Author's Notes:
Looking back at my work in RaK, there're things i wished i had done and not done. Coming all the way to Chapter 84 and in the six hundred thousand word count it has made me realised my work has become a huge clutter that has not existed in the Farcry page of Fanfict ever. If we were to gauge where i am till completion of the story i'd say around sixty percent complete. There were about five phases and we're currently in the third working to finish it to proceed to phase four. Perhaps i should do a revamping of the whole story, I'll let you guys decide.
It was an unfamiliar feeling, to be suspended off ground over a thousand metres. But Tenzin and Jagriti became witnesses to a hidden majesty of their mountainous homeland that perhaps no other Yinkian did. Ajay had remained in Yinke to proceed with the armistice with the defeated government and to rework his credentials. Tenzin wasn't sure how Badala was going to clear his name, but knowing him it had to be full of surprises.
"Can I trouble you for any further refreshments, sir? Miss?" A flight attendant on board the spacious helicopter attended to their comfort the entire trip. Currently, she was handing them hot towels to refreshen up.
"No thanks. I'm all good."
"Same here."
*This is your pilot Flight Lieutenant Kamran speaking. We'll be in on our destination shortly, E.T.A is 10 minutes.*
"Where is here?" He asked over the microphone that was provided.
*Had Badala not informed you? We are currently over the Capital of the Papir Republic.*
-Papir Republic!? Don't tell me Kyrat also-…..-
As they flew closer to their destination over the mountains like all the other cities were behind, they came upon a bustling city much like that of Kathamandu. There were no signs of hostile takeover like in Pada Mo City where the concentration of soldiers could be seen from air. So it was clear that hadn't been the case, it still begged to answer why they were here. A few seconds later, they entered the proximity of a helipad on a higher building than the rest and landed. Awaiting them down on the ground floor were Republic Army soldiers of Papir, donning honor guard uniforms. An officer representing them escorted them into a vehicle and brought them VIP-style to the Parliamentary building of the Papir Republic, Garud Durbar.
A Grand Palace with roots back to the late fifteen-hundreds and once the home to the Papir Nobility with distant relation to the former ancient lowland kingdom that had been deposed long ago. The land of Papir now existed as a Republic now and forever more. There, they passed through the many security guards along the way, pass the checkpoint and inside the building itself.
As the approached a library area, Tenzin and Jagriti heard distinct laughing from several individuals. In the corner by a warm and cosy fire were three men, one of which Tenzin could hardly mistake since the last time he saw him years ago.
"Pagan."
Said person turned around with a smile so great I failed to hide the pleasure of things going to plan for him. He laughed heartily to himself as he approached Tenzin and Jagriti.
"Hello, people's champion."
"Hello, tyrant. Seems your conscience has aged you a bit more than I could imagine." Pagan laughed at his extremely blunt but poor insult.
"It seems my boy managed to find the real deal after all. That poor excuse for an insult, it could only be you, and it seems you've grown some white hairs yourself!" Pagan reached out to get a handshake but Tenzin remained where he was stationary. Pagan chuckled and turned to Jagriti.
"But I don't think I know who you are. Are you perhaps his plu- no, forgive me. Those eyes….. you're his daughter, aren't you."
Jagriti had long broken from the spell of bewilderment and somehow restored her sense of etiquette she'd learnt so long ago in the mansion to be a lady.
"Pleasure to meet his Royal Highness, I am Jagriti Vgru, the daughter of Tenzin Vgru of Yinke." She said whilst performing a curtsy.
Pagan smiled at her politeness and good introduction, he returned with a bow.
"Likewise, my dear. Pagan Min, King of Kyrat. Etiquette amongst youngsters is all but lost nowadays, so good to see the rare exceptional few." He said with a smile.
Pagan looked back at Tenzin who was showing reluctance by being difficult.
"Come have a seat, you old dog. You too, my dear. You've already been dragged four hundred miles away from home, so you'd might as well listen to what we have to say."
Pagan almost immediately returned to his colleagues he'd previously chatted with, Tenzin deeply sighed but followed with Jagriti close behind.
