by Richard Wood
They held the debrief that evening, and it is then that the Pandavas and the rest of the crew learn how Indrajit has raped and tortured both Fantee and Glaina in an effort to learn the whereabouts of the Coorgis home star system. When that failed, he had resorted to drugs and both Fantee and Glaina were forced to talk. The Zedds now had confirmed co-ordinates for their home system.
“These Zedds are worse than sane minds can envisage,” pronounced Yudhishthira, after hearing Fantee and Glaina’s stories, “they should be put to death by impalement at the soonest opportunity,” he railed.
Ancore spoke, “one thing we must do is annihilate the Zedd before they can find a way to transmit this information back to their high command. Therefore, our highest priority is to seek out and destroy the Zedds wherever they are hiding.”
“Easier said than done Ancore,” Nassel interjected, “have you noticed that only one ship was at the fort, Ravana and the other ship haven't been seen for at least a month now, so where are they, and what diabolical plans are they hatching for us.”
“Now that you mention it, we haven't seen a sign of the other Zedd ship for a long time now. We should have seen it flying around while Adeetoo was flying top cover radar watch, but there has been no sign of it for at least a month as you say Nassel. This makes it even more imperative that we locate and deal with these Zedd ships before they can deal us a blow we may never recover from,” counselled Ancore.
“I think it would be prudent for us to have both Adeeone and Adeetoo flying very high radar watch, widely separated and flying high enough. They could cover this continent and its neighbours as far as the Nippon islands in the east and the Pharaoh lands in the west,” said Nassel.
“That is a splendid idea Nassel, but one of us will have to go up in one Lander. Adeetoo is required to look after the wounded and cannot be spared for high cover duties now. He can keep in touch with the high cover Landers by coded radio messages and stand watch in the remaining Lander whenever he is not tending the wounded, the able bodied among us will have to take turns, flying high cover until we have some positive evidence of where the Zedd ships are located,” replied Ancore.
Glaina put her hand to her mouth and suddenly suppressed a cry, Ancore quick to see that something or some thought had frightened Glaina.
She asked, “Glaina what's the matter, are you feeling all right?”
She replied hesitantly at first, “Oh Ancore a terrible thought just crossed my mind, suppose the Zedds have returned to the red planet. They could be trying to salvage weapons from the remains of the mother ship and relaunch the distress buoy, we found down in the canyon, if you remember we did not destroy it. It's still there sending out its message.”
Ancore looked thunderstruck for a few moments before she visibly gathered herself together, “now you have mentioned the red planet, we will have to check it out, if that is where they have disappeared to, and while there, also knock out that damn distress buoy.”
Nassel spoke out, “I would like to volunteer for this mission. I do have first-hand experience of the Zedd mother ship, and the distress buoy down in the canyon. If I could take Adeeone or Adeetoo with me that would be useful as they do not require food, water or oxygen, allowing me to carry extra stocks of these consumables for myself. The Lander with the pulsed laser weapon would I think be ideal for this mission,” he concluded.
Fantee looked heart broken, “Nassel. How could you go off to the red planet and leave me here alone,” she cried.
“Fantee my love, someone has to go to investigate. I am the obvious choice. Rogan is badly injured. Breen has lost his left hand; you and Glaina have been through enough. Ancore is needed here to organise things. That leaves me as the only able-bodied person left to carry out the mission. I also have the advantage of having been there before so I know what is in store for me, can't you see this is something that I have to do my love,” he appealed to her.
“Yes, I do see dearest heart, but I still don't like it,” she sobbed.
Glaina put her arm around her comforting her, “it's only a quick recce he's going on he will be back before you know it,” she said trying to comfort her friend.
Breen made a suggestion, “If Nassel is volunteering to go to the red planet, I would like to volunteer to fly top cover. We can't spare Adeetoo as he is busy tending to the wounded and Adeeone will be going with Nassel, my wound is healing, and with the pills Adeetoo has supplied me with it is surprisingly painless, this way I will feel I am doing something useful,” he added looking at Glaina.
She smiled at him indulgently, “good idea my love, Fantee and myself will take turns manning the remaining Lander and taking messages.”
