Chapter 254 Forced Landing!
Chapter 254 Forced Landing!
While the Silver Crane formation was speeding up frantically, the Xunlong Commando on the other side received an order to slow down and try to maintain economic endurance. On the one hand, it was to wait for the support of the Silver Crane formation, and on the other hand, it was to leave them more room.
But the crew on the Xindu was in trouble.
There were capable people among the pirates. After they took control of the Xindu, they only took 20 minutes to crack the control system of the merchant ship and restarted the engine. The power interruption on the merchant ship was also restored, which made it faster for the pirates to find the crew.
It took them only more than 30 minutes to complete the search of the living deck of the bridge, and began to split into two groups. More than a dozen people entered the lower deck, and more than a dozen people went to the container area on the upper deck.
Although the area of these two areas is very large and the structure is extremely complex, if the rescue is delayed, it will take only one or two hours for the crew to be found.
At this time, the security captain Tan Zhihao was hiding in a cabin near the stern with more than a dozen crew members. It was so quiet inside that only the sound of everyone’s breathing could be heard. The tense atmosphere made everyone’s spirits highly tense.
Tan Zhihao was also putting his ear against the cold iron wall at this time, trying to discern the progress of the pirates’ search through the sound.
Da Da Da——
A sudden gunshot startled Tan Zhihao and the crew, and Tan Zhihao subconsciously clenched the pistol in his hand.
However, the size of the gunshot can be refuted that the pirates are still some distance away from them.
The shooting was entirely to intimidate them, but this intimidation did have some effect.
A more timid crew member thought that the pirates had come, and was so scared that he immediately opened the door and ran away. Fortunately, Tan Zhihao was quick-witted and covered his mouth and pulled him back.
“Don’t move, keep quiet, they haven’t come yet!”
”Well…but…Captain Tan, what if we drag on like this and anger the pirates?”
”That’s right, if we keep waiting like this, it’s only a matter of time before we’re found. It’s better to go out and negotiate with the pirates and ask the shipowner to pay the ransom. They’ll let us go after receiving the ransom!”
”Hush! Be quiet!” Tan Zhihao glared at the two complaining sailors, “Our navy is on the way. As long as we can hold on, we’ll definitely be rescued!”
”Rescue? The Zhoushan ship is three or four hundred nautical miles away from us. How can they rescue us? Even if a helicopter comes, it’s useless. “Return!”
”That’s right! We are now isolated and helpless. Isn’t it better to contact the shipowner to pay the money as soon as possible? Do we have to wait for them to capture everyone in Somalia and lock them in cages before waiting for ransom! ? ”
”Lao He! Can you shut up!” Tan Zhihao, who was already a little irritated, directly pulled Lao He over, stared at him and roared in a low voice, “Didn’t you see the cruelty of these pirates just now? I bet that as long as you dare to go out, in order to get the ransom as soon as possible, they will definitely find someone to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and this chicken will definitely not be Boss Cheng or me!”
”…”
Hearing Tan Zhihao’s threats, the crew members immediately behaved well.
However, as time went by, the clanging of metal and the occasional gunshots became louder and closer, and everyone’s heart suddenly rose to their throats again, until a beam of light suddenly shone in from the glass window, and everyone seemed to stop breathing.
The pirate outside the door tentatively opened the door, and after finding that it was locked, he immediately called his accomplices to come over, and soon there was a sound of prying metal outside the door.
It’s over!
Although Tan Zhihao was holding a pistol, it did not give him a sense of security. It was even more dangerous to hold it. Therefore, at this juncture, he gently put the gun on the ground, ready to surrender at any time…
Buzz buzz buzz——
However, just when the pirates were about to break through the door, everyone suddenly heard a different sound, and the pirates’ intercoms suddenly rang with a burst of rapid bird calls. After listening to the intercom, the pirates who were responsible for searching for the crew immediately put down their work and ran back!
The crew, who already felt that they were doomed, were stunned.
