You are here alone again, in your sweet insanity…
All too calm, you hide yourself, from reality!
Do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty?
When all the world turns away to leave you lonely…
= Drone Chapter 7 =
= The Ant Hive =
The sound of tens of thousands of metallic footsteps pounded the hard pavement of the streets and sidewalks of Zootopia. Thousands upon thousands of mechanical machines marched in time, in close formation, with a singular purpose and an unyielding determination to reach their objective. As they marched nearby drones kept the area cleared for them to move, ensuring that none interfered with their overriding purpose instilled into them by the orders handed down by the sole remaining member of Eden Facility's personnel. Directed by Ant Central Command, orders handed down by Sentinel, watched over by four RAPTOR class drones, and with a fleet of salvage carts and DOG carriers with RAPTOR escorts standing by…
'Bing Bong Bing Bong Bing Bong'
One Hundred and Seventy thousand ANT drones now operated the scrapyard, observed by both mammals and their drone escorts and protectors.
Assisting them were the three GPGS Drones, each being rotated in every few hours so that one was always on hand to assist the ANT drones by examining larger pieces of 'salvage' to ensure maximum efficiency of breaking down the materials.
During every hour of the day and night, ten thousand ANT drones were operating the location, divided into five divisions. At regular intervals ANT drones were rotated out and replaced to allow them to recharge at nearby stations while freshly charged units took their places, ensuring no loss in the production of salvage materials.
Mammals watched the busy little drones going about their business, some marveling that such little machines were so efficient and able to perform such an 'arduous' task as breaking down scrap and junk with zero difficulty, despite being so very small.
The routine started with the First and largest division of ANT drones on the field carrying smaller scrap metals to a drop-off point, mostly pipes, stray metal frames, twisted and disjointed scrap and other such 'junk' that mammals had no use for to the first point.
From there the Second division took over and began scanning the various material's compositions to see what they were made of and how they could be used. Once that was done, they began cutting into it, dividing it into small rectangular plates. As each plate was fashioned, whatever was left over was handed over to the third division, which took the leftover salvage and smelted them down into similarly shaped plates using highly specialized smelting tools, breaking them down with super headed plasma fire sprayed from their back and bending them into the necessary shapes.
The Fourth division was working with the GPGS Drone, the massive spider drone was constantly fishing and pulling from scrap piles various equipment and pieces of salvageable technology that were considered 'junk' and 'broken' by mammal standards. Old toasters, broken phones, dead computers, refrigerators, washing machines and other daily equipment of varying sizes that had been tossed out and left to sit in junk piles. This fourth division was responsible for going in and taking out computer components and other potentially useful materials. After everything was extracted, what was left was handed over to the second and third divisions where they would break them down. Once they'd extracted the computer components, the division examined what was still in working condition and what could be further broken down and performed accordingly.
Once the second, third and fourth divisions had finished their task with anything, what salvaged materials were ready for transport were taken by various members to a final drop off point, where the 'Fifth' division took over. Though they were the 'smallest' division, their job was no less important, they were to take all that salvage, load them up onto the salvage carts and divide them into a prearranged formation for easy sorting and transportation. Once that was all done and the cart was loaded, the DOG drone assigned to drag it, left with its RAPTOR escort to the Construction Zone where the materials were being used to construct the first ever 'DOVE' class drone, under the supervision of Jeremy Wilheart, where One Hundred Thousand ANT drones were assisting in the construction site.
Every few minutes a cart left the site, and every few minutes a new cart arrived, every drone practically was being called out for duty. Once again Eden Facility was operating with a skeleton crew of drones, just barely '10' RAPTORS and 20 DOG drones with 20 FOX drones to protect it, and only eighty thousand ANT drones still operating and maintaining the base.
One ANT in the fourth Division was currently crawling inside of an oven, with several other ANTs extracting computer components that could be used. As one the group lifted up one of the components gently and together, they began carrying outside to the drop off point. At the same time several other ANTs were extracting material components such as copper wirings, and also taking them to the drop off point.
From there hundreds of ANTs were constantly running back and forth, carrying the components, materials and everything else being sent to the construction site, placing everything on a transportation cart where a DOG was waiting patiently for them to complete the task. As it was stacked and labeled 'Ready' by ACC, the Command ANT of the fifth Division signaled the others to vacate the cart, and finally signaled the DOG to take it out.
[Moving Out!] The DOG declared and marched on with its cargo dragging behind, escorted by a single RAPTOR drone.
Moments later another DOG/RAPTOR combo arrived with an empty cargo carrier, positioned themselves into the assigned location, and everything resumed once again.
Off to the side mammals continued to talk and admire how diligent the ANT drones worked, not a single one of them was idle for any second with exception to the RAPTOR and DOG drones who were constantly ferrying the materials out.
"I can't believe all of that stuff can be broken down and used like that."
"What are they using everything for?"
"I just spent an hour watching a rusted, broken washing machine be broken down into tiny pieces… like wow…"
"How many of those things do you think they have in that base?"
