Shield Drone

A Shield Drone (Kor’vesa in the Tau Lexicon) is a type of Tau Drone (small, disc-shaped, semi-sentient machines) employed extensively alongside Tau units in battle in a defensive role. Shield Drones consist of an advanced processor unit, which individually has only a basic intelligence (approximately that of a small animal such as a pterasquirrel), and moves about by way of a small anti-gravitic generator and a smaller and much modified version of a Tau Jetpack. This allows the Shield Drone to hover over the ground and skim over most obstacles. Because of their role to provide close protection to their Tau masters, Shield Drones are primarily equipped with a Shield Generator, which provides several layers of powerful energy fields and advanced counter-measures that are effective within a range of roughly two metres. Shield Drones are most often assigned to accompany a single individual, such as a Tau officer, and to protect him at all costs. In this role, they will always stay within close proximity to their master and act as a form of robotic guard by getting in the way of incoming enemy fire or close-combat opponents during the course of a battle.

All Shield Drones that are attached to a Tau are controlled by a Drone Controller, whether it is in the form of a support system for a Tau Battlesuit, or a hard-wired piece of wargear for Tau infantry. A Drone Controller is an electronic device which acts as a hub of digital communications between the Drone's operator and up to two Drones that accompany the user. It allows a user to communicate his will to any Drone directly under his control. Most of the time, the controller operates at a default level that simply keeps the Drone obeying its basic programming, but the owner can also use it to issue simple orders beyond the Drone’s normal parameters.