Ordering my drones to prepare defensive positions around the mine shaft entrances, I begin deliberating on how to best approach the most likely trap filled tunnels. My drones and I certainly did not want to go down there if we did not have to but there were not very many options available to us that would flush the defending drones out of their hole.
The hornets were not able actually fire at anything due to the winding nature of the tunnels and while fire beetles might be able to hit some of the drones near the entrance to the tunnel they most certainly will not be able to hit anything much farther than that. That only left two real options left, move into the tunnels and hope for the best or dig our own tun-
Wait. I just got the blueprint for that tunnel worm drones which can practically swim through rock and stone. It will take a few hours but I can get one made at the water treatment outpost and have it shipped over here quickly enough. Additionally it is not like we really have any downsides to simply just sitting around and sieging mines for a little while.
After I quickly floated back over to the outpost and ordered a new worm, I soon found myself wandering around the components of the MAI base which were above the surface. For the most part the compound was barren minus a couple buildings holding some living quarters and what looks to have been a reception building.
I suppose the important stuff is stored underground. I guess this is why they weren't too upset about leaving all of this undefended. With that in mind, I briefly debated whether the intel gathered by sending a scout rat or two down into the tunnels would be worth the almost guaranteed loss of the rats before eventually scrapping the idea on the grounds that the worm could likely do that while it dug around.
Anyways, with the tunnel entrances guarded and the worm under fabrication, I decided to kill my time by rummaging through the on site buildings for anything interesting.
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Unfortunately after a few hours of searching, the only thing of interest I found was a few bits of broken electronics which could be scrapped back at base. The good news was that the new worm had just finished and was already on its way over here. Infact, I could already hear the faint rumbling coming from the direction of the water treatment outpost.
The MAI drones also seem to have noticed as they seemed to increase the amount of activity and were now occasionally prodding at my defenses, likely looking for a weakness. Based on the fact that they have not decided to invest in a full out assault, I guessed that they had not found anything worth actually taking advantage of.
Soon enough, my brand new worm finally arrived at my pseudo-siege camp and was fully prepared to do the very thing I ordered its construction for. The worm reared back for a second before lunging at the ground and began drilling into the soft dirt. Shifting my senses into the worm, I immediately found my vision gone and had been replaced with a rather sensitive sense for vibrations.
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The strange method of detection was rather odd but nonetheless it worked and within a few minutes my worm was able to detect a total of three dozen or so medium sized drones and another two dozen smalls who were all holed in the tunnels. As an additional price of information, the majority of the guard force were in the same tunnel and were all located in a large open area within the mineshaft.
As much as I would like to have my worm decimate their forces in one fell swoop, I would like to have the infrastructure that was undoubtedly what those drones are guarding. So in an attempt to get the best of both worlds, I ordered my drone to be careful when engaging the drones in that area.
Then I set my worm loose and they immediately began wreaking havoc with the MAI drones. The worm moved in and out of the ground, occasionally taking a drone or two with them. I have no idea how this looks to the defending drone but I almost feel bad for them. Almost.
Not long after my worm began harassing their troops, the enemy drones began moving toward the surface. Slipping back out of the worm's body, I begin ordering my drones to brace themselves for the incoming drones. Not that they needed my instruction, my lead hound was already making sure all of my drones were prepared.
Soon enough, the first of the enemy drones began pouring out of the tunnel entrances and towards my lines. However, they seemed off. Something about their erratic twitching or the fact that their joint lights were fritzing or just turning into plain static. Nevertheless, the first couple of drones who stepped out of the tunnels were quickly gunned down by my hornets but now they needed to reload which the enemy quickly took advantage of by streaming out of the tunnels and quickly began engaging my drones.
Joining in the melee, I could see that my drones would have likely not needed the help as they outnumbered the enemy drones who stormed out by about two to one. My drones held up about as well as I expected but what surprised me was how ferocious the enemy drones fought. The enemy hounds and ants seemed to be in a berserk like rage and simply charged straight into my lines and immediately began tearing holes in it.
They were not able to take more than a dozen of my drones but it was slightly concerning how hard they fought. Normally they would give up and surrender after taking sufficient losses but this time not a single one stopped fighting until they were struck by nothing less than a fatal blow. My drones were rather shaken by the display and so I gave them a few minutes as a breather.
While they took their break, I walked up to the corpse of one of the berserker hounds and began poking it to see what would happen. As I poked it, I could feel something squishy somewhere inside the drone which sent a slight chill up my metal spine as I was not expecting that. With my curiosity piqued, I grabbed one of my javelins and used it to pry open one of the plates to reveal the insides of the drone.
What I found seemed to be filled with some sort of small fleshy clumps which were connected to each other in a spider-like web of weirdness. Scientifically poking it with my javelin, I was surprised when it gave me a slight jolt before it slumped back down. Whatever it is, I decided to tell my drones not to touch it just in case.
With that taken care of, I decided to take the least spooked drones and began traversing down the main tunnel which would lead towards the large room. As I moved down the springing open tunnels, although I should not have as crabs were likely mining the resources here, I could still hear my worm picking off enemy drones but they seemed to have begun slowing down before fully stopping somewhere near the surface.
Welp, I suppose it must have run out of energy like the description said it would. Shame, I probably could have used that extra emergency support. Steeling My nerves, I and my small squad of drones begin slowly creeping forward into the increasingly dark and musty tunnel.