"...Worthless. This is Warden Derrick. All soldiers: Fight to kill. All Prisoners are considered Expendable. All of them are to be terminated, effective immediately. Fourth Floor is mine. Bring anybody you can't handle here, and I'll handle it." Arno glanced up at the ceiling with an eyebrow raised, but before he could formulate a reply, a thunderclap of noise reverberated throughout the halls. Arno was no stranger to loud noises, the engine of his airship was deafening if you were standing next to it, but the suddenness of this made him jump and go into a readied stance. As soon as the sound stopped, Arno looked over to the source of the noise. A massive creature, the stuff of nightmares emerged into sight. An aquatic creature, but nothing Arno knew as natural to the isles. A predator, Arno thought, teeth presumably sharp enough to rend armor, tentacles with suckers to grip its prey. Arno grimaced, it was in the way of their escape, he would need a small, fast ship to get by that creature. Anything larger would stand no chance. "WHAT!? T-That thing...that's not even a monster, right? That's one of those Primal Beasts!" The Erune woman shouted in surprise. A primal beast? Here? Arno thought to himself, right on the day of their prison break, this likely was no coincidence. Standing near the hangerbay entrance, the small Harvin scanned the docked airships. There were normal patrol boats, likely not fast enough to evade the Primal just outside. He needed something smaller... something...
Arno gasped, he saw it. That familiar chassis there was no mistaking it. The fuselage bracketed by the twin booms, the swept wings, the sky camouflage. The Manta's Star symbol. He felt something press against his chest and his face grow hot. He balled his fists and his face contorted into a snarl. The Akula. They had taken her apart. Defiled her. He saw the wing panels opened, the internal cannon ammunition clips strewn on tables. A small crane above it had taken out the central auxiliary engine and it rested beside the Akula. Other panels were open, exposing the wiring, mechanical components and skeleton of the airship. He took a deep breath and felt the anger boil inside of him, only he and his crew were allowed to do that to the Akula, not anyone else. He took a step forward towards his airship, despite the guards and prisoners already inside of the hanger bay. His sight was on his Akula.
He didn't hear any other footsteps beside him. He glanced back, his companions frozen in place, looking back into the hall. This upset Arno even further. He felt the urge to attack something, to break something, and he stomped towards them to see what had halted them. Another Harvin. "Soldier. Why are those two not dead? And why are they in possession of their things?" She asked them, Arno's companions in guard uniform, he assumed. She was pale, had short purple hair, and a face that Arno could admittedly look at for a long time. If it weren't for her bloody knife and the Primal just ouside. "I asked you a question." she coldly stated. But her beauty was not the focus of Arno's attention right now. He glared at her, then at his companions posing as guards. He inhaled deeply, gritting his teeth and shaking. "I'm trying to get to my damned airship!" he shouted, at his companions mostly. "My ship is the only thing fast enough to even survive against that Primal and I'm going to gods damned fight it!" he projected at an impressive volume, he took another deep breath, "So this whole damn island doesn't end up an unmarked graveyard!" no doubt the guards and prisoners inside the hanger heard him. Arno now looked to the purple haired Harvin and pointed an accusatory finger at her, "And I'm the only damn pilot trained to fly it! That ship," Arno pointed behind him at his Akula, "I made, I'm trained to fly, so before you blow me off and say one of your lackeys can fly anything, I'm the best pilot for that ship and anyone else would just drive it into the dirt!" He inhaled once again, "Now I'm going to put my ship back together and fight that god forsaken Primal so it doesn't turn this place into a pile of rubble!" Arno shouted, at the top of his lungs, essentially. He stormed off into the hanger, towards the Akula.
“You sure Kagami should do it? You two are the talent, you know?” Gilvan whispered to Arno, “Just leave it to me or something. You two could be the helms-.” He was cut off by the Erune woman's loud speaking, she began directing the freed prisoners around, leading them quite capably. Arno just smiled back at Gilvan. "Don't worry about it, we're freeing them, they're in our debt. Though it seems the issue has been solved." Arno replied, looking at the now freed prisoners freeing other prisoners. He smiled a little wider, with everyone out, their chances of escaping went up.
Arno followed the Erune woman around, he found her to be a charismatic leader, natural even. Certainly practiced a little at least. Her direction of the admittedly large group kept the guards from catching on and sending a whole platoon after them. It wasn't long for them to reach the Prisoner Properties room under her guidance, and Arno wondered how she knew the place in and out. She was a recent prisoner, just like him, but she knew the place much better than he did. For now though, she was leading them, and she seemed genuine. Her ulterior motives, if she had any, didn't matter yet. Arno was amongst the first to run in, already there were a few people rifling through the boxes to get to their things. Arno searched, and found a box with his name stamped on the side. With a heave, he pulled it off the shelf, the box smashing onto the ground and cracking. He pried open the lid and found his clothes. He grinned and with an audible grunt, surprisingly ripped off his prisoner overalls right off his chest. He tossed the rags aside and quickly slipped on his flight suit, many rigs, vests, and tucked his helmet into his jacket. The sight of a Harvin wearing a flight suit, comprised of all sorts of strange riggings was an eyebrow raiser to most, but Arno didn't care.
"Now I look like myself." He declared with a smile. He dove back into the box and pulled out a large handgun, accompanied by a paper box. The paper box held the ammunition, and Arno loaded the three barreled pistol quickly, then slid it into its holster on his thigh. He emptied the rest of the loose ammunition into one of his many pouches. He looked back in, a slight worry on his face, but after a few seconds the worry melted away. He slowly reached in and pulled out a strange key. It was a short triangular rod, studded with cubes and pocked with slots. On one end was a small handle, and the other end was a circle with a star shape indented into it. After gazing at it for a short moment, he pocketed it into one of his jackets pockets. His wallet was noticeably gone, as well with all the money he had, but another look showed that there was a slip of paper in the box. Shipping orders to some sort of research facility. Arno scowled at it and ripped it to pieces, letting the shredded paper fall to his feet. He then spit on them.
"Alright! Anything you had when you got here is in here...probably. Let's get our stuff and leave." The Erune Woman announced. She took a few steps before noticing something, "Let's...not touch that." she said rather quietly. Arno followed her gaze and spotted a jar containing a beating, bloodied heart. Arno blinked at it, scratched his face, looked at a nearby prisoner who was also looking at it, then said "Aren't hearts not supposed to beat when they're not in a body?" he wondered aloud. The prisoner next to him just shrugged. Neither of them were doctors or biologists.
