Making Frankenstein's Monster (Mandalorian)

[Kal Kandossii]

Outside in the morning rays he squinted and thought of the project at hand. Armor. Armor the like he a never tried to make before. But it was needed and so here he was getting ready to build one. But first he needed the plans.

Sipping his cup of caf he turned away and head for his workshop. Inside he kicked his chair out of the way and looked down at his table with the different holo projectors within. His caf was set to the side and forgotten as he began opening files, plans, and blueprints.

First he opened a print with a humanoid body and placed that in the center. Then he began overlaying it with plans. A retro fit katarn rig, modified but definitely not beskar. Over that he opened up a diagram of a zero g assault storm trooper. Following that was a version of an AV A1 assault armor. And over that was a heavy exoskeleton.

Tapping his chin thoughtfully Kal looked at the overlapping designs and decided he liked all of them. And none of them. Waving his hand he cleared the projectors as he began planning what systems he was going to use on his custom made design.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

First thing first. Kal wanted this to be versatile and easily modified. But the odds of that really happening was not likely. At least the bodysuit wouldn’t have to be custom made. Then again …

Looking at the design he chose a standard body sheath and jump suit. In the suit he added monitoring sensors of the user that would allow the vitals of the individual to be more closely monitored on the HUD of the armor. Over the suit would go a variant of the Mark III Katarn class armor.

Looking at the designs Kal kept thedurability of the armor plating. It would still be able to repel blaster fire as well as being hardened against kinetic energy and EMPs. But there would need be extra tooling on the armor.

Calling the Beskar’ad in they got to work forging the plates of armor. Each plate had several sensor ports built into the exterior as well as anchors for the pieces that would be connected to it. As they worked on the makeshift Katarn plates they chanted several songs in mando’a, as well as constantly ribbing one another.

Taking a break Kal went to his work station and pulled up the sensors that would be rigged into the body sheath and then into the armor over it. These would be working armor that would hold a seal and be as operational as could be. The armor was more of a light armor. But that was necessary for what was to come.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

Kal looked at the body sheath and jump suit he wore as his vode were snapping on the light Katarn armor plating. It was lighter then what he was used to, but that was the point. Finished with the armor he looked at the three vode. “How does it look?” Catcalls and mockery followed making Kal laugh. It was expected.

Moving to the work bench he leaned over and checked to ensure all the ports were on the plating, all the anchors ready. As his fingers lightly skimmed the plates s small smile of satisfaction stretched over his face. “It’s beginning to come together. But this is the easy part.”

After removing the armor and body sheath Kal sat there running his hands over the fiber while mulling to himself. “ Works fine now but with the layers it will slow down soon. Hmm …. Should speed things up from the start … It’s going to be a workout …. Should do it now, it’ll pay off in the end …”

After an hour of muttering and writing notes on his forearm plates, table, and the garment itself he finally called Teroch. “Ok vod. Time to rework the entire body sheath. We need reactive fibers woven in everywhere with special attention in the hands, feet, and joints. We need to speed up muscle contractions and strengthen this baby from the sheath on out. Get those mixed with the electrically responsive bio fibers which ,when energized, will simulate muscle fibers. The sheath will make it quicker and stronger out of the gate. And we are going to need every bit of speed we can muster for this monster.” Kal clapped Teroch on the shoulder as the first revision began.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

Haran was wearing the body suit with the Katarn armor plates over it. To the side Aayla was working on a slim version of a helmet. It still retained all the upgrades of a conventional buy’ce but was smaller and less intimidating. But no less dangerous. Haran began to complain. “It’s so small. Doesn’t look frightening at all.” Aayla laughed as she responded, “Then you should be used to it ner vod.” Laughter erupted as Haran advanced on her in mock anger as he pulled on the helmet.

“Okay okay, settle down. Now it’s time to connect the heavy exoskeleton.” As the three of them got to work they made it quick. Haran stepped back into the harness and strapped in as the others began snapping the connections from the exoskeleton into the anchors on the Katarn plating. Each one was snapped in then double checked to ensure it was secured.

When all was finally done Haran straightened. The heavy exoskeleton added nearly two feet onto his already hefty frame. With each joint reinforced and all the servos functional Haran was still able to move around faster then the average mando’ad in beskar’gam. Haran jumped a fw times feeling the jump servos kick in with their mini repulsors assisting the leaps.

Kal clapped lightly. “Even without anything else yet. The armor, modified body sheath, and exoskeleton could make for a nice infantry unit. But we are no where near done yet.”

