Suit up!

[Kamon Vondiranach]

It was so cold out that it was snowing and the snow was freezing as soon as it touched anything. Even a heater couldn't make the snow melt. Needless to say it was the perfect day to be inside doing something constructive, which was why Niamh was inside the "office" hard at work on a new idea of hers. There was much to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. Needless to say, she was at the pinnacle of creative juices.

"You're not going to kill yourself testing this, are you?"

Teria was standing near the door, leaning back against the wall and reading something or other on her datapad. It was a wonder she saw anything at all, but Niamh knew better. The woman was more observant than anyone she ever knew.

"Of course not. My designs are always good enough to work on the first try!"

"Tell that to Brainbox."

"Oh, Brainbox will be fine. So I fried his circuits while giving him an upgrade. I put him back together and he kept his memories."

Sheesh. It was like you couldn't make a single mistake anymore. Shaking her head, she focused back on the drawings in front of her. After the battle for Alderaan, she'd determined that the Sith were a bunch of cocky whimps who didn't know how to fight and so resorted to trickery and magic. Mostly she just didn't like getting turned into a lightning rod.

So she got the idea to do something about it. Chiefly speaking, she decided she was going to design a set of armor that could take a hit from Force lightning and channel it down into the ground. But she wanted more than that. She was going to make a new pilot suit for the Republic that could also double as combat armor. It was perfect for the little group that she was helping to put together within the Republic. She just needed to focus on getting it done.

"Teria, tell someone to get me some copper, polyfibe, armorplast, and glass of blue milk. I'm going to be here a while."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

She took a sip of the blue milk, leaving a light blue mustache upon her face. It wasn't noticed. The sheet of flimsi in front of her was taking up all of her attention. Yeah, she still worked on flimsi, drawing things first by hand before transferring them to electronic form. She liked it that way. It was a much more intimate design process if you did things hands on. That and she wasn't very good at drawing a humanoid shape, so she used flimsi that had a template on it.

Tapping her writing utensil against her head, she regarded the sheet in front of her, before making several broad strokes upon it. There was a lot of copper wire, and a lot of hunks of metal lying around that had been brought in per her request. Most was in bulk lumps. Only the copper had been tooled before.

"Teria, can you start the kilns going? I need to melt down the metals."

"Sure."

While Teria went to do that, Niamh went to get a block of clay. With several tools in hand, and the piece of flimsi resting nearby, she started carving. A stroke here, a stroke there. Each movement of a tool carved away some of the clay. She worked swiftly at first, reducing broad strokes across the mound of malleable material. This was her working on just getting the base movements down and out of the way. She was just trying to remove the excess.

As Niamh worked, Teria came over and got one of the large pieces of metal before taking it and depositing it in one of the kilns so it could get melted down. Niamh started carving smaller strokes in the clay, intent on cutting the softer lines of what she was working on.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"It's for the mold. When this is done, I can pour the pieces of the armor with the mold. Then I just have to assemble it."

Teria nodded and grabbed the other chunk of metal so she could get it started melting down. It was about to get super hot up in there.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

It took a while for her to whittle the big block of clay down into the shapes that she needed. Several hours, plus a nice nap. When she woke up, Teria was still hard at work at the kilns, smelting the ore down as if she'd never left. That was one thing she loved about Teria: the woman had some serious dedication to her work. The woman was absolutely gorgeous as well. On more than one occassion she'd found herself tempted, but Teria never showed interest in her that way, so she let it slide.

Climbing out of the little cot, she went to start making the casts. With the clay mold in place, she formed a special polymer cast around it. Each piece of the puzzle got its own mold, a stack of them going up in the nearby work space. There were a lot of parts to make for what she needed, so she'd taken extra special care to make doubles of the more intricate parts just in case one of the casts didn't work out.

"The metals are ready," Teria said as she walked over to Niamh. "Rest well?"

"Yeah. I needed it. You should probably take a break."

"I slept a little while you were sleeping."

That didn't seem much like Teria, but Niamh just nodded. She'd learned she couldn't make the woman do anything that she didn't want to do. She finished casting the molds, and set them all off to the side so they could harden. In the meantime, she went to check and see the status of the metal. It was all hot and melty, as Teria had said it was. That meant she'd be pouring pieces shortly. Then would come the more intricate work before testing.

"I never realized your work could be this enjoyable. I always thought it looked tedious and boring."

"Making things is always rewarding. That's why I do things hands on. It's just more fun."

"Just tell me when you're ready to start pouring. I'm going to sit and relax for a bit."

"Sure."

Teria was asleep in the chair five minutes later.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

She had the molds done not long after Teria fell asleep, but she really didn't feel like waking the woman. Sometimes Niamh was compassionate enough towards Teria to allow her to get some rest! Well, really she just didn't feel like being a jerk and waking her up when she knew the woman was dead tired. So, while she waited, she went and got the copper wire and started running it out in lengths of the table so that she knew she would have what she needed for the suit.

When Teria did wake up, about an hour or so later, Niamh was sitting in a chair, drinking a cup of coffeine and staring at the ceiling.