“Right. Let’s not touch that,” Gilvan stated, he turned to Kagami and Arno, “Are you two quite alrigh-?” he paused. A look of sadness glinted in his eyes. Arno rose an eyebrow, and gave Gilvan an o-k hand gesture, to signify that he was good to go. Gilvan turned to the Erune Woman. “Hey… you don’t really think you’re going to manage getting all of us out, do you?” Arno suddenly realized why he looked that way, with limited space, the prisoners would quickly turn on each other. The Erune Woman explained that she didn't plan this far, and that she would figure it out later. She gestured them to follow her, and Arno did, pistol resting in it's holster. It wasn't long until she had to halt them. 'Three guards' she declared, then slithered away soundlessly. That impressed Arno. Then a moment later, after a few grunts and clanks, she returned. Three sets of Zweite Military Personnel armor. That impressed Arno even more. Not only did she have a light step, she was capable of taking down three trained guards wearing armor, she was rather fearsome, Arno thought to himself.
"So, my plan is we disguise as guards, and get inside the ship past all the guards. Then, we can pick them off and get out of here scott free!" The Erune Woman put the armor on, "A bit stuffy, and reeks of sweat and dissapointment, but not to shabby. Gilvan, you get one, and uh..." she looked down at Kagami and Arno. "W-Well, you two can share one...stacked up, you're about big enough. Arno should be on top though, since his voice is deeper." Arno looked at the armor, then at Kagami. "No way." He declared, "I'm not not sitting on someone's shoulders like a child." he spoke with conviction. He inhaled deeply and looked around, his eyes resting on Gilvan. "You're strong right? How about this as an alternative, I give one of you my gun, call it a 'trophy'. The two of you carries the both of us, while we appear knocked out, into the hanger. The hanger would be a place they'd want to keep secure. Any important prisoners they'd want to keep alive, they'd put there under guard. Presume we," Arno pointed at himself and at Kagami, "are the two important prisoners they'd want to keep alive." the Harvin looked to the two taller people in front of him, "We walk in, they let us in, then when we're mixed in with them we all get up and take down whatever guards are there and take the available ships. Depending on how many guards there are. We might need to just say the Warden demanded us two get evacuated from the island until the riot dies down." Arno added.
Arno's eyes snapped open, fully awake. He felt... not all there. Both detached and attached to his body, a state that only existed in dreams and visions, but Arno wasn't aware of it. It felt natural, like it always was, at the time. He was falling, a dream he hadn't had in years. Only this time he wasn't falling darkness, it was through the sky. That familiar sky that he often soared through in his Akula. It was sunrise, he saw the first rays of light from the horizon, bathing the sky in a morning crimson. When the light came, so did the shadow. The silhouette of a massive creature appeared as the sun rose behind it. Horns, wings and scales, a massive shape, wingspan longer than it was tall. The dragon was bound, possibly by its own permission, it was blinded but it stared at Arno with an intensity that suggested it could peer into his soul if it wanted.
It spoke. Not with its voice, but with its mind. The weight of its speech was oppressing, Arno feeling it echo through his head. It spoke of its name. Dawn. The start of the day, the start of everything. And it came with with a warning, that death was just around the corner. Arno focused on the massive being in front of him, as the sun rose higher, the dragon filled more and more of his sight. Arno felt... confused. He was to decide the fate of the world? The sky needed him? Arno didn't know, didn't have an answer, and as if Dawn knew Arno's answer, he continued.
"Those who's fates you will entwine with your own... what will you do when the time comes to untie them? When bonds become only a hindrance to your aspirations?" Dawn had asked. The question lingered in Arno's mind, something he had never quite thought of. His mind wandered to his sister, had she thought of this same question? Did she decide to cut loose, and to follow her dreams, dreams that he would hinder? Arno felt his chest heave with pain, gripping his core. No. He wouldn't, he knew how it felt, and he wouldn't wish it on his friends. The team is comprised of individuals, but progresses as one. One sight, one goal, one mind. Again, it was as if Dawn knew his answer. The massive dragon spoke again.
"This world has need of strength... dare you to carry that burden on your shoulders, when you yourself have failed before you have even begun?" Dawn asked. Arno didn't know if he wanted to, or if he could. He blinked, but if a Dragon was addressing him then he must have the ability to. Dawn asked what motivated Arno. To him, it was an easy question to answer. To soar, to fly, to see things unseen by the people of today. But that question brought doubt, did he truly want to do that? Dawn's wings moved, Arno watched as the limbs moved, graceful but with force the wings came down and the falling stopped. Arno was suspended in the air. He glanced around, he noticed, in the distance, that birds had stopped moving, the clouds ceased, and the sun stopped rising. Time itself had halted at Dawns will. Arno took the time to examine Dawn himself, the massive dragon in front of him. He stared at the dragons curves, how the wind would flow around his body, at the muscles that looked strong enough to rend entire islands into two, powering the massive wings. Dawn could really fly, Arno had concluded. Then things moved once more, he saw his family, his home, the many prototypes of the Akula, his workshop and the many airships of his homeland. The light slipped away, and Dawn roared, a distant, but thunderous shout. The binds loosened, and from behind it came blinding light. Arno's eyes snapped open, fully awake. He felt sluggish, groggy, his eyes blurred and his mouth dry. He felt the rough cloth of his cell cot, and the inadequate padding. The colorless concrete cell and its steel bars draining him. Arno took a deep breath, then heard an ear piercing clang. Arno practically jumped up from his cot, surprised. He looked at the cell door, the lock smashed by a rock. Arno looked to his cellmate, Kagami, both of them were relatively recent additions to the Ziggurat Prison Island. Arno looked back at the door, then walked towards it. He gripped one of the bars and gave it a weak push, the cell door didn't open all the way, it clinked against the lock. Arno looked closely at it, while the lock hadn't been completely broken, more than several weak spots and cracks were visible. He looked back at Kagami, mouthing 'Sixty seconds' at him, then he looked across the hall and did the same to Gilvan.
