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tobiasdrake · 7 months ago

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Digimon Adventure 01x05 - Lightning! Kabuterimon! / Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker

Previously on Digimon: We found drinking water, ate birdseed, and poured gasoline on a fire until it caused an integer overflow error and rolled over into zero. Also discovered that the true birdseed was the friends we made along the way. It was a good day.

But now it's time to leave the Pyocomon behind and get back on the road to... whatever might help us go home. File Island is no fun.

We join our cast at the end of a long hike. The younger kids are too exhausted to keep going, so we need to stop and take a break. We don't see Koushiro in this shot at all but he's resting with Mimi and Takeru in the next so we can probably assume which side he's on.

The dub adds context that we're going in circles, which is why everyone's so tired. In the original, they've just been walking for a long time.

Koushiro takes this as an opportunity to once again get his laptop up and running, but no dice. None of his electronics work on File Island. Taichi tries to help, but has a particular approach to IT... and about as much respect for other people's things as Haruhi Suzumiya.

Naturally, this gets him yelled at not only by Koushiro, but Sora also joins in to chew him out.

(Not okay, Taichi. What if you broke something? Where are we supposed to get replacement parts out here, the internet!?

...don't answer that.)

Suddenly, Taichi notices smoke on the horizon. Explaining nothing beyond the words "What's that?" Taichi suddenly runs off. The others shrug it off and decide he went to the bathroom or something.

Dub Tai is much more explicit in his communication. He explains that he sees smoke and is going to investigate. They still blow him off, with Joe claiming he has "the attention span of a gnat".

Unexpectedly, Koushiro's computer turns on. This is unexpected for two reasons; First, because there's no clear indication of why it suddenly works now. Second, as Koushiro quickly discovers, the battery is completely drained. There's no power to turn it on, and yet it runs.

The meaning of the blinking dead battery symbol is changed in the dub. The original plays this as eerie; The laptop has no battery so how is it running? The dub plays this as disappointing; The laptop has low battery so Izzy won't be able to use it. This sets Izzy on a quest to power on his laptop.

Before he has time to think about that, Taichi finds what he's looking for and calls them over.

Those smoke pillars meant exactly what he thought they did: A sprawling factory is laid out before them. Naturally, the kids descend into the factory to explore.

They find no people, but an assembly line of machines constructing... something. Jou, however, insists there must be people here somewhere; A factory like this can't be completely unmanned so we need to keep looking.

Like usual, Jou's determination to find other humans on File Island doesn't make it into the dub. Instead, Joe wants to find a cafeteria in the factory to get food from.

The kids split up; Taichi, Sora, and Jou head off one way while Yamato stays with Takeru, Koushiro, and Mimi and go another. As Taichi's group searches for human presence, they suddenly hear something.

They aren't sure where it's coming from but somebody's here. They can hear some kind of mechanical whirr and some sort of deep, echoing vocal noise. Taichi wonders aloud if that might be a person!

The dub flubs this just a bit; To fill dialogue space used for Jou insisting there must be people here, Biyomon instead calls out to the others, "Don't go any further in this direction!" That indicates that she knows the presence is over that way, making it odd when they all start looking around for it - and Biyomon specifically checks back the way they came.

We also don't hear the echoing voice in the dub; Instead, we hear metal clattering against metal. Tai announces with alarm, "Doesn't sound good!" Once again the dub team are quicker on the uptake and recognize the peril they're in, while the original kids are still holding out hope.

Meanwhile, Yamato's group finds the power supply room and discovers what's running this factory.

It's a super-sized battery plugged into the factory as if it were a TV remote or video game controller.

(It would be hell to change those out. Can you even imagine?)

While Koushiro's surprised to see that the factory runs on this weird system, Dub Izzy is more interested in using it for himself. He wonders aloud if there's a way he can hook it up to his laptop.

Still investigating, Tai's group comes upon this 'mon caught up in the gears of the factory. Gomamon ID's him as Andromon, and informs the others that he's highly evolved. Taichi asks if he's more evolved than Greymon, to which Gomamon answers yes, without a doubt.

(He's right, too. Andromon is a Perfect-stage Digimon, the stage beyond Adult. The kids aren't anywhere near that yet.)

Jou's disappointed that Andromon isn't human, but the kids still agree to help him anyway.

The dub cuts the discussion around Andromon being evolved beyond Adult-stage, though Agumon does say he's "very much advanced" which is open to interpretation. The rest of the conversation is spent agreeing that they should pull Andromon out of the gears.

They also, of course, cut Jou's disappointment about this being another Digimon; Joe complains, "My mom really doesn't want me moving any heavy objects; I've got bad knees," so Sora volunteers herself and Tai to do it without him.

Brief cut to Koushiro, who tells Yamato, Mimi, and Takeru to go on without him; He wants to stay here and investigate the battery further.

Meanwhile, Dub Izzy is still thinking about plugging his computer into the battery; He explains that if he can get it up and running, they can use his computer to call for help.

Meanwhile, Taichi's group begins pulling Andromon out.

(What happened to those bad knees, Dub Joe?)

Taichi loses his grip and falls back against that lever behind him, activating the machines he's stuck in. Unbeknownst to anyone, the machines insert one of those Black Gears from last episode into Andromon's fleshy cyborg leg, just before he comes loose.

Taichi attempts to apply some percussive maintenance, like he did for Koushiro's laptop, but Jou and Sora grab and restrain him. Taking cues from Taichi, Agumon smacks Andromon's head to bring him online.

It does not go well.

The narrator cuts in here to formally introduce Andromon. He's a Perfect-stage Data-type Cyborg Digimon, said to be the strongest among Digimon.

(I assume "on File Island" is a qualifier there because there are absolutely Digimon way more powerful than Andromon.)

Piyomon hits Andromon with Magical Fire to make him release Sora. He shrugs off her attack, then he lobs Sora into Taichi and Agumon, who catch her.

Taichi notices a bunch of metal beams being stored on the ceiling for some reason and has Agumon cut them down with a Baby Flame.

(I want to feel bad for him but he brought this OSHA violation on himself. If he stored his beams properly, this wouldn't have happened to him. Slacking off on safety protocols is how you end up caught in gears.)

Taichi's group takes this opportunity to run for it.

Back with Yamato's group, they've left Koushiro to investigate the power supply room and gone on without him, as requested. Mimi offers some wild speculation as to what the devices being assembled actually do.

Dub Mimi's similarly confused, but offers no speculation. Instead, she complains that there should be a tour guide to explain this stuff. "Ooh, maybe in a plaid outfit with a bullhorn!"

Meanwhile, Koushiro continues investigating the battery. He finds something most unexpected: A door? Why would a battery have a door? Dub Izzy is less confused by this, assertively calling it an "access panel to the interior operations!"

Opening it up, he enters and... it's wild.

Koushiro identifies the writing on these walls as computer code. He doesn't offer any particular programming language, just that it is one he recognizes. He runs his hand along one of the symbols, wiping away part of a letter as if it were fresh paint.

Instantly, the machines throughout the factory shut down in response to Koushiro disrupting their code.

Unfortunately, Taichi's group is still fleeing from Andromon when the lights suddenly go out. Taichi speculates that Andromon might not be able to find them in the dark if they creep away quietly. He's wrong; Andromon finds them immediately and we see from his perspective that he can see fine.

Andromon's signature move, Spiral Sword, spins his hand so fast it turns into a drill before slashing suddenly and creating a blade of pressured air. The dub calls this Lightning Blade.

While the kids narrowly avoid being cut apart by Andromon's Spiral Sword, we cut back to Koushiro and Tentomon. Koushiro laments that he broke the wrong part of the code. At Tentomon's suggestion, he takes out a sharpie and repairs the code, bringing the power back online.

As the machines come back online, Dub Mimi speculates that the factory didn't pay its power bill. XD Valid theory from her perspective.

Koushiro lays out for Tentomon why this is so bothersome. This is not how batteries work. The programming inside the battery is itself what's supplying power to the factory. Koushiro breaks out his laptop to further analyze the program.

(It's like a Sim City power plant. It looks like a power plant. It satisfies the electricity needs of the other programmed structures you lay down. But it's not a real power plant. It's just coded to look like one and to satisfy the coded electricity needs of the coded world. Koushiro and Tentomon are inside the code of this "battery" right now and seeing the true nature of its artifice.)

Meanwhile, dub Izzy is looking for a way out of the factory. "If I can decode this particular program, then I can trace its base functions and figure a way out of here!" This is peculiar because they aren't trapped here to begin with, but it's the beginning of what will be a plot point throughout this episode.

We cut briefly back to Taichi's group still dodging Spiral Swords from Andromon, and then return to Koushiro. Tentomon asks him about how happy he looks doing this; He's more motivated than he's been since Tentomon met him, in fact. Koushiro confirms that he's having a blast.

Tentomon doesn't get it. He asks what Koushiro gets out of this, and Koushiro explains that he gets knowledge. He wants to understand the secrets of this place and what the Digimon are. Tentomon isn't swayed by that; He doesn't really care about who or what he is, and he turns it around on Koushiro: Is he trying to solve the mystery of who he is?

Tentomon doesn't realize it, but that question triggers Koushiro. He flashes back on something he doesn't want to remember.

Though it's not explicitly stated, the subtext of this conversation he overhears from his parents is fairly obvious. Koushiro is adopted, and his parents haven't found the courage to break it to him yet. His parents agree to put it off a little longer; It'd be too much of a shock for him now. They don't know that they've already revealed it. And it is.

Dub Tentomon captures the spirit of the conversation, but with a lot more passive-aggression. He peppers Izzy in sassy backhanded remarks like "I admire the way you keep working while your friends are out having fun!" and "So you would rather spend your time with puzzles than with people?"

He also suggests that they're "trapped in a small room with no exit". I don't know where he got that idea from; There's a door. They came through the door. We occasionally see the door and it's still open like they left it. We're in here by choice 'cause Koushiro/Izzy wants to learn. But aside from that one line, this all works really well. Even the adoption conversation is adapted perfectly.

Back in the present, Tentomon snaps Koushiro out of his disassociation to let him know that some weird shit is happening to his computer screen.

The lines of code he'd been analyzed begin freely floating around the screen, and the light on his Digivice begins to blink.

Here, Dub Tentomon goes off-script to start ranting at Izzy that he's being irresponsible, playing around on his computer while his friends are in danger. This is not a thing they know, but Tentomon insists he can "feel it in [my] bones".

While Koushiro is learning, Mimi lets out an angry shriek from another part of the factory as she finally discovers what the place does with those machines it's assembling.

It sends them to conveyor belt which disassembles them for parts. Nobody offers any commentary beyond Mimi's angry shriek but honestly that's valid commentary in and of itself.

(The assembly and disassembly lines are my favorite part of this episode. It was not meant to be but it's such a scathing metaphor for the military-industrial complex when you think about it. We give hundreds of billions of dollars to defense contractors each year to do exactly this, and that makes me want to angry shriek when I think about it too.)

Back inside the battery's source code, the data moving around on Koushiro's screen begins to form into what appears to be a map of File Island. Dub Izzy's so excited, he officially abandons his alien theory.

However, before it can fully process, Tentomon begins overheating, crying out in pain. Koushiro checks his Digivice and sees that the little bar that rises and falls on it is filled to capacity and blinking.

He's forced to shut down the laptop for the sake of Tentomon's wellbeing. Once the laptop turns off, Tentomon stops glowing and burning, and his Digivice's meter returns to empty.

