Volunteer Fury (The Guardian Covenant Book 4) by Kevin Ikenberry

Author:Kevin Ikenberry [Ikenberry, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2023-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Chapter Fourteen

Gunbarrel Anthem

Galactic Alliance Base Lihue-Lewa

*I am detecting excessive stress levels.*

“Yeah.” Ian Caldwell licked his lips. He didn’t risk a further response. Duncan Black, as well as his father, had repeatedly told him to trust the Nexus as a teammate with the same goals. As unnatural as it seemed, he knew he needed to do the same, but he couldn’t quite trust it. The Nexus would theoretically allow him to turn over monitoring of Anthem’s systems while he focused on firing the cannons and swiveling the gantry through connected controls. There was no way the Nexus knew the machine, though. The program, intelligence interface, or whatever it was had only been on board for a little more than two hours. An idea struck him.

“Nexus? Can you check left shoulder mobility?”

*Stand by.*

From testing, he knew the unstandardized manufacturing processes for the Guardians meant defects were expected. While within his father’s operational tolerance estimate of 92 percent effectiveness, the left shoulder joint tended to stick and, with excessive use, generate heat. There was no way the Nexus had the sensor network or the fidelity to—

*The left shoulder joint is imperfect from a metallurgical standpoint. Operational tolerance is 89.88 percent, and there is significant thermal stress. The shoulder joint could fail in the next 141 operating hours.*

Ian’s eyebrows rose in shock. “You’re more informed than I thought you would be.”

The Nexus replied, *I am connected to all active systems on board this Guardian, and I have access to the full maintenance records and construction logs for all Guardians in the core. Why are you surprised?*

“There’s more to logs and information. Most of it is intuition, something I didn’t think you’d possess,” Ian replied honestly.

*I do not possess intuition, but I can study the data, and the data shows this Guardian has regularly been called a ‘hangar queen’ for good reason. Without significant modifications and reconstruction, it will never be fully functional.*

“Ouch,” Ian said.

But what the Nexus reported was true, and everyone knew it. Manufacturing Guardians on Lewa wasn’t as easy as everyone had assumed it would be. With practices established on Earth at one full G, scientific consensus was that creating a Guardian operating at 0.86 Gs would be an easier proposition. The lighter mass would make it easier for pilots to control the Guardian. The technology from Earth would make the machines faster and more capable. Such hadn’t been the case, though. If anything, manufacturing Guardians in a lower gravity environment, at least from a metallurgical standpoint, was far more difficult. The planet lacked the appropriate resources to make strong enough metals without importing them in great quantities. The Galactic Alliance balked over massive supplies for the Guardians until they could be proven combat ready. In the four days since, getting shipments without a Class One portal was difficult.

Ian’s eyes flitted across the harbor to the site of the power station and the nearby portal.

“Maybe when we get that thing online, we’ll get you fixed up,” he told the Guardian.

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