613: Chapter 606 Colleagues 613: Chapter 606 Colleagues Uriyangko jumped out of the cockpit at the front of the helicopter, then turned around to pat the nose of the chopper and laughed, “How’s my baby?”
Gao Yang sincerely said, “Impressive, beautiful, buddy, your baby is a perfect masterpiece.”
Uriyangko shrugged his shoulders and said, “Whether it was during my military service back in the days or now, although I have seen and used many helicopters, this big baby is still my favorite.
It’s way stronger than any Apache or Tiger, and, I must ask, is it safe here?”
Gao Yang laughed, “This is our artillery position, a heavily guarded place.
For now, there’s no safer place than this.”
Uriyangko shrugged again, gestured to the helicopter’s pilot, and called out loudly, “Come on down.
Before our supplies arrive, there’s nothing for either of us to do.”
The Mi-24 has a tandem cockpit, with the weapons operator seated in front and the pilot behind.
The pilot’s cockpit is a bit higher, almost one person’s height higher.
When the pilot inside opened the cockpit cover and stepped out, he laughed and said, “Friends, give me a hand here.
Looks like you need to find me a ladder or a platform soon, otherwise, it’ll be quite a struggle for me to get up there.”
The reason the pilot needed a hand was his large belly and graying hair; he looked to be at least fifty years old.
He wasn’t wearing a flight suit, or perhaps he didn’t have one that could fit him.
When the pilot jumped out of the helicopter with the help of Gao Yang and Uriyangko, Uriyangko laughed, “Ram, let me introduce you to an old friend of mine, Polovich.”
As Gao Yang shook hands with Polovich, he sincerely said, “You guys arrived just in time, friend.
You flew wonderfully.”
Polovich laughed heartily, “A flight experience both easy and pleasant.
Compared to my time in Afghanistan, flying here is really much more relaxed.”
Uriyangko also laughed, “Polovich is an ace helicopter pilot.
Back when he was in Afghanistan, I hadn’t even learned how to fly a helicopter yet.”
Gao Yang breathed a sigh of relief, “You’re not bad yourself.
I don’t know how you fly, but I know you’re a very competent weapons operator.
Uri, I really can’t thank you enough.
You’ve helped me a great deal.
I thought you wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow at the earliest.”
Uriyangko laughed, “Special cases require special actions.
To save time, do you know where I came from?
Here’s a hint.
Look at the paint on the aircraft.”
The helicopter was in desert camouflage, with shades of grey and yellow.
Gao Yang walked around the helicopter and, after seeing a round insignia in red, white, and black on the fuselage, he exclaimed in surprise, “This is the emblem of the Yemen Air Force.
Is this a Yemen Air Force helicopter?”
Uriyangko snapped his fingers and laughed, “That’s right, buddy.
I didn’t expect you to recognize the Yemen Air Force insignia.
I left in such a hurry that I didn’t even have time to paint over this conspicuous sign.”
Yemen is just across the sea from Somalia.
If one were to travel from Yemen directly to Somalia, taking the shortest direct flight, it would only take half a day, even by boat.
Gao Yang exhaled, “Thanks, Uri.”
Uriyangko shrugged his shoulders and said, “Don’t mention it.
This was ordered by Grand Ivan.
Don’t forget, he still owes you a big favor.
Besides, you don’t need to thank me.
Remember, this is a rental from the Skull Gang for you; you’re my client.
Looking out for my clients has always been my principle.
So, if you thank me, I’ll be embarrassed.
How would I then charge you an expedited service fee?”
Gao Yang laughed, “The expedited fee is worth it.
But, even though there’s a fee, I still have to thank you for coming personally.”
Uriyangko’s face showed a hint of embarrassment, but at that moment, Polovich laughed heartily, “Friend, are you kidding?
You do know that a pilot, even if not engaging in combat, gets paid one thousand dollars a day on the battlefield, and if they engage in combat, that’s five thousand a day.
By coming personally, Uri gets to put that five thousand a day into his own pocket rather than paying a hired pilot.”
Gao Yang shrugged his shoulders, as did Uriyangko, who then muttered, “Five thousand a day, why wouldn’t I save it for myself if I could?”
Gao Yang said with a wry smile, “Alright, you’re right.
So, when will the ammunition and fuel that the aircraft needs arrive?
If they don’t, we’ll lose time, and for you, losing time means losing dollars.”
Uriyangko nodded, “It will definitely arrive tonight.
To save time, we flew directly from the base where the aircraft was parked to a passing oil tanker, and then took off at the closest point to this place and came straight here.
However, the ship carrying the supplies will not reach here until tonight, even at the fastest speed.”
