XF-00-C "Endless Sky" A reconstruction of the XF-00 "Serene Air" that was tragically lost in battle, the Endless Sky is as much of a cutting edge weapon as it is a symbol of unity. Using an unusual mishmash of advanced propulsion technology, an experimental reactor, medical science, and a good heaping portion of old fashioned military know-how, the Endless Sky is practically a call to Foreiya's former glory. While the original suit was not made for battle, the second model's focus shifted rapidly as humanity came under attack. Many of the Endless Sky's previous problems were addressed, and safeties were put in place to prevent the unit from going out of control again. Height: 18.6m Movement: Flight Capable, Average Landspeed Armor: Poor to Decent, increases on heavier loadouts. Agility: Extremely Good, lowers on heavier loadouts. Attack: Top of its class. Armaments: Beam Knife x2, High-Density Steel Knife x4, 20mm Machine Cannon x2 Hardpoints: Lower Leg, Forearm x2, Chest x1, Shoulder x1, Back x1 Held Equipment: Weapons that are held in the unit's hand, and are hotlinked via microwave transmission. Weapons that require energy input (Like every beam weapon) pull from the reactor (Or subsystems) using this same microwave link. Examples: Machinegun, Bazooka, Beam Rifle, Beam Spread Gun, Beam Saber, Grenade Launcher, Shields Mounted Equipment: Equipment that is required to be affixed to a hardpoint beforehand, which takes a couple of hours to perform. Thanks to the EZ-Change Conformal Parts System, mounted equipment can be cast off rapidly if the situation deems it necessary, however this makes the engineers very unhappy as they are the ones who have to go out and collect the discarded weapons. Examples: Missile Launcher (Shoulder), Buster Cannon (Shoulder/Back), 180mm Artillery Cannon (Shoulder/Back), Pile Bunker (Forearm), AB Shields (Forearm) Beam Knife: Like a beam saber, but shorter. High-Density Steel Knife: While they are called knives, they are primarily used for piercing through armor rather than slashing, as they are not sharpened to be given an edge. These are stored within the arm itself and are launched out of the lower wrist actuator when needed. The force of this "shot" can do substantial damage to land-based vehicles and lighter mechs, but are not meant to be used for this purpose. 20mm Machine Cannon: A head mounted vulcan unit that is effective against light armored vehicles or aerial units that get within range. While truthfully not an extremely effective weapon, Machine Cannons can serve a greater use in conjunction with other weapons that make them fairly useful in a battle. The most common usage of the Machine Cannons is to spray additional damage onto a target trying to engage in melee. Machinegun: A 60mm Machinegun that has been in use since the first Valiants were rolled out on the production line. They still work great against vehicles and mechs with light armor, and are extremely cheap and easy to repair, even on the field. However as people make bigger mechs with heavier armor, they quickly fade in their effectiveness. Bazooka: Some designs never really changed between personal warfare and mechanized combat. The bazooka is one of those designs. The bazooka is still an extremely effective weapon versus fortified structures and heavily armored units, however its slow rate of fire and relatively slow payload travel make it difficult to hit more agile targets. Beam Rifle: A gun that fires a single beam over a fairly large distance. Beam weaponry are generally superior weapons to their ballistic counterparts except in the case of a target carrying anti-beam measures. Beam Spread Gun: A beam spread gun fires multiple charges in quick succession over a cone-shaped spread. This rapid-fire mode is more suited to cornering more agile enemies or tearing into heavier armored units with successive bursts, however because each individual shot is much weaker than a standard beam rifle shot, a Beam Spread Gun is extremely weak against AB Shields, and has virtually no hope for penetrating a field. Grenade Launcher: Where ballistics have fallen to armor and beams have fallen to barriers, explosions still work quite well. Often times doing more damage to the pilot via shockwaves than the mech itself, a grenade launcher is an extremely versatile weapon good in most all situations due to the ability to load specialized rounds. It's main drawbacks are limited ammo and the rare dud. Beam Saber: A sword made of beam. Missile Launcher: A shoulder-mounted unit that is capable of both guided multi-lock and dumbfire area-lock. Holds 48 rounds in each shoulder, and can be half-mounted if the pilot also wants to equip it with heavier ordinance. (Such as the Buster Cannon or 180mm Artillery Cannon) Buster Cannon: An extremely large beam cannon that both requires a free shoulder to mount, a supply pack to fire, and a lot of patience to use. The Buster Cannon is as effective as it is heavy, as a unit using one of these has its effective ground speed halved and chances of flight become impossible. Charging the cannon take an entire minute, with cool down taking about as long as well, however despite all these flaws, a Buster Cannon is still an extremely crucial weapon in a battle. Upon firing, a Buster Cannon emits five seconds of devastation that is usually "swept" along an enemy line for maximum effectiveness. Even some of the strongest AB Fields are no match for sustained fire from a Buster Cannon. 