Francisco Castillo

Grass finally stopped, screeching to a halt behind the station's store. I hopped off from the vehicle and jogged towards one soldier while drawing my weapon. "Corporal, what are you doing here?"

"Same thing as you, sir. Holding back the Covenant."

I asked him to explain.

"We were making our way to the port, safest place for evacuation they said. Suddenly the covvies started firing at our asses. My squad and a couple of Army blokes decided that we'd buy the civvies some time."

"Good man," I nodded at him. "You have any heavy weapons?"

"Two SPANKrs, both of them with eight rockets each. We're saving them up for a special occasion."

"Good. Let's hold these assholes back."

"Oorah!"

"Grass, Scarecrow, help add your firepower. Scarecrow, I want you hitting every single ghost or chopper that gets in range."

"If we get mortared?"

"Don't think. Do."

Truth be told I was thinking about what we could do. There were fifteen of us here and we were trying to do a delaying action on several hundred Covenant soldiers with vehicular support. We could stop the general advance for a few minutes, but not for more than half an hour. The wraiths wouldn't concern themselves with us, they would probably start shelling the port, but the specters would be troublesome.

I jumped to the roof and held on to the edge by my fingertips before pulling myself up. The uneven roof allowed me some cover and decent firing spots. It would do for a few officer kills before this place started really getting peppered with fire.

"Inform me of any high-value targets," I ordered. "I'll be taking out some officers today."

"Yessir."

My first victim was an ultra, of all ranks. I would've thought a major would be the first one to go down, but the proud-warrior brute was just standing right in the open, commanding his troops to press forward under our small amount of firepower. Two bursts to the chest certainly made the alien think twice about the stupidity of his actions. A third one prevented him from making anything to correct said stupidity.

"Gotcha."

The small defending party was encouraged by my first kill and started spraying the Covenant. Although the technique was almost completely ineffective, it did have the desired intimidation effect and forced the soldiers directly in front of us to halt their advance completely and drop to the floor. Once they did that the entire section of the line stopped with them. Once that happened we were in for one helluva firefight.

"Brute, major!" someone shouted. "Two o'clock!"

Four bursts from my rifle had the brute on the ground, bleeding through three holes in its chest and neck. I took advantage of the opportunity and killed three grunts before the rest thought better of it and hid behind one of their deployable shields. While I did all my sniping I looked for jackal sharpshooters. I could spot a few of the regular kind, the ones with plasma shields. I needed to watch out for them as well, but with plasma pistols or needlers they were almost harmless at this distance.

"Shit, incoming!"

I looked up just in time to see the pink mortar shot hit a couple of meters to my right, down on the ground. A spectre had decided that we were becoming enough of a nuisance that we should be taken out immediately. Of course, a rocket to the driver's seat ended the pilot's plans prematurely. The vehicle crashed to the ground as its anti-grav units failed and then exploded as its fuel compartment was reached by the fire.

"Nice one!" Grass complimented.

"I aim to please," the marine replied.

What? That's supposed to be my phrase.

"Yeah, but you haven't said that in ages," Schitzo pointed out. "In fact, you never did say it that much."

"Fuck off."

No one paid me any mind, they all thought I was talking to the covvies. Better that way.

"I think they've noticed us!" one marine said.

"What made you say that?" asked another one. "The amount of plasma being shot at us, or perhaps the spectre shelling us."

"Marines, your observation prowess never ceases to astound me," one of the army troopers quipped.

"Oi, buddy, you do realize that over three quarters of us in here are marines?" yet another soldier said, joining the conversation. "Oh, didn't think so."

"Who lacks observation prowess now? Bitch." The first marine couldn't have been any smugger.

It was at that moment that the Covenant scored their first hit. And when they did it, they did it big. Three different wraith mortars hit our position within seconds of each other. Two shots went wide, one hitting the ground near a pump and the other one melting through the metal roof and detonating on the floor. The third one landed right behind the small store. The blast caught one of the troopers and two marines.

I looked up just in time to see another two orbs arching downwards.

"Shit."

