TFA3 6.1 – Similar Mishap
Around midnight, the frogman platoon completed the oplan to snatch blue crystal from Storm-01. After checking and greenlight it, General O’Neil then continued his journey to Buriek Royal City using one of Ospreys in Sommer Island.
At the same time, the frogman platoon made the preparation for the oplan. The Super Hercules that brought General O’Neil also brought tons of frogman equipment from Bluefin. Wasting no time, they unloaded them to prep-room, selected the equipment they would use, and gave them a check
When you were under the water, there was room for error. Even the smallest slip could cost you your life and the whole mission. Therefore, the frogmen gave the equipment they would use a triple check before loading it to two Chinook and a Venom.
In total it took four hours since the oplan was approved, before finally the first phase was ready to be launched by Lieutenant Kidd and three other frogmen.
Then, Lieutenant Kidd and his men was about to board the Venom when a group of small silhouettes were approaching him. He immediately recognized them. They were Karuk and his friends.
Normally, Lieutenant Kidd would have dark lines in his forehead if several non-related personnel entered the landing pad, one of the most sterile areas in Sommer Island, and right when a vital mission was about to be initiated. However, he tried his best to hold back his annoyance.
After asking his men to board the Venom first, Lieutenant Kidd asked Karuk and his friends in casual tone, “Kids, how do you enter this area?”
“We ask permission from MPU officer who guards this place,” Karuk replied.
“And he just let you enter,”
“Yeah,” Karuk nodded and added, “but we cannot stay here for too long.”
“I see.” Inwardly, Lieutenant Kidd cursed the MPU officer who let the kids in, but outwardly his expression was casual as usual. “So, what do you need?”
“Tomorrow, we will be moved to Lagra City, but we love this base so much.” Karuk firmly said. “Can Ser Kidd help us to talk it to higher-ups in this base? We want to stay here and in return we will do any work to help you maintain this base.”
As he pointed at the Super Hercules that was undergone a pre-flight check Lieutenant Kidd said, “You will go to Lagra City by flying on those plane. I assure you it’s a nice experience.
Most of all, if you love this place, then you will definitely love Lagra City more.”
“But we want to stay here, where Ser Kidd and your unit are nearby.”
Karuk insisted while the other kids behind him firmly nodded their head, and it made Lieutenant Kidd let out a silent sigh.
“Kids, this base is located in the first line of contact. Your presence here is additional burden for combatant who defends this place. When we have the chance to evacuate you, you should evacuate,” Lieutenant Kidd calmly explained. “Even my unit will return to our home base once we complete our mission, and it’s located near Lagra City. If you go to Lagra City now, you can visit us and play beach volleyball with us later.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Lieutenant Kidd firmly replied.
Karuk and his friends then gave Lieutenant Kidd a salute before leaving the landing pad. As for Lieutenant Kidd, he heaved a deep sigh before boarding the Venom.
“LT,” Sergeant Oakes said in a drop dead serious tone. “The kids didn’t distract you, right?”
“No.” Lieutenant Kidd firmly replied.
“Do you realize that your way of talking to them is similar like how a father talking to his own children?” Sergeant Oakes curiously asked.
“No, I don’t,” Lieutenant Kidd calmly replied. “And I’m just trying to be a decent man in front of those poor kids. Nothing more nothing less.”
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“I see.”
“Other question, Sergeant?”
“No Sir,” Sergeant Oakes firmly replied. “All is good.”
Wasting no time Lieutenant Kidd turned his gaze to Venom’s pilot. “Major, let’s roll.”
“Roger,” The Venom pilot cheerfully replied as he started the engine. “Let’s rock, roll, and fuck some."
A moment later, the Venom gently took off and gain altitude as it flew straight to northwest. The first phase of the plan was to sink Storm 0-1 and made it as if it was an accident. Lieutenant Kidd and his men would employ the same tactic they used to sink Makai Navy’s carrier ship a while back.
It was just this time they would put two limpet bombs on the Storm-01’s keel to speed up the sinking process. Therefore, the first phase would be executed by four frogmen. Two frogmen were the main executor, while the other two were back up executor.
The first phase would also be executed before Storm-01 entered FRS Goblin’s area of responsibility, in a spot where the water was only 28 meter deep. And so, after around 110 minutes of low altitude flying in cruise speed, the Venom finally arrived in dropping location. Lieutenant Kidd and his men immediately carried out the final pre-dive check on their equipment before wearing it.
