The bullets from the forest in the form of rifle flashes were cascading off his cover. He wasn't expecting this quick a response from the Golden Path, that just meant that a competent commander had just taken command. After rigging the last mortar tube to blow he hid behind the sandbags to shoot back at the Golden Path who were closing their distance.
He threw some smoke grenades that were on him to provide further concealment, but saved one just in case he wanted to make a dash for it.
With the mortar tubes gone there was no way to use it against these Golden Path members, not that it would have worked with them being so close to him, it wasn't in the minimal range. He was suddenly inspired by a certain World War two movie with all the mortar rounds lying around. Tossing primed mortar shells at the Golden Path fighters that came through the smoke only to be blasted to smithereens.
The sounds of explosions and the screams of their comrades discouraged them from advancing further.
"What are you shivering in the background for, he's just one man! ONE MAN!" Sabal couldn't believe what he was seeing. "URRGHH!" Sabal shouted his frustration as he was the only one advancing.
"Shall we help sir?"
"Gee, if you would! Please do!" He said with sarcasm in his tone.
"On our way sir! Please tell your men to ceasefire."
"Oh? Showing us the way, eh?" Sabal was referring to Solomon's previous comment about them being superior in combat.
"Mercenaries of Solomon! Prepare to charge!" He shouted loud enough for Ajay to hear him, which he did and held his fire.
The mercenaries charged up to where Ajay was behind the smoke in a walking fire stance but fearlessly charged through the smoke. And some time passed with no even a sound, then the smoke cleared and the mercenaries were gathered around Ajay who was kneeing with his hands seemingly tied.
Sabal shrugged his shoulders.
-At least they got him!- He would plan to have a long talk with his own comrades on their limits in tenacity.
Sabal walked up to where the single assailant was, just standing a few steps away from him and the mercenaries with two of his guards standing with him always.
"And who might you be?" Sabal asked.
"I don't think we've been acquainted, the names Badala!" The masked man replied calmly despite his current predicament.
"Oh? Vengeance? What could you possibly be avenging brother?" Sabal uncovered the meaning behind Ajay's alias, Ajay was slightly agitated by his use of the word 'Brother' he had horrid thoughts circling that use of that word.
"Myself… So who do I owe the pleasure under this beautiful full moon?" Ajay asked for Sabal's name again. He didn't recognize who he was because of the bandages that were poorly wrapped around half his face and the twisted face Sabal always wore.
"You have the honor of being in the presence of I! Sabal, leader of the Golden Path!" Sabal matched Ajay's theatrical intro.
"Sabal?...Sabal?!" Ajay stared at Sabal in shock of who he was. Sabal was feeling smug about what kind of effect his presence had on his enemies.
At least that was what he thought until Ajay burst into an uncontrollable laughter. He laughed till he cried.
"Sabal? Maybe you should stick with the nickname 'Fryface' instead!" Ajay continued to laugh while Sabal's expression twisted with unimaginable hatred.
"Shut up!" He kicked Ajay in the gut to silence him.
Ajay lost a few breaths but recovered with a smile on his face. Sabal took a while to recover his composure, he was facing a dead man in a while after all, these were nothing but last minute rants.
"I should ask you about that mask!-"
"Do you like it?" Ajay grinned.
"Yalung, right?"
Ajay nodded.
"Pretty unauspicious, are you ready to receive the consequences of wearing that mask?"
To Sabal it was still a cursed item that even he was cautious of.
"This mask has a simple meaning, Sabal. What Yalung does I'll do onto all of you too!" Ajay wore a vicious smile that sent shivers down the spines of the Golden Path fighters.
"No longer…." Sabal drew his pistol with the intention to execute him.
"Actually that's where you're wrong!" Ajay was still smiling creepily.
"Oh? From my point of view, you're out of ideas and out of luck, about to receive a bullet to the head!" Sabal laughed at Ajay's foolhardiness despite his fate.
"Yeah- See! That's not what I see! Because from my point of view you need to choose your friends better…"
Ajay turned to Samson.
"Isn't that right, Samson?"
As he announced this, the mercenaries raised their rifles at the unprepared Golden Path fighters and went guns blazing. Only Sabal was quick to realized what was going on, he grabbed one of his comrades supposed to guard him and used him as a meat shield as he ran into the forest.
"Damn the gods! Curse you foreign dogs! Curse you Badala!" He continued to run without stopping. By then all the Golden Path guerillas that followed him were killed.
Ajay undid the loose binds that Samson's second-in-command hastily placed on him in the feint.
"Nice job! Too bad, Sabal got away! We could have dealt serious damage if we had his head!"
"Apologies, we weren't aware he was so slippery." The thought of Sabal slithering away made him chuckle.
"Neither did I, that's alright! No harm done. So what have you guys found in their camp?"
"There are over two thousand guerillas gathered there presently, the armored vehicles have already set off on the next wave. We did as much damage as we could to their logistics as possible while under cover!"
"Good! I think it's time to head back, Saras may have ordered the 3rd Company to fall back to the second line by now." He checked his watch to monitor how many hours it was before sunrise.