I jumped from the roof and landed hard. My left ankle twisted just enough for me to cry out in pain. I felt the detonations behind me and cursed in pain as the heat from the plasma mortars scorched through my armor. I half-ran, half-hopped to cover as a dozen eager brutes set their sights on me. One spiker round scraped my arm, cutting through my glove and through some skin, but didn't do anything other than add to my pain.

"Fucking shit."

"Sarge, you ok?" Grass asked, she was checking on the trooper. From the look of it and the disproportionate amount of charred flesh I could tell that he wouldn't make it.

"Fine, ankle," I explained. "Nicked in the hand."

"Here." She tossed me some biofoam.

I grabbed the half-empty can and poured some of the medicine into my hand. I cried out for a third time when the biofoam started burning at my hand, closing wounds and holding tissue together. I clenched my other fist for a few seconds before the pain finally receded. Once I had use of both my hands I set my left boot to compress around my ankle, allowing me to walk and run, albeit awkwardly.

"Scare-"

The whole hydrogen deposit blew up.

Grass was blown through the glass windows and into the store. The remaining trooper was engulfed in the fireball and I had just enough time to roll into a ditch that separated the store from the parking lot. It wasn't a very deep ditch, but it was just enough for me to escape with only a few burns on my left arm. The same arm that had just been shot with a giant spike. The sound of flames burning oxygen was audible for a second and a half before it receded.

"Scarecrow!"

"I'm good, three marines are down and one trooper is KIA as well."

"Grass?"

I got scared when she didn't reply, but then I saw her vitals in my HUD and breathed easily again as I saw that she was simply unconscious. That made for seven dead in the last few seconds, and one unconscious and useless.

"'Crow, get that SPANKr and flame that fucking wraith, everyone else, hold back the advance."

I climbed out of the hole and got a good look at the devastation that the station's explosion had caused. One of the warthogs was completely wrecked, useful for nothing other than light cover now. I could see three charred bodies strewn over the pavement, their clothes and skin still on fire, the other body was nowhere to be seen. The store's front wall was burnt black and its windows shattered. I could see Grass' leg on and a couple of overturned shelves inside.

"Bunker busters, huh?" Schitzo asked me. The guy was wearing a black shirt with the words 'Flame On!' written in orange. The gall of him.

"So, Bunker Busters Sarge?" Scarecrow echoed.

"Fire that fucking thing already!" I yelled at him just as another mortar detonated thirty feet from me.

"Ok, on three," Scarecrow told another marine I couldn't see. "Three!"

I heard the rockets leave their tubes and moments later the sound of two explosions made its way to my ears over the noise of the firefight.

"You!" I called to one of Chloe's soldiers. "Get the lieutenant to start shelling this place."

"On it!" the man replied after firing a burst of suppressive fire.

I grabbed my BR55, now burned in addition to all the scars that it already had, and aimed at a couple of grunts making their way towards us. They were carrying a plasma turret and its battery. I sighed as I aimed and shot the second grunt. The three-round burst hit the large battery that the little alien was lifting. It did nothing other than puncture the casing, but blue-hot plasma started pouring out, splashing all over the unlucky grunt. I chuckled grimly as I shot the other alien. I didn't plan on making it easy for them, especially after they killed seven humans.

"There, another wraith!" one trooper warned.

"Range?"

"Four hundred meters."

I heard another rocket leaving a tube on the other side of the small building and then the cry of joy when it detonated against the tank's hull. A few seconds later another rocket flew from its tube, this time I only heard cursing and assumed that the valuable explosive had missed the tank.

"Incoming!"

I looked up and saw nothing. I knew better than to be a confident asshole, so I crouched and made myself a small as possible against the wall. When the mortar detonated against the building my entire body shook.

"Firing!" Scarecrow announced, not wanting anyone to waste another rocket. "Impact. Wraith is down."

"How's the shelling going?" I asked.

"El-tee is positioning the 'Dillos!" the trooper replied from across the store. "She says that."

And just like that he was hit by a beam rifle.

"Sniper!" I warned.

