Bolo MK XXV (Stupendous)
| Mark Number, Type | Year | Weight | Road/Sprint Spd | Primary Armament | Second Armament | Indirect Fire | Self Aware? |
Mark XXV
Stupendous | 3001 | 13,000 tons | 95/150 kph | 1 90cm Hellbore
| 18 ion-bolt Inf Rpt
VLS missile system
6 30cm BL mortars | Tactical | autonomous |
BOLO MK XXV (Stupendous)
After forty T-years or experience with the Mark XXIV, even diehards conceded that many of the inhibitory software features which had been incorporated into every Bolo since the Mark XX were no longer justified. The most restrictive features were deleted from the Mark XXV, Model B, although it was not until the Model D (introduced in 3029) that virtually all inhibitions were suppressed. A core package of override programming was retained to restrict a volition of (or even, in the case of the so-called "Omega Worm," to destroy) a Mark XXV which went "rouge" as a result of battle damage or "senile" due to poor maintenance, but most of the restrictions which had required human approval for almost all non-battlle decisions were progressively relaxed over the operational life of the Mark XXV, with a tremendous increase in efficiency. The practice of deploying totally independent Bolo brigades lay well into the future, but the Mark XXV's capabilities clearly pointed the way to them. The Mark XXV essentially duplicated the offensive and defensive systems of the Mark XXIV, yet further improvements in metallurgy and fusion technology dropped weight to 13,000 tons while normal speed rose to a maximum of 95kph, though "sprint" speed remained unchanged.
phase out of inhibitory features
reduced weight
Some BOLO MK XXV units:
Bolo Mark XXV, Combat Unit 954-BBY "Bobby"
Bolo Mark XXV, Model D, Combat Unit D-0098-ART "Arthur"; Fought Melconians attacking the planet Camlan; Unit Arthur was Unit Lance's senior Bolo. Arthur was traumatized by the sheer destruction wreaked in the battle and the loss of so many of his Bolo comrades, yet he continued on and searched for survivors. At the same time he was confused, saddened, and angered as to why Unit Lance had stopped and refused communication, killed Honour who was only trying to help, and in seeming cowardace, disengaged and fled the battle scene. After he picked up communication with the small remainders of his Battalion, Arthur was ordered to track down and apprehend Unit Lance for going 'rogue'. As he followed Lance's trail, Arthur found himself fighting in deadly games of cat and mouse, and unwittlingly succumbed to ambushes and traps set by Lance in desperation. Arthur was catching up with the more heavily damaged Lance, and Arthur persued, hunted, they fought, until a lucky shot by Arthur which drove huge portions of a ridge at Lance and destroyed Lance's Hellbore turret while e had been hiding in what was a good hide and shoot position. When Arthur caught up with Lance, he was better able to get a good view of Unit LNC, and became aware of the damage to his psychotronic brain, and that it was the cause for Lance's 'treachery'. Lance was determined, but he was no longer capable of sane reasoning, and in his deranged thinking, was convinced that Arthur was the enemy. With his heavily damaged weaponry no longer of use against another Bolo, Lance was now going to attempt to use the explosion of his own fusion plant to destroy Arthur in a running suicide ram. If he was to preserve himself and the children that Lance had tried so hard to rescue, Arthur had no choice but to kill Lance, and he regretted having to do so.
Bolo Mark XXV, Model D, Combat Unit D-1162-HNR "Honour"; Unit Honour, a member of Charlie Company, fought Melconians attacking the planet Camlan. Unit HNR was Unit LNC's subordinate. He was confused when Lance suddenly disengaged from battle and lost connection with the Bolo communication net. HNR was killed by a direct Hellbore shot from Lance when trying to help and attempting to establish communication after Lance disconnected from the inter-Bolo battle net.
Bolo Mark XXV, Model D, Combat Unit D-0982-JSN "Jason"; Fought Melconians attacking the planet Camlan, and died in battle against the Enemy.
Bolo Mark XXV, Model D, Combat Unit D-0103-LNC "Lance"; Fought Melconians attacking the planet Camlan. Unit LNC was C Company's Command Bolo, and he fought honorably during this battle, as he did in all previous engagements in his combat history. Near the end of this battle, Bolo Unit Lance took critical damage to psychotronics from a critical enemy shot, causing identification errors and apparent 'treachery'. Lance still could recognize humans as allies, and unbeknownst to his supervisor Unit D-0098-ART Arthur, he rescued a group of children and attempted to take them to the mountains to safety. His disengagement from battle and the Bolo battle net, his mad dash to the mountains and leaving the battlefield were seen as cowardice to Unit Arthur. The now mentally deranged Lance took Unit Honour's communication attempts at acts of enemy agression, and he fired a deadly Hellbore shot into his old comrade Honour and killed him. Lance's brain had been lobotomised and no one yet knew this, they only thought he had decided to become a traitor for some unknown reason. Lance's sanity was lost, but his will to protect was steadfast. Lance attempted at his damaged powertrain's best speed to make it to his destination the mountains, but Arthur was following him, trying to track Lance down and find out why Lance fled the battlefield and killed Unit Honour. Lance attempted to hide and flee Arthur's advance but to his chagrin, Unit Arthur was less damaged and in better fighting and traveling condition and was closing in. Lance tried to lose Arthur in various ways, and Arthur's hunt became a deadly game of hide and seek through rising mountains and canyons. The desparate Lance ambushed and trapped him several times. Arthur had not expected such intense will or the breach of conventional honorable combat styles for sheer need to succeed on Lance's part. Yet Arthur was also intent on his own goal which was stopping Lance and finding out the reason for his strange actions. They continued to race and duel each other until finally Arthur inflicted damage which took out Lance's Hellbore turret and reduced his armament to near uselessness against another Bolo. Now Lance's only hope in succeeding in his goal was to flee, and that was failing because Arthur's power train had taken much less damage than his own. Finally as Lance was near his destination, Arthur caught up and Lance concluded that he had failed in his mission to protect his human cargo, and so he dropped them off. Believing that he had failed to protect the children, Lance decided that his final mission was to destroy the enemy which he derangedly thought Arthur was, by ramming Arthur with his hull and breaking his own fusion reactor. Arthur realized this intention and at the same time he spotted the deep breach into Lance's psychotronic center that caused the severe damage to Lance's personality and reasoning functions. Arthur realized his only option, and regrettedly, he fired his Hellbore into Lance, killing and stopping him, but not damaging his reactor.
Graph information acquired from BOLO! written by David Weber, part of Keith Laumer's "Boloverse" saga.
01 APR 2005updated 29 APR 2005
WarhawkPPC