Chimera

“Roger! Tally-ho!”

Tikkar had seen the Chinese Su-30 maneuvering below him. In the suddenness of the merge, the latter pilot had not been able to release missiles. But now they had recovered orientation and situational-awareness.

The Flanker began to maneuver. Hard!

On board his Mig-21, all that remained were cannon rounds. Tikkar knew that fuel would be turning critical as well. But at the moment the large monster of a Su-30 positioning itself for an infrared missile shot at point blank range was the greater worry.

This is not a fight he relished.

As he slashed across the Sukhoi, firing a burst of cannon rounds, the obviously experienced enemy pilot simply pulled away, utilizing its superior thrust-weight ratios and was now quickly behind the Mig-21. Just like that Tikkar was caught in a tail chase as he was headed straight down into the valleys below. He looked around the cockpit:

Fuel low. Weapons gone. A Flanker on his tail.

There was no escape to the mathematics of it all…

He flipped the aircraft to the side, pulled it in a steep turn that squeezed his body against the seat and managed to pull above the valley walls while turning a full 180 degrees. He only got halfway there. The Chinese pilot saw, anticipated and used his superior maneuverability to momentarily pitch the aircraft up and yaw it to the side to lace the front of turning Mig-21 with a long burst of cannon rounds, riddling the aircraft from nose to tail.

As the large Su-30 recovered from its pitch-up and pulled into the skies above Thimpu, Tikkar’s Mig-21 smashed into one of the peaks west of the city and disappeared into a ball of fire. On board the AEW aircraft to the south, Bull-rider-Actual disappeared from radar and comms.

With the skies swept clear over western Bhutan, the four remaining J-10s heading south towards Paru airport, while the Su-30 finished off the last Indian Mig-21. There were no more Indian defenses between the Chinese pilots and their target…

PARU AIRPORT

BHUTAN

DAY 6 + 1935 HRS

There were no klaxons at the airport. It was not a military base. It had been a civilian airport until a day ago. The black smoke spewing into the air at the southern edge of the airbase perimeter marked the location where one of the Bull-rider Mig-21s had gone down. It had been witnessed by the entire Para contingent securing the airbase as well as the air-force crew offloading the Mi-26 on the tarmac.

Squadron-Leader Saxena shouted for everybody to get the hell away from the airport and find cover. As the paratroopers ran to cover, a single two-man team manning an Igla shoulder launched missile got into position. They represented the only air-cover for Paru now.

“Here they come!” Saxena’s other two FACs shouted from the roof of the terminal building as he saw the J-10s diving into the valley from the west. He looked around and saw that a good bit of logistical equipment and supplies were spread out on the tarmac. There had simply been no time to get them out.

No time now!

“Everybody get into cover! Now!” Saxena shouted as he picked up his INSAS rifle and ran from the tarmac towards the terminal building. Everybody else was doing the same around him. He was shouting orders as he ran through the terminal’s main doors:

“Go! Go! Don’t stop! Get out of the terminal building to the other side! Abandon the O-P on the roof now! Move!”

On the roof, the other two air-force NCOs had already grabbed their rifles and equipment and were rappelling down the ropes on the other side of the building…

In the skies above, the four J-10s armed with iron-bombs had broken formation as they began their approach over the airbase. The Igla missile team at the airport had already seen the black specks approaching. Now they were looking for a lock using the infrared seekers. But range and terrain was against them from the start…

A few moments later the Chinese aircraft flew over the airport and the Paras on the perimeter returned fire from their LMGs.

But it didn’t matter.

The first J-10 flew over the tarmac where the Mi-26 was parked and released his entire load of bombs as it streaked past. The series of thunderous blasts ripped through the tarmac area, shredding the Mi-26 into smithereens and consuming the stored ordinance in its developing fireball.

The shockwave smashed through the terminal and the control tower, gutting the side of the buildings facing the tarmac…