Chapter 90: Full-Scale Augmentation
Rebecca was next.
She practically bounced into the augmentation bay, her face lit with an irrepressible excitement.
"Boss! My turn, my turn!" she yelled, her voice echoing in the vast manufactorum. "I want bigger guns! More firepower! The kind that can blast an APC sky-high in one shot!"
Joric's tall, dark-red form turned. His crimson optical lenses swept over her, offering no comment on her outburst.
His synthesized voice was flat, cutting straight to the objective. "Your current biological chassis cannot withstand the sustained recoil of a high-echelon heavy weapon. You require a full, systemic reinforcement to support the integration of the weapons-platform."
Before she could bargain, several lithe, cold mechadendrites extended, guiding her with irrefutable force onto the specialized augmentation-slab and locking her limbs and torso in place. As the clamps hissed shut, Rebecca's excitement was finally tinged with a flicker of nervousness.
The ritual began.
Unlike Maine's augmentation, which focused on localized power and defense, Rebecca's was a deeper, more comprehensive reconstruction.
First was the skeletal reinforcement. A high-frequency energy field enveloped her limbs as nano-scale adamantium-lacing was injected and bonded to her bone structure. Rebecca felt a deep, pervasive ache from within her very marrow, as if her entire skeleton was being reforged.
Next, her muscular system was optimized. Finer probes delivered specialized catalyst-enzymes and bio-electric charges, stimulating the muscle fibers to restructure, while micro-scale bio-mechanical coordinators were implanted to heighten their contraction-efficiency and power-output ceiling. The process was accompanied by a tearing, burning sensation. Rebecca bit down hard, sweat beading on her forehead, but the sound that escaped her was less a cry of pain and more a low, ecstatic growl.
Her circulatory and nervous systems were upgraded in parallel, enhancing her metabolic-rate and reaction-speed to cope with the demands of her new, augmented chassis. All the while, data-streams of her vital signs flowed across Joric's displays.
The process took hours, far longer and more meticulous than Maine's. When the primary enhancement phase concluded, Rebecca felt... reborn, a torrent of new power thrumming within her.
Only then did Joric retrieve her new weapon.
It was a brutally-designed, heavy-caliber firearm, a piece of raw, violent art. Its size and mass dwarfed any weapon she had ever used, easily half her own height.
"A Heavy Bolter, Mortal-Pattern," Joric's introduction was cold. "It fires .75 caliber bolt-shells. A single, sanctified round is sufficient to neutralize light-armored vehicles or compromise most known heavy-body armor. The recoil is... extreme. Even with your current augmentations, sustained fire-litanies will incur significant system-strain."
He expertly interfaced the heavy weapon with the new, reinforced hardpoints on her spine and shoulder, running the neural-link calibration.
"This targeting-augmetic," he continued, installing an external, compound-optic device over her right eye, "integrates ballistic-calculation, threat-assessment, and dynamic-target-tracking. Be frugal with your ammunition. The bolt-shells for this pattern are, for now, a finite resource. It cannot support a protracted engagement."
Rebecca impatiently activated the system. The Heavy Bolter emitted a low, powerful thrum as its sanctified systems came online, its immense weight settling perfectly on its new mounts. She felt the heavy, reassuring mass, the destructive power thrumming within its core, and a wide, almost manic grin split her face, all pain forgotten.
"Preem! Delta-damn PREEM! Now this is what I'm talkin' about! Thanks, Boss!"
Pilar was next.
Unlike Rebecca's focus on pure firepower, Joric's augmentations for him were focused on functionality and battlefield support.
First, Joric reinforced Pilar's neural-systems, specifically enhancing his multi-threading and interface-compatibility, allowing him to better control multiple tech-systems or weapons-platforms simultaneously.
His primary upgrade was a new weapon-system integrated into his back-harness: a compact, but potent, Flamer. The fuel tanks were artfully integrated into his slender torso, with the projector-nozzle linked to one of his auxiliary augmetic arms.
"A flame-weapon," Joric explained as he made the connections. "It utilizes a locally-synthesized, low-grade Promethium-gel. The purity is inferior to Imperial-standard, but it is sufficient for basic combat-litanies. It is effective for purging massed, unarmored or light-armored soft-targets, area-denial, and... sanitizing... heat-sensitive enemy equipment."
Joric also retained and optimized Pilar's signature, lanky arms, enhancing their joint-flexibility, fine-motor precision, and grip-strength, making him even better at technical repairs, and, in a desperate brawl, surprisingly effective.
Pilar was thrilled. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the weight of the fuel tanks and the new neural-link. He flexed his long, newly-refined arms, imagining a torrent of burning, sanctified pitch... and let out his signature, neurotic cackle. "Hehe, now this is gonna be fun! Let's see 'em make fun of my long arms now!"
Finally, it was Falco.
As the crew's Driver, his augmentation was different from all the others. Joric did not install any direct-fire weapon systems. Instead, he focused on an extreme optimization of his nervous system, reaction-speed, and spatial-awareness.
A precision-array of neural-interfaces and sensory-augmetics was carefully implanted along his spine and key areas of his cerebral-cortex. This system massively increased his information-processing speed, dynamic-visual-capture, and multi-tasking capabilities.
"Your core directive is Vehicle-Mastery," Joric explained, running the final calibration. "You will ensure the cohort's strategic-mobility in complex, high-threat environments. This 'Vehicle-Master' interface-system will allow you to maintain full cognitive-acuity, sensory-acuity, and precise-decision making, even at extreme velocities or during high-G maneuvers. It will allow you to predict threats and calculate optimal vectors. In the future, if resources and conditions permit, you will be assigned a sanctified vehicle worthy of these new capabilities."
(In Joric's mind, a new schematic was already forming. When the dimensional-conduit was stable, he would find a way to acquire a common-pattern Knight Armiger from the 40k universe. That war-chassis... its control-interface and pilot-requirements... would be a perfect match for Falco's new augmentations.)
Falco felt the change. The world seemed to slow down. Every minute feedback from the vehicle, every dynamic shift in the environment, now flowed into his consciousness with unprecedented clarity, instantly processed into usable data. He simulated a complex, high-speed pursuit in his mind, the calculations executing at blinding speed.
He pushed his shades up, and nodded, his expression calm. He understood. In a crew, the ability to get everyone to the fight, and, more importantly, away from it, was just as critical as pulling the trigger.
When Rebecca, Pilar, and Falco regrouped outside the manufactorum, the crew's tactical configuration had been completely transformed.
Rebecca's Heavy Bolter provided a level of devastating, direct-firepower they had never possessed, capable of ripping open any defense. Pilar's Flamer brought invaluable area-denial and anti-infantry capability. And Falco's deep-enhancement gave the entire crew a new level of mobility and survival.
This crew, now being reforged by Joric's hand, was transcending the very definition of "street-merc."
(End of Chapter)