Thirty "criminals" attack Fort Knox piloting "stolen" Chinese battlemechs the fight is fierce and deadly because the battlemech's heavy firepower is more than a match for the 3SA guard forces.

Thanks to Lex the attack is not a surprise, but the Chinese battlemechs, discounted by American experts allows them to reach the vaults, the "criminals" are dismayed by the absence of synthetic kryptonite and surprised by the arrival of GIJane, and RisingSun who with the help of the counter attacking 3 SA regular forces takes the supermechs down in a destructive running battle that is spread across half the state of Kentucky. Superman and Ultrawoman are working major accidents in Russia and Europe, Waldeker is doing a Lunar water survey for the UN, RisingSun was filling in patrolling the US, while the enhanced president's secret service agents where all tasked with Japan and the security of a major summit meeting being held there.

Credit goes to Arthur Hansen for suggesting the SCA connection and to Howard Melton for the original concept.

CLANG!! --The sound of metal hitting metal rings thought the air. Two titanic forces clash on the dew-covered grass. With blades flashing brightly in the early morning sunlight two armor-covered figures' throw themselves into battle with blinding speed.

Over and over the two warriors advance and retreat with no advantage given and no finishing move taken. Suddenly the larger of the warriors stumbles slightly, his footing lost on the wet ground. His adversary reacts quickly a sword flashes and a kill is made.

"Oh Frell!!" says a disgusted voice though his helmet. Lieutenant Junior Grade Paul Frederick(infantry) reaches up, twists his helmet off and glares at his opponent. A soprano laugh muffled by a helmet meets his glare. Captain Sandra Wilkens(intelligence) looked on her defeated foe. Her somewhat matronly 40ish face framed by strawberry blonde hair smiled smugly in triumph. "And 'Frell' really, you really need to stop watching so many science fiction reruns. So you slipped, it happens, you really are getting much better. You've lasted twice as long as when we started sparring six months ago."

Slowly the glare vanished from Paul's painfully young face and was replaced by a rueful grin. "You're right, your right I lost fair and square. I still need to work on my footwork, my old kendo coach always said it was my weak point." He shook his black-haired head and sighed. " And, well what can I say I'm a sci-fi geek."

"But didn't the new armor work great, its going to wow them at the SCA( Society for Creative Anarchism) meets next month. Nobody's going to be able to match us in armor." His slightly oriental features split in a wide grin.

"Of course nobody's going to be able to match our armor, after you and your friends used half inch steel plate to make it. I doubt if any of them would be able to pick it up much less use it in a fight. It must weigh at least at 300 pounds. It's been a year and I'm still not used to my enhanced body. A year ago even without this metal zuit suit I'd be half passed out and my knees would be jell-O."

Sandi as she was known to her friends passed a hand over a brow unsoiled with sweat. "Evan after an intense hour long workout wearing all this steel I still feel like I could take on Mike Tyson with one arm tied behind my back."

Paul raised a gauntleted hand and clenched his fist. "Don't I know it. Sergeant Taylor and I have been at our wits ends trying to design a training program for the men. All the physical training and endurance conditioning is basically useless. Adding weights and increasing distance didn't help us at all. The best we could come up with is to practice the precision skill's stuff. The marksmanship, unarmed combat, survival skill, and the like. We've even had the men read every half way decent army Manuel we can find. Near-perfect memory is a wonderful thing." Paul flipped himself to his feet with the agility of a trained acrobat. "We'd best get back to the base I want to clean and oil my armor and my squad has practice at the rifle range in about an hour.

Major Marcus Prescott usually enjoyed early mornings, much to the disgust of his ex-wife and former barracks mates. It helped that even before his enhancement four or five hours of sleep a night was plenty for him. In the two years since his enhancement that four to five hours became two and on rare occasions three hours a night.

Watching the dawn break while meditating on a hill above the base was one of the simple pleasures of life. Unfortunately the pressures of command in this rapidly changing world left little time or tranquility for quiet contemplation. It made Marcus yearn for the remembered simplicity of being a lieutenant in the Special Forces. A bum knee and a wife that couldn't stand the migratory life of a junior officer and here he was.

A 45-year-old single man with a bum knee commanding a small out of the way Army supply and storage base, a warehouse in all but name. Only the combination of a nearby artillery range and the base being situated in the center of a triangle of three surrounding large bases had saved it from the budget cut ax. Well that and Senator Howard Carter's, the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Sub-Committee, hometown was about two miles away.

However, none of these things was the cause of the Major's disgruntlement. His ex-wife, well it was her decision there was no going back now. His knee, according to his latest visit to the doctor it was actually getting better after all these years. The nerve, tissue, and bone damage caused by a sniper nine years before were almost totally gone. The base itself was good for another couple years until the next budget cycle.

