Fenix by Vivek Ahuja

Author:Vivek Ahuja [Ahuja, Vivek]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2015-07-09T18:30:00+00:00

──── 24 ────

“All section leaders on rhino net, this is rhino-actual.” Kulkarni said as he adjusted his helmet. “Give me op-con status. Over.”

As the various commanders in the armored task-force chimed in, Kulkarni pressed the power button on the small screen installed next to his commander-sights. This was the new Arjun-Battlefield-Management-System, or ABAMS, as his people called it. It was the next-generation force-multiplier that increased the lethality of the Arjun tank beyond its own sixty-ton mass. The ABAMS allowed better command-and-control of friendly tanks from within the commander’s vehicle. Kulkarni had used an earlier version of the same system during the battles in Ladakh. He knew the technology worked. But this would be the first time he would be using it to command a force far larger than any he had commanded.

Kulkarni noticed that the last of the section leaders had chimed in and reported full readiness. Time to change frequencies and call Sudarshan’s people: “steel-central, this is rhino-one. We are green across the board, over!”

“Steel-central copies all, rhino. Jump off as planned. Out.” Kulkarni pulled his overall’s shoulder sleeves back and checked his wristwatch despite having a digital readout on the optics in front of him. Old habits.

Okay. Two minutes to Zulu time.

He grabbed his binoculars, opened the turret hatch above him and pushed himself out. He surprised his loader who was sitting behind his turret machine-gun mount, looking for targets via his night-vision goggles. Powering on the night-scopes of the binoculars, Kulkarni looked into the pitch-black darkness on either side of him to see dozens of Arjun tanks lined up through the vast expanse of the desert.

Kulkarni lowered the binoculars and rubbed his eyes to allow him to adjust to the darkness. After a few seconds his pupils dilated and he saw more of the surroundings. To his east, he thought he saw the first dull-red lines of morning. The timing of the offensive was by no means random. The tanks of his rhino force would assault into Pakistan with the early morning sun riding low behind them. That would enhance the sights on the Indian side and blind the Pakistani defenders facing them.

Hopefully we would be hunkered down at our objectives before the reverse happens to us at sunset…Kulkarni checked his watch again. It was time. He lowered himself back down the hatch just as his loader did the same.

The gunner looked at the two men entering the turret: “Zulu time, sir?”

Kulkarni smiled faintly: “Zulu time.”

As the driver up front brought the rumble of the diesel engines to a roar, Kulkarni plugged into his radio once again: “all rhino elements, this is Rhino-one. Advance! Advance!”

“I see flashes on the horizon!” The gunner shouted over the tank comms. “Twenty degrees positive, off axis.”

Kulkarni looked away from the ABAMS scope and instead looked through his own external optics. He swiveled the sights to the right and saw the whitish flares erupting on the horizon against a jet-black night. They were still too far west for any noise to be heard over the constant rumble of the tank’s diesel engines.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.