Editing Mercenaries and planes (section)

===Thread XXVI===
====Briefing====
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*Background
We began with some pre-mission stuff. Scotch hauled his Flogger back, but his Viggen was ready-op by the time we had to fly this mission. The same could not be said of my F-18, so I was back in the cockpit of the Phantom again. Scotch also smuggled his friend out of the airport somehow, she's working for Blackflag now. Hugs took his MKI, and bought some ordnance from the Russians before we left. Judge, also bought a bit, in fact he bought a whole lot, purchasing an A-6, a SU-25 as well as repairs for his MiG. However, he is basically bankrupt now, despite the extra cash from Sandy dying being spread among us. For my part, I nearly have enough to get what I really want, but I'll save that for a later time. As it stands, I'm now the second richest, after Hugs, Scotch is third and Judge is last.

====Recap====

We began with some pre-mission stuff. Scotch hauled his Flogger back, but his Viggen was ready-op by the time we had to fly this mission. The same could not be said of my F-18, so I was back in the cockpit of the Phantom again. Scotch also smuggled his friend out of the airport somehow, she's working for Blackflag now. Hugs took his MKI, and bought some ordnance from the Russians before we left. Judge, also bought a bit, in fact he bought a whole lot, purchasing an A-6, a SU-25 as well as repairs for his MiG. However, he is basically bankrupt now, despite the extra cash from Sandy dying being spread among us. For my part, I nearly have enough to get what I really want, but I'll save that for a later time. As it stands, I'm now the second richest, after Hugs, Scotch is third and Judge is last.

We loaded up, each of us got frequencies for the French Foreign Legion, so we'd have better air to ground coms with them this time. The same rules still applied though, if we saw marker smoke, we were expected to take it out. We were also told that speed was of the essence, we needed to destroy obstacles quickly, or the FFL would get bogged down, and might be wiped out just by virtue of numbers alone. With this in mind, we picked out our ordnance. I loaded up with Four M261 Rocket pods, two CBU-78s, four Mk82 snakeyes, and two HAARMs. Scotch decided he was tired of getting shot and went for anti-air this time. He mounted four more AGM-88s, two AMRAAMs and four sidewinders (good ones this time). Judge decided to go with his SU-25, and then proceeded to hang every weapon possible under the wings. By the time he was done, he had four gun pods, four rocket pods, four cluster bombs, two anti-tank missiles, and two heavy s-25 rockets. Hugs kept six AA-11s on his wings, but put on two massive bombs supplemented by racks of smaller dumb bombs. Our wings heavy with explosive might, our flight lumbered into the air and turned northwards towards Somalia.

We flew with no incident for a while, when we started getting hit by search radar, however we were approaching the refuelling point, so we were not overly concerned. We were hugging together and flying a prescribed route, so we were hoping the airliner trick would work, or at least present some confusion for a while. A few minutes later our suspicions were confirmed, the french Super Etenards called us, telling us they had our flight, and confirmed our position and theirs as we moved in to tank. We formed up and tanked, but Scotch botched his first attempt, and narrowly avoided colliding with one of the buddy tankers. They advised us of some other things as well. The good news was that a frigate would be providing Air Search radar, allowing Scotch to stay hidden (or at least not transmitting) if he wanted to. The target area was clear of cloud, an amazingly sunny day. We were attacking just after noon, hoping that the heat would cause slow reactions. The bad news however, was that the FFL troops were inbound in aircraft, and we would need to clear the way for them somehow. The two AN-12s were expendable, after they had landed. In fact they were rigged to blow 15 minutes after landing. But until they were on the ground, there were no ground troops on our side.

We continued to loiter for a few minutes waiting for the go signal, and quickly trying to come up with a plan while “Dead or Alive” wafted from the stereo. It was decided that I would do a preliminary pass with Hugs, using surprise to our advantage. My job would be to cut off access to the port, while Hugs would simply blow the shit out of whatever happened to be on the long clear stretch of land on the western side of the port. Meanwhile, Scotch would be ready to open up on any radar, and Judge would be observing ground fire, to support if necessary. Since he had a nice slow aircraft, he would be our primary hitter, with Hugs and myself providing high speed clearing passes. The French called us and told us that we were now weapons hot, and cleared into the engagement zone. We rolled into formation, and Steve switched his stereo over to play, I think Radar Rider? Anyways, I know I've mentioned this music thing before, but it really adds to the experience I think.

