Since their first contact, when the Nepleslians insisted that a standing military was vital for their survival, the nodes and mainframes of Polysentience have been designing countless schematics and simulations for them on a vast scale. Though the The Free State was sorely lacking in military technologies, they were still among the most efficient of engineerings, and eventually designed and honed the Militant series. The Militant, in most respects, is not so much the finely-tuned precision machine most militaries would design, but the cost-effective, low maintenance, rugged and reliable unit that follows suit with the pride of the Freespacer engineering core.

The Militant has been become the staple of what may soon become the Free State irregular forces. Since its induction the series has been employed in large numbers aboard nearly all Nepleslian vessels and stations, providing a durable, lower-upkeep alternative to a fully crewed vessel, not to mention the fact it has begun appearing on numerous mercenary and privateer vessels. The series is now one of the Free State's largest exports, though it remains to be seen if it will become the success it promises to be.

Nomenclature SI: Synthetic Intelligence. Capacity for full sentience, and theoretically learning any given task. NU: Nonvolitional Unit. Limited free will, limited intelligence outside of field of specialization. For this reason tactical coordination requires these units be slaved into a tactical computer or be under a sentient commander.

Government: The Free State Organization: State Biomechatronics Type: Automaton Class: Heavy Infantry/Light PA Designer: Polysentience SubNodes Manufacturer: Free State Fleets Production: Mass Production

Width: 2ft Height: 8ft Mass: 400lbs.

Running speed: 40 mph / 65 km/h Air speed: 500 mph / 800 km/h Jump Distance (1G): (Will calculate this later) Microgravity speed: 220000 mph / 350000 km/h

Thruster Range (0G): 25 AU Lifespan: 30 Years.

The Rude Gesture is a linear railgun autocannon based around magnetic rail technology. The unit utilizes a self-adjusting set of rails which adjust to fit various solid ammunition sizes, thus allowing the variable auto-cannon to utilize anything from 10mm bullets to 25mm grenades. This system is designed as a secondary weapon; ideally the Militant will carry an infantry heavy support weapon as its primary means of attack, while the Rude Gesture will provide support. e.g., a Militant carrying an infantry rifle may carry anti-armor grenades for its cannon, while one carrying a rocket launcher may choose anti-infantry flechettes.

Location: Left forearm Primary Purpose: Antipersonnel Secondary Purpose: Anti-armor Damage: Various Range: 2 km max Rate of Fire: Various Payload Below payloads are the default internal reserves; additional ammo canisters can be mounted on the back or waist of the unit as needed.

Location: 'Mouth' faceplate. Purpose: Less-than-lethal incapacitating laser system. Effect: Nausea, dizziness, visual hallucinations, temporary narcoleptic conditions, intense hunger sensation. Secondary Effect: Audio and visual sensor data input in electronic targets. Range: 7 meters / 23 feet Rate of Fire: Constant

The exoskeleton is designed to be a first-line defense against the hazards of combat. The exoskeleton uses primarily tungsten-alloy plating, chosen for its very high melting point and hardness. The armor plating is belted together and undercoated using buckypaper. The extreme tensile strength of this weave increases the armor's absorb kinetic energy exponentially, while at the same time it acts as a sort of makeshift Faraday cage to protect the internal systems from energy discharges.

When voltage is applied to these polymers they will change their shape in a predefined way, not dissimilar to the way human muscles will contract when they receive a signal from the nervous system. Carbon nanotubes are the staple of the polymers, allowing for the extreme tensile strength needed to lift thousands of pounds. Lining the structure of the muscles is a membrane of buckypaper treated with a coating to protect against atmospheric corrosion.

Various heavier and high density metals are used in the endoskeleton, commonly alloyed with tungsten or titanium to prevent corrosion. This makes for quite a relatively heavy frame, but gives it the structural integrity to withstand higher stress levels needed to effective utilize the strength of their electroactive polymer muscles.

Militants use the T04 “Fallout” Fission reactor, which utilizes design style which makes them especially unstable in comparison to other fission reactors designs; they will commonly suffer from nuclear meltdowns in the event of coolant loss (as opposed to other designs that will automatically lose their ability to sustain a reaction in such an event). However, this same reactor design also makes them especially efficient in that they do not require any special isotopes to function; T04 reactors can produce large amounts of power using only natural elements as fuel and drinking water as coolant, rather than requiring enriched fuels or the manufactured moderators that other reactor designs. T04s can be modified to run on any number of fissile fuels, including MOX, thorium, natural uranium, and so on. However, if using highly enriched fuel a T04 won't need to be refueled for up to 30 years.