Scarecrow was smart enough to run around the corner and position himself behind solid polycrete. The same could be said for the other two soldiers, both of whom jumped over a sea of plasma fire and were lucky enough to avoid being burnt to death or sniped. The two marines hid behind the wrecked warthog, but one of them was hit in the leg just as he turned the corner. The other marine grabbed him from the armpits and dragged him into safety.

"Shit, Status!" I called to him.

"Leg's gone!"

"What?" the wounded marine asked. "What?" He cried out in shock as he realized what had just happened. It took just a few moment for the shouts of anger and indignation to turn into screams of pain.

I looked around, trying to find a viable way to hold this position.

"Scarecrow, start the warthog," I ordered. I looked at the two troopers and ordered them to make sure nothing came around the corners. "Inconvenience come in, this is Reaper-Actual, come in Inconvenience. Eliza! Answer goddamit!"

"I read you Sergeant, what do you need?" came the cool and collected voice of the artificial intelligence.

"I need you to fucking bomb the covvies in front of us to kingdom come ASAP!"

"Understood, there is already a Shortsword bomber headed in your direction. In fact, it is-"

Lambari Two Air Force Base

Captain Casey "Triple C" Crouch

"Cap'n, we're taking off in five."

"Roger," I shot back. Williams had abstained from entering the room completely. I was, after all, a woman.

I finished zipping up my flight suit and jogged out of the changing room. I had been awake and on edge for the past few hours, but I hadn't received any orders until half an hour ago. The Covenant had been on Lambari for a few days now and I hadn't been called to action until they had hit Uppergap. My Fini Flight was supposed to be yesterday, I had requested a transfer to an academy that would teach me to fly Longswords. I was sick of being in this boring rock with nothing exciting while other pilots got to kick alien ass in space dogfights.

Now I found myself missing the idea of living out my days on a rock, flying good old-fashioned AF-00. My fighter was now over forty-five years old. The old bucket had been living out its glory days ten days before I was even born. That's not to say it was a bad plane, it was simply obsolete.

"Hurry along Cap," Williams urged. The man was eager for combat, not unlike me a week ago, but his resolve had only gotten stronger while mine faltered at the news of an actual invasion.

"That's ma'am to you, Williams," I reminded the lieutenant of his place.

"Sorry ma'am, yes ma'am."

"The Gryphon is fueled and ready, the pre-flight is done."

I stifled a curse. There were engineers and mechanics that were qualified to do the pre-flight check, but I preferred doing it myself. "You sure?"

"Sure as can be," he replied quickly. "What do you think about all this?"

"Simple," I lied. "We escort a Shortsword to blow some xenos to hell."

"I know, I know, but this is our first combat mission!"

"Christ Williams, you sound like a girl touching herself for the first time."

Williams stopped in his tracks and looked at me in shock. Sometimes he forgot that I was a military woman and not just a regular woman. He quickly smiled after that and kept walking.

"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you Captain?"

"Don't push it," I growled.

"Right ma'am, sorry ma'am."

As we left the barracks the sun hit my face. It was the only sun that I had ever seen. I had always wanted to see new planets and visit different solar systems and never to return to this boring planet or see its boring sky ever again. Now I just hoped I would live to see the night sky one more time. Lambari was my home, I was a fifth-generation Lambarian, and like many, I had wanted nothing more than to leave as soon as I turned eighteen. For me, the first step towards leaving had been joining the militia, followed by a jump to the Air Force. Then I was supposed to forever leave this place.

Forever.

I might just never leave.

"Hurry along," Williams called out, getting me out of my thoughts.

All the better, wouldn't want to get lost in thought during combat.

I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to have coraine. I had left my stash back in my quarters, hidden perfectly inside my mattress, the hiding place only accessible if you knew where to look. Since the fine powder was inside a plastic bag, it was impossible to feel anything unusual in the rock-hard mattress. I cursed myself for not taking the drug. Being more calm and collected right now sounded pretty damn good.

"Captain!"

"At ease," I dismissed the deck airman.

I climbed the ladder to the cockpit and stood on the top rung for a few seconds to look around. I could see a column of smoke in the distance, showing us exactly where Uppergap was. Closer to me were several other Gryphons being fueled and armed. The only craft that were ready for combat were my own fighter, a Shortsword, and another Gryphon. It was Salazar's plane.

