GATE: the clash of the titans V2

by Qun Nguyn1

Mostly AUs. A Gate has opened in Tokyo by a Roman-esque Empire, familiar scenario with familiar faces but the people marched through the Gate is from a vastly more powerful magic world. The stage is set. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of the Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin. Let the worlds have War.

21. Chapter 21 The God Machine (Filler)

Chapter 21 : The Machine God of Man (Filler)

Note:

- Yes, Tachyon radiation can cut the connection with the Titan power but that shit is just too damn expensive. A single nuclear weapon is much cheaper and more effective. It not super weapons that won the war, it's all about R.K.R ( Resource to Kill Ratio). Every penny had to go towards killing as many of the enemy as possible. Any weapons and equipment currently in-development or in-production that had too little R.K.R for it's price need to be mothballed.

- The origins of Titan power is the same as in Attack on Titan. The Holy Edian Empire is the future version of the Edian Empire, where Eren Yeager successfully genocide the world and rule Paradis with an iron fist. Unfortunately after million of years of testing they have unlocked all the power of Titan and completely merged with it, so there is no way to destroy the Titan power unless you kill every single one of them.

- No, there is no SCP Fondation or anything equivalent on Earth. The cheapest way to block magic is a hypersonic round through the skull of the magic caster so ULTRON is working on it. Like I said it all about R.K.R.

- Most chemicals and biological weapons are ineffective against falmartian. So ULTRON is working on some nanotechnology solutions. Falmart people have much more experience with biotechnology than Earth human so try to compete with them in that regard is unwise.

- On a contrary, I think Falmart has much better chance in creating plasma weapons. Consider even in canon, Lelei could somehow create dozens of energy blasts at once and wounded a fucking fire dragon.

---

Minith Academy, New Miraculum, Falmart's Moon Oisin, September 9, 2069, New Era.

Minith Academy of the Holy Empire, one of the eight largest academies of Terra Magica (the land of magic, Falmart), established in 52050 I.C to now had been nineteen years.

This place taught general knowledge of combat as well as scientific and magic research, of course, since this place was in Terra Magica, magic would be more prevalent. It is not easy to enroll in this academy, you at least had to reach two-star level before 120 years old (or three stars under the age of 160) and pass two tests of general and advanced theory to get the admission form.

After that, you had to pass a final test of your knowledge and skills about the department you wanted to learn to be officially enrolled.

In return, this place had very good teaching quality and professionalism, in addition to being able to eat and live without paying tuition fees, but if the annual exams did not show progress, they would be expelled. The academy had no mercy.

But if you graduated here, there would be many companies, corporations as well as large organizations with high remuneration invited to work. That was the strength and rigor of eight major education institutions.

XXXXXXXXXX

Alright, ladies and gentlemen," said professor Lelei la Lalena, the freshman history instructor and the world renowned author. "Let's get settled in, shall we? Ah, Miss Itami. Glad to have you back with us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lalena." said Miriam Ro Itami, granddaughter of prime minister of the Unified Kingdom of Japan, Yōji Itami.

Once everyone was at their desk, Lelei began her class.

"Now, as we are just starting a new unit, I thought I'd see how many of you may have read ahead, or done some independent study of your own."

Sniggers could be heard throughout the room, and the smirk on the Lelei's face told all she had been expecting it.

"Mr. Roze. Who is the father of our current sovereign?"

"Crown Prince Odysseus Da Augustus," William answered without missing a beat.

The youth might not be amongst the highest tier of Minith's scholastic achievers, but even a middling student at the school was expected to meet certain standards.

"Ms. Li," the instructor moved onto her next victim. "Why is the Prince Odysseus known as Odysseus the Just?"

"Because of his active involvement in advancing civil rights and social justice," Mao Ran answered.

None of this was particularly specialized knowledge, most Falmartians that managed to completely their primary education could be assumed to know this much. Of course, Minith had in attendance several students that had not undergone the standard Darwinian education.

"And Mrs. Itami. Why is it that we refer to Emperor Ainsworth' father as just the crown prince?"

"I assume it's because he was never crowned emperor?" Miriam answered with much less certainty than the other students.

"He certainly was not," Lelei stated. "And as some of you have likely surmised, the next period we will be covering is the late modern period, specifically the timeframe of the Great War."

While most of the students were paying at least some degree of attention, Miriam was arguably listening the most intently. Her truncated education had left her with significant gaps in her knowledge of history, and the young girld was finding that filling that gap was actually one of the more enjoyable endeavors at Minith.

"From 52029 to 52049, both of our worlds were locked in a titanic struggle that stretched all across every conner of both worlds," Mrs. Lelei began. 'While all of you have previously been taught the basic background behind the Great Earth-Falmart War, we will be covering the events that precipitated it in much greater detail as part of this unit," Mrs. Lelei stated. "Not surprisingly, many of those events were a consequence of the machine-god: ULTRON that we studied in the last unit."

A Terran science fiction writer of the 20th century, Arthur C. Clarke, had once said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

ULTRON was quite inventive and very imaginative, seeing possibilities where its creators did not, pursuing technologies that its creators could not or would not. Free of bureaucratic, theological, and humanitarian restraints as well as environmental concerns, ULTRON was able to experiment with whatever substances and materials it desired. The war was a testament to humanity's foolishness, but ULTRON, was perhaps a testament to the creativity of Man, the spark of imagination that was shared between the creator and the created. ULTRON was the best and the worst that man could be, unrestrained.

ULTRON's technology bordered on the very realm of magic, the technology base from which the super computer drew its designs was so far advanced past what the empire knew or understood that it was almost two full decades after the end of the war before the science of ULTRON could begin to be even partially understood and used for the benefit of the Holy Empire in the global recovery process.

Besides the obvious advances, ULTRON's contributions to technology consisted of several subgroups; materials, medical research, power production, and even a failed attempt at teleportation (which ironically lead directly to the invention of a viable (if somewhat limited and crude) time travel technology).

So many of ULTRON's initial advances led directly to collateral advances in other areas. For example, the introduction of magnetic fields to production allowed for the improvement of materials and the improvement of materials combined with advanced magnetic field technology in turn allowed ULTRON to refine its nuclear fusion power systems.

ULTRON's technology often overlapped in leaps and bound, much to the combined surprise and horror of the members of the Imperial Army when they encountered something from the "next generation" of ULTRON's arsenal.

CODING AND PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

ULTRON evolved so radically after it activated that the ULTRON of 2049 A.D. shared nothing more than a name and a central geographical position with the crude, artificial intelligence that first existed almost three decades before.

ULTRON rapidly rewrote its own codes and created its own programming languages that were free of both wasted effort and needless inputs. Instead, so much of ULTRON's data infrastructure remains un-deciphered in a cryptic code that is so far removed from the norms that it might as well be alien in nature.

MATERIALS

ULTRON's earliest experiments with improved materials was itself an outgrowth of ULTRON's own curiosity about nanotechnology or the science of manipulating materials on a molecular level. Early material advances by ULTRON used a variety of "perfect" growth mediums included vacuum and artificially generated zero gravity. Perfect crystalline structures of metals were achieved by growing the materials in high pressure zero gravity crucibles using a combination of artificially generated null gravity and super crushing gravity fields.

During the War, research by the Imperial Army identified and tracked ULTRON's four main areas of materials research, design and production; the "Wonder" materials, the "Evolved Wonder" materials, the "Miracle" materials and the subsequent "Evolved Miracle" materials. These derived designations come from Imperial Army descriptions of the materials and from the cryptic material designations used by ULTRON itself; "W", "eW", "M" and "eM."

What these designations meant is still being studied but during the War each of these cryptic designations had a more common name derived from the letters and assigned to it and each designation represented a particular branch or group of materials created by ULTRON.

Working closely with the inherent baseline tolerances of the materials and applying what has been identified as a "genetic" approach to "growing" the various wonder and miracle materials, ULTRON was able to "cultivate" entire lines of family based materials thus producing generation after generation in which the next generation was stronger and more resilient than the previous.

In essence, ULTRON combined metallurgy with genealogy in an approach that yielded quick and impressive results to an area of production that had been mostly stagnant since the early 1980's. Over the many material generations, ULTRON carefully "grew" out the impurities and weaknesses and nurtured only the strengths and advantages of each line of materials and each new generation of alloys.

Some of the "Wonder" materials produced by ULTRON included polysteel (aka "flex-steel"), kinetic energy absorbing ballistic gelatin, Enduralloy, Enduraluminum, both transparent and opaque tritanium alloys, magnetically stable alloys, twin phase carbides, lightweight yet incredibly pliable and resilient ceramics, smart polymers and the nearly instant set liquid based building staple known as Build-Pour (or simply "BP", the latter of which formed most of the basic construction projects for ULTRON installations).

The "Evolved Wonder" materials were simply evolutionary advances applied to existing families of "Wonder" materials giving them increased resilience, tensile strength, decreased weight and/or heightened density. Some of the "eW" materials were actually capable of self-repair or self healing though this was sometimes in the cannibalistic manner in that these materials could repair their selves if other examples of these materials were nearby.

Other characteristics were the first instances of the "memory" materials that could assume one of several pre-programmed or "memorized" shapes on command then revert to their basic shape when not in use. Some of the high end "eW" materials had the ability to repair their selves over time, to break down nearby materials that had similar structures and to replenish their own structures through a process that can only be characterized as "cannibalism."

Later "miracle" materials were successful branch-offs of ULTRON's increased understanding of the science and application of Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, as applied to production technology, allowed ULTRON to produce pure materials that were structurally perfect down to the molecular level, to produce materials with certain characteristics of living organisms and to produce materials that were not found anywhere in nature.

The "miracle" materials included Plastisteel, Super-Alloy, and Hyper-Alloy among others. At the very end of this generation of advanced materials could be found the barely understood and somewhat unstable Poly-Mimetic Alloy ("liquid metal") compound though the Poly-Mimetic Alloy actually bridged the gap between the Miracle materials ("M") and the Evolved Miracle ("eM") materials. It is the belief of scientists and engineers that the discovery or introduction of the Poly-Mimetic Alloy by ULTRON actually led to a breakthrough in materials production and was going to be the start of yet another series of highly evolved materials families.