"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to the guest star of the evening and his lovely daughter. Tenzin and Jagriti- was it?-Yes. Jagriti Vgru."
Standing from their sofas was a bearded middle-age man with his hair resembling a lion's mane but with a certain neatness to it. Next to him, a young lad with a good set of eyes and a pleasant smile wearing a heavily jewel embroided traditional garb.
"Kumsa Manendra, Crown Prince to the Kumsa throne. Pleasure to finally meet the legendary Tenzin." The young man said as he held out his hand. Tenzin was at least polite enough to accept it.
"The pleasure is all mine, your highness. What is the status of your father, the King?"
"Retiring to serenity, happy to see his grandchildren at last I'm glad to say." The Prince said with a smile.
"Congrats to his highness then. If we have the opportunity, allow this old man to bestow a blessing when we have a chance to visit the Kingdom." The Prince nodded. Jagriti was a little surprised, that young prince looked only in his late teens around eighteen perhaps, and was already having heirs. It made her have a sudden complex about her age.
"And regards to you to, My Lady Jagriti." He gentlemanly kissed her hand. Internally, Jagriti was fighting the urge to laugh and snicker. The boy was already a ladykiller at his age.
Meanwhile, her father had gotten the attention of the other gentlemen next to the prince. They both stared at each other deeply in the eyes though. Tenzin was the first to speak in an aged tone.
"Dhir….. it's been a while." Tenzin seemed to recognise the bearded man. Because the man was the host of their venue, the President of the Papir Republic. Once a friend and associate from long ago while they were both men of power for their respective countries. Often affectionately called "Singha" which meant Lion, both for his appearance and personality.
The middle-aged man clasped his outreached hand while wearing a sad smile.
"My condolences on your predicament and your wife. I had hope-."
"It's fine, matters of the past. We're here for something else… are we not, Pagan."
"Indeed we are. While my boy cleans up the mess your successors left behind, we have been left with a very important task to handle. And quickly, it needs to be." Pagan added.
"China?" Tenzin had already had a brief summary of what was to come from Ajay now that they had declared the armistice.
"China. The dragon of Asia. Powerful, wise and arrogance that outweighs any. It's a mystical place home to many cultures and ethics that has rooted itself deeply into our modern world. Being Chinese myself, I have a bit of understanding of how their bueraucracy and politics work. Its present system comes in the form of a collective interest of some twenty primary members and seven that form the standing committee. Supposedly, nothing can go wrong in that system. I wonder what will be their final judgement upon Yinke after their economic interests have been thawed by my left hand." He said with a fearless smile to the expense of Tenzin's calm. But he had calmed down a lot after seeing people he had trusted in the past with him. One was the Papirese President, the other though he didn't know personally was still the chosen heir to the King of Kumsa. These people he had more faith in than Pagan unfortunately.
"Your adopted son has been quite the talk among my military officials. To be herald as a Demon, it must have been bloody times just a while ago." The Papirese President Dhir commented.
"You have no idea." Pagan said with a wry smile.
"He's also a shameless conman!" Pagan laughed at Tenzin's honesty as if his insults had no effect on him at all.
"Ha! That's only because you're as stubborn as a Rhino, old dog! By the way, I have a general like that too, stubborn Rhino I mean."
"Ahem." Gary cleared his throat.
"Thank you, Gary. Nearly veered off track, right. Back to where we were. China. Big Problem, the solution? Direct opposition or submission. Because they're sure as hell not going to stop with Yinke after this, unless any of you have a direct hotline to UN to complain to."
They sat back in the sofa as the butler and maids brought forth tea and confectionaries.
"Thank you."
"Thanks."
"Mm."
They took a moment to relax and drink up.
Pagan put down his teacup elegantly and started off.
"Now. The question we need to ask ourselves is… how long do we think our sovereignties will last?"
Tenzin stood up in shock but what Pagan said, almost offended by what he said, but remembered he was also talking about himself.
"As long as my descendants don't become impotent I suppose." The Crown prince cracked a joke whilst chuckling himself.
