Raid on Kahamba by Peter Lok

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