Bharat Rakshak

Old Threads in Military Scenarios Archive.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Hi guys -sorry for the unintentional long break -but was in bangladesh for last 10 days and then to china for next 15 days -please bear with me till then. Would definitely share with you all my first hand experience in these places in next episode of "possible indian military scenarios".

Pakistan’s external holdings are held mostly in securities and in bank deposits. About 69.5% of the external balances are in bank deposits and about 30% are invested in securities (the balance 0.5% are in gold and SDRs). The major bank deposits were with commercial Swiss banks – SBP (Swiss Banking Powerhouse) being the largest recipient of these.
Swiss Banking Powerhouse, with over fifty thousand employees and operations all over the world is one of the largest banks in Switzerland and has branches everywhere in Switzerland. It has been in operations for more than 100 years.

Pakistan deals with one dedicated account manager and his deputy. Account managers are all specialized by countries. They are intimate with the country and fluent in English or and often also in the local language.

The services offered by the bank are very comprehensive and so are the investments available. Money market funds, bond funds in every major currencies, custom-made equity portfolios, and precious metals are all at your fingertips. The bank has a large investment research department at your service if you want to research your investments yourself.

All sovereign clients get 24 hrs attention and excellent services. Sovereign clients value risk management over returns. Therefore when Haji called the account manager at SBP and gave his instructions, the account manager was not surprised. He fully understood that in these tumultuous times, Pakistan must first of all safeguard the assets. He also understood that the additional layer of secrecy being asked for would deny access to those unauthorized, especially as Haji explained to him, in case of a coup.

Michael Christians was about to end his day when the call came. Most of the day had been routine, basically reporting asset positions, moving small investments into US mutual funds, paying government project imports from a Japanese company. But Haji’s call made him stop all other work. Michael called in his staff and gave the instructions – move all liquid funds and assets into a special purpose account to be operated only on instructions by Haji or the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan AND the President of Pakistan. Each individual to be assigned a special encrypted key kept in an escrow account with a third party secure service provider and accessible only through secure communications with a least one of the three named persons being physically present in Michaels office and in any case the principle amount not to be made available for a period of at least three months and no charge to be created against the deposit for at least three months.

As soon as Haji completed his instructions to Michael, he called the brokerage firm on Wall Street that handled most of Pakistan’s investment in securities. Haji asked him to sell off all short term holdings and transfer funds immediately into the new account at the Swiss Bank. The long term holdings he protected by lending these to a leading mutual fund for a period of three months.

Meanwhile, Michael’s office had alerted the Governor of SBP, the Finance Secretary, the Finance Minister and the President’s office. Although Haji enjoyed tremendous powers, yet when acting upon instructions of such magnitude, the Swiss Bank thought it prudent to alert the senior officials of Pakistan.

Haji’s phone started ringing within minutes of his instructions to Michael.
What the f**k are you up to, demanded each caller.

Haji’s explanation was simple – we will need the money for reconstruction. The war will resolve within at most 3 months time. Till that time, there may be too much turmoil and there could be illegitimate demands on the money. Pakistani Rupee may depreciate dramatically against foreign currencies and only adequate foreign reserves would protect our country. The small amount of money required for immediate purchases of weapons are available from a dozen funds held all over the world. The world would know that the external reserves that are an important economic strength of Pakistan are safe, and so loans and funds would continue, especially after this war is over.

But who gave you the authority? Why didn’t you consult us?

There was no time, the Indian attack might trigger off a coup or an impulse demand – was Haji’s reply.

An immediate Cabinet Committee meeting was called in Islamabad. Those attending included the Governor of SBP, the cabinet ministers, the President and the Prime Minister. Senior officers of SBP attended via a video conferencing network run on a fiber optic cable, secure from tapping. Haji provided his explanation again. The cabinet ministers especially the Finance Minister were incensed – they saw their authority being diluted and they brayed for the head of Haji. It is nothing but treason, it will destroy public confidence and so on the arguments ran. In the end the President spoke – he understood Haji’s actions; yet he did not accept Haji’s explanations; He also supported his cabinet – suspend Haji’s powers, put him under house arrest, analyze the implications and plan for contingencies – these were his wise words. Consolidate smaller accounts and transfer immediately these funds for use as per instructions of the army. The ISI already have their sources.

As night turned to day, The Dawn was the first report the financial news leaked by a source in the cabinet. But this news was overshadowed by the news and impact of the combined Indian and Russian AF attacks on Karachi. Daily life turned chaotic. Who would bother about external reserves when daily household needs were to be protected? A run of the banks started, everyone wanted to withdraw enough to pay for food, and the day would also witness a crash of the markets. KSE index dropped 16% in the day before trading was suspended as all investors small and large turned sellers and foreign funds exited Pakistan. Riots broke out in major cities as banks turned away depositors, prices of daily items soared.

Meanwhile Haji was led away to his house, his communications were snapped and he was put under house arrest.

The army was absolutely seething with rage. They had counted upon the availability of large – read billion dollar funds to fund their ambitions and buy weapons that could yet win the war. Now they were thwarted. They felt cheated. For them Haji’s house arrest was no solution. Haji had to suffer.

hi everybody!!this is my first post on BR.I wonder what has happened to this superb thread ? "long time,no posts!!"

Continued from previous thread - to be read in conjunction with YIP's land war scenario.

For map reference, this link will be useful. To get a feel for the physical picture, try Google Earth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The heli-dropped infantry companies were tasked with seizing water locations, identifying minefields and interdicting Pakistani forward patrols. They made contact with the enemy within about an hour of being dropped and skirmishes began. Due to their limited mobility, their effectiveness was largely compromised and so they decided to hold as many strong points as they could until reinforcements arrived. Nevertheless, their presence west of the railway line linking Fort Abbas to Harunabad had the effect of unsettling Pakistani defenses along the canal line. Meanwhile, canal breaching operations by 66 Engineer Regt., supported by Bde. Arty began south of Harunabad and after 3 hours of bitter fighting and significant casualties in which one crossing was called off, one bridgehead was established between the Kalianwali and 7R Distributaries about 2 km west of the railway line. By noon, one battalion of 11 Mech. Inf. supported by a tank regiment and an air defense battery had established a firm base for further exploitation. Welcome though the news was at 14 Div. HQ, no one was complacent. They knew the most difficult battles were ahead of them; this one was merely a feint.

The plan to force Pak 10 (I) Armd Bde northward from Khanpur hinged upon sustaining the momentum of the offensive towards Khairpur. The necessary speed of advance could be maintained only by traveling in the open country, which was further south of Fort Abbas. The logistical support for this effort would be along the Hakra Right Distributary, so as to be near a water source as well as to avoid being exposed to air interdiction in the open desert as much as possible. That, in turn, meant that the canal-line defenses along the Hakra Right Distributary would have to be neutralized first and secured for the logistical support vehicles to follow. This was to prove the sternest test for the units tasked with assaulting it.

With about 6 hours of daylight remaining, recce elements of 7 Cav. crossed the border south of Fort Abbas and charted the minefields’ layout. Guided by the recce sorties, the main force of three T-72 regiments from 7 and18 Cav. from Anupgarh and Hisamki swung north in a three-pronged attack on the Hakra Right Distributary at points about 10 miles apart. The going was slow and the resistance was fierce, but the sustained shelling and the lavish expenditure of bunker-busting Carl Gustav rounds by supporting infantry breached the defenses as far west as Marot to a degree by nightfall. Under the cover of darkness, 3 more battalions of infantry moved in to mop by the remaining resistance, while the tanks broke through and continued northeast to threaten the Bahawal canal. It was in this crucial mopping up operation that years of counter-insurgency experience carried the day.

The jawan and the junior officers of of 2010 shared many of their regimental forefathers’ qualities – battle endurance, unflinching loyalty to each other and pride in their colors. However, in one crucial aspect, the newer generation was completely different – all ranks had years of experience of being under fire. While a full-fledged war is without a doubt far more intense and frightening than a COIN operation, lessons learned the hard way in counterinsurgency still proved valuable. Jawans knew how to react under fire – they returned fire instead of freezing up and waiting to be ordered to do so. Captains and Majors took care to know what was happening on their flanks instead of merely focusing on communications up and down the echelon. In doing so, they did not surrender a hard won position for fear of an attack on their flanks. The troops exercised good fire discipline and tactical movement, learned as much in the dhoks of the Pir Panjal as in the jungles of Nagaland. While none of this made a significant difference at the section or platoon level in terms of casualties, it made a huge difference at the company and battalion levels. Put simply, the follow-on engineer companies the next day could construct defensive minefields, shore up the damaged bunkers, dig holes, put up barricades and road-blocks and set up traffic lanes for the logistical vehicles that would follow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi guys - sorry for the long absence - just back from china -could not access from there - before doing a military scenario may be just do a short series in a ne w thread on my impressions on peoples republic of china -its people-cities -economy and a little of its military . Is that o.k administartion ?

yes, yes,
do start a thread on your experience with the chicoms et al

NO NO.
No new thread required
Post it in the Humour thread

RUB-AL-KHALI SAUDI -OMAN BORDER
----------------------------------------------
He was a tired man and very very sick. Pressure of US forces in his home base of afganistan ,his support camps in north western pakistan did leave him with no other option to leave his second homeland and go west with few trusted freinds cum body guards and and a small chest of gold coins and bundles of US $ . He crossed the Iran border under the cover of sand storm when the persistant USAF predators will not be looking for a hunt and then a low key passage across the gulf of omanin a smuggling boat onto the ruggend rocky shores of southern oman. An unknown friend have met the small contingent of strangers from afganistan and provided camels and water for the journey to the unknown the great expanse of arabian dessert known as Rub al khali or the empty quarter . He wanted above everything else one last strike at the great satan and his new found friends in hindustan.
He needed a safe place to stay for a few weeks to coordinate the surgical strike which wil shake the world and bring the oil hungry satan to its knees . He needed time and needed security and solitude of dessert -a dessert like Rub al khali .