Ancore smiled for the first time in a long while, what a magnificent crew she thought, “thank you all, for volunteering. I suggest we complete the top cover change over tomorrow morning, Nassel and Adeeone can depart at the same time, meanwhile I suggest all of us get the laser armed Lander ready for its long voyage to the red planet. It will need extra liquid oxygen tanks fitting and filling plus extra water tanks, then all the space suits will need checking and the Lander has to be stocked with a large selection of cuisine as food is all Nassel will have to look forward to on this long voyage.”
Fantee smiled at last, “Knowing my Nassel the replicator will be reprogrammed with all the dishes that aren't good for him the moment he thinks I can no longer see him.”
They got to work preparing the Lander for the trip to the red planet. Ancore informed Adeeone and Adeetoo of the new plans, when everything was ready for the morning, they had a light meal and retired for the night.
The following morning the changeover was completed, breakfast was over and there was nothing left to do but get on with the mission. Both Breen and Nassel had said their goodbyes, and now they lifted off together one stopping in the upper atmosphere, the other carried on building up speed as it finally left the atmosphere behind and started the long haul to the moon.
There it would use the moon's gravity to increase speed yet further before it slingshot off to the red planet. As Fantee had thought, Nassel had reprogrammed the replicator to produce all his favourite foods, and then Adeeone and Nassel spent a lot of time playing word games and chaturanga. It would take them almost a month to rendezvous with the red planet.
Breen plotted one of the Zedd ships visiting the Kaurava at Hastinapura during the night. It left early morning sending a coded radio message that lasted three minutes before it streaked eastward and finally disappeared off the screen.
Things were moving all over the country; the Emperor’s armies from Mohenjo-Daru and Harappa had at last started out to join the Pandava army at Indraprastha. The emperor was as good as his word and a huge fleet of over two hundred and eighty ships, each ship capable of taking over seven hundred passengers had assembled at the mouth of the Indus. They were loading the final amphora of water and foodstuffs ready to sail south to Lanka to transport the King of Lanka's army to the mainland.
Over in the east King Yalambar of the Kirati was leaving the valley of Kathmandu with a large army that was slowly making its way west toward Indraprastha to join the Pandava army.
Rogan was getting much better, the salve and the pills removed any pain. He was now chafing at the bit to get out of his charpoy and get about the palace and grounds Adeetoo had decided that it would be better to allow him out of bed and start learning to walk again. The laser blast had removed part of the upper thigh muscle on the outside of the right leg. This muscle was not going to regrow so now Rogan had to learn to walk without it. He would always limp and require a stick to help him to walk for the rest of his life.
Arjuna and Bhima were engaged in producing rockets for the rocket firing carts. They were simple rockets fired with a twisted cloth, and black powder fuse. The head of the rockets contained explosive powder and small pebbles, ignited by a pin in the head of the rocket that fired a striker of flint. The other type of rocket they were prod
ucing was the liquid fire rocket the head of the rocket contained a mixture of petroleum and calcium phosphate; mixing lime, bones and urine together, with sawdust. This was separated, from the rocket's propellant by a wad of thickly greased cloth. These rockets were designed to be fired on a high trajectory above the enemy, where they ignited in midair, and fell on the enemy in sheets of fire that was very difficult to put out. The other fire weapon they were making was designed to be fired by catapult, it consisted of sacks of pine sawdust mixed with pitch, sulphur, tow and granulated frankincense. The secret of this mixture had been handed down to the Pandava through the generations. Each type of rocket was painted a different colour. Wet fire rockets were red, and the explosive rockets were yellow. Each rocket was approximately two metres long.
After a week in high orbit, Breen was brought down and Fantee took up his duty on high radar watch, after another week Glaina would relieve Fantee, then Breen would relieve Glaina, until they had firm intelligence of the Zedds whereabouts or Nassel returned, whichever came first.
The weeks passed slowly for Nassel, every week he would communicate to the crew and Fantee by a coded message, but things were slow on the third planet. Meanwhile, the red planet grew day by day in the view screen, and finally, he had arrived. During the trip, he had been monitoring the x- band for Zedd distress beacons, he had found one early in his flight and had been plotting co-ordinates for it. The beacon was over three hundred thousand kilometres into its journey, which would eventually take it clear of this system and on into deep space. With his daily plots, he hoped to be able to fix the course of the distress buoy out of this system and have a good idea of its destination, if they had launched it toward their home system, he would be able to extrapolate the whereabouts of their home system from the data he had already collected.
