Silvan Haven

Breaking Point

@Norik@Caasicam

Horizon Parade Route-Beryl Harken

Rather than the extremely impressive war machine currently drawing the gaze of her companions Beryl's attention was on the woman below their balcony. Asian features, not too unusual in a mass driver city like Horizon. She carried herself with the kind of bearing that most members of the military learned to recognize. Although this person seemed to wear it like a set of armor. The jacket she wore was a bit odd though. Leaving aside the strangeness of wearing such a garment in these warm temperatures it held some interesting insignia. If Beryl had to guess she would have said it was from a Walker squadron.

The weird thing was that Beryl didn't recognize the woman. She knew all of Horizon's pilots, their names and faces at the very least. The Asian woman below them wasn't one of them. Was she on vacation? A bit young and stiff to be retired. Maybe she wasn't a pilot at all and Beryl was just overthinking things.

"Excuse me." She called down. "Where did you get that jacket?"

Breaking Point

@Norik@Caasicam

Horizon Parade Route-Beryl Harken

"No problem." Beryl took a drink of whatever drink she had been carrying around and she leaned over the railing next to Nova. "The parade should be starting any minute now. Kind of surprised we can't hear it yet to be honest."

Breaking Point

@Norik@Caasicam

Horizon Parade Route-Beryl Harken

The interior of the building was pleasantly cool, the air conditioning going full blast to keep up with the press of bodies and the many open doors and windows. It wasn't long before the two found Beryl despite the crowded interior of the building. The athletic woman held a red plastic cup above her head as she wove through the crowd, her gaze scanning the entrance for the pair. When she saw them her face lit up with a smile and she waved them over.

"Follow me." She had to speak up to be heard over the boisterous party-goers and the music pumping over the speakers. Whoever owned the house seemed to be fairly well off considering the decorations and modern systems in view. "The balcony is quiet enough that we won't have to yell to hear each other."

Breaking Point

@Norik@Caasicam

Horizon Parade Route-Beryl Harken

A smile spread over the higher woman's face at the question. It had been a busy day.

"Little of this. little of that. Spent the morning jumping between about five different beach parties and cookouts. Don't think I ever actually got a formal invite to the last one. You'd be surprised at how easy it is join random parties during a big event like Colony Day." Beryl chuckled slightly and blew an errant strand of blue-black hair out of her face. "Anyway, I was invited to this party, and it has a perfect view of the parade route. It's pretty open so come on up and we can watch it together."

Breaking Point

@Norik@Caasicam

Horizon Parade Route-Beryl Harken

"Marcus, Martell! Up here!"

The cry came from above and slightly behind the pair. Any glances for the source of the noise would quickly locate one Test Pilot Beryl Harken leaning over the railing of a second story balcony overlooking the street. The double doors into the room beyond was open and the sounds of a party could be faintly heard over the sound of the crowd. Beryl herself was out of uniform, one might say extremely so. Clad in bikini top and shorts with a triangle of some sort of light floral cloth tied around her waist in a manner that was obviously more decorative than functional. All in all she looked more like one of the civilian tourists than a skilled Walker pilot.

"You two looking for a place to watch the parade?"

Breaking Point

Beryl Harken

Name: Beryl "Otter" Harken

Age: 24

Sex: Female

Profession/Rank: Test Pilot

Appearance:

Beryl Harken

Personality: Beryl is a woman of rather extreme emotions. Thankfully for those around her most of those emotions very, very positive. The kind of older sister many an orphan only dream of having. She takes a personal interest in the well-being of those around her. Quickly forming friendships or almost quasi-family bonds with particularly close friends.

Of course those emotional extremes apply to her less pleasant feelings as well. In particular her anger. Oh she gets annoyed more or less the same as anyone else, but if something makes her truly angry it triggers a deeply set rage that won't rest until the source has been dealt with.

Skills: Beryl Harken is the consummate athlete. She excels at anything including hand/eye coordination, three dimensional awareness or physical acuity. But what she particularly excels at is swimming. To anyone watching she seems more like an aquatic animal rather than a land born mammal. In fact that's where she got her nickname from. One of her fellow swim team members called her that back at the academy and it's stuck to her ever since.

It's those natural talents that earned her spot in the seat of an Assault Walker more than any booksmarts. While she got passable grades in military school it was her ability to translate her physical ability and personal awareness into highly fluid Walker movements that earned her a spot in the cockpit.

Weakness: If she isn't careful Beryl's rage can consume her. Driving her with single minded determination to the point where she ignores her own well-being. Additionally, while she is extremely caring towards friends and allies. She has trouble extending that same mercy towards those she considers enemies. Even if the rules of war calls for it.

