'Kartik, you will be flying top cover with me. I don't expect the Asuras to mess with us in the air, but we can't leave Shiva exposed on the ground. Narada is already on the ground, and is ensuring the target information we have is accurate and will also jam all transmissions-human and Asura, while the operation lasts. Shiva, are your Ganas ready?'
Shiva grinned and whistled. Aaditya was taken aback by the arrival of a dozen men who looked more like a group of kids than soldiers. Each was no more than four feet tall with clean-shaven heads and large, bulging eyes in their strangely elongated heads. They were all dressed in what seemed to be little more than brown loincloths, showing off their enormous muscles. Each carried some sort of weapon strapped to his back. Despite their size, they moved with the precision of trained soldiers, marching as one and then standing near the large vimana that Shiva piloted.
'Ganas, get into the Nandi. We're ready for takeoff.'
A door swung open on the side of the vimana and the men walked in wordlessly.
'Who the hell are those creatures?' Aaditya whispered to Kartik. Shiva answered for him. 'Those are my Ganas. Kalki has his daityas, and these are my own clone army. The daityas are clumsy oafs, but sometimes numbers do matter. And don't be misled by their small size, the Ganas will cut your throat before you know it.'
As Kartik nudged Aaditya to follow him to his vimana, he heard Shiva bellow at the top of his voice, 'Come on, folks, it's time to smash in some heads!'
***
They had been flying in silence for ten minutes, the three vimanas abreast of each other, when Aaditya asked Kartik what was on his mind.
'I get the stealth part, and how nobody picks your vimanas up on radar, but won't people be able to see you, flying in broad daylight like this?'
Kartik just tapped his head in response.
'It's all in the mind. Just as we fly with our thoughts, we can wish our vimanas to be invisible. Hard to explain in terms of your technology, but think of it as a sort of cloaking device, a skin that absorbs all light and makes the vimana virtually invisible. The downside is, we are blind too-when we activate that, our sensors turn off and we rely only on visual flight rules.'
Their vimana started a gradual descent as it crossed the Pakistan-Afghan border. It was still at an altitude of more than 70,000 feet but the skies below looked crowded, with dozens of green dots. As Aaditya sought their identities, they appeared below each dot. They were all American aircraft and a handful of loitering Predator drones. Then he saw three red dots streak in from the north border.
'So, the intelligence was right. Our Asura friends are here right on cue.'
Aaditya felt a tightening in his stomach, and involuntarily took out his good luck charm. Wanting to avenge his father was one thing, but knowing he was going to be in the thick of battle against the monsters he had encountered on his roof was another thing altogether. Kartik, perhaps sensing his anxiety, reached over and handed him something. Aaditya looked in his palm to see a small, cylindrical object, like a pocket flashlight or perhaps a laser pointer. It was black and had a small switch at one end, and two buttons-one red, the other yellow.
'Aadi, we'll stay in the air, so you shouldn't need it, but just in case. The switch turns it on. Yellow stuns and red, well, it makes them go…poof!'
Aaditya nodded as he remembered Shiva using a weapon like this one during the battle on his rooftop. The vimana was now less than 20,000 feet above the mountains and descending rapidly. As they came lower, Aaditya could see that the Asura craft had landed in a valley, and near them were two jeeps full of men. Indra's vimana was still nearby but Shiva's craft peeled off to the right.
'Now we go in blind.'
Kartik muttered something, and the display disappeared. Aaditya looked out the cockpit to find he could no longer see either accompanying vimana. As he looked carefully, he thought he saw some distortion in the air where they were, but to the casual observer who did not know what he was looking for, they had for all intents and purposes, disappeared. More than a dozen daityas were encircling the two jeeps and Maya stepped forward to address the occupants. The men got out and knelt before Maya, laying an assortment of AK-47s and RPG launchers by their side.
'Al Qaeda's finest. The scum of your world cavorting with the scum of ours. How appropriate.'
'Kartik, they're all packed together. Why don't we just take them out?'
'We could just blow these bastards to hell right now, but how would your governments like to deal with the radioactive fallout of that little toy there? There's a town of twenty thousand not too far away and Brahma would vaporize us if we went back with innocent blood on our hands.'
Aaditya looked to where Kartik was pointing, and saw a large metal box just behind Maya. He sucked in his breath, realizing just what he was going to be a part of. He was also now close enough to make out Maya's features. This was the creature who had been responsible for his father's death. He gripped the weapon Kartik had given him in his right hand, raising it to point at Maya.
Kartik gently lowered Aaditya's hand.
'I know how you feel, and we will get him. But don't spoil the plan. Besides, we're at the outer edges of the range of the handheld vajra, and at this range, I'm not sure even I could take him out.'
'What if they have reinforcements? Our radar is off.'
'Narada is on the ground somewhere nearby and he'll be monitoring just that.'
Indra's voice boomed over his earpiece.
'Shiva, it's time for you to dance.'
Aaditya watched in fascination as the Ganas emerged from behind rocks on either side of the assembled group. Their weapons were out. These looked like double-sided weapons-a rifle-like barrel at one end, and a large curved blade on the other. Aaditya hadn't noticed when they had taken up their positions. Shiva was there, holding his trident in his right hand and a vajra in his left. Kartik was tut-tutting to himself.
'That's my father. I keep telling him to just use the vajra and be done with it. But he loves mixing it up.'
Maya must have sensed something. Just as the Ganas fired their first volley-streaks of light that shot out towards the daityas--he took a step back. Six or seven daityas were hit, each of them glowing a bright red for a second before they seemed to implode in on themselves, turning into mounds of dust that fell to the ground where they had stood.
The Ganas closed in, moving with amazing agility, rolling in under the blows of the larger daityas and cutting them off at the knees with their blades. Shiva kicked one daitya to the ground, when Narada's voice cut in, 'Kartik, three pick-up trucks approaching from the south-east, just behind that grey peak. I think our turbaned friends have reinforcements.'
Their vimana swung into a sharp turn and climbed. Aaditya peered out the cockpit and as they crossed the peak, spotted the approaching vehicles. One had a large caliber machinegun mounted on its back, and each one was bristling with men armed with rifles and RPGs.
'Aadi, this is no video game. When we fire, men will die. And since your world's chemical composition is, to put it mildly, a bit different, they won't disappear into dust. There will be blood and gore where men once stood.'
Aaditya could feel his throat dry up. Then Kartik stunned him with his next statement, 'When we fire, we will be seen. So the first shot is the only one which will surprise. Go on, make it count.'
'What do you mean?'
'You wanted to fly and fight. Go on, I won't tell anyone. Take the first shot, and then I'll take over.'
Aaditya was too stunned to respond. Kartik leaned over and put a plug in his right ear. As had happened earlier, Aaditya felt a sharp jolt of pain.