TF Amethyst

TFA2 27.1 – First Possible Target

Normally, air dropping a package into peak of Penna Hill was easy. It had an elevation of 1100 meter above the sea level, elongated from north to south 6 km long, and had an average with of 2 km. Even if the wind around the peak was strong and wild, air dropping from 100 meter above the landing zone would guarantee all packages landed on peak of Penna Hill.

Unfortunately, all air dropping to Penna Hill must be done covertly for the time being. In short, it had to be done at night and silently. And tonight, Penna Hill would receive another air dropping. At altitude of 4500 meter, four C-130J Super Hercules approached Penna Hill from south in a single line and full speed. 

In the leading Hercules, Major Rivera was calmly looking into distance. As soon as he saw a neat line of IR Strobe, he immediately contacted Combat Control Team on the ground.

“Dove 0-1 to Reception Hall, do you copy?”

[Reception Hall to Dove 0-1, loud and clear, do you see the light house?]

“I see it. We will hit it in five to six minutes.”

[Copy and be advised, we have nasty wind down here. We will need extra tight and neat coordination.]

“Receive and understood.” Wasting no time Major Rivera then radioed other pilots, “Dove 0-1 to All Dove, be ready for the rodeo, confirm.”

[Dove 0-2 is ready.]

[Dove 0-3 is ready.]

[Dove 0-4 is ready.]

“Dove 0-1 to All Dove, follow my lead and let’s get it done.” After taking a deep breath Major Rivera then radioed the Loadmaster, “Kyle, get ready. We are five minutes out.”

[Roger.] Loadmaster Kyle calmly replied. A minute later, he continued, [Ramp is open, ready for the drop.]

“Copy, we will dive in any second.” Major Rivera then turned his gaze towards his trusted co-pilot. “Barnes, kill the engines and start the counting.”

“Roger,” Captain Barnes calmly replied. Then, he pushed start button on his stopwatch as he killed all Hercules’ engine. “Engine is off. We have big crosswind and eight minutes before this lovely bird kissing the ground.”

“Copy, rodeo is a go.”

Under the night sky, Major Rivera then took his Hercules to dive. He piloted the Hercules only by relying on his gut feeling, without the help of any instrument. However, he managed to smoothly glide it down to Penna Hill. 

Then, just a few seconds before the Hercules reached an altitude of 200 meters above the landing zone Major Rivera casually said, “Barns, now.”

“Roger.” Captain Barns calmly replied as he switched the green light in the cargo bay on. 

Without delay Loadmaster Kyle responded it by deploying the drag chute on the rearmost pallet. Then, as Hercules’s nose slightly went up Loadmaster Kyle’s men took the hold that lock the pallet in its position.

Without the hold the drag chute easily pulled the pallet. In a swift movement the pallet then slid down and went out of the ramp door. Wasting no time, Loadmaster Kyle and his men repeated the dropping procedure on the two other pallets. 

Dropping package while in a glide flight was insanely dangerous procedure, but Loadmaster Kyle and his men carried it as if it was a walk in the park. In less than 20 seconds, three pallets were successfully being parachuted. Then, Major Rivera took the Hercules to gently bank to the right, straight into a wide valley on the east of Penna Hill. 

After that, Major Rivera waited until the Hercules was 8 km away from the closest settlement before saying, “Barn, get the engines on.”

“Roger.” 

Major Rivera then took the Hercules to climb up to altitude of 9000 meters above the sea level. However, Major Rivera, Captain Barns, and the other crew could take a deep breath full of relief only after all Hercules succeed dropping their package without any accident.

As the last Hercules regrouped with the other Hercules, Major Rivera said, “Damn, this is why I love Hercules so much.”

After a slight smile Captain Barnes cheerfully replied, “Best airlifter for smuggling ops.”

Major Rivera happily nodded in agreement, “Best airlifter for smuggling.” 

---  

As cold and howling wind hit their face, Colonel Meyer and Major Alfred observed the sky with great attention. However, other than huge black sky with some twinkling stars they saw nothing else. 

“Sir, do you remember the first supply drop to Gandalf?” Major Alfred asked as dark lines appeared in his forehead.

“Yeah,” Colonel Meyer bitterly replied. “The wind was fierce like tonight, and the package fell to the lake one click from dropping zone.”

“I hope we won’t have similar miss tonight,” Major Alfred hopefully said.

“So do I.”

After a slight smile Captain Tiffany joined the conversation, “Gentlemen, please be at ease. This is not our first rodeo on Jack Sparrow.”

“Captain.” After taking a deep breath Major Alfred continued, “If tonight packages fall in the nearby valley, it can lead into unwanted attention.”

“At least, we have put retrieve team on standby. In case we have stray package, they will retrieve anything that they can retrieve silently, and burry the rest without leaving any trail.” After pausing for a moment Captain Tiffany proudly continued, “But so far Jack Sparrow never have miss drop.”

“Not even once?” Colonel Meyer curiously asked.

“Not even once,” Captain Tiffany firmly replied

“I see.”

