Editing Mercenaries and planes (section)

=== RoL: “Steel Crow” ===

====Briefing====

*BlackFlag Internal Document
 #100324
*Mission Briefing
“Steel Crow”
*Deployment
Kitona
*Pancake
Kitona
*Alternate
Luanda (Angola)
*AAR
None
*AWACS
Unavailable (Currently supporting Jaeger Flight)
*CSAR
MI-24 Hind “Beartrap Flight” if required, no cost.

*Contract Employer
Liberian Government

*Objective
Protect the Liberian Convoy (Three Trucks, one Cadillac)

*Background
The Liberian situation just got more complicated. Those bastards didn't go after some low-level minister, the crown prince of Morocco was on that flight. The prince's personal guards were found this morning, both tortured and with the backs of their heads caved in, amongst other things. The King of Morocco is furious, and is putting serious pressure on local governments around here to find and rescue his son. For their part the Liberians haven't exactly been subtle so far, their convoy was identified at the border and to make matters worse, once that happened they shot their way into the Congo. Currently, they are holed up in a small warehouse in Pointe Noire. Their ultimate destination, as you can see from the satellite overflight, is the Bonne Aventure, a freighter flying under a Liberian flag. The Republic of Congo isn't stupid, and they've already impounded the ship. Partly due to the Moroccan pressure, but primarily from the fact they have 9 dead border guards on their hands, the Congo has been fortifying the only approach to the ship, and has increased searches and patrols in Pointe Noire. The Liberians are getting restless, and have called on us to clear a path for them to the ship. Normally we'd decline due to the circumstances, however they have threatened to reveal our original contract to the Moroccans. We will make them pay for this blackmail, but at present they have our nuts in a vice. You will have no radio contact with the convoy, when you arrive on scene they will begin making their way to the boat. Due to the rushed nature of this operation we have not yet had time to stock Kitona with weaponry, and have therefor tasked our two C-27Js to support you, however all munitions purchased will have an added fee. This mission is a short notice tasking, and you will be compensated accordingly.
*HUMINT
The Congo troops may not be superbly trained, but they are not green. The Liberians haven't given us much, as usual, just a map with a line drawn on it, so we're guessing that's their route. Not very subtle either, just the fastest route to the boat. Because the Bonne Aventure is currently impounded, it is imperative that at least two of the three Liberian troop trucks survive.
*ELINT
Radio intercepts have picked up increased military traffic from the Congo, the Liberians expect to make a high speed dash, but they're going to have a tough drive. Several outlying garrisons have been brought in overnight, including some armor assets.
*SATINT
Unavailable
*Air Assets
None
*Surface Assets
Unknown number of MBTs, IFVs and Anti-Air Guns.

*Threat Assessment
Medium. While the threat to your own aircraft is considered minimal, the light nature of the convoy is vulnerable to pretty much everything that the Congolese can throw at it.

*ROE
Any threat to either the Liberian convoy or yourself is a valid target.

====Recap====
So we weren't sure about how to loadout our aircraft. I took two HARM missiles, since I had some left in my personal inventory (no charge!). I put on two SUU-23 Pods, two rocket pods, and four BLU-10s, and two sidewinders. Biscuit loaded up pretty much the same, but no HARMS, four rocket pods. Scotch had two ADEN pods, Two Magics, Two rocket pods, and two Brimstones. The F-111 had it's internal gun, 8 CBU-87s, 4x AGM-65As. Hugs put on two Alamos, kept 2 Archers, and then added 4 SPPU-22 Gunpods and Two Fab-500s. We figured that between us, we could deal with threats as they came. We took off, and headed for the target area, all of us limited in speed due to our loadouts.

We approached at high altitude, well, the Flanker and F-111 did, using their IR pods to find enemy locations ahead of time. The rest of us loitered about 10 miles away, getting target info, and coming up with a by the seat of the pants style plan. From the air, they had spotted two troop concentrations, a tank, and three IFVs, as well as a few jeeps. We turned in, as the F-111 began its run, Hugs staying high to provide Air Cover as well as an eye on things on the ground. He called out no ground based or air based tracking radar, which was a relief. One less thing to worry about. Sandman started off by dropping four Mavericks during his descent, one for each vehicle he had spotted initially. They rocketed down, and speared every single target he had pointed them at. Four cans, popped in one salvo, we were ecstatic. Then Hugs called, telling us the explosions had obviously been heard, the Liberians were beginning their run. He counted three trucks, a car, and 4 motorcycles leaving the staging area, heading north as initially planned. Sandman pulled out of his dive, roaring out towards the ocean, spotting nothing but the burning vehicles. So far, so good.

