Life2.0 - a Broken Shackles Narrative

[CBR JGWRR]

I've been thinking over the Star Wars comments from earlier, and it's given me quite a few ideas. I've had an idea for a scene where Naomi, Buri, Rivkah and Thando are watching A New Hope together and teenage Rivkah decides she likes Chewbacca for example.

But mainly? Specifically this:

Xenayan Jedi.
​

And then it occurred that, well, Thando has already been to Earth by this point - he had friends to go find - and he could bring back a collection of comics to read.

Which then led to - among many ideas about what would happen if you had the technology to feasibly replicate most superhero powers - our Xenayan Jedi using Wolverine-style lightsaber claw extensions instead of conventional lightsabers. (why the heck not? Bar health regeneration, they already have most of his other powers already)

That whole idea is just too cool not to use.

And even better, if we think back to how ground combat works in Stellaris, back on page 4 I wrote a brief analysis of ground combat in Stellaris and the implications of trait interactions in the context of presumed technological sophistication. Which means Xenayan Wolverine-Jedi are among the most devastating infantry you can wield in Stellaris terms.

But, obviously I've got to timeskip a bit to get to that point. five to ten years or so.

We have kind of reached a safe point in the narrative; conflict is the engine of stories after all, and we're in for a few years of peaceful cooperation and development where a lot happens but none of it makes the history books, and frankly these characters do deserve some peace. They have been through a lot, and they've earned the right to relax and just enjoy life for a while, which means all I've really got to write is Rivkah's Interviews. And honestly, I'm not sure which characters would be good ones to do it with; the downside of a large cast of characters is it is tricky to give them all quality time, and as a result I opted to focus on Naomi's main colleagues.

Or I just take months fleshing everyone out, but that does cause long term issues; given that my estimate is liberating the region by 2400, we'll probably be dealing with five more generations after Rivkah. Which does make me want to tweak the game a bit and give them a massive tech boost so that they don't have to come back from quite so vast a power mismatch.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Renegade"
2184/05/10
Valerius Albanius​

I walk the factory for the last time; the leasehold closes tomorrow. It's cost me everything, all I own that's left is loaded on the biggest freighter I can get. There's this man, named Hortensus Dexcius. He leased a ship on a grand Asset Collection voyage all around the cluster, and he proclaimed that he was supposed to take a ten year trip and bring back millions of Assets. Contact was lost six years ago, and he's missed his final return deadline, three years late; a bunch of Shareholders who had futures investments in Indentured Asset Ownership have lost big on it.

And it sparked an idea.

I can't save all the Indentured Assets. Not even all the ones who work for me, I can't afford that. But I can save my Indentured Assets. I've spent the last year picking out the ones I can take with me, and I'm going to set out on a similar mission. A naval contact who owes me a favour has given me the coordinates where he last reported in, and I figure that it's worth a trip; I did some investigating, and these coordinates correspond to a Continental world that was previously only notable for a race of predatory Reptilian Pre-Sapients who were evaluated as too dangerous to provolve.

He would have had years to assemble a collection, and the chances are it was them who took him out; I spoke to the harbour master who sent him on his way, and he told me that he hired a personal Companionship Asset. So, I spoke to the sleaze on the docks, and he says that this Companionship Asset was a former high society Companionship Asset, who he got cheap because she couldn't afford clothes, which meant the parlour that leased her before him let her go after the clientele she grew up with moved on and stopped hiring her. Didn't give me a name as he never bothers to learn his Companionship Assets names, but I know those high society ones. I was given a few way back then. They are taken in as children, and as children they are used to teach us how to relate to slaves, and they grow up learning how to persuade you to get you to do what they want, so that when you grow up you see through the manipulation that comes from their desperation.

My take? The idiot probably never saw her revenge coming.

If they haven't survived, I'll keep looking for a place where we can be free.

But, if they have survived this long, it'll be because they're working together. My crew can stay with them; they'll have a better chance of surviving themselves if they join a larger group, and a freighter would be immensely helpful for a fledgling society.

The survivors will probably kill me - I'm an Olinbar Pacification Asset factory owner and all that.

