| TSX/MA-4QF Thales | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Unit type |
Prototype high-performance all-range assault mobile armor |
|
Manufacturer |
Adukarv Mechano-Industries |
|
Operator |
Atlantic Federation |
|
First deployment: |
C.E. 76 |
|
Accomodation: |
Pilot only, in standard cockpit in main body |
|
Dimensions |
Overall Height 23.26 meters; overall length 72.09 meters; max gross weight: 451.82 metric tons |
|
Powerplant |
ultracompact nuclear fission reactor, power output rating 9,680kW |
|
Equipment & Design Features |
Sensors, range unknown; "Schneid Schutz" positron reflector shields |
|
Pilot |
Lukas O'Donnell |
The TSX/MA-4QF Thales is a pre-production prototype all-range assault mobile armor, developed based on the Chaos and later prototype mobile armors. After completion and initial testing of the prototype, the design is further simplified into the TS/MA-5B Euclid. The Thales is piloted by Lukas O'Donnell.
Technology & Combat Characteristics
The Thales is a prototype mobile armor created in order to develop a mass-produced unit to replace the Atlantic Federation's humanoid mobile suits. Designed to have the highest possible speed, assault and defense capability, the Thales is the fastest mobile armor ever developed by the Alliance. As a spiritual successor to the successful Chaos, it is likewise armed with a set of four Gunbarrels, though these are more compact, faster and more maneuverable than those of its predecessor. It is also equipped with multiple positron reflectors - one mounted to each side of its main body and a smaller, somewhat weaker one mounted to each Gunbarrel, giving it unparalleled defensive capabilities. Its gunbarrels are armed for long-range and high-speed, close-range attacks, with two beam cannons and two laterally-mounted beam blades. Similarly, the Thales is armed with an array of powerful beam cannons, a pair of high-velocity gatling guns, and a four-tube missile launcher, in addition to which it also has, folded along its underbelly, a pair of beam claws.
Armaments
- M463 "Degtyaryov" high-energy beam cannon x2
- Mounted laterally on the Thales's main body, these two powerful beam cannons are its main weapon, each one capable of inflicting severe damage to nearly any mobile suit or aircraft. These weapons are also sufficiently powerful to pose a threat to many heavier targets, such as battleships. They are fixed forward, but can tilt approximately 15 degrees upwards or downwards.
- M551 52mm 7-barrel Gatling machine gun
- A pair of medium gatling guns, mounted to the Thales's main body. Though fixed forward like its beam cannons and able to fire only at targets directly ahead of the Thales, these weapons are effective in missile interception as well as able, with concentrated fire, to overwhelm the armor of most mobile suits.
- "Zorn" multiphase beam cannon
- M54 "Archer" Quadruple Missile Launcher
- A single, 4-tube launcher mounted to the Thales's upper main body. Each tube has a total launch capacity of four missiles.
- RXM93E Beam Claw x2
- Folded along the underside of the Thales's main body are a pair of large beam claws, more compact versions of the ones originally equipped on the Chaos, enabling it to make surprise attacks at close range against enemy mobile suits that might get in close. Each claw is mounted on an articulated arm that allows it to reach targets either immediately in front of or to the side of the Thales.
- M16M-D4 Gunbarrel x4
- The Thales's primary weapon, a set of 4 Gunbarrels mounted on the aft section of its main body and controlled, like those of the Chaos, wirelessly. Though lacking its predecessor's high-capacity missile launchers, these weapons are faster and more nimble, and their armament consists of:
- GAU-868L2 52mm dual beam gun
- A medium-caliber, rapid-fire double beam gun, capable of piercing the armor of nearly any mobile suit.
- RXM79C "Horned Moon" dual beam blade
- The most unique feature of the Thales's Gunbarrels, a pair of beam blades that are capable of slicing through even strongly armored enemy units.
- "Schneid Schutz" positron reflector shield
- A positron reflector shield nearly identical to that equipped by the Thales itself. Due to power constraints, these shields are smaller and somewhat weaker than those equipped to the main body.
System Features
- "Schneid Schutz" positron reflector shield x2
- The Thales is equipped with two positron reflector shields, generated one on each side of its main body. This powerful defensive system is capable of deflecting even the most powerful beam cannons as well as most physical attacks such as missiles or shell-firing artillery. However, it can be penetrated by certain types of close-range beam and anti-beam-coated physical mêlée weapons.
- N-Jammer Canceller
- In order to allow its nuclear reactor to function, the Thales is equipped with a Neutron Jammer Canceller, which counters the effects of the ubiquitous Neutron Jammers. The N-Jammer Canceller works by creating a small field with the Thales itself at its center, within which the effect of the N-Jammers is negated. This allows it to equip far more beam weapons than would normally be possible for a battery-powered mobile suit and gives it almost limitless combat endurance.
History
In CE 75, the Atlantic Federation begins to move away from humanoid mobile suits and back towards mobile armors as frontline units. The first evidence of this is with the TSX-MA24F Chaos, though it is soon followed by the much larger Zamza-Zah as well as the Gells-Ghe, then applied to even larger and more powerful GFAS-X1 Destroy.
Finally, the Atlantic Federation begins to develop a new, mass-production model mobile armor based on the same technology.
Developed and constructed entirely at Daedalus Base on the far side of the moon, a single prototype is created, the TSX/MA-4QF Thales, which is intended, much as the Chaos originally was, as a spiritual successor to the highly successful and renowned TS-MA2mod.00 Möbius Zero. Despite being far larger than either the Möbius Zero or the Chaos, it carries over the original unit's specialization in high-speed, high-mobility all-range attacks, being armed with an impressive array of beam cannons, gatling guns, and a missile launcher, and even a pair of hidden beam claws for close-range attacks. Supplementing these is a set of four Gunbarrels, each armed with two beam cannons and two lateral beam blades. Upon its completion, the prototype is tested by veteran Atlantic Federation ace and ex-Chaos pilot Lukas O'Donnell, who proves the machine to be an even deadlier weapon than any of its predecessors. Its armor is quite thick, and its defenses are further boosted by two positron reflector shields, one mounted to each side of its main body. Additionally, each of its four Gunbarrels has a small reflector shield of its own.
Despite its incredibly high performance and combat capability, the Thales was deemed too complex and expensive for mass-production, and only one prototype was built before Adukarv took the design back to the drawing board. The same basic frame was reused and simplified, yielding the smaller and much simpler mobile armor TS/MA-5B Euclid, which would be mass-produced, becoming the Atlantic Federation's front-line combat unit from that point forward.
The Thales, in addition to being half-again as large as its mass-produced descendent, is more than three times as fast, making it the single fastest mobile weapon ever fielded by the Alliance, and faster than the vast majority of mobile suits. It would be deployed against ZAFT and Eurasian Federation Forces in the First Battle of Daedalus. Lukas, piloting the Thales, would engage and defeat the Storm Impulse Gundam, only to be in turn defeated by the even faster and far more advanced ZGMF-X42R Destiny Gundam. The Thales is destroyed, and Lukas is killed.
Trivia
The Thales is the shortest-lived new-model in the series, appearing only once at the First Battle of Daedalus, where it is destroyed.