"Thank you Captain. Mickey can you draw up a quick simple document sealing the deal and we will get busy."
Mickey spoke out loud so the Captain could hear her. "Very well Mark , I have drawn up a simple document that should suffice. It is on your tactical screen. All it needs is for the Captain Summers to sign it with her thumb."
Mark held out his clip board with a sheet showing the document to the Captain. Mickey and Mark had spent several minutes at high speed going over the wording they thought Captain Summers would accept while cooking up a plan in the APCC . "If you would slap your thumb down please Captain."
"Like hell I will Commander. If you don't mind I will read it first." Jerking it away from Mark. "I bet the fine print is real interesting." After reading the short document, she pointed at a section. “There is nothing about ever returning the equipment and I want it to say returned in good condition."
"Like hell I will Captain. Equipment that gets damaged in the battle is not going to be in any way shape of form in good condition. Especially if the marine is killed. And you want the Star Queen to pay for repairs for helping save English lives. No! Fact is, you will make all repairs to any and all equipment for free when presented to you. And since it is your rules that will keep us from launching without lifeboats and a few other things. We will keep the lifeboats and such equipment as long as we need it for the safety of the ship. Besides you are scrapping the damn lifeboats anyway. Why would you want them back? Use a little common sense here Captain. I don't care how much hate you have for me and my ship."
"Fine Commander!" She said through clenched teeth. "For safety sake of your crew, you can keep the damn liferafts." She glanced at the sheet noticing that the changes had been made and pressed her thumb against the bottom of the page. "But when this operation is over and your marines are safe , I get the combat equipment back. I don't care how long you keep the damn lifeboats. They can't be used against us when you are finely taken. Which brings up another minor detail, we are requiring ships headed for the outback to now be equipped with a tracking device incased in armor to prevent tampering so we can tell friend from foe. We won't be requiring that returned to us until you head back toward Imperial core space. Just one of the our new rules for pieces of such equipment to get into the outback weather you like it or not.”
"Very well. Captain." Mark frowned and turned away toward the truck. Captain Cook was not going to like that little caveat but he had other worries for the moment. “Thank you Captain Summers. Do you want to ride along to the warehouse?"
"No. I have my own ride. And I need to arrange transport for your marines. I will meet you there in a short while. I am going to be looking at every item you take so don't try anything Commander. Only equipment for taking the fortress and without damaging the AI and the Tower. We could have nuked the bastard without all the lives we have lost already if not for the quarter million inhabitants in the tower being held as hostages." The Captain turned and started walking back into the Command building.
Mark turned and walked up into the truck to stand beside the Captain of marines as the ramp closed. As soon as it clanged shut , Mark turned and slapped the Captain on the shoulders with both hands . M , m ore shoulder armor plates dropped down bouncing across the deck as Mark jumped up and down a couple times and then punched the air. "We did it Captain. Damn it. We did it. Now let's go shopping."
Chapter 218 15: Looting the warehouse.
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Mark walked out of the back of the APCC and into a large open area and looked around. They were in the truck shipping wing sticking out the side about the middle of the warehouse. The boat transport shipping docks were on the other side of the warehouse directly across from them. The loading docks in front of Mark had an overhead conveyor system with robot fork platforms for loading pallets into trucks at the docks running down both sides of the docks the full length down both sides of the side extension. Cargo containers were inserted into the system at the warehouse end and were unpacked automatically, placed into the conveyors and into waiting trucks or trailers sitting at the docks running along both sides . At the end of the extension were a dozen pull through bays for loading whole cargo contain ers onto flatbed or rail trucks as they pulled through.
Looking around Mark He could not see any Star Queen Marines or personnel around anywhere but he was not expecting them to be after docking a good half hour some twenty minutes before , giving their marines and ship’s personnel plenty of time to vacate the area as ordered. Though the he could see 4 trucks farther down the bay on the other side almost out of sight, being loaded with what Mickey told him were Liferaft pods. From the inside of the warehouse, you could not tell that they were APCC’s unless you looked close and noticed that the overheads rolling segmented doors were down farther than of the cargo compartments were not nearly tall enough for the normal civilian Cargo Truck.
Mark had chosen to land their lone APCC at that dock far away from the other APCC’s since he was not sure if the English Captain would accompany or follow close behind them or not to keep her away from the other AP CC’s as they were being loaded . Heading away from the other APCC’s, up the side of the truck docks toward the warehouse , Mark he was hoping to have the first wave of marines finished suiting up and gone to other parts of the warehouse before they got t here just to speed things up and again in case the Captain had been with them.
Hurrying as they passed the Cargo box unpacking area they dropped down a ramp and entered into the warehouse floor some twenty feet below ground level. Mark turned up the 10 foot wide isle between the outside wall of the warehouse and the rows of stacked cargo boxes running along most of the outside walls of the warehouse . The with the displays of what was contained in the containers down the center of the big warehouse far out of sight for the moment with the containers blocking their sight as well as the sight of them by any warehouse personnel that spent most of there time along the center or at the far end entrance and of fice area . Mickey already having hacked into the security camera’s around the warehouse prevented the security office from seeing anything unusual to get suspicions about .
