CHAPTER 134: REPAIR AND REARM

Dominic made his way to the barracks where the Natural Sons were quartered, and knocked at the open door.

"Gentlemen, I have made time for some smithy duties today. I have my travel tools with me, if there isn’t one available, and I will get your rifles all tuned up to peak performance.

Start with the ones that are not operational, and I will get them working or swapped out. Then we can repair the ones that are mostly functional."

The soldiers cheered, and led Dominic out of the barracks to the "repair shop" which Dominic was quite certain was intended to be a farrier and sword sharpening shop in the past.

It was currently vacant, and disused long enough to gather a lot of dust in the corners, but the whole place was still well stocked.

"Where has everyone been getting gear fixed?" Dominic asked as he loaded the forge with coal.

"At the shop on the south side. It’s a bit of a trip, but it’s an Artificer’s shop, so they’re good with most things. The Weaponsmith in the Keep does the swords and armour." General Merlot explained.

"Alright. Bring over the broken ones, and I will see what it is going to take to fix them. I have a few spares already assembled. Though, I assume the Regiment has some spares as well. Though, those might all be broken by now." Dominic replied.

The General nodded. "We had a hundred spares when we started. I distributed the last of them this morning. Some of the rifles look easy to fix, but you’re the expert."

Dominic frowned. "Set them out along the wall and I will inspect them to see what needs to be fixed.

I won’t try to make them all perfect, just get as many as possible working properly.

But I do have one request.

There is no torch in here, and I don’t have one in my travel kit. Can you go to the shops in town and find someone to sell you one?

General, if you can give them a requisition order, that would be best. If not, I will give them money."

General Merlot nodded. "Of course. I have an officer for that. Give it thirty minutes and they will find you a torch."

Dominic started sorting through the rifles, and found that the most common issue was wear in the munitions press and lever. The design didn’t have any adjustability in it, and it had never occurred to him that it would need it.

But the hinge pin was wearing out, the steel of the trigger guard lever had divots worn in it, and the rounds weren’t being pressed properly.

So, the round wouldn’t load, and the rifle wouldn’t fire.

He hadn’t even finished sorting the rifles when the requisition officer came in with a magitech torch and an upset looking worker.

"I told you to buy one, not steal it from the steamsmith." Dominic joked.

"I am buying it. He’s an artificer, but he wouldn’t take a requisition for it. He wants thirty levels of Mana Core or equivalent in gold." The officer explained.

General Merlot nodded, and handed the man his payment.

The artificer looked terrified when he realized that half the regiment was inside this building, and not just a single officer, or an accountant. He had miscalculated his attempt to charge a premium price beyond what he would get back from a requisition order.

But now Dominic had what he needed, and he lit the torch to solder new parts on the worn bits so that the rifles would cycle again.

Dozens of hinge pins were hammered out and replaced, trigger guards were reshaped, munitions presses were adjusted to precisely match barrels, and within two hours, Dominic had fifty of the hundred spare rifles cycling flawlessly.

"Who has a sloppy rifle that is getting close to the ones that stopped loading? It’s the easiest issue for me to fix, so bring them to the front." Dominic instructed, giving up on his notions of just getting everyone’s rifle working.

Nearly everyone raised their weapon, and Dominic sighed.

"How many rounds do you think that you have put through each of these rifles? They do have a rebuild cycle, but it is possible that the cycle is not nearly long enough for the way that they actually get used," he asked.

The soldiers did rough math on their fingers. "I’d say about two thousand on airship defence duty, then another five hundred or so when we were hunting misdropped paratroopers, then how many for this? Twenty a minute, eight hours a day for two weeks? Then more when things got ugly?

A lot anyhow."

Dominic nodded. "Let’s call it another seventy-five hundred, for a nice round ten thousand rounds per rifle, on average. That’s not bad durability. At some point, even the triggers will be wearing out. I’ve checked the mechanisms, and they look good. But they’re also not under major strain."

Once those were finished, Dominic fixed or replaced over a hundred charging levers, and the Natural Sons were back to full capacity with fifty spare rifles in working order.

The last fifty were too badly damaged for a quick repair, so Dominic left them alone and cleaned up his workspace for dinner.

"Gentlemen, enjoy your refurbished rifles. I have a dinner appointment, and we are expecting orders from the Capital. If you need me, come look for me tomorrow. You know where I will be." He instructed.

General Merlot gave him a slap on the back so solid it nearly took Dominic off his feet.

"Great showing, Advisor. Now we’re ready to go again. We even restocked all our travel rations from the Dagos vehicles that we captured. Don’t worry, we poison tested and cleansed it all before storing it.

Every man in the unit has a munition creation core now as well. The Artificer who only takes cash was good enough to make them for us during the battle." The General explained.

Dominic smiled at the battle worn soldiers. "See, all things considered, it’s going better than expected."

Only when all things were considered, though. Because the Natural Sons didn’t number nearly as many men now as Dominic remembered them being when they left.