"Let's certainly hope not. Or it'll be really inconvenient to lose a friend and a baffle." Pagan and the Prince shared a laugh, Tenzin was not in the same understanding as them so didn't get it.
"Perhaps as long as the idea of governing the nation with democracy or communism is not yet obsolete." President Dhir gave an intelligent guess.
"Very close. Although that's assuming if the country survives the trials of a changing world first." Pagan said pleased that they were getting in the same page.
"When man throws his life in the hands of god." Tenzin gave his answer to Pagan's question, it made the rest of the people in the room with the exception of Pagan shocked beyond belief. This came from a once faithful believer of the local region devotion to Banashur.
Pagan's response was very different, it was a smile like none seen before. He laughed insanely whilst clapping his hands. It appeared that after his time in exile, Tenzin had finally understood the nature of man that he didn't fully accept in the past. The old Tenzin only believed that man was only capable of doing good in the world. But now, he knew that it was only a small minority amidst the hordes of dishonest and conceit.
"When man throws his life in the hands of god, eh? If this had been the old you, perhaps he'd give you a fierce debate to convert you back. But a good answer nonetheless. Personally, I put no stock in religion. But if there is a god, why would he help you if he's done such a magnificent job at creating us? He should just sit back and watch us run around to entertain him." Although it sounded very twisted from Pagan's mouth. There was some truth to it, God was not obligated to caring for its creations, that was their responsibility.
"So how do we survive in this cruel world? Together, of course."
"""…."""
"And that's the agenda of today, gentlemen." He waved Gary to begin. Said attendant to the King came over with two helpers to bring over a projector. They plugged in the sockets and hung up the backing canvas for the light to project on.
When the screen turned on and the slideshow powerpoint file was clicked. An emblem stood out before them.
The emblem contained four pillars that held up the mountains. It was noble and majestic for a sigil and it explained its function for a higher purpose.
"(Clears throat) Ladies and Gentlemen. We are here not out of desperation but our collected desire, our ambition for our nations to thrive beyond our own expiration. Friends…. Colleagues….. I give you the answer to all these concerns…"
He clipped the slide to change to the heading of his presentation.
"I give you….. The Himavana Pillar Alliance treaty."
The air was filled with the smell of burnt casings, charred fresh and greenery. It had been that way since the fighting broke out between the Royal Kyrati Army and the Yinke Liberation Army units that refused to disarm. Specifically, what was left of the some of the encampments after two days of straight unhindered bombing. Lupus Caelum had bombed out two camps to make as an example of what they could do to the rest. Four camps immediately threw down their arms and surrendered without question, it wasn't worth wasting the lives of their troops over this without even fighting back.
But two camps had chosen to instead flee into the mountains to perhaps begin a resistance, and at this very moment Ajay and the Jatayu were keeping them from living to fight another day. This line of actions was all to familiar to the Kyratis. In fact, it was fair to say that counter-insurgency was what the Royal Army thrived in due to having twenty-five years of combat experience in asymmetric warfare. This was all child's play to them.
It was around six early in the morning when the sun was coming up, the Yinkians had travelled through the mountains all night and were looking forward to their next break. Only, they never got one, because the next minute the air was filled with the droning of helicopters and close air support aircraft loitering about. The Kyratis had come to hunt them down. One camp had chosen to stay to allow the other to flee, and that was what was happening right now.
(Boom) (BOOOM)
The air was filled with the constant sound of someone or something firing its gun. But it was the Yinkians that were on the receiving end. Screams were also present at the beginning but with the swiftness of how the Jatayu dispatched them, they hardly had time to scream or wail in pain. It was only a short ten minutes since this firefight started and yet they could see a huge disparity between them and the Kyratis could be seen even though they held the advantage of more men at about six thousand in strength. But when units that were actual combatants among the many logistic troops were few and they had not fully kitted up for the sake of making the travel convenient.
