Despite everything she thought she knew about Terra, Hachiko realized that there were more things she needed to become accustomed to than she could have ever realized without coming there herself.
The local troops were still teasing them about thinking they were under attack when a thunderstorm passed through, or about how the rain that came along with it made them almost break into a panic. None of which did Honah's apparent agoraphobia any good. Rather than remain in her flimsy tent she holed herself up in her Zaku's cockpit until it was over.
Once she became accustomed to it however, Hachiko found the rain fascinating. The science of how so much weight of water could be held aloft merely by air currents was astounding, and experiencing water merely falling out of the sky was fantastical almost in the extreme.
She spent some time out in the rain itself, letting it fall on her head, wet her tentacles and wash away some of the grime that had developed on her. She fell asleep to the sound of the rain hitting the ground, reminding her of sizzling steaks from a restaurant her family used to visit.
Unfortunately, as a consequences of the rains, they had to learn to deal with mud, and that was a far less pleasant experience. It clung to everything, it made it dangerous to walk, and in certain places it smelled terrible. Their boots would gain weight as they tread along and they all made great pains to clean off their boots as much as reasonably possible before they got into their Zakus for their first operation, lest they track some of the vile substance inside with them.
A general advance, which had been planned for that day, was to go ahead regardless of the weather. Many of the veteran troops complained about "space-borns" not knowing anything about how weather affected a battlefield. Still, orders were orders, and they moved forward, with the 128th bringing up the rear.
The mud proved to be quite a hindrance, even for the massive mobile suits. The loosened ground gave way beneath them, mud clung to their giant, metal feet, weighing them down, and each of them fell down at least once on the way. They were all starting to have an appreciation for what the veterans were talking about.
As they reached a crossroads, Commander Stovni told them to split up into pairs. Standard doctrine on the ground was to spread out the mobile suits to provide support along the entire advance. Fortunately, the breadth of the attack wasn't overly far, with each pair being within a kilometre of each other. Even on the ground, that wasn't too far to prevent the pairs giving each other fire support or shifting their strength to where it was needed.
Hachiko struggled to keep her Zaku upright as they moved up a steep road taking them towards one of the many tall ridges that ribbed the region, her Zaku's feet struggling for grip.
"I guess my new Zaku has grippier feet than yours," Honah remarked from behind.
"I imagine grippy feet is not high on the list of specifications for most mobile suits in space," Hachiko conceded. "Lieutenant, are we not going to give your position away?"
Lieutenant Sunray, commander of one of the platoons of tanks they'd been asked to support, replied. "Not with you so far back. The Feddies are scared of Zakus so they tend to fixate on you and don't bother with us as much. That's why it's important for you to keep their attention as long as possible."
Hachiko smirked. "With that big gun on your shoulder, I'm sure they'll love you, Honah."
"Then I'll be sure to return as much love as they can stand. Think they can see us yet?"
Sunray replied, "See you, definitely. One good thing about all this mud is that there's no dust which, believe me, is its own kind of unpleasant."
Hachiko checked the topographical map overlaid on her right viewscreen and compared it to the terrain she could see outside. A large hill loomed ahead of them, sloping gently in their direction, with an elevation from the bottom of the slope of at least a hundred metres.
The slope itself was dotted with pockets of grass with some channels carved into the dirt and rock where water ran, but a surprising amount of the slope was barren earth, with the the tree line returning more than two-thirds of the way to the top.
"Are we sure these positions are accurate?"
Sunray scoffed. "You shouldn't ever assume any military intelligence is accurate. The Feddies in this area have been fighting a long time. They've learned how to conceal their tanks and missile teams. Don't worry though, they won't be stupid enough to shoot until we get closer."
"Why does this slope have hardly any vegetation on it?"
"Cause both sides have been dropping napalm here for the past three weeks. Now, both sides have to cross open ground if they went to attack up or down. We know the enemy is at the top of that slope but we don't know how many or what their composition is."
Now it was Honah who scoffed. "It won't matter what's up there, we'll crush them just the same."
"Don't get overconfident," Sunray warned. "Mobile suit casualties have been rising steadily over the past two months. They have new tanks that are better able to operate in an M-particle environment and within five-hundred metres any armour piercing shot will penetrate your armour and you better believe their infantry set up plenty of traps for you."
"We'll do our best to support you, Ma'am," Hachiko replied, cutting off Honah's reply.
