“Good,” Gabriel said, echoing everyone’s relief, “just a freight hauler.”
“Sir, that hauler pinged our IFF as it passed!” Viker dampened everyone’s relief.
“Why the fuck would it do that?” Asked Doran with alarm.
“No idea.” Viker replied, “But whatever system it’s connected to, it knows we’re here and it knows we’re not with J.E. Co.”
“Secure your restraints, everyone!” Gabriel ordered as he locked his own armour down and squeezed the ceiling handles, “Viker, double-time it to the objective!”
“Aye sir!”
The Wolverine’s wheels kicked up a conspicuous cloud of dust as it picked up speed. The vehicle’s suspension minimised the bumps and shocks as much as possible, but with the element of surprise apparently lost, nobody cared to complain about the rough ride.
Two more icons appeared on the display. Red ones.
“Contacts, behind us!” Viker announced as he tapped the icons, “two vulture-class patrol drones. Readying the turret now!”
“Negative!” Gabriel countermanded him, “save our ammo.”
“But sir, they’re closing in for–”
“The support turret is useless against fast-moving aerial targets,” Gabriel shouted back, “we need to lose them in the canyons!”
“Aye sir!”
Viker gunned the accelerator for everything it was worth and the Wolverine roared forwards, passing 200kph. The gash in the ridgeline loomed large and welcoming on the visual display even as the rear-view image in the corner showed two menacing, dark shapes swooping low over the open plain like birds of prey chasing down a frightened rabbit.
“Firing up the ECM module.” Viker shouted as he swiped the activation switch.
“Electronic countermeasures won’t work at point-blank range!” Doran shouted.
“1000 credits says they will.” Viker shouted back, “and if I’m wrong, I’ll pay up later!”
Leaving a billowing cloud of dust in its wake, the Wolverine vanished into the canyon entrance without another second to spare. Both patrol drones opened fire, sending two energy-seeking missiles streaking across the plain towards their intended target. One missile struck the ridgeline above the canyon entrance, vaporising several tonnes of rock in a ball of flame, while the other flew straight in after the Wolverine.
Viker was right. The Wolverine’s ECM module saturated the surrounding air with junk data, blinding the missiles’ guidance systems. The patrol drones, however, weren’t fooled or dissuaded. Their on-board computers could scrub most of the junk readings even if the missiles couldn’t, and they flew straight in after the Wolverine.
The canyon itself was only one part of a bewildering maze of geological troughs and gorges, carved out by a long-since dried up network of ancient rivers, and squeezed between numerous, steeply-angled escarpments and sheer cliff walls stretching hundreds of feet above. The Wolverine zoomed along the edge of the valley like a plump sports car on a racetrack with the patrol drones in hot pursuit.
“This terrain is killing the suspension!” Viker shouted to make himself heard over the sound of the Wolverine’s violently vibrating chassis.
“Better it than us!” Gabriel replied, echoing the rest of the squad’s thoughts, “keep pushing into the canyons! If we can find one narrow enough, we can lose them!”
Aided by the low gravity, the Wolverine rocketed forwards along the half-pipe shaped trough as the patrol drones followed close behind. One of the drones opened fire with a chin-mounted laser turret, scorching the ground with a near-infrared beam of blazing hot light.
The beam briefly made contact with the Wolverine’s outer hull, releasing a hissing cloud of dark smoke as a layer of the vehicle’s ablative armour skin was boiled away, but leaving the vehicle itself unharmed.
Viker swerved hard to the right, crossing the middle of the trough at high speed to evade the laser beam and confuse the patrol drones. It didn’t work. The drones soared high, flying abreast of one another to cover each side of the trough as their fast-moving target zig-zagged between the piles of rocky debris in the middle of the canyon.
“We can’t keep this up forever!” Viker shouted over his shoulder, “They probably have onboard maps of the entire area!”
It was a wonder Viker could talk at all as he tried to navigate a natural obstacle course at dangerously high speeds, all while keeping an eye on the hostile red icons harassing them. The Wolverine’s on-board computer assisted with the driving, but it was still a hell of a multitasking challenge for just one person.
“There!” Gabriel pointed. “Try that fork up ahead!”
Viker drove the Wolverine towards the right-hand fork before lurching left at the last second. The patrol drones – themselves flying at high speed – were caught off-guard by their target’s surprising agility. One of the drones swerved hard and lost valuable time flying up over the top of the canyon wall before swooping back down into the left-hand fork to catch up with its quarry. The other drone kept flying down the right-hand canyon.
“We lost one!” Viker shouted as one of the red icons vanished off the edge of the screen.
Gabriel doubted it. The chase had plunged his mind into a hyper-focussed combat fugue, blurring the distinction between wariness and paranoia. Viker was probably right about the drones having on-board maps of the region; and so there was no way that an AI-piloted combat drone would simply give up the search.
Ahead, the trough itself veered even further to the left, but the sheer rock wall was broken by a steep natural ramp on the right hand side, leading straight up and over the ridge into the right-hand canyon. Viker turned right and drove the Wolverine up the ridge as the pursuing drone closed in low behind them, ready for a point-blank kill.
Near the top of the ridge, the other red icon suddenly reappeared.
“The other one’s back!” Viker yelled, “Dead ahead of us!”
“Swerve! Now!” Gabriel barked.
Viker slammed the brakes and brought the Wolverine around in a full, screeching circle – not a safe thing to do at breakneck speed – right as the other drone reappeared in their path, popping up from the right-hand canyon below to ambush them. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the pursuing drone jetted over the top of the escarpment at maximum speed, overshooting the Wolverine and slamming into the other drone.
The two drones collided in spectacular fashion, each one devoured in a mutually encompassing ball of flame and mangled debris. The collision sent thousands of flaming fragments raining down across the landscape like a localised meteor shower. The now stationary Wolverine’s shielding flashed, deflecting incoming shards of debris as the flaming wreckage of the drones went spinning down into the canyon below.
The squad was ecstatic.
“Two-for-one kill without firing a shot!” Viker shouted triumphantly, “Frick yeah!”
“I take it back, Viker,” Doran exclaimed, “You should’ve been a racer!”
“Get your heads together, everyone,” Gabriel poured cold water on their celebrations, “Those can’t have been the only two drones out there.”
Sure enough. Two more red icons appeared on the screen, closing in from behind.
“Two more contacts!” Viker announced as he hit the accelerator.
He brought the Wolverine speeding down into the right-hand canyon, zig-zagging between the rocks and wreckage as two more patrol drones flew over the ridge from behind and swooped in after them.
“I doubt the same trick will work twice!” Captain Bale shouted.
“Agreed!” Gabriel shouted in response, “Ready the support turret!”
“You want us to try shooting them down?!” Viker asked incredulously, toggling the turret’s fire-control system.
“Not yet!” Gabriel replied, “Wait for the right moment!”
The canyon was starting to grow narrower and straighter. The Wolverine had to count more and more on sheer speed as it weaved in between the rock piles within the confined halfpipe of a riverbed. The patrol drones closed in like a pair of hunting hornets, staying just above the top of the canyon as they chased their prey into a kill zone.