'Heavens-Fall' Mortar Vehicle

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History
With the insight of some of their most prominent Gauss Scholars of the Sect of Structure at the time, the Monastic Ascendants saw the Barrage as an opportunity to expand their vehicular arsenal in a new, but familiar avenue.

Negotiating with their brothers in the Soul Forgers after the final conclusion of the Red Sand Disgrace, VIIth Legion Gauss Scholars were invited to commune with several of their cousins in the XIth Legion. It was during these talks that a rapport grew between them, the shared spirituality of both parties helping to bond the two together. Through time and those Monastic Ascendants that had been loaned to Alianaktuk's Expeditionary fleets performing great deeds in the service of their cousin's campaigns, they gained a great deal of respect. So much so that the Eleventh Legion, through their comradeship with those Gauss Scholars, bequeathed a gift from themselves, to the Seventh.

Through hard-fought battles with the Soul Forgers an appreciation for their hit and run tactics, and in particular their Barrage light attack vehicle, a joint project had formed and produced something wholly new.

The 'Heavens-Fall' as it had been dubbed, was an amalgam of the powerful speed of Kinak with the accurate and deadly diversionary tactics of the Monastics. Mounting a large, self-sufficient mortar and extra armour to the archeotech chassis, they had created a marvel of hit-and-run capability.

Presented to Tenzin upon the return of the Gauss Scholars from their exchange with some of Alia's own sons to show their appreciation. Upon seeing the marvel that had been birthed by a mutual understanding between his sons and those of the eleventh, Tenzin ordered their immediate production. Alongside this he took the Soul Forgers by surprise, showing his gratitude personally through an ancient Kinaki warriors embrace, clasping each arm in turn with his own welcoming the newly forged bond between their disparate legions.

Design
Choosing to heavily armour the Barrage chassis, the driver and gunner are encased in a command compartment to shield them, partially from enemy fire and partially from the shock wave of their main weapon firing. Mounted on the rear is an entire weapon assembly, including guidance servitor, autoloading system and various ammo racks to allow it to provide extensive, rapid-fire rounds on target, all these systems supply the Heavy Mortar Cannon.

While categorised as 'light artillery' the heavy mortar is anything but light, requiring the vehicle to deploy two hydraulic ram arms into the ground when firing. The recoil from the weapon system firing is so powerful that, if unsupported it might break the suspensor supports for the rear chassis. To support the hungry beast an internal storage and autoloader system holds 42 rounds, while the remaining spare ammunition is kept in 2 large storage bins attached to the back of the vehicle. The exception to this is a single round stored inside the crew cabin in a armoured compartment, this being the single round with an atomic warhead for use in times of dire need.

A small black cross on the right pauldron It is often used to denote amongst crews If they have ever had to use an atomic round, as it is seen as a failure to both their teachings and the part of the world they've destroyed.

While the armoured crew compartment does offer significant protection along with the heavy ceramite armour covering the vehicle the problem of being attacked by anti-vehicle munitions is still a great one. To this end the Heavens-Fall is equipped with two Electronic Counter-Measure launching pods coupled with a set of smoke-grenade launchers it serves to make the vehicle a very hard one to pin down.

Used as a light artillery platform the Heavens-Fall supports fast-moving or armoured forces with accurate and continuous indirect fire, able to mow down waves of infantry with withering salvoes of high explosive shells. By using it's speed advantage it can keep up with these forces or even support them with direct fire, never staying in one place for too long before moving. The combination of sheer firepower, speed and amour has allowed the Heavens-Fall to prove itself multiple times over, bringing the sky down upon the enemies of mankind.

Armament
The Heavy Mortar Cannon is a piece of siege artillery normally reserved for Imperial Army use as a towed system, wheeled into pre-prepared bunkers and set to fire for days at a time. As with most other applications of post-human thinking and ingenuity, the Monastic Ascendants saw the Ajax as an opportunity to provide assaults and harassment actions with artillery support, without the need for the complex maintenance and resupply lines needed for their larger Whirlwind cousins. With a fully articulated mounting and integrated autoloader the mortar can not only lay down artillery fire up to 20km away, it can also engage with light vehicles and infantry directly out to 2.5km. The autoloader, filled with 42 rounds can be loaded with a variety of munitions, and supply the weapon with enough ammo to fire continuously for 5 minutes before the system needs to be reloaded.

With an integrated control system that allows the gunner to take direct control or designate a target area, the mortar can reliably place rounds within 3m of their target, able to be fired in patterns to cover more or specific areas.

Backing up the mortar is a single turret mounted on the top of the cre compartment, in an articulated mount much the same as them. A storm bolter with it's own targeting system has a commanding view in a 360º arc around the vehicle. Used to suppress and eliminate lightly armoured infantry it can also be controlled remotely from the gunners position with a manual input in the event it is needed.

Defence
Using ceramite plating the Monastic Ascendants choose the concentrated protection of a stronger material over a compromise as seen in other designs. The heavy plates cover the vehicle, even encasing the driver and gunner in a crew compartment that keeps them free from small arms fire. The unfortunate downside to such effective armour is it's weight, and the effect that has on the vehicle itself. While Heavens-Fall is slower than it's Kinaki brother, it still manages to maintain an impressive speed, able to outrun most astartes vehicles despite the combined weight of weapon, ammunition and armour.

Sporting a set of two ECM launchers, the Heavens-Fall can protect itself from guided munitions such as missiles and targeting equipment by firing off reflective chaff and small flares out to confuse and distract any electronics aimed at their vehicle. This serves to blind and confuse the systems allowing the crew time to withdraw from an unfavourable battle.