“This is it, the biggest job anyone has ever taken on. We will be up against the most rigorous security ever designed by man. A veritable army of mercenaries surround the compound and patrol every accessible route in and out, a laser fence surrounds them and don’t get me started on the amount of electronically locked doors between you and the vault. That last part is of course the most important, if we can get past everything else the vault door will stand between you and our prize. Intel says that this vault is completely impenetrable without activating five fingerprint scanners simultaneously throughout the entire compound.”

I looked up at my commanding officer as he went through the details of our upcoming op. I was lucky enough to be picked for this mission, one that if we succeeded would place us all in the history books. Nothing of this magnitude had ever been done in the history of Earth and I would be on ground zero. 

“You have all been tested and picked as the strongest of our great and powerful military forces. But not only that, you all have the tactical awareness and skills to make yourselves the ultimate operatives on the planet. Now what we ask of you will be difficult and not all of you may return home, but for those of you that fall your comrades who continue in your absence will know of your heroism and will spread their tales amongst all those they meet. Everyone who stands in this room right now will have their names go down in history as the greatest heroes who ever lived! What do you say to that men?”

“And women!” A voice called out from the middle of the line.

“Ahh yes, and women. My apologies Sergeant Baker.”

We all chuckled at the words of our Sergeant and Lieutenant, they had been holding onto this joke for a very long time. 

Our eyes scanned over each other, ensuring that we all were in top shape for our mission. We stood there, the seven most highly skilled soldiers in the army’s history preparing for the mission of a lifetime.

“So what does you say men… and women?”

[i]“Hoorah!”[/i] A chorus of voices answered back, my own adding to it.

“For who do you fight?”

[i]“For our country and for our fellow man!”[/i]

“In the field what are your objectives?”

[i]“Protect our brothers-in-arms and complete our mission!”[/i]

“Good good, I think you’re ready!” 

With those words we broke formation, readying our combat gear and personalizing our kits to suit our individual skillsets. A fist lightly bumped into my right shoulder and I looked over to the owner.

“So are you ready?” He asked me.

“I was born ready, nothing will stand in our way and we will bring back our target.”

“Good. I would hate to lose a brother. Not over the president's damn sandwich!”