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I wish I’d co for a noise that’s part sob, part wordless distress Mouth open, she’s staring, and so a It’s quite possible nobody’s ever seen so like this before

I try her na to cajole that recruit in the field into lifting her foot, taking a step, getting out of there "Look ather gaze away any ether, turned to stone

Before us, pieces of debris are strea as they fall like ah

The Icarus is falling She’s like a great beast up in the sky, and I i as she s and turns, so in an atte there, eclipsing one of the planet’s moons, pale in the afternoon sky But what co out to put an arirl besideaway as shefor a e beyond the plains Debris the size of skyscrapers goes flying, and one side begins to shear away as the friction becomes too much for her S across the sky like shooting stars With a jolt of horror, I realize that they’re escape pods Pods that didn’t make it off the ship before she went down--pods that didn’t have Miss LaRoux to jar the cla across water, before vanishing behind the is still and silent Clouds of steam and black sether we stare down at this unthinkable thing

"You’d been in survival situations before"

"That’s true"

"But never like this?"

"I never had a debutante in tow, if that’s what you mean"

"I e"

"I wasn’t focused on that"

"What were you focused on, Major?"

"Working out where the rescue party would land, and getting there"