Angels of Death

by S093

Jackson opened the Gate, Tabanae created the IS, the Universe cursed the Goa'uld for not reducing earth to a smocking ruin when they had the chance, and they were given plenty of chances.

10. Chapter 4-Orientation

Chapter Four, Orientation

Earth, Area 51, Above Ground Hangar, March 2015

Colonel Cameron Mitchell looked over some of the best fighter pilots their respective countries had to offer. Just under a hundred men and women stood before him, Britain, Germany, Japan, and China had each sent twelve of their best fighter crews to be the next pilots for the F302 Fighter-Interceptor. He was currently standing on one of the fighters looking over the assembled flight crews. They had divided themselves into blocks based on country of origin, the pilots were all standing in a row with their respective operators behind them. They all radiated the aura of envy at the 302 he was standing on, they wanted to get the talking out of the way and get flying. There was also skepticism as fighter aircraft had largely been declared obsolete a few years ago, courtesy of the IS. Well today they learn why the fighter had not gone obsolete, but was had become the king of the skies.

"Welcome ladies and gents to your orientation of the F302 Fighter-Interceptor, I'm Colonel Cameron Mitchell USAF, and this," indicating to the man standing behind and to the left of him, "is-."

"Captain George Beurling, RCAF. And we're here to teach you louts how to fly a real fighter plane, not those aero only things you've been flying." Several chuckles rose from the people who got the joke, the rest just looked confused.

"And the star of the show, the thing you traveled from all over to meet," jumping down of the fighter and giving it a pat, "is the F302 Fighter-Interceptor. Second generation aero-space fighter craft, you can take of from here head to the ISS and back again without any boosters or heat shields."

"Provided you aren't idiotic about it."

"Well there is that. Now I know you're all itching to get in the air, but first we have to put the pilots through the simulators first." There were several halfhearted groans. "Operators will be going up with me and Beurling later, but first. Any questions?"

"Yeah I got one. Why are we even bothering with fighters. I mean come on IS can do all the things a fighter can do and more." Mitchell looked at Beurling.

"You want to handle this one or should I."

"Don't mind either way, go ahead."

"Well how about this, the top cruising speed of high speed IS units is just over mach two, on a good day. The F302 does mach thirteen on a bad day, on a good day you could be hitting up to mach seventeen. Now can an IS do that." The crowd in front of him was starring in disbelief, Beurling just had on the biggest possible grin his face could support.

"Before any of you jabber on about how the IS is almost invisible to modern sensors, remember the 302 is equipped with a sensor suit that would make the researchers at SERN green with envy. So not only do you have a higher top speed than any IS unit you can nail them BVR as well."

"For weapons the F302 has six under wing hard-points each capable of carrying up to four missiles a piece, along with two under the fuselage that can hold two apiece and an internal bomb bay. Each craft also has two fifty millimeter half kilogram railguns mounted in the fuselage. Maximum missile range is about forty five kilometers, expect about half that during combat with anyone halfway decent at ECM. Also don't expect to hit anything with your guns over kilometer, even with the computer helping you chances of hitting at that range are slim. And I doubt any of you are named Buerling." The cadets all turned to Beurling, obviously confused.

"What so special about him."

"He is a freak of nature, and the only one who has ever managed a BVR gun kill with the F302."

"I thought you said that was impossible?"

"Not impossible just really hard, and besides Beurling here is the exception to the rule. He nails whatever he's aiming at, he routinely gets kills at several hundred meters."

"I'm not that good."

"Yeah, then where did all those death gliders below your canopy come from."

"Someone put more of them on then they should have, nothing more." Cameron just let out a sigh, continuing this conversation would accomplish nothing.

"Moving on, simulators are in the room to your right, now we only have sixteen at the moment so you will have to take turns. For those of you waiting we have prepared an information package that you can go over, it has details on all of the F302s systems. Operators, you may want to go over this as it details many of the crafts backseat equipment." In a semi orderly fashion the cadets filled of to the right, where most of them picked up the info package. He idly wondered how they were tacking learning that they weren't alone in the galaxy and that they would be fighting against a technologically superior foe. Scratch technologically superior at the moment the only real advantage the Goa'uld have is a lot more population and industrial base.

Later

He and Beurling flew through the virtual skies inside the simulator, it looked fairly impressive but nowhere near the quality of modern video games. But rather most of the effort was being put into simulating the F302 inside the environment, it wasn't an exact match for actual combat but it was sure close.