Then, with the help from chief crew, they took a position in the landing skid. After the pilot lowered the Venom as close as possible to the surface of the sea, they gently jumped into the water almost simultaneously.
In the water, the first thing the frogmen did was deploying their telescopic-built scooter diver into its maximum length, and then turned it on and made sure everything worked, especially the connection that relayed the real time location of Storm-o1. Then, each frogman gave Lieutenant Kidd a thumb as a sign they were good to go.
Without delay, Lieutenant Kidd relayed the thumb to the chief crew on the Venom, and got a reply of small nod. The Venom then gently turned around as it gained altitude and flew back to Sommer Island.
’It’s still 24 km away, and hopefully no Black-stripped Shark is lurking around in the area.’
Lieutenant Kidd muttered as he looked at the sun that had just fully rose in the east. Then, he ordered his men to turn their scooter diver off. They would only make the approach to Storm-01 when the carrier ship was only 8 km away. Therefore, for now they would just calmly wait while saving the scooter diver’s battery.
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Port of Ursu in Sutt Region was located in south west tip of Amstell Continent. From this port, Admiral Shoel and his fleet started their journey. They had to sail 682 km to the east to reach Battle Group B forward base. For the first two days, they would sail in open sea. It was easy sail because at this time of the year this area was relatively calm.
Problem would only occur on the third day, when they had to enter Guise Sea, which was being flanked by Amstell Continent in the north and Buriek Continent in the south. This problem was Sommer Island, a small rocky island that was located in open sea to enter Guise Sea. With the help from TF Amethyst, Buriek Navy had turned it into a deadly naval base.
Not long ago, defender on Sommer Island had destroyed the sea blockade from Battle Group C with ease, even though they were greatly being outnumbered. It showed that this naval base had to be avoided at all cost.
With average width of Guise Sea that stretched out up to 600 km, choosing a sailing route that was rather far from Sommer Island was not impossible. However, Admiral Shoel deliberately sailed close enough to Sommer Island.
‘Well, as long as I don’t provoke them, I believe everything will be fine. I only bring a small number of ships after all,’ Inside the Storm-01’s bridge Admiral Shoel calmly muttered. ‘But if they are tempted to capture me alive like how they capture Prince Portho, it’s also not that bad.’
As usual, every morning the admiral would start his day by sitting in his command seat. From his position, he could easily observe the eastern sky, and it was his habit to enjoy morning sun while sipping a cup of warm black tea.
After taking a small sip of his tea, Admiral Shoel turned his gaze to officer who was responsible to supervise crystal sensor crew. “Any suspicious flight in the sky?”
“No Sir,” Officer Parrak calmly replied.
“Even so, stay vigilant,” Admiral Shoel firmly said. “TF Amethyst’s aerial asset can pop up out of nowhere.”
“Aye Ser.” After a moment of pause Officer Parrak hesitantly said, “Admiral, may I know why you avoid the usual route, and chose to sail through a rather shallow water?”
“We still don’t know the real cause that made Buriek Navy lost eight carrier ships a while ago.” Admiral Shoel casually explained. “I want to lower the risk of meeting similar mishap by choosing our current routes.”
As question mark popped-up on his forehead Admiral Shoel asked, “Isn’t the official investigation states the cause for that lost is the design flaw of the ship?”
“Yeah, but after I personally confirms it with Grand Commander Migal, turn out that’s not the case.”
“So, we have no clue about the real cause of the mishap.”
Admiral Shoel nodded and replied, “Yeah.”
“I hope we don’t meet with the similar mishap,” Officer Parrak genuinely said.
“So do I,” Admiral Shoel said before taking a sip of his tea.
Unfortunately, as if it was to mock the expectation from Admiral Shoel and Officer Parrak, Storm-01’s speed was suddenly drastically dropped. A moment later, came a report that the Storm-01’s keel suffered fatal damaged in two separate locations from unknown cause.
In an instant, Admiral Shoel’s face turned as black as night. Unfortunately, he could do nothing other than evacuated the ship. The Riders then continued the journey by flying on their Cloud Hawk, while the sailor and other personnel moved to other ship.
‘Fuck me,’ Admiral Shoel’s cursed as from cruiser Rampant-01 he watched the last moment of Storm-01, just before it fully sank into seabed.
*****