author's note: There is a decent amount of swearing in this, and it contains some violent situations, but I try not to have characters swearing unless I think that's what they would do in the situation... (It's about a military operation, there's bound to be blood and guts.) The weapons are probably all wrong, as I mainly used what I remembered, and didn't actually research them. However, I think it's a fairly amusing concept, and, while I dont expect it will be a very long story, I like the feel of it. Hope you enjoy

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Chapter One: The Drop

Colonel Jessie Walker was not one known for her gentle nature. Her men watched her warily as she paced back and forth inside her tent, and many expletives were heard. She had just received their new orders, and obviously, they were not ones that she liked.

"Damn those bureaucratic assholes!" she cursed, as she looked out at the supply lists her Captains had just compiled. "If they hadn't worried about pissing off those bloody UN twits, this damned war'd be over now! And NOW they give me the go ahead to invade?!" She overturned a table and howled in fury. Her Captains all took a step back.

Jessie fumed for another moment, before sagging slightly. She looked somberly at her Captains, and said, "Boys, this one's gonna be a rough one."

She gestured for them all to sit down, and flattened the map. She pointed to the peninsula they were occupying, and then a small island chain. "Okay. Here's where we are, and here's where the sat-com images tell us the enemy's airbase is. We need to get there, take out the planes, the satellite dish they have set up there and anything else of use, and we get no backup. The drop-off's gonna be at the North-North-East cove of To'pui island. We'll be dropped with rafts, comm supplies, etc. We have to get to the South end of Ra'pai island, according to our Intel, that's where the enemy has the least activity, suggesting less trouble."

She looked up, and said, "I'm gonna need 5 men out of each of your squads. It'll leave this camp too weak to handle the hostiles, so the Chiefs say the rest will be retreating back to checkpoint Bravo, and meet with Foxtrot Company. Smith, Janner, Tompson… You three will stay back with your companies and be in charge of the leftovers. You take good care of our troops. Don't let those chumps at Foxtrot mess with any of ours. The rest of you will be coming with me. We leave at 07:15 tomorrow morning, drop will be around 15:20. Take only weapons, ammo. No extras on this trip. Not even Ganner's picture collection," she added with a slight smirk.

"Yes, sir!" they said, saluting her as they went out of the tent to tell their men.

She waited until they had all left the tent before she sighed, and muttered to herself, "Figures we'd get orders to attack once they know we're here. Damn those asses."

"We've reached the drop point," the air-transporter's Captain yelled to Jessie.

Jessie signaled to her men, 20 in all, they attached their 'chutes, and jumped out.

"Good luck, Colonel," he said, saluting her.

Jessie saluted the Captain back after she had checked that they'd left no one behind, and said, "Thanks for the lift, Captain. See you in a few days."

Jessie turned to her captains as she and her men got ride of their parachutes and hide them under some brush, and asked, "Status?"

"All present and accounted for, sir. Matterson twisted his ankle during the landing."

"He'll stay here and watch our stuff then," Jessie said, fairly pleased. Usually more people had annoying minor injuries; 1 out of 21 people wasn't that bad. "Set the rafts, load 'em up. We've got to move and make our land on Ra'pai Island by daybreak if we want to avoid massive detection."

Jessie watched as the rafts were filled, her body tingling for some destruction. Even though she knew the odds were not in her favor for this mission, this was what she lived for. She kept her face calm and expressionless as they loaded the rafts, and slowly pushed them out into the cove. It was a straight shot to Ra'pai from To'pui, the currents should take them right to it in a mere few hours time. She looked at her watch briefly, and allowed herself a small smile. 16:00. They were right on schedule.

The waves lapped on the beach of Ra'pai as Jessie and her troops silently landed, emptied the rafts, deflated them, dragged them out of view, and brushed the sand carefully. By daybreak, Jessie noticed something else that made her grin slightly; high tide was early in the morning, and so would cover anything they might have left un-brushed. She silently gestured for her people to pause in the thick overgrowth just near the beach as they sent out the lookouts. The lookouts carefully climbed the tall trees until they could see the large and massive airbase located at the other end of the small island. A minute had elapsed since the lookouts had gone when Jessie heard a scream, and she stiffened as Matthews, one of the lookouts, came falling down about twenty feet to her left. She quickly and silently sent Becker to check what happened, and he came back after a moment, and said in a quiet but clear voice, "3 bullet wounds. Shot in the chest. He must've seen it coming."

Jessie allowed herself a small curse, before saying, "Assume enemy now knows we're here. No change in targets. Proceed with caution."

"Yes, sir," Becker said, conveying the message to the rest of the men.

'Nothin' we can do about it anyway. Damn them.'

Jessie pulled out a few extra magazines, and made sure her AK-47 was ready. She waited until everyone could see her and then signaled them to spread out, and keep their eyes open. Although her team already knew what to do, reminders could keep a person attached to his head, and so were necessary and automatic.