"I don't know but if that's how humans used those little drones, I can see why they'd need a lot of them."
"I could totally use some of those things for my garage!"
"I don't think they're meant to 'clean' a garage buddy."
The drones however ignored them all as they worked around the clock to keep the supply of materials flowing. The only break they had was when each individual drone had to return to the facility to recharge, but when they did, they were replaced by another drone that 'also' had gone to recharge.
One of the RAPTOR drones monitoring the location looked over the steady stream of ANTs going back and forth from the fifth division. After several hours on shift it received a transmission from one of the spider drones at the construction site, the one being operated by Unit Jeremy.
"Status report, give me an update on the salvage depot's stockpile reserves." He said as his face appeared on the unit's HUD.
[Salvage Depot reserves at 52%, estimated injection of new salvage into the Depot within six hours and four minutes.]
"Good, what about salvage transportation, are we still on schedule?"
[Affirmative, no delays to the schedule have been detected or transmitted.]
"Very good, keep me posted if anything happens. I need both HARRIER drones here to assist in the construction of DOVE-1, so they cannot assist in the transportation of the materials from the salvage depot. Ensure all RAPTOR drones understand the orders I gave them are to be upheld without question, obey any and all traffic signals and ensure their actions do not cause any interruption in day-to-day mammal operations."
[As you command!]
With that the connection was terminated, and the drone resumed its duties of ensuring nothing interfered with the site's operations.
An hour later though the drone spotted an aerial machine, not human in origin or design flying above the site. After locking onto it and relaying its position to nearby FOX drones stationed around the perimeter of the site, they quickly identified it as a very 'archaic' drone by human standards. It was little more than a camera strapped to a series of propellers. However, that did not mean that it was being treated as anything less than a potential threat to the operations of the site.
Since it could not 'fire' upon the mammal aerial unit, it and every other RAPTOR looked up at it until they were sure it had noticed them watching it. Then as one, they all pointed their arms upward, unveiled various long ranged weapons, and gave it a clear message both visually 'and' verbally, [Cease your flying operations and vacate the area at once!]
After a few moments it flew away, with mammals pointing it out now and asking who could be trying to 'spy' on the drones, but with it gone the RAPTORs returned to normal stances and reported the incident to Unit Jeremy and Sentinel. Sentinel decided to use the data that the FOX drones had obtained from the flying mammal unit and tracked it to its source. From there they detected a streaming signal that was being broadcast around the world and traced the signal to its source.
It was a teenaged Jaguar who was streaming the camera footage to his viewers on a streaming sight.
When asked what should be done, Jeremy told them all to not threaten future 'flying mammal units' unless it is obvious that it represents a threat to the site's operations. Jeremy sent a message through Aelita to the teenager, apologizing on the drone's behalf and saying they 'got carried away' with their assignment to protect the site and keep everything running smoothly.
= The DOVE 1 Construction Site =
(Jeremy's PoV)
Jeremy was sitting inside the operation pod of his GSC Spider Drone, overseeing the construction site and ensuring all the drones operating it were working around the clock to ensure that the schedule was kept. They had about a month to build this drone and the rest of the vehicles for the convoy, and while the drones could get everything done, he wanted to make sure everything was done right, everything had to be accounted for because once they entered Mothland, they were risking being stuck there for a 'long time'.
DOVE 1 was going to be transporting them, the drones, the vehicles and everything else they were taking along, and it was being built out of recycled salvaged materials from the nearby junkyard that Mayor Lioness was kind enough to let extract materials from for his drone.
"Can I get a status update on the quantity of materials we've gathered so far?" He asked as he was soldering some of the materials into a solid plate for the outer shell of the drone.
[Goliath PP-9 reporting in, extraction of salvaged materials at two thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three lbs.]
"Good, ensure that salvage extraction continues as planned." He told it as he finished soldering and examined the plate he was working on. "Alright this one is finished, put it into position!"
He handed the plate over to one of the other construction spider drones he had built, and they took it off put it into a pile of other metallic plates that were to be used in the construction of the DOVE drone. The construction site of the new aerial drone was just outside of Zootopia's southern biomes, just off to the side of the freeway leading to and from the city, giving them access to the materials needed for the drone's construction. The plot of land was mostly flat with access to the water which surrounded Zootopia, which was how the site was originally planning on getting access to the materials to begin with.
Unfortunately, progress on the drone's construction was 'slow' because until Jeremy could complete construction of the DBS, Spider Class drone, or the Diving Bell Spider, Spider Class drone, they had to run materials via carts over the freeway, which was causing delays to traffic because Zootopia had to slow down traffic to prevent potential damage to the drones escorting the materials to the site. Once he'd constructed the DBS Spider drone, they could increase the speed the materials could reach the site, and thus speed up construction.
"But until that's done…" He whispered as he turned his drone around and began soldering a new plate.
After ten minutes of working, he received a message from one of the on-site DOG drones informing him of an approaching car, the ID of the owner being Mayor Lioness.
