Chapter 1:

I was sitting in the back of the truck that was covered in a green canvas, so that I could not see out into the countryside, as it bumped and banged down the uneven dirt road towards an unknown destination. My future was uncertain at this point. Ever since I had been shot down over the Germany, my life had suddenly turned immensely complicated, as if it wasn't already. The year was 1940 and the war had been in full swing for a year now. It was to be a war that would never be forgotten, for all history would remember it as World War II.

Let me tell you a little about myself; my name is Colonel Joseph McNally and I am a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, strike force, based in England. I'm 19 years of age, but before my 19th birthday, I was shipped out for training in England, where I would proceed on to a top secret mission in France and Germany. My family consists of my father and mother, two sons and one daughter. My father is General Jack McNally of the Royal Australian Army Corp and is a hero to both Australia and England; and one of the most senior officers in the whole of Australia. Most of what I've told you is true, I have two brothers, William and Brian, the truth is I am the only beloved daughter of General Jack McNally and his wife, Mary McNally. My true name is Josephine McNally; let me share with you my untold tale of my life.

When the war broke out my father was called into active duty. He took on the role as one of the highest ranking offices and important advisers to the Prime Minister. As the war really took off, news began to become more and more dreadful by the day. So many had died and sure enough my brothers were soon called to enlist. This news broke my heart. My brothers weren't true soldiers as my father believed them to be. Brian was oldest of the three of us and he was first to go, at the age of 21 when he left us, to make my father proud. He searched all his life for my father's love and approval and I can only hope he found it before his end.

Brian was barely two years older than William and I. Since he was the oldest, it was always him that carried the burden of watching over Will and me. It was on his shoulders that my father placed such a great burden of military responsibility. Father always wanted his sons to go into the Army, just like he did, and follow in his footsteps.

When news of his death reached us my mother was heart broken, but my father had a different reaction. Now you must understand that my father is not a cruel and mean man; he is proud, stubborn and he would do anything to keep his wife and beloved daughter safe. He used his grief and pain, and pushed it all into his work, he believed that his last remaining son should be strong like him, not some 'pansy' that cried. For when Brain died, all but my father, cried for him. Will, mother, I, Brian's friends. The list went on, for Brian had always been popular.

When more calls for enlistment came, my brother was first to stand up. My mother was devastated and she soon became ill with worry that her only remaining son would die, much like his brother. William is barely 5 minutes older than me, for we are fraternal twins. Although I am the youngest, I only occasionally messed about. I was the one with the level head and maturity beyond my age. Or so people kept telling me. Since I'm the youngest and their only daughter and I was sick when I was a baby, my parents kept me on a tight leash. But all those who knew me knew that I was a fiercely independent woman and that I had a small wild streak.

My best friend was the son of our trusty butler, Richard Olsen; his son's name was Thomas, or just plain Tom. He was only a month older that Will and I. His mother had died when he was born and he had been raised by his father with us. He had jet black hair that sat on his collar and it framed his heart shaped face. His brown-hazel eyes peered from underneath thin eyebrows and sat upon a slightly crooked nose. His lips were full, but they suited him. All in all he was a fairly handsome man, even if he did look a little intimidating.

Tom knew that I had always admired my father, and that I had secretly wished that I was a male so that I could join the army and be just like him. I soon learned that this was impossible, but I always kept that wish closely guarded in my heart, and I swore Tom to secrecy.

So when my brother stood up to enlist, I knew that he could not go alone. Will was always the dreamer, with his head in a book or staring off into the distance, day dreaming, when he should have been paying attention in school. There was no way that I was going to let my brother go off on his own and get himself killed like Brian. Some months had passed since then and I had finally decided that being angry was easier that grieving. So by persuasion I enlisted the help of Tom, and eventually my brother, to help me to conceal myself as a man and teach me how to act.

My parents new that I had become angry with a lot of people because of Brian's death, so they thought that leaving me alone would be the best thing for me. I was so thankful that they thought so, it would make my plan go all the smoother and it would make it all the easier.

A few days leading up to Will's enlistment, I pretended to be angry and refused to talk to anyone. I told my parents that I was to stay at a school friend's home until Will had left. Secretly I stayed hidden away in Tom's quarter's, where we cut my hair to a men's style and roughened up my skin.

When I stood next to Will, we were nearly identical. The only difference between us was our hair, whilst his was a chocolate brown, mine was a golden brown. It may not seem like a noticeable difference, but it is the only thing that could tell us apart.

