After some thought, you decide that your other concerns don't matter that much. This place is a factory. Bringing that info back to Shado accomplishes your goal of making a name for Tendou.

I agree, this is an important discovery. We've accomplished our main objective, so we should get back to town.

He considers your words carefully, and nods. “Alright, this is important info, we should head back and let them know.”

“But-” There's a slight pause from Mouse, before she says, “Yeah, let's go.” Tendou's eyes narrow at the response, but he doesn't question her. She turns around, and together, you begin walking back toward the entrance.

You're already on your next step, thinking about the kind of data you'll want to have to show them when you get back. You poke at your connected systems to see if there's a way of making a video recording of the facility. You have the data feeding in constantly from your sight, and you could just try copying that into your storage, but it's moving too fast and doesn't stay in memory long enough...

Widening your search immediately reveals that the Primary Control System does know how to record things, so you simply request it, and it easily responds that the recording has started. You let Tendou know, and he nods again.

At the facility's entrance, Tendou again jumps out to close the entrance doors again. When he gets back, you point out the small cutout you made, highlighting it on-screen.

We should block that with something, so nothing gets inside.

“Hmm...” He thinks, then repeats your idea to Mouse across comms, while walking over to the nearest rock formation, and picking out a decent, fist-size rock.

The other pilot doesn't respond this time, simply waiting for you to set the rock down and push it snug against the doors. You figure that's a good place to cut the video recording, so you tell the Primary Control System, and it does so, notifying you of the particular place in storage where the newly generated file is located.

“Good, hopefully that'll work,” Tendou says at the same time as your tinkering with that. Next, you go to the downed Viper and pick up Boa's gun, before hoisting the frame up onto your shoulder. It's very heavy, weighing about as much as you do. And it's hell on your balance. Tendou has to slide the controls and widen your stance to keep you from tipping over.

Once it's situated though, your Kitsune type legs bear the weight without issue, and when you tweak your auto balancing to account for it, you feel your stabilizer systems kicking in at full power.

Suddenly, the sixty plus tons slung your shoulder aren't even a hindrance anymore. Apparently, that's thanks to two full size gyroscopic maneuvering subsystems, installed in each leg. You note that there's no way the Kitsune was designed with this particular scenario in mind, so those are likely to allow for some spectacular maneuvers if you need them in combat.

Of course the walk back through the valley is still a bit slower with you carrying so much weight, but it's pretty minor, and you make it back to Boa quickly.

When he sees you two, he begins, “So...” his tone uncertain.

“We found the Hex,” Tendou says, shrugging it off his shoulder and sitting it against the cliff wall.

“And the facility,” Mouse follows up.

“Ah.”

“Did you know it's a factory?” she goes on, questioning him in an unpleasant tone.

“A factory? No, I never even got close, with the Hex and all.” There's a short gap between him starting to speak and and when he gets his frame to turn its head, like he's shaking it.

“That's... yeah,” some of the fire goes out of her tone. His explanation does match what you saw, with the signs of battle at a distance that indicated that he never actually got close to the building itself.

With another prompt from you, Tendou jumps into the conversation. “We're heading back to report in,” he explains. “I was wondering though, should we have Boa guard the building?”

“Absolutely not!” the man shouts back, so fast Tendou recoils in his seat, blinking in surprise. “With my leg like this, I'm dead meat. I don't even have a weapon!”

“That's... yeah, makes sense,” Tendou agrees with the assessment, while taking out the Boa's gun and tossing it over to him. “Found this on the Hex by the way.”

“Oh.” With the rapid fire exchange past, there's a small lull, before Tendou asks. “So, do we bring this Viper back with us? Can we carry it and Boa at the same time?

“Nah, just leave it,” Mouse responds. “We want to travel fast right now, even bringing Boa's going to slow us down. The next mission out can cart it back with them. Now, let's get moving. We can talk more on the way.”

Everyone agrees immediately, and you move in at Boa's side, lifting him to lean on one of your shoulders, an arm going around the back of his frame for support. Even his one functional leg clearly isn't working well, while the other one is completely limp an unresponsive.

Actually... You point your pilot's attention down with a small flash, and he looks, long enough for you to inspect the damage and point it out to him. It appears to be a single slash or puncture, cutting deep through the middle of his legs, where the thighs would be in a human.

It must have been a particularly weak point in the rear leg armor of his Cobra frame. The only reason one leg works better than the other is that the attack was off center, or came at an angle.

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“What caused that damage?” Tendou asks.

“Didn't get too good a look,” Boa says, “some kind of melee weapon. I think I saw an energy flash, can't say for sure. Got me at the worst angle too,” he groans. He's not wrong; having a single perfectly placed critical hit nearly disable his frame is incredibly unfortunate.

When your progress isn't as fast as you were hoping thanks to Boa's heavy limp, Mouse comes over to support his other side, and your pace improves. The main difficulty is navigating back out of the ravine. While all of the paths splitting off weren't an issue on the way in, coming from this way, it's like following a constantly fracturing web, trying to reach the single endpoint you originally entered from.

Thankfully, Mouse manages that part, either using sensors, or something else, to discern which way at each and every fork, and you arrive back where you came from, at the narrow cut into the cliffs.

Once more, you carefully crawl through, one after another, though you both have to help pull Boa through since he can't even crawl very well with just his arms.

Out in the clear, ringed by trees and cliffs, you shove the boulder back into place, and keep on your way.

It's actually a faster trip back than it was on the way out, since you can move in a straight line, without constantly stopping to figure out where to go next. Even so, it takes a couple hours, which soon lapse into silence.