I might be able to bargain for my life, but it's a risk I have to take - what matters most is it gives my crew a chance of survival and freedom.

I have to help them; there is no choice.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

So, the narrative:

I've decided to go for the "Stellaris gameplay as inspiration" approach, because honestly the game is getting less fun with every patch, and the last two expansions should have been ones I loved, that ended up being overshadowed by things that should never have passed QA. (primitives self-nuking in First Contact, the whole Leader Cap striking at the core of what I want to do in the game in Paragons...)

Valerius will take a few years to arrive. But, what he figures out, others figure out, and he'll be followed a few years later. This leads to other Minimar coming, and, to Thando hearing that his sister has the colony. After that, the colony strikes out to defend itself, and then seeks allies before ultimately launching Liberation Assets to make the region a safe one for pre-FTL civilisations. The timescale will not be to 2400 as originally estimated because I'm going to give our guys some help. I've decided I want to avoid going through five generations of characters; the final contemporary piece will be Rivkah taking her granddaughter out for her first hunt in a liberated galaxy, and then the very last (at least, in terms of a sequential chronology) piece will be an archaeological report by Rivi B'Uniti, several thousand years after the events of the narrative on the Xenayan homeworld, where our protagonist characters resettle to.

 

[Macavity116]

I've decided I want to avoid going through five generations of characters;

Having done this myself, I will not blame you in the slightest for nixing this particular idea.

The timescale will not be to 2400 as originally estimated because I'm going to give our guys some help. I've decided I want to avoid going through five generations of characters; the final contemporary piece will be Rivkah taking her granddaughter out for her first hunt in a liberated galaxy, and then the very last (at least, in terms of a sequential chronology) piece will be an archaeological report by Rivi B'Uniti, several thousand years after the events of the narrative on the Xenayan homeworld, where our protagonist characters resettle to.

Really eager to see how you execute this plan.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Rivkah's Diary
9th Sor-Gor, 6 (2184)
​

The ship - our first proper spaceship, built in space - comes into view. The survey data we found on the main computer included information on the other planets in the system, and Vorosh spent the first month after unlocking the computer going over the data, and she found something really good. The sublight engines on the shuttles are Deuterium-Helium reacting. Deuterium we can get; it's found in seawater. Not much, but enough that we can filter it out. But the Helium isn't the stuff that's normal Helium; normal Helium is the product of radioactive decay, whereas we need the non-radioactive decay originating version.

Thankfully, there is a relatively small gas giant inwards from Unity that has an atmosphere mostly composed of the Helium we want. We immediately started refuelling there - basically, we attach a massive scoop with a massive tank and fly at high speed into the atmosphere to scoop off the gases and then filter them once back in space - and Mum decided we need to develop a proper refinery.

Which means we need the ship that she's doing the final docking approach to now. There's a useful launch window coming up that can insert a ship with our rocket engines into orbit for low fuel and time cost. This one will head to the gas giant - we need to figure a proper name for it - and setup a bootstrap mining system, extract the Helium we need, then use a massive solar-powered coilgun to fire fuel canisters back to Unity.

Once that is working, we can refuel the shuttles with much less losses in propellant, and once we figure out how to build our own engines like them, supply our own ships with fuel, at which time the coilgun will basically become that world's first artillery.

It'll need a couple of years before we're importing anything, but once we are, we can use the shuttles to rapidly repeat the process of setting up similar mining operations elsewhere in the system. Mum says the general practice in the wider galaxy is to send massive Construction ships that go from location to location and build stuff there, but we can't do that yet.

It has sparked a lot of debate. We're nowhere near having the ships to actually start moving people off Unity. Rhizome Of Ebony has spent this time trying to salvage the hyperlane accessing propulsion system on the crashed ship, but she says the aborted self-destruct basically left it a melted pile of landfill; too radioactive to scrap even. She thinks we can salvage the control system, but none of the hardware is repairable.

There's a large amount of people who want to return to their homes, and because we now have astro-navigation charts, we theoretically can - Mum was hoping they would be able to take the crashed ship's drive. Shendredie has volunteered to lead the efforts to develop our own hyperlane accessing propulsion system. He's very busy now, he and his people have really gone for it; they've set up a whole new university and technology centre just to do research into physics and teach other people how to research physics.