Both of them were up against the sixteen cadets in the downstairs simulators, the cadets were unaware of their presence at the moment. But that would soon change when they started the mock battle, and if they were paying attention they might actually have time to fight back. Taping a button on the side of the central display the combat simulation began, immediately sixteen red dots appeared on his sensor display. The cadets would be seeing two dots representing him and Beurling closing in from the high ground, and at this range they were well within the F302s sensor bubble, hell he could make them out at this distance.

He managed to lock up the nearest craft and let loose an air to air missile before they had even begun to maneuvering. He had to give them credit, once they realized they were under attack they moved pretty fast for a group that had been barely flying for an hour. Suddenly Beurling let of a burst from his guns and the fighter he had locked up disappeared from the simulation, his missile acting like a real one exploded after it's lock on disappeared. For the love of god Beurling, quit showing off, he could just imagine the man's grin at stealing the kill.

The cadets had all come about now and were lining up shots on his and Beurling's craft, their response was to draw more power out of the engines and close the gap faster. The cadets were not expecting that, even so one of them managed to get a missile of before he got into knife fighting range. The trick to evading missiles was to wait to the absolute last second before maneuvering so that the missile would blow by and lose it's target lock. He waited until he could make out the head of the missile before snapping the fighter hard to the left. The missile exploded right behind his craft peppering it with shrapnel, damage alarms went of inside the simulators cockpit.

Switching back to the left he avoided a burst of fire from one of the other trainees, at this range it was difficult to get a missile lock. He managed to manoeuvre himself into position by using his more intimate familiarity with the F302 to take out one of the cadets going after Beurling. Doing a quick check on his sensor screen he confirmed only twelve targets left, when had Beurling taken out the other two?

Bringing his craft around in the tightest turn he could manage, he caused one of the cadets to overshoot their target, him. Turning even tighter he managed to draw a bead on the cadet who had just tried to down him, a quick burst was all he could manage before they blew by each other. He didn't get to see if he actually hit as he was soon on the defensive again as two more cadets came at him from above. Jinking to the right and down caused them to miss their targets, while cutting his airspeed put him at their six. A quick burst hit one of them forcing the craft down, he didn't have time to get a burst of at the second craft as he was forced away by a burst from one of the other cadets.

His momentum drew his bead across another of the cadets fighters, without any hesitation he let off a burst that caused the craft to spiral out of control. He cut a tight as turn as he could to bring the battle back into focus, just in time for him to roll out of the way to avoid being shot out of the air by three of the cadets. Completing his roll he dived down to regain lost airspeed, the three cadets followed him down. At the bottom of his dive he pulled sharply up and to the right before hitting the afterburners, climbing rapidly. The cadets tried to bring themselves around but it was to late, stalling at the top of his climb Mitchell looped over so he now had all three of them in his sights. Two quick bursts knocked two of them out of the sky while the third managed to get out of the way, only to be downed by a burst from Beurling.

A quick check of his screen showed him and Beurling to be the last two in the air. "What happened to the rest of them?"

"Looks like three of them slammed themselves into the ground, and we got the rest of them."

"I only tagged four maybe five of them, and only two confirmed went down, so that means you got the other eight. Which somehow I find difficulty believing."

"Well I can tell you right now your kill count is four, I had to finish that one you left hanging." He would definitely have to go through the logs later and see what happened.

Underground Hangar

Major Paul Davis followed the multinational delegation as they walked along the corridors beneath area fifty one. At the moment they were heading down towards the underground bays that were being used to construct the new Prometheus class vessels as well as a bay dedicated to the construction of the Daedalus.

They emerged from the corridor onto one of the catwalks running between bays, one of the near completed Prometheus class was of to the left while the Daedalus was to the right. The Prometheus class was almost ready for launch, technicians were just now doing final checks on all systems, estimates put her launch just after the beginning of April. The Daedalus was little more than an incomplete frame, and a reactor at the moment, she was still several months away from completion.

