✰✰✰

hello! i am officially back and in business with the soldier of stars! i did major rewriting, as well countless hours of research and editing to finally get this book the way i wanted it. i've talked to a few writer friends, you know who you are and you have been some of the kindest, most helpful and firm people that i needed to get this story where i intended it to be, and i am forever grateful for you all. as you are reading this, i'm probably going back to more editing, as well as finishing out episode 10, but i felt ready to finally put up the first chapter again. now, i'm sorry if you've voted and commented, i literally just erased all these chapter's work and just left them untitled and blank! :)

by now, if you haven't realized, these women are starting off training away from the men, but there are reasons for that, especially with a book like this, so i hope you all do understand that! i love the boys just as much as you, but this is hazel's story as well as catherine's and lizzie's. the boys will most definitely be a major part of the story when the women finally meet them!

this story is, once again, a work of historical fiction and alternate history, so these events did not actually take place during world war 2. this book is also not meant to be representative of the real men of easy company and the heroics they faced during world war 2. this is strictly based off the actor portrayals of band of brothers, not the real men, who i thank for what they did for my country. this is simply a work of fiction and my own imagination of a course of alternate history in my own way!

i hope you all enjoy this book, i have certainly enjoyed writing it! there has been ups and downs and sideways at this point, but i can finally, hopefully start posting. when i finally come up with a regular schedule, i will let you know, but for now i am thinking sundays, near the evening (for me)! enjoy! :)

✰✰✰

" For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."

- Vincent Van Gogh

✰✰✰

They say that smaller stars always seem to shine brighter, even through all the darkness.

Hazel Parker had always admired those tiny stars, they were always brightest in the sky at night. She always watched the constellations, or the North Star, or tried to search for the Milky Way. She always watched the sky, even if it were the middle of the night.

The stars were always there.

Hazel glanced out the train window as it slowly pulled up to Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg was set in North Carolina, in the southern part of the state, where there were forests and trees for miles, and you could practically smell each ounce of fresh air that was given off. Hazel had visited North Carolina only a few times in her life.

She sat alone on the train. It was quiet, except for some chatter every so often, but Hazel didn't mind. She relished silence sometimes.

When the train pulled into the train station, Hazel slowly stood from her spot and grabbed her luggage, before slowly walking down the isle. There were many others on the train as well but they were going down to Florida most likely on their summer vacations.

Hazel had never had a summer vacation where she came from. You had to work in the summers to make sure you had a house by the end of it.

She got strange looks from some of the women on the train, since mostly everybody knew of the fact that Fort Bragg was a place where soldiers trained, that were men and most definitely not women. But Hazel just avoided their eyes and quietly moved off the train. She stepped onto the wooden station, her heart pounding rather harshly inside her rib cage, as her cheeks warmed quickly even though no one was around.

When she got the initial letter, she had been surprised. She didn't expect to get picked out of the group of WAC members she had been in barracks with.

She didn't know much else.

Were there going to be other women here?

Or would she be the only one?

Hazel didn't have a clue.

She didn't really know anything as she approached the Fort. She was to train with the rest of the other 250 women, and get the basic training she needed. They were going to be trained just as tough as the men from other branches, they were to be treated no different. Then after the women's initial training, they would head off to their stations, with the branches and groups they were initially assigned to. Hazel knew she was training to become a paratrooper, that is what was stated in the letter she had gotten.

But she knew nothing else.

She was hoping that whoever was in charge of the Fort when they got there, would at least give her some information.

Her brown hair was curled slightly by the women in her barrack back at the WAC but now it was turning into a rather frizzy mess. Hazel had long ago wiped off the makeup the women tried to put on her face. Hazel was never big on makeup nor was she big on curling her hair.

Growing up, she was more focused on making sure she got food in her stomach, not whether her hair was curled. Even though it wasn't the sorta thing to step out with not-done hair, Hazel just didn't have the money or time as a teenager.

She was always working multiple jobs so her mother, Lena Parker, a woman of Polish decent with a fun-loving way to her, never had to work late into the night for money. Hazel had always admired the strength her mother had even in dark times. Hazel wish she had found that strength.

