Raid on Kahamba

Raid
o
n Kahamba

An Exocrisis Blue Story

by Peter Lok

An action packed mecha v
ersus
mecha story set
after the story HARM
in t
he
Exocrisis Blue
universe
.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

© Peter Lok, 2012.
 
All rights Reserved.

Author’s Note:

This short story takes place ten years after the short story
HARM
, which introduced the giant humanoid robots. The HARMs are piloted by humans who can neurally synchronize with the robot control systems to gain the maximum potential of the machines.

Raid on Kahamba
continues building the future history that was begun in
HARM
.  Humanity has established a truce with the invaders after fighting them to a standstill by the end of the Alien War.  However, the political landscape of Earth has changed in the massive upheaval caused by the Newts, who have claimed much of the tropical and subtropical regions of the planet for their own colonies.

A pair of grey-blue eyes intently watched
the overhead monitor in the front of the cramped passenger compartment.  The pilots
of the transport plane
were piping
through
a
cockpit
view of the
approaching
island runway.  It was dark outside, but the display showed night vision video that was as clear as day.  Joshua still missed being a fighter pilot every so often, but that had not been
his main job for a decade now.
  He was now in his mid-thirties, but still
looked younger than his years.

The transport plane easily touched down on the runway at
the
Pacifica
n
base
,
in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  It was a massive stealth aircraft
,
shaped like a flying wing
,
that could vanish from sight and radar when its active camouflage was on.  The plane had
flown halfway around the world from
Vancouver and had refueled once in mid-air over the central Pacific.  It taxied past defensive missile batteries and numerous stealth fighters in their hardened shelters over to another huge hangar where it stopped.

One of the transport
’s
crew opened the side hatch to let a blast of warm, humid, night air into the plane.  “Welcome to Diego Garcia,” he announced to his passengers.
A light breeze blowing in through the massive hanger door left Captain Joshua Scott’s cropped blonde hair untouched, but ruffled Lieutenant Penny Tanaka’s
longer
brown hair. 
Joshua was the taller passenger, with a slim but muscular build
.
Penny was a slender Eurasian of average height
, her attractive features a legacy of her Japanese father and Australian mother
. 
T
he crewman gave
her
an admiring side-glance as
both passengers
walked
by to the open hatch
. 

“
Aa yokatta
!” Penny
said
with relief.  She commented to Joshua, her commanding officer
, 
“
Fresh air at last.  I hate long plane flight
s
.”
  She took a deep breath of the tropical air mixed with the faint, fragrant scent of an unknown plant.  It had been a
16
hour flight for the two of them.

Joshua also took a deep breath.
“
Not
as bad as
flying in cargo class,
” he joked back, “
at least these guys have some decent coffee and
food
.”

The crewman who had ju
st opened the hatch just smiled.
“
Y
ou lucked out.  Captain just traded for some of those Japanese
meal pack
s.  Canadian Forces stuff is okay, but
Japanese
MREs are
the best
-
it
’
s like having a bento box.
”

Stepping down from the converted bomber the two were met by a CAJUN special forces officer wearing a crisply pressed uniform.  The man had been waiting for the hatch to open. 
“
Captain Scott?
”
he
asked while executing a salute.

Joshua saluted back. 
“That’s me
.  Can you tell me what's going on?  Everything's been hush, hush, and in a rush.  I barely managed to get a text off to my girlfriend to let her know I'm not going to be home.
”
  They had just returned from a training mission when they had been bundled onto the waiting aircraft with minimal explanation.  Their HARM units had been loaded into the transport’s drop bays at the same time.  Their ground crews and extra equipment were already loaded on
board.

“
Sorry, sir,
”
the man replied in a completely flat tone of voice.
“
I'm not at liberty to say, but I'm sure they'll tell you at the briefing.
”
 
He
looked at
the
wristpad he wore on his arm. 
“
The briefing starts in seven minutes. This way, please.
”

“Figures we wouldn’t get a chance to change,”  Penny commented.  She
stretched to adjust
her form-fitting pilot suit a little. They had been wearing their suits for more than a day now,
and although that was
well within the capabilities of the suit
s
, it was
still
nice to get out of them once in a while.

“Yeah,” Joshua agreed. 
He briefly rubbed his hand over the light stubble on his
square
jaw.

The pilot suits were a marvelous integration of high tech fabrics and nanoelectronics.  Worn against bare skin, they were very comfortable,
taking
care of bodily functions
as well as providing
environmental control and protection. 
T
he
ir
tight fit
combined with
the sensors woven into the suit allowed for high
precision control of the
HARM units.

Joshua and Penny followed the special forces officer past technicians who were rushing forward to begin refueling and servicing the aircraft.  Behind them the transport’s loading ramp had dropped so their Humanoid Assault and Reconnaissance Machines could also be unloaded for servicing.  The HARM ground crews who had accompanied them on the flight over would shortly be busy attending to their robots. 

