For the month of October...
3 October
The Raj is said to be “apoplectic” after news of the violence in and around Manila yesterday. Virtually all appointments with the Raj and several ministers and advisors have been cancelled, and most of those individuals actually spent the night in the Imperial Palace, in guest suites, in order to be available at the shortest possible notice.
5 October
Details are only now becoming available, but the Bharatiya Nau Sena is confirming that the Filipino cruiser Panay and the monitor Chandragupta have exchanged fire off of Northern Asir.
“We are still piecing together precisely what happened, but I can say that a commotion was observed aboard Panay on the afternoon of the third. Repeated attempts to contact Panay and ascertain her condition failed, and Chandragupta finally sent a small boat over to establish contact. Panay attempted to evade the boat, and have failed to do so, crewmen aboard Panay were seen to gun down Chandragupta’s men with small arms. Warning shots from Chandragupta were met with broadsides from Panay”, Admiral Kashiram Paswan said.
“Chandragupta has sustained significant damage and a number of fatalities. Although we have some evidence that Panay has gone over to the revolutionary faction in the Philippines, we are at this time going to treat her ilke a pirate. Our intent is to capture her, and we have deployed a number of ships for this purpose.”
8 October
Crowd-Control Constables are keeping a watchful eye on a small but growing and vocal crowd assembled around the Filipino embassy. Numbering approximately two hundred, the people have primarily prayed and discussed politics since the assembly began yesterday.
“We’re here to express our dismay to the Filipino people”, said one man. “We helped them deal with SALSA, we helped keep them from a war with Chile, and they repay us with the deaths of our sailors in a treacherous attack.”
Another in the crowd, an older woman, commented, “I don’t see the benefit of allying ourselves to these people. All they do is cause trouble. How is the Raj to make Asia a better place when all he does is put out the fires that the Filipinos start?
14 October
The light cruiser Dhaka has arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia, where she will undergo several weeks of repairs following the battle with the Chilean pirate Harlock two weeks ago.
Captain Sehwag told AWNR that the work is primarily on basic hull repairs. “The French government has graciously offered to help us with repairs, and we’re taking them up on this offer. They can’t replace specific weapons or other equipment, but they can repair the unarmored parts of the hull and more generic items such as bunks and bulkheads. That’ll make the men sleeping in the hanger happy, I’m sure.”
When advised of the letter recently received from the apparently still living Captain Harlock, Sehwag noted, “He was right - Arcadia was old and tired. Pre-dreadnoughts, especially unmodernized ones, have no place on the front lines in this age.
“On the other hand, if he’d had his light cruiser with him instead, I’m pretty certain he would have at least gotten away. On the high seas, his cruiser would likely have a maximum speed well above the Danish MAS boats, not to mention the O’Higgins. At best, I could have hoped for a one on one engagement that could have gone either way.”
Captain Harlock’s comments on corruption were shrugged off by Sehwag. “The Royal Family have been respectable and esteemed rulers so far as I’m concerned. Harlock would be making a mistake if he were to come to our waters; however noble his goals may seem to be, we don’t look kindly upon freelancers.”
17 October
There is a much larger and clearly anti-Filipino crowd gathered outside the Filipino embassy in Hyderabad today, following the speech given by Prince-Regent Brashkar last night.
An estimated two to three thousand men, women, and children sang, prayed, and listened to speeches through out the day. Most of the latter had an underlying theme: that the Filipino government isn’t worth the blood of Indian soldiers and sailors. “They’re all crooks!”, one man shouted while banging a drum at random. “Feed them to the tigers!”
Meanwhile, a holy man at the site told the crowd, “Violence against one’s fellow man is shall beget misery and failure in the next life. In time, they shall all meet their dues, over and over until they change their ways.”
Crowd-control constables remained on site, but there were no reports of violence or illegal activities related to the protest.
18 October
In Riyadh, the Saudi government said that recent events only prove its arguments that India has no business controlling the mandate in Asir.
“They can’t adequately protect the region”, Prince Yusuf Ali Ibn Saud exclaimed. “When finally they realize this, they bring in volatile and self-serving mercenaries from the Philippines. When the mercenaries behave in exactly the unreliable manner one would expect from such scum, the Indians precipitate a raging battle just outside a bustling town. Who knows how many deaths and how much destruction took place in Al Luhayyah?”
Ibn Saud added, “Couple this with their obvious and clumsy attempts to infiltrate our respectable kingdom and it seems as if India is here only to cause us grief. I call upon the League of Nations to revoke the Indian mandate and allow Asir to return to its homeland, the Kingdom of Saud.”
In Hyderabad, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Jal Kadharni responded to the allegations by saying, “Our presence is the only thing keeping Asir from being over-run by a fanatical, backwards neighbour. The League knows this.”
As to the allegations about death and destruction, the spokesman noted, “We’re aware of one shell striking a small fishing vessel in Al Luhayyah’s harbour. We’ll be compensating its owner for the loss.”
22 October
The light cruiser Trincomalee and a destroyer have left Chennai, bound for the Philippines. According to Defence Minister Jagmohan Bhansali, the cruiser will be rendezvousing with loyalist Filipino forces.
“Trincomalee’s mission is to transport a team of liaison officers, who will work with the loyal Filipino military, to the base of loyalist operations. The officers, who include representatives from the army, army air corps, and navy, will strive to ensure a smooth integration of Indian assets into the loyalist command structure”, Minister Bhansali said in Chennai.
The ships are expected to arrive at their destination in about eight days.