Raid on Kahamba (12 page)

The two giant robots continued closing in with each other. 
T
he last
two
Helldarts struck in succession.  Neither seemed to do any major damage
as
the alien mech
a
managed to keep its weak spot away from the missiles.

“200 metres.”
X called out.

The alien mech
a
slowed and reared up on its hind legs. 
It continued moving forward while
long curved blades
un
folded from the backs of
its
two middle limbs.
  Apparently it was also ready for some melee action.
Both of the robots
approached
each other cautiously with their bladed weapons held ready.

“
Entering close combat range,”
X finally announced.
“You have control. Fight well, sir.
”
 

“Thanks, X.” 
They were less than a hundred metres apart now.  Joshua silently cursed himself a bit
.  H
e had been surprised by the appearance of close combat weapons on the Newt mech
a
, but
quickly
adopted a knife fighting stance as they narrowed the distance even more.

The enemy mech
a
also adopted a fighting stance and the two opponents began to circle
ever
closer to
each other.  Joshua figured his
mech
a
had a slight reach advantage over its opponent, but closer in, the enemy mech
a
with its longer blades could make short work of him.  The shorter
, powerful looking
limbs on the enemy mech
a
were sure to swing
blades
that
would
cut
through
molecular armour.

He jabbed at the enemy mech
a
once they were close enough.  The
Newt
was a tad sluggish but jerked clear of the attack. 
A moment later the enemy mech
a
surged forward,
swinging
both
arms so that the
blades whistled
through the air at the end of the
ir arcs.  Joshua s
afely clear
ed
the attack
by leaping backwards
. 
B
oth opponents
then
continued to size
each other up with quick attacks and feints.

With a lunge, the Newt mech
a
made th
e first real move with something it hadn’t tried yet.  It grabbed at
Joshua’s HARM with its good arm,
then
b
rought
its mid-limbs into striking range
while
it continued forward
.
  Joshua deflected the incoming arm with his left arm and struck with his knife
at the curved blade coming towards his lower torso
on his right side
.  He managed to block the blade with his knife in a shower of sparks where the blades locked and grated against each other.  Swinging his left arm down immediately after deflecting the grasping arm
,
he
knocked the other blade down so it cut in at an angle and was unable to completely penetrate
his
armour. 
The left side armour of his mecha was taking a beating. 
Joshua sidestepped his mech
a
to clear out of the killing zone and backhanded the other mech
a
across the head
with his fist
to knock it away.

Both mech
a
s stepp
ed back.  Joshua realized that the enemy mech
a
was stronger than
expected
.  If both front arms had been intact on the Newt mech
a
, he would have been caught and cut open, but it was an even match right now with his superior reach and faster HARM response.   Keeping his distance, he sliced away at the enemy mech
a
, lunging in to cut away at
the enemy whenever he had an opening.  The Newt mech
a
had long deep
knife cuts
across its armour
, and h
is own mech
a
also had
several
cuts and gouges on the arms where he had deflected cutting attacks. 

Some soldiers said the Newts had no fear
since
they did not retreat in combat, but Joshua knew better.  He had seen Newt units break and
run if they were hit hard--- really hard
.  This particular Newt pilot was not giving up though. 
Joshua was breathing hard and sweating inside his pilot suit
from
the constant
body motion required to maneuver his mecha
. 
Eventually one of them would make a mistake and the fight would be ended. 

Joshua finally saw the opening he was looking for.
  After parrying a slashing cut, he stepped inside the guard of the enemy mech
a
and twisted forward.  Both hands gripping the knife tightly
while
he stabbed straight into the center of the upper torso of the enemy mech
a
.
 
The blade’s tip cut through the enemy armour
and
deep into the innards of
the Newt
mech
a
in an instant
.  He then angled the blade
down
so it cut an arc
towards where he thought the pilot’s compartment was
. 
The enemy mech
a
seemed to shudder and then went limp.  Joshua wasn’t sure if he killed the enemy pilot or if he had hit a critical system.  Either way the battle was over.

The victorious HARM unit pulled its knife out of the motionless enemy mech
a
and stepped back from it.  Without support the enemy mech
a
collapsed in a big metal heap.  Joshua
sheathed his knife and
caught his breath.  That had been a close battle.  He would have to
ask
Willie
to
give him some more
hand to hand combat
pointers in the future.

