The Dark Harrs

[Misha_Gottlich]

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Name: Taden Harrs: "The Dark Harrs"

Origin: Unknown, Liberty Space

Age: ~50

Cyber-Augments: CPU, Bio-Suit, Full Left Arm, partial Right Arm, Full Right Leg, Lower Left Leg, Various Internal Upgrades

Owned Ships: <Requiem> Heavy & <Blacktip> Bomber

Current Home:H+ Clinic, The CORE

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Taden Harrs (AKA: The Dark Harrs)

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Becoming the Dark Harrs

[REBOOTING]... Standby...
[LIFE SUPPORT]
[SENSORY SYSTEMS]: Active
[MOBILITY SYSTEMS]: Active
[SUPPORT SYSTEMS]: Active
[WEAPON SYSTEMS]: Active
...
[REBOOTING]: Complete

It was going to take Taden some time to adjust to waking up with a CPU in his mind. Since his augmentation surgery, every day Taden awoke at the predetermined time, his vision snapping 'on' for the lack of a better term. On the up side, he no longer needed to set an alarm. In many ways it was very difficult to adapt to all the changes that being a cybernetic being brought, but often, Taden found, this was simply getting used to the benefits and abilities it bestowed upon him. Lots of it was small things. Like with waking up at a preset time. Taden no longer had to check the time at all. His internal CPU kept track and notified him of the time in relation to any know stellar system he had record of. At first it was strange that he never felt hungry, or thirsty, or tired. As his nutrient and energy intake was now all regulated by his cybernetic systems and administered at his 'Sleep-dock' he no longer needed to eat or drink, and sleeping was really just plugging himself in to recharge for the time allotted. Other things were completely new, like the automatic collision and trajectory information that was constantly provided to him, or the identification; name, organization, rank, known relationships or contacts, etc... of anyone that came into contact with. If they had anything on file with any computer network, be it local or confined to the Neuro-net web system, Taden had that information at his disposal. It was somewhat disturbing to know all these details about every person he spoke to or saw up close.

After the initial conversation with Dr. Elyxzer, Taden had gone back into cybernetic reconstructive surgery. When he awoke the next time, once again jolting awkwardly into consciousness with a rebooting screen greeting, he was relieved to see that the cold mechanical shell that held his brain and other vital organs had been covered with a DNA synchronized skin-graft. Large portions of his face, head, and chest had obvious metal adaptations visible, and he was permanently bound in what the staff here called a 'Bio-Suit', having to breathe through an atomic-ionization mask, but at least he was presentable as a Human instead of some soulless machine. When it was fresh, the skin graft was tender, often being painful and uncomfortable, but Taden was ecstatic that he had genuine feeling in his artificially grown skin. As time went on though, his skin healed onto his new alloy skeleton and he no longer noticed the feeling of it on a regular basis. It felt now just like his natural skin, complete with nerve receptors for touch, heat, and pain. Harrs was amazed by the level of technology these scientists and medical professionals had. He was learning through not only observation, but with conversation with the clinic staff, that they were members of a faction called the Core and had access to the most advanced tech that mankind could engineer. It was very clear to Taden that he would not have survived if he had not been rescued by that Core science recon vessel.

As the days and weeks passed and Taden healed and adjusted to his cybernetic body, he was also trained. His cybernetic body had been packed full of top of the line survival gear, combat augmentations, and experimental weapons systems. He had the ability to mentally command his internal CPU to turn up the functional output of any of his mechanical limbs, allowing him tremendous increases in movement speed, reaction reflexes, and general limb strength. Though he weighed around 900lbs, he could vertically leap onto a head height ledge, about 7 feet for Harrs, with relative ease. He could easily run twice as fast as an average athlete and crush solid granite stones with his bare hand. The Bio-Suit armor he was encased in was completely impervious to most small arms and light laser fire, and it was equipped with a heavy ballistics cloak. This cloak was a heavy, thick, non-Newtonian solid that both dampened the actual inertia of solid rounds and actively refracted even the most powerful handheld lasers currently in use. When he was not on personal down-time or resting in his Sleep-Dock, Taden's head and face were covered by a combination bio-enhancement, sensory augmenting, combat helmet. This helm not only protected him from munitions like the rest of his Bio-suit, but it also provided him with extended targeting capabilities, hazard detection and avoidance, and even low light vision and digital image reconstruction. With enough data about a given engagement and the surrounding area, Taden could actively 'look through walls'! On top of all this, his left hand and arm was completely mechanical and could be reconfigured to interact with nearly any computer or other information processing dock, such as the system operational input consoles of spacecraft and most terrestrial vehicles. And all of this was considered defensive or 'support' tech... The weapons tech that he possessed was on a level considered 'experimental' by most soldiers and scientists alike!

