"You want a ride?" I ask, grinning maniacally.

The lieutenant has seen Artis' look before. Last time it was in the guise of a Blackhawk Pilot who needed a someone to test the comfort of the new seating arrangement in his chopper's cargo area.

...I still have nightmares of flying just above the treeline at 200MPH.

"Um...with all do respect sir...no thanks. Besides, I need to keep in shape for this month's PT test."

"Well I'm not sure about the rest of you," Kyun says putting his stuff into his room, "but I could use a meal after that Taco Bell appetizer."

Uniforms, PT tests ... just reminds me of how I'm in dire need of working out.

I heft the keys in my hand for a few seconds, considering several possible courses of action, all illegal, then grab one of the rough blankets off one of the bunks and head out to take a nap in the back of the Humvee, relaxing in the fair weather.

Jess watches Art take off, then shakes her head.

"Somebody's forgetting that it doesn't matter where you are, but what you do to make yourself comfortable. Me, I'm going to hum along to Lux Aeterna."

She withdraws a small gizmo from her pocket and disappears into her room.

Ayumi drops her things off in her room and trots to catch up with Kyun as he heads to the officer's club. She gives his shoulder a tap.

"Agent Cha? I read your file. Your heritage is Korean. Mine is Japanese. Will there be... difficulties?"

Kyun conisders Ayumi's question for a moment before replying, "Unlike my grandparents I had the privilege of growing up in the States. Besides, in this game we're practically required to trust each other and I have no problem trusting you." Kyun offers a smile before continuing. "So, shall we see if we can convice Colonel Wade to buy us drinks?"

Ayumi returns the smile.

"I like that idea."

Brian settles into his small room, smiling at the quirks of military life before heading off for a jog around the base. Nice weather, and it would be nice to soak in a little bit of stable civilization before well...before the team got ahold of sanity and tossed it around like a rag doll.

Camp Schwab: Okinawa Japan, 8:49pm

While the rest of the team settles in, Kyun and Ayumi head over to the officer's club. After a brisk ten minute walk and asking a few people, they manage to find it.

The two walk in and head for a shady spot near the bar. They get about 10 feet in the door when they see Jack talking to a table of people, gesticulating wildly whilst smoking a cigar and sipping a beer. The crowd at the table seem fixated on his every word, laughing and carrying on like a bunch of drunk frat boys.

Meanwhile, Brian leisurely jogs along the placid coastline surrounding the isthmus. As he is prone to do, Brian scans the beach for anything of note, perhaps coming back in the morning for a better view. In doing so, he notices what appears to be someone/something being washed-up along the beach. From his vantage point (about 100ft away), it's too dark and obscured to get any details...it could be just about anything.

"Looks like the first round may have to be on us." Kyun says to Ayumi. Kyun heads to the bar to get a beer and Ayumi's drink of choice, looking for a spot where he can sit back and enjoy Colonel Wade's 'tall tales'.

They say curiosity killed the cat...Of course, that cat wasn't also member of the SAS.

As Brian gets closer to the object half in the water, he faintly hears what sounds like garbled radio chatter coming from it. From about 50ft away, Brian's suspicions come true as the tide pushes the object completely on shore.

Those are jump boots and I'm guessing that's what's left of the paratrooper who was wearing them.

Moving in with a great degree of caution and discretion, Brian sees that the soldier is outfitted with HALO gear, his helmet still strapped to his head, the visor down.

As he begins the unenviable task of trying to find some identification, Brian's search is illuminated by the headlights of a vehicle coming down the coastal highway. It's Artis barreling down the road with the radio cranked up.

Artis turns the corner and sees two people down on the beach, one is standing over another.

Ah...at least someone's getting lucky tonight.

But Artis' guess is dismissed as he sees the person standing signalling him in some sort of distress. Artis pulls the Hummer off the highway and as his headlights shine upon the two people he immediately recognizes one of them as Brian.

Dammit! We can't take these people anywhere! I'm tired of moving dead bodies!

(Edited by Dieter at 4:23 pm on Mar. 20, 2003)

Kyun and Ayumi got their drinks and headed over to Jack's table where he was preaching to the choir. It was an assorted rabble of pilots, battalion commanders and even a 1-star general.

...we were again simulating a rescue mission, using Monkey Mountain for this mission. The pilot was new to the unit, and had not flown contours before.

We flew up the mountain just above the treetops, and then the ridge fell away. Before we knew it, we were flying at over 500 feet above the terrain. This is a "no-no!" since it provides the enemy time to raise a gun and fire at the helicopter.

The pilot lowered the collective, and pointed the nose of the Jolly toward the ground in an effort to loose altitude. The Super Jolly Green HH-53 is a very large and heavy helicopter, but its controls are quite responsive; it rapidly began it's descent. Unfortunately, lifting a large, heavy helicopter is quite another matter. As the trees approached, the pilot raised the collective, but tentatively at first. Then he pulled it up hard.

I was in the back of the helicopter, again monitoring our rear from the number 3 mini-gun position just inside the ramp. From this position, one can only look backwards. The view is breath-taking since it offers an unrestricted sight of the jungle we had just flown over.

