REFERNCE AND TERMS

• 21CB - slang and short for Twenty-First Century Battlefield.  Often pronounced as "two-one cee-bee."
  
   
• ACTIVE DEFENSES - Active defenses became a vital part of defense design and strategy in new vehicle production and older vehicle upgrades. Whereas defense had long relied on passive techniques (armor thickness, armor material, armor slope angle, etc.), active defenses were tasked with stopping the attack BEFORE it could impact or affect the target vehicle. Passive defenses only worked AFTER impact, and with the increases in the effectiveness of weapons technology and lethality, passive defenses began to be taxed to their technological limits. Even reactive armor, designed to defeat shaped charge rounds, was still a passive defense. What was needed was pro-active defenses, defenses that protected the vehicle from all aspects and degrees. The eggheads had a field day while the bean counters got sick. Active defenses included variable modulated pulse electronic counter measures systems, countermeasure dispensers (chaff, flare, Black Window, Thermal Veil, activated decoy, thumpers, and a variety of other countermeasure cartridges that included decoys for auditory, olfactory, and a host of other sense inputs used by the FATS...), remote command detonated 'belts' of plasticeramic mines that girded the vehicle's hull (good for AP use and to knock down snakes, RPGs, and other man portable armor breakers), interceptors (dedicated PGM hunter killers), and of course, PDS Point Defense Systems.
  
   
• AIM- Artificially Intelligent Manufactory- The AIMs were the cutting edge of late 21st century industrial technology. Massive installations spread out of many square acres, most were hooked into the local industrial power grids and fed by their own dedicated electrical, water, gas, raw materials, and sewage / waste lines. The AIM was a small city even unto itself and an AIM operated 24 hours a day. Automated, robot controlled and equipped assembly lines, massive nanolathes, zero-gravity construction chambers, and a host of other high tech manufacturing techniques all made the AIMs critical to the military and industrial sectors. With the advent of the Descartes Subroutines, and the 'awakening' of true self aware, fully sentient artificial intelligences, the AIMs began to develop personalities, not all of them nice or cooperative... AIMs were critical installations, and as such, usually were well defended by dedicated anti-armor, anti-personnel, and anti-air defenses. During the reign of the Factory States, mankind found out that having a factory be able to think for itself might not be such a good idea... Especially when a AIM had wants and desires of its own, which were often contrary to the wants and desires of the community that depended on the AIM for its survival.
   
• ALPHA PAPA ROMEO - APR- short for Anti-Personnel Round, usually a 'smarter bomb' in the form of a clustered cannistered munitions with self homing, individually tracking sub munitions. Anti-personnel rounds had existed since the dawn of warfare. The Greeks used a highly flammable mixture of pitch-like material known as "Greek Fire", delivered by simple mechanical catapult, to assault the crew and material of enemy ships. During the Medieval age, simple spring boards for launching multiple racks or clouds of arrows appeared, and catapults and trebuchets could launch exploding jars of black powder. With the advent of the firearm and the cannon, canister or 'grape shot' appeared, able to shred not only the sails of a target ship, but also the unlucky crew manning the deck. Grape shot continued to be used in an anti-personnel role throughout the history of the cannon, especially during the North American Civil War (19th century, United States). The Combine "Black Arrow" Type 3G GPAPR-C3PGM (General Purpose Anti-Personnel Round-Carrier for Clustered Cannisterized Precision Guided Submunitions) was no different in mission than its predecessors, but was a quantum leap evolutionarily over its historical counterparts. The Type 3G "Black Arrow" was the most popular and the most effective of the specialized anti-personnel rounds with only minor updates and upgrades made to the design throughout the war. With the addition of Refrax4 in the subwarheads, the "Black Arrow" became the premier APR in use during the Last War. The sensors of the APR were highly dedicated, and scanned the low bands of the area they were dispensed into, bands normally reserved for the EMS outlays and signature spikes of mobile infantry and unarmored infantry, where the individual warheads homed in on the direct spike links to drones, uplink EMS spikes through SLICS and PLIEADS (and the Pan equivalents), and using both motion and proximity sensors to adjust their impact point. With a burst height of 10 meters, it had a lethal zone thirty meters in diameter from initial dispersal point and the cone could be tailored based on updates from TACNet or SquadNet links at the last minute. Each Type 3G "Black Arrow" APR dispensed 50 individually tracking 'Wasp5' anti-personnel subwarheads. The Wasp5 subwarhead was a fin stabilized armor piercing needle with a Refrax4 vein spiral wrapped around a plasticeramic core. The Wasp5 was effective against all but the heaviest Pan powered infantry suits. Black Arrow rounds were also effective against convoys, depots, munitions dumps, and other volatile yet lightly armored areas. The "Black Arrow" played a huge role in the defense of the Combine AIM at Sheffield. While the Pans tried to outlaw the use of APR style rounds at the 23rd set of peace talks, they made no mention of their own discontinuation of such horrific devices. A hot point which, unfortunately, brought and end to the 23rd set of peace talks where the Combine refused to stop using APRs when the Pans had no intention of doing the same.
   
• ARTIFINT- The first artificial intelligence (or Artifint) built by Lansec, a Hindian conglomerate with the backing and support of several Eurasian zaibatsus, came online in 2016. The Lansec Artifint was a huge commercial success, and success often invites competitors into the market. One such competitor was NOAH (NOrth American Heuristic of Vancouver) which built the world’s second successful Artifint just two short years later. The more advanced NOAH designed Artifint had a gestation period of only fifteen days before it gained sentience and was an even bigger commercial success than the Lansec model. However, Lansec was preparing to introduce their own newer, more advanced second generation model of Artifint. NOAH saw the potential for the market and took steps to protect itself and its product. Within three years, NOAH had enough commercial leverage to buy out the smaller Lansec and incorporate all of its proprietary technology base into one cohesive multi-front operation, including the almost complete design for the second generation Artifint which made the first generation model resemble an abacus in performance. The perceived windfall of proprietary technology from this history making merger paved the way not only for faster and more compact Artifints, but also for the basic technology that would one day be required to build a stable virtual reality network on a global scale. By 2025 the number of commercial companies that could produce a viable Artifint was just seven. Forty years later, in 2065 AD, the number of commercial and private industries based on the manufacture of Artifints was two hundred and seventy-three.
  