The disparity was clear. It wasn't just the air support in the form of the many troop carrying-Blackhawk helicopters, but Havoc gunships and Su-25 frogfoot attack airplanes. There was also an individual arms disparity between them, like in the beginning stages of the Kyrati civil war between the modern M16-armed Nationalists and Second world war-era armed Royalists. The Yinkians were armed with a combination of bolt actions, semi-auto rifles and submachine guns, very rarely an AK assault rifle was seen. The Kyratis on the other hand were equipped with MH-15 assault rifles a domestic combination of a modern AK variant with a chambering for 6.5mm Grendel ammo.
In experience pool, the Jatayu had been exposed to combat nearly their entire careers, whilst the Yinkians comprised of conscripts and regulars that hadn't any combat experience at all. This was their first, and most certainly their last. They were now cursing their superior officer for refusing to step down like the other four camps had and had even let the other camp go first to the Yinke-Tibet border.
But most of all, they dreaded the moment that demon entered the battlefield. That masked monster had run straight through gunfire and chopped them down their officers one by one. Currently, he stepped onto the highest point holding the head of their highest authority.
"The colonel is dead!"
"Ceasefire! Ceasefire! Damnit! Throw down your arms!" The last remaining officer had more sense than his more stubborn superior to the turn of events.
"Get on the floor now!" The paratroopers confiscated their weapons and rounded them in a group circle.
In under twenty minutes, all one thousand survivors of the assault were rounded up, dirty and shaken by the conflict that had occurred only minutes ago. The conscripts had a real taste of war and were already attested to be advocates against it should they live to see the next sunrise.
"…." Ajay surveyed the battlefield and the new prisoners of war. Hurk had come out of cover to meet with the soldiers who commented on their victory. He too had contributed by killing the radio specialists amongst the enemy ranks to cause further disorder. But the next time they were engaged with the enemy, their foes won't be as green as this.
For all likely intents and purposes, the last camp was likely headed in the direction of the Yinke-Tibet border. But Ajay had the feeling that they would also chance upon the offer of assistance from a certain group of outsiders, outsiders Ajay and the Royal Army had come to hunt.
They would come together like kindred spirits seeking out their way of life. Shining Way and Golden Path, together. In a quest to rid the demon from the lands, and standing at the height of power on their end was the fabled Mohan, founding father, great leader. He was none of these in reality, just a hollow last will of the real one that died alone in the Homestead, just like the demon was to Ajay. He was the hollow will of vengeance to Ajay Ghale and not the real one.
"Casualty report. Seven dead, forty wounded. My lord." Sandesh informed him.
"Good job, take a few and start questioning them about the terrain ahead and their likeliness of encounters with Golden Path seeking their aid over the last few days. Cross check with G2 for satellite imagery." Sandesh saluted and left. He had been placed in charge of the frontline force of Jatayu whist the appointed officer in charge, Nagesh remained to oversee the works at Pada Mo City. Maya remained there too to brief and dispatch the several accompanying Infantry regiments that had been flown here as well after the securing of the City.
The four Battalion commanders came before him, awaiting his orders.
"Call in the MPs, leave two companies to watch them then continue onwards to the mountains. Expect immediate hostile fire, shot to kill."
""Yes, sir!"" The other three left, with Chief Yang remaining.
"What is it, Er Hu?"
"Are you really ok with this?"
"With what?"
"When we met, you were merely talking about putting aside differences, then it was about ending the civil war. Now….. we're five hundred miles away from home in this land that even my ancestors had little to no interaction with."
"Are you unsatisfied with our excursion? This is a little surprising to here from the unmatched Huns."
"I'm a warrior not a soldier, sir. Remember that."
"And warriors muse over the battlefield is it?"
"In a romantic sense, yes. We do this so that there will not be another time we raise our hands the moment we be offended or vengeful."
"Er Hu, this isn't about revenge."
'Isn't it? How could you not wish you would come here and not burn them for slaughtering your friends in Lanka?" He asked with folded arms. It was as he'd said before, he was a warrior, not a soldier. So he wanted to remain treated that way. Closure was the best way of retaining his trust as a warrior companion.
A silence matured between Ajay and Er Hu.
