Location: ISRO Strategic Command CenterTime: 8:43 AM IST
The massive blast doors slowly opened.
For the first time in almost six hours...
Shoonya and Albert walked into Indian territory.
The command center erupted.
Not with cheers.
With relief.
Scientists.
Military officers.
Cyber analysts.
ISRO engineers.
RAW agents.
Everyone stood up.
Some smiled.
Some simply closed their eyes.
Because against every prediction—
Operation Dead Tide had succeeded.
The Dragon Vein file was finally in India's hands.
Albert slowly placed the black titanium container onto the briefing table.
THUD.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody even breathed.
Twenty-five thousand classified pages.
The reason four superpowers were willing to start World War IV.
The Security Advisor stepped forward.
"...Is this really it?"
Shoonya nodded.
"It cost us everything."
Silence.
Everyone understood exactly what he meant.
Xiao.
No one spoke her name.
No one had to.
Albert quietly looked away.
The Advisor gently opened the container.
Inside...
Thousands of ultra-thin transparent data sheets.
Some looked hundreds of years old.
Others looked as if they had been printed yesterday.
Every page carried one identical symbol.
A black dragon wrapped around a golden circle.
One scientist whispered,
"...Dragon Vein..."
Another officer asked,
"Can anyone read it?"
"No."
The answer came from Shoonya.
"It's encrypted."
"Can you crack it?"
Shoonya slowly shook his head.
"No."
That single word shocked the room.
The smartest strategist on Earth...
couldn't read it.
Albert crossed his arms.
"So who's going to?"
Shoonya answered immediately.
"Ajit Rathore."
The room fell silent.
The Advisor looked around.
"Where is he?"
No answer.
Shoonya frowned.
"Sir?"
A few seconds later...
The automatic door opened again.
Tsssshhh...
Everyone instinctively turned.
Slow...
Heavy footsteps echoed through the command center.
Tap...
Tap...
Tap...
An old man entered.
White hair.
Wrinkled face.
Walking stick in one hand.
A medical injector fixed to his forearm.
Small oxygen tube behind his ears.
His shoulders looked weaker than before.
His uniform still carried the insignia of a General.
Albert blinked.
"...Who is this?"
Shoonya stared.
His expression completely changed.
"...Sir?"
Ajit Rathore smiled.
The same calm smile.
Just older.
Much older.
Shoonya walked toward him.
"What happened to you?"
Ajit laughed softly.
"What happened?"
He looked at his own body.
"This?"
Shoonya nodded.
"You were completely healthy when we met."
Ajit chuckled.
"My boy..."
He tapped his walking stick on the floor.
"...what exactly did you expect from a hundred and ninety-four-year-old man?"
...
...
...
The room froze.
Albert's jaw literally dropped.
"...WHAT?!"
One scientist dropped his tablet.
Another officer removed his glasses.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Albert looked at Shoonya.
Then back at Ajit.
Then again.
"No..."
Ajit smiled.
"Oh yes."
Albert walked around him.
"You're joking."
"No."
"One hundred and ninety-four?"
"Correct."
"Hell no."
"Hell yes."
Albert pointed at him.
"That's impossible."
Ajit laughed again.
"So was landing on the Moon once."
Albert looked at Shoonya.
"Did you know this?"
Shoonya calmly nodded.
"I suspected."
Albert almost screamed.
"YOU SUSPECTED??"
"You don't casually suspect someone is almost two centuries old!"
Ajit couldn't stop laughing.
The entire room slowly relaxed.
Finally...
Shoonya asked the question.
"When were you born?"
Ajit looked toward the ceiling.
Almost nostalgic.
"Twenty-sixth January."
He smiled.
"2017."
Albert whispered,
"...Holy shit."
Ajit slowly sat down.
His breathing was slightly heavier now.
The Advisor brought him water.
He refused.
"You deserve to know everything."
The room became silent.
Lights dimmed.
The central hologram activated.
Old photographs appeared.
A small Indian village.
Year 2017.
A young boy.
Smiling.
Running through fields.
"That..."
Ajit smiled.
"...was me."
"My father worked day and night."
"My mother taught in a government school."
"We weren't poor."
"But we definitely weren't rich."
Another picture appeared.
A family of five.
Ajit.
His parents.
