Standish

by Donald B McFarlane

  The next component that Standish needed to try on was the upper body and arms. This required her to slip into the armour from the left, just like the waist section, put her right arm into that sleeve first, then wait for the suit to conduct a bio-scan of its operator, before the chest closed by itself, formed a tight seal, then proceeded to tighten itself around Standish’s torso, figuring out the best fit around her waist, chest, and shoulders.

  The chest was less bulky than Standish remembered, and it still offered excellent mobility at the hips, waist and arms. Once she was happy with the feel, she put on the gloves that were being held in front of her, and then got back to her feet, and put the suit through its paces. She walked for a few metres, then performed a few jumps, vertical and broad jump. The suit was light enough that her performances wasn’t hindered too much, and that was still with the suit's power not activated.

  Jumping side to side in the armour, Standish felt very comfortable. Stopping her jumping, Standish quickly executed a forward roll, coming back up to her feet, she spotted Cryne, twenty metres away walking towards her with a smile on his face.

  “Nice combat roll.” He said. “Armour looks like it fits well.”

  Standish composed herself and looked down at the sand-coloured armour. “It does. Feels good.” She pointed at Cryne’s arm. “Better?”

  He smiled. “Good as new.” Cryne walked up close to her and put his forefinger in the middle of the chest plate. “There are multiple points here for clip-ins, pouches or other kit that you want to deploy with.” Cryne moved his finger down to the abdomen. “Again, more clip-in points.” He drew his finger back, then tapped the outside of Standish’s thighs. “Again.” He circled around behind her. “And again on your back, primarily on your upper back.” He took a step back and looked Standish up and down. “You haven’t powered up yet, have you?” There was a smile on his face.

  “Not yet.” Standish replied.

  “Okay.’ Cryne nodded. “We will get to that.” He paused for a moment as if lost in thought. “Let’s first figure out what you’d like on your basic load.”

  That threw Standish. “Basic load?” She hadn’t heard the term before.

  Cryne nodded, then walked over to the little bench. “The basic load is what the operator wants to carry with them at all times, regardless of mission.”

  “Whatever I want?”

  “Within reason.”

  Standish blinked a few times. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

  Cryne smiled. “That is not a problem.” He gave the front of her armour a light punch. “All you need to do is spend some time and think about what you couldn’t live without on a mission. Any mission. It’s different for everyone. But it makes everyone stronger.” Cryne pulled out a rolled stick of tobacco and lit it. “Val Standish.” He raised his hands towards the rafters. “You can pick whatever you like.” He took a puff off his tobacco. “Pick the dress you’re going to wear to the ball. And by the ball, I mean gun-fight.”

  Standish looked over to Cryne. “Do you know any gun-fighters?” It was such an old-fashioned term she hadn’t heard it in years.

  Cryne looked at Standish with a stern expression. “There aren’t many gun-fighters left. The best D-O teams got killed in the early days of the war. Real high-risk shit.” Cryne paused and rubbed his chin. “I was in Dynamic Operations when the war started.” He shook his head. “It was a wild time. Once what was left of Imperial Command, Core Command and the Etelainen forces figured out what was going on, the Coalition, or the Pohjois back then, had inflicted heavy casualties on Allied forces. There was massive amounts of confusion about everything. Who was on whose side. What chain of command to follow. The whole thing was chaos. The Prime teams got deployed immediately. They were almost all wiped out on missions either into the Core or Pohjois.” Cryne took a drag on his tobacco and shook his head. “All the best gunfighters are dead. The few that are left have their talent spread out.” He stepped forward and touched the new armour. “I trained under a gun-fighter at D-O school.” He shook his head. “The best I’ve ever seen.”

  Standish nodded in silence. “What would you recommend for my basic load?”

  Cryne took a step back from the armour and looked over to the closest droid. “Bring me a full list of available kit for Beta One-One.” He looked at Standish. “For whatever reason, there are restrictions on what kit teams can draw.” He shook his head. “I suppose they hold the best toys back for the Primes and the Alphas.”

