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The M-597 Ladon blends human workmanship with Reaper technology to devastating effect. After the battle of the Citadel, Alliance intelligence studied fragments of Reaper-based code recovered from Sovereign. One of the few systems successfully decoded was that of face and object recognition; it was notably advanced, but considered academic until recently.
Desperately preparing for the Reaper invasion, the Alliance has identified that this recognition software can make a weapon differentiate between friend and foe. The result is the Ladon, a missile system that can survey the field, assign a homing warhead to each hostile, and then deliver incendiary payloads without accidentally targeting allies. It is sophisticated enough to avoid friendly targets even if they've changed out of uniform or grown facial hair since the last time the weapon was fired. Its major shortcoming is the time it takes to process this information before every launch, delaying the attack for a few critical moments while the trigger held down.
The antipersonnel capability of the Ladon is fearsome, but the mythology Alliance soldiers have created around it makes it a contender for "most hated weapon." The targeting display system was adapted so quickly that alien alphanumeric characters are still visible around the edges, a constant reminder that it is partially of Reaper origin. Rumors abound that a Ladon can indoctrinate its owner if the soldier sleeps next to it or that it will hit friendly targets the first time it's used in the field against Reaper creatures. More than one Alliance unit has left Ladons at the bottom of a supply crate before heading on a mission, proof that superstition survives even in this advanced age.
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