Name: Ariela Cole
Callsign: Banshee
Age: 30
Gender: Female

Appearance:
Stands at about six feet exactly. Has an athletic build, with well-defined muscle tone.

Personality:
Ariela is a product of childhood trauma and highly unethical military indoctrination. Intense psychological conditioning has eliminated the chance of her suffering combat stress or PTSD, but resulted in mildly sociopathic tendencies such as an inability to emphasize with most people and a callous attitude towards combat and death. She is direct, no-nonsense, and foul-mouthed, having grown up to resemble the drill sergeants that trained her in her youth. She bears a certain sense of affection and responsibility for those close to her, though can only really express it by emulating the examples she was given as a child. Unfortunately, most of those were the aforementioned drill sergeants.

Having known no other way of life since she was a child, Ariela lives for combat, unable to find meaning as anything other than an AUG pilot. She bears a certain amount of martial pride, finding enjoyment in challenges and overcoming them. As a result of her experiences and conditioning, though, Ariela's ability to emphasize with or relate to civilians and noncombatants is poor, and she can only reliably form emotional connections with other soldiers.

Naturally for someone whose home was destroyed by them, Ariela despises Lemnosians, and will readily work against their interests without much convincing. Her relationship with the UEC is far more complicated. While she fought loyally for them in the final years of the War, the fact that she and her fellows were cut loose as a political inconvenience afterwards rankles. Her former loyalty to Earth and her colonies has degraded into a grudging neutrality, her resentments evening out her old affiliation.

Skills:

• Armor Pilot: Under the Enhanced Pilot Initative, Ariela received training in how to pilot most conventional forms of Mobile and Augmented Armor, and the usage of mech-sized weaponry. While she prefers close combat, she can swap roles in a fireteam if needed with a change in armament. She can pilot most UEC-standard Armors without further retraining, and adapting to different cockpit layouts and operating systems is easier for her than it would be for most. Can also perform maintenance and patchwork repairs on her own, though anything more complex is beyond her.
• UEC Soldier: Ariela was trained to achieve competence in infantry combat, in case she was ever shot down and had to evade enemy capture. She's about as good as any grunt on foot, but most of her training in this area was designed around fieldcraft and avoiding pitched firefights. Furthermore, given falsified credentials, she's able to easily disguise herself as an active-duty member of the UEC military, given her upbringing with them.
• Versatile Trades: Ten years spent going from odd job to odd job in the Neutral Zone have left Ariela with basic knowledge and core competencies in several fields of practical knowledge and labor. From being a line cook, to agricultural work, to starship maintenance, she knows enough to get by in several areas. None of them have ever brought her as much personal fulfillment as piloting and active combat have, though.

Brief History:
The first year of the Universal War resulted in many razed colonies on the UEC's border. Among those planets was Ariela's home of Castor-IV, which was one of the first hit in the LTS's initial blitzkrieg. At only eight years of age, Ariela was placed on one of the only ships able to flee the planet by her parents, and drifted deeper into UEC core space before being placed into the foster care system on arrival. Given how many worlds were decimated in that first year, it came to little surprise for any observer when several of these war orphans seemingly fell through the cracks, disappearing from official records.

What most didn't know, however, was that these children all found themselves press-ganged into the UEC's Enhanced Pilot Initiative: an off-the-books project intent on training and conditioning the best Mobile Armor pilots possible to supplement the ongoing Augmented Armor development in the works at the time. Traumatized, confused, and vengeful over the loss of their parents, Ariela and most of the other pilot cadets willingly threw themselves into training, wanting to strike back at those who invaded their homes and seize some control back in their lives. The EPI candidates endured hellish training and illegal psychological conditioning for over half a decade, learning to master the ins and outs of Armor piloting, the Augmented Armor project developing in part thanks to their flight data.

Over half a decade of training later, seven years into the war, the Augmented Armors finished development and the EPI pilots were let loose to try to turn the tide of the war. Of the Originals that comprised the first Augmented Armor pilots, a solid portion had been EPI candidates, with the majority still being high-achieving soldiers in the regular military. The EPIs were carefully deployed to avoid too much interaction with these other pilots, so as to avoid any questions or inquiries in the use of child soldiers. Ariela served for the next three years through to the end of the war, taking part in several fierce battles and raids even as her fellow pilots were shot down, unmourned and unremembered by the majority except their fellow teenagers. When the war ended, however, the surviving EPI pilots were in for one last shock.

The UEC was cutting the entire project loose. The pilots had accumulated enough combat data that the fruits of their training could be incorporated into the regular military, and their sheer existence was political kryptonite for the administration should they ever be discovered. So each of them was summarily discharged, given a hefty sum in back pay for their service as hush money, and thrown out into repatriation programs to hopefully live quiet lives. Their AUGs were mothballed into storage facilities and quietly forgotten about in order to conceal the evidence of the program while also keeping a reserve for the future.

Lost, drifting, and purposeless, Ariela spent the next decade trying to move on from the war. From combat. From piloting. She couldn't. As it turned out, the EPI indoctrination program had worked too well in her case. Nothing quite so mattered to her anymore as being within the cockpit of an AUG. She spent ten years going from odd job to odd job across the Neutral Zone trying to deny this until she couldn't anymore. Combat piloting was what defined her. And she devised a method to return to action.

The UEC would never take her back. She couldn't sneak into service either. And though Ariela resented the UEC for using her until it was inconvenient, she would never pilot for the Lemnosians. No, the only solution was to go into business herself as a mercenary. But that hinged on her having an AUG. Fortunate that she knew where to acquire one. Ariela had kept in touch with some of the trainers and support staff from the EPI that had been sympathetic to the children, and managed to get one such person to reveal that their old machines were mothballed in a storage facility familiar to her: a hidden facility on the border with the Neutral Zone. With that in mind, Ariela made contact with EINHERJAR, and recruited several mercenaries to her plot: raid the facility and seize the Augmented Armors within for themselves. The only catch was that LINEBREAKER was hers and hers alone. The raid succeeded, though not without a firefight with the security forces. For the first time in over ten years, Ariela was reunited with her steed.

Over the next year, Ariela began work as an EINHERJAR merc herself, relearning the ins and outs of piloting on low-risk missions. Ten years out of the cockpit had put a good amount of rust on her, but she shook off most of it within the year, with Ariela's skills returning close enough to what they were at the height of the war. Now, she hopes to return to the dangerous, high-risk missions she spent her formative years training for.

Other:
Voice claim: Colleen Clinkenbeard

AUG Name: LINEBREAKER

Armaments:

• MA-325CQB Carbine: Ballistic rifle with a shortened barrel for close to mid-range combat. Can be fired in semi-automatic, three-round burst, or full auto settings. Dual-wielded in LINEBREAKER's default configuration, one in each hand.
• Rosenkranz-Pattern Laser Cannon: Particle laser cannon for heavy ranged assault. Designed as fire support for use with medium-weight Armors. Mounted on the right shoulder.
• SUNBURST Beam Saber: Arm-mounted high-output laser blade for close-quarters-combat. Capable of tearing through conventional defenses with ease. Both of LINEBREAKER's forearms are mounted with one.

Specifications:
Originally, LINEBREAKER was a stock model first-generation UEC Augmented Armor with balanced specifications to handle most situations. Over the years, Ariela's preferred fighting style and her customizations have transformed the former military mecha into a lightweight, high speed close-quarters specialist with immense booster thrust and maneuverability at the cost of reducing its armor plating. At its core, however, the LINEBREAKER is still a War-era AUG, missing many of the optimizations in technology that have been created over the past twelve years. While still formidable, the LINEBREAKER is a generation or so behind current top-of-the-line Augmented Armors, with a performance gap to match.

