NationStates Jolt Archive

ZMI Central Recieving Dept, Level 349, The Ziggaraut, Zone One, Megacity One, Earth.

Upon careful viewing of your website, we have decided upon the purchase of the following articles from your catalouge of available machinery:
One Type 10
One Type 22
One Landcrawler [complete eight unit version]
Combat Drone Suite

And the blueprints and manufactureing rights for the above mentioned articles.

Delivery point: Midlonian Port of Ashby-de-La-Zouch
Money is in account #2555, code 2843 First Midlonian National.


With a couple of clicks the mouse, the email shot away, a little informal and to the point, but still. One needed security fast, and this stuff had certainly peaked his intrest, expensive yes, but it'd put the Midlonian armies at the forefront of technology. Nodding the Commander in cheif and Lord Protector of the first Republic of Midlonia Thaddeus Freeman sighed and drank some tea, the blend of the leaves, sugar and...illegal substances keeping him calm, and less prone to his mood swings than normal.

The Email hit the ZMI Earth real time secure data sphere like the first snowflake of an avalanche, hundreds of secondary mails, voice coms, and flagged data files ripped through the system. The bank account was verified and the transfer made. Multiple Replies were sent to various involved parties.

[ZMI CENTRAL CARGO DISPATCH]
Your delivery is underway please standby for [128,394] tons of freight at port [Ashby-de-La-Zouch] aboard the Armed Trader ZMMerchant Marine vessel[ “Logistical Improbability”] at [14:32 GMT] in [two] standard Earth days.

Delivery manifest:
MK.XII Market Forces class Landcrawler (8 segments) x1
Type 10 Carry all X1
Type 22 Gunship X1
Drone Suite X1
Support Equipment

ZMI Dispatch Neither Hail nor energy fire will stop us from delivering anywhere in the Milky way in four to five months!


[ZMI SCI/TECH]

Attached Quantum encrypted Blueprints
Type 10 Carry All and support equipment
Type 22 Gunship and support equipment
Mk. XII Landcrawler (Complete) and support equipment
Complete Combat Drone Suite and support equipment
Quantum Key to be carried upon the person of Peter Hule Minister Foreign affairs ZMI.

SCI/TECH Science Applied.

[ZMI INT-SEC]
International ZMI Security would formally permission for entry of ZMF Paladin Class Executive Transport and security measures appropriate for the Board member Anthony Baldwin and the minister of foreign affairs Peter Hule and their staff for the formal sale of ZMI products. Member Baldwin will be carrying the main control key for the LC XII class unit you have purchased.

Staff list as follows
(text cut for security reasons)

ZMI INT-SEC We watch so you don’t have too.


[ZMI DEPT FA]

Lord Protector of the first Republic of Midlonia Thaddeus Freeman we humbly thank you for using our companies services and dearly wish you make further purchases. It is the fervent hope that we can meet you in person for the hand over of such a historic purchase of goods. Also I am pleased to say that his honour Member Baldwin will be directly representing the Gestalt and as such the entire board will be following this event with great intrest.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Peter Hule

ZMI Relations without borders.


In the heart of heavy Industry and storage Zone 80 in the urban concentration that was ZMI megacity one, in amongst the forest of heavy industrial towers, at the edge of the zone activity sparked.

The dock stretched out for the entire 60 kilometre long sea front of the zone its gritty reinforced plas crete surmounted by huge loading arrays and the odd Maglev line support tower. The salty air was mixed with the stench of hydrocarbon refinement and a thousand other heavy industrial processes while the never ending cacophonous hum of a heavy industrial zone seemed to make human teeth vibrate. The Armed trader was a 3 kilometre long hulk lying against the dock, 4 heavy cargo maglev lines running straight into its port side fast loading units. Scanner and repair drones hissed over the ship as a series of trains flashed into and then out of it, there cargo units empty. Then with a dull roar the as yet un numbered front unit of a Market Forces Class LC Mx.XII rolled slowly into the ship via the third maglev line from her prow.