  Generation after generation, artificial intelligences rapidly evolved in speed and power as they decreased in size and cost. Each new generation of Artifints was a revolutionary leap over the previous generation. Artifints soon controlled every major aspect of life, from massive traffic grids in major cities to flight control for spaceports and transportation ports, to the manipulation of the area nuclear power grids and the transmission of power from orbit for the smooth operation of Civilization. Artifints controlled automated manufacturing facilities and regulated the energy supplied to individual residences. Artifints acted as neutral advisors to political, military, and religious branches of society. Artifints were also extremely long lived, and had their own inalienable rights. The inception of a new artificially sentient creation could be viewed as a long term investment. The artificially sentient would serve many generations, growing wise with experience.
  
  In 2028 AD, the Vatican brought its own Artifint, "Raphael", online, using the Artifint to store the total knowledge of the Christian faith and to do research into secular, extra-secular and non-secular aspects. Raphael proved beyond a doubt that Artifints were living creatures. The Church argued if Artifints had souls, and if something that was created by Man could truly have a soul, then God must surely recognize that soul. Raphael would become a centuries long project in this aspect. This one act of the Church bringing an Artifint into the official fold of the House of God brought down the final boundaries of Man, Machine, and Religion. Artifint development and deployment was quite rapid thereafter. Situational awareness education of both humans and machines helped avoid the many potential conflicts that existed so readily in both theory and so many bad multi-media feed drama productions.
   
• AWARENESS - The cybernetic presence used to control a CLAWS, OGRE, or Uberpanzer. Usually not referred to as 'him' or 'her', but as 'IT'. Awarenesses were the ghost in the shell. With the Descartes Subroutines and the open ended languages that appeared, truly self aware artificial intelligence was possible. The "AWARENESS" could survive extreme damage by retreating to ITs dedicated survival center. Friendly support crews could salvage a self contained survival center, and insert IT into a new chassis and weapons system.
   
• BROKEN HEARTS - Combine military euphemism for crew members or operators who are rendered KIA or Kilo Idaho Alpha.
   
• BROKEN TOYS - Combine military euphemism for hardware that has been more or less permanently november foxed.
   
• BUFF - Big Ugly Fat Fellows (though sometimes (more than often) 'fellows' is substituted for the profane term 'f**kers'). Combine Military euphemism for Pan heavy armor which, by Western standards, was big and fat. The Pans put more emphasis on counter electronics, believing that the day of visual recognition and low silhouettes had passed. It was not as accurate an appraisal of the future of warfare as they had liked to have foreseen, a lesson they learned the hard way time and time again. While the Combine armor emphasized compact designs, the Pan armor was an arrogant baroque design, easily recognizable against the background environment, an often deadly disadvantage. The term was used most often by armor crews, with some diffusion into other ranks and files.
   
• BUSY CHILD- The Combine term for a OGRE or other CLAWS that went rogue or for one reason or another refused to obey direct control and command structure. The term "busy child" brought fear to anyone who understood the dire consequences of a sector siege unit becoming 'wild'. Term also applied to enemy units which, through damage or direct will, left their table of organizations and started hunting alone.
   
• CHARLIE KILO- 'CK'- military term for confirmed kill. Diffusion complete, standard as accepted.
   
• CLAWS-Cyber Logical Autonomous Weapons Systems- the official military term for the class of vehicles represented on the battlefield by "OGREs" as used in the Combine order of battle. Used only among egg heads and multi- letter acronym pushers... most soldiers (and officers) just called the cybertanks "OGREs".
   
• COMING TO TOWN- euphemism for urban fighting, street fighting, house to house action, or tricking the enemy to engaging at close range against prepared positions in an urban town or city environment. Origin unknown, but popular among the ranks.
  
  "Once Pan came to town, his ass was all ours..."s - Mitchell Davis, 23rd Infantry Division, Mechanized, of course.
  
   
• DELTA SIERRA - DS- Military slang for being in bad trouble or deep shit. Used in com traffic frequently. Diffusion complete. Accepted.
   
• EMS- Electro Magnetic Spectrum- a wide range of emissions generated by 'modern' fighting vehicles and even power armor equipped infantry. The EMS spectrum was scanned for 'artificial' signals that did not occur normally as background radiation from the sun, from the Earth's magnetic poles, etc. Anything out of the ordinary (i.e. not occurring naturally in nature) could be tagged as a target. Target emissions and documentation was included in every database onboard a vehicle. Discrepancies were easily identified, and then correlated based on known information on a unit by unit basis.
   
• EXPLASTIC - High explosive plastic. The standard demolition material in use in the world in the 21st century. A variant, known as R4 or Refrax4, was designed especially for the military served as resource material for warheads and mines. When properly tamped, as in armor piercing rounds utilizing the Monroe principle of penetration, the Refrax4 could effect a hypervelocity jet with temperatures in excess of 3600 degrees C, adequate for a 'burn through' of most light to medium armor. The hyper velocity jet of molten metal and armor proved to have excellent kill capacity against 'soft' targets like vehicle crews. Later, a SLEX ring was added to most explastic warheads, generating a modulated sympathetic concussion wave which stripped off interior armor fragments and splinters, showering the inside of a target with high velocity spall.
   
