“As you know, the Bodark project had its ups and downs in Alaska. It was our first attempt at using a humanoid drone for combat. It was also a test of a newer system that Professor Rickenbacker had been developing for some time. I will hand the meeting over to him,” the President explained, signaling for the professor to take over.
The professor stood up and began his presentation, switching on the holographic display. As soon as the first image of the new humanoid machine came up, someone let out a whistle; they were all in awe. “Ladies and gentlemen, what we are looking at is the next evolution in modern warfare, the Enhanced Humanoid Drone or EHD. We have named this EHD the Reaper, which seemed appropriate because it will reap death and suffering upon our enemies. The wars fought during the last one hundred years relied heavily on humans waging them. This war, however, has changed that reality. Since the beginning of this conflict, we have used increasing numbers of drones; now we are nearly ready to shape the face of war with the next evolution.”
The professor could see the raised eyebrows on the faces of his audience. They had so many questions written on their faces that they were practically raising their hands, but the professor wanted to press on with his presentation before he allowed the group to respond. “As you can see by the dimensions, the Reaper is about 6’6” and weighs about 340lbs. It is built out of the same enhanced armor our tanks and other armored vehicles are, so it’s a tough beast.”
On the screen, the drone began to run through a variety of scenarios, from loading and unloading the M5 AIR infantry rifle to throwing a grenade. It ran as if it were a human, dropping to a knee to fire a few shots with its rifle before diving behind cover. It moved as if it were a human clone and not some sort of machine.
“Before anyone asks, the machine is not an AI. We have not moved forward in that direction, at least not yet. The Reaper is a drone. It is still operated by an individual.” Another screen was brought up that showed the soldier operating the drone. He was wearing a set of sensors, helmet and other equipment that tied him to the drone.
“Like our fighter aircraft drones, these are also controlled by a human operator, though they do have the option of being turned into a semi-autonomous platform. When the operator needs a break, the drone can be turned on semi-autonomous mode, which turns the drone into a sentry. It will stand guard at its present position and challenge any target that enters its field of engagement. This mode also allows a single soldier to operate several of these drones when used in sentry or guard duty operations. We do have an AI version, but we want to further refine it before we move forward with deploying it.”
The presentation on the screen finished, and Professor Rickenbacker held his hand out to the group with a “bring it on” motion. “Now I will take some of your questions before we move on,” he said.
General Branson, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was the first to ask, “Why were we kept in the dark about this project? This will have a huge impact on the battlefield.” His brows were furrowed and he was obviously somewhat annoyed at not being brought in on the project earlier.
“General, we experienced a lot of challenges and problems with the Reaper last year, and until we were able to iron them out, we did not want to get everyone’s hopes up. We had initially hoped to release the Reaper at the same time as the Bodark; however, we could not establish a secure enough link between the drone operator and the drone itself. When we deployed the Bodarks, we were able to figure out how to fix a lot of the issues that we had been observing. We simply did not want to place the Reapers behind enemy lines before we were sure that we could maintain control of them; to do so would have allowed them to fall into enemy hands.”
Rickenbacker signaled to the Marine Commandant next.
“When do you plan on introducing the drone, and how many do you have ready?” asked General Lynch. The Commandant immediately saw the impact this would have on the coming battles. If this could save more of her Marines from dying, she was all for it.
“Now that we have a steady supply of Tritium4, we have been able to ramp up production of the drone. It’s kind of ironic really; we have EHDs making additional Reapers as we speak—”
One of the generals interrupted, “—Now that is a scary idea, kind of reminds me of a movie I saw as a kid.” A few people snickered, realizing that he was obviously thinking of “The Terminator,” like the project’s name.
“The thought is not lost on us either,” retorted the professor. “However, we have purposefully not gone the route of AI, so the drones will not be able to function beyond a limited protocol without an operator.”
“Back to the question — we have 100 of them right now, 2000 are being built right now, and we will crank out another 2000 a month going forward. Soon, we will be able to produce about 10,000 a month. Presently, 50 of the new drones are slated for the Moon colony as their use in space is almost limitless; the rest are being slated for the war. What we need to do next is identify our potential drone operators and then get them pulled from the line and trained up. We would like to have the first battalion of Reapers ready to deploy within the next 45 days.”
The President signaled for the professor to take a seat, “Gentlemen, the war is about to enter its final stage. By employing this new technology, we are going to bring the war to enemy with as few casualties as possible on our part. I am directing the Secretary of State to issue a final ultimatum to the enemy leaders; they will either surrender and allow the world to return to peace, or we will move the war to the next level and wage unrestricted warfare on their countries, economy and people. Nearly two Billion people have died across the world during the war, and it is time to bring the suffering and killing to an end.”
Mike Rogers, the National Security Advisor, spoke up first, “Mr. President, if we can, I would like to recommend we deploy our first batch of these drones to Japan with some of our Special Forces. The majority of their population now believes it was a terrible mistake to have gone to war with the United States. The support for the government has nearly collapsed, and if we were to help give it a shove, we might be able to topple the government and force one of our enemies out of the war.”
Director Rubio from the CIA cleared his throat and said, “I agree. The situation in Japan is becoming unstable. The people are incredibly suspicious of the government and angry at the loss of their soldiers in California and near Hawaii. Many people in Japan have family and friends in America. The war has placed an enormous strain on the country. My agents believe that if we can provide weapons, explosives and support, many of the disaffected groups would revolt against the government.”
Several others in the room also spoke in favor of supporting a popular uprising against the government. The President also liked the idea of the people being the ones to lead this effort. He had detested the idea of being at war with Japan; the two nations had been close allies and friends for nearly 100 years. The present Japanese government had not only betrayed America, its ally, it had cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of its people. Moreover, the treachery had not achieved anything for their nation.
After a few moments of discussion, the President raised his hand for everyone to be quiet. “I agree that we should move forward with a plan to assist the people of Japan in taking their government back. I want our efforts to focus on helping a popular uprising in Japan succeed. We will need to identify new leaders who are credible with the population that can take over. We also need a plan in place to assist the new government, in case the Chinese decide they do not want to accept Japan’s surrender and leave the Island.”