***ANAD reporting swarm element in place and holding. No more air molecules can get in or out. I am configured in repeating tetrahedral with radicals at my outer barrier. Oxygens hate that. And yes…I did save the ship, didn’t I?***
An alarm sounded from the DPS console at the rear of the command deck. Stivik was nearby and saw it. He swallowed hard.
“Acoustic flag, ma’am…some kind of swarm, for sure. Not sure whose bots I’m seeing…” his fingers flew over the board. “…but it’s a large mass, headed this way, bearing two nine two…I make the range at just under four thousand meters.”
Gerhart’s tinny voice erupted from the coupler circuit. Armadillo was at dead stop, a hundred meters away.
“…zzzhhh…sounding swarm signatures, Scooter…my SS1 says it matches known Red Hammer signatures…possible aspect change…Galland, we’re getting heavier acoustics too…vibration analysis indicates possible vehicular presence…maybe another geoplane in the area….”
Galland swore under her breath. “On my way…can you get any details, Sergeant? Any structure?” The CC1 hurried aft to the SS1’s station.
Stivik scanned his panel. “Reading high thermals…I’m applying acoustic filtering…lots of seismic noise out there. Looks like it’s a bot swarm all right…”
Galland sank into her seat at the main console. “What about the borer? Can we move?”
Sergeant D’Amato, the BOP1, shook his head. “Negative, ma’am. Borer still offline. I’m getting nothing from up front. I think the bots are dispersed. We had a containment breach and the lens itself may be damaged.”
Time for ANAD again, Galland thought. Combat at five hundred meters underground was definitely not for the slow-witted. “Lieutenant Winger, get ANAD spooled up. We’ve got to engage before any swarms start loosening rock around here. I’ll contact Armadillo and coordinate.”
Winger linked in to the assembler master bot on his coupler. “ANAD, listen up. I need configs for two elements and fast. First, I’m downloading a config for re-populating the borer. Basic stuff. Make reps to fill the borer so we can at least have maneuvering.”