Author's Notes:

The short that i had promised but was delayed for a while, so sorry.

I nearly wanted to call this chapter Boys und Panzer. Lol. How funny would that have been. Still, i don't get that anime slightly, how could shells penetrate their vehicles and they still survive with little flags popping out. In real life, they would have been turned to ash. That's anime for you. First there were girls with airplane legs, girls that took the embodiment of firearms, then the biggest hit in the west in the form of shipgirls.


A week before the Atrocity of Lanka-

There was nothing like the powerful humming of the 500-horsepower supercharged engine to calm his nerves. It was as his armour supervisor in Maharashtra had told him during his course, the vehicle is a part of you. Its sensors are your sight, its guns are your sword and arrows, the wheels are your limbs. When the vehicle is hit or parts become damaged, feel its pain, understand your pain.

Bipin took his lessons to heart at he commanded not just the vehicle he was in but eight other vehicles that formed the 7th Autonomous Tank Destroyer Platoon. The styled name was still pending, but it would soon come around to them eventually. There was an adventure out there waiting to christen them.

(Boom)

The vehicle rocked from sending a practice sabot round towards its intended target some one and a half kilometres away.

"Hit. Three feet to the right, nope. That's a probable ricochet." Bipin gave his final mark on the result on the target.

"What?! Aw- Pok Gai!" His gunner complained.

"Try harder next time, it looks like Sabre will be representing the tournament for us after all." He patted the commander of the vehicle named Maledict. Currently he was undergoing a trial to see who would represent their battalion as the tank destroyer marksman in the individual vehicle evaluation. He had sat in all five vehicle commanders' vehicles to assess their performance overall with a series of difficult challenges ranging from field repairs, firing on the move, quick reaction targets, and finally long range. Sabre's crew had lived up to his expectations in his test and were now going to represent them.

Bipin alighted the vehicle with his pen and his assessment slip on a clipboard heading in the direction of Camp Sigma's officer mess, where Sam was expecting him.

"Master Sergeant, please take care of the rest." He told his Platoon Sergeant as he took his leave.

"Shall I take them for a jog first, sir?"

"I'll leave it to you, Meng Kit. After this you can take the lads for a drink." Bipin said before going on his way. MSG Meng Kit smiled and shook his head, the veteran sergeant found him to be very lenient on his soldiers despite all the rigourous exercises and training he put them through which wasn't on the battalion iternary. Bipin was a rare breed of officer even in outside armies, he started his career as a private soldier to section commander then received a commission for his thesis which had made the entire concept of Kyrati Armour possible in the first place. Although, no one had yet given him the credit he deserved. Meng Kit found that to be rather unfair, but he admired Bipin's eagerness to do good without expecting reward. Meng Kit would follow him wherever he went that was for sure.

The Master Sergeant was left to deal with the platoon while he was on his way to deliver his report to Samuelle and Fang Siu Wei, her adjutant.

"(Sigh)." As he came up to the entrance of the mess hall, he sighed once more. Now came the gauntlet of icy stares and belittling words.

"What do we have here?"

"You sure you're in the right place, dai goh?"

"Ha! Don't try to mix into a place you don't belong, outsider."

It appeared as if his rank had no meaning as even Lieutenants were doing the same as his equivalent peers. Today seemed to be entirely occupied by the officers of the 2nd Hussars.

Bipin concentrated on his task at hand and brushed all the unsavoury remarks aside.

"Tsh!" Seeing that he wasn't antagonised by their remarks they too ignored him to return to their drinking and casual talk.

He was convinced that if Ajay were here, they wouldn't even dare look up. They'd perhaps smile when he beat one of their comrades just on a whim. Although Ajay wasn't like that unless someone pushed him, it was the way of the world. The strong and influential were allowed to bully the meek at no expense. However, Bipin made it clear he wasn't weak but that still didn't stop them being disgruntled with his presence. Samuelle still needed him for strategy and armoured tactics that none of them were educated in. They had all been crack infantry reassigned into the battalion, some were heli-bourne, others were QRF and one or two were from Yuma's Guard special forces group, SDSG. The closest equivalent in equipment and tactics to the Russian GRU or British SAS whom had training overseas, unfortunately, they wouldn't have much use of their skills operating in vehicles but would be more ideal as embarking infantry that escorted the mechanised units on foot or acted as scouts.