Arno rattled the cell gate a few times, and roughly a minute later, nothing happened. Now that he knew it was clear, Arno took a few steps back, then ran at the gate. He lifted his leg and planted his foot at the lock, having to aim his leg a little too high for comfort. But despite that, the lock gave way and the lock bent open. The door swung out, and Arno approached the opening. He glanced left and right, no guards. And right next to the cell opening was two keys. One key for the shackles, and the other for Gilvan's cell. That Erune woman must have paid off the guards on this level. After all nobody had ever broken out of Ziggurat, even if a prisoner got out of the cell the considerable garrison of guards would grab them. If the garrison failed to find them, it was a floating island, they had nowhere to go. To those guards that the Eurene bribed, this was just a few extra meals. To Arno, and the other two with him, this was an opportunity at freedom. One that Arno intended to take. He quickly undid the shackles and tossed the key to Kagami, then he got to work on unlocking Galvin's cell. He turned to the both of them, speaking in a hushed voice. "Right. Now we meet up with our Merchant. Galvin and I will go and meet with her, Kagami, could you release everyone on this block?" Arno asked him, offering the key, "Once we're all out, we let them throw a riot. In the chaos we make our way to the Inmate Property Room to get our equipment. After that, we make our way to the hanger." Arno tapped the top of his wrist, as if he had a watch there. "Lets go." He said, picking up the circular rock and tossing it to Galvin.
AFFS Subaltern Johan Rosales-Eichberg Rifleman RFL-5D
With one final stomp, the Thunderbolt's pilot had enough, the pirate ejected. A quick series of muffled pops and the cockpit shot up into the sky, parachutes shooting out once the cockpit got to a sufficient altitude. It dawned on Johan that the pilot was a person just piloting a mech, when before his enemy was a furious war machine, 65t heavy and bristling with weaponry, now his enemy was a person floating back down to the ground in a metal tin. Why had that pilot gone so berserk? Johan looked to the fallen Urbanmech, now smoking. The way that Urbanmech left cover to help... Johan looked at Lyris's Griffin. If she were in that much trouble, would he rush in like the Urbanmech? He blinked in thought for a second, they might have been friends, maybe lovers, who knows. Johan marked the drifting cockpit and the fallen Urbanmech as enemy pilots for their support vehicles. Maybe the Urbanmech pilot survived, maybe the pilot was just knocked out. Johan took a few deep breaths to try and calm his heart, still hammering like a drum.
Then the communications link opened up with battle chatter once more after the few seconds of silence. A group of three fast movers, 20-40 tons, was moving at the northeast. The Harassers? Johan pointed his Rifleman towards the new threat, and just overhead a fusillade of artillery shells and missiles whistled towards the enemies. They burst midair, tossing their payloads of mines across a wide area, now marked as minefields on Johan's battlemap.
Captain Hart spoke up, "The dropship is powering up. But we have a window to disable it if we can handle this engagement quickly." Bjornson replied quickly, offering himself to take point against the dropship, he sounded almost rattled. Johan wouldn't be surprised if everyone but Captain Hart sounded a little rattled at this point. While the patrol was still around, their flank was covered by the newly laid mines. If they ran at speed, maybe they could take out the dropship without even bothering with the group of three enemies. If they took too long fighting that patrol, a dropship could easily be armed with over a hundred LRMs, a multitude of autocannons, whole arrays of lasers and PPCs. They wouldn't have enough firepower to even get close to the dropship. Personally Johan was for attacking the dropship immediately, before they could power up their weapons, but it was up to Captain Hart personally. Johan looked to Lyris's Griffin and sent her a message, "Are you okay?" He asked, just barely above a mutter.
My pilot, Arno has lead his own engineering project so he has experience leading and delegating. And he's not a lone wolf so he also has that going for him.
Race: Harvin Element: Wind Home: Omphalos Island is a massive island higher up in the atmosphere, one of the highest in the territory. Despite this, the island is a popular crossroads, placed right between the frontier islands and the inner islands in the mid-south region. Travelers often stop there for rest, repairs and supplies. Mercenary groups often place their base of operations here, and explorers often meet here. Being so high up, it is expected that the island is cold, but the island rests above a natural anomaly. Hot air rises from the depths directly below it, and by the time the air reaches the island, it has cooled to a comfortable temperature. Omphalos is famously known for being neutral ground, a haven for outcasts, mercenaries, explorers, researchers, librarians, and more. The altitude gives the island a natural defensive advantage, the amount of militia the island can raise, and the amount of ships always present there gives any potential attacker pause. The island itself is star shaped, with four points. Each point being primarily docks, shipyards, airfields and engineering districts where inventors conduct experiments with new technologies. The center of the island is the main population center of the island, with residential districts, markets, libraries, taverns and halls for groups. The center of the island has several lakes, full of creatures small and big. Surrounding these lakes are parks, letting the populace relax from the busy of the markets and docks. Dream: Arno dreams to be a respected skyfarer, an explorer who has seen the depths of the planet, the stars beyond the skies, and the lands behind the storms. While he admits these dreams to others, he has one goal he will never admit. He has a question to ask, and nobody knows the answer to it, he hopes to find the answer.
Gimmicks: Arno is a fairly inexperienced combatant, his most impressive skill being that he's able to fast draw his pistol, making him likely to get a first shot off. After that, his inexperience shows. However, fighting on the ground isn't what he excels at. Arno is a natural pilot. Flying his custom built airship fighter, he can dodge, weave and fly circles around most things that fly in the air.
Inventory: Arno carries a short falchion sword, despite being very inexperienced with swords, he carries it just in case. He also has the pistol his parents built, The Talon. A triple barreled handgun that holds more like a carbine in a Harvin's hands. The pistol has a bayonet attached to the barrel that swings out when the user is in close quarters. The Talon is a masterfully crafted weapon, steel, dark ironwood, emblazoned with brass, the gun is heavy, sturdy and reliable. The barrel has been decorated with the head of a dragon, giving it an intimidating appearance. Arno keeps it on a holster strapped to his thigh, when he's flying his plane however, he takes the holster off and either leaves it strapped to the side of the cockpit, or onto his flight vest.
Arno's airship fighter, the Akula CI-4G, is a single seat, twin boom, triple engine, dihedral sweptback wing, three-surface-aircraft "interceptor". Designed and constructed by Arno, his father, and a few close family friends. The Akula is the cutting edge of airship development, a prototype, an experiment, but to Arno, she is something else entirely.
