For the next few days they continued to expand operations. Rather than wait for better geological equipment, the decision was made to scout for entrances to the Hollow. Should there be any Swarm that would be where they were most likely sleeping. Unless they were already awake.

Beneath Sera's surface a mixed Survey 14 reached their latest way-point. Their entry point had been an old mine. They were leaving relays to keep communications working. Their radios were being affected this far in and the last thing anyone wanted was to lose comms this far down. Up ahead was the next likely entrance to the Outer Hollow. It would be a shallow entrance little over a kilometer down from the surface. Other teams had encountered collapsed tunnels when reaching this point. Their path wasn't blocked however.

Lieutenant Karlee Miller her guard up. They had made it this far without incident. But that was no reason to get comfortable. Her people were running with light armor, less protection but better mobility. If they ran into trouble she'd cut the DeeBees loose and fall back. Better the bots than any of hers.

'Control, Survey 14-Actual, We've reached the entrance to the Hollow. No signs of hostile activity at this time.' Miller said. Into her radio. She hoped the signal was getting though.
Their assigned controller responded. Their voice still fuzzy thanks to the surrounding rock. 'Survey 14-Actual , Can you confirm that last no signs at all. Not even Locust activity?'

Miller looked around once more. The tunnel was large enough they could have been marching eight abreast. Bar the occasional bolder and stalagmites the place was clear. There was nothing new here.

Not unless all those Serapede webs managed to spring up recently. They had entered a large chamber. There were strange rock formations all around. But no sign of Swarm, Locust or anybody.

'Control, Confirm that last. No signs of locust activity fr-' Miller started.
One of the civilians that had been mapping the tunnel. Fernandez she thought his name was. Had started waving and shouting, so much for sneaking in.
'14, Control, Your last cut off,' The crackling voice of the control officer queried in her ear.

Miller grimaced. They had enough comm issues without her breaking the rules. Fernandez was shouting about Loader tracks in the rock, 'Sorry Control, We found tracks. One of the civilians is looking at them. Seems to think they're from a Loader. Aren't we the first to come through here?'

There was a pause. Control was checking the logs no doubt.

'No other unit was marked for that area. Could be Surv-'

Their DeeBees snapped to ready position aiming into the dark. The human troops dove behind cover on reflex dragging the civilians with them. Whatever the DeeBees had seen in the dark lit them with spotlights blinding the team.

'Lights we got lights!' The Miller shouted into her radio, 'I-'

Before she could finish the lead Sheppard was stuck in the shoulder. The round sent the machine spinning even as other weapons opened up shredding it where it stood. A one sided battle had broke out. The Survey team was totally outgunned.

Back in the Command Center 14's Control officer Noel Morgan. was trying to raise the unit, '14, What lights? Report!'

The response was distorted. Gunfire roared in the background. Morgan kept trying to reach them.

A new voice not the Lieutenant came back, '...14...we...tak...g fir.. Emp.. ... FUC-' The signal cut off.

'14 Come in! 14 come in!' Morgan shouted. Hands flying over the station checking frequency and signal strength. Signaling for the duty officer who was already rushing over.
'Situation?' The duty officer asked, looking over the Morgan's station.
'Survey 14 arrived at the patrol area. Reported being illuminated and taking fire from weapon emplacements. Communication was cut off.'

'Keep trying to raise we-' The duty officer turned, beginning to order the nearest team to be sent to assist.
Morgan's hand shot up as a signal came in. It was awash with interference, 'Survey 14 say again. Last transmission was garbled.'
A new voice came back, 'This is Survey 14-2, Survey Actual is Tango-One we're pinned down. Control are you receiving!?'

Morgan looked at the display. Seeing another friendly icon moving towards the survey team's location, 'Copy 14-2, we've got a QRF moving now if you can fall back to RP Grey-5, How copy?'
'Copy Control, RP Grey-5 we-. What? The fuck do you mean? Wait one Control,' The acting commander broke his connection.

Outside the now active defenses the members of Survey 14 took shelter behind whatever they could find. Outcroppings, boulders and stalagmites. Off on one flank Sergeant Cory Marsh now commanding as 14-2. Was shouting with the DBi GEO team leader Alex Davis about what was attacking them.

'They're what?' Said Marsh.
'Auto turrets. Get your people to stop firing back and just lay low,' Davis said. Pressing himself against the wall.
'How can you be sure?'
'Those things are only shooting what's in the open look,' Davis pointed to the middle of the room.

