KN-LM7R

The KN-LM7R, better known as the Cube Scout, is a light reconnaissance and anti-infantry walker vehicle designed by KONAR and used by the Coalition military since the Avatar Invasion. Intended to strike a decent balance between maneuverability and armor, the Cube Scout is arguably one of the most agile KONAR ground vehicles out there, but it still succeeds in being able to weather a significant amount of damage thanks to its deceptively simple cube-like design.

Design
During KONAR's rise to prominence within the realm of military manufacturing, attempts were made by KONAR engineers and scientists to develop vehicles, weapons and pieces of equipment across all possible battlefields and domains of war. The intention was to make KONAR a multi-faceted corporation that would provide for all of the Coalition's military needs, but this hope never came to fruition. Due to competition from other, more specialized companies, and an increasing focus on heavy vehicle and spaceship manufacturing (a sector KONAR was particularly effective in) KONAR's presence in the realm of military aircraft and light vehicle manufacturing dwindled considerably. However, even after the corporation's penchant for heavy vehicles had fully emerged, many light vehicles and aircraft models designed by KONAR remained in production throughout much of Coalition history, none more popular than the KN-LM7R "Cube Scout." This relatively small walker vehicle is vastly more lightweight and simplistic compared to many other KONAR walker models. It was intended to strike a fair balance between strength and speed, allowing it to both serve as an effective reconnaissance unit while still being able to hold its own in direct combat. This is reflected in its outward design features, as the Cube Scout's autocannon and machine gun turrets, combined with its moderately heavy osmite composite armor, give it vastly more durability and firepower compared to recon vehicles of a similar size class made by other corporations.

The colloquial name for the KN-LM7R arose from the unique way in which its legs deploy outwards from its body. The Cube Scout is a quadruped walker vehicle, making use of four legs that point out from its center diagonally. Like many other KONAR walkers, such as the KN-NM2 or infamous KN-UHM9, the legs of the Cube Scout are singular blocks with a finely-cut triangular prism shape. They are connected to the main body by highly-articulate servos, allowing the Cube Scout to move quickly and scale harsh terrain with ease. However, when the Cube Scout is not moving, its legs are retracted inwards towards the main body and, due to their unique shape, interlink to form a solid wall of armor around the core of the vehicle, giving it a distinct cube-like shape. This design feature both allows Cube Scouts to be transported more easily due to their simplistic build, and makes them better at surviving an enemy attack should they be ambushed. It also makes the Cube Scout more proficient at ambushing enemies itself, especially in urban environments in the western portions of Coalition territory, where widely-prevalent rectangular architectural features allow the Cube Scout to blend in effectively with nearby buildings, thereby making it easy for the vehicle to take passing enemy forces by surprise. Such a tactic was frequently used during the Galactic Revolution by the forces of the Coalition to help protect loyalist or recently-recaptured cities from rebel assault, as strategically-placed Cube Scout ambushes could easily dispatch enemy infantry platoons before they have much time to react.

Usage
The KN-LM7R was invented in the midst of the Avatar Invasion, an armed conflict that marked KONAR's rise to power as the Coalition's largest and most influential military equipment manufacturer. Since no precedent for the company's specialty regarding military equipment existed yet, this conflict prompted a large amount of experimentation by the Coalition's generals and Megagenerals with the many unique vehicles and weapons KONAR engineers were designing. Some of these new war technologies were more successful than others, and while the KN-LM7R wasn't a complete failure, it certainly wasn't the most popular reconnaissance vehicle for Coalition commanders and strategists. Older scout vehicle models, like the DAMO25-ST from Ydamo!, or the ZLK-91B from ZenettoTek, had been in use by the Coalition military for a lot longer and had notable advantages over the KN-LM7R. The ZLK-91B, in particular, was a vastly more popular vehicle, as it was not only more agile and multipurpose than the Cube Scout, but also had no living pilot, rendering it immune to the biological and radiation-based weapons frequently used by the Avatars. After the Avatar Invasion concluded, KONAR attempted to rectify this competition by purchasing smaller manufacturing companies and bringing their market shares into its fold, thereby lessening the amount of options the military had when it came to vehicles. This practice was only moderately effective, as KONAR's corporate expansion couldn't account for the constant emergence of new rival corporations, and became less effective as the ideological and economic divide between the Coalition core zones and Kiracian Group grew larger and larger. After the Galactic Revolution, smaller, more unconventional KONAR products like the Cube Scout were overshadowed by its thriving heavy vehicle and spaceship industries, and never became a widely-used asset in any major armed conflict fought by the Coalition from then on.

Although its usage by the Coalition military waned considerably in the later periods of Coalition history, the Cube Scout gained a new lease on life thanks to the militarization of the Coalition Galactic Police that began during the Second Coalition Golden Age. With domestic terrorism and organized crime more prolific than ever due to the subjugation of unruly colonies, the GP became more focused on combating the internal enemies of the Coalition with the same ferocity that the military fought its external enemies. This new push towards improving the armaments of law enforcement and increasing the presence of the GP across all of Coalition space was spearheaded by an influential GP commissioner known as Willam Helburg. Through a comprehensive, highly-effective reformation of the GP, known as the Helburg Reformation, the GP gained the funds and authority necessary to deploy much heavier equipment against terrorist and criminal threats within Coalition borders. Weapons, vehicles and technologies that were previously only available to the Coalition military could now be used by the GP, and the Cube Scout was one such vehicle that was frequently used by Coalition Wardens and Megawardens in militarized operations. Being relatively inexpensive and very effective at dispatching poorly-armored criminal forces, Cube Scouts were frequently fielded alongside standard Coalition police officers in dangerous situations, as its external armor could easily shrug off most small-arms fire and protect officers standing behind it. Later enhancements made to the Cube Scout allowed it to be remotely piloted, which led many GP Megawardens to place idle Cube Scouts in secluded locations within large urban areas as a form of passive defense. These vehicles could then be brought online and used against rioters or terrorists whenever the situation demanded it.