He circled the red planet twice altering his trajectory so that he was travelling along the length of the giant series of canyons that stretched across the face of the red planet for over four thousand kilometres. He saw no sign of Zedds and eventually risked a radar scan of the canyon in which the Zedd mother ship was buried. It showed the mother ship but no other presence. The radiation monitors were only picking up one radiation source the mother ship.
Nassel sent a coded message back to the third planet saying he was about to enter the canyon to investigate further. He steered the Lander down into the canyon the sun was shining into the canyon, and it was quite bright down here very different from the last time he was here.
The Lander slid along the canyon homing in on the Zedd mother ship. When he arrived, he was amazed at the work that had gone on, nearly a third of the ships upper works had been cleared of sand, and a huge hole had been cut into her, it must have been at least seven metres long toward the centre of the ship. He hovered the Lander above the hole and could see racks of long tubular objects in a huge bay beneath him; some of the racks were empty. He decided to land and then investigate on foot. Parking beside the hole and putting on a space suit, he took a flash light and a length of rope, leaving the Lander in command of Adeeone, “Keep an eye open for Zedds,” he told Adeeone before leaving the Lander. He did not need the rope. On one side of the hole, he found a set of crudely constructed steps. He descended down into the bowels of the Zedd ship, looking around he decided he was in an armoury and started taking a closer look at the racks of tubes.
Suddenly, it dawned on him what it was he was looking at. They were atomic missiles, racks of them. Each missile was about six metres long the rear part of the missile was a fuel tank and a rocket engine. The centre section was a guidance computer system, and the front section contained the warhead. He knew because he stood in front of one that had its covers stripped off it, for some reason. Looking at the smooth round warhead, he knew it was a nuclear device.
He checked the whole bay and determined that at least five missiles were minus warheads, and three empty racks made him think the Zedds had loaded three missiles and an extra five warheads aboard the daughter ship before they had departed.
They had also recovered the distress buoy and sent it on its way, presumably when the girls had been broken and the Zedds had learned of the Coorgis home system co-ordinates, they were radioed to the Zedds up here, who had incorporated that information in the distress beacon before launching it toward deep space.
“Adeeone leave the Lander and come down here I need your expertise,” called Nassel on the intercom.
“Yes Nassel,” replied Adeeone as he made his way down into the Zedd mother ship.
When he arrived, Nassel was standing peering into the centre section of the missile that had the covers stripped off it.
Nassel asked him, “What do you make of this computer section Adeeone, could it be used to set up a delayed triggering of the nuclear warhead.”
Adeeone looked into the centre section then began tracing wires to different places inside the missile. After examining the workings for several minutes he pronounced, “yes by setting these four switches into the correct sequence then dialling in the delay required here on this keypad and setting the main arming switch there to on, the missile will detonate at the set time interval.”
“Brilliant Adeeone, please set this missile to self-destruct in twelve hours from now, and then I think we should dismantle two of these warheads to take with us. They could come in very useful for a later date.” They found a spare tool kit in one of the lockers and stripping two warheads from the missiles loaded them on the Lander. This took them almost two hours to accomplish.
They took off and headed for space accelerating all the way to their rendezvous with the third planet. Ten hours later, an enormous flash lit up the canyon on the red planet causing a vast cloud of dust to spread like a red stain across the face of the planet.
“Well that has stopped them using their mother ship as a supply depot Adeeone,” chortled Nassel pleased with the results of the trip so far, “With a bit of luck, we will also be able determine where their home system is located.” Nassel sent a coded message back to the rest of the crew telling them what he and Adeeone had accomplished on the red planet, also what time he would be due back on the third planet.
The Emperor’s fleet had reached the island of Lanka, and anchored in a sheltered bay while rafts and slings were used to load elephants and horses. It had been the intention to transport the army to the Indus river delta, but the Lankan army was so huge it would take many trips back and forth to carry the army to the river Indus.
The admiral had conferred with King Muktananda, and they had decided that the most sensible course of action was to ferry the whole army across the narrow straits to the mainland. Then for the King and the army to march up country from there, meanwhile the fleet would sail back empty to the Indus delta and report to the Emperor.
