⭐️⭐️⭐️Author's note: Extremely sorry for this late update. This chapter is not fast paced like the previous one as here I tried to add some real air force stuffs. Bear with me, in the next chapter main plot will get started.

=====================================

"If I did then I could have let you know how I feel about you... Swara."

Thwack!

The target before her faltered, as she slammed her fist. As if her life depended on it.

That's the state Sanskar was in. Like that stupid punching bag.

Getting hit by her without any protest. Almost as if he were stupefied.

Otherwise why would he harbour this mad urge to voice all his rakish notions corrupting his mind? Was he really that fool to want to admit all those not so decent desires, those which included that cheeky little ball of fire.

Certainly not.

Her jaw tightened in heated rage; to the point of strain and pain. "Don't even dare. Otherwise my fists will conveniently forget about your wing commander status."

"Sorry, babe. Payback is a bitch. Don't you know that?" Now it was Sanskar's turn to laugh. "So how do you feel about this feel-y situation?"

She was left tongue tied, but not her blazing purple circles of flame.

Her eyes wandered all around the gymnasium. "Arghh!" Her feet went back few steps, darted in a mad dash. A red and black sandbag wobbled in the air, being the poor thing that was.

The wrath of Firefly landed in form of flying kick.

"Scared of your own feelings, huh?" that smug grin was still there as he winked at her. "You see Raichand, I'm no Saint. But you, Ms Stripper are giving me one hell of a lap dance. Oops, sorry! Pole dance."

Those metallic hoops from the ceiling clamored in agony, again and again.

Amusement twinkled in his eyes. That Raichand girl must have been venting out her childish anger. One doth the scath, another hath the scorn.

Lucky Sanskar, poor punching bag.

"I'm warning you. One more word and I won't hesitate to hit, even if that costs my life." Hands on collar, menacing aura. Swara Raichand was a storm turning into mighty tornado.

One more punch and she collapsed on the ground.

In no way fatigue could have beaten Ms Raichand, the so called supergirl at the earliest hour of the day. Unless of course...

"Later to bed, too early to rise." He scanned her from top to bottom, all the way tiny balls of sweat were glistening like precious pearls. "Makes a girl cranky, wimpy as mice."

Who knew it would be so fun to tease her? He could literally smell the fumes coming from that scintillating firecracker!

Brilliant yet breathtaking at the same time.

His couch potato eyes found their sudden interest in tourism. They strolled along her smooth golden meadow, fixated on the pair of purple heliotropes rimmed by ripen blueberries for a while. This time drought had forsaken its place to monsoon who had showered its blessing as gusts of emotions rippling across them. Those pairs of orbs thus conversed until their owners were brought out from reveries.

"You have no right on my free hours, Mr Shergill... Sir!"

"But I do have rights over your body!"

Oops. That sounded so wrong.

"Excuse me?" Her face was flaming. In fury? Or was she shy?

"Err... I meant to say, you shouldn't ignore your health. As a senior I have rights to ensure that." He mentally smacked himself for losing control over his tongue. Well, tongue was not his only body part that was having control issues these days.

"Are you filling in for Dr Gupta? Is she sick or what?" There, she and that insolent attitude of hers!

"I'm serious, Raichand. Cross your limits once more and I'll stop you from flying tomorrow."

"Please, don't."

Those dancing fists dropped to her sides in defeat. Staying true to the military decorum she murmured a quick apology as well. Well, her curt polite words might fool anyone but not Sanskar. Not when those beautiful eyes showed no effort to mask the naked animosity on them.

Woah! What a change!

Had he known her duties meant the world to her, he could have used it as leverage long time before. Although he had no intention to go down that route again unless she compelled him to do so. Even if that meant having daily dose of Assamese red naga chilli in a form of beautiful subordinate.

After all, be it lioness or firefly, they were not meant to be leashed. In the heart of unbarred wilderness, veiled by subtle mystery, that's how any sensible forest ranger should preserve the raw beauty of her kind.

And Sanskar took pride in his unmatched astuteness.

"I don't want to see you before seven. And that's an order." In similar way he dealt with his superiority. "By the way your ex, I mean Lt. Ahuja, was asking about your well-being last night. Let me warn you, keep your old flames in check. I'm not going to tolerate any kind of melodrama in my troops. "

The gall of this man!