Meanwhile, Taichi's group escapes Andromon once again after Taichi makes an unbelievably brave leap from a scaffolding suspended dozens of feet in the air to a crane, and hooks Andromon with it.

Of note, Dub Andromon keeps demanding vengeance, presumably for Agumon banging on his head. This is not in the original, where he's a mostly-silent stalker except when he's firing his Spiral Sword or analyzing the kids. His Gear-corrupted systems label them intruders when we see things from his perspective, so he's trying to kill them based on that.

Dubs back in the day would often add dialogue just to fill space, on the assumption that kids would get bored if they go too long without hearing spoken words. So instead of a silent Terminator type marching through halls, we get cries of "ANDROMON WILL HAVE HIS VENGEANCE" whenever the camera's not on his face so you don't notice his lips aren't moving.

Up on the roof, Yamato, Mimi, and Takeru discuss what they've learned. Yamato lays it all out: The factory is a perpetual machine, disassembling the thing whatever it is for parts it can use to assemble the thing which it then disassembles for parts. Nothing is actually produced. This entire complex exists to make nothing.

The dub kids get the gist of this, though Matt's less confident than Yamato in his assessment. They also again suggest that they're trapped here which... is based on nothing? T.K. nervously says, "I hope there's a door," but Matt firmly states that there's no door because nothing ever leaves this place.

(Matt. My guy. There's a door. It's the one you came in through. We are not trapped in the factory; We're voluntarily poking around at stuff to learn what's what. Nobody is in any peril that they know of except Taichi's group.)

While Koushiro rejoins Yamato's group, we get a brief cut of Andromon cutting himself loose with a Spiral Sword air blade, curved around to hit the crane wire holding him.

Koushiro explains his findings: The factory is powered by a computer program; It's coded to have energy so it does. Extrapolating outwards, this means we presently exist in a world where data and programs become real, tangible things.

In the dub, we've already been calling this Digi-World since episode 1 so Izzy ratchets up the revelation: "In Digi-World, basic data and simple information are a living, viable substance; IT'S ALIVE!!!"

Before Koushiro can explain what he means, Taichi's group arrives and screams warnings to everyone. They're too late, though; Andromon erupts through the floor, turning on Yamato's group.

He wastes absolutely no time firing up his other signature attack to kill them with: Gatling Missiles. Yeah, Perfect-stage Digimon get two. That's not fair. This is Baby-stage Bubbles at Kuwagamon all over again.

As the group scatters, Yamato miserably fails his Big Brother check and leaves Takeru behind, frozen in terror. He realizes his mistake too late, but Gabumon evolves to Garurumon to shield Takeru from the blast. As he's evolving, the camera calls special attention to Koushiro noticing the data being output by Yamato's Digivice.

Garurumon swipes the Missiles away, destroying one of them. But the other recovers in the air and comes back for Taichi's group, revealing what exactly makes these Gatling Missiles.

With another shot of Koushiro noticing Taichi's Digivice glowing, Agumon evolves to Greymon to defend them from the gatling bullets. He smashes the missile with his tail. Their victory is short-lived, however, as Andromon proceeds to demonstrate the difference between Adult- and Perfect-stage Digimon.

This is not a winnable fight. They are all fucked beyond measure.

(Even if the whole team could evolve, this would still be a very hard fight. Remember that time the entire team of Child-stage Digimon tried to fight Kuwagamon and lost? Yeah. You really gotta party up if you want to take on a higher-stage Digimon.)

The kids watch in horror as Andromon easily takes Greymon and Garurumon apart. Yamato and Sora both chime in, acknowledging that they get what the whole "evolved at a stage beyond Greymon" thing from earlier means. He's so much stronger and faster than their guys; This fight is hopeless.

The dub didn't have that conversation earlier, so Sora has to offer this up as speculation. Dub Sora pegs his strength to being all-machine but adds, "It's almost like he's Digivolved far beyond the other Digimon!" Yeah. Almost like.

Out of desperation, Tentomon asks Koushiro to fire up that program he was looking at earlier. Koushiro acquiesces, firing it up and filling Tentomon with a surge of energy just like last time. But this time they let it go and don't resist it.

Tentomon SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Tentomon evolves into Kabuterimon, named for kabutomushi, the rhinoceros beetle. His arrival does little to change the tide of battle. Perfect-stage gonna Perfect, y'all.

Jou frantically wonders aloud if Andromon has any weaknesses, which gets Koushiro thinking. Scrutinizing Andromon carefully, he notices energy sparking out of his organic right leg and yells at Kabuterimon to focus fire on that.

The dub seems a little confused on this note; Izzy yells at Kabuterimon to "Cut his power! Demobilize his right leg and we'll interrupt his energy source!" which is making a lot of (wrong) assumptions about why we're shooting at his leg. Koushiro just says to shoot the leg and doesn't explain why.

Kabuterimon opens fire with his signature move, Mega Blaster. The dub calls this Electro Shocker.

Kabuterimon's shot hits home. It does jack shit to Andromon but it obliterates the Black Gear inside his leg, which forcibly emerges and flies into the air to explode like with Meramon. Instead of bursting into a cloud of smoke, however, we get to watch it disintegrate like a Final Fantasy monster.

With Andromon now liberated from the Black Gear, he unpacks what happened. He found the Gear stuck in the machinery of the factory and was trying to get it out when he got trapped like that. He doesn't actually know what it is or what happened any more than the kids do.

He's apologetic for what he did under its corruption and wishes he had more information for them, but he doesn't. He does, however, have a suggestion for how they should leave the factory, which may be where the dub got the idea that they're trapped here. He advises them to go through the sewers.

Dub Andromon skips the explanation and goes straight to apologizing. Though he still says he has little information for them and suggests using the "underground waterway" to "escape" from here. He also calls it a "labyrinth", which the original does not.

Andromon wishes them luck in returning to their world, which is now officially what we're calling it. Dub Tai promises to never forget Andromon. Then the kids make their way into the sewers.

As they're walking, Takeru strikes up conversation with Koushiro. He wants to know if the program Koushiro used to evolve Tentomon would work for Patamon as well. Dub T.K. has the same question but refers to evolving as "becoming a superhero".

Koushiro agrees to give it a try, but as he's typing, his laptop suddenly loses power. Taichi and Agumon both want to hit it, forcing Koushiro to comically protect his laptop from these two lunkheads.

As Taichi and Agumon comically hit each other, we close the episode on the group laughing at them. The narrator chimes in to foreshadow that Koushiro's laptop will be the key to solving the secrets of the world.

The dub's been having the characters narrate instead, but they don't even bother with this line. They just cut it outright. That's fair; It's kind of unnecessary.

Assessment: As a character-focus episode, this one works really well for Koushiro. The emphasis of the episode is on learning and information-gathering. We found something interesting so we start poking around to figure out what we can about File Island.

So far, each episode has focused on a particular trait of a character that's going to become important later down the road. For Koushiro, it's his intelligence and curiosity that not only drives his discoveries but fuels his Digimon's evolution.

This is a big episode for discovering the lore and understanding the mechanics of the Digital World, as befits a Koushiro episode. I particularly like the choice of a Perfect-stage Digimon for their adversary, forcing them into a situation where Koushiro has to solve the puzzle rather than defeat the bad guy.

The dub quality here is... serviceable. There's some lateral changes that just come across as different presentation choices, such as having Tai announce himself to the others more directly when he leaves the group. Also, some of the tension-relieving jokes they added got me, especially Mimi's "didn't pay the power bill" crack.

But there's definitely some changes I wouldn't have made. Cutting out the explanation that Andromon's evolved beyond the levels of Greymon and Garurumon confuses the matter of why they can't beat him. As a kid, I remember legitimately thinking that metal Digimon are just automatically the strongest because of this episode.

Also, they're still erasing Jou's character direction: To find humans so they can take us in and get us home. This leaves him with little to do but provide comic relief.

Nonetheless, the main character arc between Izzy and Tentomon mostly lands, even if they go a little too hard on Tentomon's disagreement with Izzy's way of life.

The dub version is a little lesser for the choices that they made, but not by too much, I think. It still hits most of the important beats and delivers the story it needed to tell, and that's what matters most.

#digimon adventure #digimon #revisiting digimon #revisiting digimon adventure

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average-mako-enjoyer · 2 months ago

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Oh for the character ask game after reading your Kaidan post I neeeed to hear your Joker opinions 👀👀

Oh, I have some Joker opinions! Thank you for the ask! From the character ask game. And I can do another Kaidan post, tbh. I literally can't shut up about him.

Favorite thing about them He's an amazing character, and I love how consistently he's written.

Yes, he's a brat, yes, he has a massive, MASSIVE ego, yes, most of the jokes are terrible, yes, he doesn't know where to stop and how to shut up, but it fits, it all fits his background, and there's no way you can't warm to him after a while.

And fucking hell, him unshackling EDI was badass. Least favorite thing about them My god, Jeff, you're so immature. I know that piloting warships is your whole life, but my dude, you have to grow up a little. That line about the asari having more dancers than commandos was... bad.

Honestly, the last scene between him and Shepard aboard the Normandy in ME3 (where this gif is from) is so great, because it finally shows us Joker behind all that edgy humor deflection thing he always does.

Favorite line "Great. See, this is how it all starts. When we're all just organic batteries, guess who they'll blame? 'This is all Joker's fault. What a tool he was. I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord.'" + "You stole the Normandy, got blown up by the Collectors, and took us on a suicide mission into the galactic core and I haven't mutinied once!"

brOTP I've said it before and I'll say it again. He and Kaidan are bros. In my head, Joker finds him very, very funny and they tease each other for sport and Kaidan is one of three people who can give him A Look and he will shut up.

Joker and Ashley also make sense to me. I think he likes her outspokenness and also likes her dry wit, but I don't think he has the same level of connection with Ash as he does with Kaidan.

Him and Shepard, too. I think they have a pretty unique bond, and it's very important to Joker, and that's why he's always trying to show off in front of Shepard.

I really, really don't like it when people turn friendships into pseudo-familial relationships. Normandy is not a family with daddy, mommy, kids, aunts and uncles and estranged relatives. But what Shepard has with Joker, I think, is the closest thing to an older sibling/younger brother relationship. That's not to say that Shepard thinks of Joker as their younger brother. Because, no, that's completely unprofessional and fucking toxic, but their dynamic is kind of like that.

OTP Joker/EDI He wants to fuck that car so fucking bad...

Their romance is perfect, I love it for so many reasons.

nOTP Shoker. Shepard/Joker. This thing.

I have nothing against people who ship it, you guys are great, but to me, to my Shep, and to my understanding of Joker's character, this romantic relationship feels completely unrealistic and it kind of cheapens the unique bond between them. Not every strange and close relationship should be romantic or familial. There's a lot more to this life than that.

Random headcanon He has his own collection of model ships, and he was the one who suggested that Shepard start assembling them. He can sometimes get so deep into calculations that he forgets to eat or drink, and the only people who can pull him out of it are EDI, Shepard, Chackwas, or Kaidan.

Unpopular opinion He has an incredibly fragile ego and should be mocked for it.

Song i associate with them I Will Never Be the Same - Lost Gravity Favorite picture of them @makanidotdot draws him and EDI perfectly.

#mass effect #jeff joker moreau #ask game #my thoughts

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dailycharacteroption · 5 months ago

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Conversion Corner: Starbound Species part 2

The Glitch

While yesterday the species in question blended two themes that went well together (plant people and tribal culture), today’s subject is an exercise in anachronistic duality.

