Once I was in uniform it was easy to get pass the guards stationed around the river path to the secret base. I was surprised at how easy it was to get through the entrance too. Apparently an officer was expecting me back on site soon, and by me I meant the soldier I killed for this uniform.

I figured I’d follow orders as any good soldier would do and took myself exactly to where the guards patrolling the entrance tunnel to the base told me to find said officer.

You see, the soldier I had killed was sent out to take note of all the shipments laying around in the submarine tunnels. That’s right, submarine. Meaning that the river I was travelling across was a lot deeper than I imagined.

To reach the complex I was told by the patrolling men the entrance to take one of the vehicles they had parked on a split off tunnel, designed for vehicle use, to take me straight into base. I saluted them easy and hopped into the small jeep, starting up it's engine.

I expected complications, I mean, I would be a naive fool to think this would be a smooth mission. What I didn’t expect was how huge the secret base was when I made it inside past the gates. They didn’t bother checking me for ID, since someone up in the chain of command was urgent about seeing me. How important were ammunition shipments anyway? Perhaps the soldier I killed was actually sent off site for something else only he and this Lieutenant knew about.

All I could do it play it cool and pray to the God I wasn’t supposed to acknowledge, according to my training, for some guidance. This is what you called going in blind, it was just accidental that I was going in like this so far into enemy territory.

Right after parking the jeep I was driving next to several others in what literally was a vault like parking lot for vehicles. The entire structure was made out of the steel that made your steps echo when you walked.

I took a moment to figure out what door I was supposed to me my way towards next. There were several you see, some were even service lifts too. With no map to this facility, my only devices were my intuition and a good guess at which way would take me somewhere important.

I aimed for what looked like a personnel lift, protected by laced metal barrier. I pushed the call button down with my thumb and waited for it to come down, or up, I really couldn’t tell at this point. When it arrived, slowly and steadily, I entered it and waited patiently in the middle of the space. I squared my shoulders and widened my stance. Most women didn’t take on the career of becoming a special forces soldier, I was a special case.

As the lift was going up, I thought about my mother and father, and how we were too poor to afford a decent living during the recession in America. Sickness eventually came over both my parents, leaving myself orphaned in the process. It wasn’t often that I thought of my old folk, which is why memories of them flew in and out of my mind randomly, as if my mind could not organise itself well enough to pick an appropriate time for me to reminisce on the past.

But I guess … this time, I couldn’t help but wonder if, if they hadn’t died, would I have become what I am today? I felt like laughing loudly, but without the joy that usually came with laughter

… would I have be anything else in another life?

The lift stopped, my ride was coming to an end. The elevator doors parted, someone stood on the other side. I was expected.

…

My earliest memory of Sigma was when an older cadet caught wind of an officer speaking about the revered soldier who aided significantly in a series of banana wars, where the US occupied several southern American countries. I was at awe when the cadet told us one day that Sigma had taken down coups against the US forces, alone.

The stories were elaborate, some probably made up. But that one that really got to me was when Sigma had fallen into a coma during a transportation incident in Nicaragua in 1914. Their vehicle was rigged and exploded during their journey to the north of Mexico to an undisclosed location. Sigma was declared brain dead yet made a miraculous recovery in ten days.

Sigma was just the type of soldier that just kept soldiering on.