Still there? I hope you like this chapter.

Also, some paragraphs in italic are flashbacks.

After that raid in Srinagar, I focused myself on training. We sweat a lot, and high-octane air combat training with Indian drones as target simulating drones we just encountered on January 7th was just another day.

It's amazing that so far we are not having any losses in aircraft and pilots. For now. Also, we got some new faces too, as the squadron has been expanded to sixteen planes, instead of forming new squadrons.

Those rookies are ready and eager for combat, just like me when the Civil War broke out. Besides, they trained hard with the Flywheel almost for 500 hours before being sent to combat units.

I began to be well acquainted with some of them..

I just went back from my routine PT when I see the door of my quarter opened. A man is inside with his Class B (PDH) uniform, service-issued duffel bag, looking around.

I cleared my throat to make catch that new guy's attention. He stood up accordingly, revealing a young, tan, and round face with a well-kept short black hair and pointy noses, than snapped into a salute.

"First Lieutenant Bachtiar Tohir reporting for duty, sir!"

"At ease. I presume you are assigned in this room?"

"Yes sir. In fact I am assigned to your flight too for the next mission"

"I see. You got any callsign?"

"Haji"

"I guess you are quite religious.." I presumed.

"According to guys and gals in the training squadron. I'm quite like that. And I'm myself indeed a Haji as I had performed pilgrimage with my family after my graduation from the Academy. Just a year prior to this UCC BS was proclaimed." He replied.

To be blunt, the civil war caused me to somewhat distrust, if not upright dislike, Acehnese like him. But I can see he's loyal and trustworthy. As I know not all of them are rebels or its sympathizers back then. We even reduced Banda Aceh (the capital) to the ground with laser sat in the closing stage of the war, and so far it's effective to remind those people about consequences of terrorism.

I also remember when Medi pumped us up with an American-inspired cadence in English, common language for aviators around the world, while running.

Su-65s rolling down the strip

Flywheel drivers on a one-way trip

Mission top secret, destination unknown

I don't know if I'm coming home

Rev up, taxi up, count to four

Push the throttle forward hear the engines roar!

Take a look at six o'clock

A JF-20 is coming after me!

Pulled up, rolled it up, get a good lock

Push the trigger and he is gone!

As we're running, I caught a glimpse of Evy laughed inwardly while singing, covered by the scorching heat of Western India.

Ah, my good memory in Yogyakarta crept back!

I also reflected back on the day after our first contact with the enemy.

"You know, pal, I just ask; How long we're going to be here?" I can hear Nur talking with Kevin.

"I don't know. But here we are, in the land of many temples. Paying homage to our old brothers back in our days as Hindu or Buddhist kingdoms."

"I heard Indian women are gorgeous."

"Fucking A" Pandu interrupted.

Meanwhile, Evy was talking with her fellow ladies, like Diana, and I can hear her say. "We're starting all over again, adapting, meeting new guys, just like in the boot camp."

I can only nod to all of these.

"Those people got mixed results, I heard. They pretty much inside their northern region, but not without an extremely violent combat with the hardened Indian Army, Heavy losses and supply related problems had sapped their strength for further offensives southward into Delhi and beyond. I know that some Navy jocks had engaged there too back in the first day and get bloodied along with our 11th Wing, further blunted their rampage."

I then went back to hours when we're just arriving in India when the base commander greeted us.

Attention!

Everyone, take your seats.

He continued. "Good evening, pilots!"

Good evening sir!

'In the name of the gods, did you just land in a combat zone or a funeral?? Good evening pilots!!"

"GOOD EVENING SIR!"

"That's the josh (enthusiasm in Hindi)!" And the main agenda began. "Start today, we have new friends from Indonesia which will take part in "Operation Bharat Shield". To my pilots, this confirmed that we are not alone in this trying times."

"Just north of us, Caliph Omar got almost two million of his UCC forces. Many of these people had already spend years fighting with their various flags including up there in Kashmir since you are still inside your mother's womb! They are tough, won't stop at anything, and will gladly accept death for their guaranteed ticket to Paradise."

