Intense: The Team takes a hit!

The hill action continues:

 

Alan noticed YD’s minimi go silent  and looked on as the final tracer rounds seemed to zap off into oblivion, the next call he made was purely on instinct,

“ 1 section, this is 2, gun line silenced by Sierra 1, assaulting forward to gun line out!”, with that I stood fully erect , looking left to right I could see the rest of the section members all looking at me, tensed awaiting the go order.

“ Bedak, leave Flinthart, we’ll come back or have 1 section collect him, All members of 2  section will  assault forward to the gun line….NOW! MOVE”.

With that, the three physically capable team members launched out of their respective positions, no rifle or machine gun fire was being laid down with this advance, just a headlong dash  down the slope and into the thinning smoke screen, all the while I fully expected some additional contact at any moment.

Leaping over the log in front I snapped the bolt forward having just loaded a fresh mag, and contacted Murph over the net,

“ 1 this is 2, we’ve left Flinthart at left end of line, he’s  alive, collect him  on your way through Murph”,

I was panting from the exertion, the call was really more a strained grunting series of messages as we all but ran down the slope……..into the gun smoke…possibly into Hell!.

Murph came up on the net as another series of long bursts came from his section, still trying to delay the assaulting Indonesian force on their flank,

“ 2, Copy your last Alan, pulling back in 60 seconds, be advised the assault force is still well over 50% strength”, Murphs message was back grounded with his sections gunfire and Murphs own barking M16 as well.

 

Alan was relieved, so far 1 section had not taken any casualties, the longer they stayed though, the greater the odds somebody would get hit….training or not the odds were still well and truly against them if they remained in contact with such a large force.

 

2 section as they started the slight climb back up out of the small gully towards the  still silent Indonesian gun line, started to see through the rapidly clearing smoke, the damage their return fire and the outgoing fire the Indonesians had inflicted on the surrounding landscape. Whole trees now stood 2 feet tall, rounds having shredded them off, jagged splinters protruding from the tops of the small stumps, testament to the sheer brutality of the rounds successive impacts and the sustained volumes of fire that had been directed at Section 2..

 

I could see the extreme left of the now silent gun positions and watched as  YD entered the first pit or shallow depression, stopping just long enough to check what turned out to be two Indonesian soldiers, YD quickly gave me the thumbs up, signaling all clear before  proceeding on another few yards and going to ground in defense. Not being as quick as the rest of the team members I arrived nearly halfway between the third and fourth guns, sufficiently awestruck that I unconsciously came to a complete halt as I stared at the dead Indonesian troopers scattered around the right hand gun, spent link rounds  were intermingled with empty brass 7.62 shell casings….there were 5 of them, Plus Havock and Joll’s.

 

Years of military service now carefully surveyed the scene before him as Alan looked across to where YD was on his left and Bedak who had now cleared position number two and three then shifting right some 20 yards to the position of the five dead troopers he now stood in front of. Alan on auto pilot checked each successive trooper to ensure they were dead, and then ran over to Havock and Joll’s at the edge of the small clearing

.

Stopping beside H, I slowly knelt down onto one knee, and placing a hand on H’s shoulder, “ Bedak, YD, on me and form a perimeter, move!, 1 Murph this is two, we have a man down, I say again, man down and one wounded, right end of Indonesian gun line out”.

Two short Rodgers filtered back to me from Bedak and YD as they charged towards mine and H’s position, now fully aware thanks to the call that one of our team members was down and one wounded……….It meant also meant that one had been killed.

I could see that H was in shock as he cradled Joll’s upper body in his lap, his face was streaked from sweat and exertion, but the tears were clearly evident, as was the exposed blood soaked torso of his closest friend, field dressings stuffed into his shirt hung out, as H now cradled his lifeless body in a gentle rocking motion.

“H you look hit, we need to check it out fast, you have to put Joll’s down mate” I spoke quietly, giving H a slight squeeze on the shoulder at the same time. Slowly Havock looked up at me, eyes rimmed red and blood shot, the horror and sense of loss clearly evident on his young handsome face, stammering somewhat, Havock  finally spoke.

“ Hee he got to this last position ahead of me, I got clipped In the arm by one of these guys, but he got four of the fuckers……then the gunner got him”, H looked back down at Joll’s , his facial features calm, as if he was having a simple sleep, slowly with extraordinarily gentleness, I watched as  H placed his closets friends, body gently on the ground.

Looking up, I could see that the Indonesian gunner was slumped across the tripod legs of his mag 58 with half his skull missing, there just  beside him on the ground was Havocks machete covered in hair and brain tissue….he’d ran out of ammo fighting through the position at some point.

 

Alan was still absorbing the loss of Joll’s and Havocks final attack on the last trooper with his machete, when Bedak came up on the net. “ In position Al, we have two KIA at gun one, 6 more at gun number two and 4 at number three Al…all confirmed dead”.

‘Jesus.’ Alan thought, plus the 5 at the fourth gun position….Sierra one had taken out 17 TNI regulars between the two of them….’I wouldn’t trade one of mine for a thousand of these fuckers’ Alan quietly thought to himself.

 

More gun fire sounds rattled back to my ears , the volume had increased as Section 1 attempted to break contact, a succession of grenade explosions rattled around the gully to Alan’s position, dragging him back to matters at hand.

“YD, check the guns here, lets, see what’s serviceable and  what ammo is about, make it fast, BEDAK.. keep over watch to their rear”

Alan looked down at Havock and the body of Joll’s, knowing full well what he needed to do, the question was ‘ How will H take it”, Alan thought?. They already had one wounded member which they were going to have to walk out with to the RV point, carrying a dead comrade was simply out of the question at this point in time.

Slowly standing back up and looking down at the two diggers at his feet, Alan extracted his water bottle and took a quick swig before speaking, as he closed the canteen pouch cover over the bottle. “ H”, Havock raised his head and looked up at the Section commander, his eyes were full of anger Alan thought, ‘ This might go badly’…..’ , “H, we need to scavenge what we can an be ready to move out as soon as 1 section breaks contact with those Indonesian troopers on the other side of the hill, we can’t take Joll’s with us”. Having delivered the truth and what he suspected was precisely what Havock didn’t want to hear, Alan braced himself for a verbal onslaught……but none came. Sensing an opening Alan pushed on “ H, you’ve got a GPS, I want you to lock in the position, I’ll have Bedak do the same and we will get the grid ref through to HQ ASAP, we have to come back and pickup  Joll’s later, for now though, I want him concealed”, Pointing his arm out Alan indicated where he thought the dead trooper should be temporarily laid to rest, “ Over there beside that tree, its good cover, you have a hotchie on you, use that to wrap up his body….but make it fast, we ain’t got much time”. More bursts and gun fire was coming in from the hill, Alan figured any minute now that Murphs team would start puling back.

Reaching down Alan grabbed one side of Joll’s body “ come on H get fucking cracking”, Alan’s comment had the desired effect, it seemed to shake Havock loose from the funk he had descended into, “ Rodger that boss”, Havock stood upright and seemed to reanimate himself again, “ I’ve got him Al “, with that Havock grabbed Joll’s and with some help from Alan slung him over his left shoulder in a fireman’s carry the headed off into the bush….towards  some cover  and a temporary resting place for his mate.

 

‘ well that went better than I thought it would’, “ Right, Bedak, YD status?”, time to get back to business now Alan thought, they had mere minutes before more trouble could descent upon them. and the last thing he wanted was it coming in from their rear., ‘ we’re to exposed here’, Alan grumbled to no one in particular.

“ All clear  Al, I’ve picked up some link for the mini as well” YD replied, “ Copy that YD, Simon what’s your  status over”. Alan surveyed the surrounding ground, the ambient light levels  was starting to grow, it wouldn’t be much longer and night vis gear would not be required at all.

2 Sections commander started surveying the surrounds, Alan had the map for this area, at least for the RV area, it was already fully committed to memory, just that he was now trying to figure out which way would be best, given the route the Indonesian patrol had come from and the proximity of the attacking force that 2 Section was now engaged with…they really had little alternative. North east it would be, “let’s hope we don’t catch any stragglers from that assault force’ Alan thought. The North easterly route would almost take them over terrain that the Attacking TNI troopers had covered to hit the hills flank, once out of this area Alan planned to continue hooking right some further 600 odd meters, ‘should be a straight shot to the RV point where the chopper had gone down I reckon from there’.

 

“ 2 this is one”, it was Murph on the radio, “ Breaking contact now, no casualties, heading back over the hill to the trail in the gully Al”.  ‘right’ Alan thought, Murphs team were on the move..and they would be sprinting as well..” YD, watch your left flank down the trail, Section one will be coming in from there, ETA 5 minutes max I suspect, stay loose people”.

INTENSE: More of THE HILL. ( Tues ) & Mud Maps + 600 word extention as well

I have included some of me SANDBOX maps to assist..just in case people are having troublefollowing.

Section 1 & 2. deployment under Fire

Murph was hunkered down in a shallow depression, quickly he extracted his topo map from its plastic camo cover and crouched over the map, just a very faint glow of red emitted from the dark bundle as Murph had turned on the red filtered flash light to check the surrounding features.

