Chapter CXCIII: Skyhooks

August 15, 2552 (UNSC Calendar)/

Clarke Orbital Skyhook, Viery Territory, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System

A skyhook is basically what it sounds like. A structure in the sky that hooks things. Ergo: skyhook. The truth is a lot more complicated than that. Skyhooks were built long before humanity had the capabilities to build space elevators in every planet we colonized. I'm not exactly sure whether the first thing we had built on Earth had been a skyhook or an orbital elevator, but I was damned certain that the first thing we had built here was a skyhook. When the Odyssey first arrived in the system in 2362, ages ago, the planet wasn't ready to be colonized. Instead, several enclosed habitats had been placed all around the planet and the terraforming had begun. While the planet began its drastic changing, someone decided that there had to be some degree of revenue to make up for the trillions of credits being poured into terraforming. We already knew that Reach was going to be vomiting titanium for at least two millennia, so we put automatic miners down there. The titanium than had to be brought to orbit to be refined and then shipped out back to Sol.

How to do that?

Skyhook.

A skyhook was basically a giant hollow tube with a big-ass space station on one end. The 'top' end was anchored in geosynchronous orbit and the 'bottom' end was several miles high in the air. The theory was that you saved more by building that big-ass structure than you would've spent on fuel otherwise. I'm not exactly sure how long this skyhook was in use for, but after Reach was terraformed and became one of humanity's population, military, and commercial hubs, more and more were built until finally Reach got its own orbital elevators. At that point the skyhooks were rendered obsolete, even if not completely useless. Most of them were still used to some degree, but in the end most of the goods were transported to the orbital elevators instead.

So the skyhooks were put to the side in favor of the more effective elevators, but you can't just bring down a trillion dollar structure that is over 40,000 kilometers in length. It's not that simple. You have to find a use for it. Several big companies bought them and built their factories directly underneath, saving money by avoiding the fees that elevators charged, others were bought by ultra-wealthy individuals and converted into retreats or permanent residences.

Clarke Orbital Skyhook, the first in the planet, had been converted into an ultra-expensive hotel. The single structure at the bottom had been converted into four different boxes, all of them forming the corners of a square separated from one another but connected by skyways. They were connected to the main body of the skyhook itself by metal columns and secured by pylons and tethers. If one of those columns were to be cut, the structure it supported would plummet down to the surface 16 kilometers below.

Four floating cubes, each connected to a tube that appeared to be defying the laws of physics, were the place where the UNSC had decided to headquarter their single most elite corps of fighters.

"So that's what a skyhook looks like," Mata muttered next to me. "Impressive."

"Looks like it's about to fall down to Reach," Pitcher muttered. "Damn."

"I know it looks pretty," I said, stepping off the Pelican and into the hangar, "but we're probably not gonna be here for long. I want helmets on at all times. The skyhook should be pressurized, but you know how it goes."

Nineteen of us jumped out of the Pelicans, one of us was carried down. Preacher insisted that he could walk and I believed him, but no matter how miraculous modern medicine might've been, I didn't want him to take another extra day. The advanced biofoam that had been administered to him was speeding up the regenerative capabilities of his cells, feeding them with some sort of material that increased their reproduction exponentially. There would be several ugly scars on his back, most of them bumpy, but he would be ready to fight in just a few more hours.

"Lieutenant, you're late."

I looked up to see Captain Flatt walking towards me. It took me a quick moment to recognize her with the armor she was wearing. It was an unusual configuration, with more rounded shoulder pads and a very angular helmet. Recon armor wasn't precisely common, even in our circles. It was usually issued to anti-insurrection units. Her helmet was tucked under her right arm and she didn't look very happy. Out of all of that what surprised me the most was her makeup. For starters, she was in full battle armor and wearing makeup. She looked good, too.

"Captain," I said, straightening my back. "Nice to see you're alright."

"Thanks," she said, waving her hand for me to relax. "Ah, Captain Nezarian, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alaric said, stepping next to me. "Pleasure."

"Wish I could say the same. Your direct supervisor was supposed to be here."

"Is John dead?"

Captain Flatt shrugged. "It would appear so, no confirmation of it, but seems very likely."

Nezarian looked to the side and muttered a quick curse in Russian. "Shit. He was a good man."

"A lot of good men are gonna die before this is over," Flatt said. "For now, I'll forward all your information to the chain of command."

