SS1 8.4 - Smooth End
Ariel’s prediction was spot on. It took us about 50 minutes to reach the last area in our exfil route. Pretty similar like other area, we passed over this area with ease, leaving behind a trail of death orcs and goblins while the rest of the pack couldn’t touch us.
I had hard time believing we were just escaping capture attempt from several thousands of low-rank monsters, but here we were. With steady steps we exited Kubran Valley, and suffered no injury. Wasting no time, I took out the HMV from inventory.
“Get in,” I said as I started the HMV’s engine.
“Yeah,” Ariel replied before hopping in to HMV’s rear section.
Then, she kneeled facing the tree lines with ready to fire arrow in her hands. Next to her, Kara also kneeled with ready to fire arrows. Without delay, I then stepped on the gas. I waited until we were about 3 km away from Kubran Valley before opening a conversation.
“That’s very intense.”
“Yeah,” Ariel firmly replied before got up and sat on the HMV’s seat on the left.
“That’s definitely very intense,” Kara said as she also got up and sat on the HMV’s seat across Ariel.
I could tell Ariel truly had tense expression all the way until we exited Kubran Valley. As for Kana, after I carefully recalled it, I got impression she was very calm from start to the end. I even started to believe she enjoyed the trip. However, I didn’t think about it further and decided to talk about my next plan.
I turned my gaze to Ariel and Kara as I asked them, “Any idea about a good spot where we can take a rest?”
Kara instantly creased her brows while looking at me straight in the eyes. “Why don’t we go back to Karmen right away?”
“I want to carry a low-risk hunt tonight.”
“Huh?” Big question mark appeared in Kara’s forehead while she looked at me as if I was an idiot. “Are you serious?”
“I’m.”
“You just survived Grim Reaper’s jaw by a hairline, but now you are already eager to present your life before him one more time.”
“It’s just a low-risk hunt,” I calmly said.
“Berg,” Kara said in a drop dead serious tone. “There are hundreds of low-risk hunt that kill an entire hunter team just because one idiot commits a basic mistake.”
“I’m aware of such scenario.” After a light smile I added, “But, in tonight hunt, we will have aerial asset to assist our hunt.”
“It won’t make any difference,” Kara firmly said. “Unless you spend a massive amount of tear gas to prepare your exit in advance, like the one you just did, your chance to survive monster siege is almost zero.”
“No worry. I know what I do.”
Kara instantly let out a sigh. “Can you tell me why you so eager to have another hunt?”
“Our exfil drain out lot of my money,” I openly admitted my motivation for the hunt. “I want to get some back.”
“So, it’s only to get some money.”
“Sort of.”
“It will kill you.”
“Maybe.”
“Stubborn fool,” Kara vexingly said.
“Thank you for worrying me,” I sincerely said.
“I’m not worrying you,” Kara protested. “I’m worrying Big Sis Ariel.”
I didn’t remember since when Kara treated Ariel as her big sis, but it still made me genuinely happy.
After a smile I said, “Thank you for worrying Ariel.”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Let’s just return to Karmen right away,” Kara firmly said.
“Nope,” I casually said.
“If shit happens, I will take Big Sis Ariel away and leave you behind.”
“Please do that,” I said as I looked at Kara straight in the eyes. “Ariel’s safety is my highest concern.”
“…”
Kara said nothing and only letting out another deep sigh. I then turned my gaze to Ariel.
“Where do we should go?”
“Let’s go to that hill,” Ariel said while pointed her finger at a hill 2 km in our left. “It has nice and flat peak with good vantage point to all direction.”
“Roger.”
Wasting no time, I took the HMV to reach the hilltop. After that, I asked Ariel and Kara to be on lookout duty and they happily carried it out while enjoying a bag of melon seed.
Previously, Ariel said nothing about my plan to have a hunt tonight, but I could tell she didn’t agree with it. Even so, I firmly stayed with my decision. Then, I went to assembly ordnance to be paired with Orbiter 69.
---
Orbiter 69 could carry 9 kg smart ordinance for surgical strike. However, its basic nature was ISR drone and not ISR Predator. To turn it into hunter-killer means, I had to pair it with another system.
My first pick was Dildo 101. It was a powered 81 mm mortar round with simple electro-optic sensor. I had built it with my men once, and we used it a lot in Syria, when we were being embedded to US SFG element and Kurdish fighter in the fight against ISIS.
