Named for the infamous sound it makes just before and after using its flamer on a target, the Shrieker is something of an counter-intuitive design. Placed within a shell of some of the most advanced stealth composite armor, second only to mimetic multi-layered armor, and specifically meant for nocturnal missions, and armed with a Flamer that can instantly white-out the vision of most unsuspecting IR sensor users the instant they are activated, Shriekers would seem to be perfectly suited for such duties. However the designers made one critical error in engineering, using a forced rotary air-ram heat sink that spins up as the flamer is armed. While perfectly good on its own, as the superheated air being sucked into the plasma stream causes the rotary heat sink to spin even faster and divert thermal buildup into the open air, they miscalculated ever so slightly on the angle at which the heat sink 'blades' are situated. Rather than being not much louder than most desktop cooling fans, they had inadvertantly created an siren as old as ancient Terra's Second World War: The Jericho Trumpet.
The spin up creates an unceasing disscordant howling noise, the infamous 'shriek' sound that varies in pitch as the flamer is used or moved in any direction while in use. Initially engineers were going to fix this, but test pilots repeatedly demanded that it be kept the way it was after noticing just how unnerving the sound of it was to watching staff. During blind night time tests it was a case of more often than not how personnel would either freeze to the spot or immediately start looking nervously around themselves during the spin-up period as the noise is notorious for seeming to come from all directions. Even to crews that knew exactly where the test suits were located they still consistantly reported that it was a hair-raising moment that briefly overcame their combat training instincts.
From a more practical point of view, the engineers went with a compromise in that the pitch of the heat sink blades can be swiveled slightly to either create the sound effect, or to be as quiet as originally intended. Additionally, a software update patch was included in all squad command versions of the suit to forceably override the heat sinks of their squadmates to be either silent or 'shrieking'. Even they could see the potential in how it would be an excellent psyops tool, but that there are times where total surprise is preferable above all else, while acknowledging that infantry will be infantry and almost certainly will be tempted to use the sonic effect at all times.
Beyond this, each suit has a back mounted light machinegun that can pivot sideways and lockdown across the back of the shoulders and above the fuel tank and ammo drum . This compacts its overall size slightly, along with minimizing the chances that the LMG's barrel or ammo feed might snag on something during night operations and give away the suit's position. The foot and shin structure of the suit is about twelve centimeters below the actual foot of the wearer and incorporated a secondary ankle and an oversized rubber coated three-toed configuration similar to canines or felines. Footstep sounds are remarkably supressed when walking in the Shrieker, while also allowing for bursts of high speed sprinting due to the fully myomer-hydraulic driven ankle & foot setup - Shriekers on foot are fully capable of keeping up with most BattleMechs in the Assault class, and can 'vault' over low obstacles without slowing or even perform a leap just high enough to grasp hold of a 'Mech's legs and swarm it.
Once in close, a classic three-fingered claw can be used to tear open armor plates before plunging the flamer into said openings. The off-hand is fitted with a relatively simplistic armored glove, if with a weak electromagnetic grip. Not nearly enough to support its weight like the larger, and dedicated, magnetized claws, it simply there to ensure than any small arms carried in that hand do not slip out of the wearer's grasp during sudden erratic movements. No true anti-personnel mounts are fitted to the Shrieker due to the ability to carry small arms, although when considering its existing anti-armor loadout as is, one can easily understand why no provisions were made to be mounted on one. Lastly, the Shrieker comes in Left and Right models, where the claw + flamer and armored gloves are moved to the opposite arms, depending on which hand is dominant for the wearer. Both models have fully interchangeable parts and can be reconfigured to the opposite setting in less than fifteen minutes and only a minimum of tools that are located on the suit itself. A small thing, but one that is greatly appreciated by infantry who use it. Additionally, it has been used for deliberate subversions by ambidextrous users, in going into combat one mission with the claw & flamer on the right, only to appear the next day having swapped them, thus appearing to be a completely new Battle Armor in the formation, and possibly confusion in their opponents as to the true number of Shriekers present.
Shrieker BattleArmor
Type: Shrieker
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Tech Base: Inner Sphere (Experimental)
Chassis Type: Biped
Weight Class: Light
Maximum Weight: 750 kg
Battle Value: 174
Swarm/Leg Attack/Mechanized/AP: Yes/Yes/Yes/No
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Equipment Slots Mass
Chassis: 100 kg
Motive System:
Ground MP: 4 60 kg
Jump MP: 0 0 kg
Manipulators:
Left Arm: Battle Claw 15 kg
Right Arm: Armored Gloves 0 kg
Armor: Stealth (Improved) 5 300 kg
Armor Value: 6 (Trooper)
Slots
Weapons and Equipment Location (Capacity) Mass
Mechanical Jump Booster Body 0 50 kg
Flamer Left Arm 1 150 kg
Machine Gun Body 1 75 kg
For the record, someone showed me how to make a miniature version of the infamous Stuka siren/air raid siren, and its small enough I can fit it into the arm of my halloween costume (generic anime power armor at the moment) and it really can double as a cooling fan at low speeds, that gets HELLA louder if I up the voltage and the faster it spins. It is incredibly unnerving to hear it and I can make virtually anyone who has seen me working on my costume, jump or tense up, when it starts going with no warning.
Even if I just demonstrated it to them less than a minute before, they'll still jump/freeze/tense up.