“ Nat, try raise Sierra one on the radio, tell’em our position and find out where they are”, Murph continued back with checking the map whilst Natalia went about trying to raise Sierra one .

Farther down the feature, Section two was still copping hell from the Indonesian suppressive fire. Alan heard Snowman come up on the net,

“ Murph its Snow, what do you want me to do with these approaching enemy?”, Slightly exasperated, Murph looked up slightly, spasmodic rounds were cascading over the hill, the odd tracer round having ignited wafting passed followed by the passing buzz if close enough, it made Murph keep his head down. ‘Fuck, this suppressive fire’, Murph thought, it was keeping them not only pinned, but not allowing them freedom of action, ‘ we need to take back the advantage’ Murph whispered to nobody in particular.

 

“ Barnes!”, Murph had inadvertently screamed into the mike, he hoped he didn’t sound rattled, ‘that s the last thing we need’. “Barnes, pull out from your position and set up to the right of Snowman, when that assault group gets to 40 meters I want you Natalia and Snow to open up with everything you have, pop smoke and then form back up on me, 10 or 15 seconds of fire, then outta there clear?”.

Murph thought he had the basis of a plan. ‘If we could delay the assault force long enough, we might, just might be able to assault the front left flank of the gun line’. Not exactly the smartest thing to do, but the last thing those gunners would be expecting Murph hoped. “ Rodger that boss”, Barnes was up and sprinting across the hill, still below the hill 615’s crest, his movement was free of any danger.

“ 2 Section, be warned, we are going to open up on the Indonesian assault group on your right flank, then pull back to your left flank and assault forward to the left edge of that gun line, I want you guys to remain in place and put down all the fire you can when I give the word, copy that all Al”, Alan was changing a mag out, as Murph came up on the net, explaining their plan, “ Rodger that Murph”.

Ramming home the new magazine, Alan to a quick peek left and right, then started to crawl forward to his new position he had selected at the end of the log, ‘ right ya fuckers time for some return fire’. “ Murph, its Natalia, I cant raise Sierra one on the radio and they must be just outta range of the Personal com sets, I’ll keep trying”. “ Copy That Nat, let me know soonest as you have them, Snow, how close are those assault troops now”. ‘Fuck this is getting tight’ thought Murph, placing his M16 across hiss lap he extracted his drink bottle and took a long pull, cold water flowing down his throat, amongst all the dust from the fire felt good, “ mmm’, Placing the canteen back, he rolled over .

 “ Murph, the assault groups at least 20, they seem to be forming up, can’t be much longer before they start their attack”. Grunting with the low crawl effort, Murph toggled his com set “ Copy Snow, stand by, as soon as they start moving , open up and call it out”. Murph proceeded to crawl, to the pinnacle of hill 615, rounds were starting to get closer, the nearer he got to the top of the hill. “ Fuck me, they’ve got some fire power down there’, “Alan, status of Section 2”. Alan had found a gap in the 150 year old teak trees trunk and placed his Minimi in the left side of the gap, as Murph called he was extracting his SR25 sniper rifle from his back,

“ 2 Section report”.

“ I got a box and 100 rounds left Al, after that I’m down to throwing rocks and the 9mm”, YD let another short burst go which Al heard over the mike, “Copy that YD, stay loose, conserve ammo” ‘ Fuck this I getting thin now’ Alan thought, “ well not much we can do… “Oh shit”, the light bulb went off in Alan’s head. “ Simon, how’s Flinthart going, I want you to see if he has a mini pouch and ammo on him, then scarper over to YD”. ‘Jesus, I should have thought of that sooner’, Alan was shaking his head, mistakes like he had just made could be the difference between life and death…”rookie mistake, fuck me’.

Alan pulled the stock of the Sniper rifle in close and switched on the night scope exhaling slightly as he started panning , ‘ok ya fuckers, gimme a look at ya’.

Suddenly Alan noticed a bright series of flashes, followed by more muzzle flashes and then the sound of the explosions he realized were in his visions wafted over him…’grenades….what the fucking hell’.  He was about to call Murph when Snowy came up on the net.

“ Contact right flank, 20 plus TNI engaging” and Snowy let loose a long burst of 50 odd rounds. Natalia,  and Barnes opened up as well, rounds stitching trails through the jungle as they sped towards the assaulting TNI infantry.  Alan could here the gun of Snowman’s open up , followed immediately by Natalie’s steyr, Barnes was carrying his Silenced MP5, which he had no doubt was dealing out death to the approaching infantry as well. Mixed in with the rifle and machine gun fire were the distinct explosions of the 40mm grenade launcher “ fuck Nats chugging them out” he exclaimed to nobody in particular.

Another series of explosions and a slackening of the incoming machine gun fire drew Alan’s attention back to his front, “ What the fucks going on”, Toggling his mike Alan called over the net,” Section 2, anybody see whats going on to our front”.

Simon came up on the radio, “ Negative Alan, got nothing here, just seeing flashes intermittently”, “ Negative here also Al, gunfire from the left has ceased, I’m switching to the right side for suppressive fire”. Alan paused, something just wasn’t right, surely the TNI gun line was not pulling out, or had somebody screwed up with some explosives. He expected the whole line to remain in place, perhaps even attempt a flanking assault themselves, thereby finishing off the envelopment of the position from both sides, “ classic pincer movement from a base of fire’, but that’s not right”, Alan still had his doubts.

“OH SHIT!, 2 SECTION CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!, Friendly’s  to our front, ID Your Targets”. Alan had screamed the orders as loud as he could, ‘Jesus fucking wept, I’ll bet my arse its Sierra one’.

Safeing the Sniper rifle Alan shimmied back away from his firing position and slung the weapon over his shoulder, picking up the minimi, he re chambered another round and flicked off the safety, taking a quick peek over the weapon and satisfied all was in order, he laid back down in his position and scanned the surrounding Jungle, rifle fire and other machine gun bursts were still taking place intermittently across their front, THE FIGHT WAS ON!.

Alan was horrified, from his left YD let another burst go across the front into the Indonesian gun line, “ CEASE FIRE! YD,  its Sierra one I think in the Indonesian gun line”, just then Al’s head set came to life again.

“ Check fire Check fire for fuck sakes, its Sierra one, stop fucking shooting ya muppets, we’ve cleaned out the gun line, I need fucking help over here”. 

 

INTENSE. The HILL Continued.Burger One One, Contact front.

Right, so its taken me a bit to get back to the HILL scene of Burger one one, Murph and his band of Merry SASR Troopers but we finally have. Below is a SHORT recap on the last scene an then the new scene. You will notice that Flintahrt has been replaced with snowman ( AW ) in the repeated scene. Thats becuse I noticed I had screwed up and put Dirk in the wrong section..me BAD. So the recap is 800 words long with just Flinthart nd Snaowman being switched over.

RECAP:

As Snowman, slowly crouched down, he started to consciously try and slow his breathing, the quick descent down the hill, had yielded no additional targets, that didn’t stop his body from winding itself up into a tight coil, adrenalin coursing through his blood stream, pupils dilated behind his NVG’s, as they had almost marched, that’s the pace they were at he thought, down the hill through the assaulting Indonesian patrol. “Offensive defence” he thought, “nothing like fucking with the other sides plans”, as a smile crept across his face, Barnes and Nat had already dispatched additional troopers, but on his end of the line, all had been clear.

 

What now slowed Snowman up was a slight thickening of the terrain to his immediate front, he scanned from left to right, farther left, he could make out Murph and ever so faintly Natalia, but Barnes was simply too far away for the NVG’s to make him out. Cradling his minimi as quietly as he could, Snowy  slowly lifted up the NVG’s.  Just as he had suspected, the light was increasing, ever so slightly. He pulled back the sleeve of his shirt and rolled forward his combat gloves to expose the luminescent dial of his watch, 0615 hours, that explained it he thought to himself.

 

Snowy rose upright, ” Well me boy, lets see what’s  on he other side of this little thicket shall we”,  stepping off with slow  fluid movements, almost wraith like Snowman slowly picked his way forward, disappearing into the dense lower canopy. This section was a series of small mounds, over a millennia during which trees, mosses, bracken an various plant species had established them sleeves, the terrain was not only slippery and thick, but undulating, almost like a gold field diggings, he thought to himself, just cover in god dam leech infested, mosquito swarming, trip you up shit.

 

Still scanning the terrain, but now without his NVG’s Snowman’s and the rest of the teams head sets came to life, it was Murph, ” Section one, when you hit the rail, move right down the path and rally on me “. Murph had already hit he trail Snowy thought and no further contact was a good sign. Snowman climbed up the last small rise, pushing gently aside the ferns and stepped onto the trail very edge, crouching down and then scanning immediately left he could see Natalia and Barnes, swiftly moving towards him, Signalling them with a thumbs up Nat reciprocated turning right he started heading for Murph, guessing he was around the bend in the track, some 30 odd yards down.

