Gentec Marines (GMC)
Contents
Gentec Marine Core
Gentec Marines form the core military ground force. Gentecs status as a space nation with no terrestrial holdings mean that their primary use for soldiers is in boarding and defensive operations. Marines are entirely Luminate, and specialise in zero-G combat, boarding actions and terrestrial guerrilla warfare. They have little or no use for vehicles such as tanks as they are not usually in a position to use them.
Marines are trained from shortly after birth, often the veterans of several conflicts and a highly professional fighting force. They are very well equipped for their job, given the best technology available. They are in fact an elite unit, but due to their visible and constant presence they are not considered as such by Gentec citizens.
The Marines make up 1% of Gentec's population, 50% of which are non-combatants. However, since each marine has between 3 and 5 non-sentient constructs to back them up, they are still a formidable fighting force that is capable of hitting above its weight.
Peacetime Role
During peacetime the Gentec marines become keepers of the peace and bodyguards. While not strictly police, they have the authority to make arrests and are trained to deal with criminals and civilian uprisings, and their usual main weapon has less-lethal settings.
Wartime Role
In wartime Gentec Marines are at the front line, posted on Gentec Assault Cruisers, they use boarding craft to enter and disable or capture enemy craft and installations. In terrestrial wars they function as guerillas, using their long-range Skirmisher Ground Assault Weapons to snipe at enemy positions before dissapearing. Gentec has no interest in terrestrial holdings, so in general the only reason that they would engage on the ground is to recover captured equipment or personel.
Equipment
bio-armour
Gentec Bio-Armour is a living organism, a symbiotic lifeform that was created to meld itself to its wearer and provide protection, enhanced strength and senses, and an array of other benefits that vary according to the individual. The armour is usually quite heavily customised according to the needs of the marine who uses it, but visually they are all identical, and they all share certain key features.
- All GBA's interface not only with the operators nueral strata, but also their circulatory system, sharing bloodstreams. As such one can piggyback on the others vital functions until self-repair functions kick in and start healing the damage. It also means that the operator can use the suits energy reserves instead of removing the armour to eat normally, and the suits medical sensors can administor pain killers, adrenalin shots, antidotes and and immuno-boosters directly into the operator's bloodstream without compromising its integrity.
- All GBA's have an external carapace of organic-inorganic composite formed of organic polymer and Alumina, which gives it its distinctive blue colouration. This carapace is effective against most solid projectiles and its ablative qualities provide some protection against many energy weapons.
- All GBA's have 360 degree thermal and nightvision, piped directly into the marines conciousness, and in the case of the civilian model a HUD array. In the case of the Military models, this is most confusing and possibly damaging to those without training to deal with the amount of alien sensory input, this is the most prohibitive aspect of the suits functionality for non marine caste Lumina.
- All GBA's are environmental, which is to say that they are capable of sealing, and operating in the absence of air, at least for a while. Because the suit itself needs oxygen, this is achieved with the use of CO2 scrubbers and oxygen saturated tissue that functions as an emergency oxygen reserve. Filters in the oxygen intake deal with most air impurities, but if the suit detects foriegn bodies penetrating the filtration, or in the absence of air, the intakes seal and the suit begins recycling co2 and releasing oxygen from the reserves. The suit has three hours base operating time, after which it either needs to hook up to a source of O2 such as a oxygen cylinder or similar apparatus. Points exist on all levels of Habitats and Gentec ships where the suits can hook up and replenish supplies of nutrients and oxygen.
- All GBA's can heal and maintain themselves. They can also provide some medical aid to their wearers, preventing shock and administering coagulants to wounds. This doesnt mean that they can return the operator to fighting condition by themselves, but they can keep the operator alive long enough to recieve medical attention.
That said, the various models of GBA also have major differences:
- Size: The most notable difference is size. The Civilian model adds hardly anything to the size of the wearer, perhaps a couple of inches. The Militia and Standard Marine model is larger, increasing the wearer to about seven foot tall. The largest and most imposing is the Heavy Marine model, which is a staggering nine feet tall at the shoulder.