"Hopefully it's nothing 'serious'…" He muttered as he turned his drone to watch the vehicle driving into the lot.
Drones moved out of the way, ANTs continued to scurry along in their pre-set paths, the two HARRIERs were aiding in lifting scaffolding and beams into positions, and RAPTORs marked where the vehicle was not to tread. Once it reached a position Jeremy slowly climbed out of his spider and over to where Lioness stepped out.
"Mayor Lioness, is there something I can help you with?" He asked.
"Jeremy, first good to see you again, second I came here to deliver some sour news." She said. "The junk depot the city offered you is starting to run low on materials it can just give you. I'm not sure how much more is left before you run out of materials for your plane."
"Hmmm, that's not good, the materials we have now won't cover the drone's construction… let alone the convoy." He muttered.
With just under two thousand lbs worth of materials extracted, he only had about thirty percent of what he needed for his plans.
"Yes, I figured as much, but I have some good news, you see word of your efforts and plans for what you're building here have spread and believe it or not mammals are donating you broken machinery and materials." She said with a smile. "I also came here with an idea, since I know you need the electronics, materials, etc etc, I came up with this plan to drum up some potential 'business' for Zootopia."
"Lioness, you know I don't want to do anything for money…" He told her again.
"I know, I know, but I'm not asking you to do that. See, I came up with this idea to turn Zootopia into the center of 'recycling' across the world. Your Ant drones and their ability to break down machines and recycle 'everything' to be used in something else is incredible. Investors are already talking about putting money into Zootopia's recycling efforts, perhaps creating new recycling techniques ant technology based on your Ant's methods. So would you be willing to allow me to promote this new idea, where mammals can donate you 'junk' materials, and at the same time, in exchange for their junk your Ant drones can repair items as payment!" Lioness said excitedly. "Consider it, Zootopia gets more investment opportunities, you get more materials for your project, and you show off what your Ants can do!"
"Hmmm… I suppose it's okay… but the facility is already running on a skeleton crew, only eighty thousand ANT drones remain to maintain it, and I'm using the rest to break down salvage and help construct this Aerial Drone. I'm not sure how many more can be spared for this."
"I know you're stretching yourself thin, but please Jeremy, I know I'm asking a lot, but this would 'really' help Zootopia." Lioness said. "And after the whole Kassara scandal, your big trial, and all the other negative press Zootopia's had over the past year, we really need more positive news coming out."
He sighed as he looked at the construction site, the DOVE's frame was still being built, scaffolding and other pillars/bridges for the ANTs to work from were still going up, and there was still a mountain of materials being sorted and arranged.
"Alright… but to make it faster please make sure they drop off 'donated' materials at the Salvage yard so that the system the drones are running with doesn't have to be changed, while objects they want repaired are brought here." He said.
(A Boar's PoV)
"Arg… cruddy piece of junk!" He complained as he looked at his 'heavily undercooked' slices of toast. "I put the bread in 'three times' and STILL it won't work! Can't get a firkin slice of toast to save my life…"
Yet another morning ruined, his one day off the week and his breakfast is ruined because his piece of crud toaster doesn't want to work.
"Can't even get a new one cause I already spent my paycheck this week! Ugh…"
He groaned inwardly as he took his toast and put them over the stove to quickly burn them up just a smidgen, to try and salvage this morning while he opened the paper. Idly he turned on the radio to listen to some music while he waited on his breakfast.
"That's right mammals, got some junky car or broken-down appliance you don't know what to do with? Going to toss out that old washing machine, that old dryer, that outdated fridge? What about something else that you use but is on the fritz or is breaking down?" A Radio Show host said in their usual over-hyped talk show voice. "We have a special for you, take that piece of junk down to the junkyard and 'donate' it! That's right, donate it, you all remember that big 'recycle' project that Zootopia's own, Jeremy Wilheart is working on, well, Mayor Lioness is asking for donations to help make this project a success! And Jeremy is offering a trade!"
At that he turned to the radio with interest.
"Bring down that old fridge, that old dryer, that piece of junk car that no longer starts up down to the junkyard where you see mammals standing around watching those little machines going about their work, day and night! Any time, any day, and donate it to give it to a better cause! In exchange, any mammal will receive a ticket that can be redeemed over at the Construction Site just off of Exit 57, to request Jeremy's very own drones to perform fixes on 'whatever item' you bring them! That's right, one free fix up for ANY, and I mean ANY, piece of electronic or appliance you bring them. You heard us right, donate your old toaster and get your refrigerator patched up! Almost brand-spanken new, why for that treatment, you should be paying 'him' to do it!"
He looked at his toaster and then thought about the ad on the radio.
"I 'still' have that old bedframe I dumped in the trash yesterday…" He muttered.
So, after an hour of fixing his bedframe to his car's roof and some directions, he rolled up to the dump that was advertised, and was not surprised to see a line of mammals with old pieces of junk to 'donate'. When he rolled up a drone walked over that stood on two feet with a large metal tail and asked him what his salvage donation was.