Suddenly I found myself breathing a little bit easier. Salazar was a relic of the past, true, but he had seen combat during the Insurrection and was just one kill short of being an ace. The man was grumpy as hell and a bit of an asshole, but right now I was glad to be his wingwoman. No one had any combat experience in the base other than him. He would know what to do. Right?

I waved at Salazar and received a cool nod in return before climbing inside the cockpit. Williams was already in the seat behind me, powering on all the screens and tapping some commands. I gave a thumbs up to the control tower as the hatch started closing on me. The black cystal made contact with the cool metal and hissed as it sealed the cockpit. The crystal depolarized and several holographic displays appeared in front of me before I put on my helmet. The small helmet felt like a wool hat on my head.

"Hey Cap! Did you know that in the old days the helmets were as big as a basketball and they had glasses with displays on them?" Williams asked.

"Yes, you told me on our last patrol flight."

"Oh, right. How uncomfortable right?"

"Sure. Engines?"

Williams sighed. "They're green."

"Missile pods?"

"Armed and ready to fire as soon as I take off the safety."

"Fuel pods?"

"Full and safely attached."

"Flaps an-"

"Triple C, this is control tower, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear," I replied.

"Good, you are cleared for takeoff, your designation for this flight is Shield-2, acknowledge."

"Acknowledged."

"Whenever you're ready."

I turned on the engines and waited for them to go to full power.

"Hey Cap, what happens when you become a mayor and your initials are no longer three C's?"

"I'll still be Triple C," I replied, flipping up some switches and making sure that the strip was clear of any personnel.

"Really, what's your middle name?"

"It starts with C," I replied evasively.

Williams chuckled. "Have it your way ma'am." The man was cocky, but he was a pretty decent systems officer. In fact, he was almost as good at his job as I was at flying this plane.

I activated the take off sequence the moment I saw the Shortsword bomber's engines light up red. My fighter lifted from the ground vertically and wobbled a little bit as it stabilized. I changed the angle of the thrusters to keep up as the Shortsword started gaining speed. I gradually changed angles to stay to the bomber's left as it picked up speed. Eventually the Shortsword left the ground and started a steep climb. Salazar and me followed a few meters behind in a closed formation.

"Shield flight, this is Control," a familiar voice came, flooding the cockpit. "HUMINT has spotted several Seraphs and AA emplacements located in the surrounding area, stay sharp."

"Thank you control, we will," the Shortsword pilot replied.

As we climbed higher and higher I got a clearer view of the surrounding area. From this altitude I could see the tallest skyscrapers in Uppergap. A few more seconds of climbing and I'd be able to see the port and the ocean. Uppergap had some pretty nice beaches, but most of them were empty now. The smoke floating into the sky darkened a sizeable patch of sky in front of me, and the holo-displays marked my target as being on the other side of the city.

"Don't lose sight of the river," Salazar suggested. "In case electronics fail."

"Got it," I nodded, even though he couldn't see me.

"Captain, I got a blip on the radar," Williams warned. "Signature matches UNSC measurements of two Seraphs."

"Safeties off!" I ordered. "Salazar?"

"Got it, they're coming in from OS, I'll turn to meet them head on, circle around them and catch them in the ass."

"On it, Shield-1?"

"We'll be fine, don't be too long."

I banked my plane hard to the left just as Salazar did a half-loop and hit the afterburners. I zoomed in on the two red circles that marked the Seraphs and waited for the cameras to switch settings to account for the light and changing distance. The two Covenant fighters were teardrop-shaped. I had constantly studied them and fought them in simulations, but never for real. The fighters were both immediately attracted to the obvious target of Salazar's Gryphon and changed course ever so slightly. No doubt they wanted to take out the defiant pilot before shooting down the bomber.

"Locking distance?" I asked.

"A few more seconds," Williams informed me.

I was sure that we could shoot the missiles now and have them lock perfectly and track the two Seraphs until they hit them or ran out of fuel, but the enemy craft were too far away and would get a nice warning before they were in any real danger.

"Firing one!" Salazar's systems officer said.

