51 minutes later Crusader squadron was approaching the blanket of Darkness. Gunn lowly whistled, “Wow, I didn’t know it was that immense. It seems to go on forever, like a black wall that stretches to infinity.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “You three hang back. If I my LiDAR doesn’t work, I’ll use my compass and return. Mission will be aborted.” The Crusaders banked away from the Darkness as I raced undaunted towards it.
“Godspeed,” Gunn said as my fighter was swallowed by the Darkness.
“Praise God!” I exclaimed. My bird’s LiDAR was easily slicing through the unnatural Dark. “Crusaders 2, 3, and 4, proceed. I repeat, proceed with mission. Over.”
“ROGER!” Gunn exclaimed with calm exuberance and banked towards the Darkness. “Ospreys, mission is a go. I repeat, mission is a go!” she said before her Crusader was swallowed by the Darkness; Austin and Hawke quickly followed.
The Ospreys were flying NOE (Nap-of-the-earth), flying at a low altitude to avoid detection. “Roger,” Erickson coolly replied, “Proceeding with mission.” She looked up at the Israeli Crusaders that were providing cover for the tilt wing aircraft. “Mission is a go Lieutenant Wolf. I repeat, mission is a go!”
“Acknowledged. We have your six. Over,” Eve stated.
We slipped south of the sleeping armor. 30 clicks away were the supply trucks; I counted about 50. I flipped to thermal and I couldn’t believe my eyes, lots of bodies strewn about but no thermal readings. The supply trucks were sitting unattended, they had been abandoned! I wondered for a moment if this were a trap; I circled a couple of times around and saw nothing.
I still wasn’t convinced. “Flip to thermal,” I ordered.
The squadron lowly whistled at the site. Gunn chimed in, “Reminds me of Gideon.”
“My thoughts exactly, they killed each other in the confusion, much like Gideon.”
“Who’s Gideon?” Ensign Hawke asked.
“He’s a judge from the Bible, but Four, I’ll let Gunn finish the story,” I replied.
“…thanks,” she dryly said as she glared in my direction. She cleared her throat and gave a lesson, “I’ll give you the Cliff notes. Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh. He was the least of the tribe’s least family. He was hesitant when he was called and asked for two signs. God performed them, God dwindled his army down to 300 men. During a shift change with the Midianite army they broke their pots holding torches. The confused men thought they were being attacked by Israel and killed each other.”
“Oh,” Four answered.
“Good work Gunn, you’ll make a great Sunday School teacher one day,” I retorted and grew serious. “Three, see anything?”
“I’m scanning now, I don’t see anything on the dead bodies except for equipment. No signs of trip wires or traps. But I can’t see any evidence of IED (Improvised Explosive Device),” the junior lieutenant replied.
My anxiety eased a bit, “Osprey 1, Supply trucks are abandoned. I repeat, the trucks are abandoned; not sure if this is a trap. Over.”
“Acknowledged,” Erickson said. “Keep air support in case it is.”
“Wilco.”
The Ospreys landed a few hundred feet from the supply trucks. US Marines wearing night vision goggles scrambled from the birds and rushed to the trucks. They picked a medical truck, they inspected it and saw no signs of booby traps. Two of them climbed aboard and started to unload it. Other Marines broke away and hit another truck. It too was inspected for signs of sabotage; it too passed. A Marine hopped on board and quickly tossed boxes to his buddies. They caught them and rushed back to the waiting Osprey.
About twenty minutes later Erickson’s bird took off, the ensign escorted her out to the Light. Eve escorted her home while Four returned with a MH-53. The MH-53 landed after the other Osprey took off.
I circled high above, keeping a constant watch on my LiDAR. One side of me had a nagging feeling that I would soon see it lighting up like a Christmas tree with multiple contacts; the other was cool, calm, and collected. God was providing for His people as He said he would. A calm assurance came over me, the Crusaders could engage any and all targets in daylight and not be seen, let alone this total darkness.
