Title to be decided.

​(please note, the following is completely fictional, all persons are the figment of a slightly deranged hermit and in no way represent or are affiliated with persons living or dead.  This is a rough first draft and only a sample of what has been written. There are discrepancies that will be addressed if this actually goes to publication: feel free to point them out in comments.

I mentioned that I was wrestling with a muse; here she is for your consideration. )

This  is  Eric  Gonzales  with Breitbart  News  on an investigative  journey  into  Americas  Heartlands.   Its Christmas  here  in  Southeastern  KY, and  I am  interviewing  Joel  Gray,  a  local  here  that  was  involved in the  fighting  that  took place  after Knoxville  erupted in  the  rioting.   So, Joel, maybe  you  can  clarify  for the listeners  just  what  happened here  in  August  when things  went  rough.

 I sure  can,  them  nig,, black  folk in Knoxville  got  it  in  their  heads  that  they  could  come  up here  and steal all  our food.   What  with the  dollar  crashing and all  the  welfare  types  getting told  by  Donald to buck  up and  start  making their  own way,  them  coons,,,   Am  I allowed  to say  that?   Anyway,   They  figured we had  it  better than  them  so we  should share.    Not  a  chance  in hell  we  said, we  put  them  seeds  in  the ground and  believe  you  me,  the  ground around here  ain’t  all  that  forgiving  about  gettin’  dug up.   We grow  rocks  easier  than taters  or corn. 

So, you  had to  defend your lands  from  invasion so to speak?

 Damned  straight!   We  saw  what  them  fools  did  on the  way  up the  valley  below  the  Gap, and it  looked like  a  line  drawn by  a  tornado.  Everything was  trashed, houses  burning where  the  locals  fought  back and  lost.  Hell, we  saw  that,  thanks  to G  and his  crew,  and we  formed up right  quick.   Some  of arn people  only  had  daddy’s  shotgun, but  that  would be  enough for these  n,,    losers.   We  all  formed  up and headed to the  tunnel  in the  Gap and cut  ’em  off before  they  could figure  out  another  way  ’round.   That highwall  on the  border funneled  right  to the  Gap. 

You just  mentioned  someone,  G  I believe  it  was.    Who  is  he?

   ‘Fraid I can’t  answer that  one.   Already  said  too much.    Anything about  that  crew  you  want  to  know, ya gotta  talk to the  Sheriff in  town.

 Thank  you  for your  time  Joel, I am  sure  to look  up the  Sheriff here  shortly.    This  is  Eric  Gonzales  for Breitbart  news, Stay  tuned for more  to come  on this  interesting  story. 

G’s  Story.  Chapter one.

 “It  was  messed  up how  things  changed so drastically  in my  life.    Two tours  of Iraq and  Afghanistan, not  a  scratch.   Back in the  States  48 hours, BAM, lost  both my legs  just  above  the  knee  in a  stupid accident.   Full  medical  discharge  and on disability,  and losing my mind from  boredom.   Thank  God Tic-Tock lived upstairs  or I would have  lost  my  damned mind.   He  was  a  programmer  for some unknown company  and was  equally  bored out  of his  mind and, well,  maybe  he  felt  sorry  for me  or something, but  he  would  get  me  going on how  things  were.  Got  me  to questioning everything I had taken for granted  while  a  jarhead.   He  would  spend  a  few  hours  punching away  on his  computer upstairs  (he  worked  from  home,  lucky  putz)  then hear  me  squeaking  around in  my  chair,  grab a  couple of beers  and  come  down to  get  me  going again.   Man, those  conversations  really  got  me  fired up sometimes.   Especially  all  the  stuff about  “Limited Government”  and stuff,  But  the  damned thing of it was, no matter how  I argued, I could  NOT,  for the  life  of me,  get  it  out  of my head that  maybe  he  was right. I think  after  a  few  months  of that, my boredom, and a  growing  bank account;  I think  that  was  when I started bugging him  about  the  games.    That  was  what  really  got  all  of this  going, that  and  a combination of his  wanting  to ‘retire’  and  join the  militias  that  were  working the  border.    You have  to remember,  this  was  before  they  built  the  wall  and managed to  get  our immigration  under control.   T  had issues  with that  as  a  whole,  but  couldn’t  argue  against  my  “if you  lock your door when you  leave  your house, you  believe  in borders”  argument.   That  one  stumped  him.  But  he  wanted to  join the  militias because  he  was  bored.    Try  as  I might,  I couldn’t  show  him  the  downsides  of being out  in  the  suck, even  if that  one  was  more  a  security  op than a  combat  role.”

