Summoning India: Bhaarat Samman

Chapter 8- The Battle of The Rodenius Sea

30 Nautical miles from INS Rajput,

INS Viraat Battlegroup,

The palpable silence in the air managed to send a shiver down the spines of the crew. But for Rear Admiral Salvi, tumultuous weather in foreign lands was nothing new. Endless days had already been spent in monitoring abnormalities and receiving never ending trails of briefings and annoying pieces of bureaucratic paperwork whose tedium was beginning to make the senior naval officer's office resemble a Lovercraftian horror than what it was supposed to be.

With a throbbing headache, Rear Admiral Salvi leaned back in his chair and tiredly looked towards his assistant who had been patiently waiting for him to complete the current batch of paperwork for the past 15 minutes. "Alright Goswami. Let's hear it." Rear Admiral Salvi said.

"Sir. Tatpar-Amber has been authorised and the Marine Infantry are carrying out exercises. The Air Force has started enlisting commercial jets into service and Operation Azaad Saagar is underway. The Maihark airfield will be beginning to be very busy."

"Reports from the Continent?"

"Lourians have hit the QTs (Qua-Toynians) hard sir. Border defences were swept aside and everything aside from the fortress city of Ejei has been considered as lost to the Lourians. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Quila is facing constant raids, ostensibly to keep them tied up from relieving Qua Toyne."

"Then I suppose those poor bastards will have to hold on for now." Rear Admiral Salvi mused. "What's the composition of the Lourian Fleet?"

"4000 vessels." Came the reply. "All kinds. But it is our understanding that Lourian Naval Command cannot coordinate such a massive fleet effectively or efficiently. Thus, as we had predicted, the fleet has been split into four with 1000 vessels each. One of them is expected to face the INS Rajput as we speak."

"What sort of threat does that fleet pose to the Rajput?" Rear Admiral Salvi asked, and despite not showing anything on his face, the junior officer could detect the worry in the Rear Admiral's voice.

"The vessels are mostly armed with ballistae. Only the larger ones are equipped with cannons." The aide spoke. "For the former, we needn't worry about firepower, it will take a sustained and consistent barrage to harm the Rajput. For the latter, we believe accuracy will be the problem. But even the Rajput will take a beating if all the cannons fire at once or in a continuous rate."

"That's some good news." The Viraat's Airwing's commander observed.

"How many birds can we get up in the air?" Rear Admiral Salvi inquired

"The Harriers are finishing their preparations. I just need your go ahead for them to provide the Rajput cover from those 'wyverns'."

"And how many enemy vessels will we be able to knock out?" Rear Admiral Salvi probed.

His assistant took a second to calculate the numbers before he gave his response. "By herself, the Rajput can eliminate nearly five hundred Lourian vessels. Taking the issues of time and the fact they will expend all their ammunition, coupled with the support from our aircraft, I'd say the number of enemy vessels destroyed will be in the range of one hundred fifty to two hundred."

"Not good enough." We need to obliterate a significant part of their fleet before we allow them to withdraw, We're sending a message." Rear Admiral Salvi declared.

"Yes sir, to support Rajput we have the INS Mysore stationed nearby. Our second destroyer will be staying away from the enemy's visual range and will instead be acting as our communication liaison in case the Rajput has any issues with contacting the main fleet. Even the Mysore has the capability to sink at least a hundred eighty Lourian vessels before facing any muntion shortage."