"Can I help you?"
"Oh, yeah, do you work here?"
"You could say that. Can I help you?"
"Well, um, I'm looking for a mech."
"We only do service and repairs. You should try the Mech Mall on Stevenson. They'll hook you up with a decent SUM or something..."
"No, I need something different and..."
"And?"
"Frost said I should talk to you."
"Frost? I guess time and booze haven't killed all his brain cells yet. So how do I know you're not a BMC agent?"
"I, uh, I mean, I'm not."
"It's OK. Don't stress. You've been scanned. And the Bureau's satellite coverage is good, but it's not that good. So let's start again. 'How can I help you?'"
"I need a mech. I've got the time, money, and motivation, but I don't know where to start. I do know that I can't just pull what I need out of the Stream."
"I charge 500 Sterling per hour, minimum five hours."
"No problem."
"Paid now."
"OK."
"Here's my bank. It's off-system so you don't need to worry about tracing."
"How do we start?"
"I ask questions, like what's your motivation?"
"Revenge."
"OK. What's the mission?"
"Orbital insertion, quick smash-and-grab."
"Terrain?"
"Urban."
"Resistance?"
"No mechs. Mostly private security with light power-armor and energy weapons."
"What kind of energy weapons?"
"Maximum class 3, restricted."
"Anything else?"
"I need to carry something that can punch through eight inches of insulated tungsten-ruthenium cladding."
"How much a chance of all this changing in the time it takes you to outfit and learn to drive a mech?"
"Close to zero. Like I said, I've got time."
"And you'll need a pile of money."
"When do I start learning about mechs?"
"Well, you seem relatively intelligent, fairly stable, and sufficiently loaded, so if you can peel your eyes of my breasts, we can get started. Go ahead and sit down. Not there! Yeah, that's better.
Sounds like you need, at most, a medium mech and that means a beryllium-titanium matrix endoskeleton. Every scrounger and his uncle has a pile of Be-Ti components, so that's a big plus. Some people might try and sell you on boron-aluminum ceramics, but that's crap. The electron-beam welder you're sitting next to paid for this shop sealing stress fractures.
That's your bones, now let's talk power systems. First you've got the technology that's as old as the hills: hydraulics. It's fast, it's strong and it'll run all day. You don't have to worry about overheating. But it's a bitch to maintain and nearly impossible to find parts for outside of a museum. Also, it's pretty fragile. Even with triple redundant systems, one good hit can put you down. Still, with the right combination of linear and helical actuators and a good pump system, you stand a better chance of staying healthy and still be dancing around while everyone else is in a coma from thermal overload.
But you say you're not facing mechs, so let's move on to synthetic muscle. It works on the same mechanical model as meat except it's nanotech grown and uses bucky tubes instead of proteins. It's fast, though not as fast as hydraulics. In certain applications it can be very strong and it lends itself to some interesting mech architectures. It does heat up though. It runs at about 85% efficiency, as apposed to the 25% of your biceps there, but that's still a lot of waste heat to get rid of. And it has an ugly secret: it wears out. Given enough time, heat, and stress, bucky tubes will break. You've got quintillions of tubes, but when a tube quits, that means there are fewer tubes trying to do the same work. More failure, less tubes, same demands. The failure rate increases geometrically. That's why so many "low hour" mechs test drive well but die in just enough time for the seller to disappear. If we go this route, everything goes under the electron 'scope before money hits the table.
Then you've got motors. I bring this up just for the sake of thoroughness. Motors are stronger than anything out there, cake to maintain, and practically bullet-proof, but the torque curves are too flat even with the latest superconductors, meaning that motors aren't going to be effective on any mech less than 50 tons. That's a bit heavy for simple orbital insertion and just not suited for anything 'quick'.
Next we should talk about stability systems, control, armor, and weapons, but I need something to eat. Let's go."
"Where to?"
"Don't know, but you're buying. And stop checking my ass."
Pakeha