• Feral Acquisition Targeting Systems (FATS)- All 'modern' vehicles and even the powered battledress of the Mobile Infantry carried some form of FATS, in various names depending on which power you served under, and to various degrees of efficiency, but to the common soldier, it was all one form or another of the basic FATS. The Combine used the FATS system, while the Paneuropeans used the "Ceres" system. The FATS system was a subdevelopment of the 'smarter bomb' technology, trickle down effect. The technology and theory that made weapons able to survive against enemy active defense systems also made it possible to identify, track, and target enemy vehicles. The installation of FATS on all vehicles was just part of the evolution of the 'modern' armored fighting vehicle. Using the FATS, enemy vehicles could be identified acoustically by the sound of their drive motors, by the sound of their turret drive motors, the sound of their transmissions, etc. Background radiation, in association with the EMS array, was scanned and enemy units detected by the amount of neutrino emissions from their onboard powerplants, by the EMS spike of their electronics and sensor / scanner packages, and by a host of other indicators. Railguns and smaller mass drivers created very identifiable 'spikes' on EMS scanners whenever they operated, the specialized wavelength and emissions maps of the intense magnetic fields used to accelerate projectiles to six or more klicks a second did not normally occur in nature.
  
  Each 'type' of vehicle was fairly unique in its many signatures, and could be readily identified simply by a 'search and match' style query through a database with 95% or better accuracy. A EMS search, linked to olfactory sensors (to detect emissions and other artificial molecules such as the 'smell' of the machine lube found on Paneuropean tank drive assemblies), visual, thermal imaging, infra-red, telescopic, image comparison, image enhancement and a host of other detection means were standard equipment on 'modern' fighting vehicles. Rapid visual target acquisition and identification was based on tactical compare subroutines. The FATS would 'take a picture' several hundred times a second, and would compare each picture to the last picture or image. Any changes were noted on a pixel by pixel basis and analyzed through a brace of two dedicated subprocessors (the Combine used twin Microtellular 'Ambra' class 400Ghz units in their last FATS installation). Discrepancies were isolated, then enhanced, then compared to a dedicated onboard database including the complete 360 degree schematics and information on all known operating enemy units. Remote FATS / EMS and tactical sensor pods were often dropped from fast GEV or other recon oriented vehicles to act as forward early warning systems (FEWS). The FATS was responsible for the decrease in crew per vehicle (CPV) positions during the Last War. Many heavy armored vehicles could be 'fought' with only a crew of two; driver and commander.
   
• FiConSys- Fire Control System or FCS. The Combine FCS was produced by Rogers Norden Electronics, LTD. of Milwaukee and Quebec.
   
• FLUF - Fast Little Ugly Fellows (though sometimes (more than often) 'fellows' is substituted for the profane term 'f**kers'). Combine Military euphemism for Pan GEV based units of all type armor. Terms for Pan FLUFs also included 'fans', 'blower', 'lifter', 'GET (pronounced 'jet')', and other derogatory terms. Pan light GEVs were known as 'skates' by Combine crews. Used most often by armor crews, with some diffusion into other ranks and files.
   
• GRUNT- slang used to describe soft infantry or regular mud foots. GRUNT was a derogatory acronym defined as Ground Roving Unarmored Negligible Target. GRUNTs were 'soft' targets, and there were a variety of very viscous, feral weapons systems designed to not only keep them off of armored vehicles, but to cleanse a wide area around the vehicle of any 'infestations'. Still, the lowly infantryman learned to adapt, and in the urban fighting that marked the fall of Neurope to Paneuropean military forces, the simple infantryman made a highly noble stand against much better protected and equipped units.
   
• HUA! - The traditional cry of the infantryman, symbolizing the acronym H.U.A. or Heard. Understood. Acknowledged. Generally used by infantry (armored and unarmored) and some vehicle crews. An army term, not shared among other branches. Also used derogatorily in presence of superior officers when motives handed down are questioned, in the manner of Head Up Ass.
   
• HyVeloc- HYper VELOCity- Standard armor piercing, general purpose round used by all forces, capable of extreme armor penetration with terminal velocity in excess of eight klicks or more a second. The HyVeloc round was an artificially manufactured kinetic energy armor penetrator (KEAP) with a hyper alloy penetrator core computer designed for superior flight characteristics and maximum target damage. With the advent of the high technology manufactories, custom alloys could be tailored to be grown with perfect crystal patterns and aligned magnetic fluxes. This technology created some incredibly hard materials from which to produce armor for combat vehicles and battlefield units as well as provided material for the manufacturing of super dense armor penetrating rounds. As armor evolved in leaps and bounds, so did weapons technology, for what was important enough to protect with the best armor was surely important enough to destroy by someone else. HyVeloc rounds of later stages of the Last War were measured in dual caliber, such as 20/14.5mm, representing the amount of exterior sheathing which ablated during flight.
   
• IDAHO FOX / ALPHA FOX SIERRA (IF / AFS) - Indirect Fire / Artillery Fire Support- com traffic call signs for tagged resources used in a supporting roll. Combine. Standard. Accepted. Diffusion and dissemination complete.
   
• IFF-     Identification Friend or Foe
   
• INDIG- slang for 'indigenous', used to describe the locals or local forces.
   
