Everything inside of the Uma was biological in nature, from the soft, pink flesh that made up these hallways to the bony protrusions that supported the structure completely, even to the doors that swung open upon sensing a living thing approaching them; everything inside of the Uma was alive, but with the myriad of holes punched through its hull it was slowly dying.
The Chukanids within this carrier were awakened from their deep slumber at the reverberating wail of their carrier, but many of them had already succumbed to the cold embrace of space, drifting through the hallways lifelessly and bouncing off of the walls before eventually being sucked out of one of the holes to enter space completely.
Despite the Uma still being alive, most of its inhabitants had already perished, but it was our duty to ensure that the entire population of this Uma was indeed dead, and to do so we were required to methodically clear the carrier.
Many other mechs had landed on this very Uma as well, but our squad of three was contained to this portion of the carrier as we began to march down the hall, our boots squishing against the fleshy floor while our weapons were trained on the drifting bodies.
"Einherjar Hrefna, Sutekh Abrax, it is an honor to march beside you! Let us clear this Uma and rid the stars of another blight!"
The fervorous tone of the third member of this squad crackled over the comms, the man from Vel Risi bridging the silence and opening communications between us as he brought up our rear, his larger Jotunn Mech working as a moving barricade inside of these halls as he swept his heavy cannon over the space behind us.
"Ezayak, Einherjar Hrefna and Pilot Gunnar."
Two members from the 'Valhalla' and a member from the 'Pharaoh' made up our squad, and the man who replied to Gunnar had a silky smooth voice that was pleasing to the ears, especially when compared to the deep, raspy bellow of a laugh that Gunnar let out upon hearing that short, friendly reply.
I remained quiet as I focused instead on the door that opened at the end of the hallway, pinging it and bringing their attention to it as well as we all slowed down, watching it closely; Gunnar continued to watch our backs, but I could see that he had pulled up the camera feed from my mech to provide another set of eyes.
Emerging from the spiny barricade that acted as a door was a small swarm of Chukanids that were stabbing their legs into the fleshy floor to remain attached to the Uma, and the moment we saw one another combat broke out right away.
They snapped their pincers together and began to rush towards us as fast as they could, their sharpened legs tearing through the Uma as they tried to get closer to us, only to be met by precise fire as Sutekh Abrax and I pulled our triggers.
Three Blitz rounds zipped through the air and smashed into the skulls of three separate Chukanids, punching through their chitin and spreading the electricity within the shells as their blood crystalized and drifted around them, creating a wonderful web that halted the progress of the rest of the small swarm.
Meanwhile explosive shells ripped through the rest as our 'cousin' unleashed a barrage of smaller caliber rounds to pierce the Chukanids only to explode within their carapace and tear chunks of flesh away from them.
"Excellent shooting you two! Haha~! Let us continue forwards!"
Gunnar's voice once more crackled to life, and I sighed softly as I fought the urge to lower his volume, though that was something I had never done; either way, I just sent him a nonverbal acknowledgement and continued forwards, stepping over the dead Chukanids and slicing through the spines that closed shut the moment we approached, the Uma trying to hinder our movements.
They fell to the ground with a wet plop as we entered a new hallway, one that was riddled with less holes and one that home to many of the surviving Chukanids as they rushed towards us, chittering at one another and attempting to clog the hallway with their bodies.
"I got this one!"
Sutekh Abrax and I ducked as the larger mech behind us swung its cannon around, letting loose a barrage of shells that blew the aliens apart and opened up some breathing room for us to work as we stood back up a moment later, the casings of Gunnar's cannon bouncing off the ground still as we rushed forwards.
Returning to guarding our rear, Gunnar held the doorway while Sutekh Abrax and I switched to close quarters, the gigantic hallway we found ourselves in perfect for us to put our mechs to the test as we utilized our melee weapons first and foremost, carving through the swarm and occasionally utilizing our firearms to clear away large swathes of aliens.
The Blitz rounds made short work of any clustered groups, while my Gungnir Heavy Spear penetrated through carapace with ease as the power rippling through its blade made this a massacre.
Alien blood splashed across my mech as more and more Chukanids awoke from their slumber and rushed towards us, the commotion and large quantity of their Colony perishing in a single location drawing them here as they sought to stem the losses, only to end up losing even more.
Thunderous booms echoed through the hall as Gunnar began to face his own swarm, though the explosive prowess of a Jotunn was made for this purpose as he held our flank perfectly; Sutekh Abrax and I utilized the swiftness of our more limber mechs to cut through the giant swarm and locate our next target, which was the heart of the Uma.
Racking up kill after kill, I opted for the more aggressive fighting style that was fueled by the hours of boredom I had to sit through to get here; this rapid fire combat that had me in the thick of things was addicting, and my comrades thought the same as we began to push deeper inside this carrier.