Rub al khali the vast arbian dessert in southern arabian peninsula covers almost 650000 sq km in structural basin lying mainly in southeastern saudi arabia with lesser portions in oman,yemen and united arab emirates.It happens to be the largest area of continious sand in the world and covers more than 1/4 th land mass of of oil rich kingdom of saudi arabia . It is believed 6000 yrs ago agreat civilisation flourished in this area and when walking the dessert it is still posible to pick up pieces of flint arrowhead and fresh water snail shells. Home to the lost city of Ubar a rich and fabulous trading center ofancient arabia.

The landscape is absolutely desolate and daytime temperature routinely crosses 50 degree celcius. The old tired man looked at his last refuge as the southern wind whiped up his long unkempt hairs andbeard into a turmoil of deepfelt emotions within. His place of birth was just beyond the horizon where he was no longer wanted . As the sun sets the darkness comes quickly and a small guarded fire is lit under one of the rocky outcrops a meagre meal of corn bread being made . The si lence is absolute and the most wanted man on earth is in a pensive mood giving final touches to his most audacious plan yet.

STAR DAZZLE - PORT OF SINGAPORE
-------------------------------------------
She was the pride of star cruise liner fleet .At 45000 ton displacement and equipped with state of the art satelite navigation and fully computerised drive system with bow thrusters and twin 15000 h.p turbo charged diesel in the belly could turn out a comfortable 28 knots even in roughest of seas . Captain James Hood was in charge with more than 30 yrs of sailing the oceans of the world in all kind of ships from very lrge crude carriers to US navy frigates he was comfortable in eberything that floats. Vikram singh his XO have just joined as first officer being transfered from a sister ship after an irate husband complained to the management about the xo s not so discreet behavior with his 23 yr old wife. Captain James was specifically told to keepa very strict watch on the wild young man who also happened to be the most promising of all xo in the cruise liner team.

The fuelling was complete and the baggage comming up . The long maiden voyage would take them all the way to capetown thru malacca-indian ocean port of chennai-mumbai - capetown and back the same way after a 3 day wild life safari for the rich and famous in the natonal parks of south africa. Captain James decided to keep his xo busy from the first day by detailing hm the responsibility of baggage stowage and then passenger welcome as they would come on board shortly .

INS VIRAT -SOMEWHERE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
--------------------------------------------------------
She sailed quitely with her reteniue of escorts -watching the oceans and protecting the sanctity of indian shores . After the induction of Vikramaditya media attention has shifted to the more glamorous and albiet more powerful sister but she still remained a potent force -as time will show in days to come

RUB AL KHALI - SAUDI OMAN BORDER
--------------------------------------------
the tired old man bent over the the weak glow of battery powered lamp as he gave finishing touches to his urgent plea for help of an unusal kind -5 kgs of plutonium oxide powder from only one place on earth where such request will not be laughed outof the window as the wishes of a mad man . Satisfies at last he sighned his name with a great flourish and sealed the letter in a rough cloth envelope and handed over to his most trusted aide who will guard the leter with his life all along the 6 day camel back ride to Seeb international airport at muscat and then catch a flight eastwards raching his destinationin 2 more hours . If his friend decided to help him out arranging the material may take a few days but the onward journey to far east will take much more time and care where the preciuos cargo wil be handed over to unseen compatriots . The letter was addressed to Kareen khan -the president of pakistan.

STAR DAZZLE -PORT OF SINGAPORE
--------------------------------------------
First officer Vikram singh was bored to death and beyond - looking over the long passenger list .The passenger list was endless and duly interspaced with names of the worlds rich and famous - billionaires from latin america,one world famous heart transpalt surgeon from south africa,a bevy of indian film personalities which included divya tandon (his personal favourite ) , an us film shoot team going for a blockbuster shooting to krugger natinal park with baggage that almost filed half the large ships baggage hold . About 50% of the budget tourists were from US and rest mostly Indians on package tour and some australians and usal japanese .

The cruise was set to sail before sunset giving the fare paying passengers a grand view of setting sun against the malaca straits and onwards to the ex british colony and now very much part of peoples republic of china the jewel of wast Hoong Kong a short detour to Vietnam and then back on course to chennai -mumbai and finallycapetown in 15 days time . A short stop off the pictuesque isaln of car nicobar island was also part of the itenary but had to be cancelled as Indian airforce authorities have flatly refused sighting security reasons . The first of the passengers have just started comming aboard and Vikram returned to his task on hand as the ravishing Divya tandon with her ever attendant pansy secratary came up the carpeted gangway and said " goood evening " in a sing song voice. The trip might not bethat boring -thought first officer Vikram.

PRESIDENTS OFFICE -ISLAMABAD
---------------------------------------
Kareen khan was in a dark sombre mood -very quite and very depressed. With most ofhis air force and navy gone Indians were having a field day .Pakistani army was holed up tight all over the frontline in a tight defensive position and a recent very toughly worded warning from US secratary of state delivered via US ambassador in Islamabad have virtually shut off his last option of using a few tactical nukes to stem the indian armoured advance over the plains of punjab and sind.

It was how the courier from Rub al khali found him as he was ushered into his office with the dirty cloth enveloped letter in his breast pocket .

Even the hardened special forces soldier froze into inaction as he comprehended the diabolical plan outlined in the handwritten letter -the signature was unmistakably genuine and then slowly he realised this may be the only way out -only way to save the nation state of pakistan from sure extinction . All it would cost him is few kgs of precious plutonium about half yrs production of its lone plutonium re processing plant -it was after all a small price to pay to save the nation .He reached forhis secure phone and asked to be contacted to chief of AQ Khan lab at Kahuta.

AQ KHAN LAB -KAHUTA
---------------------------
Dr Hussain found his hand trembling as the supreme commander ofpakistani armed forces outlined what need to be done and how quickly .There would be no written order and if anything rather should anything go wrong the responsibility would sure be his alone .

The pakistani nuclear weapons complex developed over 25 yrs and was mostly unknown to the western world till 1998 serial explossions .Pakistan played the nuclear card well hiding many parts of the programme and simultaneously revealing just enough to let India know that it has a a workable on track nuclear weapons programme .

The basic activities included research ,development and sunsequent testing of nuclear weapons production of highly enriched (95%+) uranium and a comparitively smaller quantity of plutonium , creating the machining capability for the highly accurate l extremely low manufacturing tolarance perfectly spherical plutonium fissile core and ofcourse the design and manufacture of weapon bus for the missiles and extra strong and somewhat complicated aircraft pylons to carry the free fall bombs on its F-16 fleet.

While the main uranium enrichment facility is located at kahuta AQ Khan lab and more newer Gadwal uranium enrichment plant along with satelite gas centrifuge based enrichment facilities at Sinhala Golra .

The production of weapons grade plutonium takes place at Khushab reactor site which is estimated to produce about 50 Mw power and roughly 45-50 kgs of impure plutonium per year . The plutonium reprocessing cum purification facility is at the same comples where the leached out plutonium is treated and machined with high precision automated lathes (imported from germany)and crafted into carefully dimensioned hemispheres with a manufacturing tolerance less than 5 micron . While this machining is in progress lot of plutonium dust is also being generated whcih is carefully collected by robotic vacuum arms and stored in special bags for return to ingot making plant . At any time Khushab plutonium facility usally has an inventory of 7-8 kgs of plutonium dust in its vault stored seperately from the machined weapons core for the warheads.

Apart from its fissile characteristics Plutonium also happens to be one of the most toxic heavy meatals known to mankind . While lot of govt sponsered studies have been carried out in US to down paly the danger of plutonium dust in air or mixed to a citys water supply the danger is very real . Some predict close to a billion cancer canbe caused by 1 kg of plutonium dust released in air .

The order from the President was to release 8 kgs of machined plutonium dust to the bearer of his letter of authority without any written reciept .

ISLAMABAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
---------------------------------------------
It was a busy day at pakistans premier international airport . A gulf air a-340 had multiple tyre burst on landing and consequrntly the main runway was blocked for more than 6 hrs while several tarctors and ground engineers
hastled with the giant aircraft to move it out of the runway .The secondary runway was being used but all outbound flights were delayed by more than 4 -5 hrs inbound transnational flights getting priority on runway use. The large 12 member pakistani business delegation was however quite calm and relaxed having checked in their heavy lead lined aluminium suitcases and going thru the security check without any hassle usally reserved for other nationals . All were booked on business class on Cathay pacific flight to Hoong koong and then onwards connecting to Ho chi minh city in vietnam .

The security staff didnot have a clue to why senior offcers took charge of security and check in for this particular flight or why the baggage x -ray scanner were serviced just a few hours before . Had they known the reason a possible security breach could have compromised the mission but they did not know. For the 12 member" business delegation" led by elderly
Md Alam it was just another mission in a faraway land .6 of them were professional ISI operative and the rest trusted aides of the great leader for whom life after death was always more attractive than life itself.

" Cathay Pacific announces the departure of their flight 239 to Hong Kong . Passengers are requested to board in following sequence .......
Alam took a last look at his motherland and shuffled forward towards the aerobridge followed in single file by other members of the "delegation" . He knew his family back home would be well taken care off .

As luck would have it the sole FBI agent deputed to the international terminal was down with a violent stomach upset and consequently his portable neutron detector was not available for scanning the registered baggages . The diner at his ISI friends house with heavy dose of crab and lobster was the "likely" reason .

The airline officials did not have a clue how such an eleaborate multiple layer security blanket was deliberately sabotaged in all levels so that a small packet of deadly toxic cargo accompanied by a group of professional lunatics can be on their way -to hold the civilised world to ransom

RUB AL KHALI - INSIDE SAUDI BORDER
---------------------------------------------
The Sick old man listened quitely as one his technical aides and de encrypted message from internet -so far the programme was going exactly as per schedule except the unavoidable delay in Islamabad airport. He did not expect the presidents unreserved compliance to his
request so quickly but then god is great .

Fighting the great satan have drained him physically and financially .With fall of Sadam an important source of revenue has dried up and the war was costing him money . If the mision works out like he thought it would be like killing two birds with a single stone . He will make the govts pay for their support of satan and also humiliate the great nation in the eyes of the world - a new decapacitated corpse every hour in full view of world tv till the rich countries agree to pay up their share of Jihad and then finally a mighty blow to their power center in this part of the world Di ... ,The aide came in with a glass of apricot juice and cleaned up the sleeping mat for the leaders afternoon nap.

INS VIRAT - 10 DEGREE CHANNEL BETWEEN ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISALND
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capt Vijay Dixit always like watching the sea harriers taking off from the ski jump deck -himself being not a naval aviator always the held them in highest regard . His was a new command and was the first officer in this same ship for almost 5 yrs before Vikramaditya got inducted few months back . As the captain moved over to take command of indian navys newest aquistion Vijay got quitely promoted to take comand of this old but still very potent carrier . Rear Admiral Rao was still very much there as the task force commander but for day to day running of the carrier and its self defense protocol his decisions were final .

Vijay Dixit looked at his command with intense pride .Commissioned into indian navy in 1987 known to royal navy as HMS Hermes and took part in much famed Falklands campaign . Today she was carryoing its full complement of sea harrieres along with a mix of Ka 31 s i AEW role and seakings for search and rescue and if nessecery commando landing in anti-piracy type operation if required. At just under 24000 tons dispalcement she was definitely small by carrier standards particularly when compared to the 99000 tons Nimitz class USS Abraham Linchon sharing the same ocean some 600 miles to south or USS Carl V incent
somewhere in the east china seas . She was cruising at most optimum speed of 12 knots and capable of boosting it to nearly 30 knots within 30 minutes if required by using her twin geared steam turbines at full output power of 76000 h.p. She was one of the first indian navy ships to be fitted with Barak anti missile system and her torpedo magazine held more than 80 torpedoes for use by her seakings and the extra thick reinforced flight deck gave her a high protection level against missile strike.

- set course 110 -speed 24 knots - in toned the capatain o his throat mike the engine room responded immediately -the large ship heeled over to its new course and speed settings
- clear deck for helo launch ,and the lone seaking configured for search and rescue duty lifted off the flight deck and took postion 200 yds to port
in the unlikely event the incomming harriers make a mistake and land at sea
- clear deck for aircraft recovery ,and the deck cleared of al personel
as the two sea harriers returning from CAP came in from the stern side
and hovered for a few seconds matching their horizantal speed to that of the ship and then swivelled the exhaust downwards and put the engines on full power and then slowly reduced thrust as the graceful birds landede with barely a thud on the pre marked landing spots . The whole operation lasted just over a minute since in hover condition the engined have an alarming tendency to overheat and also ingest hot gases when too close to the flight deck.

Down in the central combat information centre the air search radar officer carefully tracked the Cathay pacific flight 239 on its pre informed flight path along the high altitude airways at 38000 ft . At no point it came within 100 nautical miles of Virat and hence no alrm was raised -the barak system however tracked it all along -in full auto mode .

Virat with her reteniue of escorts mainly INS Rajput and newer INS mumbai along with a couple of frigates for ASW duty was on a goodwill visit to Cat Lo naval base of vietnam . INS Magar was also a part of the flotila -inher hold were more than 2000 boxes of spres and ammo for Petya class warships and Osa missile boats for Vietanamese navy . The supply of these spares had been arranged during last visit of vietanamese defense minister to Delhi. According to a senior navy spokesperson "as a part of enhanced maritime co-operation spare equipment and weapon system sub assemblies are being supplied to the the Govt of Vietnam at cost in the interest of long time security and stability of the critical sea lanes and south china sea "

The good will convoys route will take them across the width of Andamans sea -across Malaca straits -port of singapore and then tuen northwards to southern vietnam to reach the Cat lo naval base.

Cat lo served as a naval operations base and logistics hub during vietnam war. US navy selecetd this particular base for a number of reasons particularly for its ready access to south china sea ,the short distance to river appoaches to saigon (Ho chi minh city)and Mekong delta. The importance of Cat lo base somewhat diminished in the later years of vietnam war as the us forces river patrol units went deeper into the delta and mine sweeping activities were conducted better from the Nha be base .The communist govt of Vietnam restored the base to operational status afterwards and based a majority of its fleet of osa class missile boats and a couple of Petya class warships here used mainly to patrol the coastal waters of vietnam and the sprtley group of islands rich in oil and hence hotly contested by peoples republic of china and govt of phillipines .

TAN SON NHAT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -HO CHI MINH CITY -VIETNAM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cathay Pacific flight 562 from Hoon Koong landed on 3048 mtr long runway 2 just as the morning sun made its appearence over the eastern horizon . The lush green rice fields aurrounding the airport was a treat to the eyes but the group of pakistani business man had not time or eyes for appreciating the natural beauty. After they cleared immigration which was profunctory and the customs they collected their oversized "machinery sample " cases and took the air line city coach to Kim do Royal hotel approximately 20 minutes ride from the airport .Then they -planned -worked and waited .

The pakistani businessmen also contacted thier local "agents " for delivery of certain easily available presentaion equipment duly invoiced at a palce and time of their choosing . The price mentioned on the invoice was some what high US$ 25000 paid in cash . The crate was to be delivered off the coast of vietnam on board the luxery liner STAR DAZZLE expected in a few days time . This particuar detail was not mentioned in the invoice.

STAR DAZZLE -SOMEWHERE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA -DAY 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The deck was crowded with tourists and born today photographers trying their hand taking the never before shot of vietnamese seascape .The more than 3000 island rocks are too good to be missed thought first officer Vikram singh as tried in vain to locate the glamorous actress in the crowd -but his luck was not holding it seems as the urgent call from the sombre faced captain called him over to bridge.

Vietnam has a definite character of its own from its war torn history to its green and very rural outlook. Everywhere beautiful women ,traditional dances and stories of bygone war abound . Many of them have survived three major wars . The legendary halong bay which was supposedly created when the great dragon descended into sea.

No matter how many times he has sailed the south china seas Captain James never took it easy -the weather can change in a moment and a moments carelessness can put the lives of nearly 500 rich and famous passengers in jeapordy. In times like this he depended a lot on his first officer though at times he found his pre occupation with things beautiful a bit too disconcerting .

Some last minute changes were introduced in the itenary due to trafic restrictions in the malaca straits -the first stop would be Ho chi minh city onthe west bank of saigon river and still popularly refered to as saigon followed by a short stop at port city of hon koong and then a long voyage to Chennai and onwards to Mumbai and Capetown .

RUB AL KHALI - 100 KMS INSIDE OMANI BORDER
---------------------------------------------------------
The tired old man finished his frugal lunch of bread and saudi dates and then it was time for his daily insulin shot and then a rest when his aides would report in detail the staus of mission in progress .He did not show any emotion when it was confirmed all men and equipment have reached destination or about the slight change in luxery ships itenery . He listened quitely and very carefully and then issued the nessecery instructions on exactly how the mission will need to be carried out -and then he went to sleep.

