American Gate

Chapter 8: Fort Roanoke

The drone's advanced mechanical arms are capable of adjusting the orientation of its propellers for maximum maneuverability and stability. It can be equipped with an assortment of modular utility equipment, such as loudspeakers and search lights. Variations of drones built with the LCD-34 chassis include: EWD-35 (electronic warfare drone), HCD-38 (heavy combat drone), ACD-37 (aerial combat drone), and RDC-32 (recon drone carrier). Most variants have built in solar panels on their top side to recharge their batteries in the field, albeit slowly.

Heavy Droid Carrier Drone (HDCD-45)

The heavy droid carrier drone is a much larger version of the LCD-34. Like its smaller cousin, it is fully unmanned and autonomous. It carries a total of 20 droids in its elongated underbelly compartment. To save space, the droids are stored horizontally across the width of the drone until they are ready to be deployed. Then, they are lowered into a vertical position in two columns running down the length of the drone facing outwards from each other. It has modular weapon hardpoints to fit the needs of its mission parameters. However, the standard loadout includes: one chin mounted 30mm chain gun turret, four M4 .50 caliber machine gun turrets, four Hydra-72 missile pods, two grenade launcher turrets, and two active denial systems.

Chapter 8:

June 29th, 2053

Duremar Plains, 8:00 AM

After last night's attack by the forest ghoul, everyone was on edge. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. It was the first time they had ever come face to face with a true monster. Two droids were destroyed in the attack, leaving ten remaining.

Daniel decided that the droids alone were not enough to protect them from the unknown threats of this strange new world. Their ARX-35 assault rifles barely scratched the forest ghoul; who knows what else is out there?

He decided that from now on, their combat vehicles would remain activated even when not in use. That way, the onboard AI could immediately respond to unexpected dangers with their heavier weaponry. In hindsight, he realized that they should have been doing that all along, but they certainly weren't expecting something like a forest ghoul to attack them.

The rest of the night was calm and uneventful though. They managed to get some rest, and were now preparing to continue their journey to Miretan. After the attack, Elmot fell unconscious and still hadn't woken up. The medics couldn't find anything wrong with him. He was simply asleep.

Daniel walked over to check on Elmot and Martin, "How's he doing?"

"Still no change," Martin said. "Whatever that light was, it sure took a lot out of him."

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with him?" Daniel asked. "He's not in a coma or anything?"

"As far as I can tell, he's perfectly fine, just asleep. A few hours ago he was in REM sleep. The only thing that worries me is that we can't wake him up."

"Don't be so certain about that," said a groggy Elmot.

Daniel and Martin both turned to see Elmot's eyes open for the first time since the attack.

"You're awake!" Exclaimed Martin.

Elmot sat up with Martin's help. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

"Are you alright? How do you feel?" Martin asked.

"I've been better," Elmot replied.

David, the team's physicist, was nearby, waiting for Elmot to regain consciousness. He wanted to ask about the forest ghoul's magic and how Elmot stopped it. Seeing that Elmot was awake, he eagerly began walking over.