---

Had to go do stuff.

It is exciting. For one, I get to spend much more time in space.

I like it. It makes you feel really strong when you throw stuff around that you couldn't even lift back on Unity. I like floating. Mum switches off the artificial gravity most of the time, she doesn't like artificial gravity, gives her a kind of motion sickness. There's probably a technical term for it.

She took me to a moon of the gas giant earlier, and we had fun in the low gravity, it was only a third of Unity's gravity. I could jump really high and really far, and fencing practice was really weird.

Fencing...

I worry about it. We have early warning systems now; Odoos wasn't allowed to place mines at the hyperplane breach points, but we do have radar satellites there. I used to worry MSI would just come in the night and capture me. Now I worry about the time that the siren goes off to report new contacts arriving.

No. I do not worry about them. Not until they are here. Then I eat them.

 

[Macavity116]

Even if the first ship is not capable of heavy-duty missions, it feels like things are going to snowball sometime soon. I think the contingent of people who want to leave Unity and go home will only push harder for making that objective happen.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Even if the first ship is not capable of heavy-duty missions, it feels like things are going to snowball sometime soon. I think the contingent of people who want to leave Unity and go home will only push harder for making that objective happen.

They do have a long way to go still, but there are definitely steps forward.

I'm not quite happy with the last diary entry though, feels too melancholy.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Contact"
16th Vorosh, 8 (2186)
Naomi Of Unity​

I wake in Buri's arms to the sound of the communicator calling. It's a nice clear night, so, I brace for the worst; if it wasn't bad, it would wait.

"Naomi here."

"Hyperlane tracking; we have a MSI vessel entered half an hour ago."

"On my way."

I turn to my sleeping husband and daughter. I clear my throat, loudly. "We have a problem."

Rivkah wakes first, then Buri. "What is it?"

"I'm driving."

Her eyes go wide.

---

It's a grim cloudy morning by the time we get to the command centre. Everyone is armed and armoured.

Vaki notices us first. "Arch-Imperatrix."

I nod to her. "Status report."

"All combat Assets are readying."

I turn to the main viewer. A hazy photograph looms large, with annotations added. Ykrett looks at me. "Your orders, Ma'am?"

"Have the general population been informed?"

"We have had an officer briefing the radio broadcasters since two hours ago."

I smile. "Thank you. Have they reported?"

"Not yet; they broadcast in twenty minutes." Ykrett points at the recording booth.

I'm proud of them, they've done exactly what I trained them to do. I look at each of them in turn. "No matter what happens, I love you all." I march to the booth.

---

"Welcome to the Colony News Service eight am broadcast. I'm your host Li Nakuma. It's a grey morning here at the Colony News Service, and we have with us on the line Naomi Of Unity."

"Morning."

"So, we were planning to launch our normal broadcast, but recent events have changed the plan. Naomi, would you explain?"

"Approximately eight hours ago, we received visual confirmation that an MSI vessel entered our star system. Our analysts have been working through the night on the data, and we believe that the vessel is a freighter. There are no escorting warships, nor is it operating under cloak. We estimate that the vessel will take three weeks to arrive here. I am officially invoking the self-defence protocol on a colony wide basis. All reservists should have received call-up notices, and anyone wishing to volunteer is welcome."

"Obviously, this is a really huge concern for everyone. How can a normal person ready themselves?"

"As said, various aspects indicate this is a freighter, which we believe will be on either on some trade route and ignore us, or be an Indentured Asset Collector. The latter is what we expect, and therefore the main threat is that they will attempt to take captives once they arrive. I have therefore authorised the issue of arms to the general public in the form of small arms for anti-infantry and anti-armour rifles for use against shuttle craft. In addition, we will be making EMP grenades available."

"How soon can people come collect?"

"Our weapons production has been ordered to total war readiness standards by the book, and I expect armament for everyone who wants a weapon within two weeks. We should then have a further week of training before they arrive. For those wishing to collect earlier, I would advise that our colony is composed of many races, and some of us are more physically dangerous than others. As firearms are a great equaliser, we are therefore prioritising equipping our less dangerous friends first in order to give them just as good a chance of defending themselves."

