Eustace

Summary

• Classification: Multi-function bio-mimetic armor
• Dimensions:
  • Height: 25 meters (82 feet)
  • Tail: 20 meters (65 feet)
  • Width: 10 meters (33 feet)

• Armament
  • Hardened vibroclaws
  • Hardpoints (5)
    • Arms: 1 hardpoint each on the forearm, small tool / weapon class
    • Shoulder blades: 1 hardpoint each / medium scale, usually ammo or utility including supplumentary shield.
    • Upper spine: 1 large hardpoint, heavy weapons, tools, or mobile shield systems.

General Description

Eustace has been likened to a small version of Godzilla without all the back spines, and even Terry will admit she is a huge fan of the series. However, Eustace is a machine to certain. Cameras and area scanners are mounted in the head for front and side vision with additional side mounted detectors on the shoulders, hips, and several locations alone the spine. This results in the lizard shaped mech to appear without eyes.

The mouth on the mech is capable of operating as a gripper or, if the guards are retracted, as a biting weapon. The overall hull has a more biological appearance, and many of Terry's designs are meant to mimic nature. As such, the arms, legs, and tail all look very natural, and they can all move in a very natural way which makes it easier for Terry to pilot it.

This machine is made to be fairly modular, and even the outer skin can be replaced for a less durable version that is capable of changing color to blend in with the surrounding area. The claws, a high power ultrasonic cutting weapon, and the jaws generally remain the same, but a series of hard points are used to change weapon and tool load outs in the shop.

Terry has a huge hangar full of weapons and tools she has acquired by purchase, invention, or salvage, and Eustace is the usually carrier of them though some are also sold with outgoing units. These can range from farming systems, mobile manufacturing equipment, and even devices meant to aid in the construction of new homes and defenses. On the weapon side, the two medium shoulder mounts are often used for ammo or generators for smaller, high speed guns on the arms. While she is hesitant to load it, the major dorsal hard point can carry a large missile launching system, but it tends to carry a high power area shield generator because it provides better cover for those she is defending.

As a rule, Terry prefers to use Eustace for defensive and constructive operations, but she knows very well how hostile the Fringe can be.

Piloting System

The cockpit on this mech is the only one like it all the machines Terry has made primarily because of the size of the machine. Two complex hand controls and a set of foot pedals and nearby controls allows her to control most parts of the mech. Additional hand controls and monitors are present in the cockpit as well such that it can be controlled with nothing else. However, Terry usually uses a neural interface link to the mech's proto-brain to give her a better feel for her surroundings and the behavior of the machine.

The pilot's chair resides in the center of a highly reinforced cavity, and during operation it is flooded with a breathing fluid. Terry could breath from oxygenated water, but she chose to use a non=conductive breathing fluid for safety sake as well as to alleviate the need to shield all the electronics in a layer that might cause overheating. The primary purpose for the breathing liquid is to reduce the ability to move in the fluid during impacts. Shock absorption by the chair and the liquid is critical for some of the forces that can be experienced in mech combat especially when it involves melee combat.

Mobility

Eustace is a difficult machine to pilot, and that is part of how Telo keeps it from wandering off in someone else's hands. While the machine uses muscle-like material in an arrangement that looks biological, the nano-scale machines that make up the muscles can expand as well as contract, and this provides a lot more power for movement.

For a large mech, Eustace is on the quick side thanks to the synthetic muscle and the reinforced frame's ability to withstand the force generated by them. The distributed proto-brain that Telo uses for control helps her in that she can command the mech to move using simple commands while the spinal processors and brain fill in the reflexes that help create the full motion and constant adjustments that keep it upright. Eustace is controlled by a feedback system from the muscle fibers back to the spine in a reflex relay that mimics organic spinal cords. However, it also possesses gyro stabilizers for additional support and for targeting weapons.

On the field, Eustace can run on two legs or on all four with the former preferred. Its long tail give sit better balance, especially when it begins climbing. Its ability to leap and climb fluidly over rough terrain and weave through city streets are traits that often earn Telo sales.

Without additional modules, Eustace cannot swim, but it can be fitted with hydrojets. Thankfully, because of the breathing fluid, Telo is not at risk of being crushed at depth as there is little compressible space in Eustace.

Combat

As a modular system, Eustace can be outfitted for many forms of combat on an as needed basis.

Close Combat

The primary tools of close combat for Eustace are what you might expect a feral to use. Body checks and massive tail swipes are great ways to do as Telo says: "Kick a tank for a field goal." Its powered weapons include extendable vibrating claws can that often cut through rock, tough armor, and exoskeletons. Its jaws have both a guarded holding ability to latch on, or the shield can be retracted to expose cutting teeth.

In some cases, Telo will use the arm hard points for shields and larger blades. The blades are normally a harvesting tool, but like many tools, it can be used as a weapon in a pinch.

Mid-Range Combat

Arm hard points are typically used with either projectile or energy weapons. Smaller auto cannon rounds can be contained at the arm hard point, but Terry usually uses her shoulder hard points for ammunition storage to allow her to use larger gatling weapons for longer periods of time. Similarly, laser and particle beam weapons are either locally powered or, morew often, powered from a generator on the shoulder hard point.

Both of these weapon sets provides the mech with a reach of a few thousand meters depending on the equipment used and the terrain it is used in.

Long Range Combat

There are two main systems Terry uses for long range. The first is a large missile rack loaded on the major dorsal hard point. The exact missiles loaded varies from anti-air, to anti-armor, and even bunker busters. Sometimes she has to get creative with them such as using bunker busters on bizarre armored beasts. The missile rack is also often paired with arm guns to hold the line against large numbers of enemies during an evacuations.

The biggest, baddest weapon in Terry's garage uses both shoulder hard points and the dorsal hard point. The heavy repeating laser cannon needs two power inputs to fuel the hungry six-barrel laser unit as well as running a heavy duty cooling system. Because it uses the shoulder hard points, the arms have to use smaller weapons often limited to a small beam weapon and a cutting blade.

The heavy laser is often used for odd reasons such as incoming micro-meteors and other interceptions of projectiles. Most of the time she uses it as a mining tool to carve out new passes through rock or to help rapidly create deep channels. Terry generally feels that if she is taking this weapon into combat, something has gone very wrong such as invasion by pirates or hostile machines.

Support Roles

Terry has more support systems than she has anything else. These range from large scale shield generators usually used on the main dorsal hard point to boring systems used to drill out new wells. One of her favorite is the concrete guns she has for the arms and the mixer units for the shoulders that allow her to pour and shape structures faster than most conventional methods.

Site to Site Transit

The means that Terry uses to get around relies on accessing a seemingly cellular portion of space that lies beneath the usual dimensions of conventional space. What is more interesting is that the network is artificial, and she has no idea who first created it or why there seems to be a vast, untouched dimension laying in wait. What she does know is that she can make transits across the cells at terrifying speed so long as the right shield is in place around the vehicle she is moving which can be as a as a suit to as large as her mechs.

Terry won't lay claim to anything aside from figuring out the methods of moving across the cells for herself. She considers it to be an unexplored realm, and that is one of the things she loves best. She is both mechanist and explorer, and moving from outer fringe worlds to pushing the borders of the network's reaches is what she lives for.