Jirian Intervention In Adventium Part II

The skies of Adventium on the night of March 13th and the early hours of March 14th rumbled with the distant sounds of jet engines for many hours as 300 C-17s of the Jirian Air Force transported over 20,000 troops of the 1st Airborne Division and all of its equipment as part of Operation Reliant Shield.

The massive cargo planes conducted assault landings on airfields provided by the Adventium government. Their rear cargo ramps would be open, and the planes would land with their flaps, slats, and spoilers fully extended, rolling to a stop in less than 600 meters of runway with the help of their engines on reverse thrust. Almost as soon as the planes came to a halt their cargo of 100 paratroopers or 4 BMD-4s of the Airborne Corps would rapidly disembark before they took back off into the air with less than 1,000 meters of runway. This process was repeated over and over again in multiple locations until the entire 1st Airborne Division was deployed into Adventium.

A Jirian C-17 conducting an assault landing on an Adventium airfield

Scattered about in the more isolated portions of the country, groups of MC-130Js airdropped company-sized task forces of paratroopers and their vehicles in order to provide more urgent security for populations that would be difficult to reach quickly by the main force. These groups are among the few ground units that have permanent means of air support and air supply available to their commanders.

MC-130Js were used to para-drop soldiers and vehicles into isolated population centers

Constant overwatch was provided by F-22A, F-15QA, and F-35A Fighters, AC-130J gunships, as well as B-52H and B-2A heavy bombers from the Air Force and Airborne Corps, with the various aircraft taking turns standing guard in the skies above. Beyond annual exercises conducted by the Jirian Air Force, this was the largest deployment of aircraft conducted by the Jirians since the Civil War

By the early morning hours of the day, convoys of Jirian-modified BMD-4Js (whose turrets had been stripped of their 50mm autocannon and ATGM armaments) had begun snaking through the jungles and countryside, escorted by AH-6M and MH-60M DAP gunships flying low over the forest canopy.

A Jirian MH-60M Direct Action Penetrator gunship rests on an airfield

It wasn’t long before sporadic gunfire could be heard scattered about Adventium, but most of the convoys’s encounters with Sasquatches were minor and exaggerated by nervous Airborne Troops - the majority of which had yet to see any sort of combat whatsoever. Once the units of the 1st Airborne Division had settled into their assigned objectives, the incidents ceased with the lack of maneuvering.

A convoy of BMD-4s on exercises. The Jirian variant is armed with a 50mm autocannon. The ones deployed to Adventium had their weapons removed.

The calm wasn’t to last long, however. The first large pack of Sasquatches that was detected by a MH-60M patrol was promptly engaged by the helicopter’s 7.62mm miniguns and 30mm chainguns, before they pulled away to make room for bomber strikes. A pair of F-35A Lightning IIs, nicknamed the “Panther” by their pilots, dropped a total of 12 tear gas canisters in a concave blocking pattern which drove the group of Sasquatches away from populated areas.

A Jirian F-35A in heavy air-to-ground attack configuration.

“We’re out here in force to demonstrate our commitment to our allies in the 10,000 Islands,” said General Daniel Coleman, commander of the Airborne Corps's 1st Air-Ground Task Force. “We’re here to protect, and no enemy on the field will prevent us from accomplishing that objective.”

General Coleman has already begun to be called by the nickname “Butcher” by his troops in the few hours he’s been in Adventium. Official counts estimate 60 sasquatches killed by the 1st Air-Ground Task Force, with a further 340 having been deterred from disturbing local populations.