The largest army unit was an Akshauhini. This consisted of 65,610 cavalry. 109,350 Infantry. 21,870 Chariots. 21,870 Elephants In the ratio of 1 chariot, 1 Elephant, 3 cavalry and 5 infantrymen per fighting group. In all the King of Lanka had raised an army of three-quarters of a million men. All the able horses on the island had been commandeered, along with all the available elephants. The horses amounted to almost one hundred thousand, and the elephants numbered thirty thousand. Apart from this large force, King Muktananda had sent emissaries to the King of Kamboja to enlist the aid of the Kamboja cavalry, some of the finest cavalry known. Promising them, gold, pearls, and emeralds if they rode into battle on the side of the Pandava and Lankan army.
The admiral had decided in consultation with King Muktananda that the army would be landed farther up the Cola peninsular at a port called Arikaveda. This would leave the army a march of about two thousand kilometres before they could join the Pandava army, the march would take them about two hundred days or roughly six and a half months to complete.
Nassel and Adeeone had arrived back at Indraprastha, to the great joy of Fantee, who had missed him terribly, and the rest of the crew. When h
e showed them the nuclear warheads he had brought back with him, the crew were overjoyed. They had another weapon to use in the continuing war against the Zedd, that it was one of the Zedds own weapons added to the feeling of euphoria among the crew.
Rogan was getting around using a stick to assist him walking, but it was still early days, as Adeetoo had impressed on him. He would get fitter and more agile as time went on, eventually the limp would be hardly noticed, but he would always require a stick to help him.
All of Indraprastha and its surrounding towns and villages were fully engaged in the war effort. Chariots and carts are being built everywhere, bows, shields, arrows, swords, lances, maces and armour, were being churned out by hordes of tradesmen of the various guilds. All the princes and those able to afford it favoured the wearing of chain mail it was so much more comfortable to wear and gave equal protection as the cumbersome armour. The war bows, they were making stood higher than a man did, and the arrows were three metres long. They are fired by the archer putting one of his feet on the centre of the bow, and drawing the bow as far back as possible using his body and arms, while still aiming the bow. The arrow once released would at a range of over a hundred metres, penetrate any known armour, skewer horses and elephants; it was a deadly weapon in skilled hands.
The Pandava commissary officers were already scouring the neighbouring countries and purchasing goats, pigs, and chickens, maize, rice, beans, peas, cooking bananas, salted fish, and fresh fruits of all descriptions. Fresh water was being stored in huge spring fed tanks; it required an army of transport wagons to fetch all the food and water required by the assembling armies. Pandava commissary officers were continually coming across Kaurava commissary officers also trying to purchase foodstuff and future crops from the same peoples, this had led almost to open warfare in some places, and squadrons of cavalry now protected the commissary officers. On both sides, the hostilities were growing by the month. Food was being sought further, and further afield, herds were being driven toward Hastinapura and Indraprastha to feed the growing armies from over a thousand kilometres distance.
Caravans from all over the continent were converging on either Hastinapura or Indraprastha with general goods, clothing, food delicacies, wine, horses, and elephants, women camp followers, dancers, jugglers, soothsayers, and fortune tellers, story tellers, acrobats, apothecaries. The lands of Hastinapura and Indraprastha were having their populations increased daily, and all these people required food and water. The lands appeared full to bursting with soldiers and civilians, and thousands more streamed in every day.
In the air, Adeeone was back flying top cover. It was at the height of the day that that he first detected it. He immediately sent a signal to the ground watch Lander and contacted Rogan, who sent a runner to fetch Ancore and the rest of the crew. When they arrived, Rogan passed on the message from Adeeone, a Zedd ship was heading for the Indus valley at high speed, it had appeared from somewhere in the land of Chini, and was currently passing over the Himalayan foothills if it maintained its course it would pass over the city of Harappa in around an hour’s time. Ancore and Rogan decided to take one Lander, Nassel and Fantee took the other one. Breen and Glaina had gone on a picnic, it would take too long to locate them, so they were left behind, speed was of the utmost importance if they were to try to catch the Zedd ship.
They took off and headed northwest toward Harappa, trying to head off the Zedd ship and get it in range, the quicker they could annihilate the Zedds the better they would feel. They watched the ship on radar. It would reach Harappa long before they could, it must have known that the Landers were chasing it, and that it was under radar surveillance, but it did not alter course, it obviously had an important mission.
As the Zedds closed on Harappa, the ship started to climb and levelled off at forty thousand feet.
