Rhia had to adapt quickly as the situation shifted. Their target had reacted, but she could see its intentions in motion. At the same time, she also had strong situational awareness, despite the chaos around them. Echolocation let her track the movements of civilians and soldiers alike behind her. She could “see” that there were multiple Institute operatives trying to get a clear shot behind Vreta, and so she knew just how they should adapt. 

Vreta reacted right away to the instructions Rhia projected over his vision. The droid was swinging at him with Skopec in hand, so Vreta dashed to his left in a seeming attempt to get around the droid. The machine was strong and durable, but it was built for heavy-lifting, not agility. Indeed, it might have been possible for Vreta to use his comparative maneuverability to still get around behind the droid to upload Rhia’s virus, but that was not the intent at the moment. Since Vreta had moved off to the side and Skopec had now been swung after him, a clear line of sight had now been opened up to the armed Humans behind them. 

It was rare that Nirann would need to dedicate a majority of his processing power to any [i]one[/i] task. Indeed, it may not have even been strictly “necessary” here, but he was absolutely willing to devote far more resources than were needed to protect Marae. These industrial machines had physical power, but just about everything else was an advantage to Nirann. In the moment, there was one weapon in particular he could wield to devastating effect: mathematics. 

Nirann’s sensor suite was far more comprehensive and updated far more quickly than anything that would be sufficient for an industrial droid, so he could get a much clearer picture of what was happening. The number of calculations he dedicated to building the physics simulations for the next few seconds of the fight were, frankly, overkill. He mapped out each motion he could take, and each response his opponents could take in return, until he settled on the most favorable course. He waited until the right moment when the droid had the correct amount of momentum in the proper direction, then delivered a massive kick laterally to the droid’s knee joint. While the droid was designed to be able to carry immense weight, it was not built with combat in mind. Diffusing the force of a targeted impact from the side was not a design consideration. Nirann’s foot went straight through the joint. At the same time, he collapsed his energy blade and returned his arm to its former shape, making it small enough for him to slip out of the droid’s grip. With his other arm behind the droid, he twisted his body around and pushed his opponent in the direction of its momentum to send it into the girder in his stead.