Chapter 16 - The Iron MonsterWe ran across the overgrown tarmac, our boots pounding against the cracked concrete as the sound of approaching helicopters grew deafening.
In the shadows of a decaying corrugated steel hangar stood the massive shape of a Lockheed C-130H Hercules. Its dull gray paint was faded and peeling, covered in a thin layer of salt crust, but its four massive four-bladed propellers looked solid and ready.
“Marcus, get the load ramp down!” I shouted, throwing my flight bag into the crew door. “Daniel, hit the APU power switch! We need electrical bleed air to start the engines!”
The loud, high-pitched whine of the Auxiliary Power Unit began to echo through the hangar as Daniel threw the vintage mechanical switches in the cockpit. Analog dials fluttered to life—no LCD screens, no fly-by-wire computers, no digital network connections. Just heavy hydraulic lines, steel control cables, and mechanical instruments built in the 1970s.
“Engine Four start switch engage!” I yelled, sitting in the pilot’s left seat and reaching for the overhead console.
Outside, the outer starboard engine groaned, coughing up a thick cloud of white unburnt fuel smoke. The giant propeller turned once, twice, and then caught with a deafening roar that shook the entire hangar.
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Suddenly, the hangar’s side windows shattered in a rain of glass.
High-caliber rounds stitched a line across the metal wall above our heads. Through the dust, I saw a black, unmarked V-22 Osprey hovering fifty yards outside over the runway, its side-mounted minigun glowing red as it poured fire into the building.
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