 

[Kal Kandossii]

Looking at the suit so far Kal rubbed his bearded face. He knew he wanted the heavy armor next, and that would require them firing up the forge, but first he wanted to strengthen the exoskeleton, reinforce it, and add a few more power cells to it. Scrolling through other designs on the work station he pulled up the schematics on the Smasher armor. Looking over the designs he tossed the bulk of it but kept the micro servers that enhanced the strength of the user.

Opening other plans he began reviewing micro servers, trama pads, servo motors of the energized kind (from the Corellian powersuit), and even the hydraulic systems of such as the servo lifter v2z and the binary load lifters commonly used as labor droids.

Implementing the hydraulics he set them for use in the arms, legs, and back of the exoskeleton as the 'muscle for the heavy lifting and brute strength of his armor. Next the servo motors for neck, chest and shoulders of the exoskeleton harnessed the strength of the hydraulics but added maneuverability to the exoskeleton. Micro servers were used to augment the minute motion and add a bit of needed speed to the frame.

Then they got to work putting the plans into effect. Soon the musculature of the frame was in action.

Teroch worked on using rods wrapped in foam as the trauma pads for the inside of the exoskeleton for added reinforcement to the internalized Katarn armor.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

Aayla began coating the exoskeleton with a non corrosive paint for the next process. Knowing that the person i the suit would be under going high levels of stress to the body a gel insulator would be applied to the exoskeleton, between the person in the modified katarn armor and the external armor plating. The gel would absorb kinetic impacts as well as bleed off the excess heat the external armor would acquire from enemy fire, atmospheric heating, and general use which would heat the exoskeleton under use. An added benefit of the gel would to regulate the internal temperature that would spike due to the enclosed hydraulics and energy cells.

Tapping the screen Kal considred adding another layer of insulation but then thought better of it. The foam like gel would be applied after the external armor was attachd and sealed. Using an external pump they would 'fill' the armor with the flame retardant impact gel from an outside sprayer, sealing the port once the interior was filled.

But this added another problem.

The Katarn armor inside was sealed but they would need another life support system built into the exoskeleton to let the driver use that system until time to exit the armor.

Back to the drawing board as they built a simple life support system into the exoskeleton frame. As the work was being done Kal flicked his three sided knife from hand to hand as he considered another defensive mechanism outside of the kind one would find when facing an army. Force users.

Looking at the nutrient frames that many of his vode utilized he began making small modifications for a harness to be built into the 'back' of the exoskeleton for such a device. The plus side was that as long as the nutrient dense material was refreshed the harnesses would work.

So he made a portion on the lower back of the exoskeleton able to utilize one of the enclosed harnesses.

Frankenstein was coming along.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

With the armor plating finished they began attaching it to the exoskeleton. Once finished they stood back and looked at it. Kal turned back to his work station. The powered servos in the armor plating combined with the armorweave beneath made the outside shell solid. Heaby plating that could take a pounding. Kal nodded pleased.

Taking the exterior plates off Kal put on the modified Katarn armor and slid into the exoskeleton, allowing the others to anchor them together. Over the exoskeleton the exterior heavy armor plating was put on, sealing the suit again. Then they connected the pump and the gel insulation filled the suit. Finally Kal slid the massive armored helmet on and locked it in place.

The systems were brought online and Kal monitored the suit's levels as the others monitored from outside. Everything was green for go.

So Kal put the armor through it's paces. Strength was incredible at nearly five times the strength of the user's. Speed was about the same, the enhanced suit and servos that would have made it faster weighed down by the massive suit bringing the speed down to what was natural for the wearer. No way to boost the speed with the weight they were throwing around.

Tapping the helmet Kal activated the external speakers. "We need to upgrade this helm to match the systems installed. Also I miss my HUD so lets get our traditional programming in here so it will be user friendly for any mando who puts it on. But this thing will take some training to get used to it."

Going over the weapons systems Kal made a few mental notes. Three heavy weapon mounts could go up. With the size of the armor it could handle them. The upgrades targeting systems would allow simultaneously firing all three weapons. But looking at the weapon choices he figured that for accuracy they would need to be fired individually.

Flexing the arms of the suit he began calculating alternative weapon's systems that would not infringe on the heavy weapon platforms. Tapping the chestplate he nodded at an emergency option that could be installed.

Walking around the room he also wanted to make the armor suit more mobile and plans began forming in his mind.

The armored suit was sound. Now it was time to weaponize it.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

With the three heavy weapon platform mounts allowing a bit of customization with weapon choices Kal however chose three for the prototype. The suit would allow for heavy weapons reinforcements on a single combatant. And thus would be encountering a wide plethora of situations. First off would be straight on head to head troop warfare. Infantry on infantry often came down to the better armed, armored, ground, and leadership. The armor would take care of the first three aspects and would fall under the command of an experienced and worthy commander.