Originally created by some forgotten culture, possibly the Ancients, the automatons that would come to be known as the Glitch were created as part of an advanced civilization simulation, with individual units meant to represent individuals in the simulation. However, due to a coding error in their programming, their development stopped at the medieval period, leaving the majority of them to act out a life of feudal pastoral farming. Even those that break away from their programming into full self-actualization still do often favor those aesthetics even when they wield more advanced arms and armor.

Despite being incredibly sophisticated sapient machines, the outer casing of most of these automatons is simplistic, clunky, even primitive, often evoking retro science fiction aesthetics (Some even have a fake synthetic “brain” in a glass dome), all of which clashes with their medieval attire and tools. Additionally, they do not farm for no reason, for they do eat, albeit to extract the methane as fuel from the digestive process rather than any nutritional value. Additionally, while they do not reproduce in the organic sense, a bonded pair of Glitches can enter a trance-like state and assemble a new member of their kind with factory-like speed and efficiency. Perhaps most perplexingly, their programming requires them to also harvest and prepare “medicine”, which seems effective when applied despite all logic indicating that it should not work. Perhaps to even awakened glitches, this placebo effect activates reserves of repairing nanites within themselves?

The personalities of these robots can vary a lot just like any other sapient, however, most are stuck in a medieval way of viewing things. What’s more, their mechanical voices and visages can make articulating emotion difficult. As such, they tend to preface their sentences with a word indicating their tone, similar to Mass Effects Elcor, or perhaps more of a direct reference to the character HK-47 from Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

I wasn’t able to glean if there is a unifying government among the glitch, but we do know that they have an agrarian medieval society, complete with serfs, barons, lords, and the like, and most are content to act out those roles. However, those that have evolved beyond that programming often leave to travel the stars to find purpose, though they are met with pity by their kin, who view this erratic behavior as a disruption to the careful cycle of their lives and society as a whole. Even still, such outcasts often gather in like-minded groups, possibly forming into approximations of knightly orders, for good or ill, though chivalry and honor are commonly valued traits across the entire glitch people.

Glitch

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Int

HP: 4

Size and Type: Glitches are Medium Constructs of the Glitch subtype. Unlike other constructs, they do have a Constitution score.

Archaic Arms: Glitches know how best to apply weapons of their limited tech level to gain maximum results. They gain a +1 to attack and damage rolls with analog weapons. Additionally, they do not take the damage penalty of weapons with the archaic property as long as they are proficient with the weapon.

Curiously Robotic: Glitches are immune to bleed, disease, death effects, poison, nonlethal damage, and sleep effects unless those effects specify they affect constructs. Glitches can be affected by effects or spells that normally target only humanoids, but receive a +4 racial bonus to saving throws against such effects. Glitches must eat and drink and they must recharge their internal batteries by entering an off-line mode that is similar to sleep for 8 hours every day. Glitches do not breathe or suffer the normal environmental effects of being in a vacuum.

Hardcoded Honor: A glitch gains a +2 bonus to Will saves against effects that would compel them to perform an action inimical to their beliefs.

Healing Circuit: In addition to being constructs and thus able to benefit from spells like make whole, Glitches count as living creatures for the purposes of magic healing effects that work on living creatures, though the number of Hit Points restored in such cases is halved. A character can use the Engineering skill to perform the tasks of the Medicine skill on Glitches, but they can also benefit from Medicine checks and medicinals. Glitches also heal naturally over time as living creatures do, and can benefit from magic or technology that can bring constructs back from the dead, as well as effects that normally can’t (such as raise dead).

That should do for today, but tomorrow we’ll look at something a little more… piscine.

#starfinder #conversion #starbound #race #glitch

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semcoinfratechworld · 3 months ago

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Streamlining Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Line Processes: Challenges and Solutions

The packaging and assembly of lithium-ion battery packs are crucial in the field of energy storage and have a significant impact on applications like electric vehicles and electronics.

The pack line process consists of three main phases: production, assembly, and packaging.

The pack is a complex system comprising battery packs, shunts, soft connections, protective boards, outer packaging, output components (such as connectors), insulating materials like barley paper, plastic brackets, and other auxiliary materials. These components come together to form a complete pack unit. This blog discusses the challenges faced in the Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Line Processes and offers potential solutions.

The Core Functions of a Pack Line

A typical production line for battery packs serves two main purposes: transmission and testing. In the industry, it is common to use semi-automatic assembly lines for pack production. These lines handle tasks such as launching, offline operations, testing, in-plant transmission, and packaging. The processes involved in a lithium battery pack production line are relatively simple, including feeding, attaching brackets, welding, and conducting thorough testing, among other steps.

Challenges in Meeting Pack Line Requirements

Highly Customized Demands: The power battery system pack requires targeted research and development tailored to the specific requirements of vehicle manufacturers. Each automaker has unique specifications and needs, leading to a high degree of customization in the assembly process. These drive increased demand for automated production lines that can efficiently adapt to these variations.

Stringent Safety and Stability Prerequisites: The core challenge in creating a power battery system pack lies in accommodating the customized market demands of different vehicle models. This customization process addresses various aspects, including BMS design, thermal management, space constraints, structural strength, system interfaces, IP ratings, and safety measures. These custom requirements are vital for ensuring the safety and stability of the battery pack.

Precise Control of Production Rate: Modern battery pack production requires a different approach to maintain a high and efficient production rate while meeting market supply and demand. This involves refining the process to manage the “whole line beat,” focusing on average workstation working time rather than a sequential production line.

Enhanced Compatibility: The evolving lithium battery industry adds complexity to the production process. With non-standardized modules, incoming cells, shells, PCB boards, and connecting components, compatibility across the production line becomes crucial. Adapting to these changes and ensuring efficiency and compatibility is vital.

Embracing Automation and Innovation: In response to the growing lithium power industry, leaders are expanding production capacity, optimizing pack line processes, and incorporating smart technologies. This includes integrating intelligent equipment, robotic arms, collaborative robots, mobile robots, and other advanced technologies to improve efficiency.

The lithium battery manufacturing process requires highly reliable, stable, and precise equipment for process control. It also demands intelligent data processing capabilities for effective production data management. This drives the need for automation and intelligent upgrades to meet the evolving demands of the industry.

As the energy storage landscape evolves, automating and enhancing pack line processes is crucial to ensure reliable, stable, and precise equipment. This streamlines production for the intelligent and data-driven future of lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

#Battery cell assembly #Battery management systems #EV battery pack production line #lithium battery industry #lithium-ion battery #lithium-ion battery industry #lithium-ion battery pack #lithium-ion battery pack line #Lithium-ion battery pack assembly #Lithium-ion cell sorting and packaging

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seat-safety-switch · 11 months ago

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Sometimes, when I look up from my studies (gearbox re-assembly) I like to stare out the window. There, on the power lines outside my house, are a whole bunch of black-billed magpies. I'm told by the ever-present voice in my skull that I am in fact looking at a Parliament of magpies, but this is no doubt a holdover from the era when Parliament existed. It might even be from when the monarchy existed.

Birds have it really easy. They fly around a lot, play their songs whenever they want, and maybe threaten the local hot dog cart owner into surrendering some merchandise. Their lives have a downside too, though: dangerous predators like house-cats and hawks, and the existence of motorized vehicle traffic. Plus, they have to try and get food in the winter, and that's exactly what those magpies were doing this one weekend in January.

When all the goodies are covered in snow, or worse, frozen by one of the howling ice storms that periodically blow through this area and knock out civilization for a week or two, the birds can't get at their vittles. Once, years ago, a nice lady down the street would put out peanuts for them, and they would sup greedily. Perhaps these magpies are simply a much later generation, raised on the legends of their ancestors as this being A Good Place where Sometimes You Get Peanuts. No such luck now: she pulled up stakes and left for somewhere she didn't have to live next to a guy who tried to Prius-swap a Celica with a natural-gas-fired jet turbine on the roof for batteries. Boring.

Still, I decided that I would also do my part to make life easier for these wild scavengers. That night, when I backed out of my driveway, I made sure to rip the handbrake a little early, knocking my next-door neighbour's compost bin over, where it immediately disgorged its contents of spoiled theatre popcorn and government-issued Nature Valley® Extreme Environment Survival Bars onto the road. The birds would eat well tonight, they wouldn't expect another handout from what was clearly a miracle, and I would enjoy some karma in having made another living thing's life better, if only momentarily.

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hillbillyoracle · 2 years ago

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What To Do In Tornados

I’ve lived in tornado country pretty much my whole life and to be honest they still freak me out. I also remember how anxiety inducing it was when I first moved out and had to deal with them on my own. So like a message in a bottle to my former self, I wanted to compile what I’ve learned over the years in a skimmable format in case there’s anyone else out there today who could use it.

Difference between a watch and a warning?

Tornado watch means you have time; think of a wrist watch. Tornado warning means one is incoming, no more time. This is the one I use to remember it.

Or if you prefer the Weather Channels very memeable explanation - tornado watch means you have taco (tornado) ingredients - picture a taco bar. Tornado warning means you have a fully assembled taco (tornado). This is what my partner uses.

So there are possible tornados in the forecast:

Make a plan about where you’ll go if you get a warning. It should be the most interior room in your house, well away from any windows. Here we have a walkout basement and I go to the most interior part of it. When I was in an apartment, the most interior room happened to be my bathroom and hallway. If you live in a dorm or other communal setting, they should have a plan in place so make sure to find out what it is.

Take pictures of your rooms and car in the event you need to file an insurance claim. Having pictures of what you own, it’s condition is helpful for filing insurance claims if you need to. Especially if you’re a renter. This is easiest to do when there’s no storms in your area so you aren’t nervous or pressed for time.

Make a power outage plan. A lot of the threat that comes with tornados is not from the tornados themselves but the damaging straight line winds around the tornado. Whenever there’s high winds, there’s a chance to lose power. Consider how you’d eat, drink, go to the bathroom, and stay warm in the event of a power outage. Less necessary but still helpful - consider how you’ll entertain yourself, especially if cell towers go down or you need to conserve your phone battery. Consider what chores - like laundry or dishes - would be good to have out of the way before hand.

Grab snacks and food that doesn’t need refrigeration. If you’re able to make a grocery store run, grab some food you can eat that is shelf stable and doesn’t require cooking. A good rule of thumb in my experience is three days worth. Most power outages I’ve been through have been fixed in that time and you can more safely evacuate then if you need to go somewhere with power. If you’re like me and have a lot of food allergies (gluten, dairy, soy) - consider baking items ahead of time that can keep well at room temperature like cookies, scones, and breads.

So you’ve been issued a Tornado Watch:

Check the forecast; you might have lots of time before the storms will be in your area or you might have very little.

Make a plan if you haven’t already. Or check your building’s plan if you live in a dorm or communal setting.

Make sure everyone involved knows the plan. Don’t assume people you’re with know. I have made that mistake before.

Charge your phone and electronics. If you don’t currently have a thunderstorm in your area, go ahead and charge your phone, power bank, flashlights, and anything else you’ll want to take with you your safe spot.

Gather supplies to take with you to your safe spot

Minimum:

Shoes

Phone

Form of ID*

Leash/Harness/Cage for pets

Explanation of minimum:

Shoes are important because if you need to evacuate, there’s likely broken glass and other things on the floor that can injure you. If you can’t safely move through it, then people will have to come escort you out which means waiting longer + more risk.

