Guns for Hire - Script Fifty Eight

Burfield Airstrip Departure 3.01pm 30/09/17

With all the kit onboard but still under the inquisitive & still slightly nervous eye of Doug Wayliss & his crew the C-27 eased up into the afternoon sky & headed east towards Kansas IA.

Quickly Jesus ran them through in-flight procedures as well as the less than basic dunny for those who hadn't flown previously with the Spartan's crew, he also introduced the new hired hands to Varnik Volkan, the C-27's chief pilot as well as everybody to the new co-pilot/flight engineer, Gigi Bonnay, T-Bird looked Gigi up & down before smirking at Alex, bloody hell thought T-Bird, if only.

Richmond IA, Departure + 7hr 29min

Having stopped briefly to refuel at KIA Varnik put the C-27 down at Richmond & had Jesus tell all that he was going to run a couple of checks on the Spartan's safety systems & chow down before departing for Gander IA, in Newfoundland, Jesus added not to wander to far away & definitely not to go beyond the customs sheds if they wanted to avoid any awkward questions, happy to oblige Vrasten arranged for pizzas via RIA's flight service center.

Happy with the Spartan's performance Bonnay requested permission to depart & put the aircraft up through the clouds to 27,000 ft.

Mid North Atlantic, Departure + 10hr 04min

Most people, flight crew excepted, were getting some rest in the various hammocks strung around the cargo bay, Vrasten, unable to sleep was emailing a response to the NCPD Pension Department confirming his bank details, as he pressed send the steady throb of the Spartan's twin Rolls-Royce AE2100-D2A turboprops stuttered & there was a thwack of several impacts on the fuselage, instantly the steady tone of the port side engine fell away & there was a perceptible list on the cargo deck, amazing thought Vrasten, no fucker had woken up.

Rolling out of his hammock Vrasten made his way to the flight deck door & stuck his head through to see what was happening, Jesus looked up from the comm's station & mouthed 'bird strike', smeared across the front cockpit window were the shadowy remains of something feathery.

As Vrasten listened to the conversation between Varnik & Gigi, Jesus called in an alert to Keflavik IA advising the control tower of their current position, heading & altitude as well as confirmation that they were flying on the starboard engine only, glancing out of the portside window Vrasten could see the six blades of the dowey propeller slowly feathering & something, presumably a second critter, spread all over the blades.

Jesus asked Vrasten to let the rest of those in the back now the score.

Back in the cargo hold Vrasten poked everybody awake & passed on what Jesus had told him, surprisingly nobody seemed to see it as a big deal & just moaned at being woken up, fuck em' thought Vrasten as he searched for the life jackets.

Keflavik IA, Iceland, Departure + 12hr 44min

Having reduced altitude considerably Varnik had brought the listing Spartan in low over Iceland's southern peninsula under the guidance of KIA ATC, peering out of the small viewing windows in the cargo hold & straining to look over Diaz's shoulder T-Bird could see several emergency vehicles, lights flashing, perched like vultures at the end of the runway, as they made their final approach Jesus stuck his head through from the flight deck suggesting one & all brace themselves as it was gonna get bumpy as there were severe gusting cross winds.

He wasn't wrong.

Keflavik IA, Iceland, Departure + 12hr 46min

As the listing Spartan lurched onto the deck Varnik & Gigi battled against the surging crosswind to keep the C27 the right way up, as it bounced its way along the runway there was a sudden mind jarring squeal as the one of the starboard tyre's collapsed under the pressure, eventually, almost at the limit of the tarmac, the Spartan rocked to a unsteady halt.

To the sound of somebody hurling Jesus announced normal service would be resumed shortly & did anybody fancy a BBQ.

Keflavik IA, Iceland, Departure + 13hr 38min

With the Spartan temporarily installed in one of the airports maintenance hangers Jesus Perez assessed the damage, muttering to himself he eventually smiled & suggested it wasn't as bad as it could have been, the burst tyre didn't appear to have had any adverse affect on the undercarriage whilst the damage to the port side engine was nothing that a strip down, re-fettle &rebuild wouldn't cure, with that he asked for volunteers.

Twenty three hours later Varnik & his crew were ready to run a test flight.

