Commander Ortiz hadn't been in an Attack Buggy for years. The one-seat, thinly-armored, fast-moving vehicle could travel great distances, even off-road. Tonight, he idled at the edges of a military checkpoint. The controllable dual-machine gun turret on top of the machine pointed down the road toward the docks where the Formatics were, sadly, awaiting the OK from the Setting Sun to board the ships to enter a new life of slavery in Renfair, where slavery came with whips and chains instead of honest labor.
He checked his interface. Dozens of bullets have already been fired today from his Buggy after the Havana Public Service System announced that Renfair would not pay to have the Formatics enter their country. That simplified the situation greatly but it was true, Ortiz figured. Some Formatics got mad and tried to start a riot by attacking. The machine guns corrected that which is a shame because Ortiz didn't figure he would have to shoot anyone today. For all their pomp, the Renfarians are doing a terrible job actually getting the damn heretics out of Cuba and the Setting Sun.
Six dead. Twenty injured.
But that is clearly Renfair's fault.
Fifteen minutes later, in order to keep the mass from rioting altogether, the HPSS announced that negotiations have restarted and that the Setting Sun will settle on half payment up front and back payments once the refugees make it to San Francisco. Ortiz wasn't sure if this was a way to just delay violence on part of the Emperor. If it was up to Ortiz, there wouldn't be a deal and the Formatics would continue working off their debts to the Empire but the Emperor, not the Soldier-Inquisition, is able to show mercy and compassion more often than not.
However, Ortiz couldn't help but nod in agreement as he noticed more Buggies and a couple of rocket-launching Attack Bikes pull up to reinforce the checkpoints as well as Toxin Soldier-Inquisitors on the rooftops and soldier detachments. If the Formatics started a riot, the heresy would be put down for good but it wouldn't come to that. Castro handed Ortiz the reports earlier in the day that a minority, but a good-sized minority, have already been broken down mentally through the labor. They're in a transitional stage where they don't want to fight but can still be corrupted back into the heresy. These adults will protect their children in the crowd by helping put down a riot.
Assuming a chunk has been broken down and another chunk could swing either way, that left a chunk that would start throwing rocks the second the HPSS came back with bad news. Cautiously, Ortiz relayed this information over the network to all operatives in this operation. The warning is basically "shoot down the rebels" should they rebel. Do it quickly and without mercy and round up the ones that aren't fighting after the predicted short splat is over with because, and let's face it, a bunch of malnourished underarmed outnumbered rebels won't win this fight, should it come to being a fight.
There was a knock on the side of the buggy. Ortiz popped open the canopy and looked around. A messenger recited the message relayed to him by Command, "Do not fire on the Formatics unless they try to cross the checkpoints. The Toxin Soldiers and...new weapons will do most of the heavy lifting should it come to that."
"New-?" Ortiz stood in his seat and looked down the street. Three boxes, nine "men" on the outside and three strange creatures in the center. "What are those?"
"Cyborgs and the Cyborg Reapers. First military application of cybernetics that the Emperor, should things come to past, wishes to test out on the Formatics in case of violence."
The cyborgs on the outside easily towered over the tallest normal human soldiers of the Soldier-Inquisition. Ortiz would guess eight feet tall. "How does that work?"
"The cyborgs on the outside have modifications made on them that allows them to interface with the battle suit, including the Gatling plasma gun and grenade launcher. That eye-piece gives them a myriad of view options but even outside the suit, their improved eyes are still probably better than my mark-one eyeballs. That armor can take a lot more punishment than we can and improves their strength even further, especially given their improved internal skeleton."
Ortiz nodded and then studied the middle creatures further. They looked far less human, having its legs replaced with four mechanical ones. "And those things?"
"Reapers. Soldier-Inquisitors who, in their service to the Emperor, were lamed in some way can continue to serve him. Don't let the size confused you, they can move pretty fast using the tetrapod. It has more armor, better computer system, quad-rocket launchers instead of the plas-gun and grenadier. And a nifty little cannon, see, that one over its right shoulder. It moves sorta like a tail and fires a Reaper net. Snags whoever is hit with, allowing for easy recapture. The rockets are really only there in case of heavy armor and aircraft. Only the nets will be used, should they have to."
The cyborgs formed up at the checkpoint and the Reapers in front of the check point. Nine Reapers, twenty-seven cyborgs. If it comes down to fighting, they may actually be little bloodshed unless someone in that crowd has a rocket launcher and spare ammunition. In which case, those cyborgs look willing to simply gun down the crowd with hot plasma and grenades until the crowd screams uncle.
Better caught in a net than say, shot by a Toxin Soldier. The elite snipers used a special, long-range rifle that did little very little damage against anything with serious armor. However, the round disperses a hallucinogen into the bloodstream which make the target very docile and poisons the target. The docility thing lasts about an hour. The poison, usually, kills in a week.