"They used nerve gas before in Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, South-East Europe, even Israel, and here, in India. Here's the picture. Seeing is believing."

No one said a word. And those grisly pictures the Indian officer showed us will never completely away from our collective minds.

"I know what you're thinking. It's 'Let's kick arses and throw them out from our country... and end this mess before sunrise.' Good news for you, the bureaucrats are doing a good job today so your going to do so immediately by driving those people out of our land!"

"Those Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Pakis, Iranians and many more of theirs who had raped and pillaged our brothers and sisters up north, and experimenting on others, is already in our gunsights and we'll soon give them death from above. You will train and fight together with my own pilots here, with the highest state of readiness, which means always ready for sorties anytime, anywhere, any mission. And one day, Omar and his clerics will regret pulling this sorry shite!"

"Hoo-ah!" Cheers everywhere.

"We're going to kick some Arabian monkeys!" That's Pandu, as gung-ho as he was.

"What do you say? Just some of them? And you will get your country's equivalent of our Param Vir Chakra? Son, you're understating things here. Here we are going to kick many of their asses again and again up to where they come from! And what the rest of the PPDU squadrons present here will do?"

"Kick a lot of Jihadi arses!"

"I can't hear you!"

"Kick a lot of Jihadi arses and send them to wherever they come from!"

"Oh yeah, I just got hard here. And as we don't have much time. Get yourselves ready!"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Jai Hind, Merdeka!" The Indian officer closed his speech with both Indian and Indonesian battle-cry.

---

Done with PT, we're heading straight to the main show.

"Alright people, listen up! We are to be doing our first operation with people from the 11th Wing, as their replacements has been arrived."

Medi continued. "We are entering our second phase of Operation Bharat Shield, as Indian forces has began their counteroffensive to liberate their Northern region. And today, we'll hit them here, Chandigarh. Joint state capitals of Punjab and Haryana."

"Last night, a joint force consist of Indian Army Special Forces along with an element of our 3rd Airborne Raider Brigade and Malaysian 10th Para has been inserted inside the city and caught its defenders by surprise."

"However, they are now being besieged by UCC infantry and armor aimed to retake the city supported by heavy jamming. The Indian 109th and 125th Battlegroups from the 89th RAPID and 10th Infantry Division will be core for the relief force. In the meantime, two more Indian division, 33rd Armoured and 4th Infantry are to bypass this city and drive straight into Punjab with Ludhiana as their final objective. This will help reduce pressure on Ladakh UT and Himachal Pradesh state up north and a springboard for the eventual liberation of Jammu and Kashmir."

"Back to air department, along with the 54th Squadron from the 11th Wing, we also can count the Indians. Expect Rafales and or Abhayas. Malaysians also reported that they have 12 Squadron ready with their Advanced Super Hornets. Well, because they have their own man there. But always expect more." Medi chuckled.

"Sir, may I asked a question?" Evelyn raised her hand.

"You have permission to speak, Captain."

"Will the enemy commit their aces?"

"Speaking of that matter, always expect your enemy will send their best man for the job. Oh, wait a second... intel said that in the vicinity of the area the UCC had stationed a Quds Legion squadron. 77th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Tawakalna-ala-Allah (In God We Trust)" flying Turkish-made TF-21 fighters. This squadron was known to have two aces. We just know them with their callsign "Bounder" and "Driller", for now.

"But mostly the threat will be their 4.5 gen strike fighters, UCAVs and interceptors trying to shoot down our air resupply assets."

"To their bad luck, we know the frequency of their jamming network in Chandrigarh and had prepared all assets in this operation to withstand and broke the jamming entirely which will help us induct more drones in the AO. Indians had sent an AEW equipped with signal locator to locate and destroy jamming equipment supporting the UCC forces. We need to take it out from the picture FIRST before we can advance into Chandigarh."

"Trident lead to all pilots, check your status" asked the mission leader, 54th Squadron CO, Lt. Col. Muhammad Hadi.

"Emeralds, all accounted for." Medi replied.