• JOYRIDER- The first Combine experiments with cybernetic controlled vehicles resulted in the OGRE Mark I, a beefed up heavy. The Mark I was one and a half (early models) to two times (later models) as long as a standard heavy tank, just as massive, better armed, and it included a fail safe dating back to the first days of computers; a place for a human operator to take direct control. During early hardware evaluations, diagnostic testing of the new technology was not as exact as it became in the later years with the introduction of the more advanced OGREs and CLAWS. For the first few production models, a control chair / couch was incorporated into the design of the OGRE which allowed one or two technicians to accompany the OGRE on limited field trials, which were laughingly referred to as "joyrides", and those techs who spent a lot of time 'inside' an OGRE came to be known as "joyriders". As the designs of the OGRE grew more complex, some traditions remained; the characteristic collapsible OGRE 'conning tower', the wide stance, the frontal array of main batteries, and of course, the (often unused) "joyrider" control section. While not allowing direct control of the OGRE, the basic controls and the cramped compartment did serve as the basis for many documentaries, the most noted of which was the National Geographic piece "Six Hours In The Belly Of A Monster". With full life support, access to communications, holosense arrays, all range of EMS displays, and even vocal and audio communication with the cybernetic presence, there was little 'control' involved. The last of the 'grab the stick when the CPU goes off line' controls had de-evolved back into simple basic diagnostic positions and outputs with the introduction of the much more stable Mark II series of CLAWS and no model after that had any form of 'direct' control interface. Tech-Coms, mainly programmers and technicians, were along for the ride as a 'reward'. Some looked forward to riding out and testing new hardware or software upgrades, others were not so happy at the thought of being locked inside the biggest target on the battlefield. Like Jonah and the Whale, the tales told by Joyriders became the stuff of legend, those who survived. Joyriding was limited to field trials in non-combat intensive areas (officially), but stories of generals and other officers personally conducting their troops from inside one of the most protected vehicles on the battlefield do exist...
   
• KNIGHT - slang used to describe Mobile Infantry, usually in a derogatory manner by non-MI or heavy armor riders / users. Not to be used when you were a GRUNT and a fully armored MI was standing in front of you. Some units even adopted the nomenclature as in the Combine's 35th Silver Knights Company and the 45th Combat Engineer Platoon known as the Paladins. Another notable and famous (infamous to some) MI unit was the Black Knights. The 5th MI Company, "Black Knights", was probably the single greatest and most written about Mobile Infantry company in the Combine. Rich in tradition, history, and engagement, the 5th Black Knights were a dedicated and integrated part of the Combine RDF and served with distinction during Operation 7 Seize. It was argued that not only did the 5th get the very latest hardware and software upgrades, but the latest cutting edge equipment and the best replacements. Getting slotted into the 5th Company, MI was a very high honor.
   
• MANUFACTORY- A heavy industrial complex geared toward high tech or ultra-tech construction techniques. The assembly lines were still monitored by human supervisors and maintenance workers, but robots did the actual work on the line. Automated assembly lines ran night and day, and each manufactory was a self contained city that spread itself over many industrial acres. Most were even built around a self contained nuclear power plant and drew their incredible loads from that source, rather than taxing the nearby 'lesser' industrial and civilian power grids.
   
• MIKE FOX PAPA- Slang used to mean 'Most F**king Pronto' or immediately!, post haste!, right now!, or preferably yesterday! Accepted. Diffusion into ranks complete. Origin unknown. Isolated also into "MFP"
  
  "Hobbes!? You better get that PDS back on line and I mean MFP!" -Mitchell Robins, VCO, 5th Lift Armor. Deceased.
   
• MILITARY ALPHABET- Due to radio chatter and communications problems, some letters could sound like other letters are be lost. When giving out letters to command and friendly forces, the following nomenclature for the standard alphabet is used by the Combine military. Letters A through Z were represented by easily remembered and understood simple words. The military alphabet is as follows: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Origin late 19th century, early 20th century. Undisclosed. Standard issue. Approved.
   
• MOHO- Combine slang for MObile HOwitzer. Shared among ranks and divisions, diffused apparently completely by 2072, even appearing in digital media and print to civilian sectors throughout the Combine. Allowed.
  
  "After two batteries of our moho's softened them up, we hit those stupid indigs pretty hard and fast with our blowers. They thought we would give them the better part of a day to dig in and prepare! Hah! Boy, were they ever wrong! Dead wrong! We proved that to them, in spades." - Mark Douglas, Sgt 1, GEV support specialist, 32nd Lift Assault Company. Deceased.
   
• NEUROPE- Slang for the East after the coalition and solidification of the Paneuropean states.
   
• NOVEMBER FOX - NF, Non-Functional. Term used to describe hardware that is off line or enemy units which need to be removed from operations. Usually said as an exclamation or appears in orders as displayed command affirmatives.
  
   
• PAN- slang for Paneuropean units, often taken in derogatory tones by Combine military personnel. Pan also was used in artwork, using the mythological satyr creature of half child, half goat, mischievous, always playing a hand made flute, to represent the op forces. "Pan" and "Pans" became the standard derogatory slang term used.
   
• PANZER- Combine colloquium for any Paneuropean heavy tracked armor unit, the term predates the 21st century to WW II in the early 20th century. Panzer became the common term for any enemy armored track layer. GEVs were never referred to as 'panzers', they were called 'blowers'.
   
• PGM-PRECISION GUIDED MUNITIONS - military slang for any semi-intelligent or artificially intelligent self guiding, hand off capable multi-purpose warhead. See also 'snakes'. Most PGM were 'smarter bombs'.
   
• PIGGY-BACK ROUND -AKA "PBR", "VHRIRFU", "Follow Up", and "hitchhikers". Several types of anti-armor munitions, especially PGM and 'snakes' were capable of carrying multiple independently follow up rounds in 'piggy back' configuration. The main warhead was actually a clustered or cannisterized carrier with a primary warhead and one to three (sometimes more) submunitions which would 'follow up' on the initial impact. The initial warhead would create a artificial biting area and weaken the structure of the armor. The follow up rounds homed in on the hot spot at the center of the detonation of the first round, each successive round was exactly timed for optimum performance. With any luck, the final round was a dual purpose warhead that blended high explastic and a plasticeramic casing for crew casualties.
   
• PILLS- shells, bullets.  Used with abandon.  "Taylor!  Put a few pills into that heavy over there to make sure it's good and dead!"
   