A DR-1 Protector was charging forward. Rounds were poring into the machine from the pillboxes around the chamber. The DR-1's Overkill was useless at range.

Its AI must have opted to close distance or draw-fire from the other units. A short distance later it keeled over riddled with holes. The self-destruct had been disabled due to risk to the team.

Marsh turned back to Davis, 'You better be right about this.' He tapped his Tac-Com, 'All Survey 14 points. Cease fire and break line of sight. Repeat, Break LOS and hold fire.'

After asserting he was not crazy and getting the few too caught up shooting to stop. The human COG forces stopped firing and sheltered in place. After a few moments the amount of incoming fire slowed and then stopped as the last DeeBee in the open was destroyed. The now visible blue scan beams from the turrets continued to sweep the chamber.

Marsh looked over at the DBi tech, 'How do we deal with them?
'We don't. We get our people and move back. Only way past that wall of bullets is with the right codes. Unless you're packing clearance we're going to have to crawl out,' Davis said getting onto his stomach.
'Seriously?'
'Yep. Less whining, more shimmying unless you want to stay there.'

A couple of hours later the now recovered survey team gave their report whilst their wounds were treated. There had been no deaths from the skirmish. Though a number of injuries had occurred they could be stabilized by the medical team the worst should recover in a few weeks.

Meanwhile Emmerich had been working on a way to explain this situation to the First Minister. Rather than having a Hollow that was ether empty or hostile. They were now camping over an automated bunker.

One that had destroyed a unit of DeeBees and wounded their human charges. If it had been empty they could have gotten on with building. If there had been hostiles they could have withdrawn and called for backup. Instead they were stuck with a third option he'd not been planing on.

Standing inside a meeting room with a set of Command Bots was a strange way to wait. But the relay on the roof was still being synced to their designated satellite. That was their only connection with the rest of the COG.

One of the machines snapped to attention. The screen that took the place of its head flashing as a connection was made before it settled. Instead of the First minister however Emmerich was now looking at an older man with a bandana on.

'Baird. I'm connected, get on here and let Jinn know we have a connection this side,' The man grumbled.

Baird as in Damion Baird? CEO of DBi what could he want? And why did this man look so familiar?

The next bot connected and there was DBi's own Damion Baird looking around the small room, 'Yeah yeah I'm in too Jinn's just syncing she'll be on shortly.'

The third machine woke and the recognizable face of First Minister of the COG appeared on its "face", 'Ah Alec, good to see you. I hope you're well given the situation.'
'I have been... better First Minster,' Emmerich replied.
'That is putting it lightly,' The old man said.

'Sergeant Fenix. I've asked for your input from a military standpoint. That does not mean you have to bring your personal brand of dissatisfaction to this meeting,' Jinn hissed.

Fenix as in the war hero? Legend and all around demigod was the one reviewing the security situation!? Did that mean that Damion Baird was going to assess their ground work?

'Hey hey! Let's not fight in front of the kids now huh.' Baird said. His bot looking around.

Jinn and Marcus must have nodded their bots replicating the gesture.

'Now then to the matter at hand. From your report. Which we've only had for a short while. We understand an old defense installation has attacked you and your personnel. Have there been any further casualties?' Jinn said cutting straight to the point.
'Injuries only. Whilst some are bad they were mostly from people being hit by ricochets and fragments. We've suffered no fatalities' Emmerich said.
'Please let them know that our thoughts are with them.' Jinn said. Her bot nodding to match her intent.
'Thoughts aren't going to do much to get you past that defense line.' Fenix said.
'Sergeant.'
'If those defenses still work someone or something is fixing them. These people could be siting on a Swarm nest for all we know'. Before another spat could break out O'Connor broke in.

