“Tim, are you aware of the AR requirements for this shield?” Hunter asked.
“It’s 50,” Tim said with a nod.
“50 AR for a Mark II Shield,” Hunter repeated, “And what is the AR requirement for a device which could render the Mark II Shield ineffective?”
“Well, as far as constructs go, it takes something pretty strong to get through the force field, and if it does, then the metal plate acts as the obvious second line of defence. Most of the times I’m using this bad boy, I’m going up against conventional weaponry. But in the rare times a construct has given me trouble, I don’t know, I’d have to say around 60. Probably more.”
Hunter beckoned Shebly forth.
“So someone with an AR of 29 wouldn’t give you much anxiety when you’re holding one of those,” Hunter stated.
Tim laughed.
“It depends on what they’re holding. A rocket launcher, or a pea-shooter. But if they’re coming at me with etheric weaponry, then yeah, I’m not too worried. No offense, Ms. Shelby,” he said.
“None taken,” Shelby smiled.
“Shelby, please take this device and point it at Tim. Brace yourself, Tim!”
The smile on Tim’s face was wide and genuine. He hunched over and squatted slightly with the shield.
“Ready,” he said.
Hunter checked the device in Shelby’s hands and confirmed the setting it was on.
“Tim, Shelby, the device is at its lowest power level. Shelby, when you’re ready, just thumb the activator on the side, and—”
For a brief second, the 5 meters of space between Shelby and Tim distorted. A sound of impact came from Tim’s shield, and the force pushed him back a few steps, causing him to grunt.
Shelby looked at the device in her hand as if it had just sprouted eyes. The crowd chittered to themselves, and most of the noise came from the Guard contingent. Even the Guard Captains seemed impressed.
“You alright Tim?” Hunter asked. The man raised a thumb in the air.
“That thing packs a kick,” Tim said. “We going again?”
Hunter smiled.
“Absolutely. The next hit will be at medium power. You ready?”
Tim nodded and braced himself again.
Shelby looked at Hunter, and her eyes were still wide.
“I’ve never used something like this before, sir. Are you sure I’m the right choice for a higher power level? My AR is only 29—”
“That the device activated at all means that you’re more than enough to supply it with what it needs,” Hunter said, leaning in to adjust the meter on the device which would loosen the restrictions on the output.
“When you’re ready, activate it again,” Hunter said.
The force field was more visible this time. Shelby didn’t so much as twitch until she saw Tim flying back a whole 8 yards. The Force pulse ruined the device, warping the metal shield.
“I’m okay!” Tim yelled, getting up. His chest was heaving, but then Hunter realized the man was laughing.
The reaction from the crowd was much louder this time. Shelby looked at Hunter with a mixture of worry and astonishment. She carefully handed the device back over, and Hunter received with the same care.
Tim was carrying the ruined shield back. A few of the Guards were checking up on him.
“Everyone, the demonstration isn’t over yet,” Hunter said while raising his voice. He glanced at Joey, who was heading towards Tim to inspect the shield. Hunter took the chance to set up for the next phase of the demonstration. He caught Trey’s attention and called him over.
“That was quite the show. What else have you got planned for us?”
“I’m going to have the Guardsmen use the Repulsor device at full power, and then I’ll show the new shield system I’ve developed. But I need the ship’s shield lower for a few minutes.”
Trey hmm’d at Hunter’s request, but then he nodded.
“Alright, I can do that, but it’ll be back up in 30 minutes.”
“30 minutes is fine,” Hunter said. Trey messaged the bridge, and Hunter called Shelby over again.
“How do you feel about being on the receiving end of this guy?” he asked her, and held up the Repulsor.
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head.
“Not after what I just saw,” she said, wincing slightly. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” he said, “but what if I told you that the new shield I developed should be able to stand up to it without too much difficulty?”
Shelby hesitated and looked over at Tim. She pursed her lips and then nodded.
“Alright, I’ll try it.”
Courage was also a trait that a leader should look for in a good subordinate. Despite her lower AR compared to her colleagues, Shelby seemed to have plenty of traits that would have her stand out from the crowd. She was still young, and with some good seasoning, she could be exactly the kind of person who Oberon Enterprises would want to groom for a command position one day.
