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ERIC NYLUND
13
lives. This was the same forest where CPO Mendez had left them
when they were children. With only pieces of a map and no food,
water, or weapons, they had captured a guarded Pelican and re-
turned to HQ. That was the mission where John, now the Master
Chief, had earned command of the group, the mission that had
forged them into a team.
Fred pushed the memory aside. This was no homecoming.
UNSC Military Reservation 01478-B training facility would
be due west. And the generators? He called up the terrain map
and overlaid it on his display. Joshua had done his work well:
Cortana had delivered decent satellite imagery as well as a topo-
graphic survey map. It wasn't as good as a spy-sat flyby, but it
was better than Fred had expected on such short notice.
He dropped a NAV marker on the position of the generator
complex and uploaded the data on the TACCOM to his team.
He took a deep breath and said: "That's our target. Move
toward it but keep your incoming angle flat. Aim for the treetops.
Let them slow you down. If you can't, aim for water... and tuck in
your arms and legs before impact."
Twenty-six blue acknowledgment lights winked, confirming
his order.
"Overpressurize your hydrostatics just before you hit."
That would risk nitrogen embolisms for his Spartans, but they
were coming in at terminal velocity, which for a fully loaded
Spartan was—he quickly calculated—130 meters per second.
They had to overpressurize the cushioning gel or their organs
would be crushed against the impervious MJOLNIR armor
when they hit.
The acknowledgment lights winked again ... although Fred
sensed a slight hesitation.
Five hundred meters to go.
He took one last look at his Spartans. They were scattered
across the horizon like bits of confetti.
He brought up his knees and changed his center of mass, try-
ing to flatten his angle as he approached the treetops. It worked,
but not as well or as quickly as he had hoped.
One hundred meters to go. His shield flickered as he brushed
the tops of the tallest of the trees.
He took a deep breath, exhaled as deeply as he could, grabbed