As per the plan, Hugs and I dove to the deck, and pushed our way up to max speed (we were limited by the a/g on the wings.) We snapped in over the ocean, and I went feet dry (another cool term I learned) first, heading towards the entrance to the port, and dropping my two CBU-78s. I pulled up and away, intending to head back towards the Ocean (which seemed safer), as Steve put a few counters down on the map. These were things I had spotted on my way in, and there was a cluster of militia and technicals parked in the open area, some form of motor pool. It didn't matter though, since Hugs flyby, and single bomb drop, obliterated them all in a massive blast followed by a small fireball. When Hugs got to roll all the damage, he was ecstatic by just how many targets there had been, and how much damage he would do since he had put his bomb through the windshield of one of the technicals. However, despite the big cluster of units that disappeared, more went onto the map as our RIOs both began calling out locations of anti-air nests and emplacements. There were a lot more of them then we had expected, and as Hugs arced away, they began firing. Luckily the crews were not very good, but there was a big volume of firepower going into the sky now, as smoke billowed from the landing area.

Judge had a pretty good idea of the target area, and turned in to make his pass, as Hugs and I began to line up again. The FFL Antonovs passed underneath us, as Judge led the way into the fray, rockets pushing out towards several AA guns, and sending smoke into the air as they detonated. He switched between targets as he made his pass, taking out a few batteries, and suppressing others, before flying low over the area, and turning out toward the harbour. He called out that the enemy boats were moored where we expected them, but there was a lot of movement down near the docks. Unfortunately he wasn't lined up with them. Then the RPGs started firing at him, followed by a ZSU that had been hidden by a warehouse. The RPGs were more scary than anything else, but the tracer fire from the big cannons spun towards him as he began to jink over the harbour. Hugs and myself were still completing our turns, and Scotch had no signal, they were not using radar tracking on the AA tank.

Scotch looked like he was going to be flying silk again, but then the ZSU detonated. Not stopped firing, it exploded, torn to pieces by a heavy impact. We had no clue what was going on when we noticed that on Antonov was landing, the other was beginning to set up in an orbit pattern over the port. The occasional blasts from the side gave away the rest of it, we now had Gunship supporting us in addition to troops on the Ground! The French called to us and told us they could remain on station for a bit, but would land relatively soon, to help assault the boat. Hugs and I flew our next past, I took out another fixed AA gun, with Hugs knocking out one near the entrance to the port, before turning out. That was when we got the bad news from our eyes in the sky. Scotch called down and told us there was a lot of activity in the city, guns firing into the air, and what looked like a mob forming several blocks from the port entrance.

The first Antonov touched down, rumbling to a dusty stop, and the FFL began to pour out of it, moving across the port to the moored vessel. Judge made a sharp turn, nearing stalling, and roared in on the boats in the harbour, blasting several to pieces with massed rocket fire, then flying low through the smoke and fire that the western quarter of the port was now enveloped in. AA fire seemed a lot more sporadic, with only a few emplacements firing, and within a few seconds being obliterated by the orbiting Cub gunboat. The FFL signalled that they were making good progress, and were meeting token resistance so far. Then Scotch's RWR went wild, as two SAM sites in the city went active, and three missiles arced up on fingers of flame from the downtown area, slowly turning to rocket towards the harbour area.

The Antonov immediately dove lower, dumping chaff and flares. Scotch pumped off two HAARMs and went into a high power turn, to try to bleed energy off the inbound missiles. He was of course swearing and slamming his cm button so hard it probably cracked. The first missile apparently lost track and detonated before reaching us, the second tracked Scotch but missed wide, and the third exploded behind the Antonov, but still missing. A small fireball in the downtown area meant Scotch had hit something, but he didn't care, he put another two AGM-88s into the area, and they both flew in on different targets, causing more explosions in the downtown area. Unfortunately, another radar source activated, and again, missiles raced into the sky, turning towards us as we flew over the burning port.

This time, the transport wasn't so lucky, and took a close hit, setting it's wing on fire. I abandoned my run and turned to get a lock with my own AGM-88s, punching them off one after another, not wanting to be picky. Hugs joined up and we began rocketing towards another radar source, out of HAARMs, sticking low to the rooftops and pushing our speed up over the city. Another explosion rocked the downtown and another column of smoke marked the end of third radar site as we pushed hard into central Mogadishu. Hugs flew ahead, and shouted that he had found a site in a city park, I twitched the nose of my Phantom over, and my RIO already had the 82s selected. We blasted over the park, and two snakeyes went off the racks, one blowing up a missile pad and knocking out the radar, the other drifting wide and demolishing a two-story just past the park. However, the RWRs were clear now, and we pulled up, heading back towards the port. And then the real Anti-Air began.

