"All personnel, we are entering the Greater Western Tunneling System. Prepare for an increased anti-grav presence and change our modus operandi from yellow to blue. All pilots report to the front-facing garage for a possible sortie. That is all." Ze-4 shut off his command line.
The procedure list for the various possible incidents that would occur was long and vast, encompassing countless items of interest per category. Thankfully, the system's inventor had the sense to tie it all to something familiar. The colors of the Aud largely remained a mystery in terms of science and unanswered questions, but at least it was good for one thing: identifying what level of danger a single Aud posed.
White, for example, assumed the Nyx Breaker was operating in friendly territory and at least one additional Titan was present. It was largely devoid of restrictions placed upon the personnel running the Titan.
Surrounded by the whirlwind of activity, it was easy to get swept up by the minute-by-minute changes. He had once been one of the soldiers running back and forth below while an imperious higher authority watched indifferently. How ironic, now that he was in the same position he had once dreaded.
The time for reminiscing was past, though. He added a few extra orders. "I want additional generators allotted to the echo-room, and have it on full output from here on out until we're back in the Hollow. If our shielding generators aren't up to par, we'll spark them into an overload. Consider it a variant of modus operandi brown."
The Nyx Breaker's first foray into the tunnels was an odd mixture of success and failure. Many features and design choices were tested, and while not all of them were up to par with the circumstances, they all managed to do their jobs well enough to keep the Titan from falling victim to one of the Aud--or many, down here.
Turrets and AWSs extended from the roofs of every segmented portion of the body. They rained down sonics and explosives with liberal disdain at any Aud brave enough to get close. And while there were plenty that were, there were fewer that could survive the combined attack of dozens of turrets at once.
Ze-4 had been especially apprehensive of the Nyx Breaker's ability to provide energy to its power-hungry weapons systems and the echo-room, but it seemed his fears were for naught. If anything, the engineers had done a little too well on the generators. They fed so much energy through the frame of the Titan that several connecting power lines were due to melt. The engineers were quick to nip that problem in the bud, shutting down several of the generators assigned to tertiary or quaternary functions.
The long, undulating body of the Titan wove around itself as it wriggled along the walls. It was dexterous, and so fast the techs responsible for piloting the forward movements barely had seconds to react to oncoming obstacles. A few times, they were too slow, yet the sheer size and speed of their ride had been enough to tear through any resistance a cavern wall or stalactite could offer.
The head of the Nyx Breaker was a beacon in the dark, shining outward to any Aud in their segment of the greater tunnels. As the seconds ticked into minutes, Ze-4 nervously keyed directly into the echo-room. "Status update?"
"We've located one of the three, sir. The WAV is prone."
He ground his teeth, pushing past his lips, "And the other two origin signals?"
"We're still calibrating the scope and range of the sonar impulses, sir. They would've had a high incentive to avoid the crowded paths and stick to the lesser tunnels. If we can--"
The main body of the Nyx Breaker shook. Checking another monitor, Ze-4 spared enough mind to address the engineer on the other end. "I'm not interested in the explanations; get me some results we can work with!"
A blue Aud was the culprit. It latched onto the side of one of the segments and ravenously tore through the scutumsteel plates. They would hold, but they needed it off now. A breach near the center of the Nyx Breaker's body would be nothing short of disastrous.
He took a breath. He'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to be the sitesman to test the Nyx Breaker's final feature that set it apart from its Titan brethren. It wasn't meant to be. Either the Titan took the plunge, or the Aud outside plunged inside. It was a straightforward situation with a straightforward answer. Yet he had to hide the nerves in his voice when he opened the command line.
"Due to external complications, we'll be changing paths. More accurately, we'll be making our own. All personnel, be ready to dive." Diving itself was a simple, mostly harmless concept. But that was when taking into account who--or what, would be doing the diving.
Klaxons blared as the Titan underwent some superficial changes. The scutumsteel plating covering its entire length, which had been previously angled to deflect glancing blows, turned inward to be bent right against the inner body of the Titan. The legs folded in on themselves, disappearing into compartments beneath the anti-grav fields.
And most notably, the nose of the Titan folded outward, scutumsteel sliding back to reveal a repertoire of cluster drills beneath, extending beyond their compartment and already spinning at high intensity.
Ze-4's eyes locked onto the projection with the blue Aud on it. "You sure are a clingy one. Let's see if you can keep your claws in my Titan after this."
The Nyx Breaker blasted forward. It wasn't through empty air, and not through a rushing tide of Aud. It broke through a barrier of earth, then another, then another. It was swiftly tunneling away from its disadvantageous position, propelled to fantastic speeds by their lack of traction.
Ze-4 directed the techs to control the direction in tandem with the information the engineers in the echo-room supplied. His attention was constantly diverted away to the open projection of the blue Aud, still stubbornly wedging its claws between two scutumsteel plates even as it was slowly crushed between a neverending tide of rocks and the hardest "place" humanity could engineer.
'Just fall off already!'
He couldn't be the only person in the command compartment with that thought.