"Understood, ma'am," Captain Nezarian said.

Flatt sighed. "Captain, you and your team have rooms 1213 through 1218. Head up and occupy them before someone else does."

"Yes, ma'am, right away." Nezarian turned around to face his team. "Team-29, on me!"

The twenty men marched out behind Nezarian at a slight jog, leaving the hangar empty save for my own men and a couple of technicians. The hangar doors were already shut and the place was pressurized. I took off my helmet and rolled my neck.

"You look like shit," Flatt said.

"You look good," I replied, vaguely gesturing to her face.

"Very funny, Frank," she muttered. "Is your team ready for action?"

I looked back at my men, who seemed to be about to collapse under their own weight. I sighed and shook my head slightly. "If we need to fight we'll fight. I think that they need some rest though, we got naps on the trucks and naps on the plane. A couple more hours should do it."

Captain Flatt nodded. "Good. I'll give you your two hours, have your men rest up."

"Thanks," I told her. "Pavel, take everybody and head out."

Pavel nodded and shouted for the team to follow him. He shouldered his heavy weapon and started walking, leaving the rest of the men to slowly move up behind him. Preacher was still on a backboard, complaining every step of the way as Ramirez, Polly, Crow and Payat carried him. I waited for my men to leave the hangar before I started walking with Flatt.

"Captain," I began, "why are we bunching up all of AAG here? A single pulse laser is all it takes to kill us all."

"I assure you that this skyhook is protected," she said. "At this altitude we can deploy almost anywhere in east and south Viery in a very short amount of time. Command wants us to jump out at a moment's notice. Whenever a mission comes up the next team on rotation will take it and deploy. All missions will be quick, either decapitation strikes or guerilla action. Your transport will remain there and wait for you to get the job done, ok?"

"We'll be jumping down with basically no information and we are expected to complete the mission in less than twenty minutes?"

"Fifteen would be optimal."

I smiled at Flatt, who just chuckled at my eager grin. "My men are gonna love this."

"They probably will," she agreed. "Your team is filled with a bunch of overeager dicks."

I laughed with her. "You know Cap, the eyeliner looks good on you."

"Fuck off, Frank."

"This is a simple mission, understood?" I asked loudly. "That's why I only brought half the team. Truth be told, I could've done this myself, but I couldn't have all of you pissed because you didn't get some mud in your boots. Our task is simple. Assassination. There are three elite ultras in charge of Covenant hit-and-runs in this area. They've stopped now that the larger enemy advance is converging on their position. This means that we have a very small window to take them out before five thousand angry aliens overrun us."

"Doesn't sound so simple, sir," Crow said, drawing some good-natured laughs.

"Simple doesn't always mean easy," I told him. "Snark will make all three kill-shots. Longworth and I will go with him to our shooting position, the rest of you will stay on our exfil point, secure it, and wait for us to come back."

"Aw, come on, sir," Bee complained. "We don't get no love?"

"Negative," I said. "Sergeant Mata, you're in charge, ok?"

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Touching down," the pilot said. "Fifteen minutes, Lieutenant."

"We only need five," I replied. "Move out!"

The wet leaves barely crunched when my men and I landed from the Pelican. The craft touched down a couple of seconds later and turned its engines off. Mata gave the word for the men to spread out and I immediately followed Snark as he started climbing up the hill. Longworth jogged up to me and kept pace as we followed Snark on his climb. Snark was 33 years old, even if the slipspace travel and cryo made his physical age somewhat younger, I was still impressed with the way that he could climb a steep hill. Longworth, needless to say, had no problem keeping up the pace. I couldn't help but wonder what he would've done with his life had he not been drafted.

Adrian Longworth, born to a privileged family, had a decent education, natural talent for all things athletic, and looked good enough to be the face of the trendiest men's fragrance. I have no doubt that he would've been successful. Maybe as an athlete or maybe as a researcher. Being a soldier was a waste of potential for him. Unfortunately, he damn well knew it. Arrogant bastard.

"Slow down," Snark gave the order.

"More?" Longworth teased.

I rolled my eyes.

"Crouch," Snark said, ignoring the taunt. "Thirty meters."

