Raid on Kahamba (11 page)

“Range is 1600 metres.”
  Joshua fired again.  A
portion of the Newt mech
a
’s side armour blew off.

Joshua could see the enemy mech
a
aiming.  He leapt to the side.  A laser flashed by his mecha. 
The Newt mech
a
snapped a second shot at him less than a second
later
.  Joshua barely dodged the shot.  A shallow furrow
appeared on
his HARM
’
s right arm.  He could see
that
the heat radiators on the lower torso of the enemy mech
a
had fully extended and were
now
glowing red
hot
on his display.  The Newt mech
a
was generating more
heat from
constant
firing than it could easily dissipate.

Jos
hua kept up the pressure and continued
to close the distance. 
“Range is 1500 metres.”
More shots were exchanged and missed. 
“Range is 1400 metres.”

“
Two hundred metres
ahead
, pop smoke.
” 

“Firing smoke,”
his mecha’s AI
responded. 
Smoke mortars fired
canisters
from the
front of his HARM
,
creating
a line of visual, thermal and radar diffusing smoke.  In seconds the smoke was thick and getting thicker.   It wasn’t perfect cover, but it did make it harder to target anyone.  Joshua had two advantages.  His advance was facilitated from behind the smoke and he could
still
make out the huge heat bloom from the enemy mech
a
’s radiators.

Laser blasts shot through the smoke
,
missing
his mecha by a wide margin.  The Newt mech
a
was firing semi-blind.  Joshua drove his HARM at a dead run for the smoke line. He could barely see the heat signa
ture from the enemy
’s
radiators, but that was enough.  He adjusted
his aim
,
then pulled the virtual trigger again.  Another penetrator left the barrel of his coilgun.  The penetrator blew through the smoke and tore off a huge chunk of radiator from the enemy mech
a
.  Two more laser blasts shot through the smoke
in response, but he had already changed position.

Nearing the smoke line, Joshua called out.  “High  jump, 20 metres.”

The AI confirmed,
“High jump, 20 metres.”

He tensed his legs and mimicked a jump, leaping his mecha up at a 45 degree angle.  The HARM unit sailed up through the smoke and cleared it.  Joshua sighted down his coilgun, focused only on the position of the enemy mech
a
.
Once
his HARM cleared the smoke
he quickly adjusted and fired again
for the center of the upper torso
.  The enemy mech
a
was surprised by the move
and barely shifted position in time
.  His shot hit the enemy mech
a
in the left shoulder, blowing the
shoulder and
arm clean off. 
The enemy mech
a
staggered but kept going. 
Sparks and smoke billowed from the gaping hole in the torso. 
Only one arm remained to steady the laser. 

His HARM arced down to a running landing
, its
landing roc
kets firing to reduce the
impact
.  The
Newt mech
a
fired
, and a
laser blast
struck
the coilgun’s barrel
.  The explosion destroyed the coilgun
and
almos
t tore it from the HARM’s grip.

Warning indicators flashed and
a
buzzer sounded.
“Primary weapon disabled,”
X
reported
.
“Recommend withdrawal.  Continued engagement will likely result in the destruction of this unit.”

Joshua
was thinking quickly.  He should have been scared or nervous
since
the alien mech
a
clearly had the advantage now, but he wasn’t thinking about
himself. 
If he didn’t stop the enemy
,
none of his people were leaving Kahamba
.
Angie, Penny, Willie, and the
mission
all depending on him.
“We press the attack
,” he said with certainty in his voice.  “
That mech
a
is going down
.  It
’
s taken serious damage and
I don’t think it can sustain laser fire as the heat sinks are
also
damaged.  We close in and kill it in close combat.”

“Understood,”
X responded.
“Seventeen Helldarts remaining. 
I s
uggest continuous fire to draw off
point defence laser fire
.”

“
M
y thought
exactly,
” Joshua
agreed.
  H
e continued running his HARM in a weaving pattern towards the enemy mech
a
. 
The ene
my could have tried backing up to increase the distance between them, but it chose to stand its ground to get a more stable firing platform.  The loss of an upper arm had obviously damaged its fire control.  It fired and fired again,
missing
both times,
and
its l
aser blasts were
now
further apart in time.

“Range is 1100 metres,”
X called out.

