Saker Units - Secondary Self Destruct

Ferro nodded again, then broke the seal on the evidence tag and unzipped the bag, revealing the jumbled mess of broken circuitry and releasing a faint smell of rot. Despite the circumstances of its demise, the android was remarkably well-preserved — the head had been reduced to shrapnel, but the mangled torso was recognizably a torso, the limbs were still mostly intact, and patches of scorched and decaying skin still clung to the mechanical parts.

Ferro whistled. "Pretty clean kill. The Lawbringers have had a hell of a time getting even single components from Sakers — most of the time, all that's left is a puddle of goo. How'd you manage it?"

"That was me," Thorne said. "I managed to get a hand on him and hit him with a little taser spell — non-lethal, we still thought he might have been the real Congressman at that point, and I was just trying to knock him over. It should have shut down his nervous system for a tick, but he just sort of wobbled a bit. And then he blew up."

"You probably shorted out the primary self-destruct system, which triggered an explosive secondary." He prodded at the wreckage with a gloved finger. "Located in the upper chest, it looks like. How close were you at the time?"

"Too close. I got lucky, I already had a ward up and most of the shrapnel missed it anyways."

"Most likely a shaped charge then, designed to destroy the brain. A shame, taking that intact would have been a real coup."

***

The Eagle’s Eye