Chester Ward

"Loki"

> *"Blew right past some fast movers on the way home, figured a little race couldn't hurt."*
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> "Weapons free, danger close!"
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Chester Ward (callsign **Chimera-2**), colloquially referred to as 'Loki' by his peers, is an Ace ARK pilot of JSF Chimera. His specializations include aerial reconnaissance, aerial warfare, and is a renowned Ace dogfighter. As with all members of JSF "Nemean", he can be described as a Hyper-Lethal Vector. His ARK is referred to as "The Lutemas".

## Appearance

Chester Ward, commonly referred to as Loki, is an older male of average build and fairly short stature. He can be described as more machine than man, having undergone cybernetic augmentations to remove both his arms and legs, a procedure that was intended to reduce the probability of blacking out during high G maneuvers when piloting The Lutemas ARK. Loki is a fairly elusive character and is rarely seen outside of his piloting carapace, his armor's visage has a bulbous viewport and what resembles the bottom jaw of a human skull, giving him an imposing presence.

The Lutemas is an all white, heavyweight ARK, and is Loki's desired weapon of choice. The Lutemas is unique in the way in which it transforms for certain actions, most notably when entering flight mode. When engaging its flight mode The Lutemas's frame expands somewhat and situates into an elongated, almost jet like posture. Complete with a myriad of boosters opening up, and the ARK's head sinking down into the torso plating. Standing in its bipedal form, the Lutemas towers over most ground-based ARKs at 17 feet in height and once entered into its dogfighting form, it reaches a length of at least 24 feet. This large size and stature are necessary to utilize The Lutemas's unique flight boosters, featuring large dual solid rocket boosters and massive primary thruster for extended flight operations.

## Personality

A visual representation of the Lutemas ARK.

### Affiliation

Vehrian

Loki loves all things that go loud and fast, fast cars, fast ships, fast women, and fast cash all draw Loki's attention. This obsession with high-octane entertainment is a driving factor for Loki's noteworthy skill and combat prowess as an ARK pilot, pushing Loki towards becoming one of the greatest ARK pilots of his generation. Though his love for speed and flying makes him restless when he's been grounded by command and displays rebellious behavior when kept from his ARK for extended periods of time, suggesting he has grown a fondness for the ARK.

The Lutemas possesses a sentient A.I. like many other ARK's on JSF "Chimera", though it has rarely been displayed to observers other than Loki himself. Lutemas is quite selective with the individuals it communicates with, typically only speaking with those it "Deems sufficiently skilled.", whatever that means. It appears that Lutemas and Loki share a very personal connection to one another, on-site personnel described the pair as inseparable.

Due to their role typically isolated role as aerial reconnaissance for both JSF Chimera, and JSF "Nemean", the pair is typically a reclusive bunch.

## Psychological Profile (Yularen)

##### The following is an excerpt of a report written by Doctor Josef Yularen

"*An interesting individual to say the least. Show's symptoms of your classic thrill-seeker but can actually back it up with reflexes faster than lightning. His responses to questions were quick and direct, about as fast as I've seen him clear a War Games simulation. However, like most of those in Nemean, he's got a flaw. Similar to Cruz, he shares quite the relationship with his ARK. It should be recorded how Chester reacts when Lutemas meets his demise.*

*Another thing to keep note of: his mentality on his current body. A strong majority of Chester is not made of flesh, having sacrificed his arms and legs to withstand high Gs. How he's going to react to having such a body when this god forsaken war is over will have to be something we'll have to document. Like most other Nemean members, he shows antisocial behaviors and apathy. I strongly recommend a documentation of his reaction to UDI detainment and the separation of him and his ARK."*

## Psychological Profile (Kölleg)

##### The following is a section of Kölleg's psychological evaluation of Chester Ward

*"If a race horse had come into my office in human form, one might mistake it for the cybernetic form in both personality and physical appearance of Chester Ward. This man of which I can only describe as "speed personified" in even the blandest context is a man that perhaps cherishes most his long list of records and dangerous activities. Mr. Ward, as I will now refer to him, holds a serious sense of ambition I believe. Of course I have not met him personally (I doubt most of us have) but if his record is anything to go by then Loki deserves a special meritous report by it's own right.*

*To begin in brief, Mr. Ward seems to possess an almost savant level of understanding in the art of flight. Regularly upon my request to see him I have been rebuffed with the excuse from the flight crews that Ward is running some intensive air drill, putting speculative theories into practice. The amount of fuel he perhaps expends in these drills alone might rival the Argo's consumption itself. I don't know how much of this is true but I have seen and heard of his accomplishments. Doing maneuvers and combative techniques only dreamed possible. His knowledge in advanced flight mechanics must be of immense calculation, and it causes me to wonder just how he came to fly at all. I wouldn't pertend to know his background in this way but I would speculate perhaps some great emotional force has pushed him to such expertise.*