Actually, Colonel Meyer and Major Alfred had difficulty to trust Captain Tiffany’s words. However, before they asked further question, parachutes suddenly landed on the middle of Rocky Field not far from their position. 

Without delay, Colonel Meyer and Major Alfred immediately lowered their NVG before their eyes and turned it on. In an instant, they saw 12 military pallets had landed on the middle of Rocky Field, forming a 300 meters straight drag line.

Major Alfred gasped for a moment before asking, “How did they do it under this fierce wind?”

“Dunno, I don’t hear the Hercules’s engine, so they must be dropping it from high altitude,” Colonel Meyer briefly replied.

After a smile Captain Tiffany said, “Gentlemen, it’s landed perfectly so let’s not thinking about it more than we should.”

“Good point,” Colonel Meyer happily said.

Under the night sky, personnel from Logistic and Support Group then unpacked the pallets and loaded it into M1152 Cargo. It would require 3-4 hours of hard work to move all loads to underground depot, and another 18 hours to assemble it, but only 30 minutes to make the initial list of item and in a calm mood Major Alfred checked the item.

In summary, tonight package was 2 units M777 155 mm, 4 units M120 120 mm, 4 units Ripper Station, 2 units M1151 Humvee, along with ammunition and essential spare parts. After knowing the list, the three immediately felt some sense of relief.

At the moment, Jack Sparrow only had some M2HB 12.7 mm, Mk.19 40 mm, and 24 units Ripper Station. For defensive purpose, it was good enough. However, it would need additional firepower to neutralize military installations around Makai Royal City.

In cheerful tone Major Alfred then said, “If ACG can conduct this kind of air drop every two days, we will have our equipment in two weeks.”

“I believe the equipment will arrive on schedule,” Captain Tiffany confidently said, but then she continued in a low voice, “Our issue is the personnel.”

“Yeah,” Major Alfred replied in dejected tone.

Of ten units MV-22 Osprey, four units would be always in maintenance while another two in stand by for emergency. Therefore, ACG could only use four Osprey to airlift personnel from Woodpecker to Jack Sparrow. Not to mention they had to do it only when heavy rain hit Penna Hill once or twice a week.

“If we have 32 Osprey or more, it will only need two airlift operation to deliver our men here. The delay on shipment from earth is truly fucked us up.” After heaving a deep sigh Colonel Meyer turned his gaze towards Captain Tiffany, “Captain, how long before all of your men arrived in Jack Sparrow?”

“Six weeks,” Captain Tiffany replied briefly.

“It’s truly unfortunate. IDG predict the opposing battle group will be ready in 3-4 weeks,” Colonel Meyer regretfully said.

---

The only access to the peak of Penna Hill was a road on the east cliff. The small road diagonally extended for 4.5 km along the vertical cliff wall. It had hard surface, a slightly wider than a Humvee, and very steep. Local people called this small road as East Track.

Every three or four days, eight donkey carts full of block and plank made of black pine would walk down East Track. On the second donkey cart, Lieutenant Reznik skillfully held the reign. Next to him, Colonel Meyer calmly sat.

“Sir, did the last night air dropping go smoothly?”

“It hit Rocky Field perfectly,” Colonel Meyer calmly replied.

“Bull’s eye as usual. I lost another bet then.”

As he turned his gaze towards Lieutenant Reznik, Colonel Meyer asked, “I thought you were setting the IR strobe with Combat Control Team last night?”

“Nope, the wind on the peak is too fierce and too cold at night. If it has nothing to do with my job, I prefer to sleep in my quarter.”

“I see.” 

As the donkey cart walked down the East Track, Colonel Meyer observed the cliff wall in his left. It made of hard and rugged rock, proudly held up upward to the peak of Penna Hill.

“LT, if I remember it correctly, this road is the only access to the peak.”

“Yeah, the other sides are pure cliff wall. It doesn’t even have animal trail. Only expert climber can climb it.”

“Is Makai Guard has a unit of climber?”

“In every 900-man squadron they have a platoon of climber. This unit is very good at their job. Please don’t underestimate them.”

“I won’t,” Colonel Meyer firmly said.

Slowly but surely, the donkey convoy arrived on the foot of Penna Hill. Then, it went to a small fort and stopped in its front gate. 

“Is this the supervisor’s office?” Colonel Meyer asked as he observed the small fort with great attention.

“Yeah.”

“Is it a threat to Jack Sparrow?”

“Absolutely,” Lieutenant Reznik looked at the small fort as he continued, “Donte, the current supervisor, is a son of an important from Makai Royal Family, and he is also an absolute greedy fool. 

Around 400 Makai Guards are stationed in this fort. Donte will not have second thought before ordering them to attack Jack Sparrow.”

“We should neutralize this fort in the first opportunity then.”

“Yes, we should. Not to mention Donte can give us valuable intel about layout of Makai Royal Palace.” 

Wasting no time, Lieutenant Reznik then entered the small fort through a small door in the front gate.

*****