Phone is important for calling for help and receiving alerts. Also many can double as a flashlight in a pinch.

*ID is helpful accessing emergency housing and medical services if you have to leave your home. If your ID doesn’t list your residence or you don’t have/want to have ID documents on you for safety reasons, consider grabbing a copy of your lease or some mail addressed to you there. You can still access services without this, it just helps speed stuff up.

Keeping pets on a leash or cage helps keep them safe in the event you need to evacuate with them.

If you can:

Tote bag

Helmet

Flashlight

Power bank + cord

Weather radio

Water bottles

Some pet food + bowl

Snacks

I put all my supplies in a little tote bag. It’s my storm tote (conference bag I’m never gonna use for anything else).

Helmet is pretty self explanatory. One more way to keep your head safe in case anything falls on you.

Flashlights help you move around your house if it’s safe to stay in if the power goes out. In the event your house is unsafe, it helps you safely evacuate. If you’re trapped, it helps you signal for help.

Power bank + cord helps you recharge your phone if the power goes out. When you’re checking alerts and watching streams, the battery can deplete quickly.

Weather radios of any kind is helpful. Cell service often goes out so the way you’ll get your information then will be primarily through radio. If you’re reading this not in a watch and want to get one, look for ones that will wake you up if there’s a warning in your area. Midland has several. I have a small Sony radio I take with me to my safe spot.

Water bottles are helpful because they’re highly portable and in the unlikely event you get trapped in your house, you’ll have water to keep you hydrated while help gets to you.

Pet food is so you can feed your animal without leaving your safe spot since warnings can last a long time. I’ve seen some areas be warned for 1-2 hours before if a storm is slow moving enough. But it’s also so you’ll have some food for them in the event you need to evacuate.

Snacks are similar to pet food. It’s you food. Just helps you shelter in place.

So you’ve been issued a Tornado Warning:

Put on your shoes

Put pets on harnesses and a leash or in a cage

Go to your safe spot and don’t come out until the warning has expired

Especially if the warning is PDS or has some other enhanced tag, try to bring something to cover your head and body with - like a mattress. A thick blanket is better than nothing in a pinch.

#tornado #wx #weather #tornado warning #tornado watch #prepping #safety

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harwood-pmc-official · 8 months ago

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As Above, so Below

Part 1

William Chang sat atop the chassis of his Rifleman, looking down at the city below. A look down at his watch told him it was now D-Day plus 1, as the hand slowly swept past midnight. The landing had been hard-fought, an uphill battle from the word go against a far larger force who had been digging themselves into every frostbitten inch of that shithole.

In theory, DZ Gold was supposed to be a walk in the park. A clear LZ, only a forested ridge between the Harwood forces and AA battery SUMER, then an assault on Coen City from the high ground. In practice, it was a nightmare.

When the bay door opened to drop the ‘Mechs, it opened to a scene of hell, the gray clouds boiling in rage as SUMER spit death into the sky, lances of hellish light streaking past the open door with a sound like a banshee’s wail. Chang had been the first off, as he usually was, stepping into the empty air with his rotary cannons spinning and Medium lasers primed. The drop itself was uneventful, as there was only a handful of seconds between the drop point and the elevation where the ridgeline would provide cover. However, the second their feet hit the snow, the world erupted in crimson fire.

Despite what the intelligence reports had said, it seems like the Blakist had prepared for an assault on SUMER, and the SLDF had sent Harwood straight into the meat grinder. The hill was covered in pillboxes, trenches, and enough machine gun nests to make an Atlas think twice.

He’d ordered the complement of heavies and assaults to the front, to block fire and shield the Light and Medium mechs until they could close. However, in the end, they’d been able to secure the LZ after a grueling march up the hill, destroying bunker after bunker, sending waves of death down every trench.

By the time the DropShip was unloading troops, there was nothing left on the ridge but blackened foliage and burning corpses strewn about their ruined defenses. From there, it had taken a quarter of an hour to unload the entire force from the ship, Four companies of infantry and three mechanized assault companies, not to mention the 36 Mechwarriors already deployed.

At H-Hour plus 2, they set out, moving up the ridge as fast as they dared, keeping a careful watch for any more surprises from the Blakist forces. As they crested the ridge, it was easy to see SUMER below, like a steel hydra spitting poisoned death. The assembled Harwood forces came down the ridge like a tidal wave, Mechs and tanks and infantry all rumbling towards the compound.

Chang himself was at the head, as one of the few heavy mechs left relatively unscathed, unleashing a storm of fire from his rotary cannons and lasers as the walls drew closer. From the massive gate came WoB battlemechs, three Celestial-pattern machines accompanied by several smaller figures that looked to be the Blakists’ exosuits and cybernetic soldiers. Given his Rifleman’s weaponry, Chang chose to focus on the infantry, letting the mechanized units and Roswell’s Warhammer take the lead in reducing them to dust.

By the time they’d reached the wall of the compound, at the edge of the dense forest that separated Coen City from the military zone, the fighting had reached a fever-pitch, the Blakists never giving an inch of ground they didn't have to, while Chang directed his forces like a chess player, exploiting gaps in the constantly-shifting front line to drive then closer and closer to the wall.

200 meters, a Celestial was slamming into the right flank until a brilliant beam of light from a tank's cannon silenced that threat.

180 meters, the Manei Domini had managed to get a heavy machine gun into a position to attack the infantry until a twin blast of rotary autocannons silenced them.

150 meters, a super-heavy tank blasted a massive shell into one of the medium mechs, sending the mech and its pilot careening to the snow.

120 meters, and two more Celestial frames came marching in on the left. Two tank crews and an anti-armor infantry team would solve the problem.

At 100 meters, they jumped. Jump jets flaring with ionized gas, the mechwarriors who had the capability launched themselves into the walls of the fortress, bent on eliminating SUMER itself. It stood towering above them now, a 20 meter obelisk of foreboding steel, spiked with weapons that spelled doom for the Aurigans and other mercs landing in the second wave.

He gave the order, and every mech who'd made the jump opened up on it with the fury of a dying sun. Bullets, particle beams, lances of concentrated light, all came together in twenty seconds of blinding brilliance, reducing that ominous pillar to nothing more than smoking slag.

One the battery itself was out of commission, the Blakists had run fairly quickly, seeing the battle was lost in the face of the more numerous and better-equipped Harwood mercy. Three hours later, and mop-up operations had completed, leaving only the unpleasant business of peeling up the Bandage and taking a look at the damage.

In the fighting, they'd lost four mechs, two to the level of complete destruction, and five armored vehicles had been destroyed in the assault, with 4 more at various levels of damage. The infantry was harder to make an accounting of, but once every man was tracked down and accounted for, only 23 men had been lost from the four companies, with Dog company being hit the hardest.

That left Chang where he was now, surveying Coen City through the trees, peering through the binoculars and straining his eyes for any sign of movement. In truth, he'd rather be with the men, taking a couple of hours of rest to prepare for the next day's assault on the city itself, but he knew that he'd only dampen the mood. After all, he was Chang the Robot, Chang the Freak. Who would want him around when grieving a fallen brother?

So, he would sit. And he would watch, until it was time to move out once again.

#battletech #mechwarrior #story event #operation TOUCHDOWN #D-Day plus one

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facet-foundations · 10 days ago

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hii hopefully we're doing this right !! so we have a fragment?? or we dunno what they are actually but, very underdeveloped, took a while to even notice them heh.. all we've got is they're most likely sourced from DSMP Wilbur and? don't like the name Wilbur for them?? that's .. it .. so maybe some roles and names to help?? or anything really to help?? /gen/nf

ahh sorry if this is nonsensical- ty in advance though ^_^

It's no problem! We can try and help :D

Since you didn't give us a theme to work with, we'll work under the assumption you want masc or neutral names, given DSMP Wilbur is male!

Names (masc):

William/Will

Wilfred

Winston

Wendall

Lucas

Tobias

Archie

Finn/Finnley/Finley

Ayden/Aidan/Aiden

Adrian

Abel

Benjamin/Ben/Benny

Alexander/Alex

Xander

Elias

Elijah

Corey/Cory

Cole

Oliver/Oli/Olly

Charles

James/Jimmy

Kai

Names (neu):

Charlie

Harley

Vic

Kit

Skylar

Glenn

Casey

Ashton/Ash

Eli

Aubrey

Robin

Roles (+small descriptors):

Anotus: a term for when you are unsure of the role of a member, due to not being able to access the information

Artisan: assists in the building/assembling of new headmates, possibly using pre-existing fragments

Battery: helps to energise or recharge the body, whether physically, mentally or emotionally

Coltenoir: takes anger from other headmates to deal with it themselves, typically in a healthier way

Delight: a role that revolves around having fun

Ethic: makes ethical decisions that are in line with or closest to the system's collective morals

Ferryman: guides individuals around headspace and greets new headmates

Gatekeeper: controls switching and access to certain areas, memories or members inside the headspace

Hobbyist: takes part in hobbies when in front

Idle: a headmate without a role

Irascimate: pisses off bigots and exclusionists

Jack of All Trades: has a fluctuating role or performs a wide range of roles

Memori: documents the system or other headmates' memories or experiences

Naturalist: connected to nature and the outdoors

Pseudonaut: holds the system's pseudomemories (false memories such as recollection of events that never took place)

Realizer/Realiser: aids the system in helping to realise and process trauma

Scout: searches headspace for headmates that have been lost, or new headmates/locations

Translator: translates for headmates, such as if they are non-verbal, semi-verbal, have a typing quirk, or speak a foreign language

Virus: either absorbs or distributes feelings of sickness, nausea, or other ailments

Warper: is able to influence, change or manipulate the consciousness of the system

If you'd like to read more about some of these roles, we got them from pluralpedia's list of headmate roles!

Thanks for your request! Hope your headmate likes these :]

#mod eribon 🌸🌟#pluralgang #plurality #plural community #plural blog #facet foundations #pro endo #endo safe #endo friendly #pro endogenic #anti endos dni #pro willogenic #willogenic safe #pluralsonder #headmate development

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mariacallous · 8 months ago

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On the top floor of a building somewhere in Ukraine is a drone workshop.

Inside is a chaotic workbench covered in logic boards, antennas, batteries, augmented reality headsets, and rotor blades. On one end of the room is a makeshift photo studio—a jet-black quadcopter drone sits on a long white sheet, waiting for its close-up.

This particular workshop’s Geppetto is Yvan. He grins as he shows off his creations, flittering around with a lit cigarette in his mouth, dangling ash, grabbing different models. (Yvan is a pseudonym; WIRED granted some of the people in this story anonymity due to the security risk.)

Yvan holds up a mid-size drone: This model successfully hit a target from 11 kilometers away, he says, but it should be capable of traveling at least 20. He’s trying different batteries and controllers to try to extend the range. He screws on a stabilizer tailpiece to a hard plastic shell—Yvan 3D-prints these himself—and holds up the assembled bomb. It’s capable of carrying a 3.5-kilogram explosive payload, enough to take out a Russian tank.

He uses his index finger and thumb to pick up a nondescript beige chip: This, he says, is what he’s really proud of.

One big problem with these drones—which are based on commercially available first-person-view (FPV) or photography drones—is that their explosive payload is jimmy-rigged on. It requires the drone to crash in order to close the circuit and trigger the explosion.

This chip, Yvan says, allows for remote detonation from a significant distance, meaning the operator can park their drone and lay in wait for hours, even days, before it goes off. He expects this technology could, eventually, be connected to AI—exploding only if it registers a nearby tank, for example. He has created a long-range smart land mine, I note. After the idea is passed through our translator, he nods enthusiastically.