"What combat plans are being readied for engaging the enemy in space?"

"I'm afraid that due to the risk of enemy decryption of our broadcasts, I am not able to disclose that information."

"What encouragement would you offer the colony at this time?"

"No matter what happens, I love you all."

 

[Macavity116]

You know what this reminds me of? In Mass Effect 3, the Human military had a protocol for making first contact with new aliens. It consists of exactly two words: Assume hostility.

the main threat is that they will attempt to take captives once they arrive. I have therefore authorised the issue of arms to the general public in the form of small arms for anti-infantry and anti-armour rifles for use against shuttle craft.

I'm guessing the strategy here is to make the task of hostage-taking so difficult that the enemy would quit rather than run the risk of taking a serious hit.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

To be fair, they do know it is an MSI vessel. From their perspective, assume hostility is a valid premise.

In general, yes.

But don't forget this is all part of Naomi's schemes - she assumes the communication is being traced and translated.

What she reveals is encoded with what she wants an incoming MSI slave taking vessel to think - She wants to convey that if the MSI vessel rushes in, they can still catch them unprepared and still getting ready.

She wants her enemy to burn more fuel to arrive quicker, then have to burn even more fuel to slow down again and hopefully overextend, and to be thinking "we want to be taking people before they have guns to stop us" and therefore launching shuttles earlier than they otherwise would so that they can take the bait.

In practice, she's had years to turn the ring into a fortress, and everyone has had those weapons for years and they are already well-practiced in their usage, and, are trained to operate MSI shuttles.

Put simply, it's a trap.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Freedom"
2186/08/05
Valerius Albanius​

We've arrived in orbit above the continental world. We are at as high a stable orbit as possible; I don't want to risk unnerving them and sparking hostilities, as it is extremely unlikely that an MSI vessel will be welcomed.

I wish I had been able to get another race's ship, but, well, that was a non-starter. I have ordered the ship sabotaged however; hopefully, they will perceive the damage as caused in a rebellion. My Human crew have painted - in a very convincingly sloppy manner that conveys that it was a successful rebellion of Indentured Assets - "USS Freedom" on the side in one of their languages; I'm hoping that Humans will be among the downed vessel because their homeworld, Earth, was specifically selected for visiting by the Shareholders.

Their new homeworld?

It's beautiful; vast forests, searing deserts, open ice caps... This is a world where many races could live, ringed by a field of rocky asteroids. Settlements are steadily spreading across the planet, and sensors indicate that they are thriving. Off world development has begun within a maximum of eight years, which is highly impressive; less than two percent of colonies founded in rebellions achieve spaceflight again in less than ten years, according to corporate estimates.

I've got my crew working on building a radio transmitter so that we can communicate our intentions; our own communications are long past the radio stage, and it appears that either their transceiver is not used or too damaged to be used as our hails go unanswered.

I'm hopeful though.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Through Hope, To The Stars"
9th Qutrok, 8 (2186)
Buri Of Unity​

I hold Her hand as we fly out to the freighter. She looks at me, worry creasing Her face. I nuzzle Her.

Rivkah is High Queen, unless we return.

The initial images didn't show the damage. It looks like this freighter was like us, only they managed to keep limping. It came to a split vote, and Naomi had the deciding choice, and She chose diplomacy. After all these years with Her, I cannot bear the thought of Her going alone. It could be a trap - and if it is, a hundred atomic warheads will retaliate. Daas thought it was a trap.

I hope She is right. She flicks the controls to match orbits; we're aiming to have a look through their windows. They've opened a docking bay, but we want the assurance.

We start by looking in the Olinbar quarters; we haven't seen any of them yet.

Then we look at the bridge. They open the window armour plating to let us see in. This "USS Freedom" has a bridge crew with no Olinbar. She collapses with relief, and immediately radios home. "All limbs, stand down. We have confirmed contact with fellow rebels. Repeat - all limbs, stand down." She breathes. She cries. She dances. I join Her.