'Sergeant Fenix. I don't believe the base is occupied at this time.'
Fenix's bot turned to look at the O'Connor 'What makes you so sure? Colonel?'
'O'Connor. Sir.' It seemed O'Connor was willing to give more weight to Fenix's experience rather than his own rank. 'We're monitoring all communication frequencies. So far the base has emitted a weak beacon that seems to be an automated alert. I've also had a flight of our Watchers and a pack of Trackers sent in to recon the surface of what seems to be the base. Using the data they sent back before they were destroyed by other emplacements. We've confident that we found the entrances to the base.
'You're sure those are the only ones? No E-Holes'
'No emergence holes and the entrances were easy to locate once we noted the... commonality.'
'That being?'
'The entrances have false vegetation as camouflage. Since the rest of the trees in the area have lost their leaves the fakes stand out quite clearly. They're all equidistant to each other and form a ring around what we believe is the core of the installation.'
'Typical COG build a secret base and make the doors visible from the air. Well at least that means no one's creeping out to get behind you.'
'Yes but how will this affect the Settlement?' Jinn cut in. 'Other sites have run into issues as well. Conflicts between the departments and other such matters.'
Her bot turned to look at the site team. 'You seem to have resolved any disagreements now or are there any matters we should be aware of?'
The three members of the expedition looked at each other. Then back the First Minister's bot. 'There have been disagreements. But we seem to have them straightened out now, First Minister.' Emmerich said.
'So you say I look forward to your report.'
Jinn's "Face" looked away for a moment before looking back at them.
'My apologies, other matters have come up. For the moment keep doing as you have so far and I'm sure you will be ready on time.'
'We'll do all in our power Ma'am.'
'See that you do.' With that somewhat veiled threat made Jinn disconnected. Her bot moved back to its dock.

The remaining two bots looked at each other.
'Baird you good to finish up? Looks like Delta needs me to help clear out another Nest in the ruins.'
'Sure thing. You go on ahead, I'll sign on and run Control.'
With that exchange done Marcus disconnected. Whilst his bot docked Baird began to brief them on the supplies that were on the way to them.
'Bad news is the heavy stuff will all have to go by ship. If I could have fit it inside a Condor you would have the gear already but sadly it's slow and steady now.'
'We'll be happy to have the help.'
'True but you'll need to get someplace to get the stuff unloaded. My advice. Check out what other places might have been built over spec. That base didn't just pop up out of nowhere, they got the equipment and materials there to build it.'

As it turned out one of the ports was weathered rather than damaged. Like Baird had said it had been built beyond basic shipping. The foundations had been built stronger than a cargo terminal for a tourist destination should have needed. The cranes whilst rusty were in repairable condition. Ramos had her team get to work on building off it. As the water levels had receded in the decades after the last war they would need to adjust it for their needs.

The rest of their smaller equipment and supplies continued to arrive by Condor. O'Connor and Ramos agreed that due to the lack of immediate danger. The DBI team should get working as best they could. The ruins of the nearby towns were torn down. The material was used for the construction of a temporary habitation area. For arriving citizens until a proper Settlement could be set up.

Looking over the housing area updates a week later Emmerich could almost feel confident in their preparations. Housing units had almost been set up for all their expected settlers. Basic amenities were ready and undergoing tests for any faults. All and all from a civil standpoint they should be fine. Which meant he now needed to look over the military matters for the day.

After another half hour of mind-numbing paperwork both physical and digital. About force multiplication and a other phrases that seemed to make little sense. Emmerich decided to hit the intercom on his desk and asked for one of the Onyx to come and translate the mess of words before him. In more polite terms of course.

Hudson appeared in the doorway and much to his regret Emmerich could tell he was grinning under his helmet.
'So what's the problem, oh master of sidearms?' Hudson asked. As he walked over.
'I won't mention that remark to Myers if you help me with this.' Emmerich said. Gesturing to the documents on his desk. 'Do you have any idea what any of this is about?'
'I can't say I know what it means before reading but I'll give it a shot.' Hudson said. Picking up some of the documents then looked over to Emmerich. 'You might want to grab a drink and give your eyes a rest whilst I get a handle on this.'

After a short drink of tea and letting Hudson digest the documents he waved Emmerich back over.
'Ok. I think I know what the problem is.' Hudson said, laying down a smaller pile of papers.
'Problem? I thought these reports were meant to keep me apprised of any matters that require my attention?'
'Yes and no.' Hudson made a gesture of weighing up the two terms with his hands.
Emmerich pinched his nose as he responded. 'Hudson. If you're trying to make this worse you've succeeded now make some sense. Please.'
'Ok here's the basic version. You're the head of this expedition right?'
'Yes unless someone else is taking over. Want the job?'
'I'd rather fight a Swarmak sir.'
'A what?'
'Don't worry about it. Figure of speech. Anyway since you're in charge of O'Connor. Ge has to get your sign off… on pretty much everything bigger than the day to day stuff.'
'What? Why?'
'You're his superior. Technically speaking he needs your permission to do tons of stuff. Normally he'd be the one in charge and be given independence to act within a remit but. You outrank him due to how the command structure has been arranged.'
'So what's he asking permission for?'
'He wants to build a set of FOB's, fortify the land bridge and build perimeter wall around the Camp.'
'First what's a FOB and how big is a wall?'
'A base for his troops and... Big.'
'And he needs my permission for this because?'
'He's going to need you to order Ramos to give him materials and support for the construction of this stuff.'
Emmerich froze for a moment then placed his cup back on the table. 'Are those requests marked for Ramos as well?'
Hudson paged through the documents inspecting some dismissing others. 'Looks like it's only the stuff he needs her for but... Why?'
'Those came though a little over an hour ago… Ramos is out doing a review on the harbor and it's about an hou-'