180mm Artillery Cannon: A powerful ballistic weapon that can be both fired directly and as a mortar. It is much lighter than a Buster Cannon, to the point where a unit outfitted to fly can do so, alebit awkwardly. Ground speed is barely compromised, but most of a units agility is hampered when it is carrying what is equivalent to a tank cannon on its arm. The shining point for the Artillery Cannon lies in its versatility. Unlike a beam weapon, the cannon can be outfitted with various rounds depending on the situation. Munitions include, but are not limited to, Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Sabot (APFSDS), Incendiary (HEAT/I), Smoke Canisters, or even in more devious functions, such as nervous system-affecting agents. Pile Bunker: A weapon equipped to the forearm that features a spring-locked steel-titanium alloy spike which is propelled by high-explosive charges in a revolver fashion. Easily one of the most damaging melee weapons, if solely for its ability to pierce even some of the thickest armor like cardboard. The spike itself can be left extended to be used as a makeshift melee weapon to parry with. On board Systems: AER, M^3 System Absolute Energy Rediffusor (AER, pronounced as "air"): A field that is generated around the Endless Sky that dissipates energy from non-melee beam weapons and absorbs it into an internal battery. This energy is then used to increase the output on many conventional energy weapons, restore lost performance due to strain, or increase power to the M^3 System, which in turn makes the unit more responsive. There is a slight flaw with the system though, as keeping it on all of the time would rapidly drain the internal reactor to the point of uselessness. As a substitute, small amounts of energy from the Endless Sky's thrusters are used to give the system a "jump start" so that it does not pull from the reactor. Because of this, the AER is only effective while the Endless Sky is moving. The AER is not infalliable against beam weaponry though, as a beam of large enough magnitude (Usually any that are larger than the unit in diameter) would overload the system and in turn destroy the Endless Sky. However a skillful (or quite possibly crazy) pilot can even turn this situation to his favor, flying along the edge of the beam, grazing its edges to collect charge. Passive Abilities on Charge: Increase Reaction Time, Increase Energy Weapon Damage, Restore Output Performance eMotional Mental iMaging System (M^3 System): A direct pilot to machine interface that uses the pilot's emotional state to help determine mechanical movement. This way, when a pilot gets a "knee-jerk" reaction, the machine will act accordingly. Originally a system planned to be used for prosthetics. The M^3 System has unusual effects when paired with the AER's energy redirection protocols, the most obvious of which redirect the energy into applications not even thought of by the engineers that made it. The following are known possible effects that have been demonstrated in the past. There may be other applications of the synergy between the two systems, but they have as yet been undiscovered. Active Abilities: Rapid Fire (Uses Charge), Overcharge (Uses Charge), Overburst (Uses Charge), Accelerator (Uses Charge) Rapid Fire: Tied to a clarity of mind and a sixth sense for danger, time slows for the pilot as he immediately becomes aware of the location of all enemies in range and unleashes a barrage of attacks at a single or multiple targets. This may cause damage on firing mechanisms or the unit's joints, depending. Overcharge: Tied to the feeling of raw determination, the weapon in hand becomes visibly more potent as it's shots become larger, length becomes longer, or area becomes wider, all of which are much stronger than a normal attack. This only works on energy-based weapons. This may burn out the weapon in question. Overburst: Tied to pure anger, the entire unit starts to glow as its vents start to shoot out superhot gases as the AER uses the same method it uses to collect energy to violently shoot it outwards. This creates a large burst of energy that heavily damages everything unfortunate enough to be caught in its area. This rapidly degrades the Endless Sky's armor. Accelerator: Generally tied to a feeling of fear and flight, although it can also be fulfilled under the same conditions as Overcharge. The Endless Sky's thrusters give off an impressive burst that move it far beyond what its listed capabilities are. This can be used both offensively and defensively, although it is more commonly used as the latter. This can burn out thrusters if overused.