I zoomed in on the other Gryphon and tracked the missile with my sight. The small weapon flew at high speed and hit the lead Seraph head on. The craft shook heavily and was bumped slightly of course, but the shields held.

"Move it along C's," Salazar urged.

"Almost there!" I said.

I banked hard to my left and found myself above and behind the two Seraphs. The stealth design of my fighter no doubt had me hidden from them, but the advanced Covenant radars would locate me in a matter of seconds as soon as I let go the big guns. I positioned myself directly behind one Seraph and waited for Salazar to indicate me to fire.

A streak of tracers flew a hundred meters to my right and I saw the other fighter shoot by in between the two Seraphs. As soon as that happened I gave the order to fire. Williams let go five rockets at one of the enemy fighters and the three remaining ones in that pod at the other one. Eight missiles flew out of my plane at supersonic speeds with only one intent programmed in them. To kill.

It was a few tense seconds as the five missiles tracked the Seraph. It was a lot closer to me than the other one, so it didn't have as much time to take evasive maneuvers. It let go a few flares and succeeded in stopping one missile and avoiding another one, but soon three missiles hit it. The first one drained its shields and the other two finished the job.

"Whooo!" Williams cried out. "That's right fucker! You don't mess with Lambari! Nobody messes with Lambari without me hearing about this."

I was just as excited for my first kill as he was.

I changed directions and took off in pursuit of the other Seraph. I was in an advantageous position so I quickly positioned myself in its six. The missiles immediately locked on, but three others hadn't been able to hit this craft, so I abstained from firing.

"I'm with you," Salazar warned.

I looked up and to my right to see the other fighter flying some fifty meters away from me. No doubt his missiles had already locked on, but he was waiting for me to make my move. After all, I had reached this bogey first so I had killing rights.

Then the bogey seemed to stop completely and banked to the left faster than my plane could follow. I cursed as I switched back to hovering mode to take a tight turn. I maneuvered some and almost stalled but managed to stay on its six. As soon as I got a bead on it the craft shot to the right again. I did the same thing and ended up behind it just like last time.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," I growled at it.

And then it pulled a Cobra on me.

Yes, I know, I fell for the oldest trick in the book.

The Seraph's nose tilted upwards over ninety degrees and it decreased speed substantially. I couldn't do anything other than stare at the enemy fighter in shock and anger as I shot past it. As soon as I was ahead of it the Seraph returned to a horizontal position and hit the pedal. I immediately got a thousand alarms and warnings. I was within plasma cannon range, I was within plasma missile range. I was being painted with targeting lasers, I was being tracked, I was being followed. I was about to get a pointy stick shoved up my ass.

I hit the afterburners in an effort to lose my attacker, but the alien craft was superior in almost all aspects in addition to having me in its crosshairs. An alarm drowned all others and I banked hard to the right.

"Flares!" I ordered.

I heard the sound of flares leaving their tubes and did several barrel rolls while aiming the nose towards the ground. As soon as the plane was facing downwards I pulled on the stick to stop my drop and gain some altitude. The maneuver was supposed to confuse the target systems of plasma missiles and make them opt to hit the flares. I also dropped cubes. With any luck the little metal pieces had been hit by the enemy's laser targeter and the missile would fly at them.

"Keep the Seraph steady!" I heard Salazar yell.

It went against everything I knew, but I started flying in a straight line as alarms started blaring all over the cockpit. I banked to the right as a burst of plasma fire flew by my wing and then to the left to avoid a follow-up burst. Immediately after that I saw tracers fly above my cockpit. I cursed and turned the plane upside down for an outside loop.

"Are you fucking crazy! You could've hit us!" I yelled at Salazar.

"Fuck it, I told you to keep the Seraph steady," was his only response.

I looked at my holographic display to see what Salazar and the Seraph were doing. The Covenant craft had banked sideways and was trying to get behind the Gryphon while Salazar did the same. The two imbeciles had gotten themselves locked up in a spinning match. The Seraph was faster and had a tighter turn radius. I needed to do something fast.

I interrupted my loop and shot upwards towards the Seraph, I fired a couple of rounds at it before flying past it. The dumb pilot saw the opportunity and took it, taking off behind me and abandoning its prey.

