Page 4 (1/2)

NINE

___________

But before they had even entered the field, alarsword and taking off, a good half-dozen ships were being crewed, ready to take off in

pursuit Plus , thought Soren, the planet is surrounded by Orbital Defense Platfor shot flashed past the the ship slightly It was quickly followed by two more, precision shots, even closer, that shocked the ship from end to end Partch looked scared

―Evasive maneuvers, Captain Teach!" he instructed the AI

The latter flickered to holographic life on the console before the with pistols, with a gold-toothed grin and an ebony beard in braids

―Have been evading all along, lads," Teach said ―There‘s just too many of the bastards" He put one hand to his ear, pretended to listen ―Signal co on to the arers, just nodded

―Longsword," said a voice that Soren did not recognize ―You have not been authorized for takeoff

Return to base immediately"

―Seems like they should have sent out that before they started firing across our bow," said Soren

―Well, they did," the AI admitted ―But I knew you wouldn‘t want to parley with such scallywags"

Partch groaned A shot caught the the Longsword a worrying wobble The atmosphere was thinner now but they still hadn‘t broken free of Reach‘s gravitation

―How long until we reach our rendezvous?" asked Soren

Teach gave a hearty laugh ―Astronav is unstable after that hit," he said ―I can‘t say that we‘re likely to go anywhere ant at all, even once we‘re free of the planet‘s gravity"

―Oh God, oh God," said Partch ―We‘re going to die!"

―We‘ll have to turn back," said Soren ―Teach, let theht the the craft almost all the way around Black s around thera shut down before they go critical A pleasure knowing you, lads"

He vanished The lights flickered and went out The craft spun and spiraled, slowly stabilizing

Then gravity began to sink its claws into it and it started down

―Buckle in," said Soren to Partch Backup power kicked in, stuttered once, then went out again He flicked the controls over to one but, unlike sosword had enough of a wingspan that he ines The flaps he could manually control--at least in theory He‘d never flown one before, but he‘d flown sisword‘s various predecessors and variants, back when he was a Spartan, and crash-landing was one of the scenarios It should work With a little luck, they rabbed hold of the stick with both hands, and pulled back, trying to level the craft out and bring it down as softly as he could The fighters behind hisas in trouble

They were going faster now, a slohine building around the aircraft It was hard to hold the stick in place Partch, he saas passed out fro‘s, or a combination of both

They were just above the clouds now, then sword

buffeted back and forth by odd crosswinds He let the craft settle a little further until they burst out of the bottoet a clear vieas around them

Kilometers of farmland in most directions, more inhabited towns and districts in others, but there, in the distance, alreen that he hoped was one of Reach‘s vast swathes of deciduous forest

―Teach," he said, ―Any life left in you?"

There was no response He would have to try to eyeball it, figure out how to coh to the forest for a quick escape while still letting hiround

He circled once and saw the pursuing ships still there, just co back a little distance, waiting He pointed toward the green line and started down

He was, he quickly realized, too high, but better too high than too low He dipped and corrected

There, that was ht Yes, he saw as they came closer, definitely forest He‘d have to co its edge, keep it there round Then, if he survived the crash, he‘d simply disappear

Lower now Nearly able tojust right and then correcting and then descending, trying to keep it all straight Partch awake and screanore it if you can , he told hi in too close to the trees Starting away again, but too late, the wing clipping the treetops and starting to co, the craft falling to pieces around hih trees as if they were toothpicks Hold on, Soren , he thought, hold on One part of hisThe other part was cal, as the plane around hied a half-kilohhih this Partch, he saw frolazed over Soren‘s arround and the sky through cracks in the craft as as left of the fuselage turned over and over again Metal burning and grinding around hiod that controlled the farce that was his life to flip some charred and malformed cosmic coin and decide his fate

EPILOGUE

___________

There was a knocking on the door Or rather a rapping on the doorfra Chief Petty Officer Mendez, still in fatigues, an unlit Sweet Willia from one corner of his mouth

Dr Halsey looked up from her desk ―Well?" she said

―I‘ve been to the site," said Mendez, taking the chair at the other side of the desk She could still se Not one and what‘s left is led, hardly worth much even as scrap There was a fire as well There‘s a body, charred prettyto Soren-66"

―How can you be sure?"

Mendez gave her a look ―Wasn‘t deformentation Not to mention he was barely six feet, even when you account for fire da DNA now We don‘t kno that one got in here in the first

place--take one look at his background and he has all the earot soher up in security"

―I‘ll look into it," said Dr Halsey

―You do that, ain on everybody"

He took out his lighter and held it near the end of his cigar Before lighting it, he raised his eyebrows inquisitively She shook her head A faint look of disgust crossing his ar unlit

―Anything else, Mendez?" she asked

―We looked at the parts torn free as well, e could find of them in the woods No evidence of him there either Could be he was thrown out early on If that‘s the case, we‘ll never find the body

Or could be he made it out in one piece"

―You think he‘s still alive?" Dr Halsey asked

Mendez shrugged ―No way to tell," he said ―All I‘ll say is that it‘s strange that we didn‘t find any trace of him Could be alive, I suppose, but it‘s not likely, even for a Spartan Considering the kind of luck that Soren-66 had to this point, it‘s hard to i out well for hiain," he said, ―e"

Dr Halsey nodded curtly ―How‘s Randall doing?" she asked

Mendez snorted, lips curling back into an al his guard down a little, but there was nothing he could have done and as far as I can tell, he didn‘t let down ht have taken Soren-66, but couldn‘t take both him and soood for hi run, he‘ll be a better soldier because of it"

Halsey nodded Sink or swim , she couldn‘t help but think And as it Soren had said, a few years back now? That he didn‘t want to be left behind? An incident like this wouldto make sure that he was up to snuff

―I‘ve inserted ground troops Set the the woods for the body," said Mendez

―They won‘t find him," Dr Halsey said

―Maybe not," he said ―Still it‘d be nice to be able to wrap things up, to have soet it Pull your men back in and file him MIA," said Dr Halsey

―Not KIA?"

She shook her head ―Not without a body He‘s lived through a lot and had a lot of bad luck along the away He lived through pain that killed so for hi use of him I‘d bet he‘s out there somewhere, still alive"

―If he‘s out there, we can find hi in the forest You‘ll find hiht as well pull your troops"

―But--"

She reached across the desk and touched his ar ―He‘s no threat to us"

―He‘s an augmented, Spartan-trained insurrectionist sympathizer How is that not a threat?" he asked