Two tiny girls.
"My sisters."
Albert smiled.
"They're cute."
"They were devils."
The room laughed.
Ajit's smile slowly faded.
"My mother had only one dream."
The next photograph appeared.
A little Ajit wearing a toy military cap.
"She wanted me to become a soldier."
"So I did."
Another picture.
Indian Military Academy.
Cadet Ajit Rathore.
"I loved my country."
"I loved discipline."
"I loved serving."
He paused.
"...But..."
Another image appeared.
A laboratory.
Microscopes.
Chemical formulas.
Books.
"There was something I loved even more."
"Science."
Shoonya quietly smiled.
"I knew it."
Ajit nodded.
"I used to spend entire nights reading biology."
"Medicine."
"Chemistry."
"Genetics."
"I wanted to understand one thing."
"Why does the human body die?"
Albert slowly whispered,
"That's one hell of a question."
Ajit nodded.
"It haunted me."
Another picture appeared.
Year 2051.
A funeral.
Rain.
Military honors.
"My father died."
Silence.
"My mother."
"My sisters."
"They only had me."
"I promised myself..."
"I'd never let them suffer."
He looked down.
"But life had other plans."
The hologram changed again.
Hospital.
MRI scan.
Medical reports.
Red letters.
STAGE IV CANCER
Nobody spoke.
Ajit continued.
"I was thirty-six."
"The doctors gave me months."
Albert looked down.
"I asked them..."
'How long?'
"They said..."
'Six months if you're lucky.'
"I smiled."
"They thought I accepted death."
"I accepted a challenge."
Shoonya looked at him.
"So you left the Army."
Ajit nodded.
"I took leave."
"Everyone thought I had given up."
"I hadn't."
"I locked myself in a laboratory."
The hologram filled with images.
Research notes.
Broken equipment.
Failed experiments.
Sleepless nights.
Mathematical models.
DNA structures.
Cell diagrams.
"For three years..."
"I barely slept."
"I failed."
"Again."
"And again."
"And again."
Albert asked quietly,
"What kept you going?"
Ajit smiled.
"My sisters."
"I still had to attend their weddings."
"I still had to protect my mother."
"I wasn't allowed to die."
The room remained completely silent.
Ajit looked toward Shoonya.
"My body was collapsing."
"I collapsed in the laboratory four different times."
"I woke up each time."
"And continued."
"Because sometimes..."
He smiled.
"...the only difference between a miracle and failure..."
"...is refusing to stop."
Shoonya nodded slowly.
"I understand."
Ajit reached inside his old leather bag.
He carefully placed a tiny transparent vial on the table.
Inside—
A faint silver liquid glowed softly.
Everyone stared.
Albert whispered,
"...What's that?"
Ajit answered.
"The reason I'm still alive."
He looked directly at Shoonya.
"Homo-R."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The silver liquid inside the tiny vial shimmered beneath the laboratory lights.
Albert leaned forward.
Then backward.
Then forward again.
"Okay, hold the fucking phone. You're telling me that this tiny little bottle kept a hundred-and-ninety-four-year-old man alive, and nobody thought to mention that humanity apparently has a goddamn cheat code for death?"
Ajit raised an eyebrow.
"First, young man, Homo-R is not a cheat code. Second, it doesn't make anyone immortal. And third, if you call three years of failed experiments, painful setbacks, and nearly a lifetime of scientific research a fucking cheat code again, I'll personally make you read every research paper I ever wrote."
Albert slowly straightened.
"...How many papers?"
"Four thousand eight hundred and twelve."
Albert stared at Shoonya.
"Brother, if I ever start annoying you that much, just shoot me."
Shoonya didn't look away from the vial.
"Tempting."
"Hell nah! I'm surrounded by fucking traitors."
A few people laughed.
Ajit smiled.
For a moment, the command center felt almost normal.
Almost.
Then Shoonya noticed something.
The old General's fingers were trembling.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
The smile on Shoonya's face disappeared.
"Sir, how long has it been since your last dose?"
Ajit immediately pulled his hand away from the vial.
"That's classified."
"Sir."
"Don't use that tone with me."
"Then don't give me a reason to use it."
Albert looked between them.
"Oh, this is fucking beautiful. The two most stubborn people in the room are arguing, and neither one has realized that they're basically arguing with themselves."