There are many of these FPV drone workshops around Ukraine—Kyiv estimates there are about 200 Ukrainian companies producing aerial drones, with others producing land- and sea-based uncrewed vehicles. But Yvan, grinning proudly, insists that the manufacturer which he represents, VERBA, is the best.

Ukraine is facing increasingly tough odds in its defensive war against a better-resourced, better-equipped enemy. Thanks to delayed aid from Washington and shortages in other NATO warehouses, Ukraine has lacked artillery shells, long-range missiles, and even air defense munitions.

These drones, however, represent a bright spot for the Ukrainians. Entrepreneurship and innovation is scaling up a sizable drone industry in the country, and it’s making new technological leaps that would make the Pentagon envious.

The age of drone warfare is here, and Ukraine wants to be a superpower.

After Yvan showed off his workshop, we loaded into the car to visit one of his factories.

Behind a steel door is a room filled with racks, where 30 3D printers are working simultaneously, printing various drone components in unison. The twentysomething employees seem accustomed to the screeching alarm—some are soldering the drones together, others are tinkering with designs in AutoCAD, one is lounging on a sofa.

Strung across one shelf of 3D printers is a black flag, a take on Blackbeard’s (apocryphal) pirate flag. It shows a horned skeleton wearing an AR headset and holding a controller, thrusting his spear toward a bleeding heart as a quadcopter flies above.

In the first year of the war, when FPV drones were providing extraordinary footage of the front lines and viral video of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) dropping grenades on Russian tanks captivated the world, Ukraine was snatching up every consumer drone it could find. Chinese technology giant DJI became a household name in Ukraine, thanks to its drones’ ubiquity on the front lines. Ukraine’s early advantage was quickly lost, however, as Russia scrambled to snatch up these Chinese-made UAVs.

“When Russia sees, from Instagram, my product, Russia starts buying all these components in China,” a VERBA executive says. The new demand from Moscow can often cause either shortages or inflation, squeezing out the Ukrainian companies. So entrepreneurs like Yvan began building their own.

When Yvan began his operation in the early months of the war following Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, he was creating a handful of frankendrones to send to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Now, Yvan says, his operation is producing 5,000 FPV drones per month. He offers a range of systems, from a mammoth 12-inch model to a 4-inch prototype.

At first, these entrepreneurs were pursuing this project on their own—scrambling, like most of the country, to be useful in helping Ukraine defend itself. Kyiv was initially cool to the idea that a domestic drone industry was worth the money and attention, especially given the demand for more conventional arms. Some in the military, one executive says, dismissed the utility of these innovative weapons and surveillance platforms as merely “wedding photography drones.” (One executive said Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s new commander in chief, had been an early adopter inside the military, directly contracting 10 firms in early 2023 to begin assembling new technology for his forces.)

That attitude changed in 2023, when Ukraine set up Brave1, a government-run technology agency and incubator that helps connect private enterprise to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Since its creation, Brave1 has worked to streamline design, development, and procurement of new defense technology, while helping companies navigate government and military bureaucracy. Brave1 has already awarded more than $3 million in research and development grants and connected more than 750 companies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

When United24, the Ukrainian government’s in-house crowdfunding platform, first pitched an “army of drones” to its donors in 2022, it aimed to buy just 200 units. Today, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky projected late last year that his country would produce over 1 million drones in 2024.

“I would say that we can even double this number,” Natalia Kushnerska, head of Brave1’s defense technology cluster, tells WIRED.

“We have the responsibility and the motivation to do it today and to do it very fast,” she says. “Because we don't have any other choice.”

This is a war, one executive told me, “where the economy matters.”

Even hampered by sanctions, Russia has a $2 trillion economy—about 6 percent of that is geared toward its wartime production. Ukraine’s entire GDP, by contrast, is less than $200 billion.

While Kyiv has received substantial support from its NATO partners, it faces constant pressure to find efficiencies. The economics of these drones are looking better and better.

Yvan’s drones are, compared to conventional munitions, cheap. His most expensive unit runs about $2,500, but the cheapest is only $400.

Early in the war, the Ukrainians could reasonably expect—depending on weather, the mission, and Russian jamming efforts—that about 30 percent of their drones would connect with the target. Today, good Ukrainian-made systems are approaching a 70 percent success rate.

It can often take four or five artillery shells to successfully destroy a medium-range target, such as a tank. At $8,000 per shell—which are in short supply and high demand—that is an expensive proposition. Even if it takes two of Yvan’s most expensive drones to achieve the same objective, that’s thousands of dollars in savings. The proliferation of these drones reduces the “cost-per-kill,” as one executive phrased it, and reduces the strain on those dwindling ammunition stockpiles.

Even if Yvan and other producers are making more and more of their systems in Ukraine, they still rely on Chinese suppliers for critical onboard components. That comes with a trade-off—Chinese suppliers are cheaper, but they tend to be of lower quality and are happy to do business with Russia as well. Other options, such as companies in Taiwan, the United States, Canada, or Europe, are better quality but can be several times more expensive.

These supply chains, Yvan says, are “complicated.” Drone manufacturers who spoke to WIRED say anywhere between 40 percent and 80 percent of their drone components are made in Ukraine. Asked how long it would take before Ukraine manufactures nearly everything in these drones, from the rotor blades to the onboard components, Yvan provides a bullish estimate: “six months.”

It’s not an entirely unrealistic dream. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and also minister responsible for digital transformation, said late last year that Kyiv hopes to break ground on a semiconductor factory, capable of producing 50,000 chips a year, by 2025. Ukraine produces about half the world’s supply of neon, necessary for the lasers used to make the chips.

There are already companies in Ukraine that have developed electronic design automation software—a necessary tool for producing chips—and that do electronic assembly inside the country itself. An industry source tells WIRED that a working group was formed in late 2023 to chart out how Ukraine could be a player in the semiconductor industry.

Another defense technology executive, Igor, manufactures considerably more-sensitive drones. “We definitely don’t buy anything from China,” he says. His products are more expensive, he says, “but we are looking for something that would differentiate us from the Russians.” At the moment, he says, “Russia is ahead.” He’s hoping to close that gap.

For any of this to work, however, there needs to be demand for these drones. The more they can sell, the more they can invest. “The things that they need,” Kushnerska says: “contracts and money.” Demand has certainly grown—fundraising platform United24 helped finance a fleet of naval drones and raised funds to purchase 5,000 surveillance UAVs. Other organizations have led similar purchases. The drone-makers, however, say it’s just not enough.

In early 2023, Ukraine’s parliament passed new laws to regulate how drone manufacturers can contract with the state; while profiteering is generally discouraged in the wartime economy, the law specifically allows the companies to charge up to 25 percent profit.

Yvan says he charges just a 10 percent premium for his drones and reinvests all that profit back into his operation. Representatives from other drone companies who spoke to WIRED say they operate on a similar basis.

More orders will mean more investment. Thus far, NATO countries have preferred to purchase locally-made equipment and ship it to Ukraine. That may be changing.

Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of defense, visited Kyiv shortly before I was there. While there, he announced that Ottawa would donate 800 Canadian-made drones to Ukraine. While the donation was lauded, a senior official asked the minister, “Why didn't you buy our drones?” After being briefed on the various innovations taking place in the Ukrainian drone industry, Blair was convinced. “We're also going to find ways to invest in Ukrainian industry,” he tells WIRED. “The point of the [Ukraine Defense Contact Group drone coalition] is to create capability, not only in the countries that are in the coalition but also capability in Ukraine.”

Even still, bureaucracy moves slowly. What’s more, startups—some of which are helmed by technologists or special effects gurus with no experience in procurement, let alone war—are often learning as they go. One executive, covering his eyes with his hand, says: “It’s like going completely blind.”

Not every company has been able to hack it. One executive says he’s aware of five defense technology startups that have shut down since the war began.

Much attention has been paid to FPV drones. They reinforce the idea that Ukraine’s defense is a scrappy, homespun effort. But even as the country has professionalized production of these light, agile drones, it has rapidly spun up production of other, more complicated systems.

One of Ukraine’s biggest disadvantages, from the start of the war, has been its difficulty in hitting targets inside Russia. Because Moscow has so effectively dominated the skies, Ukraine has been left playing defense.

That equation has changed substantially in recent weeks. Ukraine has had enormous success in attacking Russian oil refineries—knocking out as much as 15 percent of the country’s total refining capacity—and bombing Russian air bases. This has all been made possible by Ukrainian-made long-range attack drones.

Igor, who represents a company responsible for producing those long-range bombers, says they have developed a unit capable of flying 1,000 kilometers and carrying a 25-kilogram payload and has produced “several hundred” units for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And they are actively working on a new model, capable of flying up to 2,500 kilometers. (It will pack a smaller punch, he said: “The longer you go, the lighter the payload.”)

These systems are more expensive: from $35,000 to $100,000. But if they can destroy millions of dollars worth of Russian equipment, that’s a bargain.

“These are no simple drones,” Igor says. “We don’t have the luxury, like the Western guys, to spend years in development.”

They’re not stopping with drones, either. They’re using the same technology to develop Ukrainian-made missiles, capable of flying farther and doing more damage to Russian military infrastructure, tucked well behind the front lines, which is regularly used to attack Ukrainian cities.

Igor’s goal is to “bring the war to Russia.” FPV drones have broadcast the realities of the front lines in high definition—long-range bombers could successfully make it feel real, he says. “They don’t suffer like we suffer.”

The effort to bring the war to Russia is advancing on multiple fronts. One of the most famous uncrewed systems of the war has been Kyiv’s Sea Baby drones. Videos have gone viral of these sleek ships clipping along the waters of the Black Sea.

According to Kyiv, they can carry 850 kilograms of explosives, go 90 kilometers per hour, travel some 1,000 kilometers—and they are invisible to radar. This is the kind of capability that the Pentagon, and other defense departments, has spent years trying to develop. “We like to joke that everything we do now, in Ukraine, takes three days—globally, it takes three years,” Brave1’s Kushnerska says.

Ask around Kyiv about these drones, however, and everyone is mum. Even otherwise talkative defense sources go quiet when asked about the Sea Babys. Asked about the vehicles, one defense executive smiled and said simply, “That’s classified.”

Kushnerska is equally evasive: “We need to keep silent about new solutions and new surprises that we are preparing for the enemy.”

The skullduggery is understandable. These uncrewed vehicles have been responsible for doing massive damage to Russia’s prized Black Sea fleet and spearheading the first major attack on the Kerch Bridge, in Crimea, in 2022.

Developing naval drones, however, is relatively easy compared to uncrewed land systems.

Over tea with Stepan, another defense entrepreneur, he lists the litany of difficulties of trying to build uncrewed land systems: They don’t travel well over tough terrain, they don’t operate well in inclement weather, and they don’t tend to go very far.

And yet, Stepan says, his company has overcome all those obstacles—which the Pentagon is still wrestling with—and has put these land systems in the field. Plus, Stepan says he’s “pleasantly surprised by how they’re being used.” He says their smallest unit, which has generally been used to deliver food and equipment, recently rescued and evacuated a wounded soldier from the front line.

Ukraine is not the only side deploying these land systems, however. In late March, pro-Kremlin channels celebrated what they said was the successful deployment of Russian-made uncrewed land systems, outfitted with an AGS-17 grenade launcher.

