Chimera

by Vivek Ahuja

  First part of that was to push the Chinese Battalion strength force just outside the northern outskirts of Thimpu back to Dotanang and then Barshong to the north. Barshong was the staging area in northwestern Bhutan for the Chinese Division and its recapture would effectively vacate that Division from Bhutan for all practical purposes. Dotanang, between Thimpu and Barshong, was the Brigade headquarters for the unit leading the offensive against Thimpu.

  Potgam had given this task to Colonel Misra and he in turn had passed his orders to Pathanya and his men an hour ago…

  As Pathanya saw his team waking up and finding their bearings, he took the maps and notes from the Colonel’s briefing and stuffed them inside his uniform chest pockets. Outside, two Paras on sentry armed with Tavor rifles walked by and peeked in at the commotion. They nodded to the Captain and walked off.

  Vikram finally got to his feet and walked up to Pathanya as both men left the room and entered the courtyard of the palace. The dim flashes of light from the north and west was a reminder of the ongoing war. Two Indian Mig-27s streaked by and headed north of Thimpu. A large wall of flames erupted some kilometers north of the city and lit up the valley with a hellish orange-yellow décor.

  Another napalm strike mission completed.

  “So what’s the deal, boss? Where we going?” Vik asked.

  “Place west of Barshong,” Pathanya said as he pulled out the maps from his pocket, “about twenty-five kilometers north of here. 11TH Battalion Paras are pushing hard against the battered remains of the commie Battalion that we were engaging before the Colonel got here. They have managed to push them north and are still pushing them back to their Brigade headquarters at Dotanang, about twelve kilometers north from the outskirts of Thimpu. That’s where all these air strikes are going. The last intact PLA Battalion is at Barshong, acting as their reserve. Once the Paras finish off the one at Dotanang, they are going to move further northwest and engage the one at Barshong. For now we are going to be deployed in between Barshong and Dotanang to play hell with their rear echelons.”

  “So we are going behind the lines,” Vik noted.

  “Yup. So get everybody kitted out accordingly. The fly-boys from Delta will deploy us from the west. Fast, low and at night.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like real fun,” Vik sighed.

  NEW-DELHI

  INDIA

  DAY 8 + 0630 HRS

  “Are they insane?” Chakri exclaimed as he heard what the Indian UN Ambassador had to say about the latest rounds of negotiations in New-York. The Prime-Minister was still in thought so he continued:

  “The whole world saw on live television that they started this war by attacking our capital city and military bases with missiles. And they still propagate the idea that somehow we are responsible for precipitating their actions? How thick can they get?”

  “Sometimes it works to your advantage to believe your own lies,” Ravoof said from across the room. “It makes you more confident in front of the world.”

  The Ambassador nodded on the teleconference screen.

  “Indeed. And their contention, true or not, is that our support for the Tibetan rebels and their fight against the Chinese in Tibet is what precipitated their response. They claim we had our special-forces units deployed inside Tibet to assist the Tibetans and that we had training camps on our soil for arming and equipping these so-called rebels.”

  The Prime-Minister finally stepped into the conversation as he looked over to Chakri and the NSA, sitting side by side: “Is this true?”

  “Does it matter?” Chakri replied instantly with a frown.

  “Yes it does!” the PM threw back at Chakri. “Our policy in front of the world has always been to not provide the Tibetans with anything other than moral support and a place to stay! If the Chinese claims are substantiated on our side, the entire world will leave our side and go back to sitting on the benches again. Can you imagine what the results of that would be?!”

  “I think at this point our policy should have more to do with defeating China on the battlefield and for the Tibetans to whom we have a duty to help after what Beijing has done in their homeland for the past year! If the White-House or Downing-Street wants to sit on the fence because of their moral objections, I really don’t give a damn! Russia is still by our side and we are buying a lot of emergency supply of arms and ammunition from them. And they don’t particularly care one way or another whether we assisted the Tibetans or not!” Chakri shouted back as others in the room tried to intervene.

  “I think you just confirmed that we did in fact help the Tibetans,” Ravoof observed silently.