Ajit gave him a look.
Albert shut his mouth.
For approximately two seconds.
"Respectfully, General, that was a fucking terrifying look."
Shoonya picked up the medical scanner lying beside the briefing table and passed it to Ajit.
"Check your vitals. Now."
Ajit sighed.
"One hundred and ninety-four years old, and I'm still being treated like a cadet who forgot to polish his boots."
"Then stop behaving like a cadet who forgot to polish his boots."
The General stared at him.
Then, unexpectedly, laughed.
"God help whoever taught you discipline."
Shoonya's expression remained perfectly serious.
"Nobody taught me, sir."
"That explains a great fucking deal."
The scanner chimed.
A medical officer approached and studied the results.
"General, your cellular regeneration rate is below the baseline established during your previous examination. Your oxygen saturation is also fluctuating."
Ajit's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Shoonya noticed.
"So the treatment is losing effectiveness?"
"No," Ajit answered. "The treatment is doing exactly what it was designed to do. My body is simply getting older."
He placed the scanner on the table.
"Homo-R can repair damage caused by disease, improve cellular function, and restore the body's ability to maintain itself. It cannot promise an infinite lifespan. It cannot reverse every consequence of time. And it cannot make a human being invulnerable."
Albert frowned.
"Then how the hell did you make something that can do all that?"
Ajit looked at the silver vial.
For a few seconds, his eyes seemed to travel somewhere far beyond the command center.
"Because I was afraid."
The laughter stopped.
"I was afraid of leaving my family behind. I was afraid of dying before my sisters could build their own lives. I was afraid that all the things I had promised my mother would become nothing more than beautiful lies told by a frightened man."
He paused.
"And then I discovered something far more frightening than death itself."
Shoonya waited.
Ajit continued.
"Power without responsibility. Knowledge without restraint. And the human tendency to turn every miracle into a weapon."
He looked directly at Shoonya.
"That, my boy, is why Homo-R never became a publicly available treatment."
Shoonya folded his arms.
"You could have saved millions."
"Yes."
"You could have extended the lives of scientists, doctors, soldiers, and people who had no access to advanced medical treatment."
"Yes."
"You could have changed the entire world."
Ajit nodded slowly.
"Yes. And the moment I released it without safeguards, every government, corporation, criminal organization, and military power on Earth would have started fighting over who deserved to live longer than everyone else."
His voice grew firmer.
"Imagine a world where the wealthy could purchase another century while the poor were told that their lives had already served their purpose. Imagine dictators who could rule for two hundred years, military leaders who never had to surrender command, and corporations whose owners could accumulate generations of wealth without ever leaving their offices."
He leaned forward.
"Tell me, Shoonya. Would you call that progress? Or would you call it a fucking nightmare wearing the face of a miracle?"
Shoonya didn't answer immediately.
Albert's expression had lost its usual playfulness.
Finally, Shoonya spoke.
"Both, sir. A discovery can save humanity and still become the reason humanity destroys itself. But hiding it forever doesn't solve the problem either. It only gives the people who already possess the knowledge a head start over everyone else."
Ajit watched him carefully.
Then he smiled.
"Good."
Albert blinked.
"Good? That's your response? We just had an entire philosophical crisis, and all you have to say is good?"
Ajit chuckled.
"I wanted to know whether Operation Dead Tide had made Shoonya more cynical."
"And?"
"It hasn't."
The General looked at the black titanium container.
"But it has brought him something far more dangerous."
Shoonya raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Questions."
Ajit stood with the help of his walking stick.
"And the answers are inside that file."
1. The file that nobody was supposed to read
The central table transformed.
Its surface separated into six sections, each rising slightly as holographic projectors activated beneath the glass.
A three-dimensional representation of the Dragon Vein symbol appeared above the container.
A black dragon.
A golden circle.
Twenty-five thousand pages of classified material.
Ajit approached it slowly.
"Before we begin, I need everyone to understand one thing. What you're about to hear contains three different categories of information: established historical records, interpretations that historians continue to debate, and classified material connected to the Dragon Vein operation."
He pointed at the golden circle.
"The first category can be studied, compared, and independently verified. The second must be examined with intellectual honesty. The third belongs to this fictional operation, and it must not be confused with established historical fact."
