Heretic GA-7

Written by skairunner

The Heretic GA-7 is a Venusian close air support/ground assault aircraft manufactured by Ishtari Diamond. It is also used at Penumbra in a supplementary role to the Sunbreaker SF-2. It is most notable for its sealed fuselage and beefy environmental control features that allow tuning the atmosphere mix for optimal Fei soldier performance.

Design

The Heretic utilizes winglets for additional lift and control as well as a mounting point for missile pods, but most of its ability to fly comes from its quad crystal engines. It has a multi-purpose fuselage that can be used as troop transport or mount support weapons such as guns or rockets. It can also be used to launch guided bombs, though it is not possible to retrofit a standard Heretic into a bomber outside of a factory. It mounts two forward gun turrets that are linked to the same pilot control, one anti-armour slug thrower and one anti-personnel machine gun.

Heretics in the Sun

Unlike the Sunbreaker, the Heretic relies primarily on active cooling to survive in the lethal Mercury day. Its power plant - substantially larger than that of the Sunbreaker - is more than sufficient to handle pumping heat out of the ship and into the equally hot surroundings. However, it does take advantage of reflective paints and canopies to make that job easier.

Teething Troubles

The Heretic GA-7 was selected to serve the close air support role for Penumbra operations after a long and difficult bidding process with several other highly regarded defense companies. Modifications to suit the unique environment of Mercury would be designed, and the new airframe would be dubbed the Heretic GA-7M. It would incorporate reflective paint, hardened sensors, and increased climate controls. The cockpit would be extended to seat four, while the fuselage would be depressurized and serve as extra space for deploying missiles.
While the Heretic mostly performed as advertised, the incredibly thin air of Mercury coupled with the lower-than-Venus gravity caused the Heretic to feel "floaty" and difficult to maneuver as precisely as desired by Penumbra's pilots. Ishtari Diamond initially argued that further adaptability training would resolve pilots' complaints, but eventually relented and started delivering a Block 2 version of the GA-7M with longer, thinner winglets more suited to Mercury as well as tweaks to the crystal engines to divert available thrust to maneuvering. GA-7M Block 1 models are slowly being rotated off-planet for refurbishment.

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Technology

Crystal Technology
Spacecraft Kallisti Aerospace ( Sunderer SF-1 · Sunbreaker SF-2 ) · Jupiter Stella ( Aerie O-1 · Cyklopes SSF-9 ) · Heretic GA-7 · Dragonfly Carrier · Airdocks Telepresence Interlace ( Super Wide Access Network ) · Remote Projection ( Remote Personality Cache/Display ) Other Bosonic Clock · Gateway Portals · Gravity Plates · Personal Computer Materials Astrallite · Aurorite

Speed 3/7

Mobility 3/7

Firepower 5/7

Toughness 4/7

Complement / Crew

1-4

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

8, or 0 for the M variant