At the bottom of the slope, scores of Magella attack tanks were gathering along with swarms of infantry hiding in slit trenches. Although there were plenty of avenues for the water to have escaped, the slope's bottom was still a quagmire, the tanks stuck or struggling to get into position.
Lieutenant-Commander Stovni's voice came over the comm. "Archer Actual to Archer four-three and Four-four. We're waiting to start our attack over here. What's your status?"
Hachiko responded. "Archer Four-four. We've just arrived, Ma'am. It appears many of the tanks are stuck."
"Wonderful," she muttered. "Do your best to help them out."
"Yes, Ma'am. Archer Four-four out."
'Archer' was the code name for the 128th squadron in the area. Hachiko was still getting used to it. Usually squadron call signs were colours or letters. Names seemed ostentatious somehow.
After another ten minutes of hard driving, manoeuvring, and the two Zakus helping to get the tanks unstuck, the attack began.
The Magellas barely started up the slope when shots began to fly out from the treeline above, splashing into the ground around the Octarian tanks as they struggled upwards, their tracks clawing for grip on the wet earth.
Honah knelt at the bottom of the slope and adjusted her shoulder cannon. It roared and flashed, but the shot fell well short of the top of the hill.
"Damn gravity," Honah cursed. "Hachiko, we have to move closer."
"Are you sure?" She looked up at the treeline, trying to make out exactly where the enemy tanks were hiding, but it was difficult with how well concealed they were. Moving forward would make them easy targets, but then Sunray did say their job was to draw fire. The sight of one of their tanks bursting into flames decided the issue.
"Okay, I think there are a few depressions we might be able to use as cover. I'll move up first and you follow."
"Copy that."
Hachiko began to move up the slope, her feet desperately clawing for even the tiniest amount of grip, despite the gentleness of the slope. Eventually, she managed to actually overtake their tanks and reach the depression. And yet, none of the enemy tanks had fired on her.
"Alright, I'm in position."
"Okay, I'm coming."
Honah stood up from her crouch and began making large strides towards another depression further up the hill. It wouldn't have been Hachiko's first choice but this attack wasn't going well and they had to do something.
One of the Magellas was hit by a shell that started to cook off the ammunition in the hull. This must have been one of the older models as the turret soon separated form the rest of the vehicle and flew back towards friendly lines as the abandoned hull burned like a case of fireworks.
Despite the difficulties however, they started to improve. The tanks reached ground that was less damp and they were able to find traction, dramatically increasing their rate of movement and Honah would soon be in position, ready to provide supporting fire.
Suddenly, the ground in front of the tanks erupted furiously, spewing geysers of dirt into the air and smothering the tanks in layers of black-brown soil. One tank fell into one of the resulting craters, and two more were blown apart. The treeline suddenly became alive as a horde of twin-barrelled Federation tanks charged down the hill like a herd of armoured beasts. They were counterattacking!
Hachiko experienced a series of savage jolts accompanied by loud clangs as her Zaku suffered several direct hits, and chunks of earth were kicked up around her position. She glanced over at Honah and saw sparks splashing off her Zaku's chest as she continued to advance.
"Fall back, fall back!" Someone shouted.
The Magellas halted their floundering advance and began to back up, trying to get away from the enemy tanks as they thundered down the slope towards them.
Honah ignored the call to fall back and ignited her boosters, launching herself the rest of the way up the slope to her new defensive position. A few tanks noticed her and stopped to engage, but Honah was faster.
The sharp retort of Honah's shoulder cannon blew the middle tank apart with such ferocity that large chunks of it smashed into its compatriots, knocking their crews about within the armoured hulls. Honah's machine gun responded next, ripping into the tanks and blasting them to pieces before they had a chance to respond. The threat to herself over, she started firing on the tanks rolling past her position.
Hachiko now tried to do the same, firing up at the tanks to try and provide cover for the retreating Magellas, walking her shots up until she managed to hit one.
Her Zaku shuddered again. This time something hit her in the back. Her readout indicated one of her magazines was missing. Something must have shot it and set off the ammunition.
She glanced back at their tanks, they were nearly at the bottom of the slope, but something was still dropping large shells among them, disabling tracks and blasting through their thin upper armour.
"Honah, our tanks are almost at the bottom. We have to retreat now or we'll be surrounded!"