I followed his orders. No matter how much raw natural and artificial talent I had I knew that I would never be as good as Snark. The man had a natural talent for all things sniper. He could read the wind, he could read the drop, he could read the target's movements and predict where the alien was gonna be before he fired. Snark lead us through the forest and up to the hilltop. Drone surveillance and satellite imagery had already been made available to us and Snark had picked the better option. We made our way to a small spot where the foliage was considerably less thick than in other places.

"I'm climbing up," Snark let us know. "I'll tag the targets as soon as I see them."

"Make it quick," I told him.

Snark climbed up a thick pine tree and made himself comfortable while Longworth and I took cover behind a boulder. Longworth propped his DMR on the top and aimed downhill, trying to make out any enemy movement.

"You see anything?" I asked him.

"No sir," he replied.

"Of course you don't," I said, rolling my eyes. "Sit down Longworth, let Snark do his job."

"Sir, why do we have him up there to make three kills? We could easily climb different trees and shoot down the elites at the same time."

"Listen, kid. This is a mile-long shot, a lot of things can go wrong with one of those. I'm barely good enough for those, and I know that you're not good enough to guarantee a killshot at this distance. Now don't look at me like that. Snark is one of the best damned snipers in the world, you've seen what he can do."

"Yes, sir," Longworth muttered.

He didn't really sound like he believed it, but people like that always had a tough time admitting that someone was better than them. Instead of sitting back down with me Longworth stayed upright, propping his rifle against the rock. Snark didn't take too long to spot our three targets. Three red silhouettes appeared in the distance. They looked like tiny red dots, but through Snark's scope they seemed to be just a hundred feet away.

"Whenever you feel like it," I said.

Snark fired three times. The reticule wasn't aiming anywhere near the elites, but I could see one of the vapor contrails. The bullet seemed to have a mind of its own as it dropped ever so slightly. One head exploded and in less than a second the two others ended up the same way. I smiled at the sight of three dead elite ultras, especially at this range. Snark even reduced the zoom on his scope to give me some perspective before he started climbing down the tree. As soon as he hit the ground we started running downhill and towards the Pelican that was waiting for us.

I waited for the hangar door to close down before taking off my helmet. The Pelican with Pavel and his team on it was only just beginning to open its rear hatch. My men stepped outside, looking tired and almost completely covered in mud. This made the third mission that Team-7 had taken care of in the last day. It wasn't very relaxing, but at least we felt like we were doing something. Two assassinations and sabotage. That made five dead hingeheads and a blown-up fuel depot for Wraiths, Ghosts, and Banshees.

"How was it?" I asked Pavel.

He grunted. "Truth be told, we could've used the rest of the platoon."

"Sorry Pavs," I apologized. "I didn't expect anything to go wrong."

He shrugged, seemingly dislocating both his shoulders as he did so. "We messed up in the evac, but swimming through mud was not that bad. It was a little bit tense for a moment there, but we're fine."

"Good, good," I said. "Wanna get some rest?"

"Not particularly," he replied. "I did, however, manage to get us a six pack."

I smiled. "Nice going. I hear the observation room is pretty relaxing."

Pavel nodded and rolled his neck, smiling. "Sure, let's go."

We moved through the hangar, avoiding crates of ammunition, equipment, and even vehicles. Among the various markings I could see Warthogs, Scorpions, jetpacks, and grenades. I considered grabbing myself a jetpack and some grenades, but if they had them here it was probably because somebody was going to use them. Pavel and I walked through some of the support staff, making our way past engineers and mechanics that handled the Pelicans and skyhook workings. The stairwells were empty, and after fifteen minutes of climbing up we finally made our way into observation room.

"Damn," Pavel said, looking through the massive window. "No wonder people paid for this."

I nodded in agreement. From here we could see two of the other skyboxes and their respective columns. If we looked down we could see the white clouds and some land that peeked out of cover here and there. Far in the distance I could see the peaks of some of the Highland Mountains, tilted sideways as if someone had punched them through the crust. It was truly an incredibly sight.

"I don't have a bottle-opener," Pavel told me, tossing me a beer.

"Corona?" I asked, eyeing the beer with a small smile. "How'd you manage to find these?"

"Believe it or not, it was the only thing they had."

I laughed. "Well, to me this beer has always tasted like home."

"And even if our home is burning right now, we can forget about that for a while," Pavel said, opening his bottle with a swipe from his knife. "Cheers."

"Cheers," I replied, clinking my bottle to his.

