Jeff's ribs, like the rest of his skeleton, were artificially fortified. Completely coating the bones in metal was, obviously, impractical and would rob them of the ability to bend. But he'd found that plating one side gave it extra strength without impairing their functionality.
The tricky part was the surgery. He could do the legs himself, with the help of a very powerful local painkiller, but the chest would be awkward and the arms all but impossible, to say nothing of the skull. It took him weeks to perfect the Surgery Bots to the point where he would trust them with his body. The result was a skeleton that could survive getting hit with a piledriver without more than a few cracked ribs.
Despite all of his efforts, though, the bear hug Tony gave Jeff when he saw him still hurt like anything.
"It's so good to see you, buddy!" Tony roared loudly as he set Jeff down. "How the hell are you doing?"
"Oh, you know. The usual. Save some merchant's daughters here, get attacked by Starmen there. Nothing I can't handle. How about yourself? I stopped keeping tabs on your movement a while back; how have you guys been doing?"
"We're surviving. Keeping people out of the way of raids, giving them some back wherever we can. Of course we could do a lot more if you'd come back to us."
"Not happening, Tony. I don't want to sound defeatist, but we already lost. I can do more good helping the people than I can dying trying to vainly turn the tide."
Tony's face sobered somewhat, and his hand came up to stroke his thick beard. "Yeah, well. Someone's got to keep the fight going."
He cheered up again as they stepped into the base's bar. Tony ordered two beers, and set set one in front of Jeff.
"So, if you aren't here to re-enlist, what brings you to our fair base?" he asked as he pried the top off of his bottle. Jeff deliberately waited until he was in mid-swallow before answering.
"I need you to get me inside Tower One."
As expected, Tony spewed his drink all over the table. Jeff grinned as Tony wiped the drink off his face.
"This is a joke, right?" Tony asked as he wiped the last bit of beer off his chin.
"No joke, Tony. There's something in there that I need to get at, and you guys were able to get me in once before."
"Jeff...we got in there once, all right. We went in with twenty people, and left with two. You and me. And even that was a very near thing."
"I was there, Tony, I don't need a history lesson," Jeff said, waving one arm dismissively. "But I need to get in there again, and I figured you guys might be able to give me a hand."
"What the hell's in there that's so important?" Tony asked.
"Honestly? I have no idea."
He told Tony everything. About the mysterious intruder, about the visions, about his offer. As he spoke, the look of skepticism on Tony's face deepened and deepened, until it seemed to Jeff that the corners of Tony's mouth were going to fall off his face and onto the floor. When Jeff had finished, Tony asked to see the letter, and Jeff gladly passed it over.
"I don't get it," Tony said as he looked it over. "You won't join us because you think we have no hope, but you'll go get yourself killed on the word of a wierd guy and a hallucination? Why?"
"It's not like that, Tony. It's just that...you don't understand the Starmen. They are machines, with all that implies. They don't make mistakes, and if they do miscalculate they won't do it again. They're perfectly coordinated. And it's not like fighting a human occupation force, because they won't become decadent or corrupt or even get lazy. As soon as they've got more firepower than you do, they win. It's not possible to beat them. You guys are just too outgunned. Even if Ness and Paula were still with us, we couldn't do it. That train's long since left the station."
"And your solution is?" Tony asked, handing the letter back to Jeff, "Just give up? Bury your head in the sand and go chasing after pipedreams? What in the hell makes you think this Mahna fellow is on the level?"
"I don't know that he is," Jeff admitted as he put the letter back into the pocket of his coat, "but look at where his package is. Tower Fucking One. The most secure installation in the Starmen Empire-probably the whole damn world. If the Starmen had some sort of weapon that we could use to turn this war around, that's where it would be held. You don't have a chance fighting like this, but if there is something in that Tower, then all the odds change. We could win. Some chance is better than none, after all."
Tony thought on that for a while. "I can't give you any men, you know," he said, looking down at the table. "We're stretched out way too thin as it is, and they didn't do an awful lot of good last time anyways."
"I wasn't asking for men," Jeff replied, taking a drink of his beer. "I just need information. A way in, and a way out."
"Well, a way out might be tricky," Tony said as he considered it. "But I think we can get you a way in." They were interrupted by one of the soldiers stumbling drunkenly over to their table, glaring at Jeff.
"What the hell're you doin' here?"
"Go home, Strong, you're drunk." Tony ordered sternly.
"Filthy fuckin' deserter, I'da killed you myself if I'd been there."
"Stand down and go home, Strong. That's an order!"
"You've got a lot of fucking nerve to show your face around here, you pansy-ass son of a bit-"
He stopped short as a gun appeared in Jeff's hand, pointing under his chin.
"I'm just enjoying a beer with an old friend. Do you have some problem you'd like to discuss with us?" he asked cooly. Strong backed up quickly and fled the bar. Jeff returned the pistol to his belt.
"Now, I know you weren't wearing that piece when you walked in here," Tony said, leaning back. "Want to share?"
"It's actually pretty simple," Jeff said, pulling his coat open to show his gun belt. "The belt dimensionally compresses my guns, then decompresses and sends them flying out when I signal." Tony whistled softly.
"So, it shrinks them?"
"No, no...they're the same size. They just take up less space now."
There was a momentary pause in the conversation.
"That's as sensible an explanation for it as I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?" Tony asked.
"Pretty much."
"Alright, then, let's talk getting you into Tower One."