• Name: Valika Mannesson
• Callsign: Redknight
• Age: 20
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: "If your AUG ran as hot as MORDRED does, you'd dress like this too. Quit staring, unless you really are enamored with my good looks!" Valika is a short, slender girl, at around barely 5'0/152 cm.
• Personality: Valika is a confident, exuberant girl who seems to provide a contrast to some of the more dour mercenaries operating for EINHERJAR. She is deeply confident in her piloting skills and in the construction of her custom AUG, MORDRED. She is prone to pulling especially audacious moves in combat, to the extent that some question if she has any concern for her own wellbeing. Indeed, at times she adopts tactics that would seem unnecessarily hazardous. She is prone to boasting of her piloting skills and of MORDRED's capabilities, even labeling it with the affectionate nickname 'Momo'. She seemes to take some pleasure in teasing others, as well, projecting a somewhat unexpected attitude for a mercenary AUG pilot.
  
  But, this is only one side of her personality.
  
  Beneath her cheery, confident, and sometimes teasing demeanor is a girl with a great deal of resent towards both sides of the Universal War. Towards the LTS, for destroying the colony she once called home, and the UEC, for abandoning her new home to the neutral zone. Between the two, her resentment for the LTS is far stronger. In truth, MORDRED is, despite its cutesy nickname, a tool she created for the purposes of revenge. One day Valika wants to see the Lemnosian Knight who lead the destruction of the Argyre colony and crush them just like they crushed the lives of so many innocent people. While it is not as if her typical attitude is a facade, it is more apt to describe it as a way of burying her far more negative feelings as deeply as possible. But it is impossible to hide the fact she jumps at the chance to attack Lemnosian forces in the neutral zone, nor is she capable of preventing deep-rooted mistrust towards people of Lemnosian origin. At the same time, she isn't fond of UEC military, especially those in high-level positions, viewing them as the sort of people who were fine with abandoning Bifrost in the neutral zone.
• Skills:
  • Technical Knowledge: While not an engineer precisely, Valika has plenty of understanding of her AUG's inner workings, having participated in swapping out major components of its structure and even some of its construction.
  • Theft: Valika learned how to subtly pocket things early in life, and this eventually grew to the point where she even stole the AUG that would become MORDRED in an audacious theft from Lemnosian forces. Naturally, she didn't do it alone, but she directly hijacked the AUG herself.
  • AUG Piloting Skills: Initially largely self-taught with old loaders and MAs. It was only with the theft of the AUG that became MORDRED that she began to really learn how to pilot an AUG, but she swiftly took to it alongside her rapid customization of the armor, her prior experience in less advanced machines aiding in her understanding of its control systems.
  • Combat: Not particularly impressive, but she's a relatively good shot with a handgun and knows the most sensitive places to kick.
• Brief History: The daughter of a couple of Argyre colonists, whose early days were largely peaceful even after the war began. Argyre was previously thought to be a low-priority target without much cause for attack. Even if an LTS force did arrive, it was assumed it would be small and thus the planet's defenses were relatively light. The last thing anyone expected was an attack lead by one of the Lemnosian knights.
  
  That was exactly what happened.
  
  Declaring the colony of Argyre a target for special eradication, a Lemnosian Knight in a brilliant white AUG lead a particularly intense and violent strike on the colony. The purpose was explicitly for the destruction of the colony and all who resided in it, with the reasoning for such an action never made clear even to many of those who participated in the attack. During the attack, the then six-year-old Valika was taken by her family in an attempt to flee the world.
  
  She last saw them when she was being shoved into vessel bound to leave the planet, in the hands of a family friend.
  
  Her Mother, Father, and elder brother would die on Argyre.
  
  The family friend, a man by the name of Regulan Filber that she knew as Uncle Reggy, eventually brought her to Bifrost and did his best to care for her. Unfortunately, only two years later, Bifrost became the location of the final battle of the Universal War. During the clash, Regulan piloted a MA and was severely injured, no longer able to properly act as the young girl's caretaker. And when the neutral zone was created, Bifrost was seen as being left to wither and die along with much of its infrastructure being destroyed.
  
  It was with a crippled caretaker in a broken world that Valika grew up. It's no surprise she developed a resentment for the UEC, on top of her already-strong hatred for the LTS. It's no surprise that she taught herself things like how to steal, when she had to ensure both herself and Regulan made it through each day.
  
  Even a conditions improved, her resentment simmered. Even as efforts for serious relief began to make changes and finally begin Bifrost's reconstruction, the now-teenaged Valika wanted to find some way to express her feelings.
  
  But instead, she spent much of this time working with basic loader MAs, though she spent some time practicing in their piloting as much as she was able.
  
  Her adoptive uncle passed away five years ago, and it it was perhaps this which prompted the audacious action that followed.
  
  Disguised as low-ranking mercenary agents after hijacking a vessel from the local port, Valika and several of her friends and acquaintances had become aware of a low-level Lemnosian AUG squad that had been operating in the neutral zone. It was deception, hubris, and no small amount of sheer luck that earned them a meeting with the squad under the pretense that they were mercenaries. It was this plan that lead to Valika's ultimate goal: The theft of a Lemnosian AUG.
  
  Disrupting their ship's control systems and fleeing with the AUG in tow, Valika had obtained her prize at the expense of the people she hated most. While plenty of the other stolen items were sold off, she kept the AUG and began practicing with it. It was a different experience from the loader MAs she was used to, but she was able to steadily get the hang of it by building on her previous experiences.
  
  After participating in some low-level work for EINHERJAR, she began to tinker with her AUG's construction, having it repainted red and adding further armaments to it.
  
  Her new goal was still far ahead.
  
  No matter how she hides her dark side, after all, the one person Valika hates most is the Lemnosian Knight who lead the strike on Argyre. Even now, beneath it all, she wants to be the one responsible for their death.

Augmented Armor:

• AUG Name: MORDRED
• AUG Appearance: Greatly altered from its original appearance as a baseline LTS AUG, though overall proportions remain. Its name, and Valika's callsign, are both done in spite towards the Lemnosian Knights.
• Armaments:
  • LUNALIGHT Beam Saber: A UEC-model melee energy weapon, possessed of a pale blue coloration. The LUNALIGHT Beam Saber is designed to combat other AUGs, with a thin, intense blade designed to sear through armor and deliver critical damage to main systems. Due to the modifications done to the MORDRED, the output can be sent into an overcharge mode for additional cutting ability at the cost of rapid energy consumption.
  • LA5678 Beam Rifle: A mid-range beam rifle equipped with two firing modes, one for semi-automatic fire and the other for a charged shot capable of punching through sturdier armor. Capable of benefitting from MORDRED's overcharge system, with similar drawbacks as the Beam Saber.
  • Type-104 Tankbuster: A close-range kinetic weapon resembling a squat, bulky shotgun. An armor-shredder designed to be fired at point blank range for maximum damage.
  • Z-95 Micromissile Array: A missile launcher that releases a cluster of small, homing missiles on each launch, attached to the right rack on MORDRED's back. It is useful at most ranges, though its low yield means the missiles are unlikely to take down more armored opponents on their own.
• Specifications: While it has a roughly conventional silhouette from the outside, the internal components of MORDRED have been altered considerably. This is primarily to make way for further weaponry, in order to allow better support and overcharging capabilities for energy weapons as well as more ammunition storage for kinetic weapons. This involved sacrificing some of the AUG's heat dampeners, causing the armor to run quite a bit hotter then the average model. While not to hazardous levels, Valika does dress very lightly while in the cockpit to avoid overheating. All in all, MORDRED is a mid-weight AUG primarily focused on a variety of offensive options.