We shared our father's strong nose and our mother's full lips. Friends of the family always said that my brother would have women falling for him, and men would always be chasing me. At the time I just laughed it off. I am just a plain person, but standing there next to my brother I studied him in the mirror. He had a well toned body, from years of hand to hand classes and weapons training. I also had these muscles, but they were always hidden by my clothes. My father wished me to be strong and to be able to defend myself if the need ever arose. Our hair was cropped short by our ears and our eyes were a startling emerald green. Mother always said that we got this trait from our father's father.

Tom, Will and I had devised a plan so that no one could stop us. We had decided that Will would go to the recruitment office and stay there, even if they didn't post him, or give him his orders for a few days. He would tell our parents that it would be easier for him and me, if he did not come back to the house afterwards.

Finally when the day came around my brother left with teary farewells. I overheard the conversation and farewells of my parents to my brother.

"Oh Will!" My mother sobbed, "I don't want you to go, but there's nothing I can do to stop you is there?" Silent tears fell down my mother's cheeks and I felt guilty for what I was going to put her through.

"No mother, there isn't anything you can do." My brother said sadly and he embraced her.

Letting go of her, he turned to our father. I knew that he was looking for any sign or hint of recognition that he was doing the right thing, from my father's face. He got nothing, but my father did put out his hand. To both his surprise and mine, Will embraced my father and my father awkwardly returned it.

"Be safe, Will." came my mother's voice as he let go of our father and turned to leave. "And make sure you say goodbye to Josie, she'll never forgive you if you don't. She's staying at Laura Danforth's."

My brother nodded and walked through the door, without looking back. My mother fled into the parlour and my father retreated to his study. When they were gone I went silently through the servant's entrance to meet my brother and Tom at the old barn.

Dressed in a pair of my brother's trousers and t-shirts, with a jacket and a sturdy pair of boots on I was ready. Suitcase in hand with some other spare clothes I had borrowed from Will and Tom. I met up with them, where I met with an unpleasant surprise. There stood Will, as I had expected, with his suitcase packed with clothes, dressed ready to travel. Beside him stood Tom, dressed as Will was, with a knapsack slung over one shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, "This wasn't part of the plan!"

Tom and Will just smiled at me, before Tom answered, "I wasn't about to let you have all the fun. Besides, someone has to keep an eye on you."

"I can look after myself!" I snapped, glaring at both of them. It was bad enough that Will was here, but Tom... Both of them were boys, not men, and worse they were my best friends. We had been through so much, and what we were about to go through was frightening.

It was inevitable they were both going to go and there was nothing I could do about it. They were both as stubborn as I. "Fine! Let's go." I huffed.

They both looked immensely pleased with themselves and we set off to the recruitment office in Brisbane. It wasn't that far to walk since we lived on the outskirts of the city and we decided that we needed the exercise.

We walked for about half an hour, when we finally arrived at the recruitment office. Handing in our papers and identification, mine forged of course; we were processed and forwarded to a waiting room, where we were asked to wait for new assignments. We were applying for the Air Force much to the surprise of the officers there, as they knew of our father and his ties to the Army.

Tom, Will and I had decided to go through the Air Force, because of Father's work and because we knew that he had no influence or ties in the air force. I also knew that this war was a war for a different generation. This war was more high tech than any wars Father had spoken of and I knew that I wanted to fly.

We waited there for hours, until we were completely processed. They took measurements for uniforms and they evaluated us on leadership, loyalty, brains and officer material. All three of us, along with five others were chosen for officer training. A sergeant from the Air Force recruitment office came out and told us.

"McNally, McNally, Olsen, Smith, Curtis, Beat, Cambrel and Palmer." He rattled off the names. "Follow me." Will, Tom and I, followed by the other five, proceeded to file after the sergeant, until he led us to another, smaller room. "Wait here, you've been chosen for Officer Training." He said, and then he left us to our own devices.

We all sat in silence; Will, Tom and I sat together on our packs, near the far wall. After an awkward silence one of the other men in the room said, "The name's Jeremy Curtis, you can all call me Jerry."

He was a medium build and he had the muscles of a farmer. He had dirty blonde hair and green eyes, flecked with brown. His face was round and his chin was covered with a slight stubble. And with that we all began to introduce ourselves.

"Joseph, Joe McNally, William, Will McNally and Thomas, Tom Olsen." I said, introducing all of us to the others in the room.

When they heard Will's and my name they spluttered a bit, "Say, you ain't related to General Jack McNally are ya?" asked Jerry.

I sighed, it was about to begin. "Yes, he's our father, but we'd appreciate if you just left that alone. He wasn't too happy when we told him we were going into the Air Force." It wasn't a complete lie, I told myself. I knew that my father wouldn't be happy, if he knew the truth. They all shrugged it off and went on telling us a little about themselves.