"In hindsight of the real plans for coming here to Yinke, yes…. I wish to kill all of them. I want them to regret their way of life for causing the death of my people, my friends. You have no idea how deep my rage runs, Er Hu. But this has played out in a similar as many times before. I know the end result of retribution. But even if it's a price I'd willingly take to wrought havoc on Yinke, I won't." Er Hu became assured that his lord was still in the rational mind of thought.
"Good. I was just checking, I was afraid my son-in-law would become a monster!" He said laughing.
"Who would that be?" Ajay asked monotone.
"Who else!"
"Sorry…. but I'm already engaged." When those words left his mouth, it wasn't just Er Hu who stood with his mouth open, but the entire formation of Jatayu waiting to ship out.
"W-… What?!"
Ajay left them flabbergasted as he made his way towards the landed choppers to be taken back to the city. He had a lot to take care of now that four regiments had come over to join the Garuda Legion. Their purpose here wasn't much to do with assisting the Jatayu, Hussars, single regiment of Grenadiers or even the air force elements. They were here to add to the deterent factor against the PRC. Gary had already briefed him on the situation from the shadows. People's Republics' intelligence bureau had activated sleeper cells within Yinke and Pada Mo City to assess and disrupt their efforts to secure Yinke. Right now, the central committee in Beijing was discussing the plan of action the nation would take against Kyrat. From Arjun's description of their conventional offensive strategy would be something similar to what they had done in Yinke. Except with greater resources to bring forth. They would maintain air superiority fighters indefinitely over the course of the theatre of operation. It would seem like Pravindra and his fellow Indian Pilots would finally see action, but not against their natural enemy but rival for the Himalayan borders which had been another air groups' job to handle.
He wasn't going up against single-engine F-16 equipped Pakistanis like before but similar Sukhoi airframe equipped Chinese Pilots. He didn't want to admit it but he had to assume the worst possible outcome, that China would take advantage of the invasion as a pretext to 'liberate' the Yinkians. Yinke had a substantial coal reserve which they had initially exported to China's voracious economy, it was enough reason for them to intervene.
The helicopters landed in the makeshift airbase outside of Pada Mo city, where Lupus Caelum was based. He was expecting a report on their status from the Wing Commander Khalid al Mohammed. His employee for the Company.
He noticed a lengthy line of POWs being dismounted from the trucks to be relocated to the POW camp a distance from the City and Airbase. But Maya suggested they alight from the airport and walk the entire length to the POW camp under escort. He could see that it was a physcological mind game she tried to put on the defeated soldiers so they knew from the activity of the airbase the magnitiude of their oppressors. Hopefully be discouraged to escape or fight back while in the prison camps.
And it was working quite well. Most of them walked with pale faces as they looked towards the vast arsenal of helicopters and fighter airplanes, some had even had the taste of their payloads in the battlefield.
Then, he noticed a commotion from the POWs as they saw Bipin and Sam escort a certain officer towards them.
"Oh my god, is that Colonel Dema?!"
"It can't be…. The Republican guard lost?!..."
"Or did he surrender?"
The POWs were conversing heavily to what was the meaning of their greatest soldier in cuffs meant for the outcome of the war.
"Quiet! Knock it off and get back in line!" The escort guards told them to shut up with shoves of their rifles.
Ajay walked up to meet them.
"My lord-." Samuelle was cut halfway with a raised hand.
"Let's not talk here in front of the men." Ajay said before heading towards a tent in the airbase, the three of them quickly and quietly followed.
"…" The Yinkian Commander understood that was trying to avoid having the POWs become confused and think of things that could threaten both the Kyrati guards and themselves.
The supply personnel allocated a tent for them to discuss after clearing the place. They sat facing one another, Ajay removed the mask as it was improper for him to have it whilst indoors having a conversation giving the Yinkian commander the chance to size him.
But all he could see were his cold eyes looking upon him.
Bipin whispered the details of the agreement he had with the enemy commander to have him lay down his arms.
"Good job, Bip. You too, Samuel." He said to both of them, Sam nodded appreciatively.
Ajay looked upon the Yinkian commander known as Dema, the veteran Commander of the Yinkian Republican Guard.
