Chapter 5.2.

 "Badger" didn't even immediately realize that these were missiles. The same multifunctional ones. He raised his head up, wanting to see what they were aimed at and managed to make out the silhouette of a drone-aircraft. Perhaps it was then that he dropped something.

 One missile passed by, as did the second, but then "Badger" saw that another one was chasing the bandit. It was the one that hit him. "Badger" turned his gaze and the gaze of the still-working camera to the remains of the vehicle.

 Even after its crash, this thing continued to fight! It, or, more precisely, its systems. To fight first and foremost for them, the people who now, among other things, needed to save a wounded comrade. Blessed be the GBA that gave these machines! And AEX too!

 For some reason, a scene from a classic film I saw in school came to mind.

"Badger" stuck his fist with his thumb up in the camera's field of view.

 However, the misadventures did not end there. About five minutes after the evacuation, the onboard defense detected an object approaching at six o'clock. It was a drone. That same paper bird. A rather weak opponent. Two vehicles were driving not far from each other, about a hundred yards away. The vehicle in which Basta was was driving ahead, and this was according to all the rules - the second one, in which "Badger" was, had a wounded man, and the first vehicle provided some kind of reaction in case of a ground ambush.

 In general, the approach of a light, slow-moving drone at six o'clock did not pose any particular danger - it was detected both by ultrasound and optics, which could quite reliably guide the Multifunctional Missiles. True, the missiles had a limitation on the short range - if the target was less than fifty yards away, the missile would not have time to enter the trajectory.

 However, in this close zone there was another defense and no worse - a pair of mortars with a wide firing sector threw out charges that exploded close to the target and showered it with a hail of small fragments like pellets. The charges were not simple - the spread of fragments could be chosen omnidirectional and conical - this was also assumed in the case of a very close distance. Conical spread allowed you not to catch shrapnel in your back.

 The stream of pellets was enough for the drone. In addition, the speed on the catch-up course of approach was minimal and the system could aim perfectly. So this pursuit of the drone would have ended in its own inevitable defeat. Of course, the entire defense process was controlled by a computer, which only informed the crew that something threatening was happening. But that was the case in general, when combat contact is fleeting. This drone had latched on for real and for a long time and, apparently, took into account the peculiarities of the flat-bottomed boat's defense.

 Unfortunately, this bastard turned out to be too small and inconspicuous and managed to sneak into an area where it could not be picked up by missiles due to its proximity, and was far away for mortars.

The crew was busy with their own affairs. Harrison was driving the machine. Carter was fiddling with the wounded. In theory, Harrison could maneuver, but as a rule, the onboard defense dealt with itself and much faster than a person was ready to do anything.

 By that time, Carter had already managed to bandage the Lieutenant's leg, after which he took out the first aid kit and connected its cable to one of the connectors in the Lieutenant's uniform, which had some sensors.

The Lieutenant was still lying there, regaining consciousness rather inarticulately. Fortunately, the first aid kit reliably recorded his pulse and breathing, and according to Carter, they were "clear".

Only "Badger" was left free, but he couldn't do anything special against the drone - he was pinned by the side of the ship on one side and by Carter's knee, who was sitting on the lounger on the other.

"Badger" pulled the collimator over his right eye. The helmet's optics could provide up to fivefold magnification, now he chose a smaller one - twofold magnification. The tiny drone-plane circled behind the stern, but it did not get closer. This is what they did when they wanted to track their target, simultaneously guiding something else. The one who controlled it, and it seemed that the drone was not flying on its own, was aware that if the drone went to intercept, it would end up in the kill zone of the transport's defense mortars. However, over the years of fighting, their headquarters AI could easily have mastered such subtleties on its own.

"Badger" moved the collimator from his right eye, freeing the eye for aiming - he intended to shoot the bastard with his M116, which he managed to pull out and take a firing position. The idea is so-so, but why not try when you can try? Maybe it will turn out that this is what will save all four.

A miracle did not happen - the shooting did not bring any results. The optics pulled back over the eye later did not help either. In addition, as luck would have it, the drone did not go straight, but wobbled every now and then - it definitely had an advantage in speed and, accordingly, the opportunity for such maneuvers. Another depressing thing was that the vehicle in front could not support with missiles - they did not remove the machine gun from it and install a container instead. Standard anti-tank missiles, the installation with which was located on the left, were not at all capable of intercepting a target like this drone. If there were multifunctional missiles, the computer would have transmitted the data to the vehicle in front and it would have fired at the pursuer like in a shooting gallery.

However, the machine gun could do something too. The "Browning-212" on the second vehicle, as usual, was connected to the AI, which, unlike the "Badger", fired on the move no worse than a cowboy from old films. Unfortunately, the target was too small; usually the targets were different. So the chances of success were illusory, but in an emergency...

