Chimera

Because of the angle of the view caused by the satellite’s position above the horizon as it passed the target, the view of the 821 Brigade battery in question was being blocked by the mountains nearby. But as the base slid into view beyond the hills the dark gray background was dotted with white puffs throughout the Chinese base. These represented hot regions against the cold winter terrain. Some of these white puffs were more like clouds and seems to be slowly drifting away…

“What the hell!” the Group-Captain exclaimed as he suddenly stood up from his chair, causing it to fall back on the floor. Malhotra’s response was not any calmer:

“Oh shit! The bastards are launching!”

As if on cue, another white flash erupted against the black background causing the satellite’s optics to flare out and readjust the coloration on screen. Within those couple of seconds, a hot white speck leaped into the air from one of the launchers and began moving southwest. The Group-Captain’s team began adjusting the optics and the view zoomed out to try and track the course the missiles were taking. There was no question about it: the missiles were heading south and south-east from Tibet…

Malhotra found a lump in his throat as the implications became clear.

Dear god! They did it! They actually did it!

But there was no time to ponder now. It was time to act.

Malhotra moved decisively even as other struggled to come to terms with the quickness at which things were happening. He moved across the room and picked up the phone. The Colonel from the SFC did the same a second later. The phone calls from both men were answered immediately as they were supposed to be. Malhotra spoke quickly but quietly:

“This is the Commander, Aerospace Command. We are detecting large numbers of launch plumes at cruise-missile bases across northern Tibet. Launches are ongoing at this time with southerly inbounds. I say again, we have in-bound Chinese cruise-missiles. Send out the warning orders to everybody. We are looking at a category-one alpha-strike by China!”

In the operations center outside the conference room, Malhotra’s people were attempting to make sense of things. They were already moving the satellite’s optics to other bases in the region. The same views were detected everywhere. Malhotra completed his call and came back to see his men struggling to handle the vast amount of data pouring in. Luckily a large portion of the processing was being handled by computers. They classified the threats and passed them via satellite communications networks to the SFC and the various IAF air-defense centers via the respective regional commands.

“What’s the count?” Malhotra asked his operations chief once he saw a tally adding up on a second wall-mounted side-screen as the men inside the center added launch locations and numbers to it…

“Hundred plus and still counting,” the Group-Captain reported.

Malhotra took a deep breath and crossed his arms in silence. As they watched their team get to work, the large screen continued to show the slowly dissipating thermal plumes from expended launch tubes of the Chinese launchers…

NEW DELHI

DAY 1 + 0020 HRS

The Prime-Minister looked up from his book as he heard a lot of commotion outside his reading room. He heard voices of men shouting out orders. The voices were familiar to him: his personal security officers from the Special Protection Group or SPG…

The door to his reading room suddenly opened with a thud.

Three men in black suit and ties ran into the room. The Prime-Minister noticed they were armed. His chief security officer was holding his personal sidearm while the two other men had their FN-2000 rifles held in their hands. The SPG commandos found him standing near his personal library of books, looking alarmed and somewhat shocked at the rude and loud entry into the room.

“Sir, please come with us now!” the SPG team-leader spoke urgently.

“What’s going on Sunil?” the PM asked with a shaky voice.

“Sir, no time! We can brief you along the way. There is an Air-Force helicopter approaching the helipad outside in a few minutes to evacuate you and your family! We need you to move!”

The PM was still holding on to the book, unable to grasp what was being barked at him…

“But wait. What..?”

“Now, sir!”

The SPG team-leader grabbed the PM by his arm and nearly forced the confused and somewhat frightened man to move out with them. The two men with rifles led the way as they all walked out. In the other rooms the PM saw other members of the security team leading his family members outside. Once out of the residence and near the helipad, he saw heavily armed members of the SPG were standing guard all around the perimeter. The first sounds of the approaching helicopter were already filling the cold night sky…

“Sunil, I demand to know what the hell is going on!” the PM shouted above the chaotic noises around him from his family, the security personnel and others.