"Uh, this bedframe on the roof of my car?"
The drone looked up at the frame and nodded, before its eyes emitted a line of laser lights, proceeded to scan it from side to side, before they stopped, and it nodded again. Moments later the large Goliath Spider drone that was seen many times on tv walked over, sliced off the rope that had kept the frame bound to the car, and lifted it off to be taken into the dump. It then scanned his face, before backing up and asking him to leave.
"Wait, what about my ticket?" He asked.
[There are no 'physical tickets', as this unit has previously stated to the last six hundred and fourteen mammals, your physical name and appearance have been logged into our database. Upon arriving at the construction site, you will be able to redeem 'one' item to be repaired, as you have donated 'one' item for the purpose of salvage materials. On behalf of Eden Facility 17 and Jeremy Wilheart, your donation is appreciated.] It stated. [Please move along.]
And so, with his toaster still in his car, he drove on the highway, out of Zootopia to Exit 57 where there were a ton of cars parked, and a huge pile of materials, parts, and a host of other things. Most importantly he saw so many drones running around. After finding a spot to park, he took his toaster out and made his way to where several mammals were lining up with their items and were either being told where to go or explaining what they'd brought.
"It's my grandad's old radio, he used to use it during the war, I was wondering if you could fix it since it's been suffering from… iuno something! It just doesn't want to work anymore."
[Small, outdated radio system, malfunction noted, scanning… scan complete, processing… Sentinel searching mammalian records and database for the radio system, system located, schematics located and downloaded into ACC Database…] A canine drone stated as it scanned the item. [Proceed to section B, next unit please step forward!]
"My phone has been glitching out, like look at the bottom of it, the screen is flickering and breaking down. I forgot to get the warranty and I was hoping you could fix it, so I don't have to get a new one!"
[Small communications device, graphical errors noticed… scanning, processing… Sentinel Searching mammalian records and database for this model… model located, schematic uploaded to ACC Database.] It stated. [Proceed to section K, next unit please step forward!]
When it was his turn, he held the toaster to the machine. "It's my toaster, I swear something's broken inside, it just won't work anymore!"
The drone scanned his toaster, and then… [Small food appliance, malfunction noted, scanning… processing… Sentinel Searching mammalian records and database for the model… model located, schematic uploaded to ACC Database.] It declared. [Proceed to section F, next unit please step forward!]
So, he walked around the drone and looked for the spot, and eventually saw a giant holographic 'F' floating up above a spot. He walked over and saw other people with small food appliances just standing around watching while tiny machines crawled around on the ground, going inside and crawling around on their appliances. He saw a small oven, a microwave, even a few toasters like his but different models among them.
"Broken toaster as well?" A badger asked him.
"Yea, it's been broken for a year now, I was on the verge of just tossing it out but…"
"Same, my wife and I brought our broken dish washer and toaster down here to get them fixed, I donated some old metal tables that we aren't going to use anymore."
He put his toaster down and immediately thirty of those tiny little machines, each barely the size of his smallest 'finger', started crawling over it, inside and out. He heard them drilling, sparking, and saw them doing a ton of stuff on the inside that he couldn't exactly make out from where he was standing. But the longer he watched, the more he noticed that the toaster he'd brought was 'changing' before his eyes. The machines were constantly hitting it with their tiny sprays and cleaning it on the outside, leaving it sparkling clean and rust free. He figured the inside was also receiving the same treatment as he watched them pull out a heating wire, spray it clean, and then tug it back into the inside of the toaster.
After an hour, in which more mammals joined him and others with their various small food appliances while those before him soon left, the ants all began leaving his toaster, lifted it up, walked it over to him, before moving on to the next item.
"Uh, thank you!" He said as he picked it up.
The machines however, ignored him as they started working on a microwave.
When he returned home, he plugged in his toaster and decided to try it out and see if it worked. He sat down and read the paper as he waited on his toast to finish, which after a good few minutes…
*Ding*
He looked up and saw his two slices of toast flip up, all smoked and toasty. Smiling, he pulled them out, put a nice spread of jelly on them, before chowing down and sighing contently.
"Haaaah… just like how ma used to toast them for me…" He whispered happily.
= Operation Metal Knights =
Through the night sky two HARRIER class drones roared, swiftly and proudly as they headed toward their destination. Inside the cargo holds of both drones were six RAPTOR drones, eight DOG drones, two FOX drones, and one BWS drone. Being carried were two drop pods which each carried three RAPTOR drones. All of them were in standby mode as they awaited the signal to tune in for the debriefing.
They soared across various kilometers of land, water, forests and other various terrains. During their venture they were only simply given the following order, board the two HARRIER drones, set up the drop pods, and await further orders while the HARRIER drones carried them. They were given no other standing orders, but they were each armed, with exception to the HARRIERs and FOX drones, to the teeth.
