TF Amethyst

When viewed from above, Bluefin Naval Station looked no different from a small sea with a fairly long coastline. And now, almost all coastlines in Bluefin were on massive reconstruction, as initial step in construction of shipyard, maintenance facilities, docking port, and Main HQ of Amphibious Ready Group.

The only area which was free from the hustle and bustle of reconstruction work was the HQ of Frogman Platoon. However, Frogman Platoon was not entirely free of activities.

After receiving a notification that Levsait and Raisait were under tunnel attack, Captain Kasino immediately alert all frogmen who did not in duty to be getting ready as QRF element. But then, the mission the Frogman Platoon received was far different from what they expected.

At the briefing room which was basically a large hut made of palm tree's leaf and trunk, 37 frogmen gathered to receive briefing from Major Fritz through a teleconference.

"This is Geko-01." Major Fritz said as he pointed a picture of Buriek Navy's cruiser. "We had already confirmed that Prince Portho and Duke Fogel are leading Battle Group B from this cruiser, and your objective is to bring home this two high value targets.

Based on aerial surveillance, I predict there are around 400-600 elite combatant in Geko-01, including two dozens Makai Royal Bodyguards who will guard Prince Portho with their life. Feel free to neutralize these combatants in the most effective and efficient means you can employ.

However, there are also around 50-100 human shields in Geko-01. Most of them are women and children. So, if possible please don’t kill them.”

After Major Fritz gave him a signal, Captain Kasino immediately added, “Instead of snatch and grab, we will hijack Geko-01 and bring it into nearest Buriek Navy's forward station. 

And as Geko-01's location is too far for LCAC, SDV, or patrol boat, our only option to reach it is by combat freefall from Hercules. 

So, if the opposing side refused to surrender even after we had secured Prince Portho, then we had no choice but to kill him then fight until the last men.

Any question?"

Sergeant Murrel immediately raised his hand, and after Major Fritz gave him permission, he immediately asked, “Why don't we wait until Geko-01 enters into combat range of our LCAC, patrol boat, or SDV?"

“Simply because we have to stop Battle Group B's offensive before their carriers arrived at the effective distance for scramble their Riders, or to be precise 400 km off the Sandhur's coastline," replied Major Fritz.

After a moment of silence, Lieutenant Kidd raised his hand, "Say we failed to achieve our objective and get killed to the last men, what would command center do then?"

One of the frogmen immediately rolled his eyes before saying, “LT, please don’t jinx us.”

“Well, we must get ready for the worst outcome," Lieutenant Kidd casually said.

After taking a deep breath, Major Fritz said, “In case you fail, Reaper will drop GBU-16 Paveway II on Geko-01, and if this action does not stop Battle Group B's advance, we will sink their carrier ship along with their main surface combatant, even if they are protected by human shields. 

We estimates, around 4-6 thousand human shields will become victims of this airstrike. Perhaps, most of you doesn't care with the fate of this innocent people, and even asks why cmmand center send you into high-risk mission in order to avoid some collateral lost.

I will not try to make you understand the moral reason behind this operation. I can only say, if any of you doesn't want to execute this mission, please feel free to refuse it.

Chief Nate already gave his consent that only volunteer to be selected for this mission and there is no consequence for anyone who rejects it.

“Well, you already heard it. So let’s decide who will execute this stupid mission." Captain Kasino paused for a moment before continued, “Anyone whose brain is still able to think clearly, please leave this hut and continued to stand by as QRF element."

Captain Kasino and Major Fritz then patiently waited. At the meanwhile, some frogmen leisurely chatted, some others yawn silently, while most of them continued ate their snack. However, not a single one of frogmen left the hut.

Three minutes later, Captain Kasino said, "Well, it's seem too often playing scuba in the depth has damaged your brain."

""""Aye Sir.""" In an instant, every single one of frogmen in the hut cheerfully replied.

Wasting no time, Captain Kasino then chose 24 jumpers while the rest of the volunteer took the role as backup personnel.

—

On October 7, 1985, an Italian ocean liner MS Achille Lauro was highjacked by four men representing PLO. To resolve the situation, Seal Team Six offered an option to conduct air insertion. By using Combat Freefall, Seal Team Six's personnel would land on MS Achille then secure the ship and neutralize the hijacker.

However, the plan never got the opportunity to be executed. Even so, it inspired Detachment Jalamangkara, an Indonesian Navy counter terrorist unit to develop similar skill.

