All The King's Horses

Chapter Ten

Northwest Coast of Australia

An Air Force MC-130 combat talon slipped through the partially clouded starry night sky, one hundred and sixty two miles northwest of East Timor headed for the southern tip of Island of Sulawesi. The four Allison powered turboprop engines carried the high-wing aircraft to an altitude of twenty-nine thousand feet at a speed of 290 miles per hour. From aerial images Sulawesi looked like a giant orchid with a sizable, mountainous center and four peninsulas that resembled the petals of a tropical flower. It is the third largest of the islands that make up Indonesia with an area of 172,000 square kilometers. The topography of island varied greatly. It was surrounded by coral reefs, which made underwater insertions dangerous. It was also ridged by lofty mountain chains in some areas though it still had long full coastlines, which made over-the-water insertions using Zodiac inflatable rafts possible. The island was dotted with lakes and rice patties and completed by its dense rain forest-like jungles. The population of Sulawesi was comprised of four major ethnic groups; the Toraja who lived in the mountain region in the center of the island; the peaceful Manado-Minahasa who dwelled in the lush, green North; and the Bugis and Makassarese who lived on the peninsula in the South of the island. All in all Sulawesi was a perfect place for a terrorist to build a training camp as well as hide hostages. It was isolated, had diverse terrain and not so easy to get to.

Based on the Intelligence provided, Lincoln’s plan was simple – HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) in to the dry rice paddy, three kilometers north of the Tondano river, move his thirty man extraction team made up of fourteen SEAL, eight Delta, four SAS, and four GSG-9 from the LZ seventeen kilometers north through the jungle, to the training camp; eliminating any sentries along the way; grab the hostages, move them back to the rice patty and extract them using two Air Force Pave Low helicopters. While they were making their way to the site, a four man SEAL Team Five element would board, search and secure the Valhalla. If the primary extraction team came under fire and needed a hot extract a larger SEAL Team Five element would be waiting in the river, three kilometers to the south, with two 82-foot Mark V Combatant Craft for the hostages and two 68-foot Mark IV Sea Specter Patrol Boats for cover and extraction of the rescue force. Lincoln knew that if they were forced to extract the hostages under fire that the Mark IVs could deliver enough fire power, using 25 and 40 millimeter cannons as well as 81 millimeter mortar rounds, to suppress anything the terrorists could muster and, fast enough to get them out of harm’s way quickly.

CIA/NSA satellites provided up-to-date, clear images of the training camp. Previous reports by Indonesian Intelligence services described the camp as a disjointed colony of ramshackle thatch huts surrounded by a dilapidated barbwire fence.

“Agent Chiang was right not to trust the Indonesian’s” said Commander Devereaux handing the manila folder to Major Greene. “Look at these.”