No, the Major's cause for concern on this beautiful sunny morning was the same thing that had caused him concern for the last week. The raid on Fort Knox by twenty latest generation Chinese mecha piloted by enhanced 'criminals'. The distinct worsening of relations this implied in international relations was worrying, but mostly a problem for the politicians and generals. The single clear fact of the fight was that even the enhanced soldiers were seriously outmatched by the new mecha.

The mecha that would not be matched by US versions any time in the near future. The tight financial constraints the enhancement of the armed forces put the military under wouldn't allow it. There are two investigations underway to 'study' the battle and its implications on the military, one military and one congressional.

Though if Marcus was any judge they would take at least a year if not longer to make any report and in all likelihood would simply recommend a new high power personal weapon. This will of course be debated and in another year or two the first troop would get a marginally adequate weapon. So in two or three years US soldiers would start to get a weapon made to fight a generation old Chinese Mecha.

Hence we come back to the problem at hand, to make the eight squads of combat infantry under his command combat effective against the most likely enemy. So what could he do to help his soldiers fight Chinese and Russian mecha and the occasional more enhanced enemy.

Well first and foremost a new weapon was needed. The M-16 obviously wouldn't cut it, maybe th --.

"What in the world!" Marcus surged to his feet and stared at the incongruous sight before him two armored knights were walking up to the headquarters building. Looking closely at the two figures walking toward him he recognized his intelligence analyst and his junior platoon commander.

The two armored soldiers stood at attention and saluted their commanding officer. Marcus returning the salute said "At ease." Marcus shook his head and smiled. "Captain. Lieutenant. You look like you're ready to assault a mongol horde. What's with the get up?"

Sandi laughed and gestured to the lieutenant. "That's Paul's idea. I've been helping him improve his Kendo skills for the last six months and this, " she gestured at her armor" is his way of saying thanks."

"Yes, but why armor Lieutenant? I suppose its good protection when you go full contact sparring."A germ of an idea came to Marcus but he set it aside for the moment." But since you've been enhanced it would take a very strong sword stroke to even scratch you."

Paul brightened up and he spoke with the enthusiasm of youth and the conviction of a true fanatic. "You're right of course, sir. But if it's an enhanced arm swinging that stroke it might harm you. Especially if your using real swords or steel rods like we use to spar with."

With that Paul drew the sword hanging at his side. It was an odd sword, basically a smooth steel rod about three feet long with a handle welded on the end. " The balance on these things isn't great but the weight is roughly that of a sword and it can take the pounding an enhanced person can give it."

"Speaking of swords though take a look at this." Paul drew a sword that was holstered on his back. He reversed it and held the handle out to his commander. "You know Captain Hashimoto over at the foundry." At Marcuses nod he continued. "He's something of an amateur sword smith. I had him make our swords. He does very good work."

Marcus took the proffered sword and gripped it experimentally. He held it up to the light and saw ripples seem to flow across the length of the blade. "I'm not an expert at swords by any stretch of the imagination but this looks like an expert's work." Marcus commented admiringly.

"Well, I am good at judging swords." Stated Sandi."And you're right. It's a master's work. According to Hashimoto it's a two hundred fold sword. Apparently being enhanced is a great boon to a sword smith."

"By the way lieutenant how much did the swords cost you? I know out on the open market a single sword like this could go for thousands." Sandi asked staring inquiringly. Paul laughed and shook his head ruefully. "It didn't cost me a cent. Well at least not directly. I did provide the materials the Captain needed. We made a trade of it. I traded two suits of armor like this and one replica set of sixteenth century Japanese armor for three of his newest swords."

"Yes, about that, where exactly did you get the armor. I wouldn't think it would be a very easy thing to come by . It also looks quite a bit thicker than 'normal' armor." Marcus asked his junior lieutenant.

"Oh that, well I've been going to SCA festivals for a few years now. Oh that's Society for Creative Anachronisms, basically a bunch of people who dress up in period costumes and have things like sword fights and jousts and the like. I made my first set of armor a couple of years ago and well I guess it's become a hobby. I got a couple of my squad interested and of course the Captain here." Marcus thought it was hard to tell if embarrassment or enthusiasm was more dominate in the lieutenants voice.

"Of course since the enhancement has kicked in for us its been really exciting. With just our muscles and a few power tools we can make armor to any put any medieval knight to shame. And we don't have to worry about weight any more." He finished his enthusiastic recital with an abashed grin. "Very interesting Lieutenant, very interesting, but I think you have range practice in about 45 minutes. You'd best hurry up and get cleaned up, you don't want to keep your squad waiting." "Yes sir. Captain, same time tomorrow?" At Sandi's nod he sped off.

