The three androids braced themselves against the shuttle walls in a movement that was oddly organic. As the noise passed them they all processed it carefully. 

[code]
> Aten > Failed to Categorize Audio. Tag as OCCULT?
> A915AF > Yay. The Warrant Officer yields OCCULT potential. “Sleep, Grand Automaton,” was to be tagged OCCULT phrasing. Possesses DANGHIGH tagtrait. Maintain into the Warant Officer’s tags?
> A916AA > Yay. Yay. Landing of mining bodies in 15.5 seconds.
> Aten > Yay. Yay. Position all A9 units to deflect shrapnel from Fuertes.
[/code]

The biological movements of the machines continued. Something had changed when they landed, perhaps? They loped like animals now. Highly efficient with what they had, but perhaps limitations in what they had. The two A9s looked like dogs as they walked. Aten began to count out loud. His own droning tones blending into the black sounds of the dread Derelict. That old sleeping God from another time. There was something holy about Aten, as he stood still braced against the wall and raised his hand to provide a visual countdown to his aids, to ensure synchronicity. At the fifteenth second the A9’s slammed against each other. 

Their chassis scratched and howled and shook. As did the ground on the immediately nearest shelf. Smoke and shrapnel dispersed briefly, tinkling against the hull of the shuttle and the crossed backs of the A9s. 

[code]
> A915AF > Technique success tagged. I will take credit for the technique.
> A916AA > No.
> Aten > No. 
> B7-17094CL > Landing Successes:: 11, Landing Failures:: 4.
> Aten > Embedded/Shaft(OOR)/Shaft(IR)
> B7-17094CL > 2/1/1, Embedded beginning self-recovery. ETA on site, 3 hours. IR En Route, 8 hours. OOR, projected route painted.
> Aten > Paint noted.
> A915AF > Recovery risk?
> B7-17094CL > Simulations suggest not safe for biological crew.
> Aten > Reduce risk to MRS property.
> B7-017094CL > Risk reduction suggests sending biological crew for recovery.
> A916AA > Acceptable potential loss.
> A915AF > Unacceptable potential loss.
> Aten > Vote power transferred to A916AA.
> A916AA > Acceptable potential loss.
> Aten > Noted.
[/code]

Stiffer now than the A9s, Aten exited the little shuttle. Eleven landing pods deconstructed in the smoke, falling apart as did a model of MRS escape pod meant to reduce fire risk. The machines inside looked something like large, gorilla-sized ants. They were boxier, and more industrial in appearance however. Bright oranges and light greys. Orange, “heads,” shaped like simple rectangles with a visual strip across the sides and front. Orange, “abdomen,” larger but similarly boxy, and a grey, “thorax.” 

Any similarity was displaced when they began to move about on careful struts and their “mouths” came into view. Three mechanical graspers with a powerful-looking drill between them. The graspers themselves were notably reinforced. They immediately began to pull up metal and dirt and debris as they fell into a formation. When they had accrued a load of materials they turned and scooped it into a vessel in their hind most body segment. Once that hindmost segment was full it would seal, and immediately begin blasting the material in fusion-powered heat. Briefly afterwards the B7 subunits would dump the material into a slag pile adjacent to the dig site.

“I have taken the liberty of redesigning our operations center with the criteria described, though MRS regulations mandates a brig and living quarters be set aside for use under a worst-case scenario. If any or all of the team sent develop Derelict-related psychological trauma symptoms, myself and those under my command are to hold you until otherwise commanded.”

A moment passed, and then a very loud and more dense thud sounded out, with a bit more smoke. The thud was followed by a rolling sound as a round capsule with a once-smooth now-charred surface skittered gently across the shelf. It landed in a far back corner. 

A moment passed, and then the spherical capsule collapsed eight ways, like an orange sliced. Instead of eight edible chunks, a scorpion fell out. Massive, man-sized. It moved somehow in the same way that Aten had walking off the ship. It surveyed its environment before lifting the orange slices, stacking them on its back, then hauling them to the slag heap which it stood on top of fearlessly before dropping the slices.

It traveled now towards the Warrant Officer. It still radiated heat from its landing and from its walk across the slag. It did not emote the way most other androids did. It seemed empty in comparison to even Aten.

“I will be watching you and ensuring your safety with this. Its chassis contains an alloy. Ferrous-Derrite, as the MRS Project Leader Zero-Zero has taken to calling it in reports. I suspect it is sturdy. It has survived four cave-ins that were deployed to prevent the spread of simulated hostiles on one of my training sites, and I know of a plate of Ferrous-Derrite that recovered from a fifty-calibre anti-material rounds in one of our training facilities.”

The metal bulkheads were melting into a slag. The sounds of the drills on the B7-drones was louder than the metallic groan of the planet. On a local level, anyhow. Even at this short distance away their sound was fading and blending with the howling. The screaming planet was churning now as industry settled on its shores and rang its death knell.

A915AF chirped quickly, “When will you leave for the station to recover the team? Will you be leaving us unaccompanied?”

A916AA added with a harsh accusation, "We require a biological search and rescue team tagged with HUMAN, MOS, to recover lost expedition tools. Atmosphere insertion was a failure that occurred at a highly significant rate. Of one hundred and two trials only two others have resulted in such large displacements upon atmosphere entry. We must recover MRS property before the Artifact claims them."

"I have allowed A916AA to take point for this matter. I am a foreman." Aten droned. A915AF observed Aten, attempting to determine what it was emoting. A915AF had at this point determined that Aten was a mission risk worthy of a [color=ff0000]HIGH RED[/color] rating in the network, but the machine otherwise was subtle. 

[@Circ]