Gear

Some things are easier to explain with specifications. If you need colors and anatomy, that’s Refs. If you need dimensions, Numbers. This page is for things that go clang.

8-gauge boarding shotgun

8-gauge · bullpup · 900 mm overall · 9.5 kg unloaded · 7-round box / 14-round drum · vacuum / low-G rated

Short enough for hatches and corridors, heavy enough that nobody mistakes it for a human-sized shotgun. Short-stroke gas piston, rotating bolt, 500 mm barrel, substantial recoil management, and controls sized for my hands.

The usual optic is a 1× prism with night / thermal overlay. The rearward balance lets me keep it controlled one-handed when the other hand is occupied.

• Punch — AP sabot for armored targets.
• Brash — tight multi-flechette load for close work.
• Hinge — frangible breacher for locks, hinges, and hardpoints.
• Tangle — less-lethal neuromuscular disruptor.
• Thump — blunt-impact load when penetration is the wrong answer.
• Tongue — thermal engineer round for hardware that needs persuasion.

The important rule is knowing what is behind the target. Hulls make consequences unusually literal.

The bar

~900 mm · ~6.5 kg · fork / pick / hardened steel butt

It does not have a formal designation. I call it the bar.

It’s a breaching and prying tool descended from a Halligan: wide fork at one end, reinforced pick at the other, enough shaft for useful leverage without becoming impossible in a corridor. The pick also makes a decent zero-G anchor.

It is not designed as a weapon. The distinction gets academic when somebody is close enough to grab it.

Sidearm

12.7 × 30 mm caseless · 8 rounds · 2.4 kg loaded · vacuum-rated

Heavy-frame semi-auto, sealed action, oversized controls, simple sights. Boring on purpose.

It fits my hand, works when I need it, and stays out of the way the rest of the time. That is what a sidearm is supposed to do.

Hardsuit

sealed pressure suit · ~55–65 kg base mass · mag boots · closed-circuit O₂ · thermal batteries + deployable radiators

The suit assumes atmosphere is a consumable and hull integrity is temporary. Pressure layer first, armor second. If it cannot keep me breathing, the chest plate stops mattering fairly quickly.

The helmet folds my ears into padded recesses. It works. I still dislike the reduced head movement, peripheral awareness, and natural hearing. Vacuum remains unconvinced by my objections.

At my mass, recoil and leverage in zero-G become navigation problems, so mag boots matter. Heat is the other constraint: thermal batteries handle short high-output periods, deployable radiators buy time when exposing something fragile is safe, and continuous hard work eventually wins anyway.

Nothing on the suit quite matches anymore. Nothing is decorative. Everything works.

What comes out when

Boarding / vacuum risk: full hardsuit, shotgun, sidearm, the bar, engineering tools, trauma kit, extra air and thermal capacity.

Stable atmosphere / security work: lighter station kit, sidearm, tools and medical supplies scaled to the actual threat.

Off duty: civilian clothes. The point of being off duty is generally not carrying the entire wall with me.