Hellbat

The hellbat, formerly called the battle hellion, was a transforming terran flame tank vehicle based on the hellion and fielded by the Terran Dominion. By combining the hellion's speed, agility, and firepower with a heavier battle mode, the hellbat could switch between a fast buggy and an armored mechanized walker, the latter wielding a flamethrower that sprayed burning napalm across enemy lines.

Development#

Pleased with the performance of the original hellion design, the Terran Dominion opted to provide an upgrade to the vehicle. By combining the original buggy's speed, agility, and firepower with the strength, armor, and durability of a new battle mode, the hellbat was promoted as the future of tactical assault technology. After the hellbat proved its worth in the field, Dominion engineers quickly developed an upgrade kit that could retrofit earlier-generation hellions with the required components. The modified hellions of junker gangs also possessed the ability to transform into hellbats.

Design#

The hellbat template was built on a heavily modified version of the hellion's stock neosteel frame, which housed the complex set of servos, hydraulic systems, and robotic components that let the machine transform smoothly between vehicle and walker. The design used its predecessor's base platform but added advanced robotics. The most significant advancement came in battle mode, which reconfigured the buggy into a mechanized walker. The hellbat carried a large variable-burn engine powered by a variety of liquid or compressed fuels, essentially a larger version of the stock hellion engine with much improved airflow, which provided enough thrust to compensate for the extra weight of the hellbat's bulky systems. Like the hellion, it was also rumored to run on Scotty Bolger's Old No. 8 Whiskey.

Armament and armor#

With the advent of the hellbat it became necessary to replace the hellion's scant plating. Dominion engineers used an experimental paristeel and bonded carbide weave, both lighter and better insulated, to protect operator and machine from the extreme temperatures of the napalm spray. Additional heat shielding made from an expanding and re-forming material was installed under the chassis, where it proved very effective as insulation and doubled as a solid riot shield. In battle mode the infernal flamethrower transitioned for immediate use while that heat shielding expanded and re-formed to protect both robot and driver.

The original incarnation of the infernal flamethrower was ineffective in close quarters, and installing a second weapon on an already taxed chassis proved unfeasible. Handy operators solved the problem with a home-made, manually activated system, useful only in walker mode because it reduced effective range, that pumped polystyrene foam into the flamethrower's barrel before firing. The foam altered the density of the plasma fuel and increased the flame's intensity when ignited, making it especially deadly against unarmored or lightly armored targets. This foam system later became standard issue in all Dominion hellbats. After a friendly-fire incident that killed seventeen marines and sent forty-eight more to the medbay with fourth-degree burns, the hellbat's antiquated targeting system, a relic even by the hellion's standards, was replaced with a more sophisticated version offering better target acquisition, tracking, and situational awareness. No targeting system, however, could change the fact that the weapon sprayed napalm, and troops were advised to steer clear of the line of fire.

Variants and service#

Beyond the standard Dominion model, the hellbat appeared in several modified forms. Hellbats belonging to Mira's Marauders outfitted themselves with additional wildfire explosives that detonated after the unit's destruction to sow chaos among enemies. The hellbat ranger was a more advanced variant. As a weapon, the hellbat was prized against massed light units, proving effective against clustered infantry and short-range attackers, though its slow movement and biological-mechanical nature left it vulnerable to heavier and longer-ranged foes.