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―You want us to ride the skids?" Eric asked, stepping up onto the flanged wings under the cockpit that the Hornet sat on

There was barely room for one person to ride the sides, it seemed to me

―Hey, UNSC Marines ride the skids all the time," Allison said as she opened the cockpit and cla You na to pair up on a skid?

Eric, Felicia, and I squared off with a fast round of paper-rock-scissors, which Felicia and I lost

Eric walked to the other side of the Hornet ―See you on the other side!"

I et on the skid first, and she shoved herself against the skin of the Hornet There was a bit of a recess behind the cockpit where the skid joined it

―It‘s nice that they standardized the controls," Allison said, flipping switches as the engines kicked on behind us I watched the sequence from my position just behind her, until it suddenly dawned on me what she meant

―Wait," I protested ―You haven‘t flown one of these?"

―It‘s straightforward You got your stick, your collective throttle, yadda yadda We‘ve been doing this ever since we invented VTOLs" The Hornet jerked upward, and I crouched, wondering if I should juo of the lip as Allison yanked the glass down and sealed the cockpit shut

―You getting ideas there?" Felicia asked as I shoved up against her, grabbing for handholds on the Hornet

―You wish"

She laughed, then swore as the Hornet tilted

I thought I could hear Eric whooping from the other side as the Hornet clihts of Elysiuet was a flip music club on the outskirts Allison flew in low over a residential area, then flared out over the parking lot, dropping us to the ground with a thump

Felicia and I turatefully staggered on solid ground

Eric also stu wildly ―I hope we‘re stuck on idiot duty by the UNSC forever!"

―Come on" We offered Allison a hand out of the cockpit

We bounced inside to the raucous beat of flip music Allison struck out withto account for taking the Hornet?" Felicia asked as aited for drinks

―Training," Allison shouted over the hed ―Does he even know it‘s a lost cause?"

Allison grabbed her drink ―Sweetie, if you don‘t tell hiehts and dancing crowd,

―this can keep going"

She danced her way off into the crowd as I paid ―Keep the tab open, I‘ whatever she drinks," I told the bartender

―You‘re not going after her?" I asked Felicia, who‘d dragged Allison into our group

―She‘s notMarine gal, and we‘ll talk"

―I don‘t have tirunted

Felicia shook her head ―You‘d als we meet think you‘re a Harvest hick"

―What, and you aren‘t?" I was a little bit annoyed by the barb

―I‘irl, city born and bred It‘s in the blood The other city girls can sniff it Plus, you have no sense of style"

―Oh, screw you! Now you‘re just trying to piss uilty I wouldn‘t do it if you weren‘t so damn touchy about it" Felicia pressed her drink in irls‘ room"

I followed her part of the way to stand in the hallith a drink in each hand as hordes of people shoved past me

When Felicia came back out I handed her her drink, and we turned back to leave the hallway

That‘s when the Insurrectionist boht, and pressure threw me back down the hallway

For a , and then a second explosion brought the entire building down on top of us, trapping me in the debris

ODSTS DUGus out

Most of the civilians out dancing, however, had died Allison was found with a piece of rebar through her skull Eric was in a co ferried out to Reach for better medical care

Felicia and I both had been packed with biofoae of the debris

We were too doped up on painkillers to do much more than lie in bed for the first half day while medics kept an eye on us I had a concussion, broken ribs, burns, a skull fracture, and ached in places I didn‘t know I had

Felicia reported, fro in that hallway saved your lives," an ODST medic said ―You‘re damn lucky"

I didn‘t feel lucky

Particularly when the ONI agents showed up

They questioned us about ere doing at the club: hoe got there, whether we had

contacts with Insurrectionists

There were a lot of questions about where our allegiances lay Many of theain

In the end, they eventually let us be, but not before telling us that the club had been singled out because it was a favored spot for CMA Marines during weekend leave

I had a lot of ti they‘re going to be shutting down the CMA‘s involvee of her bed once I‘d healed enough to walk ―There are rumors that the CMA will be shut down coet the CMA

disbanded"

―No surprise"

―And then what comes next?" I asked ―Even if it lives, the CMA is a dead end What kind of career will I have if I stay with the to leave for the UNSC"

―Career? Why the hell would you want a career?" Felicia snorted ―You‘ll never see Harvest again if you switch to the UNSC No telling where they‘d send you You have a chance to go hoain," I said

―It‘s where you came from Where your dad has land"