Name: Garrett Augustine Cole (No known relation to Banshee)

Callsign: Snow

Age: 38

Gender: Male

Appearance:
Somewhat tall and wiry, as befits his growing up and life primarily aboard spacecraft and orbital installations.
He's lucky enough to be blessed with a certain rogueish handsomeness, and to his fortune, losing an eye at a younger age didn't detract too much from this, neither did his hair turning white due to his spacer genetics. He has worked hard to keep his musculature from degrading in low-gravity environments, which has left him with a swimmer or runner's sort of build. Despite the regular reliance on wearing spacesuit helmets and breathing masks, he shows his rebellious streak by keeping his hair longer than 'standard' and maintaining his 5'o'clock shadow of a beard.
His normal form of dress outside of AUG piloting or spacesuits tends toward casual, rugged, reliable clothing; often vest-shirts under a work-shirt or checked shirt over cargo pants or jeans and boots or sneakers. Loose, comfortable, and practical.
His left eye is covered by a patch, hiding the scarred-over empty socket, and he has scarring on the same side of his body beneath his clothing.



Personality:
Garrett is somewhat an affable, approachable sort of man. Often with a rogueish smile on his face and a gleam in his eye, he likes to talk with colleagues and friends, and has quite a sense of humour. He finds it easy to laugh at himself, and his teasing and gentle poking of fun at those around him is how he shows he likes them and respects them. He is very open with his feelings and thoughts, and will quite readily admit to his liking of others; after all, his experiences with life and how fleeting it can be, due to combat or the harsh accidents of life in space, show how quickly people can be gone without having the chance to say what's meant.
This does cut both ways; he also has little trouble in calling a spade a spade, and will not waste his time and energy on pussyfooting around people who rub him up the wrong way, or who deliberately set out to make others miserable, be they individuals or groups. Equally, he has little time or energy for manipulators, liars, or those who betray trust; again due to previous experiences.
Despite his facade of easy-going, laid-back humour, he is more than capable and aware of his surroundings and events, and perfectly capable of taking this seriously when need be, and bringing his skills to the fore, and can be ruthlessly effective in combat, and while does not relish taking lives, will do so when the need arises with little regret. In his mind, those who choose to fight do so knowing the consequences of their actions, up to and including death.
Garrett is especially merciless and fierce when fighting against would-be tyrants, enslavers, or dictatorial types. He hates to see people pushed around, and will not only fight to defeat them, but do everything to leave them in ruin, humiliated and knowing exactly who they crossed and why they were taken down.

He has very complex opinions and thoughts about both UEC and the LTS. While he agrees strongly with neither or their actions, he knows and has experienced that both are made up of people, all of whom are varied in their own opinions, and that there are a wide array of people just trying to live their lives on both sides, regardless of their affiliations - the reality of life is more complicated than Black and White, or Right and Wrong. However, he strongly opposes the militancy of the LTS and the self-proclaimed royalty of its' leader, but finds the bureaucracy and monolithic idealism of the UEC problematic as well.

Skills:

Spacer: Garrett grew up aboard interstellar and interplanetary ships, learning how to live in low-gravity environments. He has an instinctive grasp of low-gravity and zero-g movement, and the minutiae of living in space environments (safety procedures, shipboard procedures, routine duties, maintenance, etc). He is well-attuned to the dangers of everyday life in space and aboard ship, and the challenges that come with it, as well as the culture and society of those living in space.

Affable: Approachable, jovial, and sociable; Garrett is someone who is easy to trust and open up to. He enjoys the company of others, and quickly makes friends and keeps them. He is good at forming connections, albeit more personal than professional. The 'heart' of a group, Garrett can often be a mediator and a conscience in a situation.

Improviser: Often a lot of the ships and stations Garrett and those like him grew up on were kept working however possible - after all, when it's your life, as well as your livelihood on the line and you're billions of miles from the nearest source of space parts or rescue, you make do. As such, he has picked up the knack for improvising in situations. Be it finding new uses for tools and parts or coming up with clever ways to use what is at his disposal in combat, or some other situation, he has a talent for 'making it work', even if its' just a short-term solution until a better one comes along.

Iron Constitution: Thanks to his Spacer genetics, Garrett is particularly hardy against a lot of common illnesses and maladies. At some point in his family tree's past, some form of genetic tinkering must have occurred to make the family better suited for working in space and the resistance to the closed environments that spread illness so easily, as well as the damage to the body from prolonged living in space. Garrett holds onto these genes.

Claustrophilia: The opposite of Claustrophobia; Garrett has no issue with being in his AUG's cockpit, or in the cabins and corridors of spacecraft or other vessels and vehicles for long periods of time, having experience it as most of his life.

Flaws:

Spacer Build: Despite his dedication to compensating for it, like most Spacers, Garrett does still suffer from some physical weakeness connected to his growing up in a lower gravity environment. His bones and muscles are a little more fragile than someone who grew up planetside, and he can be injured with more ease. Likewise, while he is resistant to disease, he is vulnerable to effects of weather and planetary temperatures, such as cold and heat variations, due to the steady conditions aboard ships and stations.

Vulnerable Nature: The same affable and open nature that makes Garrett open and approachable, also makes him vulnerable. It can be easy for him to be manipulated or led into vulnerable situations by those of a less-than honourable nature and reputations, often using this nature of his to provoke him or lure him or his allies and friends into danger.

Old Wounds: Despite his attempts to compensate for it and overcome it, something he does quite well, Garrett cannot completely compensate for his blind left side, and it can be possible to take advantage of it. Similarly, the other wounds he received in the same incident can sometimes still bother him with lingering aches and pains, and sometimes they slow him down.

Addictive Personality: While he's mostly a wholesome sort of guy, Garrett is unfortunately possessed of a nature that leads him into being easily addicted. Already a smoker, he also has a somewhat unhealthy relationship with alcohol and other 'hedonistic' experiences. His past traumas and experiences lead him to often seek refuge in excess to drown out the feelings and memories. He has luckily managed to greatly limit his interactions with hard drugs, but smoking, alcohol, sex and other, similar, highs are easily alluring and enticing for him, and he knows how easily he can fall into their grasp.

Agorophobia: A minor case, but nonetheless; Garrett's being raised and mostly living aboard spacecraft and stations has left him with a deeply ingrained discomfort of being in wide, open, and natural spaces. While it is not something that can completely cripple him, it can impair his judgement and well-being, and he will often avoid them. Cities and built-up areas do not affect him as much, but wide-open, natural places will certainly leave him uneasy.

Brief History:
Garrett was born as part of the community of interstellar and interplanetary ship crews that plied the routes between colony worlds, orbital settlements, mining asteroids, and all points inbetween.
His immediate biological family were part-owners of a heavy freighter the Cole, one of many that were part of a self-owned company that belonged to several generations of extended families who had determinedly forged their own moderate success among the stars as they spread out from Earth's embrace over centuries. The company was simply named 'Augustine', after its' original founder, which is where Garrett's middle name came from, as was the tradition with his 'clan' of Spacers.
Growing up in this setting, he was surrounded by the children of other families, and all of them were virtually raised together, parents taking on the task of raising children almost as a group, watching out for one another. As such, it was very rare for him to not have anyone around, and he became a very social person, raised with a lot of love around him.