He arrived at the table where Siu Wei was discussing with Sam on their winning strategy to beating 1st Hussars at the Spring Armour Tournament. Sitting together with them were the five Company Commanders, their groups named after the Greek Alphabet. Bipin's was Zeta, he didn't know if it was intentional but he wasn't picky either. The radio callsign for them was Caraphract.

Han Feng was also among them representing Gamma.

"Bipin, have a seat. Now that you're here we can start."

"Sir. Here are the assessments on who I'm picking for tomorrow."

Sam took the clipboard and scanned through the papers, her eyes widen as she saw the boundaries of his assessment.

"A kilometre and a half shot without FCS?!" Even she was shocked by the demands he placed on his unit as were her adjutant and the Alpha Company leader, Fang Wei. The Adjutant's cousin.

Samuelle's eyes brightened and her lips broke into a smile.

"With this I think we can do it." She declared to the group.

The group of officers had their attention now with her declaration and looked towards the table from where Sam was.

"For this at least the Individual Vehicle Evaluation will be covered for, It'll be up to your men now, Bipin."

"Sabre won't disappoint, Sir." A smile had planted itself on her face since his report entered her hands. Her previously worried face was due to the upcoming Spring Armour Tournament.

A public viewing competition where high-value guests and high command officials observed their performance and rewarded them appropriately for showing their competence. But this time, it was a different affair for 2nd Hussars. She had been receiving complaints from her sponsors and the high command committee on her groups' sub-par performance compared to the 1st Hussars run by Kuber. She had no way to refute their claim even, because they had been crosstraining with 1st Battalion at least seven times. All amounting to a total loss.

There were some talks of scrapping their battalion and distributing them to other units as support equipment or merging the two battalions to save on cost. Their only hope of proving to them otherwise was the Spring Armour Tournament, that was their condition to keep her command.

She hadn't told any of her officers yet so they wouldn't feel the pressure of jeopardy they were in, only Bipin knew because Ajay had told him directly what was the reality of their situation if they didn't grow up and readapt to the new doctrines quick enough. 1st Battalion had already set the benchmark despite their exceptional performance and the board wouldn't accept for less of them. Bipin had to step in to change that, he didn't care a least bit about how the officers or the men felt about him. 2nd Hussars was his brainchild as 1st Battalion was Anish's. He wouldn't let it crumble to ashes over stupid disparities of class or culture.

Unfortunately, none of the Canton soldiers or officers shared his views save for his own platoon whom he had worked extremely hard to gain their respect.

The Tournament was split into three areas of evaluation. Individual vehicle assessment, to test the best vehicle crew in a situational course. The second was the Company-level coordination, a mixture of movements, sudden instances and assessing how quickly they respond and act as a Company. That one, Samuel already gave up on. Knowing who Kuber would send for that evaluation, it was likely 1st Lieutenant Anish. Her entire battalion knew who he was and the amount of grievances they had with him surmounted any other with the exception of Bipin whom they still wanted out of their unit.

In short, Anish had kicked their asses so many times during the crosstraining exercises their bottoms were red and bleeding. He had a common approach of ambushing large groups from a hidden emplacement and causing anarchy to erupt from the ranks. They never saw him unless he wanted them to, and it was the opposite of their code of chivalry conduct where they expected to go one on one with a foe or at least head-on.

Samuelle proposed their plan for the final assessment which was the Mock Battle, it was to attain the best out of three, if they could score two it was a total victory. But if they somehow tied in the end of it, it wasn't the end of the story. Because when that happened, the panel of judges comprising of four people would vote who was the winner based on their performance and coordination of soldiers.

Throughout the discussion, Bipin remained the silent one, not because he hadn't anything to contribute. But because his suggestion would be instantly shudded and would not be taken seriously even if Sam ordered it.

At the end of the discussion, after all had returned to their barracks or depot. Bipin walked over to where Samuelle was seated.

"Come, Bip. Tell me what are our odds." She said with contentment, but Bipin was about to disappoint her with what he had to inform.

