At the core of the powerpacks of the upcoming generation of powered exoskeletons are dusty plasma fission fragment reactors, in which nanoparticles of nuclear fuel inside a vacuum undergo a fission reaction, are ionized in the process of doing so, and are then "squeezed" from the reactor, like Satan's own, highly radioactive toothpaste, by a magnetic field. Although the resultant plasma jet was originally intended to be shot out as propellant to enable our deep-space missions, it turned out that aiming it into a magnetohydrodynamic generator lets its great heat and directional velocity be converted into enormous amounts of electricity for its size — a high specific power, that is.
Thanks to this high specific power, we project that it will be possible to mount true armor on this generation of exoskeletons, rendering their wearers resistant to all handheld weapons our adversaries are currently expected to field. As this system generates power via roughly the same principle as a conventional gas turbine — that is, a high-velocity gas stream whose kinetic energy is converted into mechanical or electrical power — it has been dubbed a "nuclear gas turbine".
However, some things must be known before we receive the mid-stage research grants required to produce a prototype. One such concern is sound. We are concerned about the auditory environment such a novel source of power may generate, both in terms of stealth and operator safety (for instance, do we need to include intercom-equipped earmuffs inside the helmet?)
What would such an energy source sound like? Would it hum? Would it scream? Would it rumble? Would it hiss? Would it pop its operator's eardrums like jujubes? Could it perhaps be a distinctive noise along the lines of a Katyusha rocket launcher or an MG42, something soldiers would recognize and fear by sound alone? For maximum "the VA has concluded your deafness is not service-related" vibes, could it potentially even be all of the above?