The Akula is armed with two highly advanced semi-automatic 30mm cannons, giving it incredible firepower for its relatively small size. The two cannons, mounted in the two nacelles, are connected through a complex convergence system, allowing the pilot to manually set the weapon convergence mid flight without too much trouble. The ammunition for the weapon system itself is all custom made, meaning the rounds used is incredibly rare, and tailored specifically to this airship. The cannon shells most commonly loaded into the Akula's magazines are an even mix of Armor Piercing Incindiary Tracer and High Explosive Incindiary Tracer, though more specilized ammunition exists at the Akula's home.
The all metal construction of the plane gives it impressive durability and structural integrity, and while all the surface area contributes to drag, it's twin engines, coupled with the third auxiliary engine for boost makes this one of the fastest airships around. The cockpit is incredibly complex, with dozens of dials, markings, levers, switches, a throttle stick, joystick, foot pedals and wheels, the plane is practically unflyable to anyone who hasn't spent months training for it. The amount of controls, coupled with the amount of control surfaces on the plane itself, makes it fly like a wild animal. It has incredible maneuverability, and an inexperienced pilot will quickly get disoriented by his own maneuvers if they're not used to the speed of the airship. Somewhat surprisingly, the cockpit and airship is built around having a Harvin pilot. The seat is small and the cockpit itself is scaled accordingly, making it extremely difficult for anyone of any other race to even get into the airship.
The airship itself is painted in hues of white, skyblue and greys, giving it decent camouflage on a good, sunny day. The vertical stabilizers have the symbol of a manta ray on a star, and the nose of the Akula has a mouth filled with sharp teeth painted on it, with two black beady eyes right above the mouth.
Appearance: Arno is a Harvin. He's short, physically weak, looks like a child and he hates it. He works towards moving his appearance away from the typical Harvin, and his efforts have shown results to those who pay attention. Despite being an average Harvin height, he's physically more able than the typical Harvin, he looks more mature, looking like a young teenager rather than a child, and he sports an easy to maintain lampshade pyramid mustache. Arno keeps his black hair short, only two or three inches long, foregoing the more fancy longer hair styles that higher class people wear. His hair is unkept, unstyled, and wild, but when he puts on his leather pilots helmet, it doesn't get in the way and that's what matters to him. His mustache is however, well groomed, maintained, and what he spends his mornings on. He grew one, without a beard after finding out that he grew a poor beard, in order to make himself look more mature. It helps only a little.
For fashion, he wears very little in the way of casual clothing. His wardrobe consists of primarily engineer's long sleeve overalls, shirts, pants, and his flight suit. His flight suit is by far his most expensive outfit, consisting of many parts when he goes out flying. He wears a black slightly baggy cargo style pants with brown leather boots that goes over the pant legs midway to his calves. A white short sleeved shirt and over that, a brown leather jacket that is incredibly warm, a cross between a fencing style and a bomber style leather jacket, with the zipper on the left side. For his hands, Arno has leather pilot gauntlets, and he has a leather helmet for his head. The helmet has buckles to secure his goggles and oxygen mask in place while in flight. On top of all of this, he wears a g-suit, a custom made suit that goes over his legs and torso like overalls, and is filled with empty bladders. When plugged into his airship cockpit, the bladders will fill with compressed air, combating the g-forces that will make Arno black out when he does high-g maneuvers. Finally he has a light flight vest with several pouches, this vest also contains his oxygen tank for his mask. When going out, he will leave most of this behind in the cockpit, only taking his pants, boots, shirt and jacket out to public areas.
Personality: Arno is an easily irritated, quick to speak up, and very expressive with his vocabulary. When he gets angry, he would have been intimidating, if he were normal sized. Instead he's half the size of a human adult and seeing this tiny person shouting curses and hexes is humorous to some, much to Arno's further irritation. Despite being so quick to say what's on his mind, he is naturally curious, and will actually shut up and listen if someone is educating him about something, he has a respect for knowledge of every kind and he shows it. Despite being a little bit of a jerk, his true self is revealed when he's with his airship, the Akula. He gently cleans it, barrels, air intakes, exhaust ports, and engine nozzles, when he's maintaining it he's quiet and focused, much calmer and much quieter, almost like he doesn't want to disturb the airship. He treats his airship with the upmost respect, and expects everyone else to treat it the same way he does.
Background: Arno was born on Omphalos Isle to a family of engineers and workers. His mother designed airships and his father constructed weapons, with his uncles and aunts int the same business. Arno had a brother and two sisters, and they all stuck together. Together, they played on the airship docks, go to know explorers and mercenaries, they explored their island carelessly. After all, if they were together, they were invincible. Then the eldest sister disappeared, after two weeks of searching, the people of the island gave up, and Arno stayed in his room. For three years he wallowed in his sorrow, often looking out his window and seeing the birds flying by.
Then one morning he felt a touch on his hand, he sensed a familiarity, and opened his eyes. His room was empty, but his window was open. There on the window sill was a large bird, hawkish, with piercing eyes. He knew this bird, the king of birds on Omphalos, a predator that hunted even monsters. For it to grace him with its presence was humbling, exciting, awe inspiring. Feelings other than sadness, sorrow and worthlessness. It stared into Arno's eyes and shrieked, then flew off. Arno smiled for a short moment, but thought nothing of it. The next morning, he felt it again, then four of the birds were on his window sill. The one from yesterday, and three smaller ones. There was a fresh fish on his sill, and they ate the fish. The largest bird left, then two others having had their fill followed. The last, had no fish, and there was none left. The smallest bird looked at the fish bones, nipping at whatever scraps was left. Arno went downstairs and grabbed a piece of meat from his family kitchen, then fed it to the fourth bird. It took the meat and ate it quickly, offering Arno a scream as repayment. He watched as the smallest bird took off after the largest.