With the humvee & all their kit temporarily off loaded the mercenary force of eight looked on as Varnik flew the C-27 in circuits around the airport, apparently happy he dropped the Spartan back on to the tarmac to allow Jesus to inspect the engines' innards & make final adjustments, with the aircraft ready to fly it was refueled & quickly reloaded, with permission given by ATC they departed Iceland on route to Gardermoen IA, Oslo, Norway.

Odessa IA, Ukraine, Departure + 42hr 19min

Post refueling at Gardermoen IA they'd asked & been granted permission for a near immediate departure & so had made the next hop to the Ukraine, with the Spartan performing well & the tanks yet again full the crew grabbed a brief rest then moved on towards Heydar Aliyer IA, Baku, Azerbeign, again after a topping up the tanks, a shower, shave & shit they they pushed on to Tashkent IA, Uzbekistan.

In the cargo hold the hired muscle were finally filled on on their final destination, the mission requirements & objectives, as well as the intended means to the end. Vrasten displayed the various satellite shots & aerial views he'd downloaded from the web whilst Alex & T-Bird ran through what they thought they could expect in terms of resistance from the opposition.

Skinpin, leaving such matters to the others, provided a number of booster shots against the effects of the prolonged air travel & generally made sure everybody was fit & ready.

Nepal Airspace, Departure + 53hr 38min

Having traversed Indian airspace & then flown down the length of Nepal Varnik was taking a well earned break & allowing Gigi to take the C-27 across the Bhutanese border as they headed for Paro IA, the only international airport in Bhutan, off to their port side the mountains of Chinese occupied Tibet were a daunting presence best avoided.

As they were handed over to the Bhutan ATC Jesus swore under his breath & alerted Varnik of a problem, unhappy at what he was being instructed to do he told Jesus to go tell the passengers of the change of plan,

"Sorry guys, nothing we can do about this, we don't have sufficient fuel to divert back or head south into Indian territory & we're being refused permission to land at Puto due to some sort of military intervention, if they'd told us earlier we could have dropped into Nepal or elsewhere but we've not really got a choice now, we need to push on to the western end of Bhutan & put down at some shit-hole called Yongphulla, ATC tell me it's fairly recently built but that for some reason its currently non operational, the bad news is they haven't got any fuel but they're promising to have a tanker hauled in locally with 24 hrs"

With Jesus back on the flight deck Vrasten did a bit more digging & informed the others that Yongphulla Airport was around 9000 ft above sea level & wasn't licensed to take commercial flights as its runway exceed the permissible slope, bit of a fuck up really.

As they threaded there way through the mountain approach Vrasten added a bit more meat to the bones as to why Paro IA was shut,

"Oops, looks like China has invaded, again, CNN are reporting that Royal Bhutan troops supported by the Indian Air Force & Army are resisting but that a number of civilian aircraft on the ground at Paro have been caught in the crossfire, no mention so far of problems this far west."

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 54hr 57min

On the ground the half dozen or so people who'd been alerted to their impending arrival had positioned a couple of vehicles so as the headlights illuminated the runways orientation, there being no power to the runways lighting systems. First time around Varnik had to pull the Spartan away sharply & abandon his initial attempt to land, the car headlights actually making it difficult to assess the approach conditions, on his second time around he dropped the C-27 on the runway without a hitch & ran it to the lower end of the runway to the east. It looked a pretty basic set up with several unfinished & uninspiring buildings to the eastern end of the runway from which a compacted stone track lead down to the the valley below. To the north & west the wooded slopes dropped steeply away whilst to the south the ground rose sharply & again was heavily wooded.

With a mix of pigeon English, hand signals & much gesturing Skinpin established that the Bhutan's in attendance were a mix of local & itinerant workers who were acting as part-time guardians for the airport pending it's completion by the Bhutan government however due to the problems with the runway inclination all construction had ground to a halt nearly two years previous, they confirmed that there was little if any fuel on site, a gallon or two at most of paraffin plus the fuel in their own vehicles however they confrimed they had been contacted by the District Commissioners Office to attend & to tell the Spartan's crew that fuel promised was on route as arranged.

