MACO AJAX Exosuit

# Mk XV 'Ajax' Powered Armour

The **Mk XV 'Ajax' MACO powered armour** (or exosuit) is a superheavy personal defence system worn by Special Operations forces in theatres and situations where standard battle armour and shielding isn't sufficient to offer protection against extremely heavy weapons fire. It was developed from retrofitted Tzenkethi technology recovered in battles throughout 2417. The MK XV suit is difficult to produce due to the complexity of its systems, and is therefore issued in only limited numbers to Special Operations Groups.

The armour is named for the Spartan hero Ajax the Great, from Homer's *Iliad.*

Variants of this armour are in service with Starfleet MACO, Republic RIO and KDF Honour Guard units.

## Development History

Throughout 2417, the Jenolan Alliance engaged in a length campaign against the Tzenkethi Coalition. A far cry from the force that the Federation and Klingon Empire faced more than 50 years prior, the new Tzenkethi military was a well-equipped and capable force boasting an array of powerful new weapons and combat systems that proved a serious challenge for the latest advances in Starfleet, Romulan, and Klingon technologies.

Among the more impressive systems fielded by the Tzenkethi is the **Vranh'ko Quintessence exo-armour**, which effectively turns its wearer into a walking, fortified bastion of heavy firepower. In the hands of the Tzenkethi - who physiologically are already impressive beings - it meant that the Coalition only needed to field relatively small strike teams of heavily-armoured troops to counter Alliance forces that were many times their number.

   Such armour was not the first of its kind encountered by the Alliance. Similar technology had been seen in combat with the campaign against the Voth over the Jenolan Dyson Sphere.

What was clear in both instances is that the Alliance had no equivalent system of armour, and MACO, RIO, and KDF Honour Guard units were routinely finding themselves substantially outgunned in arenas where they were supposed to excel.

These suits became highly prized items of salvage for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, who were eager to understand and retrofit them for use by Alliance combat units. Throughout 2417, prototypes of this armour were issued to select Alliance units for field tests, with mixed results.

With the end of the Tzenkethi conflict at the start of 2418, the Tzenkethi Coalition was (albeit reluctantly) able to provide assistance to the SCE in further developing the retrofit armour. In part, this was due to the emergence of the Hur'q and the renewed threat posed to the Alpha Quadrant. The Tzenkethi expertise led to the development of the Mk XV 'Ajax' armour, which is now in full production and is being deployed to units as required. Colloquially, the suit is referred to by operators as **Juggernaught Armour**.

### Personal Protection and Shielding

Like standard MACO battle armours, Ajax is hermetically sealed and capable of limited operations in a vacuum environment. It is completely servo-articulated across all thirteen major limb and carapace joints (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles) and is driven by a small internal fusion reactor located under the heavily armoured posterior carapace between the shoulder RCS and rebreather system. Once donned, the entire suit and its armour sections are interlinked and tied to an inertial dampening system controlled by the wearer's computer systems. Once programmed according to user preferences, these systems are entirely autonomous.

Dry-weight, Ajax weighs 97.3 kilograms, inclusive of helmet, carapace and limb armour, exoskeleton, and reactor systems. Due to the servo controls and inertial dampeners, it is neither heavy nor arduous for the wearer to operate. A tri-layered synth-skin bodysuit is worn under the armour, much like the type used in standard MACO battle armour.

The armour carapace itself includes six megawatt-range graviton field emitters which combine to provide a fully-onboard Personal Shield Generator that is several times more durable than equivalent portal PSG units carried by standard security personnel. The precise energy ratings of the Ajax shield generator are classified by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Field tests have shown that it is capable of absorbing direct hits from Type-8 energy weaponry, and large-calibre high explosive ordnance.

The armoured carapace is a personnel-oriented derivative of sixth-generation starship hull plating technologies, incorporating a composite system of nano-fibres and ablative ceramics with a hardened tritanium alloy backplate. Sandwiched between this composite is a ferro-fluid reactive compound which is designed to harden when exposed to high intensity directed-energy radiation, and provides limited shock absorption for the wearer. The thickness of each plate varies, and weight priority is given to the thorax and lower abdomen, which is sufficient to provide protection of vital organs in most Alliance humanoid species, regardless of internal physiological differences. (For example, the SCE extended the breast plating down to the lower extremities of the rib cage, accomodating for Vulcanoid physiology where the heart is located substantially lower in the abdomen.)

Plates located around joints are multi-sectional, overlapped lames that ensure protection of these normally vulnerable areas. While not as thick as the torso carapace, the protection is sufficient to ablate most glancing hits from small-arms fire.

The suit contains auto-injectors which are tethered to its bio monitors. In the event of trauma, these injectors are capable of administering a range of medications that include adrenaline, pain killers, antiseptics, and blood coagulants on-demand.

### Juggernaught Nanites & Haptic Feedback System

A major point of divergence between standard battle armour and the Ajax system is the latter's full integration of the juggernaught armour system. Ajax is unable be used to its full range of capability without the wearer being injected with a sub-dermal layer of powered nanites that pick up nerve impulses and interlink with the suit's servos to drive its actuators. This is necessary for the suit to be driven without 'lag' against the user's own motions, and ensures complete and unimpeded mobility despite its heavy weight and bulk.

A further benefit of this is that the suit becomes devastatingly effective if used in melee combat, with the user's motions amplified as needed through an inversion of the suit's inertial dampeners. In effect, this prevents significant shock or trauma to the user, while delivering maximum possible kinetic force through a limb or weapon.

**WARNING: MACO Operational Procedures forbid the application of such force unless the user has been instructed in Grade III hand-to-hand combat techniques. The exosuit is capable of delivering enough kinetic force to to seriously injure or kill a humanoid of average weight, height, and build.**

Nanite therapy is considered an advanced medical practice and is not undertaken without the authority of a senior Alliance medical officer assigned to Special Operations.

A further benefit of the juggernaught system is the suit's ability to tie its field generators to the nanite power cells, providing as much as a 20 percent increase to field integrity, and greater resistance to energy bleed through. The field generators themselves are back-hardened and insulated to prevent any harm to the wearer in the event of systems damage or electrical failure.

### EVA and RCS system

The suit has a pair of reaction control system thrusters mounted on the shoulder bracings. These thrusters are capable of maneuvering in zero-G environments, as well as providing retro-burn assistance during ultra-high altitude, extra-vehicular orbital insertions. The thrusters fire automatically (or manually via override) in stages during terminal descent, bringing the wearer safely to the ground at a velocity less than two meters per second.

The boots feature standard phased magnetic locks common to most types of EV suits, allow them to fix onto metallic surfaces. The suit is heavily insulated against thermal and electrical shocks.