CAF Base Ilyria…
Lab Testing area…
Andy Shaffer and Steve Patrick were seated behind the reinforced glass wall. Representatives from the base’s maintenance workshop were also on hand. Brian Daniels, the AFV operator, was there as well. The scientists were about to demonstrate the base’s first of what was hoped to be many technical breakthroughs. Today, Shaffer was going to get his improved cannon. Just how improved, they were about to find out.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the demonstration facilitator began, “reviews of the intercepts of the alien craft, along with Mr. Shaffer’s report force us to accept the conclusion that the Raptor cannon is no longer sufficient to be deployed against the current threat.”
Patrick smiled a bit at that remark, and whispered to his wingman.
“’Current threat’, he said. Ever notice how these lab types seem to be out of touch with reality a bit?”
Shaffer smiled back and responded.
“They’re supposed to be. If they were satisfied with what was real and now, we wouldn’t have any improvements at all.”
Patrick’s face went blank a bit as he tried to digest Shaffer’s answer. The facilitator continued.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please observe the section of the alien craft recovered from the last mission. First, the current Raptor cannon…”
As the facilitator spoke, a cannon mounted on a dolly had been wheeled into place, aimed at the alien craft section. The testing room was cleared, and a lab technician sounded a warning horn three times. Then he fired the cannon.
The cannon whirred and fired at the section. It fired for 3 seconds, and 36 shells had been expended. The room was cleared, and the observers looked at the monitor above them. A camera zoomed onto the alien craft section, which had been dimpled by the cannon.
As they watched, the first cannon had been removed, and what looked like a variation of the same cannon was wheeled in. A second alien craft section was also placed in front of the first one. Shaffer looked at the new cannon as it was brought in.
“Only one barrel?”
The facilitator replied, “One will be sufficient, Mr. Shaffer. Everyone, would you again be seated?”
The lab technician sounded the same warning horn three times and fired the new cannon.
This time, only one shell was expended
The observers again looked at the monitor. This time, a fist-sized hole was punched through the section. As the section was moved away, the same fist-sized hole was in the section behind the first one.
Patrick whistled softly.
“Kind of like kicking the door down instead of knocking politely.”
The facilitator ignored Patrick and continued.
“We concluded the design of the cannon was fundamentally sound, so our efforts were to improve the shell. The shell weighs 2.32 times the weight of the CSX-100. We also have improved the charge explosive to allow the same muzzle velocity as the CSX-100. Unfortunately, with the added weight, we recommend reducing the ammunition load to 75% of the current amount. We believe this reduction will not be a significant factor on any mission success rate.”
Daniels asked about improving the AFV with the same type of cannon.
“Mr. Daniels, we have plans to do so once we have the necessary resources. Our next project, however, wil be an improvement to the current stimpak.”
January 30th…
CAF Base Ilyria…
Command Center…
The meeting had adjourned over an hour ago. The Security Council of Esperanza stipulated with the funding of the CAF that monthly updates be reviewed. This allowed any member state to increase their funding of the project. With the successful mission at the diamond mine at Syrtis Major, the state had approved an increase of 6.7% to the project. Ilyria, of course, was the primary beneficiary, and had approved a huge increase of over 25%.
Of course, there would be states that would not be as magnanimous. Alien incursions into their territory that were not successfully driven off or – worse – ignored by the CAF would result in a rethinking of whether continuing to resist the aliens was a good thing. Three such states were making their displeasure known with a reduction of funding.
Seathopia, for example had reduced their funding by the same 6.7% that Syrtris Major had increased theirs. Thermos had dropped funding by 8%, and Patria – who had been the most vocal of the opponents to the location of the base in Ilyria, had reduced their funding by almost 16%.
All in all, Smith thought as he reviewed the transcripts of the speeches each representative felt he or she had to make with their funding announcement, the results could have been worse. Two soldiers were in hospital, but they both would be returned for duty within a week. The base had lost no aircraft, had successfully responded and eliminated two alien invasions into Esperanzan territory, and had bodies of three different alien types to research. A new lab was close to being built, and improvements in their own technology were on the way, but to see the benefit of them, the CAF needed time. Just how much time they could count on was anybody’s guess. Smith knew they wouldn’t be able to detect, let alone respond to, every alien attack. He had to make the state leaders understand this was a long war. So far, he had been able to achieve this, but how long would the states trade lives and territory for time?
(Here is the summary screen for January)
