TFA3 2.3 – Biggest Target
Captain Martin could only curse when his Ripper Station became the first unit got destroyed by Makai Rider. After that, he ordered his men to move their auxiliary power unit along with their remaining ammunition and fuel to nearest Ripper Station, and continued their fight.
Then, he took his time to observe Makai Royal Palace. As CO of Ripper Station Squadron, normally he should coordinate the whole operation of his unit. But Command Center had put the Ripper Stations in fully autonomous mode and gave him loads of spare time.
And so, in the edge of black pine forest, just a few meters before the cliff at west peak of Penna Hill, Captain Martin calmly stood behind a tripod and long range camera recorder. Next to him, stood Lieutenant Borro, the CO of Tuscan bowmen platoon that was attached to Ripper Station Squadron.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Borro calmly said, “Didn’t Command Center asks you to return to underground base?”
“They did,” Captain Martin casually replied. “But I can’t just leave my men when they are fighting an uphill battle.”
“Then,” Lieutenant Borro curiously said, “May I know why do you not lead your men, Sir?”
“They don’t need my lead, they just need me to stay with them,” Captain Martin said as he took his eyes off the camera. “LT, what do you think about Colonel Meyer’s brief an hour ago, that we have to enter an all-out fight against Kingdom of Makai.”
After a moment of silence Lieutenant Borro said, “Before we depart here, Viscount Rattle and General Khartoum brief us personally. They said that if the situation turn into an all-out fight, it’s highly likely we won’t survive. Therefore, they asked us to sign the insurance paper from Amethyst Merchant and leave our last message.”
After a smile Captain Martin said, “I see.”
“What about you, Sir, what do you feel about our current situation?”
“I received an order for an all-out fight once. I just graduated from air force academy, and being stationed in forward base that housing first responder for our adversary country,” Captain Martin casually said. “A moment after we receive the order, a friend who flew a fighter jet came to me to say his last goodbye, and told me that he received an order to retreat to air base in the rear line if he survived the initial contact.
It meant the higher-ups had solid intel that our base was primary targets for opposing fire power and most likely will be gone shortly after the fight started. With that knowledge, I went to my station to set up air defense while civilian was being evacuated.
It was the scariest moment in my life, knowing that I may not survive the day. However, the opposing side who provoked our respond decided to back down, so here I’m, alive and participate in another all-out fight.”
“So our situation is not a new thing for you,” Lieutenant Borro said.
“Sort of, but this time I have a really bad hunch about our situation, even though I don’t quite understand why I’m so calm and has no urge to piss on my pants.”
“I see.” Lieutenant Borro slightly nodded, and then turned his gaze to the camera in front of Captain Martin. “May I know what are you recording?”
“One of the most important events in our war against Kingdom of Makai,” Captain Martin happily replied.
“Is the artillery preparing aerial ambush for inbound Riders from the west, and you want to record it?”
“No, right now the howitzer is on stand-by, while the mortar put their sight on far bigger target.”
Question mark in an instant appeared in Lieutenant Borro’s forehead, “Far bigger target?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“LT, in an all-out fight, it means we have almost no restriction for our offensive.” As he fixed his gaze in Makai Royal Palace Captain Martin continued, “And the biggest target in our war against Kingdom of Makai is under our reach.”
A smile bloomed in Lieutenant Borro’s lips as he also fixed his gaze on Makai Royal Palace, “Understood, Sir.”
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Other than Ripper Stations, mortar platoon also took their position in the black pine forest in the west side of Penna Hill’s peak. Eight 120 mm mortar squads in total, they had their firing pit in separate location, and manned by five mortar crews and three Tuscan bowmen.
The job distribution for each mortar crew was pretty text book. The squad leader stood directly behind the mortar where he could command, control, and supervises the emplacement, laying, and the firing.
The gunner stood to the left of the mortar where he could manipulate the sight, traversing handwheel, and elevating handwheel. He would place the firing solution on the sight and laid the mortar for deflection and elevation, while keeping the bubbles level during the firing.
