PROP: Military drones (defense contractor)

[EightRice]

The military drones that get pacified by the Autonet swarm.

Design:

• Angular, matte-black
• Clear defense contractor aesthetic (functional, aggressive)
• Rotors/propulsion visible
• Weapons systems mounted
• Camera/sensor arrays
• Formation flying capability

Variations:

Wave 1: Standard

• Basic autonomous combat drones
• Vulnerable to EMP

Wave 2: Evasive

• Same design but showing evasive maneuvers
• Splitting apart, diving, climbing

Wave 3: EMP-hardened

• Similar design but with visible shielding
• More robust construction
• Still has accessible ports/seams for Autonet manipulation

State transitions:

• Active (lights on, weapons hot)
• Disabled (lights flickering, rotors stuttering)
• Captured (drifting down like falling leaves)
• Converted (now moving in concert with Autonet spheres)

Context:
'Hundreds of them—angular, matte-black, built by defense contractors for autonomous combat. They rose in formation, their onboard AI coordinating attack patterns, their weapons systems hot. They lasted eleven seconds.'

Reference: autonet_story_underwater_edit.md lines 283-297