The Union likely had these tunnels flushed out and ready for use if they wanted to take the planet. He used a feature on his heads up display to scan the map. But as his helmet attempted to do so there was fritzing.
Jace cursed under his breath and smacked the side of his helmet causing Shepard to jump in surprise. He then relaxed while Jace's armor's systems began operating again and successfully scanned the map. He now had a digital map in his armor.
"I am surprised your armor is malfunctioning. With how high grade it is that seems like a flaw in the design that should not have let it get off the rack." Shepard pointed out, he was clearly using the opportunity to fish for information. Although he might not have been doing it on purpose and it was just a habit.
Rack was the slag term for the research and development laboratories that the military typically used. From what he understood the Vexical Military's research and development used to have a bad habit of releasing designs and creations before they were completely flushed out. It was part of the reason that Fenrir got an organization that controlled both spies and military advancements.
"Actually I would be more surprised if it was not malfunctioning. With how much force I slammed into the ground I am surprised it is not malfunctioning some more." Jace pointed out as he built a program from scratch using the map and the ping. He was also using a layout of part of the city from above that he had snatched from that patrol. That combined with the live troop movements that the Montez thought was secure gave an interesting layout as their information only covered a small portion of the large underground map he now had that spanned most of the planet.
"How far did you fall?"
"We were on a ship in orbit when we got separated from my squad. So I was on that first ship that fell from space." Jace informed Shepard unsurprised when he heard one of the Union soldiers that started following them around suck in their breath.
"A fall like that would kill normal humans." Shepard sighed and shook his head, "what do you need to repair your armor?"
"Hopefully what I need is in the gear drop." He then pointed in the direction of a specific tunnel. "I am heading in that direction."
"The religious nut jobs and the republic are in that direction." Shepard nodded his head. "I will head with you and take a few soldiers but none of us will be armed." Shepard pointed out the Union's lack of armaments again.
"We can start stealing weapons." Jace tossed the laser assault rifle he had to Shepard who caught it. "The weapons in the drop pod are going to be limited to nanohumans. But I assume you already figured that out."
Shepard nodded his head, "yeah, if it's something designed for Spectres then only something stronger than humans can use them. How strong are those weapons though? What kind of damage to enemies should we be expecting?"
"Some should be enough to take down cruiser class mechs." Jace answered, there was once again a sucking in of air from the Union soldiers. "I doubt anything bigger than that will land on the planet."
Jace then stepped away looking at the tunnel they would be traveling down. Unlike the others the rails were damaged so it was unlikely they could use one of those modified trains. He began walking in the direction as he adjusted the program.
He could hear Shepard begin giving orders, getting the assistance of only three of the soldiers since there were more soldiers in the underground area in the direction they were heading. Then he began leaving orders to do a few more searches before abandoning this base and taking the civilians to the place with the space vessels.
Jace stood at the entrance to the tunnel and listened closely. Anything he might be able to hear by echoes were drowned out by the vibrations from above ground. Too many explosions and heavy machinery were moving above ground. Fortunately the roof layer was thick enough. He was surprised that the vast underground was not exposed by falling debris. But then again they walked for a few minutes through solid ground before they arrived at the underground area. So it was probably thick enough to outlast an orbital strike.
"We are ready." Shepard announced from behind him. Jace spun around and looked over the three people they were taking with them. Two of them were the police officers he had helped rescue. The third was the Siren-hybrid Union soldier.
"Okay." Jace nodded his head and began moving down the tunnel. "I need your communication encryption channels. I already have the militaries and the police channels would be a moot point. They are already watching those channels. But the Union has managed to evade detection as far as I can tell."
"You managed to find all of the various channels? How did you manage that? I thought your armor was malfunctioning." Shepard asked as they followed Jace down the tunnel. The tunnel was dark so Jace tried to activate his night vision, but it did not work.
Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance, "I hope you have flashlights." Just as Jace spoke, several lights lit up the tunnel. One coming from each of them. Jace nodded, "my armor is malfunctioning but communication and a snooping program I have silently running are still working. In fact, I am currently running an additional map program that is using the Montez Kingdom Channels to watch their movements."
"How is that possible? Did you have it set up ahead of time? There was no time to stop anywhere for you to program." The still unnamed Siren hybrid pointed out.
"He did it with his heads up display. But I heard that technology was still in the development phase." One of the police officers offered up. He was clearly someone that was following the propaganda and news closely.
"It was in the field testing phase several weeks ago. As it is the new Shock Trooper Armor and all other Armors will have my new heads up display program. Although, most will not be able to make full use of it." Jace informed them. Then the police officer began asking more questions about programming.