Half an hour had passed, and Jessie and her men still had not seen another sign of the enemy. It made her uneasy; she had to wonder what the enemy was planning for them. She was just about to send another lookout up to see if they were being silently surrounded, or something, when she heard a soft explosion from close on the right, quickly followed by a loud, screeching scream.

She cursed again, and signaled her men to hold their positions as she waited for someone to report.

"Becker, sir," Peterson said quietly.

She paused quietly, and her fingers tightened around the stock as she prevented herself from screaming. Becker had been one of her friends.

An instant later Jessie shook that off, and Peterson added, "Land mines. All over."

"Figures," she muttered. 'Well, nothing we can do… They know we're here, we know they're there, somewhere… The men already know that they can open fire on enemies… How to solve this… I'm gonna have to risk it.'

She sidled up to Banks, one of their scouts, and said softly, "Banks. Sorry, but yer gonna have to go up there. We need to know if there are any of them around here."

Banks paled considerably, but he just nodded. She gripped his shoulder in silent thanks and then moved back to her previous position as he went up. The next moment was tense as he was out of site, and the whole team held its breath as they waited for a loud scream and thud that never came. They all collectively sighed when Banks came down.

"There's a small camp about 100 yards at 3 o'clock. The airbase's control tower is maybe a mile away, same general direction. No one seems to be around the camp. They're pretty much on their own."

"Did they see you?"

"No, they're focusing on building… something."

"Hm… Okay, we should probably check it out," she said after a moment's pause. Something nagged at the back of her mind, but she just sighed and shrugged it off, not knowing what else they could do.

She crept up to the small group, gesturing her men to surround. Just as she was about to signal the attack, she saw them jump up, and heard gunshots coming from the rear.

"Trap!" she yelled. "They've surrounded us."

'And they don't even seem to care about their decoys… They're just getting caught in the crossfire,' she thought with a frown as she watched bullet after bullet flew through the now-spasming body of one of the decoys. She paused for a moment that she didn't have, and noted with a tinge of admiration, 'Nice,' with regard to the bullets.

She used up clip after clip, shooting in quick bursts to keep her barrel from overheating. The shots were loud, of course, but not the deafening cannon roar that Hollywood attributed to any gunfight. She winced as one grazed her left arm, and pulled it closer to her body. From her nicely hidden spot inside a bush, she was pretty well covered, although she would be stuck if she had to get out in a hurry. Which she probably would have to do, the way this fight was going.

'I knew those morons'd know we were coming,' she thought bitterly to herself as she fired another burst, and watched them tear through that poor bastard's arm like it wasn't even there. He had gotten a little too close for her comfort; in the instant after she had fired, the blood had spurted out from his severed artery, and had splashed across her face. She hurriedly wiped her eyes so that she could see, and almost gagged as the bitter taste of iron entered her mouth. She quickly spit it out, and wiped her mouth. The spatters of blood, combined with her glowing golden, extremely pissed off eyes, gave her the look of a savage monster. And, to be honest, that was just the way she liked it.

The volleys stopped, and Jessie cautiously looked out. She didn't see anyone around, and slowly slid out. She carefully crouched past her comrades, checking their bloodied bodies for any signs of life. She had gone around, had checked 17 of them before she saw the last one alive. And he was only barely that.

As she leaned over him, she created a mental list of his injuries; his legs had been shot right out from under him, his left shoulder was a bloody mess, and he no longer had one ear. 'Now that's gruesome,' she thought with a slight scowl. All he had left was some bloody pieces of cartilage sticking out at weird angles. All in all, though, he looked much better than any of the others, so he must've had a good hiding place. It still took her a moment before she recognized him.

"Bloody hell, Byron, what happened to you, ya moron?" she said affectionately as she gently propped him up, and gave him some water. It was a waste of good supplies, he probably wasn't thirsty, but she found that it always relaxed the injured. Weird, but she didn't question it; after all, she appreciated the ability to make him feel a little better.

"Hiya… Cuh… Colonel," he sputtered out. "What's up?"

"Wellll, you seem to have scared them away, with your imitation of Bloody Mary," Jessie said with a smirk. "Frankly, I think you used too much makeup."

"Wuh… we… won… then… did… we?" he said, each word laborious.

"No shit, Sherlock. You think any buncha island hiding sissies can beat us?" she said indignantly.

He laughed, and it turned into a body-raking cough. She grimaced slightly, and said, "Now, that has gotta be the sorriest excuse for a laugh I've ever heard. But, I'll let you go this one time. Seeing as you've just beat away a buncha sneaky ambushers."

"Thank… you… sir… I… 'm… sorry… I… wish… I could…"

"No, Byron, I wish I could. Now, you just rest now, and I'll come pick you up when this is over," she said as she thought fiercely, 'Damn them, making me leave him here… But now we have no friggin time. Shit!'

She smiled tightly as she gently bandaged what she could, and left everything but her few weapons with him. She set up the tripod, and reminded him, "Now, when anyone comes, shoot first, then see if it's me."

And she didn't even flinch when she heard one final shot echoing through the jungle. Although she had some dirt in her eye, and had to brush it away.