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SCL Chapter 10: Power Armor - A Second Skin
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 03:29:06 +0000 UTCAugustus boarded the T-338 assembly platform of the 24th barracks of the training camp. Surrounded by four concave curved walls and a bronze air valve, mechanical arms enveloped him and assembled the power armor parts in an orderly manner. The whole process took less than 24 seconds, just like a factory assembly line producing canned food.
When the Marines need to take off the power armor to rest, the disassembly process is the reverse. In battles and protracted wars far from the base and barracks, the Marines cannot remove the armor by themselves, and the time spent inside this iron skin may last for months.
There is a specially designed internal circulation system in the armor, so that the wearer does not have to worry about going to the toilet. However, the designers are indifferent to another vital physiological need of the Marines—itching.
Augustus seemed to feel the infinite energy contained in the fusion reactor located in the chest of the armor. This controllable, small-scale nuclear fusion technology was still a product of science fiction novels and movies in his previous life.
He only needed to raise his hand slightly, and the servo system would respond immediately. He could lift a Gauss rifle with one hand with almost no effort. When the wearer runs, he does not feel tired even after running 20 kilometers.
At first, in the CMC-100 and even the earlier Unit-01 period, the mechanics would use a crane to stuff the test trainees into the armor, which weighed hundreds of pounds.
At that time, the power armor was more like a Gundam that used gas-fueled thrusters on the back to achieve high-speed maneuvers. After the initial implementation of this technology, it encountered many insurmountable technical bottlenecks, and more than 20 drivers died during testing.
Both the basic theory and the experimental level were stuck in bottlenecks, so scientists and engineers pessimistically estimated that humans would not be able to produce safe and reliable power armor within two hundred years—until the epoch-making servo system and the black technology-like small cold fusion reactor were publicly introduced.
The power armor of the Kel-Morians was still in a period of poor imitation. All available Kel-Morian power armor came from battlefield spoils and an unknown number of smuggled goods.
There were rumors that some of the Old Families in Tarsonis were secretly selling the military supplies they transported from the gray area to the Kel-Morians at a high price, and then these 'false and treasonous' rumors quickly disappeared.
The transport platform then sent Augustus to the transfer platform on the lower level of the barracks. While the platform was moving, two other mechanical arms hung a shiny E-9 electromagnetic rifle and two high-explosive pulse grenades on his back and waist, respectively.
The transfer platform was full of nearly two hundred D Company recruits. They had repaired and painted their armor themselves, and the repainted power armor was much shinier than when they first received it.
Augustus followed the blue steel torrent to a telescopic step leading downward on the transfer platform. The four flag bearers at the front carried a brand-new federal red and blue flag. Each Marine in front of him had his own number on the back of his helmet, usually the first letter of the battalion, company, platoon, and squad, plus the personal ID number in the database.
At the end of the stairs, there was a heavy airlock door that slowly opened with the roar of high-pressure gas. The light outside was dazzling, as if it came from heaven.
Many Marines felt a strong sense of mission and honor when they walked out of the barracks. Just as the Marine Corps Recruiting Propaganda Department said, they were truly invincible.
Augustus, however, believed that they lacked an awareness of being cannon fodder.
The barracks were built in the superstructure area of the main base of Turaxis, located above ground. Therefore, when Augustus walked out of the barracks, he saw the pure blue sky of the planet, a warm, golden sun shining on the earth, and a faint smell of rust in the wind.
A few dozen yards away from Augustus, two Goliath armed robots walked step by step towards a heavy transport plane that was landing. The hum of the Goliath's servo motors, and the roar of the spacecraft engines were transmitted to his ears through the sound collection device on his mask.
Augustus opened the HUD display panel on the mask and called up the built-in computer interface. At this time, the temperature and humidity inside the base were displayed in the lower right corner. The time was 7:00 a.m. on May 4, 2488.
He could use the built-in computer to activate other functions of the power armor, such as the infrared night vision device, thermal imaging, and auxiliary aiming on the mask. Augustus could also enable the stimulant unit through the control panel. The stimulant syringe would complete the injection instantly under the action of pressure.
Military stimulants are a mixture of synthetic adrenaline, endorphins, and a mental-strengthening drug. Soldiers who inject the drug will greatly improve their speed and reaction ability, eliminate fatigue, and restore themselves to peak condition in a very short time. The side effects of this stimulant are also quite severe. Because its raw materials are highly addictive, Marines are prone to drug dependence.