Finally warning sirens blasted the length of the dock, the drones retreated back to their dark support bays, while the huge loading arrays which had been cradling the Armed trader until now rolled back, there massive dull orange metal arms folding back up into them as huge holo screens mounted upon them blared visual warnings. The Maglev lines retracted, and the Armed Trader sealed her self for transit. Slowly the huge ship wallowed out into the ocean, before its gargantuan mass ripped into the air and began its slow ascent into sub orbital flight.

The dock controller sighed as he watched the usual ship orders drop into the right hand side of his sight, being linked on the holoplatform always made him feel tired and tingly. Turning to cycle through the usual ship movements he rubbed some sleep from his eye.
Fortress, sub, sub, battleship, battleship, sub, frigate, battleship, friggen huge craft, sub, Battleship, battlesh- Wha? the controller blinked hard, looked at the origin point, then bought up a file outlining deliveries within the next week or so.
ZMI? hmm, fair enough.... delivery of military hardware? Intresting.

Bookmarking the delivery under "Safe" he finally took the goggles off of his eyes and sat up.

'Your shift Harry.' he muttered before going to get a drink and some sleep.


A few miles away

The large black car roared down the street, the civil protection units rode on motorcycles either side, clearing the road ahead from the few cars that traveled this way.
Reading the report General George Rothlington whistled as he looked over the picture.
'This certainly pails our larger projects into insignificance...' he muttered shaking his head.
Rothlington was the man in charge of all the armour divisions in the entire Army, at a youthful 28 he was a man who had shot through the ranks due to the severe maiming of the armoured corps during the civil war, now sporting two golden doves on his chest, he was a man of great power.
He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair and glanced out of the window, the massive bulk of the latest pet project ate up the sky.
Simply termed "U.R" for Urban Renewal, this prototype was designed to flatten a small town in a couple of bombardments, the new armoured corps were now working on the idea of that if a city was flattened, then you wouldn't need to take it.
'The Landcrawlers will help us move logistics and be a powerful firebase for our armoured corps, it could effectively support an army for a set amount of time, even when it is fighting day and night... a logistical problem that's been, majorly fixed.'
'Quite', replied Air Marshal Jenna Teddington, her brown curly locks bouncing slightly with a nod. 'I'm more intrested in the Type 10's and 22's, of course.' she grinned a little.
'But of course Jenna.' George replied with a small grin. 'I'd like to see them too of course, but I think you'll be most intrested in these.' He handed her a set of pictures, showing the "Drone suite" as it was called.
'Oooh, now these I like...' she said looking over the pictures.
'RnD is going to love poking around those so we can copy them.' George nodded at the pictures before sitting back in the long leather chair at the back of the car.
Jenna was simply lost in the pictures of the designs, and so the rest of the journey was pretty quiet.

The logistical improbability began her long slow gentle decent, her huge frontal thermal shield generator barely active as she gently slid down a gentle arc into the ocean just outside Ashby da La Zouch.

Captain Rowena Lawson's hands dashed across active data panels like an expert pianist as her neural jack hummed with data. The youngest daughter of an established trucking family her choice to join the merchant marine had shocked her father. However she had later said that driving an Armed Trader was a bigger thrill than driving even a ZMI road train through the wastelands could ever hope to be.

As the huge craft neared the ocean surface it began to throw up a huge wall of water, however this soon dropped as the huge ships retros inset into the dome of her re-entry shield generator blasted blue white flame ahead of her. The ship continued her decent.

"Sensors!" Rowena snapped, "start the count!"

"Yes Mam" The waspish man manning the Logistical Improbabilities sensor array replied in a thin gentle voice with a touch of a Nordic accent..

"40 knots"
Communication arrays slid into armoured fins along the length of the Armed Trader.

"30 knots"
Armoured plates reconfigured themselves to vector water around delicate systems as mammoth control surfaces slammed out.

"20 knots"
The hull down air intakes snapped shut, white sea spray already sparking up to them, while the wheels of the organic shipment section locked into position.

