Jerry kicks his boots up on the desk of his ready room. The smart, calf length polished black leather gleamed with the special shine job Wichen had done them up with. Apparently she'd invented the perfect tool for the job, a little shine bot robot with just enough intelligence to analyze and build the perfect shine profile to input parameters.
They were already getting mass produced on Jerry's orders and were selling fairly aggressively even outside of the Undaunted. It was a nifty little gizmo, especially when it could modify the polish with axiom to more or less make the layer of polish just shy of bullet proof while retaining its flexible qualities.
It seemed like there was a new brilliant idea every minute around here, and while they weren't war winning or lottery busters in their own rights, as a quick examination the family's personal financials showed, little things could add up quickly in this galaxy, especially things that made one look better in the fashion obsessed Centris. Double especially with military chic being the next hot trend, likely courtesy of the Dauntless and her crew it seemed.
While that was mystifying to Jerry, he'd reached out to a few design labels Syl liked and offered them some patterns and other information on the wheres, whys and hows of uniforms and military style outfits from Earth. One label had gone absolutely gaga over old school European martial splendor, and were going to market the outfits and their styling free of unearned decorations in the military sense, but with extra gilt and embellishment.
They’d also worked out an adaptation method to do alien martial awards up in the human style. It’d been an exhausting set of meetings, but the idea of, say, Speaker Ticanped turning up to a Council meeting dressed like an early 20th century Russian Czar had amused Jerry to no end.
Another more "urban" brand had gone hard on field uniforms, adopting various aggressive camo patterns and the infantry man's best friend the combat boot. They'd been extra thrilled to find out what a "gaiter" was, letting them have a footwear option for those who didn't want to show off a bunch of top of the line polished leather, or for those who simply couldn't wear boots.
Another set of deals that had net the Bridger family a tidy profit... and ongoing profits too. They'd be getting a percentage from the sales of those lines, as well as selling the boot shining tool in their stores.
A chime at the door interrupts Jerry's musings. "Come!"
Sharon "Zombie" Graves marches in smartly, coming to attention before his desk and saluting smartly.
"Reporting as ordered, Captain."
She manages to keep a straight face before breaking down in giggles for a moment.
"You just had to say "Come". Dammit Jerry if you keep this up I will be bringing you Earl Grey tea on the regular."
"I've always seen myself as more of a James T. Kirk than a Jean Luc Picard, and not just because of my apparent fascination with seducing alien women."
"I'm a Kirk girl myself, so I certainly endorse you going that way. I hate the memes about the man frankly. Shatner's Kirk was always a thoughtful, emotional, intelligent commander who made level headed and sound tactical choices, even if he didn't have time to listen to his team. He fucked up occasionally yes, and was a bit of a horn dog, but he was only human. Besides he had that cocky smile that could really make a girl's heart melt, so it's only natural he'd be seducing green skinned beauties left and right."
"Hmm... fair point, I can't call myself a Kirk type without a green skinned woman in my harem can I? That'd be failing Kirk 101."
Sharon chuckles. "Well I wouldn't give you advice on your love life sir, but I do happen to have a possible opportunity to find yourself some lean, mean and green love if you want."
"Well if you're offering Zombie I'd have to say I'm flattered."
"Not me! I mean. Well. Uh." Sharon stamps a boot. "Oh no you don't. Just because I'm one of your bridge bunnies doesn't mean I'm letting you get me off track. We actually have work to do dammit!"
"Damn, foiled again, though by the description I was figuring you actually did mean you. I mean, who else is leaner, meaner or greener than a genuine, certified US Marine?"
"Well in the literal sense half the damn galaxy it seems. More specifically in this case we have a communique from the Dauntless several actually, the first of which is that green situation I was speaking of. The short version is that a large company of combat trained Horchka want to join the Undaunted. They're a hardened merc unit with a few decades of combat experience. They'd like to stick together as a fighting force, and while the Admiral's fine accepting their oath, he doesn't have an immediate task for leg, mech and power armored infantry. Considering our mission, and how we could absolutely use more fighting women, he's sending the leader, Ghorza I believe, over to meet you. You have sole discretion on whether or not you want to accept her troops. You'll then be responsible for training them Undaunted style."
