As the Imperial Election for the Tenth Emperox of the Empire proved an ever closer race, Houses Fornax and Pyxis locked neck and neck for the Throne, House Crux approached both candidates with a proposal: Messiah’s Will. The request was simple but costly. House Crux was concerned about the escalation of technologies and infrastructure seen in the conflict with the STO, and believed their own capabilities were no longer on par with what was required to keep the Empire’s peace and enforce the Emperox’s will. Messiah’s Will would rectify that.
While both candidates were strongly in favor of the proposal, House Crux ultimately chose to support House Pyxis. Both they and House Crux knew that the younger, minor house did not have the capabilities required to fulfill Messiah’s Will on their own, so House Pyxis turned to House Eridanus and the pretech caches of Agassiz 7 over Demnoph. With funding from the newly coronated Imperial House, and the expert negotiating skills of Eridanii brokers, Messiah’s Will could be easily completed to House Crux’s specifications.
But what is Messiah’s Will?
Advanced Peacekeeping: The Road Forward[]
Through the War Against the Artificials and the conflict with the STO, House Crux’s technological capabilities had lagged behind. While on par with the greater portion of the Empire, it was considered preferable that they should exceed the norm, not match it. Thus, expensive upgrades and additions to House Crux’s arsenal were necessary. With time, House Crux could have worked towards such advancements on their own. But through the course of the election it was decided that the far easier road would be to lean on the powerful technological tools of others, expediting improvements.
The first need was improved weaponry, tools, and armor. If another conflict like that with the STO were to rear its head again, House Crux wanted to be prepared. But as a police force, military grade weapons were not the only concern. House Crux also needed advanced methods of pacification and restraint to apprehend criminals, control riots, and enforce the Emperox’s will.
That said, while a large division could be outfitted through the generosity of the Emperox and the work on Agassiz 7, it would be some time, perhaps years, before Crucian forces at large would be outfitted with such technology.
Equipment[]
Sample Statistics: All sample stats use the Genesys system and are designed to represent the advanced tech and power of the Pretech Infantry unit, and may not be perfectly balanced for your own game. Feel free to use them, stats from the Genesys official books, or stats of your own in your own campaign.
Agassiz Carbine[]
Named after the pretech cache that helped create it, the Agassiz Carbine is a powerful last resource. Jet black, with a faint glow of deep purple escaping its charge vents after firing, the carbine is an improvement on the typical laser rifles and void carbines House Crux has used in the past. That said, its prototype technology and design makes the Carbine somewhat tricky to handle for untrained officers.
Mercy Stun Pistol[]
Designed for the apprehension of criminals, the Mercy Stun Pistol is useless in eliminating a target but very handy for capturing or restraining them at close range. The energy blast of the weapon is also known to cause interference in the nervous system, manifesting in small twitches or stings of pain across the body that can be distracting despite their harmlessness.
Inhibitor Cuirass[]
Designed to be highly resistant to primitive and even modern weaponry, the Inhibitor Cuirass is meant to keep Crux officers on the front lines of riots and civil unrest as long as possible. Layers of black and silver metals are sleekly sculpted and glow at the plate seams with a faint, deep purple energy that enhances the natural resistance of the armor.
Riot Grenades[]
Not very deadly, but highly disorienting, Riot Grenades are specially designed to incapacitate enemies rather than kill them. A small silver sphere, the device detonates with a deafening sound followed by a highly disruptive energy wave that can immobilize unprepared targets.
HANS-L APD Drones (Heavy Aerial Neutralization and Support Logistics)[]
Mobile hunters equipped with weapons of their own, HANS-L APD Drones utilize gravtech to move quickly between trailing criminals and surveying the vicinity of a crime scene. Their deep purple ocular inputs, one large, front-central camera and numerous smaller data collection devices, are tucked neatly into a black and silver reinforced shell. Several arms, similar to tentacles, trail from the front of the drone in a manner similar to cuttlefish, some designed for manipulating and collecting evidence, others equipped with specialized weaponry. HANS-L Drones also carry deployment discs for miniaturized versions of the signature purple Crux Crime Scene Forcefield.