Albert nodded.
"Fair enough. I like my history with facts, my theories with evidence, and my conspiracies with at least a fucking decent explanation."
"An excellent principle," Ajit replied.
"Thank you. I stole it from myself."
Shoonya ignored him.
"Open the file, sir."
Ajit placed his hand above the holographic interface.
The black dragon rotated.
A sequence of ancient-looking symbols appeared, followed by several lines of text in modern Chinese, Sanskrit transliteration, and English.
The display flickered.
Then the system produced a warning.
ARCHIVE ACCESS: PARTIAL
25,000 DOCUMENTS IDENTIFIED.
ACCESSIBLE RECORDS: 4,731.
REMAINING RECORDS: ENCRYPTED.
Albert stared.
"Twenty-five thousand pages, and we can't even open the fucking thing properly?"
Ajit shook his head.
"Four thousand seven hundred and thirty-one documents are accessible. The remaining records require additional authorization. That is not the same as having failed to open the archive."
"That's a very polite way of saying we're still fucked."
Shoonya studied the symbols.
"No. He's right."
Albert turned toward him.
"Could you stop agreeing with everyone except me?"
"Earn it."
"Fuck you."
"Earn it first."
Ajit laughed.
For a brief moment, the old General looked almost twenty years younger.
Then he touched the first symbol.
The hologram changed.
A map of the Indian subcontinent appeared.
Not the modern political map.
A map showing rivers, mountain ranges, ancient settlements, maritime routes, and the changing boundaries of historical kingdoms.
Ajit's expression grew serious.
"Now we begin."
He looked around the room.
"Because before you can understand why the Dragon Vein dossier matters, you need to understand the civilization whose history has been used, distorted, celebrated, and fought over for thousands of years."
He pointed at the map.
"India."
2. Before kingdoms, before empires
The first holographic image showed an ancient settlement.
Brick buildings.
Drainage channels.
Water reservoirs.
Carefully planned streets.
Ajit spoke.
"The Indus Valley Civilization, also called the Harappan Civilization, flourished across parts of present-day Pakistan and northwestern India. Its mature urban phase is generally dated to approximately 2600–1900 BCE, although the civilization's roots and later developments extend beyond those dates."
Albert leaned closer.
"Those streets look more organized than some modern cities."
"Because urban planning isn't a modern invention," Ajit replied. "Harappan settlements such as Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, and Lothal demonstrate sophisticated approaches to drainage, construction, water management, and urban organization."
He enlarged the image of a drainage channel.
"Look at this. The important point isn't that every ancient citizen possessed some magical technology. It's that communities developed practical systems, standardized measurements, and organized labor long before the modern world existed."
Shoonya studied the city layout.
"The engineering reflects a considerable degree of planning."
"Exactly. And there is another important detail."
Ajit changed the image.
A collection of seals appeared.
Animals.
Geometric marks.
Short inscriptions.
"The Indus script has not been conclusively deciphered. We cannot honestly claim to know everything these people believed, what language they spoke, or precisely how their political system functioned."
Albert raised a finger.
"So no claiming that every ancient symbol secretly proves whatever theory someone happens to like?"
"Correct."
"Hell yeah. Someone finally said it."
Ajit smiled.
"Respecting an ancient civilization means taking its achievements seriously. It does not mean inventing achievements that cannot be demonstrated."
The image changed again.
The ancient city faded.
A map of the subcontinent appeared, showing the movement and development of different linguistic and cultural traditions over time.
Ajit continued.
"Over the following millennia, the subcontinent developed a rich mixture of cultures, languages, religious traditions, agricultural communities, and political systems. The Vedic traditions became an important part of this history, as did other philosophical and religious movements that emerged across the region."
A set of ancient texts appeared.
"The Vedas are among the oldest surviving bodies of sacred literature associated with Hindu traditions. Their compositions and transmission belong to a long historical process rather than a single moment. Later Vedic literature, the Upanishads, and numerous other texts contributed to evolving debates about existence, knowledge, duty, ritual, consciousness, and liberation."
Albert tilted his head.
"So Hinduism wasn't just a list of rules handed down one morning?"
Ajit shook his head.
