Raid on Kahamba (8 page)

Dawn had finally arrived at Kahamba.  The sky,
Joshua’s
HARM, and everything else on the ground was lit a fiery red as the sun peeked above the horizon. 
The Russians who had been forced out of the garage had all been marked on his tactical display by his RPV. 
He prepared
to pivot around the corn
er to fire on the Russians with the
automatic cannon
.

His mecha’s AI suddenly
called out a warning.
“Enemy
combat walkers detected
ahead
.”
  In the tree line four, not three, enemy light mechas appeared. 

Combat walkers took a number of different forms.  They could be bipeds or quadrupeds
,
human
-
pilot
ed
or purely robotic.  These particular
bipedal
walkers were Russian T22 Reapers
carrying
human pilots.  Each unit was four m
etres high
,
and equipped with a
n light automatic cannon
arm and missiles.

These mechas had been waiting to strike again. 
They were split into two groups and fired on Joshua’s HARM from two quadrants with cannon and missiles at the same time.
  Armour piercing
30mm
shells exploded against the active molecular armour of Joshua’s HARM even as he jumped backwards and dodged to the side.  Molecular armour was an incredibly tough alien material that became even tougher when energized with sufficient voltage
.  Only a HARM unit or other large vehicle could contain a
large
enough
power
plant for it.

“Deploying countermeasures,”
X automatically replied.  Chaff and flares popped out from the HARM again. 
“Eight incoming missiles.”

The HARM was
only
taking minor damage from the
concentrated
cannon fire, but
it could always become more serious if sensors and joints were hit
.
  The real danger was from the anti-tank missiles
,
whose warheads could burn through molecular armour.

Joshua turned his HARM sideways to present the smallest possible cross-se
ction to the missiles and ran.
Additional chaff burst out. 
The missiles were supersonic and he had just seconds left.  A
squealing tone over his headse
t indicated that a missile was about to hit and he
power
jumped
his HARM
. 
The
jump shot him
up in the air over
20
metres of distance
.  Between the chaff and the jump,
five
missiles missed and exploded behind him.
In mid-jump,
X tracked the remaining missiles
and
automatically
detonated beehive boxes mounted on the HARM unit.  Each beehive was a
curved
sheet of explosive coated with flechettes
, much like a claymore directional mine
.
  Several dense waves of projectiles shot out, exploding the last missiles in the air.

“Missile threat eliminated,”
his mecha’s AI
confirmed.

Landing rockets fired and the HARM’s legs bent to absorb the impact shock of the landing. 
Joshua was jolted inside his cockpit and immediately turned his HARM to face the enemy mechas again.  Seeing their attack had failed, the enemy mechas all popped smoke and dodged back.  Joshua managed to target one.  “Coilgun, burst mode.”  He lined up the coilgun and fired a burst that tore one Russian mecha into flaming pieces.
 

Behind
his HARM
, Penny called out “
Engaging
.”
She fired
a burst from her coilgun and a second mecha
e
xpl
oded in a ball of flame.

“
Two
T22
s
destroyed.  Other enemy mechas are retreating,”
X confirmed.
 
“Target remaining mechas with Helldarts?”

Checking his tactical display, he
saw that the remaining Spets
natz were also in full retreat.  They were bounding away in their battlesuits as fast as they could.  There was no point in engaging.  The Russians had tried, but
they
were outmatched this time. “Negative
on
Helldarts.
Do not engage.”

“Standing down on Helldarts,”
 
his mecha’s AI
confirmed.

The mecha engagement had been short, but sharp.  “It’s all clear,” Joshua called out.

“Let’s get rolling,” Willie ordered.  “Get us out of here.”  The two trucks drove out of the garage
past
Penny’s HARM unit.  Her HARM unit turned and easily kept pace by running next to the vehicles with its massive strides.
Joshua’s HARM brought up the rear.

***

The two trucks drove down the two lane highway
, staying
at 70 k
ilo
m
etres per
h
ou
r
so
the HARMs
could
keep up.  The drive away from Kahamba had gone smoothly so far.  Penny’s HARM
ran
ahead of the vehicles, while Joshua’s HARM brought up the rear.  They would shortly arrive at the old airstrip that was
still a long distance
away.

“Bad news,
amigo
,” Willie radioed to Joshua.  “
Angie
was shot in the back.  She lost a lot of blood, but I’ve stopped the bleeding.  Readouts say she’s stable for now.  The medic can work on her some more in the plane.  He’s good.”