Although Uriyangko said there was no need to thank him as he was getting paid, Gao Yang still owed him a favor because landing an armed helicopter on an oil tanker is a very dangerous thing to do, and the consequences that could arise from such an action are not something one would risk just for a rental fee of a mere tens of thousands of dollars.
Additionally, finding a tanker willing to have two armed helicopters land on it is not an easy task.”
In a single day and night, having armed helicopters delivered directly to Gazaley and immediately entering battle was not as simple as Uriyangko made it sound.
Gao Yang looked at his watch and then said, “Uri, and Mr.
Polovich, please wait here for someone to come and take care of you.
I need to go back now; my men are still fighting.”
Uriyangko shook his head and said, “Don’t rush.
I don’t think there will be major problems on the battlefield in a short while.
I have something to ask you.
I saw a tank explode violently from the air, so I didn’t fire missiles at that tank.
Now tell me, what did you guys do?”
Gao Yang smiled, “Our new blaster.
He crawled under the tank and placed some C4, then blew the tank up.”
Uriyangko’s eyes brightened, “C4?
That takes guts.
Can you take me to see that tank?
You know, recovering from battlefields is also within the scope of my business.
If you have any captures, I’d like to buy them, and I am very interested in recovering a not too badly damaged Chieftain tank.”
Gao Yang hesitated, then said, “We haven’t had a chance to check out that tank yet, but I don’t think it’s going to have much salvage value after that.”
Polovich frowned and said, “That’s not necessarily true.
Even if it’s destroyed, the internal equipment may not be completely ruined.
Things like tank cannons are hard to demolish with an explosion under the hull.
And a tank cannon is very expensive, especially the Chieftain’s 120mm rifled cannon.
You know, the British rifled cannons are not cheap.
Jordan has many Chieftain tanks that need their main cannons replaced, and they would be very willing to buy them.”
Watching Polovich speak so forthrightly piqued Gao Yang’s curiosity, but before he could ask anything, Uriyangko laughed and said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you.
Polovich is the head of the Asia District.
We were able to arrive in time because we got our hands on a Mi-24 from Yemen, and to get it out of there, you should thank Polovich.”
It dawned on Gao Yang, which explained why Polovich had come with Uriyangko and seemed so familiar with arms dealing – he was Uriyangko’s colleague.
Gao Yang laughed heartily, “So that’s the case.
Then I must thank you once again for your help, Mr.
Polovich.”
Polovich winked, “No need to thank me.
I’m happy to help a friend, especially when there’s money to be made.”
Gao Yang laughed again, “Alright then, both of you please come with me to check out that tank.
However, please don’t get your hopes up too high, as that tank is likely to have no usable parts left.
As for the helicopters, leave them here for now; I’ll immediately arrange for someone to guard them.”
Polovich shrugged his shoulders, “Friend, I’ve seen too many mercenaries, but I’ve never seen a mercenary who commands an army.”
The three of them returned to the battlefield, talking and laughing.
There was still a helicopter circling in the sky, on guard for any possible attacks, but it would soon land to save fuel.
The fighting had temporarily stopped.
Neither side was shooting.
The Skull Gang was busy encircling Gazaley City.
Now, not only the regular army was fully engaged in the battle, but the garrison forces had also joined the effort to establish the encirclement.
The British could clearly see every move of the Skull Gang, yet they weren’t in a rush to break out.
In fact, they had nowhere to go if they did break out; leaving the protection of the buildings for the desert was akin to suicide.
What those British didn’t know was that the Skull Gang’s helicopters were short on fuel, and with the ammunition shot, they wouldn’t be able to resupply for a while, so after a turn in the sky, they had to stay obediently inside Gazaley City.
When they arrived at the destroyed tank, Uriyangko greeted Satan’s people and then went with Polovich to the Chieftain tank.
Upon seeing the Chieftain tank, Uriyangko’s eyes lit up, “It looks quite intact, doesn’t seem to have significant damage.
I’ll go down and see if the hull has been penetrated.”
Uriyangko, dressed in a suit, didn’t hesitate to crawl under the tank, then soon shouted loudly, “Good news, the bottom isn’t breached, and it seems that the damage isn’t serious.
We might get a complete tank out of this.”
Gao Yang was skeptical because he thought that after such a severe explosion, the tank could not possibly be unscathed.
However, his understanding of the power of C4 and the tank’s resistance to damage was limited.
Most importantly, for C4 to release its maximum energy, certain conditions needed to be met, such as a confined space.
Perhaps the explosion that looked fierce on the Chieftain tank didn’t actually do much harm, and it was very possible that the tank was fine.
(To be continued.
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