"Azores? Oh, if it's because of fuel, I think we can notify our chargé d'affaires in advance to negotiate the corresponding matters, and the ship will be able to fill up the correct fuel as soon as it enters the port, but there is one point, the destroyer who is short of fuel will have to go on its own. &*．． Fastest update** As a special fleet commander, General, you have the authority to make such decisions, and the government will not hesitate to pay for such an additional refueling move. ”

After some deliberation, White House envoy Legerhall replied.

Jetlica and Glore, who had come to ask for advice, looked at each other, and there was a slight pause longer than usual when their eyes met each other.

"It's a sensible insight that if the enemy's high-speed submarines are lurking near the Azores, they are very likely to follow the refueled destroyers to find us." Jetlica said.

"With their surveillance and harassment of us in the past three days, do you think they will still be able to find any trace of us?" Legerhall countered that the poor situation in recent days does provide strong support for his views.

Angelo couldn't help but argue, "You think that is based on the judgment that they have high-speed submarines?" If this unknown underwater warfare tool did not exist, and the circular aircraft that guided the submarine to track us from beginning to end, and the fighter jets on the Oliscany were enough to keep it away, the situation would be very different! ”

Leghall was about to open his mouth to fight back, but Jetlika said in a scolding tone: "Colonel! How can you use your personal speculation to attack the well-positioned views of Mr. Special Envoy? I really don't think that's what a sane officer should say. ”

On the word "sanity", Jetlika accentuated his tone, and Colonel Angelo immediately understood what his superiors meant, and bowed his head in shame: "You are right, General...... I'm sorry, Mr. Envoy, but I've been driven crazy by the enemy for the past two days. Grumpy, I hope you don't mind! ”

The burly captain apologized in such a low voice, and the envoy Leghal swallowed the rebuttal words he had just prepared back into his stomach, and responded politely: "With my position and mission, I should not have participated in such an important military decision, but now I am only putting forward some reference opinions in my personal capacity, which is inevitably biased from a professional point of view, and the colonel's opinion is beyond reproach. ”

"Personally, I very much agree with Mr. Special Envoy." Jetlika immediately said bluntly. "But now that part of the fleet is under my jurisdiction, and part of the fleet is under the responsibility of Admiral Nikon of the Oliscany, and the movement of several destroyers is bound to be coordinated by both of us. By the way, Mr. Special Envoy, as far as you know and think, what is the probability that the communication code of our US Navy will be deciphered by the enemy? ”

Envoy Leghall responded with a shrug: "I can't say, after all, the Soviet Union was our war ally and received a lot of equipment from us, including military radio stations, and they should know very well the structure of our communications facilities." Theoretically, it would have been much easier to decipher our communications ciphers than the Germans had done in those days, but as far as I know, the navy improved its communications equipment and increased its communication level after the war, and updated its codebook every two months, so ......"

"I see what you mean." Jetlika gave Angelo a quiet look, and then said to the envoy, "I always get a lot out of talking to you, and I have to thank you for your help on behalf of all the officers and men of the fleet, oh, and Dr. Mante." The nature of our special cargo is stable, right? ”

"Stable as a stone." Dr. Mante, who was sitting at the table, had finally spoken his first sentence from the beginning of the conversation.

Jetlica gently placed her hand on the Doctor's right shoulder blade and smiled, "That way, even if we encounter the enemy head-on, my soldiers and I can fight without any fear, Doctor?" ”

"The theory is true, in order to minimize the possibility of accidents. I've asked your sailors to help reinforce the cylinder and put two layers of sandbags on the outside. If the enemy does attack, you and your sailors can beat them with confidence! Dr. Mante's answer was uncharacteristically cumbersome. &*．． Fastest Update**

Jetlica nodded, "Okay, I know what to expect, and you must be too, Mr. Colonel?" ”…,

"Yes, I know it." Angelo replied.

"I'm really sorry to delay the two of you for so much time. Colonel Angelo had given me a good reminder that the two of them had been given the most stable cabins on the ship, but they would not be safe in the event of a battle, so I had the Colonel rearrange two sets of rooms, which were located behind the two-inch armor compartment. Well, it's so wide...... Outside, there is also a 4-inch layer of hull armor through the empty fuel tank, and even if the waterline is attacked by heavy torpedoes, the impact there is similar to that of the armored command room. If you don't mind...... Let's go straight to the new room and rest! The sailors will send your luggage over later, and Dr. Mante's technicians have adjusted their accommodations accordingly, with safety as a priority! Jetlica said as she slyly observed their reactions.

"You've thought so much through."

Special Envoy Legerhall and Dr. Mante gladly accepted the ship's arrangement in similar language.

Jetlika made a "please" gesture, and Colonel Angelo had already walked briskly to the hatch to open the door, and the sailors who had led the envoy and the doctor to the new chamber were already waiting outside.

