Raid on Kahamba

by Peter Lok

  “Most of the country is controlled by the warlord Jean Huwapwa, who calls himself the President. The territory is technically claimed by the Pan African Alliance, but that is in name only. You should not be engaging any PAA forces during this mission. However, time is critical. Decoded intercepts have indicated that a Chinese delegation from the PRC will arrive in less than a day to examine the artifact and purchase it from Huwapwa. Huwapwa is on good terms with them as he buys arms from the Chinese and sells them rare earths. As you all know we do not have good relations with the PRC, so we will need to move very quickly to prevent this.”

  This was actually a sad state of affairs, Joshua thought to himself. Ten years ago the world had been united against the alien Newts during the Alien War. The PRC, Russia, Japan, Canada, Pacifica, the European Union, the PAA, and even Brazil had been all working together then. Some had proclaimed a new age of cooperation.

  After the war, the global political landscape had changed. A good chunk of Earth’s tropical and subtropical lands had been occupied by the Newts, who had either pushed the humans out or now lived in a tenuous coexistence with them. New alliances and nations had formed, and old nations had ceased to exist. He had personally fought in the Second American Civil War. The new global alliance had only lasted two years after the war.

  “That should be enough for now, folks,” General Russell added. He brought back the satellite map of the Kahamba area.

  “The mission will proceed as follows. Captain Thornton, you are the mission commander. Your Alpha Team will be back in the air within the hour. Mission prep can continue en route to the target. All of your gear will be loaded onto the transport.” The map then showed a line from Diego Garcia to Kahamba. “Your transport will fly within 30 kilometres of the research facility as a scheduled commercial over flight. You will be doing high altitude - high opening jumps onto the research facility. Ms. Bless will be jumping with you. She has advanced infiltration training, including HAHO, but it has been some time since she has jumped. Willie, take good care of her, she comes highly recommended. When you have landed she will contact Dr. Tsvato to arrange entry.”

  “Be my pleasure, sir,” Willie spoke up. “If she says she can do it, we’ll be glad to help her. She might be a spy, but she’ll be our spy. Welcome to the team, Miss.”

  “Thank you,” Angie replied graciously, “your reputation as a gentleman precedes you.”

  “And who would have told you that, Ma’am?”

  Angie pointed. “Joshua Scott, over there. We know each other.”

  Willie gave Joshua a big wink. Joshua just shrugged back.

  “It’s good you know each other,” the General continued. “Two of our latest Fenrir HARM units, under the command of Captain Scott, will be deployed after your landing to back up your team. There is a significant guard force in place at the research facility which includes a couple of early model HARMs.”

  Another line appeared on the map from Diego Garcia to end at a game preserve east of the research facility. “A stealth transport will deliver the HARMs 20 kilometres east of the target via a low altitude parachute extraction. They will make their way to the research facility to provide overwatch as you breach it.”

  An airstrip was then highlighted on the map. “After you have retrieved the artifact and the civilians, the HARMs will proceed ahead to secure a nearby airstrip. The stealth transport will then land again and extract all of you. Are there any questions?”

  There were none, so the General continued. “Detailed briefing materials, including the research facility plans, have been downloaded to your pads for your mission prep. If at all possible you are to use non-lethal means to incapacitate the guards. We don’t want to leave any obvious calling cards, so leave behind any personal effects. You will be issued non-traceable equipment for this mission, and the HARM units are being stripped of all markings as we speak. Good luck, everyone.”

  With that the General leaned over to whisper to something to Angie. She nodded, then he and his aide left the room. The special forces commandos chatted amongst themselves for a moment, then began to file out.

  Angie signaled to Joshua to wait, as the people left, but not before Willie told Angie she also needed to come down to the team’s ready room. Angie quickly agreed then walked towards Joshua. Willie noticed that, but figured that he’d find out what was up later. There were more pressing things to take care of right now.

  Penny saw Angie coming and excused herself from the upcoming interesting situation. “I’ll get back to the HARM units, sir. Probably need to count the ammo or something.”

  The room was now empty except for Joshua and Angie. Joshua quietly watched her approach, his face unemotional as he wondered what to do. He hid his conflicting emotions well. Angie’s professional facade cracked first. She hugged and kissed Joshua, trying to bridge the distance between them. Joshua awkwardly responded to her affection before they broke apart.

  “How did I do?”

  “You did great I think,” Joshua responded in a low voice. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “I wanted to… but I couldn’t. It was secret.” Angie was still holding onto him for comfort and looked him in the eyes when she said it. Her voice was nervous and apologetic. “I know this looks bad. I didn’t want it to come out this way, but it just… just happened. I’ve been with CAJUN intelligence for almost ten years. I’m a deep cover agent in the alien materials technology area. Not everything I’ve told you has been a lie - I do real research and I do travel to conferences and into the field… ---and I do love you.”

  “So it wasn’t an act?” Joshua wanted to believe her. They had been going out for eight months now, steady for the last five months of that.

