0340 Hours
2 November 2010
6x Su30-MKI Flight
Skies over Gujarat sea coast

Mission Controller aboard IL-76 based AWACS took a look at the radar screen and picked up the mouth piece to contact Striker formation, “Striker team, this is Falcon 1. Guardian will join your formation over WayPoint 1 in 3 minutes.”

“Roger that Falcon 1.”Wing Commander Narendra, flight leader replied and craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the approaching 3 plane formation of Su30-MKIs tasked with providing air cover to his Striker formation. Right on time the Guardian flight took defensive positions around the other 6 Su30-MKIs that formed the Strikers.
He strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of the Air-to-Air missiles that the Guardians were carrying. In low light of the half moon, all he could see of the Guardians was flames of their engines. He wondered if they could see the much bigger payload his formation was carrying from that distance.

He took a deep breath as the Sukhois approached next waypoint. Voice of the MC came through radio once again, “Striker formation, increase your altitude to 8000m. Time for payback. Falcon 1 out.”

“Roger that Falcon 1”. WC Narendra replied and put his plane in to a steep climb. “Time for payback indeed.”

0345 Hours
2 November 2012
70 Km South East of Gilgit, POK

The two Chinese soldiers were standing guard over the unnamed mountain for two hours in to their shift. Their 2 comrades were asleep inside their cleverly camouflaged bunker. The two sentries were fully alert, backs erect and fingers on triggers as they stood guard . A HN-5 MANPADS, Chinese copy of Russian 9K32M Strela-2 lay in between them. Every 10 minutes, one of the sentries would put a small night-vision binocular to his eyes and scan his surroundings. Each time special attention was given to the railway line that passed through the foot-hills of their mountain and vanished in to a tunnel of another bigger one adjacent to theirs. The tunnel marked entrance of railway line in to the lush green valley just behind the massive mountain. Every 30 minutes, either one of them would pick up the small hand held radio placed on the ground and report the situation. Each time he received replies from 2 other watch positions placed similarly on adjacent mountain tops. This chore done, the soldier would walk back to his position and again start scanning the area below him.

Two dark figures lay as still as rocks behind them, watching and marking their every move. It was not the first time they were doing that. The 10 men team divided further in to smaller groups had been collecting intelligence for 2 weeks now. But tonight was different. They had been lying face down for an hour on the cold hard ground while a cold breeze chilled their backs. One of the figures whispered in to his small mouth piece, “Stalker alpha in position and ready. ” He received immediate replies from two other teams . He looked towards his team mate lying besides him and nodded. Then whispered softly, “It’s a go.” Both men brought out silenced Tavors and took aim on heads of the two Chinese.
“On my mark, 3,2,1.” There were muffled popping noises as the two guns fired and slightly louder thumps as the two Chinese soldiers dropped unceremoniously to the ground. The two men broke cover and raced towards the bunker trying to be as quite as possible as possible. A small battery powered light illuminated the entrance. Their rifles drawn and eyes to the sights they tip-toed inside to find 2 Chinese fast asleep inside. Without pausing they put 2 shots in to each man’s head.
This work done, both came out and contacted their mates on radio. The two remaining Chinese posts had been neutralized too. All that was left was report from 4th team which came in 3 minutes later , “Fireworks attached. “
“Acknowledged.”

Most difficult part of their mission complete, the men slightly relaxed and checked their watches. They still had 12 minutes till the delivery of airborne package. The man with Tavor took out one small gadget from his backpack and placed it on top of the bunker. It was just a small radio marker that could be used to identify the correct location. 2 of the other teams on other mountain tops did the same. In the meanwhile, his compatriot had placed a laser designator and started adjusting it’s aim. His target was entrance of the tunnel. Other mouth of tunnel, the one facing the valley was marked similarly. 9 minutes still left and they waited.

Chapter 28

0347 Hours
2 November 2010
Phalcon AWACS
Skies near Pakistan’s southern coast

Concrete intelligence regarding remaining 3 missiles had came in minutes after the meeting between GP, Angad and military representatives had ended. Two of the missiles had been detected at the Omara naval base. The base was approximately 230 Km west of Gwadar and had come up in the last 2 years with active but hushed Chinese assistance. 3rd one was further east on Chama, a small island less than 40 KM west of Karachi. The coordinates were hurriedly forwarded to the Air Force which had plans to neutralize any such target ready for years. Striker flight was the one chosen to destroy those missiles.

The six Sukhois engaged afterburners and put the planes in to a steep climb. The engines screaming and the airframe under quite a bit of stress, pilots waited till they reached 8000m and then leveled out. One by one they fired off their Air to Land version of Brahmos. The missiles dropped for a few meters then the booster kicked in propelling them to near Mach 3 speeds. Their work done, all Sukhois turned over and started racing back to their base. Personnel aboard the Phalcon watched as 6 blips started racing towards their targets, 2 missiles against each target .

“Missile launch ! We’ve just detected a missile launch from Chama island.” Excited voice of one of the radar operators broke the attention of technicians concentrating on six Brahmos flight.

MC rushed to the console and looked. “Damn it all to hell. They’ve launched that fuc***** missile ? Keep tracking it’s trajectory. Send alerts to HQs immediately. Any idea where it’s going ? Dilli ?”

“Looks like it’s going south. If it’s M11 then Mumbai is one prime target.” radar operator replied without taking his eyes off the console.

“What about missiles at Omara and how long till that satellite feed is available again?” MC asked getting more scared with every passing moment

“No sign of launch yet. Satellite will be in range in 60 seconds.”

“20 seconds to Brahmos impact.” radar operators tasked with tracking Brahmos flight announced.

MC bit his lips willing the Brahmos to destroy the Chinese missiles before they took off. His charm worked with the rest. The 4 Brahmos directed towards Omara base slammed in to their targets without any of the M11s launching. The ones directed towards Chama island destroyed the empty launcher killing only the personnel on ground. MC walked to his chair staring at the just launched M11 missile coordinates. “Assh*** launched it even before they knew we were coming. They were going to launch it no matter what !” He stared at the screen connected to satellite feed wishing the images via satellite could come sooner. He clutched his chair’s arm rest tightly as the satellite link was established. Images at first blurry, then more focused and sharp started streaming in. He could see columns of smoke rising out of the Paki naval base, but couldn’t confirm if the missiles were destroyed.
“Well ?” he inquired loudly.

“It’s a kill. We’ve destroyed the remaining missiles.” was the reply.

“Only if we could destroy that bitch too. Shit !” he groaned.