Hunter gave her an approving nod and directed her to the Aegis network. She frowned when she saw the size of it. Instead of a large metal shield, there was a collection of 9 octagonal plates which had a couple of bars welded to them in order for someone to hold them like a shield. They came with a woolen cuff which had some hard plastic attached. The plastic housed the activating drawstone and served as the wireless transmission construct. Hunter had never worked much with hard plastic, but the ship’s fabrication team had assured him it would be far better than a thin metal plate which might warp from body heat. The precision with which they could carve out channels in the plastic had impressed him.
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Hunter picked up the long, thin battery next to Shelby and then called for everyone’s attention.
“What Shelby is holding is the Mark III Aegis. During my time at Barnum, I designed the first version of it, and I have refined it throughout our journey. As you can see, this shield is much smaller than the Mark II Shield, but that’s won’t always be the case. Those plates can be both smaller and larger to suit your needs. This technology applies to body armour, heavy armour, ship armour, and more. And the best part is that it delivers a stronger force field at just over half of the AR requirement of Oberon’s current generation of shield technology.”
This got a larger reaction from the artisans. Even Joey seemed impressed by the pitch.
“Shelby, brace yourself. This device is still at medium power.”
With a determined look on her face, she nodded and huddled as much as she could behind the small shield.
He thumbed the activator. The lack of recoil from the device was always a surprise.
There was a loud woomph of displaced air as the force field emitted from the device met with the shaped force field emitted by the Aegis. The force of the collision knocked Shelby back a couple of steps, and then she looked up with a look of astonishment.
“Are you sure that was at medium power?” she asked. The spectators all laughed. Hunter nodded, but a distraction preoccupied him. He could have sworn that he felt a familiar etheric fluctuation nearby. It didn’t come from the direction of the crowd, and felt like it came from deeper in the forest. He wondered if he should ask Trey to reactivate the ship’s shield, but dismissed the idea. The rest of the demonstration won’t take long.
“Yes, and this will prove it,” he said, aiming at a tree to his left. It was about a meter in diameter and 20 feet high, and it was far enough away that he could get out of the way if the force field proved powerful enough to make the tree fall.
Approaching the tree, he thumbed the activator, and the trunk dented with a single loud snapping sound. He was disappointed at first, hoping that the effect would be a bit more visibly dramatic. He thumbed the activator again, and it proved enough for the tree to tear from the stump left over from the field’s effect.
This got a huge response from the Guardsmen. Most of the artisans were clapping.
Thankfully, the tree fell away from Hunter. He aimed at another tree, which was about the same size as the last one, and adjusted the device to release the field at full power.
“Full power,” he yelled back at the spectators.
He thumbed the activator and felt the output plate overload. He knew it would happen, and it was why he’d saved the full-power demonstration for the end.
The bottom of the tree exploded outwards, and Hunter had to sprint back away from the falling trunk. Thankfully, the blast had launched the bottom of the trunk back with enough force to carry it a couple of meters away, which made it easier to avoid getting caught by its falling. Hunter felt another etheric fluctuation nearby, and his head snapped in the direction he’d felt it. As soon as he looked, the sensation disappeared. He narrowed his eyes and jogged back towards the ship. As soon as he was close enough, he signalled for Trey to call for its activation.
Trey nodded and radioed the bridge. The shield hummed back to life a moment later.
The guardsmen were hollering. Many of them approached Hunter, but he held up a hand to forestall them.
“The overall improvement in both efficiency and effectiveness compared to the Mark II Shield is not the only impressive aspect of this technology,” Hunter said, smiling at Shelby, who was still holding onto the Aegis.
“I’ve installed it with the next generation of the wireless etherium network. This construct was something my father had been researching before he died, and it’s my honour to introduce it to you all today. The Aegis Shield has no physical connection to its activator, and can remain powered without a dramatic increase in affinity requirement up to a distance of 5 meters — or 5 and a half yards.”
Jesse and Gill approached Shelby with a stand, which would hold the Aegis. They directed Shelby to stand away from the shield.
“Unfortunately, the full-power demonstration destroyed this prototype Repulsor — the version you’ll all have access to will only use full power in emergencies and will be limited to medium power, which should suffice. We can make more powerful and resilient devices, but those will most likely be used to provide close-range defence for the colony. In order to show the effectiveness of the Aegis, you can all approach it while Shelby stands at a distance. The new network is defined by its lack of limitations to static infrastructure, allowing for full freedom of movement.”
