[Korea]: The 8AM to Canberra

[Joe]

Saturday night, I was down town... working for the Eff Bee Eyeeee... sitting in a nest of bad men.... whiskey bottles piling high.

The young man was something else entirely. A handsome, yet boyish-looking face that still had yet to shed baby fat, the man was sitting perfectly straight at the window seat, a half-completed game of Soduko perched on his lap. Ryan, better known as Crown Prince Ryu Min-Ki, gently nodded along to the music playing from his Samsung earbuds. The chartered 747 was half-full, with not a whole lot of Korean natives looking to travel to Canberra in the middle of May. As a student who studied abroad in the majority of his secondary education years, he had accumulated a taste for foreign cultures, mainly those in the West. He listened to The Hollies, N.W.A., and AC/DC as much as any other American or Australian boy. The uniform he had on, however, dictated that he was completely Korean. The black suit coat and trousers signified that he was an officer in the Royal Korean Navy and whenever he put it on, he felt the pride of all those that came before him, and the burden of those that remained expectant of him.

The dinner the night before had been tense, to say the least. All he could remember was Sandy morosely scraping her fork across the china plate, going on about how much she was going to miss her big brother (even though he was gone a majority of the time anyway at the Academy). He will admit, he had barely been home upon leave when his orders for deployment to Canberra came in. His father, the Monarch of Korea, could hardly contain his fury and sorrow when Ryan firmly decided to accept.

"It says 'your deployment, should you choose to accept it', for a reason."

It's my duty.

"I barely saw it for a second, and I already know it's three." A feminine voice jutted through his reverie, ending his thoughts prematurely.

"Hello, Cade-..." Ryan began.

"Oh stop, Ryan. Mind if I sit down?" Cadet-Commander Tan asked, the corners of her lips upturning.

It was quite the friendship that they had. The Crown Prince had first met Cadet-Commander Tan at the annual Service Academy Martial Arts Competition, where Ryan was expected to be a shoo-in for the Judo Gold and the Taekwondo Gold. His first round was matched off against Cadet-Commander Tan, the first female in Royal Air Force Academy history. Walking with the cocky swagger that was confident of the new midshipmen that had passed their first year, he was prepared to send a quick roundhouse kick and expect to be done with the match. The spinning jump quick ended his entire stay at the tournament in six seconds. He was the laughingstock of the entire Naval Academy and Royal Family for months, until a highly competitive Finals round in the next year's tournament turned him into a school hero, when he won by a point decision. The rivalry began, going back and forth, back and forth. A competition to see who could churn out the better test scores, the better shooting scores, the better simulation results. Who could have less casualties while causing more damage? Who could completely disassemble a Daewoo Precision Industries K1 Battle Rifle and reassemble it faster? Who could name the most so-and-so in such-and-such subject?

Soon, however, things began to change. The flying kicks that Tan sent through the air became a hair of a second slower and less powerful. The matches, where they went for blood, became more slower-paced, as if they were dancers looking to extend all the time they could on the floor. Rather than the looks of fury and restrained anger that the other gave when the other won, they turned into something else, something akin to pride for the other. The relationship culminated in Hell Week, a grueling week long Tri-Service combat simulation, with the cadets and midshipmen, who were accustomed to rivalry and competition, forced to cooperate to march almost 100 miles across rough terrain to assault enemy positions, all the while under attack by the maniacs at the Royal Marines. Cadet-Commander Tan and Midshipman-Commander Ryu were paired together, much to their chagrin. However, when night fell and Ryu took watch first, allowing Tan to gain much needed rest, he began to notice things. Like perhaps the way her eyes narrowed when she laughed, or the way she scrunched her nose in irritation when faced with an enormous task.

They came out of Hell Week closer than siblings. Still, they rivaled. Yet now, they had turned into something else, something the cadets and midshipmen have begun noticing. The radio chatter when doing combined exercises became playful instead of terse and straight-to-the-point. They always seemed to be reviewing materials together in the forever-reserved study room.

If only..

"Go ahead," Ryan gestured to the seat next to him.

Tan smiled and sat down.

 

[Joe]

If you ever asked Prince Ryu "Ryan" Min-Ki what he liked to do for fun, he'd be very pleased to tell you that he what he liked to do for fun was serve his country to better the future for all Koreans. A very diplomatic response, worthy to the heir of the throne. What he probably wouldn't have told you, but most likely told Cadet Commander Tan, was that he loved danger. He loved adrenaline. He loved doing activities that gave his mother and father high blood pressure and stress lines. The cautious and dutiful handsome Naval Academy Midshipman that had his image plastered on family portraits was nothing like the true Ryan. Ryan, in the field, wasn't by-the-book. He was overzealous, aggressive, and always thinking of out-of-the-box solutions to tackle problems on the fly. He was, in short, living life in the fast lane.