What was going on? When they were about to find them, the pirates withdrew by themselves? After confirming that the pirates had gone far away, Tan Zhihao couldn’t help but shoutHe opened the door and walked carefully into the cabin opposite the sea. Once he entered the cabin, the buzzing sound became louder.
Tan Zhihao opened the glass boat with trembling hands and looked out. Then his heartbeat suddenly accelerated and his face showed an ecstatic expression.
”It’s a helicopter! Look, everyone, our Chinese Navy’s helicopter is here!”—— In a container on the third floor of the upper deck, when Cheng Yanfei heard the sound of the helicopter, his face suddenly showed a surprised expression, and then he immediately jumped out carefully to observe, but his vision at this position was not good, and he did not see the helicopter.
But he was very sure in his heart that this was the helicopter sent by China!
Unlike their joy, the pirates immediately fell into a brief panic after hearing the sound of the helicopter. After all, so far, their luck was very bad, and they couldn’t even find a hostage…
However, after a brief panic, they quickly regained their composure.
Because they did not find the Chinese escort warships, and the helicopter was very loud. When they heard the sound, the helicopter was still a long distance away from them.
This gave them enough time to react and prepare.
All the pirates looked at the three mercenaries who were wearing black hoods and sunglasses and were much taller and stronger than the Somalis.
“Mr. Franli, the Chinese rescue helicopter is here. Should we give up the operation?”
”Don’t worry, there is only one helicopter. Their warships are still far away. Let the people below return to the deck immediately. We can just shoot that thing down!”
”Shoot down the helicopter? Are you crazy!?”
”What? Do you have any objections? Forgot what General Vayebach told you when we set out?” Franli stared at the pirate leader and said viciously, “You all have to listen to my command. Those who disobey will die! Hurry up and get ready!”
Under Franli’s strong oppression, the pirate leader only lasted less than two seconds before he was defeated. He turned around and began to command his brothers to prepare their equipment and wait for the arrival of the helicopter.
At the same time, in the waters more than 100 nautical miles south of Xindu, the M-country Remiji destroyer had shut down its power a few hours ago and had been floating quietly on the sea.
However, their radar was always in working order, and they had already discovered the whereabouts of the Xunlong Commando half an hour ago.
But it was not until the signal moved directly towards the Xindu, with only 200 kilometers left, that the commander of the Remiji, Leandre, finally believed that this was the rescue helicopter sent by the Zhoushan.
“It’s unbelievable… The commander of the Zhoushan ship actually made such a bold decision. Are they so confident that they can successfully land on the Xindu?”
Deputy Captain Pereira smiled: “In fact, their confidence is understandable. After all, they don’t know what kind of pirates boarded the Xindu…”
”Having said that, such a bold plan is exactly the same as the Doolittle Raid back then, and even more dangerous… The B25 bombers at that time only needed to drop the bombs and run away, but they are going to board the ship in a surprise attack.”
”Well… I can only say that they are courageous.”
”Report to the commander!” Just as the two commanders were chatting, a radar soldier suddenly said, “Three unknown signals were found in the northeast of my ship, 406.7 kilometers away, 12,235 meters high, and moving speed… 680KM/H!”
! ? ?
The two commanders were immediately full of question marks.
More than 10,000 meters high, more than 600 kilometers per hour? This obviously couldn’t be a helicopter, let alone a civil airliner, because for flight safety, airliners of various countries usually disclose real-time flight data, and must report when passing over other countries, and these planes are marked on their radars.
”It may be a tourist plane of a certain company, or a private plane of a camel tycoon?”
”It may also be that the White Elephant Country is playing with their new toys again.”
”Haha, anyway, it’s impossible that China’s aircraft carrier has come to the White Elephant Ocean.”
”What if it comes? Do you expect to use fighter jets to blow up all the pirates on the merchant ship?”
”That’s true.”
”…”
After a brief curiosity and discussion, they put the matter behind them.
