Chimera

“Leh has definitely been shut down. I cannot see how they can operate aircraft from such a heavily damaged airbase,” Zhigao said as he walked into Feng’s office abruptly. Feng got up from his chair behind the desk and put down his cup of tea. Zhigao seemed to ignore him completely and instead handed him some new satellite images. Zhigao continued:

“That will hurt their ability to bring in heavy reinforcements by air when the ground offensive begins tomorrow.”

Feng nodded agreement.

“Yes. In addition the bases at Chushul, Fukche and Daulat-beg-oldi are well under rocket artillery range. The PLA has assured us that they can shut those forward airbases down when their attack begins. And with the Aksai chin skies secured by our S-300 systems, our ground forces should be able to sweep away the Indian defenses and attain their objectives within the week.”

Zhigao accepted Feng’s assessment with a slight nod. He seemed heavily distracted. It was normal under the circumstances. And Zhigao’s situation was not good. After Wencang and Chen had called, he had also been visited by the regional political commissar for an explanation on his actions. And nobody, Generals and Privates included, liked a nasty visit from the country’s political officers. Whether at home, office or even on the streets.

But Feng could only relate with Zhigao on that, not sympathize. He held Zhigao directly responsible for the rash decisions that led to thirty two pilots dead and a major combat force of high-end fighters eliminated during a critical time in war. People in the People’s Republic of China had been shot for far less severe infractions during peacetime, let alone war…

“Feng, I must enquire what you plan to speak to General Chen when he arrives tomorrow morning,” Zhigao said finally. Feng was surprised by the question and thought he detected something in the man’s voice.

Fear?

“I plan to brief General Chen on our progress thus far in this sector,” Feng said neutrally.

“Cut the nonsense! I demand to know what you intend to say about my actions to him?” Zhigao thundered, his voice cracking under the strain. Feng sighed and looked at the papers on the table below before looking back at Zhigao.

“I think you had better pack your bags. Your war is over.”

DAY 2

MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

NEW DELHI

DAY 2 + 0330 HRS

“So when does team five cross over?” Basu asked the others.

“Well, their last radio contact two days ago put them here… north of the Kongra-La. Now that place is crawling with PLA ever since this mess began. So my guess is that the team will have to go further west and then cross the Sikkim border between Naku-La and Kongra-La. I would say another two or three days.” Lieutenant-Colonel Ansari said as he pointed out the locations on the paper map on Basu’s table with a pencil.

“Your guess?” Basu asked pointedly.

Ansari put down the pencil and walked back to his seat and sat down. He was wearing the field camouflage uniform now that the war had started with China. He was not even sure why he was here when the rest of SOCOM was preparing strike missions against the Chinese in Tibet.

“Yes. My guess. We don’t micromanage our people. It works best that way. We set up a meeting point on our side of the border and they meet us there. Apart from that and their final destinations, the only people who know the actual paths they will be taking are the actual team members.”

“Okay fine. Point taken. So where are we meeting them on this side of the border?” Basu said as he leaned forward from his seat to look over the map. Ansari walked over and jabbed his finger at a location marked: Dokung.

“Here.”

“Basu, who do we have up there to meet them?” the other older RAW officer in the room spoke up.

“We have a RAW debriefing team heading there now. They will hold up at the meeting place and debrief the team. SOCOM is also sending a logistics team to resupply the team with whatever they need. We will use the ARC Mi-17 to get the supplies and personnel up there,” Basu said as he continued to look at the location pointed out to him by Ansari.

“The air-force flies Mi-17 resupply flights to the army battalion east of Dokung on a routine basis. It should stay low profile enough I think,” Basu continued.

“How high is this place?”

Ansari fielded that one:

“Around sixteen-thousand feet. I hope your RAW boys are acclimatized to the high altitude because I can assure you they are going to need it. The region around these passes in northern Sikkim is the most inhospitable in the world. You cannot run fifty meters without the wind being knocked out of you. The temperature freezes you up to your bones and you have to walk everywhere you go. And that’s the altitude at which the damn passes are. Our boys in Tibet have to cross altitudes much higher than that to cross over on foot. I don’t know if you noticed, but there is no pass between Naku and Kongra-la. They will have to cross the peaks to be able to come back over to Dokung.”