 (interviewer  interrupts  here)  “You mentioned  the  games,  what  do games  have  to do with  what  you  two have  been doing  recently?”

 “Yeah,  the  games.”   G  pauses  for a  minute,  a  look of whimsey  crosses  his  face. “I was  bored, I think I mentioned  that,  but  if not,  I was  bored,  bored bored bored, screaming at  the  walls  BORED.  I had played  every  first  person shooter game  on the  nets, and was  out  of my  mind  bored and frustrated because  they  made  me  miss  my  legs  that  much more.    I may  have  been on full  medical,  but  because the  accident  happened off base  and  off duty,  The  Marines,  VA  whoever,  was  not  going to cover prosthesis’  for me.   Yet  another great  “sucks  to be  me”  point  in my  life.   Anyway,  T  had some  old games  called  Mechwarrior.   Old 16 bit  FPV  games  where  you  pilot  a  giant  ‘robot’  armed  to the  teeth.   He showed them to me and  we  got  to getting into some  of those  drunken discussions  of how  to make  the game  more  real.    One  thing led  to another  and some  of my old hobbies  came  to  light,  and, well,  here we  are.    I can pilot  a  plane, real  time, and  FEEL  like  I am  in  that  plane,  including  the  rolls  and pitch, though  never the  G-forces.   Fortunately,  my  mind  makes  up for that, and  it  allows  me  to pull maneuvers  that  no pilot  could  in real  life,  limited  only  by  what  the  airframe  can  handle.   T  even managed to  develop  some  telemetry  that  sends  a  small  amount  of feedback to  me.    That  took some getting  used to  because  he  is  one  sick kinda  fella  and uses  pins  attached to  servos  to  let  me  know  I am pushing the  plane  too hard.”  

(interviewer  question)”  So, you  had  income  from  the  medical  and  disability,  I guess  that  paid for all  of this?  I have  seen  the  plane  you  fly,  that  could  not  have  been cheap.” 

“Hell  No, Damocles  wasn’t  cheap  at  all.    That  whole  air  frame  is  a  blend  of fiberglass  and Carbon fiber rods  that  make  up the  shell.   Some  of the  lower surfaces  are  spun aluminum.   And those  danged blowtorches  that  provide  thrust  were  worth  five  of the  airframes  together.    I won’t  even  get  into the servos, computers, radios, weapons  systems  or the  FPV  system.    That  all  took  a  lot  of time  to come together and  even more  money  and  the  only  people  that  did  the  work were  T  and I.   I got  real  good at moving  around fiberglass  while  in a  chair.” 

“Where  did  you  guys  learn all  of this  stuff? ” 

“The  internet  dummy.   If you  know  how  to use  a  search  string, are  willing  to wade  through the  90% bullshit, you  can  figure  out  how  to  make  anything.   We  did  have  to sub some  of the  stuff out, but  when it  came  to making the  custom  servos, computer control  system  that  interprets  my inputs  and provide feedback, heck,  even just  building  the  radio  system  so I can operate  out  of line  of site, all  information from  the  internet.    We  really  did not  ‘Re-invent  the  wheel’  as  T  likes  to  joke;  we  just  took a  bunch  of stuff and reorganized  it  into  something  that  Boeing charges  the  Government  billions  of dollars  for.”

 “So why  did you  choose  the  AT-10 for your model  plane?”

 “Brrrrt!” 

“Excuse  me?” 

