Chimera

“When this is all done,” Ravoof said, “the escalation to nuclear weapons will be inevitable. What we need to do soon is to draw a line in the sand to ensure that Beijing knows the consequences of any action beyond it. Perhaps the Russians can be asked to open a discreet line of conversation with Beijing. The main danger here is that neither side will give up the war in defeat. So we have to find out what the real cost of peace is, or else we will all find out the real cost of war.”

NEW CHINA NEWS AGENCY

DAY 10 + 2359 HRS

“The operations by the courageous men and women of the People’s Liberation Army against Indian aggression on the borders of Tibet go well on its tenth day. The people of northern Bhutan celebrated the arrival of our soldiers and thanked the soldiers for freeing them of Indian hegemony. The Indian attack on our innocent comrades in Kashgar was avenged today when the People’s Liberation Army Air Force launched a devastating series of raids on Indian forces in the eastern frontier city of Tawang. It was an action that weighed heavily on our leaders but the enemy has been shown that they would be better off not underestimating our will and our determination to ensure our people’s safety. If the enemy continues to push us further, they will find themselves engulfed in an ocean of fire the likes of which the world has never seen.”

DAY 11

HAA-DZONG

BHUTAN

DAY 11 + 0530 HRS

Lieutenant-General Potgam walked out of the former IMTRAT admin building after being woken up by his adjutant. He stepped out of the main doors and looked around. The place was as abuzz with activity as ever, despite the freezing cold morning. Mi-17s were operating out of the former golf-course, although the mushed up ground there no longer looked like it ever was anything more than a swamp. The artificial grass there had been crushed into the earth long ago under the weight of the arriving helicopters loaded with cargo. Had it not been for the few paved roads inside the base this place would have shut down because of deteriorating logistics long ago.

Potgam walked down the small step of stairs from the building and began walking to the parked AXE utility-vehicle parked on the road waiting for him, its engines revving on neutral gear. He recognized his driver but also noticed new faces standing nearby with their Tavor rifles…

The 12TH Para-SF Battalion had deployed alongside the 9TH and the 11TH into Bhutan. The 11TH was deploying via An-32s at Paru and being airlifted via helicopters from there to Thimpu, where Colonel Misra was leading the assault on the remnants of the once powerful PLA Highland Division at Barshong. The 12TH Battalion was Potgam’s reserve force that he intended on deploying for security duties around Paru and Haa-Dzong.

The 12TH Battalion had already deployed companies to Lieutenant-Colonel Fernandez’s location north of Paru and had also secured Paru airport.

Now he could see Paras standing next to his vehicle, heavily armed in case JFB headquarters came under attack. But Potgam was not worried about getting attacked from the ground. Not anymore.

Potgam had chopped over control for a single Nishant UAV from his original force to the commander of the 12TH Para-SF to allow his men to find and isolate the faint infrared signals detected north of Paru and suspected of being enemy special-forces units. Potgam had no spare men before to try and do anything about them. But now the situation had changed, and he wanted them dealt with…

His driver pulled the vehicle from neutral and pushed into forward drive just as the two Paras jumped into the back. The vehicle lurched forward on the slushy wet mud and accelerated, forcing Potgam to hold on for his life. His vehicle drove past the parked helicopters at the golf-course, heading away from the admin building and towards a large patch of trees just inside the base perimeter to the east. He could see camouflaged netting deployed over the tree branches to cover the comms trailers. He also saw a dozen or more Paras patrolling in silence, their breaths visible as puffs in front of their faces…

No. His main concern for this base now was from the air. The Chinese control of the skies via manned aircraft was no more. But the threat from cruise-missiles and ballistic-missiles was definite and very real.

As JFB forces became more and more dominant and the PLA positions became weaker, this threat only increased. And it didn’t take more than two or three missiles to completely shut down Paru for days, if not permanently.

Same went for Haa-Dzong.

He had controlled this war in Bhutan in its initial days from the old IMTRAT buildings. Now the threat to this place was very high and he could not afford to continue keeping his headquarters so vulnerable. So he had ordered all critical elements of the headquarters spread out and dispersed. The situation and the threats had changed, and so had his tactics.