This article is a work in progress; It is currently not approved as canon.
Fitting over the Contact Suit is the Pilot Attire, an assortment of special equipment designed to support the pilot should they be required to bail out, offering survivability in hostile environments.
By removing the individual containers, they can be locked together into a backpack of sorts with a hollow space able to carry whatever the pilot needs to bring with them while making the pilot less cumbersome outside of the cockpit. For this reason, a second frame Pilot-Attire package is included in the right intermediary allowing one set to be worn as a backpack and another in its original configuration to allow a pilot to carry more equipment with them at once.
The attire comes as…
The first measure of business, the survival harness fits over the pilot's torso and locks shut. When slipping into the cockpit, belts in the cockpit plug into the harness itself. If a pilot wishes to disembark, the belts are released from the harness and the harness itself is still worn after leaving the cockpit.
The harness breaks down into four layers: A pull down flap with a pocket on its inside, some pockets on the revealed top and then an inverted U-shaped zipper which opens like a door revealing the contents, allowing for maximum density of storage items. Beneath each arm is a rectangular compartment and over the chest, a large square shaped compartment.
The zipper can be opened without pulling down the flap, meaning items can be accessed very quickly.
Not weapons but rather, survival items, a pen-sized vertical launcher is included which can be used to trigger a flare-shot (8) or launch a solar-powered UL-13 'underdog' drone (4). The drone specifically unravels a pair of small rotor flaps and hovers at a controlled height. Its leading-wire can be attached to the user's pilot-suit, showing them what the drone sees while being moved similarly to a kite and is ideal for software mapping the surrounding area.
Both the drones (re-usable) and flare-shot (single shot only) are plugged into a bandoller sheet and can rapidly be launched if an aircraft or unit is seen which offers the potential for rescue. The drones are, importantly, re-usable.
The launcher sits in the pull down flap pocket of the right-side and the two bandollers in the revealed pockets: drone on top, flare on the bottom.
The .308 is a small lightweight simplified hardened steel revolver. Its handle is hollow, stacking additional ammunition and the chambers are pre-loaded. The weapon also comes with a long optional rifled barrel extension to improve grouping and accuracy (which is really intended for the kick-bow). When the weapon is expended (rendering it useless if no more ammunition is available), the barrel can be held and the handle used as a hammer as the underside of the handle is toughened and the barrel extension is hardened to double as a handle, complete with grip. In addition, it can be modified into the kickbow for use as a long term survival tool.
The topside of both the barrel and the Sidekick itself when locked together forms a sort of half-barrel with a closed loop at the front - a table with groove. An extruded piece above the barrel also allows an appropriately carved and treated piece of wood (following the instructions included in the SERE manual) to act as a lath or bowstave – and carbyne bankline fashioned into a simple bowstring which can be locked behind a 'hammer' of sorts which the string is fastened behind which sits infront of the conventional hammer.
In this way, provided the bowstave and rounds are fashioned, a simple three-foot crossbow. While it isn't anywhere near as effective as the .308 conventionally, it offers ideal protection against dangerous animals and indigenous populations and can also give the pilot a project to keep them motivated. Fashioned effectively, it should give the pilot a limited sense of safety rather than defenselessness when the .308 is expended.
While the weapon is fitted inside the leftside 'armpit' zipper-pocket, additional ammunition is stored in a zip-loc bag on the left-side pull down pouch and the barrel extension is fitted next to the Katakan and can be used as a club if unattached.
Included in the top pulldown pocket on the left side, the cord-splitter is a hook with a sharpened inner edge. It is important for splitting the elasticated cords of a parachute during descent in the event the parachute traps the quicksave or pilot from reaching the ground, allowing them to cut themselves free. As a useful secondary function, it is ideal for skinning animals or carving wood or bone.
The cord-splitter works similarly to a “swiss army knife” as Nepleslians call it with a high-tension high-stress loop on one side (Rated at 400 kilograms) and two hooks: One blunt, one sharp. When stored, the sharp hook is always hanging slightly over the edge, meaning the user doesn't have to work out which is needed.