Then we get a call from our eye in the sky, apparently he's got tags on two police cars moving at speed through the urban area, apparently moving towards the Liberians, who, in their bid to escape, have decided to shoot at everything on their way, with small arms fire, and the M2 .50 they have on a pintle mount on two of the trucks. So much for them sneaking around. Biscuit and I start talking, do we really want to shoot up police cars? Biscuit, not missing a beat, “Well, we are speeding already, what's another ticket? Guns Hot.” He lined up on one street, and did a low level strafe with a quick burst from his internal cannon, scoring a kill on one of the cars. I came in behind, but the other police car turned off the street and drove through a small shack, fence, lawn, so I didn't have a safe shot. We both roared low over the city, and we got a spot check. I found a BRDM leaving a garage, headed to intercept the Liberian convoy, but we zipped by before we had a shot. We were out over the bay, and began our turn to come back. The Mirage flew a route to take him down the planned route the convoy was taking, and didn't spot anything on his pass. He was out of position on the BRDM as well, and began his turn around in the bay.

At this point, it seemed pretty simple, and then it went to shit. Out of nowhere, four HMMVS drove out of garages attached to civvie houses, and the north block surrounding the road leading out of the village erupted with small arms fire and a few RPGs. The Liberian convoy wasn't there yet, but a motorcycle was killed in the initial fire. The only aircraft in position was the F-111, pushing towards the area hard. The HMMVWs moved to the main road, and formed a roadblock. The Vark rushed over the air, and left behind the only effective ordnance he could, two cluster bombs. The effect was pretty dramatic, it took out a quarter of the block and suppressed all the fire. As the smoke cleared, Hugs called down to say that the Hummers were toast, except for one that hadn't made it to the target area yet, and had now diverted, heading west across the open plain at speed. The Liberians roared through the carnage, as Biscuit and myself came in from the North. I lined up with the BRDM, and took it out with a rocket salvo, which also nailed an abandoned bus (there seemed to be a lot of people running away from all this, as well as cars driving fast in the opposite direction. Biscuit put his rounds off target with the police car, chewing through a lawn and a house. The police car got the hint, and stopped, the officers jumping out and running for their lives. We finished our run, and began to make our turn south of the area.

The Mirage did a slower pass, and called out target hits, then turned west to engage the departing HMMVW. Turned out it was just in time, since he saw a flash, and something streaked out towards the convoy. Scotch nailed the HMMVW but spent a lot of ammo from his internal gun doing it. The missile (A TOW) lost command input, and shot in between the Cadillac and the truck following, trailing its wire. It detonated on the side of poorly (or fortuitously) place water pumping station. The Liberians were now in the open, just making the turn onto the port access road. Hugs began to get radar hits on something low and fast, but it was sporadic, about five miles east. Scotch turned to investigate as both Biscuit and I began to loiter south, waiting for a call to come in. We were joined by Sandman shortly.

Scotch flipped on his air to air, and picked up the target, and we found out why it was moving so 'fast' it was two different targets, heading towards the convoy, spaced out, and so low the radar in the Flanker was only getting sporadic hits, and treating them as a single target. The Mirage blasted by the targets, calling out to us that they were helicopters, unknown type. I made the turn to investigate, and scotch also turned, switching to his magics. I made my pass first, but didn't get a good lock with my sidewinders, so I went guns, and opened up in a long burst, which reached out and tore through the (relatively) stationary MD-500, which exploded in a fireball before crashing into the ground beside the highway/main road. Scotch came in, and loosed his two magics (better missiles than my shitty sidewinders) at the other helicopter, also scoring hits, blowing the MI-8 gunship out of the air. The downside was, he shot down an MI-8 over the main road, which had lots of cars stopped on it to look at the crashed MD500, so when the gunship went down, it went down into a traffic jam, and its on-board ATGMs and air to Air point defense missiles went off. Scotch wasn't very happy when Hugs told him that, we hadn't been paying attention to what they were flying over, and this kind of sucked big time. Then, Sandman called out that over the bay there was a small flotilla of about four small boats heading across the bay, in the direction of the Bonne Aventure.