“You  didn’t’  hear  me  wrong.  I said “Brrrrt”.   That’s  the  sound the  Warthog makes  when  it  does  a  close strafe  with that  monster  30mm  auto-cannon.    Any  ground troops  that  have  been in  the  thick of it  know and  love  that  sound.  I guess  you  could  say  that  I had a  soft  spot  for that  little  monster,  and to be  honest, with  the  flying  that  we  do, it  was  the  perfect  setup, though we  didn’t  exactly  get  a  full  auto-cannon  in the  thing,  and definitely  not  a  30  mike-mike.    I can’t  tell  you  too much  in detail,  as  there  are  a  couple of Government  agencies  that  are  wanting to talk to  me  and  T  directly,  and about  those  weapons  systems I mentioned.    All  I can tell  you  is  that  we  make  them  ourselves, and doing  so scares  the  bejeezus  out  of me  cause  I get  to see  what  they  do on the  ground.” 

“So how  do you  fly  Damocles?   Obviously  you  are  not  able  to see  what  the  plane  is  doing directly,  and you  mentioned  First  Person  View;  isn’t  that  rather restrictive  on what  you  can  see?” 

“Not  at  all.   My  cameras;  There  are  three  and a  fourth IR that  I have  to  switch  to manually,  are gimballed for 200 degrees  horizontal  and 120 degrees  vertical.  I have  a  pop-up window  with a  rear view  that  only  engages  if  I request  it   and all  of that  is  relayed  back to  my  helmet  which  is  actually  a Virtual  Reality  rig.   I look, the  cameras  track,  I see  three  dimensionally  in  my  helmet.   The  first  two cameras  are  my  3D  rig, the  third is  a  back up and is  not  3D, nor is  the  IR.   That  rig was  the  easiest  setup out  of the  whole  thing.   Now  as  for how  I fly  Damocles, I have  a  flight  chair,  also gimballed.  but  to  my inputs,  not  the  plane, and  any  pilot  could fly  that  plane.   The  controls  are  identical  to any  other plane out  there, the  only  differences  being,  no Indicators, those  are  all  projected  in the  hood  and there  is  a keyboard  on the  left  next  to the  throttle. Well,  there  is  one  part  of that  chair that  is  fed by  the  plane.    T  built  these  torsion  sensors  and embedded them  in  the  air  frame  at  key  points.    When I really  hit  that  Emmelman,  or barrel  roll  hard,  those daggum  things  poke  me  in the  thighs, letting  me  know  if I am  pushing too hard.   Its  probably  a  good thing,  but  danged  if they  don’t  make  me  jump.” 

“So you  guys  basically  took the  Military  Drone  scenario, tossed in  some  Virtual  reality,  and made  the milita  a  small  air  support  vehicle?” 

“Yup, Pretty  cool  ain’t  it?” 

“How  do you  manage  the  line  of site  issues?” 

“Now, that  is  really  more  T’s  lineup than  mine,  But  I can tell  you  we  do something quite  similar  to what the  military  uses  for their drones, just  on a  much smaller  scale  and  much closer  to the  ground.” 

“The  military  uses  satellite  transmissions, right?” 

“Yeah,  and thats  what  gave  us  our idea.    We  can’t  exactly  bounce  our signal  off a  satellite,  but  we  can fly  a  repeater at  4000′  and  get  about  30miles  range  no matter  what  kind of terrain we  are  in.   T  say  we can  go further,  but  I know  I start  picking up static  in  the  VR gear, so we  have  to  be  losing some  signal somewhere.    With  the  control  system, we  use  DSMX  transmitters, amplified of course, and  those  tend to  be  pretty  robust,  so He  may  be  right.   That  video is  the  key  point  to me  ’cause  if I can’t  see,  I can’t fly.”
More to come,  but you are going to have to be patient with me.

Note 2: everything mentioned so far is completely feasible and readily available with very little searching.  The weapons systems alluded to can be manufactured in a home workshop with readily available materials and some (extensive)knowledge of chemistry and machining/tooling processes.
Fiction the story may be, the reality is just waiting to be put together.