"Sandi, when you get cleaned up how about coffee in the cafeteria. You being 2nd in command until the powers that be assign me a replacement for Captain Harris, I have a couple of ideas I'd like to bounce off you." Asked Marcus with a speculative look in his eye. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll join you for a cup of java. What's up anything special?" Sandi asked staring at the odd look in his eyes. "Oh just a thought I had. Maybe something will come out of it." With that Marcus nodded took off to look up a couple things before their meeting.

In a large conference room in the basement of the administration center eleven people sat around a conference table waiting for their commanding officer to appear. "So Lt. any idea what this meeting is about?" asked Sergeant Mike Nelson in a southern drawl. Sergeant Rock as people called him behind his back was a massive individual. A full six foot four inches of bulging muscle with a shaved black head gleaming in the harsh office lights. Even pushing fifty the Sergeant was an extremely fit and intimidating individual.

"The Major didn't say, just that the entire platoon of Bravo company should be here. Hey Captain, did the Major tell you what the meeting was about?" Captain Jason Hashimoto, a short abstract looking man in his mid thirties, looked up from his New York Times crossword puzzle. He set his pen down and answered, " I don't know, I didn't talk to Major Prescott. Sandi, Captain Wilkens, called me and told me to be here by seven sharp. All she told me was it had something to do with armor."

At the word armor the conference room door opened and the two people they were talking about entered. The assembled soldiers stood at attention and saluted. Major Prescott returned the salute and wave everyone to their seats. Marcus stayed standing and turned on the television monitor that was in the corner of the room.

On the screen a now familiar scene from the raid on Fort Knox was freeze framed. "You've all seen this footage before. Twenty of the newest Chinese made Mecha piloted by enhanced criminals raided one of the most secure and heavily armed facilities on the planet. They went through the enhanced guards as if they weren't there. Only the arrival of GIJane and RisingSun stopped them and even then there was a running battle half way across Kentucky."

Marcus pointed at the screen and said, "Twenty-seven, twenty-seven enhanced soldiers died and nearly twice that many injured many seriously. This isn't even including the thirty-two civilians and unenhanced police officers who died in the chase." Marcus turned the TV monitor off and turned to a conference table. "I mean to make sure that it doesn't happen to any soldier under my command."

"Captain Wilkens, would you please tell everyone the probable response from our government." Marcus took a seat at the head of the table and gestured to Sandi. Sandi stood up and cleared her throat. "The Chinese government has denied all involvement with these criminals. The fact that they warned the UN a month beforehand that the mecha were missing proved enough of a justification for most countries to accept they're rather thinly veiled excuse. Our best intelligence estimate is that it was a Chinese military op. from start to finish. Autopsies of several of the bodies identify them as special forces members that were 'deserters' missing for several months. Unfortunately we have no direct proof and even if we did our leaders would likely let the Chinese get away with it with only minimal reprisals."

A mummer of protest went up from the assembled soldiers. "No she is correct," commented Marcus from his seat. " In all likelihood we would not raise any fuss with the Chinese. In my opinion it would even be the right thing to do." Marcus went silent as the soldiers turned their eyes on him.

"The Major's right," Sandi said. "You have to realize that the military and even the government is in something of a bind right now. On both fiscal and political fronts we have few options. Financially, the military is dedicated to enhancing our entire armed forces. This will in three or four years give us the strongest military this planet has ever seen. But for now and for the near future the budget for the armed forces is going to be very tight."

"Politically the situation is even worse. Our closest allies (Canada, Japan, England) are tied even closer but our enemies(China and Russia) are also getting closer. Everyone in-between is either trying to stay out of the way or get what they can from both sides. The last thing anyone needs is a war." Sandi looked around the table at everyone's eyes. "And think of this people, what's going to happen in four or five years when the entire military and reserve are enhanced? Oh we'll probably start raising the enhancement of our soldiers, but there is going to be enormous pressure to start enhancing others. Police officers, firemen, emergency personnel; everyone is going to be clamoring to be enhanced."

"This isn't even considering the health benefits of the enhancements, " Marcus interrupted. "My ruined knee is for all intents and purposes healed who knows what other benefits there could be, it might well be the cure for cancer or AIDS. No I think for the foreseeable future our military budget is if anything likely to shrink rather than expand." Sandi called everyone's attention back to herself, " Getting back to the point of the militaries response. There are of course investigations going on, one joint military and at least one congressional. I can tell you right now what their reports are going to say."