As Mark started to jog up the isle a figure stepped out of the shadows. Saluted the Marine Captain and said. "Captain; the rest of the Company is suited up and over in the Transport Boat Cargo loading Dock section playing with remote combat bots and tanks. I do not understand what is going on. We are not tankers sir. Hell I know the damn tanks won’t fit down most of the ship's passageway's worth shit anyway. And remotes are to too damn easy to jam. It is marine muscle and blood that win battles sir."
Mark stepped forward. "Yes Sgt. Major. But this is not the Star Queen and I really do not want to spill our marine blood on this or any other planet unless we have to. Besides much of your missions in the future is going to be protecting our shipments on uncivilized planets until we can secure payment. Mostly guard duty and the bots are perfect for that. As far as jamming the remotes, I believe I have solved that problem by adding . w ith an AI powerful enough for a fighter. A verbally commanded remote battle bot or maybe we should call them a bot buddy , for each marine will be child's play if it works. This is going to just be training while trying to iron out the wrinkles for those future missions. So please bear with the plan Sgt. Major and try to make it work. I would rather have a bot die than you or our marines."
Captain Cook stepped from the shadows. Not that Mark had not seen her but it was obvious that she was hanging back for some reason and the Sgt. Major was an immediate concern. "So there is a plan Commander. Care to enlighten us in the details?"
"Certainly Captain. We are running late but if you will follow along we can talk." Turning to the Captain of Marines. "Double time it Captain if you please. We are running late. " And started jogging as the column went into double time at the Captain's orders. It was a thousand yards to the row of cargo boxes Mickey had indicated as being the end containers of the suits they wanted were the other marines had already gone. By the t
ime they reached the armored suit area, the Captain was breathing hard and as they stopped she bent over holding onto the side of the open hatch of the container facing the side of the warehouse. “Damn I am a little overweight and out of shape. Have to start running again or at least walking a mile or two each day.” She said between breaths.
Mark breathing a little hard himself ( after explaining the basic plan to the Captain's and the officers accompanying them cutting into his breathing) , looked inside the container expecting rows of suits and saw only two side by side booths, each shaped like a man inside. The next half dozen containers sitting side by side up the isle toward the center Broadway display area of the warehouse a good good couple hundred yards away sat with their rear hatches were open as well. Each with a pair of booths perfect for a man to climb into and be swallowed whole.
"What the hell?" Mark exclaimed as he looked into the last open container along the row .
The Sgt. Major smiled at Mark before stepped forward. T t urning to the marines starting to mill around. H h is voice carried across the back ally isle of the warehouse bouncing off the warehouse plasticrete outside wall and back onto the rows of container boxes without amplification. "These are armored suit booths. You get into them to form the best fitting combat suit ever made around your body. That is if you follow directions to the letter. Start by stripping off your junk armor and place it along the building's outer wall." Holding up a thin full length stretch body underall. “Put on this stretch body suit we will hand out to you. Make sure you get the proper size so there are no wrinkles. There are only 3 sizes to pick from. A lot tight is better than a little loose. When you are ready , we will put you through these a booth s with further directions. Follow them exactly."
The Sgt. Major repeating the operator ’ s manual word for word, Mickey had supplied them with on the APCC’s on the way to the warehouse. The manuals designed to allow a recruit to operate the pods spelled out every step and procedure in great detail allowing the marines to quickly run some 300 marines through the pod s in only a half hour. The last of the marines from the other APCC’s just finishing coming out of the pods. Turning to the Captain of marines. "Sir; we are using 10 7 containers and their 20 booths to speed things up with plenty of material left in the containers but we have a problem. We cannot make repairs on the suits without the booths. Once we leave the warehouse we are screwed sir."
"Mickey add these containers to the list of equipment please." Studying the containers.
“ a A nd I take it that the suits are grown around the marine a s nd internal parts are assembled from stores inside the boxes . B b ut I cannot see how nor do I have any idea as where to put them?"
"Mark; these containers split down the center lengthwise allowing each 5 by 25 foot container with the suitup pod at the hatch end corners to operate i nd i penant independently ly and fit into special side tween hull compartments in the troop transports and assault ships. The lower height than normal containers can also be transported by the APCC’s. Luckily you picked shuttles large enough to contain the specially constructed compartment inside the double hulls down each side of the shuttle's long narrow cargo compartment just aft of the forward side lock bulkhead for equipping supplying and maintaining the suits for the Attack Shuttles crew and accompanying Marines. The Assault Shuttle already has a pair of pods installed with additional R r eplaceable bins for the electronics , and equipment modules in the suit s and tanks for the suit injection m aterial plug into receptacles along the sides of the other half of each container long hal f material stored above the pod box es ."
"Ok, well, make sure we have pods and supply bins replacements for a couple thousand suits Mickey." Turning to the Sgt. Major. " I am having containers delivered to T t he Assault S s huttles the Captain is preparing already have the pods and extra supply bins installed in them . They split and fit into side compartments in the forward section of the hold. With the Captain’s permission, we can bring the trucks back after they drop off the Lif erafts and take a couple dozen of these containers along with a few containers of supply bins back to the Star Queen while we are here.” (If we don’t get caught first) Mark thought to himself. “Is that adequate Sgt. Major?"