The mercenaries picked up whatever ammo and weapons they could salvage from the dead fighters and followed Samson and Ajay down the cliff.
"How did you guys know where I was?"
"We didn't, Solomon ordered us to follow that commander to look for a mortar that was hounding his troops!"
"…"
Suddenly Ajay chuckled without warning.
"Sir?" Samson asked.
"I was just thinking what Sabal would do to Solomon when he gets back!"
"ah…aHAHAHAHA….!" At first, Samson laughed with Ajay then the infectious laughter spread throughout the ranks of the mercenaries.
They arrived at the site where the first line of defense was, the place stank worse than the two previous assaults. There were even taller piles of bodies that lay throughout the slope it looked very much like the aftermath of a huge battle. There were derelicts of armored vehicles that lay abandoned from severe damage around the trenches. There were scorch marks from where the RPGs warheads penetrated the fighting compartments detonating the ammunition stored. Bodies of Royal Army soldiers and Golden Path alike lay around the trench where they engaged in a melee.
"Looks like the Golden Path used the vehicles to advance and take the heat off their fighters. Amateurs!"
The armored vehicles were the same type of vehicle as the tank destroyer but with the absence of the tank gun in exchange for a machine gun or internal mortar. The Golden Path didn't seem to know how to use these vehicles to their specific design properly.
"Let's move quickly! They should be upon the 3rd Company in the second defense line!"
"Yes, sir!"
Samson and his mercenary comrades force marched up the slope pass the devastation in the first defense line.
As they advanced up the slope the sound of a battle grew and they could now make out figures of the Golden Path fighters running up the slope towards a road blockade with sandbags and barbwire blocking their way to the only road that spiraled up to the airport entrance.
Behind the sandbags, the Royal Army soldiers of 3rd company fought hard against the Golden Path fighters who were bottled in by the narrow road on the cliff to the airport on top of the plateau. But it seemed that it was the Golden Path who were taking more losses than the Royal Army, because they had the high ground again.
The Golden Path fighters had no choice but to converge up the road in a tight ground with made them more susceptible to the rifle fire that the Royal Army was spraying at them. The tank destroyer was behind the blockade firing its machine gun at the Golden Path members too.
The Golden Path second wave were still a force of over three hundred left with two armored vehicles and a few technical mounting heavy machine guns as well. The Golden Path fighters were getting smarter and used the vehicles to absorb the fire again.
"Orders?" Samson asked.
"We'll move in quietly and take out all the rear elements, field commanders if any, logistic soldiers and use some of the heavy weapons against them."
Ajay went for the stealth approach for the time being since the waves attention was all focused on climbing the slope and breaking the barricade.
"Badala to 3rd Coy. We're at the rear of the wave keep up the fire for us to flank them." Ajay said over his radio.
*Badala? You're alive?!* Maya responded.
"Why wouldn't I be? The mercenaries are with me. Keep their attention to the front!"
*Uh- Yes!*
The mercenaries converged on the rear elements of the wave. Behind the frontlines where the Golden Path were storming the blockade were a commander and his communication specialists relaying orders to the fighters up front and their activities to the Command Centre. Next to them were a battery of recoilless rifles firing barrages at the barricade in an attempt to demolish it for the fighters to advance.
The actions were quick and swift as Ajay and the mercenaries gutted and slid the throats of the artillery piece crew men and their field commander who were all to shock to respond to the appearance of him and the mercenaries attack.
Meanwhile, Saras stood by her men at the barricade holding out against the Golden Path assault. The hunters returned with the ammo they so desperately needed, hastily distributing it among the 3rd Company soldiers at the barricade.
Saras had divided her men into two groups to rotate so as to not fatigue them after hours of fighting. Maya insisted she do the same by taking a rest but she kindly refused, her presence in the frontline was what kept the soldiers morale at its peak knowing their leader was with them throughout the fight.
"I think you'll need a vacation after this to recover those bags under your eyes!" Maya still had the wit to joke.
"Don't we both!" Saras indicated the sleepy eyes of her companion.
"After this we're gonna hound Badala with all sorts of requests!- I can't wait!" Saras chuckled at Maya's resolve.
"Read the mood! Will you!" Anish screamed over the incoming hail of small arms fire.
The road up to the airport was wide enough to have two armored vehicles roll up side by side. The vehicles at the Golden Paths disposal were in a zip-zag formation so in case the lead vehicle were destroyed the others could pass it on the narrow path instead of blocking off the path entirely.
Suddenly the road ahead where the Golden Path were on erupted. Smoke trails led back down to the base of the road leading up to the Airport where the recoilless guns that were used to barrage and suppress Saras and her 3rd Company were used against the armored vehicles whose vulnerable side armor was exposed to. A continued barrage destroyer the lead armored vehicle and the crew from the second armored vehicle abandoned theirs for fear of being burnt alive in a burning wreck.
"The mercenaries are boxing them in! Forwards! Advance!" Saras ordered her soldiers to leave cover and counterattack.
So the Golden Path wave was now in a dilemma, the barricade to the front and the mercenaries to their rear. There were a few brave souls amongst them attempting to rally the huge force but their influence was not capable of swaying their emotions over the certainty of death.