He was getting tired of contiiuos travel and the extreme hardship of dessert existance ,living where no one else has live for atleast last 6000 yrs and the continiuos fear of detection and certain death. But his roads were closed for ever even when he was sleeping a bevy of predators were searching the sands from 20000 ft with their ultra high resolution cameras and infra scopes for ant tale tale sighn of human existance . He knew they will catch up with him sooner or later but before that he wanted to to fight back one last time .

If a million has to die for it -so be it was his last thought as he drifted into drug induced sleep

INS VIRAT - SOME WHERE IN ANDAMANS SEA OFF MALACA STRAIT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capt Dixit watched the 200 strong marine commando force do their morning jog around the flight deck in endless circles . Son would be their time to do the small arms practice and then a few hours of unarmed combat whenevr there was no flight ops in progress. They were aboard mainly to thart any hijacking of internatinal shippingin the straits of Malaca and andaman seas a direct fall out of a multination protocol between US -India - China - Singapore-Malyasia -Japan and Australia .

Born in 1987 the marine commando force of indin navy out of armys 340th independent brigade . The small pioneering group was sent to train with US navy SEALs and formed the nucleus around which indian marine special forces presently more commonly called as marine comandos.They first saw action with indian peacekeping forces in srilanka and were in fact one of the first IPKF units to be deployed in combat. beach recon ,providing security to coastal roads amphibious assault . The second time theu were called to battle was when existance of tiny island state of Maldives was put in danger by the mercneries of peoples liberation organisation of tamil elan
and then Rajiv Gandhi decided to extend quick military assistance to reestablish the old govt . Operation Cactus was a complete success which included capturing the fleeing mercenaries on board a merchant ship after cued on by an indian navy IL-38 maritime recon aircraft. The interception had all the ingredients of a precision operation and includeed firing of depth charges by sea king helicopters to prevent escape and climaxed with a small group of marine commandos boarding the vessel

All marine commandos specialise in intel gathering ,unarmed combat ,sky diving and ofcourse excell in the art of silent killing using a variety of unconventional weapon systems.All of them are certified divers and have basic lnowledge of underwater demolition. They are also trained i high altitude comando course before being allowed to join the units on operational duty.

This morning thought Capt dixit they were at their unglamorous best -sweating out yesterdays heavy dinner before being allowed to start their small arms practice at the boobing empty beer cans thrown on the twin wake of the large ship. All indian navy shipsbeing strictly alcohol free Dixit often wondered where from theu obtained their supply of empty cans.

STAR DAZZLE -APPROACHING HO CHI MINH CITY
-------------------------------------------------------------
There was no such problem on board the luxery liner .Alcohol flowed like water and the setting sun was being toasted with worlds best sparkling wines and finest scotch . Almost everyone was out on the decks celebrating the end of 1st leg of thier "hard working rough it out on the seas type "cruise.Wining and dining was order of the day . The rich of the world was busy enjoying the fruits of their wealth and looking forward to the their first visit to the promised exotic night nife of Saigon in a few hours time . The short transfer would be done by speedboats of the shipping company since the saigon harbour didnot have have sea space for the large ship to turn around.

- Captain we have just 2 mtrs of water under keel -request permission to drop main anchor
- permission granted xo -drop main anchor - initiate emgine shut down procedure -switch over to diesel and dont forget to post armed sentries on board - a small group of business man joining us today for the entire cruise who i think missed the boat because of flight delay -take care will u -see u tomorrow evening and with that the bearded captain was gone leaving the total responsibility on Vikram.

The luxery ship was immediately surrounded by a flotila of small boats selling evrything from exotic flowers to all kinds of tourist knick knacks . And in the cover of approaching darknes a lone sampan slid quitely near the aft gangway and couple oflong military looking crates were quickly hosted aboard . The security guards on duty was busy looking the other way ,taking care of the passengers going ashore -they all had been well taken care off and they did not intend joining the ship any way to morrow evening.

The security guards did not know what the crates carried -they might have recognised the AK-56 and the fragmentation grenades but they would not have understood the threat potential of 10 small packets of 1000 gms of silvery white metal powder commonly known as plutonium 239 dust enogh to cause a billion cancer and maybe a million death if used "correctly"

RUB AL KHALI - 5KM FROM SAUDI BORDER
--------------------------------------------------
The news reached him as he came out of his evening prayer .He looked up at the setting sun and prayed once more for the success of the mission
Only then the muslims of the world will be avenged of the great wrong doings perpetated on them by the great satan called USA .

President Kareem knew that the final countdown had begun. He had provided the final weapon and he knew that when this is used, he would be made to pay. By this time, he had already distanced his family from himself. They were all in hiding in a foreign country under assumed names. Now, it was time for him to do the vanishing act. But for this and subsequent survival he would need lots of money, even more than he had stashed away in various bank accounts in Isle of Man, Bahamas and other such havens. Plus he needed new accounts as he was sure that the older ones would be traced. There was only one man who could do this and that was Haji Sutar, now under house arrest in Karachi.

President Kareem had Haji Sutar brought to him in Islamabad. He told Haji that soon a major attack was expected from India, after which the some commanders would attempt a coup with the assistance of ISI, and should this coup succeed then Haji’s life was at grave risk because the first thing that they would demand would be the foreign reserves collected in the Swiss Banking Powerhouse (SBP) and there was no way that Haji could withstand their extreme torture. Obviously then, with President Kareem dead or at least out of control, the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, who is the third signatory to the account, would fly to Geneva to fulfill the condition that at least one of the three must present himself in person at the Bank’s office, and Haji would be made to provide his password from Pakistan, thus opening the account.

Kareem wanted Haji to fly to Geneva immediately and present himself at the Bank. Kareem would then provide the second passkey and they would transfer the money into a number of smaller accounts which would be controlled only by Haji and the President. This activity must be kept secret even from the Governor as well as all the staff at State Bank of Pakistan. The new accounts must be opened in such a way that even SBP would not know of them and no one should be able to trace them. At an appropriate time, the President would travel overseas for a day and Haji could brief him on all the accounts in person. The President counted on Haji’s patriotic instincts to overcome his reservations; of course desire to preserve one’s own life would be a powerful motivator too.

Haji Sutar was no fool. He sensed that the President wanted to ensure his control over the money and that Haji was only useful to him as long as Haji had some control over the money. Haji agreed to the plan – anything to get out of captivity in Pakistan to freedom in Switzerland.

On his flight to Geneva, Haji worked on his own plan. There was no way he was going to hand over his country’s reserves to the President or the Army. These funds were to be the basis of reconstruction of Pakistan.

Haji Sutar was a true patriot.

Aren't we in the midst of a war?

INS VIRAT - APPOACHING MALACCA STRAITS
--------------------------------------------------------
All flight operations were suspended in the strait of malacca as per recently approved transit protocol treaty recently signed in Geneva . Rear Admiral Raghu Rao looked over the rows of sea harriers and seakings interspaced by a couple of more moder Ka -31 parked on the flight deck. The Barak anti missile anti aircraft system was also in powered down standby mode . Extra sailors were posted aroundthe deck with light machine guns and shpulder fired missiles more as a deterent to pirate attack than a serious offensive and this situationwil persist till the reach the open waters of south china seas. Down in the combat information centre the air search radars painted a detailed 3d area scenario of a continiuos stream of commercial aircraft heading in and out of Chaggi international airport an in the distant horizon the flight of 2 singapore air force falcons kept a ready vigil -to prevent repitition of 9/11 at any cost. High speed singapore navu patrol boats criss crossed the navigation channels providing a further level of pretection aginst both pirates and ofcourse the terrorists who might want to try their hand at the worlds busiest container trafic terminal .

Unknown to any of them a threat far more sinster than 9/11 was quickly developing in not so distant horizon -the world was about to be shocked into oblivion and beyond at what religious fanaticism can bring about . The country which nurtured and encouraged such fanaticism to meet its selfish energy security objective will be made to pay the heaviest price and the state which bore the brunt of such miscued and biased forighn policy will come to its rescue in a dramatic manner .

But then none of them were fortune tellers and tomorrow was yet to come .

For the time being Rear Admiral Raghu Rao was more concerned by the decision of the ministry of defense to send his very potent task force on a good will visit to Vietnam when the war in western seas was not yet completely over but then he also realised the nations comitment to international community to keep the sea lanes open in the indian ocean region which became highly vulnerable to piracy and random acts of terror after withdrawal of US naval force at short notice due to increased tension with Iran over the nuclear stand off . Indian navy was the only available force to fill in the power vacuum and hence this visit . It was more than a goodwill visit -it was a show of flag and a recessed show of force -an assurance to littoral nations of maritime security gurantee provided by nation state of india.

STAR DAZZLE - OUT OF SAIGON PORT - INTO SOUTH CHINA SEA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain James hood was pouring over the current admirality chart of southchina sea as his deputy programmed in the way points into the navigational computer and switched on the autopilot . So far the maiden voyage has gone exceedingly well .