The Prometheus's hull was little more than a box with a tower bridge at one end and a tapered front at the other end, two boxes attached to the bottom housed the vessels hangar bays. There was an addition right in front of the tower that raised the rearmost BHSG above the forward BHSG. The tower was a box at the end of the hull with two 'arms' protruding out and forwards of the tower. Antennae were located on the front of the vessel, protruding from the top of the vessel and from the tops of the hangar bays. Two BHSGs dominate the top of the vessel, the weapons were almost forty meters in length and rose up from the hull over a dozen meters. Mostly due to their turret mounts, which alone stood three meters high and a dozen round.

"The Prometheus line of ship measures three hundred and six meters in length, one hundred and forty nine meters wide and one hundred and sixty eight meters wide. Power is provided by two fusion power plants, one located above the main engines and one located at the front of the ship. Forward thrust is provided by a pair of ion engines each capable of moving the mass of a super-carrier. To manoeuvre, there are thirty six gravity anti-gravity emitters located around the ship, thanks to the onboard computer systems the emitters work in concert with each other to achieve maximum efficiency."

"The main armament is two BHSGs and six missile tubes, the BHSGs can fire six shots before needing to recharge and thanks to the fusion reactor powering them, they can be recharged in around seven to ten minutes. The missile tubes can carry a multitude of dot seven five by fifteen missiles, mainly nuclear along with MIRVs and UASVs. Secondary armament consists of two plasma projectors and twenty four, dot five kilo railguns. Each plasma projector consists of a dozen plasma cannons mounted to a single turret, the cannons can either be set to a high or low degree of separation. Resulting in either an area of effect or small area saturation, they are situated on either side of the forward section of hull. The railguns are positioned on the hull so that there is no blind-zone outside of the shield bubble. The railguns themselves fire half kilogram slugs at a rate of one hundred and twenty a minute, and at a velocity of mach two dot five."

"There are six anti air missile launchers located on the arms and on the flight pods. The missile uses a combination of radar, heat and gravity to track its target."

"The onboard fighter squadron is split between the two flight pods with eight on each side. While it is possible to fit more fighters onboard, it was decided to use the extra room to house the machinery necessary to fabricate replacement parts for the fighter squadrons and the ship itself. Each pod has a retractable door that is normally closed, when it is open a low end shield prevents air from escaping the inside of the flight pod."

"Protection comes form the ships shields which are fully capable of taking multiple nuclear strikes in a short period of time without losing integrity. The ship's armor is made of a trinium, titanium, carbon, naquadah plating strong enough to withstand large caliber anti-armour rounds, as well as a special coating that reflects energy to reduce the damage done by directed energy weapons and plasma."

"The Prometheus class has an average cruising speed of dot eight light years per second, which can be pushed up to one dot three light years per second. Though this puts extra strain on the hyperdrive which can cause a burn out if done to often or for to long."

"The four ships that you can see behind me will be launching this April to join the USS Prometheus, Bodsky, and HMCS Kanata. With their launch we will have seven ships at our disposal for the defense of earth. Now in front of me is the still under construction USS Daedalus, current projection place its launch in the mid to late summer of this year. The Daedalus will be a second generation ship constructed by earth, current drafts have her measuring at approximately six hundred meters in length. When she is launched fleet command for multi ship operations will be transferred over form the Prometheus. In essence the Daedalus will become the new flagship of the earth fleet."

"Any questions?"

"What does BHSG stand for?"

"I actually don't know, some Colonel came up with it and we've called it that ever since. Personally I just go with plasma cannon."

"I see." Well he couldn't blame the guide for not wanting to spell it out, O'Neill had a very very strange naming scheme. How it had ever got put on the official forms was beyond him.

Offices, Suite 253

Dr. Rodney Meredith McKay sorted through the multitude of papers on his desk and on his tablet, desperately trying to put some order back into the office space. Most of the files were on the Aile Blanche, the third generation Canadian IS unit that he had designed and engineered, from scratch. Though he never got why they were using french for it, come on couldn't it just be White Wing and not something that only some people would get. Oh and the best part, it would be making it's debut at the IS academy, where it would remain for three years before actually doing something useful. That's not even taking into account that the pilot they chose is a complete air head who was only chosen because they have a high IS resonance. Even Russia managed to get it right and was sending someone halfway qualified to pilot the their third generation IS the Buster.

Of course no one acknowledged the potential in the Aile at all despite it being able to do any job that you would need an IS for. Carter's Blitz and the Russian's Buster were specialist units and were well equipped to deal with their roles, the Blitz being a close combat specialist and the Buster being little more than mobile artillery. What they couldn't do was act effectively outside of their specialization, the Aile could be a close in combat unit, an artillery unit or a support unit. While remaining decent at all roles required of it.

