Hong Kong, People's republic of China, August 2035

  My last stop in China brings me to this dimly lit Mahjong Den. Dipesh Rai, an ex Gurkha soldier from the British Royal Gurkha Rifles spends his time gambling here when not working at sea as a pressure diver. Fluent in 6 languages, including Cantonese and Mandarin he's the only reason I was allowed in the Jade Tile. A mahjong den held by dodgy owners where men often risk their month's salary.

  "We were light infantry, but after they reactivated the scimitars I was glad to be off my feet and inside those metal coffins. There was three of us, the driver, me acting as the vehicle commander and my gunner. All three of us young guys straight from Nepal. Going from front line duty to roaming deep inside enemy territory seemed suicidal at first until we actually went out for the first time. Four to five vehicles. A GPMG machine gun and our 30mm cannon. We also managed to weld some mounts for Milan anti tank weapons." He says while juggling a cigarette between his lips.

  "He's paying" he says in Cantonese to the barman.

  "We barely had any sleep for three to five days at a time. We relayed enemy position, their main reinforcement routes. If the enemy needed to be slowed down we checked our vehicles for any potential mechanical problems, prepared our ammunition and put on our game faces. We opened fire from a distance, mostly using the milans to target beetles or tripods to open the ball before the 30mm rarden cannons. Never less than two kilometers away, but I remembered that one time we floored it through a forest only to come out on a road full of crabs, they panicked as our entire squad ran them over trying to cut the road. Didn't even fire they were as dumb struck as us at first. Just ran them over as we cut them off like a train running over a goat on a rail track. If needed, we'd attack the crabs giving too much pressure in the front line from the back."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Were you not scared of the Red Tripods?" I ask.

  "No." He answers as he finishes his drink before signaling to the barman for another.

  "..."

  "We were just too fast. We weren't some LRRP guys with 40kilos on their backs trying to run away. We didn't have our legs, we had a Jaguar J60 engine. If it broke, the guys dismounted, grabbed their cigarettes and their backpacks and hitched a ride on top of another Scimitar or Scorpion back to friendlier lines. We'd just roam the Dutch country side. Thanks to the endless miles of farm lands and flower fields you could see the crabs from miles away. Same for the Tripods. Those broke the horizon easily as they walked so there was little worry to be caught off guard. We only hulled down when in direct combat. And even then if they were far enough I was the one with my head outside and binoculars. We also had some tasks in the likes of post bombardment assessment. Making sure the jets actually did do their jobs correctly. Or checking if some bridges or other pieces of infrastructure were still working."

  "Did you believe that they used Gurkhas for a reason?" I ask. His face tenses for a second.

  "What do you mean?" he asks as he analyzes my expression.

  "Well, there was that labour MP that claimed the Gurkhas were used for this task predominantly for those dangerous tasks."

  "If we hadn't fought together in Essen you wouldn't have made it past the door. You know better than me what it was like in the front lines. If I tell you it was better 20 km's in crab country inside of a Scimitar it just is. While the grunts like you were fighting the crabs off with your shovels and your dicks we were eating cooked rabbits and deer we cut down with our GPMG's. We were the ones dictating when we fought most of the time. Sure we got ambushed once or twice taking a road that we thought was safe. Lost some men. But I'd take the months I spent in Crab country over the two and a half weeks in Essen any day. Summer were nice. Cool wind against my face as we drove. My scimitar alone, took out 32 tripods, 15 beetles and the crabs we stopped counting. Independence and freedom of action was the only reason we suffered the least amount of casualties by capita out of any British combat unit. If you want to hear some real horror stories, order me two more drinks while I go find Yìchén."