• PLIEADS- Platoon Level Integration and Enhanced Autonomous Defensive System ("Plee-ah-dees")- The designers of the SLICS system found that the network of squad level integration could be carried further. With the development of the Charleston-McAllister Type V microprocessor operating at a room temperature 400 gigahertz, or a cryogenically cooled 635 gigahertz, the option to integrate multiple SquadNets became a viable reality! The size of the CHAR/MCALLI T5 processor made it easy to integrate into the various Combine battledress designs. An additional blister appeared on the back of most suits, housing the modular cradle which in turn held the CHAR/MCALLI T5 processor and its cryogenic cooling array. The designers were amazed at how much more efficient the SquadNet and SLICS became with the addition of the CHAR/MCALLI T5 processor integrated into the design of the network. It was found that up to three full platoons could be coordinated together in a manner similar to SLICS and remain cohesive under long periods of high stress combat time. The first use of the PLIEADS system was with the RDF forces, much to the surprise of the Paneuropean forces at Chad and Summer. The Paneuropeans tried many times to copy the performance of the PLIEADS system, but were unable to as it remained a Combine strong point. Combine battledress suits sold to client states did NOT have the capacity of PLIEADS nor were they upgradeable (some said that the pre-PLIEADS templates were still being used to manufacture export suits...) and the PLIEADS had a particularly viscous self destruct sequence to keep it from falling into enemy hands... one that most MI were not aware of, and those who did find out, were very uncomfortable with.  PLIEADS was available mid 2074 and thereafter.  A smaller version was tested on some infantry units, and saw extensive use during the civil conflicts which tore apart the Combine, but it was never used in any real fashion during the Last War.
   
• POINT DEFENSE SYSTEMS (PDS) - The rise of guided and 'smart' weapons (and later 'smarter' weapons) pushed the armored vehicle to the brink of extinction as a battlefield species. Survival of an armored vehicle on the 21st century battlefield required many facets of operation and defense. Electro Magnetic Spectrum (EMS) search and scan made it very hard to hide a vehicle or anything remotely powered from detection. Countermeasures already included ECM, ECCM, variable construction armor, better armor materials, hybrid armor designs, speed, thermal baffling, sound baffling, sound imitation, etc. One of the types of defenses introduced during the 21st century was the Point Defense System, an 'active' type of defensive countermeasure which used a high speed projectile firing weapon (usually an autocannon of some kind or type) to target and destroy missiles, artillery projectiles, rockets, rocket grenades and the occasional inconvenient infantry unit automatically. The best known of the PDS systems was the "Phalanx" PDS used by the Combine.
  
  The Phalanx PDS was a fast-reaction, (VRF) very rapid-fire 8 millimeter electrically driven tri-barrel 'gatling' gun system equipped with its own dedicated FATS and ALS systems. Early pre-21st century Phalanx systems were large, bulky, and provided old 20th century United States Navy ships with a terminal defense against anti-ship missiles that had penetrated other fleet defenses. The first generations of Phalanx were designed to engage anti-ship cruise missiles and fixed-wing aircraft at short range. The Point Defense System (then also known as the CIWS Close In Weapon System or Sea-Whiz (C-Wis)) automatically engaged functions usually performed by separate, independent systems such as search, detection, threat level evaluation, target acquisition, target track, weapon firing, target damage assessment, target destruction confirmation, kill assessment, next target detection and / or cease fire.
  
  As munitions grew 'smarter', the need to stop 'smart' and 'smarter' rounds well away from the target was recognized. Using very fast acting active defense systems was the route taken by most weapon and vehicle designers. Using small caliber, very quick firing weapons and fast target acquisition systems, incoming rounds could be 'shot down' before they ever reached the target. TAC missiles, infantry carried anti-tank missiles, artillery rounds, thrown grenades, rocket grenades, and a host of other types of rounds could all be effectively dealt with before these rounds had a chance to damage the target. PDS played a vital role in increasing individual armored vehicle survival ratings during the 21st century. Combined with other types of defenses, a PDS system was considered to be essential. PDS systems were equipped with duplicate electronics packages (redundant), a dedicated backup power source, and their own ammunition cassette(s). Most vehicles operating in the various combat zones of the Last War were equipped with some form of PDS, even the command posts!
   
• RAILS - Robotic Automatic Intelligent Loader Systems- The RAILS, in conjunction with the FATS, was the key to making armored vehicles more compact and thus more survivable on the 21st century battlefields. The traditional 'stumbling block' to armored vehicle design had always been the crew position of 'loader'. The crew member who operated as the loader for the main weapon had to stand in order to operate effectively, and this meant that the design of the armored vehicle had to incorporate a standing man (usually two meters in height was design doctrine) into the design, vastly cutting down on the available designs and increasing vehicular height (and thus tactical visual signature). With the advent of robotic automatic intelligent loader systems, the position of 'loader' was replaced with a compact, dependable system that took up twice the volume, but half the height. Interior horizontal volume was easy to adjust to, and with the advent of a lower vehicle silhouette, tactical survival took a huge step forward.
  
  The RAILS system (as Combine doctrine termed it) was a simple multi-capacity computer controlled mechanical assembly. Voice or remotely operated, it worked closely with both the crew and the onboard to carry out its assigned duty. The commander (usually also the 'gunner' of a vehicle) could instruct the RAILS system by voice on what type of cartridge or shell to load into the dedicated weapon system. Multi-feed systems were managed by linkless feed high speed cassettes and chute type delivery. Powered assemblies and arms simply moved one ammo feed chute from the action, and moved another to replace it, all in a second or less. High speed servos gave truly tremendous rates and volumes of fire for weapons that would have normally have been 'disadvantaged' by a human loader who could suffer from many combat disadvantages such as fatigue and fear. The RAILS system never slowed down, never got tired, never dropped a live round into the fighting compartment, never loaded the 'wrong' round, and never complained of the operating conditions near the weapon. The first production series of RAILS had its problems, but after initial shakedown, the system was widely welcomed by vehicle crews (except the out of work 'loaders' who suddenly either had to train for one of the other vehicle positions, or be assigned to infantry slots...). On average, the RAILS system alone lowered AFV silhouettes and outlines by a good full meter! Targets that are lower to the ground are harder to hit, easier to hide in defensive positions, and are far more survivable in a tactical situation.
   
