The Lords of Ruin -- Battletech/Killzone

Future Helghan battlemech DFR-B3 Defender:

#Design



Art by MattPLOG.

Overview:
By 3056 ORDI's Clan technology reverse engineering efforts had begun bearing fruit. New clan grade equipment has begun entering full production and new designs are being introduced to take full advantage. Among the many projects to make use of the new technology Helghan would begin their own code named "Project Wall".

This project was commissioned by the Helghan Republic Armed Forces as a collaborative effort between all of the Republic's major mech manufacturers. The goal of Project Wall was to create a battlemech that would be the epitome of Helghans battlemech doctrine. Because of this the mech had to be highly durable, use newly developed technology, use the new modularity systems, be able to deal out a large amount of fire power while also being able to defend itself against jumping battle armor. The latter requirement was a lesson learned from the Clan invasion where Helghan mechs lacking hands would often be focused down by Elementals because they had difficulty removing the Battle Armor and would quickly take heavy damage from the Elementals or allies trying to get them off.

Project Wall would take a year before a working prototype was created using a combination of Helghan and Clan technology. And it was a disaster. The 65 ton mech's Clan ER PPC was drastically under shielded causing EM emissions to interfere with the mechs targeting system alongside the double heatsinks often having breakdowns unable to deal with the generated heat effectively. Finally the mechs newly developed Ferro-Lamellor armor was applied in too small an amount to properly protect the mechs extremely brittle Composite structure. The prototype code named Vanguard was rejected outright and an investigation was launched into how the project turned out so terribly.

As it turns out the reason for the disaster was because of a lack of defined vision. The head engineers from each company each had a very different idea of what the Vanguard was supposed to be and because of that often clashed and went behind each other's back to make changes to the design. However during the entire debacle there was a voice of reason. According to many on the project Mathew Garadon an engineer who worked on Detroit Consolidated MechWorks award winning Lightshow had continuously tried to keep the peace between the head engineers and championed compromise along with providing very competent changes to the design but went mostly ignored.

With the perpetrators found they were quickly removed from the project and because of his display of competence Mathew was put in charge. While initially inexperienced in the role of leadership he adjusted quickly. The first thing he did was throw out the original design completely and start from scratch believing that the Vanguard was unsavable. However now with a defined vision within 3 months the team had a new prototype ready. The new prototype was everything that Vanguard hadn't been. All its equipment worked as intended, the armor was thick enough to withstand pretty much anything without difficulty and the design was safer than ever thanks to the introduction of a full head ejection system. This prototype was codenamed the DFR-B3 Defender which would quickly become it's official designation as it was approved for full production in 3058.

The Defender would quickly become a favorite design of Helghans more reckless mechwarrior. With it's incredible durability these pilots could take risks with minimal risks allowing them to make daring moves that would often take their opponents off guard. It would also be exported in large quantities to the other ORDI states with the Alphard Republic importing the largest amount for their growing military. The incredible prominence of the Defender among ORDI forces would cause the Defender to be known less as a Helghan battlemech and more as an ORDI battlemech. All 3 manufacturers of the Defender would take full advantage of this in their marketing which sold the Defender as a representative of ORDI's ideals and motto.

Capabilities:
The end product of Project Wall, the 75 tons DFR-B3 Defender is the logical end point of the Helghan Republics battlemech doctrine of heavier mech focused on durability and fire power. Powered by the Hephaestus 300 Fusion Engine -the same engine used in Ogoun's Hades- this durable standard engine allows the Defender to reach a walking speed of 42,3 km/h and a running speed 64,8 km/h. To allow for even greater mobility 4 Exhaust Blast jumpjets are installed in the torso allowing for leaps up to 120 meters. Wrapped around the engine is a Solar Foundry Type-C Clan grade Endo-Steel frame freeing up weight for more equipment.