"Move it!" I cried.

"Firing," the fighter's systems officer said.

I kept my eyes on the holographic display in front of me and saw eight missiles fly out of Salazar's craft. All eight of them made contact with the Seraph, overloading its shields and making contact against its weakly armored hull. The hologram disappeared with a small blip that hardly seemed important, but I sighed with relief at having the plane off my ass and being able to go back to our mission. I checked my flight clock. It had taken us less than five minutes to finish this dogfight. It seemed like it had been a lifetime and a half.

"Let's get back to it," Williams suggested nervously.

"Sure," I agreed. "And Salazar, congratulations."

"That's right," his systems officer said. "You're an ace now, Gramps."

"About goddamned time," he replied, barely concealing the joy in his voice.

"Shield-2 and 3, you good?"

"Yeah, we're good Shield-1," I indicated. "You?"

"We're positioning ourselves, if you hurry you might even get a strafing run."

"On it," I smiled, hitting the thrusters and flying through the smoke.

Suddenly I found myself forgetting all the fear that I had been experiencing a few minutes ago. In fact the only sign left from that was my sweaty clothes. I was usually cool as frost when we flew, but this combat thing had me sweating like a fat man having vigorous sex. It was a dirty feeling and made me feel like taking a shower.

Our planes emerged from the smoke to see a battle-torn landscape. This whole section of Uppergap was reduced to nothing but rubble and corpses. The fields on the outskirts were littered with craters and husks of destroyed vehicles, mostly civilian cars, but there were a few UNSC wrecks in there as well. The lack of destroyed Covenant vehicles made me feel angry.

"Shield-1, we see you," Salazar said. "You good?"

"Safeties off," he replied. "These bastards are in for one helluva… hell," he finished awkwardly.

"Impressive," his copilot said. "One helluva hell, I gotta write that one down."

"Fuck off."

Our faster planes had caught up with the Shortsword by that point, and both Shield-3 and me were flying about one kilometer behind Shield-1. Salazar stalled a little bit and positioned himself two hundred meters to my tail and slightly to the left. We were completely exposed to any enemy interceptors, but radar didn't detect anything. On the other hand, this was just perfect for a strafing run.

"Rolling out the carpet."

I saw several black dots fly from the Shortsword's bomb bay. The little black dots were in reality incendiaries of about one ton each. Those little dots would mean the death of hundreds of enemy soldiers. The entire ground in front and below me lit up in several explosions. The advancing Covenant force suddenly found itself enveloped by fire. I nodded to myself in agreement to the idea of several xenos dying fiery deaths.

The fireballs consumed themselves just in time for me to aim my nose to the floor and fire the GSh-12-84 gatling gun that my craft was equipped with. The entire AF-00 shook as the 30mm rounds left the barrels at speeds in excess of three thousand rounds per minute. I saw my bullets rip through still-working wraiths and chuckled at the sight of brutes having their limbs torn from their bodies when hit by one of the huge rounds. The supersonic ammunition flew faster than sound, so the soldiers that were hit by it wouldn't even be able to hear the round that killed them. I don't know whether that's a mercy or an insult.

Staff Sergeant Francisco Castillo

A huge explosion interrupted Eliza. I missed the initial bombs, but when I looked to my right I caught sight of a Shortsword bomber dropping incendiaries over the Covenant line. Immediately afterwards two AF-00 strafed whatever had survived the initial onslaught. I was left just standing there, my mouth slightly open in gratitude and my entire left arm in horrible pain.

"God bless 'em," Schitzo said. "God bless those motherfuckers."

"I see that you already saw the Shortsword," Eliza told me. "A pelican was dispatched to your position as well. It is carrying a tank and a medic."

"Eliza, you're the best," I thanked her. "I mean it."

"That statement is inaccurate," she informed me, slipping back to a more robotic voice. Eliza chuckled a little bit, a highly unusual display of emotion for an AI, even for Eliza. "But the comment is appreciated nonetheless."

"Gryphons eh?" Scarecrow mused. "Those things gotta be at least thirty years old."