I couldn’t help but had big smile as I found I could use my tablet to buy every component I needed. It meant I didn’t need to build everything from scratch. Without delay, I did the shopping and started the first assembly right away.
The baseline structure of Dildo 101 was a lightweight skeleton bracket made of hardened polymer. It has three basic sections. The front section, used to hold gimbaled Mini-EO sensor with imagery tracking and sight lock-on capability. The rear section, used to house flight control, navigation system, networking, power pack, and small rotor. And the middle section where I could put one 81 mm mortar round with both impact fuse and proximity fuse.
With ease, I assembled the load for front section and rear section, and connected the two through cable line in the bracket. Then, I opened the middle section and put a piece of 81 mm mortar round on it. After closing the bracket, I installed a pair of fixed wing. One was the main wing, and another one was tail wing.
Last but not least, I tightened everything using small bolt screws. The bracket had 12 slots for bolt screws. Six was in the left, and another six was in the right. And maybe, that was the reason why some people called this add-on bracket as bolt-on package.
‘This brings back memory,’ I muttered as I examined my first assembly of Dildo 101.
It took me about 5 minutes to finish the first assembly, but I was sure I would become faster as I assembled more. Wasting no time, I went to assembly the second Dildo 101. Today, I would try to assembly Dildo 101 as many as I can. It would increase my reach after all.
Its maximum speed was only 40 km/h, with maximum service ceiling of 2500 meter above sea level, maximum combat radius of 20 km, and loitering time of 10 minutes. This statistic was nothing compare to bigger loitering munition. However, Dildo 101 was unmatched in term of precision and stealth approach.
It was also very cheap. A piece of 81 mm mortar round was about 60 mollar, while the add-on bracket was about 1900 mollar. With a price as cheap as 2000 mollar, I could turn ordinary 81 mm mortar round into loitering munition with 20 km combat radius. For me, it was an excellent deal. I could also easily mass produce it as long as I had the access to the key components.
Well, the electric catapult and console to control Dildo 101 cost me a few thousand mollar, but I had only to buy it once. So, it was still a good deal.
---
Our routine in the evening was pretty much very ordinary. After taking evening bath in turn, we enjoyed a good diner. Then, Ariel and Kara came over to me as I assembled an electric catapult that commonly being used to launch a small drone.
“Berg,” Kara said. “When will we start the hunt?”
“Right now,” I casually said before turning my gaze to Ariel. “Send Orbiter 69 airborne.”
“Where does Ariel have to fly it?”
“Just let it hover 500 meters above our position.”
“Okay.”
This was not the first time Ariel flew Orbiter 69. With ease, she carried out my request. First, with Kara’s help she set up a working desk next to the HMV. Then, the two sent Orbiter 69 to the air.
After that, I thought her how to collect data imagery and identification, and stored it in a database. The first imagery and identification we collected was our own data.
And so, starting from now, every time Orbiter 69 spotting us it would recognize us, and the blue marking box it placed in our head would have our name. If we clicked this box, it would display our detail information right away.
After realizing that Orbiter 69 had such capability Kara immediately said, “I never thought a drone can do such thing.”
“Well,” I calmly said. “Other than face recognition, physical traits recognition, symbol and insignia recognition, body size measurement, and body temperature measurement, we can add other parameter later.”
“I see.”
“Now, let’s bring Orbiter 69 to Kubran Valley to collect some data. Fly it at 4000 meter above the ground so we don’t alert the monster.”
“Okay.”
Wasting no time, Ariel carried out my request. A moment later, we already collected data imagery and identification of orc and goblin. We classified them as hostile and used red marking box. And once Orbiter 69 was capable of recognizing orc and goblin, red marking box instantly filled the screen to the brim. After a quick tally, I estimated we had about 200 orc and goblin presence in the area below Orbiter 69.
And a moment later, Orbiter 69 spotted four Minotaur. They were leading dozens of orc and goblin, trying to box a pack of white rump. Well, in a nighttime hunting, it was to be expected to encounter nocturnal monster like Minotaur, and they were the primary target I was looking for.
“These Minotaur will become our first prey for tonight hunt,” I calmly said.
Big question mark in an instant popped up in Kara’s forehead. “How do we hit them?”
“We will use this,” I said as I showed Dildo 101 to Kara and Ariel.
*****