She reached into a bag she had set in an adjacent chair and pulled out an M-16. "This will be officially retired and they will likely recommend a primary weapon with a great deal more firepower. A .50 caliber rifle or better I imagine. They might also recommend deploying our own mecha, but as I've explained we will likely not have the resources for them to be effective. They will also likely recommend better body armor which we would probably get three or four years later." Saying this she sat down and looked to the Major.

Marcus rose to his feet and stared into the eyes of the audience. "Any questions before we precede with why we are here tonight?" His audience looked at each other. Finally, Sergeant Rock spoke up. "I imagine that your right about the politics of everything, and I think you have the militaries' response down pat. But that brings us back to the question of why we are here. We're a small supply base in the middle of nowhere with a few squads of soldiers and a warehouse of mostly obsolete equipment. More specifically, why are the ten of us here?"

"That you can blame on Paul here. He gave me the idea of a project I want to put together." All the soldiers looked at Paul who shrugged. "This won't be an official project. I'm doing it on my own initiative and the budget would be very limited. So I am going to call for volunteers. You would all be removed from guard or any special duties, everything but general training will be set aside. Specifically, I want you to design, plan and build a practical suit of unpowered body armor. Something that will give a soldier a chance of going up against the latest Chinese Mecha." All the people at the table seemed stunned for a minute. "Well what do you say?"

Silence reigned for several moments. Suddenly like a dam breaking half the people in the room started talking at once. Marcus let the questions and statements continue until they petered out. "Perhaps we can try this one at a time." Pointing at a blond blue eyed seeming embodiment of a Kansas farm boy. "PFC Daniels, why don't you start off."

PFC Charlie Daniels started and flushed as he was singled out. Finally finding his voice the PFC cleared his voice and started. "Well sir, isn't making armor beyond our capacity? I mean computer controls and servo's and I don't know what else would push the capacity of even a large research lab. That's not even considering how we would make advanced composite armor." He completed his question in a rush.

Marcus managed to keep his face straight as he answered. "Those are some very good points' Daniels. But I think you are mistaken about what type of armor I am talking about. Powered armor like you see in science fiction or anime is beyond us. But think of it, an enhanced person doesn't need powered armor. We have more strength and speed than we can safely use. I'm basically talking about an updated version of a medieval knight's armor. As for the advanced materials to make them, well that's true we won't have titanium or chobham armor but we don't really need it either. Oh it would be nice, but several inches of hardened steel can stop a lot. It will be a hell of a lot heavier and not as effective but it's better than nothing." Marcus paused and let his audience absorb his words.

"Sir, how could we make something like that here? Wouldn't we need machine shops and a lot of heavy equipment?" Asked Sergeant 'Rock'. "We have the blast furnace in the foundry and the base machine shop. It's true that neither is up to heavy manufacturing, but there's a comment Paul here said the other day that fits the situation. He said 'Apparently being enhanced is a great boon for a sword smith.' "

"Gentlemen, I think he's right. From the look of the armor some of you created I think enhancement is also a great way to make armor without a lot of heavy equipment." Marcus looked around the table at the introspective looking faces of his command. "All right, I see I've given you all a lot to think about. We'll adjourn for the day and meet back here at say 10:00 tomorrow."

"It's going to take long hours and a lot of work to make any practical armor. Remember this is a volunteer assignment, so take the night and think it over." With those parting words Marcus called the meeting to an end and walked away.

It was a very different group that Marcus called to order a little over a week later. Gone was the introspection and hesitancy. Enthusiasm seemed to bubble up from even the jaded veterans. "All right people lets settle down." Marcus sat at the same seat at the head of the table.

Before him the soldiers were divided into two equal camps. One group was led by Lt. Fredericks and the other by Capt. Wilkens. "It's been a week since you all agreed to work on our little armor project. That reminds me we still need a name to work under. So write up any suggestions and we'll vote on it later."

"I divided you up into these two teams to draw up different designs for the armor. Today we'll hear the presentations of each team and see how you each did. I'd like to see if we can pick a starting design by the end of the day." Marcus pointed at the chalk board standing in front of the table. "And remember anything we choose has to follow the basic rules we set out a week ago."

On the chalk board were four rules written in bold face.
1: It must be cheap(less than $1000)
2: It must be made from locally available materials and skills
3: It must NOT restrict movement
4: It must be quick to put on(less than five minutes)
5: It must provide maximum protection

"Sandi why don't you make your presentation first." Sandi stood up and was followed by Capt. Hashimoto followed her. They set up a presentation tripod with large sheets of cardboard. She put the first sheet of cardboard up. On it was a picture of a man wearing what looked like pajamas. "We basically came up with a layered system."