 

” Hmm, nice toosh” Natalia whispered over the coms net, Snowman grinned, as he extended his arm up and placed his fist on to of his head, his middle finger extended, ” Now don’t be like that”, Natalia whispered in her huskiest voice, ” least I didn’t say anything about not being able to see that second head, or the stump”. Nat had now closed the distance to Snowman, down to roughly 20 feet, sufficient for the close terrain, but not to close, that in an ambush they would both be a one burst target. Snowman Froze, slowly, ever so slowly he started crouching whilst he moved to the right side of the trail. Well he thought, “on the map, it was denoted as a little used trail, in all reality, it was more an animal run, one of many paths well worn by the various inhabitants of the jungle, their own little version of a freeway, sept devoid of fucking tolls, I guess”.

 

Snowys actions had a ripple effect; Natalia immediately did the same as Snowy only heading to the left of the trail, whilst Barnes as tail end Charlie went right, turning at the same time to cover their vulnerable rear.

 

Snowman slowly turned back, facing Nat, he raised his finger to his lips, and then gave her the thumps. Natalia nodded and then stared in shock disbelief as he signalled her again, two fingers pointing down, doing a walking motion, followed by pointing these digits at his eyes. Okay she thought, he’s going for a look at something, but Murph should be around here somewhere, very close at least. If Snowy had spotted any TNI he would have signalled that he had seen the enemy, this however was most unusual, what followed, completely blew her away. Snowy then signalled her to remain in place, she was about to ask why, when she remembered he had signalled her to be quiet. ” hope to fuck ya know what you’re doing” she thought.

 

Snowman slowly brought his NVG’s to back down an flipped them on, the target was no more than about 25 yards in front of him and as far as he could tell, alone and oblivious to his presence, he, it appeared to be talking into a hand held radio of some sort, but he figured this was a close as he could get without being detected. Turning of his NVG’s, Snowy raised the saw and peered through the night scope, stunned, he lowered it back own almost immediately. ” fuck me, Murph?, what the fucks going on ” he thought. Raising the minimi again he tried to focus back in on what Murph was doing, suddenly he could make out the device, it was a hand held Sat phone and whilst talking to someone, Murph was also scanning the jungle, occasionally looking back up the trail towards Snowman.

 

Snowman was dumbfounded, this was so far outside of normal operational parameters it was not funny and more the point, ” Who the fuck is he talking too”, he thought.

 CONTACT FRONT:

The Hill: Burger one one, contact front

 

The nights darkness  Alan could see, was now ever so slightly giving way to the approaching dawn, visibility for the camouflaged members of Burger two was on the improve, although this negated their night vision advantage, Alan felt sure they would be hit shortly. 2 section commanded by Sgt Alan Weaving was still tense, the assault by Murphs team down into the valley on their right flank had ended with Murphs ‘all clear’ call and ‘rally on me’ to that sections members. Mercifully Alan thought they had taken no casualties in the assault.

 

‘Right, better check on the troops’, slowly rolling onto his side Alan adjusted himself and gave the family jewels a reset, “fucking jungle rot I bet’ he said to no one in particular, the itching had come back with a vengeance over the last 12 hours. Toggling his throat mike Alan called the other members of Burger 2.

 

“2 section Burgers,  status check”, slowly  rolling back prone Alan looked out into the surrounding jungle, silently hoping the Indonesians or who ever else it was who’s scouts they had killed , held off any assault a little longer, ‘ At least till 1 section is back in palace on the fucking hill’ he muttered..

 

2 section was spread across the southern slop of the hill almost in line abreast with Alan on the far right flank. From Alan’s position moving Left he had placed Dirk Flinthart and his minimi on the left of a small knoll, from Dirk, the next member was Simon Bedak with his suppressed MP5 and on the end of the Line was YD, John Christ or YD which saved a lot of shit, he had their second gun, another minimi MG as well.

 

Alan figured this distribution was probably the best given the terrain. Slowly the three other team members chimed in, just a series of ‘Rodger, clear here Al”  replies came filtering back to Alan’s ears over his head set.

 

Al, was starting to wish Murphs team were already back on the ridge line behind them, until section 1 was in place, 2 section had zero arse end coverage, it was not  making Alan all warm and fuzzy, worse still, he thought they should already have vacated this hill  and be in concealment at another location. ‘This could get ugly..real fast me boy ‘ he thought.

 

2 sections world was shattered at approximately 0615 hours, machine guns opened across their whole front in the weak pre dawn light. “ Contact front……… 5 guns, 150 out, pinned down”, Simon screamed over his throat mike amidst all the falling debris and ear shattering gunfire.

 

Alan was hunkered down behind 150 years worth of teak, which was a blessing, the suppressive or offensive fire coming into 2 sections area was a sheer blizzard of rounds, Bark, ferns, dirt, moss and any item impacted by the big 7.62 millimetre rounds was being obliterated and tossed into the air.

 

 Struggling to hear Simons call of the enemy contact and numbers Alan had to roar into his throat mike,  “ Murph, 1 section is taking suppressive fire from our front, 5 guns plus, 150 out, pinned and unable to return effective fire,…….. no causalities at this point”. Rolling right as he released his throat mike Alan grabbed two fragmentation  grenades from his front pouches, extracting the pins in succession his tossed them over the log  screaming , “ Grenades out” immediately  tucking his body back down, hugging the earth for the blast effects he new were about to assault him.

 

 

The two frag grenades detonated with a massive blast, mere seconds apart, the incoming rounds did not stop, the blast had been short of its target, it was more for any sneakers creeping up and to provide some cover of sorts visually. Popping up Alan loosened of several rounds, to his left, farther along their line, over the din of the battle Alan could here both Dirks and Yd’s minimi’s barking out rounds as they sought to wrest control of the assault away from the attackers. 

 

“ Shit”, Alans bolt had locked open, the mag was empty, he reached in and extracted another mag, removing the empty magazine, then rammed home the fresh one and snapped the bolt forward… “Gimmea a look at ya”, scanning the area for muzzle flashes another burst from a MG opened up. Alan lined up the spot where the muzzle flashes had been and depressed the trigger, two three round burst and then rolled right, just as a stream of tracer torn up the dead tree to his front.

 

“ Section 2, this is one status over”, Alan called Murph, whilst crawling towards his new position at the end of the log. Murph came up on the net, panting somewhat Alan could tell, “ 2, this is one, almost at the top of the hill, give us 2 minutes then break contact back towards us Al”.

 

Al stuck his briefly up for a quick peek, his team was still alive, all the guys were firing and then shifting position slightly so as to not present a stationery target, but their luck couldn’t hold for ever. The volume of fire had not slacked he could see, withdrawing back up hill, with this many rounds simply wasn’t as option.

 

Between popping up and firing a short burst and crawling Alan was trying to work out what in the hell they were going to do, then YD came up on the net, “ Al, I got movement on the flank, looks like an assault team trying to form up and flank me, there’re pinned for moment, but I’ve only got two boxes left for the mini”. Alan grimaced, “ Rodger that YD, stay put and try conserve your ammo”,

 

“ Murph, were in deep shit here, no way we can back out from our positions without taking significant casualties over”. Just then Alan noticed that Dirk was shifting firing positions, the big fella had grabbed his minimi in his right paw and was getting up from his prone position  when he was hit, Alan watched in horror as the round or rounds spun Dirk clockwise and backwards, the minimi discharging in his had until he flopped backwards on  the ground screaming.

 

Before he consciously knew it, Alan was up and sprinting for Dirks position “ 1 this is two, I have a man down, GUN Down, its Flinthart”. Alan was concerned ….not just because one of his troopers was hit, the loss of a gun at this stage of the fight could have dire consequences. Sliding to a halt and rolling Alan could see Dirk writhing on the ground as he fought to extract a shell dressing from the webbing harness. Grabbing Dirks Minimi Alan let loose a long burst, then ducked down again, “ Bedak, get up here and tend to Dirk whist I keep the gun in action”, popping back up Alan didn’t wait for Simons reply, they needed to keep fire being returned onto the enemy gun line.

“ Rodger that Al, on my way”, Simons suppressed MP5 was of little use at present, ducking and weaving amongst the bullets, some tracer rounds, Simon, crawled, jumped and gyrated his way across the bullet strewn jungle floor to Alan and Dirks firing position.

 

“2 Section, if ya got smoke pop it now out front”, it was the only move Alan could think of, which may ease the rate of incoming fire onto their positions. Grabbing a WP grenade from his webbing pouch, Alan pulled the pin and tossed the phosphorous grenade as far as he could, several seconds later he heard a muffled whump as the charge detonated and the deadly white Phos spread itself out over the jungle floor, he was disappointed there was no screams.

 

Taking a quick peep across his line he could see yellow and red smoke starting to spread across 2 sections front, ‘ OK’ he thought, “ lets see how that effects them”.

