The Soldier of Stars [1] - Band of Brothers

prologue

JUNE 4TH, 1944

UPOTTERY AIRFIELD, GREAT BRITAIN

The sun had nearly almost set on the night of June 4th. The air was warm, but not enough for the humidity to be pestering. The sky was a soft yellow color, with mixes or oranges and reds. Easy Company lay beneath the beautiful portrait. They sat awaiting the call, the call for the moment they had trained 2 years for by this point. 

The youngest member of the company walked through the entirety of the airfield, through the levels of the men, her eyes eagerly looking for someone. Someone that held a very important letter for her. She couldn't find that someone, but she hoped before the drop she'd manage to get her hands on that very important letter.

" Hey, Tiny!" she heard a voice call. She turned at the sound just as she noticed Tab walking toward her with a smile on his face. 

His helmet was slightly lopsided on his head, his hair poking out in multiple directions from underneath it, his face smeared with the face-paint provided to the paratroopers. A tiny smile crossed her face as she walked toward him, stepping cautiously overtop the people that sat in groups on the ground or stood in circles.

" Hi Tab." she said with a tiny smile. Tab noticed her immediate demeanor, which most of the men in the company could pick up on it at this point. It was reserved, and quiet, and the nervous tension radiating from her was extremely evident to him.

" You ok?" he asked her, and she nodded her smile faltering. She glanced over at the duo of women sitting not to far from where she was at the moment.

" It's just a lot, you know? Everything." she said nodding, before looking back up at him. Tab nodded with a smile.

" Yeah, but hey, you're one tough chick, Tiny, I'd be scared to come across you after the drop if I were them." Tab said quietly, glancing down at the ground before looking back up at her. She let out a tiny sound of air from her nose as a laugh and a smile fell on her lips again.

" I mean, come on, it's pretty badass what you do already. Those Krauts better be terrified." Tab said.

" Tab." she muttered, with a roll of her eyes.

" Tiny, they literally have no idea that we'll have someone with a freakin sniper dropping in. I say that it'll be a sweet surprise for them. Trust me." Tab said smiling.

Trust. 

That word was a big word for her. She's struggled with the idea of trusting someone all her life, but she was coming to terms with what that word meant to her.

" We'll see." she said beginning to turn away from him, before he caught her on the arm.

" If I don't see you, be careful out there ok?" Tab said as she turned back to him. She nodded with a close lipped smile.

" Yeah, of course." she said, before turning away to head towards the rest of the girls. Tab watched her go with a similar nervous tension that the girl had arrived with. 

The girl walked back towards the girls, and when she arrived, the women noticed that similar nervous tension that bestowed the entire airfield of men now. 

The rifleman was a woman who sat with face paint covering her beautiful features, as her brown hair cascaded around her face and into the grease and oil she used to shine her Thompson. 

The combat medic laid back, also watching the sky, but her foot remained bouncing to a dreamy tune that seemed stuck in her head at the current moment. There was an opened letter that she seemed to have discarded, like she didn't want to have to look at it again. The two women looked up when the sniper made her way to them.

" Hey." the rifleman said as polished away at a tiny part of the Thompson, rubbing at the barrel of the gun with the grease.

" Hey." the sniper said before sitting down in the circle and pulling the sniper rifle into her hands, to continue her work on shining it up. The rifleman could sense a bit of nervous tension and sadness that surrounded the young girl. But it was the combat medic who spoke first. She picked up on anything.

" Find Vest yet? For the letter?" the combat medic had asked the sniper, sitting up with a small smile on her face.

" No, can't find him, but I'll get it eventually. Don't worry about it." the sniper said. The rifleman looked up at the mention of not worrying about it.

" Want me to find him?" the rifleman asked.

" It's fine, I promise." the sniper said.

" Are you sure? You've been talking about this letter for a week. I'm not afraid to go rip him from yapping away with Joe or someone." the rifleman said. The sniper smiled at her but shook her head.

" I'll be fine, it'll turn up." the sniper said with a nod.

" It'll come," the combat medic said, " I had this thing show up." The combat medic held up her letter that she seemed to want to throw into the ocean. The sniper gave a sad, small smile. 

She leaned back, with a small sigh, and looked to the sky. She always looked at the sky when she felt a bit lost or helpless, like she couldn't do anything. It was like a blanket of safety, similar to the one she felt with her mother. But her mother wasn't here, but the sky was comforting enough. 

Later on, the 3 women would find out that the jump would be postponed until further notice, and they'd go in to watch a movie that was provided, but the sniper would still have 2 things in the back of her mind. The letter, and what Tab had mentioned to her. 

Trust. 

Trust always remained such a tethered rope in between things. It was as if it were a thin wire of rope, made out of the thinnest string imaginable, just barely attached, but still there. Trust was big word for her, and she felt would always be one.

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