It’s was night, the thick jungle canopy sheltered the group below from the light of the full moon. A fire was burning several feet away, pieces of a helicopter laid strewn about the jungle floor. The tail pointed skyward piercing the canopy, revealing the starry night sky. Several bodies laid around the crashed helicopter, some burned, some buried in the mud. The helo had civilian markings but the tech inside as well as the equipment on the bodies were obviously military. These men were sent here for something but whoever was in the area of operations did not want them here. “Roadie 1-1 this is Oracle, radio check.” A grunt came from one of the bodies in the mud. “1-1 this is Oracle, are you receiving?” The now breathing body rolled over onto his back and clicked on his radio. “Oracle…” He groaned as he tried to sit up. “Roadie 1-1 reading you…” Another groaned escaped him. “Lima Charlie.”

The lone Operator looked around the area, he saw the remnants of his team and the crew of the helo. “Roadie 1-1, SitRep over.” He tried to pick himself up by grabbing the side of the helo and pulling himself up. “Oracle, be advised.” He said in between grunts. “Multiple KIAs, I’m it.” There were a few seconds of silence before Oracle responded. “Copy 1-1.” She went silent for a moment. “What’s your status over?” The Operator patted himself down and did a quick gear check. “I lost my weapon and ammo in the crash over.” He said as he checked his plate carrier. “Armor is intact, minus my pack and meds.” Roadie let out a sigh as he felt his knife was still in its pouch on his right side. “Copy, 1-1 you’re to move to the extraction point at…”

A twig snapped a few yards away from the crash site. “Oracle wait one over.” He whispered as he laid back down and began to cover himself with more mud and hid with the other bodies. After a few minutes past, three figures in green hooded ponchos came out of the treeline. One of the figures, whose face was hidden by a ballistic mask, clicked on his headset. “Base this is Viper, we’re at the crash site break, doesn’t look there are any survivors over.” The hooded figures stood there for a moment as they scanned the area. “Copy, we’re checking now, Viper out.” He motioned to the other men who nodded and began searching the site.

Roadie watched as the men searched the wreckage and the bodies around the site. “Boss.” One of the men said. “Whoever these dudes were, they weren’t fuckin around.” He pulled up one the bodies and their pack. “I’m seeing maps of the AO, AP rounds, .300 Blackout mostly, this dude had extra recoilless rifle rounds in his pack and extra mags.” As the leader clicked on his radio, Roadie sprung up and grabbed the closest hostile, upholstered their sidearm and quickly placed shots in the shoulders and legs of the other two. As they fell he rammed the hostile’s head into the side of the helo. As the men groaned, Roadie walked over to the two he shot and knelt down next to the leader. “I take it you’re the assholes who shot my bird down.” The leader didn’t say a word, he just groaned in pain. “Okay.” Roadie got up and walked over to the other wounded man and aimed the pistol at their head. “Either talk or I empty the mag.” The leader groaned again as he looked at his teammate who shook their head, Roadie noticed this. “Resilience, I admire that, too bad it don’t mean shit out here.” He fired several rounds into the man’s mask which shattered after the first three, the final two entered the man’s head and killed him. Roadie ejected the magazine from the weapon and reloaded with a full one from the corpse at his feet.

“Okay, fuck okay, yes. We shot your bird down.” The leader said as he tried to sit up. Roadie nodded as he walked over to the unconscious man and placed two rounds into the back of his head. “Fuck, I told you what you wanted!” The leader screamed in panic. “I know.” Roadie said as he took aim. “Just tying up loose ends.” He fired rapidly, shattering the mask and killing the final hostile. Afterwards he let out a sigh as he placed the weapon into his own holster on his thigh. “Oracle this is 1-1 over.” Roadie walked over to the bodies and gathered what weapons and ammo he could. “ This is Oracle, send your traffic over.” As he looked over the captured rifle he pulled the sling over his shoulder. “Oracle be advised, took contact with three unknowns break, well equipped, looked like contractors to me over.” There was an audible sigh from Oracle. “Shit, Copy 1-1, you’re to move to the extraction site break. Sending coordi-” Roadie cut her off. “Negative Oracle, I’ll Charlie Mike over.”

After burying his dead team and the chopper crew, Roadie threw on a salvaged pack and began marching through the jungle. “Roadie I say again move to extract over.” He let out a sigh as he replied. “Negative Oracle, my team died trying to find out what the hell is going on her break, I’m gonna find out what and then bring you back the intel out.” He continued through the jungle in search of more hostiles and any clues that could point him to the answers he needed. It’s one Operator versus an entire army for all he knew and he wasn’t gonna stop. His training won’t let him, after all the years he’s given the military, all the blood, sweat, tears and friends he buried, he won’t quit. He’ll either complete his mission or honor his brothers by avenging them, even if that meant sacrificing himself in the end. He’ll see this mission through, no matter what it costed him.