Conda Inkosi

The **Conda Inkosi** is a variant pattern of the Ajax Light Vehicle, designed for infiltration and anti-tank operations deep behind enemy lines.

## Background

### Design

Taken by the opportunity to embrace the Ajax design ahead of the other legions, the Predator's representative, a techmarine of the Black Conda tribe, saw fit to immediately agree to the Mechanicum offer. With the vehicle proving to pique the interest of the of the Predator's Tech-clave they set to adapting it to the simple lessons learned on Mardum and those of their tribe; to strike from the shadows with wrathful abandon. To this end when working with the Tech-adepts of Sigma-Cant Covenant they developed a fast, deadly weapon that could strike from the darkness as well as any of the legion's infiltrator bikes.

Equipped with composite layers of armour and an outer layer of chameleoline, the vehicle's profile is sleek and vicious-looking, without even mentioning it's main armament. On the back of the vehicle a large, servitor-controlled firing platform is mounted, it's complex housings and cooling systems working to support a Grav-cannon that peaks out of the armoured assembly. Powered by a thermic combustor reactor the speed and range is also greatly increased, allowing it to operate significantly longer than it's sister variants.

With the blessing of numerous Tribes who were happy to integrate the ambush predator into their ranks, the finished product was christened Conda Inkosi, after the tribe who helped design such a weapon. From here the Inkosi distinguished itself in the art of ambush warfare. Whole squadrons cut down tank columns and fortifications with the grav-cannon, before quickly fading out of view as quickly as they appeared.

### Armament

The main weaponry fielded by the Inkosi is the Grav-cannon, an esoteric and deadly design befitting the Dark Age of Technology it originated from. The ability to fire a stream of graviton particles that turn an enemies armour against him, disabling or even outright crushing them is invaluable when going up against both heavy armour and fortifications. As the beam itself is unleashed upon an enemy the weapon generates heat, it eventually has to be dissipated. To achieve this a cooling system is also integrated into the turret, both these systems use the increased power of the thermic combustor to run, but will overheat if frequently used.

Secondary to the grav-cannon is the mounted meltagun for use by the gunner as a backup weapon. Mounted on a ball-jointed socket the meltagun can be pivoted in almost every direction to allow him to defend against almost any close-range threats. While mainly an anti-tank weapon, the meltgun is popular amongst the Conda Tribe for it's ability to hit a target hard and quickly, before the vehicle withdraws to a safe distance. With a spare canister stored in the navigators foot-well there are 12 shots available, and some extra space for more canisters if necessary.

### Defence

The armour used by the Inkosi is a composite, layering armaplas and thin slivers of ceramite to act a barrier to incoming projectiles. The benefits of using composite are that the differing types of armour mean that even if a projectile manages to defeat one of the layers the difference of material in another layer will prove to slow or stop it entirely. The mixture of materials means the vehicle is lighter too, so the loss of speed is not as severe as simply using slabs of ceramite.

While the composite armour allows for the retention of speed and a good amount of protection, the main source of defence used by the Conda Inkosi is to not be seen at all. Covering the whole body of the vehicle, several layers of chameleoline fabric has been placed, allowing the vehicle to blend itself into an environment and render into a semi-visible haze. While the same layering could not be placed on the turret due to heat excess from firing, a workaround was devised. Around the turret are four metal loops used as anchor points attached to a significantly sized sheet of cameleoline that is bundled into a storage box running the circumference of the turret. When fully extended the cameleoline attaches to more anchor points on the rear of the vehicle, allowing full rotation of the turret while leaving only the grav-cannon and it's gunners sight exposed. This allows the crew to position the vehicle so that the weapon system will only be spotted when it's too late while not having to worry about hiding the rest of the vehicle.

### Engines

Upgrading the heavily standardized Vulcanor engines to the more powerful thermic combustor brings and overall increase to the speed and reliability of the vehicle, able to cross vast distances at a brisk pace. Providing power to the grav-cannon and cooling systems as well, it helps both operate for extended durations, able to keep power flowing and coolant chilled in the heat of battle. Along with the increased speed comes the increased operational range, with the vehicle managing to clearly out-range the other Martian variants, but still quite short of it's distant Uran progenitor.