Author's notes:
I've begun a Barrista course starting this week which may affect the roll out of new chapters. At the end of the course i hope to make good coffee! Yey!
The Royal Army had established a command centre at the Airport where they gave directions to the troops that supported the police officers. While this was a military operation, Arjun was extremely careful on how this had to be handled. First off, if soldiers were used to evacuate the villages and towns would likely stir up the Golden Path or suspicion of the people that they were being deported under pretext of mass evacuation, which was not the case. Amita's Mukti Tigers were dispatched to aid the police officers in calling the civilians out of their homes to gather at the rally points at the given areas before they were escorted across King's bridge or to the refugee camps and settlements established by Amita in the North most part of Pacchim Valley.
"We commence when Lord Badala makes the first attack upon Varshakot. Questions?" Arjun asked the group of officers, the police intendents and Amita's lieutenants. One of Amita's field commander raised her hand.
"I heard that Badala may have to contend with Golden Path's veteran old guard, is this true?"
This was the first time they all heard this and looked to Arjun for answers. Facing the old guard was not like fighting the usual Golden Path. They were comprised of 40 to 50-year-old men who once hailed from the Royal Guard and Army which followed Mohan to fight against Pagan and his mercenaries. They had twenty over years of fighting experience, and were more cautious in the firefights. The only reason they had trouble contending with Pagan when he first arrived was because of the battle implementations on Pagan and Yuma's side were way ahead of them back in the 80s.
While they were using bolt-actions and submachine guns imported by the late crown, Pagan and Yuma's mercenaries were armed with M16s and M1A battle rifles. They also used portable radios, air support from armed helicopters and were also trained in foreign militaries. The rest came down to the quality of leadership and tactics employed by their commanders. Yuma was of course the one that reigned over Mohan and his retinue in these areas. If Pagan ever took to the field, they'd have a really big problem at their hand. Mohan had solved this by sending Ishwari to him, effectively removing him from the playing field. But even then, they still couldn't progress while facing Yuma herself. Even though Arjun and Paresh fought alongside her she was on a different level of command. She wasn't the Duchess of Kyrat for nothing.
"Lord Badala was quite confident when he said he'd handle it. He does have an idea of how strong and well-discipline they are. Besides, he promised he wouldn't over exert, he'll only weather down their forces." Arjun's secretary answered on his behalf.
"Still, to think the old guard actually reacted to him meant they felt the Golden Path was in danger of destruction." The police Commissioner said, as a former Royal Guardsman he was aware of the military affairs to a certain extent.
"That's a given. Especially with the kind of speech he gave on live radio, thinking about it from the Golden Path's point of view, it chills me!" Arjun chuckles away. Arjun had sent his secretary Layak to request Badala to convince the people to leave the area. Instead he gave a haunting speech and warning to all that were in line with the Golden Path and the consequences they'd face when he found them guilty of such. He even went to the extent of slapping Sabal's ego and burnt down the holy temple of Jalendu which held sacred artifacts for endorsing that girl Bhadra as the next spiritual leader, the Tarun Matara. All this so that the young girl could chose her own destiny.
Not even King Min did such a thing when he tried to suppress traditional practices. King Min laughed heartily at the Palace when he heard what Lord Badala had done and said till he let out tears, perhaps reminiscing his time with lady Ishwari. He was thoroughly earning himself the name of demon, to think his daughter would chase after such a person was beyond him. His own wife seemed to have a different idea all together. Either way, he had given the people a reason to consider leaving the Golden Path protected provinces as there was an indication of a fight about to take place from the seriousness of the announcement. The Golden Path itself was in anarchy.
Reports had indicated that a substantial amount of Golden Path members were throwing down their arms and returning to their homes, families were relocating to places out of Golden Path territories such as Tirtha and Banapur. Sabal was helpless to stop this transition. Badala had perfectly implicated him in the murder of Kamala and yet another failure in the Golden Path's efforts to secure Pacchim Valley, his willingness to burn Jalendu was a testament of the credibility in his words. Naturally, the people supporting and within were losing faith in his leadership and cause. This was what caused the old Guard to stand up and march to reinforce all the critical locations.
