Of course, what truly brought India's mobilization to the peak of public attention was the public debut of the Nine Treasures Throne.
By institutional rule, the Nine Treasures could have only nine members.
So when eleven Shen Hu Type-II mechs in different colors lined up on Delhi's central parade ground, foreign reporters were quick to raise a question.
"Why do the Nine Treasures have eleven mechs?"
The Indian protocol officer gave a tolerant smile and gently wobbled his head.
"The Nine Treasures are a sacred institution, not mere arithmetic."
"But there really are eleven people here."
"The reserve Zeroth Treasure is not included in the Nine Treasures' numerical framework, while the Honorary Co-Ninth Treasure shares a constitutional position with the official Ninth Treasure. Thus, in institutional and spiritual terms, there are still nine members."
"Then how many people can we actually deploy in combat?"
"We have eleven warriors of the Ganges who far surpass Britannia's Knights of the Round."
The reporter wanted to press further, but the protocol officer had already signaled the band to strike up the Nine Luminaries Military March.
The leader of the Nine Treasures was Sun General Surya Vikram Singh, a native of Uttar Pradesh, who spoke as though every sortie was an opportunity to conquer the sun while he was at it.
Moon General Chandra Kaur handled night combat and reconnaissance. He was the only one of the eleven who followed the news.
The first time Fire General Mangala Rao climbed into a Shen Hu Type-II, he demanded that the engineers remove its power limiter, arguing that the Fire Luminary should not be bound by percentages.
Water General Budha Mukherjee was both pilot and engineer. He could assemble a working joint controller out of three incompatible types of parts, provided no one asked about the