"Five mikes till jump."

Gunnery Sergeant Raymond James snapped his head up and looked around the empty C-130 cargo hold. There were only two other people in the cargo area: his spotter, Corporal Janet Elise, and the jumpmaster.

"Three mikes."

Both Gunny Ray and Corporal Elise were part of an extremely secretive special forces group called Task Force Spartan. It was a multinational group that was composed of volunteers. These people, if accepted, would be taken to a secret facility, one located in almost every country, where they would endure extremely harsh training over a long span of time. The reason it prospered so well was because there were no age restrictions for volunteers. With parental consent, if the volunteer had any, anyone under the age limit of any country could join. Both Corporal Elise and Gunny Ray were only fourteen years old.

"Check altimeters and remember to not open your chute until 500 meters above sea level," Gunny Ray cautioned.

"Yeah, I know! I went through the same training as you did remember? The only difference is that you're the shooter and I'm the spotter this time," Corporal Janet replied, slightly irritated.

"Hey jumpmaster, we got clear skies right? I don't want to be killed by a jet while free falling before any terrorists get to shoot at me. Where's the fun in that right?

The jumpmaster shook his head as he listened to the pilots from the cockpit on his headset. Gunny Ray stood up and checked to ensure his gear was properly stowed in his jump bag that was attached via a cord onto his tactical vest.

"One mike!"

"Ready Gunny?" Corporal Elise inquired as the two approached the open ramp before them.

"Heh, ready as I'll ever be HALO jumping into enemy territory, at night, with no recon and a vague mission."

The two teenage Special Forces operators checked their gear one last time before the jump. The jumpmaster held up his hand, all five fingers extended, and one by one, curled them into a first. As the last finger curled to complete the fist, he yelled into his microphone to the two operators

"Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Both operators tossed themselves out of the plane and fell from 11,000 meters above sea level. The operators gained speed rapidly and were soon falling at terminal velocity towards their target. Ray checked his altimeter as he approached storm clouds over the landing zone. 1,000 meters above the clouds, however, a jet screamed by the falling operator and he was pulled off course to the right, falling through the storm clouds.

"I thought there weren't any planes nearby," Thought Gunny Ray as he struggled to correct his fall. "At least it didn't kill me."

However, as he was falling through the clouds, he felt a brief moment of disorientation in his body and the rain suddenly stopped. Slightly confused by the rapid change in conditions, Ray quickly brought his mind back towards the mission. He would have time to wonder what just happened after he returned home. But all of a sudden, a light blue blur shot past his vision. It had moved past so quickly that Ray wasn't even able to make out what it had been. The slight shock of that, however, was not as great as the one he was about feel after he broke through the cloud covering.

"What the..."

Ray gazed down at a forest stretching below him. That was the problem- he wasn't supposed to be over a forest. He was supposed to be over a Middle Eastern desert. He immediately deployed his parachute and activated the high powered radio that was attached to his helmet.

"Sierra Base, Sierra Base, this is Viper One. I am over an unknown forest, presumably way off course. Do you read?"

Ray paused for a moment and asked again.

"Sierra Base, do you copy me?"

The silence that followed disturbed him. Along with having the best operators, Task Force Spartan also had the latest cutting edge technology. In other words, there was no reason for him to not be able to contact a base miles away. He tried to contact Corporal Elise next.

"Viper Two, do you read me?"

After another eerie silence, Ray decided that he was on his own. He quickly scanned the area below him and saw that near the edge of the forest, there was a small village. He struggled to decide whether or not to land in the village or in the forest. If he landed in the village he could get immediate help, if they weren't hostile. If he landed in the forest however, he could safely recon the village, but risked injury during the landing because the trees were so closely packed. He decided to compromise and land at the edge of the forest. He angled his chute and glided towards the edge of the forest, but right before his chute passed the tops of the trees at the forests edge, a sudden gust of wind yanked Ray's chute, and him with it, backwards.

"Crap," Ray muttered to no one in particular as his parachute snagged to the top of a tree. "Well it can't get much worse than this," he thought to himself. He then turned his head and saw the tree had very thick, very hard looking branches.

"Why does that always happen," he thought to himself as gravity pulled him down into the tree. This was his last conscious thought before the back of his head smashed into a large branch.