The high-pitched and urgent sound pierced everyone's eardrums like steel needles.
"Alarm! Alarm! Multiple targets detected approaching at high speed! Bearing 270, range 15 nautical miles! Quantity... still increasing!"
The radar operator's voice instantly tensed up, filled with incredulous shock, "God... twenty... no, over twenty-five! Moving fast! Course directly towards our ship!"
"What?!"
Captain Jackson almost spilled his coffee.
He dashed to the radar screen, his eyes fixed on the cluster of green dots rapidly closing in on the center representing the Marlin Fish.
"Twenty-five boats? Fishing boats?"
His voice carried disbelief.
"Radar characteristics... very erratic, much faster than usual fishing boats, like large fishing boats modified..."
The radar operator quickly reported, fingers flying over the console, "But the speed isn't right! Generally over 20 knots! Approaching 30 knots at most! Ordinary fishing boats aren't this fast! And... signal strength indicates the tonnage is not small!"
"Ard observation post! Report visual situation! Maximum alert!"
Jackson shouted into the internal communicator, his voice clear and powerful amidst the alarm noises.
anwhile, he decisively pressed the ship-wide battle alert button.
An even deeper, more penetrating horn blared throughout the entire behemoth.
On the bridge, everyone sprang into action.
The atmosphere plunged from calm to freezing in an instant.
High up in the ship's tower, equipped with high-performance binoculars and infrared thermal imaging caras, the ard observation post had two escort team mbers already in position, wearing bulletproof vests and tactical helts.
Through the high-powered binoculars, abnormalities erged at the distant edge of the vast sea horizon.
At first, they were just blurry black dots.
But soon, the dots rapidly expanded, revealing nacing outlines.
"Captain! Visual confirmation!"
The observer's voice ca through the headset, tinged with a hint of tension.
"Directly ahead and to the rear of both sides! Nurous fast-moving vessels! Confird over twenty boats!"
The binoculars' crosshairs locked firmly onto a target at the forefront.
Indeed, it had the base of a fishing boat—an old, rusty hull.
But what was welded onto it was shocking: a crude ramming steel plate on the bow, thick armored plates with firing ports added on the sides, and four powerful outboard engines hanging off the gunwale, roaring like mad, spewing black smoke from the stern, driving the "fishing boat" forward at an incredible speed over the waves.
At the stern, objects half-covered with tarpaulins had distinct shapes of RPG launch tubes.
In the middle of the hull, shadows moved, and the binoculars could even catch the sunlight glinting off the tal in their hands—automatic rifles!
"Captain! Confirm ard modifications! Ramming bow! Armored plates on the sides! RPGs discovered! Automatic weapons discovered! Personnel ard!"
The observer's voice was rapid and icy, "They're... they're spreading out! Trying to encircle us from multiple directions!"
Listening to the report, Captain Jackson's face turned ashen.
He quickly strode to the side bulletproof glass window on the bridge, grabbed the high-power binoculars fixed on the stand, and looked out himself.
In the view, those oddly modified boats painted with haphazard colors and symbols cut chaotic and aggressive white trails on the sea surface, closing in from all directions on the massive Marlin Fish.
The distance rapidly decreased, and the binoculars even showed figures on the boats waving weapons.
An absurd sense mixed with cold anger surged in Jackson's heart.
He put down the binoculars, yet his mouth twisted into an extrely contemptuous sneer.
"A bunch of fools courting death!"
His voice was not loud but carried clearly to everyone on the bridge, "Dare to rob a US Navy transport ship with toy sticks? Think this is like robbing so shabby fishing boats off the Somalia coast? It's like primitive n challenging tanks with sticks!"
He turned, eyes sharp as an eagle's, voice decisive: "Communications officer!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"Imdiately send an urgent distress signal to the Arabian Sea Joint Task Force Command with the highest priority! Repeat, highest priority! Report our ship's position, course, speed, and report that we are surrounded by over twenty fast-ard pirate boats! Request urgent air and surface support! Tell them we're carrying 'special cargo'!"
He emphasized the last four words to stress the seriousness of the situation.
"Yes! Sending highest priority distress signal imdiately!"
The communications officer's fingers danced over the keyboard.
"All ard escort personnel!"
Jackson roared into the ship-wide broadcasting system, "Take positions! Level one combat deploynt! Let them see our might!"
On the massive body of the Marlin Fish, several concealed hatches slid open.
Heavy M2HB .50 caliber machine guns and MK19 automatic grenade launchers were swiftly deployed, the black muzzles and launcher tubes rotating, locking onto the fast-approaching ard boats from all directions.
Ard escort team mbers, wearing bulletproof vests and Kevlar helts, leaned against thick armored shields welded onto the deck, eyes cold, fingers steadily on the triggers.
The fortress of steel had bared its fangs.
On the vast sea, a lopsided yet unpredictable cat-and-mouse ga suddenly began its bloody prelude.
User Comments
0 comments from readers