Then Arno was struck by inspiration. He cleaned up their mess on his window sill, grabbed his paper and pens, and sketched. At first he drew them, the birds. He always wondered how they flew, and he studied their flight and their wings. He sketched existing airship designs and worked to understand how the air flowed around the birds, and around the airships. For the first time in three years he left the home and gathered materials, he constructed a basic wind tunnel and went to work. He made small scale airships of existing design, small scale birds, and studied the air flow. He looked at more experimental designs and tested those, then tested his own designs. He wanted to fly, not how everyone else flew, floating on airships of wood and balloons. He wanted to fly. Like the birds of prey that graced him with their presence, he wanted to soar through the sky like a predator. His airship had to be fast. It had to be maneuverable, strong, with a bite that surprised its foes. He settled on a design that he had never seen before, that nobody had ever seen before, and got to work. He gathered the attention of his father, mother, siblings, uncles, aunts and friends of the family. He took an empty hanger and turned it into his workshop, building the first generation of his airship. The prototype CI-1. For the next decade he would work tirelessly, constructing more prototypes, more chassis, changing what wasn't working and improving what was. His tests revealed a host of problems, when turning too harshly he would faint, and Arno had to figure out why. With the aid of a doctor, they solved the problem. As Arno in his airship climbed to higher and higher altitudes, higher than any airship had ever gone before, the temperature froze the control surfaces and the air was getting too thin for Arno to breathe. With the help of his mother and siblings they solved that. During a flight endurance test, Arno looked to the horizon and wondered what was beyond it, what was beyond what he could see in the sky? And below in the depths? When Arno wasn't eating, sleeping or relieving himself he was working on his airship, now dubbed the Akula.
During the eighth flight endurance test, the first long distance flight for the Akula model CI-4G, he was captured by military forces and sent to Ziggurat. They confiscated his helmet, flight vest, and airship, locking Arno into a cell.
Race: Harvin Element: Wind Home: Omphalos Island is a massive island higher up in the atmosphere, one of the highest in the territory. Despite this, the island is a popular crossroads, placed right between the frontier islands and the inner islands in the mid-south region. Travelers often stop there for rest, repairs and supplies. Mercenary groups often place their base of operations here, and explorers often meet here. Being so high up, it is expected that the island is cold, but the island rests above a natural anomaly. Hot air rises from the depths directly below it, and by the time the air reaches the island, it has cooled to a comfortable temperature. Omphalos is famously known for being neutral ground, a haven for outcasts, mercenaries, explorers, researchers, librarians, and more. The altitude gives the island a natural defensive advantage, the amount of militia the island can raise, and the amount of ships always present there gives any potential attacker pause. The island itself is star shaped, with four points. Each point being primarily docks, shipyards, airfields and engineering districts where inventors conduct experiments with new technologies. The center of the island is the main population center of the island, with residential districts, markets, libraries, taverns and halls for groups. The center of the island has several lakes, full of creatures small and big. Surrounding these lakes are parks, letting the populace relax from the busy of the markets and docks. Dream: Arno dreams to be a respected skyfarer, an explorer who has seen the depths of the planet, the stars beyond the skies, and the lands behind the storms. While he admits these dreams to others, he has one goal he will never admit. He has a question to ask, and nobody knows the answer to it, he hopes to find the answer.
Gimmicks: Arno is a fairly inexperienced combatant, his most impressive skill being that he's able to fast draw his pistol, making him likely to get a first shot off. After that, his inexperience shows. However, fighting on the ground isn't what he excels at. Arno is a natural pilot. Flying his custom built airship fighter, he can dodge, weave and fly circles around most things that fly in the air.
Inventory: Arno carries a short falchion sword, despite being very inexperienced with swords, he carries it just in case. He also has the pistol his parents built, The Talon. A triple barreled handgun that holds more like a carbine in a Harvin's hands. The pistol has a bayonet attached to the barrel that swings out when the user is in close quarters. The Talon is a masterfully crafted weapon, steel, dark ironwood, emblazoned with brass, the gun is heavy, sturdy and reliable. The barrel has been decorated with the head of a dragon, giving it an intimidating appearance. Arno keeps it on a holster strapped to his thigh, when he's flying his plane however, he takes the holster off and either leaves it strapped to the side of the cockpit, or onto his flight vest.
Arno's airship fighter, the Akula CI-4G, is a single seat, twin boom, triple engine, dihedral sweptback wing, three-surface-aircraft "interceptor". Designed and constructed by Arno, his father, and a few close family friends. The Akula is the cutting edge of airship development, a prototype, an experiment, but to Arno, she is something else entirely.
The Akula is armed with two highly advanced semi-automatic 30mm cannons, giving it incredible firepower for its relatively small size. The two cannons, mounted in the two nacelles, are connected through a complex convergence system, allowing the pilot to manually set the weapon convergence mid flight without too much trouble. The ammunition for the weapon system itself is all custom made, meaning the rounds used is incredibly rare, and tailored specifically to this airship. The cannon shells most commonly loaded into the Akula's magazines are an even mix of Armor Piercing Incindiary Tracer and High Explosive Incindiary Tracer, though more specilized ammunition exists at the Akula's home.
The all metal construction of the plane gives it impressive durability and structural integrity, and while all the surface area contributes to drag, it's twin engines, coupled with the third auxiliary engine for boost makes this one of the fastest airships around. The cockpit is incredibly complex, with dozens of dials, markings, levers, switches, a throttle stick, joystick, foot pedals and wheels, the plane is practically unflyable to anyone who hasn't spent months training for it. The amount of controls, coupled with the amount of control surfaces on the plane itself, makes it fly like a wild animal. It has incredible maneuverability, and an inexperienced pilot will quickly get disoriented by his own maneuvers if they're not used to the speed of the airship. Somewhat surprisingly, the cockpit and airship is built around having a Harvin pilot. The seat is small and the cockpit itself is scaled accordingly, making it extremely difficult for anyone of any other race to even get into the airship.
The airship itself is painted in hues of white, skyblue and greys, giving it decent camouflage on a good, sunny day. The vertical stabilizers have the symbol of a manta ray on a star, and the nose of the Akula has a mouth filled with sharp teeth painted on it, with two black beady eyes right above the mouth.
Appearance: Arno is a Harvin. He's short, physically weak, looks like a child and he hates it. He works towards moving his appearance away from the typical Harvin, and his efforts have shown results to those who pay attention. Despite being an average Harvin height, he's physically more able than the typical Harvin, he looks more mature, looking like a young teenager rather than a child, and he sports an easy to maintain lampshade pyramid mustache. Arno keeps his black hair short, only two or three inches long, foregoing the more fancy longer hair styles that higher class people wear. His hair is unkept, unstyled, and wild, but when he puts on his leather pilots helmet, it doesn't get in the way and that's what matters to him. His mustache is however, well groomed, maintained, and what he spends his mornings on. He grew one, without a beard after finding out that he grew a poor beard, in order to make himself look more mature. It helps only a little.
