"Are your forces ready, General?" Assegaf asked.

"Yes sir," Hadisubroto replied. "Colonel Reksonegoro's 300th Army Raider Battalion is with us at the moment. Our mortar teams are also all in position. But we can't begin our attack without Director Chiang's signal. Has he arrived yet?"

"No," Assegaf said. "He's on his way."

"Sir, tell him to give the signal as soon as he arrives," Hadisubroto said. "Recon reports a sudden increase in activity inside the enemy base. We fear they may have been alerted to our presence and are now setting up their defences. We can't afford any further delay."

"Rest assured I will tell him, General."

Assegaf gritted his teeth once the conversation is over. Every second spent waiting for Chiang is an opportunity for Siregar to bolster his defences. Still, he thought back to when Chiang declared in front of the Emperor that he'd be the one to put an end to Siregar's forces once and for all. It would be of interest to see Chiang fail, if it weren't for the fact that this mission was also his chance to prove his worth to the Emperor yet again.

The comm officers did not stay quiet for long. "Sir, Director Chiang has arrived."

Finally, Assegaf thought. "Let him in."

"Forgive my tardiness, Grand Marshal," Chiang said as he came through the doorway. "I had business to attend to at Imperial Centre."

"Yes," Assegaf said, his smoothly modulated voice masking his annoyance at having to wait for the BKN Director's arrival. "Give the signal to your men. We're about to begin our attack."

Chiang nodded. "Operator," he called out to the nearest comm officer, "Activate comm channels and set all frequencies on high alert. Patch in General Subroto as well."

"Yes sir."

The table flashed with soft blue light, and a hologram of Hadisubroto appeared. "Attention all operatives," Jude Chiang said over his microphone. "Operation Dhole is about to begin. If you are listening, please move to your assigned targets as soon as possible. Repeat; move to your assigned targets as soon as possible. Report once you are within range. Out."

"Our attack begins now," Hadisubroto said. "Alert all units on standby to prepare for immediate action."

-----------

"Sahdev, we have incoming bogeys at seven o' clock."

"Copy that, Swordfish. Stay low but prepare to engage if necessary."

"On it."

BKN Special Ops Sergeant Rama Setiaji and his squad were hiding behind the thick bushes just a few metres ahead of an insurgent patrol group. The area was thickly forested, with various old-growth pine trees which helped to mask their presence. The cool but humid air, combined with the fear of being discovered, helped to create an atmosphere which put Rama and his men on constant edge.

The enemy soldiers did not approach any further, Rama noticed, after a tense moment of waiting. Presumably they had reached the end of their patrol. Sensing the right moment, Rama signalled his squad to follow him before running deeper into the forest.

"That was a close call," said Special Operator Sidarto, whose callsign is Swordfish. "If they had turned their backs a second sooner we'd have failed the mission."

"I know," Rama said. "Keep your heads up, gentlemen," he continued. "We're close to the enemy base now. We just need to find our way in."

Rama allowed his thoughts to drift for a moment as he and his squad continued their journey. As a young child he saw the Civil War up close; having witnessed the slow but bloody destruction of his hometown of Mojokerto, inflicted by the various battles fought between Republic and Fascist Alliance forces for control of the city. Once the Empire came into power, he was sent off to the police academy by his family, who wished for him to join the new government's law enforcement agency. Although too young to take part in the pacification operations in West Sumatra and Borneo, Rama saw his first combat as a junior operator during Siregar's coup attempt; where he safeguarded the Emperor by evacuating him to a safe location far away from the pro-coup forces.

The chirping of birds above returned Rama to the present moment. If his GPS was of any indication, he and his squad were less than fifteen minutes away from the enemy stronghold. They would arrive just in time to enter the base and accomplish their mission before the main attack begins.

"Sir," Sidarto said after a few moments. "Take a look."

Rama turned to his left towards a hillside partially obscured by trees and other tall shrubs. Below him stood a fortress surrounded by various smaller buildings and communications arrays. Small groups of rebel soldiers patrolled the perimeter, changing guard each time they finished their round.

"They have some serious security down there," Sidarto said, as a convoy of APCs entered the compound. "We have to make our entrance carefully."

Rama aimed his binoculars towards the far side of the insurgent stronghold, at a location which GPS had designated as the armoury. Inside stood the munitions depot which the squad had been assigned to detonate. Data obtained from the reconnaissance team showed only one entrance, from which patrol groups would make their entrance and exit. Once every half hour, the site would be minimally guarded for three minutes, as all patrol groups would be away outside the armoury.

