Chimera

Dutt looked forward to see that they were now a few seconds out from Rhino tanks below. He could see lines of heavy Arjun tanks maneuvering in the valley below but no longer taking enemy artillery fire. Further north he could see that the Chinese MSR was burning…

“Looks like steel-teeth did their job and took out the Chinese guns already. Good. We don’t have to fly through falling shells. Okay, let’s see what’s up there!” Dutt ordered and switched his radio frequencies to Sudarshan’s command post:

“This is Sickle-One on target above Rhino. I hope you have withdrawn your R-P-Vs because we are going to clean the skies here!”

“Roger! Skies are clear of all friendly R-P-Vs. If you see anything up there, it’s not one of ours. Take it out!”

“Roger that! Sickle-One out.”

Dutt nodded, closed that line and switched back to his WSO:

“You heard the man! Let’s roll!”

He pulled the helicopter cyclic to bring a very high nose up attitude on the LCH. The helicopter now starting losing forward speed quickly and the velocity vector began to reverse on the azimuthal plane while also slowly climbing. But this maneuver brought the chin-mounted FLIR pod facing the sky above. Against such a cold thermal background, anything manmade would be visible on infrared view…

“Acquisition! Single aerial drone overhead! Approximately nine-hundred feet above us!” the WSO said urgently.

“Can you engage?” Dutt asked as he struggled to control the high nose-up attitude. The velocity vector had completely reversed and they were accelerating backwards.

“Roger! I have the target! Engaging!”

The helicopter shuddered as the cannon barked several times, lighting up the LCH with the orange-yellow flashes of light. The rounds streaked across and were visible on the FLIR. They missed their target above them.

“Shit! We are not stable enough for accuracy here!” the WSO complained over the comms.

“Roger, but I am struggling with the weather here, buddy. I can’t give you any more stability than what you have right now!” Dutt replied.

“Then we need to get closer!”

“Roger.”

Dutt pushed the LCH nose back down and maxed out the throttle and collective. With the mostly empty loads, the helicopter leapt upwards, gathered high initial rate-of-climb and then began to see that rate bleed off as they gained altitude.

Even so, the gain in the helicopter’s altitude was substantial and Dutt wanted to ensure he wasn’t doing this above the Chinese lines. So he brought in some cyclic and sent his LCH in a climbing spiral under the Chinese UAV above. All through this, the nose of the helicopter remained pointed down and so the FLIR had no visual on the target above.

After a few seconds of groaning climb, Dutt realized he had pushed the LCH as far as it could go. He adjusted the cyclic and terminated the spiral. He brought up the nose of the helicopter again. This time, it didn’t have to go far…

“Target acquired! Two-hundred feet above and attempting escape to the north!” the WSO shouted.

“Looks like the Chinese pilot knows we are out here!” Dutt replied urgently. “Don’t let it escape! Engage! Engage!”

“Roger!”

The helicopter shuddered again as Dutt’s WSO let loose a long burst of fire at the rapidly fleeing UAV. The vast majority of the rounds missed and bracketed the drone in three-dimensional space. But a few caught the port wing and exploded, sending the Chinese drone spiraling out of control.

“Yes!” Dutt exclaimed.

Instantly the sky around the LCH lit up with lines of yellow tracers crisscrossing each other and explosions rocked the helicopter all around.

“Anti-aircraft fire, boss! Get us out of here!” the WSO shouted.

“Shit! Hang on!” Dutt said as he brought the LCH on a southbound vector and dived. They lost several hundred feet of altitude in seconds and he pulled up over the ground low enough to literally see the tank crews from the 43RD Armored Regiment waving at his helicopter.

But there was no time for a victory roll tonight. The weather was already proving dangerous and their small on-board fuel was red-lining as well. Dutt keyed his radio to Sudarshan’s post while managing the flight back to Saser. His heart still beating loudly from the suddenness of it all…

“This is Sickle-One! Skies are clear! I say again, skies are clear! We are R-T-B. You can bring back your R-P-Vs! Over,” Dutt reminded himself to take long breaths under his breathing mask.

“Roger that, Sickle-One! Well done! Get back to base in one piece. The boys on the ground send their regards. Out!”

“And that is what I call a good night!” Dutt’s WSO exclaimed.

“You think so?” Dutt poked as his heart returned to normal rhythm.

“Why not? It’s like this, boss: I…”

The WSO’s comment was cut short as three large tube-like shapes flew overhead below the cloud cover and headed south, their exhausts glowing yellow. They disappeared in the direction of Thoise airbase…

“What the hell were those?”

“Cruise-missiles!” Dutt exclaimed. “Heading to Thoise! We have to warn the Phalcon crew!”

But it was too late.