From an early age, technology became an instinctual part of his surroundings, as did the everyday dangers of working in space. Accidents happened, and when they did, they were often severe. Space is an unforgiving place.
Garrett was in double-digits before he first set foot on a planet, and found it a strange experience, and almost agorophobic, compared to the places he was used to, and he maintained a sense of wonder about the vastness and variety of such places and the people from them.
His teenage years were uneventful; typical for any teenager, he had growing pains as he found his footing in a world much bigger than he was, and all the baggage that came with it.

It was when he reached his adulthood that things started to really change. War was everywhere. Already, the world he knew was shaken by earlier conflicts, and everyone knew more was coming. Reluctantly, his families' corporation were drawn into picking sides and preparing for danger among the stars. Wanting to do more than just be on the sidelines, Garrett put his training using an MA for cargo handling to work, and signed up to the security forces the family company maintained. His parents and siblings were proud of him, and he felt a sense of pride in his duty, and a love for his new MA.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to last.
On a run to deliver some urgently needed medical, food, and aid supplies to a colony world, the Augustine convoy was attacked by a UEC interdiction patrol. Ignoring the transport convoy's neutral status and the relief nature of their mission, the UEC's AUG's attacked. The convoy called for aid from the LTS forces surrounding the planet, but they were ignored.
Garrett and his fellow Augustine security MA pilots put up a valiant fight, managing to down some of the hostiles, but it was a losing prospect; military AUGs, fighters, and vessels against a handful of security forces and armed freighters.
Garrett could only watch as his family and all he had known were blasted out of the sky as he waited for his grevious wounds to claim him - and as the LTS cavenged the remains of the ships, taking the supplies that were left behind.

Left for dead, Garrett and the remainder of his Augustine comrades and family were eventually picked up by a passing group of Spacers. They took them in, but damage had already been done; Garrett's wounds had left him all-but crippled without medical attention, and the others of his group were on the brink of death.
Through their generosity, Garrett was healed, though it was a long process of learning to adjust, and training his body to do things in a new way. The others survived, in various states, slowly clawing back their health and well-being.
Lost and without a home, Garrett and his fellow survivors joined up with other spacers. The remains of his Augustine corporate family combined their assets with another group, that welcomed them with open arms. Driven by their experiences, they formed the Augustine mercenary company, dedicated to protecting Spacers from what happened to them, and bankrolled by Alternity Engineering, based on the Asteroid Alternity.

Since those days, he has joined with EINHERJAR to see if his skills might still serve the galaxy at large in this time of unsteady peace, and if he might find somewhere he can fit in. Garrett is still haunted by his experiences, and sometimes questions if his choice of life as a mercenary is somehow his way of trying to get revenge or fight the things that happened to him.

AUG Name: Sentinel
AUG Appearance:

Garrett's Sentinel is painted with a coal-black/blue-grey/light grey hexagonal camouflage pattern on the large, flat areas such as the shoulders, upper torso, forearms, control surfaces (i.e. wings and fins), and lower legs. The other areas are a flat, dark, almost black, midnight blue. A dark, scarlet-red trim outlines any other areas, such as control surface leading edges, head communication antennae, and so on; providing warning markings.
The AUG's optical sensors are green, as are most other sensor lenses barring a handful or red or blue ones.
It has a plethora of warning markings and cautions stencilled across its' surface. Currently, it carries no major insignia for a faction or combat unit since Garrett began work as a mercenary. When markings are applied, they are usually in low-visibility white or silvery-grey outline, to stand out against the camouflage.

Armaments:

• Beam Smartgun:
  A powerful, high-energy particle-beam weapon, the beam smartgun uses a built-in sensor package attached to the weapon and linked to the AUG's sensor system to refine its' aim at incoming targets. It is capable of both more powerful, accurate semi-automatic fire, and less-accurate and slightly less powerful fully automatic burst-fire modes. It has a substantially long range in space, but this is reduced in atmosphere. This large, long weapon is hand-held, but can be stowed on the back when not in use, thanks to a folding mounting/stabilising arm that connects to the underside of the gun.
• Beam Guns:
  Mounted on each hip of the AUG is a single high-energy pulse laser. They can swivel to fire ahead of or behind the machine, and can put out rapid-fire bursts. Mostly, they are used for suppressive fire against enemies, and are highly effective against lightly armoured targets. As with any beam weapon, their range is reduced in atmospheric conditions.
• Twin Heavy Railguns:
  Mounted on the back of the Sentinel are a pair of powerful Railguns. Capable of semi-automatic fire only, they nonetheless pack a powerful punch, and are mostly used as intermediate range weapons against heavy, hardened targets, firing in alternating shots or together for a much heavier punch. While the projectiles they fire are comparatively light in calibre, the sheer kinetic impact of them causes vast damage.
• Vulcan Cannon:
  Light rotary-barrelled weapons that fire 25mm shells, these weapons are mounted in a quartet, two either side of the Sentinels' forehead. They are primarily designed for intercepting incoming missiles, or shooting at other light targets. The volume of firepower the fire-linked guns can put out is quite impressive, but is relatively light in terms of impact.
• Missile Pods:
  The Sentinels' shoulders conceal a pair of flip-open missile pods, each containing 8 medium-range missiles. They can be fired individually or in volleys. Different types can be loaded for different effects, but the most common are high-explosive, armour-piercing missiles with plasma warheads. They are guided by the AUG's sensors for locking on and primary guidance, but switch to being self-guided as they close in.
• Beam Sabers:
  Concealed in the hips of the AUG are a pair of beam sabers. These weapons are for close combat, and each projects a 'blade' of plasma that is contained by a shaped magnetic field. They have a limited time in use, and must be returned to the hip 'holsters' to be recharged after several minutes.

Other Equipment:

• Chaff/Flares:
  The Sentinel is equipped with chaff and flare decoy launchers against incoming missiles and other guided projectiles
• Tow Cable & Launcher:
  The Sentinel can lauch magnetically grappled tow cables from the rear 'balancer' tail and from the chest to recover and tow smaller craft, or other items. They are connected to a winch that can then haul them in closer.
• Modular Build:
  The Sentinel has a module chassis, designed to allow it to be rapidly and quickly modified for new roles and into new variants when needed.
• Sensor Suite:
  The Sentinel has a powerful suite of long-range sensors, befitting its' primary use as a space combat machine, and the ranges involved in space combat. A range of thermal imaging, magnetic imaging, LIDAR, and optical telescopes comprise its' primary sensor systems, and are distributed across the machine, but mainly focused on its' head.
• Overclocked Power:
  The Sentinel is designed to be a powerhouse for thrust and movement. As such, it has a hugely overcharged powerplant that runs very hot. This results in it needing a lot of cooling and exhausts, making it quite an obvious thermal target, despite all of those exhausts. However, it does also give it a large amount of raw power for its' thrusters and chassis to draw upon. Something that has taken many unprepared or inexperienced pilots unawares.