- Protection: Civilian suits are mainly designed for protection against environmental hazards. The shell is only a centimeter or so thick, and provides limited protection against physical damage. That said, the protection is ample where most natural hazards are concerned. Militia armour is better, designed to offer protection against solid projectile weapons and small energy weapons. The ultimate protection is gained from Marine armour, which is designed specifically with energy weapons in mind. Almost an inch of protective shell encases the wearer, and many small arms are simply incapable of defeating its protection. That said it pays for its protection in bulk.
- Operation: Civilian, SM and Militia models both follow the same mode of operation, in that they are simple suits of armour. The HM model is less simple. The wearer assumes a fetal position in the torso of the suit, and interfaces with the suits own neural structure, effectively possessing its body and directing it. As such in order to harm the wearer one has to penetrate the torso, where the armour is strongest.
- Weaponry: Neither the civilian or Militia suits have integral weaponry. SM suits have plasma lances built into the forearms, but they are mostly for cutting through bulkheads and not considered to be efficient weapons. The HM suit however has heavy weaponry built into it directly. Micro-torpedo pods are built into the forearms, legs and shoulders of the suits and are capable of firing impressive salvo's of Alcubierre-driven low payload homing missiles. Typically the only armament HM suits employ, they are a powerful anti-vehicle and anti-aircraft support weapon.
Marine Issue Assalt Weapon (Meow, or Cat), and Skirmisher Ground Assault Weapon
These weapons are the two main infantry weapons of the Gentec military. Each has settings for atmosphere and for vacuum.
Primary atmospheric setting for the Cat is a phase-conjugate laser system. This works well in atmosphere because it dynamically corrects for blooming. With this setting the lower laser is used as the guide, and the upper is the amplified weapon laser. this is the most physically damaging setting, and is used for 'hard' targets such as vehicles and infantry in power armour.
Another atmospheric setting on the Cat is an Electrolaser. It works by conducting a large electrical charge down plasma generated by a high-intensity laser. This disables or kills by electrocution and damages or destroys electrical hardware. Both weapons have two laser emmitters and so this weapon works on both ground and air targets. This is primarily a less-lethal riot weapon, but can be set to lethal as well.
The Skirmisher uses a short laser pulse to blast the atmosphere out of the way, and then fires a ball of superheated plasma down the corridor created at extremely high speed. This powerful weapon does not function properly on Habitats and is too large to use in the confined spaces of a space craft, so it is reserved for use on ground operations as a sniping weapon.
Vacuum setting for both weapons is just a straight high intensity blue light laser that explosively evaporates the targets surface, and then burns through.
Another setting both weapons have is as a plasma lance, where a foot long plasma 'blade' is projected out of the front of the weapon. This is used both as a close combat weapon similar to a bayonet, and as a way of breaching bulkheads and even ship hulls. The weapon cannot be fired on any other setting while the plasma torch is in place.
Constructs
Ground Combat Drones
Marines, for all their toys and training, are by no means numerous in comparison to other military forces. Frequently a deployment of marines may only consist of five or ten men. These constructs are what fills in the gaps.
Marines are trained form birth to be able to process and interpret huge amounts of sensory information. The benefuit of a strict caste based system. GCD's capitalise on this training. Seven foot tall humanoids indistinguishable from a human in Bio-Armour, these non-sentient constructs function as puppets on the battlefield, controlled by marines, or by the Habitat and even Cruisers in orbit. Every Marine is accompanied by five GCD's under his direct command, or three GCD's and a MMU in the case of Medics.
GCD's provide the marine with another set of eyes, another pair of hands and something to hide behind when the shit hits the fan. They are typically armed with a Cat and some plasma grenades, and they mindlessly follow instructions from their controllers and relay sensory data that can be used by the marine to accurately triangulate enemy positions.
Military Medical Units
MMU's are large spiderlike constructs, six feet tall when fully upright they usually move around fluidly on their many legs, able to climb vertical surfaces and leap frightening distances.
Unlike GCD's, MMU's have some ability to act independantly. They also do not send back sensory information unless requested to. Their primary function is to provide medical assistance to Marines, and if neccesary to remove them from the battlefield so they can be evacuated. Their unstated secondary function is as guerilla weapons. Used similarly to land mines, they are left behind by retreating Marines to wreak havok behind enemy lines. Like rats, they can fit through tiny spaces, hide in dark crevices and though they have no ranged capability whatsoever, their incredible speed and frightening array of bladelike appendages means that they are formidable adversaries in close combat.
