The Titans of Siren

[Doc Yo]

 Another grav tank, from the old, old Dwarfstar game, Grav Armor
Pictures down toward the bottom, if you like that sort of thing.

from Sideshows: Minor battles of teh* Revolution by Chein Ahn
Dalou

  Even near the end of the war, Siren was remote from the great battles
of the Panumanic Revolution.  For some ambitious members of the
revolutionary armies, this made it an ideal target for an easy propaganda
victory, with none of the cost ( or atrocities ) that had dogged the
largely successful rebellion.

  Officially an "Imperial Reserve" , held by the family of the Su-Baern
Gaotis since 2794, Siren is a terrestrial world of lush forests, jungles
and blue oceans, originally named Serene. Surveyed by the Empire
in 2756, it saw the first attempt at settlement in 2760. Within three
months, more than 70% of the 3000 scientists, technicians and
entrepeneurs were dead, victims of what one biologist later called
"The hungriest life in the Galaxy" . From the 200 meter armored
fish that inhabit the deep ocean, to the two meter spider analogs
that show a disturbing level of cunning, nearly everything on the
planet is omnivorous, with a marked preference for live food.

   The Su-Baern Aevin Gaotis requested the fief in late 2790, after
hearing tales of the wildlife, and slowly set about making a small
corner of it habitable for human life. A modest tourist trade, largely
bored and thrill-thirsty arrivistocrats from the more central worlds
managed to keep the colony solvent, and fund the Su-Baern's true
passion, early Martian pottery. In the years following, various members
of the family kept the planet largely undeveloped, requesting Reserve
status, in spite of the lack of any immeadiate threat to the ecology
from either development or local space conditions.

  The then-current Su-Baern, Dennit Gaotis-Stern, was something of
an amatuer naturalist, and like his grandfather, a military enthusiast.
On a world where the the equivalent of the cockroach is a long as
the normal human forearm, a natural affinity for heavy weapons has
become almost second nature to the small populace. ( 96, 452 at the
last pre-revolution census )  The Gaotis family had long used surplus
military equipment to keep the local wildlife in check, and the typical
'family car' on the planet was usually an armored personnel carrier
of some sort. The "Suba Den" purchased the damaged Titan 2c from
an Imperial auction in 3024, and set about turning it into a sort of
mobile laboratory, while keeping the bulk of its armament intact.

For the next thirty years, the  Frank Buck was a familiar sight
at the various small outposts and settlements of the deadly world.
Then came the Revolution.

___________________________________________________________

Who actually gave the order to "liberate" Siren is lost to history. Legend
has long held that the surviving officer of rank in the force tracked
down the bureaucrats in question, and simply dropped them on the
surface of Siren, naked. In his biography of Col. Jules Tang, Conray
regards this as unlikely, though the Colonel's movement shortly after
the debacle are open to interpretation. On the morning of February 2nd,
3054, Col. Tang was only the commander of the heavy armored support
accompanying the 5000 revolutionary militia on their way down to the
surface. He is reported to have been quite happy with his vehicle and
crew, though less enthusiastic about the "Revolutionary Display" of
the paint scheme. The following images depict the "Red Liberty" as
it appeared shortly after landing.

If this is a little confusing, the slim foundation for this backstory can be
found here.

Red Liberty (full view)

Close-up1

Close-up2

In a week or so, the whole thing gets a new paint job, the turrets get
swapped, and it will re-emerge as the Baron's Frank Buck

* Yes, its spelled that way in the future.

[Jschmus]

Is that Frank Buck as in "Bring 'em Back Alive"?

[Doc Yo]

Is that Frank Buck as in "Bring 'em Back Alive"?

Thats the one.

[proditor]

Looks cool! 

[Sisko]

Like this one a lot!

[Doc Yo]

 Thanks, all.

[Doc Yo]

 And we're back. This is the "Frank Buck" version of the Titan. Pictures first, more backstory as soon as
I make it up.

Front 3/4 from left

Front 3/4 from right

Detail, Nose

Detal, Main Turret

Comments and brickbats always welcome.

[John Howling Mouse]

Hello, I had a look through your entire gallery (hope that's okay) ... you've got all sorts of wildly creative stuff there which I haven't seen you post on What If (or I've sure missed a lot).

Very interesting ideas, all!   

[Taiidantomcat]

Awesome armor! 

[Doc Yo]

 John-Sorry for the tardy response, been away from the computer for a few days. Thanks for the compliments-
most of what you see on my Flickr account is stuff I have posted on at Starship Modeler. I do sometimes
copy/paste posts from differest forums, but sometimes  I get lazy.

Taiidan-Thanks!