Hazel's babcia, or her grandmother, Maja Moszkowski, had come over to the United States, from Poland, as a 23 year old woman, with ambitions of leaving her controlled country to find a new life. When she went through Ellis Island on her way to New York, her last name had been changed to Maloney, the story was that it sounded more American. So her babcia went on with her new life in America, and found her dziadek or grandfather Antoni Partkya, whose last name had been changed to Parker, as it was more Americanized, and they fell in love and had her mother.

They were both Polish immigrants, and her dziadek had some semblance of Jewish upbringing, but once he met Maja, he decidedly became Catholic and that's how they're children were raised and how they were to raise they're children after that.

Hazel had Polish and Jewish roots to her, but the Jewish side wasn't relevant to her family anymore. After news broke that Jewish people were being persecuted because of their religion, she remembered hearing her dziadek one day praying to God that he was sorry he didn't stay with his childhood religion, that he was sorry for everything that was happening to his people. Hazel had felt her heart break, seeing her dziadek that way.

Hazel also had English roots, from her father, but she wasn't about to start thinking about him again.

Hazel's slightly curly brown hair was pulled back in a half up, half down, with a few strands of hair around her face, framing her blue eyes and freckles on her cheeks. Hazel wore her WAC uniform, which consisted of her brown undershirt, coat, skirt, and her cap. Her cap however was tucked into the belt of the skirt she wore. It had nearly blown off once she got off the train.

Hazel walked over with her small bag of luggage towards the office in hopes of being able to be guided in the general direction she would need to be led to. The Commander she knew was Matthew Ridgway and supposedly the rumor was, he had approved of the women of the operation to train here, at Fort Bragg.

When Hazel slowly approached his office, a man sat at the front desk, slowly flipping through some paper work. He had neatly combed hair, that seemed golden and he had glasses that sat atop the bridge of his nose, and she saw an evident dimple in his cheek. He looked up when he noticed someone in front of him.

" Ah, Corporal Parker, right?" he asked her, nodding to the insignia on her arm.

" Yes, sir." she answered, spotting the Sergeant symbol on his own.

" Right, well follow me, the Commander was expecting you." he explained. Hazel nodded, slightly confused but hurriedly followed the Sergeant towards a door. She watched the Sergeant poke his head inside.

" Commander, sir? She's here." the Sergeant called.

" Send her in." a deep voice called. The Sergeant leaned back with a kind smile and nodded to her.

Hazel slowly stepped forward and pushed open the door to reveal a man sitting at his desk, in his uniform which adorned quite a few metals, with his gelled back dark brown hair and surprisingly a welcoming smile. Hazel also noticed two women sitting in chairs right in front of him.

One wore a SPARs uniform, hair curled, cap sitting atop her head, a smile on her face as she talked to the other girl, in a Cadet Nurses' Corps uniform, cap removed, blond hair curled, but it seemed natural as it flowed down her back, and her bright blue eyes seemed to twinkle with light.

" Corporal Parker, come have a seat." the Commander said.

" Yes, sir." Hazel said as she approached him and took her seat in the chair next to the woman in the SPARs uniform. Hazel offered a smile and she smiled wider when the SPARs woman smiled back.

" Now, I'm sure you ladies are wondering why you are here, in Fort Bragg, but we've brought all 250 of the women we've accepted into the program here, where you will all be training together." the Commander explained, " I am Major General Matthew Ridgway, the Commander here at Fort Bragg, where we specialize in Special Forces and Airborne specialties. We now will also have a connection with Camp Athene, where you ladies will train."

" You will have a 15 week training, consisting of exactly what many of the men you will serve with will be trained like. After your weeks of training, you will be split off into your specialties or your different branches for training, such as the Marines, Navy, Army, Coast Guard, and Air Force, which will be housed as well on this base. Understood?"

" Yes, sir." the 3 women answered.

" The reason you 3 women are here now is because you are part of the elites we have picked of the women, where 20 women will be put into the Airborne. In this case, as you say on your letters, you 3 will be going into the 101st Airborne. 5 will go to the 82nd, 3 to the 11th, 5 to the 13th, and 4 to the 17th. But after the initial training ends you will be then put into new barracks with those women where you will train for your Jump Wings before you will then be sent to your stations and meet with the rest of the men that will be in your company. In this case, you ladies will be under the 101st in the 506th, under the direction of Colonel Sink, within 2nd Battalion in Easy Company. You will all be sticking together in that company. Understood?"

