The war begins..

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"Air Force confirmed this morning that a Qatar Airways Airbus A350 plane from Doha, Qatar, a part of the United Caliphate, has been shot down by F-16 fighters. The passenger plane was heading towards the National Monument for a suicide mission. It exploded in mid-air, killing all 350 passengers and crew on-board."

"The Federal Government had convened an emergency meeting with senior military and law enforcement leaders with the Prime Minister is expected to address the nation and the parliament in a special session. What we had know, with the Article 5 of the PPDU Treaty has been enacted, the Armed Forces had been ordered into 'Awas' condition (1), further added with the confirmed reports that off the Arab Sea, aircraft carrier KRI Majapahit and it's escorts have already been engaged in combat in defense of India, that three hours ago, it's government confirmed a full-scale UCC invasion from former Pakistani territory into the country...

"...Similar attacks had also been confirmed in Malaysia, when the Parliament building in Putrajaya, while Parliament itself was not in session, was struck and damaged by a deliberately crashed Boeing 777 from Pakistan, another part of the Caliphate. In Singapore, it's military managed to shot down the similar Caliphate plane, a Saudi Airbus A350, which crashed into the Marina Bay Sands casino, killing 70 civilians on the ground. In Thailand, Baiyoke Tower has been hit by an Iranian-originated A330, killing 2.350 people inside the hotel building, which collapsed three hours later. On the other hand, another Indonesia-bound Caliphate plane, an Emirati A350 decided to defect minutes before the Qatari A350 was detected, and landed his aircraft in Minangkabau International Airport, Padang, and told the authorities about the Caliphate plot..."

"Simultaneously with the Caliphate suicide attack in South East Asia, a suitcase nuclear device has been discovered by Australian Federal Police after a gun battle with a group of gunmen in Canberra. Australian government had declared the nuclear device originated from Pakistan, another member of the UCC and considered the insertion of it as an act of war, while three hours before, . Also, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, which have been at war with the UCC in the Mediterranean Theater, along with New Zealand, in line to the AUSCANNZUKUS (Five Eyes) treaty had ordered it's forces in Asia-Pacific to execute combat operation towards the Caliphate in the Asian theater upon the discovery of the attempted attack against Australia along with the invasion of India. Furthermore, the United States Coast Guard has captured a container ship from Tehran in the Atlantic Ocean, with its cargo turned out to be concealed ballistic missiles in a ready to launch condition armed with EMP warhead that could bypass space-based missile shield systems..."

The dreaded readiness alarm shook everyone awake.

"All flying personnel report to your units immediately! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!"

Every 7th Wing pilots halted their activities and immediately run as fast as they can into the base's meeting hall.

"Attention!" barked Colonel Adrianus Lawing, our wing commander which also dual hatted as the base commander. "I'm going to make it short, ladies and gentlemen, so listen up!"

"As we all know, the United Caliphate had officially declared war on us and our South East Asian partner. Therefore the Pan-Pacific Defence Union, in which we are one of its members, had confirmed, effective at 05.00 hour, to invoke the Article 5, collective defense. Which means, our country will face its first foreign war. The entire Armed Forces alert status had been raised into Awas. And you will be part of our effort to defeat them from India into the Arabian desert. For a time being, according to the Operational Readiness Plan, the 43rd will be put on combat alert in case of another attack especially in Nusantara, while the 42th will be sent to Pune Air Force Station in Pune, India at 13.00-hour Hotel to reinforce our forward deployed assets. The 41st will be sent to Bareilly Air Force Station, in Uttar Pradesh."

"As we speak, the Caliphate had invaded India and our forward deployed squadrons along with the Navy in the Indian Ocean, have already engaged alongside the Indians. We already have our man there to prepare things and liaise with our Indian allies. You will have tankers on standby above Bay of Bengal. The Indians also had prepared their own tankers once you entered the Indian territory. The Sri Lankans also had their bases ready in case of emergency. Let's synchronize time now at 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark!"

"All pilots on the 41st and 42nd, get ready, and get yourself a good entertainment in-flight. Your aircraft will carry standard air-superiority load. More munitions will be transported by two C-17Bs together with necessary spare parts. This is the end of this briefing. Report to your units on the scheduled time with your things for flight briefings and other technical details."

.............................................................................................................

"Here we go, Major, this is going to be exciting. We are going to make history and blow those sand monkeys out of the skies" Pandu beat his chest twice in front of me upon leaving the meeting room.

"Agreed with you, but I think you can lower your dosage of gung-ho a bit, otherwise it could get yourself blown out of the sky. And let me tell you something. This will be different than the Civil War and the enemy is more savage than the NII or the FDNI back then, and things can go south faster before you know it. So, keep it down to earth, and you will have better chance to get back home in one piece. Do you understand, Cosmo?"

"Sir, yes sir"

It was my final word of the day, as I am really need a good rest to save energy for the flight. The flight itself was conducted after Dzuhur day prayer for Muslim pilots, with an average speed of Mach 1,5.

Meanwhile, before we went to our preparations, we keep our tab with the news as President Ahmad Handono addressed the people at 0700 hour.

At 1920-hour local time we landed. "Alright, people, behave yourself. We bring the name of Indonesian military and the nation here so don't make stupid things here. The high command permits us to accept "traditions" here like drinking beer but show restraint and responsibility in doing so." Said our CO, Lt. Colonel Medi "Clurit" Agung.

We got addressed by the IAF base commander, Group Captain Manoj Kumar Rane and our Liaison officer, Major I Putu Yudha Ariadi together about things to do that night.

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(1). In this story the Indonesian Armed Forces revamped it's alert system emulating the United States DEFCON (Defense Condition) alert state, divided into five tier of gradual level of alertness:

a. Siaga 4. Equivalent to DEFCON 5: Normal state of readiness

b. Siaga 3. Equivalent to DEFCON 4: Above Normal Readiness, increased intelligence watch and strengthened security measures

c. Siaga 2. Equivalent to DEFCON 3: Increase in force readiness above that required for normal readiness. Air Force ready to mobilize in 15 minutes.

d. Siaga 1. Equivalent to DEFCON 2: Next step to war or increased threat of attack. Armed Forces ready to deploy and engage in less than 6 hours. Three quarter of active duty forces are to be activated and combat ready.

e. Awas. Equivalent to DEFCON 1: An attack is imminent or a state of war emergency has been enacted. Maximum readiness.

(2). In this story, the official historiography of Indonesia after the Civil War called the period of what used to be called the Era of Reformation (1998-2034) as the "Third Republic of Indonesia". And the post-civil war, parliamentary federal government era is called the Fourth Republic of Indonesia.