What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 427 The Mystery of Antarctica
Aparma
Taking advantage of the brief period of good weather after the rain, four camouflaged Black Hawk helicopters sped along the highway at low altitude.

"Louis would never have imagined that his song would be used a second time!"

Ryan's team remained optimistic, even turning on the tape recorder and turning it up to the maximum volume. After a powerful rock intro, Louis Armstrong's Jungle Album began playing:
"G-oo-d morning Viatnem!"

Ten years ago, this song became a global hit thanks to the movie of the same name.

Its purpose was to oppose war, but Ryan didn't care about that. He was excited to hear something exciting in a boring foreign land.

Veteran Grand insisted on withdrawing from the operation, which only dampened the team's spirits for a short while, or perhaps they had already become numb to it.

The purpose of this trip is to reach a remote town in the area, which will serve as Ryan's team's base for the foreseeable future.

The Imperial Air Force mobilized 22 transport planes in 7 days to deliver equipment to Guyana, and then airdropped a large number of engineering equipment and personnel, managing to build a runway large enough for C-130s to take off and land in 10 days.

When Ryan's team arrived to accept the mission, there was already a fully equipped transit base that could provide any support.

Watching the Marun elites singing and dancing, Itamar, sitting to the side, felt very uneasy.

The heavenly soldiers were dispatched "at Enrique's invitation to assist in suppressing bandits," so our side naturally had the obligation to assist and accompany them.

Having witnessed the Empire's exaggerated ability to deploy a base in the blink of an eye, he was genuinely worried that the Second Fleet wouldn't be able to withstand such a lavish spending spree.

He was even afraid that what he was doing would be discovered:

In order to restore its dominant position, Itamar secretly united some young people and formed the "Brothers of Justice".

Justice comes from the interpretation of Itamar, and brothers symbolize their unity. Itamar's code name is "First Brother".

The first thing the Brotherhood of Justice did was to seek out and establish contact with the Second Fleet, but when it realized the revolutionary combat power of the Heavenly Soldiers, Itamar began to waver.

As the four helicopters landed on the makeshift runway, Ryan immediately launched into a tirade about his surroundings:

"Damn it, is the Marines even worse than the army? With such rudimentary equipment, are they planning to wipe us out in one fell swoop? They don't even have anti-aircraft vehicles?"
General Itamar, when will your air force be able to station a 24-hour standby squadron here?

"..."

Itamar wiped the sweat from his brow:

"Soon, very soon."

A flight squadron on standby 24 hours a day?
Those capable of nighttime operations are the best elites. Should we hand them over to the Marines as expendable resources to fight the Second Fleet?

Moreover, Pakistan still mainly uses the A4 Skyhawk aircraft. Even the Empire, which uses the F-14, has failed. He wouldn't dare send them to their deaths.

He increasingly regretted his impulsive actions, but as he irritably tried to coordinate with the heavenly soldiers, the phone rang:

"First Brother, this is the Seventh Brother. I have made contact with the U-boat, but they are very suspicious of us. Requesting further instructions!"

……

"Where the hell did that damned Second Fleet hide its warships?!"

Minister Johnson had a huge headache.

Although the task force suffered no losses, its impact on the Imperial Navy was far greater than that of the Battle of Antigua.

Two consecutive defeats led many potential adversaries to accuse the Imperial Navy of incompetence:
Two consecutive leaders accomplished nothing, causing the empire to suffer repeated losses of soldiers and generals.

How come a global fleet that has dominated the oceans for half a century keeps getting tripped up by clowns who seem to appear out of nowhere?
It must be due to the incompetence of the commander!
Compared to the previous naval battle, the Guyana air raids didn't showcase many incomprehensible "black technologies," and with the Clemenceau also lost, the Empire's decision to release most of the details indicated that it was merely an accidental setback. However, various military experts and former pilots immediately jumped out to debunk the claims, stating that a sea-skimming raid at a few meters altitude was utterly absurd and that Fern was using a clumsy excuse to cover up his elementary mistakes.

Johnson had already exhausted all his efforts to resolve these problems, but now a new problem had arisen:

The sinking of the Seawolf is still not resolved!
His original plan was to delay and cover up the matter by replacing the Seawolf with the Birmingham, but the formation of the task force delayed him considerably.

As a result, the families of the crew members who lost contact with the Seawolf noticed something was wrong. The length of time they had been out of contact was unusual, and they weren't replying to letters.

But if we were to sink the Birmingham now, wouldn't that just make matters worse?
That will definitely cause an uproar among the public.
It's one thing to lose a war, but problems also arise in routine missions?

The loss of a nuclear submarine is no small matter, and it is even more sensitive at this juncture.

There may even be more than one; the missing Bremerton has not yet been found, and the matter has not been made public.

After so much time has passed, no one believes the Bremerton is still alive, but if the loss of two nuclear submarines is announced now, Johnson would have to step down if he had any dignity left.

He desperately needs a victory, an undisputed victory, to salvage some of his reputation.

The air force commander, Wayne, was a coward who kept saying that "Hans pilots are all fakes" and refused to send out bombers. He wouldn't even carry out a few symbolic bombings to deceive the people.

The best solution now is for the Navy to take the initiative to find the Second Fleet and have a fight, but the other side is so mysterious that it doesn't leave a trace. They can't just send their warships into the Amazon River, can they?

After much deliberation, his gaze fell upon Antarctica, which had already been "abandoned".

Although the massive preparations made for Antarctica were only partially completed before they had to be halted, the empire had only withdrawn some conspicuous targets; it was not yet at the point where it could be easily frightened away.

The Pakistan Air Force Base has become a barrier to the Atlantic Ocean, but it only temporarily makes the South Pole dangerous. The Second Fleet is far from controlling Antarctica.

Johnson's finger moved across the map, finally settling on New Ceylon.

He was about to call Bean, the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence, when the man appeared at the office door and, before Bean could speak, said:

"It's just in time to analyze the feasibility of U-2 reconnaissance missions from New Ceylon to Antarctica and to develop a plan. The Navy's internal support should be sufficient for this."

Bean nodded first, and then said:

"That's exactly why I've come, sir. We've discovered traces of the Second Fleet in Antarctica!"

Johnson suddenly stood up:
"What is it? A warship, or a base?"

"Neither of those. It's the wreckage of what appears to be a Me 262."

Binn pulled out a photograph showing a fragment frozen in ice, with only a small part of it showing:

"It was discovered by a Swiss iodine expedition team. One of them happened to recognize it as a blade from an aircraft engine. They initially thought that another explorer had had an accident."

After a week, they continued their search and found many other pieces of debris in the surrounding area. The pieced-together resemblance was striking.

"I understand!"

Johnson's eyes lit up with excitement:

"They must have crashed while training pilots! Where? Where!"

(End of this chapter)