The ISI group duly re inforced by al quaida operatives were doing well too. Neutralising the lightly armed security guards was not much of a problem . It was a text book hijacking operation . Two of the guards tried to resist and ended up dead with a magazine full of ak 56 rounds in their bellies . Tied with heavy weight they went to the bottom of south china sea with barely a ripple.

The fire cracker like report of aks on full auto was the first warning the captain recieved that evrything was not right . As he turned to xo to issue a security alert the cold barrel of the assault rifle pressed into his back. He tried to resist -to snatch the rifle out of the masked terorists hand and that was a big mistake . The sound of the shots were muffled by his heavy clothes and his flesh . His limp body colapsed as the heavy metal jacketed bullets crushed the spinal column and tore open the abdominal cavity drenching evryone inside the bridge with a full blooded spray of bone and tissue fragments . The shock was total.

Vikram singh did not react and that was what saved his life . As he cleared off the bloody mess off his navigation computer monitor deliberately he realised a nightmare has just begun and if the 750 odd passngers and the craew is to come out alive he simply cannot afford to loose control .

The voice of the terrorist leader was soft and gentle almost pleading
as he picked up the dead comanders blood soaked cap ,carefully brushe it and then put it dramatically on Vikrams head

- Good morning Captain - this ship is now under the command of organisation of global jihad -you are to obey exactly what i say or for your every act defiance 5 passengers shall die in full public view . To start with please reprogramme the course as per following waypoints - please also broadcast this written message to the outside world -then carry on your duties as usal and no one will be hurt .

Vikram wanted to scream -to snatch the automatic rifle and kill the cold blooded maniac as he has killed his commander but he held his rage in control ,he knew if the lives of his crew and passengers is to be saved he needed professional military assistance and and that meant he has to buy time and for that he willed himself to be slave of the devil. As he slowly opunched inthe new waypoints very quitely he also pushed on the reserved transponder meant to be used only in a serious hijack situation . Fronm now on all the communication in the bridge ,all his course and speed data would be relayed verbatim to security agencies around the world and help will surely come -at least he hoped so .

The ransom note came out on the net within an hour and picked up quickly BY al ja zeera televison network to played to the incredulous world community

- We the organisation of global jihad have taken possesion of the luxery ship star dazzle as of now
- this is a protest against all nations who support the so called war on terror of united states govt , which is nothing but acts of unashamed aggression against muslim nations worldwide .
- we have decide the so called world community must be made to pay a price for their support to US ,which shall be as folows

- Peoples republic of china for supporting US and oppressing thier own muslim minorities - 5 billion dolars in gold
- Republic of India - for atrocities in kashmir - 4 billion dollars in gold and uncut diamonds
- Russia 3. 5 billion dollars in gold for their ruthless suppression of chechan rebels
- king dom of saudi arabia - 15 billion dollars in gold for allowing the infidels dishonour our lands.
- united kingdom - 4 billion dollars for supporting us in iraq
- Australia - 3 billion dolars in gold and 50 tons of uranium ore

\
If the demands are not met within 24 hrs one national from each of the countries mentioned will be executed as per shariat law that is be headed
on the heli deck of this ship in full public view .

Kindly note we are in possesion of radiologil weapons of great destructive power distributed thru out the ship and capable of remote detonation . Any act of force attempted against this ship shall mean simultaneous detonation of all the radiactive weapons on board and sure contamination of south china sea and all its littoral states. The immediate death toll may exceed a million in next year and a billion inthenext years . So please dont act stupid . As a gesture of goodwill to world community we invite correspondants of following TV channels on board - CNN,BBC,CCTV,NDTV ,DOORDARSHAN .............. .

The world listened in shocked silence as the schemes of a lunatic fanatic came into being .The nightmare has atlast come true .

US AIRFORCE ONE - APPOACHING SAN DIEGO NAVAL AIR STATION -CALIFORNIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The president of united states believed in working hard and playing hard .After a long protracted negotiation in Manila on renewed lease of Subic bay naval base and Clark air base against a military aid package of 2 bn US $ was the president thought a good bargain . As he seeped on the chilled dutch beer and fiddled with TV remote the fasten seat belt sign flashed on and also his wrist beeper beeped alerting him to an encrypted signal comming in for his eyes only at the communicatins bay just over the starboard wings of the heavily modified B-747. As he stroled into the high security com console area which a very few people in the world will ever see the ,he pressed his left eye on the retina scanner and after a few seconds delay the dediacted monitor came alive . The message was from secratary of defense and very cryptic and short

" we have a very serious hostage situation in south china sea with more than 750 civilians 567 of which are US nationals . Suspect presence of radiological weapons on board. Ransom demand recieved . Pacific command alerted and Delta force on standby. Indian carrier with marine comandoes nearest capital ship in the vicinity . Suggest request them to assist /undertake the rescue operation with all possible supprt fromUSN . Request ur presence in washington at earliest .Message ends "

The most powerful man on earth was visibly shaked as he switched off the monitor and picked up the intercom to flight deck
- Captain please set course for washington direct - please also cancel all my engagements Sandiego - we have a national emergency
-aye aye sir was the clipped response from the air force one comander as retracted the flaps and pushed the combined throttle lever all the way forward to pick up lost altitude in one smooth movement . The large jet banked to starboard on its new course to Andrews air force base .

PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE - NEW DELHI
---------------------------------------------
The soft spoken prime minister of india slowly replaced the reciever as he tried to comprehend the enormity of the situation outlined by the us president and clear request for help . Time was of essence and a fail safe rescue plan need to be put in place quickly and then implemented without remorse .Fortunately Virat is close to the arae of interest and has the capability to intervene but the risks are enormous . As his secratary started the process of convening a full strenght meeting of cabinet commitee on security he personally contacted the premier of peoples republic of china to expalin the situation and the constarints under which indian navy wil be operating over the next 48 hrs . The response he recieved was very measured and mature - all PLAN forces will be withdrawn from the area with imediate effect to give Virat and her escorts a clear field of action.

INS VIRAT -COMBAT INFORMATION CENTRE
-----------------------------------------------------
The messge came in within 6 hrs after the cabinet commitee on security gave the go ahead for the rescue mission with whatever intel available till then . The lives of nearly 750 passengers and crew now depended the ingenuity and bravery of a small group of marine commandos and naval aviators on board. The reports on possible USN assistance were sketchy and most likely 2 of their carriers are on their way but most likely they will be not in position within the time frame

A message was also sent to undersea escorts and in the distant horizon the shape of a Kilo and a HDW took shape under the waves -their comanders boarded the zodiacs sent down from Virat and headed for the mother ships and the subs stayed on perscope depth for the time being .

STAR DAZZLE -HELI DECK - 0600 HRS
-------------------------------------------
The sun is never very bright on this part of south china sea approximately 250 kms from the vietnames coast as the assorted news crews from worlds premier tv channels set uptheir hi definition digital cameras and directional microphone for the first live address of the terrorist leader
to global audience .

The masked man came into the opening and behind him were 5 of the hostages - all us citizens 3 of them males in expnsive business suites -2 of them females and one a small girl about 7 yr old obviously very scared but still not crying .

Along the rails two more masked men were throwing the ships refuse over board the purpose of which became very obvious as the deadly triangular fins started appearing all around the slow moving ship.

"Ladies and Gentlemen -welcome aboard our flagship Jihadi dazzle . Like all of you we also donot like violence and death but the govt of united states and its allies leave us with no choice .All we asked for is little money and a safe passge but so far they have steadfastly refused to start talking and we feel it is nessecery to demonstrate our intent i a language i hope
theywill understand

The five marked hostages were brought forward to the centre of the spacious heli deck and made to kneel down and 5 more masked terorits suddenly appeared behind them with typical arabic curved swords with razor sharp edges . The little blue eyed girl started to cry and fight against her wrist bands and the first sword flashed in a clean practiced sweep and she struggled no more .
The lady photographer of CNN fainted in a heap and her male assistant vommited all over as he tried to keep the camera roling .

The small lifeless body was thrown over the rails followed by the head with lifeless blue eyes stil open in sudden death .

The remaining four hostages were handed down the same fate without remorse and by the time their lifeless bodies have been thrown over board a small poolof blood and cartiledge have already formed a murky mess all over the once spotless helideck of the luxery ship. The all pervading stink of death was everywhere .

RUB AL KHALI - 85 KMS INSIDE OMANI BORDER
---------------------------------------------------------
the old man finished his morning prayer and sat down for his breakfast of dried dates and a cup of camel milk. He already knew everything was going well .

NAM PHONG AIR BASE -THAILAND
-----------------------------------------
The six CH-47D of USAF sat on the tarmac awaiting air trafic clearence to saigon and then to indian carrier . Capt Roger was familiar with the ship quite intimately having landed on its cramped flight deck quite a few times last during Malabar 2006 off the coast of cochin when a joint USN/USAF exercise was held with indian navy.

