Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (39 page)

“
Could work,”
the armorer admitted, rubbing his chin. “Could work. I'll think
about it.”

“
I can give
you a preliminary design by tomorrow,” Ox said helpfully. “I've
been working on it,” he admitted.

“
What that and
the servo?” the armorer asked, pulling a new server board out
of a bin.

“
I've had the
idea on my mind for a while. I can multitask much better than you
humans,” the Tauren said shrugging his massive shoulders. “I
am also working on a new communication network protocol and a new
scan method. I need to run some sims in a mainframe however. I don't
like the power consumption ratio right now and the center of gravity
is still a little too far backward in my case.”

“
Okay. Give me
a copy of what you've got now. I'll look it over,” the armorer
nodded impressed. “It'll have to be flexible.”

“
Yeah, I'd
like to continue moving on all fours. It's useful,” Jethro said
nodding. “I figured the tails would be covered in suit
material.”

“
Probably. We
could sheath the outer layer in a nanotube weave for extra protection
if you want.”

“
More weight
to lug around. If it's all the same to you we can get by,”
Jethro said giving Sergei a challenging look.

Sergei's ears went
flat. After a moment he snorted and then shook his head. “I
lose my tail I'm coming for you bub. That's all I got to say on the
subject,” he growled stroking his tail. Jethro snorted,
flicking his ears.

“
You're one of
those fancy panthers? Assassins?” the armorer asked.

“
Yeah. Which
was my other question...” Jethro said hopefully.

“
Can't do it,”
the armorer sighed. “Don't get me wrong I didn't say I won't
it's can't.” He grimaced sitting back on his haunches. “See,
it's like this. We've got the basic armor specs. That's all we can
make. Which means the gen one stuff, the stuff that came out long
before the war. Marine corps standard. We don't have the specs for
raider armor, let alone recon or elite cadre armor. Those are in a
class all their own. Believe me, I wish we did.”

“
You are
kidding me,” Ox said shaking his head. “I was wondering
about the rear configuration.”

“
Yeah, it's
gen one with some upgrades. We pushed it as far as we could with
upgrades,” the armorer grimaced. “Problem is the gen two
and up use micro fusion reactors or matter antimatter reactors. Them
we don't have and can't build. Lock outs.”

“
Oh that well
and truly sucks.”

“
Yeah, tell me
about it,” the armorer sighed. “We can't do squat about
much till the Admiral comes back. Any word on that?” he asked
glancing around.

“
No,” Ox
said sadly.

His shoulders
slumped for a moment and then straightened. “Well, I heard
Prometheus is mothballed till he shows up again. Can't do anything
without her replicators and power plant. Again, the damn lock outs.
They worked out a fix for the escorts, but there isn't much point
running them that way.”

“
Yeah, I can
imagine.”

“
A buddy of
mine said they're thinking about sending Hecate out to that empty
system B452c to keep an eye out for more pirates. Or to Agnosta to
hold their hands.”

Jethro shot the
others a look. “Seems like a smart thing to do. We've got
Firefly here.”

“
And the other
ships,” the armorer nodded back to them as he installed the
chip. “You lot, I don't have a clue what we're going to do with
you. The brass better figure out something or you'll scratch your
asses bald from boredom.”

Sergei froze in that
very act and then hissed a chuckle. Jethro snorted explosively, ears
flicking, eying the big Liger. “I thought we'd be on a ship or
be posted somewhere.”

“
Word is we
might be setting something up on Agnosta once things settle down.
We'll have to haul in most of the gear since we can't make
replicators,” the armorer said and then grimaced.

“
What else
can't we make?” Hurranna asked.

“
You name it,”
Ox said sighing. “Power plants, hyper drives, weapons,
missiles, replicators, advanced armored plate, AI cores, and a couple
other things we'd like to have.”

“
Okay, that
sucks,” she grimaced. “Why the lock out?”

“
It's the
Admiral. He's the key. Literally. See the old Federation set it up so
only a flag officer has the key to that stuff. An engineer flag
officer has most of the keys. It's to keep it out of the wrong hands
like the pirates.”

“
Didn't stop
the Horath did it?” Jethro growled.

“
You'd be
surprised. A buddy of mine told me they're stripping everything they
get their hands on tech wise. Which tells me they can't get around
the lock outs either. A lot of their ships were held together with
spit and hope. Don't get me started on their weapons. A few had
hunting rifles of all things. Slug throwing gun powder things! On a
ship!”

“
Ah.”

“
Also explains
the raiding. At least part of it anyway. The rest,” he shook
his head. “Some people were born bad.”

“
Yeah,”
Ox grunted scowling. His eyes darkened. “We heard.”

“
Yeah, I
suspect you did. At least some of it,” the armorer nodded. He
picked up a servo motor and went over to the Tauren and handed it to
him and a set of micro tools. “See what you can do with this
since you’re not busy.”

“
Okay,”
the Tauren nodded, getting to work.

“
So they want
to send Hecate out to the empty system?” Hurranna asked.
“Wouldn't it be better in Agnosta?”

“
You'd think
that. They may go that route in the end. See Agnosta's a two point
system though. Us and that empty system. That empty system... B45
something or other is a cross roads. About four points. One leads
back to Horath space.”

“
Oh.”

“
The Admiral
was planning on securing it. And a couple of other systems I guess.
That way when the pirates jump in, they get a hot reception right
from the get go,” the armorer growled.