"No. Hindu traditions encompass many schools of philosophy, practices, forms of worship, and understandings of the divine. They have developed over centuries through texts, teachers, communities, and debate. There is no single description that captures every Hindu belief."
He brought up another display.
The Bhagavad Gita.
The Ramayana.
The Mahabharata.
"Consider the Bhagavad Gita. Its dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna explores duty, action, knowledge, devotion, and the struggle to act rightly in a difficult world. The Mahabharata and Ramayana have influenced literature, art, performance, moral discussion, and cultural identity across generations."
Shoonya looked at the display.
"Which means their significance isn't limited to religious worship."
"Precisely. These texts have also shaped philosophical and ethical conversations. Different communities interpret them in different ways, and those interpretations have changed over time."
Ajit paused.
"Remember that distinction. Respecting a religious tradition doesn't require pretending that every historical question has one universally accepted answer. And studying its history doesn't require dismissing the beliefs of those who practice it."
Albert nodded.
"That sounds suspiciously like common sense."
"An endangered resource," Shoonya replied.
"Especially in this fucking room."
3. The age of republics, kingdoms, and empires
The hologram shifted.
A map of northern India appeared, dotted with dozens of political centers.
Ajit enlarged the region around the Ganges.
"By the first millennium BCE, the subcontinent contained numerous states and political communities. Some were monarchies. Others, including several Mahajanapadas described in ancient sources, had governing structures often characterized as oligarchic or republican, although they were not democracies in the modern universal-suffrage sense."
A list appeared:
Magadha
Kosala
Vatsa
Avanti
Vajji
"These states competed for territory, resources, trade routes, and influence. Their rivalries helped shape the political landscape from which larger empires eventually emerged."
The display changed to a map of the Mauryan Empire.
Ajit pointed to its expanding borders.
"Chandragupta Maurya established the Mauryan Empire in the late fourth century BCE. Under Ashoka, who ruled in the third century BCE, the empire reached a remarkable extent. Ashoka's inscriptions provide important evidence of his administration, political ideas, and efforts to communicate principles associated with dhamma."
Albert studied a pillar inscription.
"Was he always the peaceful emperor everyone talks about?"
"No," Ajit answered. "The Kalinga war was a turning point in the traditional account of Ashoka's reign. His inscriptions express remorse over the suffering caused by war and emphasize moral conduct. But we should not simplify his entire rule into a story where one battle instantly transformed every aspect of imperial policy."
Shoonya nodded.
"Political change is rarely that simple."
"Exactly."
Another map appeared.
The Gupta Empire.
"Several centuries later, Gupta rulers presided over a period associated with major developments in Sanskrit literature, mathematics, astronomy, and other intellectual fields. But calling it a golden age without qualification can conceal regional differences and the experiences of people who did not share equally in its advantages."
Albert looked at him.
"So even a golden age has footnotes?"
"Every honest history has footnotes."
"Fuck. History teachers were hiding the interesting part."
Ajit smiled and continued.
"The mathematician Aryabhata made important contributions to mathematics and astronomy. Indian mathematical traditions contributed to the development and transmission of the decimal place-value system and the use of zero as a number. These developments eventually became fundamental to mathematics around the world."
A large numeral appeared.
0
Albert stared at it.
"That tiny bastard changed everything."
"It certainly changed mathematics," Ajit replied. "But remember that mathematical ideas developed through contributions from many scholars and cultures. The history of zero involves a long process, including Indian contributions to its use as a number and later transmission through other scholarly traditions."
Shoonya looked at the symbol.
"An empty position that carries meaning."
Ajit nodded.
"Sometimes what appears to be nothing changes everything."
For a second, Shoonya said nothing.
Then he looked away from the zero.
"Continue, sir."
Ajit studied him, as though he had noticed something in that response.
But he moved on.
4. The seas that connected India to the world
The next display showed a coastline, followed by a sequence of ships crossing the Indian Ocean.
Ajit enlarged the southern peninsula.
"The Chola dynasty became one of the major powers of southern India. Under rulers such as Rajaraja I and Rajendra I, the Chola state expanded its political influence, developed administrative institutions, supported temple construction, and maintained maritime connections across the Bay of Bengal."
The hologram showed ports, merchant networks, and naval expeditions.