Turning around Alan had heard Simon crawl into their little position, “ How’s he look”,

 

Simon rolled Dirk onto his back, before passing out, he had managed to put in place  a dressing on the entry wound in his shoulder. Looking up at Alan, Simon continued plucking a dressing from his own webbing, “ Its bad Al, I can feel the exit wound in the back, its gone through, but the holes bigger than it outta be, I thinks its hit the shoulder blade, we fucking need to de arse here fast”, Rolling Dirk back onto his stomach, Simon torn open the dressing and stuffed it onto the exit wound, blood was coming out, but not fast enough to suggest a major artery had been severed.

 

“ He’ll live Al, but not if we don’t get him some serious medical attention soon”, half laying so as to not unnecessarily expose himself to the fire still coming in, Simon started bandaging Dirks shoulder up, hoping the dressings would stay in place.

 

Without looking back Alan continued firing short bursts, “ Rodger that Simon, get ready to move, we’ll shift left I think, covers better that way, I suppress and you move, stand by”.

 

“ Fuck this is turning to shit real fast’ Alan thought, “ Ok get ready Simon, GO!”, with that Alan popped back up and let loose several long bursts from the minimi, stitching his return fire in long sweeps back and forth in line with the incoming fire. Several rounds Alan noticed, buzzed passed his head, their passing marked by the angry wasp like snarl  of the round, instant death, or worse still, maimed for life Alan thought.

 

Ceasing the suppressive fire Alan crouched back down and looked left, he could see Simon had also gone to ground in a small depression some 50 yards away, almost back at his own original fire position. ‘Thank fuck for that’ thought Alan, ‘last thing I need now is another casualty’.

 

Alan was wondering what the hell was taking One section so god dam fucking going when Murph came up on the radio, “ 2 this is 1, where’re in place, rear is secure Al, Guns on the outer flank, your right side, you want suppressive fire from Snowman you  Call it?”.

 

‘Alan thought about that, the additional gun opening up, further up the hill just might give the Assault force out front pause, and allow them to break contact’. “ 2 section status check”, Alan wanted to keep close tabs on the guys, it also let them know he was also still in the fight, but their welfare was his primary concern.

 

The fire from the Indonesian gun line was slackening somewhat, just enough Alan could detect it, lord knows the volume of fire they had been receiving would have consumed vast amounts of ammo, it occurred to Al then, ‘Isn’t no normal fucking patrol we’ve bumped into’, with that conclusion reached he contacted Murph again. “ 1 this is 2, this isn’t no normal patrol we have out front, ….Fuck!” Alan ducked as an RPG round detonated some 20 yards to his front showering him with debris, “ its got to be far far larger, they must have an assault force forming up Murph”.

 

Just then the balance of the team called in again, all was going well….except for their ammo situation, YD was down to five round bursts just to try and conserve ammo, but nobody else had been hit …..yet!. Then the situation just got a whole lot more complicated for Sgt Murphy and his two sections of SASR troopers.

 

“ Murph”, it was Snowman on the radio, “ I’ve got thermal images, at least 20 enemy  troops coming at me , they look like the assault force, spread over 50 meters or so, ETA 5 minutes or less”.

 

“ Burger One One, this is Sierra 1,  I say again, Burger one one, this is Sierra one are you receiving me over”. That radio cal was heard by all of Section one and two members including Murph, although it was great that Sierra one was still alive, or Murph it just presented another distraction from what was rapidly a turning to shit situation.

 

INTENSE cont: Woomera pt2.

“ I take it Doctor we have now concluded the fluffy stuff”, there was not a hint of sarcasm in the Majors voice, it did however convey a certain exasperation and stopped Doctor Obboy in his tracks.

 

“ I gather Major, that the dispersal of the scientists at this point of proceedings does not meet with your approval or timetable I’ll wager,……….. If I might add as well, whether or not it does, I do not really give a tinkers fucking cuss”. Now rather animated, much to the Majors surprise, the Doctor took another step towards Major Frellman, standing fully erect against the wall, his features totally benign. “ And I might add Major, these are MY FUCKING PEOPLE!, for the last 12 months the schedule here and security has been pure fucking hell, the product validation test we just conducted has exceeded all our collective expectations and Canberra’s as well I would guess”. Stopping the Doctor looked as if he was about to direct another spray at Major Frellman but checked himself, clasping his hand in front of his coat, the Doctor continued on.

 

“ Major, this team here are the brightest minds we have in DSTO and other fields relating to the project, you, the ADF now has a validated missile system, the likes of which is not replicated anywhere else in the world, capabilities that other countries would literally kill for and all done in the black and under budget I might also add”

 

Drawing breath again, the Doctor pressed on, “ So if I choose to let them disperse for the remainder of the afternoon and get smashed or run around about in the sun doing fucking god knows what, that’s MY DESCISION, not yours or any other bastards, so!, I’ll ask the question again, is there any issues?”. The Doctor folded his arms across his chest in a very theatrical Fuck You gesture too the major, standing quietly awaiting a response.

 

Major Frellman looked at the Doctor, then pulled back his left sleeve to check the time on his watch before looking back up at his Project Director. “ Doc, I have no issue with how you run your shop, or for that matter the exercising of your authority to allow your troops some down time”. Staring intently at the doctor the Major could see that his blood pressure was just starting to climb, given the colouration of the docs cheeks, ‘ time I diffused this I think’, Abe thought , “ Look Doc, I’m not here to rain on your parade, yourself and the whole team have done a stellar job , in a time frame Canberra thought was highly unlikely”, casting a quick glance around the room the Major pushed on. “ But there are larger infinitely more complex forces at play with this project………..and you’re part of it”.

 

That got the Directors attention, Abe’s delivery and soothing words had taken all the heat out of the director’s demeanour and Abe was glad, the Director had proven himself to be a very capable operator in both his eyes and that of the establishment as well. Somewhat more at ease now the Director had unfolded his arms and placed his hands in the lab coat pockets, once again slightly exposing the T shirt underneath. Major Frellman Chuckled, “Look Doc, if you’re going to go anywhere, that CCR shit needs some updating, for fuck sake, at least get a T  with Fergie or even Silver chair on it, you’re showing your age”.

 

Dr Obboy broke out into a large grin, he knew the shot for what it was and was inwardly thankful the ……..situations tension had now all but  evaporated, “ Right!, Silver chair hey, not fucking likely sport, So tell me Major, just …what! Is going on, that I am not yet aware of”.

 

 The Director shifted his stance and now stood beside the Intelligence Major, both leaning against the dull white washed walls of the communications bunker, watching the final two scientists gather up their notes and gear, before heading out the large steel blast doors.

 

Major Frellman turned towards the director once more, “ Whilst you guys have been perfecting the software and what not here, the DSTO with some other assistance has been constructing the platforms, I should say, refining the platforms from which we can shoot the new SAM’s, not only that, but also the nodes themselves”. Abe could see he had the Directors undivided attention, the nod confirmed this, so the Major pressed on. “ We have, situated on Borneo two Intelligence stations, one is for the receipt of SOSUS data from the northern arrays we installed at selected sea transit choke points, which you are aware of, that station, via Microwave link, sends all the data to a receipt and transmission node further inland, specifically inland in INDONESIAN territory”. The response from the Director on hearing this was swift. “ You fucking what!”…shaking his head as he started to pace now in front of Abe, he could see the Docs head whirring. Abe let him go and quietly waited.

 

“ Who’s the dumb fucking git, that decided that was a cracker of an idea, Jesus!, if the Indonesians find out , they will be pissed”.

 

 “They have already..we think” Abe replied in a monotone flat delivery.

 

“ So let me guess”, the Doc’s mind was working over drive. “ Now that you have activated SOSUS, which BTW was only to happen in high threat periods and you think its been discovered, you want to deploy the SM6, I gather that this NODE you have is significant, because the telemetry data it will need to send back and forth is not CB radio transmissions, so somebody has deployed a valuable asset that’s worth significant cash, let alone the intelligence coupe the Indonesians’ will garner if they sized it, just how far inland and how big Major?”.

Major Frellman now stood up straight, off the wall, taking another glance at the steel blast doors he proceeded straight over to them and closed both, satisfied now they were out of ear shot of others, he strode back over to the Director.

 

“ Doc, the array in the Lombok straight is at the northern and Southern ends which you are aware of, the undersea cable now runs from the Northern array in a North Westerly direction into the Celebes sea and to a small gathering station set 1 k inland, in Kalimantan” the Director stiffened at that bit of news and looked like he was about to interrupt the Major. “ The post there has a microwave link to the main spine of ranges running north south through Borneo, the data receiving station is approximately 35 kilometres in side Kalimantan itself….yes!, its in Indonesian territory as well. Its fully self contained, we have a method for delivering supplies and so forth, plus we have a forward operating base established on the Malaysian side of the range and special forces troops”.

 

Abe could see that the Director was absorbing this and hadn’t yet popped a gasket, which surprised him, as he had fully expected the Scientists to go off his nut, certainly a display of more emotion than was present. Calmly, the director walked over to the nearest console and pulled out its operator chair, spinning the chair around he said down. The signs Abe thought were still good at this point, the Director was scratching and running his fingers through his rather un-kept red beard, ‘if you would call the scruffy growth, a beard that is’, Abe thought.