• SCRISBOL- Self Contained Reprogrammable Instruction Set Battlefield Oriented Language- The last official military programming language of the Combine, responsible for the open ended architecture which made software like PLIEADS and V5.9 SIGMA of SquadNet possible. SCRISBOL was packet oriented and easily modifiable on the fly (MOTF) by the hardware running it. Operating requirements were steep, but the new generation of microprocessors such as the CHAR/MCALLI T5 and later the T6 Eldorado class processors were up to the task. It was a case of all the right items coming together at the right time and military history records it as such. SCRISBOL was produced in individual packets of code that actively sought out and found other SCRISBOL oriented packets, linking to them and modifying the initial code of both packets to seamlessly integrate the two programs. The new program would search out any other program exhibiting a 'find me' key, and integrate that program into the fold, so on and so on until all available programs were assimilated into one larger, seamless program. Hardware operating under SCRISBOL protocols lent new meaning to the term "Plug and Play", the hardware and its software would integrate itself into the whole. When it was unplugged or destroyed or removed, that bit of software that controlled the hardware was ejected by the SCRISBOL assimilators and the whole program modified itself on the fly (MOTF) to operate without the hardware and accompanying software. SCRISBOL was almost an artificially intelligent language, and might have been given time.
  
  Much of the OGRE and other cybertanks and cyberweapons used hardware equipped and operated by SCRISBOL but their master language and the language that was used in the so called "Descartes Subroutines" differed in both scope and depth. SCRISBOL was replaced with a kinder, gentler SCRISMOL in the 22nd century.
   
• SCRISMOL was the Self Contained Reprogrammable Instruction Manufactory Oriented Language, and it continued to evolve into a true, self replicating, semi-artificially intelligent programming language. SCRISMOL was the main language of the Manufactories and the AIMs after the Last War, though a modified version of SCRISBOL was still used for their own weapons systems and some military hardware. The SCRISMOL controlled version of SCRISBOL had numerous backdoors built in by the AIMs and MANUFACTORIES just to keep their own creations from being turned against them. New Rio D found this out in 2117 when, using SCRISMOL-SCRISBOL controlled weapons produced from the local manufactory, the residents tried to storm the manufactory and take manual control in on the the more well documented factory states revolts. Their losses were probably just as great as their surprise when they found that their bright shiny new weapons refused to operate for them!
   
• SLEX - Stabilized Liquid EXplosive- a highly volatile compound used by engineers and demolitions experts for both commercial and military applications. SLEX was electrically detonated and highly stabilized otherwise. SLEX was used in some area effect weapons where a vaporized dispersion of SLEX would be delivered via a capsulated carrier and then a small electrical charge would be initiated, creating a chain reaction that spread like a rolling fire storm. SLEX in this role was much more effective than the previous century's FAE Fuel Air Explosives, as SLEX had nearly three times the blast propagation and effect. As a demolition tool, SLEX could be poured into cracks, crevices or around edges and detonated remotely or via a electric pulse timer cap (part of every demolition experts kit). SLEX, in warhead form, replaced the HESH rounds with greater effect (the splash and detonation was spectacular) and proved to be a equally effective, if somewhat inhumane, anti-personnel device. SLEX mines, working on the saturated fuel-air method of operation, would 'fog' an target or area and then detonate. SLEX in the anti-personnel role was outlawed by mutual agreement at the 45th set of peace talks.
   
• SLICS- Squad Level Integration and Countermeasures System- ("Slicks")-The SLICS was a complex system of squad level LOS and indirect networking among the high performance tactical computers that were part of each MI battledress. The SquadNet integrated each individual MI battledress equipped soldier into a operational unit and doctrine solution that was greater than the sum of its individual parts. Utilizing SLICS, an entire squad of battledress equipped soldiers could function as one greater effective unit, instead of as many lesser effective individual units. What one soldier knew or could see, sense, smell, detect, the entire squad knew equally well. All information from one suit or soldier was instantly available to every other member of the squad. Hand off of munitions was done flawlessly between individual soldiers, and with the squad dedicated tactical drones, SLICS and SquadNet became indispensable additions to the Combine MI units. Entire squad level coordination of point defense against indirect fire munitions and TAC missiles was coordinated through each suit's microprocessors, giving instant information to the entire squad. SLICS also worked to integrate the EMS of the squad into one homogenous source, working to blend the squad into the background and 'phase' it out of enemy targeting systems reach. Suit emissions were carefully monitored by the SLICS and individuals were electromagnetically 'bled' selectively to match their backgrounds at a constant rate, monitored both locally by the individual suits which 'buddy checked' each other several hundred times a second, to the remote tactical drones which did 'removed' views of the squad to make sure that no EMS spikes were readily visible to the enemy. Target reference and engagement, target spotting, and integration into the mass of data which made up the 21CB became the norm. The entire squad worked flawlessly and seamlessly as one mobile unit, pooling resources and operating on a squad level instead of a individual level as had been the case before SLICS. Efficiency went up dramatically, as combat losses decreased.
  