Samson and Ajay with a few mercenaries moved up the road killing men and women by the dozen every few seconds. The advantage of a good formation and discipline were the difference in what made the Mercenaries able to kill the Golden Path and break any attempts they had of mustering a strong retreat.
"Ohhh Gods! We're doomed!"
"Shit! How could this happen?!"
"Screw this! Retreat! Retreat!"
More and more fighters announced their intentions to withdraw made the rest who still had the will to fight no longer want to take the route which meant they died without achieving anything. The entire Golden Path force attempted to rampage over the few mercenaries in their rear, but soon realized they were heading into a meat grinder.
"I surrender!"
"-Give up!"
"Please spare us!"
One after another the now a hundred strong Golden Path force gave up their attempts at assaulting the barricade that led to the airport.
The 3rd Company celebrated once more as Saras and Maya came out of cover.
But would Ajay spare them all?
"Gather them and make them clear the road of bodies!" He ordered the mercenaries to disarm them and made them clear the bodies of their comrades from the road.
"Badala!" Maya came running towards him.
"Were you worried?" He said with a smirk.
"W-Wha-HAH! Who would worry about your damn ass?! You got us into this situation, you'd better not die halfway through!" Upset that he teased her but also glad he still had the wit to tease.
"Yah! Yah! I get it! I'll make it up to all of you, but first! We need to get this place sorted out soon, there's no telling when the next wave arrives!"
Maya nodded.
"What's the plan?"
Ajay looked at his watch, they were an hour and a half till sunrise. He frowned a bit due to the slowness of time but then he wasn't exactly a time lord who could manipulate time.
"What's the condition of 3rd Company?"
"Battered but not out of the game! We sustained twenty casualties during the defense at the first line before Saras had them pull out. She had us take shifts and fighting into a stalemate at the barricade."
Ajay looked at the soldiers manning the barricade, they looked exhausted and with a few wounds and grazes but still holding up.
"Have them rest up for now! I'll have Samson's mercenaries do most of the work for the time being, as for our prisoners… I have a little surprise for Sabal!" Ajay smiled.
Maya went to call the soldiers to return to the hangars to rest where they would make their final stand at
He walked up to the rounded up prisoners of war, nearly a hundred were gathered at the entrance to the airport under supervision by the mercenaries.
The Golden Path fighters notice him walking towards them and became rather nervous due to his intimidating presence. Most remember him as the person who stood at the front with the mercenaries when boxing them in and it was also partially because of him they were afraid to retreat as well.
"Now what to do with you…?" Ajay grinned deviously at them.
Sabal finally returned through the forest to the base camp where the Command post was. Solomon was the first to catch sight of him and he waltzed angrily back to where the Field Commanders were.
"I didn't think you'd actually use them to the point they'd never come back, never mind! As long as they were of some use to you!" Solomon smiled.
"Use to me?" Sabal laughed so hideously that Solomon wondered if there was something wrong.
"You're hired guns felt it better to switch sides to his end! Talk about turncoats, eh? Like employer like employee!"
The color on Solomon's face vanished. "W- What?!" Solomon dug into memory, he realized there was a gap of time he wasn't in contact with them. That was when they tested the hill and he left them. They must have lost but were spared, Solomon really regretted the way he treated his mercenaries but that wasn't the worst of it. They had returned likely to gather intel or even sabotage certain logistics here. That explained why there were so many commotions around the temporary muster point.
Sabal's belittling of Solomon only served to fuel the fury within him. They tricked him, and if there was anything in the world he hated more than it was to be deceived. He had a taste of that in Hong Kong years ago by his fellow triad lords who turned him over to Interpol. He would forever remember this humiliation the mercenaries gave him.
"That damn Badala!-….."
"Is that his name?"
"I'll kill him if I ever get the chance!" Sabal swore as he returned to where the field commanders were.
"Sabal, all forces have arrived and are prepared to converge. We're ready for the final attack, we're received intel on the enemy's compound layout and the number of forces in the area. Over a hundred strong company was used to capture and fortify the area surrounding Meh Teh airport."
"Make that plus twenty mercenaries." Sabal added to their report to which they all wore complex expressions as they were unsure of what he meant.
"It makes little difference we'll still attack now that we have a rough idea of what's happening around. The Royal Army had us fooled, there is no army lying in waiting." His announcement rocked the field commanders.
"T-Then-.."
"It was a ruse to take our focus off invading the North!" Sabal was now sure this plan was concocted by Badala and he was likely the one who took back Ratu Gadhi from right under their noses. Though he resented him he held a modicum of respect for him, he was the one who broke Amita's will giving him full reign over the Golden Path after all. For that he was thankful, for making the Golden Path strong again.
-A worthy opponent for me after all!- Sabal's expression lightened up from his usual hateful look which surprised his commanders.
"We'll move as plan! Have them move out now!"
The soldiers and mercenaries were hard at work refortifying the barricade and planting landmines in their flanks and blind spots. Tons of ammunition was distributed around the Airport so they wouldn't have to return to the supply depot to resupply. The soldiers were extremely quick in building structures, he gave them that. They were apparently not known to his previous knowledge the 3rd Company of the Combat Engineering Regiment.
