Flight Lt. Samrat Singh Shekawat is burdened by the sins of his past. Flight Lt. Tanvi Sharma has seen him at his worst and still loves him. Samrat has a hunch about what she feels though they remain friends. She doesn't want to confess as she doesn...
Morning briefing with Harjot. The squadron leader holds a review of the Shakti aircraft practicality. Shakti is a dual-seat wartime fighter/combat jet, but can also be flown solo. For these current peace-time drills, the squadron will fly them solo.
Over the past few days, the pilots have done their simulations, got hold of Shakti's basic operation and weapon systems. None of them is wet behind the ears or requires an Instructor Pilot. Now it's time to hit the field, as Abhay Veer Pratap had already decided. The initial trials will involve low altitude flying where the pilots get hands-on experience; then they will move on to the weightier parts, like using the weapon systems.
Various credentials are to be analysed, like peak-altitude performance, stealth detection, speed and target-demolition accuracy, air-to-ground communication, and other essential military parameters that will surely boggle any civilian. Tanvi has goosebumps imagining what lies ahead of the engineering team working on the project. She's a part of the engineering wing that does the calculations and background prep. The flying wing in the foreground has it even more challenging. But hey, they are all skilled pilots, everyone including Samrat, who would laugh in the face of death and danger. So this would be an enjoyable experience for all of them. Yep, enjoyable if the desert temperatures haven't been soaring. The temperature sensors over the testing airfield have pointed to 50C last afternoon. Much higher than the average recorded at the airbase.
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That's acceptable. Just thinking of the hot weather made me sweaty, Tanvi thinks, shifting ever so gently in her chair and wiping her brow. She looks around the conference table. Everyone is chilled by the air conditioning. Was it the detailed military jargon I'd recalled? Perhaps it's Harjot's intense stare that's heated me up. She has been eyeing me and Samrat for a while.
"We'll leave for sector 53 at dawn tomorrow. Everyone to report to me by 4 in the morning. Shakti aircraft have already been moved. I'm afraid we'll be travelling back and forth. We don't have lodging facilities except for the security personnel stationed there."
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Sector 53 of the airfield is about a ten km from the current administrative and residential blocks of the airbase, spreading over a large area, already equipped with the infrastructure — technical and architectural to train pilots in practical applications of fighter jets. It still falls within the premises of the airbase. Just how vast is this place? And how tight the security there? Tanvi's thoughts paint the large picture when Harjot calls for the end of the meeting.