"Thankfully we are building the facilities for that, albeit they were mostly for training special forces teams, but we had been intending to carry a company of line Marines already."
"These girls would basically give us a rump battalion of infantry. Call it a Marine Expeditionary Unit without the armor when you consider our Aviation Combat Element and the combat power multipliers of the new axiom tech we're already using. Plus we'd have more experienced power armored infantry to play train the trainer and help us develop our own power armored infantry forces. Which I happen to know you've been selecting Marines for the line infantry with future "upgrading" in mind."
"Going into mind reading as a sideline Commander? Or have you been practicing your axiom use?"
"Call it women's intuition... or knowing my boss."
"We haven't worked together all that long."
"But you're a Marine, and a Raider at that, plus I know you're as big a sci fi nerd as those nerd squad kids. No way you're not going to get as much power armor on the field as humanly or alienly possible."
"You have to admit, it'd be a hell of a rude surprise for any of our enemies who potentially attack us... or if we send down troops to stomp them a new mud hole."
"Damn skippy sir. Though I admit... I'm not 100% certain on the differences between power armor and a mech suit. But the file we got on Ghorza's troops made a very clear distinction between her eighty mech suit troops and twenty power armored troopers, not counting the woman herself."
"I think I can help with that."
Jerry fiddles with his computer and brings up a holographic display on his desk, showing an experimental model of Undaunted mech suit, based off one of the more popular models among the EFL.
"This is a mech suit, they're relatively cheap and extremely adaptable to a wide variety of tasks. They're as common in civilian life as they are in the military or the wrong side of the law. While they generally run more effectively when adapted to one person, they can be easily adapted to most body types barring extremely large girls. Something of a one size fits all set up. They're suited for all manner of work and are purely focused on tech based axiom use instead of more esoteric styles. Anyone can use a mech suit, no adept training required."
"So you're just as likely to see one in a mine or doing construction work as you are to see one carrying a suite of heavy weapons into a gun fight."
"Correct."
"So how's that different from power armor?"
"Mech suits are piloted. You have a full set of controls, and when well set up, you can be pretty quick on your "feet"... but power armor's a bit more organic and dynamic."
Jerry flicks through a few blueprints and brings up one of the more popular Cannidor power armored suits.
"Power armor you just wear. There's a few controls, but for the most part it's entirely integrated, and controlled via a mix of your body motion and latent neural feedback from the not inexpensive telemetry units you need to have surgically implanted into your body. Mixed with a computer jack, you can integrate with the power armor entirely... and as said you just wear it. In every way power armor should make you more you. You but, stronger. You but, faster. You but, with a variety of scanners you don't normally have. You but, very, very heavily armored and shielded."
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"You but, carrying a shit load of vehicle grade weapons with enough juice for the same if you're Cannidor."
"Exactly... and that's not even the scary power armor if you ask me. It's just the common style of kit."
Jerry triggers a switch to another mark of power armor.
"This is the top shelf stuff. It requires a decent amount of axiom mastery and an integrated axiom totem. The suit itself is in effect an axiom totem. So it's literally bonded tightly to its wearer."
Jerry triggers another view of the blueprint and the words ‘Axiom conduits' flash up in galactic trade before a network through the armor and its undersuit begin to spread out.
"This stuff can theoretically go forever instead of needing a full on power pack. It's got passive axiom absorption to keep it moving and it's all spread across the system, no weak points in terms of energy generation theoretically. Instead of just using axiom energy for power though, the armor can actually be infused... this isn't revelatory I know, but when I say it can be infused I mean you can infuse it like you can infuse your body on the fly... and it should do that as naturally as you breath."