All through the night they soared, and after two hours of flying the sun started to peak out, but still the drones flew without a word or deterrence in their flight path. Then, finally, a signal was received from Sentinel, being carried via the mammal communications grid, but it carried a very difficult to crack encryption key to keep the signal's communications protected.
"All units activate!" A human's voice declared over the comms. "Stand by for the mission briefing!"
As one all of the drones activated their optics and stood by.
(Kuala's PoV)
"So that's everything, there won't be any sudden surprises?" Jeremy asked as politely as he could to her.
They were sitting inside of a government building, in an empty room where they were watching on the screen as the drones sped across the landscape, the visuals being sent from the scanning optics of the Harrier, as it was called.
"That's why we're asking you to send in your drones, as your 'machines' are not mammal, you won't be seen as a potential target to attack. The drug lord's lackies won't even consider attacking you because of how 'advanced' your machines are, and of course they aren't alive, so there is no risk of them being killed." She said smugly. "My government figured it would be 'best' to ask for your aid in this matter, as time is of the essence and lives are at stake. Also, considering your 'international' status, and what my government is currently doing to make your safe travel 'safe', I think this is a fair trade off."
"In other words, your government does not want to send in heavily armed military units not under your control to another nation, without knowing exactly what they're capable of, in case they potentially fall into the wrong hands." He replied a little more coldly.
"Whatever gave you that idea, I think that hostage situation was a good enough demonstration." She replied with a smirk. "We're just asking you for this 'small' favor, besides lives are at stake. Those soldiers have family, friends… if they found out that you rejected our request… imagine what they would think about you!"
She knew he wasn't a fool, but she was playing dumb for the sake of letting him know without knowing.
There was silence for a few moments before, [Destination, on approach vector.]
Jeremy nodded and placed the visor over his face, "All units activate, stand by for the mission briefing." He said.
(Raptor JK-901's PoV)
"Confirm there are no back hacking attempts in our transmission!"
[Confirm, encryption algorithms remain intact, no potential interference detected. Continuing to monitor.]
To the drones it was as if digital versions of themselves materialized into a mostly black space with trillions upon trillions of '1s' and '0s', with themselves standing upon a flat plane 'also' made up of 1s and 0s. In the center of their group was a single digital humanoid figure, representing Unit Jeremy, and around him were the RAPTORs, DOGs, FOXs and the EMA BWS drone.
"Alright drones, listen up, I'm not going to repeat myself, your mission today is a rescue operation." Jeremy told the drones without speaking out loud via the visor. "Five hours ago, the Collected City States of Mammalia carried out what was supposed to be a quick snatch and grab operation on a known drug lord that's wanted on the international level. The arrest order was made, and the operation was carried out with military personnel. However, they underestimated his string of informants and now those same military mammals are trapped in a poor residential section of a city with him having gotten away. They're trapped and pinned down by hostiles on all sides in four sections of the city and requesting evac. But the government doesn't want to send in armored vans to rescue them to avoid escalating the conflict since these are 'military' personnel and not international police."
On their collected HUDs they saw various imagery flash by, of a city, various run down buildings, mammal faces, and other points of data that were necessary for them to know before they reached their destination.
"Due to my flight plans the government requested my aid, and since I'm unable to refuse, you guys are being sent in to rescue the military personnel."
[Request data clarification, what is our operational objectives?] One of the RAPTORs asked.
"I was getting to that, your mission is twofold, locate the military personnel and extract them safely to a nearby military outpost. You're not under any obligation to carry out 'their' mission to locate and capture this drug lord. Our mission is to save lives, so that is all you're going to be doing."
"Because of the mission parameters, that means you're not under any order to open fire unless you are fired upon first. If you are, you are only ordered to fire back to 'dissuade' attackers, and avoid any collateral damage and again, avoid 'any' casualties!"
[What is the medical state of the hostages?] Ema asked as she was curled up in a ball.
"At this time, they suffered some injuries, what the extent of their injuries are is unknown, so once you're deployed your first priority is to locate the military mammals and then ascertain their condition. Once you have located them, Ema will be dropped in to tend to the injured while HARRIERs extract and rescue the operatives. Once all the mammals are safely evacuated, you will be extracted afterwards."
[Mission query, what level of resistance is expected from potential hostiles?] One of the HARRIERs asked.
[Secondary query, what is the level of weapon hardware do the hostiles have access to?]
"That can honestly be summed up in one answer, I don't know, you're going in blind but at least we have confirmed standard military hardware similar to sub machine guns, grenades, and potential anti-armor armaments used by the mammals in regard to their current level of technology. Assume the worst and be prepared to adjust your tactics and coordinate to rescue the mammals holed up." He said. "Since your military capabilities are still a mystery to them, I'm hoping that your presence alone will be able to prevent further hostilities and they'll avoid attacking you. But if the worst happens, as I said, you are permitted to return fire, but again, 'only' to deter and dissuade further offensive acts against you."
Moments later they all watched as their HUDs updated to show a detailed map taken via satellite imagery through the mammal's database of the city they were to be dropped in.