To protect the mech 16,5 tons of Guardian FL23 Ferro-Lamellor armor is installed. This recently developed armor is unique from other armor types by decreasing the impact of enemy weapons by 20% along with protecting the Defender from through armor critical damage while also providing a partial protection against Petrusite weaponry similarly to Hardened armor. The armor is also spread across the mech to make sure it's actuators are protected, preventing infantry or Battle Armor from easily damaging them. However should a Defender be to damaged to continue the pilot can safely eject which thanks to the Full head ejection system will send the entire head savely away from the enemy.

For weapons within in each of the arms is located a Particle Stream CII Clan grade ER PPC. However unlike with most battlemech instead of being located on the outside of the arm or being integrated into it unobstructed the Defenders ER PPC is located withing the mechs palm. When not in use or when having to use the hand the PPC barrel is mostly retracted in to the palm and when it needs to be fired the hand takes either a clawed or open palm position and the barrel is extended. The Defender is capable of firing the PPC in its retracted state but this is mostly reserved for when an battle armor has been grabbed and needs to be disposed of quickly. Speaking of the hands while they are clawed this is mostly for non-combat reasons. The claws make it easier for the defender to take hold of cargo and keep a good grip on them. This also had the unintended side effect of allowing them to keep a better grip on battle armor. The hand also has enough crushing power to crush an elemental in armor to death in 10 seconds. To make sure the Defender can grab a Battlearmor anywhere on it's body the arms have also been equipped with Hyper-Extending Actuators allowing the arms to flip into the mech rear arc.

For secondary weaponry in 4 Solar Ray MK2 Helghan grade Medium lasers are installed with 1 in each side torso and 2 in the center torso. Finally to deal with infantry a single Quasar Grazer Helghan grade Small Pulse Laser is located in the left torso. To deal with the heat generated from all the weapons 17 Clan grade double heatsinks are installed. While this doesn't allow for the Defender to alpha strike all the time it does allow for a full jump while firing both ER PPC's without gaining any heat or firing both ER PPC's and 2 medium lasers with very minimal heat buildup.

Finally for electronic systems the Defender has an even further layer of defense thanks to the Guardian ECM installed in the left torso making it more difficult to detect the mech or get a proper lock on it. For communications and targeting a Helghan Arms Electronics HBCS which does it's job admirably while the Pharoah Lockscreen allows for the Defender to consistently hit it's shots.


Variants:
VGD-X1 (Vanguard): The Original Project Wall prototype the Vanguard was a failure by all estimations. Ten tons lighter than it's successor at 65 tons the Vanguard is equipped with the Hephaestus 260 Fusion Engine which allowed it to reach the same speeds as the Defender however this is where the similarities mostly end. The engine was cradled in a Solar Foundry Type 23-12 Composite Structure which was just as light as endo-steel without the increase in bulk; however this came at the cost of being far more brittle and maintenance intensive. This brittleness also wasn't helped by only 11 tons of Guardian FL23 Ferro-Lamellor armor being installed which was far too little for the mech's intended role.

For weapons in the left arm is located a Particle Stream CI prototype Clan grade ER PPC which as mentioned before was drastically undershielded causing EM Interference whenever it was fired which drastically impacted the accuracy of it's other weapons. Speaking of those weapons in the right arm were 2 P3 Quasar Flash Helghan grade Large Pulse lasers which are supported by the 2 P2 Pulsar Flash Helghan grade Medium Pulse lasers. Normally these lasers should be incredibly accurate however thanks to the EM Interference from the PPC they are far less accurate then they should be. To support all these weapons 21 prototype Clan grade Double Heatsinks are installed which were incredibly temperamental and would often not work properly causing the Vanguard to maintain much more heat than was intended.

Besides the Guardian ECM the Vanguards electronic systems were the same as those of Defender. The Vanguard was never approved for production however it's unknown what happened to the 3 test models that were produced for Project Wall.

