This story is fictional. Any and all similarities to characters groups or other entities in real life are coincidental

Chapter One

They were cruising steadily at around 20,000 feet. The doors of their DC-3 airplane were open and they were preparing to jump. The 11 other men in the aircraft were doing the same instinctive thing as he was. He began checking over his equipment one last time before the jump. He was doing this mainly to make sure every latch, buckle and zipper was secured and made sure his jump mask was fastened and the air canister was also secured and also to be certain his gear was as well. With his gear checked he began thinking of the mission, and what he was expected to do.

They would jump at 20,000 feet and perform a HALO jump, or a High Altitude Low Opening jump. They would free-fall from 20,000 feet and freefall to about 2,500 feet and then deploy their parachutes and hit the ground shortly there after. After jumping they would kill the engines and let the planes glide past the island which they were targeting and eventually splash down 30 miles from nowhere in the middle of the pacific ocean. That's where the target was. Precisely 30 miles from nowhere in the middle of the pacific ocean. It was a secret military installation that housed a weapon of great import to their employer. Due to it's obscure location they anticipated, and had confirmed, that the security on the island was present but rather lax. However, the base had constant contact with the nearest Air Force base and aircraft carrier in the area at all times. They hoped to sever communication before word could be gotten out that they were there. Even if the government was contacted it would be quite a while before they would get there and a soldier stationed at the base could surely be convinced to call them off.

The 'sergeant' on the plane announced that there was precisely 60 seconds until the jump. He looked at his watch which had been synchronized with everybody else's on the plane prior to take off. He began counting down. He looked out and saw three more DC-3s to the left of his aircraft and knew three more were on the other side. He also knew that several large boats carrying supplies, more men and heavier weaponry were coming in and would arrive several hours later. 30 seconds. He made sure his weapons were safed and quickly checked everything over again 10 seconds. He saw the men ahead of him begin to jump. He moved forward. The man in front of him jumped and he made a quick step forward and hopped out of the aircraft. His natural center of gravity – and training – forced him to spread his arms and legs to balance himself and his head was pointed down which, through his jump mask, he could see the island – even from 20,000 feet – and he saw that he was moving quickly towards it. He looked at his altimeter on his wrist: 18,000 feet. 15,500 feet to go. He neglected to look at his altimeter for a while as he was accustomed to the amount of time it would take to get from 20,000 feet to 2,500 as he had done this many times before. Several minutes later he looked at his altimeter: 3,000 feet. "Almost there" he thought. He found his rip cord flailing in the intense wind created by his free-fall. Rip cord in one hand, eyes fixed on his altimeter he waited. "2,800...2,700...2,600...2,650" he said quietly to himself "NOW!" At that he pulled his rip cord. The expected rush off nylon spilling out of his pack-back and crush pulling up as the parachute deployed did not come.

"Shit, just what I need" he said to himself with a combination of disgust and a hint of fear "I thought these were checked over" After his momentary panic he found his reserve chute cord. "This sure as hell better work" He yanked the second cord and the nylon parachute billowed out of it's pack and filled with air.

"Thank God" He thought rather happily to himself. He then looked at his altimeter: 2,000 feet.

"Hmm...not bad, only 500 feet behind" he thought to himself. "Few minutes and I'll be on the ground. He was slightly ahead of his comrades due to his shortly extended free-fall. He looked up to see just how far but only saw his rectangular shaped black parachute. "So much for being last" he said to himself.