Building trenches and forts were their thing, so he made them build as many they could. The mercenaries with the guidance of Samson and Saras did much of the distribution of arms and ammo around. Maya and her hunters planted trip mines throughout the compound, she pulled her brother along with her to keep him away from his favorite tank destroyer.
As for Ajay, he went to work on a special surprise for the Golden Path and Sabal. They had long abandoned the barricade to the airport on the cliff which was their second line of defense. But it would serve to separate the fighters from their vehicles and force them to dismount when fighting them.
"Sir, preparations have been complete!"
"Great timing, move the wounded to the supply depot and have a rest yourself."
"Yes, sir!" Samson left to do as he said. Ajay had finished his preparation and picked up a Draganov marksman rifle and sat on the balcony of the air control tower.
Maya and her hunters finished up their part and went to the depot to rest, except for Maya. She asked around and found Ajay on the roof and sat next to him.
"(sigh)… Long night…."
"One the Golden Path will never forget."
"…"
They remained quiet to treasure the silence of the night, in the far distance glimpses of light could be seen coming over the horizon. Day was almost upon Kyrat, with only just a few minutes till dawn and sunrise.
"Ajay-…."
"Mmm?"
"Why do you help our King?" To Maya it was the question that bogged down on her the most, why was the son of the rebel helping the King his father opposed?
"To tell you the truth, me and Kyrat have nothing much in common. I don't remember much about it other than the vague descriptions my mother gave. To her it was a place of solitude and of suffering…."
Maya listened on attentively not to spoil the moment that he had the time to share his history with her.
"My mother and Pagan elope when I was a toddler, apparently she wasn't getting enough love and affection from my dad who was power hungry at the time and sent her to spy on him. Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to and in this union came Lakshmana, my half-sister. She should have been in her twenties if she were still alive that is….."
Maya unconsciously gasped at this info, it was something no one had the privilege of knowing.
"Mohan, my father took her life and at some point my mom took his. She took me and left all this behind for the states, thinking it would save her from the pain. But it only served to tear at her over the years, she would always tuck me in early at night so she could cry without me noticing but I always did have a problem sleeping early." Ajay laughed sadly.
"As for me, growing up in the projects wasn't as easy as everyone thinks. My mom was juggling jobs to pay the rent and I often had problems as a growing child with not enough to sate my stomach so I robbed or pickpocketed. Time went by and process turned into stealing cars or looting apartments, at first it was just a means to get by but then-….then it was to pay of my mother's hospital bills. She was suffering from breast cancer and her fate was struck years later."
"I'm sorry Ajay…" Maya could find no words to give her condolences.
"It's fine….. actually, it's not. She was the last of my family, I had no one in the states and knew no one in Kyrat. And that's when legal went through her will and handed me her last request. "Take me to Lakshmana!" She wrote. At first, I thought it was a place like Shangri-la or something. At the time I was thinking, there was nothing stopping me from going back. Maybe I can find a life there again, so I booked a ticket to India and a guide into Kyrat carrying my mother's ashes. Turned out my guide, Darpan was working for the Golden Path to divert me to their side to have me represent them as I found out later. But that wasn't what happened, instead I got the pleasure of meeting with Pagan. Crazy sunnovabitch killed a checkpoint guard because he fucked up at stopping the bus that held me when the Golden Path went berserk on them. So all that considered he made the worse possible first impression on me. But he did take me to the one place that I wanted to go that no one else would have known about."
"To Lakshmana?" Maya guessed correctly. Ajay nodded.
"To Lakshmana, or at least the shrine which housed Lakshmana. Before I went in he told me about the connection I had with him and her. What all this was about. Did I find it hard to accept? Yeah, like most people would when your mom's lover tells you his scandalous affair. But did I hate him, no! He was after all the man she loved, if not Lakshmana wouldn't have happened and Mohan wouldn't have lost his shit. Then he started talking about enthroning me as King of Kyrat, and he always had this look in his eyes. The same one as my mother did when she told me stories about Kyrat, how she reminisced the good old days. That was when it became clear to me he didn't see me as Mohan's son but his. So with that said, Pagan is technically my step-dad."
Maya seemed to have difficulty processing that, Ajay was the step-son of King Min.
"I'm not calling you prince!"
"No! Please don't!" Ajay retorted quickly.
"So is this the reason you help King Min? Because he is family to you?"
The thoughts of his death at the hands of Sabal and his group returned to his mind.
-Fucking Sabal! Fucking Golden Path!-
"Mmm…. That's only half the story. Let's just say that the Golden Path doesn't remind me too much of fond memories. Well, I guess that should be a lot to tell Yuma about."
"So you knew."
"Yes. I heard a story about her when my mother left. She tried to fill the void in Pagan's heart but wasn't too tactful about it or maybe Pagan didn't want anyone to fill it. She has every reason to hate me as much as my mother. The reason I'm afraid of her is because she can do anything if she's angry, like desecrate my mom's resting place behind both mine and Pagan's back."
"Mistress would never!-" Quick to defend her mentor Maya was.