"We're talking about five hundred soldiers against a thousand garrisoned fighters and two thousand more in reserve in a camp near Tirtha. And these fighters won't just run when they get a scare!" Arjun returned to reality and heard another of Amita's lieutenants express their concern for Badala and the newly formed Mechanized Battalion that accompanied him.
"Ease down, Hansa. They are more than aware of the danger involved, there's definitely a contingency planned out, am I right general?" Amita calmed her lieutenant.
"Indeed. Lord Badala may be a decoy, but he isn't the only one out there to make them forget about the people moving out of the towns. Layak, brief them on the events to take place upon Badala's first strike." Arjun told his secretary to explain.
"Yes, sir." The secretary walked over to a standing board with a map and markers to indicate Royal army, Golden Path and town and civilian locations.
"Upon Lord Badala's attack on Varshakot, we will launch an attack upon the main Golden Path recruitment camp. One of the largest concentrations of insurgent forces are currently at. This will draw reinforcements from Banapur to match the seven hundred we've sent to attack it and with an additional force of three hundred Tigers to cover the two infantry battalions at their rear as they converge and suppress the camps." Layak gestured to the Mukti Tigers whom nodded in approval.
"And what of Sabal, Willis and Solomon?" Amita inquired as they were the most important players in this entire field.
"Badala had established contact with the US spec ops to capture Willis as the highest priority over both Solomon and to a lesser extent Sabal. From Lord Badala's accounts and of High Command's evaluation, he'd do a better job than us in tearing the Golden Path apart if left alone." Amita and her retinue chuckled as they shared the same opinion of Sabal.
"His lordship dispatched Captain Kadayat and the Condotierri contractors to assist in extracting them, Agent Huntley and some renegades of theirs." The secretary added.
"Ladies… Gentlemen. Today we take part in a history that will be rewritten forever in the textbooks, the day those bestowed with power and strength in Kyrat finally did their duty. And protected their people."
They were over a mile away from Varshakot with the twelve IFVs that made up their Battalion parked behind a hill where they were at, observing the stronghold from afar. Up on top of the hill, covered in shrubbery and bushes lay Hurk and Ajay, Alberto lay next to Hurk with the spotting scope.
"They've built trenches on the outskirts of the wall, that's gonna be troublesome for us." Alberto stated what he thought but Ajay saw it differently.
"If we only had just had five hundred soldiers then fighting that fortress seems unlikely but we don't."
"…." The battalion commander and Alberto knew what he referred to.
It was the firepower that the Ratel IFVs could bring.
"Commander…." Ajay called from the Battalion Commander.
"My lord?"
"The only thing that I would think could threaten the crew might be hand-held RPGs but at a 1000 yards, the fuse should self-destruct before reaching us. We'll engage Varshakot from afar, one kilometer away from the trenches. Our weapons, mortars and tank gun should be able to effectively hit them but their weapons shouldn't hit us." The Battalion Commander understood his precaution was well deserved and it could keep them effective for longer periods. This was a double precaution as the RPG wasn't guaranteed to hit a moving target from that kind of range either, but it wouldn't stop them from trying.
"Yes, sir!"
"Commander remember, we're here to hit Golden Path hard and that's it. Make sure you and the men have breathing space to escape from this in one piece."
"Thank you for your concern, my lord! I will take it to heart."
"I'll leave overall command of the battalion to you shall I?"
"If that is what you wish, my lord."
"I wouldn't want to interfere with your management of your battalion, Commander. Me and my men will do our best to suppress them as well."
The Battalion Commander was slightly elated that he had been relied upon even in this intense hour, it gave him great pride that the Northern Demon desired his help.
"Rest assured, my lord! Me and my men will do the same." He saluted and left to mount the vehicles with the rest.
In their possession currently were twelve Ratel IFVs and many armed trucks and technical. There weren't many IFVs available as some were undergoing modernization and conditioning, but the vehicles they had at hand were enough. Three were of the 81mm mortar variety, four were armed with 20mm rapid fire cannons, two were recovery vehicles, two more were 90mm armed gun carriers. The final was the command vehicle that the battalion commander sat it to give orders to the others from in the front. Ajay suggested that the battalion skirmish them from afar till they were weathered out. If Varshakot crumbled to the ground because of the firepower they brought, it would be even better that there would no longer be a stronghold to watch the south lands. From Ajay's previous entrapment in Varshakot, they reportedly took an entire two weeks to repair it to working condition, and this was with the help of the diligent old guard.