DFR-B4: A close combat variant developed by Ogoun Heavy Industry in 3062 this variant of the Defender came about because pilots of the Defender among Taurian forces had a tendency to charge in to gain the attention of their targets instead of making full use of the Defenders long range arsenal. Because of this the ER PPC's were replaced by 2 Thunder Splitter X-PPC's -which were licensed from Coalition Heavy Industry- in the same locations. The rest of the weapons remained the same along with the 17 double heatsinks however because the X-PPC's produced far less heat then the ER PPC's it allowed the B4 to fire all it's weapons besides the small pulse laser while running without gaining any heat.

DFR-B5: Introduced by Helghan State Arms in 3063 this variant of the Defender is completely focused around using Petrusite. The original engine has been replaced by a Maridian 300 Irradiated Petrusite Reactor which allows the mech to reach walking speeds up to 64,8 km/h and running speeds up to 84,8 km/h.

For weapons 2 Hephaestus VC11D Improved Petrusite Cannons are located in the arms supported by 2 Hephaestus VCL2B Light Petrusite Cannons. Finally for even further protection a InvisiPro Mark I-M Shield Generator is installed in the right torso however to install the shield the Guardian ECM is removed. To sink away the heat generated 19 Clan grade double heatsinks are installed which is barely enough to keep the heat under control. However to make space for the heatsinks the Endo-Steel structure was replaced by a Solar Foundry Type-S standard structure. As a consequence of the structure switch the total armor had to be dropped to 16 tons however it remained Ferro-Lamellor.

DFR-D1: Introduced by Helghan State arms in 3065 this variant of the Defender was introduced specifically to use the UAC-4B10 Helghan grade Ultra Autocannon 10 which recently had several new special ammunitions introduced. The D1's Autocannon is fed by 3 tons of ammunition protected by a Clan grade CASE system. One ton of this ammunition was often reserved for special ammunition like the recently introduced Disruptor rounds. To support the Autocannon 4 P2 Pulsar Flash Helghan grade Medium Pulse lasers are installed with 1 in each arm's palm and 2 in the center torso. However to fit all this equipment the total armor was dropped to 16 tons like the B5.

Notable pilots:
Karolina Shinobu the Red Lotus: Born December 12 of 3037 on the Draconis Combine planet of Sheliak II Karolina was born to a Rasalhague mother and a Combine father. Her mother Sandra -from whom Karolina would inherit her bright red hair color from- a had been a mech warrior who had remained loyal to the Combine after the Rasalhague military district gained independence from the Combine however in 3030 would be dishonorably discharged under suspicion of treason. Meanwhile her father Seiho had been a mech tech in the DCMS where he had met her mother and fell in love with her. After learning of Sandra's discharge Seiho would resign from the DCMS and together with Sandra settle on Sheliak II. Seiho would open a successful repair shop business which would expand across the world while Sandra joined the local police.

Karolina's first 12 years of life were rather uneventful living with her parents and brother. However this would change in 3049 with the invasion of the Clans. In a matter of months Sheliak II was under threat of invasion. Fearing for the lives of their children Seiho and Sandra would pull all the money and belongings they could get together and prepare for their family to flee the Clans. Karoline was of course confused when she was suddenly pulled along to the space port questioning her parents where they were going to which her parents didn't really answer.

Seiho and Sandra however had made the right decision as the moment their Dropship hit the vacuum of space they learned that Dropships belonging to Clan Snow Ravens Beta Galaxy had arrived in the system and were heading for Sheliak II. Thankfully for the family their dropship managed to make it to their jumpship and it jumped away before Clan aerospace fighters could secure both Jump points.

However even this didn't mean the family was save. For several months their dropships continued to flee the ever approaching Clans. Eventually by pure chance their jumpship ran across ORDI's Command Circuit which short on jumpships offered the jumpship captain a lucrative deal if it were to join the Circuit. The captain chose to accept the deal however had requested if it could first deliver it's payload of refugees somewhere safe. The Helghan logistics officer in charge of the sector would then direct the captain to deliver the refugees to the Helghan world of Detroit as that was the planet where he had to get the next shipment of supplies anyway.

