Chimera

Pathanya dived behind the rocks once again and pulled out his long-range radio speaker:

“Spear-One to warlord! Anti-air threat destroyed! I say again: red anti-air guns are dead! My team is taking heavy fire from multiple directions! I need help over here! Send in the cavalry on my location right fucking now!”

“Roger that! Hang in there! Cavalry is on the way! Warlord out!”

* * *

South of Dotanang, the army-aviation Major nodded as heard the radio call from Colonel Misra and then waved at the three other pilots standing by their helicopters. All of them ran over to their cockpits and started climbing in. A few moments later the turbine engines spooled up and the main rotor blades began rotating…

* * *

Bullets smacked into the rocks and Sarvanan dived back behind them where Pathanya was slapping in another full magazine for his rifle. Pathanya chambered the round and then looked at Sarvanan:

“Okay, our job is done! We need to get out of here right away. We can’t go up the slope under this murderous fire or we will be ripped…,” both men ducked as a close burst of bullets ricocheted from the rocks with distinctive snags and whistles. Pathanya continued: “Command is sending in the cavalry. We definitely don’t want to be here when they arrive. So that gives us a few minutes. Ideas?”

“Few,” Sarvanan noted and looked around.

He and Pathanya shared a look and smiled before getting up and standing behind the boulder. He got his LMG tripod placed and got back into action, releasing bursts of fire in quick succession. Pathanya rolled around the side of the rocks and in prone position began picking off Chinese soldiers coming down the road from Barshong.

He saw three soldiers take hits and drop under his well-aimed bursts before a utility vehicle pulled up and the Chinese soldiers jumped out and took up positions behind it. Within seconds they started returning fire, churning up the ground near Pathanya and Sarvanan. Both men were soon pinned down…

And then they heard a new sound as a line of tracers whipped overhead and slammed into the Chinese utility vehicle, shredding its chassis into pieces and raising a dust cloud all around as the tracers bounced off the road into arbitrary directions.

The gunfire pinning Pathanya down instantly stopped. He jerked back to crouched position, poked his head above the rocks and saw a wrecked vehicle, spewing black smoke. Chinese soldiers were taking cover behind the trees and rocks and returning fire into the sky.

One of the Rudra helicopters suddenly flew overhead as it fired its chin-mounted 20mm cannon and released a quartet of fin-stabilized rockets before pulling up aggressively over the top of the hills. The rockets smashed into the rocks and trees on either side of the road and several tree trunks collapsed, throwing snow and dust into the air.

Pathanya had just enough time to mutter an “Oh shit!” before the other helicopter riddled the now-impotent vehicles of the Yitian SHORAD battery with a barrage of rockets.

Then the trees above the road on the other side of the valley opened up with over a hundred rifle flashes as a Chinese infantry company reinforcing the battered PLA Battalion to the south came over the ridge. The air filled with rifle bullets and the second Rudra helicopter took multiple hits with Pathanya hearing the definitive thumps and whumps on the fuselage of that helicopter…

“This is Sierra-Two, taking heavy enemy small arms fire east of Barshong! We are hit and I have a dead co-pilot in here. I am bringing this bird out of the fight. Sorry Spear, but I am R-T-B on emergency! Good luck down there!”

Pathanya grabbed his speaker as quickly as he could:

“Roger! Thanks for the assist! We will take it from here! Spear out!”

He saw the helicopter fly over the top of the peaks behind him at high speed trailing smoke. He then turned to Sarvanan who had his binoculars out and observing the ridge on the other side of the river.

“What do you see?” Pathanya asked as he stowed the speaker into his chest attachment and adjusted his boonie hat.

“Reinforced company-sized force making its way down to the road. Guess they must be from the PLA reserve battalion at Barshong,” Sarvanan said as he put the binoculars into his backpack.

“We cannot stay here,” Pathanya said just as the radio squawked:

“Warlord-central to Spear, do you copy?”

“Roger! Spear-One here reading you five-by-five! Over!”

“Spear-One, Para commander at Dotanang confirms a break in the enemy defenses. They are retreating north towards your position. You will be bumping into these forces imminently. Get out of there now!”

Pathanya instantly motioned for Sarvanan to get the rest of the men together and to move out up the slope before they were faced with enemy forces from the west, north and south.

“Wilco! Spear is disengaging! We are bugging out!”

* * *