Closed Cases - FSF Archives - O-499 First Call Blue 10-16
Closed Case FSF Archives First Call 10-16, Code Blue Drop April 24th, 2011 Third-Person Account Officer Brian Jacques of Lariss - O-499 Officer Jane Tran of Lariss - C-399 Reporting Base: Lariss City 2
It was a pretty normal day. Small amounts of petty crime in small parts of the city with nothing major. The aircraft support crews were gonna go uncalled like the several past few days. Today's Fighter Jet Support, or Code Blue Support, included two Officers who were fresh out of training. They had never met before and hadn't flown in live combat. First there was Officer Jane Tran. She was born in Lariss City and had recently reached 399 rank, the lowest rank required to fly a fighter jet in combat. She was roughly five feet nine inches tall. She was a Maine Coon Cat, a dark gray striped pattern. Then there was Officer Brian Jacques. A five foot eleven inch tall River Otter, he was among the few otters who weren't in Search and Rescue. He was the lowest rank for the dangerous job of Code Blue Drop, 499.
Code Blue support consisted of three stages. It was the fastest support option. An officer could have heavy armor destroyed within less than a minute anywhere in the country. Often, Code Blue support could have responsive fire within fifteen to twenty seconds within a city with an airbase. The first stage was direct fire from a fast-moving fighter. This was usually just machine-gun fire from the sky, but it could include missile fire and drop bombs when needed. The second stage was the similar fire from the slightly slower fighter jets. The slower fighter jets carry a smaller payload so they supply less fire, but still quite a lot compared to a lone officer on patrol.
The first two stages were the regular combat pilots. The third stage was taken care of by the Drop Officers. The Drop Officers were for the ground support to help stabilize an officer's situation until they could be extracted. These Officers would Drop in armed gliders that were used once then destroyed. The idea was to drop an Officer from a high altitude at a ridiculous speed without killing him. When the three planes would pass near the target, just before firing, each would drop a single officer in a glider. Each glider had two light machineguns and the officer would be able to direct it before opening the hatch and parachuting to the ground.
It was Officer Jacques' job to drop from one of these and help out whoever called for support. Most aircraft support officers would stay in the cockpit of their vehicle waiting for the call, but drop gliders were very uncomfortable for long periods of time so they would lie down under the plane. It was a boring job but it was important for officers to have support so readily available.
"Code Blue," the call came over the radio. The officers of the airplane support groups began to move before the call finished coming through. Lariss Three was the largest air base which meant Code Blue support planes launched from catapults like those of an aircraft carrier, leading to a take-off time of roughly fir seconds for the first wave planes and nine seconds for the second wave planes. "10-16 V 2, code blue, fire code scorpion, danger close," the radio came through as Officer Jacques climbed into the glider for his first ride into combat.
The code meant an officer was in danger from a vehicle and there were about two enemies. In vehicle calls, it often meant there were ground troops in addition to two vehicles. "Officer Jacques, we have Scorpion confirmation," Officer Tran said over the radio as the plane passed near the forested area that an officer had somehow encountered two rebel tanks. "Coming in hot. Second target locked. Fire out. Dropping in three. Danger close." The second-to-last line was telling Officer Jacques that he was about to drop.
He grabbed the handles on the tiny plane and prepared for a fast ride. He fired at the targets below as his glider gathered speed. After a few seconds, he locked the glider onto a group of hostiles and hit the exit button on the controls. The hatch opened and he flew out of the glider, slowing himself to a proper parachute speed. Officer Jacques had been trained to deal with the incredible stress from such high speed maneuvers and the timing involved in not falling to your death, but it was still very difficult.
He opened his parachute and began to reach for his rifle as the officer on the ground waved him down. There were no clearings in sight and the Squirrel Officer on the ground might become responsible for helping Officer Jacques out of a tree. He was pretty lucky the officer that had called for support was a tree squirrel, there were very few of those in the forests surrounding Lariss City. He was lucky and managed to get stuck in a tree only a few feet from the ground. He pulled his combat knife and cut himself loose, falling to the ground with a soft "thud."
He gripped his rifle tight as he ran to the officer on the ground. "Officer Landed," he said over the radio, letting Officer Tran know he landed safely. "I don't see any more," Officer Landry, the Squirrel, said to Officer Jacques and the two other officers running up to him. "Confirm target destroyed," the voice of one of the pilots came through. "Targets destroyed, awaiting code green," Officer Landry said through the radio. All that was left was waiting for the helicopters to show and drop off enough units to sweep the area.
Not a very exciting conclusion, but that's life =P not all missions are much more fun than the initial fight.
Written March 13th, 2011 by Pedro "Reynard" Loustaunau.
2011 © Pedro "Reynard" Loustaunau - pedrolerenard, all rights reserved, do not use without permission