"Did you let me fall asleep?"

"Yep."

Teria grumbled and got up from her seat. Niamh knew the woman felt bad for falling asleep while she was supposed to be watching her, but they were pretty safe within the confines of the headquarters building. She hadn't been worried about anything.

Finishing her drink, Niamh stood and went over to start dragging the molds over to where the metal pours were waiting. Teria followed, and she took the role of doing the pouring while Niamh moved each piece into place, and then pulled it away again. When each piece was poured with the correct metal compound, she pulled it off to the side into a cooling chamber so that it could begin the long process of hardening. The chamber didn't run a cooling agent, but it was cooler within it than in the main room. Here it would harden faster.

In the meantime, Niamh went to work on the flight suit, removing all of the pieces from its breathing apparatus, and removing all of the unnecessary bits. It was a newer model flight suit, so it was made of a nice mesh component that actually felt comfortable when worn. It was form-fitting, too, so it didn't trip up its wearer, which was good for what she had in mind. When she was done with that, she sat down to wait for the pours to cool.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

After a few hours of cooling time, Niamh went to the room and pulled out the largest piece. Carrying it to the table, she got a chisel and split the two pieces of the form apart so that the cooled metal was exposed. It wasn't all shiny yet because it hadn't been buffed. To be honest it kind of looked like crap, but that was how things started! This was the large chest piece that she'd pulled out, and the shape looked absolutely perfect for what she'd had in mind.

"Looks good. What now?"

Niamh motioned towards the coil of copper wire.

"Hand me that and the wire snips."

Teria handed over the wire, followed by the snips, and Niamh proceeded to thread the wire through one of the holes. Holding it in place with the snips, she grabbed a portable wire melter and slowly melted the copper down just enough to where it was malleable rather than in a liquid state. This was dangerous to do because the metal was still extremely hot, but it was necessary.

When the metal was solidly covering the opening and the small circular area around it, she stopped and held the metal in place while it cooled. This was a tedious process, but it was necessary as an essential part of what the suit was being designed for. She repeated the process several times around the chest piece, leaving long chunks of the wire running out and down the back. with the wires in place, she went to grab the next pieces, continuing the process of creating a network of copper wire throughout the armor.

"What's the reason for doing that?"

"You'll just have to wait and see. When I test it, you'll know."

"Just makes me think you're going to do something stupid."

"Probably, but don't I always?"

"Touche."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

The longest and hardest part of what she was doing was putting all of the pieces of metal wire into the suit. Each piece had to run according to plan, which meant she had to sit there and heat the wire up, mold it, fit it into the little niche that she'd designed for it, and then mold rubber over it so that no electricity would transfer through the wire and into the person that was wearing it. That would completely defeat the purpose of putting the wire in at all.

She spent hours molding and threading the wire so that it was in place before she molded rubber over the top and melded it with the metal of the chest plate. If the wire were strong enough, she could set the pieces of armor upright like a strange looking skeleton, but it wasn't strong enough to hold any weight other than its own, so she wasn't going to ruin her work.

Teria brought her food and drink while she worked, and she paused every so often to take a drink and grab a bite to eat. Her attache was worried that if she worked too hard without these things she might die or something ludicrous like that. In reality she knew the woman was correct, but when she was focused on a task it was very hard for her to stop working until she was done. Once you pop you just can't stop, as they say. She couldn't stop if she tried, minus the occasional break for sleep.

With all the rubber backing in place, she grabbed the flight suit parts and stripped them all down. The fun part came with taking all of the breathing apparatus apart and reconfiguring it, with slight modifications, to make it work with the new helmet that she'd derived. Chief among it all was wiring it so that the apparatus was rear mounted, not easily accessed from the exterior, and fed into the back of the helmet where she'd designed the hookup.

"Getting close now," she said.

"How close?"

"Few more hours and then testing."

Teria nodded and sipped her glass of water.

"Anything I can do?"

"Nope. Just stand there and look pretty. I've got it under control."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

She had to go get more parts in order to make it work. That took a couple of hours of her scrounging through her junk room. That room was like a hoarders goldmine. And yes, Niamh was definitely a hoarder when it came to bits and bobbles and anything that she could possibly ever turn into something. She once stole a droids leg because it looked cool and she wanted to use it for something else. The droid hadn't been very happy about that fact.

When she came back, she set to work connecting wires, running new tubing, securing that tubing so it wasn't anywhere it would be threatened. Needless to say, she spent several hours doing meticulous manual labor, her tongue sometimes poking between her teeth and lips, as she secured everything in place. Then she had to test it to make sure the wiring worked. Always good to test before you finalize.

Activating the rebreathing device, she listened to its soft purr. Barely any noise. She opened the helmet and felt the air moving in, gently, but strongly. A nod of her head was given in approval.

"Well, at least I'll be able to breath."

"That's usually a good thing. I'm worried about the rest making it so the rebreather doesn't matter, though."

"Relax. I did a lot of calculations on this. It will work."

