Welcome! I came up with this a little while ago, and thought "Hey, why not?" Anyway, it tells the story of a Delta Force operator and how war goes on, despite what goes on elsewhere.

O Death was never enemy of ours!

We laughed, knowing better men would come,

And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags

He wars on death, for lives: not men, for flags.

"The Next War"

X X X X X

Specialist Lee O'Brian stared down the scope of his modified M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle System. He was providing sniper support and recon for the rest of First Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, Team 6, as they moved through the valley below him.

"Delta 3 here," he said into his radio. "The next few hundred meters are clear, over."

"Roger that, Three," the voice of First Lieutenant James Hackway came back over the radio. Then, "Four and Five, move up the right. Two, with me around left. MOVE!"

Lee watched as Team Six slowly advanced through the narrow path, the two two-man teams covering each other as they worked their way up. It was a well orchestrated event; each man knew he could trust the others in the team with his life. Lee quickly glanced at the reddening sky to his east, wondering how much longer they would have till the sun rose, before returning to overwatch.

He scanned the surrounding area, being careful to watch for silhouettes on the high Afghan hills surrounding him. He saw a bump which shouldn't have been there, and breathed into his mic. "Hold. Target: two o' clock high."

Beneath him Team 6 stopped in their tracks. Each man slowly dropped down. They had been trained in the art of not being seen, the foremost rule of which was to move slow even if you think you had been seen.

O'Brian brought his scope up to eye level. The bump resolved into two separate heads, a sniper and his spotter. Lee sighted and brought his crosshair to bear over the sniper's head. A simple pull of the trigger, and his rifle coughed out a silenced 7.62mm NATO round. A quick switch of targets and a second round was on the way. Both men were dead within seconds. Like kids playing a video game, they had automatically been attracted to the highest ground, a fatal mistake considering they had been upsun, silhouetting themselves. Lee was himself only about two-thirds up the slope of his hill.

"Clear, over," he radioed.

"Roger, keep moving. We're running out of time," the el-tee came over the radio. The Lieutenant paused as the team came to a turn in the ravine. He, along with the other four members of Delta team slowly popped their heads around. "Target is a hundred meters from our location. O'Brian, do one last scan and then get down here. Over."

"Roger that," Lee replied. He scanned the horizon around him again, searching with an eagle's eye for anything out of the ordinary. Not finding one, he quickly but quietly made his way down to his teammates. Once he got to them, he slung his rifle and pulled out his Magpul Masada ARS.

"Alright, one hundred meter sprint. Stack up east door, then flash and clear. Shoot to disarm only. We can not take anychances," The el-tee said.

"Poor Hajjis won't know what hit 'em," Delta Five, Corporal Lance Williams, the squad's support gunner, said.

Hackway allowed his men a quick smile then said, "GO!"

The hundred meter distance was covered in roughly twenty seconds, and within another five, the team was stacked up and ready to breach. The Lieutenant kicked open the door and O'Brian threw in a flash bang grenade as the rest of the team bowed their heads.

Time slowed. The flash bang blew with a deafening blast and a blinding light. Private First Class Jonathan Swad rushed in, crouched with his M1014 shotgun raised. Williams was right behind him, followed by Hackway, Lee, and Staff Sergeant Greg Jefferson, the squad's medic and second in command. It was a perfect breach, except the target hut was empty.

"Damn it," Hackway cursed. "Team: spread out and search the hut. Command, this is Romeo Delta One. Objective has been secured, but the target isn't here. Please advise, over."

Only static answered them.

"Come in Command, this is Romeo Delta One. Over."

Finally a voice came over the comm. "Roger that Romeo Delta. Abort mission, I say again, abort mission. DoD just moved us up to DEFCON2," there was a pause over the radio, then, "Marine First Recon was just hit by a nuclear weapon. Al-Asad isn't there. Hostiles inbound. Charlie Delta five-five is en route for evac. We have fighter support inbound. Now, get out of there! Out."

"Crap! Delta team fall back to extraction point Oscar, triple time. Secret's out, hostiles inbound," the el-tee yelled.

It was the worst kind of scenario. They were surrounded behind enemy lines and their secrecy had been compromised. No longer did they carefully move from cover to cover, it was now an all-out sprint to get to the EZ. A five minute run later and they were there. Only the bird wasn't there.

"Charlie Delta five-five, what's your status?" Hackway shouted.

"Roger, this is Roadrunner. We're uhh seven minutes out over," the pilot replied.

"Contact on the perimeter!" Jefferson shouted.

"O'Brian!"

"Yeah, I got 'em," Lee said. He had reequipped his M110, and was already on the ground scanning for targets. The silenced rifle spat out round after round, only more Jahadists seemed to be sprouting from the ground.