"Honey Badgers, ready" A squadron of HAL Abhaya from the IAF reported their readiness.

"All unit check your drones" Muhammad ordered again.

"Command link to drones, checked, good signal."

Our unmanned companions were medium sized S-80 Gvardiyas. Meanwhile, the Indians were using HAL CATS Warrior wingman drone types and the pilotless version of Tejas, the Mk. VB as well as converted Su-30MKIs, All of these were intended as bomb trucks and "sacrificial lambs" for the manned fighter in extreme contingencies.

"Alright Allied Forces, this is AWACS Archer." Said an Indian A330 AEW.

"Listen up, Indian 109th and 125th Battlegroup is advancing right now in a highest possible speed to relieve our airborne forces defending Chandigarh. And UCC will definitely put a very hard fight to prevent our linkup with the Paras, under protection of their jammers. From we can determine UCC has a main jamming station somewhere outside the north of the city and to make matters worse they also have smaller mobile jamming stations."

"We have signal source locator mounted on our plane, along with some drones accompanying us, in order to locate the jammer but we must use a search pattern above the city. Protect us as we do so. If you lose the AWACS, mission over."

As soon as that ended Medi ordered my flight to rendezvous with the AEW first. Meanwhile the rest will handle either CAS or counter-air mission. My flight, Emerald 2, today consist of me, Bachtiar, Nana, and Nur.

"The first jamming station has been located, take them out!" The AEW ordered.

I decided to let one of the drones to take care of it and selected one of the Gvardiyas, relayed the coordinates to the aircraft, only with a few push on the touchscreen or my own voice.

As we keep our close watch on the AEW, the said UCAV dived in and dropped laser-guided bombs which silenced the truck-mounted jamming station located on the southern edge of the city despite its protective AA cover. On its right flank one Indian drone Tejas made short work of it's support infrastructure.

"Good hit, good hit. That's one jammer out" Kevin cheered.

"Archer confirmed first jammer site has been destroyed. Proceeding on second site."

Meanwhile we can see more of our drones were flying low releasing their ordnances on suspected enemy troops south of the city.

"I'm picking up a group of enemy interceptors heading our way, need assistance!" radioed Archer.

"Copy that, they're in range, opening fire" Upon obtained lock, two heatseekers went off my wing pod towards two oncoming enemy JF-20 Chukars. One hit, one miss. But the latter's reprieve don't last long as Nur obtained a good solution and dispatched the Pakistani fighter with his own R-81s

"All enemy fighter has been taken out, thanks for covering our six!"

Fifteen seconds later.

"Second jammer truck has been located, take it out!"

This time Kevin send another drone to take the jammer out, just in time for another report. "4-3 to 4-1, I got multiple contacts heading on the AEW, MiG-35s"

"Fox three!" Nur gained lock and fired two R-87Ms which caused two MiGs to be caught by surprise.

"Fox three!" Bachtiar, assigned as my wingman, fired his own salvo of R-87Ms that took out the second pair of Fulcrums.

"Good shot, people!"

"Thank you, sir." Bachtiar replied.

Meanwhile the AEW called us again afterwards.

"Third mobile jammer and main has been located. All units in range, take it out!"

"Emeralds, sitrep"

"Emerald 2, all accounted for. What's the situation in your sector?"

"We lost three drones to ground fire but all pilots are accounted for. By the way we also had taken out the last two jammers."

"Confirmed, Emerald 1, All jammer has been destroyed and resupply aircraft are on the way for a supply run towards the Paras holding the city. In the meantime, your mission will be both protecting the transport and supporting the Indian relief force as they had entered the city's outskirts to link up with the former. Good luck!" Archer ordered.

"This is Sagar 4-6, we're almost overrun by enemy tanks and running low on ammo, request support!" An Indian commando called for air support.

"Wilco" responded an Indian pilot which immediately called for two Tejas drones to attack the oncoming formation with ASMs, followed by his plane's own load of JDAMs which cost the enemy their enemy command vehicle, hence no other options for them but retreat.

