87 Chapter 77

"Wow… That looks sooo cool!" Neo's avatar clapped in excitement as she jumped up and down.

Renn was stood in the centre of the forge along with Sapphire, Neo, and his grandmother's ghost, staring at admiration at a brand-new set of armour.

He wiped the sweat that was glistening on his forehead off with the back of his hand and panted slightly. The forge was hotter than the deserts of Tatooine and they had been working on the armour nonstop for over a day.

"Hehe, yeah… it does." Renn said, a grin was plastered across his face as he gazed at the armour, His armour, with pure admiration in his eyes.

Renn's armour was a work of art. It was painted a deep mat black colour, making it almost blend into the shadows, and was filled with integrated gadgets that would help make Renn a near unstoppable force in the future.

The armour was built in two parts. The first part being a bodysuit that Renn would wear underneath the second part, which was an outer shell made of heavy metal plates.

The bodysuit was made from a titanium alloy nanocomposite making it extremely durable and resistant to damage as well as allowing for maximum flexibility, so that it wouldn't hinder the wearers movements at all.

And because of how tough the material the body suit was made up of, as well as the heat resistant materials added to the nanocomposite, it offered as much if not more protection than most armours used by mercs across the galaxy.

Its heat resistance provided a great deal of protection from blasters, the most common weapon used in the galaxy, and the titanium alloy gave a great deal of protection against ballistic damage as well as being resistant to tears and slashes.

The bodysuit also had many components to assist its wearer. Including a layer of a moister absorbing material that was linked to the environmental controls in the armours helmet so that the wearer remains at the maximum level of comfort.

Renn quickly began dressing himself in his bodysuit and soon he was stood before the table containing his armour's outer shell, dressed in nothing but the black synthetic base layer.

The outer shell of the suit was what would really prove to give Renn an immense advantage in combat.

It was made of an incredibly strong metal plates that covered the wearers chest, arms, hip, legs, calves, feet, and hands.

The ability to produce the metal was only known to House Dredd and was named Adamantium.

Adamantium was one of the, and possibly might have been, the strongest metal in the galaxy and Renn's armour was now made up of thick plates of it, providing him with a lot of protection from basically all types of damage.

Renn's armour didn't just rely on its adamantium plates, it was full of gadgets and surprises to give him an edge in combat.

The main one being a super powerful shield generator that was enhanced by the kohlen crystal he had found on his journey.

Unlike the personal shields that the rest of the galaxy knew, and that had been widely abandoned because of their design flaws, Renn's wasn't a sphere that would surround the user and prevent them from attacking their enemy.

Renn's armour instead had a special generator that produced what he had named and 'energy shield'. The energy shield was designed as to be essentially a second skin over the armour that would absorb and deflect damage, protecting the user from harm.

The shield provided a frictionless surface and so it had a variable thickness allowing for it to be thinner in certain areas, like its hands and feet, so that Renn could still grip things and walk properly without slipping.

Renn's energy shield also provided several other benefits over standard personal shields. One of which being an ability that Renn had nicknamed the bubble shield.

The bubble shield was an ability that allowed Renn to project an additional energy shield that appeared as a geodesic sphere around him when it was activated.

The advantage of it was it could withstand a large amount of damage and could also protect a wider area, however it also took a lot of power to create and so could only be projected for a certain time limit before it dissipated, and it needed to recharge.

Another upgrade that Renn had made to his armour was adding his own version of a stealth field generator.

Renn's version didn't create its own stealth field but instead modified his armour's shield to bend light around it rendering him nearly invisible.

Although it wasn't really making him invisible, it was instead an incredibly advanced form of camouflaging him to his surroundings and so he named it active camouflage.

The drawback of Renn's active camo was that it would draw power from his shields and so they would be significantly weaker when it was activated.

But Renn didn't care much about that. It wasn't much of a drawback considering the strength of his adamantium armour, as well as the fact he didn't really anticipate leaving any of his enemies alive long enough to damage his shields enough to break them.

Renn's armour was also full of complex circuitry to support all of these upgrades and provide their own boosts as well.

He had refined and processed the large crystal that he had found on Ilum and used most of it to create circuits and wires that criss-crossed his armour, linking everything to the main processor in his helmet.