 

“ Okay Major, that all makes perfect sense, not the deployment into another countries interior without their permission, but the infrastructure as you have so far pointed out, I take it, given the detection you are thinking about deployment of SAM6 to the base or bases?”.

 

‘Jackpot’, Abe thought, ‘he’s on board’, “ Actually yes……..and no, we do want to deploy SAM6 active units, but it’s the collection and transmission unit which we plan to install at the main base inside Kalimantan”. “The units or bang boxes themselves are slated for remote deployment to various other locations, your colleagues in DSTO have come up with a fully self contained unit inside a highly modified shipping cell. Its sealed, self powered and able to be air deployed, activation is via an encoded RF signal, a lot like the captor sea bed mines really, dormant and not emitting until we tell it too”.

INTENSE: Woomera Rocket Range six months earlier

Woomera Rocket RANGE: 6 months earlier

The control room staff, was a mix of civilian and army personnel, with a sprinkling of Naval officers as well in their pristine white uniforms, they were all cheering and hollering, back slaps were being handed out like the AFL grand final had been wone. To the casual observer, the level of animation would have seemed unusual for such a bunch of well dressed servicemen and women, but seriously out of place for normally reserved lab technicians and scientists. Suddenly a rather loud voice boomed out across the room.

“ Teeennn chun!” screamed the deep voice. Immediately all service personnel in the room stopped what they were doing and stood bolt upright at attention, the delivery had even slowed down the non military personnel who having worked in military circles them selves for extended periods, knew full well, the congratulatory part of the exercise was over, well certainly until they hit the boozer later that night most thought.

All eyes were now fixed in the Major who had called the room to order, stepping forward in his very neatly pressed disruptive pattern military uniform, Major Abe Frellman from the Defence Signals Directorates, Special Operation Unit surveyed the now simmering throng of personnel. The Major like the collective gathering was rather over joyed at the mission’s success, in fact it had been an unqualified success and now it was his job to impress upon the gathered, the nature of what they had witnessed and implications for each and every one of them should this leak to the wrong ears. Stepping forward in the confines of the bunker, Major Frellman came to a halt, “At ease people, stand easy”. Immediately the rigid military personnel relaxed their stances.

“ Now, as you will all be aware, we have validated the systems capability, in fact, I am sure you all will know, this platform has exceeded all our wildest dreams with its capability”. “For those of you who are not totally privy to what’s taken place, I can divulge some additional details about what we just did, however! what I must also tell you at this point is that the security clearance you all have, will, if you ever talk about this to anybody, be revoked, your arses thrown in jail and we might!, I say MIGHT!, afford you a trial if we are in a good mood”. Panning hiss head from left to right around the room, Major Frellman surveyed all the faces, looking for any signs of doubt or even stupidity, that usually followed with the incumbent being spoken to rather quietly later on, in a sound proof room.

“Good, it appears everybody here is a professional”. “The system we just tested was the not yet publicly announced fully on line, SM6 extended range active surface to air missile. The Radar feed which we have been receiving here in Woomera was from our JORN OTHB radar network, the target was a stealth drone aircraft”. A slight murmur crept from the collective audience and some of the brighter children twigged to what had just taken place, well, it was educated speculation and they were for the most part right in their own personal guesses. Waiting just a little longer for the whispers and coughs, along with an OH SHIT to die down Major Frellman continued.

“ Okay, we have just validated the launch platform, which was a semi trailer specially adapted to transport and launch the ER version of the SM6 missile. Now as you know, the version in production now has the active seeker head in it from the AMRAAM Missile which by itself is an exceptional platform. What we have done, along with other scientists in Broome and around the country is take this another step further.”. With that, Major Frellman turned to the white coated man standing beside him, a red haired with a scruffy red mangy looking beard and then turned back to Face the audience. “the gentleman beside me, is the head off this Project, let me introduce Doctor Obboy, he will explain further what we have just watched, in terms I am sure we will all understand”. The doctor shuffled his feet some and then looked up at the collective audience. “ Good afternoon, I am sure by now you will have , for the most part figured out what we have done, what you will not be aware off is that elements of this have never been done before or even considered and gives us, a significant advantage over any missile system currently operating on the plant.

In terms of Aircraft or cruise missile intercept capability,……….their is now, nothing like it on the planet and our so called friends around the globe, would move heaven and earth for this technology if they discover its true capabilities”. Looking sideways at the Major to ensure all was within the parameters they had discussed so far, Dr Obboy continued on. “ We have now, successfully, launched an extended range version of the SM6 SAM from a freight cell specially modified and placed on the flat bed of a generic Semi trailer. That trailer and prime mover unit are connected via SAT link to the command centre here, or if we wish, any other location we choose to have the portable post deployed to. This post, is also, as some would know, Tied into the Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar Network, known to moist as the JORN system.

Our radars range is stated at 4000 kilometres, rumour suggest we can see as far a field as the Korean peninsula, which is a bit of a stretch. What we did today was loft a missile from the transporters unit near Broome and place it into a ballistic flight path towards the Christmas islands” The Director, stopped briefly and whilst looking around the room some more, took a small sip of water from the portable sports bottle he was carrying with him, snapping the lid back on and placing the bottle on the desk, the Director continued. “So!, most will be thinking its no biggie, we intercepted a drone, well that drone was travelling at 500 knots, 100 feet of the deck, 800 miles away from the launcher”. That last statement the Director could see, stopped them in their collective tracks, mouths were agape as the realisation hit home for some. The Director pressed on. “ The radar we utilised to track the inbound was indeed the JORN system , the SM6 radar activates when the missile gets within certain range parameters of its target, so until the missile is within about 3 seconds from impact, the target aircraft simply has no idea that it is about to die. “ That drone, was also very stealthy, not a B2 or Raptor stealthy mind you, but it did have a significantly reduced radar cross section.

Even then, had it been one of those beauties, I can tell you, we can, have and do on a regular basis track stealth aircraft, this system not only gets sufficient returns from the aircraft itself due to our frequency wave length, but we can track turbulence in certain circumstances”, that brought a murmur from the room. “ So, you can see why I have been instructed to impress upon you the nature of this information and the fact that aside from the 20 people in this room only a very small other number know what we have achieved here. It is NOT to be discussed at all, Are we all crystal clear on this!”. A series of nods and yeses and SIR! Came across the room to the Directors ears..” Excellent excellent,” reaching around with both hands the Director started to unbutton the front of his white lab coat, revealing beneath it, a hideously purple and orange T shirt with CCR Rocks stencilled on the front and some other illegible gibberish as well. “ Okay then, I suggest we all pack up and then meet over at the boozer for drinks around….mmmm 15 minutes from now. I do believe that the Australian government will be collecting our tabs tonight gentlemen…time is wasting away, lets hope to it shall we!”.

With that the rooms occupants dispersed at pace to pack up their gear and power down various electronic instruments, the Director Walked over to major Frellman who had migrated to a corner of the room, stopping just short of him the Major looked up from his mobile telephone.

HOW many & what composition in THE TEAM!

OK, I gotta put together a special ops cell for a down the track project, but the problem I need to address shortly is just how many persons should I have in this cell / team. I mean a Commander is a must and so is a HOT CHICK, but do I have 8, ten or 12 team members. I was thinking 8, that lets them be split into elements of 4, but 12 gives me a COVERT on shore type team of four as well. Kinda  the geeky, money tracking, tech wizard and procurement specialist, plus the other 8. Or is that too bloody large.

 

Do I go with two snipers, 2 gunners ( MG”S), explosives, comms and the likes, heading down that well trodden path. Or do we toss in a… fucked if I know to be honest. So I figured I might toss open the question and see what other have to say if they want too.

V/ LINE train service..ITS FKD!