These three signals are obviously not flying towards them.Coming, plus even the speed of civil airliners is faster than them, the threat to the destroyer Remiji is almost zero, which will not affect their watching the show at all.
But not long after, a strange situation immediately made them alert.
”Report to the commander! The three unidentified signals just now began to lower their altitude and have now left the stratosphere!”
”Leaving the stratosphere!?” Captain Leandre immediately looked at the nautical chart and said with some doubts: “There is only sea nearby, and there seems to be no airport to land?”
”Then it should be the White Elephant Country that drove their broken aircraft carrier to this place.”
Leandre nodded: “Report the situation to the USS Truman immediately, and let them verify the situation with the White Elephant Country.”
”Received!”
While verifying the situation, Leandre also paid close attention to the movements of the three signals. It was not until they were getting lower and lower and closer to the Red Eagle merchant ship that he gradually realized that things did not seem to be simple.
“They…” Deputy Captain Pereira looked at the radar screen in amazement and murmured, “Are they going to land on the Red Eagle merchant ship!?”
”How is this possible!” Leandre immediately rejected, “It must be a fixed-wing aircraft that can fly in the stratosphere. How can it land on a merchant ship? The only aircraft in the world that can do this is the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft! I would rather believe that they encountered an accident and prepared for an emergency landing at sea!”
”Report to the commander, the USS Truman has replied, and the two aircraft carriers of the White Elephant Kingdom are still in the port!”
”…”
No matter how unbelievable the people on the destroyer Remigi were, the reality was that the three points on the radar were slowly overlapping with the Red Eagle merchant ship.
Of course, they didn’t know whether it was an emergency landing at sea or a normal landing, so Leandre immediately proposed to the fleet command to call for reconnaissance satellites, but was quickly rejected.
Because even for Old M, the number of reconnaissance satellites deployed over the sea area is limited, and at this moment, the Xunlong Commando finally arrived at the Xindu, where satellite reconnaissance is more needed. —— On the No. 078 ship-borne assault helicopter, more than a dozen Xunlong Commandos were already fully armed. Sniper Wu Haitao had already mounted a sniper rifle and was looking for pirates on the Xindu through the scope.
”Found it! There are six pirates in the port ship, with two rocket launchers! There are three pirates in the cab, and no hostages have been found yet.”
”Received!”
The pirates have no hostages, which is undoubtedly great news for the operation. The crew immediately adjusted the flight attitude and angle so that the sniper can better launch a sniper battle and strive to ensure the safety of the landing to the greatest extent.
Hu——
Wu Haitao took a deep breath, and at the moment of aiming at the pirate carrying the rocket launcher, he decisively pulled the trigger and took the lead in firing the first shot of the rescue operation! With a bang, the bullet quickly flew out of the chamber!
However, unfortunately, because both sides were in an extremely unstable state of motion, sniping was extremely difficult, and the bullet did not hit the target, but only brushed the ear of one of his accomplices.
Even so, the pirates were still scared enough, and the pirate carrying the rocket directly pulled the trigger, and a rocket immediately sprayed flames backwards and flew towards the helicopter.
Although the helicopter was a bigger target, the pirates who were frightened to temporarily fire had no accuracy at all. After seeing the trajectory of the rocket, the crew pilot did not even dodge.
The rocket really missed, and it flew straight to the sea surface several kilometers away from a distance of more than 20 meters before exploding.
”Waste, let me do it!”
The pirate leader immediately cursed, snatched the rocket from his younger brother, and asked them to reload it for him.
At the same time, several other pirates also began to lock onto the helicopter, firing at them with assault rifles, and occasionally firing rockets, and the sound of the exchange of fire continued for a while.
However, this group of pirates is a group of untrained fry after all. Although the firepower seems fierce, it is just thunder and rain, and the actual hit rate is basically zero.
In addition, in order to have more time to dodge rockets, the helicopter has always maintained a long distance from the Xindu. Therefore, under the flexible evasive actions of the crew, the pirates fired six rockets in a row but failed to hit the helicopter.
It can’t even be considered a close call.