The sound of a truck blasting its horn reached them cutting Emmerich off. Before the echos had faded they could hear the roar of a engine pushed to its limit. The sound mixed then died with screeching wheels outside the office building. A truck door was slammed hard enough the hinges would need inspection.
Emmerich began counting down. At two there was shouting outside in the corridor. At one the door flew open. Ramos stormed in.
'Governor, we need to talk!'

O'Connor examined the outline before him on the Holo-table. It was a good estimate of what could be made using the materials that were accessible at the moment. The FOB's would house the troops with space for all their vehicles and other equipment. A secure and protected series of buildings with good angles. The camp would be enclosed within the perimeter wall. Emplacements would be setup to maximize their fields of fire. It was a key part o-

His desk intercom brought him out of his thoughts. The voice of his aid followed the tone.
'Sir! Governor Emmerich is here to see you. He says it's urgent.'
The Governor was here already?
O'Connor moved to his desk and pressed to respond. 'Did he say what he needed to see me about?'
'No sir he-. No you can't just. I'm sorry sir, they got past me.'
The door to the office burst open and two Onyx Guards swept the room. After confirming no further resistance they stood aside as Emmerich and Ramos entered.
'Governor, Chief Engineer Ramos. I take it you're here regarding my requests?' O'Connor said.
Ramos looked about ready to slug him and from the look on Emmerich's face he was about to give her his blessing to do it.
'You have some explaining to do, Colonel.' Emmerich said.
'Please take a seat and I'll explain those requests.' O'Connor gestured to a set of seats.
'How do you expe-' Remos started.
'Ramos.' Emmerich cautioned.
'You can't be-'
'Hear him out before you pass judgement. Once he's given his reasons we can make a decision on how to proceed.'
'Fine.'

With the Onyx dismissed out of the room O'Connor returned to the display as the others took the two chairs next to the table.
'As you know our last major engagement at a Settlement went to hell in a hand basket fast.'
'That's one way to say overrun in under half a day.' Ramos cut in with venom.
'Chief Ramos!' Emmerich snapped.
'What?' Ramos looked from O'Connor to Emmerich.
The glare from Emmerich was enough to make her blood run cold. Why was he so defensive all of a sudden?
O'Connor coughed loudly into his hand. 'Governor I understand you were a based in Settlement 2 during the evacuation? Does that assessment match up with your memory of events?'
Ramos leaned back into her seat. She'd known that the Governor had been at one of the other Settlements before getting assigned out here. But not Settlement 2 no wonder he was angry she'd just insulted the defense of his home.
Breaking off from his glare at Ramos, Emmerich looked back to the table display. After a moment or so of calming himself he nodded to O'Connor.
'Those would both be good assessments and... I apologize for my behavior. The events of that day were difficult in the extreme.'
'I've read the reports of what happened and to be blunt if anything like that happens here we're dead. Settlement 2 had a full infantry brigade garrisoned there. Along with all the DeeBees they could arm and get set.'
'Police also took part in the defense.' Emmerich added.
'So what would that be, 800 uniforms or so?'
'875 uniformed officers and other staff that were called up during the evacuation.'
O'Connor nodded silently for a moment of thought. Ramos felt a little sick. That number didn't seem like a guess off the top of the Governor's head. How many of those people had he known?
'So that's around 3500 bodies and assorted DeeBees that might have been activated. They were reinforced by the 4th Division. So add another 10,000 to that mix and we're getting close to 15,000 defenders. With a small window of forewarning and some prep time since they knew the Burial site was active.'

O'Connor sighed as he sat back into his chair. 'I've got 3200 in my command counting bots at the moment. Then there's some support elements to back them up with a few rear echelon personnel if its desperate but. 15,000 held on long enough for an evacuation. Even with the first wave of the reinforcements arriving within the hour of the call for backup. As it stands we only get long range comms every time a satellite passes over. Nearest reinforcement is over six hours away. If the Swarm can hit us here like they did at Settlement 2 then all we can do is go out fighting at the moment.'
'I take it you have some ideas for what could help us avoid that outcome. Or were these requests for your entertainment?' Emmerich said.
O'Connor nodded before continuing. 'Those requests are what should keep us in the fight. I want to fortify what we can.'
He taped the display highlighting the land bridge.
'There is one way onto this peninsula. If we hold it they have no way to move in from the ground. Way I see it a good line of fortification across that will hold them off for a while. But better plan for the worst.'

