Chapter One: A Cold Bitter Morning
Chapter 1: It's NOT A Field Operation
I took a step out of the Humvee I drove into the woods with. After the engine stopped there was nothing but the ringing of complete silence. It was late fall in Alaska and the birds had gone South, so not even the occasional chirp broke the silence. I slowly closed the door so as to not disturb the peaceful calm quietness of the air. I took a couple steps and all that could be heard was the snow crunching beneath my boots. I looked down at my boots, and sighed with discontent. Deciding to at least waste a bit of time I picked up the truck's radio and pushed the talk button.
"Whisky Actual, can you repeat my orders again, over?" I asked on the radio.
"Whiskey 2,1, it’s just a simple Field OP, what is there to explain? Just go out there, hike through the mountains, pretend you're in a war of some sorts, and don’t come back until 2200 the next day." Whiskey Actual ordered.
"Copy that, but it's been thirty minutes and nobody's arrived. Am I the only one doing this?" I asked.
"Whiskey 2,1, your squad will be with you. The inexperienced degenerates are just taking a while to pack.”
"Oh yeah, why was it that I was the only one to get the message an hour before I was supposed to do this?"
"I don't know, blame the POGs for not getting the message out fast enough."
"I don't get paid enough for this." I sighed and kicked the dirt.
"You’re an E4, you’re not supposed to." Whiskey Actual corrected.
"Touché." I shook my head "Oh yeah before I forget, what are my rules of engagement? If in the event I ever need to pull the trigger? The douchebags at the armory gave me a rifle with live ammunition. Why do I need this for a field OP?"
"I don't know, how 'bout you go ask them when you return. Also, return fire only, that is if some crazed hunter tries to shoot you or the Russians suddenly start invading." He answered with blatant sarcasm.
"Copy that" I said as I turned my radio off.
With my issued carbine thrown around my back, I began to pace around, waiting for the rest of my guys.
Ugh, knowing them, they're packing a bunch of useless shit. Alaska is the place for single soldiers with no families to go rot in a frozen wasteland. It's POG hell for people like me. I'm gonna kill those stupid kids.
After about some ten minutes of walking I quietly observed a rainbow in the sky shortly before it faded away.
"Heh, story of my life." I chuckled. "Wait, that's not right. It hasn't been raining so why is there a rainbow?"
Out of nowhere another brightly colored rainbow appeared above the sky and then another and another.
What in the hell?
I pulled the camelbak off my back and unscrewed the cap to smell the water.
"Please tell me Smith didn't put LSD in my camelbak again. Bastard knows what happened last time." I quietly muttered screwing the cap back on.
Putting that thought away, I went off on a short hike up a nearby hill. It was rather uneventful to say the least. Nothing but miles of snow and pine trees that stretch out endlessly. After standing atop the snow covered hill for about an hour, I found myself staring at the sun with a deadpan expression as it made it's descent towards the darker side of the earth. Then there was something that caught my eye. Some sort of blue blur that was hurdling towards the surface of the Earth. Trailing close behind it was some sort...rainbow.
What is this? Is this some Air Force experiment gone wrong? Am I witnessing some sort of crazy weather event!?
I slid down the hill and ran towards the humvee to grab the radio. I pulled open the door and turned the dial , but all I got was static. I tried searching for additional channels that could reach a signal but I found none. Whatever it was, it seemed like it was jamming all radio frequencies. I could do nothing but watch in anticipation as it dove closer and closer to the Earth. As it was about to hit the ground it made some abrupt turn and there was some sort of explosion or shockwave of colors. I saw a shockwave of ....rainbow... explode in all directions and it was heading towards me. I jumped into the vehicle hoping the up armored two ton vehicle would shield me from the blast. When the shockwave hit, the vehicle was lifted and flipped sideways. My head was intensely dizzy but yet there was only one thought swimming through my head.
What the hell was that!?
That thought was quickly put out of my head as everything inside the Humvee started to feel hot and humid. I was already starting to sweat from underneath my Extreme Cold Weather gear. At that point, my first thought was that the truck's on fire and I need to get out. Struggling to find my way right sight up, I stood on the driver's side door and found my footing on the driver's seat. Pulling myself up, I reached for the latch to the passenger door and pushed it wide open. I climbed out only to have my eyepro fog up by the humid air around me.
Wait, why is it humid? It's not cold anymore. It's hot. The hell!?
I removed my eye protection and looked around, my vision blurry from not wearing my prescription lenses anymore. Everything looked green and lush, totally different from what Alaska is normally like. Sitting over the edge of the overturned Humvee, I pulled a small flashlight out of a cargo pocket and lit up the surrounding area in bright white. My heart stopped pumping for about two seconds as I saw the change of scenery.
God-fucking-dammit