Specifications:
The RX-99/100 Sentinel is the first AUG produced solely and independently by the Spacer Guild's Aerospace corporate arm, Alternity Engineering. Designed specifically with Spacer needs in mind, it has a large amount of raw thrust for rapid movement in space, a focus on life support and pilot protection, and long-range sensors and weaponry for combat at the kind of ranges that are common in space, as well as three-dimensional combat.
The machine was designed with a secondary role as a planetary combatant, where it is still respectable and capable, but often can be seen as 'overengineered' and complex for planetside combat, where its' systems can sometime be a bit too delicate under gravity, and may become stressed or overworked, resulting in a lot of necessary maintenance. Nonetheless, its' weaponry and systems are more than adequate when it is in combat, and its' modularity and high-end components give it many benefits that other AUGs lack.
However, it's specialization and rarity also make it expensive, and it has seen only limited use as a result, primarily remaining within the hands of Spacer-related groups and organizations, and even then; only at limited numbers.
Even though it is an advanced and high-tech machine, the complexities and limited success it has had have seen AE move onto designing a replacement model already, one that is more of a generalist machine with a more hardy and robust construction.
Despite this, the Sentinel is still supported, and work on variant of the machine continues.
With its' complexities and the surplus of raw power it has, it can be quite an unforgiving machine for a new pilot, and even experienced Sentinel pilots have been caught out, resulting in the loss of several Sentinels in accidents caused by overconfidence or error.
An experienced Sentinel pilot, in a top condition machine, however, is a formidable opponent.

Pilot:

• Name: Henry McCall
• Callsign: Watcher
• Age: 29
• Gender: Male
• Appearance:
  Hider [+]

  
  
  Henry is fairly average of build, being 5'11", though he is almost all lean muscle and very little fat at all if one were to look closely at him. Normally he favors fairly sturdy clothing and his mother's jacket, that conceals a holster for his personal sidearm that he carries whenever possible.
• Personality: Henry tries to be at least cordially friendly with allies and fellow pilots, but often struggles with maintaining such a façade when in private, or when he thinks he is alone. It is mostly because he spends much of his free time reminiscing on both the time his family spent fleeing from the Universal War between the LTS and UEC growing up, and his own service in the last years of the war as an AUG pilot, having lied his way into service at a relatively young age. He struggles, in his private moments and when off duty, to keep such things off his mind, at this point having spent nearly his entire life either fleeing from, or engaging in, open warfare fueled by greed, or worse, a blinding belief in ideology.
  
  He takes an incredibly dim view on the ideologically motivated, finding them to be, at best, blinded and misguided and, at worst, utterly repulsive liars. Ideology, borders, governmental bodies and revolutionary bands, all pretty set dressing for the one thing that always drives these people. Greed, plain and simple, and he is utterly convinced that, once a group of people reach a critical mass, certain elements start grasping for power, for wealth, greed amplified by the resources accumulating around them and forcing every government, every revolution, inevitably down the same path. The UEC, for all its touting, had only cared about preserving its own power and status. The LTS hid behind the goals of purging a corrupt UEC, with themselves, of course, installed in place as a result.
  
  While Henry struggles with forming interpersonal relationships, both on and off the battlefield, he doesn't try to actively avoid them either. He is at his most calm when behind the controls of Platzregen, finding a soothing peace in the certainty of his AUG, its quiet acceptance, its purity of purpose. There are no illusions to its intention, it is a weapon of war, a tool used to destroy. There are no attempts to hide behind ideology, faith, credence or creed of any sort, and that is a calming presence in a mind often wracked with guilt and haunting memories.
• Skills: Henry is a survivalist by necessity, and a soldier by experience. Having spent as long as he can remember either running, scavenging, or fighting creates a blended toolset of skills that could prove useful even outside typical mercenary dealings and scenarios that one might be hired into.
  
  
  
  • Experienced Survivalist: Having spent his pre military life constantly on the run from conflict and warfare, Henry has long nurtured and retained a broad skillset in surviving in a variety of environments. Short of drifting in the purely empty void of space, it is likely that Henry will be able to find some way to survive for extended periods of time alone or out of contact with friendly forces, in our out of Augmented Armor.
  • Scavenger: Part of his premilitary life was finding parts, equipment, valuables, anything to make it another day for Henry and his family. Even after joining the UEC as an AUG pilot, and after that having spent 12 years as a mercenary pilot in the Neutral Zone, there is always a need for a sharp eye to spot useful parts. Whether for in field repairs or resupply, upgrades after a job or mission, or just some bonus pay for bringing back something useful, Henry is always keeping an eye out for useful salvage.
  • Old AUG Pilot: Henry has been piloting Augmented Armors for about as long as they have formally existed (Though he only has experience in the official production models), and he has spent every hour of that time in his preferred model of AUG. Knowing Augmented Armors inside and out gives him an edge in both piloting, and combating, the machines. While he hardly knows all the AUGs out there, who really can with how customizable they are, he has learned to identify certain trends in designs and philosophies in piloting, using that to his advantage in a fight between AUGs.
  • Evasion: The only thing worse than getting shot down out of your AUG is surviving it and getting captured. Henry has made the decision that he will never willingly be captured, and has drilled himself on, in combination with general survival, learning how to hide from, and evade, enemy patrols looking for him. Even if it means overloading his downed AUG's Matsuzawa Drive to make it look like there were no survivors, he will do everything in his power to escape capture.
• Brief History: Born on one of the UEC controlled colony worlds, Henry McCall was the son of a doctor, Abigail McCall, and a UEC officer, Alexander McCall. Life was fairly uneventful until his 7th birthday when the LTS made its initial assaults on the outermost UEC colony worlds. Alexander was able to get his family on an escape shuttle, while staying behind to help command the garrison against the new LTS Mobile Armors. It would be the last time that either Abigail or her son saw the man again, and she volunteered as an aid to the UEC military, putting her son in a life of constantly hopping from colony world to colony world, watching the LTS putting world after world to the torch before the frontlines stabilized. On his 14th birthday, between an old friend of his father's efforts and recruiters being willing to look the other way, Henry enlisted in the UEC, showing sufficient aptitudes for becoming a pilot, specifically one of the first Official generations of AUG pilots. The truth is far more complicated, but said truth was something that Henry never learned of while with the UEC.
  
  Henry would spend three years first pushing back against the LTS, and then learning to fight other Augmented Armors. He found himself routinely isolated from other AUG pilots, answering strictly to command and never really developing a rapport with his fellows in arms. He only ever saw allied AUGs from a distance, UEC IFF flagging them as friendly, but that was about as much friendship as he ever saw from allied pilots. His own underage enlistment period ensured command elements never got to discuss matters with him that much either, and he would often times fight with nothing but his own thoughts and current orders on his HUD. Long deployments also meant no contact with his mother, the only person he ever really found any sort of kinship with, and most of his combat deployments blurred together, though how much of this is personal coping mechanisms with what he did during the war, and how much of it was validly blurred, is a hard distinction to make.
  
  Henry routinely found himself being deployed in dense urban environments, the kind of places that were nightmares for pilots of any vehicle. Every corner hid an anti Armor team, ever overhang concealed an enemy MA or AUG, and the strain of urban combat was taxing. He employed the cutting edge of FCS systems as he could get his hands on, always volunteering to take on more advanced FCS and weapon systems that interfaced with said FCS, doing everything he could to allow himself to truly focus just that bit more, falling so far into stress induced paranoia that he came back around from the other way, developing an almost zen like pattern in combat that would change him post conflict.
  
  He kept fighting right up until the end of the war abruptly came, unable to find the energy to even celebrate or acknowledge the death of Anthen Nilsk as anything other than the next step in the conflict between people. Rather than stay with the UEC, which could have seen a fairly illustrious career as one of the Augmented Armor pilots that helped push back before they were reverse engineered, unaware most of his contemporaries would get no such luxury. Henry took his AUG, an act that could have seen him flagged as a criminal, and left for the Neutral Zone. He attended his mother's funeral before he left UEC space, the woman having fallen ill near the end of the Universal War and passed as Henry was on his way back from the front to see her one last time. Per her wishes, the ashes were launched into space and Henry moved into the Neutral Zone, cutting ties with the UEC.
  