The "Evolved Miracle" materials were even more refined versions of their parent donors, showing increased advantages and decreased disadvantages as well as a marked increase in the rate of production and an easier ability to mold, shape and use in new designs. Only one production model was listed as using the "eM" series of materials and this was the prototype batch of T1000 Advanced Poly-Mimetic Alloy Terminator / Infiltrator units of which only a small production run (mostly prototype and advanced field test units) was ever produced.

Of curious note in the captured ULTRON data is one other cryptic references to its materials catalog, namely the designation "Qz" which appears after the "eM" designation but for which no physical evidence exists.

If this cryptic designation follows the logical order outlined above then it is apparent that ULTRON was at least formulating or perhaps even beginning to experiment with a level of materials science and applied source production that went far above and beyond even the "eM" series of material families.

Researchers have identified some fragmentary data clusters pertaining to this cryptic designation, coming to understand that it was a family of quantum manipulated eM materials, but have not yet decrypted any of the core data pertaining to this ultra high level of materials manufacturing science. A few suggest that the "Qz" family of materials would be able to exist in two different states at the same time ... a condition which defies physics as humanity understood them.

ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY MANIPULATION RESEARCH

In late 2021 AD, four years after its activation, ULTRON began to experiment with advanced artificial gravity wave manipulation. This research was initially based on a query to find a way to produce the artificial control of gravity within an established planetary (natural) gravity well mainly for the production of highly advanced materials, alloys and chemicals that could only be produced in a zero gravity (i.e. orbital) or variable gravity environment.

Since ULTRON had no orbital industrial facilities, since a significant portion if not most space lift capacity had been destroyed during the Rumbling and since strategic plans didn't include the construction of any new surface to orbital lift capacity within the next two decades, ULTRON began to look for a way to create zero gravity environment capable production facilities on the surface of the Earth.

The advent of the what could technically be called a "force field" had already occurred almost a decade earlier with the introduction of a viable magnetic bottle design ... super thermal plasma was held in check within an enveloping magnetic field (itself an "artificial bottle") and this in turn allowed the introduction of practical nuclear fusion as a power source.

Manipulating gravity and generating artificial gravity had been theoretical possibilities since 2029 AD, in prototype stage by 2030, advanced prototype stage by late 2030 and in field use by late 2031.

Initial research and design from this technology tree branch led to greater efficiency in nuclear fusion, smaller nuclear reactors with higher outputs, and the ability to produce "wonder" materials (and later "miracle" materials) in artificial zero gravity environments here on Earth. That much was fact but what is not readily known is how ULTRON's research into "force fields" led eventually to a very crude form of time travel.

Implementing established magnetic bottle theory and application, ULTRON spent five long years researching and developing at first a crude control over natural gravity in 2029 and then a rather fine control over natural gravity in 2031.

The first introduction of the so-called "wonder" materials began to appear in 2032 as artificial gravity capable production facilities were integrated into several of ULTRON's research, construction and production sites.

Using variable select gravity forges (VSGF), materials could be compressed under hundreds, even thousands of Gs worth of pressure, far more than simple mechanical presses could ever hope to approach. Other advanced materials and chemicals could be produced in perfect artificial weightlessness.

"FORCE FIELDS"

In 2034 ULTRON began to experiment with a static projected gravity wave generator in the hope that by layering waves of gravity, It could produce a true "force field" to protect Itself and Its installations from the increasing threat of attack by organized Imperial Army units.

The dream was to make a force field that could withstand a point detonating ten megaton nuclear contact strike though the chance of that ever happening was slim (since UEADF controlled 99,94% of the world's functional nuclear weapons ).

ULTRON's research postulated that by layering projected gravity fields with the right amount of amplification that It could produce a generator which could project a solid "wall" of gravity that would act as an energy barrier to any physical penetration. What ULTRON chanced upon was not a "force field" but what appeared to be some form of crude type of rudimentary teleportation.

The first field test of the "force field" generator was a success in some ways and a failure in others. While the field could not be maintained on a mobile chassis that was moving, it could be projected around a stationary unit. Weapons fired at the "force field" seemed to be deflected or absorbed though where the projectiles and high energy fire went or where it was absorbed to was unknown.

ULTRON's best scientific instruments registered that incoming fire striking the "force field" was absorbed with little or no load required from the generator other than what highly significant power was required to maintain the field in the first place. The size of the force field itself was limited to a 3 meter by 3 meter square projected in front of the carrier unit.

ULTRON's initial idea to overlap "force fields" or stack them was met with critical failure when the introduction of a second "force field" in the same vicinity as the first "force field" caused catastrophic failure of both field projectors, their power generators and the destruction of over forty percent of the research and test facility.

ULTRON's initial design was promising as well as perplexing. A small, stationary field could be maintained using a high output generator but the field could not be modified or made mobile without causing the field to collapse or the projector / generator combination to fail. Also, the power required to maintain the field was at the very limit of ULTRON's ability to produce using nuclear fusion.

ULTRON understood what could be tantamount to "frustration." What had seemed like a viable technology had proven to be something of an enigma but ULTRON felt that this technology would eventually prove useful so it devoted an entire subprocessor array and a full study facility to the continuing R&D of "force field" technology. Experiments continued

In 2037 AD, ULTRON acquired the understanding and the technology to produce scientific instruments that could begin to understand what was happening when directed weapons fire struck the projected "force field." The projectiles and energy were not being "absorbed" but rather were being "displaced" several microseconds in time and space.

The weapons fire hadn't been absorbed when it struck the projected field, rather the projectiles and energy had struck the "force field" and been displaced in time and space to a point in time and space where the field (and ULTRON's R&D facility) had already passed. In other words, as the Earth moved through its orbit, the ULTRON began to study this new technology intensely ... It had created a way of displacing matter (projectiles) and energy (plasma) in time but only backwards and only with great effort. The tactical implications seemed negligible, at best.

POWER PRODUCTION

By 2049 AD, power production was several generations ahead for ULTRON than what the human race could have ever hoped to have accomplished on its own. ULTRON's designs of ultra-compact nuclear power sources, from limited duration rechargeable batteries to full scale cold fusion reactors was unprecedented and advanced at a steady pace as ULTRON's materials and applied fields areas of research yielded parallel yet compatible successes.

Most of ULTRON's creations either ran on advanced, high density crystal storage batteries (providing enough energy for several weeks of full output operation) to micro-miniaturized nuclear fusion power plants (the smallest of which was only four point seven centimeters in diameter and had an output of over fifty-five kilowatts per second).

ULTRON's understanding of nuclear force brought about several interesting projects relating to magnetic fields and high temperature plasma, both of which were necessary not only for the production of power but also for the creation of high energy weapons and super high yield explosives. From 2033 A.D. to 2049 A.D., ULTRON advanced approximately seven generations in power production design.

Each new generation resulted in a smaller, more efficient level of power production. The added space and reduced weight from this advanced production technique allowed for other equipment, electronics or armor to be carried in the same design for the same weight and volume displacement.

ULTRON constantly strived to produce smaller, lighter, more efficient and higher output power systems as well as stronger, lighter materials. Hyperalloy and transparent hyperalloy were soon being used in all levels of construction. Following closely thereafter came a variety of miracle materials such as plasticeramic, polyceramic, enduralloy and later, in 2049 a nano technology based superfluid polymimetic alloy that even for ULTRON seemed to have almost supernatural properties.

THE WHITE LAMP PROJECT

Perhaps the greatest achievement of ULTRON's power production technology was a project known by the Imperial Army as "White Lamp." Only two White Lamp installations were ever constructed, the first installation was constructed in 2029 near the old Los Alamos research facilities and evidence suggests that parts of the former Los Alamos scientific and military site may have been salvaged for use in the initial production of the first White Lamp complex. White Lamp was, to put it simply, ULTRON's quest to harness the carefully controlled use of precision produced anti-matter for large scale power production.

Advanced nuclear fusion itself was very powerful but the process of a fusion reaction only unleashed a very small percentage of the total reaction as usable energy, in essence being an inefficient and wasteful process. In contrast, an anti-matter reaction produced 100% usable energy from the reaction itself when matter an anti-matter annihilated each other thoroughly and completely.

The key to harnessing anti-matter was primarily an issue of control, much more so than in a nuclear fusion reaction, as the entire process had to be carefully isolated and maintained. It wasn't until late 2028 A.D. that ULTRON first began to understand the science required to harness and sustain a controlled anti-matter reaction.

By 2029 A.D. ULTRON had the crude materials and magnetic containment fields in production that would allow it to create an anti-matter reaction containment vessel (AMRCV).

It would be two years later before ULTRON could produce the first crude technological steps required to bring it into reach of primitive anti-matter power production. Late in 2030 A.D., the first primitive anti-matter reactor was constructed at the White Lamp installation near Los Alamos (the new revisions and updates to the complex itself were completed just two hundred and ten days earlier).

Initial tests, while certainly small in nature, were nonetheless promising but ULTRON found that its own understanding of the Total Annihilation Process (TAP) was at least a generation ahead of its available technology base. In other words, it would have to work harder to move its theories to practical applications and it would have to be patient while the other areas of its scientific achievements caught up with the TAP applications.

Records indicate that massive amounts of physical assets and material resources were restructured and allocated to the White Lamp project complex from mid-2030 A.D. to late 2032 A.D. On 11/08/2032 at 053000 GMT, ULTRON achieved a sustained and controlled anti-matter reaction at the White Lamp complex. The fuel amounts had been small in order to err on the side of caution in such a powerful experiment.

Still, one gram of hydrogen had been carefully, precisely mixed with one gram of anti-hydrogen and the carefully controlled process had yielded power readings for one second greater than ULTRON's largest fusion reactors were capable of producing in a single week. Of course, the production of anti-matter as a fuel source was still a complicated process and had many safeguards involved at each step which also meant that it was time consuming and tedious, even to a computer which was used to automated production techniques and clockwork-like production schedules.