As he walked up to Jetlika, Envoy Legerhol suddenly stopped and whispered, "Well, Your Excellency, I have some important information on the table in the room, so that the sailors do not mess with them without their knowledge - in fact, they also involve some secrets, I want to clean them up myself, I don't know if I can?" ”

"Of course!"

With one hand in his jacket pocket, Jetlica replied positively with a very easy-going attitude, and then turned to the colonel and said, "Mr. Envoy needs to go back to his room to pack some personal belongings, and let the sailors wait at the door, and they will do whatever Mr. Envoy says." ”

Leghall nodded in acknowledgment: "Thank you very much!" ”

Jetlica smiled slightly: "It's an honor!" ”

The two followed the sailors along the passageway, and Jetlica closed the door of the command room with his backhand and said to Colonel Angelo, "What do you think?" ”

"It's suspicious indeed!" The colonel replied with a serious face.

Jetlika had a helpless expression: "Even if he really has a problem, we can't come up with conclusive evidence, not to mention that if the heads of the White House know that we have ventured through the special envoy's residence and personal luggage, it is likely to cause an uproar and cause us a lot of trouble." Therefore, if we can safely deliver special cargo to France along the way, we can only let him get off the ship and carry out the following tasks. ”

In the United States, which claims to be the "most democratic," the struggle in military and political circles is in no way inferior to that of Hitler's dictatorship and the once highly centralized Soviet Union, and capable officers who are not good at socializing and cannot seize opportunities for performance are likely to be in secondary positions when they retire. The events that took place before and after the two world wars have amply demonstrated the dark side of this most undemocratic of all.

Angelo was a little surprised at first. But after thinking about it carefully, he could only express his helplessness: "A smart enough person will not let us grasp the handle easily, but I hope that the sinking of the Emmons and the injury of the Anthony are all the losses we have suffered on this voyage, and there will be no more!" ”

Jetlica looked through the porthole at the conspicuous behemoth on the sea, the Essex-class aircraft carrier "Oliscany", whose carrier-based aircraft could also take to the air at night, but the fleet commander did not expect ordinary piston fighters to shoot down enemy flying saucers in a night interception operation. Until then, all sorts of rumors about the events in Las Amos were enough to make a fascinating science fiction novel, what about the tasks that heavy anti-aircraft guns and land-based fighters could not do, and what about the anti-aircraft guns of ships and carrier-based aircraft of the Navy? After seeing the magic of that flying saucer with your own eyes. Jetlica feels like she ran into the Martians in Wells's "Star Wars", the science fiction story that caused widespread panic because of the radio serialization depicts a group of invaders from Mars, their flying machines are impossible to hit by cannons, and the planes can't catch up, fortunately, the Martians' equipment is more destructive, they can easily melt or eat the earthlings, leaving almost no trace, and the flying saucers she witnesses only use superb flying skills to distract and deter psychologically. …,

1:40 p.m. The signal to adjust the course and speed was given from the "Boston". An experienced veteran sailor can detect a slowdown and a deflection of course even in a closed cabin, but it is almost impossible for those who have not been at sea for many years or have not studied it in depth. At Angelo's behest, the sailors who helped Envoy Legerhall and Dr. Mante carry their luggage revealed to them the fleet's adjustment of speed and course until it was time for afternoon tea. They also revealed intentionally or unintentionally that the three destroyers had left the fleet and were heading for the Azores, but neither of them made a clear statement, nor did the fleet's communications department detect unidentified radio waves from within.

On the nautical charts in the command room, the fleet's course was deflecting back to its original planned route, a route without reef whirlpools, far from the busy commercial shipping lanes, and a minimum distance of 120 nautical miles from the Portuguese Azores, the main transit and supply terminal in the Atlantic, which exceeded the detection range of normal land-based radars, and ordinary civilian aircraft would not have left the islands to fly so far north.

Before another cloudy twilight arrived. Jetlika's fleet was on the "right track", and everything seemed to be moving in a good direction: since the attack by carrier-based aircraft, the enemy's submarines had not surfaced to detect with outdated long-wave radars, the flying saucer had been almost 20 hours since it had last appeared, and the three destroyers that had run out of fuel had not really left the group. Instead, they distanced themselves from the main fleet and put on guard on the periphery, and after the fleet's speed slowed down, their anti-submarine sonars began to work normally again......

"It's an air raid siren!"

The sharp-eyed officer immediately saw the signal from the "Oliscany", Jetlica felt the muscles of his face twitch involuntarily, and he quickly looked at his watch, six o'clock. Before it gets dark, is the final battle about to begin?

Someone opened the door of the armored command room, and the roar of the plane came clearly from the sea, and I saw that the large aircraft carrier was accelerating and turning to the northeast, that is, the direction of the headwind. Within ten minutes, eight of the U.S. Navy's best F6F fighters had taken off, and those that were circling over the fleet had taken off about an hour earlier.