*If I was a betting girl, this sage knowledge in flying is likely the prime force in his social disconnect with others. For how can you talk in such mundane things of small talk like weather and politics when the sky itself is your canvas? It would certainly explain Lutemas' clear disdain for those it finds "unworthy of merit", too, as it mirror's the position of it's owner. To explain in greater detail: Mental skill is much similair to perhaps the much more concrete law of thermodynamics. Just as energy cannot be destroyed or created from nothing, Skill too adheres to this. The skills we have and aquire are only there because we've put time into one thing and sacrificed time put into another. In the case of Mr. Ward, I believe Ward litterally flies so much that he has spent little to almost no time in conversating and engaging others in any personal way. He has braved the colliseum of the clouds, but never once has he stepped into the social arena that we inhabit daily.*

*Unfortunitely this sharp mind is perhaps his greatest doom as well. Mr. Ward seems to be married to his own skill, which is to say perhaps his only challenger is himself. Every flight he takes Ward is constantly trying to beat some record or manuever that he made previously. As his kill count rises so does his ambitions to beat the next kill count. He is trapped on a collision course against his own merits, in a game of chicken with the very idea of impossible, and all the paths for him layed out lead to tragic ends: Either Ward will find his better and that will kill him, Ward will challenge himself to an impossible task and he will kill himself or Ward will realize he has done everything he could possibly do and he will have been effectively, at least in terms of his psyche, been killed. To put it simply: Ward is quickly approaching the apex of his abilities, and from his heightened stance, the only way in which he can go is down.*

*If I am to impart any knowledge upon the commanding force of Ward, it is that Ward's ambition is perhaps more dangerous than the enemy itself. When delivering orders to Ward be careful not to challenge him in fantastical, gregarious persuits no matter how much Ward might complain or bemoan the easy path you've set for him. For if you give Ward a task too great, Ward will aither accomplish it or die trying, I doubt Ward is even capable of backing down at all."*

## Loadout (Pilot)

### Secondary

* **F-12/SOCOM**: Subsonic 9x19mm 12 round mag | Semi Auto | 360 m/s (~1,200 ft/s)

### Boosts

* **Battery Back-up:** Gives yourself a backup battery to counter EMP’s against yourself or your Ark.

### Augments

* Cranium
	+ **Focal Radar Imaging (2):** Typically favored by marksman and black ops agents alike. Displays to the user an augmented reality in which the target is displayed and tracked.
		- **Tier 1 (0):** Displays up to a single target and their precise locations.
		- **Tier 2 (1):** Displays up to 10 targets and their precise locations.

* Arms
	+ **Arm Prosthetic Augments (2):** Installs prosthetic arms in place of organic arms. Allows for additional augments.

* Legs
	+ **Leg Prosthetic Augments (2):** Cybernetic legs, grants stability, and strength.

## Loadout (ARK)

### Chassis

* **Medium Ark Resource Cost:** 25 (50 HP)

### Controls

* **Basic Controls (0):** Gain a basic and intuitive set of controls for your Ark. Can be customized to accommodate limbs and attachments, or to work solely for specific limbs/attachments.

### Communications

* **Sentient A.I. (0):**Gives the Ark a super-advanced A.I. capable of accurately replicating human emotions. A.I. is subject to being influenced by its pilot's behavior and personality.
* **Vocal (0):** A built-in device that projects your voice outside of your suit up to 100m.
* **Command Suite (15):** A C&C module that feeds real-time information on the position and well-being of suits who uplink to the user. Allows the user to share HUD and Communications options between all uplinked Arks, as well as act as a comms and virtual (Wi-Fi if available) node.

### Targeting

* **Target Lock (10):** Tracks and updates a target’s position while adjusting the Ark's stance to assure an optimal chance of connected impact.

### HUD/Visuals

* **Enhanced Vision (5):** Can zoom up to 10x magnification. Gain night optics.

* **Radar (5):** Microwave signals are sent, bounced off objects, and returned to a transceiver, displaying their relative location.

* **External Status (10):** Same as Internal Status, but also gain visuals such as an estimated status of enemy Arks or targets, target locks, the direction of fire, electromagnetic readings, etc.

### Utilities

* **Automatic Eject (5):**If the Ark sustains critical damage, then a failsafe is activated wherein the pilot is automatically ejected from the Ark in order to prevent the pilot taking damage from the Ark's destruction.

* **VTOL Hover (10):**Provides a vertical take-off hover that can be sustained for up to 1-2 minutes. (Wendesvehr Exclusive.)

### Weapons

* **MG3 "Kaiser" (5):** An MG3 resized for Ark use. Fires 7.62x51mm NATO rounds at a near unparalleled rate of fire, this weapon will absolutely obliterate lines of infantrymen. They say it sounds similar to a buzz-saw whilst being shot. **7.62x51mm NATO | 200 Round Drum Mag | 820 m/s (~2 690 ft/s)**
* **Quad Pod (5):** Fires laser-guided cluster warhead rockets that detonate in proximity to enemies, releasing an effect similar to the fields of splinter grenades for an added flak effect. The weapon uses a unique system for loading and firing: rather than using a traditional magazine or single-shot system, it is fed by four detachable barrels, each of which holds a single rocket. When one of the rockets is fired, the other is cycled into place; when all four have been fired, the operator removes the barrel unit and inserts another. **102mm HE | 4 Missile Pod | 290 m/s (~950 ft/s)**