TRAINS..and guess who …..V FKN LINE For three months now I have caught the V-line service. That’s catch a V-line on the ballarat line from Melbourne to ballarat or the opposite way if you please. If you wander over to the V/Line web site I am sure you will find pictures of BUMBIES new fast rail trains which to be honest do run on the line. The issue is that they tend to RUN very fucking infrequently and on most occasions they tend to run express from ballarat, stopping only once they reach Sunshine station. So I better let you know before we go any further what the stops are and also, that the colour of the language is only going to deteriorate from here on. The train line stops are as follows. Ballarat Ballan Bacchus Marsh Melton Rockbank Deer Park Sunshine North Melbourne Southern Cross station. So the first bitch, well that would be the general state of the trains, discounting of course the brand new, we don’t run very fucking many of them on this line Alleged fast fucking trains. The others are diesel pushed, busted arse, painted about four thousand fkn time to seal in the rust, doors fuck up with regular monotony, a/c units are fkn useless, freeze ya fkn arse off on a cold day and cook on a hot day pieces of crap. And I haven’t gotten to all the creaks and fkn groans the bogey wheels make, that slow down shit that happens for what reason I have NFI except that its better to make you wait 20 minutes at a loop when you are 10 minutes out of the station, which BTW has a fkn loop to let an express train from ballarat thru to Melbourne, which has fuck all people on it, but the poxy headed, looks and operates like shit unit you are in, is chock to the fucking brim, like cattle class usually is with people whose only wish at the end of the fkn day is to get home. FUCK THE FUCKEN express from Coldsville got nop fkn passengers on it Ballarat, make that fkr wait at the station and save the MAIN LOT of commuters the time. OH, did I mention the train the other night, it was due to leave that very expensive fucked outr looking very poorly run southern cross looks like shit station at 4.45pm. They cancelled the train at 5.05pm. Pretty sharp fucking bunch of muppets hey!. Why!, well because once again the fucking doors would not open on the trains. Then we all get told to hop on the 5.25 from sthn cross, wavy fucking cost a lot roofed and lets the wind in like shit station and essential they put no more FUCKING CARRIAGES ON. NUP, just CRAM THE FKN CATTLE ON IT. People standing up, people sitting on the floor, just another massive cluster fuck. I did hear a conductor prior to this receive a call from some muppet in station control, asking how it all was with the train ( that’s the 4.45) and it was about 4.40 at this point. The conductor pointed out that the train was not AT the platform. Dumb fuck on the other end goes..HEY!, what do you mean. I mean this is not harry fucking potter and the fkr is on platform 10 and a half its NOT FKN HERE!. Well that’s what should have been said to dickwad, got shit for brains on the other end of the radio. V/Line train units are OLD, full of rust and maintained I think by the LOWEST FKN BIDDER, kinda makes ya feel safe and that the system should be ULTRA FKN RELIABLE….NOT. V/LINE IS FKD, the muppets running it and the GUMMIT ARE FKD as well, its not rocket science. They might want to spend time fixing the system rather than trying to penalise the contractors for ultra minor fucking infractions. Lets just look at Germany for example. Its got more people, uses more trains, runs a tighter time table, has ultra fkn extremes of weather and its system beats the fk outta hours. OH and what kinda bubbleheaded moron goes and buys trains that cannot have extra units added..well we do of course, then they spend mega bucks to get a central carriage unit, cos gee fkn wizzz, the population expands and people use PT when times get a bit tight. Put some more fucking units on the BALLARAT LINE ya gumboots, people are sick to fucking death of you gummite headed goons wasting our fkn money on consultants and overseas fkn trips…I WANT RELIABLE FUCKING TRANSPORT JUST OCCASIONALLY would be agreta fucking start.

 

I should also say, I was really impressed the other night, when I arrived at the station at 4.30 to catch the 4.45pm train and finally got OFF at Bacchus Marsh at 6.30 pm……waaaay to go V/line!.

where are we at!.

where are we at, well thats a good question, I’m going to leave out the 1.5 hour train trip home tonight, thats the EPIC fucking debacle of V/Line. Quite possible i would blow off the relief valve altogether.

 

What we did get to do on the train home tonight was some more planning on INTENSE. Thats detailed chapter planning going forward, like we have never, never done before. Usually its a rough, very rough outline and the ending has always been a …SORTA thing in my head. Well I have scrapped what was the previous ending. I’ve nutted out the BIBLICAL event, a couple of minor stoushes, some behind the scenes items as well and managed to drag political elements within the countries into the mix as well. That should help meld the whole thing together.

Better still, by the time we do the final scenes and I have a fair idea how they are to go, it will still leave the door open to expand it further, I’m really thinking waaay to far ahead for a beginner, but I would suspect our TEAM, will venture much farther afield yet..well more than just their ending.

 

it came to me on the train…..OFF THE RESERVATION..and to do that you need a great big fucking catalyst to make people do it!…I’m happy, its the most forethought I have done,I’ve been told by umpteeen people to do it, but busting it up now and planning has made fkn great sense and help fuckloads….AGAIN..a lesson learnt the hard way and noted after ya have done it.

########

 

Oh and before I completely forget, I got a piece of advice from JP the other week, thats James Phelan for those who don’t know and that fella would be a PUBLISHED AUTHOR, ya know, Blood Oil, Fox Hunt and so on. JP, writes on say Thursday, lets say two chapters. Then when he starts again Friday, the first thing he does is review the two chptrs or whatever had been written, does some editing and continues on. makes sense hey…well for the uninitiated IT FKN does not occur to you, unless you are gifted of course. THATS, HANG ON!, lets back up some. I wish to fuck I had known that at the very start!. Anyways. Props to JP and Naut for the exercise we did, and catching up and the banter.

Intense: Another piece of the puzzel.

This here is a brand new element, it also weaves in some more background on the overall INTENSE arrangement. Its still really got to be blended some more in the overall scheme of things, but you should be able to follow. Its possibly a little different too, from the other scenes so far.

The P3D Orion  lurched upwards again, as the pilot brought the fought the controls, bring the aircraft back up, having just dropped another 50 feet in the foul low level turbulence. The P3D Orion of RAAF Squadron number 2, maritime strike an anti-submarine warfare was making heavy going in the aftermath of the typhoon, that had recently wrought devastation across the northern Indonesian archipelago.

The pilot and co pilot had been man handling the aircraft for the last two and half hours, normally at transit altitude this would not have been such an issue, however flying anti submarine patrol at 200 feet in the narrow confines between Java and Lombok, in the Lombok strait, guaranteed for an ugly ride.

 Goss Hawk 1, the call sign for the heavily modified P3D was on a mission, intelligence had passed down instructions whilst in transit to their patrol area further north in the Celebes sea, that a possible PLAN SSK was operating in the straights, their job was to locate the Chinese sub and report back to RAN TAC HQ in Darwin via sat link, as soon as the target had been located. Problem was, at this altitude in such foul weather, the only thing they had really been able to locate was the ready supply of barf bags on board. The weather was evil, the flight crew’s mood, a darkening shade of evil yet again.

Sitting at his ELINT warfare console, the tactical communications officer was silently scanning the airwaves, looking for stray transmissions, well in reality the computer was doing the “ Flipping” as he called it, when his head suddenly shot up,

 “ Sir, I have an electronic burst transmission, heading 265, medium strength, recommend we come to new heading  three Zero Eight, so we can triangulate on any further bursts”.

 Up in the cock pit, both pilots shared a quick look with each other, Caption David Francis Jeffery, scanned his instruments for any sign of issues and checked their fuel state, before activating his mike.

“Copy that TACCO, new heading Three Zero Eight, turning now”; Immediately David started banking the P3D right, throttling up whilst at it. The big Merlin turbo fans recently installed on the P3D models, increased their shriek ever so slightly as Goss Hawk 1 came around onto her new heading and settled itself into wings level flight,  a mere 200 feet over the  deep waters of the Lombok passage.

The P3 ‘D’ model was the RAAF’s answer to the problem laden P8 maritime strike and patrol aircraft that the USN and USAF were still trying to get fully operational. The RAAF, had decided to opt out of the P8 purchase, at the time the current model P3C’s were the mot sophisticated ASW airborne platforms in the world, given the unique requirements the RAAF had for distance and surveillance. Correctly, hind sight had determined, the requirements specified in the USN’s brief for the P8 had been overly optimistic, sensing another F111 debacle, Australia pursued their own version. This current D Model was unlike anything the RAAF had been operating. Jet powered, where as the 3C had been propeller driven, the ‘D’ also boasted not only an advanced electronic warfare suite, but in flight refueling, and carried a small fuel cell of its own, a mini tanker, the drogues operating from wing tip pods. Extensive modifications had been made structurally to the airframe, and utilization of composite materials most of which were for either weight reduction or radar absorption, gave the aircraft a very healthy power to weight ratio. The 3D Australian Orion, albeit heavily modified was the stealthiest ASW aircraft operating anywhere in the world. Goss Hawk one had just settled onto its new heading, both the pilot and co pilot started to relax somewhat when their head sets crackled to life again….it was the TAO Officer. “Comms I have another burst transmission, bearing… zero for six, working up  triangulation now, High confidence it’s the same source as previous”.

The air within the cabin was almost electric, normally it was business like anyway and although the crew was relatively young, the mission parameters for this hop were sufficiently different and dangerous to heighten their senses. The Major who had come on board at Darwin now strode down the aisle towards the TACCO, the Tactical Air combat control officer who at this point was over seeing the planes operation, looked up as the Major came to a halt.  Major Peter Hill, a former Western Australian with thinning hair and pale complexion halted at the TACCO, rocking gently from side to side as the P3 oscillated in the low level turbulence, he fixed his stare on the young Tacco, “ Well Tacco, what have we got”.

Straightening up a little, the Tacco didn’t immediately respond to the Major, not out of insubordination mind you, simply the young captain was waiting for ‘the piece of shit computer’ as he commonly referred to it as, to spit out the fucking triangulated co-coordinates.

 His wait wasn’t long in coming; suddenly the terminal beeped, up flashed the grid co ordinates of the mystery burst transmissions,  which had now repeated twice. “ sir, we have’em, Range 43K meters, its definitely a surface vessel or submarine Sir, the bursts are encrypted however, I can’t give you any details other than that sir”.

