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The black wing caught a breeze, jerked hirass and dirt He gasped for air, but he wasn't scared He was angry that he'd look so stupid having to wrestle with this parachute

The Falcon Wing hit the fence, and stuck there, fluttering

Shane got up and undipped his There was no way he'd been so scared he pissed his pants With dread, he looked It was blood The skin on the back of his legs was raw He took a tentative step and fire crawled up both thighs

He laughed Blood or piss, what did it matter? He'd made it

"Hey, dumbass What's so funny?"

Shane turned and saw the kid who had pushed hiled in his harness

Shane s

The kid got to one knee and held out his hand to shake "I'ushed from the kid's face and he reeled over

He was going to pay for shoving him He was the only one who knew that Shane had frozen on the edge and chickened out He'd have to pay for that, too

Shane started pounding hiht and left fists

The kid held up his arood ones, skinning his knuckles

Robert headbutted Shane, and he fell off

Robert stood, shook off his harness, then growling, leapt onto Shane

They rolled on the grass, kicking and punching

Shane heard a loud snap and he wasn't sure if it was his or Rob's bone breaking; he didn't care, he kept hitting and hitting until blood spilled into his eyes and he couldn't see anyrabbed Shane and pulled hi, Shane connected with one of the Navythe bone over his eye

The odlike authority

Shane blinked and wiped blood froiven the order to jump stood between him and the other kid

The Navy man he'd hit pressed one hand to his swollen eye and said, "Chief, these tere going to kill each other"

"I see that," the old ly at Shane, and then turned to Robert

Robert ignored the old man and took a step toward Shane with his hands raised

"I said STAND DOWN!"

Robert dropped his hands and staggered back as if he'd been struck

"I think you're right, Sergeant," the older Navy ht have killed each other" He s his teeth "Very good That kind of fight left in theht jump? My God, I only hope the rest of them are like this"

CHAPTER SEVEN

0000 HOURS, JANUARY 19, 2532 CMILITARY CALENDAR) / NARROW-BAND POINT-

TO-POINT TRANSMISSION: ORIGIN UNKNOWN; TERMINATION: SECTION THREE,

OMEGA SECURE ANTENNA ARRAY, UNSC HO EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, REACH

MILITARY COMPLEX

///AUTOMATED REROUTE UNSC SHIP REG-96667 ABY/// FILE ACCESS

GRANTED///WORM-PROTOCOL FIREWALL ENABLED/FILE ERASED///

PLNB TRANSMISSION XX087R-XX

ENCRYPTION CODE: GAMMA

PUBLIC KEY: N/A

FROM: CODE NAME COALMINER

TO: CODE NAME SURGEON

SUBJECT: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC

CLASSIFICATION: EYES ONLY, CODE-WORD XXXX

XXXX TOP SECRET (SECTION THREE X-RAY DIRECTIVE)

/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/ /START FILE/

INSTITUTIONAL RECORDS ALTERED AS PER INSTRUCTIONS

INITIAL CONTACT WITH BASE AI MADE HELPFUL, BUT I DON'T TRUST IT

PACKAGES DELIVERED SELECTION PROCESS STARTED OPERATION UNDERWAY AND ON SCHEDULE

CANDIDATES EXHIBIT MARKED AGGRESSION WELL OUT OF BOUNDS OF THE SMITH- KENSINGTON INDEXAS MUCH WORK TRAINING THEM AS IT IS KEEPING THEM FROM MURDERING EACH OTHER THEY'RE REAL HELLCATS

LIEUTENANT CLAIMS ALL UNDER CONTROL HE HAS A PLAN FOR EVERYTHING UNSURE WHERE HE'S GETTING THIS CONFIDENCE, BUT I DO BELIEVE HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING

ARE YOU SURPRISED?

/END FILE/

/SCRAMBLE-DESTRUCTION PROCESS ENABLE/

PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE

CHAPTER EIGHT

0900 HOURS, JULY 30, 2537 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC POINT OF NO RETURN, LOCATION CLASSIFED (15 YEARS AFTER ALPHA COMPANY INDOCTRINATION)