You use the opportunity to teach Tendou how to use more of your computer systems, since he may need to show someone that video recording. Like that mysterious woman last night, you walk him through using the physical controls and pull-out keyboard, and have him navigate through the menus.

While explaining things, you note that all of the info ringing your monitors, like weapon status, the comms panel, map, and info popups – those are all just things you made to help him out. It's all kludged together from your available system information and basic graphic files you repurposed, which is why it looks less polished than the actual computer interface.

Unexpectedly, Tendou's response is to look around a all of the arrayed information, and break down into a long stretch of laughter. Even with Pilot Assist chipping in to help, you don't really understand his apparent amusement.

Nevertheless, he picks up on how to use the computer system quickly, and has a good enough understanding by the time you reach the ruined sections of the old world city surrounding Shado.

In the later hours of the afternoon, low sun beginning to tint the sky toward a reddish hue, your group arrives at the same entrance as yesterday, the pair of larger buildings on a wide road funneling you through. Beyond, multiple ray frames stand, with a whole group of people and vehicles moving around between their legs.

“The hell...?” Tendou mutters as soon as he sees them.

A few of the vehicles separate off from the group, heading your way. They are much larger than the others. Big, boxy trucks, long and flat-topped, and almost as tall as your hip. And one that's much lower to the ground, but with a huge, flat bed, like it's for carrying large loads.

When they come near, a familiar face leans out of the side of one of the taller trucks, this one a muted silver color, like pure steel. It's Shinzou, waving an arm. He pulls up at your feet, shouting to be heard.

“Got your message! So what's this important thing you need to say in person?” He got a message? Then you remember, Mouse mentioned having some kind of radio. Even Boa mentioned that he could contact the town again. They must have done just that as soon as you got out of those mountains. But then why not just request for help to be sent out and save the trip back?

Mouse steps forward, shrugging off Boa's arm and kneeling, so you need to shift slightly to support him better. Her cockpit opens up, right near Shinzou in his truck. Her voice is so low, you can barely make it out, and need to play it back extra loud for Tendou.

“Didn't want to say this over the airwaves, not even encrypted. We found a factory out there.” Shinzou's grizzled face shows shock. “There were some Hex around. Boa dealt with them, but we need a team to go secure the area.” She turns to look at the assembled ray frames. “We only got three?”

“Only ones who responded on short notice. For a night mission,” he notes, jerking his head up toward the sky. As he says, the sun will nearly be down after another trip through the wilderness.

“It'll have to do,” she shrugs. Then she reaches backward, into her cockpit to hit something, and you get a transmission from her. “Strider, you up to go back out?”

“Yeah,” Tendou responds without even considering it. It's not like you have to go, you already came back successful after all. But he must want to see things through, you suppose.

“You have enough fuel?” Mouse follows up. Tendou checks the gauge you still have displayed in the corner and grimaces. You have seventeen percent left.

That's not actually that bad. We've burned seven percent over the last day and a half, so we should have another three and a half days worth, assuming similar power usage.

“Still...” he mutters, before clearing his throat and speaking up, so you transmit it to Mouse. “I'm pretty low, actually. Could I, uhh, get paid for this last mission? Like, before we head out again?”

“Sure,” she agrees, like it's nothing, then shouts toward Shinzou, “Fuel for us, thanks!” and turns around in place. You watch as Shinzou slams a fist on the side of his truck a couple times, and moments later, a section just behind the driver's section opens up, a tiny ladder extending out, with a woman clambering up, one hand lugging a tube the size of her torso after her.

The ladder reaches to the back of Mouse's ray, where the woman hits something, then shoves the tube inside, right at the neck, where a human's spine would be. That must be the fuel port; you remember yours being in about the same spot.

While you wait for them to finish with that, the larger, shorter truck drives up to your feet. “Hey! Down here!” the driver shouts up at you, waving a hand to get your attention. Tendou starts to reach to open the cockpit so he can shout back, but the man starts miming the motion of laying something down.

I think he wants you to put Boa on the truck.

“Oh,” he chirps, gets you to nod your head quickly, and does so, shifting and easing Boa forward. He tries to set the many-ton machine down as light as he can, but it still sounds like a massive crash when it impacts the truck bed. Surprisingly, the truck bears it.

Well, it's clearly designed for transporting ray frames, so it figures they'd make it work somehow. The driver waves again, then begins to turn the truck around and drive off, Boa calling to give a gruff “Thanks, kid,” over a private line, before disappearing down the road.

By that point, Mouse has finished refueling. Shinzou waves you over, so you walk closer. “Great work out there! Turn around, we'll get you your fuel!” he shouts over. You do so. It's tricky, and Tendou has to turn your head at the widest angle your joints will support, to barely see the ladder at the edge of your vision, directly behind you.

He eases back on the controls, trying to line it up with the badly skewed viewpoint, and comes close. Shinzou makes up the difference, operating some controls to pivot the ladder, even with the woman hanging on precariously.

Like that, she gets the fuel hose attached, and your reserves begin to refill. While you wait, you watch another, similar truck approach Mouse, only this one is painted in a dark blue. The whole top of the truck opens up, a platform rising out of it, with a number of weapons resting on it. She picks them up and holsters them, then deposits the Fira, which sinks into the truck once more, top closing up again.

She waves over the other ray frames milling about, and they approach just as you're finished being refueled. You make a note to Tendou that you're up to thirty six percent again. So they filled your tank twenty percent of the way, enough for about six extra days of run time.

With that done, Shinzou gives a big wave and yells, “Good luck out there, pilots,” and the vehicles disperse, driving back into the center of town.

“Everyone, follow me,” Mouse calls over open comms, beckoning the group and already walking. “We're in a hurry, I'll explain the details on the way.”