"I'm not so sure on that one myself, but I wouldn't push her either way. For all the angry women I've know she shouldn't be any different."
"In the end, we're all broken things. Pagan, Yuma, me-… And who was the culprit of all this? Mohan Ghale and the Golden Path which was built with his values. This is why I fight, Maya. To get rid of that stain in my family's history. And I'll do it even if it requires me to commit dozens of atrocities!"
Maya truly felt pity for Ajay.
-Mistress wants this man dead, but he has absolutely nothing even before he was aware of it. He's been suffering just as much as she and King Min have. Am I just going to let things take its course?-
Maya did some heavy soul searching. Ajay wondered why he bothered tell Maya all of this, perhaps closure.
"Do you mean any harm to my mistress?" She had to know if he'd strike back if hurt.
"No! In fact, I want to help her patch up with Pagan! Those two don't notice it but they're a match in heaven!"
Maya chuckled at his explaining.
"I'll help you then! No! Let me help you!" Maya smiled.
"Sure. Any idea on how to get a psychopath to date a crime lord be my guess!" He said shrugging his shoulders as he shared a laugh with Maya.
Maya looked deeply at him.
-Those two aren't the only ones I'll be helping!-
Perhaps she could help him find solace.
(Boom) An explosion rippled in the distance where the forest was.
"That would be my surprise to the Golden Path!"
He took up a remote detonator and pressed the button.
(BooBooBooBoom) A sequence of explosions took place with the signal from the detonator sent.
The forest right before the incline up the road to the airport rippled with mushroom clouds and great big fireballs of smoke.
"What the heck was that?" Maya asked again.
"Like I said, my surprise for the Golden Path!"
The Golden Path's full frontal assault group had reached the base of the hill that Meh Teh airport was above. The front elements stumbled upon men and women from the second wave tied to the trees in a row in front of them. If Sabal were in front at the time he would have told them to not go any further. As one fighter attempted to untie one that was gagged to the tree his rough handling released pressure of the landmine Ajay set at the person's feet and blowing him and those tied to that tree to smithereens.
The wave stopped at observed what had just happened, that's when Ajay flipped the switch to the C4 he hid a few metres before the trees as a rough estimate to where the rest of the forces would be. Making an explosive trail that vaporized all of the remaining hundred members of the second wave and several from the final assault. It may have done trivial damage compared to the entirety of the Golden Path fighters that were gathered there but it had served its purpose. And that was to rattle the hearts of the fighters. Ajay's method of winning a war, terror tactics against the Golden Paths current stance of shock and awe with their numerical superiority. Most of the men that were in the blast radius survived but lived to tell the tale in the form of heart wrenching screams, frightening the rest of their unscathed comrades.
Had Sabal not arrived sooner to the front to take the lead, the entire mass would have stopped in their tracks. He boldly strides forward with confidence, it gives the rest of his men courage when he led by example.
-That bastard, now I'm sure it was him!-
Sabal had suspicions but this trap was proof that it was the same person. It was Badala who disfigured him! Sabal grinded his teeth in uncontrollable hatred, just wait till he got his hands on him then he'll torture him slowly.
-He'll wish he died accidentally!-
Sabal leads the last assembled thousand Golden Path fighters up the road to Meh Teh Airport in the final attempt to retake the airport.
Back at the top of the plateau where the airport was, the mercenaries and soldiers alike assembled behind the cover they had spent all night building for the Alamo that Ajay and Saras devised.
Sandbags were layed on the tarmac of the runway and near the structures like the supply depot and the air traffic control tower. Next to Ajay was Maya and Darshan equipped with sniper rifles to thin out the numbers that would approach. Anish and Bipin were assigned by Saras to man the tank destroyer since they were the most adept to the controls. They sent an entire break arguing who should man the gun, Saras could only sigh. Their job was to zip around running and gunning to make themselves hard to hit but hit hard they would on the Golden Path.
It was half an hour till sunrise, and the first signs of the Golden Path reaching the wire gate of the compound could be seen. There were only foot troops because of the blockade at the Cliffside road being in the way of their vehicles big and small so they were left with walking through.
"For the Golden Path and for peace in Kyrat!" Sabal shouted his warcry that rousted the vigor of the Golden Path fighters who shouted at the top of their lungs. """VICTORYYY!"""
Charging towards the gate and through to the airport field.
(Boom) (Boom) (Boom) (Boom)
"It's a trap!"
But the Royal Army 3rd company had the whole night to prepare for their arrival and lay a welcome trap that dwarfed Ajay's in the form of a minefield carefully laid in front.
The power of their charge made them ignore the losses taken from crossing the minefield but helped clear it for the rest as they came pouring through the breach.
Ajay, Maya and Darshan began picking off targets to thin the ranks for the mercenaries and soldiers to finish off. Their field of fire was good which prevented the Golden Path from advancing through the breach and started to spread around the outer wire fence to look for alternative ways of entering.
"We only have a while till they bring in the vehicles to support them. Make your shots count!" Ajay advised as he took two down with a single shot. They were charging in packed like sardines so there were little opportunities for them to miss a shot.
