Max Marcus III Correspondence

Golden Alliance Year 452(AD 192)

--Sender--
Maximilian Marcus III
c/o Marcus Materiels Corporation
Research/Development Station I-14
Near Olberon II

--Recipient--
Representative BlueWind
Golden Alliance High Command
Terra

As you are well aware, I have refrained from making any public appearances in the past three months, and I know that you also are aware of the reason why.  The assault on Vraxis IV was the most brutal and vile attack by these monsters that has yet been witnessed, and the loss of my son is of course a tragedy that should have never happened, but the footage of the civilian escape from the planet can also serve as an invaluable tool for our strategies going forward.  I assure you that no one has reviewed that video more than I, and there are a number of points which I would like to address.

First, you should know that Max was not a certified pilot.  Though he showed incredible interest in the design, engineering, and operation of all of the vehicles my factory produced, he had never pursued training in driving any of the war machines available on Vraxis's factory.  However, with no foreknowledge of how to operate it, when word of the attacking force making planetfall nearby came he without hesitation took what he could from the evacuating factory.  There were still starfighters, crawltanks, and even a few hover artillery platforms that had gone unpiloted, but Max chose instead of any of those the Adaptive Loading Walker that was in the process of procuring an armor plate to an unfinished interceptor.  He had worked with them before, and the intuitive nature of the controls as they related to humanoid body motions meant that from the time his cockpit locked shut until he emerged from the back of the hangar bay, he had already figured out how to wield the armor plating as though it were a shield and knock away the Battlers that had laid in wait for him, clearing the path for the treaded carriers to follow.  You know damn well that the submythics we've started throwing at them can rarely figure out how to properly pronounce their commander's names, so something as complicated as tank or starfighter controls are practically a waste to try and teach the bulk of them.  I've made this complaint before--we need to focus on the material we're throwing at the invaders, rather than the bodies, as those just end up as something more to fight and at least the war machines seem to be mostly left on their conquered worlds to defend them.  Today I'm reiterating it.  We need something that these soldiers can do other than get their asses converted needlessly, and a variation on these suits could be just the thing.  Of course, a skilled pilot--or someone as clever and inventive as my son--could be much, much more effective, but that sort of thing would be for your boys to figure out.

Second, I don't wish to knock the advancements of the space fighter divisions of my own and other companies.  Ending a battle before it hits the planet's surface is always the preferable option, but when we're talking about the sort of numbers that the green freaks have, limiting the number of directions that they can approach you from is going to be a key strategy.  Every space battle against them ends in the ships getting swarmed from all sides, so having a fighting vehicle that forces them onto the ground is going to give us a leg up.  Of course, they've been ahead of us on that game, too, and the video shows it.  As Max and his accompanying civilian treaded transport headed across the compound to reach the evac ship, one of their ground wizards tore apart the asphalt with a fissure and shifted the surrounding landscape into a jagged series of cliffs blocking them in as one of their own crawlers began to head towards them.  Max laid down his ALW's makeshift shield as a temporary bridge for the APC to cross over, then used the grasping arms to dig in and scale the fresh cliffside before jumping over and landing on the greenie vehicle, disabling it utterly.  Then, when the landshifter altered the battlefield again to widen the crevasse and drop the transport in as it was making its way across, Max caught it and carried it to safety.  That is something that could never have happened with any of the treaded, wheeled, or hover vehicles we produced, and yet it came naturally to my--again, I must add--inexperienced son.  I imagine the picture is becoming clearer for you, but there is more to it than that.

Finally, as the transport unloaded onto the evac ship, Max once again grabbed what was handy, in this case a loading clamp from the damaged portion of the dock, and swung it as a weapon to keep the plantoid infantry from reaching any of them.  The video cuts out when the evac ship takes off, and more of the damned plant vehicles surrounded him, but even from what we saw, Max was able to fend off a large force of them for the three minutes it took the transport to ready and take off, including what must have been an amount of their hardware that far exceeded the value of that simple loader.  For weeks after I first saw the video, I thought of a million things that the Golden Alliance fleet could have done differently that would have changed the outcome of this.  Improved subspace communications.  Some way to detect their infiltration units that doesn't involve a DNA test.  More defensive stations.  After watching my son's final minutes a dozen more times, however, I saw something that I had missed before.  He wasn't scared and lucky.  He was determined to do whatever he could to save those people, and he was making the best of the situation he had.  If he had been given a better machine to fight them off, his determination could have taken out a million more, and not a damn thing you say to me will convince me otherwise.  I won't let that happen again.  You won't let that happen again.  I've been busy these past few months.

Accompanying this letter are the spec sheets for the first combat walker my factories are to produce, the Max Mk. V.  They share the same control layout as the ALW, but are much larger--a towering 12 meters tall, fully armed and armored and capable of carrying and utilizing a series of both offensive and defensive pieces of equipment specialty-made for them.  Normal vine weaponry will not penetrate any portion of the armor and the photoreflective coating will disperse their beams to minimize potential damage without potentially giving them access to technology that will render them impervious to our own conventional and laser guns.  They feature a single boost engine which can decelerate the suit allowing for orbital drop deployment, and post-deployment can function as an emergency booster to reach new targets or escape dangerous situations.  Future models will have further booster advancements.  These vehicles cost roughly three times what a hovertank of the same tonnage costs, but by my estimates will be at least ten times as tactically valuable.  These machines are the inevitable future of the battlefield, and they will be, as my son would so often use superlatively, "supreme."

If this letter has failed to convince you of both the efficacy and necessity of the project, I must inform you that it exists merely to inform, not to seek approval.  Going forward, a full 12% of my production facilities are being retooled to fabricate combat walkers.  They will be my son's legacy, and your ground forces will quickly learn to appreciate the boon that my corporation and I have decided to bestow upon them.  Refusing to purchase them is not an option, and it's not as if you weren't already desperate for new ideas.  I've seen some of the files that have been circulating, and I am honestly embarrassed at the wild tangents you'll force scientists to explore.  I'm certain that the public needn't know the true fate of prototype QE-0001, and so long as you stick to more conventional means of defense I assure you they won't.