Most of the city seemed to explode with small arms fire, pierced by the occasional heavier stuff. Black puffs of flak were coming into the air, apparently ancient anti air was being used by the Somalian warlords. Most of it missed thanks to the poor training of the people manning the stations, but some still landed home. Hugs took a smattering of small arms fire, and I lost my left flap to a cannon shell, something to worry about, but not mission critical just yet. As we approached the port, the fire lessened, but we passed over a large mob of technicals and trucks loaded with people, rushing towards the Port entrance. The FFL were in for a huge problem soon, but we didn't have a shot, and didn't want to turn around over that heavy AA, so we kept going for the coast. Judge had climbed a bit, now that the sky was clear. He told us that the cub was disgorging paratroopers, as it flew over the port, wing engulfed in fire. The last trooped jumped, and the cub continued, on fire, towards the city, slowly losing altitude.

We watched the Cub keep descending, rolling slowly to the side, before smashing into the ground in the city, disappearing in a massive explosion of jet fuel augmented by HBX explosives. It pretty much took out a city block, vaporizing nearby buildings and only collapsing one's further out. Although we didn't have much time to look at the secondaries, as the FFL had just started encountering some serious resistance, at one of the warehouse/offices. They were at a chokepoint and couldn't advance around the building without some form of covering fire. Judge delivered his verdict on the situation, with a low gun pass, his four 23mm Gun Pods converting the front of the two-story into bullet ridden swiss cheese, and obscuring the entire area with dust. The FFL troops easily advanced on the shaken troops, and quickly neutralized what few survivors there were in the building. However, the first group of technicals had just arrived at the entrance to the port, gunning hard for the FFL troops south of their position.

They continued racing into the port, when the first mine submunition detonated. The technical was flung sidways, rolling across the ground, throwing it's occupants into the air. Then the rest began to hit mines, disappearing in explosions of smoke and fire, some wrecks crashing back to earth setting off more submunitions. The majority of the initial mob was dead or dying at the entrance to the port, and the remaining ones, turned back, several falling victim to mines they had avoided on the way in. This bought us a little time, but we could see more mobs forming, and several appeared to be heading to the east to try to enter on foot, not through the main entrance. The FFL was about halfway to the boat now. Though they didn't ask for it, Hugs peppered the area ahead of them with small fuel air explosives, to knock out any pockets of resistance when we had the time to loiter around, as well as to clear an area for the still descending crew of the other Antonov. Then, my Rio called out for me to dodge right, and I threw the stick to the far right, pulling out of the way of a SAM shot from a group of boats approaching the harbour from the ocean. They looked pretty small, like fishing trawlers mixed with some speedboats, but they were firing RPGs and small arms fire. I punched flares and continued my turn to line up with them.

I had them lined up, and held down the trigger, raining rocket fire down on them, expending my remaining pods. Unfortunately I did not spot the heavy Bofors on the Bow of one of the trawlers. Before I blew it out of the water, it scored several hits on my Phantom, which shuddered under the blows. I lost primary hydraulics but the backup functioned as advertised. My radar was toast (AGAIN DAMMIT!) as a round had punched through it. The engines were both working, but I had some big holes in my wings, so I figured no more hard turns, better not risk it. Most of the boats lay burning off the coast, or sinking, but some continued on, forcing Judge to turn out as I headed back in. Judge finished off the stragglers with a light rocket pass (light being a subjective term). Scotch then called out that the mob had broken through the northeastern wall and were headed towards the FFL who was becoming pinned down in fierce fighting near the final building before the ship. Judge was too far out to sea to help at this point, although he was turning hard to get back in the fight. I was heading down towards the FFL position, as I could see the smoke on the target building already.

Hugs barrelled in, and selected the only weapon that had a chance of causing damage to the flood of trucks and people. He dumped his final massive fuel air explosive and pulled up quickly, pushing into the sky. He missed. His bomb fell off-target, and detonated over a cargo hulk tied up to the wharf. The fuel air bomb erupted in a massive blast that sent ripples of power over the small bay of the harbour, and the hulk bent and twisted under the stress. Several technicals were knocked out by the blast, but not enough. They continued racing towards us and steve rolled a D20 in front of us, he got a one. The cargo hulk (which also happened to be our secondary target) blasted itself apart, as the decks full of stored ammunition the pirates had been caching there let go, along with fuel bladders and other things that go boom. If the fuel air bomb was big, this was cataclysmic, real end of days stuff, as the ship tore itself apart, sending massive pieces of metal into the air and around the port. The technicals and mob didn't stand a chance, and were pulverized by the initial blast. For my part, I had to fight against the controls, and sent my last two rockeyes off course, but still managing to barely hit a corner of the building I was aiming for.