A long journey later and the Shinobu family had finally arrived in space safe and far away from the clans. The family would then be held in one of the many refugee camps on Detroit for the remaining duration of the Invasion. It was here Karolina would gain a massive appreciation for the Helghan people as they did as much as they could to make her and her family comfortable and help integrate into Helghan society. Karolina and her family would eventually establish a stable life and become citizens of the Helghan Republic. However Karoline wanted to do more than just live a comfortable life. She wanted to give back to these people that had so gracefully taken them in like it was nothing.

So in 3055 when Karolina reached legal age to join the Helghan Republic Armed Forces she immediately did so. She would travel to Helghan and attend the Helghan Institute of Military sciences where she would take after her mother and study to become a mechwarrior. She would quickly be singled out as somewhat of a prodigy complete out pacing her class mates in simulations. She would become known for her fiery attitude taking no shit from anyone including her teachers which got her into trouble from time to time. Even with the occasional rough patch Karolina would graduate top of her class in late 3058 and gain her first commission as a private that same year and be stationed on Aquagea.

Being a mechwarrior prodigy Karolina would be assigned the brand new DFR-B3 Defender which ended fitting Karolina perfectly. She would have the Defender painted in a Red color for most of the body except for the right arm which would remain a standard metallic silver. For her first year of service she didn't see any action besides drills and practice, however this would change on new years eve of 3059 when Aquagea would come under assault.

The perpetrators of the attack would be a decently large mercenary company by the name of Deschenes Runners. The Runners targeted the under defended military base Karolina was stationed at with 3 lances of Battlemechs consisting of a mix between light to heavy mechs. Their goal being to quickly destroy the defenses before stealing as much military equipment they could find to sell to the highest bidder in the Innersphere. In a few short minutes the understaffed military bases peripheral defenses were overrun as most of the bases personnel were on leave for the new years celebrations.

However among the few who remained at the base would be Karolina who quickly sprang into action quickly organizing a battleplan with the remaining base staff before taking her Defender to engage the mercenaries as the bases only remaining mechwarrior. It would be the following battle that would solidify Karolina's reputation as a highly dangerous mechwarrior and earn her the nickname of Red Lotus as she gracefully destroyed every single one of the Runners battlemechs.

During the battle Karolina would use her now signature fighting style using her mechs jumpjets in mini hops to throw off her enemies aim while continuing to quickly close the distance firing her PPC's all the while. If she hadn't destroyed her enemy when she reached melee range she would quickly maneuver herself into the perfect position to grab her targets head with one of her mechs clawed hands -most often the right one- and using the other one to keep her them in place before firing the PPC in the hand that had grabbed the head quickly decapitating her enemy.

It took 30 minutes before the battle was over with 12 mech wrecks -7 of which were missing their heads- laying across the partially destroyed military base. Karoline however hadn't come out of the battle unscathed, her mech having lost its entire left side and along with major damage everywhere else. Karolina herself also had internal bleeding from a hit she had taken from a Hunchback that had knocked her through a hanger wall causing her to break some of her ribs from the impact. Karolina would need immediate treatment and surgery after the battle concluded. Thankfully she would make a full recovery and would reenter service 2 months later.

For her bravery Karolina would be given the Helghan Star for bravery along with a promotion to Corporal. Now corporal Karolina would continue to be stationed on Aquagea becoming a local celebrity even though she was very much uncomfortable with the fame.

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AN: And that's the last of my future mechs after all I couldn't leave out Helghan for future mechs. Fun fact the Vanguard wasn't just a nice piece of lore it was originally what I wanted the Defender to be but I changed my mind but still wanted to use it for something so having it be a failed prototype fit really well I think. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as the other ones sorry it was so late. I have 2 pieces of art I want to share so stay tuned for those. Also I wonder who can guess who I based the notable pilot on.