"The first layer is basically a silk body suit. We can probably use silk pajama's for this. There's also some relatively cheap fake silk out there that should work as well. And before you ask we use silk because its one of the oldest form of armor. The ancient Asians and mongol's used it because it was easy to remove from wounds and provided fair protection from missiles. Kevlar is a modern synthetic version of silk."

Sandi set a second picture on the stand. It showed a slightly bulky uniforemed man. "The second layer is a combination of two things. A radiation proofed uniform and a couple bullet proofed vests. We have thousands of old lead impregated aprons they used around X-ray machines. We'll cut them up and sew them to an old uniform. There's also all those old bullet proof vest we have in storage. The new models are lighter and slimmer but the older ones work nearly as well."

Sandi paused to take a drink of water from a glass. "What we can do is sew the two vests into suit, one regular and the other reversed. With the ceramic plates in the vests they will provide a certain level of protection. The lead lined suits are quite durable and will provide protection against the unlikely presence of green kryptonite."

The third picture show a man in very bulky armor with chest, arms, and legs oversized. "The third and outer layer is basically steel plate in two sections. A full suit of wire mesh is used as a base for the armor, basically steel woven clothe. Starting with the main armor for the chest, we're thinking roughly three inches of hardened steel plate. This may vary depending on what materials we can scrounge up to work with. It'll cover the chest and back down to the top of the thighs. We'll have to experiment to make sure the arms and legs have adequate range of movement."

She pointed at a picture of what looked like a metal salad bowl. "This is our helmet. It's just a steel half globe a couple inches thick covering a basic motorcycle helmet. A four by eight inch opening is left for the face with a detachable armored glass faceplate. The helmet has a collar that is attachable to the chest plate and is mounted on ball bearings so you can turn your head."

"The arms are protected by two inch steel armlets. One set for the biceps and one set for the forearms with an overhang covering the back of the hands. We also thought maybe a steel spike that is extendable from the back of the forearm if we can work it." Sandi put a new picture on the stand.

"The leg armor is in three pieces. A thick armor circling the thigh and extending slightly over the knee on the front. A second armor on the foreleg from just below the knee to just above the ankle. The feet are steel-covered shoes with soles covered with steel belted radial rubber from scrapped tires. One last idea we had is to have anchoring spikes that come out of the foreleg piece either spring actioned or muscle powered. This should provide quite a bit of stability for firing high calibered weapons." Sandi put the full armored picture back on the stand and gestured to it.

"That in a nut shell is our idea for armor. There are still numerous things needed to be worked out. How the plate is to be made and the articulation of the joints just for starters." Sandi turned to Paul and gestured for him to take his turn.

Paul rose to his feet and walked to the front of the room. Setting aside the tripod, he spent several minutes connecting his laptop computer to the large television at the front of the room. A few keystrokes later a rotating manikin was displayed on the screen. "Our design is relatively simple. We started off with an old style suit of armor." Pressing a button, a suit of armor appeared on the manikin. "We'll increase the thickness of the plate to one inch and make it with folded steel." Another button caused the armor to thicken.

"To make the armor easier to put on we'll make the armored pieces smaller and detachable." A keystroke and the armor exploded into many small pieces to the side of the manikin. "We then dip them into a synthetic polymer. This will coat them in a thin coat of plastic and will keep them from rusting and minimize noise from rubbing metal." A couple of keystrokes and the metal plates thickened slightly and turned a different color.

"What we really want to do is make a suit of armor. We'll start with a double layer of denim sewn into a suit." Another key stroke and a green suit covered the manikin. "The clothe though won't be able to hold the armor together, so we'll add two layers of this." The next layer appeared on the manikin. It showed what looked like metal clothe.

"Normally chainmail is difficult and time-consuming to make, but with enhancement it's a matter of an afternoons work. We encase the pieces of armor between the chainmail and add another doubled layer of denim." A picture formed on the screen formed with the separate layers displayed stacked together.

"Then we sew the individual metal plates into place with metal ties locking each piece in place. You then have a suit of armor that's compact and easy to get into. With a split down the side you can put your arms and legs into the armor and then using metal straps you can seal the armor up." A final scene shows on the screen. The layers were tied together and the back plate opened up and the manikin stepped into the armor. "We haven't worked up a design for a helmet yet." A final keystroke showed the completed armor with a camouflaged outer layer.

Marcus stood up and waved toward the two armors. One on the television screen and the other on the easel. "Any comments or questions? Lets try to break things down and find any design flaws." Questions and comments started almost immediately and Marcus settled down into his chair for a long day of work.

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