Chapter 1.

=i was cleaning my sidearm, a Colt Delta Elite. It was an interesting weapon, a 10mm, as opposed to the usual 9mm. It had that extra punch when needed, but still that low recoil you would expect from a 9mm. I was in my quarters on the USS Olympia. We were heading to a rendezvous with a submarine, about to go on a mission behind enemy lines. My squad was somewhere on the ship, I had no idea where. I knew they'd show up when needed. At this point, I wasn't clear on what the objective was, or the location and all that, what I did know, was that this was going to be a major op. Almost every branch of the military was going to be involved. Scuttlebutt said it was going to be the 'Modern Normandy," and if that was the case, Command better be thinking clearly. The death toll would be so high=

=is leaning against a railing on the forward left side of the ship looking to the horizon noting the light breeze=

wonder how long till we get to our destination

FOB Jericho, Special Ops Wing 'Ghostriders'

=One of the guys runs up to me in the break room=

Jason:(Excited)Mark, get your ass over here man. Command's giving us a green light for the op.

(Incredulous)You're joking, right?

Jason: (Excited) I'm not joking man. Scut says we're going in deep and we're going in loud.

=I grin when I hear the news=

(Relieved) So the guys at CENTCOM are giving us the go ahead? Damn, CENTCOM must be worried about what's happening.

Jason: Damn right, man. Get your gear on and load up ASAP.

(Happy) I'll meet you on the ghost, brother.

=I then head for the Ready room to get all my gear ready for the op=

Dear lord, bless the crew and lend us saftey on this operation today...

=I was cleaning a rifle that I liked, hopefully, I could use it in the next mission we got. I was sitting on the ship, waiting for my squad=

"What are we doing now?"

=had gotten a sandwhich and headed back to meet with his squad=

dam high metabolism

"Damn, Harima. You eat to much."

=I laugh at the joke, and continue sweeping my rifle=

"Want to go get me one?"

=I laugh at him=

"Ha, you know I have a good sense of humor, right? I'm just playing with ya'."

=I barely stand a little, putting my gun and rag aside, and barely punch his shoulder. I sit back down and resume cleaning my clean rifle=

"What's the mission about?"

=I look at him=

"Most likely. They usually call us for a reason. It's not like we're picking flowers for command."

=I laugh at my own joke=

=i finish cleaning my gun and holster it. Slipping it into the little holder on my hip. I'd drop it off in my gear locker soon, but for now, it can just stay on my person. I walked around, and found my squad. Harima was eating, like usual, and Justin was talking with him about the mission. I barely overheard the comment and walk in smiling=
Well, you know, with all the time you spend looking at them, we'd never know the difference.

=I laugh at Ben's comment=

"Look who showed up! Who dressed you, your mom?"

=I laugh at my comment=

=i chuckle=
Nah, nah, that'd be yours. Told me to tell you not to forget your lunch. By the way, did I hear someone asking what the mission is?

=I get serious=

"You really have food for me?"

=I ignore his question=

yeah the dolphin was asking

=tosses justin a bag of dorito's=


here

=i look to Harima=
Well, I honestly don't know much about it, but I can tell you what I do know. Rumors and such.

=I look at Harima=

"Hell fuckin' yeah. I fuckin' love you man."

=I open then bag and start shoving Doritos's in my mouth.=

=I look at him and laugh=

"You know I meant it as a brother love. You sick bastard."

=i chuckle and sit down on the edge of the table=

I did no such thing!

=i mock shock and betrayal=
I am hurt that you would think of me that way, Harima.

=I look confused at him=

"What? I don't get it."

=I laugh=

"I'll never forget. Gosh, we have good memories."

=The sarcasm was obviously noticeable.

=i laugh=
Hey, where I come from, rain is a godsend. So, do either of you want to hear the rumors about the mission or not?

=I look at him=

"Sure, tell us."

=I start wiping the scope on the rifle=

=gets serious somewhat=

not much other then i heard it's a joint op

Scuttlebutt says it's going to be a Modern Normandy. You know what that means?

=i nod=
Not just that, but there will probably be massive casualties.

=I look at Harima=

"No, we're holding their hands while we get shot at."

=i let Justin's comment slide=
We're going to try. Do just like what we did on at Normandy, try to draw the main forces away so our forces can land without as much trouble.

Nah, nah, Para's go behind enemy lines by going over their heads. We go behind enemy lines by going up behind them and slitting their throats. Besides, if this is true, they'll need everything they can get to have this be a proper diversion.

=I sat in the insertion plane, we'd been flying for hours, all the way from London to Iraq. We were in Desert, Urban Camouflage.=

"This is a joint op with the GIGN, we are to rendezvous with them after the preliminary objective is complete."

"The Frenchies? How do we know they're even gonna make it that far without surrendering?"