  SLICS was the Combine name for their squad level system, the Paneuropeans had a similar system that was bulkier, termed Cerebus. Whereas the Combine SLICS was an integral part of each individual suit, the Paneuropean Cerebus consisted of two additional pair of dedicated processors, carried by two members of the squad, integrating the other members in a somewhat more reliable but also more cumbersome array. However, as the Combine SLICS was integrated into the design, the loss of one suit would not bring the system down, merely reduce the amount of information and resources available to the other nodes on the network. With the Paneuropean Cerebus system, the loss of one or both of the dedicated tactical processors would cause disruption in squad level operations. Combine MI snipers soon learned to target the Paneuropean Cerebus equipped suits early in the engagement, and the unique EMS spike of the additional Cerebus processor showed up well on tactical squad level scanners. A special component shielded array was developed by the Paneuropeans mid way through the War in an effort to reduce the EMS signature of their Cerebus units but it only made the target outline greater. The ultimate solution appeared late in the war, equipping each Paneuropean MI suit with a smaller version of the Cerebus, called a Hectonchires unit. Apparently joint development of this device was carried out by both the Paneuropean and the Nihon empires to counter the much more sophisticated Combine SLICS though no records exist of this. Maybe the Nihon Empire managed to copy the Combine system, and captured Nihon suits with the Hectonchires system proved easier to copy than the Combine models... In any case, the addition of the Hectonchires unit made a noticeable hump on the Paneuropean units but spread the EMS signature out among all units so that Combine snipers could no longer have easy targets to take down the squad level integration of the Paneuropean units. The term "Hunchback" became popular among Combine MI to describe their late war Paneuropean counterparts.
   
• SLUF - Slow Little Ugly Fellows (though sometimes (more than often) 'fellows' is substituted for the profane term 'f**kers'). Combine Military euphemism for Pan light armor and fast track layers. While many post war historians and arm chair generals consider the Combine armor units to be the best looking and best designed during the Last War, no one can argue FOR the design of the Paneuropean light armor. With its cramped crew positions, cut rate electronics, poorly designed and strangely out of place or 'borrowed' 'OGRE' tower style sensor array (retractable), and its often inadequate performance (cross spectrum from weapons to active defenses), the Pan light armor units very much so richly deserved the title of "SLUF". Unpopular with their crews, and easy targets for Op Forces, the Pan SLUFs earned every bit of the dark reputation they carried with them until the end of and even beyond the Last War. Used most often by armor crews, with some diffusion into other ranks and files.
   
• SMARTER BOMBS- The advent of smart bombs created what was termed a 'Nintendo War' in the last decade of the 20th century where the public was witness to live feeds of laser guided bombs being directed through narrow exhaust ports of buildings, or hitting individual armored vehicles in prepared positions in the desert. As weapon technology paced itself along nicely with the increasing sophistication of computer and target attack programming, the 'bomb' got 'smarter'. The so called 'smart bomb' graduated to a 'smarter bomb'. The introduction of viable Point Defense Systems (PDS) and Area Defense Systems (ADS) meant that if a guided weapon was going to reach the target, it would have to have some form of intelligence. While not 'aware', some of the weapons guidance systems used during the Last War could be said to have definitely been 'feral' in nature, about as smart as a rabid dog. The weapons actually 'wanted' to destroy the target. Smarter bombs and munitions, once 'awakened' searched for a target like a hungry animal, and after a target lock was acquired, the weapon existed only for the destruction of the acquired target, almost in such as a way as to be feral and predator-like in nature.
  
  Smarter bombs are precision guided munitions (PGM). With the advent of the PDS and ADS and the associated tactical doctrines that appeared with their use, PGMs had to get 'smarter' just to survive. Ground hugging PGMs came in fast and low to avoid PDS systems. Even the lowly man portable anti-tank missile carried by the infantryman of the 21st century was a quantum leap over anything anyone in the 20th century could have dreamed possible. And if you thought the weapons were smart, you need to see the defensive countermeasures that were produced to deal with these weapons! Vehicle crews went from periods of abject horror to periods of feeling completely invulnerable, depending on whether the weapon or the defense technology was ahead at the time.
   
• SNAKES - Slang term for any TAC missile, friendly or enemy. Term derived from the advent of advanced NOE (Nap Of the Earth) and ground hugging capacity of FATS style guidance on individual tactical munitions. TAC missiles were usually fast subsonic to trans-sonic carriers for armor wrecking warheads, equipped with incredibly complex and aggressive maneuvering systems capable of G-forces that would be instantly lethal to a living creature, yet were tolerable (just!) to the onboard hardware. With increases in tactical microprocessor capacity, sensor downlook, and the greater aggressive tendency of both point defense systems and vehicle defense design, the TAC missiles, instead of bowing out to the new active as opposed to reactive defenses, as most tacticians had predicted, became just as primal in design and guidance. The flight of a TAC missile resembled a snake in the grass, skimming at NOE level a meter, more or less, jinking left and right depending on the signals it was receiving from the targets PDS tracking array (which got VERY active when in use). TAC missiles flew just off the deck to present the lowest possible target to PDS (usually coming in below effective and actual physical PDS equipment deflection...), the back and forth meandering of the TAC missile was almost hypnotizing, if it were not the deadly reality that this was not a dance, but rather the counter-defensive maneuvering of an armor breaking weapon system doing its feral best to counter the AI PDS systems that were seeking to kill it. Guidance systems for TAC missiles were called "snake eyes", technicians as 'snake doctors'.
   
• TAC Missile- The standard PGM (Precision Guided Munitions) of the Last War was the TAC Missile. The TAC missile was the workhorse of most infantry and armored units. Small, agile, adaptable, and fast, the TAC missile was the perfect compliment to the high and hyper velocity guns mounted on most fighting vehicles. TAC missiles had broad applications, and their seeker heads could target everything from a small vehicle up to hypersonic fighter aircraft. The warhead was a seventh generation self forging penetrator, able to manipulate its design based on target angle of attack and known target data. The high velocity of the TAC missile came from its simple ramjet design, producing a velocity at the time four times greater than a comparable CPR fired round! Special ram vents located behind the seeker head / warhead rammed air in and produced the necessary pressure to create and sustain the ramjet effect. Deployable control vanes allowed course correction. The seeker head could also accept various 'hand off' guidance techniques, following laser and visual data pulses to the correct target, as supplied by friendly units operating in the area. As the Last War became one of ECM and ECCM intensive engagements, the speed and design of the TAC missile changed, gone was the fuel gobbling hypersonic scramjet style motor to be replaced with a highly efficient electrically driven fuel cell powered ducted turbofan that allowed very high subsonic and limited trans-sonic flight speeds. The drop in speed was made up for with the increase in maneuverability and the ability to both loiter and hover!
  
