[TERRAIN FEATURES IDENTIFIED, 2 ORB"S PRIORITY ALPHA LOCATED. READY FOR DROP.]"Take them."
[ICI AFFIRMS, SCRAMBLING FIRETEAMS.]
"You handle it from here, I"ll clean up this"
[ICI CONFIRMS COMMAND HANDOVER, DE ORBITING FIRETEAMS, RENDERING TAC-MAP FOR OPERATIONS.... COMPLETE. MOBILIZING STRIKE TEAM ALPHA.]
In low orbit above elven territory something suddenly came alive. At first it was a few movements to confirm the systems operations, but after that multiple att.i.tude control thrusters lit up all at once and illuminated the craft as it oriented itself for a hard deorbit burn with no considerations for G limits. After the burn was completed the exterior light weight truss of the craft containing the maneuvering thrusters was shed, leaving only a extremely robust looking heat s.h.i.+eld that completely covered its contents. After a harsh reentry the toasted heat s.h.i.+elding was also discarded as 3 drogue parachutes helped slow and guide the vehicle to its target in the forest below. The tracked vehicle was 6 and a half meters long and 3 meters wide with a turret containing a large railgun that was located to the rear of the vehicle. Landing in a huge clearing with the help of additional maneuver control thrusters the vehicle"s advanced turbine engine roared as it came to live while ports on the sides opened as 6 Rex-Delta Reapers emerged climbing out of their mechanical wombs with wires and cables disconnecting from the drones.
[TOY BOX 1 TOUCHDOWN COMPLETE, STRIKE TEAM ALPHA MOBILIZED. MOVING TO OBJECTIVE, INFORMING CHAIN OF COMMAND.]
REX AEHWP Toy box, All Environment Heavy Weapons Platform
The Rex all environment heavy weapons platform is a unification of multiple obserlite platforms into a single neat package that can follow landing marines from outer s.p.a.ce all the way to the surface of a hostile planet. Made to be a flexible solution for firesupport, transport, extraction and frontline a.s.sault, the Rex toy box is every marine"s dream, hence the nickname. Equipped with an outer frame that contains...o...b..tal maneuver thrusters that is shed during atmospheric incursion, the entire craft is neatly packed inside a solid multi faced heat s.h.i.+eld that allows the craft to several hits from hostile planetary defenses doing reentry without failing. The final vehicle itself can be tailor made and is highly modular, but the most popular design is the 125th spec ops standard, with features such as a dronebay containing anything up to 6 REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reapers and a upscaled Guardian R04 Special cla.s.s anti material railgun, named R07, with a octillery low G maneuvering kit that allows the vehicle to "jump" distances in low gravity.
Just as the last drone emerged from the toy box a steel arrow whizzed past its head, prompting it to raise its Rex Alpha rifle as it informed command about its present situation.
[STRIKE TEAM ALPHA TAKING FIRE, USE DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED.]
With ICI acting as command permission was quickly given and all 6 drones with their Rex rifles and the toy box with its coaxially mounted Rex-0999 machine gun all opened fire, even as none saw their target. After a 5 second burst they stopped firing into the open field ahead of them but still didn"t move as they had no confirmation that the target had been dealt with.
[STRIKE TEAM ALPHA REQUESTING AXILLARY RECON TO CONFIRM ELIMINATION OF HOSTILES, STANDBY... REQUEST GRANTED, CONTACTING SPY SATELLITES IN ORBIT…]
Reaching out up the chain of command the toy box"s...o...b..ard ICI unit a.s.sessed something was wrong with its own and the Reaper drones sensors, as it only saw a open and empty field with lots of tree stumps, but when 5 more orbital satellites saw the exact same thing and it still took arrows and spells, it calculated that something else was wrong.
[ERROR, OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, ALERTING CHAIN OF COMMAND….]
Intelligence had indicated the the orb should be about 500 meters in front of it, along with a research base, but no such thing was found.
[SWITCHING TO THERMAL SENSOR… ERROR, OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND…. STARTING SELF REPAIR DIAGNOSTIC.]
Not able to compute what was wrong, the toy box and the drones under its command temporarily disengaged as they started backing off while releasing suppressing fire, but after about 20 seconds one of the drones was struck with a giant ice crystal and was instantly destroyed.
[ESCALATION OF FORCE CONFIRMED, INCREASING TREAT RESPONSE LEVEL.]
When operating completely autonomously artificial intelligence is affected by a complex set of rules that are unified under the AI rules of engagement. When not in a official wartime scenario engaging known enemy forces a treat and combat effectiveness score is a.s.signed to every engagement that allows the AI to accurately those the right weapons to engage unknown hostile forces. When one of the Reaper drones got taken out combat effectiveness went all the way down to zero while treat level of the hostile forces went to 100, making the ICI unit consider all options to locate and neutralize the hostile forces.
[EXPANDING THERMAL RANGE ON PRIMARY SENSOR… ERROR,OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND.
EXPANDING THERMAL RANGE ON SECONDARY SENSOR… OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND.
THERMAL SENSORS: NON OPERATIONAL.
EXPANDING SEARCH FOR HOSTILE FORCES, ALLOCATING ALL PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SENSORS:
EM RADIATION: NO TARGET, OBJECTIVE LOCATED.