We sat down on the floor and said nothing for a while. We enjoyed our first beer in silence, but when we opened our second one we started chatting a little bit. Pavel had talked to Amber again and had been relieved to hear that she was fine. She was inside the spaceport with Lavvie, Katie, and Liz. Things were beginning to get a little bit hectic down there, but with a little bit of luck they'd get on the first five transports leaving the city.

We talked about a bunch of things, but after Pavel had told me how glad he was that his family was fine we mostly avoided the issue of Reach being under attack. We talked about sports, about old friends, about old times, and about whatever else came to our minds. Halfway through our third and final beer we started joking around a little bit. We weren't exactly tipsy, but we were feeling a little bit more giddy than usual. Pavel more so than I, but it still wasn't bad.

"Thanks for the beer," I said, eyeing the amber liquid in the bottle. "I've missed doing this."

He laughed. "Remember how they used to let us take booze down groundside for missions?"

I nodded and smiled. "We'd stop right in the middle of something to have a sip and then bitch around when we spilled some."

"We were a nice pair of jackasses you and I," Pavel said.

"We still are," I told him.

He shook his head and chuckled, looking at his near-empty beer. "Well, I like to think that I've matured a little bit over the years."

"And I have to make up for that," I told him.

Pavel smiled. "Nah, you're a better man now than you were before."

"Sure doesn't feel like it."

"Trust me," he assured me. "You are."

I smiled to myself and finished the last of my beer before leaning back and enjoying the view. All throughout my life there were few sights that compared to this one. The sun hit the clouds in just the right angle and made them look almost golden.

Lance Corporal Serge Brisbois

"There they go," Bee complained. "Those two have one of the legendary bromances in the history of men."
"Don't forget about Ramirez and Dotsenko," Crow said, chuckling. "Besides, Gunny and El-tee have been fighting together since the Paleolithic."

A few of the men chuckled. It was a funny joke for the younger soldiers, but most of the men were only a couple of years younger than Gunny. Konstantinov and I were both older than El-tee. Granted, Sergeant Konstantinov was only a year or so older, but I had nine years on the kid.

Je suis vieux…

Damn right I was. I was in my mid forties and still in the frontlines. I could still take all of these kids to school if I felt like it, but when it came down to the raw physical stuff most of them had an edge on me. I was fairly certain that only Konstantinov, Klaus, and Longworth could beat me in a fight, but if we decided to run a marathon I'd end up losing. I kept my thoughts to myself and walked with the rest of Team-7 in silence. Some of the guys reminded me of my old company in the Foreign Legion. The men that joined it were usually down on their luck and trying to get some source of income. I had gone in as an officer because my family had had the youngest son join the Legion for the past seven generations.

Nobody would have expected me to actually enjoy it there.

I almost bumped into Marvin when he abruptly stopped. I shook his shoulder slightly and looked at the datapad he was holding.

"Oh," he said. "Sorry Serge. I was promoted?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what?" Bee asked. "Were you gunning for a promotion?"

"Not really," he replied.

"But you still got a promotion?" Crow asked. "Damn. Congrats."

"Thanks," Marvin said. "I like the sound of that. Sergeant Mobuto."

"Don't get full of hot air," Konstantinov called from the front of the group. "No command privileges for you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Marvin said.

I heard something creak and then snap.

"Watch out!" someone shouted.

I looked up and jumped out of the way just as a crate of something slammed into the floor where half of us had just been standing in.

I grunted.

"Anybody hurt?" Konstantinov called out.

"Doesn't look like it," Sergeant Mata replied. "Ramirez?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "We're all fine."

"What the fuck, dumbass?" Bee shouted at one of the workers above us.

I examined the crate just as Bee got into a shouting match with the mechanics in charge of the crate. I shook my head when I saw that it was full of jetpacks. If El-tee hadn't told us about this then they probably weren't meant for our use. Such a shame, everybody enjoyed having some fun with jetpacks every now and then.

"Serge, are you ok?" Lady asked. "That crate landed inches from you."

"Our," I said. "I'm fine."

"What happened here?" Captain Nezarian asked, looking sleepy. "Can't a man get some sleep?"

"Sorry Captain," Mata quickly said. "Some asshole up there didn't secure the crate. Damn near slammed on top of my men."

"Shit," Nezarian muttered. "Everybody fine?"