For fashion, he wears very little in the way of casual clothing. His wardrobe consists of primarily engineer's long sleeve overalls, shirts, pants, and his flight suit. His flight suit is by far his most expensive outfit, consisting of many parts when he goes out flying. He wears a black slightly baggy cargo style pants with brown leather boots that goes over the pant legs midway to his calves. A white short sleeved shirt and over that, a brown leather jacket that is incredibly warm, a cross between a fencing style and a bomber style leather jacket, with the zipper on the left side. For his hands, Arno has leather pilot gauntlets, and he has a leather helmet for his head. The helmet has buckles to secure his goggles and oxygen mask in place while in flight. On top of all of this, he wears a g-suit, a custom made suit that goes over his legs and torso like overalls, and is filled with empty bladders. When plugged into his airship cockpit, the bladders will fill with compressed air, combating the g-forces that will make Arno black out when he does high-g maneuvers. Finally he has a light flight vest with several pouches, this vest also contains his oxygen tank for his mask. When going out, he will leave most of this behind in the cockpit, only taking his pants, boots, shirt and jacket out to public areas.
Personality: Arno is an easily irritated, quick to speak up, and very expressive with his vocabulary. When he gets angry, he would have been intimidating, if he were normal sized. Instead he's half the size of a human adult and seeing this tiny person shouting curses and hexes is humorous to some, much to Arno's further irritation. Despite being so quick to say what's on his mind, he is naturally curious, and will actually shut up and listen if someone is educating him about something, he has a respect for knowledge of every kind and he shows it. Despite being a little bit of a jerk, his true self is revealed when he's with his airship, the Akula. He gently cleans it, barrels, air intakes, exhaust ports, and engine nozzles, when he's maintaining it he's quiet and focused, much calmer and much quieter, almost like he doesn't want to disturb the airship. He treats his airship with the upmost respect, and expects everyone else to treat it the same way he does.
Background: Arno was born on Omphalos Isle to a family of engineers and workers. His mother designed airships and his father constructed weapons, with his uncles and aunts int the same business. Arno had a brother and two sisters, and they all stuck together. Together, they played on the airship docks, go to know explorers and mercenaries, they explored their island carelessly. After all, if they were together, they were invincible. Then the eldest sister disappeared, after two weeks of searching, the people of the island gave up, and Arno stayed in his room. For three years he wallowed in his sorrow, often looking out his window and seeing the birds flying by.
Then one morning he felt a touch on his hand, he sensed a familiarity, and opened his eyes. His room was empty, but his window was open. There on the window sill was a large bird, hawkish, with piercing eyes. He knew this bird, the king of birds on Omphalos, a predator that hunted even monsters. For it to grace him with its presence was humbling, exciting, awe inspiring. Feelings other than sadness, sorrow and worthlessness. It stared into Arno's eyes and shrieked, then flew off. Arno smiled for a short moment, but thought nothing of it. The next morning, he felt it again, then four of the birds were on his window sill. The one from yesterday, and three smaller ones. There was a fresh fish on his sill, and they ate the fish. The largest bird left, then two others having had their fill followed. The last, had no fish, and there was none left. The smallest bird looked at the fish bones, nipping at whatever scraps was left. Arno went downstairs and grabbed a piece of meat from his family kitchen, then fed it to the fourth bird. It took the meat and ate it quickly, offering Arno a scream as repayment. He watched as the smallest bird took off after the largest.
Then Arno was struck by inspiration. He cleaned up their mess on his window sill, grabbed his paper and pens, and sketched. At first he drew them, the birds. He always wondered how they flew, and he studied their flight and their wings. He sketched existing airship designs and worked to understand how the air flowed around the birds, and around the airships. For the first time in three years he left the home and gathered materials, he constructed a basic wind tunnel and went to work. He made small scale airships of existing design, small scale birds, and studied the air flow. He looked at more experimental designs and tested those, then tested his own designs. He wanted to fly, not how everyone else flew, floating on airships of wood and balloons. He wanted to fly. Like the birds of prey that graced him with their presence, he wanted to soar through the sky like a predator. His airship had to be fast. It had to be maneuverable, strong, with a bite that surprised its foes. He settled on a design that he had never seen before, that nobody had ever seen before, and got to work. He gathered the attention of his father, mother, siblings, uncles, aunts and friends of the family. He took an empty hanger and turned it into his workshop, building the first generation of his airship. The prototype CI-1. For the next decade he would work tirelessly, constructing more prototypes, more chassis, changing what wasn't working and improving what was. His tests revealed a host of problems, when turning too harshly he would faint, and Arno had to figure out why. With the aid of a doctor, they solved the problem. As Arno in his airship climbed to higher and higher altitudes, higher than any airship had ever gone before, the temperature froze the control surfaces and the air was getting too thin for Arno to breathe. With the help of his mother and siblings they solved that. During a flight endurance test, Arno looked to the horizon and wondered what was beyond it, what was beyond what he could see in the sky? And below in the depths? When Arno wasn't eating, sleeping or relieving himself he was working on his airship, now dubbed the Akula.
During the eighth flight endurance test, the first long distance flight for the Akula model CI-4G, he was captured by military forces and sent to Ziggurat. They confiscated his helmet, flight vest, and airship, locking Arno into a cell.
Help had come, with the tremendous sound of tons of metal being torn asunder. Johan leaned his Rifleman over to peer beyond the attacking Thunderbolt, he saw his friend Lyris, having charged the distance between them. She left her axe in the heavy mech and took a step back, raising her gauntlet of three lasers. The Thunderbolt, almost sensing what was going to happen, pressed forward into Johan’s battlemech, hoping to push him down or to simply crash into him. Johan had to take a stand, he took a step back with his undamaged leg and braced against the weight. A split second later, Lyris’ three lasers burned a two colored swath of destruction across the Thunderbolt’s back, but it still stood. It was Lyris’ second attack that dealt a fatal blow.
The lasers raked across the Thunderbolt’s back once more, this time finding the ammunition bin of its LRM pod. Johan’s eyes widened as he felt the first explosion, two or three missiles detonated from the heat of the laser, rupturing the warheads. Then another, like a bag of popcorn, a rapid cracking came from the Thunderbolt. Johan tried to pull away but the Thunderbolt held on, its vice grip keeping Johan close to the exploding ammo bin. A split second later, fire spewed out of the panels between armor plating, and then with a thunderclap the entire side torso erupted in an explosion. Johan grit his teeth and was rocked in his seat, his mech being peppered by shrapnel. The glass panels in front of him cracked as two pieces of shrapnel impacted against it. Johan felt the grip loosen and he took the chance to step away and twist to protect his cockpit, he saw the entire left arm of the Thunderbolt fall off, covered in soot and fire as he stepped away. He noticed Lyris doing the same on his battlemap as the ammo bin continued to cook off, shooting out rockets through the ruptured spaced between armor plating.
