718 718 Door Guards
Max activated the broadcast system again and addressed the gathered fleet. [As you may be aware, humanity has been dealing with the Klem for quite a long time. If there are no objections, we will put our ship into stationary orbit over the planet and then drop in using the most straightforward methods.
They shouldn’t activate the shield, and once we are inside, we can begin the investigation properly and clear out the Klem infestation from this sensitive facility.]
The Illithid aboard the nearest ship contacted Max and brought him into the loop since his own range wasn’t long enough, and they waited while the Military Commanders made their decision.
[Commander Keres. If you can equip three of our people, we would like to send them with you and have them hold the exit to the facility to ensure that nothing escapes from it while you work. Might we ask, how do you plan to get past the shielding?]
[I intend to perform an orbital drop from a geostationary position, wearing a deactivated Mobile Suit, and then power it up after we are passed the barrier to reduce our landing speed to under one hundred kilometres an hour, at which point, our enhanced physiques won’t take any damage.]
The pure shock that went through their minds at his comment was enough that all of the Illithid were making fun of the Military Commanders. They didn’t show it on their external suits, but they had been in contact with the Illithid, which was attached to the Envoys ship, and they had filled him in on everything that was happening, as well as the basics of dealing with humans and their erratic ideas.
[Would it be possible to slow the descent rate to under thirty kilometres an hour?] The Military fleet’s Admiral asked.
[Certainly, but it would be a higher gravitational force than what we had planned. Closer to four times the gravitational standard.]
With the low gravity of the small planetoid, they weren’t going to be dropping all that fast, so it wouldn’t be a particularly harsh deceleration, to begin with, and Nico had only planned for a landing so fast because she knew that it would save time and neither of them would risk injury inside a Mobile Suit.
[That is acceptable. We will send the team over to you in order to be fit for their equipment. Nothing in our inventory is capable of evading the shields.]
They sent out a shuttle right away, so they must have had a team prepared in advance. The Illithid informed Max that it was three members of the Metallos, the morphable metallic slime-looking species, so they wouldn’t need to make any new gear designs.
“Alright, Nico, three standard-sized Mobile Suits, plus our own. Let’s see the new designs that you have come up with.” He told her with a wink.
There was definitely a new design since the last time he had seen the nearly human-sized Mobile Suits. They had gone through three generations of augmentic armour since then, so the smallest of the Mechanized Suits would definitely have seen some improvements. If they weren’t going to be exploring a whole complex, he would have recommended a pair of Line Mecha, but these would have to do.
Nico tapped a set of commands into the screen on the closest wall, and the ship’s Replicators powered up, ready to make whatever she needed.
“Can I do a grand reveal once everyone is here? They’re really cool, and I haven’t even gotten to product test them yet.”f
Max shrugged. “It will likely be easier. If you tell me now, you’ll still need to explain to them how the suits work when they get here, so we can just do it all at once.”
The team was there less than a minute later, and Max moved to the back of the ship to greet them at the airlock.
They had come straight to the storage area, so they were right next to where they would suit up, but that also put them in the same bay as Cleansing Light and Shattered Pride.
“You can’t seriously be intending to take those to the surface.” One of the silver creatures gasped.
“Of course not. It wouldn’t fit down the hallways. Those are along for surface containment of any Klem presences that we detect on other planets. They will be staying here while we go to the surface in Mobile Suits, which are fitted around the body like extra bulky power armour.
Let me reveal to you the new Dominus Pattern Mobile Suits. Equipped with a new alloy armour, Crystal Reactor power core with organic power pack backup, a three-layered shield, as well as an impressive weapons and sensor suite. It also features gravity control as well as physical thrusters for both terrestrial and orbital maneuvering.
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The Metallos special forces operatives stared at the bulky suits in awe and then looked to Nico for an explanation. “We will learn the controls easily enough, but are you certain that these will make it by the shield without activating it?”
Nico nodded. “We have analyzed the data, and only an active power source will trigger the shield. We will be dropping in with the suits inert, as they are now, and only activating them once we are past the defensive line to slow our speed somewhat.”
“Your plan is to just jump out of the spaceship and fall to the planet’s surface without any form of fall control?” The operative asked.
“We can run you through a simulation so you’re sure that you won’t make a mistake in the timing of the activation,” Nico suggested.
“I think that might be wise.”