The H4 plunged into the sinkhole's electro-muted darkness, its collision alarms muted. Karl's neural lace flickered with combat diagnostics - 87% humidity, trace radiation spikes, and the kind of silence that gnawed at augmented eardrums.
Twin crimson beams slashed through the void, illuminating three H4 skiffs bearing corporate yellow numerals:
> Unit 246 (Lanthanum residue: 3.2kg/m³)
> Unit 099 (Core temp: 112% threshold)
> Unit 712 (Unauthorized seismic charges detected)
West's threat assessment blinked amber. [Illicit mining collective. Probability of corporate oversight: 0.03%.]
Karl's jaw tightened. Memory fragments reassembled - these were the ghosts who'd struck metaphorical gold last timeline, their sudden wealth paving the way for G46's collapse. But the math didn't compute: Standard H4 scanners couldn't penetrate beyond 200m of regolith. Unless...
The skiff banked sharply, its belly scraping the tunnel's lithium-caked walls. As retro-thrusters flared, two spider-like drones detached from maintenance ports. West's subroutines activated their black-market upgrades:
[Micro-thrusters: Online
Thermoptic camouflage: Engaged
Neural tap vulnerability: 0.7ms latency]
The H4 drifted silently 300m above the mining frenzy, its shadow merging with the sinkhole's curvature. On the cracked display, drone feeds revealed the truth:
Unit 246's modified drill array chewed through bedrock at 150% spec capacity - military-grade augments glittering beneath corporate paint. Unit 712 deployed prohibited plasma torches, their cobalt flames vaporizing quartz veins where the lanthanum deposit slept.
[Alert: Biosign stress at 122%] West warned as Karl's fists clenched. These weren't prospectors. That drill pattern matched Consortium Special Ops mining protocols. That plasma tech cost more than a year's platinum yield.
"Magnify sector Gamma-22."
The drone's enhanced optics revealed what naked eyes couldn't see - Aex Corp security badges beneath grime-stained pressure suits. The same insignia that later authorized the casualty reports. The same faces that approved the cover-up.
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Unit 099's operator turned suddenly, his helmet cam sweeping the tunnel. Karl's drones froze, their carbon-fiber carapaces mimicking asteroid debris. The man's lips moved behind his visor, forming words West's lip-read algorithm decrypted:
*"...Where does the light come from?..."*
The H4's reactor whined as Karl engaged manual override. Below, the rogue skiffs' drills whined deeper, oblivious to the micro-drones now affixing EMP charges to their reactor housings.
Some timelines needed surgical adjustments.
Rock shards pinged against H4 hulls like hail on a tin roof. Karl's drone feed revealed the carnage - tunnel walls pockmarked with 327 illegal boreholes, their jagged edges still glowing from plasma torches.
**// AUDIO DECRYPTION //**
**Unit 246:** (male, 43Hz vocal stress) "What the fuck was that skiff doing here? Nearly blew our cover!"
**Unit 712:** (female, 89% anxiety index) "Your cousin's coordinates better be solid. We've stockpiled six weeks' worth in these--"
**Unit 099:** (male, command modulation) "Relax. Scanned the intruder - H4-2781's a greenhorn. Joined Aex Corp 27 solar days ago. Probably chasing phantom signals."
The mining resumed, drills chewing through regolith with mechanical fury. Unseen beneath their skiffs, Karl's micro-drone adjusted its thermal silhouette, black-market optical array zooming on the latest excavation.
**// VISUAL ANALYSIS //**
A cobalt-blue vein shimmered in the borehole wall, deflecting standard mining bits. West's mineral database flared across Karl's neural lace:
> **H7-grade Zisite**
> - Mohs hardness: 8.3
> - Market value: 10,456 credits/kg
> **H5 Phenite** (secondary deposit)
> - Radiation shielding efficacy: 93%
> - Black-market demand: 2,300% markup
**Unit 246:** (laughing) "Another 3kg chunk! That's lunch at Ceres Prime covered!"
The drone's enhanced optics tracked 099's pilot revealing a hidden cache - 327kg of raw Zisite glowing like stolen starlight. Karl's biometrics spiked:
> Heart rate: 142 bpm
> Adrenaline levels: Combat-ready
**Unit 099:** "My cousin wasn't exaggerating. Scatter deposits across 12km of tunnel. We extract simultaneously, report as single vein--"
**Unit 712:** "And trigger the motherlode bonus clause!"
The truth crystallized. No precious lode. Just rats hoarding crumbs. Their greed would lure fourteen miners to watery graves when the rains came.
**Karl:** (subvocal command) "West. Cross-reference their stockpile locations with collapse models."
The HUD overlay turned blood-red. Every hidden cache aligned with future structural failure points.
**// DRONE FEED UPDATE //**
246's skiff exposed another cache, the Zisite glittering with lethal promise. No demolition charges detected - just greed and bad geology.
**West:** [Rainfront approaching. Estimated tunnel integrity: 31%]
Karl's knuckles whitened on the control yoke. No corporate cleanup crews this timeline. Just fourteen miners who'd die believing in a phantom lode.
The H4's combat drills hummed to life.