The united states had been and continue to be the single largets military assistance privider to thailand for over 5 decades . From early 1950s thru 1970 s majority of american assistance was in the form of grants. The goal of us asistance was to strengthen and modernise Thailands military capability and its operatinal tactics. During vietnam war united states and thailand came to a negotiated agree ment on use of Thai teritory by us air and naval units. USN maily operated from Satthahip on the gulf of thailand USAF operated from more than seven airbases across the country amonst which Nam phong was perhaps the most important because of its location and land access -the other bases were Udon thani, Naakhon phanom, Ratchasima ,Ubon rathchani .

The intensity of Thai-US military interactions declined from early 1970s and by 1976 it was almost over .However after invasion of cambodia by vietnam 400 million us$ worth of military aid was rushed to thailand. In 1986 US and Thailand agreed to to establish a prepositioned weapons pool designed to be used only in "nation threatening emergency"

The six CH-47 s were part of this emergency prepositioned equipment made operatiional within 6 hrs of getting the first signal from pentagon vis US pacific command

- Dragon flight standby for take off clearence
- roger that tower -starting motor

Capt Roger bent down to reach the engine ignition and did a quick check on circuit breakers controlling the fuel feed pumps and the lube oil pumps before switching on the ignition . The twin T-55 GA 714A turbo shaft engines came to life within a few seconds of each other with a smooth whine and the twin tandem rotors started rotating slowly after about a minute. All along the flight line the process was repeated and the and the avionics suite powered up as the rotors built up speed .

Dragon flight -tower -you are cleared to take off - climb runway heading and maintain 2000 ft -use your own navigation to way point delta siera and further course vector from sentry already airborne - strict emcon all thru-best of luck.

The six empty chinooks took of towrads Virat with a couple of aerial refuelling points last one over Ho chi minh city -in response to indian request for heavy lift supprt -within 3 hrs of request being recieved at pentagon .The entire pacific comand swung into action to make the risky mission a success.

INS VIRAT
---------------
None was smiling on board this day including the usal jovial marine comando team leader Lt commander Arun patel . The killing of the child
in full view of world tv viewer in hi defination colour and live was a bit too much even for the battle hardened marine comandos all of whom have seen thier share of violent death. As they checked and rechecked their weapons awaiting the arrival of american choppers whcih will carry them to their objective in a few hours time . Anyone looking at the grim faces did not have any doubt what lies in store for the terrorists but again it was not a time to get emotional after all lives of too many depended onthe clinical execution of the raid and sielent killing was just a means to an end

The full battle group was getting ready for a single decisive strike .Live images from Cartosat-3 kept pouring in the combat information centre and another KH-11 was expected to join in shortly with its own high resolution infrared and radar images of the target ship and the surrounding seas .

SITUATIONS ROOM - 4 LEVELS BELOW WHITE HOUSE -WASHINGTON D.C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The president was on his 6 th cup of black brazilian coffee . he looked at the live radar image of Star Dazzle against the murky blue of south china sea . On the left hand corner of the projected image the map co ordinates were dispalyed and on the right the time in GMT . On the bottom left a small window showed the flight of six CH-47s flying over the vietnamese rice fields ,next windows showed the indian navy carrier steaming towards the hostage ship and a clean deck ringed by soldiers getting ready for the mission and the last window to right showed USS Nimitz battle group leaving theSubic baynaval base in phillipines cutting short a r/r trip and expected to be in intercept position within 3 days -the problem is they didnot have 3 days . A small movement on the cruise ship deck caught his eyes and the navy colonel manning the spce age projection equipment utilising feed from satelite and awacs spoke a few words into his lapel microphone . The camere on board E-3 zoomed in and the picture became clear .

STAR DAZZLE - 1200 HRS- 370 KMS FROM VIETNAM COAST
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-WELCOME o the show ladies and gentlemen - Still now we have not recieved any communication from the the govt of united states orits allies -we can presume some sort of attack is being planned against us at this very moment .As per directive recieved from our supreme leader a further demonstration of intent is maybe required . Please switch on your camera as we dont want the world to misunderstand the seriousness of our intent .
Women as you all know is the main cause behind all wars fought so far and as such we thought they should be made to pay the price for ultimate peace .

The ten women aged between 15 and 75 were lined up along the the rails
and the execution squad took up position behind them to prevent the blood from creating the sticky mess on the deck . As the women looked down at the sharks swimming below still in their feeding frenzy thieir life was cut short with brutal strokes of razor sharp steel and the lymp bodies tossed out over the rails into the chopy waves . Most of the cameraman just switched off thier cameras and shut down the satlinks as an act of silent defiance against this barbaric act cruelity but was forced to switch on again almost imediately when the sawed of ak-56 muzzles pressed against their belly. BBC camera man refuse and the muffled shots were barely heard as his guts made the deck slippery and he watched with horror hisown intestine snaking out of his abdominal cavity and then everything went dark

Shankar,
A nice build up - as always. But I have a few doubts. Why would the US not fly down Navy SEALS or the Delta Force to Thailand and use them against the terrorists? Since most of the people on board the Star Dazzle are Americans, would they want to entrust the responsibilty of this enormous task to the Indians? The US believes it has the best in men and equipment to tackle such situations.

Secondly, even if the IN's Marcos were to storm the Dazzle, why would we not use our own Sea Kings, instead of the American Chinooks? The soldiers would certainly be more familiar with them.

Nice buildup as usual.
But i have some doubts too.Firstly, if our marcos are gonna be used, dont they have to practise on a ship with a similar build as the Dazzle? so as to get an idea of it's configuration, layout, etc instead of just droppin in?
Secondly, all that radiological stuff on board that the bad hombres are threatning us with, how do they plan on dispersing it so that the littoral states are affected? how can they be sure which way the wind will blow, or where the sh*t will actually land?

STAR DREAMS- HOONG KOONG HARBOUR -PEEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA -THE DAY BEFORE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She looked glamorous too and almost an identical twin of the ill fated Star Dazzle . She has just finished a cruise to Alaska showing the tourists the polar bears and magnificent mountainscape of the frozen north and returned to her home base . The off loading of passengers have just been finished when the harbour master , a retired PLAN vice admiral showed up on the bridge with an executive order

" In the interests of national security the govt of peoples republic of china requests the use of the ship STAR DREAMS for a period of 3 days . Kindly cancel all tour programme forthwith and proceed to the indiacated map co ordinates under PLAN escort . No communication with your shore office is required or authorised . Comercial considerations shall be discussed and settled seperately . signed -Party secratary - special administartive zone -hoongkoong .

The tugs were already moving into position and and the refuelling was rushed thru .
- full speed ahead and empty sister ship with water ballast rushed towards the designated exercise zone in south china sea with a highest trafic priority escorted by frigates .

INS VIRAT - 200 KMS FROM STAR DAZZLE -SOUTH CHINA SEA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
" O.K guys we have atleast something to practice on ." Boomed the lean muscled lt commander of marine command detachment on board Vitrat .The US chinooks are expected any time and we shall immediately take off for the practice ship . The american choperare totally stripped down units taken out of thier pre positioned reserves and hence you guys make sure everything is on board within five minutes of touch down .We shall devide into 6 assault groups and do a typical high alttude low opening dive with full weapon load and we have time for just 2 practice runs the first one will at 1600 hrs and the next one at 1800 hrs . You jokers will memorise each and every detail of the ship because the thir jump will be for real .You shalll not be wearing any NBC suit simple because it is too cumbersome and pretty useless in the present situation -Koi shak Sawal
- sir why we are using US chopers instaed of our sea kings quiped the young sub lt Rampal
- Because they have larger cabin space - speed and range Rampal ,we need all the space for our standard gear along with the portable neutron detectors wice are indispensible to locate the location of plutonium piles
-Any more sawal -there was none

4 small groups of 2 marine comandos each at the same time was busy stowing their specialise equipment full of hoses and ultra high pressure gas cylinders on board the Kilo class which has by now surfaced some distance away . Their gear included underwater sielenced scooter ,oxyhydrogen underwater metal cutting torch and ofcourse cyanide tipped compressed air propelled bullets . Acouple of torpedoes were removed fom the launch tubes and the space so available used to stow the special assault equipment . Once done the job was done the Kilo quitely dissapeared below the waves and set course for the last reported positin of star dazzle.

The 6 CH-47 s landed ina flurry of dust and loading up began immediately . Hot refuelling commenced as the comandos with their bulky sky divers suit starpped down on the side facing benches . The pilots had a cup of black coffee with some hot chicken role courtesey chef of Virat and then they were off to northern horizon towards the expected position of Star Dreams -it was a practice for the USAF pilots too .

Hey, thanks for clearing that up shankar bhai!
Now i cant wait for the lead to start flyin. Hope that indian xo on the Dazzle will have some part to play.
Those wannabe ayatollahs wont know what hit'em!