Ukraine believes its advantage will come from how it dispatches these systems. “You need a mesh system,” Stepan says. And that’s one of the single hardest things to do. Ukraine has started dispatching repeater UAVs, which are used to extend the base station signal, allowing the drones to fly farther and defend better against Russian jamming.

One ground drone, basically a mobile machine-gun turret, boasts an 800-meter range. What’s more impressive, however, is what happens when the land system is paired with a surveillance drone. Rather than them firing directly ahead, Stepan’s team has been training Ukrainian soldiers how to raise the weapon's trajectory, firing in a parabolic pattern and using the drone’s camera to adjust its aim. This tactic, he says, extends the drone’s firing range to 2.4 kilometers.

Doing combined operations with a couple of drones is hard enough. If Ukraine wants to really take advantage of these autonomous systems, it will need to figure out how to command multiple systems across land and air—and that’s where artificial intelligence comes in.

Stepan walks through the four levels of how AI can augment warfare: One is reconnaissance, where machine learning can be used to collate large volumes of footage and satellite imagery. Two is “copiloting,” as he calls it, where AI can analyze that intelligence and help draw insights. Third is planning, where AI can help develop “interlinked, complex orders” for multiple systems across land and air; he likens that to having AI develop football plays. Finally, step four is full autonomy, where AI collects intelligence, analyzes it, develops orders based on the intelligence, and dispatches and commands autonomous units based on that information—although humans review and approve each step of the process.

There are steps beyond this, Stepan notes, that remove human involvement entirely, but he isn’t interested in going there. Another executive recounted a story of how one company designed an autonomous machine gun, capable of conducting object detection and opening fire on its own—that was a “big, big problem,” he says, after the weapon’s radio signals were jammed and it began firing wildly. “I think we can do this slowly,” he adds.

Stepan’s systems are capable of operating at step four, he says. It means his systems have the “ability to take in variables” in real time—it allows his drones to change tactics depending on the environment. He provides examples: “What if our team is close? What if there is [electronic warfare]? What if one system loses connection?”

Kushnerska says Ukraine, alive to the concerns about and risks of AI on the battlefield, is mostly interested in using artificial intelligence only in the “last mile.”

It’s not enough to build drones. Ukrainians also have to know how to pilot them.

The last stop on Yvan’s tour is at a strip mall some distance away. Outside, a group of fresh-faced young men smoke cigarettes and enthusiastically greet him as he walks past.

Inside is a sterile classroom, with a dozen desks laid out—each featuring a tablet, a workstation, and an array of tools. In the back corner are pallets of FPV drones waiting to be unloaded.

This is Yvan’s drone school. Here, students learn not just the ins and outs of piloting these quadcopters but also how the machines work and how to repair them. Down the hallway is a large conference room where the students first test their skills—flags and checkpoints are propped up on cardboard boxes taped together into platforms of different levels. Once students can successfully navigate this makeshift course, they graduate to piloting the drones outside.

Yvan’s drones are normally painted jet black, designed to look as nondescript as possible. One drone, sitting on a desk in the training school, is spray-painted a bright orange. Yvan grins: “We’re sick of losing them in the grass.”

As Kyiv mobilized tens of thousands of ordinary Ukrainian men to fight, training has been a critical necessity. Particularly as ammunition supplies have dwindled, virtual training has been especially attractive. High-tech combat simulators have allowed Ukrainian troops to simulate real combat scenarios with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, even anti-tank missiles. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are hoping to have dozens of these simulators online in the near future, with the goal of training 100,000 troops.

An industry source tells WIRED that a drone combat simulator went online last month, allowing trainees to simulate the entire process of launching a long-range drone strike. Version 2.0 is being rolled out now, they say, adding that it is likely the first immersive offensive drone simulator in operation. The simulator is also intended to help Ukrainian pilots practice integrating their drones with land systems, which is notoriously difficult for even experienced soldiers.

While Yvan’s drone school offers hands-on experience for users of the FPV drones, this new drone simulator allows pilots to practice long-range targeting, flying in adverse weather conditions, and countering electronic warfare.

All of this—the FPV drones, the long-range bombers, the flight simulators—is Ukrainian innovation at work. And it is moving remarkably fast. Some day, after the war is over, Yvan may well be on the front lines of a Ukrainian technology renaissance, fulfilling orders for the Pentagon. First, both he—and Ukraine—need to survive.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have made modest but steady advances along the front lines. Defense executives, meanwhile, see sabotage and industrial espionage as constant problems. Even more acute is the threat of Russian air strikes. One executive recently recounted how one of his company’s main facilities was nearly hit by two Russian cruise missiles. The risk is very real.

Leaving the school, Yvan opens up the back of his car. He rummages around and hands me two patches: One features a cartoonish and scantily clad woman wearing an FPV headset with the Ukrainian flag on the side, piloting one of Yvan’s rotocopters. The other, an army-green Canadian flag, carries the words “ALWAYS BE READY.”

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the-abyssal-lord · 4 months ago

Text

The Sundering of Stones

Summary: The Abyss Chasers warband invade an inconsequential mining world for a forgotten artifact. Introductory to major characters.

CW: extreme violence, as you would expect from the universe of Warhammer 40,000

It was the thundering cracks of artillery-fire that awoke Zech, his body giving under his own weight and sliding from the standing position he had drifted in, landing in the upturned earth and wretched mud of the narrow trench. Blearily he struggled in the mulch and rose to his feet. While he canted his head left and right to re-acquire his lasgun, his wake-deafened ears were already picking up the shouting of his fellow squadmate Herren.

“…Come on… Zech! Come on! The line is moving ahead, the barrage cleared a path!”

Zech groaned, slinging his weapon over his shoulder and started to trudge behind Herren. The pair made their way through the trench, ducking under haphazard beams and supports that criss-crossed throughout the squalid divet in the dirt. They passed a few others that fell in with them, sensing the intent. The air felt hot and cold at the same time to Zech, as he blinked away the last of his impromptu doze. Finally the assembled squad reached the semi-circular clearing where makeshift ladders rose to disappear over the edge of the trench. Lasguns and stubbers were checked, and the group clambered up.

Herren was first, and he was the first to be reduced to a smoking, molten husk as a burst of white-hot plasmic energy collided with what little armour he had. The charred chunks falling away off the ladder. Zech cursed as he waved behind himself, signaling the others to get off the ladder as fast as they could. It was too late.

Zech saw the man behind him pulled off the ladder like a child’s doll, and then torn in two by armoured hands, the others in similar states, strewn about the mud of the clearing. The figure that had committed the man’s murder was a towering, nightmarish giant. Black armour twisted into something horrific, growths of bone and flesh mixing with metal. Burning violet lenses met Zech’s eyes, and then the giant’s hand reached.

All was still in the void, the carnage on the planet below might have seemed like flickers of a distant fire, and in the blackness there was a spark of its own. The small mote then quickly grew, ripping its way across like a baleful grin. Incorporeal spirit-things lashed tendrils and tried to bite down with great teeth upon the vessel that emerged from the warp translation. It seemed to stretch impossibly for a moment before its entirety touched real-space and almost snapped back to its true shape.

A great ship, once, long ago, one could have identified it as an Imperial strike cruiser. Now it appeared twisted and marred by the very energies it had just departed from. The warp-rift closed behind the ship, and it slowly adjusted itself to fall into orbit above the war-torn planet.

With the light of the planet’s sun glinting off the side of the cruiser, its wicked form was clearer. Bristling with gun-batteries and modified over centuries of conflict, it hung as a monument to the great and terrible conflict of the Long War. The Echo of Ecstasy would send a message to the small collection of guarding ships that orbited between the planet and its moons.

Quickly the other ships belonging to the dread forces invading the world fell in line with the larger, and in a spearhead formation they lit thrusters to approach the emplaced enemy.

The emptiness was alight with fire in the next moment, long range batteries thundering from the Imperial fleet. The dark forces met in kind with lance cannons, void shields of each collection illuminating the hulls with colours akin to an oil-splash.

Within the bridge of the flagship the mistress of the vessel shot orders to the twisted crew, her body shunted into the command-throne with countless cables. As her voice rang out, her cybernetic enhanced mind interfaced with the bloodthirsty machine-spirit of the ship. Like a caged beast and likely teetering the line of possession, he growled in her thoughts for carnage and destruction. Again, this time strained, more of her orders were bellowed to the wretched deck-slaves.

Her name was Cecilia. Captain Cecilia Varo. Once the ship-mistress of an Imperial frigate under the Navis Nobilite, she now served this vile warband. Along with her was the Navigator of her former post, who was likely even further gone than she.

“Begin maneouvre to bring our broadside to bear!” Cecilia shouted, wincing as the neural feedback of the machine-spirit roared.

Like the ocean predators of ancient Terra, the Chaos fleet turned to their sides, circling around the embattled Imperials, and let loose the hellfire of their main cannons.

The great mag-lock doors of the bridge hissed open. Captain Cecilia heard it but was too preoccupied with the barrage against the weakening shields. She felt a trickle of blood from her lip, she must have been grimacing too hard. What followed the bridge doors opening was the immensely heavy clang of footsteps.

“All is well… Captain?” A voice said from just out of her periphery. A voice that was almost too low to be human, ragged and corrupt, the words rumbling out halfway between a hiss and a growl.

She recognized it immediately, of course. She replied, “of course, my lord. They cannot hold for much longer. Augurs estimate their void shields will last mere moments further.”

The figure looming behind her command-throne gave a grunt of approval. The closest she has ever gotten to praise from the true master of the ship.

“See to it. My brothers and I await the turmoil below. We cannot embark until those ships are eliminated,” the voice said.

She nodded, cabling extending from the back of her head, snaking out from under her hair, shaking along with the movement. The figure then moved to the side, stepping towards the guard-rail of the helm.

Many in the Imperium had heard the tales of the Emperor’s angels of death. Legends and glories of the gene-wrought ideal warriors that descended upon worlds to bring ruin to His enemies. Few had ever actually seen one. Fewer still have spoken to one. Captain Cecilia would never have expected to encounter such a being, and she surely never would have known it to be one not serving the Emperor.

The Astartes standing only a few metres from her was clad in black armour, the jagged edges corrupt and damaged from centuries of war and the touch of the warp. A single pauldron, the right, was a deep and faded purple, the insignia upon the great pauldron, a curled, clawed hand of white. His towering form hunched slightly from the great jump-pack that seemed fused to the rest of his war-plate. Just as the bare flesh of his neck seemed to melt away into the mechanics. In place of natural legs he seemed to have cybernetic replacements, terminating in claw machine-feet like that of a bird of prey. His head turned just enough for him to side-eye the ship-mistress.

Once his features might have been described as handsome, long white hair, shaved to his pale skin around the sides and back, billowing over one side. Half his face seemed like that of one subject to burns, both sagging and pulled in areas, little corruptions of the flesh. His good eye, his left eye, was a bold violet. Glimmering with sadistic cunning.

“You seem distressed, captain.” The Chaos marine said plainly.

Cecilia furrowed her brow, eyes darting, observing both her Lord, and the battle playing out.

“It shan’t be long… Now!” She exclaimed.

The enemy shields had finally given, shimmering across the ships and blinking out. The Chaos fleet unleashed another barrage, hammering into the hulls of the Imperial fleet. Some vessels were torn apart in the flurry, others began to turn and flee as fast as their engines would take them. The Astartes face pulled into a grin.