"Chola expeditions reached parts of Southeast Asia, including campaigns against Srivijaya in the eleventh century. These events demonstrate the importance of maritime power, commerce, and regional politics in the Indian Ocean world."
Albert grinned.
"So India wasn't just sitting around waiting for ships to arrive."
"Of course not. Indian merchants, sailors, religious teachers, and political powers participated in extensive networks linking South Asia with East Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, and beyond."
Shoonya examined the maritime routes.
"Trade carries more than goods."
"Yes," Ajit said. "It carries languages, technologies, religious ideas, artistic styles, and political ambitions."
The image changed.
The Vijayanagara Empire appeared.
"Later, the Vijayanagara Empire became a major political and cultural force in southern India. Its history includes military conflict, commercial prosperity, monumental architecture, and complex relations with neighboring states."
Another map appeared.
The Maratha Confederacy.
Then the Sikh Empire.
Then several regional powers.
Ajit continued.
"The history of the subcontinent was never a simple succession of one unified India being ruled by another unified India. It was a complicated landscape of kingdoms, empires, confederacies, local powers, alliances, religious communities, and competing interests."
He highlighted the Maratha territories.
"The Marathas rose to prominence in the seventeenth century under Shivaji and later developed into a wider confederacy. Their history includes military innovation, regional administration, political negotiation, and struggles with the Mughal Empire and other powers."
The display shifted to the Sikh Empire.
"Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh Empire became a powerful state in the Punjab region during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Its military and administrative institutions reflected a distinct political formation within the broader history of South Asia."
"But Both really Fucked mughals very HARD!"
Albert folded his arms.
"And all these kingdoms had different priorities, different leaders, and different ideas about power."
"Exactly," Ajit replied. "A mature understanding of history doesn't require us to turn every historical figure into a flawless hero or every rival into a villain. We can recognize courage, achievement, ambition, injustice, and failure in the same person or institution."
He paused.
"That becomes especially important when we reach the colonial period."
The lights dimmed.
The map changed.
A new flag appeared.
The Union Jack.
5. The colonial wound
The room grew quiet.
Ajit stood beside the map.
"The expansion of British power in India was not a single event. It developed over generations through commercial privileges, military campaigns, alliances, annexations, and administrative control. The East India Company gradually transformed from a trading corporation into a territorial power."
A timeline appeared.
1757.
1764.
1857.
1947.
Ajit pointed to the first date.
"The Battle of Plassey in 1757 was a major turning point in the expansion of Company influence in Bengal. The Battle of Buxar in 1764 further strengthened its position. Over time, the Company and then the British Crown exercised enormous power over the subcontinent."
Albert's jaw tightened.
"And they called it trade?"
"Trade was part of the story," Ajit replied. "But it became inseparable from coercion, military force, taxation, and political domination."
He brought up economic charts and administrative documents.
"Colonial rule reshaped India's economy, agriculture, infrastructure, and institutions. Railways and other systems expanded, but they served multiple purposes, including imperial administration and economic extraction. Their effects varied across regions and communities."
Shoonya studied the charts.
"So the same institution could create infrastructure while serving an unequal political system."
"Correct. Historical analysis must examine who controlled it, who benefited, who paid the costs, and how those arrangements changed over time."
Then Ajit selected the year 1857.
A map of the uprising appeared.
"The uprising of 1857 involved soldiers, rulers, local leaders, and civilians across several regions. Its causes included military grievances, political annexations, economic pressures, and religious and cultural fears. The participants did not all share one objective, and historians debate how best to describe the event."
Albert leaned forward.
"But it changed British rule."
"Absolutely. After the uprising was suppressed, the British Crown assumed direct control from the East India Company in 1858."
Ajit let the map fade.
"Never underestimate the importance of resistance, even when it fails to achieve its immediate objective. But never confuse the existence of resistance with proof that everyone involved had identical aims."
Shoonya nodded.
"History is more complicated than slogans."
"Which is why slogans can be so dangerous when they replace history."
For the first time since the briefing began, the room felt less like a command center and more like a classroom.
But the faces around the table were not those of ordinary students.
They were officers who had watched an operation consume lives.
They were scientists who knew that a single piece of evidence could change an entire theory.
And they were looking at a dossier that four superpowers were prepared to fight over.
Albert broke the silence.
"General, I have a question."
