Name: Helena Greyfield, “Lady Ironclad”, formerly “The Ironclad Dancer”
Age: 29
Faction: EDF
Rank: Colonel
Personality: 
A stern mother to her troops, an emotional anchor of calm in the heat of battle, Helena doesn’t lose her cool on the battlefield nor allows unwanted emotions to affect her judgement. While she is often hard on her troops and holds them to high standards, her men know it is her own way of caring for them and making sure they survive on the battlefield. This is all largely stemming from the trauma of losing her legs, and subsequent loss of combat ability she’s almost obsessively working to regain.

Off the battlefield, she's a little looser in behavior and willing to crack a joke or smile, but still very professional. She is very loyal to the EDF and what it stands for, although she doesn't hesitate to snark about high command like any other soldier.

[hider=Description/Picture Reference:]
[img]http://th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/135/c/8/dgm__tell_me_your_last_wish__poor_soul_by_gazerei-d4zvnpt.png[/img]
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An attractive, young-looking, but professional soldier. An ideal recruitment model before both of her legs were replaced by robotic prosthetics after severe battle injuries. While most of the scars have been healed and faded away, the damage to her legs was too severe and she now walks around with robotic legs. She prefers to use human-like limbs to disguise her wound, but has to use mechanical ones to use a mech effectively.

Brief History: 
Helena was a prodigy of EDF cadet pilot corps, a child left behind at a military orphanage from an unknown family and adopted by the military Greyfield family. At the young age of 19, she was a top-ranked pilot and student, attracting attention for her near-instinctive grasp of mech maneuvering, to the point of being able to maneuver at high-speeds without auto-balancing systems normally used to keep mechs upright over rough terrain. By the time she graduated, she already had a reputation of a “Ironclad Dancer” for her high-speed combat style, and was granted use of high-end melee combat gear for her mech despite only just graduating. In part because the EDF was growing desperate and needed a visible hero to turn the tide.

54 missions. 53 victories and one draw. Where the dancing mech went, victory followed. While it was partially due to EDF command only deploying her alongside considerable fire support and veteran mech squads, her own combat talent ensured such victories were absolute. She became a source of hope and public acclaim, and posed for more than one recruitment poster too in between missions as she recognized the need for someone to take up the banner, although she refused to leave the front and the soldiers she fought alongside.

Then everything changed at the battle of Nordamark. A massive battle where the EDF battled the Kuth in a conflict engulfing over 20,000 mechs. Helena was caught in a duel against the Kuth Ace Ander Hardman, a climactic fight that lasted hours after both sides took staggering casualties in the brutal close-quarters battlefield. In the end, both mechs were sent toppling to the ground. Hardman was dead, but Helena was gravely injured. Despite the efforts of EDF surgeons, she lost both of her legs, and with them half of her combat ability. Even with the best in robotic replacements, she couldn't achieve the same precision of maneuvering control or mobility she had before. While still a competent fighter and mech pilot, she was no longer a bladedancer.

Kicked upstairs to the rank of colonel by EDF command to quietly retire their poster girl, Helena refused to be removed from the front and heavily rebuilt herself from a melee skirmisher into a heavyweight mech pilot to take advantage of her still remaining ability whilst acclimating to her mechanical legs, and doing her best to be the best commander she could be to the 25th "Stray Dogs" mech battalion. Yet despite victories and successes, and being able to pass a few of her skills onto the next generation, there is nagging doubt within her that she is permanently damaged and that she might be forcibly retired soon if she doesn't prove her worth again to both Command and her family.

Machine Name: M7 Guardian-class heavy mech. “Ivanhoe”
Machine Description/Picture Reference: 
[img]http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120428174925/muvluv/images/thumb/9/95/A-10_lq.png/447px-A-10_lq.png[/img]

Largely considered “a pair of guns with heavy mech parts tacked on”, Helena’s Guardian mech is a heavyweight mech with tons of armor, active armor ontop of it, and a pair of giant 40mm gatling guns with hyperkinetic payloads and on articulated shoulder ball-mounts allowing for 360 degree firing. The downside to the gatling guns is their ammo capacity, they can burn through most of its ammo on short notice. In addition to the standard range of handheld gear and weapons, Helena’s mech is also equipped with command gear and a onboard mission-control VI named *Architect to coordinate her battalion. While its not fast and a far cry from the agile hyper-lethal vectors Helena once piloted, its a walking tank of bulletfire very few enemies would want to fight head-on.