Static crackled over the radio, and then a clam voice said, "This is Victor 1. We're on station and ready to provide air support over."

"Glad to hear it, Victor 1. We need support to our east now! Danger close, I say again, danger close, over."

"Roger that. You boys hold onto your hats," the pilot said.

By this time, the rest of Delta Squad had started to supplement their own firepower along with Lee's. Above the clatter of firearms, a dull roar could be heard as two F/A 18E Super Hornets screamed by, perpendicular to Delta's position. They dropped their munitions and climbed, their cluster bombs raining death down onto the enemy. "We can do two more passes, Delta One, then we're outta here, over" the Hornet pilot said.

"Roger, Victor 1. Same location, over," Hackway said into his mic.

Twice more the fighter/bomber jets roared over the battlefield and twice more they rained down death. Each pass brought them closer to Delta's position as the enemy pushed closer and closer despite the strafing runs. Finally the pilot said the dreaded words: "We're bingo fuel and munitions, Delta. We're outta here. Good luck boys."

"Crap!" yelled Williams, "The fly-boys were the only thing holdin' Hajji back."

The Lieutenant called to Roadrunner, "Charlie Delta, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! We need evac now!"

"Roger Delta. Fall back to EZ Zeta. Over," the pilot said.

"WHAT!" Swad shouted. "How can we fall back with the enemy breathing down our backs?" he said as he fired his shotgun point-blank into the extremist who had clambered over the slight uprise Delta was using as cover.

"There are too many hostiles present, Delta. I can't land in that much lead," Roadrunner replied.

Lee crawled over to the el-tee. "Sir, go. I'll keep our guests company."

James responded by shouting over the gunfire, "That's suicide, Lee. We don't leave a man behind!"

"Last mag," shouted Jefferson. "They're overwhelming us, Sir. We have to fall back now!"

One of the Deltas tossed a frag grenade and the resulting explosion was drowned out by the screams of the dying. A momentary respite came as the terrorists regrouped.

"Sir, it's now or never. Get out of here," Lee insisted.

Hackway looked at his subordinate for a second that seemed to stretch on for hours. Finally he said, "It been an honor Lee." He shook hands with the man before him and then said to his team, "Ok, fall back to Zeta. O'Brian's got our backs."

The rest of the team knew what he was sacrificing. They said a quick good-bye and started retreating. Just as the Lieutenant turned to go, Lee grabbed him by the arm and told his commander and friend, "Tell her that I love her."

X X X X X

Specialist Lee O'Brian stared through his scope and fired off his last ten rounds, each claiming a man's life. He pulled out his Magpul Masada just as the first Jahadist Extremist clambered over the embankment. Lee fired once and the man fell down, dead. The victory was extremely short lived however, as more and more terrorists charged over the hill. He felt several 7.62 AK-47 rounds hit his Dragon Skin body armor, but didn't let it faze him. What did bother him was the round lodged in his hip. More and more terrorists poured over the hill, swamping his position. One Hajji rushed up to him and kicked him in the face while he was reloading. Lee reeled back and landed on his stomach, nose bleeding profusely. In the incident he had lost his rifle, and he was dizzy from blood loss, but he still managed to pull out his M9 and gun down his assaulter. He glanced to his left just in time to see a grenade land five feet away and go off in blaze of white hot fragments. Lee was hurled end over end by the blast, his body armor fortunately taking the brunt of the explosion. He landed with his back to a rock. He could see Jahadists walking up to him, Kalashnikovs raised. They surrounded him, anger branded on their faces.

He stared back defiantly as he pulled out his last frag grenade and said something to them in Arabic. It wasn't the cleanest or the most fluent, but it roughly translated to: "Have a nice day in Hell." He pulled the pin and watched as they scrambled in vain to get out of the blast radius.

He was dead before the grenade exploded.

X X X X X

The doorbell rang, causing Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth O'Brian to jump. She rose from her chair, cursing whoever had rung the doorbell for waking her baby, who she could here crying in the next room. She went to his bed and picked the four week old up, cradling him as she walked to the door, which hadn't rung again. She opened the door. First Lieutenant James Hackway stood on her door step. Funny, she thought, Why would Lee's CO be here?As the man before her, in full formal military attire, raised his right hand in a slow yet crisp salute, it hit her. Lee was dead. She suddenly felt dizzy and knew tears were streaming down her face. She leaned over onto the doorframe looking for more support. It didn't give her any, so she slid down onto the floor. James relieved himself from his salute, which he had maintained throughout and bent down to wrap his arms around the grieving widow who hugged her child. It was a disgusting breach of military protocol, but he didn't care. After all, it was war. And war doesn't have rules.

Well, there you are. I hoped you liked it and please review on the way out.