Free Chimera by Vivek Ahuja

and opened his briefcase to remove his recommendations. Wencang took the papers from him and looked around for his reading glasses under the bundle of papers on his desk.
    “Airbases?” he asked as he opened the spectacles.
    “Yes sir. We don’t have enough airbases near the Indian border to concentrate all of these forces. This means that the cheaper, second line units could perhaps be based on airfields in the TAR so that they can reach the combat zone without requiring tanker support. The more precious heavy fighters should be based in bases in upper Tibet and Lanzhou region airbases along with all special mission aircraft. However, what this means is that despite our numerical superiority, we will not be able to exert the same presence over the battlefields as the Indians would be able to given the close proximity of their permanent airbases near the border.”
    Wencang read through the recommendations on the papers Feng gave him, nodded on some and frowned on others.
    “That’s a lot of hardware in here, Feng,” he said finally as he put down the papers. Before Feng could answer, Chen spoke up.
    “Sir, it is what will be needed to keep the Indians at bay and to secure our ground forces on the battlefields. So far these units have been kept back at mainland bases. I need them moved to the Tibet area right away so that Feng can figure out how best to deploy them in combat alongside our fighters.”
    Wencang removed his reading glasses and frowned, lost in thought. He then nodded in silence and looked back to Chen and Feng.
    “I will see what I can do. In the meantime, get back to your commands and begin the task of integrating the regional units into a single unified command. I will be visiting in a few weeks to see the nature of the preparations along with General Jinping. Do not let me down on this. Understood?”
    “Sir!”
    Wencang got up behind his desk and Chen and Feng did the same. Chen walked over to the coat-rack and picked up his coat. As he buttoned it, Feng snapped his briefcase shut and pushed his chair back into place as he walked around it.
    “One other thing. Keep this under wraps for now. If we are lucky, cooler heads will prevail in a few weeks and this whole incident will be behind us. If not, prepare yourself mentally for a bitter struggle, gentlemen. Find ways for us to prevail in a fight with the Indians. Despite all the propaganda out there, we all in this room understand the ground realities. I will do my best to handle Beijing and get you what you need. You figure out how to defeat the Indians by capitalizing their weaknesses and expanding on our strengths.”
    “Yes sir!” Both men saluted Wencang who returned it and sat back into his chair. Chen and Feng walked out a few moments later while the young Lieutenant closed the door to Wencang’s office behind them.
    Once it was peace and quiet inside, Wencang looked at the wish list Chen and Feng had laid out before him and decided to get to it. He picked up the phone to his adjutant outside.
    “Get me Colonel-General Liu at 2 ND Artillery Corps HQ right away.”
     
     
    HILLS NORTH OF WALONG
    ARUNACHAL PRADESH
    INDIA
    JUNE 07, 1030 HRS
    The sound of the boots trampling the grass and bushes was now louder than the sounds of the water gushing down the rivulet nearby. The fifteen heavily armed Indian soldiers moving through the thick bushes had no time to pay attention to serenity of the surroundings, however. Their job was to get on a dominant peak on the other side of the east-west running rivulet.
    A few minutes later they were at the edge of the shallow rivulet and looking at the trees and bushes on the other side through their rifle optics. This force of men was commanded by Major Krishnan. He looked around and saw the camouflage-painted faces of his Jawans as their flipped the rifle safeties off and chambered a round into their rifles. A few seconds later he gave the all clear with a hand wave and the group moved out from the