"Not if I have a say in it," Bee grunted, making his way towards one of the mechanics.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back. Bee looked like he wanted to say something, but I glared at him and got him to stop. The guys were pissed, and rightfully so, but we couldn't afford a brawl right now.

"Well, if nothing happened then I have no business here," Nezarian said. "Au revoir."

I almost replied to that, but before I could even begin to form words with my mouth The entire floor tilted and the create slammed against me. I expected to be splattered against a wall, but suddenly I found myself falling down. The sounds of groaning metal and screaming suddenly filled the air. It wasn't too long before I realized what was going on. We had been attacked and our portion of the skyhook was plummeting down to the ground.

"Merde."

First Lieutenant Francisco Castillo

"What the-"

The large window shattered and both Pavel and I were dragged outside of the observation room. I only just managed to reach for my knife and stab it into the ground as hard as possible. I grabbed my helmet and was almost yanked outside when Pavel managed to hold on to my helmet.

"You reached for your helmet before me!" he shouted.

"Sorry!" I shouted back. "What's going on?"

As soon as there was no more air to escape the observation room I pulled Pavel up into the room and put my helmet on. Shit the air was freaking cold up here. Pavel had somehow managed to hold onto his own helmet.

"My machine gun is gone," he said simply.

I moved back to the edge and looked down to see that half of this section of the skyhook had been severed from the top and was currently falling down to the planet. I looked to the other four sections and saw that all four of them appeared to be intact.

"The whole team was there Frank," Pavel said.

"They still are," I told him. "They'll find a way."

Pavel shrugged just as a pulse laser slammed into the cube-like structure facing us. The section of the skyhook must've been some three hundred meters away from my position, but the shockwave was clearly felt even as the skyhook shuddered violently. Pavel and I found ourselves falling and slamming into the walls. I grunted and made sure my rifle was secure to my back even as I tried to come up with a way to get out of this one alive.

"That's a corvette," Pavel said. "Shit, they sent a corvette!"

"Ok," I said. "We move up and climb our way into space."

"Frank, are you a fucking idiot?"

"Well, it's a lot better than falling into Reach, Pavel!"

"We're screwed aren't we?"

I nodded.

"Try and contact the team."

"There's no signal, Frank."

"Ah, shit."

The corvette was shifting its turrets to hit the next structure even as half a dozen Phantoms left its hangar and started flying in our direction. We moved to the edge and ducked just one of the dropships passed right by us. It was too late, we had been spotted. I hit the grunt in the turret before it could blast us into oblivion, but three elite rangers jumped off the Phantom and used their jetpacks to land through the broken window. I managed to take one out before Pavel detonated one of his flashbang grenades.

My brilliant friend and second-in-command forgot to shout flashbang, My helmet failed to see the device and in turn didn't polarize for the flash. I suddenly found myself unable to hear anything or see anything. I jumped backwards and slammed into what I hoped was Pavel. I felt his hand reach for my sidearm and managed to make out what sounded like clicks. My eyes were beginning to make out vague silhouettes and shadows, but I didn't really feel like I could be helpful.

Pavel slapped me twice in the back in what I could only assume was the 'clear' sign and turned me around. My vision started slowly coming back to me.

"-ntom is coming towards us!" Pavel was yelling. "It's coming back!"

"Get an elite!" I shouted. "Prop it up and draw the Phantom closer!"

Pavel may or may not have nodded, but he dragged me towards one of the dead elites and made me help lift him up. By the time the Phantom was in front of us I had mostly regained my vision.

"Jump!" Pavel shouted.

Let's put this into perspective. Over a dozen miles of empty air below me. A collapsing structure behind me and an enemy dropship in front of me. Throw in my damaged eyeballs and you had a real cocktail right there. I followed Pavel and slammed into the Phantom. I thought it was closer, because only my upper body made it. I grunted and climbed my way up as Pavel used my and his pistol to blast away at the grunts in the cargo bay. I climbed up and fired twice at a grunt.

"Frank, left!"

I turned and fired at an elite pilot just in time, but its dead carcass slammed into me and tilted me back towards the plasma cannon on the side of the Phantom. I flipped over it and found myself holding onto the hot barrel of an energy weapon. My vision returned fully at that time, just when the adrenaline kicked in. I fired at another elite that Pavel was engaging, but the alien positioned itself between Pavel and me. My friend killed the elite, but suffered the same fate I did when the driver of the Phantom shook the ship.

