Dragoon Jump Infantry

Overview of Tactics

The Dragoon Jump Infantry are special shock units utilized by Kaukolastan, and they follow in the proud tradition of paratroops and Air Cavalry, although the tactics required revert more to the traditional Heavy Dragoon of mounted conflict. Equipped with jump jet thrust packs, the Dragoon Jump Infantry can bound across a battlefield, dropping amid fixed defenses and behind lines, to sow chaos and havoc amid the opposition.

Upon landing, the Jump Troops ditch their expended packs and fight as normal infantry, leaving them stranded if the assault fails. They cannot carry an extraordinarily heavy or bulky load, do to issues of thrust and maneuverability, and so are forced to acquire new weapons after the initial thrust, grabbing the fallen opponents’ firearms and turning them upon the next line.

The Jump Infantry are designed for a storm trooper role, to shatter the enemy’s lines in synchronization with the main assault, although doctrine does allow for a quick strike or seizure role. Multiple jumps are possible on one pack, but the amount of distance crossed is negligible, and attempts to fight from mid-jump are hindered by the enhanced effects of impulse on the airborne soldier.

The Dragoon Jump Infantry are a powerful force against entrenched foes, to wreak havoc in the rear guard, or to seize and destroy a "secure" objective, but they cannot be used as normal infantry. They are inordinately expensive to train and deploy, and are not useful en masse. If forced into prolonged engagements, the outnumbered Jump Troops will eventually fall, and it would be a waste to deploy this precision unit as a line division. The Jump Infantry rely on speed, shock, and surprise to overcome numerically superior foes, and therefore, break the stagnant lines of a prolonged engagement. This is the primary use inside Kaukolastani Military Doctrine.

Specs

JV5 Combat Pack

The heart of the Dragoon Jump Infantry is, of course, the Jump Pack itself. The JV5 is neither a jet, nor a rocket pack, but rather, a micro-containment system for a short-burn Pure Fusion reaction. The pack is triggered by an infusion of power from a mobile power supply into the superconducting coil capacitor, which, when activated by the operator, in turn triggers the firing of a laser into a Deuterium-Tritium structure. The heat generated is diverted out of the side thrust ports, which vector the heat to provide maximum thrust. Heat is kept safely away from the operator through parabolic mirrors and ceramic plates, although the downside is that all thrust is forward thrust, to some degree.

More mixture is fed into the laser as needed for jumps, although the pack only stores enough fuel for two minutes of controlled flight. After being expended, the pack burns out, rendering it worthless and empty of any of the high-end KaukolastanI technologies used, allowing it to be dumped on site. The pack is relatively safe, although a critical rupture could cause an accelerated, uncontrolled reaction in the pack, resulting in a massive neutron-radiation blast, and possibly a runaway tritium fusion reaction, although the trace amounts used would amount to less than a large conventional bomb.

Dragoon Combat Suit

The armor worn by the Jump Infantry is specifically built for the purpose. Comprised of a thermally sealed body-glove, an armored jumpsuit, and the silvery alloy exterior, it is highly advanced and highly expensive. The body glove is a “smart” plastic, so as to reseal if breached, and to apply pressure to puncture wounds induced. It is designed to seal the wearer from the rigors of flight, acting as combination environmental suit and gel g-suit. The next armored layer is comprised of heavier amounts of “smart” plastic, for armoring the user against small arms fire, and it has integrated full body sensors which relay up to the Tactical Helmet’s HUD Visor, relaying real-time data on the user’s own status.

The outermost layer is a light-weight, flexible, and durable alloy. Silvery-blue, the alloy plates are arranged similar to a medieval knight’s, with interlocking joints and peaked angles. The plating provides some degree of reflectivity protection against the pack’s radiant heat or enemy laser weapons, while also stopping most light ballistic objects. The JV5 Pack locks into the armor suit, and can be quick-released by punching the X release on the chest straps.

Dragoon Tactical Helmet

Comprised of the same alloy as the suit, the angular helmet locks into the armor below, and provides a seal around the head of the soldier inside. The view port is actually a Tactical Visor, which displays a real-time laser-projected Heads Up Display (HUD) to the user, and reacts to eye movement to accurately change feeds. The helmet contains the communications array for the soldier, as well as the monitoring systems for the JV5 Pack. All the data collected in the entire system is relayed up to the helmet in audio or visual cues.

Around the cranial portions, the helmet contains a Remote Neural Interface, which is a passive receiver of the wearer’s bioelectric “commands”. The soldier reacts to the stimuli provided by the audio/visual projectors in the helmet, and his own commands are given to the system via the headset, which interprets the brain waves into commands to the pack. This allows much more rapid response and multitasking than physical controls would permit from the user/machine interface.

Standard Loadout

In addition to the advanced armor worn, as well as the JV5 Jump Pack, the Dragoon typically carries a brace of six SAG N.02 Dragoon Needlers, worn at shoulders, chest, and waist. These light and quick firing machine pistols allow the Dragoon to level concentrated firepower on targets immediately after landing. As the N.02s are expended, they too are discarded, and the Dragoon must grab enemy weapons to continue the assault.

A single secondary weapon, generally an SMG or bullpupped assault rifle, can be worn on the chest sling, but this can interfere with the pack-release, which would encumber the soldier in a rapid engagement. The Dragoon can carry up to eight grenades on the suit, and more could be picked up on site.

The final piece of weaponry carried is an extendable moliblade from the top of the wrist, released either with neural-link command or manual push of the catch, extending a nine-inch blade from either hand for close engagement.

The Dragoon can carry other equipment as well, but they generally move light, relying on speed, maneuverability, and surprise to avoid being mauled by numerically superior foes.

At A Glance

Thrust Duration:

• 2 Minutes

Lift Weight:

• 250 kilograms, maximum

Weapons:

• 6x SAG N.02 Dragoon Needlers
• 2-8x Grenades
• 2x Extendable Moliblades
• Various Tertiary Load

Control System:

• Remote Neural Interface

Cost per Unit:

• 80 Million Credits

Deployment:

• Extremely Rare