"I need not say this, but I will just for formalities sake. You and your men will be treated according to the Third Geneva Convention. You will be clothed when its cold, fed when you're hungry. But if you cross the line and rebel I will do more than just kill you. That is where the fair treatment ends."
"Did you kill the head of state?"
"You mean former head of state?"
"The people will not recognise your puppet leader."
"He's not my puppet, in fact he's the furtherest thing from it. Can you imagine, if you said that to him in person? Tenzin Vgru, a puppet of the Kyrati Kingdom. It doesn't suit his style, I'm pretty sure if it ever came to that he'd rather shoot himself." At first, he thought it was just a coincidence of name but he asked again for clarification.
"Did-….Did you just say….. Tenzin Vgru?"
"He was a bitch to find and a goddamn hassle to recruit! One of the most ridiculous moral warriors out there. Not even the Marshal is that stubborn." Ajay said shaking his head whilst chuckling away. The Yinkian Commander seemed preoccupied in his own world, the name had shaken him to the core.
"I-…. I thought they'd killed him…." He murmured.
"Are you telling me you wanna have a go too?"
"No! Nothing of that sort! You might not believe it if I told you but… I believed Tenzin is was the right leader for our homeland all the way."
"Then why are you the Commander to the politburos' guard dogs?"
The Yinkian Commander remained quiet for a while, his presence in the highest honor guard contradicted his words. He couldn't blame the young lord for seeing otherwise.
"It has been my greatest shame till this point. I was but a junior officer when my battalion commander ordered my group to storm the Vgru Mansion and seize their assets and his family. He ordered me to kill them, but I didn't…. instead I took them to the mountains and claimed that I killed them. But for Tenzin himself, my colleagues reported him dead, shot in the ditch somewhere." The Yinkian Commander admitted with a lowered head, the first person he disclosed his bottled-up secret to knowing that they were finally safe.
Ajay frowned slightly at his account.
"Dead. Did you collect his body?"
"I'm not sure they did, they didn't parade his corpse around the city and neither did they give him a burial."
For some reason, Ajay didn't feel he was lying, yet it didn't match the events with Jagriti and Tenzin at the settlement. Although he felt no ill intent from Tenzin, there was a strange feeling being around him. His hunters had been having a weird feeling as well in proximity when they covered Ajay from the shadows, the chief hunter reported this to him before leaving to hunt the sleepers. Specifically, the light that came from his eyes, behind that flame of determination was something else hidden in the deepest parts of he dare say soul. As it was said that the eyes were the windows to them. It wasn't just him, but his direct offspring Jagriti as well. He had no word to define it but…..
Sometimes he felt that the abnormal beasts of Kyrat gave the same glint in their eyes.
Vajra was no exception. He could feel now more so than before that there was a uniqueness to those rare animals to the rest of the kingdoms. Was this something to do with him burrowing further into the demon's innate abilities?
Ajay decided to put that aside for a while.
"So are you pro-Tenzin or against?"
"Tenzin is a legitimate leader." He said firmly.
"Good response, you're either truthful or you're a Chinese Sleeper agent."
Somehow the Yinkian Commander didn't find that funny at all, in fact he was sweating for a minute to think he was suspected of being a latent infiltrator.
"I'll tell you what, Colonel Dema. Instead of disarming with the rest of your fellow units. I'll let you reactivate the Republican Guards." The words that came out of Ajay were a shock to the other three in the tent.
"My lord! I'm heavily against this! His unit is a danger to our operation and I have had grievous casualties to his mens actions!" Samuel was the first to make her complaint.
"I know. And so has he. Could you imagine that same unit fighting alongside you?" Sam stepped back in disbelief, Bipin didn't seem that surprised at all. He was used to this sort of wild and unpredictable behaviour.
"Colonel Dema, we have a common enemy that's coming like it or not. And they'll stop at nothing while they have this opportunity to enter with international jurisdiction."
"Who are these enemies?"
"The People's Liberation Army."
"China?!"
"Yes, Colonel. You should be well aware of the trade that your previous governments have had with China."
"But they didn't intervene the last time!"