  Chakri dismissed the observation: “Believe whatever you want.”

  “Oh god! Are you saying that we started this war? That Beijing was right all this time and we were involved in Tibet?” the PM said in shock.

  “And it was long overdue if you ask me,” the Home-Minister added.

  The PM was shocked to hear all of this from his two senior ministers.

  “How dare you?!” he said finally. “You created your own operations outside the realm of what this government’s policies were and precipitated this war! If your men hadn’t entered Tibet then we would not be in this situation right now!” the PM pounded the table.

  “How dare I?” Chakri shouted back. “May I remind you of Beijing’s genocidal activities in Tibet in the last year? Or the reasons why the revolts began in Tibet in the first place? Is this nation and government not to stand for anything anymore for the sake of maintaining status quo in Tibet? The Dalai Lama is dying. And he may very well die in the next few months. If that were to happen, are we to sit idly by while Beijing replaces him with a puppet of their liking? Are the Tibetans to have no say in the fate of their culture at all? And more to the point, have you forgotten what Beijing did to our nation in 1962? How dare I? How dare you? How dare you forget what Beijing is and has been towards our nation and the Tibetans?”

  “Gentlemen! Please!” Ravoof shouted at the top of his voice and brought the room to a tense silence. The PM was still fuming. So was his Defense-Minister…

  “Everybody please calm down and take a deep breath here,” Ravoof continued. “We need to be united if we are going to lead this country out of this war in one piece. Regardless of what the Tibetans did from our soil to support their revolt and whatever it is that we did to support them is now no longer relevant. That was months ago. This war is now and no longer about that, as much as Beijing tries to raise it. For now, the Chinese military aggression is what must be controlled. Now where are we on that?”

  Ravoof looked to Chakri who stopped fuming and sighed:

  “We are finally taking control of the skies above the battlefield across the board. The air-force has secured airspace over southern Tibet. The Chinese are still launching stand-off cruise-missiles at us, but that is the limit of their aerial offensive capabilities at this point. They have taken enormous losses against us. They may decide to bring in units from the mainland as reinforcements, however.”

  “And what are the chances of that happening?” Ravoof asked.

  “Very much possible,” Chakri responded. “By all accounts we have reports that three mainland-based Fighter Divisions are showing increased deployment activities. These could be pegged for movement to the TAR. These units are based off the Taiwan and Korean coastal areas. The fact that China is thinning these forces out is surprising to say the least.”

  “Indeed,” the NSA added. “They are definitely keeping very strict tabs on the news about the war for their own populace. The average Chinese out in the paddy field is still under the impression that the war is going well and that they are on the verge of defeating our forces. I suppose if we make some dramatic strides from the military standpoint, we might be able to bring Beijing to the negotiating table. In which case they might consider keeping their intact forces from getting mauled to use them as a negotiating buffer.”

  “I doubt that will happen,” Chakri added.

&n
bsp; “What if we declare that we are willing to negotiate an end to this war?” the PM said finally. “I know that is not a topic you want to discuss but it’s certainly a topic that I want to discuss! If we requested negotiations, would they be willing to talk?”

  The PM turned to the UN Ambassador. The latter shook his head:

  “Unlikely until they are in a position of advantage on the battlefields. And based on what I have heard just now, that is not the case. They might talk, but they will start with a long list of conditions designed to give them an advantage in the near future on the military side of things.”

  “I agree with that.” Ravoof intervened and continued: “With the kind of mess the C-M-C has created for itself on the ground, they are probably very annoyed with us right now and will not allow this war to end until they have reclaimed at least some sense of victory. Right now, they are fully aware that we control most of Chumbi valley and their only ground gains have been inside a third country, Bhutan…”

  “Which they invaded preemptively and without provocation!” the UN Ambassador interjected. Ravoof nodded at that addition:

  “Right. Which they did without provocation. So even the idea of an end to hostilities is not something Chairman Peng can take to the senior military commanders as a workable option. Bear in mind that the civilian control in China during wartime is purely a façade. By all accounts it is clear to us that the Defense-Minister and Colonel-General Liu are calling the shots over there. And they are not happy.”

