Heron

Herons are the Primacy's first-line security, air-to-air, and air-to-ground warfare units. They patrol nearly all populated sectors across the face of the Earth, both cities and Environs, serving as the Primacy's aerial eyes and ears around the globe. While often referred to as "drones," this name is misleading, as it implied programmed autonomy on some level. In reality, all Herons are connected to the Primacy's neural network around the clock, allowing for instantaneous transfer of data. If something is seen by a Heron, it is seen by the Primacy itself that very instant.

The image of a Heron has become nearly ubiquitous with the Primacy itself, with many expats coming to see Herons as the face of their enemy. They are airborne, triangular, generally dark blue, faceless, and lined with multiple ballistic cannons. Groups of Herons deployed together are referred to as "flocks." Their weaponry is capable of striking targets kilometers away, although factors such as target movement and cover will naturally still interfere with accuracy. Additionally, Herons can be outfitted with heavier ordinance, such as thermobaric and other varieties of bombs, allowing them to destroy targets both airborne and ground. Their cameras are capable of seeing the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing them complete night vision as well as detection of radio waves, which give the Herons the ability to physically track transmissions between Shelters, and by extension, trace them back to their sources. This skill has led most Shelters to restrict their communication methods to non-traditional means, unless their locations are already known by the Primacy.

While the Primacy's targeting and piloting algorithms are typically sufficient, Herons are capable of being manually controlled by Operators, in the rare instance of a human's reactions and instincts providing an advantage. Operators sometimes fly Herons manually in the course of their surveillance duties, although it has been quietly debated whether this practice provides a direct tactical advantage to the Primacy's efforts, or if it exists more for the training and refining of the Operator's skills. In order to even qualify for controlling a Heron, an Operator must be a proven loyalist of the Primacy, having passed several covert tests in the course of their duties, often without the knowledge they were being tested.

As the Primacy's most mobile unit, Herons are responsible for most executions of expats and strikes on Shelters. Their aerial nature gives them an automatic advantage against ground weaponry, and their presence in the skies heavily restricts the Current's use of shuttles or other aerial transportation, as the vast majority of these flights are shot down by the Herons. The largest hindrance to Herons is electronic warfare, namely communication disruptions caused by Navigators, the Current's EW experts. Using radio frequency and microwave weaponry, Navigators can cut off a Heron's connection to the rest of the Primacy. As Herons depend on this connection for all operational instructions, severing the link typically causes them to collide with the ground before it can be reestablished. This vulnerability of physics has allowed Shelters to withstand multiple Heron strikes, although groups of expats caught traversing the Environs out in the open -or those trying to escape the cities on foot or by air- are prime targets for these flying mechanoids.