=We all laughed.=
"Look, we need to work with them. If they don't speak English, you're translating, got it Wolf?"

=I looked at my Sergeant.=
"As ever, Sir."

*Approaching Jump zone, good luck Gentlemen.*

=The Ramp at the back opens and we take position to jump=

"Go straight to rendezvous, do not be detected! Jump!"

=So I threw myself out of a plane, yet again.=

((Just because I don't speak fluent French. Or much French. Anything said in Blue. Is French. Just typed in English. SIMPLE! There may be some French words if I know them.))

"30 Minutes 'till we hit the RV Point. Don't shoot at anything unless I give the order to. We wouldn't want the Englishmen to drop their Tea." Sergeant Delmon said.

=We all continued through the rubble of the buildings, and with the cover of sand blowing around, we were pretty well hidden.=

=I loved the feeling of free-fall. It made you feel like you could actually fly. But, I had to pull my 'chute, and feeling that familiar "tug" as it snaps back and slows you down ended the feeling of freedom. Back to work.

The descent was slow, we were to reach the RV from 2 directions, me and Dagger were to land on the East of the RV, and make our way west, whereas Mouse and Textbook were to do the opposite.

I landed, and fumbled with my parachute to get it off. Before unclipping my rifle's sling and raising it to my shoulder and slowly patrolling out=

=Delmon stopped, and so did we. He had probably heard it first, but there it was. The sound of a vehicle of some sort. Intel had suggested they still scouted around here, we didn't know what they were looking for. After they had passed, we waited for five minutes, then began to move again. We were pretty silent, although we didn't have as much equipment as usual. I probably had the heaviest equipment, but that was only because I had to carry the Aeryon Scout.=

Dragon
Fort Hood
Tank Training

"Collins! Get sight on that tank" I looked through the targeting binoculars of the tank, looking for the dummy tank. "Turn the barrel 50 degrees, up 10." Brandon, the tanks main gunner, started to move the barrel to that exact number. "Firing!" I heard as the shell flew out of the tank and blew up the target. "We got three more to go gentlemen." This is gonna be a long day.

=I felt invisible, in my full black camo. I saw Dagger flash his light once. He saw me, he was letting me know where he was.=

Risky...

=I moved to meet him, we didn't talk, it was too dangerous. We simply acknowledged each other and moved towards the RV, staying as low as possible.=

"Twenty minutes." Delmon told us.

=We didn't speak much, other than Delmon's updates on how much time we had left. We probably could speak, but it wasn't worth the risk. There was another time and place for talking.=

Dragon
Fort Hood
Tank Training

The tank started to move towards the next training area. Rubbing my eyes from lack of sleep. I looked through the scopes again. Looking over the horizon to find the next target. "75 degrees right. Inside the ruined building." The tank moved again, and fired. The building going in a blaze of fire and smoke from several canisters set up and around the building.

My eyes began to adjust to the darkness, I could see a little better. I lead the way towards towards to RV. We weren't to engage anyone until we had regrouped. Even then, we had to avoid it. I continued walking, carefully, keeping my eyes open for odd looking rocks at the roadside. Fucking IEDs.=

=Another ten minutes passed. We could've probably been at the RV point by now, but we didn't want to risk IEDs. We doubted any would be inside buildings, and these ones were pretty unstable as it was. They probably still knew how these could be used as cover if the Enemy did attack. I guess they didn't count on an enemy using them. That was us. By the way.=

=We reached the RV, Mouse and Textbook were already there.=

"Took you long enough." Mouse Joked quietly.

"We just gotta wait for the Frenchies?" I asked

Mouse Nodded. "They were supposed to be here before us. But, what do you expect from the French?"

Matt
Fort Hood
Tank Training

After taking out the last two targets, we stopped with the training. Our commander gave us the pass. "You guys are going to Iraq. Congrats." I sighed, finally getting a taste of the real thing. "You'll be going to a local AFB, and get flown out there. It should take a day or so. So good luck boys." I saluted, and went back to my barracks to grab my things. Saying good job to my tank team, we all moved out, our tank going to come with us on the plane ride.

"Englishmen. Remember. Don't shoot. They may drop their tea."

=We continued on, until we could probably be seen by the English Soldiers, as we exited the rubble of yet another building.=

=We were silent, until I saw the people. One of them had been talking, given them away. I could see them. I aimed my C-8 at them, taking a prone position. I brought the ACOG scope to my eye, and tried to ID them.
I managed to get Dagger over, he raised his sniper to confirm the contacts.=

"Looks like the GIGN decided to show up." He whispered.
=I nodded, they knew we'd be here somewhere, but we couldn't risk going to them in case of Friendly fire.
Dagger went back to his position, while I watched the GIGN move towards us.=

Fucking hell... they're not that stealthy for a Special Operations team...