Phalanx Covenant (38, etal.). A nicely epic story, but its best element is it great focus on what the Phalanx are. There's also some nice attention paid to Forge, Sam, Rahne, and Douglock. Mind you, this isn't actually a good X-Force sequence because only Sam gets much attention (plus Shatterstar whines a lot), while everyone else sits on the sidelines. [6/10] 
 Nicieza's Finale (39-43). The prof issue (39) is a little weird and unbalanced in a very '90s sort of way, but it nonetheless offers some nice closure on an old Cable story element [6/10]. Oddly, the Thorn & Feral story (40-41) is all about closure too, and it's quite good in its revelations about this old & returned X-Force character [7+/10]. X-Force's crossover with Generation X is a terrific look at the members of the casts who know each other [8/10]. Nicieza finishes off his run with a look at the long-running threads about Sunspot and Reignfire, but unfortunately the story is awkwardly told and never gets any closure! [6/10] 
 Overall, the Phalanx Covenant of this story runs long, but the rest is a pretty intriguing end of an era for X-Force.