Powered Armor Torso Jacket

Here's a dorsal view of yinrih powered armor. The torso jacket is made of the same pseudosinew as the paw gauntlets. The helmet snaps magnetically onto the umbilical cable running along the spine. On either side of the spine near the shoulders are two drone capsules. The capsules act like the powerups from arcade scrolling shooters (I'm specifically thinking the force pod from R-Type), hovering near the operator and firing on command. They can also generate a retribution field around the wearer and any nearby friendlies.

Closer to the back legs are a micro fusion reactor, essentially a functional star lantern, as well as reserve tanks for water and O2.

The tail is covered in even more pseudosinew. It's used in close quarters combat along with retractable monomolecular claw blades built into the rear paw gauntlets. The most basic unarmed fighting style, used even by the tree-dwellers, is to rear up on the hind legs and attack with the front claws, which leaves the belly exposed. Powered armor addresses this strategy by allowing the wearer to shift his weight to the tail and thrust the rear feet forward with the claw blades extended to disembowel the attacker like a kangaroo kick.

And yes, Tod has a suit of powered armor, and yes, he brought it with him. Iris nearly tears him a new cloaca when she finds out, as it's considered sacrilege to bring weapons on a missionary journey. Tod points out (rather sensibly) that even assuming the local sophonts are friendly, there's no guarantee the wildlife is.

Why does a peacekeeper need this kind of powered armor? I don't know, military industrial complex I guess.

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Why do I keep accidentally posting these as separate threads lol