History: Beryl was abandoned in the steps of a church while she was still a baby. Not even old enough to remember the faces of her parents. So as she grew up she considered herself more a daughter of the orphanage than anything else. The Father who cared for her and her many siblings was her father as far as she was concerned. While she was eventually adopted the young woman never forgot her first home, a significant portion of her paycheck still makes its way there through various gifts and donations.

It was from her newly adopted mother, Lasai Harken, that she received her last name. The years the two spent together were happy ones even if they aren't particularly wealthy. Lasai had enough financial leeway to raise a child but not much more. So when Beryl turned eighteen she join the Federation Armed Forces. It wasn't a very hard decision, a steady job, free higher level education and at the time the military was doing a lot more civil work than military. Helping out disaster victims held a certain appeal to her distinctly Christian morals.

The next four years were spent as a ground pounder at a quiet military base while she got her psych degree from one of the nearby colleges. After that, Officer Training School where she switched to the Walker Corp. Her natural talents made picking up Scout piloting easy. Or as easy as learning how to pilot a giant multi ton humanoid mass of advanced electronics and machinery could be. When her commanders were convinced she could actually walk in the advanced war machines she was shipped off to Horizon to act as a test pilot for experimental Scout designs.

Equipment:
Keys
Wallet
Phone
9mm pistol
Multitool
Belt knife
Boot knife
Backup knife

Breaking Point

@Krayzikk

Beryl's mech.

Walker CS

Arsenal Walker:

Base Model: FAWX-09 Scout

Designation: Stream

Appearance:

Armaments: Two AWSMG-14s. Smaller weapons designed send out a hail of tightly aimed 30mm rounds at targets in medium to close ranges. Stream's primary load out is comprised mostly of explosive armor piercing rounds. Despite their relatively small calibers they are adept at eating through heavy battle armor and wrecking delicate internals. In case of infantry and unarmored vehicles a couple magazines of shrapnel rounds also usually finds their way into various ammo feeds.

In the spirit 'Stick all the experiments in the same place and see what happens,' Stream's close quarters weaponry is also different from the norm. Rather than the traditional short sword or knives one might expect from a Scout chassis it carries a bandolier of silver spikes. At the push of a mechanical button at the base of the weapon each spike will warm to armor melting levels. After either ten seconds or upon receipt of an encoded command from the wielder the spike will detonate an extremely stable and heat resistant compound.

Since it's rather difficult to dodge missiles Stream has a pair of cranialy mounted 20mm autocannons. Each has a small degree of individual movement to allow for the simultaneous engagement of multiple targets.

Experimental Systems: Scout class Federation Arsenal Walkers cannot take much in the way of damage. This constitutes a problem for a three story tall war machine. Without even taking into account the possibility of hostile Walkers the battlefield is still full of threats that can theoretically take down a Scout. Unsurprisingly, it is not a very popular Walker frame. So of course the folks at Horizon's AWOL team couldn't help but take a crack at the problem.

Rather than add armor and make it a light Warrior they decided to focus on the frame's already present strengths. Namely the high levels of agility granted by the lack of protective armor coupled with the impressive onboard sensor and computer suite. A series of EM thrusters were placed in strategic locations around frame to allow for sudden and extreme busts of speed. Not enough for flight but enough to make the thing more of a gymnast than anything that size had any right to be.

Next was a set of highly advanced tracking and prediction algorithms. Incoming fire and potential incoming fire was tracked and the best escape route mapped out for the pilot. The end result was an insanely agile Arsenal Walker with a limited ability to dodge bullets.

Weakness: As a Scout class Walker frame the Stream has very little armor. While it won't die from a single hit the operator handbook strongly advises against taking unnecessary damage.

In addition the experimental systems pose a series of additional problems. It takes a very special type of pilot to handle such a nimble machine. Both extremely quick reflexes and the ability to handle some nasty g-forces. Both traits more likely found in a fighter pilot or one of the new Raptors.

And just to make it a genuine headache to pilot, the Incoming Fire Prediction Systems have some pretty serious problems in both the software and user interface areas that will need to be worked out before it can be shipped to the rest of the Federation's forces. While it works great in small scale engagements or one on one fights, put the system on a full battlefield and the influx of information starts to overwhelm both computers and pilot. Efforts have been made to deal with the problems by limiting the range of the system to about five kilometers around Stream. That or active targeting radar.

Pilot(s): Beryl Harken

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Beacon Academy-Dust Apps-Beryl Harken

The class was really, genuinely, truly interesting. Blowing the student's minds at the start had been some inspired teaching. Both the impressive dust display and the breakdown of how it had been accomplished. Everyone in the room was now focused on the diminutive teacher at the front, many with raised hands and doing their best to show how into the material they were.

Beryl was not one of those people.