"That will do Commander." The Sgt. Major looked only half believing at Mark. "You will have to excuse me if I do not believe you about the remotes and I hate tanks. A good armored exoskeleton is much more versatile. ” Giving Mark a grimaced stare for a second. “ If you will excuse me I have work to do sir." The Sgt. Major saluted and turned around to supervise the marines suiting up. "Ok children get your butts naked and in gear, we are running out of time!"
Mark looked at the back of the Sgt. Major's head for a few seconds. "Sgt. Major; how many exo-suit tanks do you want?"
The Sgt. Major turned back around and smiled. "The Gorilla Mk. 7, complete with a full suite of implements and heavy weapons according to the warehouses weapons book. Two for each squad for shipboard defense. Sir. Oh and since we are making X-mas lists, another dozen for a shock squad as a reserve. Sir." Turning around and then back again. "Oh and they are great for humping cargo and supplies around the battle field or ship as well being able to defend themselves if they happen to get into trouble if the enemy gets behind our lines which the standard exoskeleton can't. I suggest that you replace M ake all the cargo exoskeletons you hav e on the list with the Mk-7 as well. Sir."
"Ok Mickey; he is the one that knows best. Make it so."
"The Mk. 9 is the English's latest version that is not even in the fleet yet and is lighter and more powerful and better armored using the same densified Hydrogen armor material as the new suits. Is that acceptable? I have already delivered the remote tanks which you know the troops are playing with already and the AI's you ordered are on their way. Should I return them to storage?"
"No. we are going to need the tanks and yes on the Mk.9s." The first two marines came out of the booths in front of Marek and looked completely different than each other. "Mickey; what is up with the suits they don't look anything alike. Is something wrong? And what is densified Hydrogen armor. I thought densified Hydrogen was very volatile?"
"No Mark. Nothing is wrong. Each suit is tailor made around each marine for their assigned tasks. The one suit is a heavy weapons platform with extra armor as they always become central targets and attachment points for heavy weapons and a heavy n exoskeleton built in to carry the load. The other is the standard general purpose suit. Some of the others are command suits with extra coms and intelligence modules, there are also medical suits that can operate on a patient in the thick of battle and scouts that are light weight, fast, carry extra sensors, long range extra secure com's for artillery fire designating and a new addition will make them invisible to all sensors including heat for short periods of time. Among others. ”
Mickey’s voice seamed to change but Mark could not put his finger on it. “ Oh and they have a plain light armored suit for rear area soldiers that a civilian can use and I believe are a better choice than the suits you have on order for the ships average passenger crewmen. The ones on order are factory made in half a dozen basic sizes and then adjusted to fit individuals, requiring more suits to be ordered than what you need to cover all the sizes of the entire crew sizes . Basically the same as the Queen your ship now has ecept except that they are not soft fabric and are made of a thin have a little armo r that is good against most blast penetrations rear area troops would encounter r added . But since the suits are hard shells, they take up more room t han the avera g e fabric c ivilian suits that fold up under the helmet to half their deployed size . ”
“So what is the probl em new Mickey? That is why the whole bottom deck around the engine core is nothing but suit storage , and the shops to a large repair shop for the suits and airlocks .”
“Please Mark. These pods can make ship ’ s crewmen’s suits that are l L ike the Combat suits for the marine s , the civilian molded suits you are now getting but just have less armor providing just enough p
rotection from light arms, 99.99 99 % of the radiation the crews encounter in space as well as and micro meteorites. They fit all sizes including children and can also be recycled when the wearer grows out of his or her suit, (which is made different for each sex and individual including children sizes ), that also includes making repairs when they are damaged with the booth virtually replacing the damaged areas as needed. Though a special container is needed to separate and recycle the suit fittings and material if the suit has to be completely broken down. I have included that in our order. The Star Queen also would no longer need to store thousands of suits in lockers when they are only used once a year for drills. Leaving plenty of extra space in the personnel airlock and Quarter deck to expand the marine compartments to house all the new personel personal equipment you are getting the marines.”
“As far as densified hydrogen being explosive; that is the reason it makes such good armor. The incased densified hydrogen explodes out from the s uit when hit by weapons fire absorbing the energy into a surface explosion from the hot laser beam or plasma ball while deflecting the rest of the beam or plasma ball away from the suit. Basically it is reactive armor made from the byproduct of refining Quadreum for the fusion power reactors on ships and most of the power produced on most planets. It is the left over Tritium and Deuterium that gets densified to produce the armor. Though the Tritium is the major workhorse on the armor. The suits also come with all the extra’s Captain Summers talked about from the exoskeletons to the flight gravcoils in a mu c h neater and compact package since their tech is years newer than the original suits you have on order. "
Mickey paused to let that sink in and then. “Do you want me to gra b enough container pods to outfit the whole ship’s crew Mark? The pod formed suits also will save a couple hundred tons compared to the fixed suits with a fraction of the operation and maintenance costs . ”
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