A long two months

842 7 1
                                    

Mark's POV
17:34
Day 138
Hereford Base UK
I sat on the roof of the base overlooking the airfield thinking about the last two months and all the shit that happened. I met Nienke's mother so that was amazing, I was walking with Nienke towards a house in the Netherlands "so why are we here?" Nienke looked back "you love space right?" I nodded, clearly unsure, as she replied "then follow me, you're gonna get told some stories" I sighed but followed her as she opened the door without knocking and entered "Mom! I'm home!" Everything clicked a nice house in the Netherlands,

 I met Nienke's mother so that was amazing, I was walking with Nienke towards a house in the Netherlands "so why are we here?" Nienke looked back "you love space right?" I nodded, clearly unsure, as she replied "then follow me, you're gonna get to...

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

space related, Nienke being excited. I hesitantly followed Nienke inside as an older woman came around the corner "Oh, hello dear, I wasn't expecting you home yet" Nie laughed "yeah, well my friend taking a grenade for me means we have some time off" her mother noticed me as I gave a small wave "hello Ma'am, I'm mark" as Nienke explained "this is the friend that took the grenade for me" her mother walked over "nice to meet you Mark, thank you for protecting my daughter" I gave a small smile as Nie explained "Mark, here, is a big fan of Space and Space exploration. I was wondering if you could show him some of your pictures from space" her mother gasped lightly "oh my, of course I can. I love talking about it, people around me have just gotten tired of hearing about it." I chuckled "I'm a Navy SEAL ma'am, my only hope of seeing space is if we load into the wrong tube" she nodded with a small chuckle "I hope you have time because I've got stories" I followed her through the house before sitting at the table as she placed down a picture catalog and started explaining the images and the story behind them. I chuckled at the memory, her mother was so exciteable. My mind shifted to the time Nienke and I went to Montana so I could show her around the little mining town I grew up in, only to come across Rob O'Neill my friend from Team 6 who shot bin laden, "Hey Rob, how you been man?" He turned around his name "holy shit, Mark? How've you been brother?" I nodded chuckling "so you're not gonna believe this, I survived a grenade" he looked surprised "Still kicking it on the teams?" I nodded "I'm at Rainbow now, I met her there" motioning to Nienke. Rob got a smile "Finally joined us in the realm of marriage?" I laughed openly as Nienke turned bright red "Nah, she's way outta my league." Her head snapped to me as He sighed "I was hoping, you were just a young kid when we were in the teams" I nodded "Nienke, this is Rob. Rob this is Nienke, my partner at Rainbow" he smiled and shook her hand "Nice to meet you, hey why don't we go get some food and catch up?" I looked at her "Nie, you down with that?" She gave a small nod "I want to try the amazing food that you keep drooling over" Rob chuckled "you won't be disappointed, some of the best food on the planet" we walked through the town towards a restaurant. "So rob what have you been up to?" He looked up from the menu "writing, speaking, dealing with the TSA, working with veterans and having teen daughters. How about you? What've you been up to?" Nienke spoke for me "Getting himself injured, telling stories and having competitions with other operators" rob looked over at her sounding disappointed "So he hasn't changed, great" I chuckled "don't sound so happy" he laughed "So still a marksman? Or have you become a pointman?" I replied "both, I also got promoted." Rob looked proud "you've moved up in the world" I laughed "yeah well I'm single and don't officially exist so it's not working too well" he looked at Nienke for some reason before turning to me "be patient, you'll find someone." I nodded "I suppose so, so what have you been writing?" He replied "a book" I rolled my eyes with a smirk "no shit Sherlock, but what's it about?" He replied "the life's of operators in the military, using my time in the teams to tell the story of Rangers, green berets, seals everyone who's an operator in the military" I nodded as Nienke asked "Does the American government not take care of you guys?" Rob shook his head "the government doesn't focus on transitioning out of the military and a lot of veterans would rather go into combat again than try to understand the civilized world" she shook her head sadly as I spoke "Anyone transitioning out has to do it alone, or rely on their families to help them. Hey Rob, still golfing?" He sighed "no, I need a new therapist and a new driver" I laughed "so much for stress relief" he looked at me "hey I've gotta ask, did those selection questions make any sense for rainbow?" I gave him a look as Nienke asked "Selection questions?" He seemed shocked "there's no selection questions?" I shook my head "no" he sighed "fuckin' devgru. So Nienke, was it?" She nodded causing him to continue "What do you do at Rainbow?" She thought about it "R&D as well as operations. mark's been training me, so I'm better since I come from a Science team instead of conventional military" he leaned forward "Would you mind telling me more about that?" She nodded and started speaking I wasn't paying attention since I was admiring her while she excitedly explained the projects and discoveries. I noticed rob look at me a couple times while she was talking, I looked out at the Rocky Mountains and just enjoyed the short amount of time I had stateside.

Operation:Mythic SkyWhere stories live. Discover now