The first few minutes of combat would all but decide the outcome.
Their surprise attack had taken out the pirates’ control room, ammunition, and moored high-speed craft, which threw them into pandemonium. And as for the old-style Soviet ASes set up in the back of the base, the Rk-89 Shamrocks—Sousuke had no idea what they were doing on an island like this—they were instantly dispatched by shots from Mao’s machine, before their operators could even reach them.
Mao’s AS, the M9 Gernsback, was still in the ocean, making its way slowly toward the pirates’ dock while waist-deep in seawater. Mao was getting sniper support from Kurz, in position behind her, and from Sousuke on the mountain above.
“Whew. Just like a shooting gallery!” Kurz laughed over the radio.
“Uruz-6, keep your guard up. We haven’t taken out all the foot soldiers. And you know it’s when we get cocky that we—” There was a roar. Before Mao could finish, a pillar of water burst up, just to her right. Something must have exploded nearby. “What was that?!” she shouted, panicked. “It didn’t come from their base!” Sprays of salt water dashed against her M9 as she whipped it around, using its head-mounted radar to scan the area.
“Uruz-2! Three o’clock, distance four! Eight enemy HSC!” Sousuke had a better vantage point than Mao from on top of the mountain, so he gave her the verbal warning, while Al wordlessly used the machine’s high-speed advanced data modem to distribute their sensor information to all allied machines.
Eight high-speed craft were approaching, coming around from the island’s west side. It was a blind spot from Sousuke’s point of view, which was why he’d been slow to spot it. They were probably returning from a raid—the worst timing possible.
Their speed was forty knots—about 74 kilometers per hour—and despite their small size, each was equipped with 20mm machine cannons and infantry rockets. The eight boats kicked up a sheet of water as they unleashed their weapons on Mao, who cursed at this new wave of concentrated fire. “Yeek! I mean... dammit! What the hell?! Intelligence said they only had what was in the dock! Where’d the reinforcements come from?”
“It’s the usual: bad intelligence. I wish they’d give us a break, for once...” Kurz muttered.
“Stop bitching and do something!” Mao screamed at him.
“I am! ...That’s two down!” Kurz’s 76mm shots had hit their targets, taking out two pirate boats in a fiery explosion.
“Only two?!”
“Hold your horses! They’re far, and they’re pretty damned fast. Wish I’d brought a Hellfire or a Versile...” Kurz said, sounding a little panicked. The Hellfire and the Versile were kinds of guided missiles used by ASes. The position assigned to Kurz for back-up sniping was the perfect distance for safely taking aim at stationary targets, but it was less useful against targets moving at 40 knots. It was a testament to his skills that he’d been able to take out two already.
Six boats remained. They raced through the water around Mao’s M9, peppering it mercilessly with shells and rockets. Her head-mounted machine guns blazed and filled another boat with holes, but that still left five remaining.
“Ugh, so annoying!” she wailed. “Guh... this is really bad!”
The M9 sloshed awkwardly through the heavy water, taking evasive maneuvers. Even with the M9’s armor and maneuverability, it couldn’t endure such a fierce assault for long.
《Sergeant. Uruz-2 is in danger. We must open fire at the enemy HSCs,》 Al told Sousuke, who was simply watching from the mountaintop without firing any support shots.
“Inefficient at this distance,” Sousuke said dismissively. “We don’t have many shots left.”
《Shoot the high-speed craft. There is no other choice.》
“No choice, eh? I disagree.” Sousuke promptly took the Arbalest a few steps down the mountain, judged his timing, and launched into a starting run.
《Sergeant. This angle is—》
“Shut up and help me!” Immediately, he dove off the edge of the rocky mountain, and leaped the Arbalest over the ocean. Wreathed by the silver moon, the slender silhouette hung in the air. Just as it reached the apex of its arc and began to descend, Sousuke fired off his arm’s wire gun. When the anchor pierced one of the high-speed craft racing around down below, he immediately retracted the wire, closing the gap between the two in a flash.
The Arbalest landed on top of the boat with a scream of metal and a spray of seawater. The deck buckled beneath its feet, and it sank so far it nearly capsized. In human-size terms, the effect was like falling several stories to land on a pedal boat.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kurz shouted in surprise.
The men aboard the unfortunate HSC had fallen on their backsides in shock. As they gazed up at the Arbalest, it plunged its monomolecular cutter into the deck to regain its balance, then let loose with its head-mounted 12.7mm machine guns. The shots shredded the boat’s armaments and engine, effectively taking it out of the fight.
“Get the gist?” he asked Al. “Let’s jump to the next one.”
Kicking its way off of the now-smoking boat, the Arbalest jumped. Sousuke shot off the wire gun in its left arm again, this time at a high-speed craft racing just ahead. Then the high-powered motor quickly retracted the wire, and... Landing achieved! Sousuke sprayed machine gun fire across the violently rocking boat, taking out its engine and gun turrets.
The Arbalest’s sensors quickly scanned its surroundings. The closest pirate boat had just fired a rocket in his direction; its red light was closing in. With a grunt, Sousuke jumped a third time, managing it just before impact. The rocket hit the boat he had just been standing on, and exploded. His machine twisted through the air, backed by fire.
The Arbalest roared down from the sky, aiming for the enemy boat currently bathing him in cannon fire, and successfully completed his third landing. The pirates practically climbed over each other to escape, evacuating into the dark sea around them.
《Sergeant.