"I'm dropping you off via drop pods in '2' locations to secure positions for the HARRIERs to land, Pod 1 will be dropped in the northeast section, while Pod 2 will be deployed in the southwest section. After you deploy secure the areas so the HARRIERs can land in peace without potential harassment from the locals. After all drones are deployed minus Ema, you're to split up into four teams to locate the rescue targets. The government was 'kind enough' to give us their general locations based on their last transmissions, however I'm not sure how 'reliable' this information is, so you're again, going in blind."
[I assume that you'll be sending me in once you've located them to ascertain their physical health and treat any injuries they may have sustained?] Ema asked.
"That's also why I've arranged for you to have a few Synthorgans just in case they're needed."
Suddenly a red light appeared in their small space, and they were all evicted back to the real world, where a red light lit up within the drone's drop pod.
[Prepare for drop… in 3… 2… 1!]
CHINK
PeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewTSCH!
As one all three of the RAPTORs leapt out of their drop pod and immediately scanned for potential hostiles. The area they had been dropped in resembled a run-down residential district not dissimilar to what they were familiar with in Zootopia, but it was far more desolate than what was found in Zootopia. Many buildings had boarded up windows, some had broken glass and litter surrounding them, what few vehicles they saw were broken down and rusted. The streetlamps were damaged and shot out, leaving the area in darkness while the sun continued to rise.
The area was completely void of visible mammal life signs, so after a quick survey and confirmation scan for biosignatures, signaled to the HARRIERs that the area was secured.
It took the HARRIER drones half an hour to return to the drop pod locations, but they arrived and offloaded their payload of drones while the RAPTORs who landed quickly set up the Drop Pods to be taken off and away. After that, they divided into teams and made their way to different sectors of the city, heading for the locations where the military mammals they were sent to rescue were supposed to be hold up.
Each team had three RAPTORs and two DOG drones, while the two FOX drones would go off on their own to try and locate their objectives without being detected via their holo-emitters.
As ordered, the EMA would wait until confirmation of injuries were reported, then it would be dropped in safely before the extraction commenced.
JK-901 took the lead, walking down a run-down street, and as minutes ticked by, locals were beginning to take notice of them. As it looked down the streets, down alleyways, peering inside homes, local mammals were detected.
Some tried to hide upon being spied upon, and others continued to stare at them from the shadows.
[Local population activity increasing.] It reported.
"They're probably scared of you, make no aggressive action and continue on your route. Look for barricades and potential fortifications, we'll know we found where the soldiers are holding out when you detect heavy resistance." Jeremy told them. "FOX drones, report, have you located the soldiers?"
[Negative, zero confirmation!]
Soon they turned down a road and spotted their first roadblock, several vehicles arrayed in a fortification with various other roadblock materials, tires, backs of debris, trash cans, and other items designed to impede progress. They also made contact with armed individuals, who upon spotting them quickly trained weapons, at least… for a bit.
When they realized what the drones were, they stared in confusion at first, then awe… then slowly began portraying fear with the RAPTORs detecting increasing heartrates among them. They also began overhearing radio communications thanks to the FOX drones tapping into nearby radio relay systems planted throughout the city. The increased communication chatter among certain key sections of the city allowed them to understand where the soldiers were being pinned down, and it also aided them in learning of the hostile's intentions.
[Intercepted transmissions indicate that the locals are being told to halt our progress and engage in combat if we attempt to break through the barricades. What are your orders?]
"We aren't here to fight a war, see if you can find a way around the barricades, I'd like to 'avoid' a fight if at all possible."
It nodded and turned away from the barricade, keeping its weapons concealed and avoiding making eye contact with the local militia. The other drones followed suit as they began looking for an alternative route to the building where the soldiers were being held up.
While JK-901 continued to search for an alternative route, the other units began reporting similar incidents with the locals, various militia check points and barricades barring their progress. Without fail they were all ordered to find alternative routes. The FOX drones however were able to bypass the checkpoints, thanks to their disguises, and without fail they slipped behind the enemy lines and began investigating the building holdouts.
One of the FOX drones reported no signs yet, but heavier resistance was being detected as they drew closer to the hot spots.
The RAPTOR suddenly stopped as it detected a noise above them, and as one all five drones looked skyward in different directions.
Instantly their optics sent out scanning lasers and began trying to check for disturbances and potential threats, but nothing was spotted. However, a section of roof was recently shifted, indicating 'someone' had been up there just seconds ago.
[We are being followed. Threat potential to the unit increasing…]
[Affirmative!]
[Assume defensive formation Alpha Zulu Six Eight Nine.]
With that they each changed their angles and began walking more slowly, with the rear most drone having to walk backwards while three others had to walk sideways or at an angle to maintain their defensive formation.
Progress was slow, but they took all necessary precautions to avoid any ambushes, until they reached a section of the alleyway which had a dumpster that was filled with debris.
That was when JK-901 made a calculated decision and ordered the group to hold position while it investigated the roofs of the nearby homes.