A knock interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly gave the desk some semblance of order, it was still covered in papers but at least they looked organized to the untrained eye. "Come in." The man who opened the door was dressed in a black business suit, his facial features were oriental. Chinese or Japanese by the look of it.

"Dr. McKay I presume." The man stepped in and closed the door.

"Yes. Have a seat." The man took the chair opposite him. "I assume you're here for something."

"Yes. The Japanese government wishes to know if you would be available to help us with a certain project."

"Depends on what the project is, the Canadian government may not give me the time to pursue your project."

"I have already spoken with your government, and they have given their permission for you to be on this project. I came here to offer you the position."

"What do you want me for?"

"You were one of the minds behind the third generation IS Aile Blanche, were you not. We are looking at developing a third generation IS unit similar to the ones America, Russia and Canada have created."

"I'm surprised you did not simply go to Dr. Carter or Dr. Shinonono, given the way everyone simply fawns over their work."

"Dr. Shinonono is eccentric, and my government does not trust her with sensitive information, additionally she has turned down all other research offers given to her. She would most likely turn this one down as well. And Dr. Carter is an American, and given recent events they are not fully trusted, besides she has other complications."

"Well you have my attention, so when does this project start." It felt good to be chosen over his peers for a project.

IS Academy, Japan

Cassandra Fraiser stifled a yawn that was trying to worm its way out of her. She had arrived at the academy yesterday afternoon after a slow flight from America, slow when compared to most flying objects she was familiar with. She had spent the remainder of the day unpacking and becoming acquainted with the academy's layout. There was still a week before classes started and she had gone over the materiel at least a dozen times. She had just finished trying to move one of her textbooks around without touching it with some success.

It was just after noon and she was feeling a little bored, lunch had been gotten from the cafeteria and had consisted of a simple meat sandwich. More to replenish her energy after her morning workout, the track here was big enough that she only had to go around three times instead of the five that she could do at the field by her house.

At the moment she had the room to herself, though that would change by the time classes started, which meant she didn't have to worry when she was manipulating objects with her mind. With nothing better to do she grabbed her laptop from one of her dresser doors turned safe. Placing it on her desk she tried to open it with her mind. When that inevitability failed she settled on opening it the old fashioned way, popping it open and hitting power. The laptop was a Carter special, well the hardware was at least, she had gone to Hailey to get software as she did not want to end with a Carter special OS. Carter's OS would have been some amalgamation of Goa'uld, Asgard and Human programming that wouldn't work with the majority of terran software, Windows nine was boring but it was consistent, and tech support wasn't limited to just Carter. A laptop didn't have to be programmed to the same extreme as a spaceship.

Boot up happened while she blinked, Carter may not have been able to create software that was useable by everyone, but damn it was an absolute beast. Hailey had done some extra tweaking to the OS to let Win9 take full advantage of the processing power available. One password later and she was in, her main screen was covered with icons for various applications. I really need to sort this out one of these days.

Hitting the internet she started by browsing her way through the latest developments coming out of the Gateway Initiative, some of it had been a part of the SGC for years. Crystal based computers, using one right now, not some new breakthrough. Most of it was actually new, gathering the greatest minds together had already produced some new stuff, anti-mater generation cycle, anti-matter reactors, theoretical processes for terraforming. After going through the myriad of scientific articles she opened up Worlds, an MMORPG, which was officially based on the Tv show Wormhole Extreme. Unofficially it was based on the SGC and all the interesting adventures Jack and crew got up to, though there were several artistic differences to make it seem like it was based on the official source.

Diving into the virtual world, or would it be galaxy in this case, as Cas, bounty hunter, mercenary, and adventurer. She joined a few million players in their various adventures across the virtual galaxy, in various adventures and quests, and the occasional developer challenge. Also known as something the SGC figures it needs at lot of people working on, but doesn't have the time or people to throw at it.

Later

A few hours later she made her way down to the cafeteria for some supper, she had ended up stuck on one of the challenges and needed food and a break. As she approached the cafeteria she noted that it seemed louder than when she had been their last night, could just be more students here. Entering the cafeteria she could see a rather large amount of students all gathered around one area, it seemed like all of them were talking at the same time. She was no slouch when it came to Japanese, courtesy of Daniel, but with so many people talking at once it just blurred together.

