Chimera

“The man should be given a medal!” Wencang said finally. His tone implied that this was an order. Even Liu mumbled some expletive but otherwise nodded.

“And he will be. See to it, Feng,” Chen ordered calmly.

“So what now?” Liu grunted.

“We pushed the Indians back from the skies above Lhasa,” Wencang observed. “They know now what we will not tolerate. Maybe it’s time to end this war while we still retain the tools to make that assertion!”

“End the war on India’s terms?” Liu noted with fatalism. “Not possible! You have other Fighter Divisions in Jining and Beijing regions. I will get the C-M-C to authorize their release to the unified-MRAF. That should replace your losses. But don’t commit these units to battle! Make sure the Indians know we have them. That will keep them on their toes while we make arrangements to force an end to this war on our terms.”

“The Indians cannot win a battle of attrition with us,” Feng noted in approval of Liu. Chen and Wencang to give him a sharp look.

“Neither can we, based on your loss statistics!” Wencang retorted.

“It won’t come to that,” Liu speculated confidently. “Punitive-Dragon was a massive lash from our side on the enemy air forces to remind them what our strengths are. In that it has achieved its goals despite our heavy losses. We now have to show them the same boundaries on the ground. Once these lines are drawn, they will be forced to admit that conventional land offensives into Tibet will get them nowhere. And that will force them to the negotiating table!”

OVER THE MALACCA STRAIT

DAY 13 + 0800 HRS

The six Su-30s pulled up above the clouds and climbed to thirty-thousand feet. The cloudy environ was instantly replaced with bright sunlight and blue skies above as the fighters moved above the cloud floor below. The twelve pilots and WSOs squinted against the bright light and began lowering their helmet visors. They also noticed the sunlight glinting off the fuselage of the two Il-78s further south, trailing four long, white condensation trails at high altitude…

The tankers had lifted off thirty minute prior to give them a head start. The Sukhoi pilots appreciated them as they caught up. They knew how thinly spread the miniscule IAF tanker fleet, concentrated into No. 78 Squadron, really was. These two birds had been pulled off the squadron roster for this mission from Kalaikunda the day before and had flown down to the Andaman Islands over the night.

The presence of these two aircraft here meant that the Eastern Air Command had only one available dedicated tanker for the rest of the day today till these two aircraft returned. That one tanker would only be able to refuel mission-critical aircraft such as the Phalcon and the last surviving CABS AEW operating from Kalaikunda. To the Su-30 pilots of the No. 18 ‘Flying Bullets’ squadron, it was an indication of the importance attached to this operation by the IAF high command.

The six aircraft pulled up alongside and got a friendly wave from the cockpits of the tankers who were just as happy to see their escorts. The crews of the eight aircraft settled into the flight and had seven hours of boredom ahead while the war continued to rage on the mainland they were leaving behind.

BEIJING

CHINA

DAY 13 + 1130 HRS

“Ah, welcome General!” Liu extended his hand to Lieutenant-General Rashid Mahmoud as he and his entourage walked down the corridor to Liu’s peacetime office inside the building. General Mahmoud shook his hands as Liu waved him into the office. Colonel Dianrong closed the door behind the two men, leaving the rest of the officers outside. Liu got down to business after waving Mahmoud to the sofa in the room.

“Mahmoud, I am going to come straight to the point here because time is very short and my presence is needed elsewhere as well. I hope you understand.”

“Of course, sir,” Mahmoud said with a nod.

“Excellent. Now, in calling for this meeting on behalf of President Peng, I am hoping to fill you in on the developments taking place with our operations against India and where your country might come into the picture,” Liu stated flatly.

Mahmoud was not surprised by that last sentence. He knew fully well what this was about. He had been posted to Beijing as the liaison between the Chinese military and his own ever since Beijing had revealed its plans for India two months ago at the height of the Tibet crisis. He was in charge of maintaining the smooth flow of information between the two nations and their military…