Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

290 JEFF EDWARDS
When he dropped his hand, his voice was much softer. “We will do
everything we can to save the crew of that aircraft. But those subs have
racked up an unbelievable body count. We sink that bastard, priority one.
Everything else is a secondary consideration. If it costs us three more
lives, then we pay the price.” He turned away and half-whispered, “We
pay the price.”
They stood in silence for several moments, until the TAO interrupted.
“Captain, Gunslinger is on final approach.”
“Is the crash-and-smash crew standing by?”
“Yes, sir, and Sick Bay is prepped to receive casualties.”
The captain punched keys on his console, and views from each of the
three flight deck cameras popped up on the Aegis display screen. The
video was black-and-white but very high resolution. Even so, the helo
appeared as a blur at first, a gray and white smudge against black waves.
The pilot had bought himself some time by jettisoning his torpedo and
ejecting his load of sonobuoys. Somehow the helicopter was still
managing to claw its way through the air, darting and fluttering like a
sparrow with an injured wing.
The crippled aircraft came in from the aft starboard corner of the flight
deck, and it was immediately apparent that its angle of approach was all
wrong. The LSE (short for Landing Signal Enlisted) tried to wave the helo
off, but it was obvious that it didn’t have the power to gain altitude for
another approach.
The helo’s tail wheel caught the edge of a flight deck net, and the belly
of the aircraft slammed into the deck, crushing the landing gear.
The pilot cut power instantly, but the helo rolled far enough onto its
port side for the rotors to scrape the deck. The blades shattered, and
shrapnel flew in all directions.
A hand-sized chunk of the rotor hit the chock-and-chain man just below
the right knee, shattering the bone and nearly amputating his leg. A larger
piece of rotor hit the front window of the helo control tower, turning the
safety glass to an instant network of spider webs. A smaller piece dealt the
LSE a glancing blow to the side of the head, dropping him to his knees,
but his cranial helmet reduced the impact to merely bruising force.