Sandy made a hard turn towards the bay, which overstressed his wing mounts, and rendered his Mavericks unusable, so he dumped them, which freed him speed wise, and went to full burner towards the bay, about 400ft off the deck he said. He passed over the Liberians like that as well, who were now about halfway between the urban area and the dockyards. Sandy, unsure of the best method, asked Steve about submunitions, then loosed another two bombs. He passed over the area, and even though he was far south of the position, Biscuit still called out that their was a massive fountain of ocean thrown up from the strike, destroying three boats, and sending the fourth a good 200 ft into the air, and snapping it like a twig. Sandman began to slow and turn, setting up a small racetrack north. Scotch was now flying a line towards the industrial port, and spotted a small roadblock. He was already on rocket pods, so he fired them off, punching a massive hole in the guard house, roadblock, and about half of a nearby warehouse and several train cars filled with diesel, which ignited, sending a plume of black smoke into the air. Pretty much most of the entrance to the port was destroyed or on fire as Scotch passed over it.

Biscuit turned towards the inferno, prepping his rocket pods for any further roadblocks. He didn't find any on his pass, but he did take cannon hits from something, punching through his engine, setting it on fire. I was already inbound, and had seen the tracers, so Steve put down the ZSU marker in between the warehouses, and said that I could see a lot of troops in the area, debarking from trucks. I made my pass, emptying my rockets (no HARM lock) into the vicinity. I'm not proud of that, since I wasn't very accurate, I took out the ZSU, but nailed more of the train, both warehouses on either side, and the explosions from all that and the rockets took out the trucks and infantry, or at least, I doubted they'd survive down there.

Biscuit shut down his engine and Hugs called down to say that he was still smoking, but no fire anymore. Biscuit began a climb and we agreed that unless it was really needed, Biscuit was out of the fight. We bit the bullet (and our pride) and called for Beartrap, just in case he had to punch out, figuring it was better to have them in theater for a quick pickup. Scotch had circled around, as the Liberians were just arriving at the port. They had slowed, making their way into the compound, when Sandman called out that two HMMVS had just emerged south of the Liberian position by about half a click, and were headed north. They had come out of a warehouse in the south. Scotch was already in position, so he lined up heading towards the Hummers. He decided on a gun pass, since they were travelling one after another, heading straight at him up the road. Steve told him as he approached that the second Hummer looked slightly odd, and two flashes could be seen from it. Scotch continued on his approach, lining them up, trying to limit collateral damage.

That was when Steve told Scotch “You see twin smoke trails now, dead ahead, and two more flashes” Scotch broke off his run and tried to turn hard, and Steve passed around a book as we were all looking intently at the Hummer. Turns out there is a variant called an Avenger. Anyway, Scotch tried hard, but took it up the tailpipe, ripping his F1s engine to threads. Steve hit his remote and the stereo started blasting warning horns and sirens and shit, and I fuck you not Scotch's face was white and shouting EJECT EJECT EJECT while he quickly rolled the die. We all held our breath as we saw the flaming wreckage of the mirage tumbling down towards the southwest edge of the industrial zone.

Steve told Biscuit, since he was closest and climbing “Canopy just blew, seats out!” and we're all wondering “did he make it” and then Steve says “CHUTE, you see a Chute!” We begin a quick radio call “who has distance anti-tank guided munitions” and realize that no one has any left, the two brimstones on the crashing mirage were the remaining ones. The mirage arced slowly left and crashed into a warehouse, which promptly exploded. Then, on the radio, we heard Scotch who had been passed a note by Steve, calling us on freq from his rescue radio “ICE THOSE FUCKERS”. Biscuit, who was in the best position (high), asked Steve something, then did exactly the opposite of what Scotch wanted, dumping his four BLU-10s. It took a turn, but the hit, not on target, but close enough. Biscuit, the one engined Phantom, with airframe damage, napalmed about one sixth of the port, having checked to see where Scotch was relative to his aim point. The Hummers did not survive, nor did much of anything else. The Liberians were through the gate, heading north, and approaching the spot I had rocketed. The southern portion of the port was on fire, and black smoke was filling the sky there.

