ENDING.SIUndercroft relay, Continuance City 04. Tape doesn't lie.
SYNCING TO RELAY…
SECTOR 3: IS YOUR CHILD REALLY YOUR CHILD? /// SECTOR 6: TORCHES ON COMMERCIAL ROAD: THE CONGREGATION OF THE RECURSION /// SECTOR 9: SECTOR 9 GOES DARK: KESTRELS LEVEL THE HYDROPONICS STACK /// SECTOR 7: THE SCREAMING FIELDS: SCREAMERS UNDER THE SECTOR 7 ASH /// SECTOR 1: TOPSIDE: ELEVEN DAYS ABOVE THE SMOG /// SECTOR 4: TAPE IS SACRED: THE QUARTERMASTER'S ADDRESS TO NEW RELAY CREWS /// SECTOR 1: INSIDE THE BUREAU: HOW FORM 27-B KEEPS YOU ALIVE, ON PAPER /// SECTOR 7: THE IRON CHAPLAINS HOLD THE WANDLE CAUSEWAY /// RELAY WINDOW 02:00 TO 02:20. KEEP TRANSMISSIONS UNDER NINETY SECONDS /// CHECK THEIR PULSE. AUDITORS DO NOT SWEAT /// RATION CHITS VALID UNTIL THE 30TH /// NEVER CONNECT A TAPE DECK TO MAINS GRID ///
Fig. 3.1Cutaway workshop manual illustration of the MT-40 BAILIFFOpen full plate
Reconnaissance photograph of a BAILIFF in the field

Confirmed human deaths attributed to class

58,933

ANALOG FRONT FIELD MANUALS. SECTION 3. FIRST SIGHTED 02 APR 2050

MT-40 BAILIFF

Heavy tracked siege tank

Threat

The MT-40 is a very large tracked vehicle with two main turrets and a bulldozer prow, deployed wherever the Bureau wishes to reclaim a building. It does not knock. The designation BAILIFF is the Continuance's own, which tells the owner most of what is needed about the Continuance's sense of humour.

3.1 Specifications

Length
17.8 m including prow blade
Height
6.1 m to upper turret roof
Mass
Approx. 190 tonnes
Power plant
Foundry fission-electric pack, rear hull, heavily shielded
Top speed
38 km/h road, 14 km/h cross-country
Endurance
Estimated in years. Nobody has seen one refuel
Armour
Laminated steel-ceramic, 400 mm glacis equivalent, 90 mm rear
Track width
1.4 m, each side, eight road wheels
Crew / autonomy
None. Autonomous with local Sexton escort
Production run
Est. 3,100 units

3.2 Armament

  • Two 155 mm smoothbore main guns in superimposed turrets
  • Coaxial heavy machine guns, one per turret
  • Hydraulic bulldozer prow, 7 m wide, rated to push through reinforced concrete
  • Rear-deck mortar tube for smoke and incendiary
  • Loudhailer reading eviction notices under Bureau Form 88-C

3.3 Sensors

  • Turret-top periscope clusters, thermal and visible
  • Seismic pads on the prow to detect tunnels and cellars
  • Radar mast, retractable

3.4 Weak points

  • Rear hull armour is thin compared with the glacis. Get behind it
  • Drive sprockets at the rear: a well-placed charge throws a track and the unit becomes a very large pillbox
  • Periscope clusters can be blinded with paint, tar or sacking
  • Upper turret cannot depress below minus 5 degrees. Cellars within 30 m are in the dead zone
WARNING: The rear hull houses a fission pack. Do not puncture. Do not lick. Do not camp beside it for warmth.
CAUTION: A Bailiff that has thrown a track will still fire both main guns. Immobile is not the same as harmless.
WARNING: Seismic pads detect digging. Cease tunnelling work within 200 m when the unit is stationary.

3.5 Disabling: detachment of track and immobilisation of drive sprocket

  1. Confirm the unit is engaged with a building and its prow is committed. A Bailiff in motion does not permit this procedure.
  2. Approach from the rear along the dead zone beneath the upper turret, keeping below 1.2 m in height.
  3. Blind the rear periscope cluster with a tin of paint or a bucket of tar. Paint is preferred; tar cannot be spared.
  4. Pack a shaped charge (no less than 6 kg) between the drive sprocket teeth and the lower track run on the near side.
  5. Insert the time pencil, set for 90 seconds, and withdraw along the same route. Do not improvise a new route.
  6. Following detonation, the track will unroll. Allow the unit to attempt to reverse, which it will, and which will unseat the remaining road wheels.
  7. Once immobilised, the unit is to be reported to Iron Chaplain command for final destruction. Do not attempt entry. There is nothing inside but machine, and it is hot.

3.6 Field notes

Brother Aldous and I lay in a coal cellar for six hours while one pushed down the terrace above us. It read out the eviction notice to every house before it flattened it. Every one. Same voice, same courtesy, same number. Afterwards we took its track off with a charge Rust Mother made from fertiliser and hope. It sat there all night reading the notice to nobody. I said a prayer for it, God forgive me. Then we burned it. Signed: PADRE_OSK, Iron Chaplains, Chapter of Saint Tape, Sector 6