Editing Tug o' War

{{Title|''Tug o' War''}}
{{Era|RW}}
'''''Tug o' War''''' is a short story included in the [[2010]] reissue of ''[[Halo: First Strike]]''. It details the adventures of [[Oliver Birch]] as he struggles to complete his [[fetching]] run on time. The story also explores some of the mechanics of [[slipstream space]].<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''' (2010), ''Adjunct''</ref>
==Synopsis==
Taking place after the [[Human-Covenant War]], Tug o' War details the adventures of Oliver Birch, a [[Fetching|fetcher]] working for [[Warner & Ives]], who makes a living out of prospecting wreckages of starships for [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]]s. In the debris field over the [[Glassing|glassed]] colony of [[Biko]], Birch recovers a Slipspace drive from the {{Class|Marathon|cruiser}} {{UNSCShip|Dresden}}. Back on ''[[Galileo's Worst Enemy]]'', a [[tug]] Birch uses for in-system travel, he discovers that while the drive is made to look like a commercial model built by the [[Oros Trading Company]], it is actually a "[[saddle box]]", a type of drive used for military experimentation. 

Birch also struggles with a personal problem: he has arranged a date with [[Gretchen Navarro]], a woman on [[Tribute]], but he is already late for delivering the slipspace drive for [[Office of Naval Intelligence|ONI]] at [[Cygnus]]. Due to the distances between the systems, it is impossible to make it to both in time. Birch formulates a plan to mount the saddle box on his ship, {{CAAShip|Butterworth}}, and program it to make a series of automated jumps to Cygnus while mounting the ''Butterworth'''s old drive to ''Galileo's Worst Enemy''. Birch plans to use the tug to drop out of slipspace near Tribute while ''Butterworth'' continues its course to Cygnus. Once there, Birch explains to his dog [[Mabel]], the ship will play an automated message and a verbal claim of continued ownership to the dock workers, and his contract handler known as [[Steve (ONI)|Steve]] will be there to receive the drive.

However, after the plan is put in motion, something goes wrong with the jump. The ''Galileo's Worst Enemy'' begins disintegrating under the stresses of slipspace as it leaves ''Butterworth'''s cargo bay. Birch and Mabel manage to jettison out of ''Galileo's Worst Enemy'' in a [[cryo-chamber]] before the ship is torn apart. Birch drops an [[distress beacon|emergency locator beacon]] as they fall asleep, awaiting rescue.

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

[[Category:Short stories]]