"Dave is an evolution of the old JACK, with some upgrades and improvements I've been tinkering with."

—Damon Baird

Dave was a JACK hovering bot who assisted Delta's early missions during the Swarm Invasion.

History

Swarm Invasion

Mission to the Orzabal Crater

"Del... JD... meet your new best friend... Dave."

—Damon S. Baird

Damon Baird assigned Dave to JD Fenix and Delmont Walker for the mission to investigate the Locust Burial Site at the Orzabal Crater. Baird explained that Dave was an evolution to Delta Squad's old robot JACK with some upgrades and improvements that he'd been tinkering with. Dave was field upgradable, but he was an old model that Baird was still bringing up to scratch with all of the latest schematics and protocols. However, Dave would still be useful in his current state for interfacing with old COG gear.^[1]

During the mission, Dave used his ability to interface with old COG equipment to help the two Gears access the site's computer systems^[2] and then to access the remote vehicle control on two old Haulers.^[3]

Dave was hit with a Buzzkill saw from a Scion that whizzed over JD's head. JD caught Dave as he fell and considered tossing the bot as dead weight, but Del noticed a blinking light that showed that Dave wasn't totally dead.^[4] As a result of the damage, Dave activated his Mark One field maintenance subsystem. This enabled Baird to send him a COG equipment update, specified for the equipment that JD and Del had left with, including their Condor.^[5] After reactivating, Dave recorded the Swarm activity in the crater and used a nearby antenna to attempt to broadcast it to First Minister Mina Jinn. However, while he failed to transmit, Dave received Baird's tactical support upgrade. Dave was able to access the Condor and give pilot Yoon Kieho the eyes and ears that she needed to come to JD and Del's rescue, although it soon crashed on the crater's edge.^[6] Once out of the crater, Dave was finally able to transmit his data^[7] on a frequency that the Swarm were unable to block which was received by Jinn.^[8]

Upon arriving with reinforcements, Baird was less than pleased to see the damage to Dave from the Buzzkill saw. JD and Del admitted that them using Dave as a shield wasn't far from the truth and apologized, saying that Dave had saved their lives. Baird promised to try to repair him.^[9]

Mission to Azura Research Facility

In 42 A.E., Dave was assigned to help the reformed Delta Squad in their mission to an abandoned research facility on Azura in an effort to reactivate the Hammer of Dawn satellite network. Having learned from Adam Fenix's data disk that the facility contained an intact silo with a COG Rocket bearing a prototype Hammer of Dawn satellite, Baird's plan was to have the squad get Dave into the silo where he could initiate the launch sequence.

During the mission, JD Fenix had Dave open a door in the facility for JD and Delmont Walker using a control panel. While opening the door, Dave accessed the facility's database and sent all of the data he received to Baird which intrigued him when Baird discovered a big hole in the data at the highest security clearance. Baird ordered the two to find the office of the facility commander in an attempt to locate the missing data. With Dave's help, JD and Del were able to access the office and open a safe in which the data was stored on an external hard drive.

Reaching the silo, Dave attempted to launch the rocket after Delta cleared out the Swarm in the area. However, the silo hatch only partly opened, leaving the rocket in danger of exploding on takeoff. Rather than fleeing as the others wanted, JD decided to hit a manual override to open the hatch with a reluctant Del and Dave following him. JD succeeded in opening the hatch, but on the way back, Dave was jumped by a Juvie. Though Dave got free, he sustained heavy damage in both the Juvie attack and getting through the rapidly-closing blast doors.^[10]

Return to New Ephyra

Upon returning to New Ephyra, Dave accompanied Delta back to Baird's lab. While hooking himself up to a charging port, the damage Dave sustained caused him to malfunction and bang headfirst into the wall several times before deactivating. Though displeased by what Delta did to Dave, Baird quickly replaced him with the new JACK.^[11]

Appearances

• Ascendance (First appearance)
• Gears 5

References