| Year | Weight | Primary Armament | Second Armament | Indirect Fire | Self Aware? | ||
| Mark XXII Thunderous | 2890 | 15,000 tons | 80/135 kph | 1 90cm Hellbore | 16 ion-bolt Inf Rpt VLS missile system | Tac/Theater | limited |
BOLO MK XXII (Thunderous)
The Mark XXII saw both further advances in cybernetics and psychotronics and a considerable upgrade in firepower with the new "super" Hellbore, a 90cm weapon which increased its destructive output to a full two megatons/second. Secondary armament mirrored the Mark XXI's. The Mark XXII was also the first Bolo to mount an interplanetary-range subspace com, and, for the first time, the Navy modified its cybernetics to permit a Bolo's psychotronics to directly control the maneuvers and defensive systems of its armored transport spacecraft (now unmanned in combat) for assault insertions, which increased its chance of penetrating hostile defenses by an order of magnitude. The Mark XXII's kinetic battle screen showed a 36 percent increase in effectiveness over the Mark XXI's, and weight hovered around 14,000-15,000 tons for all models, with a top speed of 80 kph and a "sprint" speed of 120-135kph.
A BOLO MK XXII unit:
Centuries passed, and humans were trying to defend themselves against 'buglike' aliens called Xermex. The Xermex did not know of Danar's human colony but they were in progress attacking other human strongholds including a group of FA-47 space fighters they were beating out of the sky. All the fighters and crews in that group were shot down. Lieutenant Commander George Reston of the 145th Transatmospereric Bombardment group, and his fighter's AI, Fay, which he had to carry in a backpack, were now stranded on that world. Reston eventually found some members of the 1452 year old colony which was now a rather primitive and somewhat superstitious people, who and took him to their settlement not knowing if he was friend or foe, and thinking he was some god because they could hear Fay when she spoke, not realizing that she was a separate entity. One elder took Reston and Fay to the temple of Danar inside the mountain, and within he found ancient relics from the 23rd Dinochrome Mech Brigade. Fay could figure out how to parse the colonists dialect and interpret between Reston and the people. The Elder wanted to know if "Two Voice" could solve some riddles. He began reciting phrases which Fay interpreted, and she and Reston began to figure out that they were parts of the command procedure to start up a Bolo.
Finally they figured out the appropriate grammar for the sequence and also figured out the password. They finished the requirements to get Danar online just in time as Xermex began attack the place in hundreds. Fay and Reston realized their trail must have been tracked by Xermex after Fay was shot down.
Danar was difficult to bring online, but once he realized there was a battle to fight, he was very eager. Part of Danar's unusual quality, was that he required the help of a crew: a tech engineer and a gunner, to help carry out battle. The two special colonists with handed down knowledge were able to do most of it, and Fay was plugged in to interface with Danar to help. Maybe his age had made him partly senile and crazy, because Fay began to describe Danar as rogue because of his tendency to argue, insult, and refuse to cooperate, and his reasoning seemed off kilter and somewhat deranged. Danar was so agressive and eager to fight that he was overstraining his powertrain, overheating and overusing and overloading his circuits and energy resources in his battle indulgence. Danar felt pain from injuries inflicted upon him, and being interfaced with Danar, Fay was also experiencing it.