"I know you're delusional, but for God's sake spare me from your gossip aunty type of speculations." She turned back before leaving. "It shouldn't be my headache. Still, to ensure your so called professional peace, let me clear one thing. There's no ex... y, z or any other letter present in my life. For me only my initials matter, preferably S."

Of course she hates anything that connects her to the family.

But had her life been a bed of roses so far? No, not everything in her life had happened according to her wish.

She had so many thorns to cross. Varieties of them to pluck out from her way, from her feet.

Prickly, bothersome, clingy thorns.

Barely she had left behind one of the most dangerous kind, another stood before her with a knowing, teasing smirk. "I'm telling you, girlfriend. That guy must have hots for you."

Damn you, Karan Ahuja!

At least this time Raptor and Firefly transpired same wave of transmission!

***************************************

On the next day, a team of air warriors and medical personnel were all set for their next mission, operation Bondo sweep.

Owing to recent clashes between armed militias from 'Seleka' and 'Anti Balaka' in Bangassou, a town in the southern eastern region of Central African Republic(CAR), stream of asylum seekers were crossing border every day across the Mbomou river to Ndu, a part of Bas-Uele province, which was barely more than a village.

With 37000 refugees sleeping in every possible corner, even beneath open sky, the situation was chaotic enough. The aid UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR) managed to bring in was too scarce. On the top of that there were fear of armed bandits and proximity to border area caused unrest with continuous entry of insurgents.

Thus helping hands from IAF were need of the hour. UNHCR awaited their arrival to fight the battle of humanity; to confront hunger, health and habitat problems. Whereas Congolese Army called in foreign allies to sweep and clean the poisonous maggots.

"Will see you at night then, Sir." Sanskar nodded as Sqn. leader Drishith bid him adieu. If everything were to happen as they planned, the chopper team would land on Ndu in around two hours or so. Rest of the aircrafts, two Il-76 and three mirage 2000 fighter jets were scheduled to land on Kotakoli military airbase. Later they would airlift a platoon of Congolese soldiers to their final destination.

And then he found her. In sage green flight suit and dark aviators she remained true to her uppity demeanour. Holding the flying helmet under one arm, Swara marched her way to the hanger, attention solely riveted to an aeronautical chart in her hands.

As if rest of the universe didn't exist at all.

Even if that universe contained some onlooker as irresistible as Sanskar Shergill. Not even for few mistaken moments.

"You get to take this map inside, you know?"

She frowned. Is she unlucky or all the members of male species are nosy in general?

"Ms Firefly should settle around poor humans like us sometimes." Arvind chuckled as he stood in her way.

"Unlike poets, I can't dwell in fantasies, when this may be the last flight for anyone of us." Her eyes were camouflaged, yet her flat tone indicated the lack of stir in them. Arvind did not lose spirit though. He felt like flirting with her. And he did, in spite of getting taunts in reply.

Little did Swara know, the little talk that followed was going to haunt her for so many days, if not lifetime.

*********************************************

Flying at low altitude was a thrilling experience for any aviator. Sanskar often remembered those midnight flights in Kargil just at around 300 fts above the ground. Staying true to his call sign his Dassault Rafale had explored over astoundingly beautiful terrains of Ladakh.

At Supersonic speed. Undetected, below the radar.

Those were the days, when he was one hot blooded beast. Wild, unhinged inside the heart of a single seater fighter jet.

Yes he was still the man in charge, but now several other lives also depended on his decisions. Not only his.

Curse of flying high. Burning more of fuel. Greater chance to be spotted under radar. And he was that cursed aircraft who had reached so high.

At 1000 ft altitude tropical low land forest of Nord Ubangi was a spectacular view, embellished by deep turquoise sashe of Ubangi river. Previously a part of old Equateur province, with almost zero information available in maps, this jungle was no less than a conundrum for first time flyers.

As soon as they passed Yakoma, Sanskar took his turn over throttles. Arvind on his right side, went on operating the flaps on overhead panel. Suddenly a voice came through UHF radio and he had to take over.

"Candid nine three, this is Tumbler. We have visual on AAA. Three o' clock low. Copy."

"Poet. Interrogative. How many..." A series of shot did not let him finish.

DshK, an anti aircraft heavyweight machine gun of age old model was hell bent on bringing the giant bird down. The plane took a steep roll in response as Sanskar lifted the rudder, left wing lower than right, followed by quick yaw and pitch.