"I'll try to slow down," Harrison announced.

Everyone understood that the drone was hanging on their tail for a reason. This had happened more than once, when transports that seemed to be sneaking below all detection levels were localized in this way and were attacked by completely different means.

- Keep it in sight...

"Badger" aimed the optics of his helmet at the drone. The computer displayed this image on Harrison's display - it was possible and even necessary to let the bastard get close, but not too fast, so that the defense system would have enough time to thoughtfully deal with it, that is, to target it.

To everyone's disappointment, the drone also slowed down - it did not intend to enter the mortars' kill zone. It also, as if mockingly, made several maneuvers to the right and left, gained altitude and descended again. It was definitely being controlled by a living "@enemy" and not a computer, albeit a remote one. Having received further evidence of this initial assumption, "Badger" made an expressive gesture towards the pursuer a couple of times.

It was time for plan "B". Harrison picked up speed and began to approach a strip of trees growing in some lowland. And now the branches were rushing past, almost touching the car. The calculation was partly on the fact that the drone would at some fine moment fly into a branch. The calculation did not come true. At this time, the car in front was already changing to the tail. As expected, the drone began to react to the maneuver, but it was not possible to put it on the tail of the other transport - the bastard slipped below and to the side, not getting into the zone of destruction of the close defense.

 Either he figured out the plan that the flat-bottomed planes wanted to switch places so that the machine with multi-functional missiles could finally shoot down the drone, or, which is most likely, the "@enemy" operator saw that the pursued were simply doing something and, without asking why they were doing it, simply arranged everything so that this action ended in failure in order to hang on the tail of the one who had him hanging on before. Perhaps he assumed that one of the pursued decided to turn his side towards the drone, trying the option with a machine gun, which was only capable of firing at targets in a limited sector.

 Suddenly, something rumbled overhead.

 - That's why he was pursuing us, - flashed through the "Badger's" head.

However, when he raised his head, he saw that far above them a "flanker" was passing them. Maybe it was one of those that flew into battle at supersonic speed. Suddenly the attack aircraft began to lift its nose and in a few moments it had already turned in the direction of its previous flight path almost flat.

 The plane's wings were shrouded in fog. This was their favorite trick. In reality, it was completely useless in an air battle, but it was perfect for showing off. But why did he need to show off here?

 Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice in the headphones called out the call signs of both machines. It was the pilot of the "flanker" who came on the line. "Badger" happily punched Carter in the back. Someone, most likely the staff computer, sent a nearby attack aircraft to cover the transports!

 Meanwhile, the "flanker" had already picked up speed again and began to circle the sector in a radius of three to five miles.

 The drone was still hanging on its tail, but now it was no longer such a problem as before. Soon the "flanker", having completed a circle, appeared on the right. In theory, he could try to shoot the drone with his cannon, but there were big doubts about whether the remote radio fuses of the shells would work. The radio fuses might not react to such a trifle. However, close explosions are not what the fighters in the transports needed. The attack aircraft could also do something daring. For example, rush behind the stern of the flat-bottomed boat and knock the drone down with a vortex flow.

 However, the "flanker" carried away into the distance, on a second circle. The "Badger" began to peer ahead - allied ground units were about to appear.

 - Missile! - Carter shouted. Judging by the fact that the cry was joyful, the missile was friendly. And so it turned out - the attack aircraft, rushing above the ground for three hours, launched one. Then the second one broke ahead. Both at first began to gain altitude, but soon rushed to the ground and disappeared behind the relief. While making the third circle, the "flanker", being at twelve o'clock, released the third. Most likely, these were light IRIS, which the attack aircraft carried as a mandatory addition to the main combat load.

 After some time, the pilot called out to the transports and reported that the sector was clear. The drone hanging on the tail took off. Perhaps the "@enemy" operator decided to bring his cuttlefish back and not waste energy reserves on fruitless pursuit. Out of frustration, he could have smashed his piece of junk against something, the bastard ...

 The "flanker" was now coming from behind and was flying at an altitude of only a couple of hundred feet, maybe three hundred.

 Harrison could not restrain himself and joyfully began to shoot off heat traps. The second machine did the same. Having made a barrel roll in response, the "flanker" rushed to the rear. The main part of the path was covered and only a few miles remained to the forward positions.

 As reported by Interlink, the "flanker" shot down two high-speed drones that had taken off to pursue the transports. Somewhere to the west, tank formations were rushing forward, including the previously seen chain of M5A2s. Feeling a wave of relief, "Badger" began to think about how he would edit his own video story in addition to the official one.