  “Liu,” Chakri tried to remember that name. “Isn’t he the guy commanding the 2ND Artillery Corps?”

  “Yes he is,” the NSA added quietly.

  “2ND Artillery Corps?” the PM asked.

  “Their nuclear forces,” the NSA explained and the PM grew even more worried…

  “But surely they know they can’t win now? So what’s the point? What can they do?” the PM asked incredulously

  Chakri leaned forward from his chair: “The point is that they are going to up the ante to try and push us into the corner.”

  “Nuclear weapons?” the Home-Minister asked.

  “Why not?” Chakri replied as he leaned back in his chair. “I would be at least considering that if I were in Beijing right now. The question is whether they are willing to initiate a nuclear exchange to win a border war!”

  “Border war?!” the NSA grunted. “I think this stopped being a border war days ago. Expect the Chinese to start flexing their nuclear muscles pretty soon. I would say within the next forty-eight hours.”

  “I agree,” Chakri added.

  The PM leaned forward on the table and rubbed his eyes.

  “And what about Pakistan?” the Home-Minister asked Ravoof.

  “Hard to say,” Ravoof noted. “They couldn’t intervene on the conventional side of the war without taking the wrath of the White-House. Add to that the chaotic situation in their own country with the Taliban bogging down large chunks of their army in the last year.”

  “But if this war goes nuclear,” Chakri added, “expect them to dip their spoon into the cauldron to try and finish us off once and for all. No matter how thinly spread and combat ineffective their conventional forces are, their nuclear forces are always clean and ready. They won’t stop at using them no matter what Washington might or might not say.”

  “So what you are telling me,” the PM leaned forward, “is that the more we push towards victory, the more the chances of nuclear fallout?”

  INDIAN OCEAN

  FIVE HUNDRED KILOMETERS EAST OF SRI-LANKA

  DAY 8 + 1030 HRS

  “What’s the word?”

  Vive-Admiral Surakshan asked as he stepped into the combat-information-center or CIC, as it was called. The Captain of the aircraft-carrier Vikramaditya was standing inside with his arms crossed. He turned to see the admiral walk up next to him and handed him the printout:

  “From naval headquarters.”

  ‘ALL NAVAL FORCES UNDER TASK-FORCE-VICTOR ARE TO ENGAGE UNRESTRICTED WARFARE AGAINST ALL CHINESE NAVAL AND MERCHANT SHIPPING FORCES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS PURSUANT TO ACHIEVING BLOCKADE OF ESSENTIAL ECONOMIC AND WAR SUPPLIES.

  COMMANDER, TASK-FORCE-VICTOR IS ORDERED TO ENGAGE IN MINIMAL CIVILIAN CASUALTIES DURING THESE OPERATIONS AS WELL AS NON-COMBATANT NATION SHIPPING IS NOT TO BE ENGAGED.

  TASK-FORCE-X-RAY WILL CONTINUE DETERRANT OPERATIONS AGAINST ANY PAKISTANI SUB-SURFACE THREATS THAT MAY EMANATE.

  GOOD HUNTING AND GIVE THEM HELL.

  -COMMANDER, NAVAL OPERATIONS’

  Surakshan smiled as he handed the note back to the Captain: “Looks like the gloves are off, old boy.”

  He looked at the tactical map of the region on the digital pedestal in front of him. It was showing where his naval task-force was placed relative to nearby territories and friendly forces. On his left flank, the tri-services-command at Andaman and Nicobar islands was effectively sealing off the Malacca straits for the last week. On his right flank, Task-Force-X-Ray was screening for Pakistani submarines south of Sri-Lanka in case they decided to be foolish enough to run interference for the PLAN. His battle-group of surface ships was currently steaming south, right into the world’s diversionary merchant shipping routes…

  His main targets were the Chinese merchant shipping and oil-tankers. He would sink the former and capture the latter as opportunities presented themselves. The PLAN had a couple of ships acting as escorts for their merchant force from the middle-east to the South China Sea. But they were not the real threat to his force.

