Raid on Kahamba

by Peter Lok

  Raid on Kahamba

  An Exocrisis Blue Story

  by Peter Lok

  An action packed mecha versus mecha story set after the story HARM in the 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 Pacifican 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. The 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 flights.” 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 just opened the hatch just smiled. “You lucked out. Captain just traded for some of those Japanese meal packs. 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 suits, 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. Their 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, my 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?”

  “This 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.”

&
nbsp; 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.

  When the Japanese government issued a plea for assistance, the Americans were unable to respond, embroiled in a civil war between the eastern and western halves of their country. Only Canada answered the call with significant aid. Canada had suffered too, with the destruction of Toronto at the beginning of the Alien War and Quebec separating from the rest of the country in the aftermath, but the alien incursions within its borders had been far less serious. An airlift of emergency supplies began in a week. Within a month, tankers of oil, shipments of grain and container ships full of winter gear began arriving at Japanese ports. On the way back the ships were packed with as many refugees as possible to be resettled temporarily or permanently in Canada or the western United States. Over five hundred thousand Japanese arrived, and over a quarter million decided to stay permanently in Canada.

  Later on, Pacifica, the nation that rose from the former western United States, was added to the CAJUN membership. Both Joshua and Willie had entered CAJUN service via this route as Pacifican citizens. CAJUN rapid deployment forces with more advanced HARM units had played a pivotal role in ending the Second American Civil War with an uneasy truce between east and west.

  General Russell moved behind the podium to the side of the holographic display at the front of the room and continued speaking. “Good to see everyone is here. I’ll be up front with everyone. This could be one of the most important missions we have ever undertaken. The secrecy and speed in which we gathered you all together is both reactive and planned to deal with events evolving as we speak. This is a very fluid environment, ladies and gentlemen. You were all hand picked for this mission and represent the best that we have, so I know you will be successful.”

  He looked around the room, seeing that the soldiers were murmuring amongst each other. He then motioned to someone standing in the doorway, just out of sight, to step into the room.

  “Let me introduce you to Special Agent Angie Bless of our Intelligence Branch. She has been planning with our staff to organize this mission and will be going with you into the field as a liaison.”

  Joshua’s jaw dropped in surprise. Angie? My Angie? he was thinking.

  A tall woman wearing a stylish, dark skirt suit tailored to her slender physique entered the room. Her medium length dark blonde hair was tied behind her in a pony tail. She was naturally attractive, but not a stunner. She walked over to the podium and stood next to General Russell. Her eyes scanned the room, and met Joshua’s stunned gaze. Their eyes locked for just a moment, but she showed no emotion and just the faintest recognition of Joshua.

  “Good morning, everyone. I will be providing the intelligence briefing for this mission and I will let the General outline the mission parameters. Approximately thirty six hours ago I received information from a scientist who is analyzing an alien artifact of Blue Newt origin. The encrypted message showed photos and initial assessment results of the object. CAJUN intelligence has evaluated this information and deemed it high priority. Action has been authorized at the highest levels to retrieve both the scientist and the artifact.”

  She paused for a moment then worked her wristpad to bring up some images on the holographic display.

  “Your girlfriend is a spy?” Penny whispered incredulously over to Joshua.

  “Uh… I guess,” Joshua whispered back. “I thought she was just a senior scientist at the CAJUN Materials Research...” His words stumbled a bit “… I… I guess this explains all the conferences and research trips.”

  “You two are going to have to have a good talk after this.” Penny felt sorry for her commander; he was a pretty good guy to her and her platoon mates.

  “This is a video stream of the artifact,” Angie continued. “It is an egg shaped crystalline object about ninety centimeters tall and weighs almost a hundred kilos. It is quite dense.” Another video stream shot against a dark background appeared. “As you can see it is translucent, with a smooth surface. It glows with a faint amber light and also seems to generate a faint amount of magnetism and heat.”

  A close up photo appeared. “Faint crystalline lattices can be seen inside the object, as if they were holographically etched. We are not sure what all of this means, but it could be a computing or information storage device, a power source, or something else altogether.”

  Angie paced around the hologram pointing out a few of the interesting features. “This isn’t very much to go on, but the AIs back at headquarters indicate a ninety five percent probability that this is the Great Mother Egg, or Shre’lor, that was lost during the destruction of the Newt mothership ten years ago. The description of the artifact and the recovery coordinates strongly support this scenario. If it is the Shre’lor, this artifact is extremely valuable to the Newts. It is their holiest religious artifact and it could be much more than that. When they nuked Washington DC, Moscow, and Beijing in response to the destruction of the mothership one of their few communications indicated it was a reprisal for the loss of the Shre’lor. Getting our hands on this artifact could give us valuable knowledge or even an advantage over the Newts.”

  Angie looked out over her audience. “Any questions?”

  There was
a short silence. “Are we sure this intelligence is correct?” Willie asked. “This is almost too good to be true.”

  “This information is real,” Angie confidently replied. A flick of her finger brought up a photo of a middle-aged African woman with short curly hair, standing beside a young boy. “It is from one of my own trusted assets, Dr. Shani Tsvato, who is currently working on the analysis of the artifact. She is a PAA national who normally is based in Cape Town, but was drafted for research on the artifact. Part of this mission is to extract her and her twelve-year-old son, Kwasi, and offer them asylum in Canada. She will be working on the inside to enable access to the artifact and open security doors to facilitate our entry.”

  “Where is the artifact now?” Willie asked again.

  “It is located in former Tanzania. The artifact is at a research facility in the Kahamba rare earths mine.” Angie pressed something on her wristpad and a satellite map appeared. It showed the mine location in the Shinyanga Region southeast of Lake Victoria from a high altitude, then zoomed in to show an enhanced 3D model of the site. The research facility was located on the far side of the large open pit mine, away from the massive tailings piles.