10th November 1656
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Port Swaraj, previously known as Port Blair
Aditya Bhonsle, as king of the Bharatiya Empire, has the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as his territory. Due to being quite far from the mainland, he has more administrative power than the other kings. On the other hand, he has less military power than the other kings as a way to balance the rights and interests between the nobility and the civilian officials.
Initially, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was in a place far up in the north called Kakapura, which was chosen because it was the first place the Bharatiya soldiers landed on these islands and where they started the conquest. It was kept so in order to ease trouble between the mainland and the island since there were no governors directly appointed by the Bharatiya Empire.
But now that the Bharatiya Empire has appointed a king for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Bharatiya government does not have to micromanage everything, and since the southern part of Great Andaman Island is indeed very suitable as a capital, it was promptly made so.
Vijay himself named the capital Port Swaraj, or Port Independence.
Currently in Port Swaraj
45 men, neatly dressed in black uniforms, stood at attention within the square of the Swaraj mansion. Aditya Bhonsle, who is the owner of this mansion, inspected these men one by one. Looking at these men all neatly standing in attention in their queues, Aditya was very satisfied.
"Good morning, men. It is not my place to remind you what your mission is, as you have already been briefed on it. All I will say is, do the best you can and complete the task."
"Just remember, the task you are doing is a noble one. It is a task that pursues freeing our compatriots from the grasp of the Europeans. So, good luck and Jai Hind."
Aditya said as he resolutely saluted the newly trained Secret Service agents destined to be sent to Southeastern countries.
The agents resolutely reciprocated the salute as they loudly shouted in unison, "We will get it done, Your Highness. Jai Hind."
Saying that, in groups of five, the agents set off in their respective merchant vessels, heading towards 4 different countries.
Back at the mansion, Aditya watched the men leave, and he had a smile on the corner of his mouth. Just then, he was disturbed by his son, who came outside with slow baby steps.
"Dada"
Aditya happily lifted his son up and went into the mansion.
That day, four different merchant vessels carrying four different groups of Secret Service agents travelled through the Andaman Sea and reached the Malacca Strait within a day.
The first batch of Secret Service agents, composed of 3 groups, got down at the port of Malacca collectively.
These 15 people immediately started their work. They camouflaged themselves as merchants and proceeded to figure out the situation in Malacca and it’s surroundings.
Within two days, a lot of data was collected. Just as they were briefed, this region was indeed controlled by the Dutch, who controlled three different kingdoms, with Java being the main control centre and Jakarta its capital. The Dutch also controlled certain parts of Bali and Sumatra. Overall, the Dutch control over the region of western Indonesia could be considered quite large.
Since the Secret Service agents were meant to make contact with the resistance forces against these colonizers, they naturally set off to the eastern Indonesia region, precisely Sulawesi, which has yet to be conquered or controlled by the Dutch.
This group of 15 people was headed by a Secret Service Captain called Jaideep.
Jaideep and his subordinates camouflaged themselves as pilgrims and visited a temple in Bali. After staying in Bali for a few days as pilgrims, they made a move. They bribed a local fisherman and asked him to take them to the city of Makassar, a city located in the eastern Indonesia region, Sulawesi.
The fisherman was scared as Sulawesi was a forbidden region since Dutch vessels constantly patrolled the area. However, looking at the shining gold coins and considering his own secret, the fisherman decided to take a risk.
Although the fisherman had accepted the bribe, he was not brainless. He had a lot of experience in these waters and knew when the Dutch were relaxed. Hence, at 8:00 o’clock at night, he resolutely set off.
"Are you sure you can take us there at night?" Jaideep asked with a hint of doubt and concern in his voice.
The fisherman, an old man around 53 years old, was proud as he stated, "To be honest, you are very lucky, sirs. If you asked for this help from anyone else, you wouldn’t have succeeded, but you asked me, and you did the right thing. You may not know, but I was born in Sulawesi, and my son is still in Sulawesi. Due to work, I had to leave Sulawesi when he was just born.