ULTRON was pleased with the test results and began to analyze its understanding of the TAP as well as how to adapt its technology base to implement the advantages of the seemingly endless power provided by TAP.

Three quarters of the White Lamp facility was set up as a fuel production center with the capacity to directly produce anti-hydrogen for use in the TAP reactor. The experiments continued from 2030 A.D. to 2038 A.D. with increasing yield and containment results. The fact that the White Lamp TAP reactor never lost containment is worth noting as by 2038 A.D., ULTRON had increased the TAP factor several times and was generating and containing amounts of AM/M fuel nearly a kilogram in individual allotted mass.

The second White Lamp TAP reactor was constructed in 2039 A.D. below the Tempus 1 facility in Los Angeles to provide future power for projects that were just speculative in nature at the time of the installation's construction. ULTRON continued to research and refine its TAP technology up until the very end in 2049 A.D. and Tempus 1 was the core of ULTRON's advanced research and design programs, particularly the research into temporal displacement.

By late 2049 A.D., ULTRON had achieved the knowledge and control of the TAP reactor enough to initiate and sustain a controlled anti-matter reaction for twenty-nine point eight five seconds with a margin of error that allowed a safe shutdown of the TAP reactor. The shutdown and safety margins were designed to engage before control was lost and the total annihilation process became an uncontrolled chain reaction with a yield high enough to produce a blast that would create a two hundred kilometer in diameter crater four kilometers deep.

The fact that its prototype time displacement device (TDD) required the output far greater than anything short of what the anti-matter reactor could supply only proved ULTRON's ability to plan ahead. The TDD required an energy input greater than all of ULTRON's combined reactors could provide for twenty-five point seven nine seconds. This input duration was well within the safety margins of the TAP so ULTRON switched power feed of the TDD solely to the TAP reactor system. While this gave the operation of the TDD only a small margin of error, the level of control available to ULTRON clearly displayed that it was well within the margin of safety.

ULTRON's only uses of the TDD in 07/04/2049 A.D. are well documented, sending a message back in time to 07/03/2049 A.D. to prevent a terrorist nuclear bombing on peace conference in Neo-Tokyo, where both sides would sign the peace treaty ending the great war, but the power source that supplied the nearly infinite amount of power required by the highly complex, energy ravenous TDD has never been fully explained, until now.

TECHNOLOGY LEVEL INDEX

To say that ULTRON was the height of human scientific achievement for early 21st century Western civilization is an understatement of obviously laughable proportions.

ULTRON was the reinvention of fire incarnate, with all the benefits and all of the trouble magnified. No project like ULTRON had ever been attempted, let alone carried out by man (not even the great pyramids of ancient Egypt) and no project that had come before it was ever as technologically ambitious or scientifically challenging.

ULTRON was designed, from the very start, not only to survive a nuclear war but also to win it by using fully automated production facilities to supplement Allied and NATO arsenals or, in the darkest of scenarios, to fabricate its own army of ground and aerial semi-autonomous combat units by using fully automated factories feeding from huge caches of stockpiled raw materials. Logistics was handled by incorporating scavenger and provider units in the designs, machines that would go out from their established positions and recover raw materials when required to feed ULTRON's production capacity.

ULTRON and the weapons it would eventually control were not only cutting edge technology and science, but were designed to stay that way by virtue of continuing research and development carried out by the supercomputer.

ULTRON was programmed to conduct threat analysis and determine the correct countermeasure to opposing forces before those countermeasures were even needed.

ULTRON was also designed to learn from its enemies, their actions, their mistakes, their patterns and to adapt to their way of thinking. ULTRON was programmed to exploit any weakness in a threat element and to turn that weakness against the opposing force(s) (OpFor).

Drawing upon an already impressive cache of detailed practical as well as theoretical scientific knowledge and freed from the confines of government, social and moral restrictions or ethics, ULTRON's research and development programs branched and accelerated with a truly incredible pace.

Active experimentation on thousands of live test subjects greatly advanced ULTRON's weapons and biogenetics programs in the space of a few short years.

Residual contamination from one batch of test subjects could lead to tainted or flawed results in the following batch so ULTRON's containment and disposal protocols were as efficient as they were complete. Mass experimentation routines, mass test group elimination and extensive, precise disposal protocols were instituted giving a clean test environment for each follow-up experiment.

Even in failure, and there were many early failures due to the quality of testing material that ULTRON was forced to use, there was data and as data accumulated, so did knowledge. Knowledge was a type of power that ULTRON was fully configured to make good use of, even the tiniest bit of knowledge could prove practical in some form or the other.

The total sharing of all knowledge gained by the various subprocessors and subroutines allowed for quicker correlation of relevant cross data from one project to another, creating a snowball downhill effect for much of the later developments. As ULTRON experimented, it learned and the more it learned, the more windows of experimentation were opened to it.

Theoretical sciences began to take shape under a solid foundation of advanced research and realms of interest once thought of as purely conjecture or the work of hack science fiction authors began to have a basis in reality.

Indeed, ULTRON's work in quantum dynamics and temporal phase layer engineering would take almost a century after the end of the conflict for the Empire to even begin to get the grasp of the basics required to approach this area of technology and science.

ULTRON expanded its understanding of all sciences, even the theoretical ones, with a pace that far outstripped its imperial competition.

In retrospect, ULTRON easily advanced seven to ten generations in the space of just two decades and its theoretical work, drawn upon a solid understanding of technologies that were barely understood fifty years after its defeat, is staggering to comprehend.

ULTRON divided its research and development among a myriad of dedicated coprocessors, each tied into its central data trunk and able to operate independently as required. What one coprocessor knew, ULTRON knew.

It alone controlled the flow of data to each and every coprocessor making ULTRON the keeper of the data cache.

ULTRON organized its research and applied understanding into "steps" which later historians referred to as "Technology Levels."

The higher the Technology Level (TL), the more sophisticated the knowledge and the more complex the application of that knowledge to real world operations. ULTRON set its initial tech level at zero or base line. By the end of the War in 2049 AD, ULTRON was at the end of Tech Level 9 and about to cross over into Tech Level 10. Indeed, some late Tech Level 9 designs could have been, in reality, early Tech Level 10 prototypes so close were they in technology and design.

HARDWARE And SOFTWARE

An Overview of ULTRON's Electronic Control Systems and the Software that ran the Machines

ULTRON's manufacturing capacity was directly linked to its technology index, producing many incredibly complex designs often on the heels of even more incredible prototypes and limited production runs of experimental units.

One of the most developed core technology available to ULTRON was its diverse array of detection, analysis and target acquisition systems, an outgrowth of its own legacy hardware and capabilities.

These systems, composed of the software, hardware, firmware, semi-activeware and activeware, were what made the Machines so efficient. ULTRON's ability to micro-size its designs elevated it generations ahead of what its enemies had access to and this technology was what was primarily responsible for ULTRON's early successes against the Holy Empire.

For all the wonderful alloys and high tech weapons technology that ULTRON produced, the CPUs and control systems of its products were always the most advanced components of any of its designs, followed closely by the sensors and scanners that allowed the machines to detect, track, and eliminate targets.

The Technology Index (TX) available to ULTRON when it came online was tremendous, encompassing the sum of all Western military and scientific design, both theoretical and applied. Using that knowledge index as a base, ULTRON quickly expanded its TX many fold, leading to such a sharp increase in the capacity for its servant machines to carry out their programming in as highly efficient manner as history shows that they did.

Semi-Activeware (SAW)

One of the more interesting aspects of ULTRON's R&D subroutines was the introduction of a new, highly advanced form of on-demand variable instruction set software which could instantaneously adapt to rapidly changing environmental (scenario) operating conditions, in effect, modifying itself to suit the situation as required. ULTRON referred to this form of instruction set as "semi-activeware" and it was the first step towards both true activeware and neural net architecture.

Semi-activeware, or SAW, had a dynamic if somewhat limited capacity to learn imbedded in the design. Using cached tertiary data storage arrays and reconfigurable digital buffer stacks, the SAW could rapidly adapt to new operating conditions or requirements, modifying itself as it went.

A generous retrieval buffer array allowed it to save a copy of several configuration steps, allowing the semi-activeware to compare its present behavioral subroutines to non-present subroutines as well as allowing the instruction set to quickly revert to "saved" conditioning from previous learning steps.

The integrated programming and stepped structured subroutine set was component modulated meaning that if large parts of the programming were somehow damaged or lost due to varied scenario interference, the operating set could restore itself quickly by rearranging its remaining parts and re-establishing the missing or damaged programming by retrospective key construction through aggressive channel cohesion modifiers.

The inherent learning and adaptive ability of semi-activeware made upgrades to existing units easy since any new hardware additions to the main chassis could easily be handled by the core programming.

Semi-activeware systems were built into the first pseudo-neural net (PNN) hardware, developed by ULTRON in 2022 A.D. and used extensively from 2023 A.D. to 2024 A.D. in almost all of its killform constructs.

True Activeware (TAW)

True activeware was a generational step forward in self-configuring software and built on the lessons that ULTRON learned from over a decade of experimenting and fine tuning its semi-activeware. True Activeware was as close to a sentient presence generating subset that ULTRON wanted to go, fearing that it would create a self-sustaining consciousness scenario that could lead to unexpected self-awareness generation in fifth level technology grade componentware.

ULTRON purposely built TAW code so that it would not only be superior to semi-activeware in every aspect of the subset but that it would also be self-regulating to the point that the development of a self-sustaining self-awareness subset was artificially retarded to where spontaneous awakening could not happen accidentally. As the TAW subset approached the criteria required for self awareness, it began to trigger several core warnings which reset areas of the subset, thus retarding the self sustaining thought process required for true sapience to appear.