The beaches were highlighted now.
'This place has way too many places for anything that can swim to reach us.'
'The Swarm can swim?' Emmerich said.
'What do they get a body board?' Ramos added with a smirk.
O'Connor shrugged. 'During the last war the Locust pulled all kinds of monsters out of the deep hollow. Quite a few were aquatic. I figure the Swarm will try something. They might be monsters but they're cunning as well remember. Walking into our kill-zone will just be a diversion.'
'So how do we stop them from having the run of the place?' Emmerich said. Looking at the Holo-table.
'Easy we don't'
Ramos and Emmerich looked shocked.

'I'm not crazy we don't have enough to cover a third of those beaches. I'm putting teams on the high ground and we'll have to pick them off as they come up off the beach at choke points. Only issue is if they can get enough on the peninsula we'll have to retreat. That means pulling back to the Camp. There's just no where else to try and hold them. We'd just be leaving Gears out there to die. My people can do a lot of the fieldwork themselves. But I want to build a barrier around the Camp perimeter. We make a decent outer wall and keep the pressure on any attacker we should be able to hold out. But we have a problem there. '
'That being? seemed like you had it all planned out up to then.' Ramos said.
'My forces just aren't set up for this kind of action. Don't look surprised until half a year ago the most my Gears would do was open days at bases. The worst we expected would be to help restore order during unrest. So we've been trained on a lot of equipment that we've not been issued with. I've tried to order more to come in with our supply runs but we just don't have the stock anywhere.'
'When you say equipment what do you mean? Minotaurs or weapons?' Emmerich said.
'Minotaurs we have enough of. We're a motorized Brigade with an air mobile wing. That means more trucks than birds. What we really need are the weapons to go with them.'
'Your vehicles aren't armed?'
'Peace time manufacturing. Why add a gun that was never going to be used? Good news is they have the space set aside. We just need to get the mounts and guns to go onto them.'
'That explains the time you wanted to book the Fabricators for.' Remos sighed. ' But a heavy weapon like you're asking for will be complex. Even if we fab them in parts over more than one Fabricator then assemble the whole thing afterwards.'
'I know but we need that firepower. I know the UIR will be bringing some ASPs so we'll have some air cover.'
Emmerich leaned closer with a look of interest on his face. 'ASPs?'
'Their Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun's or SPAAG for short. Big set of auto cannons and missiles on an armored half track. They've had issues with Flocks. Since their citizens are coming here their forces have a few coming with them.'
'That's some good news, at least we don't need to make AA guns along with all this other stuff.' Ramos said. Gesturing to the list in her hand. 'It's a shame we can't just get the bunker on our side.'

There was a moment's silence as the idea dawned on them all.
'Why... can't we?' Emmerich asked.
'We would need the codes for the base. During our last check in we asked New Ephyra to try and track them down.' Remos said. Waving her hand dismissively.
'How long would that take?'
'Could be done by next check in. Could be longer. Depends on how important this place was. The old COG had a number of bases. Problem is most of the records have been lost so we don't know where things are or how to access them. Hell, we didn't even know the bunker was here to start with.'
'So we're back to square one.' Emmerich sighed and pinched his nose.
'It's a shame we can't just get someone to let us in like normal.' Ramos said.
'How do you mean?'
'Normally with the defenses working like this some Stranded or Outsiders have moved in. They keep the stuff fixed so they can feel safer. The smaller defenses are standardized so they could have a storehouse of parts for those. Even a bot could change them out.' Ramos froze for a moment. 'Wait a second.'

Emmerich and O'Connor looked at Ramos as she sat for a moment with a look of concentration on her face.
After a second se bolted out of her seat. 'JACKs! This place has JACKs fixing it that's why the stuff still works.'
'JACK as in the old robots the DeeBees are based off?'
'Yes! This place was abandoned during the Pendulum wars. When JACKs were still common. The defenses would be serviced by them if no other staff were available. I need to call DBi at the next comm window.'
'How is DBi going to help us?' O'Connor said.
'We're going to get those little guys to open the door and roll out the carpet for us.'
'Again. How are we going to do that?'
'Update them of course.'