A sequence of power armored combat begins to play, the woman wearing the high end suit leaping and dodging before a Cannidor catches her flat footed with a massive war club. A telemetry readout flashes up on the bottom left of the screen, showing the woman instinctually infusing her body with axiom to try and take the hit... and the armor itself mirroring her with axiom from it's battery pack, toughening up the metals and false muscles as if they were the warrior's own flesh and blood.
She blocks the hit, and the clip fades to the company's logo with a little jingle as she leaps towards the Cannidor with a vicious uppercut that was glowing white hot with axiom.
"All purely on instinct. You don't have to think about it any more than any other axiom infusion. You don't even need more energy as the suit's internal batteries absorb axiom passively specifically for just such a situation. For a serious fight there's a backup generator that can kick in when you need sustained large volumes of energy, such as firing energy based heavy weapons. But unsurprisingly the wearers of this kind of suit tend to stick to axiom based attacks..."
"...We gonna send one of these bad girls to that Franklin guy in the EFL?"
"Honestly in his specific case I think power armor would just slow him down, that man's a fucking monster. For the rest of us however, power armor of both variants offers a significant tactical advantage. Especially if we introduce human style heavy weapons with some of the miniaturization options we're developing."
"Sounds promising, you'd make something like that look good, boss."
Sharon flashes Jerry a wink, momentarily stunning the man. Was she flirting with him? Jerry had thought he'd picked up on a vibe like that earlier in their conversation. Still she presses on like it hadn't happened.
"Wichen's autocannon project looking exciting then?"
"Very, high velocity 25mm round with a variety of projectiles, we have two versions, one's a triple feed single barrel so the wearer can index specialist munitions as desired. The other’s a multi barrel gatling design.”
“When in doubt, apply brrrt till the target changes shape or catches on fire.”
“Exactly the idea. Wichen has a mix of HEDP, AP and AD munitions worked up as well as practice shells and good old FMJ. She's gotten in with the working groups on things like the AVE rounds that showed such great results at my little shoot out... but as expensive as those are, they probably won't be used in cannon grade shells."
"Makes sense. Though imagine the damage a twenty five mike mike one of those could do when your little 6.5 AVE painted the fucking room with that Brute Archana."
"Some of that's their biology but I know your meaning. Past the cannons we have a variety of fun small arms ranging from axiom enhanced and back mounted miniguns to more traditional automatic weapons. There's a still very much under development 88mm recoilless rifle that takes its rounds from a miniaturized magazine, letting someone carry theoretically hundreds of missiles. All controlled with the eyes and some cuing. It's pretty damn impressive, but the magazine and feed system need work. Anyway, what else is on the table?"
"Well speaking of toys, I have the final tally in gifts we've received from various Undaunted elements, both for your weddings and what the EFL pirates are calling a "ship warming". Most of their notes end with ‘Even if you didn't steal it the right way.’"
It's Sharon's turn to connect to the holo display, bringing up what amounts to a loot table. It's a significant pile of stuff.
"From Vucsa 5 we have the specs and designs for axiom silencer rings and the tools to make them. I figure we'll standardize those for a lot of folks, if not everyone. Wichen is already itching to start producing them I'm sure. Speaking of things that go bang, the crew of the Chainbreaker, who also commented on us acquiring a ship ‘the wrong way’, sent us blueprints for what they call pop guns. They're an anti-material rifle mated with an elephant gun, and a light howitzer and they used them to hunt something called a Carnex."
"What's a Carnex?"
"Imagine Godzilla but with a meaner disposition, and covered in chrome."
"Really? That's so vaporwave it hurts."
"Extremely, but the chrome also makes them naturally plasma and laser resistant."
"Sounds like a nasty piece of work on the whole. Continue."
"From Octarin Spin, we have specs on a variety of "less lethal" modern small arms. Still plenty killy plasma and laser weapons in all due reality, but far less likely to puncture a space station hull, which, as you can imagine is a big deal on Octarin Spin. I figure they'll be good for internal security and if any civilians want to carry a personal defense weapon outside of breaking out the big toys for an active boarding action. They also sent design specs for badges that act as emergency axiom powered devices that should keep you alive for around an hour without further axiom charge if you get spaced, and a couple crates of Vulbaa cuisine."
