Kai
Retired Staff
10 July, 1943, Gela, Sicily.
It had been several hours since they had dropped. Behind her, closer to the coast, April could hear the sounds of combat, with the main invasion force landing, clashing with the Italian defenders of this Island; Sicily. But that was none of her concern. Right now, she was focused on the mission she and her team had been given. Outside the city was a small castle, which was being used for Axis communications. Intelligence believed there was also a code machine. Her group, the 1st Special Operations Reconnaissance Team, had been tasked with infiltrating the castle, taking down the communications center, and stealing the code machine.
So they had been dropped. Just another unit with all the other paratroopers being dumped over Sicily. Except the 1st SORT was different. Nearly all of them were female, which was entirely unheard of on the battlefield. and on top of that, the women weren't normal women. Given special training, and augmented under a special program called Project NECO, these women were elite supersoldiers. Or at least, that was the intent. A few had been in battle before, expatriots from allied nations, but the majority had been trained only after volunteering for the NECO program. And so, here they were, on their first mission as the SORT.
There was just one problem April could see right now. Or rather, that she couldn't. Paratroopers were called Sticks, because once they were dropped they were blown around like sticks in the wind. The 1st SORT was no exception, and they, too had been scattered over the Island's beautiful countryside. Luckily, they all had the same target, so April knew they would be congregating around the castle. If they weren't dead yet.
The young, blonde, American soldier peered over an embankment, catching a great view of the castle. Miraculously she had retained all of her equipment during the drop, and right now she clutched her M1 Paratrooper carbine, ready in case an enemy approached. There were enemies all around, in fact, and April had already seen several groups of soldiers march down the castle road toward the city of Gela. This was a good sign, because it meant there was less resistance for them to deal with.
At least, that was what she hoped.
It had been several hours since they had dropped. Behind her, closer to the coast, April could hear the sounds of combat, with the main invasion force landing, clashing with the Italian defenders of this Island; Sicily. But that was none of her concern. Right now, she was focused on the mission she and her team had been given. Outside the city was a small castle, which was being used for Axis communications. Intelligence believed there was also a code machine. Her group, the 1st Special Operations Reconnaissance Team, had been tasked with infiltrating the castle, taking down the communications center, and stealing the code machine.
So they had been dropped. Just another unit with all the other paratroopers being dumped over Sicily. Except the 1st SORT was different. Nearly all of them were female, which was entirely unheard of on the battlefield. and on top of that, the women weren't normal women. Given special training, and augmented under a special program called Project NECO, these women were elite supersoldiers. Or at least, that was the intent. A few had been in battle before, expatriots from allied nations, but the majority had been trained only after volunteering for the NECO program. And so, here they were, on their first mission as the SORT.
There was just one problem April could see right now. Or rather, that she couldn't. Paratroopers were called Sticks, because once they were dropped they were blown around like sticks in the wind. The 1st SORT was no exception, and they, too had been scattered over the Island's beautiful countryside. Luckily, they all had the same target, so April knew they would be congregating around the castle. If they weren't dead yet.
The young, blonde, American soldier peered over an embankment, catching a great view of the castle. Miraculously she had retained all of her equipment during the drop, and right now she clutched her M1 Paratrooper carbine, ready in case an enemy approached. There were enemies all around, in fact, and April had already seen several groups of soldiers march down the castle road toward the city of Gela. This was a good sign, because it meant there was less resistance for them to deal with.
At least, that was what she hoped.