AnnouHey Everyone!

  Exg oday, RavensDagger is hosting an SCS Art test! The test will run for one month (until February 15th).

  Not only is there an SCS art category (Prize for first and Sed pce), but there’s also categories for SCS FF art (Prize for first) and AI SCS art (Prize for first).

  The AI category was added to give AI artists an outlet, while keeping those entries out of the other two categories. Please be aware, AI art will NOT be accepted in the Sd SCS FF categories, and the winning artist will be expected to share some sort of WIP for the final submission. This is to help keep down the number of bad actors submitting AI art as their own.

  Entries will be tracked here: SCS Art test Entries be sure to stop in and take a look occasionally. Artists will have the option of providing a link to their other art, so check it out and support them!

  The full rules, and prizes, are listed below. If you’re an artist, go support your favorite FF!

  Rules

  You may enter multiple categories, but have to submit different pieces for each category. Ensemble pieces with Sd FF be entered iher category, but NOT both. Please oer your own art, discovered art is not accepted. (Feel free to share in discords, with the artist’s permissiories must be hosted oer. You will be expected to submit a link to your art, and the piece must stay up until the entries are judged. (Both image hosting sites, and personal websites are acceptable) AI geed art will only be accepted in the AI category. It is not accepted for Sd FF categories.If you submit to the SCS or FF category, and win, you should be prepared to share one or more work in progress sketches of your work. This is to make it harder for bad actors to sneak AI work into the other categories.test will run from Jan 15th to midnight on Feb 15th, 2025 Winners will be determined by vote by the RavensDagger patreon supporters. Winners will be tacted by the email address provided in the submission form.

  Prizes:

  250 for the main SCS prize 150 for the sed pbsp;100 for the SCS-fanfiart prize 50 for the best AI art

  ENTER HERE

  “Bob’s finished with his assig, we move in now,” I reported as I headed towards the w Kodiak.

  “He destroyed that thing by himself?” Hel asked in disbelief.

  “That tank’s nothing. He once punched a Forty-Four in the face,” I excimed as I ehe vehicle.

  “Are we just going to rush in? What if they detonate early?” Nora asked as she rushed in after me. “And what about the civilians?”

  “I’m already flooding the area with squirrels, and they have a very simple message: ‘Civilians take cover in your homes and stay off the street until the all-clear signal is given. cil soldiers, throw down your ons and leave the area immediately. No mercy will be shown to those that remain’.”

  “And… you’re ok with that? Killing those people?” Nora whispered.

  “I don’t fug like it,” I growled. “I prefer to show mercy to people, but if the choice is between killing professional soldiers who refuse to surrender aing thousands of civilians die, I’ll do what’s necessary.”

  Angeline sprinted onto the Kodiak, smming the door trols as she passed. “Hel and Humboldt are already set up in the vehicle, ready to go!”

  “The’s go,” I decred.

  The Kodiak trembled slightly as it left the ground, but it was the acceleration we really felt as I rocketed towards sector fifty-two.

  “Nyx, please ect the s in this Kodiak with the one Hel and Sharron are in,” I whispered.

  Done

  “Alright all, I don’t have much of a pn here. I’m going to have the Kodiaks smash through the enemy lines, destroying any active tanks still in the area, then have them surround the pilr. I don’t kly how many soldiers they have stationed around, so we may e out under fire. Any questions, ents, or ges you’d suggest? Make it quick we’re only about a mi.”

  “What about the bombs?” Sharron’s voice echoed out of one of the Kodiak’s speakers. “They could have orders to detoher than risk being overrun.”

  “I’m going to pair two bears in each squad with a beaver, which’ll walk them through the disarming process. We’re going to prioritize minimizing the damage over plete disarmament first, but I holy don’t have a way to stop them if they want to detonate before we nd.”

  Angeline raised her hand. “Yes? Angeline? You know that’s not necessary here.”

  “I know, but it pays to be orderly. I borrow a couple beavers? I’m sending my squirrels in ahead of us and they may be able to swarm the detonators before we arrive, but they o know what to look for,”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Nyx?”

  “Already done,” Nyx announced, using a nearby bear. “I’ve passed trol of teo your AI. Their knowledge should be accessible now.”

  “Thank you!” Angeline decred, before flipping down her oversized goggles. “Sending the first wave in now!”

  “Everyone else, prepare to engage,” I yelled.

  While the bears went through their final on checks, I rerouted the forward camera array to one of the dispys so we could see what was going on.

  The Kodiaks came in low, almost at street level. They had to e in that low in order to use their main guns. As soon as we cleared the st er and got a line of sight on the Sector Fifty-Two pilr, a mae gu setup across the al opened up on us. The heavy on wasn’t much of a , but the tao it was. Before the main battle tank could fully bring it’s gun to bear, the Kodiak fired.