At the end of the introductions, I had memorized their names, and I knew where they worked before they signed up. Jeremy Curtis was indeed a farmer where he worked with his three much younger brothers and his parents. John Smith was a short red head, who co-owned a shop with his father, where he worked part time while studying to become a doctor. Peter Cambrel was a factory worker. He was thin and wiry, with dull blonde hair, and a large nose that looked out of place of his face. Lukas Palmer was the son of a wealthy factory owner and he was quite plain. His brown hair hung limp over his ears and he had light blue eyes that sat under thick black eyebrows.

Soon we were all chatting, as if we had been friends forever, then the sergeant came in again. "Come on, follow me." As we followed him, he led us outside and to the air strip, not too far away from the office. Carrying our knapsacks and new gear, we were all ferried onto a cargo plane.

"What's going on?" Tom asked. The sergeant turned to him as he left the plane.

"You've been chosen for the new base, in England. That's where you will receive your officer, pilot training and some other special training, along with other selected British and American personnel." With that he left the aircraft and the plane took off for England.

We sat there for a while, in silence, all of us a little stunned and scared; scared because this was so new to us. Soon enough the shock wore off and we continued to talk over the engine of the plane. I grew tired and soon I was drifting off to sleep on Tom's shoulder.

I wasn't quite asleep, until I heard Jerry enquire as to why I was asleep on Tom's shoulder. Unable to wake myself, Will answered the question. "Joe's the youngest, even though we're twins. When he was a baby he was very sick, so we all looked after him. Even though he's fine now, we still look out for him." They seemed to accept this, because the subject was dropped and I finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

I was shaken into wakefulness by Jerry. Rubbing the sleep and grit from my eyes, I looked around. It took me a moment to remember where I was, but when my eyes adjusted I remembered. I was still on the plane bound for England. Looking up at Jerry I raised an eyebrow, as he proceed to wake my brother and Tom from their slumber, "What's happening?"

"We are about to land." Jerry answered with a laugh. "You've been out of it for hours, your brother and Tom not far behind." He laughed again and went back to his seat. "Buckle up, boys and welcome to the rest of your lives." We all laughed nervously at this.

We sat in a comfortable silence for the next ten minutes, then finally we felt the plane begin it's decent. As the plane landed and came to an abrupt halt we unbuckled ourselves and picked up our sacks and left the plane. We had arrived in England. Tom, Will and I had never been out of Australia, so we were in awe. There were sloping green hills, covered by a slight mist that came with the dying light. In the distance we could see the tall towers and buildings of London.

We were ushered to a waiting area not too far away from the plane, by one of the pilots. He left us here and proceeded to talk to a man, out of hearing. The pilot left and the man he was talking to approached us.

"My name is Corporal Donald Richardson; I'll be taking you to the base, where you will be briefed."With that he turned. Looking bewildered at each other, we followed the Corporal. We were steered into the back of the truck. Once we were all settled and ready the truck started to make its way steadily down the bumpy road.

It took two hours for us to arrive at our destination; I was awake for the most of the trip, whilst the others napped. I was feeling an array of emotions; guilt, excitement, fear, happiness, sadness. I did not believe that anyone could feel so many emotions, until that point.

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep, until I was jerked awake by a banging noise. It took me a few moments to organize myself, and remember where I was. I was in England, for some special training, pilot and officer training. What was going to happen to us was uncertain.

As we all stumbled out of the truck, I took in our surroundings. It was all so foreign, I mean not because we were in a whole new country, but because I had never seen anything like it before. I would soon find out this was where I would live for the next three months, before I would be shipped off to a real commanding post.

My eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I could make out the shapes of several large buildings. They were arranged in a horseshoe pattern, with an oval in the middle and a flag pole standing tall and proud. We followed the same Corporal, who had brought us here, into one of the buildings.

In this building were six beds lined on each wall. Four of them all ready looked occupied, so we found ourselves, working quietly to put our gear away. We were then taken to a mess hall, where we all at a quick and small amount of ration food. We mostly sat in silence, eating quietly, with only a few conversations started by Jerry, only for them to lapse into silence again.

When we had finished our meal, a different man, came to fetch us. I didn't take much notice of him, because by now we had been travelling for a while and we were all tired and we all longed for bed. Thankfully, this man told us, in his thick British accent, that the camp Commander had decided to address us bright and early in the morning, so that we could get some sleep.

So we trudged back to the sleeping quarters and quietly, as to not wake any of the sleeping men up, got into our own beds. I lay there drifting off to sleep, many questions entering my mind. We had obviously been sent to a secret training facility, but why? What would tomorrow bring? What was this special training? What was going to happen to us? Finally I fell asleep, these questions running unanswered through my mind.

A/N: Disclaimer on anything familiar. i only write fictions not own them! Hope you like the story so far...tell me what you think...Please read and review. Loz