" Yes, sir." the women answered.

" Why aren't we training with the men, sir?" the SPARs woman asked.

" We had to make a few exceptions when coming up with this plan for the operation and one of them was training without the men. We feel at the moment it is too risky, and we can't risk this getting out to public ears." Ridgway explained to them, " The public will not know about this operation as you read in your acceptance letters and when you do tell your families, they can not tell a soul is that understood? This operation is covert and secret and is to be kept away from the public eye at all costs."

" Yes, sir." the 3 women answered.

" If it's not successful, will people just never be told that women became more involved in the war?" the SPARs woman asked leaning forward.

" Well, it seems the government is divided over this topic in general, and they're working to cover it up the best they can, we are all hoping though that this remains a success so we can tell the public afterwards." Ridgway explained. The SPARs woman leaned back in her chair with a nod.

" They oughta still be rightfully angry and upset at the end of this war if they do find out that women were taken to the front lines, it's how it's always been." the woman in the Cadet Nurses Corps uniform.

" Rightfully so, but one thing they'll have to respect is that the War Department and the government made those decisions." Ridgway explained.

" Our country was built upon the foundations of a revolution from a tyrannic government, sir," the SPARs woman said, " will these citizens still respect that? Or will they to revolt because of our gender?" Ridgway looked at the women.

" You 3 ladies, are just 3 out of 250 women, and those 250 women including you 3 have all been trained in the programs you come from. You're already ahead of even a bunch of the men we have here now. Decisions are made upon decisions. The decision was that sooner or later this was going to need to happen for the military." Ridgway explained to them. Hazel bit her lip. That was true, but it didn't mean they would be respected because of it.

" Does this operation have a name, sir, among the higher ranking officials?" the SPARs woman asked.

" Yes it does, Sergeant," Ridgway said almost proudly that she had asked, " Operation Virago."

" That's Latin." the SPARs woman said and Mingus nodded.

" Correct," Ridgway answered.

" It means a woman of heroic or exemplary qualities." the SPARs woman said. Ridgway nodded.

" Operation Virago was formed upon the idea that women could fight alongside men in uniform, and be just as heroic as them." Ridgway offered.

" Not all leaders in each branch agreed on this, but General Eisenhower was head official for the entire funding of the program. He was the one that signed off and hand picked you all." Ridgway said. Hazel's eyes widened.

General Eisenhower?

They'd all heard things about him, but none of the women had ever seen him even in person.

And now he wanted them here?

To fight?

It was brilliant.

" If you ladies ever have any questions, you can ask your CO, your Senior NCO or your Lieutenants, they will always be open to answer questions as they have been briefed on this all already." the Commander explained, " All the women in the program have come in here before you and sat down in those chairs to discuss everything, but the Airborne has been a bit more intense to discuss because it is the newest addition to the Army."

" Yes, sir." the group answered and Ridgway smiled.

" Well, I'll let you ladies get on your way then, you have a long, tough road ahead of you but it'll all be worth it. I hope the next time we speak you are all certified paratroopers." he said as he stood and the 3 women stood together. He shook each of their hands before leaning back.

" Now, I've been saying this to the other women as well, as just an advisor, but we have some of the toughest officers working in Camp Athene for you, which is a part of Operation Virago initially. It's going to be meant to feel as if you're being broken down over and over again, okay? But this training is meant to replicate or be even tougher than some of the other branches of military." he explained to them. The 3 women all nodded with smiles.

All the women in the program already had gone through some training, as well as holding a bit of a guard up when it came to harsh words that flew at their faces.

" Sergeant Sweeney?" the Commander called as the door of the office opened.

" Sir?" he asked.

" Please escort these 3 women to 2nd platoon of Virago." the Commander said with a smile.

" Yes, sir." Sweeney answered, saluting him and opening the door wide, as he pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose a bit, allowing the women to file out. When Sweeney shut the door, he turned to the 3 women.

" Right, well, let me grab my cover, and then I can take you to Camp Athene." he said and the women smiled. Hazel glanced at the other 2 women and they both offered smiles. They wanted to be here just like Hazel, and Hazel respected that greatly.