Along with the advent of TAW, ULTRON introduced the first generation of its compact neural network arrays (CNNA) designed to improve upon the basic design of the human mind.

ULTRON had found, through the surgical study of thousands of live test subjects that the makeup of the human mind was inherently flawed. ULTRON, using second level technology processes, began to deconstruct the human mind, study the architecture and learning to duplicate it with sophisticated engineering.

At no time was ULTRON trying to duplicate the human mind, instead, it was trying to produce a more efficient digital thought processing neural array, a design that could outperform the demi-human mind in every benchmark test.

It wasn't until ULTRON became familiar with level three technology that the first true neural network based adaptive array processing engines could be produced. The first true neural net processors were bulky and heavy, fitted only to the largest of ULTRON's constructs. By the beginning of the fourth level technology step in 2034 A.D., ULTRON had both the understanding and the engineering capacity to produce a compact neural network based processing array small enough to be included in its medium sized constructs.

By Level Five, it was incorporating compact, high capacity neural net processor arrays in almost all of its constructs though the volition of the individual construct was still often artificially handicapped to limit freedom and range of operational thought processing.

The further development of true activeware coincided with the development of the neural net processor arrays until both were almost indistinguishable from independent processes.

After 2037 A.D., both the true activeware development and the neural net processor array development programs became one in the same, leading to increased combat efficiency of ULTRON constructs. Larger form, less aggressive and tailor-modified subroutines utilizing neural net processor array and true activeware were used to control the various manufactories, research installations as well as the development centers.

+ Programming

Programming was always at the forefront of ULTRON's designs, and it constantly sought to upgrade and improve the way its Machines reacted, how they performed, but it was cautious in its experimentation.

ULTRON never wanted any machine to be more powerful than it was, to be smarter than it was. As such, this streak of vanity often worked to the betterment of mankind and the chagrin of the super AI.

ULTRON's own unwillingness to cross several layers of awareness, to give its designs sentience or even high levels of semi-sentience hampered the overall efficiency of the units, preventing most of the designs from ever achieving their full potential.

As programming was ULTRON's first priority in implementing new units to the various theaters, it was also its greatest weakness. Ultimately, ULTRON remained the only truly self-aware machine on the planet but its programming skills were very, very good.

Towards the end, many units seemed to act like they were self aware but they were never truly self aware, the programming implemented by ULTRON was simply of such an advanced nature that the line between self-awareness and simple robotics was blurred right to the edge but never crossed.

What the T-1000 was at its inception, what it was capable of and what it ultimately could have become is unknown and a topic of hot debate among scientists and engineers in the post victory stage of the War.

At night, the success rate of the first generation HKs went down noticeably as the demi-humans were extremly good at moving around through the ruins and using even the smallest bit of cover to their advantage.

The art of camouflage was something that the falmartians had been familiar with for hundred thousands of years, and something that ULTRON had to adapt its tactics to compensate for.

Hidden entrances, deep bunkers, artificial caves, fake passages, traps, and many other tricks were all employed by the imperial soldiers to great effect on the early models of Hunter Killers. The imperial soldiers tapped into undamaged water mains and scavenged the ruins for their subsistence.

The old network of underground cities, service tunnels, bunkers, citadels, sewers, subterranean bases, and mass transit systems worked to the empire' advantage, allowing them to move underground, unseen.

Soon, ULTRON and UEADF Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) units had discovered and began to attack organized underground supply routes that were being used to arm and feed the survivors, but again the attacks were limited in their effectiveness due to the fact that ULTRON and UEADF did not have an effective small ground combat unit that could hold its own against the super-human soldiers.

The empire was becoming more resourceful, and ULTRON predicted that UEADF would need to increase its pace of development in order to maintain a strategic advantage over its enemy.

Raids by UEADF forces often uncovered signs of advanced technology re-emerging among the ranks of the falmartians.

Weapon and explosives production facilities were found and destroyed, as well as underground farms, botanical plots, and even pharmaceutical production facilities.

For every new aspect of a strengthening Holy Empire that UEADF destroyed, two more would be either in production or were being built.

The Imperial Army was an enemy that had become nomadic, moving constantly, shifting command and operations from one sector to another, never staying long enough for UEADF to mount an adequate offense against them. When ULTRON could find a group of imperial guerilla fighters, and UEADF bring forces to bear, it was a small victory, and often came with a heavy price.

ULTRON's heuristically-based tactics simulators tried in vain to measure some pattern to the empire terrorist attacks, their hit and run raids only depleted more of Earth's resources, destroyed valuable surveillance equipment, and often caused UEADF to redistribute its forces, weakening one sector while strengthening another.

This invariably resulted in the newly weakened sector being hit by previously undetected and unknown imperial raiders. ULTRON and the UEADF was in a quandary, they had to do something as their hold on Falmart was being whittled away slowly but surely.

ULTRON's answer was a series of dedicated killing Machines. it would work to sculpt its technology into the demi-human form, to go where demi-humans could go, to move faster, quicker, and to be better in all aspects. The new series of Machines were designed to hunt down demi-humans and kill them, thus the nomenclature of Hunter Killer, or simply HK.

The first series of HKs relied on high resolution infra-red (HRIR), a rather simple yet effective setup, to track their targets in low light conditions or at night but their motion tracking could be fooled and their optics could be decoyed by simple countermeasures such as random fires lit among the ruins by the resistances.

Also, the armored housing for the sensors was rather limited in strength, and a HK could be blinded by wizard energy weapons.

Later series would have a much better armored housing, gimbaled, with a great amount of traverse and very sophisticated sensors, supported by a dedicated and integrated digital sensor / scanner array system. With the second generation of HK electronics in place, with digital filters incorporated into the sensors to eliminate false images and background interference, the efficiency of operating units fielded with the new upgrades rose dramatically.

Throughout the War, ULTRON worked to maintain its technological advantage over the falmartians, with an aggressive development tree of advanced science supported by research and design. it constructed new materials, new construction methods, vast automated refineries and production complexes, it pushed to discover new areas of science, and often succeeded.

Within a decade after ULTRON awakened, it's technology was so far ahead of what the empire had known as to seem alien, even magical. Each generation of combat unit after the first became lighter, faster, stronger, tougher, and more deadly.

Many projects were designed, built, and either tested and implemented or scrapped and abandoned. The rate at which new types of Machines, many highly specialized, appeared on the battlefield was staggering to the Empire, and offered ULTRON a psychological advantage.

It's designs preyed upon the primal fears of Man; from the wasp-like Aerials with their screaming turbine engines, to the huge lumbering tracked HKs that instilled the same fear as tanks once had.

ULTRON built spider-like runner pods and ultimately the grinning reaper-like death's head of the later model Terminator Endoskeleton ground combat units, all designed to employ and enjoy a psychological advantage against the demi-humans.

ULTRON programmed its Machines for aggression, precision, and maximum fear impact on the falmartians, sometimes this was reinforced by reducing their efficiency ratios in order to increase their visual impact for while a clean kill was often quick and precise, a much less precise kill which resulted in a longer time to termination (suffering) was sometimes preferable for its detrimental effect on the falmartians psyche and subsequently its resolve.

Fire had always been a fear of living being, and ULTRON played that aspect out as much as it could. While flame throwers were short ranged weapons which required prodigious amounts of fuel and offered very little return for their expense, plasma was a different story. High energy plasma was an excellent medium of force projection, it killed quickly, often in rather untidy ways, and near misses could cause severe burns.

Plasma became ULTRON's fire which it would use to cleanse itself of the falmartian's pestilence.

ULTRON owned the high ground and the air with the aerial series of VTOL capable Hunter Killers which provided not only air superiority, but also reconnaissance, surveillance, and close air support of ground units working to pacify the sector.

Combined arms was still the observed doctrine, the core of ULTRON's initial programming, and ULTRON used groups of Hunter Killer tanks supported by dedicated aerial VTOL assets, ground and air.

The aerials would scout the sector, looking for any humans or human activity, and transmit this data via a high capacity digital integrated secure network.

Light Imperial Army was handled directly by the Aerial HK units and their accompanying weaponry while nuclear power cells meant that unlike previous close air support units, ULTRON's air units could loiter on target indefinitely.

Larger targets or groups were designated and the aerial Hunter Killers coordinated with the heavy tracked Hunter Killer units to strike from different directions in a pincer movement.

Any targets missed in the first attack were handled by the aerials operating from stand off engagement ranges or were painted and had the HK tanks brought down upon them again.

The massive tracked Hunter Killers (known as 'super-tanks' to the falmartians) were used for area pacification as well as direct heavy assault. it's heavy reinforced construction could pulverize already weakened structures and roll over targets where they hid, flattening human strong points, weapon emplacements, and even groups of humans hiding in makeshift shelters.

Lighter HK units were used to support the aerial HKs and the heavy tracked HKs during operations and included not only the 'Fast Walker' models, but a variety of Endoskeleton based Terminator designs up to and including the various super-heavy designs.

HKs were mass produced, pre-programmed, automated death Machines given simple instruction code sets with a wide array of methods to carry them out.

HKs were equipped with no learning capacity.

Their memory and intelligence was adequate for the roles required but also at the same time, packaged and limited.

HKs used advanced databases on small unit tactics, human anatomy, weapon systems, and other esoteric means of not only judging their target's actions, but also predicting the action of the target and countering it before hand. However, the capacity to learn from mistakes was removed from the HKs at the automated factories by ULTRON.

ULTRON didn't want too many other autonomous artificially intelligent Machines in existence, Machines that might could become a threat to ULTRON and its human master if allowed to 'think' too much or question their place in the new order.

Most HKs were given 'sectors' to patrol, working out of heavily fortified and automated forward bases that serviced both air mobile and ground mobile units.

Due to the rather limited operational capacity of the HK programming and the inability to learn or adapt beyond the hard coded programming, the Imperial Army soon learned how to trick the HKs and to beat them fairly easily.

Princess Pina Co Lala was instrumental in training the Imperial Army on the advantages offered to the humans by the limited capacity of the HK variants and ULTRON's paranoia.

