Leaving the outcasts' camp behind, a new sense of urgency pushed them forward.
The name The Foundry had given SC's obsession a solid shape, and his excitement became a nervous energy that crackled between them.
Kaelen felt a different urgency altogether. The fear he had seen in the outcasts was more reliable than any fragmented data SC carried. It spoke of a danger that was real and close.
They were walking straight toward the heart of the planet's darkness, and every instinct in Kaelen screamed that they were being watched.
His instincts were right.
As they moved through a narrow pass between two towering mesas of rust-colored rock, a high-pitched whine cut through the air.
Kaelen froze.
He knew that sound.
It was the signature of an Imperial Hunter Seeker drone, he lunged at SC, and dragging him down behind a rocky outcrop just as a beam of scarlet light slammed into the ground where they had been standing.
The rock exploded, spraying them with superheated fragments.
"It's not just a patrol drone," SC shouted over the shriek of its engines. "That's a military laser cannon. It isn't trying to track us. It's trying to kill us."
Kaelen risked a glance over the rock. The drone hovered high above them, sleek and black, shaped like a predatory manta ray. A single glowing red sensor burned at its center, sweeping back and forth as its weapon turret searched for targets.
This was no prison patrol unit, rather an assassin.
"They know we're here," Kaelen said, mind racing. "The crash, the outcasts, something tipped them off. We can't outrun it, and hiding won't work for long. That thing can see heat and feel movement."
The drone fired again, and the blast carved a molten scar into their cover.
The stone around them began to glow, heat building fast and they had minutes at best before their shelter failed.
"I need a diversion," Kaelen said calmly. "A big one. Something that draws its fire and blinds its sensor for ten seconds."
SC looked around in panic. "With what? I have a pistol and a datapad."
Kaelen's eyes went to the salvaged power cells in his pack.
"Give me your scanner. And one power cell."
He tore a strip of fire-resistant fabric from his pack and wrapped it tightly around the cell, leaving a long trailing end. He took SC's pistol as well.
"When I give the signal, throw this toward that cliff," Kaelen said, pointing to a sheer rock face fifty meters away. "Then get down."
Before SC could respond, Kaelen jumped from cover. He ran parallel to the drone making himself a clear target.
The red eye locked onto him instantly, tracking his movement.
That was exactly what he wanted.
"Now," Kaelen shouted.
SC hurled the wrapped power cell. It tumbled awkwardly through the air.
The drone ignored it, fully focused on Kaelen.
Kaelen raised the pistol, not aiming at the drone, but at the flying power cell and he fired.
The plasma bolt hit the cell dead center.
The explosion was like a small sun.
White light flooded the pass, followed by a violent shockwave. The overcharged cell detonated with brutal force which caused for the drone's sensitive optics to overload and its red eye flickering wildly as it jerked in the air.
Ten seconds, that was all Kaelen needed.
He did not run for cover.
He ran toward a trap he had already planned the moment he saw the drone.
Along the pass was an undercut section of cliff, where a massive boulder rested on a narrow ledge above.
It was unstable, waiting for a push.
As the drone's systems struggled to recover, Kaelen reached the spot beneath the boulder.
He planted his feet, aimed the pistol at the cracked rock holding the weight, and fired the remaining charge in fast, precise shots.
The support shattered.
With a deep, grinding roar, the boulder tipped and fell.
The drone detected the threat too late. Its engines screamed as it tried to escape, but the boulder crashed down, smashing it into the ground in a brutal collision of metal and stone.
The sound was a sickening crunch that echoed through the pass.
Then silence returned, broken only by the ticking of cooling metal.
Kaelen stood there, breathing hard, as SC ran toward him, face filled with disbelief and awe.
"Did you just drop a mountain on it?"
"It was a rock," Kaelen said flatly, already walking toward the wreckage. "And it was in the way."
The drone was crushed and twisted beneath the boulder, its systems dead. Kaelen knew where to look.
He dug through the wreckage, ignoring the heat and sharp edges, until his hand closed around a small armored cylinder, still warm.
The memory core.
"That was brilliant," SC said, genuine admiration in his voice. "You used terrain, timing, and brute force to destroy advanced Imperial hardware. That was masterful."
Kaelen glanced at the core, then at SC.
"The hunter became the hunted," he said. "Now let's see what it knew."
He tossed the core to SC.
"Your turn to be useful. Crack it."