The smooth end can be used for climbing when used with carbyne bankline and other materials.
A redundant backup in the event the transciever in the pilot-suit or the Automatic Companion fail, this version has been deliberately simplified and ruggedized, containing a quantum transciever with the host-ship and full conventional audio radio functionality and a highly simplified quantum nucleonic cell making the radio good for 120 years. The lid of the signal radio can be inverted, revealing a polished titanium signal mirror and sheets which can be used to change the color of the reflected light or used as a cover for a low voltage strobing signal light (since pulsed white light maybe mistaken by airborne crew as weapons-fire).
Importantly, by having this, in the event a downed pilot finds an ally or some other individual who can warn them of enemy approach within an indigenous population, they can receive that warning or communicate with their ally.
In addition, if all three options fail for another pilot, the ERT can be handed to the other pilot as a spare.
Tucked against the back and usually mostly empty, the water-bladder makes up the rear of the harness. It includes a sustainable pico-jelly water reprocessor and is designed to take water emissions of the pilot and convert them into suitable drinking water, featuring two flexible compartments for this purpose. Electrolytes absorbed by the body however have to be restored and as such, while the water-bladder may produce suitable drinking water the first 12 to 15 cycles or so, after that it is only really suitable for washing and must be replaced with a fresh electrolyte source using the canteen and attached filter.
The drinking compartment includes a flexible hose allowing easy access to water and hydration without having to remove the canteen most of the time, ideal if the pilot needs to stay on the move.
Worn over the front in the cockpit but over the rear outside of, the hip-bag manly contains large items of folded fabric and other materials which are vacuum packed inside it. Importantly, it is very stretchy and can expand up to 400% of its size without ripping or tearing.
Similar to a sort of long-fanny pack, thigh-bags use a belt strapping system to secure themselves to the pilot-suit, crossing or doubling over in the middle. The two can be locked together over one thigh in the event another is injured, presenting less stress to the injured leg.
The Kakatan (Lorath: Kahk'tann) is an oversized Lorath knife with an inwardly curved edge, similar to a mechette which resembles a Nepleslian 'boomerang' knife or Gersherin Kukri knife, used both as a tool and as a weapon in the country of Dullaran and neighboring countries of the southern tropical hemesphere. Traditionally, it was and in many cases still is, a basic utility knife used by the Fyunnen caste. It is a characteristic weapon of almost all LSDF regiments throughout Lorath space – so much so that many refer to it as the Amazon's Knife (Fyunnen literally meaning giantess or amazon). The kakatan often appears in Lorath heraldry through many castes, often given by a Fyunnen as a sign of loyalty between families of different castes or in thanks for a great favor and is used in many traditional rituals - even including L'manel aspectation and wedding ceremonies.
The Kakatan is effective at chopping, slashing, draw-cuts and even as a throwing weapon. Since the blade bends toward the opponent, the user does not need to angle it when executing a chop. Unusually for a knife due to its size, it can be used not unlike a sword: Its heavy blade allowing a user to inflict deep wounds, cut through muscle and bones and in practice even cleave a person's head and half way through the chest in the hands of the right Fyunnen.
While famed for its military use, the kakatan is usually used as a multipurpose tool and is a very common agricultural and household implement on Lor. Its uses are varied and include building, clearing, hammering, chopping firewood, carving, digging, cutting meat and vegitables, skinning animals and even opening tins or slicing into hull.
While traditionally the weapon would include a black cylindrical sharpening metal plug attached via chain that slots into the base of the handle, more recent versions are often made of much harder metals. Soldiers of any rank or regiment who can forrage or find a large enough piece of zesuaium can have it forged and shaped into a kakatan free of charge by the LSDF – though it is not hollow as many Yamataian zesuaium katanas are - making it quite heavy.
Wrapped about the handle of the Kakatan is around 400 feet of carbyne bankline, secured to the base with a simple knot. This allows the knife to be thrown, then pulled back.