”Stop! Stop!” The little pirate leaderHe waved his hand and said, “They are tempting us to waste ammunition. Wait until they get closer before shooting!”
So the pirates quickly stopped firing.
Seeing that they suddenly became smart, Captain Yu Yong was a little helpless for a while.
At this distance and under this condition, it is too difficult to deal with the pirates through sniping, but if they get closer, the threat of several rockets is too high, so both sides suddenly entered a situation where neither can do anything to the other.
And this situation is obviously extremely unfavorable for helicopters with limited endurance. They can’t just keep wasting time with the pirates.
Just when Yu Yong was in a dilemma, the sniper observer suddenly changed his face and shouted loudly: “Stinger! They have Stinger anti-aircraft missiles!”
All the soldiers were stunned after hearing this, and even Captain Yu Yong’s mind couldn’t help but fall into a brief stagnation.
FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile!
This portable anti-aircraft missile developed by Lao M is not an ordinary anti-aircraft rocket.
It has guidance capability!
The helicopter is simply a live target for it!
”Quick, board the ship by force!!!”
In the moment of reaction, Yu Yong immediately shouted loudly, “Immediately force landing on the Xindu!”
”Received!”
After receiving the order, the crew subconsciously began to control the helicopter to fly sideways to the Xindu.
Seeing that the helicopter suddenly approached the Xindu, Franli, who was hiding in the bridge, finally couldn’t help but press the trigger. A slender Stinger anti-aircraft missile quickly flew away from the barrel, ignited in the air, and accelerated towards the helicopter.
Although the crew had adjusted the flight direction and tried to dodge, this Stinger, like its name, quickly adjusted the angle very viciously and hit the tail of the helicopter! Bang——
Accompanied by a violent explosion, the entire helicopter’s tail wing was torn into pieces!
The helicopter that lost its tail wing was out of control, spinning and falling in the air with thick black smoke.
However, Yu Yong’s subconscious emergency order just now played a huge role at this moment. If Yu Yong chose to let the crew pull up and escape at the moment of hearing the Stinger, their fate would definitely be to fall into the sea.
Because of this distance, it is impossible to escape the pursuit of the Stinger! But the decision to force the plane to land on the Xindu left them a glimmer of hope at this moment.
Although the helicopter that had completed the flight direction adjustment was out of control at this moment, the direction of its fall was the container area of the Xindu, and the main rotor was still working, which greatly reduced their falling speed.
However, the rotation speed of the fuselage was still very fast.
“Report to the headquarters! The tail of No. 078 was hit and it is about to fall to the Xindu! The enemy has Stinger! Repeat, the enemy has Stinger missiles!”
Bang——
Accompanied by another violent collision, the helicopter finally hit the Xindu heavily. The propeller collided with the container crazily and broke into pieces. After sliding the distance of two containers, the entire fuselage finally hung between two rows of containers.
The command room of Zhoushan Ship also fell into silence immediately.
After a while, Hu Zhicai finally picked up the intercom and said with difficulty: “Gray Wolf…Gray Wolf? Vulture! Red Snake! Can you hear me? Please answer if you can!”
However, what responded to him was silence…—— ”Cough…Cough cough!”
About ten seconds later, Yu Yong, who fell on the Xindu, finally woke up, and then he immediately looked at his teammates in the cabin.
Thanks to the excellent driving skills of the pilot, even though the entire plane was basically out of control, the final angle of the plane’s fall was perfectly controlled, almost hitting the container at an oblique angle of more than 20 degrees.
Although it rolled twice later, the entire cabin structure remained relatively good. Yu Yong looked at it and saw that except for the sniper Wu Haitao and his observer, everyone else was still firmly fixed in their seats.
Although it was obvious that many people were injured, at least their bodies were intact at the moment…
And several of them were beginning to show signs of waking up, just like him.
”Vulture, Black Panther!” Yu Yong unbuckled his seat belt and shouted, “Wake up, save people!”
(End of this chapter)