“Fifteen Minutes people!” called Captain Jebidah Kincaid of the Freelands Air Force, as the members of his team finished securing the last of their gear and checking each others parachutes.  ROTC Cadet Major Lisa Slipsunder rechecked the attachment of her gear one last time, doing a good job of concealing her nervousness.  She was airborne qualified, having attended the school during her summer training last year, and had made night jumps before, but never from high altitude, and into water to boot.   The water part didn’t bother her much however, growing up in the islands she swam better than most, feline or not, and had swum carrying a heavier load than she currently had on her.    Turning, she looked over at the commander, and her lover. Jeb was looking at a FLIR picture relayed from the cockpit, watching for Sgt. Walker and his boat...otherwise it would be a long swim to Freedom’s Run.  Seeing her look at him he motioned her over, snuggling her softly “you scared babe?” he asked, dropping the commander role momentarily. 

She thought for a moment and nodded, causing him to smile in relief “good, because if you said you weren’t I would have left you here.  Anyone who says they’re not scared when going into a situation like this is either stupid or a liar.” 

Lisa grinned “I’ll remember that.” 

“Good.  Oh, one other thing I want to stress...we don’t know how many are down there. Once we are there, if something should happen to me...do not stop. Carry out the mission, then come back for the wounded. Understood?” 

She nodded “Only if you promise to do the same if something happens to me.  Better still though, to get them first and not have anything happen to anybody. Besides, you don’t want me to have to nurse you back to health... I make lousy chicken soup.” 

Jeb laughed out loud “Deal. All right people, any last questions?” he said to the group as a whole.  He was met by silence, they were professionals (with one talented exception) and knew their jobs. 

“All right! everyone on oxygen, TechSgt , go ahead and depressurize.” 

The air force otter nodded, lowering the pressure to match the 26 thousand foot altitude, then opening the rear cargo door, the lights from the islands below matching the stars in the black moon less sky. 

Jeb felt a tap on his shoulder, leaning over in the roar of the passing air, he heard the loadmaster shout through his oxygen mask “Boat sighted Sir! Pilot says drop in five.” 

The Samoyed nodded as the red light came on, signifying the pilot beginning his run.  The rubber raft with most of their gear would go first, then they would follow, and rendezvous with Sgt. Walker down on the water. 

Diane leaned over to make a last minute check on Lisa’s gear.  “Remember, this is just like the sport parachuting you’ve done, its just a lot farther drop.  Chutes set to deploy at 5000 feet, but keep an eye on your Altimeter.” The puma said to the younger lynx, Lisa nodding as she readied herself mentally for the upcoming challenges.   It was one thing  when all you had to worry about was losing points for being ‘killed’ in an exercise, totally different when not only her life but if they screwed up her family as well could be lost. 

Above the loadmaster’s head, the light flickered yellow, then bright green, the loadmaster, pulling the release for the raft, watched as it slid out into the back of the transport, yelling unnecessarily “GO GO GO! as they dove off the ramp into the night sky.  Lisa felt the wind whipping around her body as she free falled, her eyes noticing the soft glow  from the other’s anticolision lights on their chute harnesses.  With no moon it was hard to tell where the sky stopped and the sea began, glancing at her altimeter strapped to her wrist she saw that she wasn’t even below twenty thousand feet yet.   They were jumping high as to not alert the terrorists below.  The group slowly fell in formation, switching on her IR Lisa could tell that they were all within one hundred meters of each other , a testament to their skill.  Catching a approaching figure out of the corner of her eye, she turned her head and saw Jeb glide next to her, she gave him a thumbs up which he returned, turning his head back down to watch for Sgt. Walker and the boat. 

Hearing a beep in her earphones, she looked at her altimeter, they were below ten thousand feet, not to much later there was a second beep then a rushing noise followed by a large jerk on her harness as her chute deployed right on schedule.  As she looked around, she could see the silhouettes of the others around her, and below slowly approaching was a thirty foot sportfishing boat.   The raft landed first with a soft splash,  with the others splashing down across a one hundred meter area.   Lisa took a deep breath as she neared the water, pulling the quick releases just above the water, diving cleanly into the sea, then surfacing and beginning to stroke for the boat. 

