The world, Dilli knew, never revealed its true nature in peace.
It revealed itself only when surprised.
Deep within the decision vaults of Cosmos United, Dilli stood with Betal and VEDA before a question that had no diplomatic answer:
Who are they really—when the balance shifts?
Not what nations claimed to be.
But how they reacted when control slipped.
1. The Mirror Strategy
VEDA unfolded centuries of human behavior—wars sparked by fear, alliances born from advantage, morality rewritten by power.
The world responds instinctively, VEDA concluded.
Observe the instinct, and you know the soul.
Betal refined the thought.
Give them something they cannot deny—and watch what follows.
Dilli's gaze hardened.
"Then we won't threaten them," he said.
"We'll redefine the sky."
The plan was simple, dangerous, and precise.
Reveal one invention.
Just one.
Enough to shock.
Not enough to provoke.
2. The Name That Carried a Memory
The aircraft already existed—hidden, perfected, waiting.
Unmanned.
Unchallenged.
Unbelievable.
It was capable of 10 Mach operational speed, with a proven theoretical ceiling of 18 Mach—a number no aerospace doctrine on Earth was prepared to explain. Fighter. Bomber. Reconnaissance. One frame, many roles.
Dilli named it JATAYU.
Not as mythology—but as reminder.
A guardian that rose when all hope seemed lost.
3. Atreyapuram, Under a Waiting Sky
The announcement was abrupt.
No long press cycles.
No leaks.
Only an invitation.
The Cosmos United Facility at Atreyapuram.
On the evening of the reveal, the sky itself seemed unsettled. Clouds gathered with unnatural speed. Wind stilled. Thunder rolled—not violently, but with authority.
Among the guests stood leaders who embodied the era:
Man Mohan Singh
Kiran Kumar Reddy
Senior defense officials, scientists, diplomats, and observers from across the world—none fully aware of what they were about to witness.
Dilli walked to the podium as the rain began.
"No slogans," he said calmly.
"No promises."
Only the hangar doors remained closed.
4. The Moment the Sky Changed
Lightning struck the horizon.
The doors opened.
JATAYU did not look like an aircraft.
It looked like absence shaped into purpose.
No cockpit.
No exposed weapons.
A surface that swallowed light instead of reflecting it.
As thunder cracked overhead, JATAYU lifted vertically—silent, effortless—hovering as rain curved around its field. For one breathless second, the world held still.
Then—
It vanished.
Not upward.
Not forward.
Gone.
Screens lit up seconds later.
Telemetry confirmed the impossible.
Mach 5.
Mach 7.
Mach 10.
No sonic boom.
No thermal bloom.
Just controlled dominance.
Dilli's voice cut through the storm.
"This is JATAYU," he said.
"It can fight. It can strike. It can return."
A pause.
"And this," he added, "is one of many."
5. Shockwaves Across the World
The storm over Atreyapuram faded.
The storm across the planet did not.
In China, emergency aerospace councils assembled before the broadcast ended. Hypersonic assumptions collapsed in real time.
In Pakistan, silence followed frantic activity—a silence that meant doctrines were being rewritten overnight.
In the United States of America, classified files marked Dormant: Cosmos United were reopened, reclassified, and escalated beyond peacetime protocols.
The same question echoed everywhere:
How did we miss this?
6. The Slap That Needed No Force
Cosmos United had been quiet.
Too quiet.
Assumed to be cautious.
Assumed to be contained.
Assumed to be years behind.
JATAYU shattered those assumptions without firing a single round.
In just a few years, the so-called dormant group had not merely advanced—it had skipped generations.
This was not an arms race.
It was a reality check.
7. The Truth Dilli Was Waiting For
Back in the shadows, Betal intercepted reactions—panic disguised as diplomacy, arrogance masked as restraint, fear pretending to be confidence.
VEDA mapped posture shifts across governments in real time.
Behavioral profile complete, she reported.
Dilli watched silently as the world exposed itself.
"Now," he said, "we know who we're dealing with."
He did not celebrate.
Because JATAYU was never meant to rule the sky.
It was meant to ensure that when the world looked up again—
it would do so carefully.
Above Atreyapuram, the clouds parted.
Across the globe, certainty collapsed.
And somewhere between thunder and silence,
the world realized a dangerous truth:
Cosmos United had not returned.
It had simply decided to be seen.