"You're falling into Kuber's hands." He said in an emotionless manner. Since his return from Maharashtra it had always been that way. He had hit a revelation there that changed the entire way he thought. That being said, he was still surprised by pranks that Ajay or Maya did to him.

"What?" Her expression turned pale in an instant.

"Kuber knows our strengths and weaknesses, as if he'd let us play by our rules."

"…." She begun to think her plans were entirely naïve now that Bipin had pointed that out. Bipin assured her on her confidence once again.

"Your plans aren't wrong, its just the placement that could be remedied in the middle. Here's my prediction….." Samuelle listened closely as he was about to tell her the reason, even leaning extremely close that she forgot about personal boundary. It gave Bipin a weird feeling of her that he couldn't put a finger on despite their long friendship together.

"The first assessment we'll earn a tie, the second will be an atrocious defeat. The last need not be mentioned, either way we will lose or gain a tie. But with their impressive show of calmness under fire and our lack of calmness, it just shows the disparity in quality to the spectators."

"Then that means-….."

"They'll not only beat us at the game, but win the crowds appraisal. His grace has already warned me that the bean counters plan to merge the two battalions under Kuber's control, he will take the entire fleet into his arsenal and likely get a promotion as a bonus out of it."

"This-…."

"Terrible, doesn't even begin to explain it. I've done all I can to ensure that the first contest remains a tie."

"Are you saying Anish can perform better than your best crew?"

"I've known him since we were with Badala. If there's money involved he'll give his 120%, I heard the cash prize was five thousand a head."

Sam didn't know what to think, he was a moneybag alright from the sound of it. Bipin sounded confident he would threaten their units integrity with that drive alone.

"He has his reasons thought." Sam cocked her head, what could that be, family?

"Anish had been through rough times, perhaps even rougher than myself and Maya. His family had faced a difficult time due to collateral from the Nationalist rebellion. They were always in the mode of worrying about their next meal. One his siblings ever perished so that he could eat in her place, from then he swore never to go hungry again." Samuelle felt her heart tighten at the cruel past that this opponent of there's went through, she couldn't help but sympathize though he was their probable cause of the dissolution of the 2nd Hussars.

"Since then, he's developed a habit of hoarding money because of that, he has a whole vault full of spoils of war and salary bonuses. But when it came to celebratory meals with friends, he would spare no expense to him or his peers." Bipin said with a sadden smile as he recalled what Anish told him long ago.

"So are you suggesting we submit after hearing his sob story?" It was more of a question for herself than for Bipin, but she said it outloud to inquire why he even brought it up to shake her resolve.

"No. I was telling you his achille's heel."

"What? It sounded more like his drive."

"That it was, but its also his flaw."

"Are you suggesting we bribe him backdoor?" Bipin shook his head.

"Even he has pride, seeing us get crushed whilst earning his keep is a reward unto another reward. For only a brief period, Anish will make a mistake and that's to become complacent in our apparent defeat. But we will have one opportunity to beat him in the Company-group competition." Sam's eyes widen.

"What?! Beat Anish in the 2nd Game!?" It was not her who said it, but Major Fang and Captain Fang Wei whom eavesdropped.

Samuelle and Bipin stared at them as they realized what they had done and scratched their heads in embarrassment. Unfortunately, they had heard everything else previously also.

"Speak the truth, Captain. You said win the 2nd Game, correct?"

"I did." He confirmed.

"We do not need that, all we need is to win the Mock Battle which-."

"Which we will surely lose like we've always done." Bipin interrupted and completed her sentence in a way she didn't expect. Lose the mock battle? Even after all that planning?

"I must ask why, Captain." Fang Wei who was the commander of Alpha inquired.

"The same reason as it's always been. 1st Hussars as tankers, we are nothing but warriors in armoured vehicles. 1st Battalion has been more armoured missions alone than any of the men in ours have been when they were still infantry. They have the advantage of two months training and proving ahead of us, and they've understood the concept through their battles with Golden Path and the CIA sponsored CNS operatives. While all we've done is mock battles and training routines."

""….."" The Fang members couldn't refute his reasoning, no matter how much they refuse to admit 1st Hussars was better. Bipin was slightly impressed that the Fang relatives weren't as stubborn as their younger counterparts.