"Makes sense, get the weapon designs down to Wichen if you haven't already. We'll want a full set for internal security and a pistol of either type for whoever wants one. The badges... Hell make'em standard issue, every crew member and civilian, even Mikasa. Better safe than writing a ‘Deeply regret’ letter. As for the food… It’s that meat jelly the wasp like aliens make right? Super nutrient dense? It keeps well as I recall, but snag a sample out for my family and yourself if you want some and turn the rest over to the quartermaster."
"Finally we have your Captain's Yacht."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Exactly what I said sir."
The view changes again to a fairly elegant spacecraft with great lines and a shape that was extremely appealing to human aesthetic tastes.
"Where did she come from?"
"A little group gift from the Undaunted Captain's Association, informal an organization as it might be. This is a prototype luxury shuttle that was designed alongside the Huscarl class gunships. It's being considered for mass manufacture and sale. The first one went to Admiral Cistern. As the second commander of an actual human owned and operated ship, and extremely likely to be conducting diplomatic negotiations on behalf of the Undaunted, I guess everyone figured you were next on the list for one of these bad girls. Should be big enough to fit most if not all of your family for an excursion and then some. Bring me if there's space to spare, I could get used to that kind of class."
"Careful Zombie, keep that up and Syl might just do the paperwork to drag you into my harem."
Sharon mutters something to herself that Jerry can't quite hear before snapping back to business.
"Anyway, that's the majority of the big ticket items. There's a mix of other resources, money, information, equipment and other miscellany to sort through, along with numerous well wishes. Apparently the Undaunted are excited to have a big naval operation under way that isn't the Dauntless. I wouldn't say we're as envied as the Chainbreaker, but for people who want to get out there, we're definitely leading the way in style."
"Just where I like to be Zombie. Is that everything for our situation? What's the status on the cloning tank install?"
"We're almost at full immediate capacity for what's available on the market. It's a small market so we can only get so much equipment at any one time. It's not like the stuff grows on trees."
"Fair enough, and the orders have been coming in pretty aggressively."
"Yes, though it'll die off a bit in the immediate term, the Admiral's ordered a temporary moratorium on new pet purchases for the Dauntless and her crew. Syl was telling me there's plenty of meat orders to sustain your business however. Apparently that flash grown cow with a butchering guide you sent to the Cannidor ambassador really did the trick. Something about it being one of the most flavorful things she's ever devoured in the last several centuries?"
"Glad we can impress our Cannidor friends in all sorts of interesting ways. Did the Apuk councilor get hers?"
"She did. Her message of thanks was significantly more refined. Both have sent in orders for large orders of meat, and the Apuk councilor ordered nearly a ton of A5 Wagyu for transport to Serbow, a gift for their Empress."
"Don't charge her for that one, it can be a gift from both of us."
"Syl's idea exactly. Next... there's an odd one that stood out in the message traffic we've been getting applying for positions on the Tear. Great Plains Nagasha, talented Adept, which we've been wanting more of. She's a rated instructor in both major disciplines."
"I sense a but."
"But intelligence thinks she might be connected with the Seven Tails of the Nagasha and wanted to give you a heads up in case she's an assassin or something."
"I doubt she's an assassin, you don't pay blood money to people you intend to kill."
"Not in any logical universe Skipper, but this is not a logical universe."
"Fair point Zombie. Have her come in any way... no changes or special handling. I can handle myself against one Adept. My own training's going along decently. At the very least I should be able to hold out long enough for Jaruna to stomp in and kill her. Speaking of which, transmit a message to this Ghorza once you get back out on the bridge. I'd like to meet with her as soon as it is convenient for her."
“Copy that Skipper. Last order of business for the day, Admiral Cistern would like to see you after you deal with Ghorza and her people one way or another. The message was vague, but probably working out the last additions to the crew.”
“Maybe he even has orders for us. Guess we’ll just have to see, thanks Sharon.”