  He would spend the next twelve years doing mercenary work, joining with EINHERJAR as soon as it became an option. Whether he was doing work for corporate interests, the UEC, LTS, or other interested parties that had business or revenge to enact within the Neutral Zone. He grew more distasteful of politics, of government bodies and the hollow borders they professed. The Neutral Zone, to them, was just another line on a map to push trinkets around on, all to gather more power and wealth under their personal dragon's horde. Still, he knew nothing else in life, and being a mercenary at least, during the times it let him deploy in his AUG, provided some small measure of peace that he could not profess to find in his personal life.

Augmented Armor:

• AUG Name: Platzragen
• AUG Appearance:
  Hider [+]

  
  
  Platzragen is of standard size for Augmented armors, coming it at 20m in height, everything besides the base frame at this point has been stripped off and replaced. Originally a UEC model of AUG, Henry took it with him when he left the UEC and departed into the Neutral Zone, and it has seen twelve years of customization and fine tuning. Stripped of any identifying markings and coloration, it has a more armored look than the original UECAA-111 ever did. When on task, ordinance is stored inside the AUG itself, loaded into the external weapon platforms that can also be ejected in an emergency, or when empty and direly needing just that bit more speed from the reduction in weight. While this lacks the elegance of internal systems, it also means that a catastrophic failure won't also be internalized.
• Armaments:
  x2 Thermal Accelerators: One handed launchers with two firing modes, reloading after each shot. The primary firing mode accelerates the munition immensely, simulating a kinetic weapon in operation, including need for direct hits. The secondary firing mode locks a target before firing at a lower velocity, thus allowing the smart munition seeking the target. Unlike the primary fire, this mode utilizes a proximity fuse to detonate within strike range of targets. Regardless of firing mode, each round detonates on impact (or in proximity), doing immediate explosive damage and either coating the struck target area in self oxidizing incendiary compounds, or creating an area of burning munitions that, while less likely to coat surrounding targets, creates an area of denial.
  
  x1 Punch Blade: A short, dagger sized weapon with a knuckle guard that has been reinforced for both parrying and striking. The weapon itself lacks any sort of advanced upgrades or anything that could possibly malfunction. While initially designed to be a backup, last resort weapon, it makes for an excellent alternative in close quarters combat where the rest of his arsenal could be restricted due to the explosive nature of the majority of his weapon systems.
  
  x1 Prototype Assault Missile System: The original weapon platform of Platzragen, this back mounted system stores and selects missile types based on programed parameters, combat analysis by the FCS, and pilot override should it be implemented. PAMS has several munition types depending on combat necessities and prebattle preparations, as follows (Munitions marked with an Asterisk are selected on a mission by mission basis, with more specialist munitions reducing overall munition capacity for standard missile load) with additional missile munitions capable of being loaded as discovered and programmed:
  
  
  
  • HMAA: High Maneuverability, Anti Armor: Standard munitions capable of being launched in rapid succession against single, high speed targets, requiring direct hits to cause effective damage. Simple, compact, and using a delayed second stage rocket to begin tracking after launch from PAMS means the munitions, with assistance from targeting systems, target enemies beyond direct line of sight.
  • CMST*: Cluster Munition, Smart Targeting: For high density environments, this munition deploys a cluster of smart sub munitions along its flight path, preloaded by PAMS prior to launch. Each smart sub munition hot locks onto a nearby target before launching directly towards it, proximity fuse ensuring sufficient damage done to most soft and lightly armored targets. IFF data from the FCS prior to main munition launch ensures sub munitions do not target friendly targets, however IFF protection only extends to verified friendly signatures.
  • DPPF*: Directed Pulse, Proximity Fused: Low count specialist munitions for disabling and interfering with the onboard electronics of high value targets. Unlike standard smart munitions employed by PAMS, DPPF missiles require continual targeting from the launch platform, meaning Platzragen must maintain a constant target lock until strike occurs. While more intensive on the pilot, the tracking capabilities of the missile are vastly increased. Upon proximity reach, a directed EMP pulse scrambles unshielded systems, and a secondary pulse makes smart munitions lock and track more efficiently. On its own, however, it is unlikely to destroy a target and all overload and target painting effects can usually be cleared with some effort.
  • IAD*: Incendiary, Area Denial: Utilizing a similar system to the CMST munition, IAD missiles take an arching trajectory that is programmed to maximize area saturation. Self oxidizing incendiary munitions are launched at regular intervals, the submunitions air bursting based on a proximity fuse system that is designed to maximize impacted area. There are no means of IFF safety with this munition, requiring careful consideration by the pilot to ensure friendly fire incidents do not occur.
  • WPCF*: White Phosphorus, Chaff and Flares: A support munition in every sense of the word, the missile system is either locked onto a specific target point (or target, requiring Pilot override) or after a short fuse delay depending on the circumstances of deployment. The two stage munitions first deploy chaff, flares, and other countermeasures to interfere with incoming smart munitions, while the second stage deploys a White Phosphorus smoke screen, with an internal O2 canister to allow for a much shorter lived smoke screen when in low/no oxygen environments. The White Phosphorus component is still incredible dangerous towards soft targets, requiring care in deployment in certain environments.
• Specifications: Platzragen is one of several early UEC designs for an urban Augmented Armor, though Henry does not refer to her by the original UEC designation anymore. Favoring armor and redundancy over stripping components for speed that it will never reach, Henry has chosen to alter the original design to instead use an excessive amount of smart munitions, typically via missiles. The Fire Control System is tuned and upgraded with several improvements to tracking and detection, being the only modern component on Platzragen, the intention being to pick up hostile or unknown targets as soon as possible and keep smart munitions tracking a target until impact. Secondarily this functions as a useful recon tool, helping alert allies of detected threats should they not be able to be eliminated prior to reaching their optimal engagement range. However, its status as an early AUG does mean that, compared to modern designs, any system that hasn't been upgraded is concerningly behind the times.

Name: Sara Lin
Callsign: Rabbit
Age: 24
Gender: Female

Appearance:
Standing in a 5'5" with a slim build. Despite her size, she is rather lithe and its clear she keeps in shape.

Personality:
Energetic and amicable, Sara is in general fairly fairly easygoing and playful, with a calm and clear speaking voice. Rather perceptive, Sara has an eye for detail and can be surprisingly insightful, despite lacking military training. Sara's demeanor is generally confident, though not as cocky as one would expect from stick jockeys. Cool and calm while behind the trigger, Sara is generally reliable and doesn't panic easily. She is generally pragmatic as far as politics goes, but tends to favor things that would help the people of Bifrost. Not necessarily concerned with the money- but would rather have more instead of less if given the option.

Skills:

• Aerospace Pilot - Formerly a stick jockey, Sara is quite familiar with the control of a variety of fighter craft, which transfers over to her preferred method of combat behind the controls of an Aug.
• Spatial Awareness - Sara possesses an impressive degree of spatial awareness, whether it be the wingspan of her craft or the positioning of limbs. She understands trajectories and aerospace physics to a degree that helps her track even the fastest movers.
• Eagle Eyed - Sara has a very sharp eye for detail, allowing her to quickly notice possible threats and adjust accordingly. While not possessing a photographic memory, she does have fairly good memory recall as well.
• Valkyrie of Bifrost - A woman of the people, born and raised on Bifrost, Sara is well known and liked by many of the locals on Bifrost. She has the status akin to a hometown hero or local celebrity, and the luxuries and scrutinies that entails.