Aboard the boat Duane grinned as he held position, the fact that everyone landed together was a good sign.  The wolf moved to the side of the boat, reaching down to help the first person aboard, blinking in suprise when he saw who it was. 

Lisa grinned as she took Sgt. Walker’s paw “Bet you never expected to see me here did you?” 

Duane shook his head as he helped the others board “If I knew this was a pleasure cruise, I’d have invited my girlfriend too Sir.” he said to Jeb as the Samoyed climbed aboard. 

“Well if she had grown up on the island we’re going to, and had detailed knowledge of the layout then you could bring her Sergeant.  Besides, what female could stand you long enough for them to be called a girlfriend anyway?” he grinned. 

Duane sputtered with mock indignation “I haven’t cheated on Julie for, oh...gee, I haven’t, and have  been seeing her for two months now...” 

“Oh my God...Sir, we have an impostor, that cant be Sgt. Walker” said Diane as the puma unwrapped her sniper rifle from its protective covering, the team laughing as the wolf fumed. 

“Ha ha, I suppose you all would like to walk to the island then?” he grumped, as he brought the boat around to the raft, leaning over the side to secure a tow rope. 

“how far out are we?” asked Jeb, checking his watch 

Lisa answered “About 3 miles, you can tell because you can barely see the oil rigs on the horizon to the west.” 

The samoyed nodded “all right, Sgt. Walker, we have your gear in the raft for you, Cadet Slipsunder, since this is your home turf, take us in.” 

Lisa nodded, moving to the wheel as the others situated themselves, half riding in the towed rubber raft, the rest finding seats on the boat.  She smoothly advanced the throttles on the big outboards, pointing the bow towards Freedom’s Run.  The CPO watched Lisa’s handling of the craft with a trained eye, noticing how she reduced power as the island was sighted to eliminate their wake.  In moments she was coasting in to the dock on the back of the island that stuck out from the concrete platform for the seaplane, the doors of the hangar  cave closed, having been repaired by Luke, Rock and Kari.  Silently they were over the side of the boat, taking up positions next to the cliff wall.   Duane cracked open the  smaller door  set into the hangar door. 

“hangar empty” he said quietly.    Jeb nodded, slowly leading the team up the stairs to the top of the cliff, where they fanned out into a wedge formation.  Seeing nothing on their IR goggles, they slowly crept down the hill through the jungle towards the house. 

Arriving at the house, they waited while Pinky checked it over with the powerful Infra Red scope on her sniper rifle, being able to see more or less how many bodies there were in the house. 

Jeb listened intently as he heard five soft taps on his earphones...that would be Sylvia and four of the children, the youngest must be out in the woods somewhere, hopefully on the smaller island .  Signaling the others to wait , he tapped Lisa on the shoulder and gestured towards the house.  The lynx nodded silently and carefully opened the door, hoping the squeaking hinge had finally been replaced.   It had, and they entered the house silently. 

Sylvia Slipsunder murred softly in her sleep, her mind drifting back to the activities a few hours before .  Corvallo had been an inventive lover, her mind drifting back to chocolate syrup and honey, and her daughter Lisa softly calling her name?
Opening her eyes groggily  in the dim light she gasped as she saw two figures in her bedroom, the small one quietly shushing her. 

“its ok momma, its me, Lisa.” said the lynx as knelt on the edge of the bed. 

Sylvia nodded still not completely awake, but now catching the reassuring scent of her daughter, as her eyes adjusted though she saw her outfit and weaponry   “Lisa, what the hell is going on? I thought you were in Salmon Hat.” 

“There’s been a situation Ma’am” replied Jeb softly   “We need to know what cabin your guests are staying in.” 

