~Sophie's Canaria Cafe~

[Ant]

* What would you like Alan? *

"Guess I'll have a coffee while I'm waiting Sophie."

* No problem. By the way, Scutter left some experimental shipsuits here if you want to try one. *

"From his new investment? Guess I might as well give it a go. Have one sent over to the hangar will you?"

* Sure thing. I'll upload the specifications to you if you like? *

Alan nods, then walks to a corner table near the windows. Sipping his coffee he looks up to see Spike and Kate arrive.

"Have a seat."

Spike pulls out a chair for Kate, earning himself a dazzling smile from his beautiful wife.

"So, what's the news from those rather unusual robots on Planet Gammu?"

Spike and Kate lock gazes for a moment, before Spike indicates Kate should do the talking.
Kate shrugged and smiled, looking at her datapad before speaking. "We met Mersenne again on Planet Gammu, who provided us with updated intel on Nomad remnant movements.
"Our assistance in the region is welcomed, especially with the Sirius Federation inactive there recently and The Order seemingly distracted by events in Liberty. The successful meetings here on Gran Canaria mean they're more than willing to provide crews for our ships, especially those operating in the region near Planet Gammu.
"Their only interest in war is to defend themselves... they have a very peaceful approach to most situations. The Nomads have caused them considerable troubles and there's signs of planetary bombardment everywhere you look. There may be other "clans" of robots on the planet who have a different approach to that of Mersenne's group. We weren't able to travel around much while planetside due to high levels of radiation."

Alan interrupted. "Radiation eh? Perhaps you should try Scutter's new experimental outfits next time. They're in the back of the cafe somewhere...anyway, go on."

"It seems the Nomads are able to prevent the building of orbital shipyards, so our assistance with a capital ship is welcomed there.
"They have a number of different bodies available to them, developed through trial and error in defense of their homeworld."

"The standard humanoid exoskeleton is what you'd normally see them using but they also have significant developments in weaponry designed for ground and spatial defense.
"The light battle chassis is small enough to be used in confined spaces such as would be considered normal for space marines. They are equipped with shoulder mounted lasers and arm mounted projectile systems similar to old style autocannons. They can also use standard handheld gunnery with their humanoid hands."

Spike grinned and interjected, "Rather kick-arse if you ask me, especially the cannons with 20mm explosive shells, and it only gets better."

Flashing Spike another smile, Kate continued, "The heavy battle chassis was developed for space combat with a standard 6 hours worth of propulsion at 5 standard gravities. It is larger than the light chassis but can also fit into confined spaces due to it's four legged approach. Weaponry is heavier than the light battle chassis with a couple of retractable shoulder mounted pod systems capable of carrying a variety of ordinance, along with the cannons and retractable claws in the forelegs. They use this chassis mostly for defensive boarding operations in order to disable capital ships."

Spike spoke again. "Definately wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that."

Alan nods in agreement as Kate resumes speaking. "They have heavier vehicles and and a variety of smaller ships which you might have seen on Gran Canaria previously. Probably not much need for them in standard operations but they're willing to do some trading and get a few transported where we might need them available.
"Don't expect them to support anything overtly hostile though. They don't really seem to like the idea of war, even if they are pretty good at it..."

Alan nods again. "Seems like we have a lot we can help each other with then. Thanks for the update. How's Memnon getting on?"

Spike grinned. "Memnon seems to be getting used to being more than just a navigational computer. Seems to like flying the ship though, which suits us fine..."

Kate laughed. "Enough about what we get up to in private Spike..." She turned back to Alan. "Although we have decided it's best not to have children until there's less risk from radiation... not that that's going to stop us from practicing..." She breaks into peals of musical laughter at Spike's shocked look.

"Kate!"

Alan laughs. "I'd better be going now anyway."

-----

Spike and Kate emerge from the back of the Cafe, examining the wrist controls of their new experimental shipsuits.

"I think the red looks amazing on you Kate."

"Are you sure you don't like the green better?"

"You look fantastic in both colours, really. You can change it at the touch of a button anyway." Spike sits down at their corner table.

Kate sits next to him, still examining the suit controls. "They feel a bit strange don't they? Almost like satin the way they move over the skin, almost like they're alive."

"Feels a bit creepy really. I hope they're safe to use... especially around Nomads. Wonder how much testing..."

"Oh! This looks like the kind of feature we need." Kate grins and moves onto Spike's lap, grabbing his wrist and playing with the controls to his suit. "There's a function that allows two interfaced suits to work together... there."
The suits merged together where they touched, allowing skin contact. Spike's hand sank through her outfit where it rested on her leg. "Oh wow! Um... that's probably not a good idea in public honey."

Kate's face flushes a little. "I think you might be right."

Spike looked around the half full Cafe. Fortunately no-one seemed to have noticed their situation. "Do you think you could undo what you just did?" Brushing his fingers lightly across the toned muscles of her thigh, Spike watches how both suits shift and change to allow the movement.

"Oh my." Kate blushes bright red as she fiddles with the controls, finally restoring their suits to normality. "That was a bit of a surprise." She smiles at him sheepishly. "Perhaps we should try the other settings in private."

Spike gulps, "That's probably a good idea. Come on, let's go."

Kate laughs as Spike leads her towards the door.