First up in his considerable armament arsenal was something the science geeks around him referred to as the "Super Excited Particle Emitter" or SEPE-cuff. To Taden, it sounded like the sci-guys kept saying 'seep-cuff', but regardless of what it was called, it was devastating. The device was built into the right cuff of his Bio-suit and could be activated with a mental CPU command and a flex of his fist. The cybernetics in his suit register the tightening of the organics in his remaining arm and activate the firing mechanism for the weapon. This compact device emits a ring of excited plasma which is projected towards the target at a regular ballistics speed via magnetic field manipulation. The resulting pulse blast has the effect of vaporizing any soft organic matter it comes into contact with. A direct hit to the chest of an average size man leaves them with a hole the size of their head punched through it and a head-shot completely vaporizes the subjects skull.

Another handy offensive capability that Taden now possessed was located in the massive shoulder-plates of his combat gear. Whenever Taden is not in his Sleep-dock, or the cockpit of a specially designed fighter craft, his Bio-suit is kept in what he considered 'battle mode' where the chest and shoulders retained heavy additional shielding. While in a dock-pod these thick armor additions are disassembled and reconfigured into specially designed 'quick-change' compartments in the dock-pod. While in combat, Taden could give his CPU a mental command and his articulated shoulder-pads would shift to reveal an assortment of bladed projectiles. These advanced blades featured fine control thrusters and a an edge utilizing hypersonic-atomic vibration, which allowed them to easily cut through or penetrate most solid materials. The average marines armor would be cut to ribbons, as protective as wearing sheets of paper. Each blade was approximately the size of a mans hand and vaguely crescent shaped. The tiny control thrusters built into the backsides allowed for both extremely high velocity and target tracking capabilities. Taden's pads were equipped with twelve of these deadly flying sickles, six to each shoulder, and they would be automatically replaced if used whenever he returned to a properly configured dock-pod.

But, the most incredible weapon at Taden's disposal made the destructive power of any of his others look like that of some kind of child's toy. The science engineers that developed it called it the 'Plaz-Blade', and Taden rather liked the name, and the weapon. In simple terms, it was a sword made of super-heated plasma contained within his left arm. With a mental trigger, a compartment in his left forearm opens to reveal a small, intricate cylinder shaped piece of equipment. A mechanical function in his arm moves the cylinder to the palm of his left hand, which transfigures itself in such a way so that each of the fingertips is set into one of four receptacles on the rim of the shiny trinket. The thumg digit is then pressed into the center of the cylinder and it snaps into place with the servo motors in Taden's wrist. There's a loud ><CRACK><, followed by the low constant hum of the plasma being contained within its magnetic field and Taden was now in possession a 3 foot long blade, capable of cutting through any substance currently known to mankind. The entire process of drawing the blade is governed consciously by Taden, and he can stop or reverse activation or extension of the blade at any point. It also takes less than a second to go from being concealed to being a fully functional dispatcher of death.

It took Taden a considerable amount of practice with extending and retracting the blade, before he could even begin learning how to use it properly as a weapon and a tool. Now, months later it, and all of the other considerable modifications to his cyborg body felt just as natural to use as going to the bathroom used to be... Another thing that Taden no longer had to do, and after a time, was glad to be done with. He had become molded into a strong tank of a cybernetic soldier and was ready to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting Nomad alien menace... Or was he? An interesting communication was about to put Taden on the path to a very interesting future with the Core, and its rambunctious leader, Guildmaster: Jack Daniels

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The saga continues... ...

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