Renn had used the crystal because due to the mental connection he had formed with it he instinctively understood its properties.

He knew that the because the crystal circuits were linked to his mind, they would be able to anticipate and react to his thoughts, giving him a far faster reaction time and allowing him to control his armour systems with his mind.

Renn had also added the rest of the crystal to his helmet, effectively creating a neural interface to increase the connection between him and his armour.

Renn had also added force-multiplying circuits throughout his armour that would increase his physical abilities while wearing his armour, making him stronger and faster than normal.

The crystal circuits would also make these enhancements far easier to control, as he would be instinctively able to compensate for the increased in physical abilities.

Renn had also added hidden systems into his armours vambraces.

On his right arm he had added a concealed vibro-blade, fixed into his armour, as well as a dart launcher that drew its ammo from an internal magazine built into his vambrace.

His left vambrace had a built-in whipcord launcher, that fired a fibrecord whip that could be up to twenty-five metres in length. There was also an additional concealed vibro-knife on the underside of the vambrace.

Renn had also implanted a tactical pad into his left vambrace. And the wrist mounted device allowed him additional control over his armours systems, as well as providing him with additional battlefield data.

Despite all the upgrades made to the rest of his armour, Renn's helmet was by far the most advanced piece of his armour.

It was painted black like the rest of his armour however its visor was cast in a deep shade of red, that caused the helmet to look almost demonic. Especially in low light environments.

The helmets visor was designed to look like an inverted triangle with flattened points, and was made of a reinforced, mirrored material, meaning that Renn's face would be completely obscured while he wore his helmet.

Renn's helmet was also crammed with upgrades to give him an edge in combat. Most of which were controlled by his helmet's computer.

He had installed a several audio enhancements including unhackable comms, a universal translator, as well as a way for his helmet to automatically reduce the volume of dangerously loud noises to protect his hearing and increase the volume of quieter noises, like the footsteps of someone trying to sneak up on him.

Renn's helmet also had an advanced heads up display that would provide him with assistance in combat.

Such as a motion sensor and a tactical analysis program that provided information about any potential threats.

His helmet also had the ability to cycle through all a wide range of visual spectrums, giving Renn the ability to see in every environment as well as to be able to see concealed enemies.

Renn's helmet was automatically locked into the rest of his armour when he put it on. The seal allowed for the amour to be airtight, so that if his helmets computer detected any threat to Renn's air supply it could close of the external air intake vents and relay on the armour's internal air supply.

The armour also had a few other upgrades like jump jets built into it, allowing for rapid changes of direction as well as limited flight capabilities, as well as holographic projectors built into the armour plates that Sapphire or Neo could use to project themselves with.

His helmet's computer had the storage space and capability for an A.I. like Sapphire or Neo to download themselves into to assist him in combat.

Renn quickly began strapping his armour into place, exited to finally become a proper warrior of house Dredd, and soon he fully armoured and lowering his helmet into place.

He had forged a pair of combat knives from adamantium. Both had blades seven point nine inches in length and had a straight, serrated back blade.

They were coated with an anti-flash, non-reflective, and corrosion resistant substance and due to the fact, they were made out of the same hyper-dense material his armour was made out of they were able to cut through most materials in the galaxy, as well as being resistant to lightsabres.

Both knives were one foot five inches long when sheathed and Renn had clipped one upside down across his collar bone, allowing him quick access to it, and the second was buckled to the back of his belt as a back-up weapon.

As soon as the helmet had been clipped into place a burst of energy filled Renn's mind and he almost gasped from the sudden shock.

Renn knew a bond would form between him and the armour when he used the crystal from Ilum when he was constructing it.

But this was different, it wasn't just a bond. It was like a part of Renn that had been missing all his life had suddenly been found.

He flexed an arm and rolled his shoulders and smiled at the power he felt coursing through his armour.

Despite the sudden increase in strength his armour had given him Renn had no difficulty in controlling it, it was like his armour was an extension of himself and he had no more difficulty controlling it than he did controlling his own arms and legs.

Diagnostic readouts flickered across Renn's HUD as he checked his armours systems for the first time, to make sure everything was working correctly.

A grin broke out across Renn's face as the diagnostics turned green, signifying that everything was working as it was supposed to.