"There, to the right of the wall. The one in the bonnie hat, that's our stronghold commandant." Alberto reported through the spotting scope.
"Roger." When he found them on his rifle scope, he loaded in his Mk.211 Raufoss incendiary into the chamber.
"Index it three point five left, elevation on ten." Alberto gave him his readings on the scope, Hurk dialed in the calibrations.
The stronghold commandant perched himself in the open on the wall which he was observing the surroundings with some binoculars. This gave Hurk a clear shot all the way to him without obstruction.
"Commander, when you hear the shot. Commence the attack."
*Yes, my lord.* The Battalion Commander responded crispy.
"It's now up to you, Hurk." Ajay said next to them as he observed the commandant from his own binocular.
Hurk breathed in and out heavily. He had never been put in a situation where everything weighted heavily on his shoulders. Ajay had given him the first shot to kill their highest ranking officer within the stronghold to give the battalion time to get into position from the concealment of the hills and forest. His hands started to shake.
"Scared?" Ajay asked casually.
"..Y-…Yeah!"
"I'm glad you are."
"Why?" Hurk asked confused but kept his eye on the target.
"That just means you still cherish life and therefore fear taking it. As you continue taking, over time you might lose that conscience entirely…. Like we have. But what you're about to do isn't simply killing a man for the sake of it. Neither is it for self-preservation, its removing him to save countless others. Every shot you fire from now on will let a thousand keep their lives."
Hurk sighed to relieve himself of the tension and aimed down into the scope.
"Imagine yourself floating in a vast ocean of water, the water so clean, its marine blue. You submerge yourself into the motionless water. The deeper you go, the colder it is." Ajay psyched him in preparation to take the commandant's life. Hurk returned to normal breathing, but now there was a glint in his eye that had never been there before. He breathed in to take the shot.
"No change in readings, fire when ready." Alberto told him.
Hurk felt a sensation as if he were an eagle looking down at a rabbit that naively grazed upon his field as he zeroed in on Commandant's head.
(BANG) Hurk had sent a payload of .50 cal incendiary and explosive towards his helpless target over a thousand metres from his position. His target's head exploded and corpse still standing headless, Ajay patted his back and dashed towards the stronghold via the cover of the fields of poppy plants. The report of Hurk's shot only came three seconds after the hit and put the rest of the old guard who weren't aware of the death of their commandant look around anxious. There they found his body eerily still standing, they guessed it was a sniper and hit the deck and reducing their ability to notice the vehicles that were arriving, just as Ajay planned. He reached where the bushes ended and the trench just a few metres from him in front but chose to hide in the bushes as the Golden Path warriors scurried around to take counter measures against the hidden sniper. Assembling a party to go out with patrolling vehicles. They did not know that the sniper wasn't the only one outside their walls. After receiving the re-corrected calibrations from Alberto, Hurk proceeded to kill some of the soldiers that were driving the convoy of troops out of the stronghold, causing their vehicles to go out of control and crash. This forced some of the passengers that survived too alight and run for the tree line where they weren't expecting the mechanized battalion to come out and ambush them. The battalion supported by the armored vehicles came crashing through the forest and ran over some while maintaining the push.
By this time, the remaining stronghold dwellers and sappers by the trenches realized what had transpired. It wasn't a lone sniper but a full on attack. The battalion split based on the three companies that formed its full strength, attacking from the North, South and West. The lake lay to the East and was inaccessible, or so everyone thought. Ajay was sneaking in from the lakeside pass the newly dug trenches.
The last time they were trapped in Varshakot, Ajay blew the well and sealed it shut with the roof collapsed on top of it. If they did rebuild the well, it would be accessible again. If not, he'd blow a hole with the bag full of C4.
Ajay moved quickly into the waters pass the trench line on the lake area that was vacant as everyone else was dedicating their focus to the mechanized battalion that was pummeling them heavily with mortar and cannon fire. If it was the usual Golden Path, they would have raised the white flag due to the firepower that could level the stronghold. But they weren't, either way it didn't matter to Ajay.