The FFL moved in, and secured the final building, and regrouped with the second plane's compliment of troops, and began an assault on the ship. They called us, telling us that there wasn't much resistance, seems everyone on the ship was convinced they were going to die, since the world seemed to be turning into a living hell outside the ship's shattered windows. Scotch called down, asking them what they were going to do with the survivors, only to get a response of “burial at sea” from the legionnaires. They began unmooring the ship, just as the French frigate called us, telling us we had inbounds from an American CBG, who were moving to investigate the sudden spike in transmissions from the area, ETA 15 minutes, if we stayed low, we could probably get out of there without being detected. And then our RWRs went off again, as Hugs yelled we had an SA-8 and two AA tracking radars up on the road leading to the port. Seconds later, the telltale rocket trails reached out from the ground towards us.

We all dumped flares and chaff, and everything. I had no a/g left, Hugs was out, but Judge came in low and slow, sending two ATGMs at the SA-8. Unfortunately they both failed to hit (followed by much cursing.) He dumped all his rocket fire into target, saturating the area with firepower, and was rewarded with an explosion. The systems rockets were faster. Hugs lost his port aft tail and elevator, and his engine caught on fire and failed. Scotch's so far untouched Viggen had its left wing amputated at the two thirds point, putting him in an uncontrolled spin. And then Judge flew through the killzone of the two ZSUs, one missed, having had it's radar knocked down by rocket fire, but the other one chewed up the right side of the frogfoot as it passed overtop. Judge did manage to get off his four cluster bombs, adding to the carnage of the area, as well as finishing off the wounded ZSU. We all decided it was time to leave, but Judge was in some serious trouble, taking small arms fire as he headed over the city, turning to leave. He spotted a dug-in AA nest, and let loose with his remaining weapons. While the guns ween't particularly effective, the twin S-25s, each packed with 418 pounds of explosive converted the quasi-bunker into a smouldering crater. As he crossed the coast, his wounded frogfoot finally gave out, losing one engine, and the other behaving erratically.

Judge headed out over the water, towards the french carrier, keeping low to the sea. The Dassault Etenards moved in towards us, under orders from the french to escort us back to our base. Hugs managed to get the fire out, and Scotch got his spin under control (barely), so we booked it out of there. The Etenards buddy tanked us as required, and did some visual inspections. When we arrived back, I put down safely, as did Scotch, but Hugs crashed his plane down (bad roll) and suffered some more damage to his big MKI. Judge made it to the French carrier, which let him put down on their deck. He got out of his broken plane, just in time to see the ground crew place some charges on it and push it off the deck into the Indian Ocean.

====Summary====
*-Air Kills-
***None
*-Air Incidentals-
**None
*-Ground Kills-
**Hugs: 26xTechnical, 384 Militia, 3x AA Gun
**Scotch: 2x Fan Song Radar Installations
**Judge: 4x Technical, 2 xTrawler, SA-8, ZSU-23, 4x AA Gun, 1x SAM Nest, 207 Militia
**Baron: 2x Fan Song Radar, 7xTechnical, 3x Trawler, 2x AA Gun, 121 Militia
*-Ground Incidentals-
**Hugs: 69 Civilians
**Scotch: 12 Civilians
**Judge: 72 Civilians
**Baron: 39 Civilians
**Misc: 283 Civilians (An-12)

*-Friendly Losses-
**Ground: 7 Legionnaires
**Air: 2xAn-12 (Acceptable)
*-Damage Taken-
**Scotch: Airframe (Heavy)
**Hugs: Airframe (Heavy)
**Baron: Airframe Minor, Radar catastrophic
**Judge: Destroyed

====Epilogue====
“The French government today denied any involvement in the violence that swept through the capital city of Somalia yesterday. People have questioned the France's involvement as the CGM CMA Medea, a ship under French Flag, has been held hostage by Somali pirates for the past three weeks. During the violence, the ship apparently put out under it's own power, allegedly crewed by pirates fleeing the increasingly dangerous situation in Mogadishu. The ship was later captured by a special detachment of Legionnaires operating from a French destroyer that is currently patrolling the coast. There were no survivors onboard the captured ship after the raid. We turn now to Amy Huyk, political science professor at Brown, for analysis on why the two warlords in Mogadishu would choose now to launch an all out battle for control of the city. Amy, welcome to the show...” -CNN International