Brief History:
Sara was born in the midst of the Universal War on the planet of Bifrost, to a UEC pilot and nurse. With the planet of Bifrost serving as one of the UEC's primary portals to the stars beyond, it was unsurprising that the planet became something of a staging point for UEC forces. Most of Sara's childhood was spent aiding the UEC war machine, be it schooling to learn the history of the UEC, to afterschool work in the various factories, putting together goods for the soldiers passing through.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before war came to Bifrost. The fires of war ravaged the planet, littering it with corpses and wrecks of LTS and UEC alike, while those like Sara cowered in underground bunkers, hoping to see the next dawn. By the time the fires had ceased, Bifrost was no longer a UEC colony, now it represented the heart of the Neutral Zone- which in a stroke of incredible irony was anything but neutral.

Like many Bifrost natives, Sara took it upon herself to join the planet's reconstruction efforts, along with the UEC remnants and the abandoned LTS forces. Learning underneath her father, Sara found herself behind the stick of one of the few remaining aerospace fighters, spending her teen years as a militia pilot, supporting the planet's hodgepodge defense forces in fending off pirates, scavengers and scrappers keen and picking through what was left of the destroyed world.

During a routine patrol, Sara would happen upon a shipment of LTS Augmented Armors, it's transport having gotten hopelessly lost after being waylaid by a band of pirates in the neutral zone, and crashing onto the surface of Bifrost. It's complement of armor more or less intact. Sara returned the treasure trove back to the Bifrost's defense forces, keeping one of the Augs for herself.

Armed with her new weapons, and entering adulthood, Sara quickly became an icon amongst her people, a Bifrost native, born and raised, defending her people with the weapons that razed their planet. Now armed with an Aug, Sara found herself able to take on tasks too difficult for the regular defense forces. Finding herself working alongside mercenaries more and more, Sara eventually began to form a sense of respect for the freelancers, even if she never fully trusted them.

Eventually, Sara would find herself drawn to the more lucrative work provided by EINHERJAR, as a means to an end to provide for her people. Sara enjoys the freedom provided by EINHERJAR, and the the pay isn't bad either.

AUG Name: Chevalier
AUG Appearance :
Armaments :

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• XBR-77 75mm Multi-role Autocannon - The XBR is a multi-barrel cannon fitted into the frame of an assault rifle. Designed for general combat, this cannon is a versatile weapon that deals consistent damage at most ranges. The XBR fires in semi automatic, 5 round burst, and fully automatic, and has two selectable firing speeds of 1000 RPM and 2500 RPM.
• T-2 Combat Shield - A medium sized, lightweight shield of hardened alloys treated with anti-beam coating provides the Chevalier with limited directional protection from oncoming fire. Featuring a small cutout to brace it's cannon against, the T-2 is mounted to the forearm of the AUG instead of the hand itself, and can be rotated and shifted on the Chevalier's arm, leaving the hand open to carry other items- though usually not weapons. In addition, the T-2 combat shield features a pair of scatter-beam cannons, for potent shotgun style blasts of energy at close ranges.
• (Alternate) D-20 Anti-AUG Rocket Launcher - For strike missions, the Chevalier often forgos the T-2 combat shield for a D-20 Launcher. Essentially a mech sized rocket launcher, the D-20 fires potent rockets that are only slightly guided with path correction capabilities as opposed to homing capabilities. Packing a powerful explosive warhead, these rockets are designed to incapacitate heavily armored combatants.

• Chin Mounted XPD-921 Rotary Gun - Mounted on the chin of the AS-64 Chevalier is an XPD-921 6 barreled rotary autocannon. Firing 20mm shells, the XPD-921 is generally ineffective against AUGs and other heavily armored targets due to the amount of ammunition required to deal significant damage. It is used primarily for point defense and anti-personnel roles.

• AA-08 'Partisan' Anti-Air Missile System - An advanced missile launcher system used by the Chevalier. Launching 3 Partisan Missiles from each wingtip, these fast, highly maneuverable AA missiles pack a surprising punch, able to make 90 degree turns, and capable of knocking most flying targets out of the sky with a single missile. While not particularly devastating, these small guided missiles are extremely difficult to avoid and are more than capable of crippling an airborne unit's flight capabilities, essentially spelling death for other fliers. Against ground targets, it is rather lackluster in damage when compared to other heavier missiles, and lacks armor penetration. Partisan Missiles are impact safe, allowing them to be safely carried.
• AG-12 Halberd Air-to-Ground Missile System - A robust missile launcher system used by the Chevalier. Launching 5 Halberd missiles from under each wing, these powerful AG missiles pack a mean punch and are designed specifically for targeting ground armor and other ground based assets. Halberd AG missiles have a difficult time targeting flying units and are primarily meant to take on heavily armored ground AUGs. Like Partisan missiles, the Halberds are impact safe, allowing them to be safely carried.
• AG-70 Pike Semi-guided Swarm Rocket System - A 'semi-guided' rocket system used by the Chevalier. Carried in pod launchers mounted underneath each wing are 35 Pike rockets, totaling 70. Shortly after firing, Pike rockets split into 4 micro rockets to saturate areas with fire. These micro rockets feature light guidance to keep them generally on target, but lack the homing ability of dedicated locking missiles. Acting similar to dumbfire rockets, Pikes are fast and cheap, and have moderate power, but lack significant armor penetration capabilities and are generally only moderately effective against heavily armored targets such as AUGs. These rockets are primarily designed to attack lightly to moderately armored targets and installations, or to suppress hardened enemy positions. Like it's cousins, the Pike has a minimum safe distance and are impact safe when not in use.

• Advanced Countermeasure System - Designed to combat anti-air systems, the Chevalier ACS is essentially a miniature missile launcher mounted to it's back skirt, that detects oncoming heat signatures and launches guided munitions to counter and neutralize the oncoming threat, along with a spray of flares and chaff for pesky micro-missile style weapons.
• Supercruise/Afterburner System - Advanced propulsion systems allow the Chevalier to maintain supersonic 'cruising' speeds at Mach 1.5, and at full burn can temporarily reach speeds of Mach 2.

Specifications:
Straddling the gap between light scout/reconnaissance and a general purpose combatant, the Chevalier is a fast moving unit generally designed to be used in a method similar to lightly armored cavalry, or as a skirmisher. Unfortunately, the Chevalier finds itself both lacking the staying power of a dedicated combatant and the intelligence gathering capabilities of a dedicated scout. While this lack of focus in either role turned the Chevalier into something of a liability in the LTS forces, it's versatility makes it a good fit for the mercenary type in the Neutral Zone, where it's modest staying power and nimble frame allows it to fill both functions adequately enough for the needs of most mercenary units, which often lack the numbers to field dedicated scout units.

The Chevalier boasts high maneuverability and full flight capabilities, faster than most AUGs in the air, and only really surpassed in a straightaway by fixed wing aerospace craft. In combat, the Chevalier functions as a close air support unit, delivering precise strikes with it's missiles and strafing runs with it's cannon, before darting away to avoid reprisal. Due to its lack of staying power, the Chevalier is only rated for light duties while solo, better serving as fire support for other mercenary units.