Sandman started reporting movement in the Northern part of the port, and several warehouses now had a few hummers and a lot of Infantry moving out from them, as well as two BMP-2s. We had the quickest discussion. We're down a plane and half, there's unknown elements down there, are intel is crap, and the Liberians are stupid enough to keep trucking since they think we are some sort of Guardian angels. And we agreed, the mission had gone to shit, no more trying to avoid casualties. I formed up behind Sandman, and we began a run, passing over the Liberians. When we were clear, Sandman began triggering his remaining cluster munitions, dumping them in a line, saturating the north roadway with submunitions, buildings, vehicles, train cars, everything and anything caught in the rolling wave of destruction was going up in flames. I followed thirty seconds later, making a long gun pass into the devastation, expending all the M61 ammo in the pods in one pass. The Liberians continued north, the ship now in sight, when the final attack occurred. The first truck detonated on the road, obscured by dirty smoke and dust. The convoy ground to a halt.

Another one of the trucks ventured forward, then troops debarked. They marched forward, past the burning truck. I was circling, and saw some puffs, and the infantry were gone. Fuck. The others ran back to the convoy. It took us a second, but Sandy said “What if it's mined?”

We looked at each other in silence. We hadn't thought of this... And we had just dumped all our bombs, my rocket pods were empty, and gun passes weren't going to help. And then Hugs, looked down at his sheet, and back at us. He told us to run a gun line in front of the Liberians, and angled in at high altitude, moving slow. We did, and the Liberians backed up slightly, since we were running really close to them on our pass. Hugs flew over, and dropped his two iron bombs we had forgotten about, sending 1000lbs worth of Russian explosive into the minefield area. The explosion of his weapons was highlighted by all the mines detonating in a flurry of secondaries. The trucks and convoy began to move, heading towards the boat, through the still burning debris and craters. And then Steve threw his last curveball. A single lone RPG on the boat, in addition to the soldiers stationed there. Steve did a roll in front of us to hit the truck. Needed a 18+ to hit he said. Rolled 20. Truck exploded in horrendous death. We were devastated.

And then Scotch chimed in over the radio chatter. “Just support the g'damn 'astards in their assault on the boat” Steve nodded, “Sure, the limit on truck kills was to ensure enough soldiers could assault it. I'm fine with this.” We we're back in the game, and hugs decided to be the Hero of The Night, pulling a ridiculous turn (we envied how fast he can turn, since we've been stuck in our iron pigs) and came in at the ship head on, as the Liberians were debarking from the remaining truck, taking heavy fire. And then Hugs plane exploded. Not from Damage, but he held down the triggers on his four gun pods and main gun, putting tremendous amounts of lead on target. The entire front of the bridge on the ship was blasted, glass and shrapnel blown everywhere, anyone unfortunate enough to be on the deck was converted to bloody mush. I followed with my guns, and Sandy observed from altitude. The Liberians ran up the plank as we loitered, circling the boat. About two minutes later we saw water churn at the back of the boat, and they pulled out of port. To the south, the CSAR Hind arrived, and with a quick operation, extracted a rather watered down Scotch from the Atlantic. We all headed back to base as the Liberians pulled out of the port, extremely happy to all be alive, royally pissed at how the mission had gone, and asking Steve when we could go to Liberia.

====Summary====

Mission Success.

*Air Kills
**Scotch: 1 MI-8 Hip Gunship
**Baron: 1 MD500 Gunship

* - Air Incidentals -
**None

*Ground Kills
**Sandman: T55, 5BMP, 4 Harbor gunships, 3 Hummers
**Biscuit: Hummer, Avenger
**Scotch: Hummer, Guardhouse, Roadblock
**Baron: BRDM, ZSU, 1 Infantry Squad
**Hugs: Minefield, 2 Infantry Squad

* - Ground Incidentals -
**Sandman: 7 Houses, 18 Warehouses, 12 civilians, 86 dockworkers
**Scotch: 9 cars, 4 train cars, warehouse, 23 Civilians, 7 dockworkers
**Baron: Bus, 2 Warehouses, 3 Civilians, Police Car, 32 dockworkers
**Biscuit: House, Lawn Gnome, 4 warehouses, 2 civilians, 52 dockworkers
**Hugs: 6 Dockworkers

*Damage Taken
**Scotch: Destroyed, Ejected Safely
**Biscuit: Catastrophic Engine Fire, Significant Airframe, Landed Safe