"Well hello," I said to Pavel, who was hanging on right next to me.

"Shut up," he grunted, slipping one of the sidearms into his holster.

The Phantom once again shook as the pilot tried to get us off, but both of us managed to hold onto it.

The sole remaining occupant of the Phantom decided that it had had enough and left the cockpit with a plasma pistol in hand. The elite took careful aim at us, hiding its body behind the cockpit door.

"Let go!" Pavel shouted.

I let go and suddenly found myself falling towards Reach.

"Well, isn't this fun?" Schitzo said.

Lance Corporal Serge Brisbois

Think fast…

I managed to hold onto the crate until we were thrown clear outside of the wreck. The crate was spinning violently, but after a few seconds it slowed down enough that I could regain my bearings. The first thing that came to mind was that the massive Covenant corvette on top of us had appeared out of nowhere with no warning. The second thing I thought of was that I was now falling at a considerable velocity towards the oh so very hard surface. Then I remembered that the crate that I was holding onto was full of jetpacks.

What were the odds that the jetpacks inside were fueled up and ready to be used?

I made my way to the doors and opened it. The task was a lot harder than one would imagine, especially considering the falling into the surface thing and everything. I climbed inside the crate and grabbed one of the jetpacks and slung it across my shoulders. I activated the thrusters and hollered when they worked.

"Team-7, Team-7," I shouted into my helmet. "Converge on my position!"

It had been a very long time since I had yelled that loudly. I climbed out of the box and shut the doors. I started firing my pistol into the air, trying to draw someone's attention. I could see several humanoid shapes around me. All of them had all their limbs spread out, certainly trying to slow down and think of something.

The nearest shapes saw me firing and started diving towards me, angling themselves to hit the crate.

"Serge!" Bee shouted. "Holy shit man!"

"Grab a jetpack!" I shouted.

"Holy fuck!" Lady cursed as she slammed into the crate a little bit harder than she expected.

"Jetpack!" I told her.

More and more of the guys started clinging onto the crate.

"Is that a Pelican?" Tanks asked.

"I got it," I said, activating my jetpack and rushing towards the plummeting aircraft.

"I'm with you," Marv said from behind me.

I used the jetpack to head towards the Pelican and settled into a fall with the bird. Once it stopped spinning violently in one direction Marv and I grabbed onto it and jumped into the troop bay. I used the netting on the roof to drag myself inside the cockpit and was surprised when I saw that Captain Flatt was there.

"Captain?"

She looked over her shoulder.

"Brisbois?" she exclaimed. "You scared the living shit out of me!"

"Pardon," I apologized.

"I'm just about to get this thing back on," she informed me. "Hold on!"

I barely had time to grab onto anything before the engines roared and the Pelican managed to magically stabilize itself. I grunted at the g-force pulling at me and fell to my knees.

"Whoo-hoo!" Flatt shouted. "This is Captain Flatt, if anyone copies me, I want everybody to link up with one another. This Pelican can hold about twenty five people if we cram in!"

That plus the thirty jetpacks in the crate we might just be able to save ten percent of the section. Tops. I moved to the back of the Pelican and saw Marv grabbing the machine gun in the back, preparing for any Covenant aircraft that my try to attack us.

"Section Four managed to completely evacuate," Flatt shouted over the radio. "Three got about eighty percent of their guys off!"

"What about two?" Marv asked.

"Complete loss," she replied. "No transmissions or vitals. Where the hell's Castillo?"

"He and Gunny were upstairs," Marv replied.

"Shit," she sighed. "Get me Konstantinov."

"Forwarding," Marv said. "There you go."

Staff Konstantinov informed Captain Flatt quickly established what the problem was and then reported that all of Team-7 along with a few of the guys from Team-29 were safe and sound with jetpacks. They'd each try and hold onto another lucky falling human and save their poor frightened soul. I jumped back into the cockpit and the copilot's seat. Already Flatt was getting dozens of calls from AAG operators who were linking up with the hopes of rescue.

"We've got several Pelicans with some room," Flatt broadcast. "I'm sending them over to your position."

I saw on the Holotank as a few of the Pelicans started dropping quickly in order to catch up with the soldiers falling to their death. I distracted myself from that and instead strapped myself to the copilot's seat. My helmet immediately interfaced with the Pelican and its weapon systems. I did quick system checks and spooled up the cannon in front as well as checked the tracking systems on the wing-mounted missiles.