  Standish looked down at her armour, then up to Cryne. “When do I get issued a helmet?”

  Cryne took a drag off his tobacco. “That is a different storeroom. The helmets are kept with all the weapons.”

  Standish nodded and watched as the droid returned with a datapad. Cryne took the little tablet from the flying drone and looked over the list.

  “Let’s see what we’ve got on offer.” His eyes moved back and forth as he scrolled down the list. “Lots to be had.” He looked up from the catalogue to Standish. “Are you a fan of bladed weapons?”

  Standish shook her head. “What about spider charges?”

  Cryne looked up. “Available.” He looked over to the droid. “Two spider charges and attachments for the armour.” He looked over to Standish. “Where would you keep them?”

  “Depends on what size. In Rescue Tech, I carried medium-sized charges. I had them attached to the small of my back.” Standish replied.

  “What about smoke, or any other kind diversionary kit?”

  The next hour was spent requesting various items and seeing how they could be attached to the armour, from head to toe.

  Once all her items had been selected and attached to the various clip points, Standish gathered the clothes that she had worn to the quartermaster storage facility and followed Cryne to the weapons locker, where all the sensitive equipment on the base was held until issued to the teams before missions. That included helmets which carried the communications equipment and encryption, plus power cells for the armour, which was what really made the suits deadly, and then finally weapons. Why explosives weren’t stored here also baffled Standish, but she didn’t bother to raise the point.

  Instead of finding a droid in charge of the massive storeroom, Standish and Cryne found an old serviceman hunched over asleep at the counter just inside the entrance of the long and relatively narrow chamber.

  Cryne looked at Standish with a smile, then back down to the napping armourer. Bending forward, Cryne took a long drag off his tobacco, then blew a steady stream of smoke into the old males face.

  First, there was a twitch of the nose, then a cough, then the old figure shot up from his slouched position, his arms flailing as he tried to gather himself. “There’s no smoking in here!”

  Cryne reached across and slapped the armourer on his shoulder. “Relax old Tyree, you’ll give yourself an attack.”

  When the armourer finally got his senses back, he stood up from his stool and took a step backwards. “Cryne.” He shook his head. “You always take liberties above your station.” The old male coughed again. “Now, how can I assist you?”

  “Sorry, Tyree, but it’s always such a joy coming down to see you.”

  Tyree put up his hand in protest. “Fine. Fine.” He stepped forward, back to the counter. “Now what is it that you need assistance with?”

  “Hello.” Standish just blurted it out. “I just arrived.”

  That got Tyree’s attention, and the old figure snapped out of his grumpy mood, and his face lit up when he looked over to Standish. “Yes, my young one.” He moved over so that he was standing in front of the armour-clad warrior. “A fine new set of armour you have there.”

  Standish looked down at the armour and ran her hands down her front. “Thank you, but I believe I require a few more pieces of kit.”

  Tyree smiled. “It does look that way. Primary and reserve weapons, plus a helmet.” Tyree looked over to a data-consul that was at the end of the counter. “I trust y
ou are an assault team member and not a team pilot.”

  “Correct.” Cryne responded.

  “Excellent.” Tyree nodded. “They get assigned slightly different helmets.” He tapped at his screen a few times, and deep in the bowels of the storage area, there was a whirl of noises and activity as items were raced forward on an overhead rail that ran the length of the deep chamber.

  The first item to arrive was a pistol that Standish had seen on Guhr 8-Nine during her training, but never actually used before.

  “This is a Gu Choc Gold Five.” Tyree took the pistol from the conveyor belt and handled it with care. He examined the serial number and made sure that it was on file and the correct weapon to be assigned to Standish and Beta One-One. “This is the standard-issue pistol. Fires needle rounds via an electromagnetic firing system and serves as a short-range energy blaster at the same time. Good for unarmoured, armoured, and shielded targets.”