It was only a few seconds, but it felt like half an eternity. No words were spoken between the lance until the secondary explosions slowed. “You still with us Mouse?” Lyris asked quietly, concerned, almost like she didn’t want to know the answer. Johan took a second to catch his breath and keyed his communications, grabbing his canteen and splashing some water on his arms and neck, “Surprisingly yes, pilot unhurt. Rifleman minor damage all around, minor cockpit damage, right arm armor minor damage, left leg structure exposed but still functional, left torso armor low. Still combat effective.” He reported. "Message received, glad you're still in one piece," a hint of relief in her voice, "we might need to get you a hammer or something. Fallback to the support line for now until we can secure the Opfor."
Lyris had only but a moment to take a breath, the oppressive heat of her cockpit growing beyond simple discomfort. She wiped her forehead with the back of her forearm as she sighed, by which point she noticed that the fallen TDR was beginning to rumble back to life. She cursed under her breath as her allies began to shout warnings of the immediate threat. Her eyes darted to her heat gauge which was still sitting in the red zone- she couldn't rely on her energy weapon systems without risking a shutdown. Her internels were already taking damage from the overworked core. The obnoxious red lights made sure to remind her constantly. The thought of activating override mode came to mind but was just as quickly dismissed. She might be able to push her machine further still; however, she knew she was nearing her own limit. Darkness flickered across her eyes as lights swam at the edges of her vision. Sweat was running profusely down her body as the discomfort of her cockpit rose. Still, she couldn't afford to be passive while this behemoth of steel before her regained their footing. Her mech adjusted its stance twisting its torso around so that the Griffin's right shoulder faced the TDR.
She gritted her teeth as her steed charged forward closing the gap she had made earlier. She then willed her Griffin to twist around bringing its left battle fist into play, pounding down with the momentum of her movement and striking a decisive blow onto the Thunderbolt’s damaged left section. The Thunderbolt might easily outweigh her mech ton for ton, even with a partially missing torso, but he was in an incredibly vulnerable position. Lyris might not have been the best shot in her lance, but she had always excelled in CQC. The weight of her blow came down on the TDR like the heavy hand of an angry titan. The metallic resounding echo of the blow could be heard from quite a distance. It also had the desired effect of halting the TDR's movement. For now.
She willed her mech to continue applying pressure, pushing down as the TDR's one reaming arm pushed off against the ground with the creaking of motors. She wouldn't be able to hold him forever; already he was inching up, legs adjusting to push against the ground when the opening presented itself. "Johan!" She shouted into her comms, strain in her voice, "clear out while you can."
The boy sat for a moment, frozen. In front on him, a BattleMech rose up from the ground, battered, smoldering and half destroyed. Rising in defiance, pressing against Lyris’ attempts to keep it down. The stuff of heroes, the stuff you hear in stories, that tenacity that forged legendary pilots. Happening right in front of them. Happening against them. Johan let his jaw drop an inch, there came moments in every person’s life that defined them. Lyris made hers, choosing to hold back this mech, that had taken the combined firepower of a whole lance and still endured, to save a friend. Johan blinked and swallowed. His mech stomped forward, accelerating into a jog.
“Negative we’ll take this one together!” He replied, determination and adrenaline pumping through him. He kicked the knee of one of the Thunderbolts legs, throwing it off balance and disrupting its attempts to get back up, it fell once more with a resounding thud. Johan brought his mech over to bear once more and rose his right foot, the undamaged leg, and brought it down on the right hip joint of the Thunderbolt. He leaned into the attack, crushing through the armored skirt and crunching the hip of the Thunderbolt, his aim was to damage the hip actuator that allowed the leg to rotate. That was a risk, while the both of them were sure to take out the Thunderbolt, both of their mechs would be tied up in combat. The pirate Harassers were still unaccounted for and that meant they could appear from any direction at any time.
Wulfhart might have expected that response from Johan, he had earned his place in the lance as a proven mechwarrior just like the rest of them. Ready to face danger or even death whenever the situation called for it. It was still hard for her to break the years conditioning of her lance-mate being the meek victim of his peers. She had become so accustomed to fighting his battles it had become almost second nature- even now. It only made sense they'd have a better chance of bringing this bulwark of steel down working together than alone. She found she might be proud of him gaining such resolve, smiling despite herself. But she needed to focus on the here and now to deal with this Thunderbolt, or perhaps more precisely the pirate mechwarrior.
If his earlier reaction to the Urbie was anything to go by, Wulfhart found it hard to believe this pirate would surrender easily. They could ground him if they destroyed his damaged torso actuators. That might work, however, that could take time - time the pirate could use to either get to his feet or have his allies still standing come to his aid.
"Hold him steady," Lyris shouted over comms backing her Battlemech off as she focused her scans nearby. She was confident Johan's battlemech could keep the pirate in place better than her own Griffin ever could. At least long enough too...
There it was!
The battle hatchet she had embedded into the TDR's back had fallen free in the face of the explosions the Thunderbolt had suffered from earlier, the one-ton ax leaning beside a boulder. She knelt and swept her mech's left around, grabbing hold of the hatchets hilt and rising in the same motion with a torso twist. She made the awkward maneuver seem deceptively simple, but all it would have taken was the hatchet facing at an odd angle for her to be unable to retrieve it.
By the time she rose to her full height alarm bells had begun to sound once more in her cockpit. She had no time to properly brace for the impacts as four missiles struck her mech's right side. In an instant, a bloom of bitter fiery orange sprung to life and with it a blanket of black smoke. Two rockets beat against her Griffin's right leg, weakening the armor of the right shin and causing more severe damage to her mech's knee joint. The forth smacked against her right torso just under the arm, denting the armor there but causing mostly superficial damage from the glancing blow.
The fourth and final shot detonated against the Griffin's right shoulder, creating a spray of deadly shrapnel that could have easily led to physical injury if not for the mech's side shields that protected the pilot from attacks of that very nature. The damage overall was inconvenient but not critical; still it rocked Lyris's mech off balance all the same. In a panic, she extended her sensors to the umbrella provided by their UAVs. It seemed the two Harasser had gone wide to either flank as the Thunderbolt provided a distraction. The simple tactic had worked, though one harasser had been chased off by their two Condor escorts on the southern front.