"Ask."
"Why the hell would a Chinese intelligence operation collect all this material about India?"
Ajit looked at the black dragon.
"That, Albert, is precisely the question we need to answer."
He touched the interface.
A new folder appeared.
ARCHIVE SECTION: THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Ajit took a breath.
"And to understand that folder, we must understand the people who challenged British rule, the people who negotiated the transfer of power, and the people who tried to build a country afterward."
His gaze moved across the room.
"Because independence was not handed to India by one person. It emerged from a long, complicated struggle involving millions of people, countless organizations, competing philosophies, and sacrifices that no single biography can fully capture."
The display brightened.
The year changed.
1919.
Ajit looked at Shoonya and Albert.
"Now we're getting to the part of history that people argue about the most."
Albert sighed.
"Oh, fucking wonderful."
Shoonya stepped closer to the display.
"Begin, sir."
Ajit pressed the next symbol.
And the archive opened.
A new hologram appeared above the briefing table.
1919 — AMRITSAR, PUNJAB.
The room fell silent.
The image showed a crowd gathered in a public garden. Families. Workers. Elderly people. Children. Ordinary people who had come together during a period of growing political unrest.
Ajit's expression hardened.
"The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire on a gathering in Amritsar. Hundreds were killed, and many more were wounded. The precise death toll remains disputed, but the event became one of the most infamous atrocities of British colonial rule."
Albert's jaw tightened.
"They opened fire on a crowd of civilians?"
"Yes."
"And the man responsible just went home afterward?"
"History is not always kind enough to deliver immediate justice," Ajit replied. "Dyer faced condemnation in Britain as well as support from some quarters, but he was not subjected to a criminal trial for the massacre. The incident profoundly damaged the legitimacy of British rule in the eyes of many Indians."
Shoonya stared at the image.
"Fear can force people into silence, but it can also destroy the authority of the people using it."
Ajit nodded.
"Exactly. And in the years that followed, India's freedom movement grew through several different approaches. Some people believed in mass nonviolent resistance. Others believed revolutionary action was necessary. Some worked through constitutional politics, while others organized workers, peasants, students, and communities."
He changed the display.
"To understand what happened next, you need to meet the people who carried those different ideas."
Albert folded his arms.
"Go ahead, General. But if anyone tells me one man single-handedly freed a country of hundreds of millions, I'm throwing this fucking hologram out the window."
Ajit smiled.
"Good. Keep that attitude. It might save you from believing a great deal of nonsense."
1. The young man who refused to think quietly
A photograph appeared.
A young man wearing a hat.
Calm eyes.
A composed expression.
BHAGAT SINGH.
Shoonya straightened.
Ajit's voice hardened with respect. "Bhagat Singh was not a footnote. He was a revolutionary who challenged British colonial rule and willingly faced death for his convictions. His courage, his writings, and his demand for freedom inspired generations. When the slogan Inquilab Zindabad echoed through the struggle, it carried a message far greater than one man."
The hologram shifted to Subhas Chandra Bose.
"Bose believed freedom required an uncompromising fight against British rule. His call, 'Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azaadi doonga,' became one of the most powerful rallying cries of the independence movement."
Albert nodded solemnly. "Different paths. One goal."
"Exactly," Ajit replied. "Bhagat Singh, Bose, Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Nehru, and countless others did not agree on every method or vision. But India's independence was shaped by mass movements, revolutionary resistance, political negotiations, social reform, and extraordinary sacrifice. Millions whose names never entered textbooks helped carry that struggle."
The image of Gandhi appeared beside Patel and Ambedkar.
"Gandhi mobilized mass civil disobedience. Patel played a decisive role in integrating princely states after independence. Ambedkar fought against caste oppression and chaired the Constitution's Drafting Committee. Nehru is a dumbass, Gave half of Kashmir to Pakistan and Aksai Chin to China. Such a Mf."
Ajit paused.
"Honouring one does not require erasing another. A nation strong enough to remember its history honestly is stronger than one that needs to manufacture perfect heroes."
The screen went dark.
Then another face appeared: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
Shoonya studied the image.
"The scientist who became President."
"A scientist, teacher, and national figure who inspired millions to pursue knowledge," Ajit said. "Kalam represented something essential: patriotism isn't only about fighting an enemy. Sometimes it means building the future so your country never has to kneel before one."