With nothing more to add the locals & itinerants headed back down the track to their homes in the valley.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 55hr 29min

Having advised Bhutan ATC they were on the ground at Yongphulla & were awaiting the promised & paid for fuel Jesus, Skinpin & a couple of the grunts set about putting a meal together whilst Alex walked the perimeter to get a feel for the place just in case things went tits up. With nothing else particular to do Vrasten, T-Bird & Boyd, who had a penchant for this sort of thing, began dragging rocks & surplus building materials to the head of the access track to the airfield to form a couple of basic but effective earthwork defense positions, again just in case the conflict elsewhere in the country got any closer.

For the next dozen or so hours time was killed as best they could, all was quiet on the western front.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 11min

Increasingly the enforced stop over put people on edge & tempers were fraying, Bhutan ATC had repeatedly reafirmed to the Spartan's flight crew that the promised fuel was on route, what they didn't say however was that when it came it would bring unwanted guests.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 12min

Out of boredom Vrasten & T-Bird had returned to the earlier built defensive positions at the head of the compacted stone track, as they stood watching somewhat forelornly, hopefully, for the arrival of the fuel they were joined by Boyd, several minutes later the repeated crack of gun shots echoed from the valley below.

Dropping into cover behind the crude rock barriers Vrasten through out an all stations alert whilst T-Bird drew a bead with his new FC70LR down the track, glancing across to the second barrier T-Bird could see Boyd stood atop the rock pile, matched BA-L 20mm's at the ready.

Back on the air strip Alex barked out a command for König, Bancroft & Diaz to string themselves around the Spartan & be alert.

As Vrasten peered down the hill more shots rang out from below, mere moments later an open topped battered VFJ Jonga with four armed occupants leading a tractor & fuel bowser trundled into view, as the light utility truck crested the rise closely followed by the tractor more figures appeared below jogging ahead of a Red Army half track, the leading followers dropped to one knee & fired, despite several shots pinging off the bowser it appeared to be unpunctured.

As soon as T-Bird saw the fuel bowsers pursuers he pulled the trigger.

Despite never having used the Giscard in anger T-Bird reckoned it wouldn't be so different to using a standard combat rifle, just quieter & with no kick back, he wasn't wrong, below one of the pursuers screamed & dropped clutching his guts, immediately his accomplice's dived for cover & returned fire.

As T-Bird & Vrasten listened to the crack of slugs burying themselves in the outer face of the rock barricade they could see Boyd calmly stood atop the opposite earthwork laying down suppressing fire comnpletely ignoring the rattle of slugs against his armoured exoskeleton.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 15min

With the arrival of the bowser & its escort Alex listened incomprehensably as the four occupants of the Jonga & the driver of the tractor shouted animatedly at her at the same time, fortunately Skinpin came to her rescue using a mix of pigeon English & Hindi, via Skinpin they explained they were Royal Bhutan Army militia & had been instructed to deliver fuel however they'd been picked up by a spotter plane belonging to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force who'd presumably reported their position, they'd traveled as fast as they could under the circumstances but the tractor just wasn't very quick, unfortunately they'd been eventually caught up as they climbed from the valley below.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 16min

Taking charge of the situation Alex ushered the refueling force towards the flight crew, immediately they started shipping fuel, unfortunately the bowser only had a basic hand pump, Jesus reckoned it would take them at least an hour to get sufficient fuel pumped across to allow them to make the hop to Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 18min

With Boyd keeping the approaching force pinned down Vrasten flipped T-Bird a couple frag grenades & then made a run back to the Spartan in search of one of the cased Scorpion missile launchers.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 19min

Under the darkening skies Alex watched the trees on the southern rise, flicking the visor of her battledress helmet to the low lite setting she gradually picked out two, three, then at least half a dozen figures moving catlike down the wooded slope, broadcasting a heads up on the comm's she opened fire.

For several moments chaos reigned as Alex peppered the encroaching southern force, on the north side Ainsley Bancroft peered down the hill, he could see several climbers but so far they were hanging back so he held his fire for the moment, to the west Diaz peered into the fading light, it was clear along the runway so far but with the benefit of of the IR setting on his helmet he could see the figures dropping down the bank beyond Alex, happily he sprayed a full clip from his beloved H&K MP 2013 sub machine gun into the trees figuring it'd assist in making sure the Chengdu PLA kept their heads down. At the eastern end of the runway König kept a wary guard on the flight crew & the Bhutan fuel party, unfortunately he couldn't do anything about the bullet that took down one of the Bhutanese rescue party.