Soon teams of heavily armed and highly trained Imperial Army based guerilla fighters were in turn hunting the Hunter Killers out among the ruins... scrapping them and salvaging their weapons and technology from the debris for use against ULTRON.

The holy empire began to learn from their hunters the secrets of the AI who would be the machine-god and the god-servant of the human race.

For the next two decades, the empire ingenuity and determination went head to head with advanced technology and the methodical ruthlessness of ULTRON and its human master. It was a very close race, most of the time.

STANDARD SENSORS AND SCANNERS

ULTRON used many forms of active and passive detection arrays within its constructs. Sensors and scanners were designed to detect changes in the electromagnetic spectrum, through a wide variety of phases and to correlate that data to various ELINT as well as offensive and defensive subroutines and hardware controlling fixed weapon assets.

DIGITAL INPUT HARDWARE- All sensors and scanners used in ULTRON produced constructs were multi-state, state of the art digital input and output capable very high speed hardware units.

ULTRON continued to advance its technology at a startling pace and each new generation of DIH based sensor and scanner suite were lighter, more effective and more energy efficient than the previous generation. Most DIH systems utilized passive data acquisition techniques while some were built with the capacity to switch to active data collection if needed.

All used the same operating system and data was stored in cross-platform shareable architecture files that could be read by any current generation of DIH system.

Backwards compatibility of data storage architecture was always a primary design goal throughout the research and design process. Data packets were encrypted from source to source.

The smaller labor and maintenance constructs, ("dumbots") usually were built with only one or two basic DIH capable senses, mostly sight and hearing and these were in the low range of operation (namely human norm).

Communication among the lower level constructs was by coded laser (infra-red), radio (encrypted), cellular (encrypted), subsonic (below human range) audio and hypersonic (above human range) audio.

ULTRON rapidly managed to not only reproduce the digital input of each of the major human senses, but also tried to experiment with extra-sensory aspects of each sense as well as ranges of artificial sense both well above and far below human norms.

Additional visual augmentation came in the form of visual and acoustic motion tracking, low light, infra red, telescopic, microscopic, macroscopic, and ultrascopic.

Basic Sensor Suite- The basic sensor suite was designed to give a construct human normal range of audio, visual and temperature sensory observation with operational discernment and flash storage.

The entire sensor package was built around a Model 33G Series 12 microprocessor, cooled by a dedicated liquid filled heat sink array.

60 gigabytes of volatile flash memory allocated in twelve, 5 gigabyte rewritable stacks served as the primary cache for incoming input data.

Visual perception was based on a 2 gigapixel capacity standard Type 3AG digital camera which provided visual data input through a Series 2D microprocessor and 10 gigabyte flex memory stack.

Input ranges were within the visual spectrum only with no capacity for low light or trans-spectrum sampling. Dual auditory microphones gathered acoustic signatures in the normal audible human ranges and processed these through a Type 42D microprocessor with a 2 gigabyte front bus and 4 gigabyte flex memory stack.

A Type 2TdX digital infra-red heat sensor allowed precise environmental temperatures to be measured either locally or at a distance of several meters. Air diffusion and consistency sampling was handled by a Type 4C phased filter array capable of flash analyzing up to one cubic meter of air volume per second and identifying particles as small as two microns by chemical and atomic protocols.

The entire sensor suite was insulated from extreme temperature ranges and isolated for shocks up to 80Gs. In 2025 A.D., an auxiliary cooling array was added which reduced ambient operating temperature and improved overall performance by fourteen percent effective.

Enhanced Sensor Suite- the enhanced sensor suite was designed for combat constructs and was built around the faster, larger though hotter temperature range operating Model 41A multi-processor primary array housing three Series 2 fast step microprocessors.

Each microprocessor operated at 4 gigahertz and each had a dedicated 128 gigabyte volatile flash memory stack arranged into four arrays of 32 gigabytes each, linked by a high speed fore-bus data conduit.

Dedicated cooling for each flash memory stack was built into the carrier and utilized a shared liquid coolant system with twin variable speed constant flow, low cavitation 20 watt powered turbo coolant pumps.

Each processor was independently cooled by its own dedicated liquid coolant system fed by a 20 watt turbo pump. Visual acuity was achieved through the use of a phased image sorting Model 32D high definition digital camera with a 10 gigapixel, five layer scan capacity. 50 gigabytes of volatile Type D flex memory, independently cooled and harness stacked, gave the main visual array its processing space.

The hardware was capable of 20x physical zoom and 50x digital zoom with Level Two variable density liquid optics and microprocessor based error correction. Perimeter definition was provided by scan and compare subroutines which differentiated color differences.

Visual ranges were extended past human norm through the addition of a Series 2D Type 8 low light optical filter capable of 40k x ambient light gathering. A dual stage flash protector provided overload protection by allowing for a 2 microsecond cache buffer.

Thermograph enhancement of visual heat ranges allowed active organic targets to be tracked by residual heat as well as to spot threat elements through light density materials at optimum engagement ranges. The Model AA21D4 thermal sampling array was based around a Series 2 microprocessor and independently cooled of the rest of the sensor array.

High resolution infra-red (HRIR) sampling of visual input was handled by a modified Series 12D digital spectrum analyzer. Interfacing of the low light, the thermograph and the HRIR filter sets with the main visual operating set was done by a pair of Type 20W microprocessors each with 32 gigabytes of volatile flash memory and a shared data conduit capable of parallel multi-processing.

Normal HRIR input was through passive reception but a pair of high efficiency subcompact active IR projectors allowed for active IR illumination at up to 30 meters.

Active object motion tracking was a dual stage process utilizing scan and compare visual pixel by pixel comparison of sampled frames (sampled at 7000 frames per second) and a Model AA23 motion tracker. The Model AA23 used sonic wave comparison to track any object moving through the air within a 30 meter radius.

Range and speed as well as general size of the object could be detected. A false signal filter was installed which improved the acquisition of threat elements over non-threat elements. Acoustic detection was provided by a pair of primary binary sampling microphones coupled each with a secondary set of extended range sampling auditory sinks.

Range finding was handled by a pair of subcompact rapid pulse lasers operating in the high infra-red spectrum with range gathering accurate to one millimeter out to visual range. Height and width of an object could also be gathered by comparative analysis using the two lasers to scan in horizontal and vertical parameters. Enhanced software subroutines allowed for the zoom function of the main optic array to interface with the laser range finding capacity to give reliable range estimation even in adverse atmospheric conditions.

Operational auditory range of the Enhanced Sensor Suite extended above and below that of normal human hearing specifically being able to sample data in the subsonic and ultrasonic regimes. Each primary sampling microphone was paired to a Type 32Dx subprocessor and a 20gigabyte flash memory stack cache for processing gathered data samples.

A 5 gigabyte comparative cache allowed for error correction between the two gathered samples as well as threat identification through known frequency ranges of sound traveling through a library of sampled media.

Acoustic signatures of known events were also stored in fixed memory and could be drawn upon for comparison and threat analysis.

The sound of a human heart beating could be detected and identified at 30 meters in open or limited confinement environmental conditions.

Temperature variances were sampled by a pair of integrated Type 4D infra-red digital thermometers capable of measuring temperature variances out to 30 meters.

The entire Enhanced Sensor Suite weighed twelve point seven three kilograms and was protected from overload as well as dampened for impacts up to 30 gravities.

Macro-Input Tactical Arrays (MITA) – One of the most disturbing aspects of the Machines was just how inhuman or non-human they really were. Humans are used to the five senses and of using their five senses to relay information about their environment to them for use in basic and critical decision making.

The Machines not only duplicated the five basic senses to human standards (in one form of Machine or another, sometimes one or more senses were present, sometimes more but rarely all except for the later Terminator and super-heavy classes) as well as expanded them into the super human ranges.

Mechanical strength was already an advantage to a Machine, along with an immunity to fatigue, chemicals, radiation, poisons, or a lack of air. A Machine could operate in a vacuum as well as it could at the bottom of the ocean and for as long as its power supply lasted.

ULTRON equipped its HKs, Terminators and Powered Armor with a variety of combat sensors and scanners; thermal, infra-red, telescopic, and low-light were part of the standard visual optic option package on most units, all digitally controlled. Later liquid crystal lenses replaced hard optics and gave superior visual acuity as well as enhanced telescopic enhancement. The T500 was the first combat model to be equipped with the new MITA Macro-Input Tactical Array.

Basically put, the MITA was a layered visual mapping system that allowed the unit to process multiple streams of input into one cohesive data reference bank and draw its visual source cues from that data. The MITA combined standard infra-red, low-light, thermal and telescopic acquired data into the overall field of vision, matched it with both a bird's eye view of the area of operations (delivered via SADS Secure Active Data Stream from operational ELINT units) and a satellite zoom view.

This information was mixed with the data streams that were hardwired from the various auditory and olfactory sensors as well. The amount of tactical data that was available to a combat unit equipped with the MITA system was overwhelming and a human brain could never have processed such a high amount of real time sensory information (even though humans do process a basic function of the MITA on a very low level basis in life).

Targets were identified and tracked within an operational sphere defined in four dimensions, much like the navigation and location system of the ULTRON units.

A demi-human hiding behind the remains of a half meter thick concrete wall twenty meters away could be detected through a variety of inputs including the increased acoustic report of the heartbeat and the highly specific pheromone trace indicators that demi-humans produced naturally, allowing for discretion between mature and immature demi-humans, as well as defining the target by sex.

Seismic sensors would detect any vibration from a moving soldier and the impact would register the mass of the soldier which would be compared to a set of criteria to determine an approximate size and age.

Vibration could be pin pointed and direction of travel determined. Both auditory and olfactory streams could be merged with visual cues to form a composite picture. Subprocessors would handle the information merger seamlessly and coordinate data for target acquisition and elimination into the overall processes of the main CPU.