  “Your last text was sweet. Saying you were sorry you couldn’t make dinner – an urgent mission. I was already in the air myself and only got it after arriving here. I was under an operational blackout too.”

  “I do love you, Angie,” Joshua replied. “I… I mean it. This has been a pretty big shock to me.”

  “We’ll work it out after the mission. I promise,” Angie answered. “I want you in my life, Josh.”

  Her wristpad beeped. “The General wants me to have one last meeting with his planning staff. I need to go.”

  “Okay...” Joshua felt emotionally drained, but he still trusted her. “I’ll be there for you. Go meet the General. We’ve all got prep to do.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Angie replied, giving him a real kiss on the lips before she left.

  Still thinking about Angie, Joshua tried to focus his thoughts on the tasks at hand. They all had a mission to perform.

  ***

  The two HARM units were loaded into the cavernous cargo bay of the transport facing forward, one behind the other. Only a narrow walkway remained on each side of the bulky armoured robots to permit access around them. Each HARM was positioned in a kneeling position with its arms down in front and fists knuckle down on the floor. This allowed them to fit inside the transport and allowed for easy boarding via the front chest hatches. Standing, each of the third generation humanoid robots would have been just over 12 metres tall and weighed 30 tons without the combat load added. Most people thought HARM units looked like giant armoured knights in blocky armour with squat, helmeted heads.

  Just over three and a half hours of flight time had elapsed from Diego Garcia. They were approaching the coast of Tanzania now, about an hour out from the drop zone. Joshua and Penny had finished their own walk-around and systems check of their robots. Their crews had loaded up the machines with live munitions and prepped all the systems for live combat. There was not much left to do but review their mission briefing, the plan, and wait.

  Penny was the talkative type , and normally she would have some kind of chatter going on. Now, she was unusually quiet.

  “Mission jitters or wondering what happened back at the briefing room with Angie?” Joshua guessed.

  “A little of both,” Penny replied. “I don�
�t want to pry, but is everything okay? I know I’m surprised… so…”

  “We’ll have to see…” Joshua just shook his head. “I never saw it coming, but I think it’ll be okay. Angie did say she was sorry, and I kind of believe her.”

  Penny thought for a moment. “She is a good spy then. I hope she is telling the truth. In Japan there is an old proverb. ‘Don't let your daughter-in-law eat your eggplants.’ ”

  “What the heck does that mean?”

  “One meaning is don’t let yourself be taken advantage of.” She gave Joshua a hug, her face only going up to the top of his chest. “Take it slow, Josh. It’ll all work out in time. You might be my superior officer, but I’m still your friend, and you have many others. Let us help if you need it.”

  “Thanks. That means a lot.” Joshua briefly hugged her back then separated. “I suppose we should review the plans one last time.”

  Their crew chief approached Joshua and interrupted them. “Sir. I have Dr. Chan on the secure line. She would like to speak to you.”

  Joshua had known Janet Chan for over ten years now, and she had even recruited him to be one of the first HARM pilots, but he still knew very little about her. She kept to herself and was always immersed in her work as General Automata Corporations Chief Robot Scientist. She was in her mid-sixties now, but showed no signs that she would retire soon.

  Joshua went over to the secure satellite uplink terminal which showed Janet, her grey hair immaculately styled as always, patiently waiting on the visual display. She began talking as soon as she saw him. “Hello, Joshua. I trust you are well?”

  “As well as can be, Doc,” he replied. “Had a few surprises, but I think I’ll be able to deal with them.”

  “That’s good. I have a few more surprises for you, but good ones. When I heard about this operation I rushed them out just in time. Your crew chief has installed them, but isn’t cleared for the specs as they are still top secret. You, I can trust though,” she emphasized. “Both of your Fenrir HARMs have been outfitted with the new Typhoon missile pods. The new missiles should have double the lethality of the old ones. Also, your unit has the new mono-steel molecular combat knife to replace the standard knife. We’ve been able to manufacture only one of these so far, but it will cut through any Newt armour if sufficient force is applied. Your HARM AIs have been updated with the necessary information to use the weapons.”

  “These things will work right?” Joshua joked.

  “Of course they will,” Janet flatly replied, her expression hardening. “I built them.”

  Joshua was suddenly reminded of her lack of humour. “I was just kidding, Doc.”

  “I knew that,” Janet smiled, but the smile was too smug, not a friendly smile. She still scared him once in a while, but people said he was on her good list so he took their word on it. “Don’t lose my equipment, Joshua, and bring yourself back alive.”

  “Thanks again, Doc. Appreciate it.” Janet signed off and Joshua reflected that this mission must be more than it seemed. The Doctor was well connected with the CAJUN leadership and very smart. For her to rush prototype equipment out to him meant this egg thing was very serious. This mission felt odd to him though. Sometimes you got the pre-mission nerves or knew it was going to go well; this time, he just didn’t have any feelings about it. It was odd, but he was ready and the mission would just go.

