An OV-10D Bronco slips in quietly over the coast on a reconnaissance flight over the newly established Peoples Republic of Z'bosia following the latest of a series of military coups. The mission was to confirm HUMINT reports of Russian inluence spreading into the area. Five minutes over the border and a burst of red tracers erupt from the jungle ripping through the port nacelle destroying the engine. William "Bronco Billy" Haydn pulled back on the yoke, struggling to get the aircraft to 500 feet AGL the minimum safe altitude for ejection. He punched the send button on the burst satcom to data dump all the imagery he'd collected since crossing the border then yanked the eject ring sending him into the night sky.
CPT William "Bronco Billy" Haydn was conducting a cross border surveillance flight over the newly established Z'bosia following the latest coup. His mission was to collect information on troop movements, possible human rights violations, and determine what nation may be flowing into the power vacuum. He was about 30 kilometers in from the coast, cameras rolling, when his OV-10D took ground fire from a well camouflaged DSHK. The port engine was shreddedby the heavy machine gun fire and failed. Unable to fly back to the coast or the even the closest border Bronco Billy was forced to eject.
Immediately CSAR was spun up and within half an hour PJ Eazy E Taylor was on the ground.
Moving stealthily through the vegetation Eazy E worked his way to CPT Haydn's emergency transponder. After the initial radio check Bronco Billy had gone silent. This meant he was either under direct observation or had already been captured by Z'bosia rebels.
At an undisclosed location in the forest of the west african People's Republic of Z'bosia, a Russian advisory compound has received news of a downed observation aircraft. Two FSB officers have dispatched from the capital city to take control of the pilot to determine his nationality, status and more importantly what information may had been gathered. Meanwhile the advisors working with PMC gendarmes hit the bush in search of the pilot.
On the ground CPT Haydn was moving west towards the coastal rally point.
Suddenly the trail rounded to a cleared area where the jungle had been cut back. He dropped down into the tall grass and watched as three men in strange cammies moved directly down the trail towards him. Knowing the Z'bosians' reputation for treatment of captives, and clearly compromised, he fired off a round at the nearest soldier dropping him.
The two remaining troops closed on him and a rifle butt crashed in on his head the last thing he remembered was thinking, are these guys speaking Russian?
Easy E heard the single shot and froze immediately.
Then heard alarms going off and troops scrambling from the nearby compound. Taking up a concealed position he watched as two troops emerged from the jungle carrying CPT Haydns limp form.
His mission had just gone from pilot recovery to gathering as much ground information as possible to provide the rescue team. Suddenly he heard the rumble of a vehicle moving down the jungle track, a black Defender swung around the corner into view.
Another section came out of the compound and followed down the trail the others had emerged from with CPT Haydn.
They were clearly looking for him. It was was time to E&E back to his exfil before he too wound up on the Z'bosia nightly news.
March 23, 2011, 06:53:15 PM