The largest reaction to his announcement came from the artisans. Even Joey had to approach the Aegis in order to verify Hunter’s words. When he did, he stared at Shelby and the shield in amazement as Shelby moved around freely, and the Aegis stayed active.
Some Guardsmen showed the most interest in the practical application of the technology. The artisans were more amazed by how the upgrade totally transcended the limitations of the previous generation of wireless etherium transmission.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that is my demonstration. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I’ll be available for the next couple of hours in order to answer questions,” Hunter said. He waved over the Guard Captains. He had something he needed to tell them.
“Thank you, Hunter!” Trey said. “Unfortunately, there won’t be any time for questions until later. I’ve just received words that the scouts are on their way back.”
Hunter nodded, disappointed that he wouldn’t have time to talk about his tech, but he understood that there were more pressing issues at hand. Not just the assault to retake Skyhold, but the fact strange etheric fluctuations he’d sensed had been pretty close.
“Sir?” Guard Captain Niklaus said as he and Guard Captain Bell neared.
“I felt something in the forest during the demonstration. It was etheric. I think we’re being watched.”
“Etheric? Like constructs?”
“No,” Hunter said, “it felt more like a Class-1, just not as powerful. And it was close.”
The Guard Captains glanced at each other.
“We have video surveillance covering most of the surroundings. I’ll inform the bridge. Where did you feel it coming from, sir?” Niklaus asked.
Hunter pointed in the general direction he’d felt them come from. The Guard Captain nodded.
“I’ll have a squad scout the area,” Guard Captain Bell said.
“Thank you,” Hunter said, glad that he’d revealed his sensitivity to etherium. It made his life so much easier.
As much as he’d love to be on the bridge to see what they discover, he had work to do. Based on the reactions from the crowd, he felt sure that he’d have the artisan’s attention and curiosity. That was a pretty good indicator that he’d accomplished what he’d set out to accomplish. Even Joey had seemed impressed.
He needed to work on the curriculum for his introduction to synergies. He knew where to start — by introducing the most basic of synergies. It came out to an even half-dozen pairs of glyphs, which Hunter figured would be the most familiar to the ship’s artisans. They would be immediately relevant to both the ship’s systems and the Guard’s hardware.
He was also looking forward to consulting with the Guard in order to experiment with the best ways of using the Aegis technology. Modular shield constructs had never been as flexible as it was now. Hunter couldn’t wait to get the Guardsmen suited up with upgraded Aegis armour and Repulsors, which could also be modified to fit many designs. Hunter had an idea for a suit which came integrated with its own wireless network, powering a whole slew of different constructs like Force fields and weapons.
He still wanted to get his hands on the shield technology that the armoured juggernaut had used back at the museum. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around that one, and as far as he knew, they had nothing like that aboard the Cloud. Guard Captain Bell’s platoon didn’t have one either.
Hunter returned to his quarters and started planning. But while he did, his personal radio was being inundated by calls from Joey, asking him a thousand questions about the applications of the technology he’d displayed outside the ship.
Despite Joey’s initial worries and protests, Hunter admired the man. He had a depth of knowledge and a very apparent passion for the work, and like any artisan, the possibility of pushing forward the frontiers of their knowledge excited him. He said that he was willing to spend a couple of hours with Hunter every day in order to establish new standard procedures for the synergies he was going to be teaching in his introductory course.
Hunter wasn’t looking forward to that. Research and development was exciting — procedure and safety protocols were not. But it was a necessary evil, he told himself. He needed to be involved because he understood the both the promises and pitfalls of synergies better than anybody, and it was this kind of preparation that would set the foundation for others to do this kind of tedious work in the future, leaving more time for him to focus on what he loved.
After answering all of Joey’s questions, Hunter received a call from both Tim and Shelby, thanking him for the experience. After the call was over, Hunter had to take a minute to shake the anxiety he felt about the upcoming assault. If Clarke had the capability of shooting ships down from the sky, then what else did they have that could threaten the assault force? The outpost was heavily defended, with heavy weaponry and walls to help defend against beastwaves.
What if those defenses proved too much for the Guards to break through?