Newcomer manufacturer Durest broke into the mainstream market with its Durest
Cybercycle mark 1. The Although originally marketed as a moderate cost rugged
recreational vehicle it failed to do well with its intended market. Competition
from more established producers of similar vehicles meant that although it grabbed
a market share, the share wasn't significant enough to cover the company's initial
costs.
The model was soon superceded by other ranges from Durest, and was about to
be canned, when a low ranking design engineer within the company presented an
idea for modifying the model to target it towards the military markets. With
simple modifications, the engineer reasoned, the vehicle could be front mounted
with combination weapons which would not only have minimal impact on the vehicles
overall performance, but would be a simple matter to retrofit the vehicles in
stock.
In order to further reduce any ongoing costs (not wanting to throw good money
after bad) the executives insisted that the modifications made would not be
'generic' so a variety of weapons could be fitted. The exec's did a deal with
Voss, the modification plans were rolled out and retrofitting went into production.
Within 6 months the vehicle gained a steady market with militaries where units
required speed and firepower, but operated in difficult terrain. The Durest
CyberCycle had speed, powerful weaponry and had originally been engineered to
accommodate rugged terrain where required.
As well as various military contracts throughout the Solar System - notably
to Mars - Durest secured a sizeable contract with the Aesculapian Order, who
requested some basic alterations to allow them to use the vehicles with rapid
response teams in the ruins of France.