Thrusters roared as the Thunderhawk gunship broke into the atmosphere of the war-torn planet. Flak bursts only enhancing the turbulence. Its hull was black as the rest of the vessels belonging to this warband, little dashes of faded purple on the wings. A banking turn and it rocketed lower.

Cresting one of the foothills of the region it landed not too far from where the dirge of battle could be heard, a trench-line broken mere days before, and yet the Imperials didn’t abandon it. The landing ramp lowered, hydraulics hissing as it thudded into the damp earth. Following it was the clamour of massive boots.

A squad of five heretic Astartes stepped onto the planet’s surface. A few surveying their immediate surroundings. Final to emerge was the hunched form of their leader. His hair beginning to whip against the wind.

He flexed his left hand, which had long since been encased in the mechanical casing of a lightning claw. The bladed ends of the fingers sliding over one another.

“Isn’t this a wretched rock… Get moving, we must make for the fire-base, quick as possible,” he ordered his battle-brothers.

The other Chaos marines began to trudge on. First was a brutish creature who seemed to twitch slightly in any moment of idling. The sides of his helm soaring up in the manner of those that served the Blood God. A massive chainaxe was mag-locked to his power-pack. In place of the purple arms that uniformed the small team, he retained the crimson of his former allegiance.

Second was a hooded Astartes, using a great metal staff like a walking stick. His features hidden away despite the gloom not being so immense that it would shadow his face entirely.

Third, an Astartes carrying an impressive bolter that seemed modified for long range engagements. Unlike the others with him, his armour was seemingly untouched by the ravages of the Empyrean. Small serpentine scale patterns etched into his greaves and bracers.

Fourth, a bare-headed marine with wild features, greying, black hair left loose and unkempt, with an equally in disarray beard that brushed over the gorget of his war-plate.

And finally, fifth; an Astartes with the trappings of an Apothecary, though it was rare to see among the forces of Chaos. Small dashes of white standing out against the black armour. Implements upon his bracer and cresting his power-pack.

This squad marched up and over the hill in a loose formation, a mere shadow of the discipline shown by their Imperial counterparts.

The silent march was broken after a few moments by the wild-looking brother, “what was this world called again?” He inquired of the hooded marine.

“Emancha V. Not near our usual haunts but ‘twould seem that our Lord has interests here,” he answered.

The bearded one huffed. “I see. Has he graced us with… what exactly that would be?”

“A relic,” the marine with the stalker bolter replied. “Something belonging to his old Legion.”

“When did they ever come here? It seems hardly the place I’d catch them visiting,” the wild one said.

The serpentine marine shrugged. “Matters little. I’d assume we’ll know more when we reach the rest of our forces.”

The squad continued on, eyes and helm optics trained for any surprise movements from their surroundings. After quite the trek, seeing the blooms of light in the distance from the clash, they saw the edges of the Chaos line.

Countless of their mortal servants had made work of digging trenches of their own that weaved into pre-established ones recently captured. The Astartes saw pikes with bloodied corpses raised high and tattered banners with their claw emblem flapping away. Mutants and beastmen dragging dismembered bodies into hulking piles at the bases of the great war-banners. Looming over a great gathering of them was a dread machine, a Chaos knight, its mechanical head shifting slightly to the left and right, keeping watch.

The squad descended the hillside into the encampment. Their leader making the thrum of mortals bow heads and part like a tide. He approached the only thing that could be conceived of as a tent, the rest more like scraps hung over rusted metal beams.

At its entrance he stood, a curtain gently flowing against the wind.

“Emerge. We have much to discuss,” he said.

A bit of a rustle and from the tent came a mortal woman, long well-kept obsidian-black hair and traditionally beautiful features. She wore a robe the colours of the warband, with a mantle of armoured plates that donned the claw insignia upon one pauldron.

With a bow of her head, “my lord Silas. Welcome to the conflict.”

The Chaos Lord Silas Decurin hissed, “indeed, a conflict. Tell me, how did this start exactly? Emancha wasn’t supposed to have any Loyalist presence from what your gleanings entailed.”

The mortal witch, Lucina, met his gaze. “Simply put, they tracked us. This is no mere token force of the enemy, my lord. All reports seem to say an Inquisitor is leading this force. Even with the break of their fleet you achieved, more are on the way.”

Silas bristled with rage at the mention of the Imperial Inquisition. He knew full well there was only one of their numbers so keen on following his movements beyond the Eye.

“Speak this inquisitor’s name, Lucina.” He demanded.

Lucina dipped her head again, “Roslyn Jesenia.”

Lord Decurin barked a grim laugh, “as I suspected. I wonder if this planet has more to it than I thought, even she would not come to some useless rock just for me.”

He turned to his squad, “I suppose now marks a good time to explain why we came here.”

A short time later, the heretic Astartes departed the witch’s tent.

“Really? A daemon blade, here on this rock?” The feral-looking marine, Jormund Helsson, asked Lord Decurin.

Silas nodded, cabling and wires protruding from his head swaying with the motion, “Aye.”

The hooded sorcerer hummed in thought, “I haven’t sensed such a thing.”

“Perhaps ‘tis not a thing that can be sensed so easily, Vezeral.” The serpentine marine replied.

The Berzerker amongst them grunted, turning his helmeted head between his gathered fellows. “We seek it out then?”

Silas made a pointed look, “once we know more, Tyrax.”

Another dissatisfied grunt came from the blood-hungry marine.

The Chaos Lord then turned to another, “Naethar, have your augurs caught anything?”

The marine whose armour is marked by scales shakes his head, red helm optics scanning through countless displays of visual and auditory pickups. “Jamming. Interference, maybe. Could be the loyalists, could be something else.”

Silas lets out a ragged sigh, gesturing for the squad to follow him. They move through the lines back up of where the chaos witch Lucina’s tent lies, where there is a makeshift structure set-up a stone’s throw behind it for the Astartes. More a shack than anything, but it would serve well enough while the damned brothers organized their plans, and thoughts.

Within, the apothecary Celtrian works on the remains of some form of the local wildlife of the planet. He tilts his head up upon the entry of his team, before just as quickly returning to his study.

“We cannot afford to stay here for long, regardless of my desires. If the witch spoke true to us, and she knows the cost of lying, there are far more loyalists in transit to this heap,” Silas began, his eyes scanning the group.

“I do not know what the corpse-emperor’s inquisition is bringing to bear, but we do not have the full might of the Abyss Chasers with us here. A token force, even with a knight.”

The baleful squad goes over simplistic plans to reach behind the curtain of fire that the Imperials have emplaced. From what the reports show the force that has met the Chasers is merely an Astra Militarum detachment, re-routed from their original destination. Damn their eyes! Thought Silas. if it was not for the variable whimsy of the warp, they could have arrived at this pitiful world days earlier.

The chaos marines would need to go the long way around, for as glorious and damned as they are, even Astartes would not survive wading head-long into the dug-in firing lines of the Imperial Guard. More of their brothers aboard the Echo would also be eager to engage their hated foes. The plan was laid; the command squad would begin an advance around the edge of a nearby forest, the majority of which had been scoured away by the initial assaults. Under cover of the foliage, and the Echo of Ecstasy in orbit above launching drop-pods full of heretic Astartes, Silas and his men could reach the rearguard of the Imperials.

Silas grinned, and gods willing, find the Inquisitor.

Hours later, when the light of the planet’s sun had become a dim haze, the Abyss Chasers enacted their plan. On foot Lord Decurin and his squad broke for the tree-line, while the main force began a forward push towards the Imperial Guard lines. In orbit, the strike cruiser maneuvered to let loose drop-pods containing additional squads to reinforce the mortals. The warband was an eclectic mixture of the traitor Legions, and that versatility is what allowed them such strikes despite their small numbers. They were raiders above all, prolonged conflict was best left to the renegade mortals and mutants.

Silas and the squad watched on their brisk trek as spears of light careened into the trenches of the loyalist scum. They were just mortals, Silas mused. Barely worth the bolt shells. The chaos lord almost wished to face his loyalist cousins in a worthy fight, but he knew it was for the best that such things did not occur. Losing numbers in the name of vain glory was not on the agenda, not this time.

“These woods are sparse, and silent,” growled Jormund.

“Would you prefer we be beset upon by wretched rock-chippers? See how a rusted pickax stands up to your war-plate?” Teased Vezeral.

Jormund huffed, “just desiring more than a prowl with no prey.”

“Silence,” said Silas. “We still have a-ways to go till we reach the back-lines.”

The chatter halted at his order, and the chaos marines continued on.

It wasn’t much longer until they reached the next clearing. Just at the edge of sight was the mining complex in this region. A massive opening into the earth of the planet, lined with machinery of immense size. Emancha V was noted for its exportation of simple resources, granite and other materials for structural production. In the grand scheme of the Imperium, ultimately minor in importance. Which only made all the Astartes, Silas included, wonder why such a prized artifact would be interred here.

Tyrax was the first to charge into the lonesome trench that buffered the area between the mine entrance and the battle-lines. It was unlikely the guardsmen defending it, who were half-asleep at their posts, even had time to react. The Berzerker of the blood god tore them to pieces. Jormund, in his own rash fury, joined quickly after. In bloody moments the line was cleared. The command squad all looked towards the great shadowed entrance into the below. In the distance, chaos marines and cultist forces engaged the Imperial Guard. A backdrop of carnage for the chase to begin.

The descent was just as quiet as the forested trudge. Voids of darkness sparsely illuminated by hanging portable lumens at regular intervals. Of course the plunging blackness was nothing to the creatures that walked through it. Helm lenses cycled through displays of night-sight and heat detection, and gene-enhanced eyes pierced the gloom with ease. The heretic Astartes under Lord Decurin walked with purpose, as Naethar’s auspex already mapped out the winding corridors of the first 50 levels of the mine.

This scanning also revealed a chamber about 5 levels down that was the likely location of their target. The array revealed connections to the surface for communication, if anything it indicated where the leadership of the Guard was, and that was enough for now.

“Mapping concluded,” chimed Naethar.

Silas nodded, reaching to his belt to procure his own helm. He rarely wore it, but it was one of the few things not fused to his form through warp energies. With an airy hiss the helmet clicked into place, and the lenses flared to life as his display kicked in. Sure enough, the entire mine complex was laid out for the squad. Silas could see the room they were heading for pinged in particular with a secondary colouration.

“Keep formation close, watch all entries,” the chaos lord ordered.

The squad reached the area indicated in little time, following a great bite into the earth that wound down like a spiral. The level they reached was different, more constructed. Wrought metal walls and a large enough for their forms mag-lock door. Wasting no time Silas simply kicked it in with a cybernetically enhanced blow, and the Astartes funneled in.

A large hall, rail-tracks in the centre with a cart of stone slabs. It was at this sight that something clicked for Silas.

“By the dark gods. That’s what this is for!” He exclaimed, turning to the squad.

Naethar inclined his head, “aye my lord. The mapping made clear that the very base of this sprawling complex has a far older structure buried below. It almost appeared to be a ship, lanced into the planet’s crust, and then twisted and compressed over centuries of burial.”

Silas sneered, “the location of the relic. This warp-damned inquisitor discovered it as well.”

“Why would she seek it?” Vezeral interjected. “She serves the corpse-Emperor does she not? What use would an artifact of the gods be?”

“Many uses,” Silas said. “The false Emperor’s lackeys often seek to ‘confiscate’ objects of power to us. Either to destroy, or utilize for themselves.”

“A daemon blade? Wonder if she plans to hoist it and stab you, lord Decurin.” Tyrax poked.

