Chapter Twenty- Mobile Missiles
"Strap in tight if i was you, its gonna be a bumpy ride" the pilot advised as he tapped the dials above him, preparing for lift-of.
I slid the black belt across my stomach, but only loosely. With the way things were there was almost no doubt that we wouldn't be sitting for long.
"How come?" ragman asked, ignoring the warning and leaning over the back of their seats.
"Well ever since the fourth battalion went on the offensive, the vc were able to steal our missile launchers. We've already lost three slicks this week, the bastards are using our own weapons against us"
"Well why don't you keep us low on the ground then?" Junior panicked, thrashing to unclasp his seatbelt.
Ragman and the pilots laughed over the whir of helicopter blades and the chopper began to rise. It hung in the air for a moment before jolting forward. Leaving the bleak, grey city behind and being replaced with more green jungle.
"Alright fella's, i'd get on them guns" The pilot tapped one of the sensors, picking up enemy movement ahead.
"Cherry, you stay low. It's gonna get hairy" Ragman ordered, jerking his head towards the M-60's that lined both sides of the exterior chopper. I shuffled over by junior, seating myself with one that had full vision of the left half of ground below.
"We'll be lucky to avoid getting a missile up the ass" the co-pilot muttered.
"Alright soldiers get ready! We're entering NVA territory now"
"Just a walk in the park fella's" Ragman said.
"Sarge, you forget that every darn slick we get near gets shot to shit" Hoss reminded.
"Too late now" We flew over a crystal clear river, its innocence winking at us, encased by two moss-covered mountains.
"Missile battery ahead!" I glanced down, noticing a clearing below. Bustling with soldiers running between three missile holders. These must be the weapons they were talking about. I didn't even know they had these. They sure looked like they packed a punch. Each one of them carrying up to four missiles. But how the hell do we blow these things up?
"Shoot the pins!" someone yelled as the machine guns started up. Pins? Oh, must be the trigger things underneath the actual missiles. Alrighty.
Bullets rocketed from my M-60, each sent down from hell themselves to an unsuspecting pin. The chopper was constantly moving, encircling the missile battery's like a hawk.
"That's one down!"
"And another one!"
Bullets bounced of the panels of the chopper, seemingly not aiming for us on the door guns, but with intention to blow us out of the sky. I pounced on a soldier that ran to the last battery, skewering his brains across it with a flash of a bullet. It cracked through his skull and clipped on the pin, blowing the whole thing up into flames.
"That's the last of them, let's go" The helicopter flipped around and flew of between a path that lay in the middle of more mountains. Underneath was a bush of tree tops.
"Control this is five zero, we just encountered an NVA battalion. All missiles have been neutralized i repeat, all missiles neutralized" The pilot's accent shaking from the aftershock.
"Roger that five Zero" The radio went dead once more.
"We're still in one piece but we ain't out of the woods yet" Trust ragman to be such a pessimist.
"Pecker-wood ain't never gonna get out of the woods, that's his natural environment" Junior joked from beside me. I paused and smiled. A sliver of laughter threatening to escape.
"Fuck you, you ignorant motherfucker"
"If you two put as much energy into your guns we'd be outta the war by now"
"RPG!" the rocket slammed into the metal beside me, causing a massive dent upon impact before dropping to the trees below. It was a little bit close for my liking, my stomach had flipped upside down in the event of it.
"Motherfuckers!" Below the trees thinned out, and a convoy of trucks were trundling their way over a carved path. I smacked the gun back into gear and fleshed a ton of bullets into the engines of the trucks, each imploding with a huge bang; causing the ones behind them to do the same in turn.
"Wow" hoss exclaimed.
"What?" i turned my head, my eyes and mouth completely straight.
"You really can annihilate things when you try, can't you"
"Mm" I twisted my body back to the outside world. Tendrils of black smoke reaching to grab us as we continued flying north.
"This is five-zero, we have just encountered a group of NVA vehicles moving along the route niner-six-zero, i repeat; niner-six-zero"
"Okay, roger that five-zero" How in the world did they even come up with these names? Honestly, niner-six-zero? I guess they weren't very creative in that department.
Over another mountain pass, lay more missile battery's. Three to be exact. Each were spaced out considerably, but a barrage of bullets were nothing to be held back.
"Another one down"
Each hit their designated pin and the whole thing was a burning furnace within moments.
"Okay, we're outta here" If i had to see another jungle, i was going to puke. Just endless streaks of green, blue, and goddam grey.
"Control this is five-zero, we could do with some additional back-up here" the co-pilot pleaded, visible sweat beads dripping down the back of his head. It seemed they were getting desperate. But i thought we were doing fine?
"Roger five-zero, we'll see what we can do. Hang in there"
"Okay people, look for tanks, missiles, anything that's gonna try to blow us outta the sky" Ragman ordered as we came into mountain base. This time a lot bigger. A pillar of rock in the center and mountains around, encasing it as one giant bowl. Streaks of orange and yellow added to the equation, huts built around the missile batteries, serving this as one base of power.
"Missile battery's ahead!" This time there was four, spread around the pillar as we flew in a more widespread circle.
"Oh fuck this shit, let's go all out!" I struggled to hold the door gun as its ferocious backlash bit into my arms. They felt like the bones themselves were snapping at the seams.
'Concentrate on sending your energy to your arms, watch and see the power' Melanie whispered.
"Rrgh" i growled. Straining from the pressure of keeping my arms on the gun and forcing my energy up through my body. As it flowed like liquid through the strings of muscle, something happened. It burst through my fingers and into the gun, forcing a mass outrage of bullets to their targets. It was subtle to the untrained eye, unnoticeable to the others; but it happened.
Again they were destroyed, cheers raising from the cockpit; despite the radar bleeping up another set of missiles.
Over and under besieged trees trees, hanging over us in protection. Its fragile leaves ripped apart as AA guns started up from the ground. Another broken piece to add to a collection.
Then there was a whoosh above, planes dropping their load in front of us; pounding the ground into dust.
"I fucking hate the smell of napalm" junior protested, pinching his narrow nose with a bony finger. The smoke grinding the cockpit window as we passed through its debris.
"This is five-zero, a big thanks for that. Hope to see you guys soon" Cherry was lying beneath a seat, looking relieved that no-one had been seriously hurt yet. He smiled at my gaze, his eyes lighting up and his lips lifting delightfully. Oh cherry..
The last base was below us now, just like the first two. Three missile battery's, each as un-prepared for us as the rest.
"Lets do this!" i cried encouragingly, overcome by that silly feeling once more.
Four guns smashed missile casings into dust, silenced, unmoving; dead everything below.
"Five-zero, this is control; what's going on?!"
"Control this is five-zero, we just encountered the last of those stolen surface to air missiles, again all of them have been destroyed"
The helicopter fluttered low over the last of the mountains, a crevice of village beneath us.
"Roger that five-zero, see you soon"
"RPG!" A rocket smacked into the front, completely wiping out the electrical equipment up front, the pilots barely alive from backing away.
"We're going down!"