Joshua was down
to his secondary weapons.  He
checked the status of
the
automatic cannon
built into the left forearm of his HARM.   “
Chain gun, h
igh explosive, then armour piercing rounds,” he ordered.
  The light automatic cannon wasn’t going to do much against the enemy mech
a
, but it could get a lucky hit on a sensor or damaged area.

“Chain
gun, high explosive rounds selected, t
hen armour piercing. Only 40 HE rounds remaining, 200 armour piercing,
”
his HARM’s AI confirmed.

“
Begin interval firing of
Helldarts.  Target upper torso, destroyed arm area.”

“Locking Helldarts,”
  confirmed the AI. 
“Firing.”
 
Whoosh!
A single missile left up into the air from the vertical launchers built
into
the HARM’s shoulders.

Extending his HARM’s left arm, Joshua fired a burst from his automatic cannon.  Gyrostabilized firing and computer assisted tracking meant
most of
the rounds hit the
mainly
stationary alien mech
a
.  Small bursts of fire and smoke indicated where the rounds hit.

The remaining point defence laser on the undamaged shoulder of the Newt mech
a
opened up on the incoming Helldart and destroyed it. 
The e
nemy mech
a
was slow to fire its primary beam cannon again. 
Joshua dodged and the
laser blast scorched the armour plating on
his HARM
.
 

The thermal sensors showed the heat sink on the enemy mech
a
glowing with extreme heat now.  X automatically
fired
a Helldart off.  Joshua kept up the pressure.  His cannon arm was always extended
;
whenever he had a moment, he fired
another burst of 30mm rounds
, hoping to get a hit on some sensors.

“Range is
9
00 metres.
”
X
launched a
nother Helldart off.

The Newt mecha fired one more time, the laser blast coming close, but missing again.  It then dropped the laser cannon and suddenly lurched forward towards him.  The point defense laser battery was firing again at the Helldarts in flight.  Two more Helldarts exploded in mid-air.

It looked like the Newt mecha
had
finally
overheated its beam cannon.
  “About time!” Joshua exclaimed.  He
fired another burst while running directly at the enemy mech
a
.  It looked like the enemy mech
a
also wanted to engage in close combat
since
it was advancing at full speed.

“High explosive rounds depleted, switching to armour piercing.”
  X then fired another Helldart.

“Range is
8
00 metres,”
X called out.

Armour piercing rounds sparked off the enemy mech
a
’s head and upper torso.  Joshua couldn’t tell if he was doing any real damage.  The distance between the two armoured giants was closing rapidly.  Joshua had his cannon arm fully extended and was firing at the enemy mech
a
’s head with long bursts
while
he ran.  The enemy mech
a
would have engaged him with its point defence laser, but the
incoming
Helldarts kept it busy.

“Range is
5
00 metres,”
X called out again.
“Fifty rounds remaining for chain gun.”

Ammunition did not matter.  Joshua was only focused on getting in close.  He fired again and again on the run.  The enemy’s point defence laser
flashed and another Helldart exploded.  Both war machines left a
cloudy trail
of
d
ust in the air behind them from their rapid advances. 

“300 metres.  Chain gun ammunition expended.” 
X fired another Helldart.

Joshua reached back with his
HARM’s
right arm
and grabbed the hilt of
its
giant combat knife.
 
“Deploy monosteel blade.”

The three metre long knife was secured in a horizontal sheath attached
to the back of the HARM,
just above its hips.  The locks in the sheath diseng
aged and he drew the knife out.  The kn
ife was a single-edged weapon with a pointed tip for stabbing.  By itself the cutting edge was strong and sharp, but when powered up by a HARM it could slice through molecular armour plate without dulling.
He had trained with the bl
aded weapon, but had never really thou
ght he would use it in combat.
  Tacticians had said knife fighting between giant robots
was ridiculous
, but Dr. Chan had insisted that the knives be added to the new HARM units, even if they were only to
serve as
utility tools.

A Helldart struck near the opening made
on the alien mech
a
by
the destruction of
its
left shoulder
.  The enemy mech
a
shudder
ed
slightly
while
it took the pounding.
The point defence laser had gone silent as it too had overheated.  Another Helldart was
in
flight
toward it
.

Whoosh
!
  The last Helldart launched from Joshua’s HARM. 
“All munitions
expended.
”