Teria just shrugged, as if she wasn't inclined to believe. Niamh didn't care, though. She had work to do. Now that everything was ready, she had to assemble the mesh and leather seamless suit that would keep a pilot alive, but also allow for the flexible necessity of combat. That was no easy task. She ended up resorting to a polymer plastic compound in the spaces where the suit connected to the armor portions. It wasn't the most optimal, but it was strong enough for what she needed.

"Can you go get the testing center cleared up. I need the firing line."

"The firing line? Really?"

"Not for weapons. Just electricity."

"You're nuts, you know that?"

"No, I'm a genius. Now off with you!"

"Fine, I'm going. Sheesh."

She reluctantly left Niamh alone. That was fine though. She needed to strip down and get into her new suit anyways.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

With the suit on, Niamh walked to the mirror and took a good look at herself. What she saw made her grin.

"Well, if nothing else, this suit makes me look good."

Of course it would work for what she'd designed it for as well. Every design that Niamh had ever come up with worked. The EMBU's were one of the widest selling droids on the market, after all. Not to mention they were exponentially more badass than any other combat droid out there. Of course, she had plans to make even more awesome droids than the EMBU's, but she needed the time to work on them some more. It was going to have to wait for a bit. EchaniTech had enough business for the moment anyways.

She grabbed the helmet and pulled it on, twisting until she got the definitive click of the locking mechanism sliding into place. Another look in the mirror and she gave herself a thumbs up before she proceeded to stretch, testing whether or not the outfit would provide the flexibility that was needed for physical combat. Everything slid and realigned perfectly as she moved.

"Good. Now. Kata test."

Moving the table out of the center of the room, and over against a wall where it wasn't in her way, she moved to the center and took a deep breath. Centering herself was easy. Once she had it, she moved. Like a whirlwind of motion caught in the grace of a birds beating wings. An onlooker would be mesmerized by her fluid motions. It was almost like a deadly, seductive dance with no one but herself. She was oblivious to anything, just moving as she had been taught over the years.

In the end, she was more than satisfied with the suits performance. It would work masterfully.

"Two more tests and the design is good to go. Let's do it."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

She walked down the halls wearing the suit, helmet on. More than one person stared at her. Most of them were offering glimpses of admiration, though she didn't know if it was for her or for the suit. Probably the suit because it was likely that nobody knew it was her in it. Nobody did aside from Teria, and Teria didn't have a penchant for running around and telling everyone that Niamh was up to something. That was counter to being a bodyguard.

When she walked into the testing labs, she turned immediately towards the firing line. Teria was waiting there with a technician, and both looked at her as she approached.

"Well, it does look good," Teria said.

The tech gave a thumbs up of approval. Niamh nodded her head to each and then walked over into the firing area and stood on the mark on the ground, arms out to the side. Yes, she was actually going to go through with this. Having experienced pure energy running through her before, she wasn't afraid to feel it again if something went awry. She didn't believe it would, though. This design was a good one, one of her best. It was going to work and she was going to make it so the Wraiths were something to be feared.

"Alright, start small. A simple electrical burst, enough to hurt, but not kill me."

The tech nodded, and pressed a few switches. A short electrical burst fired from the firing nozzle in front of her, hit the suit, and was absorbed into the copper nodes after transferring across the metal surface. Only the copper nodes provided a path for the electricity to follow, transferring it down into the ground.

"Good, I felt nothing. Higher dosage. Let's see what it can handle."

Another blast provided the same efficiency. They kept on going until they got near the strength of a bolt of lightning. She knew the copper would melt under that intensity, so she waved off testing it that far. If it ever came to that she was in trouble no matter what she was wearing.

"Successful. Teria, let's move to the atmospheric control room."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

At the atmospheric control room, Teria moved to the controls, standing next to the technician. Never could be too careful. A tech could up and be some sort of spy or something and try to use the equipment to kill Niamh while she was working. Any wrong turns of an instrument and the Tech was going to bug food. Teria would see to that herself.

Niamh walked inside of the room, which was really a chamber that could be sealed and used to simulate almost any major weather event. In this case, though, she was going to use it to simulate a vacuum. The suit had to be able to work in the confines of space, or it was completely useless. She pulled the door shut and made sure that her breathing was normal, that everything was working fine. Satisfied, she gave the high sign through the glass to Teria, who told the Technician to start it up.

Almost immediately, Niamh was sucked to the floor. She'd anticipated that, so she was quick to climb back to her feet. Tapping on the comms unit that she'd built into the helmet, she called out to the two outside.

"Tell me when we reach perfect vacuum. At the moment I feel no problems here."

"Will do."

She didn't feel any leakage, which was good. As the vacuum formed, the temperature dropped. With the drop in temperature, she began to feel the traditional cold one felt in space. Nothing felt out of the ordinary, but it was clear that this suit wasn't going to protect anyone from the cold of space any longer than a traditional flight suit would. Not that she'd designed it to do so. Still, it was serving its purpose."

"Perfect vacuum achieved, Ms. Raste. How do you feel?"

"Cold, but otherwise in tact. I don't feel any broken seals. Suit is holding up to the pressure fine. I'd say we can mark this one in the books and send the specs to production. Another one done."