Special equipment: heavy armor upgrade, ion field generator, gravitic cloak, TC/D drive, memory system
Famed inventor Tesla Browning made a crucial posthumous contribution to ending the HALO Conflict when Martian pilot Theodore Red flew Browning’s XCDS-00M0 Metatron in the war’s decisive battle. Red would make good use of his father’s super machine in his bid for Martian independence, which won the SOC’s tacit recognition in CY 42.
Having established his queen and his throne with the alien CF Jigoku, Red declared himself God Emperor of Mars. He set to work consolidating his power base and cementing his rule. Red gained overwhelming economic leverage by relocating Browning Corp headquarters to Olympus Mons. No politician dared challenge Red’s legitimacy with one of the UCP’s top combat frame contractors in his back yard.
Not all BEC facilities were relocated to Mars overnight. The company’s Bigelow City plant continued operating on the Moon until the first Ynzu wave destroyed the facility in CY 60. The attack left only one survivor: CDF Specialist Nathaniel Frost, who rode out the assault in the newly upgraded XCDS-ooMoχ.
The God Emperor had commissioned the χMetatron (pronounced kai Metatron) as an upgrade to his then-two-decade-old CF. Though some could reasonably argue that the original Metatron still outclassed every other CF so far as to make enhancing it overkill, Red was never one for subtlety. Seeking to avoid the decadence that too often overtook past dynasties, he devised a fraternal contest wherein his issue would compete for the title of Crown Prince with the χMetatron as a princely throne.
Frost gave the χMetatron a live combat test sooner than expected, flying the newly finished heavy armor to relieve the overwhelmed CDF forces at Earth. Carbyne-diamond isomer armor twice as thick as the original Metatron’s, an extra barrel added to its gravitic Gatling, and a higher-output gravity sword compensated for Frost’s inexperience. The tech battled Ynzu Controller Barbarossa’s Imhullu to a stalemate, allowing CDF pilot Viktor Karsten’s Refined XSeed Prometheus to deal the Zue CF a crippling blow.
The Metatron’s heavy armor upgrade came with some trade-offs. Doubling the XSeed’s armor rendered its transformation system inoperable, as well as adding significant weight. BEC markedly increased the gravity drive’s output to compensate. As a result, the χMetatron could reach speeds topping out between its old fighter and CF forms, which still surpassed any extant CF. The same measures kept maneuverability loss to a minimum.
Whereas sustained fire from the original Metatron’s gravitational laser Gatling could saw a space colony in half, χMetatron’s weapon upgrades enabled it to sterilize a whole colony in seconds. Such was the world-shaking power inherited by MRV Commander Ash Red when he won the title of Crown Prince in CY 96.
Get a sneak peek at the χMetatron in action. Read Combat Frame XSeed: Classified Intel now!
Ooh, it’s been a while since we had one of these!
I’ve been saving this one. Seemed an apt time to post it now since XSeed Double-S is well underway.
As I mentioned before, the art is getting pro and awesome. Wherever the art is coming from, keep it up!
Todd Everhart designed the covers of the first three books, and he did a bang-up job. I wanted to visually convey that XSeed: S starts a new series, and that’s why I hired a different artist.
That said, Ares does exquisite work.