Sergei pounded one
fist into his open hand. “I'm all for that,” he growled.
The others looked over to him then nodded and added their growls of
agreement as well.

“
Thought you
would be,” the armorer said approvingly. He pulled out some
rigging tape and some tea towels.

“
What's those
for?” Hurranna asked, nodding her chin to the towels.

“
Padding,”
he motioned to Miles. “Move like I told you.” The marine
turned his body back and forth then rolled his neck and shoulders.

“
See, I put
this powder on him earlier to see where he bumps stuff.” He
helped Miles pull the torso off and showed them where the marine was
bumping. “This here is a sharp point. It'll grind into his side
if he twists the wrong way. Keep it up to long and it'll wear through
the aketon, this here padded skin suit. That happens when you’re
in vacuum or in a hostile atmo and you're toast.”

“
Oh.”
They watched as the armorer rolled padding up and taped rigging tape
to cover the spot. “It'll hold for now. I can fab up a foam
insert later. The real solution is to do a complete rebuild of the
armor. Scratch. But that takes months. I ain't got months. They want
everyone outfitted right away.”

“
Ah.”

“
Skin suit and
life support's good for about two days. But in combat that can
change. The more you breath the faster you use up your carbon
exchange filters. We've got spares though, which you can swap out.”

He showed them
several other tricks he had learned, then he hefted the torso and
helped Miles back into it. “We've got a room back there that
you go into to suit up. Stand in the center with your aketon on and a
robot scans your ID then calls up the lockers with your armor and
suits you up. Believe me it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to
make these things so you can get in and out of them in the field.”

“
Um...”

“
What?”
The armorer turned to Hurranna. “Don't like the idea of being a
spam in the can for a month or two at a time? Get used to it honey,
it's how the game is played around here.”

“
Oh. Crap,”
she growled. She shook her head despairingly. “What'd I get
myself into?”

“
First rule of
the military. Never volunteer,” Chirby said with a chittering
that served his species for a laugh.

“
Hush,”
Sergei sighed, eyes closed. “Can't you see I'm sleeping over
here?” Jethro snorted. Sergei's tail was twitching and he could
see his fingers as well. By the looks of it the big Liger was
actually using his HUD. Most likely to see something he wasn't
supposed to, or hopefully, reading the manual.

“
Okay, See
this here knock space?” The armorer pointed to a gap in the
armor under the torso sides. “This here is empty for range of
movement. Same for these big pauldrons. But I figured, why leave em
empty?” he asked smiling.

He hefted a couple
ammo packs and a couple battery packs from behind a locker. Then he
pulled out a life support block and an MRE cube. “See, your
suit is pretty good, but if you’re going to go into the field,
stuff these cubbies with stuff you'll need.” He showed them how
to use the rigging tape to add the extra gear.

“
Don't get
caught stuffing hooch or some contraband in there. You do you're on
your own. And mind these charges. They're for the blow out panels for
the extra ammo and battery packs in case they cook off.”

“
Just pull it
out before you get into combat if you can. Trust me, the extra ammo
is worth it. Power too. Never have enough ammo. Remember, you can't
call for ammo and expect it right away. And it ain't no vid game
where you just walk around and magically pick the stuff up.”

“
Yeah. Now I'm
hearing you,” Sergei said nodding, eyes still closed. “I
wonder if I can stick some demo in there?”

“
You get hit
and it'll cook off. Same for the ammo,” the armorer said
looking sheepish. “That's the other reason to unload it when
you go feet dry. Stash it someplace safe and then come back for it
when you can. You never know when you'll get a resupply so always use
your ammo and power sparingly. It'll bite you in the ass if you
don't.”

“
He's got a
point,” Hurranna said, toeing the big Liger.

“
Who asked
you,” he growled.

“
I just don't
want to be standing next to you if you cook off like a roman candle
bub.”

“
Love you too
sweety,”

“
You can get
out of it in the field,” Jethro said watching the armorer work.

“
Who said?”
He turned amused to the panther.

“
You did.
Right in front of us. “You're taking parts of his armorer off
and working on them. That means it's fixable in the field, and it
also means you can pull it off.”

“
Yeah. Sorry,
just messing with you. Seeing if you're paying attention,” the
armorer turned a look and shrug to the lynx. ”Still not a good
idea though, you’re in a hot zone you want all the cover you
can get. I knew a guy who got his damn fool head cut off when he took
his helmet off at the wrong time.”

Jethro blinked at
that. He didn't remember that happening to the boarding parties. He
wondered if the armorer was pulling their leg.

“
Anyone know
where the weak points of the armor are?”

“
Abdomen,
armpits, joints, and head visor,” Jethro answered not even
thinking about it.

“
Bingo.
Frontal armor is slopped. Know why?” the armorer asked, bending
down to work on something behind Miles.

“
Added layer
thickness to the armor. The diagonal cuts weight while adding
thickness. It also gives the incoming projectile or beam an
opportunity to ricochet away at an angle.”

“
I bet I could
get in and take a suit out by hand,” Jethro said.

“
You could
yeah. But not in a skinsuit.” Hurranna said with a snort. “Buck
naked.”

“
Not
possible,” the armorer said.

“
You'd be
surprised. If I need to do a sneak, I can't do it walking around like
a well, that. They'd hear me coming clicks away.”