Which was exactly why he realized that he was about to have a blast. As the Australian Air Force C-130J pierced through the sky, Midshipman-Commander Ryu did his check of threes. His helmet, altimeter... check. The chest strap and leg straps and static line on his parachute... check. His main handle, main cutaway handle, and reserve chute... check.

"You can check all you want, it's not gonna' go anywhere, mate!" One of the Australian Cadets chortled, rousing a growl of laughter through the plane.

"Can't help but be too careful, eh?" Ryan replied, winking at the cadet.

He had truly fit in at the Academy. He had done extremely well in his classes and had earned the respect of his classmates and professors, from his work in the classroom and his actions in the field. Cadet-Commander Tan on the other hand, was having trouble, butting heads with a lot of the male cadets and refusing to work with any of the females. She was struggling, but managing to make do, taking advantage of the long chats that Tan and Ryan shared, chats that lasted for hours of end and resulted in them waking up when the bugle sounded, realizing that they had yet again fallen asleep in the outdoors huddled by a guard post.

The jump that the cadets were making today was a routine static line deployment course, something that all the cadets went through. The Korean contingent were free to tag along and jump as well, and were excited at the prospect of making an airborne jump and studying the nuances that the Australians put into it. After all, this is why they were here. To learn and observe. They had been driven to Sydney and launched from there. They were still a good couple hundred miles from the drop zone, the plane flying over some cattle station the size of Texas.

"Commander Ryan," The jumpmaster barked, catching Ryan's attention. "Over here."

"Aye, aye, jumpmaster!" Ryan said, walking over and dragging his static line on the steel cord overhead. "What's up?"

"There seems to be a malfunction in the door," The jumpmaster said, pointing to the rear door, the large one that loaded in troops and trucks. "I'm going to open it and I'll need you to look at the gears and check it out for me, mate."

"Aye, aye, sir." Ryan nodded, dragging his static line towards the door.

"Be careful," Cadet Commander Tan said, looking up from her briefing at him. She was reviewing the briefing for the umptenth time, having confided in Ryan that although she was a fighter pilot, she had a mild nervousness about her while making this jump.

"Always," Ryan said cheerfully, practically skipping to the door. The air inside the C-17 was growing musty and he sang his praise at the chance at getting some fresh air. As Ryan came close, the jumpmaster opened the rear door, the gears whirring as the slab of steel descended. Cold air rushed in and Ryan loved it, stepping closer and closer to the void while looking for the malfunction. He was standing quite close to the edge when he saw it. It was simply a jammed gear in the door, about seven feet above him.

"Found it," He called towards the jumpmaster and pointing up. "It's the gear. It's jammed ri-..."

Bang!

Ryan looked around in confusion, the weight of the parachute on his chest suddenly feeling lighter. He looked straight, seeing the jumpmaster's and surrounding cadets' eyes widen. Ryan realized instantly what happened.

"Fuck." He said, as his reserve chute deployed, hurtling him outside of the airplane and outside. Hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the designated drop zone and miles away from any form of civilization at all.

 

[Owen]

Pre-Event:

Ryan would be taken to RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney via an Australian Defence Force Academy bus as he selected to take a weekend elective course to do paradropping. This was to be conducted by the Special Operations Training and Education Centre with the assistance of No. 37 Squadron based at Richmond. The teachers from SOTEC would mainly be ex-SAS and ex-2nd Commando personnel who knew exactly what they were doing and had extensive training and operations in paradrop. They would go through the safety procedures with Ryan, Tan and the other members of the training delegation. The plane would take off from Richmond and would fly out west over the Blue Mountains, as to avoid the populated area of Sydney as residents have recently been complaining of the loud noise that the Super Hercules produce. They would be heading towards Holsworthy Barracks, the main Special Operations base, which would have a sizeable training ground to paradrop into. Once they were flying over the Blue Mountains, that would be when the incident occurred.

