The Drop (part 2)

#The Library of Alexandria (CIC) -> *Near Earth Assault Group*
-Drop Zones coordinated.  Commence drops.

Well, that's us, Pancaked thought.  He sent a copy of the message to his flanked escorts - 2 wings of Dragonfly class carrier craft, each one carrying a trine of Antica semi autonomous offensive drones in the cargo-tail - and to the Djinni avatar.  It was a strange sensation to feel the insistent pull of true gravity, not at all like the simulated rule that defined "down".  The real thing was akin to being an ant falling prey to an antlion's trap; inexolarable, inescapable.

As he accelerated downwards in the grip of Earth's gravity, atmospheric friction began to heat his outer armor plating.  He was momentarily tempted to use his Material State Energy field to dissipate the rapidly rising temperature in the surrounding air, but decided against it.  Energy management will be tricky soon enough, he thought.  It wasn't as if he carried biological cargo in any event.

The burning air soon cleared away as Pancake's descent continued; as he inverted his thruster pads, he could detect, at some distance, various batch siblings and other elements of the assault group.  Most had, like him, accelerated and left their escorts behind.  That had been the plan in any event; the Antica could not withstand a high speed drop, nor extreme reentry temperatures.  The Dragonflies would take a slower descent into atmosphere, use their superior speed to close the distance, the release its complement of Antica drones in mid-speed pass shortly after the Pangolin's crash stop.

However, few Pangolins were level with his altitude; the majority were Goliath class constructors.  Shaped roughly like a crab (with two parallel dorsal blisters running front to rear), the "Cthulu Crab" was massive, three times the size of a Pangolin.  Its lateral edges and dorsal blisters held four engines capable of reaching orbit unassisted; they each unfolded into extendable pincer claws when powered flight was no longer needed.  The massive scoop-like claws (and blast furnace engines they shielded) were equally suited to excavation of minerals as tearing down buildings.  They were also well suited to latching onto large capital ships (in simulated trials) and using its centrally mounted ultrasonic pulse laser to bore through armor and mountain alike with ease.  It was, however, only lightly armored: between four massive engines, secondary thrusters, cargo space for storing recovered minerals, weapon systems, swarms of nanite missiles to speed construction and deconstruction of structures, and nano factories there was little space (or load bearing capacity) for armoring.  As such, the Goliaths were nearly all on track to crash-stop in coastal waters, deal with oceanic pipelines and rigs, before proceeding on their eight pylon-like legs to naval bases, nuclear power plants, and population centers.  The non-compressible nature or water and its excellent energy absorption profile made a crash-stop maneuver in open waters much safer; the trade off was that one was generally quite far from the target.

Those Pangolins not performing a full crash-stop like Pancaked, or using their thrusters to actively decelerate for a completely controlled landing, would be performing a "cloud-stop", a nanite cloud assisted crash-stop.  Using their onboard weapon systems, those Pangolins would fire multiple slalvos at their designated landing site, releasing a large cloud of nanites.  Although each individual nano-scale machine had minimal mass for energy absorption, when multiplexed they were highly capable of absorbing and redirecting energy.  The cloud, intricately linked in three dimensional hexagonal structure, would act like a spongy cushion, reducing a falling Pangolin's speed to safe levels (assisted by the Pangolin's own thrusters in reverse) for landing in under 20 meters.  This method was well suited for dropping a Pangolin quickly onto an area with a large amount of surface material designated for deconstruction; the Pangolin's plunge would also serve to disperse a large nanite payload over a wide area surrounding the drop site.

The target area was drawing closer.  As expected, the military base had been ignored by the global missile strikes that had followed the sudden departure of the Ssi-ruhk.  This particular institute housed no ICBMs, no substantially store of fighting machines or supplies.  Although publicly it was listed as a training center for officers and drone warfare, it's actual purpose was to develop technologically advanced weapons and equipment, including "smart" drones capable of operating intelligently in a combat zone without supervision by human operators, designating airstrike targets, performing reconnaissance, and sabotaging high value infrastructure and equipment.  The base consisted of the normal residential and commercial areas to one side, and an airstrip, administrative offices, training field, and hangars to the other.  The base's research and testing facilities were located underground, nominally accessible from a restricted elevator in the main administrative building, leading to a secure underground rail car.  For safety, secondary shafts existed to ensure a flow of oxygen, as well as auxiliary access for maintenance and repairs.  Another, secret, entrance existed linking the residential complexes where command staff resided, and a third in the mall complex security lockers.