"The UFO was flying from the east at high speed at a distance of 60 nautical miles. Height 4000 meters. ”

Knowing that the terrible guy was so fast, the radar officer used the word "time" in his report, and the target might have been within 20 nautical miles by this time.

As the main aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy, it is not surprising that the Essex class is equipped with better radar, and the officers of Angelo are all like great enemies, but Jetlica stands calmly in front of the porthole at this time.

"Hopefully we're on the right track." He muttered to himself.

In the sky, the eight F6Fs that took off urgently climbed high in the sky with their heads held high in a vigorous posture, and the pilots in the cabin were neatly equipped, and each buckle was in the right position, and there was no panic in the rush to battle. Face the rumored unbeatable opponent. There was a look of determination in the young eyes, but perhaps the face behind the mask was full of nervous apprehension at the moment.

"4000 meters altitude, head-on interception, rocket preparation!"

In the long cockpit, pilots with golden sideburns and hairtips give battle orders to their friends, and at this time, their communication channels are not blocked by all kinds of noisy noises as some rumors, except for the slight zagging of electricity, which are heard only by the familiar ones. Calmly flipped the rocket launch cutoff, and glanced forward through the sight. The target still hadn't appeared, but just moments later, a panicked voice came from the headphones:

"God, it's above us...... Flew past, flew over super fast! ”

The blonde pilot subconsciously raised his head and then turned with great effort, there was no other man-made flying machine in the sky with orange clouds, and before his neck was sprained, he quickly turned his gaze back to the front: "Calm down." Johns, are you sure you saw it? ”

"Yes, sir! It looks like a hat made of metal, and it rushes through in the blink of an eye, and its speed is estimated to be a thousand knots! The voice that had been almost screaming just now had calmed down a lot. …,

"Even if there are a thousand knots, it is not faster than our machine gun bullets! Guys, don't worry. The ship's radar keeps an eye on it...... Eagle Eagle, I'm Az Kitty Eagle, please provide the target location......"

After the same frequency of questioning, the blonde pilot frowned.

"Az Kitty, wait a minute......"

After this response, it felt like there was a gap of half a minute, and the anxiety was growing rapidly.

"The target is 45 nautical miles west of the fleet and is turning south."

Hear this incredible reply. The blonde pilot seemed to hear a gasp, and he silently spat out the dirty words, pretending to be calm and ordering: "Team A follows me to the south to outflank, and Team B to the north, guys." All eyes wide, this guy is so fast! ”

When the fuselage tilts to the right, the blonde pilot turns his head to look at the sea, and the fleet on the sea is very thin because of the lack of three destroyers for short-range escort, and one large aircraft carrier, three light and heavy cruisers, and one destroyer may be able to cope with attacks from the air and the sea, in case the enemy attacks from underwater......

Whether the commanders were fatally negligent or wanted to get away with it, the pilot had no way to guess, and when he saw that more fighters were climbing up at low altitude, and there were at least a dozen fighters waiting to take off on the deck of the aircraft carrier, his mood was a little more steady.

"Appeared, in the direction of 10 o'clock, the distance ...... Launch rockets? It is advisable to launch rockets immediately...... Oh SHIT! It's ridiculously fast! ”

The headset becomes a pilot's stand-up comedy, and the rest of the people are all searching for the target's traces. With the neck twisted at an almost extreme angle, the blonde pilot barely caught a glimpse of its posture, with the flight cockpit design of the F6F, the visual search should not be so difficult, the unconventional speed is on the one hand, its shallow paint is like a white wave on the ocean, or a kingfisher in the green leaves, and it will be completely missed if you don't pay attention.

After a pause, the voice continued in the channel: "I don't think it must have 1000 knots, I met German rocket fighters in a few missions in the early 145 years, this guy is about the same speed as them, maybe slightly faster, between 500 and 600 knots at most!" ”

At a glance, the blond pilot of the leader could not determine the speed of the target, and he had been so fortunate that he had never encountered a German jet or rocket fighter in the European theater to make a comparison, but the captain's duties made him make a quick decision: "I agree with Charlotte's assumption, we all have the rockets and machine guns ready, and when it flies in front of us again, fire rockets at three squares in front of it, or machine gun rounds at two squares in front of it, It is impossible to fly so fast with something loaded with thick steel plates! ”

The pilots responded, and the restless blonde pilot closed his eyes and calmed down, then put his finger close to the launch button of the rocket, and waited intently for the target to appear again, but to his regret and some relief, the command and communications staff of the mothership quickly reported that the target had evacuated eastward at high speed. Yes, evacuate and not flee.

PS: The knots as a unit of speed represent 1 knot, which is 1.852 km/h. ()