Barnaby Transport Vehicle

Specifications
Use	Gear/Personnel Transport
Production Code	SV-888
Manufacturer	Territorial Arms
Height	9.7 meters

Created during the War of the Alliance to replace the then-obsolete Mother Springer, the Barnaby transport vehicle was noticeably sturdier and faster than its predecessor. Its tempered steel armor, while extremely cheap and cost efficient, was replaced with the more standard durasheet plating that is the trademark of the late 19th and 20th century military vehicles. Many of the engineers who worked on the model were inspired by the northern Behemoth and copied most of its flaws along with its advantages. For instance, the Barnaby has cramped passenger seats and a poor ventilation system which does little to improve morale of the crew.

The Barnaby also has a very large radar signature and attracts a great deal more attention than it should, sometimes jeopardizing missions of a more discreet nature. Compared to the Behemoth, however, the Barnaby has benefitted from several improvements, mostly on its movement system. It is substantially faster and handles rough terrain more easily than the Behemoth. Its wheels and axles have been reinforced to withstand greater damage, and its diesel engine generates twice as much power as the Northern transport. Better yet, the Barnaby is slightly cheaper than the Behemoth, demonstrating once more the superior skill and efficiency of Southern engineers.

At the time of its creation, there was much debate about the need to put heavy weaponry (or, for that matter, any weaponry at all) on the transport, but it was finally decided that the Gears carried inside the vehicle should provide sufficient defense. Its success in the south was also due to its superior electronics, which allowed the Barnaby to detect an approaching force from a better distance than most other Gear transports. The initial engine was a combination of a WV-150TC/A V-engine and a high-efficiency gas turbine. The engineers had designed the transport to run on the turbine alone and had added the V-engine for greater efficiency as well as to provide a backup in case of irreparable Gear powerplant damage. Unfortunately, this proved to be too expensive and the whole powerpant was eventually replaced with a simple MD-22 high efficiency diesel engine from Prynz Metalworks.

Usage

The Barnaby began service early during TN 1914 and is still in production to this day. Because it was designed and produced during the War of the Alliance, it underwent its testing phase on the battlefield (much to the displeasure of the Gear pilots, who repeatedly cursed the flaws of the original Northern design). By the time it was thoroughly tested and fine tuned, the War was over and there was no need for a variant of the model.

Regardless of its roller-coaster performance, the Barnaby was assigned to important missions during the War of the Alliance, bringing relief forces to the front lines, and returning with as many wounded pilots and damaged Gears as they could carry.

Because they were available in such limited numbers (the first official production run only yielded six hundred Barnabies, 10% of which were seriously defective), Barnabies were in high demand throughout the Southern forces, which otherwise had to rely on Northern generosity to carry their Gears to remote battlefields. The transport was mostly perfected by the end of the War of the Alliance, but its reputation remained unenviable for several cycles after that. It took the military a great deal of effort to convince veterans that the Barnaby was finally safe.