Oh she was as interested as any other student there. Dust was a significant part of her hunting style. It complimented her semblance and reduced the strain on her aura. An essential bit of synergy that her current state only reinforced. But no matter how much she wanted to share at the professor with laser like intensity her body just wasn't cooperating. Her physical form screamed for sleep while her mind desperately tried to stay conscious. Luke's little test kick had sent a spike of adrenalin through her and earned him the best mumbled grunt of thanks she could manage.

Even with that she found her eyelids drooping all too soon. Her tail twitched sluggishly in irritation as she mentally berated herself.

Come ooooooooooon Beryl! You can't afford to fall asleep now. Especially not in the new teachers first class...wait, what if she calls on me? Please don't call on me!

The mild terror and subtle attempts at becoming just another one of the faceless silhouettes proved to be quite helpful in keeping the clutches of sleep at bay. Now if only she could avoid having to speak up for the rest of the class. There was no way she could speak right now without slurring half her words.

Breaking Point

@Krayzikk

Beryl, awaaaaaay.

Beryl Harken

Name: Beryl "Otter" Harken

Age: 24

Sex: Female

Profession/Rank: Test Pilot

Appearance:

Beryl Harken

Personality: Beryl is a woman of rather extreme emotions. Thankfully for those around her most of those emotions very, very positive. The kind of older sister many an orphan only dream of having. She takes a personal interest in the well-being of those around her. Quickly forming friendships or almost quasi-family bonds with particularly close friends.

Of course those emotional extremes apply to her less pleasant feelings as well. In particular her anger. Oh she gets annoyed more or less the same as anyone else, but if something makes her truly angry it triggers a deeply set rage that won't rest until the source has been dealt with.

Skills: Beryl Harken is the consummate athlete. She excels at anything including hand/eye coordination, three dimensional awareness or physical acuity. But what she particularly excels at is swimming. To anyone watching she seems more like an aquatic animal rather than a land born mammal. In fact that's where she got her nickname from. One of her fellow swim team members called her that back at the academy and it's stuck to her ever since.

It's those natural talents that earned her spot in the seat of an Assault Walker more than any booksmarts. While she got passable grades in military school it was her ability to translate her physical ability and personal awareness into highly fluid Walker movements that earned her a spot in the cockpit.

Weakness: If she isn't careful Beryl's rage can consume her. Driving her with single minded determination to the point where she ignores her own well-being. Additionally, while she is extremely caring towards friends and allies. She has trouble extending that same mercy towards those she considers enemies. Even if the rules of war calls for it.

History: Beryl was abandoned in the steps of a church while she was still a baby. Not even old enough to remember the faces of her parents. So as she grew up she considered herself more a daughter of the orphanage than anything else. The Father who cared for her and her many siblings was her father as far as she was concerned. While she was eventually adopted the young woman never forgot her first home, a significant portion of her paycheck still makes its way there through various gifts and donations.

It was from her newly adopted mother, Lasai Harken, that she received her last name. The years the two spent together were happy ones even if they aren't particularly wealthy. Lasai had enough financial leeway to raise a child but not much more. So when Beryl turned eighteen she join the Federation Armed Forces. It wasn't a very hard decision, a steady job, free higher level education and at the time the military was doing a lot more civil work than military. Helping out disaster victims held a certain appeal to her distinctly Christian morals.

The next four years were spent as a ground pounder at a quiet military base while she got her psych degree from one of the nearby colleges. After that, Officer Training School where she switched to the Walker Corp. Her natural talents made picking up Scout piloting easy. Or as easy as learning how to pilot a giant multi ton humanoid mass of advanced electronics and machinery could be. When her commanders were convinced she could actually walk in the advanced war machines she was shipped off to Horizon to act as a test pilot for experimental Scout designs.

Equipment:
Keys
Wallet
Phone
9mm pistol
Multitool
Belt knife
Boot knife
Backup knife

The War of the Three: Exodus

@Lmpkio

Saef Harken-First Pyramid

It was getting crowded in here, what with all the undead, the different fighters and now multiple Guardians. Good thing Lucifus and Saef were sticking to the edges of the pyramid where nobody was paying attention. The only trouble so far had come from a couple of skeletons that had gotten lost. Easily dealt with by the Archangel.

All in all Saef was left with plenty of time to observe the battle without interruption. His scans of the place bringing a frown to his face. As he lept over a particularly tangled mess of vines and wood he turned to his companion and spoke.

"I cannot find Chen anywhere and Goddess Amaterasu fights alone. We split our forces because we believed it would result in a pair of mobile teams. Apparently the battlefield had other plans."

Of course this brought the question of where Deva's bodyguard had gotten to. The chances of him falling this early in the battle were slim in the extreme. If nothing else such a conflict would have been immediately noticeable across the entire area of conflict. If not dead than perhaps elsewhere on the field or called away entirely. He certainly wasn't inside with them, as helpful as that would be. His control over the local plant life would have been an immense boon.