The next images appeared rapidly: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi, and Yogi Adityanath.
"Modern India continues to be shaped by political leaders with different ideologies and visions, & these are the greatest." Ajit explained. "Vajpayee's legacy includes coalition leadership and nuclear tests in 1998. Narendra Modi has led the country as prime minister since 2014. Yogi Adityanath has led the country as prime minister since 2029. Their supporters and critics disagree sharply about their policies and impact."
Albert pointed to a symbol appearing beside the images.
"And that?"
RSS — RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH.
"The RSS is a Hindu nationalist volunteer organization founded in 1925," Ajit said. "It has played a significant role in India's political and social landscape, including through its ideological relationship with the broader family of organizations associated with it. Its role and influence remain subjects of intense public debate."
Shoonya folded his arms. "So why is all of this in a Chinese intelligence archive?"
"Because history is power," Ajit answered. "Control a nation's understanding of itself, and you can influence what it fears, what it trusts, and what it is willing to defend."
The archive zoomed outward. India's history dissolved into a web of encrypted files linking ancient inscriptions, colonial documents, modern political records, and classified scientific research.
At the center sat a single name.
DRAGON VEIN.
Albert's grin disappeared. "Okay. Now we're officially in the deep end."
Ajit touched the display.
"Dragon Vein is the designation for a hidden archive of knowledge gathered across generations. Some records are historical. Some concern discoveries never publicly acknowledged. Others describe covert programs involving advanced materials, intelligence networks, and technologies that could alter the balance of power."
"And China wanted it," Shoonya said.
"China wanted control of the information. But it wasn't alone. The United States, Russia, and India each had reasons to prevent a rival from obtaining the archive. Each believed that allowing another power to possess its secrets would create a strategic disadvantage."
"Four superpowers fighting over information," Albert muttered. "Humanity really can turn anything into a fucking weapon."
"Especially knowledge," Ajit replied.
A final file appeared. Its encryption was different from the others.
SHEN KAEL — ORIGIN RECORD.
Shoonya's expression changed.
"Open it."
Ajit hesitated.
"Shen Kael's background connects the archive to the secret council that has manipulated events from behind the scenes. The council's objective was not simply to acquire power. It was to decide who would be permitted to possess the knowledge capable of changing humanity's future."
"Who created the council?" Shoonya asked.
"That answer is buried in the remaining encrypted records. But the evidence suggests that Shen Kael was not merely an operative. He was connected to the original architects of the system."
"And Shoonya?" Albert asked quietly. "Where does he fit into all this?"
Ajit looked at Shoonya.
For the first time, the old General seemed reluctant to speak.
"Your origins are connected to the same hidden program. The archive contains references to your creation, your selection, and the reason certain people have spent years watching you. I won't pretend we have every answer. We don't."
Shoonya stared at the file.
"Then we'll get them."
Ajit closed the hologram.
"Everything I told you until now… was history."
The lights dimmed.
"Everything after this…"
He looked around the command room.
"…is classified."
Shoonya reopened the final page.
His eyes moved across a series of timestamps, probability calculations, and intelligence summaries. Then he stopped.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Albert noticed first.
"Shoonya?"
Shoonya looked up.
"The Americans will attack in thirty minutes."
Silence.
Then the room exploded.
"WHAT?!" the advisor shouted.
"You're telling us NOW?!" the general snapped.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" an officer demanded.
Shoonya remained still.
"I informed command on the day the four-nation clash began. I submitted a probability report under the designation Outcome-271."
The advisor turned toward the terminal. "Find it. Now!"
Files raced across the screen.
Then a document appeared.
OUTCOME-271 — RECEIVED AND ARCHIVED.
The timestamp matched.
The advisor's face drained of colour.
"It was here the entire time…"
Shoonya rose from his chair.
"You ignored the warning because the attack wasn't certain. Now the probability has changed."
The general stared at him. "And what exactly do you propose we do in thirty minutes?"
Shoonya looked at the American insignia glowing on the map.
His voice was calm.
"Why don't we attack America before they attack us?"
Nobody moved.
Then Ajit looked at the young man standing before the world's most powerful military command.
And, for the first time that morning, the old General had no answer.