Some of the mines in the perimeter were blown with grenades thrown by the Golden Path in an improvised attempt to clear a path through them.
The Golden Path were now bringing in heavier weapons such as the RPGs or automatic grenade launchers. The tower snipers did their best to snipe their crew men when they have a visual.
They say that friendships are formed in the battlefield and one such friendship was budding between the soldiers and mercenaries, previously bitter about the casualties on both sides. A common enemy helped solve that. They would drag wounded men into cover, to the supply depot if possible and pass magazines around when someone was empty.
This fierce firefight continued on for ten full minutes without signs of progression into the airport.
Ajay was aware this wasn't a good sign and radioed Saras.
"Saras, they don't seem to be breaking! Gather the wounded to our designated exit!"
*So it's come to this…..* Saras came to terms with the inevitable.
"Samson, organize the soldiers to withdraw in an orderly fashion to the supply depot. Behind it is the exit out of here!"
*Understood!*
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep to our agreement on getting you a plane out."
*You can do that when we all get out of here, sir!*
"I'm afraid that's not happening for me." He made the last comms to Samson. Maya was stunned by Ajay's declaration.
"A-Ajay-…. You're not thinking of what I think you're doi-." She didn't want to believe what he was going to do. She refuse to.
"Darshan, take this idiot off the tower!" But Ajay only confirmed it, he knew arguing with her was useless.
"Hey-…Wait! Ajay?!- It can't end like this! What about helping Pagan-… Mistress!?"
"I am helping them, getting rid of the Golden Path for Pagan and removing myself from Yuma's sight. But if you die here, Yuma is gonna hunt me to hell!" He joked.
"AJAY!" She said in an almost crying voice.
"The hell are you doing, take her out!" Ajay shouted at Darshan for his slowness to react but he did take her away with little effort from his large frame. As per usual her stubborn spoilt attitude made her scream out for him to take another route, her cries echoed through the stairwell and slowly faded as they left.
Ajay turned his attention to the advancing Golden Path fighters and continued to snipe them across the tarmac.
*Badala, we've cleared the wounded from the supply depot and are pulling back the troops through the exit as well.*
"Good! It was nice knowing you!"
There was a long pause between his transmission as he announced his stay while they left.
"I already told you, I'll make sure none of you suffer the consequences of my actions, Saraswati Roka!" He said in a lightened tone while firing his weapon.
*I've never known anyone like you, Badala. And I don't think I ever will…*
"You will, you just don't know it yet."
Saras chuckled on the other side of the radio.
*Charming, even until death…..Good bye, Badala!*
"Catch you later!" Ajay spoke into the mic devoting his full attention to the Golden Path. The reason why he stayed in the Control tower was because the main switches to the explosives rigged throughout the airport were there. The Golden Path were now pouring en masse through the breaches and into the airport compound. His Draganov ran dry and he chucked it aside and picked up the M249 SAW just as some fighter entered the building. He went down the stairs to apprehend them.
They came up the stairs and were greeted with a hail of lead from his SAW as he went to the entrance and encountered more men he hosed down with a barrage from his machine gun.
-Just a bit more.-
What Ajay was trying to accomplish was to take the Golden Path forces with him in the destruction of Meh Teh Airport. This would cripple the Golden Path long enough for the Royal Army to take at least some action and prevented another major invasion in the North for a couple of years he estimated.
The tank destroyer was holding off at the supply depot drawing majority of the weapons fire. He gunned down the fighter that converged on the supply depot hangar with their backs turned to him. And then, the Golden Path forces started to take him as a serious threat as they moved in to take his life. He hid from the fire in the building of the control tower where he needed to be and reloaded the SAW while he had the chance and returned to the balcony where he hosed more fighter attempting to storm the control tower building.
Some lucky shots finally landed in places that hurt, hitting him in the left shoulder and right thigh. He collapsed against the cement wall inside the glass observation room. A few Golden Path came up to the place uninvited and received his baptism by lead with his sermon delivering tool.
Longinus's way of speaking was starting to rub off on him in his thoughts.
-So this is how far I make it doing the right thing! At least I didn't let myself down this time…..-
Ajay picked up the single remote plunger that detonated all the explosives around the Airport. He took out the icon of Kalachakra to look at one last time as it seemed appropriate.
-It would have been nice to see more but I guess it was a nice change of pace, I did get to see Sabal and Amita suffer… thank you, Wheel of time!-
Ajay closed his eyes and the images of his new and past life drifted by in an instant as he pushes the plunger down.
But an iron grip prevented him from doing so.
Ajay raised his gun thinking it was a guerilla fighter but it turned out to be the last person he expected to come and join him.
"Samson?!"
The Italian mercenary smiles at him wryly.
"The hell! Why are you still here?!"
It wasn't just Samson, it was his entire mercenary unit. All of them smiling away.
"And let us live through a world of hurt? Don't forget, you still owe us for our services and we intend to receive it from you in full!"
Ajay looked at his fellow mercenaries to see if he was hearing correctly.
"Once he's made his mind he'll stick to it, we'll just follow him anywhere!" His friend responded.
