Freedom. The one word that echoed in Dominique’s mind as she fell through the air with nothing but a parachute between her and hitting the ground at terminal velocity. She looked around, her fellow squadmates having the times of their lives around her, then she looked to the ground. The whole of the military base was now visible to her. Ant sized trucks and armored vehicles swarmed below, while even smaller and barely recognizable soldiers dotted the ground. She looked to her altimeter. 1000 metres and dropping fast.

900 metres. The sickening snap of the parachute chord conjured up by her mind was all she could hear, replaying the event over and over in her mind. The yells of her past squadmates rattled her brain and made the situation feel that much more real.

800 metres. The cracking of branches as she impacted the ground. Dogs barking, men shouting in arabic. Guns going off all around her.

700 metres. More yelling, more barking. The sound of fist meeting flesh. Then darkness. The caves. The months of darkness, torture and pain. The beatings, the burning of her flesh, the nauseating sight of her own blood. So much blood.

600 metres. Shoved back into consciousness by a nagging, high pitched beep in her ear. She reached for the ripcord and pulled it as hard as she could, sending the pilot chute flying off behind her. Then silence, the few precious seconds to brace before the shock of the sudden deployment of the main chute. Dominique jerked backwards as the canopy deployed and exhaled sharply. She looked down now suspended in mid air by a layer of canvas. The airfield was spread out in front of her, and off to her left, the area that was sanctioned of for Echo.

And then it came together. She was way off course.

Dominique pulled hard on the steering line and veered back to an approximation of her intended course, though she was way lower and going way too fast. Not again. 

She came in fast and hard, hitting the dirt hard before rolling with her entire body, a dust trail spreading behind her. When she finally came to a stop, she turned onto her back and looked up, removing her mask and sunglasses “...God damnit..”

----------------------------

Ten minutes later she appeared from the barracks, having taken off the majority of her combat gear. Now, Dominique donned a olive drab Parajumper shirt and her usual multicam BDU pants, with her appropriately branded Oakley sunglasses atop her head. She walked up to the group as Merlin walked off and grabbed a burger and a beer without saying a word.

It was going to be a long day.