It quietly climbed onto the dumpster, crouched, before launching itself up as high as its leg servos would permit it.
During the half a second airtime it had before gravity took ahold of it again, it quickly surveyed the rooftops and saw…
No less than 'thirty-seven' armed mammals with civilian clothing and military grade weapons ranging from machine guns to grenades, and a few grenade or rocket launchers. They all had shocked expressions on their faces as they did not realize that it could jump 'that' high, or that it did that without their hearing a sound.
Then it landed on the ground and instantly reported, [We are surrounded, requesting authorization to engage the hostiles before they engage!]
"Denied, you are NOT to engage unless fired upon first, and only to dissuade, no use of lethal force is to be authorized under ANY condition!"
It nodded and continued its route despite the knowledge that they were surrounded. After an hour the other units also began reporting being followed and surrounded by militia forces, and soon conflict was becoming inevitable with how much more resistance they were slowly meeting as they drew closer to the buildings where the soldiers were hiding out in. the two FOX drones had reported finding the soldiers, sending their locations to the units, and then began their journey to the other buildings to investigate.
[Locals exhibiting fear and anxiety at our approach, conflict probabilities have now breached the 90th percentile.] JK-901 stated as they exited into a street in between two barricades, with the building they were to enter behind one of them.
"Don't engage unless you absolutely must, follow your orders as assigned."
[As you command.]
They slowly left the alleyway, keeping their optics on all sections they could and watching for…
*Kachink*
That was when all pretense of peaceful movement ended, and the area they were in became a live fire hot zone. Suddenly the unit came under fire as weapons fire erupted from various gun points and the barricades nearby, most of it was submachine gun fire which harmlessly bounced off their armor, but the drones quickly were forced to retaliate as they ran forward and into the maelstrom.
[Under fire, multiple hostiles, commence retaliatory strikes, open fire!]
From their arms and backs the drones pulled out their weapons and began launching plasma bolts and electro bolts at the attackers' positions. They fired at various positions, doing as ordered and not firing directly at any mammal to ensure no casualties were reported.
The barricades and fortifications erupted in small fires and explosions, when the militia forces began using heavier grade weapons, they could only dodge to avoid potential casualties, all the while bullets riddled and rattled their armor.
(Kuala's PoV)
She watched on the screen as the drones were forced to fight the drug lord's militia, from their various view points the drones were being assaulted on almost every front, trying their best to find cover while fighting back. They fired upon their assailants, but each shot seemed to refuse to connect to any mammal, firing on debris, barricades, or just generally the area nearest the mammal firing upon them. Some used grenades and rockets to try and blow up the drones but each time they just avoided taking damage by simply 'dodging' them. They made sure that any mammal using a grenade or rocket launcher aimed at them in such a way that only 'they' were the target, and when the missile was dodged it landed harmlessly to explode on either an already destroyed car or some random bit of debris.
"Your drones are firing back but not killing?" She asked curiously. "Surely with their weapons and abilities, it would be easy to clear these areas in seconds?"
"While my drones are heavily armed and armored military grade drones, they are not here to fight 'your' battles." Jeremy explained. "As such, I ordered them to avoid killing any potential enemies or hostiles they encounter. Even if they may be destroyed, they will not disobey my order."
"I understand but the longer this goes on…" Kuala said."
"If you wanted this done another way, you would not have asked for my help." Jeremy stated politely. "All that matters is we save the lives of those soldiers, and I assure you my drones will not fail you in that regard."
"I just hope your drones don't suffer for your decision to not use…"
[All sectors clear. Confirm!]
[Sector four clear. Confirmed.]
[Sector seven clear. Confirmed!]
[Sector fifteen clear. Confirmed!]
"Wha?" She stammered as she stared at the screen.
Without fail, all the drones reported zero enemy contacts, all was quiet as it appeared the hostiles had lost their nerve fighting such resistance and suffering zero casualties.
[Zero enemy contacts, zero enemy casualties, all sectors confirm!]
[Confirmed.]
[Confirmed!]
[Confirmed.]
[All units secure the area, take up defensive positions, HARRIER units are en route!]
[Order Received!]
"I… ah… eh… th… w… ho?" She stammered.
"Well, that took longer then anticipated." He muttered. "Normally a rescue operation like this would be half an hour shorter. Just glad nobody was killed or lost their lives."
"J… Jeremy… we still have reports saying…"
"Once your soldiers are extracted that is as far as my drones will go in relation to the operation. We are here to save lives, not do 'your' government's job." He stated as the aerial drones began landing in two locations, and the first mammal soldiers started evacuating.
[Unit Jeremy, the EMA has been deployed at Sector 4, injuries have been confirmed, HARRIER 1 and 2 will evacuate Sectors 3 and 7 before redeploying to Sectors 4 and 15.]
"Very good, maintain defensive positions and ensure no more hostiles endanger the soldier's lives."
[As you command!]
As the drones began to evacuate the soldiers, Kuala looked at Jeremy and asked, "Why don't you give them command orders? Why let them handle the situation?"
