The carrier started to fold heavy layers of armour around the already considerable protection that his base suit offered. It also folded down a larger helmet over the existing one and snapped a bigger power plant with flight capability onto his back. The heavy rotary weapon presented itself under his left forearm, with the ammunition available and the amounts carried also displayed in his HUD. He checked through the protocols and brought everything up to maximum power then selected contact explosive darts as the ammunition of choice. As that was happening the suit flooded his bloodstream with ICE, a very good piece of combat enhancement, though it had a downside when flushed from the system. He felt deeply calm but hyper-alert — the drugs would allow him to take in and analyse huge amounts of data and react very quickly to any situation. Away from the combat zone, however, he would take a full day to recover from it, which usually meant sleep. ‘I’m good to go, boss.’ ‘In your own time, Marko.’ He stepped to the edge of the airlock, clipped onto the tether line and powered himself across to the hatchway with a small burst of gas from his manoeuvring unit.