But it was too late.

Horror gripped him as he watched blood gushing out of his co pilot Arvind. A deadly wound, a big hole on his chest. Shards of broken glass stuck all over him. Head, neck, chest. With his trembling, bleeding fingers he pushed emergency flaps on the panel.In ragged voice he sent the last radio transmission of his career, last call of his life.

"Mayday."

Like every warrior Sanskar had no time to mourn. Not when he had a nightmare in the name of broken windshield, which had landed him into another dilemma.

Should he lay this low and wait for being brought down on earth? Or gain altitude along with decompression? The emergency oxygen mask suspended from above wouldn't support them for long. Flight navigator Harshit and he had to survive for the safety of others.

He grabbed the radio and took a decision.

"Candid one-oh-four, this is Raptor. Your signal is... buster to KLI base."

****************************************************

Through the visual aid inside the helmet Swara scanned her vicinity. Another movement of a gunner targeting a DshK came into her sight. Before he could open the fire she skewed to the left and jerked back the stick. She panned the cannon to right and BOOM!

Another artillery was on fire.

Every moment of this fight was getting demanding. Blood was rushing through her head whenever her mirage went for a quick roll. Karan' s state was no better than her.

It was easier to fight the big, familiar foes rather than tiny, hidden ones.

She didn't want to think what had happened already. Sanskar commanded them to keep the ambushers busy and protect the Candids. She had a glimpse of his plane gaining altitude and after few minutes and miles she caught its sight again.

They were evacuating.

"Firefly, this is Raptor. Tumbler' s on the bug. Follow him. Copy."

"Firefly. Send your status. Over."

Suddenly another series of shots whooshed past her aircraft. Too close.

"Firefly! Roger so far!" Sanskar's voice was shaking with rage. Why she wasn't leaving already?

"Wait." She yawed to right and fired. "Do I have to repeat?"

Sanskar looked at the horizon and sighed. Other two fighter jets were tailing the unscratched il-76 and appeared as three dots in the sky. They were now on the way to Kotakoli as per his command. The commandos and other airmen of his plane had also evacuated already. He was assured those tough guys would soon find their way to safety.

But how could he forget his stubborn subordinate?

"I'm ditching. Frog has evacuated too."

Swara was furious. How could he decide to land without the help of navigator? No, not landing. The perfect term would be crash. That's what ditch meant, right?

"Why don't you punch out?" She was shouting as she kept firing.

And that's when she came to know about Arvind from Sanskar. But she was so silent that it pinched him. How could she appear so composed when he hadn't still learnt how to cope with the loss, even after all these years?

That deja vu feel. Same bloodstained front. Same deadpan look. Similar upward twitch on lips. Only the parting dialogues had changed.

"Swara... Bet... My letter."

Arvind, a valiant warrior who had performed his duty till last breath, deserved to rest in honor. At least his body should not be ditched in the sky to scatter into pieces. Sanskar couldn't let that happen. Moreover, he had to deliver a mission map with secret code to the commander of US- Congolese coalition force. An assignment he didn't want to lose without trying.

"I must land soon." He noticed they weren't using pilots' language anymore. " The land is smoother ahead, but you have to cover those gunners..."

Suddenly he felt grateful towards this rebellious girl. He was all set to jump in the fire alone. Now that she stayed behind, he was convinced together they could pull off this stunt.

On the other side Swara had only one thought going on her mind. He shouldn't be on the line of fire.

"There's another route. Five o' clock and you can land near the river. Already I cleared that route." She suggested as her Mirage kept circling under his wounded il-76.

"And you?"

"How about we split?" Sanskar could swear he had heard her chuckle. In a mischievous tone she revealed her scheme. "Let me be the bait."

***************************************************************
If you like this part, please don't forget to vote ⭐️ and comment🎤🎤.
⭐️ ⭐️ Facts versus Fiction ( Creative liberty alert)
* The refugee situation mentioned here actually happened in 2013, not after the incident of Pathankot airbase I mentioned in chapter 1. Operation Bondo sweep is imaginary.

** Candid: NATO name of Ilyushin il-76. Numbering is used to distinguish them.

*** AAA: anti aircraft artillery (like DshK or Dushka is one kind of heavyweight machine gun, have been in use to bring down the aircraft since the time of WWII)