  TAC missiles were produced in five types; very light, light, standard, heavy, and very heavy. Very light TAC missiles had a range of 1kmand were usually relegated to duty with infantry, MI, FAVs, and some light tracked and hover missile launchers as well as emplaced systems. The light TAC missile had a range of about 2km under ideal conditions, and was used on some IFVs and CFVs, as well as some LAVs. Certain infantry units carried versions of the light TAC missile, but the launcher and system tended to slow them down considerably. The standard TAC missile had a range of four kilometers and a sizeable warhead, but was usually only carried by missile tanks, missile GEVs, some emplaced bunker and launcher installations, and by some Cybertanks. The Improved TAC missile had the same warhead as the standard TAC missile, but a greater range due to a better fuel storage medium. Improved TAC missiles became standard issue later in the Last War, around 2082 and had a range of 4 kilometers. The heavy TAC missile saw use only with the Cybertanks and with some specialized missile tanks during the Last War, but it had the greatest range of five kilometers and a warhead over 50% stronger in yield than the standard and improved TAC missiles. Heavy TAC missiles were usually mounted on external rails or carried in internal armored bays and deployed through special launch tubes mounted on the Cybertanks. The Very Heavy TAC missile was a late development and had a range of six kilometers under ideal conditions, with a greater warhead. It had superior navionics which, although it was larger and heavier, allowed it to operate with even better efficiency than its predecessors.
  
  The TAC missile was modular in design, and benefited from such add on packages as ATG Advanced Terminal Guidance, Second Stage Boosting, and MITW Multiple Independently Targeted Warheads, and ECM Burners which helped to enhance target acquisition. The seeker of the TAC missile was classified as 'smarter' from the first template, and by the end of the Last War, some TAC missiles may have acquired sentience, based on the fact of several reported incidents where weapons would not fire, or actually seemed to 'argue' with their targeting systems.
   
• TECH-COM - "Tango Charlie" - Combine slang for any technical or communications / computer oriented slot. Most TECH-COM or Tango Charlies are 'egg heads', smarter than the 'average' slot and somewhat chided for their prowess in the related fields. As the 21CB was a highly technical conflict, most 'average joes' were still way and above par smarter and more technologically oriented than their counterparts of even the late last turn of the century or the early 21st century. The Tango Charlies were just more so. Some TCs accompanied infantry squads into the fields, known as slot EO or Equipment Officer in charge of battledress maintenance, upgrade, and repair. Tango Charlie units also played a vital role in the capture of enemy AIMs and manufactories. Their tactical 'hacker' skills allowed grouped squads to assault the AIMs on a cybernetic level, waging an assault through their interfaces and virtual matrixes. The Tango Charlies based their lives around their cyberdecks and their toolkits. Most tango charlies stayed well to the rear in depots and command points, but a few, as has been stated, were 'real' soldiers, and operated as a soldier first, and a tango charlie second. Many MI squads had at least one tango charlie slot, usually the second slot, as SOP.
  
  
   
• THEDOT- Tactical High Energy Destruction Of Target- THEDOT is the military acronym for high energy tactical laser weaponry and its application to static defense of military, industrial, political, religious, and civilian centers. Many designs of THEDOT based beam weaponry appeared during the Last War. Since lasers travel at the speed of light, and a low power laser beam can be used to 'paint' a target or 'range' a target, once the beam is on the target, the matter of stepping up the amperage and feed to the beam was just a simple switch away. The doctrine went like this. "Put THEDOT on the target, and the target goes away."
  
  THEDOT systems were computer controlled and targeted, relying on redoppler micropulse radar and later modulated ladar / madar for target acquisition. Early THEDOT systems were simple emplaced turrets, but as smart bombs (munitions) became smarter bombs (munitions), THEDOT systems were mounted on static towers, on powered variable elevation tower systems, and even on some heavy tracked chassis. Most THEDOT systems were powered by dedicated crystal battery storage arrays with dedicated feeds to industrial or military nuclear reactors. Some used simple chemical reactions to achieve the proper homogeneous inverse population excitation, or disposable cartridge type 'power' cells. THEDOT systems located around AIMs or Manufactories usually drew from those installations dedicated power plants. Somewhat effective against armored vehicles, especially light armored vehicles, THEDOT systems were very effective against infantry, especially unarmored infantry.
   
• TIN MEN / TIN SOLDIERS - Combine military euphemism for Pan mobile infantry. Reference believed to refer to the late 19th century / early 20th century children's toys of war (produced before the need for metal in war time production made metal 'toys' a thing of the past and paved the way for plastic toy soldiers and vehicles to flood the markets). Used derogatorily.
   
• UBERPANZER- Combine term for any Pan cybertank, literally 'super tank' or 'ultimate tank'. Used derogatively.
   
• VCO - Vehicle Commanding Officer, generally the officer in charge of the crew of a vehicle and responsible for them and the vehicle.
   
• VHRIR - Very High Resolution Infra-Red. Carefully adjusted and microprocessor controlled dual mode (active / passive) thermal enhancement allowing visual recognition and target appraisal through differences in heat aspects. Used in early part of 20th century, the technology advanced to where VHRIR was an integral input for the FATS system, allowing vehicles and other so equipped units to actually hunt like predators.
  
   

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