  Tyree handed the weapon to Cryne who quickly checked that the gun was both unloaded and without an active energy charge. “We’ll get you qualified on this in the next few days.” He said, handing Standish the weapon.

  Standish took the pistol, it weighed much more than she expected, but it was comfortable, and she knew that once her armour was powered, the weapon would weigh no more than a feather.

  “Next up, Tyree?” Cryne asked, finally extinguishing his tobacco.

  “Standard D-O issue assaulter rifle.” Tyree took the weapon and gave it a thorough inspection. This lasted over two minutes while Standish and Cryne stood silent, watching the old armourer go about his business. When he was finished, he set the weapon down on the counter and looked up at Standish. “Zielo House Seven Point Nine-Nine.” Tyree nodded, looking at the weapon. “Capable of being converted to a system that you can use at longer ranges, but in this configuration, it is ideal for use in urban areas with an effective range of four hundred metres.” He picked the weapon back up and held it at chest level, and locked eyes with Standish. “Upper barrel,” He pointed accordingly. “Lower barrel.” He set the weapon back down. “Works in very much the same way as the Gold Five. Offers you the option of ballistic rounds or energy fire.”

  Standish leaned forward and looked down at the weapon. “May I?” She asked.

  Tyree pointed at the weapon with an open-palmed hand.

  Standish looked up for a moment to the old armourer, then picked up the rifle. Again, it was much heavier than she expected.

  “Did you train on this at D-O school?” Cryne asked.

  Standish looked up from the weapon. “Yes.”

  Cryne nodded. “We’ll get you qualified locally, regulations and all.” He said dryly.

  Standish put the weapon back down and looked at the old armourer. “Helmet?”

  Tyree smiled. “The most important piece for last.” He said. Reaching down under his countertop, he pulled out a small ball. “Have you seen this before?” He asked.

  Standish nodded.

  “Then you know how it works.” He said, then paused a moment, and tossed it lightly towards Standish’s face.

  The moment the ball left his hand, it went active and started to scan Standish’s face and head. Once the data was computed by a microprocessor, the ball splayed open and wrapped itself around Standish’s face and head, with just enough of a gap over her mouth for her to breath. When the ball secured a seal around the rest of her head, there was a slight sensation of heat. After that, the ball quickly retracted and reformed its circular shape before dropping harmlessly towards the countertop.

  Standish grabbed the ball out of the air before it could reach the counter and handed it to Tyree.

  “Thank you.” He said, returning the ball under the counter. “This will take a second.” He said, looking at the data-terminal that was on the bench. Once he was satisfied with what he saw, he looked up to Standish. “You were with Rescue Tech, right?”

  Standish nodded.

  “The helmet that you used would have been the one that fit the best. You would have been able to make slight adjustments to the comfort and feel of the helmet yourself, but the helmet itself would have come from a factory. The helmets here,” He jerked his thumb towards the long shaft to his rear. “Are all made on-site by a three-dimensional printer. They will have the same, if not higher armour rating than the system you used while you were with Rescue Tech. Once the basic shape is built, the necessary optics, communications and life support systems will be added, and after those sensitive components are tested, and functional, the helmet will be given a final coat of anti-detection paints, and then brought to us for a fitting.”

  Cryne smiled. “This process takes a very long time with certain species.”

  Tyree let out a harrumph. “Some species aren’t cut out for Dynamic Operations.” He shook his head. “Bodies are too big. Odd physical features. No, sir.”

  “It’s a new age.” Cryne replied.

  Standish looked at Cryne, then to Tyree. “You were D-O?”

  Tyree smiled at her. “Long before you were born, dear.” He looked down and nodded. “Back when life was simpler. Back when the Empire had ruled the known universe for hundreds of years.” He shook his head, and a sad expression emerged on his face. “It’s a sad day we’re are living in. Back then, things were simple. The biggest threat was piracy on shipping routes. It was a real pinnacle of civilisation.”

  After a few minutes of waiting, there was a whirl of noise from the rear of the long room, and up raced a drone with a sand coloured helmet.

