White Elephant border frontline camp.
The air was thick with the mixed smell of dust, diesel, and sweat. Low tents and armored vehicles were scattered throughout the camp, while several soldiers squatted in the shade smoking.
Captain Kamal had just run back from headquarters, his boots kicking up little clouds of dust from the cracked ground.
The excitement on his face was impossible to hide. Grinning broadly, he jogged through the camp toward the squad's assembly point.
More than twenty soldiers had already formed up in the open space at the center of the camp.
Their khaki combat uniforms were covered in dust, and their turbans came in all sorts of styles. Some wore gray cloth, some khaki, while one had tied an orange-red cloth into a knot atop his head.
Their rifles were equally varied—INSAS Rifles, AK-47s, and several TAR-21s—and all eyes were fixed on their captain.
They had already heard the president's speech over the broadcast and knew what was about to happen. Every pair of eyes gleamed.
Kamal stood before the formation, his chest still rising and falling slightly, unable to suppress the excitement on his face.
He cleared his throat, his voice burning with ignited passion. "Brothers—the orders are in!"
The soldiers in formation instinctively straightened up. Some clenched their rifle slings, and even their breathing grew quieter.
Kamal turned and walked over to a makeshift map stand. He pressed the index and middle fingers of his right hand together, then jabbed them heavily at three red markers on the map.
"This time, our objective is to pull out the Rabbit Nation border strongholds here, here—and here! Numbers 803, 806, and 809!"
His fingers moved rapidly between the three points. "Look closely—these are their three foremost observation posts.
Every one of them sits right along our