Re-5, Acting Sitesman

They made for one of the lifts beside one of the intersecting pathways leading down to the bottom floor. He looked over at the scene below as they were about to step on a passing one. Specks of movement from the far end of the complex were emerging from the unhinged maw of the Nyx Breaker. Its crew, disembarking for the first time in days.

This far from them, he couldn't make any judgments on their well-being; he didn't particularly care for them, either, as Pa-5 consumed his thoughts. He turned to Ni-6, waiting by the empty lift. "I'm relieving you of your duties under me for now. Please look after Pa-5 and keep yourself appraised of her situation. Should you meet the sitesman, tell him I want to see him for debriefing." He paused, then added, "I'll make some time to visit…some time."

After a salute, Ni-6 abandoned his near-constant spot at the Prime Beacon's shoulder and made his way off the pathway, beginning the long decline to reach the complex's ground floor. He winced, watching as Ni-6's head dipped out of view. Getting down would take some time. If the Fifth was so dead set on implementing its proposals to create the railskipper network, couldn't it have at least created something of similar function for indoor settings like this too? He stepped onto the lift and was carried up.

When the roof of the complex drew close enough that he could touch it if he jumped--not that he would, he stepped onto the navigation pathways. Up this high, they were little more than catwalks with supportive rails. As he walked, he looked over the edge to observe the back of the Nyx Breaker. Though most of the visible damages it sustained would be present around its sides and front, the top had a surprising tear running from three compartments down from the head and stopping somewhere he, with vague estimation, deemed as the midsection.

The rend in the scutumsteel plating was wide enough to affect the emplacements installed there, too. The cylinder launchers around it were misshapen, crushed, or plain missing, wrenched free from their sockets. Various puncture marks ran along the length of the large gash, creating a scaled look that he took a liking to, even as he lamented at the cost of the missing scutumsteel needing replacement.

Further along, his catwalk brought him above the head. Both the eyes shined bright, enough that he had to veil his eyes for fear of contracting a bout of temporary blindness; one of them had suffered a fracture, glaring its light in a way that created a prismed rainbow. He halted long enough to appreciate the contrast of colors in the air, before remembering he was here with a purpose.

And he would find it a few steps further, where a boxy observation booth hung from the ceiling in the center of the complex. Throwing one last look over the side, and no longer able to discern anything of note, he entered. The heavy noise from the main hanger became muted, and he faced the temptation to remove his headgear, derived from how it squeezed the sides of his head.

"Welcome. You came quick." The words, though chosen with respect, were dipped in a corrosive, dripping drawl. He stepped around an exiting tech and made his way to the side of the space with more light. There, a lone man stood on a glass floor, looking down at the mess of a Titan returned to his care with arms tight behind his back. "Here to assess the damage?"

"That, and what they learned."

"You'd have to ask the sitesman, then. I only know what my engineers and techs are gleaning as we speak." His head tilted and his eyes turned fuzzy for a moment. "One of them informed me that the command compartment avoided a breach by a hair's margin."

"What caused the gash on its back? Was it subjected to environmental hazards?"

"A tunnel collapse? I've told you this: I'm hardly the person to answer these sorts of--oh, the person who you should ask has arrived." In-3 gestured at his back while turning back to the view below. Withholding the urge to retort at the dismissive action, he turned and caught sight of a woman wearing an officer's band with cybernetic implants jutting out the side of her head. "Ask her, if you don't mind."

He would, though he did mind. Crossing the observation box, he stopped before her before she had a chance to look around. "Are you the Nyx Breaker's sitesman?"

"Re-5, sir." She entered into a smart pose, all traces of fatigue gone before he could notice most of them. "Officer, aide, and acting sitesman replacing sitesman Ze-4."

"Why have you replaced Ze-4?"

"Ze-4 removed a blue Aud from the Nyx Breaker's interior, at great cost to his health. Before he lost consciousness, he made me the acting sitesman." She tilted her head, quizzical. She reminded him of Ni-6. He didn't miss the way her gaze flicked between his bicep band and his eyes. "Your aide asked for me to see you, sir?"

"I see. Yes." He nodded, crossing his arms. "I was planning to ask for a debrief. Though on second thought, you'd enjoy freshening up first and resting. Dismissed, though I want you presenting at my office in…say, ten hours."

"Thank you, sir." She bowed and exited; he could see from her movements she was eager to put the experience behind her. He returned to In-3's side, deep in thought. Though he hadn't asked her what caused the Nyx Breaker's largest tear, and the largest tear in a Titan's armor he'd ever seen, he could guess what it was. Not even a blue Aud would've been capable enough of performing such a fearsome attack.

It had to be a purple Aud. He was eager to hear of the Nyx Breaker's emergency investigatory survey results, though he had to remind himself to push down the impulse to chase down the acting sitesman. She deserved her rest, and the techs and engineers crawling over and inside the Titan would find plenty enough from its automated programs and assistive autonomous intelligences to keep him occupied until she was ready.