But then the Ninja pilot led the speeding target just enough that the blast and debris from an exploding arcade machine rained down on Xander’s drone. For a moment the Viper was pinned under a large slab of metal, having to scoot along the floor to work its way out.
The Ninja zoomed up to his left, turning its guns on the helpless Viper. There was just a moment’s hesitation before it fired… just long enough for Charlie Fox to lay a barrage of machine gun fire into the Ninja’s right side. When the enemy drone did fire on the Viper, its aim was off slightly as a result of Fox’s gunfire, sparing the RDC defender for the moment. But then the huge enemy drone spun away, and in a flash was back on Charlie’s tail, lighting off the last of its pencil-missiles in his direction.
As before, the lighter-armored Panther broke up and crashed into the ticket redemption case, sending a geyser of glass shards and cheap plastic souvenirs erupting into the air.
What followed was a wild chase between the two major RPAs that began in the arcade arena before ripping through the restaurant and out into the main pedestrian corridors of the Dolphin Mall, the Ninja leading the way and Xander’s Viper right behind. Through swinging movements, the enemy drone managed to avoid the six missiles Xander unleashed in its direction. The missiles exploded into storefronts and freestanding kiosks, sending smoke and debris into the paths of the speeding drones.
Both pilots were top-notch and avoided the obstacles with precision and finesse, and when the Ninja reached the corridor that cut across the mall to the left and back towards the main entrance, it made a steep banking turn and disappeared around a corner. Xander had the mall schematics up on his display, and made a sharp left turn of his own down a narrow side corridor, before steering to the right at another. A split second later, he shot out into the main center concourse just as the Ninja passed by.
With no time to react, the two combat drones collided, tumbling to the right and falling to the polished marble floor, before slamming into a mall directory display. The thin metal-framed sign shattered, barely impeding the path of the careening UAVs.
Both drones came to a rest, at least until their pilots fingered throttles and attempted to take flight once again. But there was problem. The complicated maze of extended prop arms and weapons arrays had become entangled; the two drones were locked together.
Xander gunned his Viper and managed to turn the Ninja on its back. In his teens, he had been one of the top pilots in the Drone Wars circuit, so he had plenty of experience with what was basically hand-to-hand combat between drones, and turning your enemy on its back was usually a death sentence for your opponent. Yet the Ninja was not your ordinary drone, and the skill of its pilot was exceptional. The grinning black UAV reversed prop rotation — which normal drones weren’t capable of doing — and with the incredible power of the Ninja, Xander’s Viper was lifted into the air before being flipped on its side.
Both drones once again crashed to floor.
“This is some bullshit!” Xander declared. “I’m taking this bastard down!”
Xander gunned the remaining seven operating props of the Viper, sending the death-locked pair of drones scraping along the floor of the mall, and just before slamming into the closed screen of a Sunglass Factory, he angled the Viper up slightly. With the combined thrust from both drones, the pair lifted into the air. Xander continued to press upwards, even as the Ninja attempted to pull to the right. Soon they were nearing the soaring, arched roof of the Dolphin Mall above the wide central concourse.
That was when he detonated his own onboard supply of explosives.
Xander jerked his head back from the sudden shock of perspective change, once again in the confines of the team room at the RDC; however, it only took a second for him to focus on the large screen on his console and the view being transmitted from David Lane’s eye in the sky.
A fiery ball of yellow and black now filled the curved ceiling of the mall. The white structure above broke apart and rained down on the central passageway. Barely visible within the fire, smoke and falling debris, were the remains of the two huge combat drones. Both were in pieces.
“Dang, man,” Charlie Fox commented. “There goes a half million dollars in drones.”
“So bill me,” Xander said softly, as he removed his VR googles and fell back into the pilot’s seat.
“I’ll do the honors, if you don’t mind, boss?” said David Lane, as he maneuvered his small observation drone closer to floor level. He fingered the switch on his controller, giving him access to the mall’s P.A. system. “This is the Rapid Defense Center. The mall is now clear of enemy drones and the threat is over.”
Lane’s drone was now in the central concourse, hovering about fifty feet from the pile of smoking debris that was Xander’s final solution to the Ninja II problem. Xander watched as several dazed civilians crawled out from behind the seating barricades; some recovered quickly and began to cry and hug one another — even complete strangers in most cases. Another group of angry-looking customers approached the Eye. David spun the drone around until he was facing them.
“Local authorities will take over from here, so please don’t leave the mall grounds until statements have been collected. Please obey all further instructions.” Then, as an afterthought, the twenty-two-year old drone pilot added: “And by the way, have a very Merry Christmas.”
The jaws of several of the survivors fell open. “Fat chance, buddy!” one of the male customers called out. “You guys need to do more to stop this kind of thing from happening.”
Several of the others around him began to protest against his statement, while others joined his side of the argument. Within seconds, the entire group was engaged in a heated debate.
“The cops better get here in a hurry,” David said to the team. He then toggled the speaker switch again and addressed the crowd. “Please calm down. The RDC is doing all it can at this time. Rest assured we are constantly upgrading our equipment and capabilities. This could have been much worse had we not responded as we did. Now please calm down. Local police are entering the mall at this time.”
Another man with a wet mop of long hair down past his shoulders stepped up to David’s bot and stared into the camera. “Sounds good, man, but can you do me favor? Can you get them to turn off the damn sprinklers?”
Chapter 2
Xander rubbed temples before letting loose with a hearty stretch. “That has to be one of the biggest this month,” he said to the other two operators at his side. “I count over fifty dead.”
David Lane listened in on his ear comm as someone spoke to him. “Sixty-four so far — only London beats it.”
Xander shook his head. “World-wide, that’s over a hundred drone attacks just this month.”
Charlie Fox placed a hand on Xander’s shoulder. “That’s called job security, man. What else can I say?”
“That’s a sick way to look at it, even if it is true.”
“Chill out, dude. This came right at the end of our shift. Now five days off,” Fox said with a smile. “I’m heading over to San Diego for some surfing. There’s a wicked winter swell coming in. That’s your old hometown, Xander. You want to come along? Let’s go shred some waves together.”
“I’d love to, but they’re calling me back on Monday to meet with a reporter.”
“Damn, how many times can you tell the same story?” David asked.
“I know, but it’s part of the job,” Xander replied. “One of those PR pieces about how we’re protecting the innocent from the terror impacting society these days. After what just happened in Miami, people are going to be even more paranoid than normal. They actually need to hear this stuff.”