Free Chimera by Vivek Ahuja Page A

bushes and ran over the shallow rivulet, splashing ice-cold water as they did so. They were soon within the bushes on the other side and then began climbing to the northwest from where they could control the western stream.
    Half a kilometer to their west a squad of Chinese soldiers was moving down the edge of the main stream on foot. This was neither the first time nor the last time this had happened. And in the last few weeks it had been a regular story. The Tibetan rebels would often move through these hills as they infiltrated into southern Tibet. The Chinese soldiers would pursue those groups attempting to move back through this area to safety in India. And since the official Chinese line was that Arunachal Pradesh was Chinese territory, the PLA had become very aggressive here, leading a series of hot pursuits into Indian Territory. Less than a week before, they had run into an Indian patrol and both sides had engaged, causing several dead and wounded on the Indian side as a result of mortar fire from Chinese troops.
    On this morning the Chinese troops were conducting yet another such patrol. This time, however, an Indian Nishant UAV had picked up the Chinese even before they had crossed the border. Thirty minutes after that, Krishnan’s commanding officer at the Battalion HQ had received the call and Krishnan and his men had been dispatched to intercept, taking the feed from the Nishant UAV as their navigation aid. It allowed them to get into a position of advantage before they came into contact with the Chinese.
    Carrying an INSAS rifle of his own and a twenty-kilo backpack hanging on his back, Krishnan was at the head of the team as they slashed through the bushes on their way to the top of the peak from where they could look down at the approaching Chinese soldiers.
    The clearing was reached a few minutes later as the bushes fell behind and a clean blue sky and a chilling cold wind swept through the air. And sure enough, the stream was on the other side. No one spoke a word as each member of the team spread out into the rocks overlooking the stream below and dropped on their stomachs for cover and concealment. Krishnan removed a pair of binoculars from his backpack and took position behind some rocks. It was an agonizing wait, but fifteen minutes later he detected movement at the edge of the peak to the north where the stream took a bend. Twenty odd Chinese troops were moving down the stream...
    Krishnan took the SATCOM radio speaker from his radioman beside him. 
    “Okay sir, we are in position now and I have them in sight.”
    “Standby...” 
    As Krishnan waited for the reply, he continued to stare at the Chinese soldiers before him. It should have been quite simple really, but it was not. They couldn’t just open fire without authorization from above, and at the same time they couldn’t let them walk in the front door either. His hand tightened around the speaker in anger before the static on the radio was replaced by a voice:
    “Krishnan! Fire warning shots. If they return fire, take them out.”
    Now we are talking...
    Krishnan handed back the speaker to his radioman and signaled his men to fire warning shots. A second later three of the men raised their rifles and fired single shots into the water of the stream near where the Chinese soldiers were walking. The Chinese soldiers were caught completely by surprise and it pleased Krishnan to see the confusion and fear on the faces of the Chinese as they tried to determine where they were being shot from. He was almost hoping that they would return fire so that he and his men to cut them all down in under a minute...
    That was when the Chinese obliged. A bullet slammed into some rocks near where Krishnan was taking cover. It was all the provocation he needed...
    “Open fire!”
    Fifteen INSAS rifles opened up almost simultaneously in burst fire mode. Bullets ripped through five Chinese soldiers and their dead bodies splashed into the icy waters of the