“What are they up to Rogan,” asked Ancore?
“I think they are on a bombing run, and we are too far away to be able to stop them,” he answered glumly. They did not need to guess anymore. The heat flash seared the Landers, although they were still miles away. Then the blast hit tumbling them over before the autopilots could compensate, both pilots of the Landers, turned them away from the horror that had been Harappa.
The two Lander crews sat stunned, watching the evil flame filled cloud roiling higher and higher over what had been a bustling and vibrant city, which had been wiped from the face of the planet.
“Quick the diabolical swine are heading for Mohenjo-Daru called Nassel over the radio.”
Rogan replied he had been working out trajectories, “Nassel, we will never catch them in time. We need to use our brains, after Mohenjo-Daru the Zedds will have to turn north or south to double back home. We can increase our chances of intercepting them if we split up; we will go north of them. You go south. Whichever way they turn, they will find one of us closing in on them.”
Nassel replied glumly, “Yes Rogan, I've just run the figures. We will go south of them woe betide them if they turn our way.” They could do nothing more for now, except be spectators to the evil unfolding before them.
The flash was brighter than fifty suns, and the blast rocked the Landers but this time they were very much farther away and ready for it. Rogan called Adeeone down to intercept if the Zedd carried straight on.
Ten minutes later, they must have realised that they could not run for cover this time. Frantic radio messages are being sent by the Zedds.
“They are heading our way,” called Nassel, who was veering to intercept them as they swung south out over the ocean then headed for the continent's western shore.
They crossed the coast just below the large bulge of the coastline; Bleee Blah Bleee Blah the missile alarm went off. Nassel turned it down as Fantee switched the rail gun to automatic; the computer locked on to the missiles and started a defensive fire. Three rounds took out both missiles, and the Zedd ship was now jinking around the sky as Fantee targeted it and fired. Her first disc missed but her second clipped the edge of the Zedd ship damaging it but not enough to bring it down.
Bleee Blah Bleee Blah missiles were pouring from the Zedd ship; Fantee really had her hands full now trying to knock out the missiles that were pouring from the Zedd ship threatening to overwhelm them by sheer weight of numbers.
Nassel had started jinking now and although Fantee was knocking out missiles as fast as she could the range was shortening rapidly, very soon now they would be hit.
Rogan and Adeeone were frantically trying to close on the Zedd ship, but neither of them dare fire at the missiles as the two ships were too close together at this range from them, they were likely to hit the Lander.
The intercom was open and Fantee had unconsciously started singing the battle hymn of the United Planets, as she was fully engaged knocking out the incoming missiles.
Nassel was jinking violently, Adeeone being closest fired a long-range burst of laser fire at the Zedd ship, although he hit it, it didn't appear to have any effect at that extreme range, Rogan was too far away to do anything but watch and pray as events unfolded.
With both ships jinking all over the sky one of Fantee’s shots at the missiles missed, but hit the Zedd ship on its port upper works. It started trailing smoke and slowed fractionally; at the same time, Fantee hit a missile that was too close and the Lander staggered, wobbling before it managed to right itself.
Both ships seemed to dive before they tried to pull away from each other, but it was too late at the combined speed they were travelling. They collided in midair. The Lander appeared to come off worse, and all sound from it ceased except a rising roar over the intercom, as the vessel spiralled downwards out of control. Rogan was frantically calling Nassel but there was no reply.
Ancore called to him, “they must have lost consciousness in the collision.” Nevertheless, he kept continuously calling Nassel and receiving no reply. The other two Landers began to come to the realisation that maybe Nassel and Fantee were
not going to make it, as their ship plummeted faster and faster in a vicious spin heading for the ground far below.
The Zedd ship was also in a crisis. It had stood on its side, smoke pouring through a rent in the vessel, suddenly a red explosion from within blossomed and the vessel now plunged vertically toward the ground, both the Lander and the Zedd ship trajectories bringing them closer and closer together. It happened about Five hundred feet above the ground. The two ships collided the flash was so bright that Adeeone's eye protectors automatically deployed, and both Landers were hurled like match sticks in a maelstrom end over end, the automatic seats trying frantically to compensate until both pilots managed to bring their craft under control.
A huge fireball was roiling upwards, both craft raced away from the awful apparition as fast as they could go. The blast had been enormous racing outwards in a huge ring at the speed of sound, now both pilots checked their craft for damage before the blast hit them again on its return journey back to the centre of the blast where it all began.