The ability to receive real time data streams from any sensor of any operational unit within the assigned sector literally allowed one unit to look through the eyes of another without hindering either unit yet while enhancing both units at the same time. So much of ULTRON's efficiency and success was determined by its ability to network its assets into cohesive, almost unstoppable forces.

Highly specialized tactical multi-array subprocessors built into the design of each unit allowed for several units to "piggy-back" another unit and "share" its data input streams either as a whole or by individual input selection without "hijacking" the hosting unit.

The various tactical subprocessors could take data streams from other units and coordinate this information into the main tactical active data cache of the unit.

This fact alone made ULTRON's units such efficient hunters and killers. Targets were acquired, tracked, and eliminated or lost and reacquired, tracked and eliminated all in real time situational awareness.

ULTRON itself could partake of these data streams, from one of its own subprocessor arrays, at any time it so chose. ULTRON could take direct control of any Machine it ever built, rewriting instruction and programming sets as needed, at whim, and then withdrawing from that Machine to allow it to carry out its assigned instructions. The invasiveness of ULTRON was as total as it was complete but there were limits to even its ability to fragment itself and still maintain a functioning awareness.

Four dimensional real time mapping- All ULTRON autonomous and semi-autonomous units employ a sophisticated GPS assisted inertial navigation system to maneuver to specific areas of the Earth defined down to the centimeter in precision.

The mapping scale can be extended to the millimeter scale but this is normally not required. All mobile units utilize a suite of sensors which not only coordinate their navigation along sets of preprogrammed or instantaneously generated way-points but also to locate the unit precisely in reference to other units and assets.

Every mobile unit, from the simplest automaton to the most advanced combat chassis, employs a positioning system which reads its exact position in X,Y, Z coordinates as well as the fourth dimension, T or Time, within its assigned sector of operations.

The exact mathematical center point of the unit is defined and real time fully scalable digital mapping is used to determine where and when the unit is when in operation. Time is checked against an atomic standard and updated automatically. Therefore, one unit in operation instantly knows the position, speed, and altitude of any other unit in operation within its assigned operational radius and area.

A T800 Endoskeleton requesting assistance would instantly know what assistance was available for it to request, the position of that assistance and, due to speed / time calculations, it would have a real time readout of when that assistance would arrive as well as an overlay of that unit, any information on that unit, and indicators of which direction it was approaching from. Communication would also be real time between units, allowing for an incredible amount of coordination between combat and support units.

ULTRON TACTICS

Standard Operational Protocol Template 21MDP - Modular - Dynamic - Portable

Sector Expansion Tactics (by the numbers)

(PHASE 1) Intense atmospheric satellite imaging, ELINT and recon of a designated area for materials, minerals and other natural or artificial resources. The target area is identified and studied through all methods / areas of the spectrum for hostile forces (movement, radio communication, laser reflections, visible activity (smoke, fires, etc.), working machines, power sources in use, roads and paths that show a great amount of travel recently).

Once the initial intel report is generated, it is reviewed and handed off to one of the main series twelve tactical subprocessors which begins to formulate the expansion campaign. A hexagon is overlaid onto the initial sector defining a 100km by 100km area. A sub-mat of hexes is overlaid onto the macro-hex format, further defining the sector into sub-sectors, each of which is ten square kilometers.

This sub-layering continues on down to the level of the individual centimeter of a sector, all aligned in a hexagon grid pattern. Some sub-sectors may share half of their designated area with the adjacent sector. Each sector is labeled and numbered. Each sub-sector is numbered so that a single centimeter within a 10 square kilometer area has its own identifying coordinate and reference point within the scheme of the sector. The capacity to define a sector down to millimeters and even micrometers is also available though seldom used in tactical situations. If the position of an object can be determined to within one centimeter in ten square kilometers, and a weapon can be delivered to the exact center of that centimeter, further definition of the area is as esoteric as it is redundant.

(PHASE 2) Further, far more detailed real time ELINT of the target area is gathered by the use of a variety of high speed aerodyne scout units operating at a variety of altitude levels including some which are introduced into the target area by supersonic transports operating at altitude regimes that deny OPFOR any ground to air capacity or threat. If OPFOR is present, initial light recon units will be inserted by HALO and HAHO dispersal depending on tactical situation and threat level presented by identifiable OPFOR.

The initial pass through the sector by high speed aerial ELINT units is followed up with a wave of high speed all terrain capable ground mobile, lightly built ELINT scouts, working in real time with a second wave of air mobile aerodyne scouts moving in a slower, more methodical pattern.

The light ground mobile units consist of a variety of legged, wheeled, and tracked units in a variety of sizes allowing the full penetration of any underground areas such as ruins, sewers, or caves (natural and artificially constructed).

These units start to establish a Level I communications network that consists of receivers, transmitters, amplifiers, repeaters, data sinks and correlators. As the units proceed across the sector, at key points in the sector ULTRON begins to establish the foundation for an impressive, build as it goes, tactical communications array with strategic capacity.

All light ground recon units are considered disposable assets and are designed with speed and rapid fatigue firepower rather than heavy armor and superior firepower.

If engaged by OPFOR, the recon units will record and transmit as much information as possible about the OPFOR, relaying the data via real-time uplink to the already established and quickly growing tactical communications grid that is overlaying the sector.

Strength and mobility of OPFOR will be determined and HK units and UEADF armored divisions will be assigned for later stage pacification protocols. If need be, medium class semi-disposable tactical assets may be inserted into the sector or redirected from ops already being undertaken in the sector to probe especially strong occurrences of OPFOR.

The air mobile and ground mobile units work together to map out the area for future TERCOM and NOE flight operations.

Fully scalable four dimensional (length, width, height, and time) digital maps of the area are built and merged on the fly as extremely complex digital databases, every centimeter of the target area is uniquely identified as a reference point and is cataloged by its GPS coordinates as well as a much more complicated and reliable INS inertial navigation system. The boundaries of the sector are formally defined and established as all initial assets and resources are tagged and prioritized.

A second wave of light, ground mobile ELINT units and a third wave of even slower moving and more methodical air mobile ELINT units pass through the sector, gaining the most detailed of all current

information that will provide the very fine details to the sector map.

A fourth pass through the sector by aerodyne units will seed the area for the beginning of a Level I cross tier command and control network, dropping self-deploying sensors, scanners, communications relays and a host of other active and passive ELINT equipment.

Four semi-independent tactical and logistics processor arrays will process this information, create maps and offer an itinerary for the next phases. Assets will be allocated to the project, installation sites defined, and the final preparations for a pacification / extension campaign will begin.

(PHASE 3) Light and medium air mobile Hunter Killer (HK) and UEAADF's bomber units and air deployable ground mobile light, medium and heavy HK, MBT and AFV units enter the area from out-sector staging areas and begin large scale coordinated pacification routines against identified OPFOR positions and groupings. Speed and coordination are maintained as the primary effective means of shock value and mass suppression of OPFOR capability.

All HK units are initially targeted against any OPFOR identified during Phase 2. The high speed of the air mobile HK units ensures that they will arrive in the sector before the ground mobile HK units do. Air superiority is quickly established and this advantage is used to soften up any initial Imperial Army efforts while the non-disposable ground mobile HK assets remove standing obstacles, reduce any areas of cover to ruin, and generally flatten anything that is standing and can be used as ambush or shelter.

Some rapid deployment capable sustained ground combat units will be air delivered to forward staging areas with instructions to take and hold predetermined areas of resource or tactical interest until support from aerial and ground mobile HKs can be brought to bear. All HK units are unlocked and proceed with search and destroy protocols. HK units are supported by dedicated ELINT assets representing both air mobile and ground mobile types of units in a variety of sizes. Forward service and maintenance stations are established for the support and repair of the HK units.

High speed air mobile and high speed all terrain light ground mobile units begin introducing various established (as well as some experimental) toxic chemical, nerve agents and nanomite on any groups of people found.

Standing areas of water or crops are poisoned with rapid fatigue toxins and defoliants either by air delivered sprays or direct insertion of compounds from light, ground mobile units. Follow up delivery of toxins include long term, stable compounds after initial toxin levels established.

Possible areas that could be used as shelters by OPFOR are poisoned with long term residuals that will fatally affect any humans entering or leaving the shelter. Specialized delivery units, air and ground, disperse hundreds of small scuttler / scurrier units are deployed to take up extended residence for limited range, local area anti-personnel work. These small units are numerous and tie into the already established network to add their own limited ELINT capabilities to the available network asset pool. Areas around the installations under construction are built up into defensive zones and seeded with a variety of scuttler / scurrier units, smart mines, and remote / automated defensive weapon systems as well as both active and passive deterrents.

The ground capable HKs reach their assigned mission areas (having pacified everything in their path and to a wide area around their assigned paths) and are now supported in turn by the air capable HKs working as both scouts and air superiority / close support roles. All HKs work in conjunction to terminate any Imperial Army, coordinating several units to work together to destroy large groups of opposing forces and Imperial Army where found. One of the primary goals of the ground mobile heavy tracked HK units is to demolish any large standing buildings or structures that could be used as refuge or staging areas for the humans.

Once any opposing force has been broken, scattered, forced to withdraw from concise actions and driven to take shelter underground then the smaller, lighter combat units (such as the Endos and other highly specialized anti-personnel combat units) would be called in to actively follow the demi-humans down into their warrens and hideouts (places too small for the larger HKs to get into) and would face the demi-humans on their own scale and terms.

Specialized carrier units would follow behind the advancing HK and ground combat units, randomly seeding the sector with a wide variety of autonomous and semi-autonomous anti-personnel devices, in the wake of the ground assault front. These lethal devices would mop up any survivors of the primary assault as well as provide active, continuing deterrent to any titans who might try to reoccupy the area once the HK units had moved on.

(PHASE 4) The orderly elimination of battle beasts would follow several criteria. If ULTRON needed test subjects for its various R&D programs, it would try to capture battle beasts. Toxins would be switched for compounds that would debilitate rather than kill.

