Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Pegasus Combat Helicopter

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The Pegasus Combat Helicopter is the main attack chopper used by the Syndicate. The unit is planned to be voiced by *TBA*

History
"As it glided above the clouds and beneath the stars, the sky was its earth and wings were its feet. It had only just protested its strange bridling, when its light hoof dug Aonia’s spring. Now it enjoys the sky, which it wings sought before, and gleams resplendent with five stars and ten."

-Ovid, Fasti

The lack of heavy air support in the form of a dedicated gunship led many Syndicate-owned mercenary companies to request the development of a combat helicopter with the capability to engage any land force with extreme lethality. The effectiveness of attack helicopters such as the Apache, Havoc, Tiger and the Warhawk, which have proven time and time again to be some of the most efficient designs available, led to the conclusion that a flexible weapons platform could potentially surpass such designs as an even more effective helicopter. However, the armament needed to succeed in such a task would require an entirely new frame that would have to be designed to support the stress and heat produced by multiple weapons systems.

Alcradia, an offshoot company of Syndicate subsidiary Kalran Armaments, finished a radical design on the very day of the Voshkod invasion of the Aquilan West Coast, part of the 2004 V.C. Invasion. As soon as word reached the president of Kalran, he deployed all available security to Alcradia's location and proceeded to evacuate the staff and precious data. Tragically they were surrounded by hostile forces when they left the safety of the compound and found themselves in between the Voshkod and Aquilan forces. Their strange equipment, professionalism, and utter indifference caused a brief moment of astonishment for both the Aquilan Army and the Voshkod Forces. Not willing to take any chances, the security Legionnaires opened fire first and managed to gun down all of the onlookers to prevent potential future complications. The development team took notice of the effectiveness of the Helios Security personnel and recorded the tactics and handling of their weapons. When the Alcradia team reached the relative safety of Silicon Valley, they immediately began to refine their design. An improved, if not outrageously heavier, design soon attracted the interest of the board of directors.

The tail rotor was removed in favor of a third propeller and the entire gunship was stabilized with a servo-driven weight distribution system. This allowed the Pegasus to use a modular design improving the flexibility of the platform, while greatly increasing the modular hard points needed to attach the multiple weapon systems. At the right perspective, an incomplete Pegasus could be seen as the mythical beast it is named after. Several other teams were soon drawn into the project as it continued to implement the advances made by nearly every major manufacturer into one monstrous design. The designers combined all of these pieces of technology to create one of the most revolutionary weapons in the world. It even contended (though it failed to win) with the AseliaTech Mesofortress for the title of "The Greatest Aerial Threat to Destroyer Conscripts!" (A yearly award given to Western weapons manufacturers by the Voshkod Conscript Monthly newsletter/picture book in exchange for accurate statistics).

With the majority of the necessary systems in place, Alcradia met with Axio Microsystems in order to employ the use of their Remlia armament line. The result was an unadulterated aerial battleship armed with remote-controlled gyrojet turrets, flechette missile launchers, and the Volksgard Mononet Cruise Missile. The Volksgard was designed to destroy enemy bombardment ships using a state-of-the-art mononet that would cut through any armor regardless of design. The net shape itself would prove to be the most reliable design available as a result of its ability to be used just as effectively against infantry, tanks, and aircraft. All of the systems are used in tandem by a surprisingly traditional crew of six made up of three gunners, a pilot, an engineer, and a commanding officer. The choice to use human pilots was questioned until the Westwood team explained that their choice was based on the ability of human beings to surpass the limitations of machines in the process of irrational thought.

The Pegasus Combat Helicopter is an astonishing sight of the full might of the Syndicate's industrial might. It is quite the strange spectacle of a three-rotor combat helicopter that is often the last sight of many enemies of the Syndicate; its huge number of missiles, gyrojets, and mononet launchers boggle the mind about as much as they tear apart ground targets. Normally it keeps the mononet in reserve for special targets, which can be designated by a commanding executive. The near siege range of its numerous weapons systems, allows the Pegasus to perform indiscriminately against any ground targets. Even the notorious Voshkod Tunguskas is unable to adequately respond, much less protect itself, from the brutality of the Pegasus's range.

Trivia

 * Much like the Mediterranean Syndicate having RTS studios rebranded as weapon manufactures in Red Alert Paradox. The Lumeris Syndicate has references to another RTS game idea rebranded as weapon manufacturers, Kalran: Tales of the Four Nations