Silas gave a smirk within his helm, “perhaps. Would be a sight, a fragile mortal attempting such a feat.”

The squad reached the doors to what the mapping said would be the room of interest. A keypad kept the entry locked, and in this case the chaos lord wanted a subtler approach. So Naethar went to work.

It didn’t take very long for the former Alpha Legionnaire to break the code of the door, and with a hiss it slid open. The room was grimly lit, a handful of lumens upon the walls. In the centre was a large hololithic display table, the graphics fizzing in and out of focus. On the far side stood three individuals, two were garbed in the finely made armour of the Tempestus Scions, stormtroopers of the Inquisition. The third in the middle was dressed darkly, a heavy tailed jacket hanging over a black armoured bodyglove, and a silver chain hanging around the neck, ending with the I-shaped emblem of the Emperor’s holy Inquisition.

“Lady Inquisitor Jesenia. It’s been some time,” Silas greeted.

The raven-haired Inquisitor glared at the chaos marine, leveling a stub revolver. “Traitor.”

“Come now,” Silas spoke with a sickly sweet tone. “You really expect that to harm us?”

She made no movement that Silas could detect, perhaps fear had gripped her soul?

“You know why we have come here. Give me the relic, and your death will be swift.”

The scions then raised their hellguns in tandem with the Inquisitor. Those posed a greater threat than the meekly pistol, but an enclosed space, six chaos marines against three mortals? It was a foolish gesture.

“Where. Is. The blade.” Silas snarled.

A door flew open behind Jesenia, she popped off a shot and made a break for it, the scions lighting up the gloom with red flashes from their hellguns. The troopers were dead in seconds, Tyrax and Jormund charging around the display table and eviscerating the mortals in gore-filled fashion. Silas roared in anger, pulling his plasma pistol and letting off a shot into the doorway, it hit the back wall in a sizzling bloom. A moment later a new figure filled the passage, standing as tall as the heretics, and aiming a bolter.

“Primaris!” Naethar shouted, quickly finding whatever cover he could.

The room filled with the bark of a Cawl-pattern bolt rifle, the traitors scrambling behind cogitator blocks that filled the room. Already the machinery was being blown apart, they had little time. Tyrax bellowed a cry and bull-rushed the Primaris, the loyalist had little time to react, pulling a combat knife. The former World Eater tackled the loyalist, snarling and screaming like a wild beast. The Primaris tried to find purchase with his combat knife but to no avail as Tyrax pinned one arm, with animalistic fervour he pulled, ripping the ribbed under-armour, and then the flesh, and finally tearing away the bone.

Jormund came from the other side, hiking his chainsword over his head and bringing it down, the rev of the teeth mixing with a grotesque gurgle and ripping sound as the corrupt wolf beheaded the loyalist.

The body slumped and went still, for all the enhancement of the new breed, two veterans of the Long War were still more than enough to take down a Primaris marine.

When the cacophony of fighting went quiet, Silas stalked to the bloodied corpse, and looked down. White armour, with an arm of royal purple. He laughed, it was like a mockery of their own war-plate. The foe’s angel to their daemon.

“What Chapter is this, Naethar? This is bad comedy,” Silas said.

Naethar came to Silas’s side, “ident tag… Sons of the Phoenix. Successors of the Imperial Fists, scions of Rogal Dorn.”

Lord Decurin’s laugh barked louder, “Phoenix? Dorn? By the gods, loyalist scum grows more deluded with every century.”

Naethar nodded, “indeed my lord. Shall we track the inquisitor?”

Silas turned to the group, “find the blade. She surely is heading that way as well.”

After a further trek of the hall, the Chaser's command squad reached the end, where the area opened fully into a free fall into the depths. A rickety looking lift was the only thing bolted to the side of the chasm. The marines carefully stepped onto it, testing their immense weight against the cables that held the platform aloft. Despite appearances, it seemed sturdy enough for all six to stand on.

“She came through here. Likely descending this very lift. Aren’t you all excited to see what lies at the bottom?” Silas hissed.

Naethar hit the cogitation pad, and with a squeal of grinding machinery, the elevator dropped.

When they reached the base of the towering bore, at least three local minutes had passed. The chaos marines fanned out as the surroundings were natural cave formations instead of the carved passages of the mine. Silas looked about, his auspex clicking through displays. Eventually his eyes trained on a tunnel, he signaled for the team to follow his lead, and in they went.

Further walking, they reached what was likely the side hull of a ship, just barely peering out from the rock face it was lodged into. A terrible ripped gash in the metal was their entrance, a single lantern hung off a spear of metal, the only illumination in the absolute darkness of the pit. The chaos marines entered, doubly cautious as it was not out of the realm of possibility they encountered further loyalist marines.

The interior was just as devastated as the outside, wiring, tubing, struts and other structural pieces of the ship were in disarray, making the hall look almost as haphazard as the natural tunnels the squad had just come from. Bits of the natural stone were crushing in on the hull, some ripping through. It was akin to a space hulk, but they were far from the cold embrace of the void. The Astartes emerged into a large room, turned upwards in the centre like on an axis. Folding. There Silas made out enough to identify the owners of this wreck.

“Third Legion… Emperor’s Children,” he breathed.

Banners were torn but still vaguely readable, the deep, proud purple of Lord Decurin’s parent Legion. Despite the ravages of time, a single stained-glass mosaic of the Primarch in his original form emblazoned a far wall. There was a bench with two helmets left astray. Maximus pattern, Legion colours.

“Bring back memories, sire?” Vezeral inquired.

Silas grunted, “a few. Let us continue, this at least explains what an artifact of my old brother’s would be doing here.”

The group continued, through a passage on the opposite side of the chamber. The next room was even larger, a vaulted cathedral chamber.

“Appears to be the Reclusiam,” Naethar suggested.

“What a fine place for a relic,” Jormund chuckled.

At the centre of the chapel was a plinth, the item they’d been on this hunt for was held aloft in one of the few things still functioning, a stasis field. The sword was long, wide-bladed. Similar to a common power sword. However it held a cracked surface that seemed to bleed violet light, hissing against the time-locked energy of the field. The Warp and chronology did not play well together, and it was a marvel the stasis did not fail in this ship’s long grave-bound slumber.

Silas stepped up towards it, smashing his lightning claw into the cogitation array at the plinth’s base. The stasis field gave way, and the sword clattered onto the stone. The chaos lord of the Abyss Chasers grasped the leathered hilt and lifted the blade aloft. He could hear dreadful whispers in his ears, a daemon slept within, dormant, but would be like to stir at the merest prod.

Naethar began, “Is that wise, my Lord? We still know little of—“

“Silence! We’ve gone through enough for this blasted thing.” Silas snapped, cutting off the question.

“Where is the Inquisitor?” Celtrian asked.

Tyrax replied, “does it matter? We have the relic, let us be done with this place.”

“It is curious, I imagine she fled to the surface then, instead. Abandoning the artifact for our Lord to gather, weighing the options, I understand her method. A single mortal, even an Inquisitor, against all of us?” Naethar explained.

“A coward!” Jormund bellowed with a chortle.

“Or wise enough to know when beaten,” Naethar pointed back.

“Enough,” Silas demanded. “I can hear the daemon waking. Let us leave, return to the Echo of Ecstasy.”

The command squad obliged, turning to depart.

“Halt,” a voice rang out. Deep and altered, much like the heretic’s own.

The chaos marines trained their sights. The Inquisitor stood next to another Primaris, more decorated than the previous, wearing the same colours as the dead fool in the hololithic room.

“I am Lieutenant Edriel of the Sons of the Phoenix. My squad travels with the lady Inquisitor Roslyn Jesenia. One of that squad lies dead and defiled, brother Jessian. For your crime, and all your history of treachery, you will die here.”

The Primaris inclines his helmeted head towards the Inquisitor, “go, my lady. Take it back to the ship. If I do not return in a cycle, inform my brothers of my death.”

Jesenia nods curtly, and sprints down the passage the Chaos marines came into the chamber from.

“A fucking coward!” Jormund calls out.

The loyalist marine turns his lens gaze to the wolf, “no, traitor. She simply has more tasks to honour the Emperor.”

The lieutenant draws an artificed power sword, the blade igniting with cracks of blue energy. He falls into a warrior’s stance, two hands upon the grip.

“A fine display, lapdog.” Silas states. “He is mine, the rest of you go after the Inquisitor. If I don’t return? Well good luck figuring out who’s in charge.”

The squad tears off down the hall, and Silas steps forward, his lightning claw already alight with chaotic arcs.

Two giants clashed in the silent, dead Reclusiam of a forgotten ship. Honour-blade against warp-tainted claw. Again and again the Lieutenant tried to make great swings towards the chaos lord, parry after parry. Silas hissed with effort, trying to grab hold of the blade with his articulate claws, but the loyalist was talented enough to pull away, dodge, or get an extra strike in to avoid having his sword locked in such a grip. It was grating on the heretic’s patience.

In the back of his mind, there was a chittering. A little voice that bid him use the blade he held tight in his off-hand. Let it drink of the loyalist’s blood, let it awaken, let it feed. It would grant him strength, such power.

Silas roared, tossing the sword to the ground. The effort to do so was immense, he felt perspiration forming on his brow, enclosed in his helm. The Primaris didn’t pay it a mind, continuing the engagement as if there was no change. With his mind cleared Silas re-doubled his effort, a slash, a swipe. Lord Decurin finally found purchase after another flurry, and snapped the power sword; there was a dulled boom as the energy field shattered.

Lieutenant Edriel staggered back, drawing his combat knife. Much like the brother in the levels above, the chaos lord didn’t allow him the moment. Four great blades of his lightning claw dug into the loyalist’s abdomen. A strangled yell emerged from the helmeted Primaris.

Silas lifted him off the ground, snarling with effort. The Son of the Phoenix gurgled in the white-hot suffering accompanied by a direct strike from the talon of the Abyssal Lord.

“F-From the fires of war… We rise…” Edriel groaned.

“You will not emerge reborn from this,” Silas said, barely above a whisper.

With the sickening sound of metal against bone and flesh, Lord Decurin stepped back, the blades of his claw leaving the Primaris. He dropped to his knees, yellow eye-lenses meeting the gaze of the chaos lord. The light flickered, and went out. The Lieutenant’s lifeless body falls forward with a thudding crash.

Some time later, Silas returned to the Echo of Ecstasy in orbit above the planet of Emancha V. The relic was recovered, though the chaos lord kept it under lock and key. His squad had informed him the Inquisitor made her escape, even Naethar’s auspex could not pick her out, perhaps some damnable item or tactic allowed her to slink away.

Lord Decurin paid it little mind, he knew that as surely as the gods were eternal, he would cross paths with the Lady Inquisitor again. Further augur readings informed the warband that indeed more Imperial forces were en-route to the system, and they needed to leave. With three cycles to spare they gathered what they could, forces, resources, they scoured as much as possible. The knight returned to its own ship, lost and the damned left the surface. Drop-pods reclaimed and bodies burned.

Silas also had a new trophy in addition to the artifact. A Primaris Lieutenant’s helm, and the skull within.

The Abyss Chasers gathered in the void, turning from the cold mining rock, one by one tearing back into the roiling embrace of the warp.

“Sons of the Phoenix,” Silas muttered. “I wonder if they know.”

#warhammer 40k #40k #warhammer #chaos #slaanesh #ask the abyssal lord #fic writing #fic #chaos 40k #Decurin Energy #Silas Decurin

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