Seconds later, "This is Panah 2-3, we're holding on the train station but we don't know how long we can hold. We need air support!!" This time an Indonesian 3rd Airborne Brigade paratrooper called us.

"Pickle, pickle!"

Evelyn, fly as Emerald 1-3 swooped in into the city's main railway station under significant amount of AA fire from 35 to 100 mm AA guns, with ECM set to full power and dropped two laser-guided thermobaric bombs toward her target, enemy tank formation, followed by cluster bombs dropped by one of her Gvardiyas which sealed the fate of an entire battalion of enemy Al-Khalid IIB tanks backed by Enigma wheeled APCs.

"This is Panah 2-3, we're grateful for your support, Merdeka!"

"Merdeka" She replied as she rejoined her flight.

On her other side, Nana armed his heatseekers for possible low-level air threat, while tending one of his S-80s which are having a communication and signal problem with its controller.

"Archer this is Emerald 1-4, I got visual contact on bogeys, slow moving, probably attack helos heading towards the ground forces, Permission to take them out."

"Confirmed, we got multiple contact of enemy attack helicopters, identified as Z-10s heading on the paratroopers!"

"Fox two!" Nana, followed by his lead Evelyn immediately downed three out of four ex-Pakistani Z-10s in the formation of enemy helicopter. The surviving one was soon dispatched by Evy's 30mm.

Meanwhile my own flight were having a good day by taking out some enemy mortar and ATGM position in concert with drones.

Soon enough, the AEW called us again.

"Heads up, multiple bandits flying on low altitude heading towards the Indian relief force. Identified as Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers, engage and destroy"

"Are they out of their minds? Sending a strike package with no fighter escorts at all?" asked Bachtiar.

A hint of laugh parched on my face, "We're going to teach them one of the basic lesson of air-warfare here, 2-2."

I gave Bachtiar a vector to catch the Fullbacks in their backs, no pun intended. Sure enough, a couple of Asps took two of those bombers in flames. But the survivors keep advancing and Nur, recognizing their vector got himself on air. "2-1 this is 2-4, they are heading towards our ground unit in that school building!"

"Shit"

We turned around and in a split second, a burst of 30mm from Bachtiar and Nur ended their kamikaze attempt.

"Check your ordnance, people." I ordered.

We still have some KABs ready to be dropped, so we heads further south as the Indian relief force are having a good progress while encountering fierce UCC resistance inside the city.

"This is Emerald 2, we still have some KABs, sent us a target" I called the Indian AEW, while also checked the status of the drones sent for patrolling the city.

"We have a good and bad news. The good news first, Indian relief force had completed their linkup with the airborne forces and UCC forces are retreating. The bad news is, we detected six Iskander-type tactical ballistic missile launchers 150 klicks west of the city. All available unit, find and destroy the launchers before they can jeopardize our force!"

"They must be covering their asses with that" Nur remarked as we reformed with Emerald 1 and Honey Badger 1; the Indian Abhaya squadron, followed by a recently arrived squadron of Malaysian two-seater F/A-18I Advanced Super Hornets.

"This is Bulan (moon in Malay/Indonesian) 3, we are going to take the first shot on those TBM launchers, cover our back as we are engaging." The Malaysian leader called, and we climbed to cover their formation as they went into engagement range with their BrahMos-NG land-attack cruise missiles, which despite having Russian heritage it's compatible with the Advanced Super Hornet, customized for this purpose.

"Rifle" the Malaysian called the shot, followed by his wingmen. I decided to push forward, following the missile's wake. Soon we saw a series of large explosions on the horizon; meanwhile, the Indians decided to add their firepower to the mix by firing their own land-based BrahMos and long-range multiple rocket launchers.

"All TELs are down, I say again, all launchers are down. Chandigarh is ours, and I say, effective today, we have the upper hand. Mission accomplished, Adithya flight will relieve your duty as you're returned to base. Good work everyone, Archer out!"

"Well, just in time as we hit Bingo". I can hear Evelyn speaks to her leader about the fuel.

"And thank God their pesky drones are not here," stated Nana.