“That’s confidential information, we never release-” 

Lisa took her mothers hand “momma, they’re terrorists, who have a bomb.” 

“How do you know Lisa? who the hell are these people your with? How do you know they’re telling you the truth?” 

Jeb leaned forwards “Because we’re the good guys, even if you didn’t think I was seven years ago when I didn’t let you kill a traitorous raccoon named Barnes.” 

Sylvia’s mouth dropped open, the only ones who knew about that were those who were in the control room when Kari had stolen a fighter and gone after the murderer of her only child, and it was exposed that some in the government were covering up the Barovian prince killing  young girls all across the Freelands.
looking closer at the other figure she recognized the canine MP “Sergeant Kincaid?” 

“Captain now Ma’am, and this is real.  Why else do you think we’d drag Lisa into this, she isn’t even out of school yet.  They came in on a fishing boat, are assembling the bomb here before they ship it to the mainland...and probably planning to kill you and your family before they leave..The Dark Triad leaves no witnesses.” 

Sylvia felt physically sick “But..he seemed so polite, so nice...I even slept with him..more than once!” 

Jeb hmmed “Rabbit?  about 5 foot 6, gray fur with one eartip missing?” at Sylvia’s nod he continued “That would be Corvallo, lead tactician and frontpiece for the group...they say he could charm a snake out of its skin, then sell it back at twice the price.  How many are there?” 

“Eight, they’re in cabin 13 and 14 on the west wing down at the end.” replied Sylvia shakily. 

“all right, Lisa mentioned you had a shelter, get your kids and get inside, we’ll wait until you’re clear before we begin.  Lisa, go with your family-” 

The lynx shook her head “No Sir, you don’t have enough people as it is.” 

Jeb growled softly “Cadet Slipsunder, you’ve done your job-” 

“And you don’t have enough people to do yours, Sir.   You know I’m right.”
 

The samoyed nodded, not happy but accepting her logic “All right, you’re with me.” 

Lisa hugged Sylvia softly then picked up her weapon “love you momma.” 

Sylvia nodded and hugged Lisa back , watching as they quietly slipped out of the room.  Heading down the hall, she woke up each of the kids in the house, quietly herding them into the basement tunnel to the bunker at the top of the island.  Noticing Rale’s room was empty she turned to Luke.
“did Rale stay on Bucks rump last night?” 

“No, he said the mosquitoes were too bad, and was staying up here, why?” 

“his room’s empty....” she said, worry creeping into her voice.
 

“I’ll go find him-” 

“No, you and the others get up there , I’ll join you in a few min.” 

Janet blinked sleepily “Momma what’s going on?” 

Sylvia hugged all four of them “I’ll explain later, right now just get up there.” 

Nodding, they followed Luke into the  basement as Sylvia turned back towards the door.  taking a deep breath, she stepped outside into the night.
 

Jerid sighed as he stood in  back of the cabin, eyes watching the jungle boredly.  The ferret was on watch this night, not that anything would happen here on this island.  He and the other members of the Dark Triad were forbidden to associate much with the locals, though that bastard Corvallo always seemed to be with one female or another.  Still, the pay was good, even if he didn’t totally agree with the organizations aims.  Sighing, he took another puff on his cigarette, not looking forwards to when the bomb was finished and they would have to leave the island.  He found it quiet and peaceful, it was a shame really that they had to kill the Slipsunders when they left, he would have liked to have come back again sometime.
Suddenly the ferret’s musings were cut short, as was his throat, as Jeb drew his knife deeply through the ferrets neck from behind. Quietly laying the body down on the ground, he quickly wiped the blade on the ex-terrorists clothing and moved next to the door, half of the team covering him, the rest moving to the other cabin.  Sgt. Walker silently crept up to the door and reaching into a satchel around his waist, puled out several ounces of plastique, which he pressed into the hinges and next to the lock on the door. Attaching the detonator , he quickly hooked up the timer and looked to Jeb with a small nod.   The Samoyed motioned the others back against the walls as the digital timer counted down.
 

