MR-02 Protector

A lightweight combat Battloid, the **MR-02 Protector** was designed and used by the Mercantile Republic.

## Background

The Mercantile Republic's secession from the United Earth Government had put it in a somewhat precarious position. While it was now independent of external control, it also was surrounded on three sides by UEG territories that were home to Southern Cross forces. Its military was equipped with predominantly pre-Rain of Death vehicles and weapons, some dating back to the Global Civil War, leaving it outmatched by the modern equipment fielded by the ASC. Finally, while it was producing its own clones of the Stoneman Power Armour and Hood walker, both were hopelessly obsolete by modern standards.

While the Mercantile Republic had an ally in the form of the EBSIS, General Mendoza was wary of leaning too heavily on the Soviets lest the Republic end up as a client state. As a compromise, Mendoza purchased components from the EBSIS to develop their own combat Battloid. Using the same mixture of salvaged parts and existing technology that had produced the PPR-24 Soldat, the Mercantile Republic developed its own design, the MR-02 Protector.

While falling somewhat short of the original design ambitions, the Protector was none the less an advanced combat Mecha that was well ahead of anything else the Mercantile Republic fielded. Furthermore, it was markedly superior to the largely obsolete vehicles used by the Highlands or other neighbouring states. Entering service with the Ejército Republicano Mercantil in 2024, the Protector was issued to those units most loyal to General Mendoza, where it replaced older designs. The ERM was fully aware of the Battloid's limitations and intended to use it to supplement more traditional designs in operational service.

Protectors were used in the short-lived Highlands War, where they formed the spearhead of the Republic's invasion forces. The Battloid proved to be quite effective against the obsolete tanks and IFVs used by the Highlands' armies, but the Southern Cross' intervention proved to be another matter. Thoroughly outmatched by the more advanced Spartas Hovertanks and Salamander Battloids deployed by the ASC, a number of Protectors were lost before the Mercantile Republic agreed to a cease-fire.

Despite these losses, the Protector remained in the ERM's service as their only full-sized combat Battloid. While they saw no action during the Second Robotech War, Protector were deployed during the short-lived operation COBRA MORTAL, and were instrumental in the Republic's efforts to capture Buenos Aires. However, they were also then immediately thrown into combat against the Invid, where they were quickly overwhelmed and destroyed along with the rest of the ERM. None are known to have survived the Invasion.

## Capabilities

The MR-02 Protector was designed using the same principles as the EBSIS' PPR-24 Soldat Battloid. Initially, the mecha was built around a Soviet KRT-66 Protoculture reactor, itself a modified version of salvaged Battle Pod reactors. However, later models used locally-sourced salvage as the Republic's technicians became more confident with their salvage and repurposing efforts. The structure was built from a mixture of salvaged and recycled Zentraedi components, which were abundant in South America following the end of the Malcontent Uprisings. Most other components, such as the electronics and weaponry were built locally, ensuring that the Mercantile Republic was not overly dependent on an outside power.

A fully humanoid Battloid, the Protector was capable of full mobility and was equipped with a pair of fully articulated hands. Maximum ground speed was 128 km/h. Additional mobility was provided by jump jets in the legs and back, giving it a limited jump capability.

The Protector's pilot sat in a fully enclosed cockpit within the torso that featured full life-support systems including NBC protection. The main sensors were mounted in the head, with a short-ranged multi-mode battlefield radar providing the primary means of detection. Secondary systems included stereoscopic optical options such as low-light, infrared, thermal and advanced zoom, laser designator and rangefinder. The Battloid was equipped with a modern battlefield communications system.

Initially, the Protector was armed only with a quartet of head-mounted lasers. These weapons proved to be only partially adequate during the Highlands War, and as such the ERA began equipping their Battloids with imported AKG-470 Gun Pods. During the late 2020s, several other gun pods were developed, but none are known to have entered operational service.

The MR-02 was protected by a composite armor made up of titanium, plastics and recycled "space metal" from Zentraedi mecha. The plastic portions served as an energy absorbing deformation area on the backside of the armor panels. This armor was attached to the space metal and titanium frame of the robot itself. This armor was very light in weight, which helped keep the overall weight of mecha down to 19 metric tons at full combat load. This armor was sufficient to stop all small arms and heavy infantry weapons fire, provided good resistance to light mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Zentraedi 22.3mm HE autocannon round, but offered poor resistance to medium mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Valkyrie's 55mm APFSDS round.

## Weapons and Equipment

* **L4 Quadrouple Laser System:** Mounted in the head. The lasers could fire up to 40 times per minute and were designed to be fired together.

* (optional) **AKG-047 Gun Pod:** Hand-held. Fires 57mm high-explosive rounds at 900 rounds per minute. The drum magazine at the rear of the pod carried 200 rounds. The weapon featured integral targeting sights tied to the Mecha's fire control system. Though this drum could be changed in the field by the pilot without leaving the cockpit, it was a fiddly process requiring a great deal of fine control input.

## Game Statistics

* **Required Rank:** 1

* **Designation:** MR-02

* **Stats**
	+ **Armour – Light:** 8
	+ **Structure – Light:** 16
	+ **Resist**: 1
	+ **Hardware Points**: Basic
	+ **Speed** – **Running:** 125 kph / 200m / 20 Ground Units
	+ **Speed** – **Jumping:** 100 kph / 160m / 16 Ground Units

### Weapons

* **L4 Quadrouple Laser System:** The Protector's sole weapon is a quartet of lasers mounted in the head. These Lasers have a limited Range of Medium and inflict Mecha-Scale damage [H]

* **Punch:** The Protector has strong hands, made from durable alloys. They may make Melee Attacks without penalty. These Attacks inflict 5x Light-Class damage.

### Features

* **Indexing Hands:** The Protector has fully functioning hands that can pick up objects. They have a sensitivity of .5 kg.

### Options

* **AKG-047 Gun Pod:** The AKG-047 is a powerful automatic handheld weapon which fires 57 mm exploding rounds with a high rate of fire and velocity at Medium range. [B1][E][H]

### Equipment Suites

* **Quad Laser:** The Protector can focus fire from its lasers on to a single target, which cannot escape. The devastation is enormous. Jumping is useless. When all uses of this Equipment Suite are expended the Lasers have overloaded and cannot be used [P1]
	+ **Uses:** 3
	+ **Skill:** 2 + Ignore 1 point of Target's armour

* **Heavy Burst:** The Gun Pod may be used to fire a Long Burst of fire. At Short Range, the heavy burst causes increased effect, but risks depleting the weapon's ammunition. When all the uses of this Skill have been used, the AKG-047 is considered to be out of ammunition and cannot be used until reloaded. [P1]
	+ **Uses:** 2
	+ **Skill:** 2 + Ignore 1 point of Target's armour at Short range