Consequently, the Hkh’Rkh in Caine’s kempang had to wait that much longer for the already overtaxed air assets based at smaller, harried airfields around Jakarta. Or, even more likely, due to the low threat of concerted insurgency in the kempang’s region, the Hkh’Rkh would simply be ordered to do what they most wanted to do: close with the enemy and kill them. Personally.
When the two Hkh’Rkh squads waiting at the edge of the kempang started moving to join the first, Caine knew what orders they had received, just as if he had intercepted and decoded them: air assets overcommitted and deemed unnecessary for support of your operation.
The Hkh’Rkh had settled in half of their forward squad to pin down the insurgents in the bank, which proved extremely resistant to their fire. The reason: steel construction sheeting and engine-blocks of old cars lining its interior walls. The remainder of the squad split and probed the flanks to find a route that skirted the structure and enabled the follow-up squads to hit it from the sides and rear. Their probe of the bank’s right flank found an indeterminate number of resistance fighters with relatively modern weapons. But the primary threat they posed resided in the variety of small, wire-detonated IEDs at their disposal. After suffering two casualties there and making no progress, the Hkh’Rkh withdrew to a safe distance, pinning that flank without any further probing.
The left flank of Caine’s resistance cell presented the invaders with a more promising tactical opportunity. They encountered only two command-detonated mines, and the few humans there were only armed with AKs. The venerable rifles were not reliably lethal to the Hkh’Rkh except when discharged at very close range and in very great numbers. After driving these humans back from their first position, the Hkh’Rkh became bold and tried charging across a street to seize what seemed like that flank’s final fallback position.
That was when they learned that the sniper who had greeted them upon entering the town had relocated himself to cover this flank. With one Warrior killed outright by the rifle, and another wounded and then hammered senseless by the rebels’ AKs, the rest of the Hkh’Rkh withdrew back across the street. Their two casualties laying in plain sight of Caine’s mission tower CP, they traded shots with the humans occasionally, without any result in either direction.
However, in tactical terms, the Hkh’Rkh probes had been successfuclass="underline" they had found the insurgents’ position and had identified the left as the weak flank. The subsequent deployment of their reserves—reported by a seventy-five-year-old grandmother speaking into a hard-wire phone in her second-story sitting room—made the invaders’ attack orders quite clear. They were bringing up the next two squads with an acoustic trackback system and heavy weapons. They’d try to overrun the human position on the left flank, then turn sharply northward and roll up along the now-uncovered left side of the bank, assaulting it from the side and rear with superior numbers and supporting fire from heavy weapons and portable rockets. For all Caine knew, they might have stocks of CoDevCo-supplied tear gas with them as well.
A few minutes later, the rebel overwatch in the minaret of a dusty, dilapidated mosque a kilometer outside of town confirmed that the Hkh’Rkh assault forces were moving into engagement positions. The observers’ signal—closing the shutters on the top window of the tapering tower—had been visible to, and understood by, every human unit: approximately three minutes to contact.
Caine looked at his ancient, wind-up wrist watch. The timing was cruciaclass="underline" the first rush of the Hkh’Rkh attack upon the left flank had to be blunted enough to ensure that they would not all charge across the street. Not immediately, at any rate. He turned to Hadi as Teguh entered the mission tower CP from the rear. “Any reports?”
Hadi shook his head. “The Sloths are quiet up by the bank and the right flank. Some of the townspeople are coming out, though.”
“What? We told them—”
“They’re coming out to run away, Caine. Now that the firing’s died down, they probably think it’s a good time to get out. Before it starts again.”
There was nothing to be done about it now, and hopefully, the Hkh’Rkh would perceive the fleeing women and children as civilians trying to distance themselves from the insurgents in their kempang. Hopefully.
Caine picked up his Pindad caseless carbine. “Hadi, signal the launch crews to stand ready. The Hkh’Rkh will be finding their assault positions now. Knowing them, they won’t waste a lot of time debating optimal attack procedure.”
“No,” agreed Teguh, “the Sloths got no problem with being decisive.”
Hadi leaned over. “Launch crews signal they are ready and waiting for the launch order.”
Up the street, in the buildings across from those rebels who’d drawn the risky job of manning the weak left flank, there was movement. “Get ready,” whispered Caine.
Human shouting arose from the buildings in which the Hkh’Rkh were probably readying themselves. It subsided quickly.
“What was that?” Teguh asked, peering up the street, clutching his Pindad six-millimeter caseless more tightly.
“Don’t know,” Caine murmured. “Could the Hkh’Rkh be trying to interrogate civilians?” To date, the Hkh’Rkh did not torture opponents, even though they killed them readily enough. But perhaps they had decided to try something new—?
Hadi’s head snapped up. “Left flank observation post reports movement in buildings along the expected enemy assault route. Do we launch?”
Caine scanned those buildings through binoculars. “Not yet.” He glanced overhead at the ceiling. “Are they ready up in the attic?”
“They are,” Teguh answered with a nod. “They’ve only got the two RPG rounds, though.”
Caine nodded. More for show than anything else. Something upon which to focus the attackers’ attention, to break their momentum in mid-assault for a few crucial seconds. Up the street, Caine heard more shouting; this time a dog barked. What the hell—?
Muzzle flashes erupted out of the windows of the buildings across from the rebels’ left flank. A high-pitched growl rose up a moment later: a coil gun. An incredibly lethal weapon, and a pearl of great price. As if fleeing its ear-rending reports, a dog ran out of one of the houses, tail between its legs.
The return fire from the left flank was fierce but dropped off quickly. Out of the phone receiver held by Hadi, lilliputian shouts of desperation rose and then were suddenly silent.
“Caine,” started Teguh.
“Wait,” said Caine, watching the street through his binoculars.
Another dog ran out of the same building—from which the two expected squads of Hkh’Rkh emerged in a rush, their distinctive loping strides carrying them rapidly toward the center of the street, firing as they came.
As Caine took the phone from Hadi, he shouted, “Flanking fire!” Teguh threw open the mission’s shutters. Without stopping, he shouldered his Pindad and dumped half a clip into the right flank of the charging Hkh’Rkh. Hadi was doing the same a moment later—just as Caine heard the defunct attic fan overhead get kicked outward, followed immediately by a hoarse, roaring rush: an RPG sped down the street toward the enemy.
This hail of deadly fire—but particularly the rocket—made the Hkh’Rkh dive for cover or go prone in the street. With sickening speed, however, they shifted their fire to the mission tower. Caine heard rounds ringing against the steel sheeting they had mounted inside the double-coursed brick-and-mortar walls.