“What the hell is going on, Soldier!” Pierson yelled over the noise, leaning forward toward the pilot and co-pilot seats.
“We’re being targeted, Colonel!” The pilot yelled over his shoulder as he fired all the big chopper’s counter measures. “Lots of radar!!”
“What! That’s not possible! From where!”
“Can’t tell you that, Colonel! Don’t have time to check!”
Pierson cursed, though not loud enough to be heard over the roar of the chopper rotors, and grabbed one of the command screens and pulled the pivoting arm over his lap. The pilot may be too busy to check, but there was damned little else he could do in the meanwhile.
“I’m going to try to put her down, Colonel! Get on the ground, or in between some of those buildings!”
“Do it, Son!”
The chopper bucked as she dove for the deck, two others close in on her tail, and the pilot unloaded the last of their chaff and flares in the maneuver. He wasn’t sure it was going to fool the radar they had locked on to them, because the last time he’d seen something putting out as much power as his instruments were reporting was when they’d done exercises against a US Carrier group and he’d been painted by an Aegis Cruiser.
Still, he had to try.
The Type 105 35mm anti-aircraft cannons, assigned the NATO code name of `Mongoose’, gave off a steady `chop chop’ sound as they fired in rapid sequence, tracking on computer control from the central radar mast mounted on the tower.
Above them another Black Hawk took several of the long and heavy rounds, blowing out its rear armor and it began venting black smoke as the projectiles perforated its engines, scattering metal shrapnel into the pistons.
The pilot managed to get his nose up out of the dive he was making, but that only gave the Mongoose a few more seconds to zero it in. Thirteen more rounds struck home in those few seconds, ripping the chopper to pieces. Two other Black Hawks made it under the Mongoose’ firing arc in the meantime, however, and vanished behind several buildings.
The Chinese cannon kept firing for a few seconds, ripping large holes in the soft target civilian buildings, then was retasked by the central command node to another target. It swung back up and around, settling its sights in on a Chinook that was carrying a Land Rover under its big belly.
Then the heavy `chop chop’ sounded again as the Mongoose opened up again.
“Good lord.”
Natalie ignored the shocked whisper, instead turning to the closest analyst, “Lee!”
The mousy looking man stiffened, the shock of the sight on the screen bleeding away as he reacted to her voice. “Ma’am”
“I want to know what the hell just happened there, Lee. Who we have covered, but you find out what and where for me right the hell now!”
“Where ma’am” He blinked in confusion.
“Find me every weapon emplacement in that god damned city, Lee,” She told him grimly, “I don’t care what you have to do to get me that intel.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
She watched him hurry off, then turned back to the scene of flames and carnage on the downlooking satellite imagery. There were fires burning in a dozen places around the city, the heat signatures actually outshining the incredible thermal plume of the tower’s central core. Some of the Aussie Helos were still maneuvering, scrambling for the deck like mad as they tried to evade the fire from the ground.
“Got one!” someone yelled, focusing the image in on a gun emplacement that was revealed by a flash of fire through its camouflage.
“What is it!” Natalie asked sternly, hurrying over.
On the smaller version of the large wall screen there was a tight in look at the hidden gun and two analysts were chattering between each other as they pointed to the screen and argued with each other.
“Well!”
They started, looking over at her, then looked at each other guiltily. One nudged the other, and he nodded and stepped forward.
“They look like Mongoose 35mm guns, Ms Cyr,” He told her, “We’re just trying to decide if they’re equipped to fire the last generation smart rounds or not.”
“If they are”
He shrugged with a grimace, “Well then Ma’am, it’s a good news bad news kind of situation. Good news is, that they’re definitely not the new stuff the Chinese are using in their front line military. They’ve been moving over to Laser and SAM systems comparable to our first generation equipment from about ten years ago, which is probably why these found their way onto the market in the first place.”
“And the bad news”
“Bad news is that the Mongoose system can pretty much shoot down anything flying under fifteen thousand feet, no problem. The Chinese used it as a missile defense system for a long time before they caught up in laser technology and started fielding those units.”
“So what They can shoot down incoming missiles”
“Eighty to ninety five percent effective, Ma’am. Depending on the number of guns and power of their tracking radar.”
Natalie shook her head and turned away, muttering under her breath, “I’ve got to get more teams on tracking down the black market in military heavy arms.”
“We’re gonna dig in, Colonel!” The pilot screamed, not looking back as he pushed the controls for the throttle and the collective wide open. “Strap in! Strap in!”
Colonel Pierson ignored the yelling, still furiously working on the computer terminal that was tied into what was left of his helo squadron, but he felt someone else grab the restraints from one side of him and haul them down hard, cinching him into his seat.
Around him the whine of the engine climbed hard as muttered curses and prayers underscored the insanity of their motion. Buildings flashed past him as he felt a sudden wrenching slam drive his spine up into his head, and the world just screamed.
The UH-60 punched down into the paved road surface, listing hard to one side as the forward landing gear buckled under the pressure and the armor of the bottom slammed into the road for an instant. Then the rising power of the cyclic kicked in and the Black Hawk was airborne again, engine whining against the background of war as the pilot worked the controls furiously.
He pivoted the helo around, banking hard to bleed off their momentum, and everyone felt themselves compressed again by the force as the big chopper came to a hovering halt in the middle of the street, buildings on either side covering them from radar and enemy fire.
Above them and off to the right a fireball lit up the sky as the AA guns found another target, and the pilot winced as a friend fell from the air.
“What’s our status, Captain!”
“We’re airborne and battle ready, Sir!” the pilot replied automatically, “We dug in pretty hard, I think we lost our front gear, but they build these suckers to last! Is everyone alright back there!”
“We’re good, son!” The Colonel growled, “Just keep us that way!”
“You got it, Sir! I’m going to keep-Jesus Christ!”
The pilot’s cursing was punctuated by the sudden lurching motion of the chopper as he worked the pedals and cyclic again.
“What the hell is it, Captain!”
“Those guns are blowing the hell out of the buildings, Sir! Radar must still be tracking us! They’re trying to hit us right through the damned buildings!”
“Put us on the ground! Now!”
Anselm and Gwen looked up, startled, when the Major and four of his men came busting through the central office, weapons out and faces lethally taught.