"10 knots"
The huge 3 kilometre long bulk of the armed trader cut into the ocean, her massive shape hurling up a 18 metre high bow wave as she slowly came about.

"This is the ZMI Merchant Marine Vessel Logistical Improbability to Ashby da La Zouch control, requesting pilot services to dock." Rowena calmly stated into her mic.

Ashby-De-La-Zouch, Castle Carfeton, Overseer naval post #3

Harry blinked as he zoomed in on the ship as it landed and began to head for the port.
'Jesus, no wonder we're handling it.'
Thankfully the port of Ashby was completely militarized, and was a bay of some ten kilometers in length.
'This is Overseer naval post three, you are cleared to enter, head for bays 20 to 45 over.'
Harry clicked a button infront of him and the camera changed to gun #5 a particularly nasty peice of equipment, designed to lob large shells at enemy craft, the camera's position gave him a spectacular view as the 3km's of ship strode between the two headlands and into the bay itself.

Ashby-De-La-Zouch, Bay #30

The car was dwarfed by the surroundings as the two figures stepped out, Jenna was wearing her usual blue dress uniform, while George wore his large grey trenchcoat, the snow drifted lazily down onto the water and had already covered the warehouse roofs.
'By God, Harold would love the look of this...' George commented as the ships slowly thundered into the bay, the sounds of its engines echoing slightly off of the valley walls.
'Mmm, this is how they deliver our new toys? How big can a few items be?'
'Didn't you see the scale on the drawing?' George chuckled.
'Point.' she chuckled.

Rowena breathed in the fresh cool ocean breeze as she strapped herself into the open top skimmer with her first officer, her dress uniform pressing against her as the skimmer left the lee of the Logistical improbabilities conning tower . The ship was slowly handling itself into the docks cold concrete embrace, and on shore she noticed a limousine style ground car.

"CO take us down looks like their dignitaries have arrived before ours."

The CO grimaced and replied

"Well the Execs always like to be fashionably late"

Meanwhile along the Ships length drone bays slid open and hundreds of scanner and repair drones started there slow dance about the ships length, suddenly some of the repair drones began an almost anarchic dance around the third side unloading hatch, clipping components together, building in minutes a bulky framework of struts.
As the repair drones finished of this strut work four large yellow engineering crab shaped drones the size of JCB's thumped onto the surface of the dock from the ships general small ship bay and pulled from there backs huge tanks of active plas crete which they then began to spray across the strut work in huge gouts the occasional flash of a UV hardener giveing there work an odd eerie blast of blue illumination. In 20 minutes a huge ramp would be finished.


Roughly 40 miles out from Ashby - De La Zouch

The Paladin transport was a huge extended black double hulled needle, tiny delta wings came barely out from its slick hulls. Her INT-SEC pilot was decelerating her for landing her twin fusion flames spreading a huge IR trace behind her as he requested landing clearance. In the right hull the passenger cabin was full of secretaries, paperwork and the odd functionary, the left however had just two passengers and a pair of hulking Dark Battle Angels.

"Well Peter this sale has pleased the board greatly, profits will be up company wide by 1.8 percent because of this" The voice seemed strangely echoed as if not quite human anymore. It continued "We would be most pleased if you were capable of bringing us more such offers" at this Baldwin steepled his fingers and stared coolly over them at Peter.

Peter shivered a bit as he stared into Baldwin's almost motionless form slumped in the huge white synth chair. Under the perfect muscle control of the gestalt the board members gave Peter for want of a better term the willies.

"Yes sir", Peter replied, "we at DOFA will do our very best to see this comes to pass".

"Yes Peter ...we know you will." Baldwin said in a now far more human voice. This was Baldwin himself speaking, the cold look leaving his eyes. " I know you will" with that he stared out the window at the fast approaching port watching as the delta winglets seemed to grow out of the hull.

