Zone Intelligence & Defense Organization: Invasion

I smile thinly as the AI replies. "Artillery Mechanized Infantry Unit coming up on-screen. Standby."
A moment later, the hologram reappears, this time with a walker that has thick, short legs, sturdy, wide 'feet,' a short, long body, with 2 very large missile silos on either side. The walker is labelled as 15 feet tall, with a ammunition count of 28 missiles per silo.

The hologram 'minimizes,' shrinking down to be a toy-sized figure, as the next one comes up. This one is labelled as 8 feet tall, more like a large suit of armor, with a large grenade launcher on the right arm, and a heavy chaingun on the left arm, with a really big 'backpack' that probably holds all the ammunition.
 
"I, am, so, late." Sara called over her shoulder as she beat a path double time across the nearly empty yard. "Next time I'm just going straight to orientation." The only answer that she received was the heavy thump of footsteps dutifully trailing after her. Slowing down to a steady walk Sara looked over her shoulder to look at Zen, one eyebrow raised in question. Standing just shy of five foot six Sara had to bend her neck back quite a bit to look at Zen's face, something positioned around nine and a half feet off the ground.
"Oh don't give me that. You are not technically part of the military they don't care what you do. I on the other hand am a private, they could have me running laps for the next three days if they were so inclined." Sara pouted scrunching her nose at the prospect of being stuck with another team leader like her last hard-ass drill sergeant. However the next moment she couldn't help but crack a smile as she felt Zen give her shoulder a gentle nudge with one of his massive hands. Jokingly pushing back against the robot, without any affect on the few ton robot, Sara gave her friend a wide grin before starting off at a jog rapidly nearing the orientation room. Approaching the door she hardly noticed the guy sitting as she stopped and turned to face Zen.
"Ah, maybe you better wait out here for now, I think the door has a restriction of six feet by three feet." Her voice was a little hesident but, Zen merely cocked his head to one side for a moment before moving to sit down on the far right of the room, opposite the other guy. Giving him a quick smile Sara placed her hand on the door and quietly pushed her way inside. At the moment the group seemed to be viewing a hologram of some long ranged weapons but Sara wasn't really paying attention, she just concentrated on getting to a seat as quickly and quietly as possible. The seat she choose was more towards the pack of the room and she kind of just hunched down into it, hoping that she could avoid being punished.
 
Grinning lightly as her green eyes study the holograms, Seras nods to herself before looking back to the CO, "I would assume there are other attachments or variants of these suits as well. What's a sniper without something like a cannon on these things.."
 
Lifira's eyes widen once more. "Please tell me we have railguns. Please, please."
 
I shake my head, saying, "We haven't made handhelds, or small enough to be used for walkers. We do, however, have much, much bigger quad-walkers that use railguns. Heavy guns; if we find any alien establishments, those things are going to be second in." Then, I turn my attention back to Seras. "Yes, there are different armaments, but for the most part, we just give you a bigger, more stationary sniper rifle to use."

Then I notice movement in the back of the room. "Glad you could join us, Private. Seems you were taking your own little tour, was it?"
 
"Ah, I was told to drop my truck at the dorms no one really bothered to tell me how to get back here...Sir." Sara mumbled. She had spent most of her years living in an Independant colony she had learned that you either made friends or you kept your head down. As she was still working on that second point she felt that she should try to stay pretty inconspicuous. Looking around she was not totally sure as to how she felt about the group, true first impressions were often misleading but from what she could see at the moment there was only one other person who looked to be into any sort of shenanigans.
"I was also givin' a bit a trouble at the gate, said I was over the maximin "luggage" size." As she spoke again her tone changed to something more lively with much more spunk than she had started with. She also gave a slight grin as she leaned back every so slightly in her chair as though savoring some particularly good thought.
 
"I assume that'd be Zen?" I respond, knowing and calm.
 
((.... I believe that 'Zen' is outside, and not within sight of the briefing room...))
 
Sara started a little bit, a little surprised that he knew about Zen. True she had added that she would be bringing along but, from what she had seen at the gate, not everyone had gotten the memo.
"Yes, they were not quite sure what to categorize him as on their entrance sheet." She said levely with a slight shrug. Over the years she and Zen had gotten used to the hassle when they traveled however she still felt bad that Zen was considered either luggage or a tool. Now that she was pretty sure that she was not going to be reperamanded or punished in any way she felt herself starting to relax. At least at the moment it looked like her new commanding officer was not going to be a total scrooge.

(you would be correct)
 
"Yes, Xeno sometimes plays pranks, and switches around the orders... not enough for treason, just enough to give a little hassle. I 'spect that with you new recruits, you'll see somethin' new. And that Zen of yours is an interesting AI. Is he self-conscious, and can learn, or just a program?"
 
"Anything for a laugh." Sara huffed crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't really bitter, those familiar with her knew that she had done her fair share or pranks but, that didn't mean she couldn't pull a face when it was her turn to be on the receving end. At the second part she felt a proud smile cross her face and she sat up a little straighter in her chair as she said. "Self-conscious, has been since for about two years. Been working on him for five, had to rebuild most of his inner workings. Most of what he is running on now are all installations made by me although some of his parts are original. Had to fix his voice bax recently, still been acting up." Sara broke off rather suddenly as she realized that she was starting to blabber on, her last sentence had even strayed into the category of personal musings instead of something actually directed at anyone. When it came to electronics and hardware she could go on for hours, especially if the topic started to stray onto Zen. This had actually gotten her and Zen into trouble every now and again. Thankfully a several ton, unwilling robot was much harder to steal than most people thought.
 
"He ever develop hobbies on his on? I had a solid state box in college that made funny cat pictures for fun." Lysel says.
 
I raise my eyebrow. "A technician can take a look, and tell you what's wrong. As I would think, you probably won't want someone else fixing him up."
 
"Ah, well its hard to tell, he is still learning so his impression of fun is a little bit off." Sara said thoughtfully. "Although he is making a book of pressed flowers, so yes he does have a hobby."
"That's alright, I already found the problem. Just the ride over here was a bit rough so I didn't get a chance to fix it." Sara replied with a small wave of her hand. The second part of Spencer's statement. She had spent to much time working with Zen and at this point both of them found it very hard to trust other people to make repairs on Zen. The only time either of them had allowed it was when Sara had accidently broken her arm, a piston in Zen's back broke so Sara had to let her Dad do the repair. But, she had spent the entire time hovering right behind her Dad making sure that he was doing everthing correctly.
"But, anyways when do we get to go on the official tour?"
 
"Of course. Go down half the length of the hallway, turn right, there are the dormatories and the mess hall. To the right, there is the shooting range, armory, training arena, and the tech lab." I smile thinly, without warmth. "Done."
 
After taking a long smoke break he came back to the briefing room rubbing his eyes as if he was tired. " what did I miss " he said placing his hands blindly on the table.
 
With a small grin, Seras stands up and moves to the nearest wall, leaning against it wtih her arms crossed, "Straightforward and to the point.. Hn.. So, what's our first directive here if introductions are finished?"
 
"Training. You're going to be given simple information about the best way to kill your new enemies, you train with our weaponry, our technology. Another attack should be coming up soon; they don't wait very long between attacks, so you all will have to be ready."