The assistant gunner stood to the right of the mortar, facing the barrel and ready to load. In addition to the loading, he swabbed the bore for every 10 rounds. The assistant gunner was the person who actually fired the mortar.
As for the first ammunition bearer, he stood to the right rear of the mortar, preparing the ammunition, charge setting or fuze, and past it to assistant gunner. Behind him, stood the second ammunition bearer, in charge of recording the firing solution, type and number of fired rounds, and kept the safety pin from each round as physical evidence of the firing mission.
Meanwhile, the Tuscan bowmen were in charge of providing security, especially from Cloud Hawk that maybe spotted the mortar crews and decided to come over to say hello.
Even if their face was calm, every single one of mortar crews had their back drenched with cold sweat actually. It was natural as the sky above their head was filled with hostile Riders to the brim. Even so, they faithfully stood-by in their firing pit and would carry their mission at all cost.
At the moment, mortar crew didn’t have Reaper to become their eyes, so they would rely on forward observer for target acquisition. In the edge of black pine forest, just a dozen meter from Captain Martin’s location, two forward observers calmly sat in their observation post.
Both forward observers casually ignored Ripper Stations that worked very hard to neutralize Makai Riders. When a Cloud Hawk fell just a few meters from their position, they only gave it a glance before putting back their attention to Makai Royal Palace.
After taking his eyes off a long-range scope Private Madden said, “Maybe we should welcome the inbound Riders from north and west with artillery ambush.”
“Colonel Meyer had considered it,” Sergeant Hewitt said. “However, after IDG told him that the stray steel darts will hit a highly populated area and can lead to 8-15 thousand collateral kill, he put the plan as a last option.”
“Did he choose to spare opposing civilian in the cost of our life?” Private Madden sourly said.
“It’s not that simple.” After a paused Sergeant Hewitt added, “Makai Guard has plenty of Riders at their disposal right now. They can replace the eliminated Rider with ease.
On the other side, they only have one royal palace. The collateral kills from the strike on royal palace is also far smaller, but it will convey a clear message to King Makai XXII that we won’t have reservation in our effort to make him puking blood.”
“I hope King Makai XXII receive the message and come to his sense.” Private Madden said, still in sour tone.
After a smile Sergeant Hewitt continued, “This is not your first shit storm. Cheer up a bit wills you.”
“Well, I’m not afraid of losing my life in a combat. It’s just that I’m still a singleton. It will be nice if we win this war without losing our life.”
After a small nod Sergeant Hewitt said, “I can’t agree more.”
Then, Sergeant Hewitt and Private Madden fell into silence, and a moment later almost a thousand of black dots filled the western sky to the brim, followed by radio call from Command Center.
[Command to West Monitor, do you copy?]
Without delay Sergeant Hewitt pressed PTT button in his chest, “West Monitor 0-1 to Command, I hear you loud and clear.”
[West Monitor 0-1, you have green to commence mortar strike on high value target inside Makai Royal Palace, level it to the ground.]
“…”
[I say again, West Monitor 0-1, you have green to commence mortar strike on high value target inside Makai Royal Palace, use every available unguided round we have, and level all targets to the ground.]
“West Monitor 0-1 to Command, receive and understood, we have green to strike high value target inside Makai Royal Palace with unguided round, over and out.” After taking a deep breath Sergeant Hewitt turned his gaze to Private Madden. “Let’s show some goofs how scary when a tiger make a leap on them.”
“Roger,” Private Madden calmly replied while cold gleam flashed in his eyes.
Wasting no time Sergeant Hewitt took out the list of grid designator for high value targets inside Makai Royal Palace. At the same time, Private Madden send a medium quad-rotor recon drone to the sky.
Once they acquired clear visual of Makai Royal Palace, both from long-range scope and recon drone, Sergeant Hewitt and Private Madden immediately called in the first mortar salvo. At the same time, the second wave of Makai Riders was approaching Penna Hill in full speed.
*****