Free Raid on Kahamba by Peter Lok Page A

was charged.   Joshua aimed again, dead center of the alien mech a , and squeezed the virtual trigger .  The alien mech a moved, but not fast enough.  This penetrator hit dead on, punching through alien armour plate and deep into the torso.  Staggered by the hit, the alien war machine lurched sideway s , then crumpled into a rolling ball of wreckage, its beam cannon and an armoured limb thrown off as it bled off its momentum against the ground . 
     
    “Enemy unit destroyed.” Joshua’s AI confirmed .  “ Penny is engaging the t hird enemy mech a .”
     
    The third mech a was damaged, but still very lethal. Unable to run with a leg missing , it still continued to move and fire .  Wham ! It took a second hit from Penny’s coilgun ; smoke rose from another spot on its armour , but the damage was minor .   Penny dodged her HARM unit off to the side as a nother laser blast flashed by.  H er mecha’s left elbow joint had been damaged from an unlucky hit early on and wasn’t moving like it should.   She closed the distance some more and fired again.  This time, the shot was true.  The penetrator struck downwards near the base of the torso, broke through the front armour, and went into the power plant.  All of the energy from the chemical fusion plant was released in the form of a massive fireball that blew the enemy mech a apart .
     
    Penny’s HARM didn’t stop running after the kill.  Her tactical display showed that the fourth mech a had entered engagement range.  Her mecha was to the right of Joshua’s and slightly ahead.  Her duel had been quicker than Joshua’s and she had been able to close in faster against the damaged mech a .   “Engaging the third mech a ,” she called out.  This was going to be her kill. 
     
    “Flanking,” Joshua called out.   He increased the lateral distance between Penny’s HARM and his own to come at the enemy mech a in a slightly wider arc.  The enemy me ch a was two kilometres away and trying to maintain its distance.   Odds had favoured the aliens at the beginning, but they had now shifted towards the humans.
     
    The last enemy mech a played it smart , since it was now two on one.  Its pilot knew that keeping the range long worked to its advantage due to the superior effective range of the alien beam cannon .   The alien mech a fired its beam cannon, aiming at Penny’s closer mech a .  Penny fired her coilgun again, but her aim was slightly off and the penetrator missed.  Firing on the move was the only way not to be hit, but her mech a ’s damaged arm wasn’t stabilizing its gun as well.  Joshua fired.  His penetrator glanced off the armour of the last mech a .  They needed to get closer.
     
    Both HARM units continued to close in.   The distance to the enemy mech a was 1 8 00 metres.  Both sides continued shooting but were missing or not hitting well.  The Newt pilot had proven itself to be very good.  A chunk of Joshua’s shoulder armour was missing and Penny’s mech a had a hole burned along its upper chest.   The enemy mech a had three impact divots on it from penetrator hits, but none h ad done serious damage.
     
    “ K akatte koi yo! ” Penny yelled at the remaining mech a to bring it on .   She lined up her shot, stabilizing it just a little longer than she normally would.   The enemy mech a was also lining up its beam cannon.  She fired.  The enemy laser flashed.  Coherent light is faster than a projectile. Molecular armour heated instantaneously and was unable to keep up with the massive energy directed at a single point. Layer after layer of composite plating shattered then vapourized as the beam burned it to gas.  A brilliant explosion tore the head off Penny’s HARM unit.   The headless mech a pitched sideways in mid-stride and crashed into the earth, plowing through dirt and trees until it stopped front down .  Another gouge appeared on the enemy mecha’s shoulder where her penetrator struck and glanced