They circled at a safe distance appalled at what had happened the two craft had exploded near a river, which had promptly turned to super-heated steam and boiled away for kilometres in each direction. Huge fires were burning in the underbrush several miles from the centre of the explosion in a vast circle. The epicentre of the explosion had been at a place they later found out was called Vindhyacala on the Normod River. Luckily, there were no settlements hereabouts.
They circled for almost half an hour hardly being able to take in the awful turn of events that had claimed the lives of Fantee and Nassel, although they had seen it, it was so hard to believe they were gone forever.
Ancore spoke for all the crew, “Nassel and Fantee, we hope that you have found everlasting peace in the great hereafter. You will both live in our memories for as long as we exist, farewell until we all meet again.”
The circular crater left by the blast must have been over two thousand metres in diameter it had been the most powerful explosion any of them could imagine. They talked about it on the way back to Indraprastha and decided the Zedd ship must have had at least one nuclear device left plus its propulsion system. The Lander had at least five hundred mini hydrogen bomb discs aboard and its nuclear reactor to power the antigravity system. No wonder it had been such an enormous explosion.
When they arrived back at Indraprastha and told Breen and Glaina the awful news they were devastated especially Glaina the tears fell from her cheeks in rivulets, she and Fantee had become so very close during captivity. Ancore addressed the remaining crew, “we have lost two of our shipmates and close friends; let it be known that the entry in the captain’s log reads as follows. Nassel Srinath security and weapons officer along with his mate Fantee Ellama communications specialist did this day engage single-handedly a Zedd enemy flying machine that had just dropped nuclear bombs on two civilian cities on the third planet wiping them from the face of the planet. They flew their Lander at the Zedd ship, which they immediately attacked with utmost determination, and great courage. During the engagement although damaged, they nevertheless pressed home the attack badly crippling the enemy machine. Both machines then collided in midair and fell toward the surface of the third planet before again colliding just above the ground. Both were annihilated in an enormous nuclear blast. I recommend that both officers be awarded posthumously the highest honour a grateful system can bestow, the diamond cluster medal of valour, respectfully captain Ancore of the late Deep Space Survey Vessel Seven.”
The whole crew was glad that Nassel and Fantee had been put forward in the captain’s log for the medal of valour, but grieving for the loss of their friends and crewmates.
The Pandava could not believe that Harappa and Mohenjo-Daru had been wiped off the face of the planet, they impressed on the crew that they were never to mention the destruction of the emperor and the cities of Mohenjo-Daru and Harappa, even among themselves.
As Yudhishthira explained to them, “my friends, if the Emperor’s armies that are en-route heard about this, they might not fight. Especially if they know, the emperor will not pay them, as he and his treasury have been vaporised. Everywhere, there are spies, which is why I ask you not to talk about this among yourselves, even now we may be too late, even the walls have ears hereabouts”
The crew agreed to keep quiet about what had happened. Ancore asked Yudhishthira, “Will not the fact that one Lander plus Nassel and Fantee are missing arouse curiosity, especially among any spies around the palace.”
“You are right Ancore, we must come up with a feasible story of why they aren't here. My idea is that we let it be known that Nassel and Fantee along with one Lander have gone to help the Emperor with an important project in Mohenjo-Daru.” The rest of the Pandava and the crew agreed, it was casually leaked that Nassel, and Fantee had gone to Mohenjo-Daru in one of the Landers to assist the Emperor.
Rogan sent Adeeone back up in the laser armed Lander to fly top cover, Adeetoo had few doctor duties now and could stand more watches manning the radio in the Lander, and he did every night watch, as he did not require sleep. They still needed to know where the Zedd flying machine was; it was thought they had a base somewhere in the land of the Chini over the Himalayas, as that was where the destroyed Zedd ship had come from. They must be extra vigilant now, as the war loomed closer.
For the next two months, they busied themselves in teaching the Pandava army Kalarippayat and helping the Pandava in any way they could. The Zedd ship arrived one night at the Kaurava palace at Hastinapura and stayed. Spies reported that Ravana was in charge of a top-secret building project and Chini metallurgists had been brought in to assist, the only other information was that metal ores were being smelted, and metal was being fabricated. The rest was shrouded in secrecy, as the Chini were kept in their own special compound.
