"Ken," Blade replied, although the connection was abysmal due to the interference from the metres of rock between them, and the increased magnetic interference in the area. "Open fire at your discretion. Try and get 'em to stop if possible - but don't hesitate to fire if you're in danger, or they ain't co-operatin'".
The channel dissolved into squealing static before shutting off, and he grimaced; the Badlands characteristic interference had been bad in the area to begin with. Under this much rock, it wasn't surprising how much worse it was. 
"Press on," he advised the others, squaring up on Christa's side. He'd swapped over to laser-comm and touch-comm as the interference was ruining regular comms. "Chris, keep moving to the right. Reeza, follow up with me. I'll back up your CQC. Adrian, keep our rears covered!"
The mapping data from Christa's GEAR - corrupted and incomplete over the satellite link, due to the interference - came through. It was enough to go on, and gave them a better idea of the mines' layout. Most of the tunnels were collapsed; one of the large aquifers beneath the Badlands had been struck, and flooded half the mine, and collapsed other tunnels. Only a few survived. The large cavern they had initially entered was the main chamber, with a second somewhat smaller one beyond. Tunnels radiated out from both, though only two survived intact. One was the one Esailia and Mike had taken, and were pressing down. It looped around in a U-shape, leading back into the second cavern, with the second tunnel on the opposite side, and forming a mirror shape - loosely, at least. All the tunnels were, naturally, big enough for GEARs, as they'd been used to excavate the tunnels in the first place. 

In the tunnels, the infantry squad and Nawlins' accompanying GEAR were drawn up to an abrupt stop as a barricade across the tunnel opened fire, the men and women beyond the rag-tag collection of mining equipment, crates and whatever else employing medium machine-guns and an automatic grenade launcher to pin the group into place. Shouted voices rose in pitch, yelling for non-existent reinforcements, and arguing on whether to evacuate or not. One firm voice mentioned to fall back to the second line. Rifle fire crackled in response, adding to the torrent of firepower directed their way.

In the main cavern, Blade pressed onward, shooting up one of the modified GEARs, which toppled sideways into a heap under the volley of 20mm shells. The remaining five hostile GEARs, minus those taken down by Blade and Christa, spread out as much as they could. It was possible to make out a further, slightly lower-ceilinged cavern beyond an arched tunnel to the rear, where the GEARs had emerged from. 
A catwalk around the mid-level of the cavern was littered with equipment and boxes, and from there, a handful of Arvarans dressed in rag-tag combat gear fired gamely down at the Roughriders GEARs. Employing assault rifles, they could do little damage to the machines - but no doubt some of them had heavier weapons, or had them on the way. The fear was confirmed as Silverwinds' GEAR resounded to a CLANG of a hit, and status boards flashed red, sensor feeds flickering and greying out from one sector of the external view - [i]Grenade launcher,[/i] he thought with a grimace, before angling the [i]Harlock's[/i] head upward, and strafing a section of the catwalk with minigun fire from the machines' head-mounted guns. 
Unfortunately, the momentary distraction cost further, as a burst of heavy machine-gun fire from the cavern floor slammed into the machines' leg, breaching the armour and cutting a control line, freezing the limb into place. 
"Dammit," he muttered. "An' that's only the infantry". 
The GEARs around them grew more daring, despite their hodge-podge armour, and opened fire on the group with their patchwork weapons. Autocannon fire lashed out at the group of LDF machines, reaching out to hit them as hard as possible.