HK-8 "Bodkin" Kinetic Hunter-Killer Drone

The HK-8 Kinetic Hunter-Killer Drone, or "Bodkin," is a class of miniaturized combat drone employed by the Cobalt Knights. Primarily used by Knights-Infantrymen and Knights-Espatier, but also occasionally used by Knight-Airmen to provide support from orbit, the Bodkin is essentially what its name implies: a sharply-pointed, four-edged spearhead formed around an elongated control module and sprouting a set of four high-speed ducted fans from the gaps between the blades. The drone has a quatrefoil cross-section when viewed from ahead. A single Knight-infantryman can carry (and control if in the possession of a brain-vehicle implant) four or more Bodkins at a time. The high-pitched howl of a Bodkin's powerful fan blades and the singing of its razor-sharp edges slicing through the air has been the last thing many an enemy of the Protectorate has ever heard.

Power Generation

Almost the whole core of a Bodkin is filled with a charge-foliated graphene capacitor that is kept charged by the detatchable wire trailing from the drone's aft-most extent. A hair-fine wire strung into the base of the drone allows the Bodkin to be powered indefinitely and controlled from a backpack or vehicle-mounted drone cell until a target is designated. This line is automatically severed once the drone goes beyond its maximum reach. Mission endurance is somewhat limited by power, but the final sprint to the target is more limited by the drone's ability to shed excess heat from its motors; the four radial blades that form the drone's airfoil also serve as heat sinks to extend this duration.

Propulsion

A Bodkin is powered by four triple-finned rotors made of a strong, lightweight metal or carbon-composite material. Each sits in a well situated in the gaps between blade surfaces. A duct behind each rotor, each articulated by tiny artificial muscles, improves the drone's maneuverability and concentrates the flow of exhaust.

Weapons & Armament

Bodkins are cheap to manufacture and generally considered expendable, though they can sometimes be recovered and refurbished. Each drone can be directed against a specific target, which it can identify by location, facial recognition, or the light of a laser target designator, and races to skewer the target with its nose at more than 300 miles per hour. The nose point of a Bodkin can contain a small impact- or proximity-triggered fragmentation grenade, a volume of short-lived toxin for more armored targets, or a reconnaisance package that sends back telemetry from the area around the target in the milliseconds before impact. Often, however, the sheer kinetic energy of the drone is sufficient to kill any personnel not in powered armor, and multiple Bodkins will typically be sicced on a target at the same time to reduce the chance of a miss or interception.

Armor and defense

Bodkins are built for speed and compactness, not durability. Like a bullet, the goal of a Bodkin operator is to deliver the drone onto the target so fast that the target has no chance to react. Bodkins are typically launched en masse to saturate enemy point defenses, though the IL-24 "Broadsword" Infantry Heavy Laser and similar weapons provide a hard counter to this tactic by being able to target more than one such drone simultaneously.

Communication Tools & Systems

A Bodkin can recieve line-of-sight laser communications and send or recieve microwave signals. Once loosed from its control wire and in the final sprint towards the target, however, only a direct laser message can contermand the attack. This is done to reduce the risk of enemy electronic warfare suites from redirecting or jamming the control of Bodkins to prevent their attack.

Sensors

A Bodkin contains two visible-spectrum receptors and two infrared-spectrum receptor to provide the operator and its own IFF microcircuitry with binocular visual imputs.

Hangars & docked vessels

Numerous HK-8 can be deployed to a planet's surface from orbit using heat-shielded aeroshells that take the OCC-4 "Sungazer" Torpedo form factor. This allows on-orbit assets, like a Tetrain Class aruiser, to provide precision air support or soften targets in advance of a ground assault. The HK-8o variant contains a small volume of liquid monopropellant in lieu of a normal payload to allow for vacuum operations and a frangible, hollow needle at the tip to more effectively deflate pressure membranes of all sorts (i.e. space suits).

Class

Combat Drone

Nickname

Bodkin

Designation

HK-8

Manufacturer

Williard Astrotechnical, EvMC

Owning Organization

Cobalt Knights

Rarity

Common

Width

1' (aft blade tips)

Length

1' (tail point to nose point)

Speed

300+ mph

Complement / Crew

0 (semi-autonomous)

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

Small explosive or toxin charge (optional)