Capt roger eased down on th cyclic control lever and set course for the target ship Star dream . His radar was in standby mode and live video feed came on from the Sentry circling overhead . His team mates were strung out behind in a loose s formation ,very soon he will cut power roughly 5 kms from the practice ship and allow the sky divers earn their pay in a brain numbing free fall from 20000 ft openingtheir chutes barely 5000 ft from the target and then manuvere to the open deck . They will jump with full weapon load in moderately heavy crosswind and he surely didnot envy their career choice .

Besides him in the flight deck was first officer Nancy and observer Jim who co ordinated the drop sequences and will take on the search and rescue role if some thing goes wrong during the high altitude dive . The high and ultra high frequency com gear was also on standby mode and IFF Transponder was switched off . The radar threat reciever was on on and the chaff and fare dispensers cocked and ready . Practice or for real -self protection always took top priority .

-10 seconds to drop zone ,and the commandos took up diving position and checked one last time thier oxygen mask ,their high presure oxygen botles and ofcourse their weapons slung under
- 6 5 4 3 2 1 the jump light switched green and with practice of many such jumps before the sky divers jumped clean in a precise free fall over the ocean their arms windmilling to reatin balance ,slow deep breaths taking in just the right amount of oxygen and always watching out for their buddies around all hurtling down towards the ocean below at speed in excess of 200 kms per hour till the wrist altimeter showed 500O ft and then one by oulled on the rip chord and the navy blue sky divers chutes opened up jreking them up against the straps and to the ship below .

WHITE HOUSE SITUATIONS ROOM -WASHINGTON D.C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The tension was thick in air like can be cut with knife . Two rounds of killing have already taken place and more are sure to come thought the US president as looked on the tactical map projected on the portable wal screen . A high speed high altitude U-2 pass have confirmed presence of PU-239 on board and that was reason enough to be very very carefu.He was not very comfortable with indian navy handling the show but then there was not much option left . The location of the hostage ship was very arefully chosen by the terorits group who no doubt had a good colection of humanit in the region and knew exactly the likely position of us carrier groups in the region . Mimitz will be inposition of to launch a strike on her own inmay be 40 hrs time but then will not have a chance to do a mock jump so very essential in this kind of opeartion . Indians simply were there by a stroke of good fortune and the recent series of joint exercises between the special forces made the nitty gritty co ordination aspects mych simpler . As per latest comminiquerecied from indian ministry of defense the strike is likely to take place anytime after midnight today but they have not disclosed any detailed ops plan -which was understandable .

THE OBJECTIVE AND THE PLAN -INS VIRAT 2000 HRS
-----------------------------------------------------------------l
Rear Admiral Raghu Rao quitely summarised the mission objective and ops plan to the strike grops leaders for a final round of discussions before being communicated to individual team members

- immbilise the star dazzle in present position -this will make the sky diving less risky -to be done by alpha team
- neutralise perimeter guards - to allow safe landing of re inforcements by ch-47 -bravo team

Both alpha and bravo teams to be transported close to the hstage ship in the accompanying subs and then use their own means to reach the target .

The six CH-47 s will arry the bulk fo the raiding party once the ship has been immobilised and drop zone secured . It would be classic high altitude low opening jump once the ships deck have been secured .They willcarry with them 2 sets of portable neutron detectors to locate and take into custody the radiological weapons .

From the satelite photos there appears to be 12 terrorists armed with a mix of ak-type assaiult riflesand possible a single shoulder fired surface to air missile launcher . It is to be assumed most of the access doors to radiological bombs are already booby trapped andall nessecery precautions are to be taken before commencing the defusing operation .

All signals wil be in morse and transmitted using the infrared signal lamps till the ships deck is secured . standard com gear can be used when on board the ship.

The chinooks will be available for search and rescue duty duringthe entire operation . A lone E-3 Sentry wil act as communication hub. .

Virat will stay out of a 50 kms radius till all is secured and then rush in to take out the hostages and will carry nessecery NBC protection and decontamination gear should the unthinkable happen .

The radiological weapons are most likely small packets of silver white powder plutonium oxide surrounder by blocks of conventinal explossive like c-4 in a plastic shell and located most likely near the funnels ,engine room exhust passenger cabins and bridge with radio detonators attached .
Take usal precautios like an improvised explossive device and dont worry to much about radiological contamination for the time being . We have the most advanced decontamination capability on board and you will have few hours before the contamiation can cause serious long term marrow or tissue damage . The outcome of this mission wil be decided much before that .

Sea harriers are being reserved for a surprise diversion -you are advised not to take off your dark glasses before theyleave the area .

STAR DAZZLE - 2100 HRS - 400 KMS FROM VIETNAM COAST
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The dinner was best the luxery liner could offer even under the new owners. Strangely thoght the tero leader the offtake of such delicious food was not very high however the journalists seem to be drinking them selves to oblivion . If they continue at this rate there qwill be no one left standing for the post dinner show he has so carefully planned for them and ofcourse rest of the world from sanfransico to paros from delhi to bejing and from sydney to tokyo the greatest show was yet to come .

However so far there was no communication from any of the countries mentioned in the ransom note nor any money have been delivered .Looks like the world has decided to ignore the power of the supreme leader . he thought for a moment and then whispered to his aide and the heli deck was set up once agin for a macabre spectacle

This time all the nationalities were selected and all were young adults . A series of improvised gallows were setup from the upper deck and the victims were positined on deck chairs with the noose tightly against the first vertibra . 2 of the terorits were positioned on the far side of the deck and told to shoot at the chairs . while the world watched in stunned disbelief The first chair was shot out of the victims feet in about a minute and the others watched in sheer terror as the twitching body came to a standstill after more than 4 minutes . And the game started again till a row of 25 lifeless bodies hanged from the topmost deck swaying with the ships roll and gentle wind from the seas .

And at that moment the resolve of the free world changed for ever . From now on the terrorits would get no legal protection in any country of the world -they will be chased and shot like mad dogs whereever they are located and without question -there would be no Cuban detention camp or much publicisedcourt apperences for them - no high security prisons will be required -all because there would be no more prisnors -the global rule for war on terror has just been changed .

INS SINDHUSHASTRA - 2000 MTRS AHEAD OF STAR DAZZLE -0330 HRS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She surface like a black ghost from a dark ocean with hardly a ripple to advertise her presence .The initial plan of launching the comandos thru torpedo tube ws discarded as the high power under water scooters they were carrying tended toget stuck half way thru and the it was decided to take a small risk in surfacing prior to offloading the marcos teams .

In the distance the brightly lit shape of of Star dazzle loomed large ,she was making about 8 knots and should be over their present position in a few minutes . Time was in short supply thought the marcos team as they quickly off loaded their underwater metal cutting gear and the scooters and set an interception course for the luxery ship . The Kilo submerged quickly once the marcos team were clear and started patroling the area at periscope depth ready to assist at a moments notice .

Medical science says -human biological activity is at its lowest at 0400 hrs and this is time slot selected by indian naval commando team to strike .
As they sliced thru murky waters of south china sea at a depth of approximately 50ft towards the single large bronze screw of the hijacked ship dragged by the powerful 5 hp elctric motor of the US made water scooters guided solely by their wrist stapped GPS recievers (which their delta force buddies "forgot " to take back after a gruelling counter insurgency exercise in the jungle of Mizoram ) all of them very carefully turned on the copper acetate shark repellent dye strapped to their left ankle . None of them were afraid to face the worlds most brutal terrorists but the tiger sharks that haunt the south china sea was another matter.

And the sharks were there for sure in great numbers but strangely didnot show much interest in the awkward form of navy diveres whether because of the evil smelling acetate dye or they were too full from last evenings macabre meal no one would ever know .

The marcos teams quickly intercepted the ship from both sides and quickly atached themselves to the pre designated spots by specially designed magnetic grappling hooks . Alpha team positioned them selves near the enormous bronze screw and started hooking up the underwater oxy-hydrogen gas cutting set . A smoke less blue flame errupted underwater as the igniter was cliked and a bluish white flame having a temperature of more than 3000 degree centigrade formed as molicules of hydrogen and oxygen combined with each other in an orgy of heat and flame and leaving behind a clear stream of superheated water vapour which immediately condensed in the surrounding sea and from up on the deck there was nothing to see except the dull glow of the cutting flame which looke like a misshapen reflection of the decklights dazzling above .

It took more than 2 minutes to cut thru the 35 mm thick steel hull and another 1 minute to place the explosives around the tail end propeller shaft bearing . The detonators were inserted and thewn they waited .They were 30 seconds too early

The bravo team also took up position just under the water line and and the lead member had his cynide tipped cross bow out others depended on more conventinal hi powered 9mm Browning hand guns . They waited never forgetting to put on their welders glasses as they looked up to sky for the show to begin. One of them took out a small infrared penlight pointed at the sky and pressed the switch .

The signal was instantly picked up by the E-3 sentry circling above and and senior air controler on duty spoke on the throat mike.

