Hansen eased into the jungle with grace and silence. Despite his size, he disappeared far more quickly than seemed possible. Once into the dense undergrowth and on his own, he was in his element.

Just as Shere Khan did not fear the panther Bagheera, Gunner Hansen did not fear his prey. Unlike Shere Khan, Hansen was not over-confident or certain of his own invulnerability. He knew, too, that this kind of mission was almost impossible to botch completely. Even if the wolves dragged him down while he dealt with the panther, the rest of the tigers would hear it. It wouldn't be enough to save him, but the wolves would not escape this jungle book.

Carlessness was certain death, and that wasn't authorized, so Hansen moved with care. It wasn't that the Legion didn't authorize suicide last stands, it did. This just wasn't one of those instances.

He let his conscious mind remain idle while his instincts and training worked the terrain. Eyes, ears, nose, and skin took in the gestalt of the forest, digesting it, working the larger, subtle patterns. Here was the way, his body folded around the brush in near silence while his consciousness waited for warnings.

A branch on the ground ahead caught his eye and he froze in place before easing towards the ground smoothly. He squatted next to the branch. He did not sway, and touched nothing, and looked carefully. It had been cut by a machette judging from the cut marks. He eased forward carefully, watching for signs of traps or movement. A few paces forward and he found what he was looking for - a machette trail cut through the forest.

The condition of the fallen foliage and cut plants indicated it had been a day, maybe two, ago. Numbers were hard to judge accurately, but experience led him to six. More and the trail would be wider, more clearly trampled, much less and they probably wouldn't have bothered with machettes, or if they were inexperienced enough to need them, they wouldn't have been sent out in such a small force.

Hansen cleared off the trail, back into the heavy jungle, knelt close to the rich earth and froze. Held held his position silent and still for minutes, breathing slowly. When he was convinced there were no people he keyed his mic. "Hansen here," he didn't wait for an acknowledgement, instead giving an immediate sitrep so he could get moving again, "machette trail. Estimate six hostiles. West bound in the past 2 days. No current signs of traps. Will continue. Advise caution."

He cut off the mic and remained motionless. Minutes passed and nothing but the jungle moved. When the bugs had resumed their flights and the crickets began to chirp again, Hansen eased back into the forest quietly enough that the crickets kept up their racket. Gunner appreciated the contribution to his cover.

He zig zagged across the path - not wanting to follow it, but wanting to know it's course. Apparently this was a party coming in to support the hostiles. If it was the main force, there weren't many of them and that seemed unlikely - or they'd split their force and let the skilled jungle fighters move on their own.

Hansen hadn't seen any sign of other troops, but skilled troops could be as hard to track as him. Just as easily, they could have gone around the other side of the clearing and taken a course he couldn't intersect without ranging farther than neccessary. He reserved judgment and checked in three more times.

He kept careful track of his distance and direction with each turn. When he got within 1,000 meters of the target zone Hansen eased himself prone on the soft loam of the jungle floor. Again he waited. Certain he was alone, he moved in slow fractions of an inch and pulled the gille suit out of his pack and over himself. Now the work began.

An hour later he'd covered another 500 meters. He checked in briefly, saying only he was near the camp. Nothing to be gained by revealing how close or from which direction he was coming. He had no hard recon yet anyway. Noise carried from the encampment, but nothing clear or definite. He eased forward with careful, silent movements. Each one slow, smooth and carefully planned before he began it. Any sign of a rustled branch and Hansen stilled himself, waited, recalculated and began again.

This is why snipers are feared - like the tiger, they can arrive without warning, having stalked forward with patience, grace and planning.

Voices sound nearby and Gunner Hansen eased his motion to a silent halt. A sudden move now could turn this into a blood bath that he didn't want to take. He lay still, breathing slow, quiet and shallow breaths. The patrol passed within feet of him. He could have made short work of them, but his presence would have been revealed. Instead he counted, made mental notes about what each one looked like and how they were armed. Two carried machettes but wore no sheaths.

Once they'd gone, Hansen eased to the north, working his way to the northwest, closer to the camp. Night fell before he'd made it far enough to the north and close enough to get a good idea of the layout. He recognized a couple of the men from the patrol and added a few new ones to his tally. Every hour he paused, waited for the jungle to deafen him, and checked in. He kept his voice soft as death, but never whispered - a whisper could carry and be garbled at the other end.

With darkness fully draped around the jungle, Gunner began to move again. A little more quickly now that darkness covered him, but still with the patience of a sniper. Each movement was slow, deliberate and fluid, one flowing seamlessly into the next.

The low life of the jungle accompanied him until dawn, when he was hunkered down under a knot of bushes and undergrowth that had grown up around the base of a great old tree. He was less than a hundred meters from the camp, his rifle in position and his mental notes sharp. He checked in again saying that he was in position and would revise counts. From here he could easily take two down and move to a new position before the targets would even know what had happened. He watched and listened. When the good guys got here, the bad guys would get it in the back.