The material holds up well against the elements: It does not fray or unravel when cut, there is no need to melt the ends (as one would with paracord), it ties knots well and has a tacky tarry quality which helps it hold knots well (though untying these knots can be slightly trickier – though heating the material with a flame will usually loosen a knot – and cooling tighten it, ideal in harsh windy conditions) and ensures better purchase or grip of heavy loads while also preventing damage or rot from moisture or thermal conditions (making it ideal in tundras or at sea) and it possesses no scent or smell.
Used carefully, it can be unravelled out into individual strands for finer tasks which don't require the given weight and is quite easy to work with unlike common paracord, due to the lack of an inner cord. Individual strands of carbyne bankline retain all the useful properties of the complete cordate (even down to the weight rating).
It is useful for dummy cords, camp-crafts, shelter building, as an improvised bow-string, fishing-rod, trap-construction and many other uses.
The base of the Kakatan includes a small micillium colony which if left in water with wood or mud, will grow more bankline at a rate of about thirty centimeters every 8 hours or so, ensuring the cord is replaceable provided the blade is not lost or boiled (the micillium can survive extremely arid or cold conditions).
A second cord reel is carried in the fanny-pack which is 1000 feet long.
The fire kit included two hardened titanium ethyl-alcohol lighters. The lighter (which can be refilled using the wood/alcohol converter) includes a life-time rated carbon wick, wind-guard. In a pinch, the liquid contents can be squired and ignited, ideal for scaring away a large pursuing animal or setting fire to a large area very quickly to use the smoke as cover (and for this reason two are included).
A dry-bag included also contains backup equipment including a ferrocium-rod and carbon steel file on string together (both rated to survive 50,000 uses), a small tin containing cotton buds (and a smaller tin inside that containing petrolium jelly) and a number of small gaps which are filled with tampons: Ideal since they include their own waterproof coverings and burn very well as tinder to start a fire.
The included canteen is composed of food-grade stainless steel with a silver inner lining and a titanium covering to protect it from hard knocks and bangs and a lid on chain, complete with nipple. It includes a matched canteen 'mug' which fits over the underside of the canteen with thick wire handles composed of the same materials which works well for boiling water or as a cooking vessel.
The canteen includes a 'life saver' filtration cap: a long thick rod which can be fitted over into the canteen mug, forming an airtight seal. After first pumping the head of the cap, the included hose must be attached. Using a pico-jelly carbon filtration system, the device will spit out clean water due to the pressure differential between the interior of the canteen and the outside. This clean water is meant to be pushed into the water-bladder or into the canteen. Afterwards, the canteen mug must be washed.
Importantly, the filtration cap block can continue working while on the move, requiring no special assistance.
Every six or seven litres or so, the cap will produce a firm rod-like “pearl” of contaminants which must be removed, the device then washed in clean sterile water and then is ready again for use. In addition, if the jelly is split in half, both halves can be left with the “candybar” of the wood-reprocessor and will regrow in size and shape. Used properly, the pico-jelly can be grown to very large sizes in this way and used to fill large vessels and containers which may be found, such as jerry-cans.
Very importantly, it is held in the opposite leg of the kakatan to prevent accidental damage from nicks and scrapes and includes a reel of self-sealing food-grade stainless steel tape for covering holes.
A long fibrous hose is included which can move liquid back and forth between the canteen, the life-saver cap and the bladder-pack without the risk of spillage, even while walking or moving.
The medicine book uses engineered micillium to produce specialist tablets and medicines (including fibre, hydration, vitamin, caffene, anti-septic penicillin and fenalyl opioid). Each tablet is doped a different color and is immediately recognisable.
The book itself is about the size of a small novel, composed of titanium and opens to reveal compartments not unlike a dusset box. Micillium is held beneath and each includes a reactor chamber at the top and compartments for five end products. Provided the instructions for each are followed clearly (detailed on the 'inside cover', often requiring wood, water, clay or mud) the resulting product will be both sterile and perform its task.
