Air Space, 20 km north of Harley Quinn.

0900, 12 April 2024

Four C-130J Super Hercules flew at an altitude of 480 meters in two rows. Each Hercules carried two logistics pallets, an LAV Shorad, and the LAV's crew.

The armored reconnaissance element carried by Hercules uses Willy Fox callsign, with the task of conducting a jump with LAV Shorad, then patrolling the Outer Protection Line in a full combat load configuration.

In the lead Hercules on the left, Captain Stark sat quietly chewing gum. When he was still on active duty in the 82nd Airborne Division, he was involved in several combat jumps with LAV-25 in the mix. It could be said that he was quite familiar and well aware of how dangerous airborne operations with armored vehicles were in the mix.

A few years ago, in a night airdrop operation on the border of A-Stan and I-Ran, he was tasked with leading the security element.

The security element had to jump first and provide the physical space for the vehicles and its crew so they could do the combat preparation in a sterile area. In other words, vehicles were dropped inside the security element's Dropping Zone.

In his life, Captain Stark had never ran so hard as he ran from a Dropping Zone, when someone shouted that they were bringing in several LAV-25 with the wind in the unwanted direction.

If the LAV dropped right, he had thirty seconds to see which way the wind was blowing and get out from under the drag track. But if the LAV's parachutes didn't bloom perfectly, he only had ten second before an LAV pounds him like a hammer.

Then, relief instantly filled Captain Stark's heart when he finally managed to dodge the falling LAV-25. But a moment later, he heard over the radio that two of his company members had died.

One was a platoon commander. An LAV-25 hit him and half of his body turned into tomato sauce. The unfortunate platoon commander had dislocated right ankle during landing. So he failed to get out of the Dropping Zone.

The second fallen soldier was a private who had joined a few days before. The unfortunate private was still trying to take off his parachute when an LAV-25 fell on him.

That very day, Captain Stark stopped praying to God.

Airborne operations were inherently high risk and complex operations, and the dangerous level went up several fold when heavy assets like Armored Vehicles were added to the mix.

Even US Army top brass would only launch airborne operations when there was not a Jarhead Unit for a thousand miles from the area of operation.

As the Hercules cabin lights turned red, while the ramp door slowly opened, Captain Stark let out a deep breath.

'At least TF Amethyst using a procedure that personnel will jump out last, without the need for an advance team.'

Without delay, Captain Stark then ordered the final check.

- - - - -

In addition to Vehicle Commander, Driver, and Gunner. LAV Shorads usually also carried a pair of scout snipers, whose job was to check and prevent choke points along the route from being used as ambush locations by the opposition.

As soon as they arrived on the ground, all of Willy Fox's personnel immediately went to work according to their designated duties.

Scout Sniper immediately secured the perimeter. They knelt down, watching the sector they were responsible for, all the while ready to receive the warning from the MQ-9 Reaper circling in the sky.

Meanwhile, the driver filled the fuel tank and started the LAV Shorad's engine.

At the same time, the commander vehicle and gunner worked hand in hand to install the RIwP remote turret, followed by weapons, sensors, radar, antenna communications, before finally turning on the entire integrated digital system and network.

Within 12 minutes, all of the LAV Shorad were ready for combat and connected to the command center on Harley Quinn.

Willy Fox personnel also left nothing. They folded the parachute they just used, then tied it beside the LAV Shorad's body, along with pieces of pallet wood that had also been neatly tied.

Without wasting time, the four LAV Shorads closed their positions to each other.

Captain Stark had just reported to Harley Quinn that the jump was successful, and would give a briefing when a radio call from Reaper came in.

[Sky Eye, Willy Fox, be advised, multiple unidentified archers closing in from your left, 200 meters, do you copy?]

'Wut da fuq, how did they sneak up so close?'

Captain Stark grumbled, and he had just pressed the PTT button when one of the Scout Snipers shouted.

"Contact left! Incoming arrows!"

The Willy Fox personnel spontaneously docked and knelt on the right side of LAV Shorad. With pounding hearts they waited for the salvo of arrows raining down on their positions to stop. Then immediately scrambled to get into each LAV Shorad.

"Fox Three, Fox One, requesting permission for retaliate fire, confirm."

'Wut da fuq are you waiting for?' Captain Stark looked at his gunner before giving the order, "Light them up!"

Gunner immediately aimed the M230LF 30 mm Chain Gun at the bushes where the salvo of arrows was coming from, then selected Air Burst - Tracer ammunition and pressed the trigger.

The 30 mm AB-T projectile was guided by a laser range finder and computer, where the detonation could be set at a distance of 0.5 - 3 meters from the target. Its damage potential was equivalent to a high fragmentation grenade. However, with a velocity at 805 m/s, the damage potential increased four times.

Even though he didn't see any human silhouette, Gunner occasionally saw a light pink mist spraying into the air, and he became more excited.

At the same time, Captain Stark ordered two LAV Shorad to press forward, followed by two others with a slightly wide formation ready to respond to an unexpected surprise.

However, in a few seconds the salvo of arrows stopped. After the Reaper confirmed that there was no more opposition around the area, the scout sniper immediately carried out a site inspection, and all they found were the bodies and pools of blood from around 40 humans.

One of the Scout Snipers then brings Captain Stark to examine a hole connected to an underground tunnel.

"No wonder they managed to sneak up so close. We're lucky there weren't any casualties on our side."

"Yeah." The scout sniper nodded slightly, then pointed to a trail of blood near the tunnel entrance. "Two people, 15-20 minutes before their death. I can catch up, give medical treatment, and then interrogate them."

Captain Stark firmly shook his head. "Negative, we don't know what's in there. So let the command center decide what to do next."

"Roger."

The scout sniper was disappointed, but he didn't say anything further.

*****