The Paladin hissed gently onto the docks pavement, for a brief moment throwing up a gust of wind before its wings folded seamlessly back into its hull and landing skids neatly unfolded and seemed to click onto the docks paving. With a double thump thin sets of steps hit the ground formed by the rear side of the paladins side doors. On one side of the ship the functionaries flitted out while on the left the menacing bulk of the identical Dark Battle Angels blocked the door for a second before decidedly to quietly for there bulk they walked down and stood at either side of the ship as Baldwin and Peter walked across the dock towards the couple standing by the Limo.

George and Jenna's coats blew slightly in the breeze.
'Welcome to Midlonia' George bowed a little.
'I must say the airforce is delighted with the purchases of the type 10 and 22'
Chimed in Jenna, who still held the picture in her hand.
'I am George Rothlington, commander in cheif of logistics and Armoured corps of Midlonia, this' he motioned to Jenna. 'is Jenna Teddington, Air Marshal.'

She nodded curtly, her tail flying slightly in the breeze, always an annoyance in weather like this, her ears pricked up a little as she took in the craft that had landed and what the drones were doing.

Baldwin looked at Rothlington with a sort of vague bemused approval as Peter scuttled
forward.

“Commander a pleasure to meet you and you Sky Marshal”

Peter said his voice full of confidence and bravado, years of training had gone into that
voice and if the board had anything to do with it unbeknownst to Peter it would one day
speak as the voice of the Director.
Peter then clicked open a thin metal document case inscribed with the ZMI logo and
rifled through it for a moment before snapping it shut, and handing it and its small key to
Rothlington.

“Sir may I present you the full legal rights to production of the Type 22 Gunship, the
Type 10 Carry all, the complete combat drone suite and the ZMI Mark XII Landcrawler
and one fully operational unit of each. We hope our products serve your citizens well”
Peter finished with a flourish, pointing towards Baldwin, and may I present member
Baldwin who I believe is carrying some more objects of interest to you.

As he mentioned there names huge masses of blue synth alloy crates of support
equipment, and the covered forms of the two Aircraft were neatly landed upon the docks
paving by a swarm of drones.

Finally Baldwin spoke, his deep gravely voice echoing from the growing walls of crates.

“Commander I present to you the key to LC:339, you will find it also unlocks the blueprints in full”

With that Baldwin’s voice lightened and seemed to grow unnaturally whispery.

“We the members of the ZMI Board representing our people do humbly hope that this is the first of many such sales”

http://www.deviantart.com/view/13898914/ Type 10 Carry All
http://www.deviantart.com/view/13359953/ Type 22 Gunship
http://www.deviantart.com/view/13568926/ MK.XII Landcrawler.
http://www.deviantart.com/view/13073976/ Fire support drone
http://www.deviantart.com/view/13368369/ Recon drone

Rothlington smiled broadly as the crates were unloaded, he was still completely fascinated by the sheer swarms of the drones.
Jenna jumped ever so slightly as the voice Baldwin seemed to echo and go slightly unnatural, George hardly seemed to notice and nodded.
'The Greater Republic will be more than willing to purchase more ZMI products, I do not think the esteemed board will be disappointed in any future orders.
George took the key from Peter and thanked him, he turned towards the limo and opened the door.
'Jenna? You coming?'
'Nu-uh' she was grinning.
George sighed. 'You want to try out the new toy huh? I'd be careful, if you damaged it RnD's will be pissed.
Jenna's tail flicked slightly and she pouted.
'Don't look at me like that! You know it is the truth! But it is your toy, so have fun.' he shrugged.
A train with a crane on had by now arrived, Jenna spoke to the crane operator, who lifted the two crates containing the drones and Type 10, and was busy lifting the support crates when Jenna ordered the crate opened.
She grinned widely and certainly wasn't disappointed.

Around ten minutes after she had opened the crate and clambered in, the gunship coasted out and along the dockside, she took off and gave a few laps of the bay to get the hang of the craft, before she turned, flew low through the bay and headed southwards.

With a blast from a whistle and a hiss of steam, the train also left, picking its way along the dock and out into the city before it.