ULTRAVIOLET: NO TARGET, NO OBJECTIVE LOCATED.
ACOUSTIC SENSOR: NO COMPARABLE SOUND SAMPLES, NO TARGET.
LIDAR: ERROR, IMAGE INCONCLUSIVE.
RANGING LASER, RANGE TO OPPOSING FORREST: 221.2332 METERS.
ERROR: LIDAR, VISUAL AND RANGING LASER DATA INCONCLUSIVE, ANOMALY LOCATED.
CREATING COMPOUND TARGET ACQUISITION TECHNIQUE….
COMPLETE.
LIDAR SET TO OPERATION MODE 4. UPPING RESOLUTION TO 512K TIMES 2012K.
CHANGING RANGING LASER FRENZY SPECTRUM… COMPLETE, TARGET ACQUIRED.
]
In just over 2 seconds the onboard ICI unit ran through all options available to it, and finally found a target to shoot at. An anomaly in the lidar data revealed that some kind of spell was almost perfectly warping light around a large area in the middle of the artificial clearing, and that something just became a target.
[TARGET ACQUIRED: R07 LOAD ANTI PERSONNEL FRAG.]
Having received an order a mechanical arm inside the AEHWP"s main magazine took out a anti personnel fragmentation round out of the ammunition rack before setting a dial on the round and loading it into the R07.
[PRIMARY FUSE SET, RANGE TO ESTIMATED TARGET: 220 METERS.
FUSE DETONATION: 190 METERS.
MODE: AIRBURST.
FIRE AT WILL.]
With its miniaturized fusion generator the toy box instantly charged its rail cannon that fired before anyone could react. Traveling 190 meters before the soundwave even cleared the R07"s barrel, it detonated in mid air and spread out approximately 2000 small metal b.a.l.l.s in a cone like a shotgun blast that sheared all organic and softly armored targets in their way.
[SPLASH. EFFECT ON TARGET UNKNOWN, SWITCHING TO REACTIONARY FIRE, ENCIRCLING ESTIMATED OBJECTIVE.]
Not being able to smell the dense smell of blood and minced organs the toy box couldn"t calculate the frag round"s effect on target and decided to send the 5 remaining Reaper drones to secure the area around the clearing so nothing could slip away without notice. With the area calming down after that (Except for all the screaming that the ICI unit misidentified as animal noises) the toy box was about to call hostiles neutralized when a large ice crystal suddenly emerged seemingly out of nowhere and flew towards the toy box.
[REACTIONARY FIRE MODE ACTIVE: SNAPPING TO TARGET, BARING 332, 1.
PRIMARY FUSE SET, RANGE TO ESTIMATED TARGET: 223 METERS.
FUSE DETONATION: 195 METERS.
MODE: AIRBURST.
FIRE AT WILL.]
Responding in kind the toy box send another frag round directly down the bearing from where the ice crystal had emerged from and peppered the area with metal b.a.l.l.s. At the same time 2 elves emerged from the optical camouflage at the exact opposite side from the toy box and quickly dashed towards the nearby forest with panic in their eyes. They didn"t make it more than 2 meters however as the waiting Reaper drones instantly turned their heads to red mist with precise gunshots that seemed to completely ignore concealment as they pierced multiple trees before finding their targets, making the entire artificial clearing fall silent.
[CONTACT STATUS UNKNOWN, RELAYING TARGET ACQUISITION a.s.sISTANCE REQUESTS TO COMMAND… REQUESTS APPROVED, DIALING ENGLE EYE-1 IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT, ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG LASER COMMUNICATION DATABRIDGE….. COMPLETE.]
Communicating with the information network around it, the toy box quickly located a dense and artificial mana signature.
[TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS.
RANGE TO TARGET: 231 METERS.
FUSE: NULL,
ANTI MARTIAL MODE 7.
FIRE AT WILL.]
Firing high velocity armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot originally designed to defeat state of the art composite armor at the unknown mana signature it was instantly pierced trough, along with a few hundred trees behind it before the sabot hit a solid rock face that it borrowed itself into before finally stopping.
[HOSTILE INTERFERENCE NEUTRALIZED, OBJECTIVE LOCATED.]
As the magic device was destroyed a large blood stained wooden wall barely hiding a large completely black floating orb suddenly appeared. Securing the area only took a few minutes, as most of the hostiles had already been dealt with, and after 10 minutes a few terrified survivors and the orb had been secured. With pre prepared tools for the job the orb was quickly breached and its contents packed into the toy box while a remaining Reaper drone handled psychological warfare.
[THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU f.u.c.k WITH WHAT"S NOT YOURS!]
Speaking in slightly flawed elvish trough its deep voice modulator the Reaper drone"s red eyes shone in a cold light while it shouted at the surviving prisoners that were mostly just freaking out and soiling themselves.
[THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TOUCH ANYTHING BELONGING TO THE GALACTIC EMPIRE! DO IT AGAIN AND WATCH YOUR PATHETIC COUNTRY BURN TO THE GROUND AROUND YOU!]
After packing up anything essential and destroying the elven researchers notes the drones set fire to the rest and left the captured elves behind hogtied before spray painting their message all over the destroyed base and retreating to a nearby half abandoned highway they used to leave the elven territories.