For the first few hours, there were no major problems. Of course, like in any real battle, there were minor instances where a war walker or two needed repairs, but nothing that needed more than a few minutes to take care of.
To my relief, everything was working normally. Sergeant Samuel Shan organized his platoon into a standard sweep and search formation, with him leading the vanguard. The platoon commander, Lieutenant Lionel Li, stayed at the back with me. He was a relatively inexperienced commander, fresh from the academy and younger than me. I still recalled the conversation we had right before we dropped out of the NC130 Whale.
"How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?" I had asked when I saw him closing his eyes and looking pale behind the translucent armored glass of his war walker. He had been leaning against his seat and taking short, shallow breaths.
He gulped and forced a reply. "Thirty-eight…simulated."
"How many combat drops?" One of the marines asked from somewhere. Lionel Li paused for a moment before finally replying.
"Uh, two. Including this one."
"Shit," one of the marines cursed.
"Oh, man…" Another muttered under his breath. I understood how they felt. Most marines weren't too happy about going to battle under an inexperienced commander. He was more liable to get everyone killed. Also, I swear I heard those numbers somewhere, in some movie before. A sci-fi movie from the mid-1980s, I was sure. A film involving Aliens…
Were they trying to be funny? Or were we just ripping off lines from sci-fi movies now?
In any event, Sergeant Samuel Shan mostly took charge, coordinating the marines' movements and directing the mission. He politely requested that the lieutenant watch from the back, as a method to learn how field missions were conducted. Inwardly, though, I suspected he wanted to keep the inexperienced platoon commander out of the way so that he wouldn't hinder the mission.
Consequently, I was stationed next to him. The two troublemakers and inexperienced combatants put together. I probably had decent amount of combat experience, given that I had to fend for my life during multiple attempted assassinations, but that was different from fighting alongside fellow marines in a jungle.
The rear wasn't necessarily the safest spot to be, though. There was every chance that the enemy might strike us from behind. If that happened, then Lionel Li and I would be the first targets. However, if we were inserted into the middle, then we might disrupt the well-oiled formation and drills that the marines had learned during training. So I didn't complain. Instead, I continued to scan the surroundings in an attempt to locate the enemies.
So far, there was none. I cycled through several visuals, including infrared, but I spotted quite a lot of creatures too. The forest was filled with plenty of wildlife, of predators climbing trees and waiting on branches, or gentle beasts prancing away after being startled by our intrusion. There was nothing in the forest that could threaten us, clad in metallic armor and armed with hi-tech weapons.
Even the tigers in the jungle didn't dare pounce on the huge, metallic monsters that stomped through the midst of the woods, choosing to lay low or bound away. Their claws wouldn't even leave a scratch on the titanium alloy I used to layer the Hunter.
That was all the infrared showed, but it mostly picked out warm-blooded mammals and birds. I could hardly see cold-blooded reptiles such as lizards, and I didn't bother looking for bugs. Making use of the sophisticated artificial intelligence developed by Qi Robotics – run by Arthur Qi – I ran a program that filtered out the thermal signatures of anything that wasn't human. It was simple – using a combination of algorithms and databases, the A.I. dismissed anything that wasn't within the parameters of size for humans.
Thanks to that, I spotted the enemy before they came within range. Blazing thermal signatures, the heat coming from their power sources and weapons as well as their body temperatures, they stood out against the cooler trees and plant life, using the foliage as cover as they slowly advanced toward us. I quickly contacted Sergeant Samuel Shan over the channel.
"Lieutenant, Sergeant. You might want to see this."
"What is it?" Samuel Shan snapped impatiently. "We're busy at the moment, in case you haven't noticed. Eyes out front, people!"
That last sentence was shouted to his subordinates, as if to prove his point. I ignored his grandstanding and sent him a holographic copy of the infrared readings.
"Enemies spotted, closing in on us from all directions. Did you guys not use the infrared sensors or something?"
To be fair, they were pretty new to piloting the Hunters, whereas I was the one who designed it and thus knew all of its functions. So it was possible that they missed the rich array of sensors that I had installed into the mech.
"Sweet mother of God…" Samuel Shan cursed when he saw the holographic image. On the other hand, Lionel Li was already transmitting it throughout the entire platoon. Unlike the veteran sergeant, he had been pretty quiet so far, but now he was barking out orders.
"Sergeant, organize the platoon into fire teams. Form a circle, we'll pick them off the moment they come within range. Select your targets people, link up your displays so that you know who is firing at who. Don't shoot at the same target."
There was a pause, and then Samuel Shan bellowed.
"You heard the man, now do it, ladies!"
