[b][i]Operation Dog Shelter
141743Z DEC 16[/i][/b]

Tyus sat quietly listening to Miller spew out the mission briefing. He'd already received the Warning Order prior to departure and packed his gear accordingly. For this operation, he packed all his standard field gear, as listed on his sheet to include the handheld radio (AN/PRC-148), VHF radio (AT RF23 EPM Handheld Transceiver) and GPS attached to his assault vest. The NODs (AN/PVS-14 Night Vision Device) was attached to his helmet. He also had a small parachutist's oxygen tank, mask and pair of goggles; sun, wind and dust for the insertion. Due to the proximity of locations aboard the platforms that make up Haolam Haba, he chose to carry the MP5/40 instead of the SCAR-17. The team might still need the longer ranged SCAR, since Mr. den Oude was carrying one, they should be covered. For Pyrotechnics, he drew two fragmentation hand grenades, two flash bangs, one red parachute flare, a green smoke, yellow smoke and purple smoke to be used for marking when necessary. All four members of the team were airborne qualified and knew to have their primary and reserve chutes packed and strapped on before stepping onto the tarmac. He also carried his Sig Sauer .40 caliber handgun on his right thigh. The convenient aspect of the pistol was that both his side arm and primary weapon used the same caliber ammunition.

As Tyus listened to the mission briefing he took note of the CIA's Special Activities Division (SAD) unit stranded on the floating refugee camp in the Med below them. [i]Gray Fox[/i]. He would retain that code name. They may need it to identify potential friendlies if encountered on the ground. '[i]Seth, a member of the SAD unit called for an evac, but CIA handed the mission over to Cygnus?[/i]' Tyus thought to himself. '[i]This smells fishy. Seth is the bait and we are the suckers walking into our funeral. CIA knows more than they are sharing with Miller.[/i]' Tyus continued listening, making mental notes as he went on. '[i]The Russians!? Fucking great. More than likely, they are the ones causing the ruckus on Haolam Haba. A hot DZ to boot. Lovely, just fucking great.[/i]'

The four men shuffled their way to the rear of the aircraft as Miller returned to the cabin. All their equipment was strapped down tight and checked multiple times before boarding the aircraft. Tyus Morse spoke into his mike, fixed under his oxygen mask. Prior to the mission, they planned for Matt Convel and Robbert den Oude to form B Team and Tyus Morse and Uhili Uta'atu to form A Team. The two teams would move in order to cover each other once on the deck. "This is a long jump. We are approximately forty...four zero clicks from our drop zone. Elevation is thirty thousand feet. You all know the drill. Early release, I'll take a compass heading, looking at two hundred twelve degrees from current. We'll track the DZ on GPS and fly towards our insertion point at Platform DELTA. Time of flight should be about two mikes. Stack on me during the jump in order, "Wolf", Uhili and "Doc". Watch my course corrections as we go. Report any irregularities along the way."

Tyus faced the tail of the aircraft awaiting the ramp's lowering.

Over their earphones, the team could hear, [i]"Gentlemen, this is your stop. Thank you for flying with Cygnus Airlines, we hope you had a pleasant flight. Don't forget to grab your free parachute on the way out. Ramp opening in 3...2...1..."[/i] Tyus watched the ramp slowly open as the roaring of the engines intensified inside the cargo area. The sun was setting on the western horizon. They were facing a southerly exposure. The coast of Lebanon was somewhere out there in the darkness. The earphones picked up again with music and the words, [i]"Begin Operation Dog Shelter."[/i]

Tyus spoke one last time to the team, "let's get our feet wet, ladies." Then he shuffled toward the lip of the ramp and stepped off into nothingness. Four seconds later, he pulled the ring on his RA-1 RAM AIR Tactical Parachute. The chute filled out promptly slowing his descent into the Eastern Mediterranean. Tyus pulled on his GPS to confirm his location and the location of the Drop Zone. He found them in several seconds and made a four-degree course correction to the south. The wind speed at their current elevation was playing hell on navigations. After dropping ten thousand feet, he made another four degree course correction to the south. He continued dropping and adjusting speed an elevation. The team was descending, while moving forward at a rate of just under 50 feet per second (FPS) and would reach the DZ sooner than expected.

As they neared the platforms, Tyus could see the southern platform. They sailed over the two northern platforms before landing. At ten thousand feet, the platform appeared quiet. Sporadic gunfire could be heard from the direction of the southeastern platform, ZETA. DELTA appeared clear. 

Tyus scanned the DZ for a suitable landing spot. The best he could come up with was the top of the infrastructure along the northwestern corner. It provided a forty by thirty meter level base to drop onto giving the team room to spread out as they landed. They didn't want to land below eye level of potential hostiles or curious bystanders. Also, choosing the highest flat piece of terrain to land on gave the Cygnus team a height advantage.

Just as he dropped through the last thousand feet of the trip, an explosion erupted from the southeastern corner of Platform DELTA. A bright orange ball of fire lit up the sky illuminating the four chutes as they descended rapidly into their objective.

Once on the deck, Tyus slipped from his parachute harness, and removed his oxygen mask. He trapped the chute and piled the gear near the edge of the structure he stood on. He freed his MP5/40 from its bindings, bringing the gun up to his eyes with NODs on scanning the darkness for potential threats. He immediately pushed off the night vission device when the explosion occurred to preserve his eyes as best as possible. He scanned the southeast as he scrambled to the corner of their entry point coming to one knee while his teammates arrived a few seconds behind him.


[@Capra][@thecircus][@cpldingo][@The Spectre]