Chap 20
Rhade keyed his two-way to the general frequency for his platoon. His unit had been given the call sign of Anaguma after a Seefran animal that was the equivalent of an Earth honey badger "Anaguma" he called out, "This is Anaguma six Request visual identification on incoming forces."
After a moment the two-way crackled back to life "Anaguma six this is Anaguma one." Anaguma one was the forward most platoon on the southern side of the pass. "We see one Serpent class mortar carrier. Eight Guardian infantry carriers, ten no twelve jimmys and two unidentified tracked vehicles."
As soon as Anaguma one went off the air Anaguma two, the platoon on the north side of the pass came on. Anaguma six this is Anaguma two. Confirm Anaguma ones's observations. We have identification on the unidentified vehicles. One Striker infantry support vehicle and one Charlie niner armoured bulldozer."
Rhade bit back an oath. The Guardians were unwanted but expected. They were a standard armoured personnel carrier used by both military and police unites throughout the Seefra system. They were equipped with either a 25mm autocannon or a pair of twin 14.5mm rapid fire guns. Each one was capable of carrying 10 fully equipped combat troops. The Striker was somewhat unexpected. They were obsolete by Seefran military standards, but were sometimes found in the possession of large private security organizations. They could carry up to 15 troops and were equipped with both a 30mm autocannon and a 40mm – six barreled grenade launcher. The jimmys were simply six wheeled lorries. They normally had seating for 16, but could carry 20 with the extra four men sitting on the bed of the lorry between the two rows of seats. It was the Serpent that was the concern. It was strictly a military vehicle. There was no way the company should have been able to obtain one. The vehicle carried two large caliber rapid fire mortars that out ranged any weapons the umwa possessed. It was also armoured nearly as well as a main battle tank. The Tans and whoever else was with them could simply sit out of range of the umwa weaponry and shell them into oblivion. The fact that they weren't already under fire indicated that they vehicle wasn't carrying extended range munitions. That gave them a fighting chance. Provided he could get his anti-armour teams into position quickly enough.
When the umwa fighters had captured the mines they had discovered two Slagger launchers and six Slagger anti-armour missiles. Rhade had no idea why the guards had been equipped with anti-armour missiles, but he wasn't going to complain about it now that they were in his possession. He keyed his two way one more time. Anaguma, this is Anaguma six. Weapons free. I say again weapons free. Anaguma four one, Anaguma four two your primary target is the Serpent. Anaguma four was Rhade's weapons platoon. Anaguma four one was the Slagger team. Anaguma four two was equipped with a smaller launcher, one that had been part of Andromeda's weapons drop. It was less powerful than the Slagger, but had the advantage of being able to fire an anti-aircraft missiles as well as anti-armour missiles
Rhade checked the action on the rifle Harper had made for him. Jeri had only been partially correct when she had stated that Harper had been working on the evacuation site. He had assisted on the site, but he had spent the majority of his time working with Avineri on the umwa defenses. In addition to devising ways to convert EBD canisters to anti-personnel mines, he had been working as a gunsmith. He had acquired a trio of 20mm anti-material rifle, and had then necked down some of the cartridges to fire armour piercing 12.7mm rounds. The result was a weapon that could take out a Guardian with a lucky shot. Unfortunately Harper had only been able to modify 28 rounds for the weapons. The weapons were also ridiculously heavy, unwieldy, and had a kick that a robas would envy. The Lancer exoskeleton Andromeda had included in her drop would allow him to use one, and he had assigned the other two weapons to the wearers of the two universal load carries that they had captured in the mines.
The two-way crackled into life one more time "Anaguma six this is Anaguma two. You have incoming."
Seconds late Rhade heard the shrill whine of incoming artillery rounds followed by the sound of an air burst. But surprisingly there was no shower of fléchettes or bomblets. An instant later the reason became clear as another icon flashed on Rhade's heads up display and the gas tight seal on his helmet inflated.
"Orchids?" said Pettis in a puzzled voice "Why do I smell... Oh shit!" The puzzled tone was replaced by alarm. "They're using Em Oh rounds. We need to get out of here."
Rhade wasn't familiar enough with the local military terminology to know what Em Oh gas was by name, but his helmet readout said that the gas was a combination choking/blister agent. Pettis was right, they needed to get out of the area. Only a portion of his of his men and women would have EBDs. In one of the ironies of war that Harper said was proof that the Divine had a malicious sense of humor, they had enough EBD canisters that they could use them as weapons, but only enough EBDs to equip approximately a quarter of the umwa forces. They needed to leave the area first. Then, the ones with EBDs. He and his two men wearing exoskeletons would be the last to leave.
Another barrage of shells exploded in the air releasing their toxic payload as he keyed the mike of his two-way and began giving orders. "Anaguma three, Anaguma four this is Anaguma six. Gas. Gas. Gas. Don EBD's then fall back to secondary defense positions. I say again Gas. . Don EBDs then fall back to secondary defense positions. Personnel without EBDs leave immediately. Personnel with EBDs await my command to fall back. I say again personnel with EBDs await my command to fall back."
Rhade turned to the men sharing the bunker with him. None of them were equipped with EBD's. "Go. Now," he ordered. As the men scrambled out of the bunker Rhade followed . His Lancer armour and uniform were reasonably gas tight and his nanobots would provide additional protection, but the bunker had too limited a field of fire.
He had just clambered into one of the newly abandoned fox holes when the first fléchette round exploded over the umwa positions raining a hail of steel darts down on the defenders.