The Perseus was one of the latest designs to originate from the depths of the Paxton Karaq Wastes Research and Development facility. Meant to serve in a multi-role scout/harasser capacity, the Perseus’s primary mission would be to detect any large force heading towards Peace River, perform hit and run attacks along their entire advance, and to continue to do so in their rear once the enemy force had reached their destination.
The chief engineer of the Perseus team, Dan Olivier, made the decision to equip the vehicle with a highly experimental SMS design that had been a work-in-progress since the War of the Alliance. This hover SMS proved to be rather temperamental and difficult to control, and it required a lot of efforts to be made viable. This increased speed and mobility did come at a cost: in order to stabilize the H-SMS system, the torque generated by the Perseus’s leg actuators had to be increased while in this mode, resulting in a considerable loss of maneuverability. The amazing speed provided to the Gear, however, was decided to be a fair enough tradeoff for this loss in agility.
The rest of the Perseus’s systems, though not as radical (or problematic) as the Gears H-SMS’s hoverskirts, are no less impressive. To aid in its role as a scout, the Perseus was given a basic stealth coating similar to that found on the Southern Chameleon design, as well as improved sensors and communications systems. For its role of harasser, the Perseus was equipped with an advanced sniper rifle developed by PARD’s Arsenal division. A target designation system is carried so that the Gear can perform the task of spotter.