When they got out into the bright sunshine again, Hazel watched as Sweeney reached into his pocket and pushed some Raybands sunglasses, which Hazel had always thought were a 'cool' pair of sunglasses to own, over his normal glasses. He turned and looked towards the women.

" All women in Athene are getting these, sorta like that trademark thing." Sweeney said as he pulled out 3 other pairs and handed it to them. The SPARs woman took the glasses and passed the other 2 sets to Hazel and the Cadet.

" It gets bright out here." Sweeney said for an explanation, as the group continued forward through the rest of Fort Bragg.

" The 82nd trains right over there, with some of the Special Forces." Sweeney said as he pointed towards some barracks where a few men were around.

" This here though is Camp Athene, they ain't allowing any of us guys in here, except your CO and Lieutenants. No distractions we've been told. It's gonna make you all cutting edge, sorta like the Amazon Warriors." Sweeney said, " That's the rumor."

" Rumor?" the Cadet asked.

" Yeah, sort of like Virago Angels we've been told, you know badass chicks and stuff." Sweeney said as he turned to them.

" I like the sound of that." the SPARs woman said.

" Yeah, we all do, just so you know. Bunch of the guys who first showed up here were complete dicks when they started on about women in the military. Don't know what happened to them, but now each and every one of them are under some spell, think you guys are like goddesses or Amazon Warriors. I won't be surprised that when you come out, all the men in your company are gonna respect the hell outta ya." Sweeney said, running a hand through his hair.

" I wouldn't get to ahead of yourself, but thanks for the confidence boost." the SPARs woman said and Hazel laughed. Sweeney offered a crooked smile.

" It's my pleasure, but I know you'll all do great. This is supposedly top-notch training." he told them.

" Are you apart of the 82nd?" Hazel asked him. Sweeney nodded.

" Yep, started training about a month back, in July, moved through the ranks quickly and got moved to office duty on Wednesdays through Fridays, we've had women like you all pouring in endlessly this week. Training starts on Monday." he explained with a nod. They approached the gate and the three women turned to look towards Sweeney.

" Thank you for your help back there," the Cadet said with a smile. Sweeney smiled.

" If they let you outta here for PX bars on the weekend, then I can offer you drinks?" Sweeney suggested to them.

" That'd be nice," the SPARs woman said, " you know if we get let out." Sweeney cracked a smile and a chuckle.

" Right, right, well, off you ladies go. Hopefully in 15 weeks time, and after that paratrooper training we see each other again." he said with a smile. The 3 women smiled.

" See ya, Sweeney." the SPARs woman called as the 3 women stepped inside the camp. The Cadet gently shut the gate behind them and then stepped up to the other women's sides and looked at them with a smile.

" Amazon Warriors?" she said with a playful twinkle in her eyes. The other two laughed.

" I don't know who came up with that, but I think it's rather brilliant, as Amazon Warriors were indeed a group of women who fought and died equally like men." the SPARs woman said. Hazel grinned.

" What are your names? Ridgway didn't say a word back there." the Cadet asked.

" Catherine McCown, I signed up from SPARs."

" Hazel Parker. I was in the WAC."

" Elizabeth Elliot, Cadet Nurses' Corps." the Cadet said, " And I gotta say, Sweeney wasn't wrong about us badass chicks." The 3 of the women snickered together as they walked further into camp.

Hazel glanced towards the two women, and found an ounce of security within them, knowing that when training was over, they'd be moving onto the Airborne together, no matter what.

That was a nice sense of security to have.

" I'm kinda glad the public won't know about this, ya know?" Catherine said as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

" I completely agree." Elizabeth said with a small smile on her face, her face seeming to shine under the golden sun, " What's life without a little surprise?"

✰✰✰

i hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! it was definitely exciting to write when i first wrote it because of the entire concept. it's just so fascinating and interesting in my mind to even go through with an idea like this. ( thank you julianne, you know who you are :))

i hope you like the 3 women who will play the leads in this telling of the story, as i feel like i've grown exceptionally close with them simply as characters.

thank you all for reading, and i will see you in the next chapter, in possibly a week!!