She let out a sigh, finding out what was going on would have to wait until people calmed down. "So what's this latest commotion about?" that had to be the most arrogant haughtiest voice she had ever heard. The speaker was a first year, judging by their uniform, long blond hair partially tied back, and a pose that just plain reeked of arrogance. Oh, and she was being the one addressed, damn, the absolute last kind of person I want to be dealing with right now. My stomach is on the verge of growling.

She wished she could just ignore this person and move on, but her mother had insured that she had passable manners, even when it came to people she would rather not deal with. "Sorry to disappoint but I just got here, I wish someone would tell me what this is all about." The girl just turned back to the crowd, who were still energetic over something she couldn't figure out.

They stood there trying to figure out what was going on when a figure wiggled out from underneath the edge of the crowd. The figure stood up and she came face to face with Orimura Ichika, a little worse for wear, well that explained the crowd. Poor guy, ambushed while getting supper, she wondered when he got here. He then noticed the two of them standing there and the most 'oh shit' face she had ever seen appeared on the guy's face. She really wished she had brought her cellphone with her, that face was absolutely priceless.

Instead she took some pity on him, pointing her thumb at the door, "I suggest you get moving before they realize their prize slipped away." A quick bow and he practically ran out the door.

"Now why'd you do that?" The girl standing beside her was giving her a questioning look.

"I kinda felt bad for him," she admitted, "besides I would feel bad for tacking advantage of him like that. Now I don't know about you but I'm going to get something to eat." With that she headed over to the buffet that had been set out, the other girl, I should get her name soon, took one last look at the crowd before following her.

Picking up a plain but edible plate of steak and vegetables with a bowl of rice, before heading to a table she grabbed herself a glass of water from the fountain drink stand. Picking an out of the way table that was unoccupied she made her way over to it, the other girl followed her. "I don't believe I got your name."

"Oh, it's Cecilia Alcot," Cecilia held out her hand.

Taking it she replied, "Cassandra Fraiser. So when did you get here?"

"Just this afternoon, this is supper and not lunch right?"

"Yeah it's supper, let me guess jet lag." Cecilia just nodded. "Had that happen to me yesterday, a good nights sleep helps."

"I'll try that. So what do you think of him?"

"Who?"

"Orimura Ichika, the only male IS pilot, the one you just rescued form a mob." She wouldn't use the word rescue for what she had done, or rather didn't do. And right on cue the commotion starts up again as the entire mob now realizes it's quarry has left.

"You know what, I think the universe hates him. He gets mobbed while trying to eat, probably has people watching over him day and night, and there probably isn't a person on in this academy who doesn't know who he is. The universe should cut him some slack." Or Tabanae in all of her 'wisdom' could help him out.

"Well that was more than I was expecting. Personally he seems like the kind of guy I despise, no ambition just taking everything he's given, and then constantly running away."

"Cut him some slack, I doubt you would do any better if you were mobbed while trying to eat, ambushed everywhere you go and are stranded in a place where everyone else is the opposite gender. He's managed to keep his pants so I would say he's not doing to bad so far."

"I hadn't thought about it like that. You think he might be an okay person?"

"Maybe, but not here. Here he' just going to be endlessly harassed, I can see the reasoning for sending him here, but honestly it's going to be hell for him. At least until more guy attend the academy."

"You think there could be more male IS pilots?"

"Maybe, after all one did turn up. And where there is one there is bound to be more."

"Fair enough." She had half finished her steak and would need a refill on the water soon. "You know I've heard rumors that the academy has had plenty of inter student relationships before Orimura showed up."

"Can't say I'm surprised. With over a hundred teenagers in the academy it's bound to happen." After tacking a few more bites of her meal something occurred to her. "You're not coming on to me now are you?"

"Waaht, no. What made you think that." All the while she was waving here arms in front of her and unable to speak straight.

"Just making sure." Unfortunately the comment had made her do a once over of Cecilia looks, the girl was cute, and the way the hai-. Mind get your ass out of the gutter, I am not ending up in bed with a girl I just met.

I just hope this isn't a sign of things to come, if it is I won't be able to recognize myself by the time I'm finished here.

