Chimera

The Major increased power and picked up from the grassy field, leaving the Dhruv helicopter behind. The Major flew down the valley, flying east of the hill occupied by Spear team. He looked to his left and saw the smoke bellowing from the western slopes of that hill and then adjusted the tail-rotor power which spun the helicopter around. They could now see Wang-Chu on the horizon as they hovered over the treetops…

“Weapons armed. You have release. Throttle at max!” the co-pilot said as the Major looked to try and spot the target building. He thought he spotted it:

“Okay. I have target acquisition! Let’s roll!”

The Lancer dipped its nose and rapidly built up speed as it flew towards Wang-Chu from the north, coming up behind the PLA forces at tree-top level. Pathanya spotted the Major and his helicopter coming down the valley a good few seconds before the Chinese did. By the time they picked up their weapons and attempted to reorient themselves, the Lancer was flying a hundred kilometers an hour and already over the village…

“Weapons release! Fire! Fire! Fire!” the Major announced as the Lancer released all four of its gun-pod rockets in one salvo.

The rockets slammed into the target building, demolishing it in a bowl of dust as four thunderclaps rang out in the valley. The walls of the building occupied by the enemy observation post collapsed inwards.

The Lancer had already flown overhead amidst a crackling of assault weapon fire from the PLA soldiers inside the village. It didn’t take long before the thuds of bullet impacts started sounding off inside the cockpit. The two pilot were busy taking their bird down to tree-top height to evade the fire when a burst of heavy machinegun fire severed the tail rotor drive on the exposed boom, sending the helicopter spinning violently around while moving forward at one-hundred kilometers an hour.

“Mayday! Mayday! Delta-One has been hit! Catastrophic failure in attitude control. Shutting down power and attempting auto-rotation landing! Delta-One requesting…!”

The radio message was abruptly replaced with screeching static as the helicopter slammed into the trees well south of the village and close to the primary LZ for Spear…

“Oh my god!” Vikram said from his position as they watched the helicopter disappear below the trees. A jarring crash rippled through the air. Pathanya was more composed:

“Spear! We are leaving, boys! Egress to primary L-Z and link up with Delta-Two! Make the most of the cover provided by their sacrifice! Move!”

The team moved out while Pathanya stayed behind the truck to observe the dust cloud from the destroyed building in the village. He could see chaos inside the village as Chinese soldiers attempted rescue operations for those caught inside the building. They seemed extremely energetic…

Maybe their commanding-officer was in that building.

Good for us, bad for them!

Pathanya thought without sympathy as he put the IMFS in his backpack, picked up his rifle and moved out from under the truck.

“Delta-Two, this is Spear-One. What’s the status of Delta-One? Do you have a visual of the crash site? Over” he said as he ran.

“They are down and on fire, Spear-One! We have visual! Can you divert some personnel to attempt a rescue?” the pilot of the Dhruv replied.

“Roger that! We will take it from here, Delta-Two. Meet you at the primary! Out!”

Pathanya waved Vikram over and pointed him towards the crash site made visible by the glow of the fires on the trees nearby. Both men ran through the bushes and jumped over the rocky terrain covered in treacherous ice and snow as they moved towards the burning wreck of the Lancer.

When they got to the site, they witnessed the terrible sight. The Lancer cockpit had been smashed into the trees, and its engine and gun-pods were scattered into the foliage all around. Fires raged from fuel splattered all around. Pathanya saw the mutilated body of the co-pilot still strapped inside his seat in the crushed glass cockpit. The Major had fallen clear and his body was nearby, trailing a line of blood from his point of impact…

“God! He’s alive! Quick!” Pathanya motioned to Vikram and they ran over to the Major and turned him over. His green flight-suit had turned black near the chest because of the blood. But his hands were still clenching his sidearm.

Pathanya and Vikram picked up the Major and straggled over to the clearing where the Dhruv helicopter was waiting with its engines running and Ravi and the other men kneeling nearby, their weapons pointed outwards at any threat that might come their way. They loaded Ganesh and the Major onto the metallic floor of the cabin and the Dhruv crew promptly lifted off the ground and headed south back to Paru…