Skinpin, despite his best efforts couldn't do anything for him.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 21min

From within the trees above Alex a voice rang out in first Chinese & then haltering but recognisable Hindi, translated by Skinpin, the voice appeared to be instructing all to cease fire to allow for a diplomatic surrender, knowing they needed to buy time to allow the refueling operation to be completed, Skinpin barked off an agreeable response.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 24min

Out of the trees, Captain Zheng Zhi, as he formally introduced himself, emerged & saluted, Alex introduced herself as Second Lieutenant Alex Price, giving her rank at discharge, Zheng Zhi was slightly taken aback realising that whilst he had pursued a small contingent of Bhutanese irregulars to the airstrip the majority of those in front of him & the aircraft on the runway were clearly not Bhutan or Indian Army.

Unhappy & slightly unsure of the situation the PLA captain demanded the surrender of all present.

For as long as she could Alex argued their case wasting as much time as possible making it clear that they were simply refueling & would then be on their way & had no interest in Zheng Zhi's pursuit of the Bhutanese militia, drawn into the argument the PLA Captain stated that they were now in Chinese occupied territory & whatever their origins or intentions they were now regretably subject to Chinese jurisdiction.

Eventually Alex managed to sow enough confusion that he agreed he would consult his superior for advise & return in approximately fifteen minutes.

Just in case it was needed Alex took the opportunity to unpack the Militech Ripper.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 51min

Jesus alerted everybody that they needed another fifteen minutes or so to finish refueling.

Briefly Alex, Vrasten, T-Bird, Skinpin & Varnik Volkan discussed their position, Volkan suggested that once refueled he'd need a good ten minutes to warm the engines up & get off the ground, he'd instructed Jesus to manually prime the engines which would save some time but it'd still be at least eight minutes of being a target, the Spartan already had several bullet holes in it but fortunately all were superficial, however the PLA forces could do a lot of damage in eight minutes of concentrated fire.

Skinpin raised the question of the four remaining Bhutan conscripts, nobody wanted to leave them behind but Zheng Zhi had made it clear that whatever he decided in respect of the foreign intruders the four Bhutanese were going nowhere.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 68hr 53min

Minutes later Captain Zheng Zhi announced his return before marching into camp, he seemed happier having consulted his superior as whatever the outcome it was no longer his decision.

Sucinctly he confirmed that he had been instructed to allow any none Bhutan or Indian within their group to depart but under the strict edict that they must vacate Chinese airspace by the same route that they arrived & must not return to Chinese territory under any circumstances, both would be enforced by the People's Liberation Army Air Force if necessary.

Superficially he went through the motions of inspecting the identity papers of the flight crew & their passengers to confirm nationality, turning to the four surviving Bhutanese he simply ordered them to lay down their arms & kneel with arms behind heads.

Immediately objections wre made as to the presumed impending treatment of the Bhutanese soldiers, who themselves were looking extremely pissed, taken aback Zheng Zhi was somewhat shocked that these interfering westerners had assumed the captives would be executed at the first opportunity, red faced he assured all present that they, the prisoners, would be treated honourably as any prisoner of war would.

Knowing that they either handed their saviors over or start shooting the collective stood aside while the four were lead protesting away.

Yongphulla Airport, Trashigang, Bhutan, Departure + 69hr 09min

With everything loaded back on board & secured Varnik put the Spartan into the air & headed back into Indian airspace before swinging around to head for Bangkok, whilst as promised to Captain Zheng Zhi it wasn't the same route Varnik figured the PLA wouldn't have a clue where they'd flown in from.

Suvarnabhumi IA, Bangkok, Thailand, Departure + 82hr 22min

Back in relative normality & post a hot shower as well as a decent chow down Varnik, Gigi & Jesus ran a complete systems check on the Spartan & patch repaired the fuselarge where incoming fire had struck home.