Inside the other cabin, Raban sighed in satisfaction.   He found he could not sleep, so stayed up to continue the assembly of the device.  looking down at his handiwork he felt a sense of pride, the Richeous fury that will show these decadent Freelanders that the Triad has judged them and found them wanting.   He was especially looking forwards to pronouncing sentence on the Whore who owned this island, smiling he pictured the scene in his mind, the rabbit mix bound over the impalement spike...
 

Suddenly in perfect synchronization the doors on both cabins blew in, the doorway flying off its hinges and into the house.   Several of the men woke immediately, some automatically reaching for their weapons as two shiny metal cans flew into the main room...seconds later they exploded in a brilliant display of light and sound.   As the terrorists screamed clutching their now blinded eyes, the Freeland commando’s burst into the room, quickly silencing any would be opposition. 

In the next room Raban cursed and swore to himself that Corvallo would die a slow death for his lapse, his ears bleeding a bit from ruptured eardrums, however the body of the bomb protected his sight. tapping in  a quick code on the keypad, he picked up a machine pistol and dove out of the window. 

Two hundred yards away Lisa sighed in frustration and worry.  She was sitting next to Pinky, the big puma Sergeant watching the action through her thermal sight on her sniper rifle.  She and Lisa were it as far as backup went..the rest of the troops were occupied taking the two cottages.   Pinky growled softly into the microphone on her helmet *“got one coming out the window on the east cottage Sir..”*  Sighting in she softly pulled the trigger, the form half out of the window jumping into the air then hitting the ground  “Had one coming out the window” she murmered quietly. 

“Got two more, from the west cottage!” said Lisa urgently.  Pinky swung the rifle over, cursing as the figures were obscured by rock  *“Damm!  Sir, got two going out the west, popped out while I was taking care of the east one.!”* 

inside the cabin Jeb cursed, he couldn’t take Diane off of her sniper position, and they currently were still securing the cabins  *“Slipsunder, get them! Walker, get out there with her!”*  He barked into the tactical net.  Lisa nodded grabbing her rifle and heading after the fleeing pair, Sgt. Walker  close behind. 

Raban had decided to spare Corvallo after all, the rabbit had woken instantly after the blast, and knowing what was coming next kept his eyes shut, now he guided the still blinded  feline up the trail towards the main house, where they would grab Sylvia or one of her children as a hostage and make their escape by one of the boats.  He could hear someone not to far behind them and snarled, turning as he ran to fire several shots back down the trail. 

Behind them Lisa dove for the ground as she heard the bullets crack past her, from behind her she heard a startled yelp and a thud, turning her head she saw one of the stray rounds had found Sgt. Walker, hitting the wolf in the right leg.  Duane was down, cursing as he clutched his leg.
“You okay?” she yelled back to him. 

The wolf nodded in pain, gesturing at her to continue.  She nodded, remembering Jebs words from the plane and rolled left, jumping to her feet and continuing the chase.
Grunting in pain as he looked over the compound fracture in his leg, he spoke into the com *“Sir, Raider four down, Babe is continuing pursuit over.”* 

*“Damn, on my way” * he replied , turning away from watching the navy petty officers nerve-wracking inspection of the bomb.  just as he got to the door the CPO spoke up “Sir..this thing is live...”
 

Sylvia had heard the explosions earlier, and the closer gunfire.   She knew the smart thing to do would be to get to shelter and wait it out, but her youngest was still unacounted for.  She hoped Rale would have the sense not to head towards the comotion, then sighed to herself, he’s a 10 year old boy, of course he’ll head right to it. 

Suddenly two figures burst out of the underbrush running towards her, before she could react the Rabbit had leaped, tumbling her to the ground  where she felt cold steel pressing against the side of her head 

“Well Ms Slipsunder, how nice to run into you” said Corvallo with a feral grin that chilled Sylvia to the depths of her being. He yanked her to her feet, keeping her infront of him, “Now then, we’ll all go to the house and gather your children, they will make such wonderful shields for my companion and my self.” 