  The coilgun round easily pierced the tank’s turret, detonating something inside, before tinuing out the back before embedding itself deep ireet.

  “Nyx, switch the Kodiaks to some sort of timed explosive rounds, like I used with the super heavy railgun ba Seattle. I don’t care what it costs, just keep the damage isoted to our targets!” I yelled.

  Got it.

  As the voy sped through the streets, ign the sporadifire from the surrounding buildings, Angeline jumped up. “Explosives were ed together by wires. The squirrels are chewing through them as we speak, but there’ll still be some live explosives by the time we arrive.”

  “Just do what you !” Hel’s voice echoed out of the speakers. “We’ll up the rest once we arrive.”

  The Kodiaks screamed out of the streets, into the narrow pza surrounding the block-wide support pilr. There were a dozen or so tanks on station, which all opened fire as we arrived. From ihe vehicle, I only felt the fai vibration when one of their high explosive shells detonated on the hull. Nearly immuo the tank’s ons, the Kodiaks made short work of the enemy armor, quickly devastating them with quick, precise bursts.

  The colpse of the cil’s defenses was further accelerated by the arrival of Bob, returning from his tussle with the super heavy elsewhere in the sector. He fell upon the bae of armor like a hammer, rending armor like it was tissue paper.

  Withihan a minute, we were through. There was still a lot of fire ing from entrenched areas around the pilr, both mae gus and regur soldiers. I couldn’t imagine what they’d been offered, or threatened with, to tinue holding the lier seeing what we did to the tanks.

  As the Kodiak did its best imitation of a power slide, ing to a stop sideways to the pilr and beside it, I yelled. “Heavy, take the ‘Lightshow’ and give us c fire.”

  The ky por bear didn’t need any more instrus. He smmed into the side of the slowly l ramp and forced it down faster. Casually shrugging off hundreds of rounds while he waddled out the back, Heavy ighe enemy until he got onto solid ground. Theurowards the pilr.

  The rotary ser on in his hands let out aric whine as it spooled up before releasing a devastating barrage at the enemy. I couldn’t see exactly what he was shooting at, but the ining fire all but stopped.

  “Alright, time to do this,” Nora mumbled, as if to psych herself up.

  I just patted her on the shoulder as I passed and stepped directly out of the vehicle. “Sweep and clear the entire area!” I yelled over the roar of the ser on. “Prioritize disarming the explosives!”

  As fast as the bears were st the area, Hel was faster. The blue-skinned woman had darted forward while Heavy was still setting up. She sprayed the area with some sort of high-pressure sprayer mouo her wrists. Jumping from defensive position to defensive position ,she saturated the area with her ons, leaving frozen bodies in her wake.

  I shuddered when I came up to the first one, a man still clutg his rifle, fear locked on his face. I really hoped her deep freezing process killed instantly.

  Behind Hel came Sharron in her new suit. She was nowhere near as agile as Hel, but she was way mile than before. Her Css III power armor allowed her to sprint slightly faster than normal and still had the same punch as the titanic Css II version.

  I could imagihe defender’s dread as she approached. As unstoppable as Bob, tentacles burning and rending everything in her path.

  Nora and Angeline, oher hand, stuck to the rear. Not that I could bme them. Nora’s meical legs could pulverise antithesis into the high twenties, but I could imagine she wasn’t eager to try them out on a human.

  Angeline’s main way of fighting was her squirrels, which were currently absolutely crawling over the pilr, searg for explosives. Their main way of fighting was biting, and Angeline’s brain was fast enough to catch every bite from every squirrel. Not a pleasant experience.

  Since Hel and Sharrohe charge clockwise around the pilr, I went ter-clockwise. Bob joined me just before I went around the er, and I used him as cover from the ining fire. And to avoid watg people die.

  I k was necessary; it didn’t mean I liked it.

  In the end, cutting down the defeurned out to be easy, almost too easy. I found the main wiring harness ae detonator halfway down the sed side, abandoned. I guess some of the military engineers had more sehan others.

  Sihe entire force had been s dark, the rest of the defenders probably weren’t even aware that their st stand was pletely pointless. They weren’t buying time. They were dying for nothing. The idea of that made me a little sick.

  When Hel and Sharron fiheir sweep ten mier, they fouill standing there. Standing over the pile of wires and smashed circuit boards.

  “Are we clear?” Hel asked as she ran up, breathing heavily.

  “We were clear the eime. The engineers abahe detonator assembly and ran off. We were worried for nothing,” I whispered quietly.

  “You okay?” Sharron asked.

  “No,” I mumbled, before I gathered myself together and stood up straight.

  “But it’s fine. You know why? Because I’m going to take it out on the people that really deserve it,” I announced. “Now, what are we going to do about the cil?”