Several minutes later he was within 200 feet of the ground. He had steered himself towards an opening in the trees and knew he would have to get out of the way quickly as several other soldiers would be landing there as well. He hit the ground with a thud and began running forward with the momentum of the parachute but slowed down began rolling his parachute around his arms and moving towards the trees. He looked back from the trees and saw his comrades doing the same thing and coming over to join him. He took off his mask, goggles, air tank and vest that housed the breathing apparatus. He dropped it on the ground not needing them anymore. He then took up his H&K MP5SD6. Unsafed it and cocked it loading a 9mm cartridge into the chamber. He then took his sidearm, an H&K USP Tactical from it's thigh holster. He unsafed it, and pulled the slide back with an easy, smooth chick-chick of the action setting itself and a .45 ACP round entering the chamber. He looked over his other equipment to make sure it survived the fall: hand grenades, flash bangs, Ka-bar knife, backpack, canister. Everything was there. He took out his boonie hat from behind his ammunition vest, unfurled it and placed it neatly on his head. He switched on his radio and made sure the earpiece was in his ear and connected to the radio. With all his gear checked and his comrades on the ground they began moving. He found his 11 fellows from the plane, as this was his squad, and began moving towards the base.

After several minutes of stealthily moving through the woods they came upon the base. It had a 12 foot wall with guard posts at the four corners. It was bigger than he had pictured it, though he knew the schematics of it by heart – as did every other man on the island. He knew what would be happening. There were a total of six planes, with one squad of 12 men in each. Four squads were going to assault the guard posts. The other two would stand by and wait for the guards to be eliminated. Then they would enter the base, sever the communications and dispose of any guards they found. There were mainly scientists and not many guards, but those that were there mustn't be alive to interfere. His squad was to take out the guard house on the northeast side of the complex. The four squads skirted the base while staying in the woods and radioed to let everyone know they had reached their assigned locations. Each squad had one man with a PSG-1 caliber 7.62 x 51mm sniper rifle in addition to the 9mm H&K MP5SD6. This was more than powerful enough to impale the guards behind the glass of the guard posts. The sniper carefully took aim, placing their crosshairs directly over their victim's head. At the same exact moment all four snipers pulled the triggers of their gun making one of the two guards fall to the ground. An instant later the other guard had joined him on the cold steel floor. The rifle was potent yet retained the excessive noise most rifles bear. After the four snipers confirmed their kills the squads moved in. By employing grapples that they carried with them they were able to get up and over the wall with ease. While the snipers had been shooting the two other squads moved towards the front gate and upon hearing the rifle blasts the two remaining squads moved in as well. At the entrance there were two guard stations behind the wall with a chain link fence as high as the main wall with an extra foot of barbed-wire on top of it. It also happened to be electrified fencing. With one squad on each side of the fence, two men on each side took aim at the two guards present in the post opposite them and fired. The muffled shots were heard only by the shooters and the unsuspecting guards fell to the ground. At that, a man from the back of one the squads moved forward with bolt cutters with thick rubber handles as well as think rubber gloves and cut two 3'x4' holes in the fence and the squads came through.

They radioed in to tell they were in, and moved to the shadows behind the guard posts. They could see the communications building from where they were and they also see the building that served as the armory and security center. They also saw several other buildings which served various purposes. They moved quickly and quietly towards the buildings. One squad toward the communications building and the other towards the armory. They reached the entrances at virtually the same time and prepared to enter the buildings. At each building a man set C4 plastic explosives on the doors, just enough to unhinged the door: a small amount near the handle and over the three hinges. They were wired together and rigged to the same detonator so they would go off at precisely the same time. The squads moved back out of the blast areas and prepared to blow the doors. The demo-men looked at each other held up three fingers, then two, then one and blew the doors. The squads immediately rushed in.

At the communications building there were several men at computers. They were immediately shot through the head and did not even know they were under attack. Another room was present which held the actual communication station. Three people sat in front of station.

"We're under attack!! We're under attack!! Send back, say again, we are under attack and are requesting—" The first man to enter the room had shot him before he could finish the sentence. The other the two were flexi-cuffed and held at gun point on the floor.

Meanwhile, at the armory, the team quickly moved in. Half the team secured the first floor where the actual armory was and the other half went up the stairs to where the security team was. Four the men threw in high explosive grenades took cover and waited for the three second fuse to burn. After the explosions ended they rushed up and found the security team dead or dieing. They went back downstairs and reported "Armory secure". Moments later "Comm station secured".

During all of this the four other squads began moving. One went to the command center, one to the labs, one to the computer room, and one to the warehouse, where it lay.