Flames

"Good luck out there."

"You'll do great."

"Don't worry."

As he walked down the halls of one of the Orbital Defense Platforms above Reach, Ushuaia Armory test pilot Lieutenant Nazar Rocha could not help but feel worried. As he trudged along in his heavy spacesuit towards the matte gray pod at the end of the corridor, the maintainers, security personnel, designers of the pod, even the station commander standing on the sides of the hallway, slapping him on the back and offering their thoughts to calm him down. He knew that despite all his efforts, he had to be looking pretty shaken at the moment. Stopping his long walk towards the pod, he turned towards one of the designers.

"So this...what did you call it?"

"Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle. Human Entry Vehicle for short."

"Yeah. Are you sure it's safe?"

"Positive. It won't necessarily be a comfortable ride down, though your spacesuit will protect you from the heat, but it will be perfectly safe."

"Okay." Rocha responded as he released a breath.

Coming to the pod, Rocha began to squeeze himself into it, his bulky spacesuit causing several men to come and assist him. Lifting his hands, the men who had helped him squeeze in strapped him into the pod. As they moved away, they each tapped him on the helmet several times. Putting on a smile for the cameras, Rocha lowered the helmet's visor, and keyed his COM. "Ready to roll." he said.

"Roger that Lieutenant. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"Copy."

Sitting back, Rocha watched as the pod slammed shut and rotated outward. Taking a deep breath as the countdown neared zero, he closed his eyes, and felt the pod shoot out like a bullet. Looking down as he began to re-enter the atmosphere, he saw the flames engulfing the bottom of his pod as he neared the Earth's surface. "5,000...2,000 to go until chute deployment." he thought.

As the craft passed 3,000 feet, Rocha was thrown around in his restraints. Looking at the pod's systems indicators, he saw his chute had been torn off. As the altimeter ticked down by hundreds of feet. "You bastards! You lied!" he screamed over the COM. He didn't care if it was broadcasting or not, he was about to die because they thought it was safe. As the ground raced up to meet him, Rocha continued cursing over the COM. They had probably muted him by now, he thought, but it didn't matter anymore. As the altimeter came down to under five hundred feet, he closed his eyes, and in a few seconds, his angry tirade stopped.