***ANAD is a vital part of this mission…it’s my job to assist all team members with their duties…and to secure the perimeter of the detail***
Barnes snorted, climbing out of her seat. “I don’t need regulations quoted back to me, ANAD…even if you are right.”
“What did you say?” Simonet asked. She was unstrapping herself.
“It was ANAD…I’m leaving him outside containment…for the time being.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“Probably not. But there are some sound tactical reasons to keep the swarm nearby…just in case.”
Gopher squatted like a black metal armadillo in the lee of a snow bank, huddled against the steep flanks of a rugged mountain known to the locals as Zapog. It was dark and windy, snow swirling about the surfaced geoplane in gusts and squalls, as Barnes threw open the hatch and leaped to the ground. Right behind her, Simonet, Glance, Jung, Swanson and Bodle dropped to the snow and set up a quick defensive perimeter, quickly boresighting and registering HERF and mag weapons on nearby peaks barely visible in the blizzard.
Moments later, Mole breached the surface with a deep rumble and stopped alongside, huffing and clanking in the blowing snow. Her CC1, Hoyt Gibbs, emerged from the forward hatch and dropped to the ground.
The two CC1s compared notes.
Barnes took a hack off the navsats and pinpointed their position, which she ported to the crewnet. The entire crew soon saw the coordinates on their helmet eyepieces.
“Okay, ANAD…I’m sending a new config. When it’s loaded, you’ll be optimized for solid-phase disassembly. You already have the coordinates of the fracture zone…where the ground is most sensitive to boring?”
***Affirmative, Control…from my position, the fracture zone centroid is three hours and twelve minutes away***
“Very well, ANAD…prepare to launch…all effectors primed and ready?”