Weaponry[]
Null-Resistance Inhibition Field:[]
Expressly designed to control and contain a target, the Null-Resistance Inhibition Field, or NRIF, cannot cause severe harm, but is very powerful for stopping criminals in their tracks. Manifesting as a ray of silver energy, a target’s cognitive functions are targeted and disrupted, effectively overloading subconscious processes for a short period.
Interdiction Beam[]
The HANS-L Drones last defense, the Interdiction Beam is highly accurate and capable of bypassing primitive armor with ease. While not as strong as the Agassiz Carbine up front, quantum energy calibration allows the Interdiction Beam a terrifying precision even at longer ranges than most standard issue rifles.
GRET-L APD Drones (Ground Response Enforcement and Tactical Logistics)[]
Humanoid in design, GRET-L APD Drones are able to wield most of the same weaponry as their human counterparts. Unlike HANS-L, which requires some adjustment on the part of Drone Operators to the sensation of gravtech flight when being directly controlled, GRET-L APD Drones are much easier to understand, as movements performed by a human operator translate almost one-to-one.
That said, while bipedal, GRET-L units are not simply black, metal mimics of human form. They feature a single, central, ocular input on the front of their heads, a purple ring of light under reinforced glass, and two different arms. One arm effectively mimics a human’s in operation, capable of carrying and using many of the same weapons, but its reinforced structure allows it to wield a rifle or heavy weapon with the same if not better precision than a human using both of their hands. The other arm is equipped with two attachments instead of a hand, a shorter, shock attachment for disabling hostiles and a breach-charge launcher (for the shock attachment, use the Stun Baton from the Genesys Core Rule Book). The breach-charge launcher allows placement of charges for blowing walls, doors, and even light ship hulls, but requires lengthy setup and would be mostly useless as a combat weapon. While common structures may be able to be penetrated with these charges, reinforced structures such as military installations and advanced composites will often be unaffected. GRET-L also features stabilizers with maglock systems that extend from the rear of its legs when not active, useful in atypical terrain and vessels that have lost internal gravity, and two rear vents, similar to small wings, that protrude from its back. Shock absorbent materials also allow GRET-L to be dropped from great heights, such as aboard a low-flying shuttle, directly into an engagement.
While GRET-L is less capable at terrain traversal than HANS-L, its strengths lie in urban combat, where it allows Crux Officers to enter a dangerous location without directly risking their lives first. GRET-L utilizes much of the same equipment as human APD officers, besides its unique arm attachments, and is well armored and highly resistant to low-tech weaponry and physical damage from punches or primitive melee weapons.
JES Drone Operators[]
Specially trained for the task of drone operation and outfitted with the hardware necessary to communicate with and control multiple drones, JES Drone Operators are in the process of rapid training and recruitment to meet the demands of the new APD Drones. APD Drones rely on only two forms of control for operations: direct control and programmed control. Direct control either involves commands being sent from an orbiting Crux vessel, which is more easily interrupted by QECM, or commands provided by a more locally located Crux officer wearing a specially designed helmet, its AR technology derived from ACRE CORE helmets. These can be sent as instructions or directly input, a Drone Operator “seeing what the drone sees and moving the drone through mental instruction.” Programmed control involves a number of simple directives under which an APD Drone is instructed to operate if it loses contact with a controller. These programs are very simple, often indicating only general tactics such as “subdue all hostiles,” or “flee the area.”
Drone operators are often kept away from the front lines of engagement, as their focus is typically devoted entirely to piloting one or multiple APD Drones. In some situations, they will be aboard Crucian shuttles or armored transports in pursuit of a target. That said, Operators still typically carry standard issue sidearms to defend themselves if located.
On the modern battlefield, QECM generally proves a difficult obstacle and large deterrent to the use of drones, robots, or other similar machines of war. For the APD Drones and their Operators, however, prototype Solar-Blind Spectrum Shunting technology provides a potential answer. Using deep UV band spectrums and photon detectors, information can be passed between an Operator and an APD Drone even without line of sight, though the range is much shorter than standard communications methods. APD Drones themselves are also more resistant to QECM than a standard field drone, but equal or more advanced technology is still capable of disabling them with the right tools.
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