Walking around his workshop to look over Haran's baby Kal grinned. The Z-6 rotary blaster canon on an automated mount that would link to the user's HUD would allow devastating fire power and rate of fire into the enemy. Haran moved the weapon to the mount and began securing it, running the power cables to the power generator resting under additional plates of armor on the left arm's bicep.

Kal nodded and moved to Aayla's baby. She was retrofitting an Equalizer, a four tube ion bolt canon, onto the entire length of the left forearm. Once th four shots were used the cannon would be discarded by small explosives that would break the clamps holding the weapon to the suit. The targeting system was hardwired into the helmet via the electronic cables running up the arm.

Stopping at Teroch's table Kal stood quietly and watched. Each of the beskar'ad had chosen weapons they were famliar with, areas of weapo specialty, and Teroch the sniper was no different. The EMRG-50 rail gun was a beast. Firing a slug that could hit a target four thousand meters away it was carried by soldiers with a sniper's marksman rating. But the devastation of the pinpoint accurate slug was equal to that of a frag grenade upon impact, an impact that could pierce armor. Thus it was often used for anti vehicular duty. Instead of the traditional four slug magazine this weapon utilized eight rounds. It was to be mounted behind the right shoulder in the mounted weapon platform and able to raise over the shoulder for use.

Kal walked to his work station as his vode finished their work with mounting the heavy weaponry.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

TESTING DAY 1​

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Kal stood in the armor in the deserted wastelands. Targets were set up at varying distances waiting for his inevitable attacks. The HUD was brought up with sensors, targeting information, vitals, and energy usage as the six power packs showed full charge. Grinning in the helmets Kal began to move testing the speed and maneuverabilty. For a hulk it didn't disappoint. The servos and micro servers were operating optimally.

Now it was time for the fire test.

Bringing the Z-6 online he aimed at enemies on his HUD and began firing a full salvo. The shots chewed through the targets as his HUD constantly made minute corrections as the armor shook lightly from the force of the fire. Ceasing he opened his comm, "We need to link the servos in the shoulder, arm, and chest and have then lock down as we fire. It will give us better accuracy but freeze that portion of the body. An acceptable compromise."

Moving to the EMRG-50 rail gun Kal activated it and watched as the gun was raised into position and locked in. The range finder ticked away the meters as it locked on target and fired. Due to the weight of the armor it helped to stabilize the shot, but he made a mental note to have the corresponding servos to lock down as the weapon fired as well.

Moving to the Equalizer he raised his arm and froze the hydraulics as he aimed. Firing did two things. It took out the target and slung the armored Kal around.

With the weapons testing done for the day they returned home where he was disarmed. Sitting in pants he looked over the readings and pondered the weapon systems.

The armor ran on six standard power packs. But when the weapons were engaged they drew excessively on the power packs draining them. Pulling up schematics they tweaked it adding in separate energy cells for each of the heavy weapons. Then for the stabilizaation during shots they changed the armor base, going from standard power boots to magclamps that could anchor the suit before firing.

 

[Kal Kandossii]

TESTING DAY 2​

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The second test run went better. The alterations improved accuracy from 67% to 83%. A drastic increase. The extra energy cells saw the suit's power packs energy usage drop from 47% to 13%. Overall the alterations proved successful.

Back at home siting around the work station Kal and the others brainstormed what other weapons they could mount or install. With the three heavy weapons they decided against any more ranged weapons and focused on closer combat or brute strength. I the right arm they planned on installing a vibrosword that could be ejected from the armor, much like a vibroblade from the knuckle plates, and used as a melee weapon. The blade would be lightly armored with beskar for any confrontations with those wielding lightsabers.

A shockwave generator would be installed in the chest plate but due to the destructive sonic wave it would be used as a last resort as it would damage the armor plating. Running on the same energy cell would be a shockweb.

Wanting to install an engine for space flight they scrubbed the idea due to the fact that the energy usage would be to great and they would be forced to install an inertial compensater. Instead they used the traditional repulsorlift systems that allowed for sustained flight in a gravity well. Micro repulsors were added to the frame to aid in 'speeding' the armor when running, moving, or other types of motion to compensate for the weight.

Using the plans for the 3100 Firebrand suit they interwove the heat shielding components into the armor, choosing not to use their insulated body glove.

Finally they added an emergency ejection system that could be activated, blowing the chest plate away and allowing the driver to emerge from the exoskeleton. The freed individual would still be wearing the light modified katarn armor. A pack on the person's back would have emergency supplies. Disassembled E-11, four magazine slugthrower, comlink, and medkit.

All it needed was a name. So Kal christened her the 'Ori'verd'.


Ori'verd

With the Z-6