On the Crosspath

[Soban]

“The skill tae design a new armour system? Aye. The full industry tae pull off a project like that in this timeframe? Absolutely not.”
He broke his flow to take a long drag on his pipe, while Christian’s annoyance became plain.
“But wi’ Daumann’s help, I could make it so.”
He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke above them as Burton let out a sigh of relief.
“I reckon I can split the armour into layers, keep the most critical sections made here at Livadia, an’ have Daumann fabricate the inert bulk. They’ll get a wee glimpse o’ our intent and pick up a scrap o’ iridium-alloy know-how, but that’s a small price tae pay. We’ll keep the most novel advances right here at Livadia.”
Still talking, he rummaged through a deep pocket.
“Let me show ye…” He pulled out a Gallic blaster. “No, no—not that!”
He shoved it back into the suit and kept digging.
“Ah! There it is.”
With a proud thud, he set a small cube on the table about the size of an ashtray.
“Remember a while ago ye tasked me wi’ research on this?” He tapped the cube. “The work on Kadesh’s damage yielded this layered structure. Now imagine it a hundred times bigger. The main bulk is a single heavy layer made from an alloy I still need tae pinpoint precisely—but once I do, we can send that portion tae Daumann. That alone’ll save us about 60% o’ the build time on the armour.”