Star Hawk MkII

"Now, I'm taking back my home, and I built this machine with my own two hands just to do it! And as I have created this machine, so will I destroy the weapons and armor of evil! I'm Staren Wiremu, and I was born and raised a citizen of the Orb Union! Now GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY!"

The Star Hawk MkII is Staren Wiremu's new greatest creation, better armor and weapons with which he can protect others and fight for what he believes in.

It is designed to be able to fight at close or long range, weakening targets with an array of weapon systems (especially the new armor-eating acid grenades) before finishing them off with the hybrid swords or annihilator (or beam spikes and twin hyper mega cannons, in assault mode).

The Mark II's base unit and standard FAST packs and gunpod loadout support the Star Hawk's original design goals -- Being incredibly tough and still relatively agile, and transforming into a fighter mode to allow Staren to deploy independent of Katharon when the need arises. The Mark II is faster and slightly tougher than the original, and as humanoid mode now has enough thrust to fly, hybrid mode has been removed to make the design simpler.

The Assault Armor Parts allow it to take on a heavy assault role as well, carrying many powerful weapons but preventing transformation, limiting their use to when Staren is deploying in space or from a carrier.

In a nutshell: It's still a custom Land-Air battleMech that handles like a mobile suit.

Origins/History
In the fall of NCA 119, Staren began thinking about what changes he would make in an eventual 'Mark II' version of the Star Hawk, although he still considered such a project far off at the time.

Late in the following winter, after witnessing A-LAWS's powerful forces, particularly the taking over of La Vie En Rose, Staren decided that while his original idea of a suit that could operate independently for long periods of time had its uses, he needed something with more punch even if it had reduced running time and independence. He created new weapons and modified a Rick Dias to test them with, planning to eventually incorporate them into a "Star Hawk Assault" variant that did not transform but carried powerful weapons (basically, something that would be to the Star Hawk as the FAZZ is to Zeta Gundam.) The release of the DOM Trooper in June made him consider dropping the project and customizing one of those, but he decided he needed something more heavily armored, and with the realization that he could use armor parts instead of an entirely separate machine, he rushed ahead into development of the Mark II and its armor parts.

Staren unveiled the prototype on June 21, NCA 120, using it in Katharon's mission to reclaim the Orb Union islands.

Usage
Staren Wiremu is the only one to have ever piloted the Star Hawk MkII. Like the original, it has a special cybernetic control interface only he can use which allows him to control the machine as if it were his own body and to better visualize the battle, but also has manual controls in case he cannot use the interface or should someone else need to pilot it. Also like the original, it is designed to be easily mass produceable, although Staren has yet to find anyone interested in that.

Weapons Systems
The primary weapon system of the Star Hawk MkII is still the pair of Hybrid Swords which fold out from under the arms. These metal blades are then surrounded by hollow beam swords, projected by emitters at the base of the sword which use minovsky particles stored in E-caps. This is further supplemented by a pair of gun ports built into the base, which each fire 25 kg of shot, above and below the cutting sword -- The impact stresses and weakens the armor immediately before and after the sword cuts it for additional damage.

The Hybrid Swords are still the only weapon actually built into the mecha's frame -- Everything else is stored in the FAST packs externally attached, and the gunpod. Staren could in theory swap them out for something else, but he has yet to build alternate FAST packs or a gun pod to switch to. The FAST packs have however been greatly slimmed down, just large enough to carry their weapons or fuel -- originally, Staren wanted plenty of room, but he's decided that he can just build bigger packs for special weapons.

The gunpod contains a long range missile launcher which fires salvos of 34 small missiles at a single target. The right arm FAST pack contains a railgun which fires a slug or burst of slugs at speeds of kilometers per second. The left arm FAST pack contains the 'beam shotgun', actually several miniature beam cannons attached to eachother and positioned to fire in a scattering pattern that makes it easier to hit multiple targets. The shoulder FAST packs can launch the acid grenades to weaken a target's armor, as well as the new power bombs, hybrid beam explosives.

Two large mecha-scale revolvers, the 4.07 ("Four oh seven") Annihilators, created by the mad science of Staren's parents, are holstered at the waist. Each shot fires two 4-inch slugs from the barrel, augmented by mad science to have the impact of a much larger weapon.

The assault armor parts attach to the chest, back, shoulders, pelvis, forearms, and lower legs and feet. The back, pelvis, and leg parts include additional thrusters to keep the heavier machine mobile and aloft, though it's still less agile than the base unit alone. The back armor part also contains an auxiliary battery and E-Caps (primarily for the hyper mega cannons), rather than the explosive reactor used in the Rick Dias Assault's backpack. Attached to the arms are the beam spikes, a weapon system that electromagnetically drives a long, hollow spike into the target, then injects them with hot plasma to do serious damage to internal structure. The arm parts also enhance the power of the hybrid swords. The shoulder armor parts unfold almost flower-like into I-field focusing arrays for a second version of the twin 'hyper mega' cannons (still riffing on a certain other machine's weapon name...), high-powered beam cannons that aim to reduce targets to slag by the sheer amount of energy transferred. Finally, the armor parts come with a DOM Trooper's giga launcher, modified with an underbarrel railgun instead of the beam rifle.

Technology

 * Power: The Star Hawk MkII is still powered by protium fusion reactors based on Inner Sphere technology, augmented by a battery when the armor parts are in use. Internal E-caps are used to supply the hybrid swords with the particles needed for their beam sword component, and the armor parts contain e-caps to fuel the twin hyper mega cannons.


 * Internal Structure: The Star Hawk MkII contains a metal composite endoskeletal frame, the bones of which consist of a foamed aluminum core wrapped in strengthening fibers and covered in steel-titanium alloy. Myomer fiber 'muscles' and other components are anchored to this frame. Basically the same as a battlemech.


 * Armor: Steel and ceramic layers supported by titanium mesh, basically similar to battlemech armor. The armor parts include more of the same.


 * Computer: Custom. Staren uses a system comparable to the Diagnostic Interpretation Computer used by battlemechs to gather data on the machine's status, convert pilot commands into low-level instructions, and reroute control and power systems when needed.


 * Transformation: The Star Hawk MkII transforms in a unique way partially similar to some VFs, but the engines are contained wholly in the back rather than the legs, and the cockpit remains upright in the torso rather than rotating.


 * Hybrid Sword: A unique combination of armblade, beam armblade, and shotguns used to be especially devastating.
 * Other: The Star Hawk uses a number of other technologies -- all designs and models of the weapons (other than the Giga Launcher), frame, etc are unique, but the technology used is not unusual, except for the Annihilator, a mecha-scale revolver enhanced by the 'mad science' of Staren's parents.

Machines
X0001: 120/6/20 - Present : The first completed Star Hawk MkII prototype ready for field testing.