Standing there for several seconds Peter simply stared towards the cockpit, to the young Captain it appeared as if his was contemplating something, he was just about to enquire if there was any further information which the major required when he suddenly looked across at him.

“Right, lest go get him shall we, I want to stay under the visual horizon as long as possible, it might just be a surface vessel, any transmissions from that bearing other than the burst”. It was a rhetorical question, Peter already new the answer even before he asked, had their been surface search radar operating within 2000 miles the crew would already have detected it and called the unknown out. But there hadn’t been anything like that in the last 4 hours of their torturous roller coaster ride from Darwin aside from a weak air search radar off to their south, which was identified.

Nobody in their right mind flew in these conditions anyway, both the Pilot and co pilot had voiced their concerns before take off, then several more times during the flight, none more so than when their sudden down draft descent had seen Goss Hawk one flatten out at 100 feet over the very angry arafura sea just 1 hour out from Darwin. With  the 25 foot waves, and  operating on the typhoons outer edges it had made for a “very fucking close call”, at least ‘they’ had been  the co pilots words over the intercom system.

 Young Captain Michael Korrattsis, instinctively pulled in his harness a little tighter, Peter thought this was a little theatrical, but figured the captain hadn’t said anything so all should be good. Looking up having adjusted himself the captain called out to Major Hill as he was wandering forward to the cock pit. “ Major, nearest I figure we have about ten minutes at the current altitude before we will need to descend to 100 feet Sir, no other emissions detected from that area or on the scope anywhere. You might need to speak with the Aircraft commander Sir”.

Peter noted there were no sarcasms in the young Captions voice, flat, purely devoid of emotion, the young man was simply letting him know, the descent in these conditions was dangerous and it might be prudent to peak with the aircrafts pilot before going any further.  Turning slightly the Major Hill replied,” Thank you Captain, I’m heading that way now, I would suggest we ensure that all passive and active counter measures are operational, lets get a burst transmission of to RANHQ too shall we…soonest, give them all the details and data that we have, and that I fully intend to prosecute the target , should it fall within the briefed parameters , if you would please”.

Turning, Peter continued he way forward towards the cockpit, “ Affirmative Major, transmission will go out in approximately 5 minutes we are having trouble getting a stable link to NavSat in this soup Sir’. Without bothering to look back Peter replied, “Very well then captain,, keep at it”, stopping briefly Peter grabbed the handle to the cock pit door , before twisting the knob he wrapped twice softly on it with his right hand, “ Major Hill entering gentlemen”.

From deep inside the cockpit a voice boomed out   “yeah enter if ya game”. It was the Pilot, Captain Francis-Jeffery. Without bothering to look around the co pilot, Lieutenant Mark Ballinger piped up in between his grunts and switch flipping. “ So Major, I hear we have a target, its a little further out than what the briefing parameters suggested it might be, what’s ya gut feel”.

Both the pilot and co pilot of Goss hawk 1 were fully briefed on the missions parameters, in fact, the overall operational concept had been modified on their suggestion, it was just the arrival of the typhoons storm front, much faster than what had been expected that pissed them off so badly …and so fast the Major thought. The Major stood there quietly for what seemed like an eternity to both pilots, raising his head slightly Major Hill sniffed in some air, before fixing his gaze on the Pilot.

“ Well captain, given the critical nature of this mission and the broad parameters in which we are operating under, I don’t see any other choice, other than continuing on, I do think however we should have all systems in standby, just in case it hits the fan, other than that, you’re the aircrafts commander, how low we operate is up to you, but if its the Chinese PLAN Sub, like Intel suggests, we sink the fucker as soon as we have positively identified the bastards. Just make sure he doesn’t get off any radio transmissions okay”

Captain Francis, turned back to face the front of the aircraft, it seemed as if he weighed up Peters comments, then just a slight nod as if satisfied with his decision followed, “Fair enough Sir, we will descend to 100 feet when we are 20 miles from the computers estimated datum point, we’ll drop two torp’s in a spaced bracket, one active and one passive, plus we will light off the surface search radar as well in case he does an emergency surface. If he does, I’ll pop him with a Harpoon before the fucker can blink”.

 Just then Goss Hawk 1 took another vertical plummet, both pilots immediately grabbed their control yokes and the co pilot shoved the throttles forward to the stops. Peter immediately heard the two big Merlin Turbo Fans shriek as the aircraft tried to accelerate. Now stooped somewhat and his knees bent from the force of the descent, Major Hill continued watching the laser altimeter used for TFR operations, as it continued to wind down. Looking across he could see that both Pilots were applying more pressure on their controls, their knuckles visibly white from exertion, then…… finally the altimeter stopped its descent……..the read out showed 70 feet, between themselves and the troughs of the ocean. “Jesus Peter thought”, 70 feet separated them from hell, what was almost a guaranteed messy death, in the ‘middle of fucking nowhere’. He thought

 Looking back over his shoulder at the Major the captain spoke, sweat pouring off hiss face, you could clearly see the damp spots, even in the aircrafts air-conditioned interiors, spreading out under his armpits. “You’d best go take a seat and strap in back there Major, its going to be a lively ride once we descend to 100, we’re gunna be at almost max power the whole way, it’ll be close to the operational launch parameters off the torp’s, but I can’t help that, I’d rather miss the bastard than kill us all, if you get my drift”.

 Peter stood up, and started walking towards the door,” fair enough captain, it’s your bird, do your best”. With that Peter walked through the cockpit door and gently closed it behind him, he was sure that his face was still pale from the near miss, as he proceeded back to his station, all the crew continued at their jobs, more than likely they had overheard his conversation, if they hadn’t, the pilot was in all probability going to let them know shortly. It was standard operational practice anyway.

 Some 40 miles away from the rapidly approaching Goss Hawk 1, lurked 5000 tonnes of black, stealthy Peoples Liberation Army Navy attack submarine. Currently the Commander of the boat Captain Peng Le Fung had the Angry Dawn running silently 25 feet beneath the surface of the entrance to the Lombok strait, they were due again shortly to send through another burst transmission as soon as the package was ready. The captain and all the crew hoped so, well he figured they did, fatally, no Submarine commander or personnel within one, liked being near the surface although the operational depths to which they could dive far exceeded that beneath the keel of the PLAN’s Leopard Class SSK. It was almost a naked feeling the Captain thought, plus, with sea state 7 conditions topside, the boat was rocking from side to side, it wouldn’t be until they were back down, passed 200 feet that the surface effect would subside and clean calmer water would be entered.

 Trailing out of a special recess in the Angry Dawns conning tower was a thin cable some 1500 feet long, at the end of which was a floating buoy, actually a satellite transceiver, which was of course water proofed. Along with the buoys receiving and transmission sending circuitry, the dark green skin was impregnated with electronic receptors, listening, almost sucking up the air for any tell tail signs of aircraft or ships electronic transmissions.

The PLAN had come a long way over the last decade, the current generation of SSK’s were almost comparable to the units only recently retired by the Australian Navy, but still were, almost a  generation behind the new MORAY class of SSK boats the RAN now operated. Major Hill, rocked slightly as he finished making his way back to his station, Goss Hawk 1, like all RAAF aircraft the world over carried several spare seats and two modular combat workstations. It was here, with the work stations that they differed markedly from other maritime patrol and strike units. The RAAF had tried hard to keep production costs down during the fleets refit. During the creation or design phase, a bright young electrical engineer named Ray Sheridan had come up with the idea of doing like was done on the current generation of frigates, “Lets make the stations modular and tailor able for mission packages”.

It hadn’t exactly worked out that way, space and time constraints simply meant adapting the fit out on a P3D for each mission was not possible. But they did make it possible for what was later termed ‘Theatre package equipment’. In this case, as the operating environment was close Anti submarine warfare and the PRC boats were equipped with SAMs  mounted in their sails and possibly intelligence thought, Underwater launched SAM’s as well, the current generation warfare suit of ASM’s and AAM station had been fitted.

The Major, was the RAAF / ARA expert on this and had been selected as the mission commander for both this reason and his previous intelligence postings in Malaysia.

Unbeknown top either Goss Hawk 1’s crew or the PLAN SSK, the stealthy buoy from the Angry Dawn, trailing along behind the SSK, had become fouled. Two distinctly large clumps of sea weed had become entangled on the cable. Ordinarily this would not have been an issue, sea weed or kelp tended to foul the cable and as the communication & Elint buoy crept along the surface it would unwrap it self or simply be cut through.

What’s the captain was not aware of though, was the comm.’s buoy was doing everything but, sneaking along the surface. The violent storm had created 25 feet swells and in his efforts to keep the boat stable the sea leopard was both deeper than normal at 200 feet and faster, currently traveling at 12 knots. What this ensured was that the comm.’s buoy, with the added buoyancy of the weed & drag was slamming into each wave face, getting dragged through the swell centre and popping up and out the opposite side. All this, in reality, generated a series of very visible impacts, which the communications crew traveling 200 feet under the wave, simply put down to top side motion,  and why their Comms were not functioning that well today.