Post-Incident:

The jumpmaster would suddenly realised what had happened.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

He would alert the cockpit of what had happened, who obviously had alarms going off on deck. The pilots would make preparations to turn back to RAAF Base Richmond and make an emergency landing. The oxygen masks would drop from the decompression in the aircraft. The aircraft wouldn't be very far from Richmond. The issue with the back door would not cause the plane to completely lose control but it would become difficult for the pilots to control. The RAAF Fire and Rescue Service at Richmond would deploy their 2 Panther Airfield Fire Trucks to meet the Super Hercules on the runway. The Herc would come down gently lining up with the runway before hitting the runway, the back door would scratch along the runway, causing sparks to fly up until the planes nose hit the runway. The pilots would brake hard and the hercules would come to a grinding holt. The fire trucks would race to the plane and begin putting foam on the rear door just as a precaution. The personnel including the teachers, the air crew and the cadets would be evacuated via the side door. Immediately the jumpmaster would notify the base commander that the Prince had been sucked out the plane and could be dead or missing granted he deployed his chute. The base commander would notify the No. 112 Air-Sea Rescue Flight, which had an AgustaWestland AW139 based at RAAF Base Williamtown which was located in Newcastle, just north of Sydney. The helicopter would be deployed and given the location of where the incident occurred over the Blue Mountains somewhere in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park. As it was timely that the RAAF Helicopter would get there, the NSW Police Force would be notified who would deploy helicopters directly from Sydney, deploying POLAIR 2 and POLAIR 5, both of which were Bell 412s. The State Emergency Service would also deploy members from their Blue Mountains, Wollondilly, Camden, Blacktown and Liverpool Units to search the National Park. As it was a National Park, Park Rangers from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service would also be the first on the scene to look for the Prince.

 

[Joe]

Ryan loved heights. Ever since he was little, he'd always climb to the top of furniture, to the top of the stairs, and, to his Royal Police bodyguard's chagrin, to the top of the Blue House. He loved the view, acting like some kind of omnipresent king who could survey his lands. It was his pleasure to have been able to take jump school with the Royal Korean Army. There was nothing quite like doing something where everything in your being said it was absolutely bloody mental, and as soon as you commit to doing it, that same being is telling you that it's absolutely bloody amazing. If he'd had a choice in where he wanted to go (the Navy being the only way to cajole his overbearing parents into letting him earn his commission at the military academies), he'd have gone to the Airborne.

Suddenly, he was thinking that it wasn't exactly the best decision at the time.

"Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Midshipman-Commander Ryu screamed, twirling around in the air. He was still thousands of feet above the ground and his parachute had activated, but that was not yet what concerned him. What had concerned him was that his lines were twisted and, as a result, his parachute was uncontrollable. He was in a spin, plummeting to the ground at a speed that was far above what he could safely land at.

He only had one option.

He stared down at his rig, looking at both the metal handle and the red-cloth one.

Eyes on red!

Hands on red!

Eyes on grey!

Pull red!

Hands on grey!

Pull grey!

As soon as he pulled red, he felt the feeling that he loved to feel. The feeling of falling, the feeling of your stomach turning, the feeling of your testicles being stuck in your throat as you fell, fell faster than you thought. Slowly, off in the distance, he saw his black main chute drifting away in the Australian winds. He felt giddy again, feeling the sensation of plummeting to the Earth at 120 miles per hour. He only felt that for mere seconds, the wind whipping his ears and creating a cacophony of noise. Finally, his head snapped back, and he saw his legs in front of his eyes as his reserve chute deployed. He looked up, seeing his canopy open and breathed a sigh of relief.

He was safe.

"Oh you gotta' be shitting me!" He cried in English.

For now.

Except all he could see was that he was headed right for trees and not one man-made structure for miles and miles around.

"Out of the frying pan, and into the fire..." He muttered.

 

[Owen]

One of the POLAIR Helicopters would begin flying around the National Park. Suddenly one of the rescuers would spot something.

"THERE!" The Helicopter would lower over the tree tops. It would be Ryan's main black chute stuck on the top of the tree tops.

"He can't be far from here." The POLAIR would keep looking as the second one arrived, the RAAF Air-Sea Rescue Helicopter would still be on its way from Williamtown. At Richmond the C-130J would be doused with foam and would be declared safe. A pushback tractor would come to essentially drag the C-130J to a parking spot on the airbase where it can undergo repairs. The runway would be quickly cleaned by the RAAF Fire and Rescue Service so it may be cleared for use again.

 

[Joe]

His parachute was forgotten, almost four kilometers behind him. Prince Min-Ki hobbled on a makeshift cast, leaning on the trees for support. His landing... was not quite so great. He had landed in the trees and the thick, leafy branches had broken his fall. But, as a result of the tall height of the (what he suspected) blue gum trees, he was left suspended hanging over 10 meters off the ground. Left with two options, which was to wait for rescue and attempt to brave the oh-my-good-god-everything-wants-to-kill-me Australian wilderness, or cut free and take his chances on the ground, he chose the latter. Unwilling to stay hanging there until rescue (if there was going to be rescue), he pulled out his Fairbarn Sykes dagger, a gift from a friend he made in the Australian SASR, and cut himself free from his chute.