He had once gone up against a squad of old guard that renegade in the previous timeline and Sabal sent him to eliminate them for fear they would sell their troop positions.
The strength they had was above a Royal Guard soldier which was impressive for some. But Ajay knew they had one fatal flaw, they were too rigid to change. In other words, if something happened not as expected or how they trained in their old units they would revert back to basic 101 survival instincts and ignore all communication with one another like it was every man for himself. Instead of an organized unit it became a mob of fighters instead. Not communicating was something that could cause an entire army to crumble and that was what Ajay would do. It would make life easier for the battalion to deal with them from afar as they scattered about doing what each of them though was best of themselves. Perhaps Yuma had noticed this trend and employed it herself against them all those years ago.
Ajay swam quickly into the underwater tunnel under the jetty, he didn't want to spend too long in open water especially when it was infested with demon fish. He noticed a trip mine placed against the opening of the tunnel entrance. Apparently they knew about the tunnel, Ajay realized his thinking was rather wishful. These were twenty year veterans, they knew almost every landscape including Uttar with the exception to the current valley of death. There were likely more mines inside. Ajay wondered what would he do. (Click) Ajay snapped his fingers as he thought up something. They anticipated someone coming through the tunnel, so let them think someone was actually trying it. Ajay proceeded to deactivate the mine and enter the submerged tunnel.
And no less than twenty metres into the tunnel he found the next trip-mine. Instead of deactivating it he placed his C4 charge and rigged it to blow in one minute. The theory was, that the tremor from the explosion would alert them to the presence in the well and concentrate forces there for an anticipated attack. Ajay climbed upon the jetty soaked and walked towards the wall, his end didn't seem to have a single sentry watching while the other side, mayhem had broken loose as Golden Path and Royal Army exchanged gunfire in a long range skirmish. The Royal army had the advantage of being buttoned-up within the vehicles and firing from the ports on the side. The probability of getting hit was almost nothing, while the Golden Path had their heads exposed from the trenches although their silhouettes were of low-profile. Ajay fired the grapple hook from his gauntlet and scaled the empty side of the wall and took cover behind the buildings.
(BOOOM)
"What was that?!"
"Could it be there's someone in the emergency escape?"
"You! Bring fifty and watch the well!"
Ajay eavesdropped upon the likely second-in-command and subordinate.
Currently, there was a thousand garrisoned in Varshakot which was an over excessive amount for the stronghold's size. With the first strike there was likely only eight hundred left from the hundred plus they killed with the element of surprise.
But it wouldn't be enough for five hundred to besiege a stronghold with currently eight hundred over warriors. Especially when they were fighting home base. That was why Ajay had infiltrated the stronghold under their noses. He was going to demolish their ammo cache and supply store. There was barely anyone inside the buildings that Ajay darted across. They were either up upon the walls or in the incomplete trenches outside fighting.
A stretcher passed by him and entered a garage, which was used to store the wounded away from battle. Ajay realized he was running out of concealment towards the ammo cache under the bell in the centre of the compound.
"Commander, this is Badala. Don't respond to my call, send a barrage of smoke screen into the stronghold." He clicked into the radio and waited for the battalion commander to order the mortars to fire their smoke into the compound.
Minutes later he could hear the whistling of the bombs coming.
"Incoming!" The warriors thought it was high explosive raining down and ran for cover.
The shells airburst overhear the stronghold and concealed the entire area with smoke, the area of visibility was up to a metre in front.
"Smoke?"
"Are they stupid or something?" One laughed.
"Trying to smoke us out? Dream on!"
-Idiots!-
But it was all to the benefit of Ajay as he dashed out to the ammo cache and passed a few casually as if he were one of the many dispatch troopers running about relaying messages. They still stuck to the old fashion word of mouth method which confused Ajay when a radio was greatly affordable in their day and age. They were like old folks that were distrustful to new tech and only trusted things in their generation.
Ajay reached the ammo cache and stuck an armed C4 charge behind the many crates of explosives, he figured that now that he'd accomplished he biggest objective within the walls it was time to do a little more damage while the smoke was still present.
-Let's demolish Varshakot shall we.-
The crack of gunfire and explosions from afar could be heard echoing into the corridors where the prison cells were and where Daisy was being transported back to her cell with the rest of her companions.