Name: Sion Volsune
Callsign: Sparrow
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Appearance: Sion has a slightly below average height of 5'8, which he claims is due to a delayed growth spurt. Although if his boyish looks are anything to go by, that might actually be true. As if to compensate, his body is very athletic, and his calloused hands show that he's no stranger to hard work. He keeps his black hair to hide the injection scars on the back of his neck, which also appears along his spinal area. For outfits, he goes for a practical look, along with a cloak whenever he's on a planet.

Personality: On first impressions, people would say Sion is perpetually angry. He seems to be in a constant state of irritation, with a tone of voice to match. But despite what his attitude might suggest, he's actually quite patient when dealing with others. It takes a lot to provoke him, and even then, he prefers to use venomous retorts rather than his fists. But those who that can tolerate Sion's prickly disposition can find a softer side to him. Due to the recent loss of his mentor, Sion is slowly learning to appreciate the people he gets close to. In fact, he can be surprisingly playful way when he lets his guard down.

Due to his Esper abilities, Sion is highly observant of others. Their current thoughts, reactions, and subconscious actions allow him gleam information about a person, even if they're just acquaintances. He's gotten used to instinctively reading people over the years, though he still tries to keep himself busy to avoid it. He dislikes prying into people's affairs, so he prefers to be around honest, straightforward people who have nothing to hide. On the other hand, being around people who are two-faced or have something to hide bothers him greatly.

Sion has a neutral attitude towards most topics. He's not interested in the politics of the UEC or the LTS. He's a mercenary, but he's not interested in money or the thrill of battle. Even the Norn Institute's experiments on him, or his past before that, don't elicit much of a response; He acknowledges the events, but to him, that period of his life feels like a distant dream. His neutrality is actually a sore point for him; He doesn't feel any meaning in his actions, he's just going through the motions. Ultimately, Sion is in a pliable state, in search of some kind of motivation for himself.

Skills:

• Mercenary's Protégé - Maintaining your equipment. Surviving on your own, scrounging whatever you can find. Sion has learned to do a bit of everything during his travels as Alyssa's apprentice. While he’s not particularly good at any one skill, Sion is reliable in most situations, and can help pick up the slack if he has to.
• Esper - The Norn Institute's experiments on Sion have given him advanced mental abilities. He's able to understand someone at a glance; He can perceive and interpret their subtle body language, and he can even outright read a person's current thoughts. In addition, his reflexes have been enhanced, and he's able to absorb and retain information with ease.
• Combat Ability - Sion hasn't fought in many battles yet, either on foot or in an AUG. However, he's an excellent marksman, and his natural instincts allow him to keep up despite his inexperience.

Brief History:
An orphaned Sion was one of many test subjects for the Norn Institute. On paper, it was a private organization dedicated to treating PTSD victims of the war. In reality, the Institute was researching neural technology, and the possible existence of "Espers", which were rumored to have appeared during the Universal War. Having lost his colony home during the war and having no known living relatives, Sion was an easy target for the inhumane experiments being conducted on him. He was considered a successful test subject, being one of the few who realized their potential as an Esper while others died either by the mental strain forced upon them, or from the drugs injected into them to endure it.

Soon however, and with their research coveted by interested parties, the abhorrent actions of the Norn Institute were in danger of being exposed. In order to continue their work in the future, the organization decided to covertly transfer their work to several different locations. Sion was to be to sent via cargo ship to a private laboratory, along with a unfinished Nidhogg, an AUG that was meant to utilize the human mind as part of its armament. Unfortunately, a competitor caught wind of the plan, and hired mercenaries to intercept the shipment. The resulting ambush was fierce, with the mercenaries facing off against a security team that was far better armed than the mission called for. In the end, both sides destroying each other, leaving no winners.

Except for an unrelated third party. A wandering mercenary by the name of Alyssa Avenne. Searching the wreckage of a recent battle, she was surprised that the only cargo inside the ship was a capsule containing a small child, and a half-built AUG. She discreetly decided to take the two, before destroying the ship to prevent any possible evidence.

Through talking with the child, Alyssa learned his name and the activities of the Norn Institute. After giving it some thought, Alyssa decided to take him under her wing. Leaving the child alone on a random planet would be in poor taste, not to mention making it easier for the Institute to find him again. And so began a new life for Sion, traveling from planet to planet as a mercenary's apprentice.

Over the years, Sion had learned the ways of a mercenary. While he couldn't accompany Alyssa on her more dangerous missions, he could handle whatever short-term work he could find in the meantime. And when the two of them were together, Sion found himself being dragged to bars, or wherever else she liked. He found his mentor to be a pain during these times, due to her rowdiness. Onlookers were often amused by their constant bickering. Still, Sion admired Alyssa's cheerful outlook on life whenever she was with him, and though he would never admit it, he thought of her as a parental figure that he'd be content to travel with for the rest of his life.

Sadly, their travels wouldn't last even a decade. An old friend of Alyssa's broke the terrible news to Sion while he was out on another errand: Alyssa was killed in action in an undisclosed mission. This shocked Sion to the core, and for the first time in his life, he felt lost. It took Sion a while to process what had happened. In the meantime, he inherited her life savings; A sum that could buy him a life of luxury if he chose. Instead, he solemnly decided to follow in Alyssa's footsteps as a mercenary, unsure of what the future would hold.

AUG Name: Nidhogg
AUG Appearance:

Nidhogg is as tall as the average AUG, standing at a baseline of 20 meters. Certain parts of it glow orange when the NIDHOGG system is on; otherwise said parts remain a light gray to match the rest of its color scheme.

Armaments:

• EC-8 Beam Rifle - A beam rifle that trades rate of fire for its range and armor-piercing capabilities. It can be connected to and charged by using Nidhogg's generator, giving the weapon burst fire capabilities while reducing Nidhogg's thruster power.
• Type-9 Submachine Gun - A close-range submachine gun. The amount of rounds fired is impressive, but it does little against heavy armor or targets outside of its range.
• DA-800 'Blaze' Beam Saber - A handheld beam saber, capable of slicing through most armor with ease. The weapon can briefly extend its blade for a short period of time, doubling its range for a single strike, or catch unsuspecting foes with a sudden thrust.
• Neural System 'NIDHOGG' - A black box system built into the AUG, it allows the user to neurally connect themselves into the AUG's system, allowing data to be instantly transferred to their mind, as well as their brain itself being used for various calculations. However, to prevent himself from getting overwhelmed, Sion can only use the system for 10 minutes at a time. The result is a temporary but significant boost in performance. In addition, Sion has felt a strange sense of resentment whenever he uses the device.
• Prototype Drone Weapon 'Feathers' - A weapon design that Alyssa managed to find in Nidhogg's databanks, and built during its renovation. They're blade-like drones that attach to Nidhogg's back, are activated and controlled by the pilot's mind. They're capable of swift movement, and the beam weapon attached to them is as strong as a light rifle round. The drones can ram their targets with their pointed bodies and even self-destruct in desperate situations. Due to Sion's unfamiliarity with the device, he's unable to use it without activating the NIDHOGG system.

Specifications: A prototype AUG developed by the Norn Institute as a demonstration of their neural technology. In a rush to prevent their work from being stolen, the operating system was filled with encrypted data detailing their work. Since it was unfinished, Nidhogg was rebuilt by Alyssa, who modified its performance to keep up with modern AUGs. In particular, both its generator and its mobility is exceptional, with the latter synergizing well with Sion's keen reflexes. Its glaring weakness is that due to the unique system built into it, Nidhogg can only use handheld weaponry and the 'Feathers', making its armament limited compared to other AUGs.

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