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The Mig-21 is agile like a sports car. But pulling out after a tight inner flip-turn after cutting afterburner strained the airframe and the response was sluggish. The aircraft dived below the peaks. Standard tactics.

All eight Indian R-77 shots were now in terminal phase and on their own now that they had lost the radar guidance from the launch aircraft. Presumably the Chinese pilots had done the same.

If not, well…

Tikkar noticed that he was over Paru…

The Joint-Force-Bhutan troops were getting a firsthand look at the battle taking place in the skies above. The first two Mig-21s screeched through the valley at low-altitude and full afterburner. Three enemy missiles streaked over the peaks from the northern leading exhaust trails line a line across the sky. The first R-77 slashed past the two Indian aircraft, having completely lost all contact with its target.

The remaining two missiles snapped down on acquisition and slashed across the flight-path of the two Indian pilots. One of the two missiles detonated in front of the rear Mig-21 in the pair…

The ensuing fireball and shockwave encompassed the doomed aircraft as it passed through it. When it exited the cloud a split-second later, it disintegrated into several pieces. The fuselage flipped over and snapped into several pieces and the onboard fuel ignited, sending smoky pillars of debris earthward just beyond the Paru airport perimeter.

“Oh god! Bull-rider-two is down! I say again, Bull-rider-two is down east of Paru airfield!” the other pilot’s voice broke over the comms, strained from the shock. But the bad news kept on piling.

“Bull-rider-four is down!”

“Eagle-Eye-Three, I need a sitrep, now!” Tikkar demanded.

On board the AEW aircraft, the mission commander ran his hands over his forehead upon hearing the news. And the battle had just begun…

“Bull-rider-Actual, we show one S-U-Two-Seven is down! The other is somewhere in the weeds north of Thimpu! Three Juliet-tens are spreading into BVR pattern over northern Bhutan, waiting for you!”

“Roger! Bull-rider-Three, confirm copy of last!” Tikkar ordered while taking his aircraft north by cutting through the valleys.

“Bull-rider-Three copies all! Pop-up I-R shots?”

“Affirmative! Stick to the valley floors! I do not have visual on you, so we are doing this individually. Good I-R contrast against the cold skies from down below! Keep an eye out for that other Sierra-Uniform bird to our north. Don’t mix it up with him! Out!” Tikkar shouted, and flipped his selection to the infrared guided R-60 missiles, of which he had two.

The J-10Bs had spread into a loose line-abreast formation just as they cleared into northern Bhutan. Now they were scanning south for the two evading Mig-21s. They had already detected the emissions from the CABS AEW to the south, which they knew to be directing the Indian defenses, but it was too far away.

Come on! Just a little further…

Tikkar willed mentally as his aircraft streaked over Thimpu at full supersonic speeds, shattering glass panes all over the city. His eyes were looking up in the sky above.

There!

“This is Bull-rider-Actual! Tally-ho!”

Tikkar pulled his aircraft up, bringing the view from his HUD to cover what his eyeballs had already detected: four dark specks against the darkening night sky to the north. The infrared optics of the R-60 had already locked on their prey as the Mig-21 cleared the peaks. Since he came up against the terrain, he had gone undetected. Till now.

The J-10s began breaking formation. They had seen the lone Indian pilot climbing up to them from below.

Tikkar fired off his two R-60s one after another towards two different targets. With these kinetics on the missile and its prey, he could hardly miss. The two thin white trails of the R-60s slammed into their targets within seconds of each other, ripping through two brand new Chinese J-10Bs…

“Splash one! And Splash two! You are not taking down Bull-rider that easy today, reds!” Tikkar exclaimed over the radio. His comms heard all the way to the AEW crew over southern Sikkim.

With his Mig-21 still at positive pitch and climbing, he cleared the target azimuth and began maneuvering to merge with the J-10s in a turning fight in the horizontal plane just as a third fireball erupted behind another J-10, sending licks of flame coming out of the fuselage of that aircraft. A moment later the cockpit canopy blew out and the pilot ejected…

“Bull-rider-Three, at your service, Leader!”

“Damn good to hear from you, boy! Do you have visual on the other buggers? I don’t ha…”

A streak of yellow tracer rounds flew past his cockpit glass. Tikkar flipped his aircraft instinctively to the side to evade. A large blur passed by the side of his glass in the darkness. The surviving Su-30 was back!

Holy crap!

“Bull-rider-Actual, you got a Flanker right within you guys!” the AEW operator warned.

“No shit! Bull-rider-Three: go after the other Juliet birds! I will take the Flanker!”