She does eventually remember to plot a course to dock.

We head in.

---

We open the airlock and step out into a surprisingly pristine hangar deck, given the condition of the outside. But there they are - half a dozen different species, including some Humans.

And one Olinbar.

"Welcome to the Freedom."

We look at each other. Search each other's eyes. I take Her fingers in my claws. She turns back. "We are Naomi and Buri, of Unity."

"Valerius Albanius. An Olinbar defector. I offer my ship as proof of sincerity."

We look at each other again. It's like I can see the synapses flashing in Her mind as She makes connections. She looks back at him. "Defector?"

He waves around the others. "My family owned a Pacification Asset factory. I liquidated it, bought this ship and as many of my Indentured Assets as I could, and then we set out to find you."

For the first time in ages, I see fear in my Wife's eyes. "Who followed you?"

"No one, as far as I know. And my sensors are far more sophisticated than yours." He looks at Naomi. "Were you the Companionship Asset?" She fingers Her pistol. He looks at his crew, and waves them either side of him. "I understand that my knowledge of your captor, Hortensus Dexcius, alarms you. Please, would you let me explain?"

Her hand leaves Her pistol. "I'm listening."

"To recap from the other side as it were, Dexcius was supposed to take a ten year trip touring the galaxy. He ended up returning early through mechanical failure that he attempted to hide from his backers in corporate, and set out again after purchasing you from one of the most rundown shipyards in corporate space. On the second outbound journey, he got to this world a year and a bit later, and contact was lost. He was supposed to return in Earth Reckoning 2183, and never did. I obtained the data that led me here, and we set out to come here early 2186, Earth reckoning; we were delayed, and we had to do more freighter stuff than planned."

"What do you want from us?"

"I bought these former Indentured Assets from corporate, so that I could set them free. I was never meant to end up running my family's subsidiary, and when I did, on one of my first days in the main factory complex, a Reptilian named Faragulek was injured in an industrial accident, and he killed himself because he couldn't afford medical treatment. I hated corporate ever since, and I chose to free as many Indentured Assets as I could. I figured that this world - if you were successful - would be the best place for them."

She softens. "I understand. Thank you."

"Could we descend to the surface?"

"Yes. We will let them know that you are coming."

I follow Her back inside the shuttle. "We've made friends."

"It's not them I'm worried about."

 

[Macavity116]

This is going to be a massive sea change for Unity. A world-shaker on the same scale as dead Austro-Hungarian archdukes.

 

[HistoryDude]

I'm really liking Rivkah's "eat the oppressors" vibe.

A person defecting from MSI will change a lot. I can't wait to see everyone's reactions.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Rivkah Interviews:
Valerius Albanius​

It isn't very often I actually do these for the Colony News Service. But this is different. "Today, I interview Valerius Albanius."

He smiles, stretching out in his chair. "I'm very grateful for the opportunity to explain more about myself."

"First off, I'm sure that you understand that your presence is a cause for fear in a large number of people here. In your own words, I would like you to explain for them why they shouldn't be afraid."

"I definitely understand those worries. It's like I told your mother aboard the Freedom. My background is that I was the spare heir to a Pacification Asset subsidiary of MSI. One day, my parents and older brother were killed in a shuttle accident that I have evidence to prove was sabotage by a rival subsidiary, not that it matters any more. I was left in charge of the subsidiary, and one of the first days I was at the factory complex, a Reptilian Indentured Asset named Faragulek suffered an industrial accident. He could have been treated easily, but because he could not afford the debt, he committed suicide. I saw corporate society for what it was then, and I decided that I would try to save and free as many Indentured Assets as I could. I spent the next few years putting things in place to get the Indentured Assets I could save aboard the Freedom."

"In other words, it cost everything it could cost you."

"Yes. I knew that there was a high possibility that coming here could even cost my life. But I also knew this place would be the best place for my crew."

"How did you know that?"

"The moment I knew in the definitely for sure sense was when we saw your probe monitoring the hyperlane breach point. Corporate estimates show rapid returns to space occur less than two percent of the time, and in all known cases through cooperation together among all the different races present. You guys specifically have achieved what is probably the best outcome known since records began."