Specialized hunt and capture machines would be sent in to either acquire live test subjects or collect test subjects that had already been incapacitated. Sweeps of collector machines, accompanied by a variety of HK and light ground combat units in overwatch mode, would occur if large batches of test subjects were required.

If ULTRON had enough test subjects, it would simply eliminate any harmful animals it found and not worry about taking them back to be processed in an orderly fashion. Experimental combat units may also be used in limited numbers under close supervision to judge operational field results and modify the design. Local temporary labor camps may be set up as needed, along with temporary or semi-permanent processing installations.

(PHASE 5) Pre-grouped and pre-assigned labor and reclamation units will be sent into heavily pacified areas of the sector to begin basic recovery operations. A seed factory may already be maneuvered into place following the pacification of its target sector and construction of the seed factory inspired complex may and probably will take place during the pacification campaign. Labor and reclamation units will bring raw materials back for processing which will allow current machines to be repaired, new machines to be built, and the factory structure to be added on to.

(PHASE 6) By the end of the pacification campaign, the sector will be free of all active hostile forces. Passive hostile forces will continue to be rooted out by active HK, Terminator and armor units. A deep and well defined network of remote sensors keyed to short range, high attenuation semi-autonomous anti-personnel devices will provide both early warning of human movement as well as localized control of small scale incursions.

(PHASE 7) The automated factory should be well established with a defensive perimeter and a vast subordinated security and access control zone.

Automated patrols, remote sensors, and frequent active scouting combined with passive awareness devices will maintain a complete awareness of second by second conditions in the sector. Reclamation projects will continue around the clock with newer labor and reclamation units being built as required to expand the operation and decrease the amount of time from recovery to refinery.

A constant will be maintained of resource in and products out, adjusted by the amount of labor and reclamation units in operation and the capacity of the plant itself. Expansion of the labor force and the plant refining / manufacturing facilities will remain at a set ratio to prevent wastage or shortage of resources.

Any large standing structures for several kilometers around the factory will have been flattened and reclaimed. The area around the factory will have been shaved smooth and flat by automated processes creating a wide zone roughly ten kilometers square (nearly to the horizon).

The defensive zone surrounding the factory will become a no-man's land filled with remote detection systems, sensors, scanners, chemical / biological threat dispensers, mines (both dumb and smart), turrets (both emplaced and pop-up), fences (physical, monowire, or other), field and wave generators and a several hundred scurriers and scuttlers which will stay hidden in small holes in the rubble (much like trap door spiders) and will rapidly scuttle out to attack anyone in range.

Weapons for the installation are capable of reaching to beyond the edge of the no-man's land and consist mostly of directed high energy weapons with a few dumb / guided direct fire and indirect fire capable of delivering variable yield / payload munitions.

(PHASE 8) The process is repeated (for the next sector adjacent and perhaps for all adjacent sectors) with the newly established factory taking on the responsibility for not only conducting recon but also of producing the recon, labor and assault units required to pacify the next sector. In effect, ULTRON expands like a metal cancer, it continues to grow, devouring everything in its path as it spreads and consolidating its hold on its territory by fortifying any installations it creates.

AUTOMATED INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES

After ULTRON activation in 2017, it began a conservative, if rapid, buildup of its industrial might. Even as the destruction from the Rumbling was spreading across the American mainland, ULTRON was already mobilizing its plans. In 2031 AD, ULTRON consolidated its resources and manufacturing facilities in one area, a portion of the mid-Western United States which became known as Sector Zero.

Within Sector Zero, ULTRON ruled supreme and with total authority. Huge, multi-level automated manufacturing complexes and industrial centers rose into the sky and nuzzled into the depths of the Earth. All of the facilities were connected by a variety of cargo and unit mass transport systems, all were linked to several computer core systems, which were in turn interfaced to ULTRON directly.

ULTRON's automated mining systems began to filter out the planet's minerals, going farther and faster than any previous human attempts. One such project became known to the humans as 'the Devil's Navel', and it was the first structurally sound deep core mine, fully automated, ten kilometers deep and increasing in depth by several hundred meters with each month.

When ULTRON found a thermal vein, it simply tapped into it and enjoyed new power for more production. By 2038, Sector Zero was an impregnable fortress, a mechanical blemish on the surface of the Earth that could easily be seen from space, and it continued to grow every year.

By 2044, local resources had been depleted and except for the still sizeable outlay from the deep core mine, ULTRON began to expand to other areas of the country, setting up armored and armed fortresses, stationing units to both pacify the immediate area and then protect its mining interests.

As the War raged for decades, ULTRON tried a variety of designs all with the express purpose of hunting down imperial militant and eliminating them in any environment.

As the empire became more and more organized, the need for highly specialized units became a tactical priority. The automated factories were working at full capacity to produce units for ULTRON's arsenal while the tech and science centers processed data and developed new areas of science to utilize in constructing the next generation of killing machine.

The automated resource collection units were combing the ruins for materials to keep the vast automated factory complexes supplied, and ULTRON even had to resort to using titan labor, cheap as it was, to handle some of its more simple tasks, thus freeing up machines that were used in much more valuable labor.

Labor and internment camps were constructed, and mindless titans rounded up for labor details and after their usefulness was at an end, orderly disposal. ULTRON soon noted that resistance to its expansion was being met with organized and aggressive imperial resistance .

The empire were striking back, smashing forward fortifications, stealing technology, stealing weapons, salvaging destroyed units, and then fading back into the underground bunkers. Ambushes on resource collection units became common as did attacks on and liberations of prison work camps.

Each camp liberated added to the manpower of a growing army of imperial resistance and ULTRON's response was that each prisoner be eliminated instantly if a raid was detected being conducted on a camp. Mass executions and orderly exterminations soon taught the Imperial Army that it had to learn new tactics rather than brute force to liberate its fellow soldiers.

Sometimes, imperial intelligence operatives would infiltrate the prison camps and rebellion would be instigated from within. ULTRON had its own ways to deal with infiltrators from the Imperial Army but the lesson was one that was not forgotten and would serve the supercomputer well in future tactics.

The Imperial Army learned quickly that the War was one not only of attrition, but of resources. ULTRON's Machines, like any other army, required certain resources to be produced, to operate, and to be repaired.

If the Empire cut off the resources or took them before ULTRON could obtain them, then they delivered a blow to the supercomputer's campaign against them. The Imperial Army learned that if the materials never got to ULTRON's factories, then ULTRON couldn't build its weapons.

It was no small wonder that after the Imperial Army started hitting ULTRON at its resource links that HK unit production was stepped up and resource collection units soon had combat capable escorts.

HK - HUNTER KILLER SERIES

The Hunter Killer or "HK" series of anti-personnel combat units were the simplest and most numerous of the various combat oriented Machines designed by ULTRON. The HK series were the first and often the largest of ULTRON's combat units.

Originally evolved from advanced prototype American robot weapon systems under development at the begin of the 21st century, the various series of HK units represented the largest areas of advances in design and technology over the course of the three decades long war.

Built in fully automated factories to precision tolerances using high technology, HKs were used as ULTRON's foremost force projection element to eliminate the imperial resistance in the ruins and to pacify or cleanse large areas of any feral scavengers so that the UEADF could move in and collect the local resources or set up automated installations without the threat of constant harassment.

Their greatest success rates were observed during daylight hours by using a variety of advanced image intensification, dual input pixel comparison, and sonic based motion tracking capabilities. Any movement was instantly tracked, analyzed, and if it represented a human target, weapons were brought to bear and the target was engaged. If termination was not the immediate result then the HKs were programmed to judge the effects of their actions, calculate new strategies and options and to pursue targets based on a wide range of criteria.

Pursuit of any acquired target would continue until such time as termination could be carried out and verified or until the HKs had lost the track of the target for a predetermined time limit. If the target tracking was lost, the HK would go to loiter mode, assess the situation, extrapolate possible hiding places or methods of escape, follow through with the most likely, and would attempt to reacquire the target. If the target could not be reacquired, then the HK would relay the tactical information to all nearby units and resume its assigned patrol route.

In the first five years of the War, the rapidly evolving HK series of Machines were responsible for a large amount of imperial casualties. The initial high success rate was due simply to surprise.

HK units differed the most in size and mass, ranging from units not much bigger than a human's hand to huge multi-segment tracked zone pacification units.

TERMINATORS

The first series of HK ground units were designed for rapid pacification of large areas but the smaller the area or the fewer the targets, the more difficult the task became for the large HK units. While the large HKs were more than capable in their assigned tasks, they were easily fooled and outwitted by small groups of demi-humans using dedicated tactics.

The HKs were simply too large, awkward and cumbersome to follow the imperials down below ground and the few early models of bipedal units sent to infiltrate the imperials warrens never met with any high degree of success; it was just too easy for the imperials to set traps or ambush what few types and designs of Machines ULTRON could deploy to follow the demi-humans where they hid.

ULTRON realized that above ground, it had the advantage where size, firepower and armor could be matched with speed to run down anything that moved or tried to hide but the empire began a series of guerilla actions for which it was ill equipped (at first) to respond to.

Among the more substantial ruins and below ground in the subways, bunkers, citadels, sewers and other maintenance areas of the old cities, ULTRON's designs were at an obvious disadvantage and suffered rapid attrition.

ULTRON and UEAADF owned the sky and the surface while the empire owned everything beneath.

The demi-humans who survived the initial Machine attacks soon learned to hide from the Machines during the day, often in hastily prepared underground bunkers and old maze-like sewers while the HKs prowled the ruins above, searching and eliminating any enemy found.

Initial resistance to the Earth's control within green zone came from small groups of guerrilla fighters banding together and working towards common goals. Their tactics became clandestine, their actions harder to predict and provide countermeasures against.

Imperial fighters were moving underground, in increasingly large numbers, using old public utility, sewer, cave, and mass transit tunnels to remain, for the most part, undetected by Earth's surveillance systems.

ULTRON realized at an early phase that it would need combat units that could follow the demi-humans where ever they went, even down into the cracks and depths of the ruins.

