Early States

Early States (アーリーステイツ) was an Object used by the MIB.

Design
The Early States' silhouette is somewhat different from a normal Object. It does not have the one hundred or so cannons extending from its spherical body like a sea urchin. Instead, it looks like a soccer ball with uniform protrusions attached or perhaps like the sea mines placed to destroy warships. The protrusions look more like giant barnacles or volcano craters than cannons. It has two straight floats lined up parallel to each other, reminiscent of the treads on construction equipment.

Technology
The Early States is a 2nd Generation Object created by the MIB to establish a new world order.

Flyby Collider - Offense
Unlike other Objects, it lacks the over one hundred secondary weapons. Instead, it only possesses one main weapon, the Flyby Collider (フライバイコライダー), a special electron beam weapon.

While the Flyby Collider is charging up, a ring of bluish-white light with a radius of around 200 meters appears around the Object’s spherical main body. As time goes on, more and more rings appear. Eventually, they form what looks like a semispherical dome that covers the entire main body except for the very top. These rings are caused by electron beams being accelerated like in a particle accelerator.

After the Flyby Collider is finished accelerating the beams, it releases them into a large attack. Unlike a normal low-stability plasma cannon or laser beam cannon, this attack is not limited to an instant. It continues to remain in the air, looking less a projectile and more like a giant sword extending beyond the horizon. The Early States is capable of swinging this "sword", causing destruction for several kilometers during several dozen seconds.

The fan shape of this attack means that it's harder to dodge the further away you are from it. Additionally, since the electron beams are being constantly accelerated in the air and released without any warning, the usual Elite tactic of observing an Object's cannon and its targeting lenses to predict when it will shoot are worthless, as it's impossible to evade after the weapon is shot.

Flyby Collider - Defense
The Early States' Flyby Collider also works as a defense system. It scatters an acid mist around itself. The acid particles are encased in a capsule that’s just slightly bigger, wrapped in a safe outer shell and made to remain in the air as a colloid, but a signal sent at the necessary timing causes the outer shell to pop like a bubble. Once the acid inside touches the air, it rapidly vaporizes. This lets the Early States control the location and density of the acid reacting to the air. This weapon is based on medical nanotech used by the Blue Cross.

This acid mist damages solid projectiles like railgun and coilgun shells, altering their trajectories and causing them to miss. Additionally, the acid mist is capable of turning aside laser beams, electron beams and plasma cannons by controlling the density and friction of the mist. The Early States is even capable of turning incoming attacks against its enemies. The mist can also be used to repeatedly bend the light the pilot wants like a periscope, using it to target enemies even while its sight is blocked by the electron beam dome. Due to this defense system, the Early States is not equipped with the onion armor present on all Objects, reducing the building cost by five billion.

Flyby Collider - Hypothetical Full Power
In order to fulfill their goal of taking over Oceania, the MIB had built several Early States and had also prepared over five hundred amplification facilities to scatter the nanotech all over the continent. If their plan had been completed they would have been able to freely bend the high-output electron beams over the entire continent and send long-distance attacks against Objects from any direction, though at the cost of the acid damaging the continent.

By regulating the location and amounts of the acid, a space similar to a vacuum can be created. Like a whirlwind, it would be incredibly short lived and only exist in an exceedingly small area, but the MIB had the technology needed to accurately pass the electron beam through that narrow tube, allowing them to almost entirely ignore attenuation. The MIB would also have been able to greatly increase the output by passing the electron beam between each Early States and reaccelerating it.

Specifications

 * Class: Continental Strategic Defense Weapon
 * Type: 2nd Generation specialized in land battles
 * Length: 70m
 * Armor Material: Flyby Collider close defense system
 * Propulsion Engine: Electrostatic propulsion device
 * Top Speed: 530km/h
 * Main Armament: Flyby Collider induction type electron beam cannon
 * Secondary Armament: None (Supported by adjustment of the main cannon's output)
 * Main Color: Gray

Background
Several Early States were developed and built in secret by the MIB in Oceania, which had obtained the cooperation of the dictatorship in exchange of information in Object development, leading to the creation of the Generation 0.5. The development of the Early States continued even after the coalition defeated the dictatorship. At the time of the MIB's attempt to take control of Oceania, they had one operational Object, two more in their final stages of preparation and over five hundred of amplification facilities.

The Police of Ghosts
After their failure to kill Quenser and Heivia's unit by manipulating the riots caused by the Truth Theater, the MIB decided to go ahead and use their functional Early States, which had been hidden in an old oil facility three kilometers away from the city. Four Objects of the coalition were sent to destroy it; the Baby Magnum, the Cannon 256, the Desert Scorpio and the Mirror Bowler. The bombardment of the coalition's Objects proved to be completely ineffective. Coilguns, railguns, laser beams and low-stability plasma cannons; all missed the Early States. The Early States' counterattack destroyed all Objects besides the Baby Magnum.

Quenser and Heivia used homemade rockets with water and coolant to create a thin layer of ice to seal the ejection points for the nanotech capsules, depriving the Early States of its only means of offense and defense, and causing it to miss its next attack. Its pilot, D.C. 0, tried to use the heat of the electron beam weapons to melt the ice, but Quenser tricked him into trying to move the Early States using the Cannon 256' unexploded ordnance. The strain of trying to pilot an Object at high speed, having not undergone the special training and calibration of an Elite, killed D.C 0, stopping the Early States.

The three Early States and amplification facilities were destroyed by the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th while making it look like it was the MIB's safety measure, in order to not let the technology fall into any of the world power's hands.