As the keys exchanged hands two large drones draped with orange warning light bars
appeared at the top of the plascrete ramp, behind them something huge rumbled. The
unloading bay door was huge but even it barely fit the huge object slowly emerging from
the Logistical Improbabilities cargo core. The 50 metre high 48 metre wide bulk of the
Landcrawlers front section came into view, the huge 2 story high variable dozer blades
and the forward scanner emerging from the dark depths of the ship first, to be followed
slowly by the rest of the first section. Turrets swung gently already covering angels of
possible attack, the huge bulk of the plasma cannon even in transit mode barely scraping
under the frame of the passage out of the ship. As the 10 metre high mobility sub
sections treads hit the dock the paving groaned and in places shattered, Huge
communication masts one by one unfolded and arced into the air, as slowly the bulk of all
8 segments of the Landcrawler hit the dock, its passage, artificially muted by white noise
generators, was still an almost deafening roar filled with the endless screeching of a tank
only amplified a thousandfold.


Warning lights flashed from dozens of hatches, ports, intakes and turrets as the huge
conveyance slowly arced itself into a half moon its massive link sections contorting. One
by one the huge crafts weapons mounts hissed into silence and suddenly along her length
her lights seemed to freeze for a moment before turning slowly off. Silence bloomed out
save for the odd crunching noise as weight distorted concrete shifted.

Near the front of the forward fire support segment there was a slick hiss and gently an
armoured section 10 meters wide slid back to reveal a slowly descending platform on
huge hydraulics. On it the 50 man skeleton crew of the Landcrawler stood to attention
there LC corp. grey jump suits and close fitting peaked caps rumpled and vaguely used
looking. There CO walked over to the watching group and Peter and Baldwin saluted. A
bulky short man with a huge red bushy moustache, around his neck a dull grey
Landcrawler control key hung.

“Major Timothy Wells reporting sirs one MKXII Landcrawler successfully transported,”

Wells then clicked his heals, and Peter groaned as the man strode off, while Baldwin
muttered darkly, “that idiot couldn’t command a damn clean up crew, I thought he was
thrown out of the LC Corp.” One of the Dark Battle Angels helmets then looked up and
spoke for the first time in a heavy voice “Member Baldwin while …Major Wells is
slightly, officious he still comes out well in strategic analysis and well sir the transport
corp. is about as far as we could throw him” Baldwin stared at the expressionless helmet
for a moment before throwing his hands in the air and following Peter back to
Commander Rothlington.

Rothlington whistled as the great landcrawler rolled off of the great transport.
'By God that is some impressive machinery, I can't wait to see her in action at full operational capacity. I thank you greatly for delivering so soon.'

He consulted a PDA for a second, outlining the new training schedules.

'Well, I beleive our buisness here today is done, we will certainly be contacting ZMI in the near future.'
He smiled and nodded, then turned to look at his latest "Toy" as most war equipment was effectionately known in these parts.
'Absolutely beautiful.' he commented, almost breathless.

Peter smiled at this pronouncement and replied
“ We do try to please our customers, please do contact us again. We would in future consider opening a permenant office here if your purchases continue."

Peter looked back at Baldwin who was non to diplomatically tapping his wrist that would have once held an external chronometer, and hastily added

"If you will excuse us it seems we really must be going”.

As he said this Baldwin was already striding back towards the Paladin his Dark Battle Angel body guard behind him, the functionaries leaving contact devices and a mass of brochures.

Far above watching all of this Rowena thought to herself, we will be back then she tapped her first on the shoulder and had him turn the skimmer to return to watching the drones.

With another curt nod and a smile Rothlington turned towards his awaiting car. With a growl of the engine the Car sped back along the dockland and into the town, George smiled, in a few weeks or so they'd have enough of the Type 10's to heft the large Land Crawler to the massive armoured dump.
With a smile he checked on the stats, roughly a regiment of the crew and a replacement, so that they could be roatated.
He smiled, yes this had been a good day.