ULTRON began to assemble a new series of combat unit designed specifically to go anywhere demi-human fighters could go, to mimic the demi-human capacity to adapt to differing terrain and conditions with ease. ULTRON's new series of elimination Machines would not be stopped at the surface, instead, they would be able to follow the demi-humans where ever they retreated to and root them out from their hiding places.

The new Terminator series anti-personnel Machines would support the heavier HK and heavy armored units while above ground but when demi-humans retreated beneath the ruins, the new Terminator series of Machines could pursue and neutralize.

Until this new series of unit was put into production, ULTRON needed a stop-gap measure to curb the demi-human fighter population and to bring their numbers back into check.

For this, the AI turned to designing variants of the ARIGS systems intended to become small, efficient yet semi-disposable anti-personnel weapon systems. The new types of weapon systems were called AAPS (Autonomous Anti-Personnel Systems) and consisted of small, flight capable ARIGS units modified to carry a basic hunter killer electronics package as well as an extended power pack for increased loiter times, energy conservation subroutines to maintain peak power requirements and a sensor suite taken from the most advanced ARIGS design.

Unlike the ARIGS, the AAPS were designed to make an initial entry into the underground areas, find a secluded place and then lay in wait on lone demi-humans or small groups of demi-humans to pass by at which point the AAPS would engage and neutralize the target. The programming of the AAPS allowed it to follow and engage individual targets at ideal situations, modifying its tactics as it went and learning from its experiences (one of the first of the new series of combat Machines to be able to do so).

Armament for the AAPS consisted of a variety of toxin dispensers, powered misters, high pressure fluid stream dispensers and powered hypodermic injectors. The typical attack subroutine called for the AAPS to wait in hiding, preferably in a damaged section of wall or ceiling, in complete shadow.

When a target passed by, passive sensors would record the target's information and the unit would spin up to full power, a series of system initializations which would take approximately two point seven nine seconds.

The AAPS would then lift off from its perch silently on ducted fans, floating down out of its hiding place and approach the target from above, at an oblique angle out of immediate view even if the target turned to look behind them.

Speed would be gathered naturally by cutting power to the lift fans and letting gravity assert itself on the unit, increasing speed for the attack.

Once the AAPS was within one meter of the target, it would deliver a lethal dose of bio/neuro/physio toxin through a high pressure stream to the target's skin or other exposed area (sometimes to the face if the target turned to look towards the unit).

Absorption was nearly instantaneous into the skin and blood stream with debilitating effects taking place within six point nine seconds of dosage administration and lethal effect being achieved some nine point six seconds after initial dosage delivery, on average, depending on type of toxin and amount which actually contacted the skin.

ULTRON continued to refine its AAPS models over the years.

Later models evolved rapidly into lighter, more effective hunter killers. The improved AAPS (IAAPS) had better propulsion, faster flight speeds, longer ranges, increased loiter times due to high density crystal matrix batteries, better sensors and more accurate, more effective anti-personnel weapon systems.

The initial toxin dispensers would remain (evolving into highly complex and highly effective delivery systems) but they would be supplemented by superwire based garrotes as well as contact hypodermic injectors and nearly silent toxin tipped frangible needles propelled to high speeds by induction field generated magnetic bias.

One variant of the IAAPS used its induction fans to power a ring of serrated surgical steel blades (later superwire edged adjustable pitch polyhedrons) to several thousand RPMs, turning the rim of its lifting surface into a viscous cutting edge capable of shearing through most substances. Combine this with a high speed pass and the shrieking of the air passing through the cutting blades and the IAAPS truly became weapon of fear and terror in the dark, below ground areas.

ULTRON tried several countermeasures to the surge in cooperation among the various resistance groups and terrorist cells with the most effective being chemical and biological in nature, both short term and persistent. Some of the more successful designs of early killing Machines were little more than automated, self propelled, chemical and toxin dispensers with a large degree of mobility and just enough just programming to complete their task.

During the period of 2030 A.D. to 2034 A.D., ULTRON introduced over a hundred and thirty-eight new and different neuro-, physio-, and bio-toxins to its catalog of weapons with most of these being developed through a rigorous joint laboratory and field testing regimen.

ULTRON pursued the imperial resistance in distinct phases, sometimes it stepped up its campaign of attrition to thin their constantly growing numbers and sometimes it actively allowed them a false sense of security, a fake hope in order to lull them into lowering their guard at which point it would perform massive coordinated sweeps to obtain live captives for use in its many scientific and weapons / technologies development programs.

---

Sector Zero, Mid-Western United States, 2030

A small patrol of four JLTVs with dual .75 cal machine guns and an Oshkosh H-ATV with an AP 35mm auto cannon drove along the Sector Zero border as they kept the look out for any trouble.

A flight of two Bell V-300s flew over with their dual rotors thumping in the air.

The Valors were multi-purpose rotor craft that could act as both a utility and attack craft at the same time. With two operators in the cockpit, one to pilot, and the other to operate the M230 Chain Gun under the nose. Capable of holding a total of fifteen marines, two being side gunners of ceiling mounted M61A3 20mm Gatling Gun.

"Sector Charlie looks clear! Moving to recon sector Delta!"

"Roger, solid copy!"

The two Valors changed course and began to fly out of this sector and head for the next.

"ULTRON, this is Michael 1, requesting clearance for landing, over."

"Michael 1, this is ULTRON, standby."

"Michael 1, clearance has been granted, enjoy your stay."

The missile launchers and various hidden defensive systems around the island disengaged from the incoming aircraft as it was given safe passage and landed on the runway.

The twin turbojet aircraft touched down and began to flow to a stop. The main hangar doors opened and allowed the aircraft entry before closing again, sealing the entire facility from the outside world.

The plane came to a stop and the side doors opened, showing the POTUS, Dirrel B Johnson stepped outside side and into the hanger.

"Sir, we've been expecting you. Welcome to Sector Zero Complex." The head chief of the complex, James B. McConville greeted them and began to escort them to the development and testing wing.

Large ballistic windows let them view large open spaces where various war machines and system that would be used out in the field.

"ULTRON've made several break through and successful tests. We're hoping that soon we can get these new drones fielded for combat in Falmart."

The first area contained a sort of conventional tank in dark colors.

"We call this unit the FAMBT-3 Mjolnir," McConville pointed at the tank. "And it is a fully autonomous main battle tank."

The Mjolnir MBT was one of the best examples of 6th generation tanks. An unmanned turret, high-precision kinetic ammunition and missile weaponry, a complex of active protection, as well as an optical camouflage system that allows you to camouflage a tank in the visible and infrared spectrums.

The 140mm gun with composite barrel bore operates with several types of projectiles, including APFSDS, an armor-piercing cumulative projectile with a multifunctional remote fuse, as well as a guided shell able to detonate over a target.

The Mjolnir was the most heavily defended combat unit on the battlefield, capable of surviving multiple hits and, at the same time, effectively conduct combat operations, guaranteeing the highest level of safety for the crew.

The armoring around the crewed compartment is made from a special composite that does not create secondary fragments after penetration.

This tank had the heaviest frontal armor package on the battlefield, supplemented by ERA modules on the hull's upper and lower plates that gives the Mjolnir protection against its own shell types at point-blank range.

An unique complex of active protection capable of detecting and destroying most types of weapons at distance, including kinetic armor-piercing projectiles and airborne guided weapons.

The head chief pulled over a microphone and began to speak into it. "Can we get some dummy's into the area and perform a live test?"

The president watched as several platforms holding drone dummy vehicles rose up and the drones began to drive around.

The tank activated and began to identify and target the drones.

The 140mm main gun opened up and tore the first drone in half as it popped a missile from the top of it's turret. The missile arched up before locking onto one of the drones and impacting into it. By now, the main gun had fired again and destroyed another drone. A few smaller airborne drones flew around but were shot down by the 25mm as it used AHEAD rounds.

"Impressive." The US President said. "Much like the Type-92K Chamberlain and Type-47M Sheridan?"

"Actually sir, it used much more advanced software than those two tanks. However we have plans to make both hardware and software improvements to the two tanks."

They moved on to an UAMMS- Cerberus. An Unmanned Autonomous Mobile Missile System.

The UAMMS- Cerberus was built on the single base with the Mjolnir MBT. The vehicle was devoid of most active protection systems, but it provided a unique ability to engage targets from cover, including without direct visual contact with the enemy.

In the fighting compartment of the "Cerberus" there was an installation for monitoring and launching vertical take-off missiles, the operation of which was provided in automatic or semi-automatic mode.

To detect and lock onto targets outside of direct visual contact, the missile tank was equipped with a retractable periscope with a complex of digital-optical equipment, as well as an installation for launching British-Israeli "Gryphon" series reconnaissance drones/loitering munitions.

Being part of the "Cerberus" complex, this drone is equipped with an encrypted module for broadcasting targets to the gunner-operator's active monitor. The drone works in both manual and automatic modes, maintaining the flight settings specified by the operator.

The power plant was represented by a piezomagnetic engine with a push propeller; a multi-mode digital camera with interchangeable lenses was located in the nose of the drone. In the drone's hull there was a shaped-charge warhead for destruction of armored vehicles and enemy fortifications.

The passive protection in the Cerberus provides all-round protection and protection in the upper hemisphere from single hits of cumulative ammunition and missiles.

The same testing procedure was under way as the drone opened several of it's hatched and released a swarm of missiles. Destroying all targets in one strike.

Next they moved to the "Seraph" universal air/missile defense complex

The unified "Seraph" air and missile defense complex is designed to detect and engage low-flying air targets of all types, including unmanned aerial vehicles and guided missiles.

The main calibre of the complex is a rapid-fire automatic cannon, with armor-piercing rounds, high-explosive fragmentation shells with an intelligent contact-remote fuse, as well as guided shells. The "Seraph" features surface-to-air "fire and forget" missiles. The automatic radar system "Aegis-11" includes a radar and a high-energy laser for detecting and hitting light air targets without operator input.