"This is it, gentlemen," Rama said at last. "We either make it or break it."

They soon made their way towards the entrance. Right in front of it stood an armed guard in green beret and SRC camo, the same type Rama and his squad had been provided with before the mission.

"Trooper," the guard said. "Your IDs."

Rama handed over his ID along with the rest of his squad, complete with false records obtained from various sources. Some were pilfered from insurgent soldiers who had fallen in battle against Imperial forces, while others found their way to Siregar's records through a virus installed by BKN's cyber-warfare division to disseminate false information among the pro-coup forces. Holding his breath, Rama could feel the cold sweat trickling down his back and seeping into his undershirt – afraid of the worst possible outcome in which he and his squad would be found out.

"Your records check out," the guard finally said. "You're cleared for entry."

Rama saluted the guard before leading his squad into the armoury, relieved that the first part of his mission had gone off without a hitch.

-----------

Luthfi Prawiro sat in his desk chair inside his office, listening to an aide report on the state of readiness of the armoured corps.

"Most of our vehicles are still in good shape," the aide said. "However, almost half of them require upgrade and maintenance, ranging from fire control mechanisms and targeting software, to replacement parts for vehicles whose service lives are approaching their end. If we don't find a solution now, there's a possibility that half of our Tank force will be out of action within the next five years due to mechanical breakdown."

Prawiro nodded as the aide went on, careful not to let his dismay show. Not too long before, they were able to raid Imperial factories for spare parts and munitions; but with the Empire bearing down on Siregar's forces through costly battles of attrition, such raids had become increasingly prohibitive and hardly worth the effort. Whereas Imperial factories were once guarded by troops of dubious quality, they were now guarded by the best divisions Imperial High Command could offer; including Strategic Reserve Command units that had refused to support Siregar's coup attempt against the Emperor.

Prawiro dismissed the aide as soon as he had finished his report. Alone, he began to wonder how much more the insurgency can take amidst the Imperial forces' constant victories and the deaths of his men in service of Siregar's crusade. For him, the death of his son Fahri in the Battle of Adi Sumarmo Airbase last month was the last straw. Fahri's death became even more distressing in light of the fact that he'd been ordered to stay behind to cover the pro-coup forces' retreat from the airbase. Prawiro's only consolation was Siregar telling him that his son had fought and died to defend a righteous cause.

He still wondered what Siregar had planned to do to address the impending attack on Tiger's Nest. So far, he and the rest of the council had not been privy to the discussions regarding the stronghold's defence, with the exception of General Arief. Not even Ibn Jameel, the Islamist and Siregar's loyal flunky, was aware of what the two men had in mind.

That question will be answered soon, at least, Prawiro thought. So far the patrol squads had not reported anything out of the ordinary. Units tasked with protecting key installations such as the armoury and the communications arrays had been deployed to their assigned locations. Any Imperial assault would be met with layer upon layer of defensive positions. By the time Imperial troops reached the main fortress he and most of his fellow insurgents would have already escaped.

But still, so many things could go wrong. For instance, the Empire could decide to bring in more troops to assault and occupy Tiger's Nest. Or – assuming they choose not to waste any more lives – deploy heavy bombers and launch a salvo of air-launched cruise missiles against the stronghold, destroying everything in an instant.

A moment of distraction brought Prawiro to a photograph sitting atop his desk. It was a picture of him taken ten years earlier, standing beside his old friend and fellow Armoured Corps commander General Ivan Febrianto. Also present in the photo was Governor-General Harits, hands outstretched and carrying a pair of medals. Prawiro recalled how he and Ivan had both been awarded the Exemplary Service Medal on that day, following their role in rebuilding the Armoured Corps after years of attrition during the Civil War.

Prawiro had always played his cards close to his chest. Though initially supportive of the coup attempt against Emperor Byoma's successor Ali Hakim for fear that the Chinese may introduce left-wing policies once in power, Prawiro began having second thoughts when Siregar became increasingly reliant on Islamic extremist groups in his fight against the Empire following the coup's failure. Try as he might to shake off the thought , it occurred to him that he may have to renounce the insurgency and return to the Empire's side if things get any worse. He may just have the right card to make it happen.

Ivan, old friend. I hope you haven't forgotten about me.

SRC = Strategic Reserve Command. In Indonesian it is known as KOSTRAD, which is short for Komando Strategis Angkatan Darat. It is under the command of the Indonesian Army (Ground Forces), and has at its disposal some of the Army's elite forces. In 2048-2049, it played a primary role in Siregar's attempted coup against Emperor Ali Hakim.