Chapter 1

I Wish It Was A Dream

I did not want to get up this morning; actually any morning was not anything I liked. S, S, and S; the three S’s were first on the list. Gear, packed and made ready followed by that staple of SoS or powdered eggs never made for a good, tasty meal. I made certain to pack extra MRE’s and energy bars on this mission. The extra pounds would hardly make a difference; the 16 extra pounds of water would however; but better to have than have not I always say. I was a big guy and in good shape so I carried 600 instead of 200 rounds and the SCAR-H MK 17(7.62 mm) instead of a M4(a 5.56mm) which it and ammo added even more weight; the extra Glock 43x along with the Glock 26 seemed to be better choices for me than just the M9 pistol. I tried to give my gear selection the same attention to detail as though my life depended on it; I guess it did, so I packed everything I could but the kitchen sink.

I would insert by HALO(High Altitude, Low Opening jump) with more consumables like ammo, MRE’s and water, plus another radio in another pack which I would cache along with most of my chutes. Cords and some silk would be useful to keep from one of them. Remember, I tried to plan ahead, I did not trust the REMF defining the mission at all. All plans like that made the gods laugh. Murphy was an optimist and I knew things would be worse than anyone at HQ could imagine.

Altenstadt Air Base in Bavaria was near my target, or so said the Intel pukes and S-3. “Seek out and observe who was watching the base” was somewhere in my non-written orders. Verbal commands made it sound that none were going to be upset if ... Right, the ‘Bus Drivers’ never understood what could or could not be done in the real world; what did they think a sniper did, anyway. The mission itself was not too difficult, the HALO, at night near a forest was, shall we say tricky. There was no appreciable wind when I jumped, sure, I swear I heard a laugh though.

It was dark and that reminded me of the phrase, ‘a calm before the storm’. Well if it was not a storm something opened up while I was falling down. I saw a green, purple, then a grey pall seemed to ring a dark blue and black hole below me. That was all I remembered until I woke up. Remember my aversion to mornings, well this time I was glad I was alive at any time.

The group of girls ranged from 14 to 16 years-old. Mila, a 16 year-old, single, tall, platinum-blonde, was built for endurance, not speed, was on her 10 th ‘walkabout’(Hike, camp, survive). This event alligned with her booting, literally, kicking her boyfriend in the ass when she discovered his ‘other’ interests and they were not her. To quote Mila, ‘my choice of boyfriends leaves a lot to be desired’. It had been that way for her since she was 12. Her luck in picking places to remedy that ‘lost’ feeling was not going to improve tonight either. Marta, 15 was raised like her 13 year-old sister Katya to respect the forest yet learn to live within it, by it’s peculuiarity not their own rules. This creed would do them well. Tina, 15 and Maria also 15 were the newbies. Best friends this was their first trip deep into the forest. By their own admission, they were ‘babes in the woods’ and babes they were in the physical sense. Only Katya, had just turned 14 and looked her age, she had not yet attained those womanly curves men admired so much. In a way, she wanted to be more like ... like the woman her sister had become this summer.

Not airborne like our friend, they, nonetheless, met that same black hole on the ground our Ranger friend had descended into. When they awoke curled up on top of something or better yet, someone who was lying on the ground amongst them there were some smiles.

Not fully conscious, looking at the man in the middle; Mila voiced an understandable and common response “What happened? Where am I? Who are you?” all in German of course. This was repeated by all but Katya. In her mind, this was her baptism in becoming a woman,

“I don’t know! You all are here! I am Rolf!” Taking a finger and raising her head up, she saw the two moons shining in the sky. “I do know you are not in Kansas anymore Dorthy!”

With a smirk, “no we are not even in Bavaria, I think. I am Mila and you can call me ‘M’ but not late for dinner. The rest, well, ‘Did you ever wish for a harem, Master? We are all hungry for ... food and water at least I think for all of us.” This in English. The others just nodded agreement.

“You girls are the best presents I ever had fall into my lap. I hope it is the start of a long, and by the looks of things, it will be a long and quite an enjoyable friendship; ladies.”

All exchanged looks, closer to an inspection of potential mates than strangers meeting for the first time. Rolf had trust issues, Mila the very negative feelings about her own choices. Each of the girls hid their own demons and crosses they bore. The comment of being dropped into his lap and them being the best presents he ever got, seemed to be their take on the situation also. Mila and Katya placed their heads on his shoulder and said both the magic words. “I’m hungry”.

It took a few minutes to get his arms around them and several more to get up, some tears on all their faces until Rolf spoke. “We have meatloaf, stew or pasta of some type, which would you Princesses prefer?”

It could be called ‘Love at first sight!’ for each of them. He at 23 and without any SO(significant other) and they with a dismal track record in choosing partners, decided to let Fate do the matchmaking. They realized but for each other, they were all there was. Perhaps it was not a realistic scenario but what had happened to them was irrefutable. Either they accepted things as they be or ... In the distance could be heard that laugh again.

None were in the mood for food. They shared the Meatloaf, Pasta MREs and several meals the girls had packed. He got the energy bar, Katya got the chocolate bar and the others got small pouches of peaches, pears and applesauce. The packages of soup, coffee, tea, cocoa and mashed potatoe was saved, food would soon be third on their ‘must have list’ after water and shelter. Most had matches and/or firestarters and Tina had a bow drill so that helped a bit.