  ***

  “You did pretty good putting this armour on for someone who’s rusty.” Willie was finishing up with the final parachute harness adjustments for Angie. He put some muscle into it and cinched the harness tighter.

  “Ugghhh,” Angie exhaled.

  “That should do it,” he finished. Getting into a glider-chute harness was a two person job, especially when you were in powered armour.

  “Remember, this is a raider suit, not the battlesuit you used before. There are only hard armour components for the most of the torso and joints. You’ll get used to it pretty quickly since it’s actually easier to wear, but make sure you move around as bit - there’s still a power assist. It’s designed for stealth so it doesn’t have the strength or protection that a full battlesuit does, but it is quiet, lighter, more maneuverable, and faster.”

  Angie nodded. She picked up her side-arm, a standard issue 10mm automatic, and quickly checked it before holstering it. “I know you guys aren’t expecting me to fight, but this pea shooter isn’t going to do me much good against a battlesuit.”

  “I figured we would be more than enough to take care of anything in our way,” Willie confidently replied.

  “I’d still feel safer with something bigger.” Angie looked him in the eye for a few moments. Willie wasn’t fazed in the slightest, but he saw enough to change his mind.

  “Alright then, how about a submachinegun? Would a C33 PDW do?”

  “AP rounds?”

  Willie just chuckled. “Armour piercing it is. Tamotsu! Prep a PDW for our guest. Make sure she has AP rounds.”

  “Hai!” responded the team’s Japanese armourer, pulling a compact submachinegun of bullpup design off the rack.

  Willie had taken a liking to Angie. She was tough and seemed like a good person - for an intelligence agent. He’d have to have a chat with Joshua later about this girlfriend thing between them.

  ***

  The Kahamba Mine was a huge open pit mine with large trucks and digging machines moving great loads of rock and earth for processing at the new plant. In the darkness of night, floodlights lit large sections of the mine. On one side of the mine, well back from the pit rim, was an older processing building that was now the mine’s mineral research facility. It was the only installation of its type for hundreds of miles that had advanced analytic and scientific instruments.

  The analysis lab was buried deep under the hard rock of the Kahamba site. It was the cleanest room in the entire facility with its white walls, floor, and ceiling. Computer equipment, microscopes, large visual displays, and various sensor devices were neatly organized around the room. A large CT scanner for mineral samples occupied a large shielded chamber in the corner of the room.

  Colonel Mokele Kybela was a big man, who looked even bigger in the body armour that he always wore over his fatigues. Worn at his side was a large magnum pistol, one that was capable of punching through most body armour. He stormed into the analysis lab with two of his bodyguards trailing behind him. Looking around he spotted Shani across the lab floor talking to two other researchers in lab coats. Quickly crossing the room, he grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her to face him. The other researchers backed off in fear. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and he reeked of too many cigarettes.

  He yelled right into her face. “Damn you, woman! What is the delay? You said we would be ready hours ago. I take a nap and I find out that nothing has happened?!”

  Shani gathered herself. “The delays are necessary, Colonel. We already have valuable data, but we need to study it more before we run the CT scan. This is a very strange alien artifact we are studying. We have readings we don’t understand and there seem to be complex internal structures.”

  “You said earlier that a CT scan would tell us much more about the internal composition of the artifact!” the colonel angrily pointed out.

  “I know, but that may be hasty! We don’t know what the scan could do to it, especially as we already know it seems to absorb more energy than it radiates.”

  “Enough! You will immediately begin preparations for the test!” Colonel Kybela grinned sadistically. “Do so or something could happen to someone you love.”

  Shani shuddered at the thought. These were very bad men she had become involved with. She should have never trusted her colleague and taken the contract, no matter how much they were going to pay. Now her young son was in danger too. She never realized that these men would have him kidnapped and brought here.

  “The Chinese will be here soon. Our leader needs more information to bargain with them. We could get a fortune for this artifact. Nothi
ng else matters.” Kybela settled himself into a chair and sent one of the lab guards to bring him some refreshment. His presence would ensure the work was done.

  ***

  “Lock helmets, visors down. Oxygen on.” Willie called out.

  Eleven men and women complied, including Willie. The head up display – or HUD – on his own helmet visor showed that his systems were all green, especially the oxygen. At their high altitude, the air was very thin, making the oxygen a necessity. He was at the back of the plane facing forward to the rest of the team. “Are we all good?”

  Everyone said yes and raised a hand in confirmation.

  The aircraft suddenly lurched down, rolling sideways at the same time, and the red interior lights flicked off. The ten special forces troopers of Alpha Team and Angie were lined up for the jump and found themselves grabbing for any support in the dark as they went tumbling to the side. Fortunately they were suited up and protected from minor scrapes and bumps. A moment later the aircraft leveled itself and lights came back on along with a blaring alarm.