Keeping to themselves in the hanger space they'd been allotted by the Thai airport authorities whilst they carried out repairs they assumed they'd be free from interference however Gigi gave them a hurried heads up that they were to be inspected by the Thai Customs & Immigration Service, she didn't think it'd be a major hassle as long as all the weapons were packed away, after all the cargo manifest didn't hide anything & providing they didn't try to disembark any of the kit from the Spartan or more importantly the bonded hanger they weren't breaking any rules.

Not suprisingly the Thai officials didn't really give a fuck what was on the Spartan as long as it stayed on the Spartan & of course as long as they got the required level of kickback from the aircraft's captain.

With everybody rested, temporary repairs completed & a full tank of gas they took off into a beautiful clear blue sky.

Culio, Departure + 97hr 14min

Finally Varnik & Gigi put the C-27 down on to the tree shrouded grass runway at Culio.

Culio, 8.06am 05/10/17

14,000 miles later, a journey like a dogs back leg, & having taken three times longer than planned, it was somewhat of a relief to finally touch down on Culio & find it exactly as expected, isolated, deserted & quiet.

Given the remoteness & apparent safety of Culio there was a slight change of plan, only a solitary guard would be left with the flight crew on Culio once the main assault team had been ferried onto Palawan, Xavier Diaz drew the short straw.

The rest of the day was spent setting up the base camp along with a touch of R&R, it hadn't exactly been a restful trip & it was agreed that a little time to allow people to get their shit together would be beneficial in the long term, all things being equal it was agreed they'd make the short hop to the San Vicente Inandeng Community Airstrip on Palawan itself at dawn the day after tomorrow.

Culio, 6.17am 07/10/17

Bright & breezy Varnik took the C-27 up & hugging the tree tops turned for Palawan leaving Diaz temporarily alone to watch the fort until the flight crew returned.

Inandeng Community Airstrip, San Vicente, Palawan 6.39am 07/10/17

If Varnik had come in any lower over the surf line he'd have been duck diving.

Immediately he crossed the beach head he dropped the undercarriage & swung the Spartan around to the line Vrasten had indicated on the satellite shots, from the air it didn't look friendly however Varnik made it look like child's play.

With practiced ease Jesus had the rear down before Gigi had brought the Spartan to rest, with similar efficiency the hummer was reversed down the ramp & the remaining kit offloaded in under ten minutes & the C-27 was off the ground on route back to Culio. Alex took the wheel of the fully loaded hummer & accompanied by Skinpin, König, Bancroft & Vrasten headed for the quarry, on arrival it was exactly as it had been last time they were here, deserted, rusting gate closed complete with a public health warning about the danger of diving into the pool therein.

Leaving König & Bancroft to stash the kit from hummer Alex & Vrasten headed back to the airstrip to collect T-Bird & Boyd as well as the remaining kit.

Once collected & on route back to the quarry the hummer spluttered & died.

Inandeng, San Vicente, Palawan 7.42am 07/10/17

Alex, Vrasten, T-Bird & Boyd all stood looking under the hood of the humvee, eventually they agreed it was a fuel issue although they weren't sure exactly what the problem was.

After staring a bit longer they heard the distant growl of a blown exhaust, although they were never going to look like tourists Alex stood by the car whilst the others made themselves scarce unsure who exactly it was that was coming. After a few minutes a beat up old pick-up pulled up along Alex containing two females, smiling pleasantly they asked Alex in broken english if everything was OK & if she needed any help offering to go fetch their husband's from Inandeng as it was only fifteen minutes to the village on the coast.

Keeping things pleasant Alex assured them everything was all right & that her friends would be back soon but thanks for the offer & honestly she was fine etc, etc, eventually they took the hint, smiled & went on their way.

Inandeng, San Vicente, Palawan 8.09am 07/10/17

With no other option T-Bird dropped his kit & jogged off to go get König from the quarry, he, König, wasn't a exactly a mechanic as such but with considerable knowledge of aero engines & heavy machinery they figured he could sort it out.

Inandeng, San Vicente, Palawan 8.49am 07/10/17

König closed the hood & told Alex to start her up, at the second try the humvee roared into life,

"Carburetta's all full of shit, needs some TLC, it might be new but nobody's overhauled the engine since it came off the line, I'll give it a once over when we get back to the quarry."

With the humvee purring like a kitten they hauled ass.

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