  No. They are not the big fish around here!

  His real threat was a flotilla of Chinese warships that had left port a few days ago and was now entering the Indian Ocean after having bypassed the Malacca Strait via the Bali Sea. They were currently steaming west and were three hundred kilometers north-west of Christmas Island. Indian satellites had been tracking this fleet ever since it left port.

  It was made up of five major surface ships, including two formidable Type-052C Air-Defense Destroyers and three Sovremenny class Guided-Missile Destroyers. Then there were the auxiliary and support ships in the group, adding to a total of about twelve ships. Their Varyag aircraft-carrier was not in the group and had not left port: the Chinese had not yet developed operational capability in their carrier air-wings.

  Surakshan could understand that, given his own naval aviation past. One just doesn’t raise an effective naval air-wing for a carrier battle-group by buying a carrier and some planes. It takes time, training and experience. The Chinese naval commanders were not going to commit something that could not add value to a fight, and which, at its worst, could become a liability on the other surface warriors in the fleet.

  Not to mention a very high value target and very visible loss of face in case that thing went down to the bottom of the ocean…

  Surakshan smiled. The Chinese fleet commander was not stupid. He had probably requested leaving the carrier behind. The rest of his ships were heavy-hitters and worthy to commit into battle. Besides, the PLAN had trained on these vessels for many years and was confident.

  We shall damn well see, won’t we?

  Surakshan threw back the color-enhanced satellite imagery of the Chinese ships from a few hours ago…

  His main problem was that he would have to deal with this threat before he could deal with his primary objective of shutting down the Chinese merchant shipping. Time was of the essence. He could not afford to take forever to deal with the Chinese fleet. The war was escalating on the mainland and the sooner he could apply some pressure on the arteries with a naval blockade, the better.

  It was quite obvious that for the Chinese to attempt any naval engagements with his fleet, they would have to bypass Malacca and thereby make a long roundabout trip to get here. In doing so, they were also effectively cut off from land based air-support. And their subs were busy fighting with Indian naval ASW forces in the Malacca Strait.

  Surakshan’s fleet was fighting with their back towards home w
aters and extensive support. He had land-based air-support from both the islands as well as long-range air-support by P-8I and older Tu-142M maritime patrol aircraft.

  The only thing he did not have was effective airborne radar coverage. The lone No. 50 Squadron of the IAF was already spread very thin over the Himalayas fighting the PLAAF fighters and missiles. It was thin enough that large gaps existed in the airborne coverage even on that front, not counting the border with Pakistan. There were no airborne-radar aircraft to spare for the navy given such acute shortage of aircraft.

  So the navy had to depend on its force of Ka-31 AEW helicopters to provide airborne control for the Vikramaditya’s air-group as well as mid-course cueing for its anti-ship missiles. Not ideal on that front by any means. But it was something.

  Surakshan had his fleet of twenty warships split into a carrier support group and a destroyer group screening ahead about fifty kilometers south. This latter group consisted of two Delhi-class guided-missile destroyers: the INS Delhi and INS Mysore. Also in the group were the Rajput-class ships INS Rana and INS Ranjit and the P-17 stealth warships Shivalik, Satpura and Sayhadri. He had held back the INS Ranvir as a personal shotgun for his carrier group while INS Mumbai was the Flagship of the X-Ray group. INS Deepak and Jyoti were also steaming with the carrier.

  Several hundred kilometers south, a single P-8I aircraft was flying south to meet up and maintain constant long-range contact with the Chinese surface group just outside the range of the 052C warships.

  Surakshan wondered what the Chinese ISR capabilities were. He knew they had Ka-31 AEW helicopters just like his own. He also knew they were using satellites just like he was. But while he could maintain round-the-clock eyes on their ships using the P-8s and the Tu-142s, they had no such capabilities. And Surakshan knew the disadvantages of satellite based fleet monitoring because he was dealing with those as well. With just satellite intelligence available to the Chinese fleet commander, there was no way from them to know exactly where the Indian ships were until they made some sort of direct sensor contact, leaving their knowledge outdated by at least an hour to two, if not more.