The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 17

There was an armory on base, and all modern military equipment was infinitely adjustable and had storable settings, so everything Ellie and Sameh needed could be customized from standard equipment on-site, without them having to ship their actual own gear all over the world.

It was a clever system. It was a useful system. Ellie was sometimes almost surprised it worked as well as it did.

Their personnel files had their measurements for everything from clothing and shoe sizes down to the length of their hair, for sizing the internal volume of helmets, and their finger-length and strength, for setting the tension of triggers. They both also had their preferences saved for everything imaginable, not just weapons and clothes, but fabric finishes and colors and the scent of the impregnated anti-odor treatment, the type of boot soles they liked and the amount of fill for their sleeping bags, the snacks for their foodpacks and the flavor of the liquid in their sippers. Ellie just drank water, but Sameh liked a particularly vile sparkling grape flavor, and she also ate more sugary food in-theatre than Ellie did, and it all just quietly happened without either of them having to think about it.

It happened so quietly, that Ellie was sometimes surprised how detailed these preference settings were, and how many of these things she’d set, years ago, and then forgotten she ever had. Sometimes she picked up Sameh’s gloves and found them oddly thick, or found Sameh’s hair-ties were too stretchy, or her sleeping bag too warm. Sometime she forgot Sameh’s sidearm took a nine-round magazine and not the thirteen rounds Ellie expected. It was a complicated, useful, wonderful logistical system, and Ellie was very glad they had it.

They went to be fitted for their body armor first, because body armor was the most complicated item to adjust. The ceramic gels needed to be contoured to the wearer’s body exactly, so much so that gaining or losing weight on a week-long leave would force a refit. The armor was complicated, with all its pads and insets into their coveralls, but it could still be adjusted and set in less than a half an hour, from their saved settings, and only needed to be pulled on and checked when they arrived.

It was ready when they reached the armory, and it fit, as it always did. Ellie had granted the local fitters access to her and Sameh’s data as soon as they landed, and a message had arrived while she was still in Jackson’s meeting saying everything was ready to collect.

Ellie made sure her armor fitted, and Sameh’s as well, and they both jumped around, and tugged and slapped at each other, making sure nothing was going to shift out of place.

They took everything off again, and left it hanging, ready to put on later that night, and then Ellie looked at weapons.

The base seemed to have limitless quantities of weapons, but all she picked out in the end were two reliable old-design submachine guns that fired traditional bullets, and two modern self-targeting sidearms with selectable caseless ammunition. One of each for each of them, and nothing more to carry around. Ellie didn’t completely trust the self-targeting software and preferred to aim herself, but she took the modern weapons anyway because she didn’t want the weight of a second, much heavier, older gun.

Sameh began picking up rifles, and Ellie looked up and said, “No.”

“Why not?” Sameh said, sounding annoyed.

“Just no,” Ellie said. “It’s a recovery operation, not a raid.”

Sameh sighed, although she knew perfectly well what Ellie meant. This was supposed to be covert operation, at least until they located the missing kid, and going in only lightly armed would encourage them to stay low-key. It would encourage Sameh to, was mostly the point. Sameh being only lightly armed was what Ellie actually intended, and Sameh knew that too, and so didn’t bother arguing.

“No grenades either,” Ellie said, without looking up, knowing that Sameh had probably turned to stare at those almost immediately.

Sameh had, Ellie saw, when she glanced up to check.

Sameh shrugged, and grinned, and then began loading an utterly impractical mix of white phosphorous, hollow-point, and flechette rounds into magazines for her submachine gun, probably just to show Ellie she would do as she liked. Sameh liked odd ammunition mixes. There wasn’t really much point in an automatic weapon that emptied its clip in a few seconds, it was far easier to just switch the whole magazine to the load you wanted if you needed something different, but Sameh did it this way anyway, just because she did. She also picked up three different knives, one a folding ceramic knife that would be illegal anywhere with actual laws, and then a set of throwing knives too, which Ellie knew she couldn’t use.

All she was really doing was picking up extra weight, but she’d carry it without complaining so Ellie decided to not to care.

Ellie ignored Sameh, and went through all their other equipment instead, making sure everything they needed was there, and working correctly, and set correctly as well. She checked the tech first, comms earplugs and internet-enabled contact lenses and packets of sensor drones that fit in a pocket but could deploy and create a hemisphere of surveillance and cover a kilometer across. Also night-vision visors and satellite phones and the tablets they needed to run everything else, and spare tablets as well, and a second spare too.

Ellie checked the tech, and ran diagnostic tests, and made sure they had everything they needed lined up, and then she made a pile of the dull and mundane equipment they were taking as well. Food packs and water bags and water-purification drops and spare clothes, a roll of the local credit script for bribes, and a first-aid kid, which she made sure matched the med software on their tablets and actually had the correct blood-types set too.

She spent an hour going over everything, checking each item twice to make sure. Sameh sat on a nearby table and watched, bored but patient, although she was probably only patient because she knew it would start a fight if she tried to hurry Ellie now.

Jackson watched too, but less well at ease. He seemed almost nervous, Ellie thought, presumably in case she found something wrong.

Ellie ignored them both, and went through all the gear methodically. Only when she was completely satisfied did she load it into their packs and carrying harnesses.