Sylvia spat at him “Go to hell you bastard, they arent there anymore.” 

the rabbit smirked as he saw movement in the underbrush, handing Sylvia off to Raban, who held a wicked looking blade to her throat, he waited for their persuer to emerge from the trees.
 

Lisa however was not rushing blindly towards her waiting doom.    The lynx knew the island well, and figured on their destination.   she had changed direction, cutting through
the old boathouse, slowly edging to the treeline to the side of them, as she saw the feline holding her mother she growled softly without thinking.   Spying some small pebbles by her foot she got an idea. 

Corvallo had begun to head his hostage towards the docks when a figure stepped out of the darkness in front of them.  “RELEASE YOUR HOSTAGE AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!” Shouted Lisa as she stepped out, weapon at her shoulder. 

Raban hissed and pressed the point of the knife against Sylvia’s throat, causing her to squeal in pain  “No...You drop your weapon or the hostages are Dead!” 

Lisa blinked and slowly lowered her rifle to the ground as Sylvia cried out “Lisa NO!” only to be silenced by more pressure by the knife, the bunny mix sweating. 

Corvallo chuckled as he motioned Lisa back with the pistol, her hands in the air.  Smiling, he bent down to pick up her dropped weapon.
“M 41... very nice. I always wanted one of these...goodbye bitch.” he sneered, bringing her weapon to his shoulder, only to scream as the pebbles she stuck in the muzzle caused the barrel of the rifle to explode in his face. He screamed clutching his face, dropping the weapon.  Raban turned towards his partner blinking as Lisa moved, her hand shooting back to her sidearm she had stuck in the back of her flack jacket, before the burst M41 had even hit the dirt she fired, the two rounds hitting Raban in the center of his forehead, throwing him back away from her mother.   By the time Raban’s lifeless body hit the ground, Jeb and Diane burst out of the underbrush, blinking as they saw it had not ended as they had feared.  Lisa was still holding the pistol; arms locked staring at the feline terrorists body.  Slowly she re holstered her sidearm and knelt by her mother. 

“Are you okay momma?” 

Sylvia nodded, trembling from the shock “yes...the question is are you ok?” she asked her daughter, seeing her staring at the terrorists body, Corvallo’s screams continuing unabated until the morphine Diane administered took effect.   The puma looked over at Capt. Kincaid then after securing the prisoner she stepped over to stand over Lisa. 

“You did good kid” she said, patting Lisa on the shoulder, reaching down to help Sylvia to her feet. 

“Even better than you could imagine” added Jeb, as he pulled the blinking detonator out of the stiffening fingers of the lion  “Because they finished the bomb and armed it. He was going for the detonator when you got him.” 

All three of the women’s eyes went wide at that news, Sylvia finding her voice first “how big?” 

“About 15 megatons is what it looks like, would have vaporized half of the island, and the fallout would have gotten as far as the mainland.”  Speaking into his microphone he continued “Chief! We have the detonator, what’s your status?” 

*”All secure Sir, we have the gadget lobotomized, terrorists neutralized, and Duane the bullet catcher stabilized.  Got his right leg this time.” 

“Roger chief, stand by, looks like the cavalry is just now showing up” he replied, as the lights of the StratoCarrier Courageous appeared over the lagoon. Hearing something over the command net he sighed “Lisa, you and your mom head up to the bunker...we got Intelligence ministry folks on the way up, and if they get wind of your involvement...” 

Sylvia nodded “What ever happened to that one who I kneed in the nuts when he wasn’t going to let me take Kari to Becky’s funeral back then? 

“He’s in charge of the group coming in to retrieve the bomb.” 

Sylvia meeped and turned “Come on Lisa..lets think of what to tell the others,” her daughter nodding and following her back up to the bunker.