"I'm not retreating!" She snapped. "I'm never retreating from these bastards!"
As if to emphasize her point, she fired into another group of tanks at they tried to bypass her, blowing the turret off of one of them and setting another's engine on fire. The response from the tanks was immediate as concentrated machine gun fire sparked off of Honah's Zaku, and her machine gun was torn into, taking chunks out of the weapon and rendering it useless.
"I've still got a few shots of my cannon left!"
Hachiko stiffened and looked at her monitors, realizing what was happening.
The Federation tanks were using lower lying sections of the slope to hide from the Zaku's fire, a strategy that wouldn't have worked had they stayed near the bottom of the slope or with the tanks. With them being on either side, the Federation tanks were diving down between them, pursuing the Magellas to the slope bottom and ripping apart the infantry positions there. At the same time, Honah was being gradually surrounded as the enemy tanks tried to work their way around her.
Hachiko aimed at one of the tanks trying to work their way to Honah's rear and fired, walking her shots up into the side of the tank, knocking it out. She did the same with the one right behind it, the crew bailing out a moment later.
It wasn't going to be enough. She would run at of ammunition before she could get them all. She needed to get closer.
Gritting her beak, she stood, and climbed out of the depression. A tank hurriedly swivelled its turret towards her but in its panic fired too soon, the shots screaming past Hachiko's shoulder shield. She took out the tank with a few well placed shots and began moving towards Honah's position as fast as she could.
Her sudden move took the tanks by surprise but her Zaku jerked and jolted as she was hit by at least three shots. Damage readouts began to light up on her monitors but she pressed forward, firing back as she went, knocking out two more tanks before reaching Honah's position.
The tanks now moved in the direction of Hachiko's old position, firing as they went, forcing Hachiko to keep down lest she take unnecessary damage, but for the moment, they were relatively safe.
"How are you doing, Honah?"
"I'm out of ammo," she replied glumly. "My em-gee is wrecked too."
Hachiko checked her own ammo counter. She was down to just two rounds. "Gimmie one of your mags. One of mine was shot off."
Honah did as asked, releasing one of the magazines on her back to let Hachiko rearm her gun. She then tried to radio for help.
"Archer Actual, this is Archer Four-four, we're pinned down and we need support." Nothing but static answered and Hachiko realized she wasn't getting any returns from the rest of the squadron.
"We're being jammed," Honah told her. "Minovsky density isn't all that high so I'm guessing the Feddies are using older jamming tech."
Hachiko gritted her beak and checked her damage readouts. Her cooling systems were damaged but her temperatures were remaining steady for now.
"If the others are going through the same thing then they must be trying to isolate us somehow. If we can hold out here –."
Hachiko was cut off as the world exploded around them. Large chunks of dirt splashed against the two Zakus, covering them in a fresh layer of debris. At the top of the hill, a set of four large, squat shapes crashed through the treeline and rumbled in their direction.
They rolled down the slope like tanks, but they had a turret-like torso, a boxy upper body that supported two massive guns longer than the machine was tall, and stubby arms with four large, circular ports. It looked like the bastard child of a mobile suit and a tank.
"What the heck are those?" Honah cried!
"I don't know, but I think they're providing cover for the enemy tanks. They must have been the source of the artillery earlier."
They vanished behind smoke as they fired their massive cannons again, gouging deep craters around their position, and even jostling the two of them around.
"If we stay here they'll tear us apart!" Honah said. "We need to attack!"
She was right. While they could probably hold out against the tanks (provided they didn't all charge them at once), these strange mobile suit/tank hybrids were much more powerful and dangerous.
Her mind worked frantically, trying to come up with some sort of solution. The enemy had them pinned down, they had large, powerful weapons… An idea came into her head. It was bold, risky, even stupid, but if retreat was impossible, and staying was impossible, then it was their only option.
Terra shook again as their cover was further eroded. Honah tried to stand up but Hachiko forced her back down.
"Take my gun and give me cover. I'll rush them."
"O - okay!" Honah took the gun and Hachiko primed one of her grenades. She waited for the enemy to fire again, and tossed it in their direction. The smoke from their cannons prevented them from seeing the grenade until it was already spewing smoke. By that point, it was too late.
Hachiko stood and ran towards them, brandishing her heat hawk and igniting her thrusters. She flew upwards, momentum carrying her forward. She tried to land on top of the lead hybrid but it shifted ahead and she landed behind it instead. That was no problem.