"Move!" The guard shoved her as she took her time.
"Alright, stop being pushy!"
The guard kicked her to the floor.
"Don't get wise with us, girl! Sabal may want you alive but anything can happen in De Pleur's city." He grinned along with his partner. They were the Royal army soldiers which were under Paul's command during and after his defection. The Army classed them simply as "renegades". By military law, they were deserters and guilty of treason as well. The penalty was death or life imprisonment.
But they didn't care, their actions up till now was enough to send them to court over and over. They had occasionally extorted the villages nearby and pillaged, tortured and raped civilian just for the fun of it. Paul barely kept them on a tight leash so they went wild.
Daisy heaved herself up from the floor where they kicked her and moved on until they reached the cell where her friends were.
"Daisy?"
Daisy entered the cell when the guard shoved her in and locked the bars. Liza and Riley were the first to go over and check on her followed by Steven and Oliver.
"I'm fine there's no need to worry, this trip was well worth it."
"Did you fuck him?" Steven went straight to the point.
"Steve!" Liza called him out as he said rather insensitive things.
"Drop dead, Steven!" Daisy scorned him as did Riley.
"Never mind him, are you okay?" Riley asked out of concern as she had bruises all over her body from where Sabal and the guards had manhandled her.
"I'm fine, but it nearly did happen a while ago. If not for that radio broadcast, it might have been the case." Daisy hugged her shoulders as she remembered his revolting touch.
"What could possibly make that horny two-face forget about you over a radio broadcast?" Riley laughed a bit then said sorry as he realized it was insensitive as well.
"It was his opponent, that Badala fellow again."
"Fill us in, sister. Don't leave us hangin!" Oliver said as she begun to have her own silent thoughts on the matter.
"R-Right!" She tended to forget that Oliver was more intelligent than his habit of excessive substance consumption portrayed him to be.
She told them of the whole incident and what the radio broadcast was about. Her friends listened attentively to her as they also widened their eyes in amazement. Steve listened from his corner as well. After she had told them of her account they had a minute to process their thoughts before they debated. It was a common occurrence for them to get several opinions on an account out of the cells to increase their understanding of the geographic of the area.
"That sounds badass!" Oliver expressed his opinion on the matter in the bluntest of ways.
"This Tarun Matara sounds like some sort of religious shrine maiden." Liza said.
"It sounds like Sabal had the intention to have that girl become that next religious leader, perhaps to puppet her from behind. Maybe he'd have her declare a kind of "crusade" against the monarchy." The rest seem to agree with Riley's analysis, knowing Sabal's personality it was likely the case.
"Whatever it was that Badala crumbled his dream. To think he destroyed a temple so that the girl could live a normal life, he sounded like he was close to that girl. Maybe he isn't such a bad person as all these rebels make him out to be." Liza thought optimistically.
"We'd hope that too for our own sake but frankly it's too wishful thinking. He didn't earn a name like Northern Demon for nothing, something about him was already monstrous to begin with."
"…. He sounded hurt." Daisy recalled the way he talked on that Golden Path warrior, Kamala she thought her name was. It sounded like he genuinely lost her to Sabal and was declaring his vengeance upon him.
"Over that girl you mentioned earlier? You sure he wasn't using it as a political maneuver to march into the Golden Path's territories?" Riley kept a logical approach towards their assumptions.
"No… I'm fairly certain he really did hope she would stay alive to change this rebel group, but realistically speaking, with a leader as sadistic and repulsive as Sabal it's no wonder something like this happened."
"Also that Badala sounded like an American." Daisy dutifully informed them.
"What?"
"So he's from the states? Doesn't that increase our chances of cooperation?"
"As if we have anything to contribute, he might not even be from there at all. Maybe educated their only." Although Steven was pragmatic about it his words did have some truth in the matter.
But it wasn't the only thing Daisy realized about that voice, for some reason it sounded very familiar. And she rarely couldn't remember a friend's appearance or voice. Who in the world was he?
"Oh! Almost forgot, here." Daisy reached under her boot and retrieved the knife and string.
"Nice!"
"Nice going, Daise!"
"Oliver, you sure you can pick this lock with it?"