"Thank you."

"Before that, I estimated that you would be the best place; if you achieved cooperation, then it would be ideal for my crew. If you didn't, we'd keep going."

"So, the next question that will be on the minds of listeners is the prospect of other ships coming here; you were friendly, but we are all familiar with the slave ships. Have you considered how your actions might endanger us, and what you can do to help?"

"Yes. For immediate help, I have surrendered the ship to you - I'm sure you can do a lot of good with the Freedom, and the technologies I brought with it. In the long-term, what you have achieved itself makes corporate fear getting involved; situations where Indentured Asset Collection vessels suffer successful revolts nearly always end disastrously, and corporate practice likes to make use of those scenarios. The downside is you present a threat to MSI, and therefore punitive response is more likely if they believe that they can get it done without reputation harm. What I proposed to your mother to do is not to hide, but to contact the interstellar community and make more people aware of your plight."

"Would they send a Flagship, or the navy?"

"My expectation would be a Flagship, not due to leave for a few more years yet. Corporate likes to let the situation deteriorate before sending rescue; ten to fifteen years from revolt succession is the usual timeframe."

"And how would you try to beat a Flagship?"

"The best option would be to avoid engagement through having allies. It's why I recommend reaching out. If you are determined to defeat it militarily, you need much more powerful weapons."

"How much firepower?"

"The last Flagship total loss was caused by the Lokra-Kitan, three years ago when they hacked the shields off a deployed Flagship, and detonated several hundred lithium deuteride based thermonuclear weapons in a simultaneous strike. While I hope a diplomatic solution can be found, I brought plans for such weapons with me, if you need them."

I look at Li. "We've got to get Odoos here."

 

[HistoryDude]

Well, isn't that convenient? Life 2.0 can now destroy MSI's ships...

I liked this insight into why Valerius defected from MSI. It makes him a lot more sympathetic and relatable.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Starry Night"
15th Qutrok, 8 (2186)
Naomi Of Unity​

Buri and I lay on our little precipice away from it all again, looking up at the night sky.

We're completely alone together. Which is what I want right now. My headaches are getting headaches. I just want to snuggle up in my Buri's fur.

While the solutions to our problems are so helpful, it's also thrown old issues back into play. Namely, how many of us want to be back home.

The Xenaya are the only race who are fully committed to staying with the colony, because of me, Buri, Rivkah and Vaki.

Odoos has been reduced to an opposition leader within the Lokra-Kitan following the revelation that they defeated a Flagship; probably would have been out completely if it wasn't for Valerius documenting the extortionate tribute MSI demanded as repayment.

This has put Monica in a tough position too, as her opposite number among the crew of the Freedom - Alexandra Whyte - is sizing her up. And her defining characteristic is that she's as ambitious as her namesake.

Shendredie is now one of the most colony supporting Thostrunaeans as he has decided that we are stronger together after all, and says that we must not take away the freighter until it is reverse-engineered. Ykrett was in shock for a good five minutes when he explained his change of perspective.

Tryykad has been able to use the Lokra-Kitan's victory to consolidate his position on leading the Kyaese into self-defence, which is helpful.

I used to count nine of twenty races who were mainly supporting the colony, but it's not that clearly defined any more. In some ways that's good as it means we're forming new cohesive social structures that move past racial differences, but in others it causes tensions as different members of the same family want different things.

I snuggle closer to my husband. He wraps me up tighter in his sleep, pulling me close the way only someone who can bench press half a ton can. I listen to his chest; a thump every two seconds. Here I am, first Human woman to be happily married to a Xenaya. And all around me division is setting in again.

Hopefully, I will sleep tonight.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Well, isn't that convenient? Life 2.0 can now destroy MSI's ships...

I liked this insight into why Valerius defected from MSI. It makes him a lot more sympathetic and relatable.