"You'll get paid by Pagan now get out! The reinforcements weren't quick enough so there's no point in holding this place any longer!"
"See! We usually would but it's just that I don't know if we'll ever come across another boss like you!"
Ajay was stunned by what Samson said. They wanted to stay because they thought he was worth saving.
"Could you be….homo?-"
"What gave you that idea?!" His fellow mercenaries laughed at him.
"I'm kidding, although you really are a scumbag, Samson! Choosing your employers when it suits you…. Well I guess you do have skill to back up that kind of wayward behavior!"
Samson grinned widely. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"A reckless employer for a reckless employee!" His friend laughed.
Some of the mercenaries had been fighting while they were having a nice cozy chat in the control tower. Ajay did a quick first aid to his wounds and wrapped gauze around his arm and leg, giving himself an adrenaline shot to keep him going.
"Your orders?"
"Hold the control tower till the last man, whether reinforcements come or not! Last man pushes the plunger and sends these Golden Path losers to hell with us!"
"You heard the boss, let's move! Spread out and engage, keep those corners tight!" Samson went back to forming a defense around the control tower.
By now, the Golden Path had their sights on the control tower, their commanders figured out there was something of value inside for Ajay and the mercenaries to defend it with such tenacity and not merely as a good place to snipe them from. So majority of the invaders went for the control tower instead, with use of the emplacements as cover to converge of the building itself.
Ajay stayed on top of the tower to get a better view of the situation. It was seven minutes till the E.T.A of the reinforcements Arjun promised although dawn had broken.
Why was Arjun's reinforcements so important you ask? Ajay had planned to lure the supposed 'main force' of the Golden Path force to contest with him the entire night until it reached dawn, their fatigue would make them easy targets. The dawn light provided excellent visibility for the artillery or air fire support as they were caught out in the open of the airport.
Ajay spotted familiar figures by the supply depot heading in his direction.
"Cover fire to the supply depot!" He immediately announced to the mercenaries who followed his order with efficiency.
Three people to be exact came running through fire up to the tower once more.
"You're really asking to die here! And you'll get nothing from it!" Ajay threw his harsh remarks at the stubborn girl.
"Don't run!" Maya shouted at him in a sullen tone.
"What?..."
"Don't run from living with the consequence, Ajay!" She was on the verge of tears.
"I-…."
"We'll get through this together! Or we won't!" She said in resolve.
No words could form in his mouth, but in his heart sprouted an intense desire to live on. He remained quiet to steel his own resolve in his mind.
"Thank you…. I will." Maya was relieved to hear that.
-That's right! I haven't tried everything just yet, I shouldn't seal my fate so hastily.-
"Samson!" The mercenary leader came over when his name was called.
"Sir?"
"Leave one man by the plunger. We're taking the fight to them!" Was all Ajay said to which Samson grinned.
The mercenaries assembled by the entrances to the control tower waiting to move out. Ajay was the first to leave the shelter of the control tower.
"To the barricade! Seal the breach!" He said and everyone knew what he was trying to achieve.
The spread themselves out on the tarmac facing the entrance to the airport which had the breach in a walking wedge formation that gunned down those in their field of fire.
The Golden Path fighters couldn't believe what they were seeing, a group of merely twenty were directly confronting a force of over almost a thousand strong fighters. But the strength of the wedge that they formed was cutting through the mass of their forces like a hot knife through butter.
Sabal bore witness to this and it couldn't infuriate him any further, because at the tip of the formation was Badala.
"Kill that man!" He roared.
"Seagull on me!" Ajay gave his formation command with his middle finger pulling back his index. The group formed into a zig-zag with two lines of men. Ajay moved the formation by sprinting forwards as the group followed his lead.
The formation made the group into a tight group as they ran towards the barricade but allowed them to focus on killing those that passed by them on the left and right. They were a small target for those in front too.
Ajay's mask that shone in the sunlight made everyone aware of it, his sprint towards the barricade where majority of the Golden Path were trying to cross into the airport sent shivers down their spines. Added to the fact that he ran right in the open without any shots seemingly hit him due to the intense field of fire from him and the mercenaries. It gave the feeling that Ajay was infallible as the Golden Path fighters stumbled backwards from being disheartened.
As Ajay, at the head of the formation was within ten metres from the barricade he threw his incendiary grenades at the barricade. The barricade lit up preventing the Golden Path forces on the other side from crossing. Sabal was right there on the standing on the barricade when he threw the incendiary bombs and quickly jumped off to the side with the bulk of the force was still waiting.
"Damn the Gods! BADALA!" Sabal screamed.
He and five hundred others were sealed from the rest of the forces already in the airport.
"Samson, Maya! Smokes to our rear!"
The group now had the blazing barricade to their backs as they turned their attention to the Golden Path forces that made it inside the compound.
They threw their smoke canisters to their rear to provide concealment from the Golden Path forces within the airport which numbered up to two hundred still.
"Give them everything you've got!" Samson roared as they blazed away with their ammo reserves at the fighters that came through the smoke in an attempt to break Ajay's separation between them and the main force.