The T04 uses electromagnetics to hold its control rods out of the core. This feature is so that in the event of a power loss, gravity will instantly pull the rods back into the core and shut down the nuclear reactions before a meltdown can occur.

Note: Unless an exponential reaction rate is triggered by a nuclear self-destruct mechanism or certain high energy weapons, the Militant reactor will not be able to achieve the supercriticality needed to cause a nuclear explosion. Under normal circumstances, an uncontrolled chain reaction will result in a nuclear meltdown; the core will increase in temperature until it melts through the reactor, spilling forth molten fuel and dangerous amounts of radiation. Such an event would most likely be caused by faulty control rod mechanisms or coolant loss.

The Militant carries more than enough fissile fuel to create a nuclear explosion; the problem is actually getting the fuel to achieve to reaction rate needed for such an event. The “Plan B” Reactor Detonation assembly uses sets of explosive lenses surrounding the reactor's physical shielding, which when detonated forces the reactor core to implode in on itself and compress the fuel rods together. In addition, this neutron trigger components are placed in conjunction with certain blasting caps; when the blast shockwave compresses these components together, they react to create short life but high yield neutron radiation sources and further increasing the reaction rate.

Slightly desynchronized explosive lens activation allows for large amounts of fissile fuel and neutrons leak out of the implosion rather than being completely trapped. This results in a so-called “fizzle”; by the time the core is compressed to the point of being supercritical most of the fuel has already escaped. The result is a bright blue flash accompanied by an intense burst of neutron and electromagnetic radiation. This flux will cause a voltage surge in nearby electronic equipment, as well as immediately and permanently incapacitating any humanoids within the vicinity. Commonly the effects include nausea, delirium, coma, and eventually nervous system collapse occurs within hours, the exception being species with superior genetic self-repair abilities. The Militant electronics and control systems will be destroyed, but otherwise the unit's shell will remain unharmed.

Damage: EM Pulse, Radiation Burst (Heavy (Tier 2, Medium Anti-Personnel) against organic targets only) Range: 330ft / 100m

The explosive lenses are perfectly synchronized, compressing the fuel to half, or even one third its original size. The synchronized shock wave keeps the bulk of the fuel entrapped for long enough to trigger a nuclear explosion. In addition to a fireball and concussion wave, the radiation effects extend to several hundred meters.

Damage: Extremely heavy at epicenter Tier 7, plus above effects Range: 2000ft / 600m

The Militant possesses a microinertia drive, which which is the little sister of the Intertialess Drive. The device generates an antigravity field that reduces the gravity and the effective mass of the unit, therefore giving it the capacity to reduce its weight as it sees fit. This allows its relatively pathetic booster packs to hurl the Militant great distances.

The MPD thruster works by feeding ionized lithium into an accelerator pocket, where electromagnetic fields are generated using the main reactor. The lithium plasma and the fields react with one another to produce Lorentz force, and thereby propel the plasma. MPD thrusters produce extremely high specific impulses (which can be further increased in strength by drawing more power into system). This allows Militant to jump great distances when used in conjunction with the Microinertia Drive, and travel vast distances using small fuel reserves.

Militants themselves have audio and visual capabilities usually on par with most humanoid species, via a high resolution camera array and electroactive polymer sensors (touch-sense nerves).

A Savant Computer acts as the control mechanism in the SI variant of this model Automaton. These constructs are usually, but not always, self-aware entities with developing personalities. See Synthetic Intelligence for more detail on how they work.

The Militant has a built-in wireless connection compatible with all Freespacer ships, and even some foreign starship AIs. The Evanescent Wave Coupler is limited to a range of no more than a few dozen meters of a compatible transceiver system, but can transfer huge quantities of data quickly. Alternatively, the EWC may be utilized as a low-intensity wireless energy transceiver to allow a Militant to wirelessly power compatible tools.

The Radio Transceiver is usually reserved as a backup system for situations when range does not permit use of the EWC. The antiquity of this technology will now allow for bulk data transfer, so function is usually limited to little more than sending basic messages.

NU-class Militants predominantly rely on their wireless networks to “sync” with either a tactical computer or some sort of command structure in order to coordinate them in combat, in turn sending back real-time sensor data for the battlefield.