“No!” Joshua was stunned by the news.  He hadn’t been prepared for anything like this.  This morning he would have never expected his girl friend to be shot in combat.  Joshua’s mind was racing.  “Shit…  How did it happen?”

Willie could sympathize with his friend.  “Final minutes of the firefight in the garage.  She was behind
,
protecting the artifact and the civilians.  Some
of the local
soldiers hit us from the back---“

Joshua cut in.  “
Goddammit
!  You were supposed to protect her!”  

“Listen!”  Willie changed his tact
, his tone becoming firm
.  “It was a mess in there.   She could take care of herself, and she did. 
She took out three enemy soldiers, s
aved the artifact
,
and
saved
the civilians.  You should know better.”

“But…” Joshua halted himself in mid-sentence.  He had to calm down.  He took a deep breath.  “Sorry about that,” he apologized.

“It’s all good.” Willie accepted his apology.  “Wait, Angie want
s
to say something."

Angie's voice was weak.  "I'm not dead
,
you big lug."  They had taken off her helmet to work on her
injury
a
nd passed her
the headset from it.  "Don't blame Willie.  Blame me.  I'll pull through, but you get us to the airstrip.”    

“Gotcha,” Josh
u
a replied.  He was still worked up, but calming down
.

"I know it's complicated, but I love you.  We
’
ll work all this out later.  That's a promise."

"Okay.  I'll hold you to that.  I... I love you too."

The
re
was a slight chuckle from Angie
, followed by
a grunt of pain
that told him
she shouldn't have been laughing. "Men..." she said, "Love you too.  Now get us out of here." 

"You make sure you take it easy.  I'll get us out."  Joshua closed the channel.

“She's tough,”  Penny added after the conversation stopped. “You don't hear 'I love you' on the comms every
day," she joked.  "I think she’ll
be
fine,” she said more seriously. “I like her, Joshua - she’
s
a good person
.” 

“Thanks,” Joshua smiled a little to himself.  Penny was always the sensitive one in the platoon.  “I know.  Lots of shocks today.  Lets get this mission done.”

“Roger that.  My RPV still shows the airfield
as
clear.”

“That’s good.  Signa
l for pickup," Joshua told Penn
y.

X broke into the
conversation.
“
Captain Scott
,
local
signals traffic has been increasing.”
  The AI had been scanning the surrounding terrain and monitoring the radio frequencies. 
“An air raid
alert
is
now
being issued.”

Joshua was worried about their ride home.  “Did they detect the transport?”

“Unlikely.  Air defen
c
es are activating to the west of us.  Our transport is to the northeast.”
The AI pa
used for a second to process more data
.
“Pan African missile batteries have engaged six unknown targets approaching at supersonic speed
, but
to no effect.  They are coming in low and cannot be effectively engaged.  Unknowns
originated in the Congo
and
are likely Blue Newt in origin
.  They are large units and appear to be mech
a
carriers.”

Things were not getting better
,
Joshua thought to himself.  “Where are the unknowns heading?”

The AI almost seemed to hesitate,
something which
was not within operational parameters
. 
“Current course indicates they are coming directly at us.  They are approximately four minutes out.  I do not understand how they have found us.”
 

“Maybe it was the EMP
?
”
Joshua guessed.  “Expect more action, everyone.  Looks like the Newts are heading for us too.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!
” Willie shook his head in disgust.  “Why don’t we just place an ad on the front page of the news next time
?
 
Everyone seems to know about this.”

“That would not improve operational secrecy,”
X replied.

“That was humour, X.” Joshua had to smile.  “Listen up.  I don’t have much of a plan, but let
’
s try this unless someone has a better idea.”

“I’m listening,” Willie replied.

“They’re going to be after the artifact too.  When they arrive, Penny and I will hold them off.  Willie, you just drive straight for the airfield at full speed.  We’ll buy you the time you need.”

“You're right, that's not much of a plan.  They outnumber you three to one,
even if
your HARMs are the only things that can take on a Newt mech
a
.”

“I know, the odds aren't the best." Joshua wasn't fazed by Willie's statement. "We're going to thin them out first with anti-air, then we'll take on the survivors. 
We have a new surprise for them too. 
So stay close until they land and then get out of here ASAP.”