"Kuber knows we'll definitely go with this strategy because it is easier. But when have battles been easy? I can beat our opponent while in know his traits but I can't assist you if we're going against the entire battalion. That's why…. We need to end this with the second game."

The three officers looked at Bipin deeply, feeling as if he'd dragged them further and further into the abyss which was the reality of the situation from a rational point of view.

But knowing that he knew the outcome, he would also know a counter to this plan. Though reluctant to ask, Fang Siu Wei took the initiative.

"What do you propose?"


The observation booth was much like what you would see in an army open house vehicle demo vicinity. With a row after row of chairs rising up. And like the event, was open to the public. It became news to the immediate region where it was held near Utkarsh Town. Over two thousand came to the stands to watch the display of armoured might in Kyrat that had not been showcased before, unless you'd been on the receiving end of their ordnance.

Anish took this opportunity to market out his merchandise in the form of the Badala doll he had patented and manufactured on his off time at the cotton factory. Other entreprenuering businesses also took the opportunity of a mass crowd in one area to sell their snacks and drinks to occupy those hungry and thirsty mouths. They made an equally handsome profit from that.

Sitting at the highest observation deck where the invigilators watch the game for any foul play were Ajay and Sun Kwan. Seated together to have a drink, if they shared a common interest it was that 2nd Hussars was not to be dissolved. Sun Kwan's reasons were quite clear, Ajay's were simply looking out for a friend.

As the game progressed, it had been as Bipin earlier predicted. The first game ended in a tie, Anish himself had competed against his best crew Sabre but had tied nonetheless much to 2nd Hussars relief. And to Anish's disbelief that those cantons had actually put him at odds, he took the 2nd Hussars even more seriously in the next quadrant.

"Fang Wei, huh? I hope he teaches them what ten years of combat experience will do." Sun Kwan casually commented as he was oblivious to the odds they were actually facing. Ajay was no better in discriminating as he didn't have understanding of armour doctrines but that didn't mean he could feel the tension from the 2nd Hussars whom desperately tried their best to win.

"…."

"Care to make a bet to past time?" He challenged Ajay even while they were here on common interests, they were still silent foes.

"Can you afford a million?" Ajay asked not at all phased, to Sun Kwan's shock that he had a million lying around. He wasn't so clear on Ajay's assets and assumed he was simply using the allowance that Pagan gave him. His only possessions were after all a house on a hill he shared with three women.

If he knew that Ajay had a vault where he kept the hidden treasures of Kyrat, a swiss bank account and vault carrying gold bullion, and stocks and investments in renewable energy, Sun Kwan's mouth would drop. Because Ajay's actual wealth was close to half the entire cantons collected assets and more than the Sun Family itself. Although those investments were made by Maya on her freetime and Longinus who had created and siphoned money to those swiss accounts during his trip.

Of course, he never really indulged in the wealth myself but used it to invest in Noore's hospital, pay the upkeep of the arsenals, keep the town and its civil services running, wire to online accounts the salaries of the mercenary aviators in Lupus Caelum LLC and equip his Unit 58 with additional gear. Each were no small sum, and would only grow with their development, so money would become a pressing issue in the future.

"Two mill says they loses this quadrant."

"Aren't most of them your family? You're saying you don't even have confidence for them to win in the Company round?" Ajay said in an almost mocking manner, Sun Kwan hid his inner anger with a bright smile.

"I've been hearing talk of the Commander in the 1st Hussars being quite respectable and proficient, I just want to lend my support for the sproutling. What will be yours?"

Ajay snorted internally, he was a shameless bastard that didn't like losing.

*Let the 2nd Quadrant begin!* Said over the P.A. by a spokesperson. Ajay looked down at the group gathered in the 2nd Hussars waiting area and noticed a rather familiar person who didn't belong to that company but was in it anyway. A smile appeared on his face.

"Two million and one dollar." Sun Kwan scorned inwardly but didn't show it to Ajay.

"What's with that dollar?" He said with fake laughter.

"Think of it as charity I'm giving after you lose."

"And what will your stake be then?"

