Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Viking Combat Suit

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The Viking Combat Suit is the defensive-oriented Venom is capable of inflicting heavy damage from afar with its "anti-materiel rifle" (more accurately "sniper cannon", since its caliber is too large to be called a rifle). It also packs Starstreak missile launchers as a defensive measure against enemy aircraft. Planned to be voiced by.

Overview
* TBA*

History
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Fielded relatively late in the war, the Venom is a prototype powered armor that significantly increases the strength, speed, and durability of its human operator, something that could match the Coalition's Astarte, Aquila's WOLF soldiers, Alliance's Hoplite, Empire's Terracotta and ADI's ZONE series. Originally designed as a revolutionary hazardous environment suit for ASA astronauts in preparation for a future Andoran colony on one of the Moons, the military model was significantly enlarged in order to accommodate heavy composite armor hardened against EMP as well as an assortment of heavy weapons.

For added mobility, the suit comes equipped with a set of boosters that are strong enough to provide aerodynamic lift within atmospheric conditions, allowing the operator closes a considerable distance with a rocket-assisted jump. The few Voshkod survivors that lived to tell their stories described the Venom as an unstoppable juggernaut, a machine of sheer terror that even surpassed the Shock Troopers and Scion Troopers due to its imposing, inhuman physique and overwhelming firepower. As a result, Voshkod propagandists have spread slanderous rumors which painted the Venoms as soulless cyborgs, biomechanical abominations who had been subjected to genetic manipulations and forced limb amputations by sinister Andoran scientists in an effort to create the ultimate killer. Contrary to these baseless claims, the Venom suits are operated by healthy, fully conscious human volunteers. Whilst many of the Venom's internal workings remain a well-preserved secret, it is speculated that the operator resides in an internal suspension pod while controlling the machine through a sophisticated neural interface, allowing the mechanical limbs of the suit can be manipulated through natural brain impulses as if they were part of the operator's own body.

Similar albeit noticeably less refined versions of this technology are already used as a modern alternative to wheelchairs and limb prostheses around the world whilst some of the Nordic Andoran states even sponsor these medical exoskeletons as part of their elaborate healthcare systems.

Due to the technical complexity of the suit and the shortage of advanced materials, it is expected that the total number of operators does not exceed the mark of a hundred. The men and women inside the suits are exclusively recruited from the cream of Andora's large special forces community, including the Midgar 1er RPIMa and Calpheon's famous GROM.

The Viking is formed from elite sharpshooters whose suits come with a miniaturized version of the Starstreak anti-air missile and the Longbow, an anti-materiel rifle that fires 65mm HEAP (high-explosive armor-piercing) tungsten-graphene rounds at 4,000 feet per second capable of penetrating up to 6 inches of steel alloy at 3,600 yards, and a cloak that makes them invisible to the naked eye, their jetpack modified for greater lift and mobility while being quiet enough to not break its cloak. Often standing alongside the defense force as the invisible guardian.

Short story
Somewhere in Galbadia

2008 V.C.

"There is nothing to do in this godforsaken place," complained Private Phar as she downed her canteen. She and her comrades - Commander Cirdavil Muscadet, gunner Relde, and radioman Thairg - had been tasked, alongside four other Kodiaks, a Borillo holding Highlander Regulars, and a detachment of three Mi-28 Havoc, to patrol around a large Voshkod radio installation. The facility was of vital importance, for its loss would make long-range communications across the region almost impossible and would let the Andorans easily pick them off piecemeal without them knowing.

Muscadet nudged Phar shoulder. "Stop whining Phar. Our patrol is nearly over, and we could return for a hot meal and vodka."

"Oh great, more stew," Relde interjected with an air of frustrated boredom as she drummed along the wall of the turret. "I joined the Army because I wanted to fight! Not guard some facility far away from the enemy!"

"You should be glad that we're this far away from the action," Thairg replied. "I heard terrible things that happened at the front. And I would rather be here than getting burnt to death." Like the rest of his unit - and 75% of those in Voshkod urban area - Thairg had been conscripted into service as a tank crew. Suddenly, a loud blast outside interrupted the banality of their conversation. Eager as usual, Relde perked up. "Finally some actions!"

"Hold your horses Relde. Thairg, check the radio, from the looks of it it came from where Ursa four was."

"On it command," Thairg flipped the switches and called to Ursa four, only to receive static."

"Somethings, call in a Borillo and Ursa five and three to follow us to that source."

"Yes ma'am. This is Ursa one to Ursa five and three and highlander two, requesting to follow us." And with an affirmative the three tanks and Borillo followed the source, which was also Ursa four last position.