Used properly, it is ideally producing these (and even spares at all times) to replace those which are lost and may be useful in trading with any natives of a planetoid. Provided the book is not boiled or smashed, the micillium inside will continue to function and like most micillium chemical forming systems is rated to work almost indefinitely or far longer than typical Lorath life expectancy.
The 'fanny-pack' as many have come to call it sits upon the front above the groin during normal operation within the frame and outside of the frame slips to either the side or behind to place less stress on the legs while walking. The pack itself fits many long-term provisions.
The SERE or Survival/Evasion/Resistance/Escape prompt is a simplified ruggedized titanium water-proof solar-powered e-book complete with back-light. It opens into two (halves similar to a traditional book) with a pico-jelly touch-screen display and simplified pico-jelly circular keys on one side allowing the user to write or keep a diary. Importantly, the device is mostly composed of specialised pico-jelly, needing only air, warmth and light to repair of smashed, ripped or broken.
The device can plug into the pilot-suit or interface wirelessly (pushing images or video onto the user's display when on the move, complete with audio prompt) and includes a large library of music, television, film and literature though it requires the pilot-suit in order to display complex video of any sort.
By default, the SERE always sits waiting with the last read page of the Survival/Evasion/Resistance/Escape guide.
The latest and greatest in food storage technology, the starter-kit resembles a chocolate bar, broken up into five distinct pastel colors, each with twenty cubes all held on a wafer of sorts - each with a given letter matched to color. To the touch, the bar is hard, very dry and surprisingly heavy, approaching “the density of lead” as some pilots describe it. The bar itselfhas a very sweet, salty and sickly smell and is not particularly appitizing when raw.
Those who eat it raw (or even try licking the bar) will immediately find themselves highly naucious and even vomiting, the tongue stinging intensely and the taste on one's palette overwhelming.
Each cube is in fact a meal.
If the instructions have been followed properly, the result should be a “loaf” which has expanded to fill the canteen of an edible foam with the texture and taste matched to user selection. Importantly, this loaf has an extremely high calorific content (2200 calories per cube) and as such is usually picked at through the day or several days rather than eaten all at once. Its contents are primarily protein, minerals and carbohydrates but it is low in sugars.
It is not uncommon to make several complimentary cubes, slice them up and store them in the included bags, eating small amounts of each as a meal. Many struggle to finish a single loaf in a single sitting, finding it very “heavy” (due to the appetite suppressive chemicals and the volume which expands in contact with stomach acid, making a physical sensation of fullness).
“As formerly stated, licking, eating or biting any part of the cube will induce vomiting - though with a delayed reaction. If eaten, the cube will absorb moisture while inside, causing severe chemical damage to the stomach, stomach-lining and digestive track, triggering vomiting, ongoing nausia, dizziness, stomach-pain and severe dehydration. If those around you are not to be trusted, use this to your advantage.”
A stainless steel tin with two compartments about the size of two large stacked candy-bars, the XNCB includes its own container, a hose and a flask (which by default is stored inside the box). Its purpose is to break down wood (which is pleantiful on many worlds) into edible components for user survival by using sustainable and cleverly engineered micillium which sit in a small finger-sized compartment at the root, dry-frozen until activated.
Use of the XNCB breaks down cellulose and lignin using cellulase into an edible bar of chewy monosacharides (simple sugars) which has a leather stretchy taffy-like texture with a faint alcoholic kick and a flavor of the wood it was made from as well as the excess micillium left behind. The lignin and more complex sugars become Ethanol, 2-methyl-2-butanol & y-hydroxylbutyric acid (VERY strong alcohol), which is drawn out into the flask. These alcohols can be used as anti-freeze, ignite and burn well for signals or can be watered down for use as preservatives in meat, as a potent antiseptic or even for drinking if watered down enough
The first micillium in the second smaller compartment remain and when their alcohol content hits a peak, return to their dormant state until water is added again. This process can be continued almost indefinitely.