"That 2nd Hussars wins this match."


Anish was in a poor mood from the last game, he thought he would win but those cantons had cockblocked him to making this an easy victory.

*1st Hussars, 20 points. 2nd Hussars, 20 points.* The overall P.A announced on their open channel.

"What the hell?!" His crew shared the same thoughts as the 2nd Hussars were playing level with them in this game as well.

"Madarchod! We can't lose this one or Kuber and the rest will be in for a world of hurt."

Anish opened the hatch to his moving vehicle as the company was headed in the direction of the next firing area, across of him were 2nd Hussars moving at superior crosscountry speeds. The firing area was separated by a ridge and a series of curves and slopes. It was a test of how quickly they could acquire the targets out to ranges of excess 2km.

Anish buttoned up his vehicle.

-It's now down to our shooting skills from here on out.-

Anish's company comprised of 90mm gun tank destroyers, whilst Alpha only had two borrowed from Bipin's platoon. The rest of the vehicles seem to comprise of troop carriers to assist in the dismounting troop evaluations, that was where Anish's company suffered due to having room for only five in each of their vehicles because of the optimisation.

"Ishat, be ready for my directives." He told his gunner as he prepared his provisions for hunter-killer mode on the targets just over the ridge.

Anish made a quick look toward the 2nd Hussars shooting area, but found that only the troop carriers had gone over the slope. The rest stayed where they were. It confused the hell out of him but he quickly shoved it aside, this was a battle against time. This was the last assessment to the end of theis company level quadrant.

He sighted the targets for his gunner. "three targets at ranges 500, 1000 and 800 respectively. Engage in orders of closest to furthest."

"Engaging, away!" (Boom)

Anish left the rest of the platton commanders to deal with their share of targets. Right now it was just him and his share to deal with.

The mechanical loader shoved the rounds with the quickest possible consistent speed thanks to some modifications.

"First and Second targets good hit!"

"Roger, Third target reacquiring." His gunner acknowledged.

But then as Anish scanned the grounds, he found a pop up target.

"Ishat, I'm hijacking for a while." He took over the controls to engage the sudden appearing target which was worth more than the stationary ones.

"Away!" (Boom)

"Pop up target hit, you can have it back now, Ishat." He flipped the switch to return the controls back to his gunner's station.

At the end of the thirty second engagement of non-stop firing at the targets that presented itself, the siren finally blared.

*All units cease and await results.* The P.A announced.

Anish climbed out of the vehicle to observe his group targets, all were hit with equal precision despite being representatives for trucks and light armoured vehicles on a convoy route.

*The results have been quantified.* The P.A announced five minutes later while Anish took a smoke break and happened to chance upon the 2nd Hussars side where he dropped his cigarette.

Because over the ridge were just their troop carriers mounted with .50 cal machineguns, not sufficient in dealing with the range of the targets and the mass damage like the 90mm shells they pounded into the targets.

*The winner for this quadrant is…. 2nd Hussars!*

"What the fuck!?" He said standing up from his position.

"Madarchod! Did we lose?" His crew were flabbergasted.

*2nd Hussars win was by use of concealment whilst delivering heavy damage upon their enemy.* The P.A justified their win. Anish still couldn't belief it and jumped off his vehicle to approach them.

But as he reached behind their ridge where most of their vehicles were he stopped in his tracks and understood why.

"Mortars."

2nd Hussars did attack the enemy after all, but not with direct attack, rather indirect fire. And the mortars in their possession could hit further away than any direct weapon system could. The rules of the quadrant were to engage the targets at the quickest possible timing.

Alpha had set up their mortars at the base of the ridge and had the troop carriers range and spot for them the targets. This all happened while Anish was still having his company climb the hill in coordination.

The hatch of the command vehicle popped open and out came the source of his difficulties, Alpha had not been commanded by Fang Wei but by Bipin. This should have been impossible as Bipin's treatment in the 2nd Hussars was infamous yet here he was among the men of Alpha company patting his back from a good job. Before they had left, Fang Wei had informed his company of the stakes and that they were to follow Bipin's command or the consequences would be heavy.