"We're weapons hot," I said.

"Let's hope we don't have to use them. Try and get me an uplink with Castillo."

"Ma'am," I began. "He was probably vaporized."

"Knowing that bastard he's probably sitting in a Pelican all to himself."

I nodded. "You've got a point, Captain."

First Lieutenant Francisco Castillo

"Now what the fuck are we going to do?" Pavel asked.

Not only were we falling at a speed of over a hundred miles per hour, but we also had to dodge pieces of skyhook that were beginning to fall all over the place. The main body of the skyhook was slowly climbing up into space even as the bottom section, the section we were in, plummeted downwards. The majority of the skyhook's bottom section was already way beyond us, but some of the pieces that had been torn off sliced through the air around us. I had even seen a couple Warthogs rolling violently.

"No parachutes for the tank, eh?" I muttered, trying to think of something.

"Oh, shut up."

"Well, we've had some good times, haven't we?"

Pavel sighed. "Yes we have… Should I record a farewell message?"

"You could throw the helmet upwards just as you fall, maybe it'll survive," I suggested. "Well this fucking sucks."

"Watch out."

Both of us moved out of the way and avoided a section of the hangar door from slamming into us. As soon as it was past us we glided back towards one another and kept close, spreading our arms and legs in order to slow down as much as possible. We both knew that it wouldn't be enough… Talk about an unceremonious death.

"Lieutenant, do you copy?"

"Holy shit!" Pavel exclaimed. "Answer that!"

"I copy, I copy!" I said. "Who is this?"

"It's Brisbois, sir. We're alright."

"Yeah! I'll see my daughter again!" Pavel exclaimed.

I grinned. "Serge, where are you? Where's the team?"

"We got jetpacks. I'm with Captain Flatt in a Pelican. Give me your position."

"Uh, above Reach?" I said. "I'm activating my transponder."

"All right, I've got you," Serge said. "Hold on."

Pavel gripped my forearm. "I don't think I've ever heard him say so many things in a row."

"Agreed," I replied.

I waited for an uncomfortably long amount of time as the clouds passed by until Flatt reported in.

"Frank, do you copy?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "What's the plan?"

"Do you have any feasible way to slow down your fall?"

"Negative ma'am," I said. "What's the plan?"

I almost pissed myself when a Pelican appeared right in front of me in a vertical dive. The Pelican spun on its longest axis so that I could see the cockpit. Brisbois and Flatt looked up at me and gave me a thumbs up.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"I saw this in a video," she shouted. "We match speeds and then I pull up."

"Where the hell did you watch this?" I shouted.

"Hurry up," Pavel grunted, sliding towards the Pelican as we finished going through the clouds.

Captain Flatt spun the Pelican back so that we were facing the bottom and sped up enough to give us a free entry into the cargo bay. I gently directed myself there, trying to ignore the fact that the ground was getting dangerously close at an annoying speed. I climbed inside after Pavel and was thrown against the wall when the Pelican shook violently. I managed to make out some smoke out the rear hatch and cursed.

"We took a hit on our left engine!" Flatt announced. "I have marginal control! Hold on!"

I dragged myself to a seat and strapped on as the Pelican slowly slowed down and tilted its nose upwards. I could see green trees not a hundred meters below us and suddenly realized that we were in a narrow valley, with high mountains on either side. I thanked God that we hadn't hit any of those mountains and then blacked out when the Pelican slammed against something hard.

Thanks for reading this chapter.

Well, I gave Serge a little bit of a highlight in this chapter. I guess I just like the guy. Now, the whole falling scene is a lot cooler if you know what a skyhook is You might want to look it up on wikipedia in case the explanation wasn't clear enough or I didn't describe it properly. This was a bit of a short chapter, some combat in it, but it's mostly just waiting for the big stuff to happen in New Alexandria and Esztergom.

On a more personal note, I've been going to football practice for the past week and I'm annoyed. I am by no means a little guy. I am 6 feet and not exactly skinny (yes, I am incredibly sexy), but some of the guys in the team are just fucking ridiculous. I mean, the quarterback's got four inches and twenty pounds on me. But the rest is fine. Lots of fun hitting people.

Lennarts-L02: thanks for the information man. Let's make it number one on both counts.

Stay strong.

-casquis