- volcano -volcano

The sea harriers came on low and fast and as they passed over the luxery liner released their full load of flares over the open deck and dissappeared into night sky . In an instant the night turned to day and all the terorists on watch duty lost their night vision for a minute or so and as later medical examination would reveal 3 of them of them lost their sight as the hot magnesium flares brighter than a million candles slowly parachuted down the sky .

This was the diversion the marcos were waiting for .Team alpha quickly detonated the shaped charge blowing out the bearing and the giant drive shaft came to a grinding halt . The first cyanide tiped arrow caught one of the terorists on throat and he died quickly but very painfully . Muffled thuds were heard all over as the Beta group quickly hurled over the magnetised grappiling hook over the rails of lower deck and scampered up . Alpha group entered the engine room thru the hole punched out by the explossive and a lone terrorist on guard duty was shot without remorse thru the head and a couple more thru the still twitching torso -just to make sure, as the rest of the team stepped over the body i a quick rush to the bridge up the gang way .

Luck was on Marcos side as most of the passemgers were in their cabins locked out from outside . The six terorists having the watch duty were first to go alraedy half blinded by the mass of flares dropped over them ,they were killed without oity and without a thought as they trie to refocus their damaged eyes and aim - they found out to their dismay killing unarmed civilians was quite different from standing up to a team of well trained comandos who were quite capable of playing their killing game in their won terms and much better .

Two more flashes on the infra signal lamp and the six USAF chinooks rushed in and the hovered over the open and now patly secure deck and the marine comandos strted slithering down the thin high tensile nylon ropes even before the heavy choppers came to a stanstill . One minute per chopper was programmed and that was enough -the last chopper landed on the helideck of star dazzle and the bulky portable neutron detectors were manhandled out before it also took off and started circling the ship ready to render any kind of assistance. The USAF technicians quickly donned thier NBC suits and powered up the unit and started their search for the neutron sources and as each spike appeared on the LCD dispaly it was marked on the tarnsparent ships plan and assigened a alpha numeric code . The indian commandos assigned with this group quickly rushed to designated spot and started the dangerous task of de arming the conventinal explossives which if exploded would spray the highly toxic plutonium dust all over the ship and into the ocean currents and wind and may cause am unimaginable eviromental catastrophe for years to come .

But the ship was not secure yet .Up on the bridge about 4 levels above the heli deck the master mind of this terror game was about to bring the drama below to a quick end . He has locked himself behind the armoured door and and checking on the detonation circuits one last time . The armoured glass window protected him fromthe small arms fire and for first time the indian commando group felt a bit helpless . It was a decision time and for Arun patel there was no hesitation as he keyed on his throat mike and asked for heavy support , and then dived for the deck .

The lone Hornet came in low and targeted the bridge right in the center of cross hair display on HUD . A small flash of fire and the Maverick air to surface missile glided into the bridge of star dazzle and exploded ina blinding flash turing the million dollar bridge equipment into scrap and the terrorists within into a mass of burned flesh in an instant .

The Siege of Star Dazzle was over .

Good job shankar!!!!!!!!
but Shankar, won't the harriers be too noisy for such a job????:?:
Because on an open ocean,a jet fighter would be heard from a long way off and also there are no other noises to drown the characteristic noise of a jet fighter.the jehadis can also be expected to be on the vigil since they were expecting an attack anyway,they can hardly be taken unawares!!!!!!
then there is the surprising fact that none of the countries started to negotiate,if for nothing else then to distract them and buy time.As they have learnt the hard way,it does not pay to enrage the terros, especially when so many of lives are at stake :not only from u'r country but other countries as well .
one last question::from where does the lone hornet come along ?? is it US or Indian??in either case ,from wher does it arrive at just the right moment as we are used to see in bollywod movies!!
the fact that marcos didnot prepare itself for the situation it found itself in even after geting achance to practice in its sister ship doesnot speak too well bout it,does it?

USS NIMITZ 500 KMS SOUTH OF STAR DAZZLE
----------------------------------------------------------
The dawn was breaking up over the eastern horizon as the single F-18 hornet came in to land from the north. Sea conditins were satisfactory and the aircraft made a perfect touchdown snagging the first of the 4 wires streched out across the flight deck. Nimitz was still too far out to to make any direct assitance as the indian navy ship was already on the "job" . However since the harriers donot carry much precision strike surface capability one of the 3 hornets on escort duty with the sentry was detailed to carry out the single decisive strike. .All of them were carrying one maverick each just for this kind of evantuality . It was the luck of lt col Patrcia Jones that she got to do the honours of literally blowing to hell the tero group leader in a quick reaction precision close air support mission. All she got for a job well done was a cup of hot coffe and a mention in the despatches . For her it was just another day .

Commander Vivek Roy the sea harrier team leader wiped his brow just once thinkimg of those long seconds over the hijacked ship. All depended on timing and the all his team mates executed the low level distraction mission with elan. The chances of a heat seeking missile launch was slim since at 500 ft and 600 knots and hundreds of flares blazing on the sky simultaneously chances of any missile actually striking home was very very remote. Far bigger threat was the lunatics actually pressing the dirty bomb buttons which thankfully they could not because of the disorientation caused bright lights couples with ultra swift action by the marine comandos. The modus operandi was similar to those used by SWAT teams when very bright light and sound s used to disorient hostile target for a few seconds as the good boys make the entry and shoot them to hell.

This time also the tactics worked -and thats what matters.

Well done Shankar--one small crib. All this is to Clancyish. Is real life so easy. On Minute 1, once the lights came on, wouldn't the hijackers detonate.

However, the strategic impact is great--China, India, and the US cooperating. The US would never forget India's role in this, and the subsequent unraveling will finish TSP. Great.

Shankar,

Very interesting. But please check your copy for ranks. USN like the RN and IN uses naval designations, it would be Cmdr.Patricia Owens not Lt.Col. Owens.

What if she was a marine? although, i'm not sure if there are lady fighter pilots in the marines.
when the hull was cut from underwater, wont a lot of seawater have come floodin into the ship through the hole? Surely, a modern ship like that would have given some kind of an alarm that would have alerted the teros? Also, when the hornet fired that missile in, how ould they know that the explosion wouldnt scatter the PU239 already in the room all over the place?

Shankar your scenario recently had a somewhat similar parallel without the PU stuff and killing. A luxury cruise liner was threatened by pirates in the high seas. Anyway, the action/thriller scenario of yours is way too superior and plausible with the Jehadi crowd. Great stuff and keep it coming!

Cruise liner outruns armed pirate boats

The pirates were in two small boats and were carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio.

The ship was carrying 150 passengers and a crew of about 160.

The ship, she said, immediately instituted its emergency response system. "The occupants of those boats did not succeed in boarding the ship and eventually turned away ... our captain and crew did a terrific job taking responsive action."

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS - NEW DELHI -THE DAY AFTER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The foriegn minister opened the hand delivered letter of thanks from secratary of state countersigned by the president of united states
" The people and Govt of united states express its deepest thanks for the timely intervention of indian armed forces particularly the indian navy and its superb group of marine comandos in saving hundreds of civilian lives many of whom were american citizens. We deeply appreciate your assistance
in a time of need and the families of those fortunate ones whose life was saved by this brave act along with the rest of the nation will forever remember this supreme act of selfless courage . Thank you .

P.S - A seperate invitation is being sent to INS VIRAT carrier group from our pacific naval command for a 2 week familarisation visit to our naval facilities and a bit of rest and recreation in the nearby cities of Los angeles and Las Vegas via Sandiego . We hope you will accord the nessecery permission.

UN SECURITY COUNCIIL -A WEEK AFTER
-----------------------------------------------
US moved a resolution calling for
1) the creation of a a multinational counter terror force to called tentatively GLOBFORAT (global force against terror )Unlike peace keeping forces this will be manned on a permanent basis and all member states who would like to utilise the services of this elite force will have to contribute 0.2 percent of its GDP to the UN . It will have sweeping military as well as legal power in an integrated way and will have the authority to requisition any military hard ware or personnel in times of crisis from amny of the member states and will be authorised to take action in any of the member states with or without prior intimation.
For them political boundaries will no longer be constraint.

2) There would be no negotiation with terorists under any circumstances . Any nation initiating discussion /negotiation with any terrorist organisation shall come under comprehensive economic sanctions and may also loose its UN membership.

3) GLOBALFORT personnel shall be pre authorised to shoot and kill any one committiing an act of terror or assisting the same. Any terrorrist taken prisnor shall be executed after interogation .Ther will be no trial for those who are physically caught in perpetuating an act of terror .

The list went on and on and the deliberations started in earnest -the free world was at last getting its act together and very soon the lunatic groups will have no place to run but then it was still few years away and in the meantime quite a few times the armed forces of the world and more particularly the state of india will be called in to make the supreme sacrifice for the safety and security of the innocents.

If both india and pakistan join this GLOBFORAT, and we wnat to hit the puki tero camps in pok, could we do that without informing the pakistanis?
if there were paki soldiers on such a counter tero team assembled, what would they say?