That still left the other Harasser on the north flank; thankfully it seemed their one Plainsman escort was already moving to intercept. The damage had been done; however, Lyris fought to correct her mech in time to capitalize on the downed Thunderbolt. She should have known the Harassers would try this, but she had allowed herself to become tunnel visioned and might have lost their chance to end this quickly.
AFFS Subaltern Johan Rosales-Eichberg Rifleman RFL-5D
"Excellent work, Eichberg!" Han replied at Johans contact report, but he quickly followed up with criticism. "A little faster on the draw next time would be appreciated, however." Johan only flicked the radio on for a second to reply with "Roger." Johan glanced at his heat gauge and watched it slowly go down, the double heat sinks no doubt working as fast as they could in the ambient heat of Steelton. He grabbed the end of his shorts and flapped it to cool off a little as he kept his eye on the battlemap. If anyone needed fire support, he would be able to find them on his battlemap and deliver the required support much quicker than if he were to try to find them with his eyes. He was always told that while it was good to know how to fight without instruments, having good instruments were still very useful in a fight. A badass pilot is great, but a badass pilot with good radar and sensors is even better.
Johan watched as Mattlov moved to engage the Thunderbolt, forcing it to turn to face his flanking Shadow Hawk. The two exchanged fire, Mattlov managing to come out on top of that engagement. The Thunderbolt, now turned, had his back turned to Lyris. She took advantage of the flank and rushed into combat, sprinting at top speed towards the heavier battlemech. Johan watched anxiously, in a battle every situation could go wrong, the Thunderbolt could suddenly turn and alpha strike his friend, and a lucky hit could kill her instantly. He glanced to his heat again, it was going down, but not fast enough. Johan twisted the torso of his rifleman in preparation to step out. The small pilot felt his heart pound and he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. Then he saw a new blip on his battlemap, it must have been the Urbanmech. Even at a distance he heard the AC/20's boom, a low thunderclap. Johan pushed his war machine to the limit, going as fast as he could into a run, he needed to clear his cover quickly to get a shot off at the Urbanmech. He kept one eye on the battlemap as he put one foot in front of the other. Lyris' blip didn't go out, so the shot either missed or she survived.
He cleared the cover, seeing Lyris in the air, twisting to protect her head from the Thunderbolts array of medium lasers. A quick glance at the battlefield and he saw his target, hearing his friend shout, the Urbanmech was running at full speed to the Thunderbolts side. He concentrated on halting his mech as the Urbanmech fired again. Another low thunderclap, a shell of metal doom soared up from the short barrel of the AC/20 towards Lyris. Johans stomach dropped, was he too late? Would Lyris survive that shell? If it hit a noncritical component, an arm, or a leg, she could come out okay. But if it hit a side torso, and it dug into the internals, the shrapnel could shoot out into the cockpit and injure her. He could only watch as the shell approached her mech... and it went right past her, missing by about a dozen meters. The shell arced over and disappeared from view, likely landing somewhere behind Johan. He sighed in relief and halted his mech completely. He had to aim fast, he could imagine the ammo bin of the enemy AC/20 loading in another massive round. To be sure he zoomed with his neurohelm and hovered the crosshair over the gun arm of the Urbanmech once more. He squeezed the trigger for one large laser again, it would be enough, and he wanted the other laser to stay charged in case he missed with this one. The familiar blue beam surged forwards, connecting with right side torso just below the gun arm, at the hip. He pulled the laser towards the AC/20 itself and as the Urbanmech pilot tried to twist the to protect the gun. The laser found itself slashing across the AC/20 and even burning down the gun barrel itself. The gun must have been loaded. The Urbanmechs right arm exploded catastrophically, a sudden high pitched crack that sent pieces of armor and mangled gun parts at speed into the sandy ground. The area around the Urbanmech kicked up sand and dust like an airburst artillery shell had just detonated above the ground. The Urbanmech itself was midstride, and the ammunition explosion in the right arm sent the mech sideways, smashed into the ground.
"Urbanmech right arm destroyed, Urbanmech knocked over." He said into the communications network, relief in his voice. What wasn't reliving was that he now had the full attention of the Thunderbolt. It ignored the other mechs closer to it, Lyris' Griffin and Mattlov's Shadow Hawk. The pirate battlemech broke out into a full sprint towards Johan, who was stunned for a second at the sudden recklessness of the enemy mech. Johan put his mech into reverse, but the Thunderbolt charging forward was quicker. He fired a PPC quickly aimed at the heavy mech, the bolt of lightning striking it right in the center torso but the mech surged forward with intensity still, only recoiling a little against the attack. It ignored any attacks and rushed Johan, furious at the Rifleman who gunned down his companion. The Thunderbolt slammed its foot down and used its momentum to slide closer to Johan, the pilot knowing exactly how far its battlemechs intertia would take it. A mere few meters away from Johans Rifleman, the Thunderbolt thrust its left hand forward, open palmed at the Riflemans left torso. The hand impacted with a deafening crash of metal on metal, and then four quieter, but still noticeable clangs. The Thunderbolt had dug its fingers into the side torso of Johans battlemech. Johan shouted a curse as the Thunderbolt yanked his mech towards him, forcing Johan to step foward and twist his torso right slightly, forcing his guns line of attack away from the Thunderbolts torso. Johan managed to get his left gun arm pointed at his attackers left arm, and burned a laser into the Thunderbolts arm, but the pirate ignored the attack. He responded by punching with his right arm, slamming his heavy mechs fist into the Riflemans left leg, crumpling armor plating. As Johans large laser was still cycling, the Thunderbolt punched again, this time a hammer blow into the left underarm of Johan's battlemech, throwing off his aim. "Scheisse! Help!" He shouted desperately, sweating from the heat and the pressure from the attacker. In a bid to try and resist the grapple, Johan kneed the crazed pirate, he felt the attack connect but he wasn't sure where he hit. The Thunderbolt slammed his arm into the Riflemans left leg once more, collapsing the armor plating and crushing the myomer underneath. Sparks shot out from the wound in the leg, Johan heard alarms and saw on the paper doll that his left leg had been damaged heavily.