"Right now, I'll take any help I can get," one of the troopers said. "Even if it's flyboys."

I kept my sight on one of the two fighters as it banked to the right and circled above us. I thought that maybe it would be stupid and a little bit childish but I still did it. As the Gryphon flew overhead, wings tilted sideways in greeting I waved at it and saluted the planes. After all, they had just saved our asses from sure death.

Which reminds me. I turned around to face the port. "Nice one Chlo," I said. "I mean, you could've been a little bit slower, but it wouldn't have mattered anyways."

"Shut up, I did my best and it all worked out anyways."

I smiled before remembering the dead marines and that one of Chloe's soldiers had been killed. "Actually…" I started.

"Yeah, I know," she interrupted me quietly. "Nothing we could do about it."

I could've reminded him to keep his head down. "He died a hero's death," I reassured her. "Be sure to tell that to his family."

"I will," Chloe said. "Over and out."

Scarecrow climbed on the warthog and killed any surviving covvies that were an immediate threat to us while I made my way inside the store and checked on Grass. Her vitals were strong and steady, but the shelf that she had landed on was dented right where her helmet had hit it. She probably had a concussion of some sort in addition to being knocked unconscious. I moved her carefully and put her on the floor before taking off her helmet. She was bleeding from the back of the head, but only a little bit.

"Grass," I called to her. "Wake up." I slapped her cheek softly a couple of times before her eyes flickered open. "Easy," I said. "Relax, help is on the way."

grass nodded weakly before slipping back into unconsciousness.

Three minutes later Eliza's promised pelican arrived. It dropped a Scorpion tank and ten marines from Echo Company. Luckily, Darbinian was not amongst them. Instead, I focused on a woman with a corpsman's arm band on her right arm and locks of blonde hair coming out of her helmet. I waved at her and she moved in my direction.

"You all right?" Hanna asked me. She sounded worried, which made me feel way too good about myself.

"I'm fine, Grass hit her head."

Lockley nodded and pulled out some scanning device from her pouch. She placed it to Grass' head and held it there until a light blipped green. Hanna lifted the scanner to her and read the results. Apparently they were good because she didn't get that look in her eyes. "She's fine. A concussion, but nothing serious. What happened to your arm."

"I burned it."

"I see that," she said exasperated.

"The hydrogen fuel blew up," I explained. "Fire scarred my arm."

"Your hand?"

"Spiker nicked me."

"Jesus Frank, be more careful will you?"

"I try," I shrugged. "I really do."

"Oh, do you?" she asked me as she reached for the magical all-healing biofoam. "And you are careful by not wearing your fire-retardant under suit?"

To that, I had no smart comeback.

So there it is people. Chapter 98 of The Life. Thanks to Sniper Fodder for doing a great job at proof-reading this chapter and thanks to you for taking some time off your lives to read this story. I have no doubt as to it's entertainment purposes, but the prose is probably butchering the English language and literature. Luckily, though, I have the excuse of English being my second language.

Many of you might have noticed (or not) that this story resembles a TV series more than a movie. In fact, I think I mentioned that same thing a few chapters back. I've noticed this myself and was surprised that it had no multi-chapter arcs. Sure, we have battles that last a dozen chapters and the entire story could be Frank's arc, but still, no Myth Arc or any other kind. I'm a little bit ashamed to admit that the closest that I have to that right now is a Romance Arc (check TVtropes if you want to know exactly what an "arc" is). I just wanted to let you know that I'm working on fixing that and will use past and new elements to create plots that span multiple chapters and in-story years.

Now that I put that out there... I take it taking cover in a gas station didn't turn out to be such a good idea after all, did it? And what did you think of the flyby (ahem.. girl) section? I looked up some Air Force jargon and used some aircrafty terms to make it look professional, but I honestly had almost no idea what I was writing about. I think it went pretty well considering those shortcomings.

One more thing (this is one pretty long author's note...), I'll be leaving for vacations in a tropical paradise the day after tomorrow. I'm going to try to post another chapter tomorrow afternoon, but probably won't be able to make it. Worry not, I have some Easter candy for you guys when I return.

-casquis