Anish sighed and ended up chuckling in defeat. He realised that he had made a serious mistake. Because he was in the tank destroyer company he resorted to only the specific tactics and strategies of how engagements were done by tank destroyers. His approach was limited, whereas Bipin had taken a mixture of vehicles to perform and fulfil each task to the best of their ability.

He had thoroughly lost against Bipin in the 2nd quadrant of command and coordination of a company.

The 2nd Hussars cheered as did the crowd who had no specific favorites yet.

Sun Kwan's face turned ugly at the sight of the 2nd Hussars winning and grief that he'd lost quite a sum to Ajay.

"I hope you'll be able to pay up soon, Lord Kwan." Ajay said in a light manner as he took his leave. Not noticing that Sun Kwan had slammed the table when he had left.

Even though there was still one game left till the end, the 2nd hussars celebrated like it was a win. It had been the first time they'd won against the 1st hussars with their own strength, all that Bipin really did was direct them.

While they celebrated, Bipin left their company and returned to the observation area reserved for the officers whom were also celebrating.

"Aren't you feeling content?" Called out a familiar voice.

"Ajay…."

"You're too much of a silent hero, Bipin. If this keeps going on, you'll be forgotten without anyone remembering your achievements. What would your sister think."

"My honor, my pride and joy is serving alongside men and women who share my belief in peace and prosperity of Kyrat." Ajay sighed at his lack of ambitions.

"You're a good soldier, Bipin. Probably one of the rarest kinds of officers out there, like Arjun. But even he understands the basics of politics. If you don't grasp even the slightest of the rewards or reap good faith in you, it'll be taken as arrogance. And you'll have a harder time at working with your peers."

"… Sometimes I feel that it was better for me as a trooper than a leader of men."

"You share the same idea as me, Bip. But we aren't alone in this game, Arjun and High Command placed that commission on your shoulders because they felt there was more to you than just a good soldier." Bipin took in what Ajay told him without retorting.

"Just something to keep in mind, if nothing else you're doing fine. Huh! You even earned me two mill off Sun Kwan. Don't worry, I've saved a cut for you as well, don't want your sister hounding me over that." Ajay said chuckling as he got ready to leave.

"I'll leave you to celebrate with your battalion then, shall I?"

"Ajay."

"Yeah?"

"Nothing… thank you." He said before leaving on his way.

Ajay watched the back of him as he left, he sighed at the sight. In truth, he didn't want Bipin to be a good soldier with outstanding morales and ethics. He'd seen many that tried to fit in that image before and they all had one thing in common.

They became meat for the meatgrinder, in the twenty-year long farce that should have ended so long ago.

"There are no honest men left at the end of war." He mused.

The mock battle was conducted in the night where both battalions fought with no clear definition of a winner. The 2nd Hussars who had been fired up by the victory they attained in the 2nd Quadrant fought with greater meaning and put the 1st Battalion at odds in their fight. The crowd watched in amazement at their dedication. Though they were fighting with means of the MILES laser equipment and paintball they fought like it was an actual war happening in their neighbourhood. When the battle ended, the crowd of now five thousand applauded them.

The tournament ended in a draw as Bipin had expected, the mock battle had been a fierce fight that neither of the parties came out clean in. In the end, high command reevaluated the 2nd Hussars' performance to be nominally better than it had previously been and on par with the 1st Hussars in such a short training time. Sam, Bipin and the men got to keep the unit. The pride of the cantons and more importantly the 2nd Hussars had been preserved.

Although, Bipin had not been recognised for his part in the fight. The crowd and the 1st Hussars, his rivals remembered him better than any other. Anish coined for him a name for his platoon which reflected the anarchy he wrought on Kuber's companies.

The name he gave was the "Night Haunters". Be it day or night, their style of combat was solely like a knife shrouded in the shadow of the dark. The High Command committee took notice as well and all were in consensus of agreement.

That this was only the beginning of Bipin and the Night Haunters' rise to prominence. Little did they know of the events that would led Kyrat out of its borders to fight for the autonomy of their Himalayan regions.

When that day came, he would show to the world the might of Kyrati Armour.


Author's Notes:

This short chapter was delayed because i redid it after the first attempt did not satisfy me. I'd rather have good plot and writing than a fast delivery.