"Because I'm not a soldier, and as such if I were to try and do that I would only interfere with their operations and their combat experiences, thus reducing their chances of success during the mission. The drones are all able to handle any combat scenario, I only assume direct control when it becomes obvious that the best way to ensure success is with 'my' assistance."
(Ema's PoV)
[You'll make a full recovery I promise, you're lucky your field medic managed to keep you alive, if your injury were any worse you would have bled out within minutes.] Ema stated as she cleaned the surgical scission she'd made and cleaned up with her Biotech Gel.
"Thank you so much ma'am, like I mean it thank you so much… I saw my life flash before my eyes…"
[Give life gratifying speeches when your safe and sound in a proper medical bed!] Ema complained as she carefully placed the mammal within the confines of the HARRIER drone.
As the soldiers began climbing into the drone, her optics picked up a very faint laser sight that was glitching in and out of existence, slowly training on…
[SNIPER!] A DOG drone shouted.
Milliseconds later, Ema climbed up and used her entire body to cover the open side of the HARRIER drone's cargo bay door, shielding not only her patient but also the soldiers, right as a bullet ricocheted off her armored plating. Within the same time frame, a RAPTOR turned and returned fire, launching a single plasma bolt that sped into a nearby home and fired 'through' the building the opposite side, where the trajectory would ensure it did no harm, as it soon landed inside of a trash can several kilometers away, thanks to their prior knowledge of the layout of the district. [Sniper has fled, area is secured!]
Once the danger had passed, she climbed down and detached her head while the HARRIER took off to examine the bullet shot. [Great… Jeremy, I request repairs upon returning to the facility!]
It was actually surprising, the bullet was a high enough caliber round to actually damage her, and it managed to just find the sweet spot in her thorax where her abdomen which carried all of her chemical packs met, lodging itself and penetrating her armor where it was weakest.
[This is why I don't leave the lab; my body isn't 'designed' for combat areas!] She complained as she walked into the abandoned building. [What do I look like, a TARANTULA?]
(Kuala's PoV)
She just sat in silence as the operation was completed and the drones began awaiting pickup while the soldiers they'd rescued were offloaded and handed over to evacuation vehicles. Her plan to get information out of the operation had completely backfired. The drones were too efficient, they completed the mission to rescue the soldiers without firing shots that they didn't need, even when they were surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned, out… EVERYTHING… the drones just finished the mission without any losses and with little to no collateral damage and zero casualties sustained by the enemy.
In record time.
"Well, since your soldiers have been safely returned, no casualties suffered, and everything is finished, I'll take my leave. I'm sorry you could not capture that drug lord, but at least no mammal's life was lost today." Jeremy said warmly as he got up and walked out.
Kuala just sat there and watched him leave, as the drones began disconnecting their visuals to the room.
When the room was empty, she growled to herself and slammed her fists on the table!
"HOW!?" She screamed.
(Jeremy's PoV)
He sat in his carriage as it carried him back to Gazelle's home, Gazelle herself was there with him, laughing as he explained how the drones not only saved the lives of soldiers, but did so without a single casualty suffered on 'any' side, and with little to no collateral damage done, much to the agent's disdain. She elected to join him since the construction site was eating up so much of his time that he rarely got to be with her at home during the day.
"How did they do that so fast?" She asked. "Like, did they have some super-secret technology weapon or something?"
"No, they just understand psychological warfare." He explained. "Since they were taking zero damage and showing their advanced weaponry, as well as damaging barricades and breaking down fortifications the militia had erected, that level of destruction and power was probably terrifying to civilian soldiers forced to fight for the sake of money. Drones however don't feel fear, or pain, or show any signs of weakness during a fight that a flesh and blood individual would show. Not only that, but the FOX drones gained access to their communications, and were feeding false information, making the militia soldiers believe the drones were causing far more casualties than they realized, and far more damage than they were actually doing. Each sector believed that the others were being wiped out in seconds by violent and brutal attacks. The drones simply had to hold out and let the fear eat at their morale until they were too afraid to keep fighting. Once they started running, the fear eating away at those who tried to remain pushed them to flee the area. Sooner or later something had to give, and in terms of morale, a drone will 'never' panic or show fear, they may retreat but they will never run away unless ordered to."
Gazelle chuckled as she kissed his cheek. "Jeremy, you're a hero for sending your drones to save those soldier's lives… even 'if' somemammal tried to use it to their advantage." She said warmly. "And you get bonus points for doing it the way you did."
"What do those bonus points get me?" He asked with a smile.
She grinned as she whispered something into his ear.
Outside the HORSE drones took a slight detour off the road to pull the carriage into a secluded rest area since it was nighttime and dragged them to a small part of the parking lot where they were out of camera vision. Then the carriage began sealing itself up, retracting the wheels, closing up the windows and isolating those within from the outside.
Then the carriage started to shake… ever so 'slightly', unnoticeable to the naked eye unless one was standing next to it. The drone escorts simply patrolled around it during the night.