Ajay had a quick look to his watch. It was already time for them to have arrived but there was still no sign. He had to plan a mode of attack where twenty of them could fight now a hundred and fifty inside the base and five hundred to their rear. Just then, the blazing barricade blew up. The main force had found a way to breach the barricade with explosives. Some mercenaries turned to fire at the Golden Path warriors coming through.
The tank destroyer with Bipin and Anish had yet to leave the airport and was circling around moving down the coverless Golden Path.
"Bipin, over here!" He comms for them to come to them.
*Yah?* He comms back on his portable radio.
"Use the vehicle chassis to seal the breach!" Ajay pointed at the human size hole in the barricade which had been extinguished by the explosion.
Without any further words, Bipin skillfully drove the vehicle to block the breach once more. The height of the turret loomed over the barricade so the gun was able to see hundreds over warriors on the other side with their respective vehicle that could not come through.
"Cheese!" Anish pressed the trigger to his joystick firing both the main and co-axial gun at the shocked Golden Path warriors on the other side of the barricade on the cliff.
The Golden Path struggled to put up a fight with the armored vehicle but their small arms were insufficient to penetrate that thick armor. They shouted for more potent weapons to quickly come up front like the RPGs to deal with Bipin and Anish's tank destroyer.
While they were dealing with the Golden Path forces on the other side effectively, Ajay made the mercenaries and hunters converge on the remnant forces still in the airport being cut off from the rest. Those within the airport didn't put up much of a fight, they instantly forgot they had the advantage in numbers but were hopelessly outmatched by the combat quality of the mercenaries and hunters.
Most of the Golden Path in the airport either fled in the direction of the cliff to risk climbing down while others threw down their weapons. But Ajay didn't have time accept their surrender so the mercenaries chopped them down mercilessly.
At that time, Ajay's group were back at the control tower. Bipin and Anish abandoned the tank destroyer when it had sustained too many hits from the RPGs the Golden Path brought up and had disabled the gun turret on the vehicle. They left the tank destroyer just as the ammunition inside detonated and blew the barricade with it.
"Shit!" Maya voiced out everyone else's thoughts.
"I'm sorry I couldn't hold them!" Bipin came over apologizing.
"You done great so far, Bipin." Ajay shook his head.
"What do we do now?" Anish asked as the Golden Path came pouring out of the breach, this time with their vehicles that couldn't pass through previously.
"BADALAA!" A high pitched voice came from behind them at the supply depot.
"Saras?!" It wasn't just her but the entirety of 3rd Company that was still able to fight.
She came over to them exhausted.
"What happened to the wounded?"
"I've deposited them below in a village for the time being. I should be asking you the same thing, what happened to the fireworks?!" She was referring to the grand finale explosion that would turn the Meh Teh airport into a crater.
"How was I able to push it with these fools still here!"
Saras chuckled like usual.
The 3rd Company joined with the mercenaries and shook hands as the Golden Path seemed not to fire upon them but were getting into a line formation so the mercenaries and 3rd Company did the same.
Now there were two armies in a face off on either side of the runway. The Golden Path obviously stood in a ratio of six to one as more forces from the valley joined in with the Golden Path main force. Sabal came out to the front expecting to negotiate with the leader of the opposition.
Ajay stayed where he was.
"You've fought admirably today, Royal Army and turncoats! But the Airport is ours now, with the mountain to your back and my brothers and sisters in front outnumbering you in quantity and firepower you have no hope of coming out of this alive! So I'll only say this once, drop down your weapons and we'll treat you with dignity!" Sabal smiled as arrogantly as if he had already won the game.
"The airport is yours?" A mocking voice from among the Royal Army answered him, that voice of course belonged to Badala.
"Since last night all we've seen is these idiots you call brothers and sisters running from the fight when threatened, you are no exception Sabal. You've at least run twice in this entire battle, so how can my forces mercenary and Royal Army stand down to a bunch of losers?" The Royal army and mercenaries laughed at his taunt.
The Golden Path warriors expressed their resentment but they couldn't fault his words, the way the mercenaries and Royal Army slaughtered their fellow comrades, they felt lucky to even be alive.
Sabal's face twisted with untold fury and hatred for his adversary.
"I see…. So you've chosen a painful death then?"
"You can take this Airport from our cold dead hands!" Ajay said to which the Royal Army and mercenaries alike let out a war cry that shook the Golden Path forces.
"Brothers and Sisters! Leave none alive!" Sabal waved his rifle for them to charge which they did after roaring with such power it shook the place and echoed down the hill.
"Here it goes!-…" *All you women-…..who wanna man on the street-…* "Hang on! You hear that?" He asked the people next to him.
Ajay heard a familiar sound in the distance that was getting closer, he turned his head to the direction of the end of the runway and realized what was making the sound-… no.-…..music!
"Sabal! Look!" A soldier called out to the same direction. Sabal and the Golden Path stopped in their tracks as they saw what was coming towards them.
The beating of propeller blades coming closer was outmatched by the music that was coming out of the speaker mounted below the eight helicopter gunships that were fully laden with miniguns and rockets.
Ajay now remembered what kind of music it was.
([AC/DC - Shoot To Thrill] continues streaming)