During this time, the Dutch increased their influence in the region and completely blocked off travel to Sulawesi."
"I was helpless for a few years as I was stuck in Bali, but one day I got very sick and I was afraid that I was going to die. So, thinking that I was going to die anyhow, I took my boat and rode towards Sulawesi, not wanting to die before seeing my family."
"Fortunately enough, the seas were calm that day and the Dutch patrol ships were absent. With a lot of effort, I managed to cross the Java Sea and reach Sulawesi. Thankfully, due to God’s blessing, I survived the disaster as neither the seas nor the disease could kill me. After that day, I regularly travelled between Bali and Sulawesi, one for work and the other for family."
Jaideep and the rest of the Secret Service agents were stunned listening to the story. They did not expect that the smiling old man in front of them would have such a legendary experience. "Your life is strong, old man," Jaideep commented, with a hint of reverence in his tone.
The old man did not notice this, but he laughed loudly as he felt like he was being praised. In such a way, Jaideep and his subordinates reached Sulawesi the next morning.
---
In the meantime, the second batch of agents had reached their destinations and started their missions. A group headed by Captain Niranjan got off from the merchant ship at the port of Manila.
With the prior intelligence, they roughly knew about the distribution of powers in the region, hence his group of 15 people immediately split up and left for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
They soon confirmed the Spanish occupation of these regions. Surprisingly, unlike the Dutch-occupied region of Indonesia, the Philippines was not too tightly controlled by the Spanish. After further investigation, the Secret Service agents learned that this was due to the weakening of the Spanish Empire and its current focus being placed on the Americas.
Because of this, they were able to easily locate the resistance forces in the region after inquiring with some locals.
"Kind sir, we want to make a deal. Could you please take us to your boss?" Niranjan said with a smile on his face.
A thin middle-aged man with a brown complexion was immediately startled, but he quickly calmed down as the man in front of him did not seem to be someone intent on causing trouble. However, he could not really take them to their hideout. ’What if this is a trap to lure us out? Even if I die, I would not do such a thing,’ he thought to himself, his will firm.
Niranjan seemed to understand the thought process of the man in front of him, so without saying another word, he quickly took out a bag from the hands of his subordinate and proceeded to open it.
The middle-aged man was curious and looked at what was inside the bag.
His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. He knew what it was: a gun. They had seen such a thing in the hands of those white devils, but unfortunately, they could not get their hands on such a thing no matter how hard they tried. With the same surprised expression, he looked at Niranjan eagerly.
Niranjan smiled and said, "Dear sir, do you intend on keeping us in the rain? Please take us to your boss quickly; we have a business to talk about."
The middle-aged man was ecstatic and quickly led Niranjan and his group to his camp deep in the forest.
---
The Third batch of Secret Service agents got down in Bencoolen and Maluku Island, located on the southwestern side of Sumatra, camouflaged as labourers and slaves.
They soon confirmed its occupation by the British and also learned that within the controlled region, there were no resistance forces. However, there were forces opposed to the occupation outside of this region.
Since the Secret Service agents could not be kept using the normal tactics used to lock down the slaves, they immediately broke out from the slave houses, causing a riot by freeing multiple other slaves on their way out.
Within a week of their arrival, they managed to make contact with people who could help their cause.
---
The fourth batch of Secret Service agents landed on the island of Timor and confirmed that it was controlled by the Portuguese. However, these agents had a different mission. Their mission was not to contact resistance forces or to fund riots through weapons but to monitor the movements of the local administration.
This was due to Vijay’s order. Vijay wants to see if he could buy Timor from the Portuguese since they have somewhat of a good relationship with each other.
He wants to trade for these islands if possible, but for that to happen, the surrounding situation should be determined. Once the surrounding nations and regions were rid of European influence, he would make an offer—an offer that would be very difficult to refuse.
However, if the offer is indeed refused, it would become very hard for the Portuguese to stay in Timor without any European influence nearby.