A Dragon's Tale-Genesys

The Recovery Job

It was about nine hours,as the pilot had predicted,before we arrived at the infill zone. It was Hudson shaking me lightly that drove me from my sleep. I was stiff allover from sleeping on the metal floor and my back was throbbing heavily from the way it had been bent,I was surprised I hadn't woken on my own.

"Wake up brother", Hudson said, "were coming on Cuba now."

I moaned as I sat up, "Damn, already?"

"It's been nearly ten hours", Hudson replied, "wake up Jackson,Issac and I will get the Zodiac ready."

A Zodiac was a inflatable rubber boat pioneered by the Navy SEALS around 1980. It had since come into service with the Marine Corps and Strike Force Raven as well. Hudson and Issac began inflating the Zodiac as I began to shake Jackson,who was snoring lightly. I never knew how he could sleep so well on our flights or in the field for that matter. During one of our ops about a month ago, we were stuck behind enemy lines and while five of us could barely close our eyes for a minute, he would sleep all though the night, it stumped and astounded all of us.

"Ugh what?", Jack groaned as he woke, "are we coming on Cuba?"

"Yeah Jack", I said checking my gear, "grab your kit and get ready, don't forget anything."

Jackson stuffed his poncho liner back into his back and picked up his rifle and body armor vest before sliding it all on and checking the chamber of his Remington chamber. I quickly ran through my kit and made sure that i had everything before helping Issac and Hudson with the Zodiac. As we worked,one of the 260's crewmen walked from the hatch.

"We can only get about fifteen feet from the water, so your gonna have to get a little wet."

"Don't matter", Jackson said,his aquamarine eyes glowing in the dark, "were Marines."

I smiled at my friend's remark as the crewman replied, "thirty seconds to drop."

The hatch began to fall. Wind and the smell of the salty water and air filled the cabin, our jackets and pants were pressed tight against our arms and legs as the wind tried to pull them off, not having any success. We climbed abroad the Zodiac as another crewman walked from the cockpit with his hand against his face to brace against the wind. As the light turned red,we quickly strapped on our helmets. They were jet black,with built in slots for electronic noise reduction ear muffs and a pair of custom goggles came with them. We had radios built into the back of the helmet with ear pieces built into our ear muffs. The helmets were experimental,right out of the lab and we were the only ones who had them.The light went to yellow and the crewman at the quick release which held the Zodiac secure to the floor gave us a glance. Hudson gave him a thumbs up to show we were ready. The light went green and there was a faint click as the Zodiac slid from the back of the plane. We fell for what only seemed like a few feet before our craft hit the water, causing water to splash all around us. Thank's to the special craft, we were spared a drenching

"How far is it to the compound?", I asked.

Hudson took a flash light and map from his kit and began surveying it.

"Looks like it's a two hour trip", he said.

"Can we make it before morning?", asked looking at the moon.

From it's position in the sky, it was my guess we had about two hours before the moon was replaced by the sun,which wouldn't be good. We'd have to find a place to hole up for the day before resuming operations,and every second we weren't actively trying to get our guys out was one second removed from their clocks.

"If we hurry", Hudson said clicking off his light and stuffing it back in his vest along with the map.Frank started the out broad motor and soon our Zodiac was humming through the moon light night. I sat at the head of the Zodiac, leaning against the rubber wall like it was a couch, trying to take some of the ache out of my back. My rifle lay across my lap and my left arm was up on the wall of the Zodiac. I stared into the ever lasting darkness ahead, trying to think up all the ways the mission could go wrong,and plan for them. It was just something I did. Whenever we went on missions,my mind would whack the hell out and think up all the ways it could go wrong and develop five or six different things I could do to get around them. Not even the best laid out plan survives a run in with the enemy,so as I was fond of saying,"plan, B, C, D, E, F, G, H." Thankfully, I'd never needed to use any of these plans, but again, you never know.