Wrist-coms

In April 2013, when it emerged that the Boskonian threat was far more dangerous than had been previously assumed, Noah Scott and his old friend A.C. Peters got together and had an idle chat. One of the things that emerged was the fact that the Operation Great Justice fighters did not have a standardized field communications system. A.C. offered her help and Noah instantly agreed to 500 individual units and associated equipment.

June 1st saw the first delivery of the Mk I wrist-com system, which went down so well that a civilian wrist phone version was produced, as well as a far more capable Mk II 'Patrol Watch' version.

Mk I Wrist-com

The Mk I is essentially a wristwatch video communicator. It has two built-in cameras (one for the video communication link just above the screen, one facing out from the top of the watch to take pictures), a high-fidelity microphone, and about 4 GB of memory to allow it to record up to 3 hours of video with audio. It had a micro USB connector and micro SD card slot for expansion and backup. As it was intended for secure and covert operations, each came with a matched pair of wireless ear-buds that were powered by body heat and picked up speech from the vibration of the jawbone allowing the user to sub-vocalize, to speak without otherwise being heard. The casing is vacuum-proof and waterproof to 100 meters. The battery is good for a week before recharging.

The effective transmission range on the Mk I is 5 miles/8 km in atmospheric/terrestrial environments and 0.5 light seconds in space. It could auto-establish a relay network, and had the ability to act as a locater beacon allowing the teams equipped with them to know where their fellows were.

This first design had several noticeable quirks, in that its default operation language was Klingon, and it told the time in an obscure dot notation. This could be changed, but any external update of its data (new pictures and music for example) caused it to revert. Its most helpful quirk was the fact that it changed colour to be annoyingly noticeable to its user. This normally meant that while the point directly in the eye-view of its user could be an eye-catching reflective neon pink, the rest blended into the background.

The design proved very popular with those who used them, so much so that A.C. started work on a Mk II version within a week of first delivery.

The Wrist Phone

When People say the phrase 'Wrist-com', they probably mean one of these. In essence a 2012 3G smartphone shrunk to be a wristwatch, with far more secure Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability built in. The only added extra is a battery life of two weeks idle and 72 hours of talk time.

Mk II Wrist-com, a.k.a The Patrol Watch

The Patrol Watch, as the Mk II design became known, is standard issue for Space Patrol field personnel, Blue Blazers, and the various factions' Rapid Action Forces.

The Patrol Watch is a combination of the wrist phone and tactical radio with many additional functions over and above the Mk I. It has all the functionality of the following:

• A wrist phone with boosted range on the Wi-Fi
• A bio-monitor
• A GPS receiver
• An inertial compass
• A magnetic compass
• A homing beacon with a range of 5500 miles/8855 km or 6 light minutes in space
• A secure military radio with a range of 500 miles/805 Km or 5 light seconds in space
• A very short range scanner (5 meters max)
• A 'waved and hardened PDA (non-AI capable) with 10 TB of memory and Tactical Network functionality.

Power for the Patrol Watch comes from body movement, which feeds a battery with a power capacity of a month. The casing is hardened for vacuum and 200m/20 Atmospheres. The ear-buds have also been upgraded, and act as audio managers (damping loud sounds, amplifying quiet ones).

There are some additional quirks in that the voice recognition system requires about 3 hours of training to understand its user, then is always active. Depending on what is loaded into it, an idle question directed at no-one specifically (e.g. "What is wrong with these people?") may bring up the scanner function, a psychology text, or medical information. The watch is also possessive of its owner, and will growl, hiss, scream, and swear (it has an extensive vocabulary) if used by anybody but its owner (along with screaming on every communications band it can use). It also clings like a barnacle to its owner, making it very difficult for anyone but the owner to remove it. Finally, the Watch is a fitness fanatic, and will constantly prompt its owner with menu suggestions and point out exercise routines to make its owner fitter. To some embarrassment, it also prompts its owners on 'intimate' exercise. (No one's said anything about what happened when the advice was followed, so its effectiveness is up for debate.) Initial testing with the prototypes led to the range being boosted from 50 miles to 500 at the request of the Blue Blazers for Sat-com capability. The bulk for this was shifted to the wrist-band, which increases the weight and makes the band itself armoured.

Given demand, A.C. has licensed the Mk I design to the main factions, and Helios Holdings controls the license for her on the Wrist Phone design. However, A.C. tightly controls the Patrol Watch design, such that only herself, Stellvia, the Blue Blazers, and the Federation have the means to produce them. The Republic is still in negotiation for production rights, but doesn't have the secure production site capability A.C. demands.

A.C. also has an advanced custom version of the Patrol Watch she only allows specific people to have. Specific capabilities over the standard Patrol Watch are unknown.

Base Stations

Even with secure communications, if it can't get to the people who need it, it's worthless. A.C. supplies various modules for the Mk I series (as the Mk II and above have Wi-Fi and Cellular access built in) that plug into standard networks to allow the signals to be carried over existing lines of communication. She also has booster packs for the Mk I that magnify their range by ten times, but these are bulky and require direct connection.