Adrian was apprehensive toward the idea of a full scale firefight [i]inside[/i] the mines, thanks in large part to his previous experience with the aging dig site. He never knew Landren to be prone to much tectonic activity, but then again, Landren was probably three quarters sand. The numerous small craters that littered the field just outside of the gaping hole in the landscape did not inspire confidence. Maybe the two hostile GEARs that fled probably wouldn’t return—not with the [i]Claw[/i] looming in the distance, but that didn’t rule out the possibility of a second artillery strike. The derelict mining rig that had been used to kick up a cloud of dust at the start of the fighting wasn’t necessarily harmless, but it was more flash than bang and didn’t cause much structural damage his limited geological knowledge could spot. It still demonstrated that there wasn’t much in the mine the enemy considered worth fighting particularly hard for. Artillery had just struck not too far away. What if they had a schematic of the upper mines’ layout? Would they adjust a second strike to bring down the ceiling or seal up the exits? 

	Even so, Adrian had orders to head inside. Even after all the shakedown exercises, he still didn’t have the Captain quite pinned down, but the old man had the clout to pull Adrian from his old, reasonably elite squad and place him in the Roughriders. He had to know what he was doing. He wouldn’t overlook any details, if they were important, would he?

	With a deep breath, Adrian once more swapped his unwieldy rifle for his twenty millimeter pistol and adjusted his cameras’ lenses. The pistol was a dinky, little weapon in the hand of his GEAR, but against bandit-modified civilian equipment and squishy, arvaran bodies, there wasn’t a discernible difference beyond how many limbs went flying after a direct hit. He settled to bring up the rear and pick off stragglers and particularly sneaky assailants whenever the opportunity arose. CQC went beyond his area of expertise.