Chimera

“But surely they know they can’t win now? So what’s the point? What can they do?” the PM asked incredulously

Chakri leaned forward from his chair: “The point is that they are going to up the ante to try and push us into the corner.”

“Nuclear weapons?” the Home-Minister asked.

“Why not?” Chakri replied as he leaned back in his chair. “I would be at least considering that if I were in Beijing right now. The question is whether they are willing to initiate a nuclear exchange to win a border war!”

“Border war?!” the NSA grunted. “I think this stopped being a border war days ago. Expect the Chinese to start flexing their nuclear muscles pretty soon. I would say within the next forty-eight hours.”

“I agree,” Chakri added.

The PM leaned forward on the table and rubbed his eyes.

“And what about Pakistan?” the Home-Minister asked Ravoof.

“Hard to say,” Ravoof noted. “They couldn’t intervene on the conventional side of the war without taking the wrath of the White-House. Add to that the chaotic situation in their own country with the Taliban bogging down large chunks of their army in the last year.”

“But if this war goes nuclear,” Chakri added, “expect them to dip their spoon into the cauldron to try and finish us off once and for all. No matter how thinly spread and combat ineffective their conventional forces are, their nuclear forces are always clean and ready. They won’t stop at using them no matter what Washington might or might not say.”

“So what you are telling me,” the PM leaned forward, “is that the more we push towards victory, the more the chances of nuclear fallout?”

INDIAN OCEAN

FIVE HUNDRED KILOMETERS EAST OF SRI–LANKA

DAY 8 + 1030 HRS

“What’s the word?”

Vive-Admiral Surakshan asked as he stepped into the combat-information-center or CIC, as it was called. The Captain of the aircraft-carrier Vikramaditya was standing inside with his arms crossed. He turned to see the admiral walk up next to him and handed him the printout:

“From naval headquarters.”

‘ALL NAVAL FORCES UNDER TASK-FORCE-VICTOR ARE TO ENGAGE UNRESTRICTED WARFARE AGAINST ALL CHINESE NAVAL AND MERCHANT SHIPPING FORCES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS PURSUANT TO ACHIEVING BLOCKADE OF ESSENTIAL ECONOMIC AND WAR SUPPLIES.

COMMANDER, TASK-FORCE-VICTOR IS ORDERED TO ENGAGE IN MINIMAL CIVILIAN CASUALTIES DURING THESE OPERATIONS AS WELL AS NON-COMBATANT NATION SHIPPING IS NOT TO BE ENGAGED.

TASK-FORCE-X-RAY WILL CONTINUE DETERRANT OPERATIONS AGAINST ANY PAKISTANI SUB-SURFACE THREATS THAT MAY EMANATE.

GOOD HUNTING AND GIVE THEM HELL.

— COMMANDER, NAVAL OPERATIONS’

Surakshan smiled as he handed the note back to the Captain: “Looks like the gloves are off, old boy.”

He looked at the tactical map of the region on the digital pedestal in front of him. It was showing where his naval task-force was placed relative to nearby territories and friendly forces. On his left flank, the tri-services-command at Andaman and Nicobar islands was effectively sealing off the Malacca straits for the last week. On his right flank, Task-Force-X-Ray was screening for Pakistani submarines south of Sri-Lanka in case they decided to be foolish enough to run interference for the PLAN. His battle-group of surface ships was currently steaming south, right into the world’s diversionary merchant shipping routes…

His main targets were the Chinese merchant shipping and oil-tankers. He would sink the former and capture the latter as opportunities presented themselves. The PLAN had a couple of ships acting as escorts for their merchant force from the middle-east to the South China Sea. But they were not the real threat to his force.

No. They are not the big fish around here!

His real threat was a flotilla of Chinese warships that had left port a few days ago and was now entering the Indian Ocean after having bypassed the Malacca Strait via the Bali Sea. They were currently steaming west and were three hundred kilometers north-west of Christmas Island. Indian satellites had been tracking this fleet ever since it left port.