The platoon came to life almost immediately, halting their advance and then forming a ring of titanium. They raised their weapons – the Avenger Gatling laser carbine – and aimed it toward the infrared signatures that were closing in on us. There were beeps as each soldier got their target locks in their holographic screen, white reticules indicating that other targets had been acquired by the rest of the party while mine was displayed as a single blue reticule.
"Fire at will!" Lieutenant Lionel Li ordered. There was no longer any need for subtlety. The enemy would have noticed our sudden movements and abrupt change in formation, and besides, the range of the Avenger laser carbine was pretty large anyway. We wanted to inflict maximum damage on the enemy before they pulled out upon realizing something was amiss.
Whoever was leading the guerillas wasn't very experienced or not flexible. Despite the Hunters pulling back to form a circle, they were continuing to advance. As such, when the 1st platoon of the 2nd Mechanized Armored Battalion opened fire, it was a one-sided massacre. The superheated laser rounds punched through trees, perforating trunks and incinerating bark, striking the exosuit-wearing targets seeking cover beneath them. Even if the laser rounds weren't able to puncture the trees, the sheer volume of laser rounds overwhelmed whatever cover, obliterating them before finally reaching the hastily evading targets.
Micro missiles and handheld lasers fired from the trees, streaking across the dense woods to impact against the Hunters. However, energy shields flared to life, azure screens shimmering as they absorbed the detonations and sharp bites of the lasers.
"I suggest we move," I told both the lieutenant and the sergeant. "The shields don't last very long under sustained impacts, so it's better to maximize the use of their speed and agility to evade enemy fire."
"Fine!" Samuel Shan grumbled. But before he could give the order, Lionel Li was already issuing his.
"Break up and pursue targets of opportunity!" he commanded the platoon. "Spread out and finish off any stragglers, but don't stray too far! Stay within three hundred meters of each other!"
"You heard the man!" Samuel Shan shouted after a beat. "Spider maneuver! Now move!"
Incredibly enough, we hadn't suffered any casualties, whereas we had slain over fifty insurgents in the first volley, judging from A.I's estimations. At the order, I moved my Hunter after a small squad of exosuit soldiers who were fleeing, jerking and swerving my Hunter through the trees to avoid their return fire. Weaving through the dense woods, I had my Hunter sprint forward, essentially avoiding the lasers and micro missiles that spiraled about and blew plants and trees apart.
Around us, animals fled in fear, spurned to action by the sudden ignition of thermal rays and explosions. Fortunately, given how humid the forest was, there wouldn't be any forest fires. Or so I hoped. The plants combusted spontaneously because of the high heat generated by the lasers, but they wouldn't catch fire, not with all the water vapor content in the atmosphere.
Pushing forward, I fired off a short burst, obliterating one of the fleeing exosuits. They spun about and spread out, trying to flank me. One of them slid to my left, trying to overload my shield by focusing his laser on a single spot.
He was also pretty close enough, almost to the point where he could get under my shield. Not that I was worried about. Manipulating the left arm of my mech, I had my Hunter draw its field combat knife and sliced the poor exosuit soldier in half, the monomolecular blade chewing through his armor as if it was nothing more than paper. Both halves of the enemy combatant flopped onto the ground, spilling entrails and blood.
Pivoting about, I then smacked a second exosuit-wearing soldier with my Avenger laser carbine, using the sheer bulk of the heavy weapon to send him flying with bone-breaking impact. He folded and crashed into a tree, causing the trunk to break in half and topple over him.
His armored exosuit protected him, though. He was simply winded, but he made use of the augmented servos to lift the tree off him after a while. In the meantime, I was swinging my field combat knife and cleaving another enemy soldier into two. Spinning about, I peppered the tree with my Avenger laser carbine, perforating the fallen exosuit soldier before he could fully get up.
A shrill alarm whined throughout my cockpit and I instinctively pushed a lever. My Hunter moved out of the way as an anti-tank missile streaked through the woods and detonated against a tree, setting it ablaze. Turning around, I fired in there general direction where the attack came from and was rewarded with an explosion when my laser rounds cooked the highly destructive ammunition.
All around me, the combat was winding down and mechanized marines were slowly pulling back, taking note of Lionel Li's orders to not stray too far from the group. I also retreated, knowing the reasoning behind his command. Alone, the guerilla insurgents could pick off a single isolated Hunter and overwhelm him with sheer numbers. Or they could lure us right into a trap.
It was best to be careful, especially this was their home ground. We didn't know what to expect. I swallowed and cast one glance at the fleeing exosuit-wearing guerillas, firing one final burst after them. I only caught a couple, and the rest disappeared into the distance, the many trees covering their ignominious retreat.
However, I had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time I saw them.