"That was then, they hadn't enough credentials to move in especially if it was a civil war, an internal strife and not an invasion like right now. But their economic situation has evolved, it needs a vast amount of Yinkes most commoditive resource to fuel its economy and cheapen its cities utilities. But most of all, the PLA hasn't mobilised since the Korean War. They've reequipped, trained and prepared for a moment like this to happen in over sixty years….. and their dying to stretch their legs." All points were the most logical solution.
"And you still chose to invade us knowing this?!"
"Even if Kyrat didn't move in, Yinke would've toppled apart with that lacklustre excuse of a politburo. And the ever 'Benevolent' Chinese will come providing economic aid and relief, who do you think they'll want to be under when unrest breaks throughout the Cities of Yinke? "Say, why don't we declare ourselves a province of China, maybe we could get the same treatment."." Ajay mimicked an average citizen's voice as he quoted a likely thought they would have.
"…."
"Besides, we're here not just to hunt your corrupted officials and our rebels for revenge. But to include Yinke into a grand scheme of ours, that takes priority over everything else."
"What is it?" If curiosity at his age was still permitted he was very curious.
"That depends on how far you're with us and your guaranteed allegiance to Tenzin and provisionally to me."
The Yinkian Commander thought about it hard.
"Think it through, I'm not going to say that you won't face your own forces and colleagues in battle later on. You get one chance to convince them to switch, if not I'd expect you to terminate them with extreme prejudice." The Yinkian Commander Dema wore a heavy face of worry from the moment he entered the tent and Ajay told him these things.
"How will you deter the PLA?" It was the most pressing concern for the Yinkian Commander. The Yinke Liberation army was in no state to take on the PLA for prolonged periods and neither were the formidable Kyrati expeditionary forces.
"If you agree I'll let you in on it, but the general strategy of deterring them, well… I have four regiments head to the Yinke-Tibet Border to block them for a while at least."
"What will you do about their airpower? I'm certain they have more than what you've shown to us."
"As do I, I have a few friends that'll cover the air superiority aspect for us. All we have to deal with is the PLA Ground Forces."
The word friend was said with confidence and casualness at the same time, The Yinkian Commander Dema shuddered to think who these "Friends" were. Could it actually be India and/or Pakistan? The later seemed unlikely with their close relation. But Kyrat lay near the borders of India and it was no surprise they had a fair volume of trade between countries. If it were, then having China's rival at their side was a little bit of relief. It made sense since taking Yinke was expanding the rights China had in the Himalayas which would be a threat to Indian National Security.
"I have a condition."
"Really now."
"If you can agree to it then you'll have the Republican Guard as your ally if anything." If the rest of the Kyrati officers heard this conversation going on behind the flaps of the tent, their heads would spin for hours.
"If its about resupplying consider it covered as well. "Colonel Min" will sort out your resupplying." Sam's eyes widen as Ajay had just given her a field promotion out of the blue.
"Will that be alright?" He turned to Sam who nodded her head.
"It's actually close to that. I want those armour assets you've confiscated back." Once a tanker, always a tanker. The Republican Guard were an elite armoured unit or nothing.
Ajay smiled widely at the conditions "I was about to do that anyway. I didn't think you'll be able to fight on foot like the rest. Anything else?" He was being generous by offering addition help for the Yinkian Commander whom only had the reinstatement of the Republican Guard at his disposal in mind.
"… Promise you will do no further harm upon the Yinkians."
"Colonel Dema, even if I didn't promise you. I have nothing against the people of Yinke, but if they raise their hand against my soldiers, you cannot blame me for wanting to kill them."
"…"
"But I promise as an oath to you, Colonel. Perhaps you have a different approach in dealing with rebel sympathy. On that, I'll leave to you to handle shall i?" Dema nodded.
"Fair enough, then as the Commander of the Yinkian Republican Guard and fourth councillor of the defense committee, I pledge my allegiance to Tenzin Vgru, head of state and to 1st Lord Badala of Kyrat." Ajay smiled in satisfaction.
"My men are yours and so is my resolve."
