Charade (Band of Brothers)

" ONE THOUSAND, TWO THOUSAND, THREE THOUSAND "

To be completely honest, now that she was standing in front of it, the premise of initial jump training left Kate unimpressed. A mold of the doorway of a C-47 was propped up on a wooden perch a few feet high. Below it, their landing was padded with sand. However, the instructor before them was explaining the technique with such gusto, he almost convinced the company that they were jumping out of a real plane. Except, of course, if they messed up here, they wouldn't break their spine in two. It was hard to believe that someday, the knowledge they learned today would keep them alive in a combat drop in God-knows-where.

Kate turned her attention back to the instructor. The men were instructed to line up, single file, behind the 'doorway.' Wedged between Guarnere and Perconte, she hooked up an imaginary carabiner. Bill slapped her shoulder, and in turn, she slapped Perconte's, yelling, "Fourteen okay!"

Somewhere down the line behind them, someone was making airplane engine noises, which spluttered and died down to become a high-pitched whine as their "aircraft" fell out of the sky. Nobody needed to turn around to tell that it was coming from George Luz. 

Sobel snapped his head around and barreled towards the men. 

"What was that? Is that someone trying to be funny?" He spat the last word, making it sound like he was accusing someone of murder or high treason. The company was silent, staring dead ahead, holding their invisible clips. The captain eyeballed them for a few seconds, before standing back, narrow-eyed in defeat.

"Start jumping."

Kate stood on her tiptoes (she was probably the only one in the company that couldn't see over Perconte's shoulders) to get a glimpse of the men jumping out of the door. They leaped out with their legs pointed, then rolled onto their backs, and were up and running as quickly as they landed. Or at least, that's what most of them did - Some of the men miscalculated and fell forward, legs flailing as they tried to get the hang of it. The line ahead of her grew shorter and shorter, until Kate was standing in the doorway, looking down at the disheveled dirt under her. For one thing, the ground seemed a lot closer than she would have liked - it didn't give her long to figure out her technique. Second, the sand had been scuffed out of the way by the previous jumpers, leaving an awfully hard looking patch of earth ready to cushion her jump.

"Hesitations will not be tolerated, Private!" 

Sobel's outburst panicked Kate, and she hastily grabbed the front of her pack, squeezed her eyes shut, and kicked her legs out. 

"One thousand!"

Her feet parted with the wooden block as she launched herself in the air. For a moment, she imagined miles of countryside stretched out thousands of feet below her.

"Two thousand!"

The image didn't last long. As expected, the ground hit her straight legs almost immediately. 

"Three thousand!"

Keeping her knees straight, she tipped onto her back, bringing her legs up as she rolled to the side.

"Four thousand!"

The momentum of the roll itself almost brought her all the way back up on her feet. Knuckles still white around her shoulder straps, Kate rushed straight back to the other men, slightly dazed.

"I'm almost disappointed, Nicolli, I expected you to be far worse." Sobel muttered as she ran past him. Kate's brows furrowed. Was that... Approval? Or as close as one could get with that man, anyway. 

"Nice, man!" Perconte smiled back at Kate, rubbing the dirt off his palms.

"Not too bad yourself, Frank."