Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Equalizer AA Tank

"..."

-...

The Equalizer AA Tank is an anti-air tank of SKYNET. Planned to be voiced by

History
"..."

-...

Short story
Janus Solutions Ltd. Official Report

To: Board of Classics, selected senior executives

Subject: Anomalous war machine

"Two weeks ago, a company survey team in eastern Arkesia had an unusual encounter while conducting mineral surveys along the Arkesia-Tyria border. The team's Chariot transport was brought down by weapons fire of unknown origin late at night, killing the lead surveyor, his assistant, and destroying their equipment. The centurion commanding the team's security escort then took command. She immediately sent a report to Janus HQ, confirming that the weapon used to destroy the Chariot was not a standard weapon employed by any of the major powers."

"Centurion Calpurnia took the initiative and directed her security escort to search for the vehicle responsible. What she discovered was a vehicle of similar design and manufacture to the Voshkod prototype "Gatling Tank" that was lost a few months after Cherdenkos's purges. With commendable initiative, Calpurnia used the EMP rifles of her team's Helios Security to disable the vehicle and bring it back to Janus HQ for study."

"The vehicle in question is a relatively small four-wheeled vehicle manufactured primarily from an unusual aluminum-based alloy similar to the other robots encountered, and remains a very light-weight, highly conductive alloy with amazing flexibility but is also soft for a metal and affords little protection from weapon fire. The resulting vehicle chassis is fast on all terrains yet tested, but can easily be destroyed by even heavy anti-infantry weaponry. For armament, the vehicle employs dual 20mm cannons on a rotating turret mount."

"These cannons are configured to fire canister-style fragmentation rounds that explode when a proximity sensor detects nearby aircraft. Using a nanite scavenging system built into the machine's wheels, the vehicle constantly manufactures ammunition for its guns from the terrain itself, enabling the vehicles to operate without regard for conventional logistics."

"Other features of the vehicle defy conventional analysis. For instance, the vehicle's power source. As far as our engineers can tell, it somehow operates in a similar fashion to the atomic generators used by the Luresians but is far more advanced and much smaller. Not only can a reactor the size of a football power the vehicle indefinitely, but only a fraction of the reactor’s output is also actually allocated to the operation of the vehicle itself. The majority of its output is directed to a machine we've taken to call the Sisyphus device. We know what it does, but our engineers are still at a loss to explain how it works."

"The Sisyphus device somehow warps space-time around a targeted entity - we've tested it on aircraft, vehicles, and infantry alike - and our best guess is that it renders the distance between the entity and everywhere else infinite. For the duration of the Sisyphus effect, the target will still be going full blast but won't be *going* anywhere. The effect is not permanent, however, as the Sisyphus device can only draw on so much of the vehicle's power lest the entire machine shut down. I assure you, directors, that the finest minds in Janus Solutions are working around the clock on reverse engineering this device."

"Finally, like all other independent robotic units of similar origin, this vehicle appears to be linked to a central computer system that we can determine nothing about from examination of this unit. We are continuing our analysis and all our data is at the Board of Classics' disposal."

Shortly after the Board of Classics received this report, the laboratory housing the vehicle was destroyed under unknown circumstances. An investigation is still ongoing.