Tech Con Group Weapon Demonstration Field, Hebridan

Dr. Samantha Carter had an excellent view of the field the Hedridan's had set up to show of their new weapon. A small stone village had been erected near the center, complete with a few dozen Jaffa mannequins tacking positions around the village. She turned to Warrick beside her, who had insisted that a Tau'ri representative be present during this demonstration. Something about this being Hebridan's take from the joint research and engineering initiative. She was kinda exited about it, the people of Hebridan had come a long way since their chance encounter a few years ago. They were now beginning to look outwards, to take advantage of the chaos of the Goa'uld civil war to strengthen their position. What happened to Tollana three years ago probably pushed them further down that path.

"So what is this new weapon? I can think of a few weapon types that would be useful for clearing out a village, but none would warrant a representative being here."

"As I said it's a surprise, and I wouldn't want to ruin it by telling you. Needless to say it would never have been possible without Tau'ri help. Ah there beginning now." She turned her attention back to the field as some sort of craft flew over head, well it was Hebridan so a small craft wasn't exactly something that surprised her.

What surprised her was the crafts shape, it looked similar to modern jet fighters in overall appearance, a pair of wings jutted out from the sides about halfway down the craft. A single upright tail wing on the back, with a second set of horizontal wings below the horizontal wing. Which was a contrast to regular Hebridan design which favored more robust frames with no wings, but they occasionally had small fins on atmospheric vehicles. This new craft was a definite departure form Hebrididian design, and she couldn't see why they did it. Jolinar suggested she wait until after the demonstration before asking questions.

If the appearance of the craft was a surprise to her then what it did next defied explanation. First it circled around the village before slowing down and having four appendages drop form beneath the craft. Two of the appendages dropped from the rear and swung forwards to the near vertical, she could make out bumps along the lower piece that stood out from the rest what could only be describes as legs. Even as she watched small blue light could be seen coming out the bottom of the bumps at irregular intervals. Maneuvering thrusters? Looks like it. If the rear pair of appendages were legs than the front pair were arms, they had dropped down out of the bottom and each ended in a double barrel of some weapon.

The craft dropped down on top of one of the buildings utterly crushing it in the process. Before the dust had settled the arm mounted weapons had blown several large holes in another building. The craft also had a nose mounted weapon that was used to clear out a group of Jaffa in a relatively clear area. The speed at which it fired indicated that the Hebridan's had figured out how to make a fully automatic energy weapon, or at least the equivalent. The last building was a fair distance form the rest, it was destroyed by two objects that launched them selves from the top of the craft and followed a simple arcing path that intersected with the building. The twin blasts reduced the building to bits of masonry and wood.

A few more shots from the arm mounted weapons cleared out the rest of the buildings and 'Jaffa'. The craft then lifted of as the signal ending the demonstration went out. The craft landed landed nearby where she was and along with Warrick went over to where it touched down.

Approaching it the first thing she noted was that it was bigger than most small craft she had seen. From end to end it must have been around thirteen or fourteen meters, while it's wingspan must have been around fifteen. Getting close enough to pick out the details she noted that the leg joined up just to the rear of the center point with the arms being attached right in front of the legs. Near the front of the body she can see two openings for were the forward mounted weapons were.

"Just what are the wings used for Warrick?"

"That's were the gravity plates are located, and they are shaped to provide some lift, similar to how you built your F302. The craft's primary purpose is to secure landing zones for follow up troops, and heavy equipment, and after that is done act as raiders, striking at weak points in the enemy formation. The original concept came of your IS units, a unit that can get to any point of the battlefield, and once there use it's weapons to disrupt enemy formations. Like all are small craft it can be launched from our carriers then survive entering a planets atmosphere then at the end of the mission return to the orbital carrier."

"Sounds impressive. What's its name."

"It's designation is GAA101, a final name has yet to be chosen. Though I hear the name Mechanized Ground Attack Vehicle is the most popular among the engineers right now, though they shorten it to MGAV when they say it. Personally I think the name one of your engineers called it fits the best."

"I thought I was the first Tau'ri to see it?"

"It was one of the engineers who was on loan, and he only saw some of the rough sketches and some ideas for general shape. He was actually the one to suggest the drop down arms."

"Fair enough, so what did he call it?"

"Veritech. Though he also suggested we build it so it transforms into a humanoid form, which I think is just plain ridiculous for a war machine." Carter had to repress her laugh, even on the other side of the galaxy earth pop-culture was having an effect on naming war machines.