“Well done, sir.  The victory is yours,”
X spoke out.

“I guess so, X.”  Joshua was
exhausted
.  His pulse was still racing and he
felt no sense of vict
o
ry
, but he was sure he would celebrate later. 

“We should check on Lieutenant Tanaka. She may require assistance.”

“Penny!”  Joshua roused himself in an instant.  He check her last location on the tactical display and headed his HARM in her direction.

Penny’s HARM unit
still laid
on its front where it had collapsed. 
Smoke
continued to ri
se out of the unit from the hole where its head used to be. 
The machine was dead. 

“Penny!  Penny! Can you hear me?” Joshua called out over the radio.  There was no response. Crouching down
,
he grabbed her HARM and rolled it over. 
The torso and the cockpit hatch looked intact. 
He tried to open
the hatch with
his HARM’s
hands, but it was
jammed
into place. Taking out his knife again, he gently
forced
the tip of the blade under the side of the hatch and began prying.  The metal groaned under the massive strength his HARM unit was applying and the locks eventually gave with several loud pops.
  Sheathing his knife again he then ripped the hatch off to reveal the cockpit underneath.

Penny l
ooked okay inside the cockpit.  She was still securely strapped in
,
but looked unconscious, her head tilted slightly off to the side.  Zooming in on her face with his HARM’s cameras, Joshua could tell she was still breathing. 
Her
helmet visor
was clear and blank,
indicating
that
her
HARM’s systems were offline.

Joshua crouched his HARM down on its knees and knuckles in the standard pilot boarding position.  He then opened up his left hand and flipped it over so it was palm up.  After opening his hatch he unhooked himself from his control systems.  “X, keep watch.  Alert me if anything comes close.”

“Yes, sir.”

He then exited his HARM and climbed up onto the chest of Penny’s unit.  Dropping down into the
tight fitting
cockpit
,
he
opened up Penny’s visor.  “Penny. Can you hear me?”

Penny stirred and gave
out
a slight moan. 

“Penny, wake up.  You need to wake up.”

She stirred some more and her eyes fluttered open.  “J- Josh?” she mumbled.

“Yeah
,
it
’
s me.  You remember anything?”

“Itai!  My h
ead hurts,” she complained.
“
Everything went dead.  Did we win?”

“Yeah, we did,” Joshua answered.  Penny’s eyes were beginning to focus and she could see the concern on Joshua’s face.  “Your unit took a direct hit and it looks like you might have bumped your head in the fall.”

“I’ll be okay,”  she mumbled.

“I know you will, but let me get you out of here first.”
  With that he
unstrap
ped
and disconnect
ed
her from
her
HARM unit. “We’ll let the medics look you over when we get in the air.”

Penny was unsteady, but she managed to
climb out with
Joshua’s
help.  He then carried her over to his HARM unit and placed her in
its
open hand.  You couldn’t fit two people into the cockpit and operate the mecha.  Running back to Penny’s HARM, he activated the self-destruct system
,
which began a three minute countdown.

Climbing back into his cockpit, he strapped himself in and hooked himself up again. 

“It is good that Lieutenant Tanaka is okay,”
X greeted.

“Yes it is, X.” Joshua responded. “Time to get out of here.”  He then closed
the hatch
and d
id a quick systems check
.  A moment later he
stood
up his HARM
.  Looking down to make sure that Penny was okay
,
he cupped his left hand a little more so
she had a slightly more secure seat
.  Penny had propped herself up and was ready for the ride. 
“Here we go,” he called out over the external audio.

Penny just looked up
and nodded with a smile
.
  “Let’s get out of here.”
 

Joshua set his
course for
the airfield and began
a smooth
loping trot down the highway towards it.  He set an easy pace to avoid jarring Penny too much.  They quickly ate up the distance.   Behind them, a series of explosive charges blew Penny’s HARM into pieces, completely destroying the important systems.

The information from their reconnaissance drones indicated that the commandos had reached the airfield. 
The big stealth transport had just landed and was taxiing around on the runway to prepare for a quick takeoff. 
Any
enemy
soldiers at the airfield had fled when the
commandos and the transport had arrived.  The commandos drove up to the transport and began
unloading the wounded from the trucks along with the precious cargo.