"Get in line, five-meter spread," Cirdavil ordered as she closed her tank hatch. Slowly, the unit moved into the woods, the snow creaking loudly as their plowed by the tracks. As they approached the orange light, they were shocked to discover the burning wreckage of a Ursa four Kodiak. Inside it, they found the mangled corpses of their comrades Vlatenko and Milo whose lower halves had become indistinguishable from the jagged mass of deformed metal, while comrades Vladimir and Stasya were reduced to unrecognisable giblets. "What in the name of Elysea," Cirdavil remarked as they got closer. The entire front was completely ruined, reduced to broken scrap metal by a massive kinetic projectile that had shattered the cylinders and obliterated the camshaft before blasting through the cabin and out the rear end, leaving a hole the size of a man's fist. Whatever had hit this vehicle had easily punched through its armor, disintegrated the occupants, and then blasted back out like a needle through paper.

"Do you see anything else commander?" Phar asked.

"No, it's all cold out here," Cirdavil replied as she grabbed the radio. "Ursa five and three, status?"

"Same here comrade, not-" Suddenly a faint, almost inaudible beep came from between the trees a few meters into the darkness. "Stop, quiet! Everyone quiet," the commander hissed. They all went still and fell silent, training all their senses on the forest around them. For a moment, the only things they saw or heard were the misty between the trees and the occasional hoot of an owl. Then the Commander noticed a small red dot that danced over the snowy ground toward them before coming to rest on Ursa three. "Ambush! Take cover!" she yelled, but before she had finished the sentence a loud blast pierced the night air and Ursa three exploded as something struck it, before striking Ursa five behind.

"Ursa five status!" Cirdavil exclaimed. "Not good! That shot had destroyed our front track and there's nothing left of our drive-" another shot rang off, in another direction, and Ursa five followed the fate of three and four.

"Shit, sniper! Highlander one get out and survey the surroundings! Thairg open channel to the base and call the Havocs! Phar advance forward, we'll find that bastard!"

Phar did as ordered, moving forward while the Regulars and Borillo moved around them. Their sense now sharpened, and the tension thick enough to cut. Then Cirdavil saw the all too familar glint and a Regular was blown apart, while another near him had his left side blown open for being too near. All of them immediately fired at where that glint came until they were certain whatever it was dead.

Cirdavil went to the radio again "Highlander two, move forward to check its status," the Borillo moved ahead, the remaining Regulars behind. "We don't see anything. I think we- what the-" the familiar shot rang out and Cirdavil and her crew could only hear the screams.

"SHIT! THAT THING IS RIGHT ON TOP OF US AND CLOAKED! I REPEAT IT'S-" And with another blast of gunfire the Borillo and Regulars were no more.

Cirdavil gritted her teeth, "Phar pull us back! Havocs, find that bastard and kill him!" soon Phar could hear the comforting sound of rotors as the Havocs came in, surely that sniper, no matter how powerful his weapon was, wouldn't be able to target an aircraft.

"This is Tundra one we have reached the area, activation sensors." but as soon as one of the Havoc came a flurry of missiles then shot out and downed one of them.

"What the! Tundra one status!" and as soon as Cirdavil finished the sentence another volley of missiles came and downed another Havoc.

"This is Tundra one, we just lost Tundra two and three but we spotted it. It looks human. Closing in!"

"You heard the pilot, close in!" The snow blasted behind the Kodiak as it sped toward Tundra one location and finally saw their opponent. A dark, metallic figure, garbed in a cloak, that towered above them wielding a rifle the size of their cannon.

Both the Kodiak and Havoc fired. Only for the giant to dodge it, its shoulder then opened to reveal a rack of missiles, and in a single volley the last Havoce came crashing down.

"DAMN IT! Relde f-" Cirdavil ordered but was cut short as another blast struck, yet Phar had survived as it only hit the turret. Phar couldn't take it anymore and scrable out of the remains of the Kodiak and landed on the snow in a panic. And finally saw it.

Phar couldn't find the strength to stand before this seemingly invincible beast which glared at her through the thin, cyan visor of its featureless, inhuman face. "Please! I surrender!" She winced with her empty hands raised high above his head. "Don't shoot me! I'm unarmed now! Please!" Phar plead in whatever bits of Midgar dialect she'd picked up at school. After a brief moment of terrifying silence, the machine turned around and stomped off into the night. And she ran in the opposite direction, not giving a care that it tantamounts to desertion. As being execute by her homeland or sent to the gulag is better that facing that thing.

Inside the metal shell, Lieutenant Achilles Wedge reported to the rest of his unit. "This is Viking Two, met some minor resistance at the insertion point; took out a small group of mechanized company and let one of them live to tell the tale. Making my way to the target now, ETA five minutes, before regrouping with Valkyrie Four."

Ten minutes later, the vital radio installation had disappeared from the grid. It would be the first among several across all of Galbadia during the following nights...