  Tyree smiled as his took the piece of equipment from the droid, and gave it a lengthy visual inspection, and once he was satisfied, he pulled a length of cable out from under the counter and plugged it into the base of the rear of the helmet. “Full systems check.” He said, looking up at Standish and Cryne. “All the speciality components for the helmet are sent from various factories.” He turned the helmet onto its back and unlocked the blast shield facing and flipped it up. “Nadolo Prime, right?” He asked, looking at Standish.

  She nodded.

  “Do you want the helmet programmed with Universal and Nadolo?” He asked.

  “Universal.” She replied, before looking at Cryne. “Everyone on Nadolo speaks Universal, and nobody off Nadolo Prime speaks Nadolo.”

  Cryne contorted his face. “What about the rest of the system?”

  Standish shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Very well.” Tyree said, continuing to fiddle with the helmet. “Looks like all the optical and communications systems are fully operational.” He took out a small wand-like tool from his pocket and put it inside the helmet, and waited for thirty seconds before removing it. “Life support is fully operational.” He pulled the device out. “You can take this suit underwater, just remember that you will not be able to swim in it unless you’ve got the correct accessories.”

  Standish nodded.

  “The suits breathing supply will last you ten hours in a contaminated environment without needing to use any nano-bots to clear the filters.” He set the helmet down. “Try it on, and I will help you sync all the systems now.” Tyree instructed.

  Standish picked up the helmet. It was lighter than her old Rescue Tech helmet. Bringing it up to her face, she examined the lenses on the front of the helmet, the small points where the communications antenna extended from. Turning the helmet over onto its back, she looked at a rear-facing lens and sensor suite. “Rear-facing?”

  Cryne nodded. “Have you ever trained on that feature?”

  Standish shook her head. “No.”

  Cryne smiled. “That will take some time to get used to.”

  Standish brought the helmet up and was about to put it on when Tyree pointed at her hair.

  Standish smiled and set the helmet down. “Do you have a skull cap?” She asked.

  Tyree already had one in his hand.

  Standish took the navy coloured cap, and quickly slipped it over her head, and allowed it to compress her shoulder-length hair. Onc
e it was securely in place, she picked the helmet back up and pulled it over her head.

  The moment she brought it down, the seal at the base of the system automatically sealed with the neck section of the armour she was wearing and started to warm up. The helmet was tight but still comfortable. It took a moment for the systems to come on-line, and the interior of the helmet was still dark, and she couldn’t hear a thing from the outside. The helmets hearing protection was probably the default setting, she thought. Before the heads-up-display came on, the front blast shield flipped up, allowing her to see Tyree and Cryne talking to each other, but she still couldn’t hear them.

  Once Tyree noticed Standish looking at him, he pulled out a small device from his blouse pocket and brought it up to his mouth. “Can you hear me?” He asked in a hushed voice.

  Standish nodded.

  “The systems will take a few minutes to come on-line. Life support starts the moment you put it on. Communications will come up next. When it does, toggle the volume level for the external hearing devices. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to hear me. Then you can work on your external speaker, which is located at the end of the chin.” He reached forward and tapped the helmet.

  “Once the audio is operational, you’ll get the menu for communications.” Tyree shook his head. “You won’t find any open channels on this level of the base, so just cycle through the system, and then it will move to the most critical section of the set up: synching your optics and facial ticks with helmet commands. This will take a while, so be patient.”

  Standish nodded again. This was the same process she had gone through with her Rescue Tech helmet. It was possibly more irritating than almost any of the physical tasks during school. The constant staring at this or that set-up sensor. The blinking. The facial ticks that she needed to use to get the helmets HUD working correctly.

  At last, the audio systems were fully operational, and Standish was able to finally hear and speak with Cryne and Tyree.

  “Test.” She said in a low voice.

  “When you’ve gone through the full set-up, you’ll need to increase the output volume on your speaker.” Tyree said. “How is the audio coming in?”