I looked down as we quickly regained altitude to see the precise outline of our helicopter in the top of a large tree. A number of vines trailed from underneath to about twenty feet behind the helicopter.

I keyed the mike, and talked to the pilot "Pilot, PJ, we have vines trailing the helicopter. Do you want me to take a look underneath?" He answered "Affirmative". I put on the safety harness. With the strap fastened to the floor "D" ring, and enough strap let out to reach to back of the ramp (but just enough!), I walked underneath the strap barrier onto the ramp, laid down on my stomach, and put the visor for my helmet down. I then inched out far enough to hang my head over the ramp's edge, and look underneath the helicopter. The vines were trailing from the right wheel, but there didn't appear to be any damage. Then I looked under the helicopter at the bottom of the fuselage, and noted a fluid running back toward me—bad news! I pulled my head up, keyed the mike and notified the pilot of my findings. He asked me to identify the fluid.

Fluids coming out of a helicopter can usually of two types. It can be either fuel, or hydraulic fluid. Oil is a more remote possibility, unless the copter is fired upon and hit. Hydraulic fluid is usually pink in color, but fuel can be colorless. The fluid coming out was colorless. I told the pilot, and he asked that I make sure. It is possible to mistake the problem in the 250 knot air stream, and to only definitive method was to taste the fuel.
I took a glove off, stuck my finger into the fluid and tasted it. It was salty!

I whirled around, looked up the inside of the helicopter and as my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, I noted a flight engineer using the urinal!

At least, we weren't in as bad a shape as we thought. But I did have some words with the flight engineer

"Is that a dead body?!" I shout to Brian, running over to help.

Brian nods.

"Someone did a HALO drop and missed. Either that, or someone killed him. Not sure whose he is, or if he's got any buddies around."

Brians hand goes to the 9mm pistol that has become a fairly perminent attachment to his body, flicking the safety off.

"We need to get word out to Jess and the rest team...paratroopers don't jump onto Marine bases for the hell of it, and I've got a feeling he didn't have friendly intentions. Head back, get the team and the nearest officer you can find, the Colonel if possible. I'll try to sort out who this chap was, and make sure noone comes looking for him.

Artis heads back to base to get the Colonel and the cavalry while Brian does a preliminary search of the body.

Judging from the fine quality and condition of the uniform and helmet, it all looks NATO in origin.

Time to do the nasty.

Brian flips up the helmet visor revealing a slightly bloated, yet still recognizable western european face. The blond hair and blue eyes gave that away.

Alrighty...he's one of ours, which means he should have ID somewhere in his boot laces.

A quick search finds dogtags laced up in the soldier's left boot.

GIBSON, THOMAS D

362578365USN
O POS
CATH

While he waits for the team, Brian takes the liberty of searching through the rest of the soldier's gear. Judging from the type of gear on him and in his pack, it definitely looks like a covert-op mission.

Gear Found

MP-5 (silenced w/ 6 clips)
SOCOMM (silenced w/4 clips)
Laser-Designator
GPS unit
Other assorted commando-type gear

Artis hauls ass back to the base, stops by the barracks to pick up Jess then heads for the Officers' Club. The two barge inside and find Kyun and Ayumi casually tying one on as Jack performs his oratory.

"So there we were in Marakesh. The Algerian operative had a knife to my buddy's neck and all I had was sock full of Egyptian Dinar coins..."

Jack stops in mid-sentence when he sees Jess and Artis.

"Well! It's about damn time you guys got here. Where's that prissy Brit friend of yours...out having tea no doubt?!"

"Oh, he's out alright, but I think he's more concerned with a body than a beverage - and I think you know what kind of bodies we deal with."

Jack's usually big cheesy grin is replaced with some seriousness.

"Er...right. (addressing the table) If you will excuse me."

Jack snaps off a salute to the higher brass and nods to the team that he was right behind them. As Jack places a phone call, Artis takes them back to the scene.

"Yeah. This is Wade. We've got a frequent flyer just south of the base. Send a flight crew do deal with it. Roger that, Wade out."

Jack looks a bit unnerved, but hardly surprised. As the team gives him the ubiquitous, "Would you mind letting us in on your secret???" look, Jack says that it can wait until they get to the scene and tells Artis to step on it.

"It's fifteen minutes away...we'll be there in ten."

Nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, they arrive at the beach, finding that Brian has already began the investigation without them. Jack gets out, walks over to the body, and without asking Brian who's name is on the dogtags he says,

"Gibson, Thomas D...right?"

Brian chucks him the tags.

"Dammit! I knew something like this was going to happen!"

"Your orders, Sir ?"

Brain squats down, pondering the body in the sand. He had done a HALO drop, as part of a certification exam, once in his life. It was, without a doubt, one of the most frightening things he had ever done.

"SEAL, right? Tommy here has alot of expensive Navy toys here, and you Americans don't normally botch drops badly enough for him to have died...accidentally. Care to explain what he's doing here?"