"Relax, sis. This is more than enough, here." Oliver proceeded to use the knife he received to unlock the chain to his leg. The link fell off his leg almost in an instant.
"Alright!-….sorry…" Riley controlled his excitement.
"Who do you think escaped those drug house raids all this while?"
"Man. For a pot head, you sure have some decent skills."
"Now all we have to do is wait for the right moment."
Whenever that was.
The marines escorted Willis who was on his way to Varshakot as he sat in the back of the truck speaking on a radio set to Jason.
"Jason, Badala's been spotted leading an attack on Varshakot stronghold."
*That's not far from where I am, I'll head their this instant.*
"Try to hurry up a notch, superior numbers don't seem to hold him back, justifiable on several occasions."
*I'm doing my best, what about you?*
"Where do ya think I'm headed now to advise those dinosaurs!" Willis put down the radio set and rested against the window of the truck to get some shut eye.
Then his satellite phone rang.
"Goddamnit!- Hello? This the cocksucker that ruined my nap?"
*It's been a while, Willis. Are you done fooling around in Kyrat? And did you already waste those jarhead I sent for you?* An angered voice called out over the phone.
"When I'm done I'll call you back, sweetheart." He turned off the phone and went back to sleep like the call was unimportant.
(Ring) (Ring) (Ring)
"Jesus Christ!"
He pressed the answer button. "What is it?"
*You're stayed for roughly two months in that god forsaken country. I've waited long enough, you've over stayed your little detour.*
"Hey! Who do you think made this this mess in the first place? You keep pressuring me I'm gonna call the direct line to the oval office and show them our dirty secret. To deal with a scandal during their office term that could threaten their retirement plan. You know what they do to spook who fuck up, right?"
*I'm coming over.*
"Good, have a nice flight!" As he was about to pull out from the phone-
*I've contracted CNS to deal with this problem for us.* Willis drop his sunglasses from the shock he received.
"You brought a fucking conglomerate into this? That's very Un-American, Lynch buddy!... Oh! I get it! You greedy little snot, you gave them jurisdiction into some theaters in exchange for some mula. I guess that character in you never changes, huh?" Willis taunted him.
"…" Lynch not refuting him proved that all he said was right.
"You know it better than I do, now fuck off! I'm trying to take a rest before you arrive and hound me over every little detail." He turned off the phone without waiting for a reply.
Willis knew what Lynch was doing clearly, it was what he had foreseen that would damage the integrity of their constitution and governing power. And that was privatizing armed forces.
The moment a countries interests became part of a company, it spelt doom for democracy. Everything would instead done at the request of a board, if it wasn't profitable it was trashed, if it overspent it was cancelled. The very foundation which built their defense had crumbled or was on the verge of crumbling. And Paul Lynch was being a part of this mutiny, he was a done traitor in Willis's books.
CNS was a well-known company that was very well on the verge of doing this. Some Kraut and fellow American who were both fucking old formed this company way back that focused on computer tech and pharmaceuticals. But more importantly, were a leader in nano-technology. When Lynch said he involved them, he was referring to CNS dispatching their PMC force under the supervision of Lynch to Kyrat. Lynch would have company in the form of private contractors, that were even more well equipped than the US special forces, likely carrying some of the Companies experimental military products as well. While they would be formidable, Lynch wasn't their master and he was only handed a short leash on them.
The Company was the one that gave the orders, Lynch effectively was just along for the ride.
(Screech) The truck grinded to a halt roughly.
"Jesus, watch that stop!" Willis cursed.
"We're here." Stew said to him from the driving compartment.
Willis got out and looked around. " Oi, marine! Captain Goh! Where the fuck is here?" As the marines alighted the trucks and surrounded him.
"Here is where the line ends for you, Willis Huntley." Maya appeared with the Italian mercenaries that closed the circle around Willis.
Upon realizing what had happened, he laughed uncontrollably.
Just as he had turned Paul Harmon over with promises of asylum, so did Badala do so with the marine captain in secret. He didn't think the marines would be smart or daring enough with his threat to Lynch. But the marines proved him wrong.
Willis took out a fresh Cuban cigar and lit it, taking a few puffs before himself fell into the Royal Army's custody.
"Touché, Bads!"