Destroying them is actually easier; construct stationary* artillery that turn solar power or nuclear power into relativistic velocity slugs - a one ton shell moving at a third of the speed of light would obliterate an enemy vessel. (and require the complete replacement of the rails, which gives a minimum reloading time in the region of ten seconds and trillion dollar plus material costs; a railgun tens of kilometres long is not a cheap consumable)

Or the same, but with lasers. (Most powerful present day lasers are in the 10^15W range, limited on the ability to spike power delivery that high, something that just means a lot of solar panels in space - hardest to develop, but most effective to scale up for planetary and system defences)

It would technically be feasible to ram a Flagship with a relativistic velocity missile too, just simpler to do the relativistic velocity gun.

Honestly, Stellaris REALLY underestimates the defensive options available even on present day weapons technologies. X or T slot defensive artillery weapons that deliver 10^19J to target could feasibly be built on 21st century technology, they'd just costs trillions of dollars to build and fire, which means that you wouldn't build them unless you were in our protagonists' position, or, had already developed the space industry to allow for such engineering.

Also, destroying the Flagship doesn't get them anywhere - they need to capture one. They need the power projection, and they need the equalised technology, especially weapons technologies.

* In the sense anything is stationary in space.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Firepower"
19th Qutrok, 8 (2186)
Naomi Of Unity​

It's been a long time since I last inspected the weapons laboratories. Half a dozen races are here, coming up with new ways of killing Olinbar. It's where we keep the psychopaths employed in useful activities, which does contribute to why I avoid coming. Honestly, if Geoffrey hadn't told me to come, I wouldn't, but he believes he has a concept that can be competitive with thermonuclear weapons, which is preferable.

He sees me. "Ah, Naomi! Come over here."

I approach to see an artists' render of an extremely long railgun barrel with a ship attached to it. "We've been working on refining the design for years now, and we believe that we have a realistic solution."

"What can it do?"

"The design is capable of sending a three gram projectile at ninety eight thousand kilometres per second. Need we say more?"

The numbers fly through my head, e equals mv squared over two... Fourteen and a half megajoules per pellet. Or, about the same as being hit by a car at over four hundred kilometres per hour. Ouch. "How many pellets? Armour penetration?"

"We're using ridiculously thin Osmium rods - like assembling them in space because they bend under planetary gravity type thin. We've got the reloading time down to almost sixty six milliseconds; it looks like a beam weapon in the simulations. We can use this both against capital ships and shuttlecraft, even as flak."

Fifteen rounds a second.... "How soon can we get them operational?"

"As said, the rods need to be produced in space, we just can't keep them from bending. And the mineral surveys indicated that barely trace levels of the Zirconium we need for the barrels and Hafnium for the capacitor are available on Unity, but there's deposits on some of the moons in the system. We'll need to make them off world."

"How could the enemy counter them?"

"Well, multilayer whipple shields would basically ignore these without concentrated fire. But we've been testing the slave ship's armour; it should shred them."

"How would they be affected by shields?"

He shrugs. "We don't really have the technology to test them against shields."

"What kind of ship could make them mobile?"

"We envision that a small agile ship is built around the weapon, and it repositions to aim."

"Are ships to mount them on designed?"

"No. We designed the weapon as a stationary mount first."

"How bad is the recoil?"

"The gun masses over three hundred tonnes."

"Point taken." I look at the design. There are advantages. For one, I don't have to authorise warships carrying thermonuclear warheads if we adopt these. But I'm a little worried. "What kind of range can we achieve?"

"The barrel being over a hundred metres long gives it immense precision; the simulations say we can hit a nought point one square metre target at thirty kilometres away."

I run the mathematics. Thirty kilometres to intercept a missile-sized target... That only gives a few seconds. Not so sure about them now. "And for larger warships?"

"Simulations say we can hit a four thousand square metre target at over eight hundred kilometres away."

If only I knew how that compared to Flagship bombardment weapons. Could be brilliant, could be useless, and I don't know. Hopefully Valerius would know. But do I trust him with this information? "I will do some checking to find out the range on MSI artillery, and if we've got the range, we'll put these into production."

He smiles deviously.

 

[HistoryDude]

Excellent! New weaponry.

Sadly, we also have to deal with politics. It looks like Naomi has her work cut out for her there. Who is Alexandra's namesake, anyway? Alexander the Great?