The trio entered a service elevator that descended four stories underground.  When the doors opened it revealed a long hallway with lights that stretched off into the distance.  They boarded a waiting transport cart and whizzed off towards the administrative section of the base. 

A large blast door indicated they had arrived at their destination.  Security sensors observed their approach.  The special forces officer waved his wristpad in front of a security scanner.  His wristpad
transmitted his credentials
to scanner
which also
validated his identity
against the
biometric and DNA sensing implant in his arm.  The blast door smoothly slid open to reveal a short passage which connected to a main hallway.  A security checkpoint manned by military police awaited them.

The officer authenticated himself
again
then waited while the police confirmed Joshua’s and Penny’s identities against their wristpads with a portable wand.  After the checkpoint they walked a short distance to a
good-
sized briefing room with dimmed lighting.  The room was
a
tiered
theater
,
with a seat
and
small desktop for each attendee.  About a third of the seats were already filled with military staff, a number of
whom
were CAJUN special forces commandos in their red berets.

A holographic display showing the red CAJUN logo
-
a blend of a rising sun with a maple leaf
-
occupied the front of the room.  Encircling the logo in small text were the words “Canada Japan Union.”

“I’ll be damned.  Good to see you again, Joshua!”
A
tall, heavily built man of African descent  exclaimed as he rose from
the front row.

A
big grin
crossed Joshua’s
face.  “Willie! How the heck are you?
  Haven’t seen you for a year.
”

The two men shook hands and gave each other a quick hug.  “You’re looking good,” Joshua
said
.  His friend was twelve years older than him and was definitely appearing more distinguished as he aged.

“I’m good.  Losing the old hair up top, but at least I haven’t collected any new wounds lately.  You look like you’re staying in shape too.  Must be working out since you sit
around
in one of those big robots all day,” Willie smiled. 

“
If I remember correctly, m
y big robot saved your
shot-
up ass along with the rest of your squad in that bunker assault.” Joshua retorted.  “You need to bring bigger guns to the party next time.”

“I do recall something about that,” Willie laughed.  He then turned to face Penny.  “And who is this attractive young lady
with you
?”

“
T
his is Penny Tanaka,
formerly of the Japanese Defence Forces, and
one of the best pilots in my HARM platoon.  She
’s
also a damned good wingman.”

Penny blushed a little at the praise. 

Joshua then pointed at Willie. 
“Penny,  this old lug here is Captain William Thornton, one of the best special forces commandos I have ever worked with.  He’s a good guy to have on your side.  Gets wounded a lot, but seems to be a fast healer!”

“Just call me Willie.”  William told Penny as he shook her hand.  His smile was infectious and Penny couldn’t help but like the man.  “We fought together on a couple of different operations.  Joshua saved my team when we were flanked and ambushed by some Newt infantry in Guatemala.  He busted up the ambush, taking a whack of damage in the process, and  carried me in my busted up
battlesuit
to the medivac.”

“He does do that,” Penny commented.  “Saves the day but takes a beating.  I’d say you two have that in common.”

Willie laughed again.  “ You got that right!”

“Know what’s going down?” Joshua cut in.

“Not sure.  My unit just arrived from Hawaii three hours ago.  Moved us out with no notice,” Willie replied.  “I just know we’re wearing raider suits and prepping for tropical combat.  So no heavy action, but you’re here so I don’t think it’ll be a cakewalk.”

“Yeah.  We got thrown onto the plane with no warning
too
.  They wouldn’t need HARM units for a quick hit and run.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough,”  Willie commented. “I should introduce you to the boys.  You’ll recognize a lot of them, but there’s some new faces.”

Someone shouted behind them. “Attention!”

Everyone turned to face the door as a one star general entered the room with his aide. Men and women snapped to attention and saluted.

The
general
did one quick salute to the entire room.  “At ease, everyone.  Most of you know me, but for those who do not, I am General Tony Russell, head of CAJUN Special Operations Command.” 

Willie and all of his commandos knew who the general was and were immediately at ease as they knew how he operated.  Joshua and Penny were part of CAJUN regular forces
; they
never met him,
but
his reputation as a tough man who got the job done preceded him. 

CAJUN was an international organization formed
by
Japan and Canada after the Alien War.  It had started out as a humanitarian and security organization whose role had increased over time as honest cooperation bound the two nations closer.  CAJUN now had its own intelligence services and rapid deployment forces staffed by volunteers from the militaries of both countries. It reported to both prime ministers via the CAJUN Chief of Staff.

Japan’s cities and infrastructure had been heavily damaged during the Alien War in vicious combat against the Blue Newts.  Japan emerged victorious
, but
at a heavy price.  Masses of orderly survivors occupied the ruins of her proud cities and massive refugee camps formed in the countryside.  The coming winter
threatened
high death tolls from mass starvation and homelessness.