She attacked the one in front of her, which was only now reacting to her presence. She brought the heat hawk up and sliced sideways, cutting into the machine's torso. Sparks and flames erupted from the violent gash and the machine shut down.
She leapt to the second one as it turned to face her, it's sluggishness and unwieldy weapons failing to acquire her before she bought her heat hawk down between the machine's cannons and right through what she assumed was the cockpit.
Fluid from the machine splashed her Zaku even as she turned from her latest victim to the lead hybrid. It fired all four of it's weapons, but Hachiko anticipated and sidestepped the attack, the shots from the cannons and, what she assumed were small missile launchers on the arms, cut through the air she'd been standing in, and turned the jungle behind her into wooden splinters and scorched foliage.
Trying to avoid fire from the other remaining hybrid, she tossed a grenade in its direction and ignited her thrusters again, boosting to close with the leader, almost completely bisecting the machine with a horizontal slice that caused the top half to gradually fold forward and fall to the ground, spraying her Zaku with more oil and coolant.
Alarms screamed at her as her Zaku threatened to overheat, but she had one target left, and if she even slowed down, she was dead.
The last hybrid fired blindly through the smoke and dirt caused by her last grenade, the shot missing by a large margin, but it was backing up now, trying to but itself time to respond to her.
Using one last burst from her boosters, she rocketed up to it and slashed the heat hawk deep into it's armoured chest, missing the cockpit by less than two metres. Armour screamed, electronics crunched, and fluid hissed as the superheated blade buried itself into the machine. There was a flash as the crew ejected, the capsule soaring high above and arcing towards the Federation position.
Unable to ignore the alarms any longer, Hachiko hit the emergency coolant flush. Ports in the Zaku opened and super heated fluid spilled forth, hissing like a horde of vipers as it splashed onto the ground.
Panting, Hachiko reassessed her situation. Honah was firing into the Federation tanks as they tried to return to their lines, forcing them away while she'd dealt with the strange hybrids.
Further down the slope, friendly forces were advancing again. She could also see the other Zakus of Team 04 struggling up the hill, and her monitors were starting to report normal conditions, which meant the enemy's jamming was weakening.
"Good to see you, Ma'am." She panted.
"Good to see you two still alive," Carver replied. "Though you both look worse for wear." Her Zaku stopped and the mono eye swivelled towards the wrecks of the four hybrids. "Great Deliverers, what are these things?"
"Unknown, Ma'am. But they nearly took us out. These things are dangerous." She glanced at her monitors. "Permission to retreat, Ma'am. My cooling system is badly damaged and I'm down to my heat hawk."
"Granted. I'll inform the commander when I get the chance. Four-Three, you go with her. You're probably not in the best shape either."
"Yes, Ma'am." Honah emerged from her position and together, they navigated down the hill.
"Thanks for keeping those tanks off of me," Hachiko said. "I didn't know they were coming back."
"I'm just glad you were able to take those things on by yourself," Honah said in a disbelieving tone. "That was the most amazing thing I think I've ever seen you do."
"Also maybe the dumbest thing you've ever seen me do," she said with a weary smile. "I just hope I can make it back to base before I overheat again."
She glanced at her rear-view monitor and frowned. "Do you think those things are the Federation trying to make their own mobile suits?"
"If those are the best they can do after all this time, I don't think we have anything to worry about. They had powerful guns but they were still no match for a Zaku. Besides, that thing's more tank than mobile suit."
"True." And Hachiko hoped it remained that way, but she knew that was a pitiful hope. The more time went on, the closer the Federation would get to finishing a true mobile suit, and when that happened, how would they fair then?
Author's Notes:
The debut in our story of the Guntank. If you're familiar with the story of the original Gundam show, the Guntank was basically a bastard machine that was basically an oversized tank with arms, making it worse than either a tank or a mobile suit. Its only advantage over the regular tanks is that it was designed to fight on an M-particle battlefield.
This incident in which Hachiko is able to take on these new weapons is an example of what happens when people who've been dealing with seemingly inferior weapons are suddenly given a fancy new toy and become overconfident, something that was known to happen historically, like anti-tank gun crews who were given heavy tank destroyers instead and thought that all that armour made them practically invincible, only to find out that wasn't the case.