The ANGRY DAWN: PLAN SSK Leopard Class Submarine

Captain Peng strode across the attack centre to his Navigators console, if his internal timing clock was correct, they should be due to alter course very shortly, tacking hard left to zig back across the Lombok strait once again. On paper to the casual observer it would seem simple, in a narrow waterway, with commercial shipping, violent weather and extremely strong currents, it was proving to be anything but, a simple search and destroy mission. As soon as the Captain had received his mission orders the planning had started, being unfamiliar with the strait they had decided to enter the strait from the north east corner of the channel.

 It had come as a nasty surprise to the Captain and his executive officer, the currents inside the deep channel were much stronger than expected, had Chinese Naval charts been current this simply would not have been the case. The operational result for the Angry dawn however, was their battery consumption had been almost double predictions, forcing the recharging to take place much, much earlier and slowing their search.

 But the RAAF’s true foresight had come in the weapons suite for the D, model. Carrying no less than 8 Harpoon block 6, SSM’s her over the horizon ship killing ability was unmatched, 12, Mk 62, next generation ADCAP heavy torpedoes, hung lethally inside the carnivorous weapons bay to compliment her sleek white Harpoon SSM’s. The Mk 62 torpedoes were a co operative development with the USN, ranging out to 60 nautical miles and capable of speed in excess on 70 knots, the Mk 62’s were the most adaptable and feared torpedo currently in operation their major feature ide from the significant increase in operational speeds, was the ability to be dropped from their launch aircraft and greater speeds and altitudes, steer able fins and a larger drogue chute, contributing largely to the success of this.

Goss Hawks real threat to would be aggressors however was its carrying of 4 AAMs, the current generation of AMRAAM, matched to Goss Hawks fire control radar gave the P3 try survivability in the face of hostile fighters. What the RAAF and the RAN had also foreseen was that this also gave the P3 the ability to take down ASW / AEW choppers which may well be operating of ships, thus reducing their OTH capabilities. Neither the RAN nor the RAAF had been content with this, hence the drogue units for aerial refueling of other aircraft, most notably fighter escorts.

 The RAN / RAAF co operation on this front had been nothing short of miraculous, frequent fighter sweeps were conducted with the aid of P3’s, effectively doubling and then some, the range of the E model super hornets. Today however Goss Hawk 1 was solo, technically operating with Indonesian territory, but like most RAN missions of recent not abnormal.

 The earlier burst transmission package received from RAN HQ, had contained data from the ADF’s most secret installation outside of a few bases on the continent itself. The Northwestern Sosus barrier. This barrier of ocean bed sonar arrays was in every way similar to the units employed by Nato for the GUIK area in the Atlantic ocean. The difference was this particular barrier was laid at the entrance and exit to three straits, the Lombok straight, splitting Bali and the Island of Lombok, the much shallower Sunda Strait and the Makassar Strait. All three straits, unbeknown to their adjacent countries had the sonar arrays.

 Their installation had taken the RAN and the ADF with USN help over 10 years to install. Both RAN and USN planners had foreseen the need for upgrades as time progressed, the first 6 years of project Flounder had simply been the covert installation of the sea floor cable system and the progressive joining of the arrays. The major hurdle of the network was getting all the data back to ADF bases in Australia and it had in the early planning stages been the deal breaker for approval from Canberra.

The commissioning of the Collins class subs and special underwater attachments along with a Data collection location changed everything almost overnight. The RAN could now, via stealth, roll out hundreds of kilometers of cable at a time via the Collins class boats, without raising any suspicion what so ever, but the DATA gathering point had been the real departure for the ADF. Situated on the island of Borneo, the ADF’s most secret and covert undercover facility, gathered all data from the Sosus nets and transmitted via encrypted burst transmissions this data to a RAN Milstar grade Satellite in orbit, this in turn bounced the data packages back to ADF HQ Canberra for almost real time analyses.

 Unlike the GUIK SONAR Sosus arrays, prosecution could not occur in almost real time and also given the time to transit the three straights for any prosecuting aircraft would simply need to wait at the other end for the submerged contact to appear, then sink them or track the unit as was operationally required.

 This time however, the target had not exited the strait but had remained within the channel. The Lombok  strait was up to 250 meters deep, far deeper than either the Malacca or Sunda which maxed out at 25-30 meters in depth. The ADF had become worried that a Chinese PLAN SSK submarine of the Snow Leopard class had remained on station for nearly two weeks, these submarines whilst being the Killer / Attack class of SSK’s were also fitted out for special operations teams of PRC Naval assault troops. That was really what started hearts beating in Canberra. Rather than raise suspicions, the ADF had merely keep track of the exits, twice having a P3D perform a pass to roughly locate the SSK and proceed on, trying not to draw any suspicion or give the PRC an inkling that the submarine had been detected.

 As time progressed other indicators had surfaced, the Chinese it seemed, were making a move on Borneo and maybe even making a move on the ADF data post for control the arrays. Either way, intelligence indicators were starting to light up all across the ADF’s northern area, US intelligence supplementing ADF takes were causing significant concern in Washington and this was duly passed on the Australian defense force head quarters in Canberra. The PM was not at all impressed.

GOD DAM FKN CAB DRIVERS!

Well all my observations and previous trips shrunk away last night as I climbed into a cab and realised, that my life was now in the hands of a fuck wit. That’s right, a dead set certified driving a piece of machinery capable of killing others and ME, He should never have been granted a licence car control fucking idiot.

At a personal level, the fellow driving the cab is quite possibly a great bloke, to be honest, I would not know if this is true or not, certainly I had no politeness issues with him except for the fact I COULDNT UNDERSTAND ONE FUCKING WORD HE SAID FOR THE WHOLE TRIP!. YEP, cant speak one fucking drop of I can decipher you fucking English.

 

I would be guessing and say the gentleman was Indian, hell, maybe Sri Lankan, maybe even a Pakistani for that matter. But what I do know is as follows.

 

1 I climbed in at southern cross station and said..Take me to BM please, via the west gate Freeway.

2 That resulted in a blank fucking look, some gibberish and me pointing the direction he should head, which resulted in an illegal U TURN ACROSS THE FUCKING TRAFFIC.

Q. What Cab driver does not know how to get to the WEST GATE FREEWAY, Melbourne’s biggest, stands out like dogs balls bridge I ont know, but I struck a fuckker who ha no clue.

3 HE drive the whole way, all 35 klms on the right side of the two lane freeway, yep!, thats right, lets not move over into the left fucking lane, lets be a cabbie with our head up our date,  got my licence from a BAG OF FUCKING RICE stay out in the right fucking lane air sucking idiot.

4 Oscillation, weaving and general lack of car control , perhaps he was suffering some form of fine motor skill, temporary suspension. I have no clue. But its the wildest most wobbly fucking ride I have ever had, I actually wondered all the way home at what point we would have an accident,Thinking that my last act before I died, would be to ensure this fucker was already dead as a result of my hands around his scrawny fucking neck.

NOW, this all leads me to both Vic roads, and the Victorian TAXI Directorate. how in the fuck did this bloke get a licence, i wouldn’t put the fucker in charge of an OX CART, let alone a late model 6 cylinder automobile with PASSENGERS IN IT!.

 

whats just a fucking bad, imagine being a tourist and getting the dumb fucking GIT, that doesn’t know his way around the city..yes, i know he i only trying to make a living, but i thought some standards for cabbies might be a minor requirement, bit like being able to speak fucking English that doesn’t sound like its underwater and backwards dialect.

 

Both these mobs need to have thy head honchos dragged out into the open and the living shit beat out of them, the system, if thats what they really fucking call it is simply fucked, when somebody that cannot drive, cannot speak English and sure as fuck does not know the road rules, gets giving a Victorian fucking we will let you loose on our roads cos we are concerned about the road tolls driving licence and then get his stinking fucking carcass shoved into a CAB, where we guarantee that he is going to place the mortality of other at EXTREME FUCKING RISK!. What fucking tool does that. fuckheads at vicRoads and the taxi Directorate that’s who!.

 

I mentioned stinking fucking carcass, well, the inside of the cab suggested that , by the ODOUR, the vehicle is utilised for stock movements perhaps in its down time, that or there are several year old Kebabs rolling around the rear. For FUCK SAK, i had to have the window down the whole way home, I had to tell him he was in a 110 kilometer per hour zone because he was doing 85 and chewing up my hard earned fucking cash. the tone and level of growl I delivered the last to him, was clearly understood as the velocity of our wobble all over the road like a pissed newt certainly increased.

One thing is for sure, i can guarantee you, that visitors to Melbourne will receive a lasting impression of our city when the get in a Melbourne taxi, thats: they will have an ingrained stench within their skin after the trip, brown pants from shitting themselves and be completely fucking broke as a result of the trip go g via bum fuck east, cos the cabbie does not know the difference between the CBD and HOBART!. FUCK ME, what  fucked up service. CAP THE FUCKERS!, CAP TEH FUCKWADDED, air sucking knuckle dragging dickheads at Vic Roads and the TAXI, we will manage it bosses as well.