Brent readies his weapon.  "Are they human sized?"

"Yes, but the're putting off too much heat."

Brent nods.  "Joxe, are there any creatures native to the planet that fit this description?  Gareth, could they be artificial?"

"The only things native here are microorganisms and some moss," Joxe replies.

Brent nodded.  "Let's hold for a moment and see if they move up on us."

"Contact!" Malcolm calls out a moment later from the opposite side of the building. "One heat signature, hot and fast moving."

"I think we can get into the building from here," Veronica calls from where she is examining the hole in the security building. "It looks like office space in there."

Brent looked about and waved.  "Go!  Let's get cover."  He rose and hustled toward the building behind his leaders.

Veronica crawls through the hole and disappears inside. "What a mess," she breathes though the comm. "It's solid enough, I think, but the place is trashed. Looks like it may have burned for a little while."

A flash of light erupts to Brent's left. "They're shooting at us!" Joxe calls out, running up next to the wall.

Malcolm fires off a three-round burst from his ACR. "It's a robot, Brent," he reports. "Damn thing is fast, but it's shots were wide. Thankfully."

Gareth follows Veronica into the hole and attempts to stay low. He isn't willing to expose himself and open fire until there is a clear shot.

Brent ducked for cover.  "Watch out to our flank and rear.  One of them kept moving off to the side."

Gareth sees that the building interior is a shambles - the energy blast set a fire, which, judging from the half-consumed furniture, the fire suppression system extinguished. Ahead of him, Veronica peeks into a hallway though an open door. "Clear!"

"If they catch us out here, we're dead," Malcolm says. "Let's get inside."

"I agree," Joxe says from her position opposite Malcolm and to Brent's right. "I haven't seen them, but the only armed bots I know about are security drones. They shouldn't be running loose, but who knows what someone might have done."

Brent headed inside behind the others and immediately set to watching their surroundings.

A minute later, everyone is inside the building, with Veronica, Gareth, Brent, Joxe, and Malcolm in single file.

The interior is a shambles of partially burned furnishings, punctuated by the meter-wide hole at about waist height. Since there is no daylight from it, the energy bolt presumably dissipated before reaching the street on the other side.

Aside from the hole, the building's interior only suffered superficial damage from the fire. The walls and doors appear intact, and there is no evidence of structural damage.

Veronica steps through the doorway and turns left, while Malcolm joins her and turns right. They move away from each other a few steps, and check around their respective corners. "Clear," they each report.

Aboard Wanderer, Naimh follows each of the team's helmet cams as they move through the dome.

"Do we just hide?" Joxe asks Brent. She turns to look at their entry point. "I doubt that the bots can get through that hole."

Brent considered their situation for just a moment and shook his head.  "No, hiding here will serve no purpose.  We need to find out who shot at the ship and no at us here and put an end to it.  From the looks of the planet and the robots we just saw I'd say we're facing automated defenses of some sort.  With out access codes we may have to shut it down the hard way."

He nodded to Veronica and Malcom.  "Let's head toward the end of the building in the direction we want to go.  We need to stay alert now that we face these robots.  Everyone keep their weapons ready."

"Got it," Veronica replies.

"I think this is the main corridor," Malcolm reports from his position. "Veronica, your side looks like a smaller area with offices."

"Agreed." The petty officer moves to Malcolm's position. "Let's check your side out. Gareth, can you and Brent back us up, and Joxe, you watch the rear?"

"I like the rear I'm seeing just fine," Joxe laughs.

"Down, girl," Veronica smirks audibly. "Work first, and then play."

It takes a minute to get everyone arranged. "We're ready, Brent," Malcolm reports.

Brent laughs and winks at Joxe.  When Malcom reports he gets serious.  "Ok, let's move out.  These things are fast so be careful."

At Brent's command, Veronica moves down the hallway, with Malcolm covering her. She ducks into a doorway, and Malcolm moves off in turn.

Joxe stays behind Brent, covering his back.

Seeing the others moving forward Brent glances back at Joxe and then advances himself.

Gareth joins Brent and Joxe bringing up the rear. He keeps his weapon drawn and tries to check behind them periodically.

The group makes their way down the hallway, passing several closed doorways as they go along, and soon find an intersection leading left and right. Veronica sets up to cover the left corner, and Malcolm takes the right corner. They report "clear" - and then the pair roll backwards as a fusillade of laser bursts come from both sides of the intersection at once!

"AH! SHIT!" Veronica yells as she rolls up onto her knees. Her rifle sags in her right hand, and she switches hands and cradles the weapon in the crook of her right elbow.

Brent goes over to Veronica and checks her for wounds.  "Are you ok?"

As Brent looks toward Veronica, he sees a heat source moving rapidly up the left side hallway toward them.

"They're coming!" Joxe calls out.

"Brace yourselves!" Brent calls out as he opens fire at the target with everything he can bear.

Appearing at the same time from each side of the hallway, two one-and-a-half-meter tall cylindrical robots glide into the intersection on what appear to be grav lifters.

Brent, Malcolm, Veronica, and Joxe all open up on the robot closest to them, while the robots fire their pairs of laser weapons back. The scene is eerily silent in the planet's thin atmosphere, and everyone's vision is filled with muzzle flashes and laser bursts.

Brent is rocked backwards by a heavy impact in his chest, and Joxe yells something unintelligible over the comm...

Brent struggles to keep his weapon trained on the nearest robot.  "Hold them off!" he calls out.