The duration of stimulants can reach three to six hours. The side effects of long-term use include but are not limited to insomnia, weight loss, mania/mild mania, convulsions, paranoia, hallucinations, internal bleeding, and brain necrosis.
Military regulations clearly limit the use of stimulants—no more than five times in the same combat period. Marines often fall into severe pain after five consecutive injections of stimulants.
However, no one worries about such problems in war. Whether an ordinary federal Marine or a battle-hardened general, they all hold the belief that the more you fight, the longer you live.
These operations on the face display are completed by both hands in the armor. The sliding and tapping of fingers are transmitted to the display page through the tactile feedback system, just like remote control operation.
The back of the CMC-200 power armor also has a set of embedded water tanks that can store 2 to 4 gallons of pure water. When Augustus needs to hydrate, he can operate the control panel on the headset to drink water through a hose extending from the back of the armor.
This is designed for the combat needs of Marines in extremely harsh environments. In hot lava worlds such as Char and Redstone, liquid water exposed to the outside world will evaporate in seconds and escape into the thin atmosphere.
This water is independent of the liquid cooling device and the life support system. Although the chief designer considered it unnecessary, market researchers believed that this would reassure Marines that the water they drank did not come from urine and bile.
"Assemble, line up!"
Augustus heard the voice of the commander of D Company of the recruit training camp over the communication channel inside the helmet. He stood still, and all the recruits of the first squad of the second platoon gathered around him. In just a few seconds, the originally chaotic team of recruits condensed into a regular formation.
"Goose step!"
"I say, boss, the bets are open. How many points do you think Jim will score in the shooting test today?" Harnack suddenly said in the communication channel of the first squad.
"Three points, no more. A bottle of '78 port wine, produced by the summer estate of Korhal San Diego." Augustus replied.
Jim Raynor's initial performance in shooting made it hard to associate him with the future Ranger commander. It would not be an exaggeration to describe him as terrible. Without power armor, he could miss shots from 10 meters away. According to Harnack, he could shoot better than Raynor even with his eyes closed.
"Today will definitely be better than yesterday, my father always says." Raynor hadn't finished speaking yet when the channel burst into laughter, full of joy. He always used the excuse that he had never touched a Gauss gun before, but today, no one could hold back their laughter until he finished.
"Sooner or later, you will look at my godlike shooting skills with new eyes!"
...
T-54 Shooting Range, Turaxis Main Base, 8:35 AM, June 5.
About 400 meters in front of the twelve recruits of the first squad of the second platoon of D Company, standing in a row, was a team of Kel-Morian Rippers running. This was obviously their virtual projection, yet it appeared extremely real.
Starting with Augustus on the far left, the fully armed Marines raised their Gauss rifles and began to aim. Since this was a period of comprehensive weapons upgrades, the firearms in their hands included both the old E-7 and E-9 rifles as well as the C-14 rifles.
Nevertheless, all of these firearms used Gauss technology, employing electromagnetic induction coils to accelerate magnetic projectiles to supersonic speeds, enabling long-range precision shooting.
In addition to the well-known 8mm solid steel rounds, the Gauss series rifles could also fire hollow-point bullets, depleted uranium rounds, and incendiary bullets of the same caliber.
Unlike the fixed-caliber guns of the Earth era, a Gauss rifle could cut an unarmored person in half with just one shot.
Marine recruits could fire 20 to 30 rounds per second and up to a thousand rounds per minute. The ammunition was stored in the shoulders of their power armor, allowing them to quickly replace and replenish it by docking the Gauss rifle onto their armor.
This allowed them to not worry too much about accuracy when stationed in fortresses and bunkers with ample ammunition. Against most enemies of the Terran Federation, a single shot was usually fatal.
However, the Marines' bullets were not unlimited. Only lunatics and war maniacs could remain absolutely calm on the battlefield. Even after nine to twelve weeks of recruit training, soldiers tended to panic and fire prematurely in combat, often exhausting their ammunition before the enemy even entered their effective shooting range.
The capacitor system added to the new C-14 effectively mitigated this problem, although its controlled burst mode was criticized by the true tough guys and macho men of the Federal Marines, who claimed that any shooting that couldn’t empty a magazine within ten seconds was no better than using a slingshot.
