NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66
Eleven folks in Power Armor take up a lot of room, and that was before a Sentry or two and a few Probes, never mind Mr. Wick and Myself.
To solve that problem, I had the Probes scan one of the Aldecaldo's MRAPS. The one I chose was an already heavily modified MTV or Medium Tactical Vehicle. The rear had been Modded into a cargo bay that could hold up to five large ATV with some sitting room left over. The top of the Bay had several antennas and dishes, most of which I was in the dark as to their purpose.
A scary 25mm chain gun sitting on the roof of the Cabin rounded out the package. It was some variant version of a Bushmaster, that could be remote controlled from both the drivers and shotgun position and had a full suite of targeting sensors and the software to run it.
I scaled it up a bit, replaced the engine and electrical system to work on the Psicrystal format, that freed up quite a bit of room in the engine bay, so more crystal for more power. Which I used on a cloaking field and shield emitters.
The chain gun, now converted to a gauss format, took a bit a testing to get right, but I did finally get it running smoothly. I'm not sure how much oomph the crysbronze alloy added to the 25mm rounds, but I also wasn't worried about it failing to penetrate any armor we came across.
In the bay, it was set up with a series of 2 by 6 floor and ceiling clamps for the troops' power armor. Just enough room left over for four Sentries to fit. The roof of the Bay had armored positions for the Probes to clamp themselves into and one focused psibeam emitter borrowed from the Observer's schematics. This would allow us to communicate with the base from outside the Psifield. We weren't sure how far yet, but it would at least be viable for now.
Once the Probes had finished the assembly of the new vehicle, we ran it through a series of tests. Nothing major seemed out of whack, a few adjustments fixed the small issues.
So I had Raynor's boys load up. Then the Sentries and Probes. Mr. Wick took shotgun while I sat in the driver's seat.
Megan and Sally decided to sit this one out, they were planning something with Jaina, and it was occupying all their attention. When I stopped to ponder that, I got a sinking feeling in my gut. Not sure why. Maybe they were tired of me holding back from the next stage of our relationship. Probably not, but I tend to consider worse case scenarios first, before rolling back around to the more normal ideas.
Well, no help for it now.
I had my eyes on a few different spot in the Badlands for Outposts. The first of which was North of the Ghost town, Rocky Ridge. The problem was right now the Raffen Shiv had taken over both the Ghost town and the area I wanted to set up in. Some new leader had started gathering a following amongst the outcasts.
That just wouldn't do.
We were going to assault Rocky Ridge first, sweep it clear and if the assholes to the north didn't get wind of the situation and high tail it out by then we'd roll up to them after. Conservation of ammo was unnecessary and my standing orders were to triple tap anyone who even remotely looked like a threat. I'd rather make a mistake in the hard to live with direction than the not alive anymore direction.
We headed out and I decided to take the trip through the wastes themselves to really be able to evaluate the performance of the new beast.
One great thing about converting a vehicle to the Khalai tech was how quiet they were. You could hear the tires on the ground sure and the air resistance made its own noise but no rumble of the engine, no belts or fans either. Kind of creepy when you were used to the noise an ordinary car makes.
The troops were sticking to general conversation, and I have to say I was pleased that they didn't seem nervous in the slightest. Hell Raynor was more worried than them, and you might think he had ice in his veins, for all he showed it. It was in the way he repeatedly checked his rifle.
Mr. Wick was as silent as the grave, worse he barely moved. Not a fidget, or a stray cough, a sniffle, nothing. It was almost like he wasn't there, but I could feel his nascent mana. Otherwise, I might think he was a hologram or a ghost.
After a time I said, "Fuck it!" and turn on some tunes. A couple of station later I found something that sounded like Death Metal with some Industrial undertones thrown in. Good enough.
Great timing too as that was when four vehicles came from the South. Obviously on an intercept course. It didn't take long to make out the Wraiths graffiti covering the cars.
Was that a multi tube rocket launcher?
"Mr. Wick, it is too crowded out here, please see to our guests."
"Yeah." He began to work the chain gun's controls. The system made it easy. He used a joystick to line up the target, his small screen had a reticule that would flash red when the computer had calculated a hit. Pull the trigger on the joystick. Easy peasy.
His first shot wasn't a crack it was a boom. We learned that sound insulation in the vehicle was a must.
The vehicle with the rocket launcher was cored by the 25mm round. A huge hole through now existed in the middle of the car and the passage of the round tore much of the rest of the material from the frame. I couldn't tell what happened to the occupants, but I think it would be fair to assume they were no longer among the living.
The other vehicles scattered but Mr. Wick was determined to leave no witnesses.
Three more booms, three more piles of shredded metal. Though the last two were more felt than heard.
The ringing took a while to stop. Thankfully the troops in their power armor were unaffected.
I'd never forget the most unexpected sight of when John Wick turned to me and smiled, "I like it."