Originally posted on rec.games.mecha May 15, 1997
EXT-5TC Exterminator Note: if the Taurian Concordat really found some EXT-4D Exterminators, it would probably have sold them to the nearest merc unit and bought a battalion of tanks or something. Type: EXT-5TC Exterminator Mass: 65 Engine: 390 XL 23 Walk: 6 Run: 9 Jump: 6 I.S.: endo steel 3.25 Gyro: 4 Cockpit: 3 J.J.: 6 m.p.s 6 H.S.: 10(20) 0 Armor: 200 12.5 Head: 9-3 CT: 30/11-21 L/RT: 20/10-15 L/RA: 20-10 L/RL: 25-15 Weapons: ER PPC LT 7 2 Med. Lasers LT 2 2 Med. Lasers CT 2 2 Med. Lasers RT 2 3 JJ LT 3 JJ RT Overview: In the days of the Star League, the EXT-4D Exterminator was one of the most feared mechs - not because of its battlefield ability, but because of its ability to perform deep raids behind enemy lines, striking specific targets with lethal firepower and disappearing into the night, seemingly without a trace. Partly because of its ruthless efficiency, it became rare, then unseen on the battlefields of the Inner Sphere, with the exception of some Com Guard (and now Word of Blake) units. In 3019, a farmer on Celeano in the Taurian Concordat stumbled on a Star League storehouse that contained a wealth of technology and technical information for the Taurian military-industrial complex. Occasional rumors of this find escaped, but few believed them. Even now, the only military equipment found is believed to be a few Maultier Hover APCs, now in use in the Taurian Defense Force. This is incorrect. Also found in this cache were a small number of EXT-4D Exterminator battlemechs. Realizing the importance of this discovery, these battlemechs have been kept in secret laboratories for several decades, where they were slowly modified, as the technology became available, into a form that was useful to the TDF. That form is now operational, in the EXT-5TC Exterminator. Capabilities: The original EXT-4D Exterminator was designed to quickly destroy specific command mechs deep behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, its weaponry was not quite adequate to this task, and its meager armor coverage led to more than one disabled Exterminator. Since the TDF did not possess the technology in 3020 to remedy these design flaws, the handful of Exterminators were consigned to laboratory duty. In the 3050s, the necessary technology became available to Taurian scientists. Over the course of seven years, they painstakingly replaced the internal structure skeletons of their Exterminators with endo steel internal structure, freeing up the additional tonnage they needed to upgrade the LRM 10 to an extended range PPC and add two tons of armor. Finally, the small laser and anti-missile system were removed to make room for two more medium lasers, placed in the center torso. Deployment: The exact deployment of the TDF's EXT-5TC Exterminators is still highly classified; however, it is thought that they are assigned to a TDF special forces unit. Beyond the obvious, nothing concrete is known.