King Yalambar of the Kirati arrived with his army. The Pandava prepared a great feast for their staunch ally, and the crew were presented to him. He was a short stocky man with twinkling brown eyes, and mustachioed. Ancore was reminded of Taskinti when she met him, he had the same sort of warmth of character. His tribe the Kirati, Yudhishthira told her later was one of the poorer tribes, compared to some in the countryside around who had great wealth. Even so, he had raised a great army in support of the Pandava cause, and they in turn thought very highly of King Yalambar.
“He is a very astute King and treats his peoples with absolute fairness; because of this, they adore him and would follow him to the ends of the planet. Which is why he has managed to bring seven hundred thousand men and two hundred thousand horses plus goats, sheep, ox, and yak by the thousands to help feed and clothe his men, who are some of the finest fighting men you will come across on this planet Ancore,” he told her.
“Do you know where you will fight this war, do you have a place picked out that you can study, how is the place of battle decided,” she asked him.
“So many questions it makes my head spin,” he replied laughing.
“To answer your question both sides decide where the battle will be fought and how the battle will be fought.
As Kshatriya, we have a duty of honour. Peoples who are not combatant will not be harmed. The fields, crops, trees, and dwellings of the subjects who tend the land will not be harmed; neither will any of the peoples of the land. The war will be strictly conducted amongst the warriors of the opposing armies.”
“We have a game we call Chaturanga,” Ancore told him, “this is a game of warfare developed long ago by my people when they were planning battle strategy. It would let them decide what the outcome of a battle would be, without committing any troops; the whole idea of the game is to force the opposing king to surrender with whatever troops he has left at his disposal.”
When the Pandava heard about planning the outcome of battle strategy without using troops, they became consumed with curiosity.
“Can you explain this Chaturanga to us,” asked Yudhishthira.
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br /> Ancore asked him to wait for a moment and fetched her and Rogan’s set from their room. She put the board in the middle of the table and set up the pieces.
“As you can see the board is eight squares by eight squares this is to represent the countryside the battles are fought in, divided into squares for ease of representation. Each side has a King or Raj, and a Councillor or Senapati, and in your battle arrays these pieces would be two battle elephants or Gaja, these two cavalry horses or Asva, these two chariots, or Ratha, and then eight foot soldiers or Bhata all these pieces represent your army. The King can move one square at a time, the Councillor can move in any direction as far as he can,” Ancore continued the explanation of the game.
Then showed Yudhishthira by playing a game with him how to use the various pieces, he and his brothers were agog. It only took three games with them all watching and suggesting moves, for them to learn all the moves the various pieces could, or were allowed to make that corresponded to what a real army could do.
“This is wonderful Ancore,” crowed Yudhishthira, who along with his brothers had quickly grasped the principles of the game.
They could see the benefit of practising moves and counter moves and seeing the outcome without actually committing the army. “May I take this and get it copied by my master carpenter Ancore,” he asked.
“Please do,” she replied delighted that the Pandava brothers were so taken by the game.
After the Pandavas had taken their leave and departed with the Chaturanga set, Ancore asked the rest of the crew, “What are we going to do about Ravana and his ship that is now parked in Hastinapura?” Rogan replied, “I find these reports about Chini metal workers and a secret production of whatever they are engaged in, very disturbing indeed, would it be possible to overfly them at high altitude and see what they are up to.”
Breen spoke up, “I agree with Rogan, we should try by all means possible to find out what these fiends are up to.”
“If their ship is parked at Hastinapura. Why don’t we attack it and wipe them out,” asked Glaina?
“That might be easier said than done,” answered Rogan. “You can't believe they have left the ship unprotected. It is bound to be ringed with missile launchers and a crew aboard just in case they don't want to stay and fight.”
Ancore spoke, “we have just lost Fantee and Nassel in a fight to the death with one of their craft. They are not stupid, and they can give as good as they get, and I for one do not intend attacking them so soon. When we do the odds will have to be far more in our favour.”
The rest of the crew agreed with Ancore’s sentiments.
“What about a high level recce then,” asked Breen?
It was agreed, and as it was getting late Adeetoo was instructed to contact Adeeone flying high cover and get him to drift over Hastinapura the following day to try to find out what was being fabricated in the secret compounds.
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Chapter Eleven
