KNIGHT-SOLDIER IV

The **KNIGHT-SOLDIER IV** program is the fourth iteration of the KNIGHT-SOLDIER Program supersoldier projects. Like the original ORION Project, the KNIGHT-SOLDIER IV program utilises consenting adult volunteers selected from the other branches of the Nexon Prime Space Command, in contrast to the previous two programs which used children as candidates. Recruits are drawn from both distinguished career military veterans and young soldiers who show considerable promise.

Soldiers of this program are classed into "IV" or "IVs" in plural.

## Overview

The KNIGHT SOLDIER-IV programme began in 2018 and 2022, when OSNI began experimenting with providing limited enhancemnets to select groups of soldiers. After Kevin Costney, Douglas Brandt, Amylia Rousseau, and Karlos Navori were exposed to the lethal effects of a Colossian artefact, OSNI offered them the opportunity to join the programme, having learned that ACE-328's genetic upgrades as a KNIGHT III rendered him immune to the same effects.

At some point prior to the instatement of the current KNIGHT-IV program in 2553, elements within the Office of Supreme Naval Intelligence's Section III authorised a prototypical phase without approval from High Command. This incarnation was intended to produce supersoldiers whose physical prowess rendered MJOLNIR armour redundant. However, only one of the ten volunteer test subjects survived the augmentation process. The survivor, Dreyna Vega, was driven mad by the experience and was folded into OSNI. Despite the project's failure, Vega was considered the original KNIGHT IV.

The current version of the program was commissioned as a result of the success of the previous KNIGHT-II and KNIGHT-III programmes. Lieutenant Commander Rachelle Palmer, a contemporary KNIGHT-IV soldier who despised her ultranevian method of creating the Is, IIs, and IIIs, proposed the KNIGHT-IV project. Despite her hatred toward Dr. Margaret Kennedy, Palmer recognised the critical function of the KNIGHTs in safeguarding nevanity and the enduring importance of the supersoldiers in the midst of the entire battle. Admiral Frederick Parangosky, then-Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Supreme Naval Intelligence, approved the project, and the new programme was launched on his orders. Colonel Grunthel Lucian of KNIGHT-III was supposed to lead the programme at first, but Parangosky changed his mind after realising that he wanted to expose Nexima's secret super Dreadnaught warship that he has used in combat.

The first class of KNIGHT-IVs, consisting of 100 members, went active on January 7, 2022. Uniquely, not all of them are cybernetically enhanced, since some are born as Alphas, an evolved variation of the basic nevian being.

### Known IVs

#### SLADE

* ACE-328 (Former III)
* HOTSHOT-357
* VALERIE-319
* FREDERICK-305
* GUNTHER-380

#### LAZULI

* BLUE STEEL-318
* DIAMONDBACK-401
* PERIDOT-417
* LOCKETT-406
* ARCHIBALD-509

#### INDIGO

* BISHOP-805
* PSYLOCKE-832
* BULL-414
* AMY-056

#### SUPERNOVA

* ASTER-747
* NEBULA-836
* AQUILA-908
* AURIGA-625

## Trivia

### General

* KNIGHT IV supersoldiers that lack any type of augmentations are BISHOP-805, BULL-414, CRAIG-275 and PSYLOCKE-832. IVs are notably independent thinking and lack restraint.
* Unlike the standard KNIGHT II program that produced cybernetically enhanced soldiers, this program allowed all super soldiers to customise their PALADIN Mk. V armour to their preferences.
* Margaret Kennedy viewed them as "Adult weaklings", seeing them weak since the original IIs are children bred to be soldiers, which explains 25% of the KNIGHT IVs are resenting her authority and follows the NXSC command instead.
* Kevin, aka BLUE STEEL-318; Shown resentment to Margaret Kennedy.