Vimana

To his surprise, they looked a bit perplexed. Then Shiva broke out laughing and the others joined in. Narada, a broad smile on his face, came to Aaditya and said, 'Let's just say that we've been around a while in these parts and we have come to like these names, so we made them our own. Now come on, we'll get you a ride home.'

Aaditya was at the door when Kartik burst in from a side door. Aaditya was shocked at seeing him so soon after the battle, and with no apparent signs of injury.

'A US Air Force F-22 has gone down in the desert over Iraq. They're calling it an accident during a routine training mission.'

Narada gestured with a hand and a holographic screen came up. In one corner, playing in a small box was CNN, showing the Breaking News.

'Ganesha, what do we know? A real accident or our friends at it again?'

As if on cue, a young man walked in. Unlike the others who looked like athletes or soldiers, this newcomer was short and potbellied. He seemed to have unusually large ears, and wore old-fashioned wire rimmed spectacles.

'What do you think? I hacked into the Pentagon servers, and they have no clue what happened. The plane just disappeared.'

Aaditya hugged the wall, realizing that in the chaos, everyone had forgotten about him, assuming that he had gone out of the room. Indra motioned towards the display and a world map came up, a few dots scattered on it.

'These are the aircraft we know they were responsible for destroying before 2000, because they stumbled upon them, or perhaps Maya and his goons just wanted to indulge their bloodlust. This is what has happened since then.'

The map now filled with dots, and a few began blinking. Durga spoke up.

'Many more, as if they are stepping up on purpose, but also so many missing and never found.' The display now showed only a dozen or so blinking lights.

'And all of them are top of the line aircraft in the Earth's major air forces-Rafales in France, Eurofighters in England, Blackjack bombers in Russia, the Su-30 from India and now this. What are they up to?' asked Indra to nobody in particular.

'If you ask me, they are preparing for war, trying to learn about these craft before they strike. Remember that their kritika vimanas are not much more advanced than these aircraft,' said Brahma.

'So Kalki will fulfill the prophecy,' said Vishnu, with venom in his voice.

Shiva almost spat out his words, 'Prophecy! He will rule over a pile of ash. Has he learnt nothing from last time?'

Aaditya had no idea what they were talking about, but something in their conversation struck a chord.

'A Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force?' he asked aloud, to nobody in particular.

Everyone in the room seemed to freeze and the display disappeared. Narada was the first to react and came towards him, 'Aadi, we didn't know you were still here. Come on, we'll get you to your flight.'

Aaditya shrugged off his touch and walked towards the group. Secret organization or not, fierce unknown warriors or not, one could not walk away from some things. He spoke, his voice rising, as he struggled to come to grips with what he thought he had uncovered.

'The Indian Air Force has lost only one Sukhoi whose wreckage was never traced.'

Everyone looked at him in silence as he continued. 'That plane was flown by my father.'

He looked at Brahma to see his reaction, but in the old man's eyes, he saw only sympathy, no surprise.

'You knew….'

Brahma held up his hand.

'Aadi, your father's plane was taken by the same enemies we fight. Yes, we knew that. But you still need not get involved. Go home and get on with your life.'

Aaditya almost screamed, his voice choking with emotion. 'Go back and sit at a desk in college and pretend that I don't know who killed my father? Pretend that he died in an accident, when I now know he was murdered by the same bastards I've seen over the last few days? No sir, I cannot do that.'

Shiva walked up and held Aaditya around his shoulder, as if comforting him.

'Aadi, all you will get is pain. Once you learn more, I don't know how you will ever be able to cope with being back home.'

'At least give me that choice. It's my father we are talking about.'

Brahma motioned for the others to step back.

'Very well then. Come over here and listen to what really happened to your father.'

SIX

Hawk One en route to waypoint three. Hawk Two has some FOD and is coming home.

Hearing his father's voice again was like an electric shock for Aaditya. Everyone else in the room had stepped back, leaving Aaditya alone in front of the holographic display. He watched a blue dot representing his father's plane move across the green tinged landscape. He knew that his father's wingman had aborted the sortie due to what was called in aviation parlance 'foreign object damage', which turned out to be a small bird hitting one of his jet intakes. The next ten minutes were routine reports from his father on the progress of his mission, which has been to test out flight characteristics of his aircraft after being loaded with the newly inducted Brahmos cruise missile. Then came the first sign of trouble.

I see something emerging from the water. Do we have a submarine in the area?

Hawk One, negative. Please confirm it is a submersible.

Going down to take a closer look.

It's large and spherical. Not a submarine for sure.

Hawk One, confirm your last transmission, please.

I see two craft taking off from its surface and coming towards me. Radar shows negative.

Hawk One, can you ID the bogeys?

They look like…..saucers, one has a red tip. They are flanking me now. Intent seems hostile, request authorization to take evasive measures.

Then there was silence. Aaditya fell to his knees. Narada made to come towards him but Brahma waved him back.

'They said it was an accident. Why did they lie?'

'Because no government likes to make such incidents public,' said Brahma.

Aaditya's mind was in turmoil. He had no idea what he should do. 'Aadi, perhaps it was fate that got you involved in all this, but we had no idea whatsoever of who you were till you posted online about the Delhi incident and we had to start doing background checks. Believe me, we would rather have not got you involved at all.'

Shiva knelt down beside Aaditya. 'I am a father. I nearly lost a son today, so I feel your pain. But I also think it's best that you get back to your life. You're young and have your whole life ahead of you.'

'A life spent knowing who my father's murderers are. No, I cannot do that.'

Indra raised Aaditya up.

'Son, what do you want to do?'

'I want to help you destroy those murderers.'

'Don't be foolish. What could you possibly do to help us?'

'Let me fly,' he pleaded.

'That's impossible!'

'I flew one of your vimanas back here, didn't I?'

Brahma intervened and motioned for Indra to back down.

'Aadi, you're angry, and I can understand that, but take some time to think it over. If you really want to stay and help us, we will not stop you, but don't be reckless. Your flying the vimana back was impressive but flying in combat against Maya and others like him is totally different.'

Aaditya was about to protest when Shiva spoke up, 'Look son, we don't just fly around. It gets up close and dirty, as you have seen. And there, you wouldn't last a minute.'

Aaditya thought Shiva was referring to his handicap, and he exploded in anger.