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Castle chuckled a little at Adam's response (and also at Halim's failure to recognize levity). It was bad luck to be praying in the middle of a mission... but a little faith went a long way.

<<[color=#239C89]I don't know about that, miss Alexandros. Weren't Adam and Eve created in God's image? In that case, I'd imagine they'd bear [i]some[/i] resemblance to Him.[/color]>>

Religious and philosophical debates on the origins of man aside, the Ajax continued sweeping the area from its position upon the dune. Outrider, the much smaller Exo-Frame had landed some distance away from the larger Orbital. It moved south from where Castle had initially landed-- it was a wise idea to have a target designator some distance away from the actual artillery, to widen the range of fire, after all.

<<[color=#239C89]Copy that, Fox. Happy hunting.[/color]>>
 
The Ajax had nothing but the bare essentials when it came to its own sensor arrays. However, in spite of that, there was a wealth of information received on comms-- whether that was from the Odysseus' Battle Net, the Bedwyr's Merlon Target Acquisition Suite, or the Outrider's Hermes Communications Suite. This particular ping, however, came from the science team that was currently on the ground.

Castle grimaced slightly as he received their information. An Oberth Reactor? Here, right underneath the LZ? Was this a lucky coincidence, or an intentional placement? How many more of these were scattered around the planet's surface, he wondered. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, the man looked over to the Aurora; it looks like Volana had drawn the short straw.

<<[color=#239C89]If anything pops out of the ground, you'll be far too close, even taking danger close into account...[/color]>>

It was true. The only things safe for use at this range were the HAG, or the Keraunos Hypervelocity Driver, and even then friendly fire was still a risk. Firing from this position onto the dig site with high-explosive weaponry was not advisable for... multiple reasons. With that in mind, that danger could still be alleviated with a bit of preparation, even if it might result in some close-encounters. Castle opened comms to the other Orbitals

<<[color=#239C89]...ground team, secure the perimeter. To all other free assets, I recommend supervising the Aurora's excavation with non-destructive armaments. The last thing we want is for an explosion to send the Oberth Reactor into meltdown.[/color]>>

Free assets referred to anyone who wasn't currently assigned a task, and with ten different Orbitals on-site, there was certainly no shortage of those. Unfortunately, 'non-destructive armaments' was a catch-all term for anything that could cause excessive collateral damage if there was a missed shot. This meant that explosive weaponry was off the table, but anyone with kinetic or energy weapons could still ably function, with a bit of precise aim. Of course, in the absence of those, there were always melee sidearms... which may prove necessary if something actually [i]does[/i] pop out of the ground.

Holden continued his vigilant observations from the north side. One could call him nervous, but trigger-discipline was everything for an artilleryman. His eyes deftly moved in a rotation, from his own sensors to his comms, to his diagnostics, and back to his sensors on repeat-- a habit he had developed while working in the military. Now all he had to do was wait.

...and waiting was the hardest part.