To hone their combat freefall and the accuracy of landing, Detachment Jalamangkara's personnel uses a roof of a Land Rover as a target. When the jumper have been adept at landed on top of Land Rover parked in the middle of the field, they tried to land on the roof of Land Rover moving at speed of 5 km/h, then the Land Rover speed was increased to 10 km/h, and finally 20 km/h.

When he was appointed as CO of Frogman Platoon, Captain Kasino immediately submitted a training program to maintain the skill he got when he was a member of Detachment Jalamangkara. Without difficulty, most of Platoon Frogman’s personnel were able to land accurately on the roof of Humvee moving at a speed of 10 km/h. Problem and some light accidents only occurred when the humvee speed was increased to 20 km/h.

However, Platoon Frogman’s personnel basically were a freak who would gladly welcome any challenge. In the end, they do not only managed to land accurately on top of Humvee moving at speed of 20 km/h, they could even do it on a Humvee moving at speed of 30 km/h. And finally, they got the opportunity to employ their freaking skills on a real mission.

As the strong and cold wind hit his face, Captain Kasino focused his attention on Geko-01. Compared to Buriek Navy's cruiser, it was slightly bigger and longer. However, from an altitude of 6000 feet, Geko-01 only appeared as big as a fingernail.

Under the dark of night sky and among tight formations of more than a thousand of ships, it would be rather difficult for the jumpers to determine the exact location of Geko-01. But fortunately, an engineer from Logistic and Support Group managed to invent a practical methode of target designation. 

By using specifically designed targeting laser that could be seen by NVG, Reaper would marked the landing point to guide the jumpers. This methode worked out very well on the trainings and it was also working very well tonight.

‘Tonight the sky is covered by thick and black clouds, so they will only realize our arrival when the first person landed,' Captain Kasino muttered as he adjust his 'flying' path. His target was rooftop of Geko-01's bridge and he had to approached it from left.

Then, as he got the right path and approaching the right altitude to open the parachute, Captain Kasino's heart suddenly skipped for a few beats as he remembered that on the last combat freefall his parachute didn't deploy perfectly.

After jumping from Hercules, a jumper would fall with a terminal velocity of 128 miles/h if his or her posture was belly-to-earth figure. In this manner, slamming into surface of water was no different from slamming into surface of concrete. 

Meanwhile, Captain Kasino had to minimize the resitance due to air friction while employ vertical or forward thrust to reaching the landing zone. In this fashion, the terminal velocity would increase up to 200 miles/h. And so, unless his parachute bloomed perfectly or at least bloomed halfway and gave him some kind of brake to reduce the terminal velocity of his flying, it could be concluded that Captain Kasino would land in afterlife. The end.

Fortunately, Captain Kasino felt a stong yank as his parachute bloomed perfectly. Without difficulty, he then approached Geko-01's bridge from the left, followed by turning sharply and perfoming the hook and break maneuver. And finally, with a gentle step Captain Kasino's right foot landed on the roof of Geko-01's bridge from behind.

Swiftly, Captain Kasino released his parachute and let the wind took it into sea. Then, he reached for his Scorpion Evo-3 strapped in his left thigh and took prone position on the edge of the bridge's rooftop.

Somehow, the sailors, footbowmen, and ballista crews on the Geko-01's deck were not aware of Captain Kasino's arrival. Some of them only looked up towards the bridge's rooftop after sailors from other cruisers shouted while pointed their finger over there.

Unfortunately, it’s already too late as five frogmen behind Captain Kasino already landed and took firing position next to Captain Kasino.

“Weapons free!” Ordered Captain Kasino as he shifted the safety lever on his Scorpion Evo-3 into semi-auto.

Ta-tatar! T-ta-tataarrr! Ra-tatataaarrr!!

Geko-01 had a shape like cargo ships on earth, where the bridge was towering high in the rear.

Therefore, Captain Kasino and frogmen in charge of securing the dropping point had a perfect field of view for shooter. They only had to point the targeting laser into hostile's center mass followed by a quick double tap. In an instant, a systematic massacre descended on Geko-01's deck.

At the same time, bowmen from cruisers on each side of Geko-01 tried to loose arrow at Captain Kasino and his men. However, two frogmen were three second faster in rained down their position with tear gas fired from HK M320 Grenade Launcher.

It was easy to conclude that Captain Kasino and his men were unstoppable, at the initial versus contact at least.

*****

Note: 

SDV: Seal Delivery Vehicle. It’s basically a mini-sub. Frogman Platoon using the version with three crews, capacity up to 12 fully equipped frogmen, and combat radius up to 260 km in a calm sea.