He had misjudged how much he had to cut to get free and before he knew it, he was plummeting toward the ground, feet first. Although he had landed in a classic PLF, which distributed the force of his fall to the ground, he felt immediately what had happened. A sharp crack had erupted in his left leg, followed by an agonizing burn that was quickly numbed by the adrenaline of the fall. He had fractured it.

So, like the good Korean soldier he was, he shut his trap, wiped the tears from his face, fashioned himself a splint, and marched into the wilderness... in the opposite direction of the rescue helicopter. In fact, had he stayed there for only an hour or so, he'd have been in the back of a POLAIR helicopter, enjoying a hot cup of tea or a cool glass of water. He'd be on his way back to base, ready to swear the rest of the regiment to silence so that word would never get back to his family back in Seoul. They'd blow a gasket for sure. He'd be officially 'grounded', stuck behind a desk for the rest of his military career until he got to the point where he'd have enough and re-join the Royal Family as the face of the kingdom.

Instead, he was marching through the Blue Mountains, a national park that was damn near 700,000 acres. One could spend an entire lifetime exploring the park and they'd never see the same rock twice. Prince Min-Ki blocked out the pain by daydreaming, as he trudged through the forest. Moreover, he dreamt of Cadet-Commander Tan. Maybe this was some kind of higher power talking to him. Military service, especially military service in Korea, was dangerous. It was time for him to find someone and settle down. Maybe if he somehow got out of this alive, he'd skip straight past the dating phase and just ask Tan to marry him. After all, they were practically joined at the hip already. They've gone on numerous dates... if you could call a 40 kilometer hike with a Meal-Ready-to-Eat for dinner a dinner and date.

Yes, the more he thought about it, the more the option grew attractive to him. Him in his dress whites and her in her service dress, joined at the podium for a Royal Wedding.

Hm...

He continued to hike, ignoring the fact that he had drained his water hours ago and he was still sweating like a maniac, his warpaint was dripping down his chin. He was delirious with thrist. His shoulders were aching from his gear that he had refused to abandon, and his arms were lead from the heavy rifle in his hand that he had refused to leave behind. It had only dummy rounds in it, unable to fire anything. Yet, training had kicked in. He could imagine his drill instructor stomping on his abdomen as the Prince did flutter kicks, holding his rifle in the air.

Your weapon is more valuable than you will ever be. You don't have to come home, but your weapon does.

Maybe it'll scare the kangaroos from turning him into a human punchi-...

"Mom, take my picture!" A girl's voice sang off to his right. Prince Min-Ki's eyes snapped to that direction.

"In a minute, honey." A woman's voice called back. "Greg... will you?"

"Sure, dear."

Broken leg be damned! Prince Min-Ki hurried, dragging his leg behind him, until he burst out of the clearing and into a field, scaring an entire family of Australians to death.

"Afternoon," He gasped. "Any of you have a cellphone?"

 

[Owen]

"Uhh... yes, certainly. Are you okay? Do you need some water? We can call for an ambulance for you."

The woman would give the Prince his phone, but Greg would already be on it and would call 000 and would let them know their whereabouts and coordinates from a GPS device. Immediately the POLAIR helicopter would circle around that area with the RAAF helicopter. The RAAF helicopter would have medevac equipment onboard and paramedics. They would winch down a stretcher from the RAAF helicopter with one Air Force paramedic on it. The paramedic would come down and check out the Prince's injuries. He would perform first aid on the leg, securing it and making sure it was okay to be moved before moving the Prince onto the stretcher. Once the prince had been strapped in and secured the paramedic would signal to be lifted back up. The trees would all be swaying due to the force of the helicopter's rotars. On the ground, a couple of 4x4's would arrive with Park Ranger's from NSW Wildlife and Parks Service along with a Police 4x4 with Police Officers. They would collect details from the family who were there with the prince and would search the area for clues of any sort to what the prince may have been doing. Meanwhile the helicopter would be flying back towards the Sydney metropolitan area. It would head towards the CBD and would land on the helipad located on the roof the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown. From there additional NSW Ambulance Service paramedics and doctors would be waiting with a stretcher. The prince's board would be placed on the stretcher, he would be unstrapped and would begin being transported from the doctors and paramedics. The RAAF helicopter would head back to RAAF Base Williamtown in Newcastle. The prince would be taken through the wards to Emergency and would be assessed by doctor's who would perform an emergency X-Ray on his leg and would determine the severity of it. They would tell the prince he needs to be put through to emergency surgery to repair the damage to his leg. The prince would be sedated and the surgery would be underway. The prince's family back in Korea would be informed by a phone call from the Ambassador. News would quickly spread about the prince being found and his stable status in hospital. Due to the Prince's status, 4 NSW Police Force officers would arrive at the hospital to provide additional security to the prince to the already tight security at the hospital.