NationStates Jolt Archive

Offices of the Arkhreif of Research and the Sciences, Nova Reio, Tsaraine

Kyne ralGhema knew the facts of the problem, as did the Grafiate of Army Development Researchers who'd sent him their report on it. What he didn't know was the solution, and as a man who believed in both facts and solutions, this made him upset.

It was a fact that the current generation of Armoured Combat Suits were about as heavy as they could get without geneering their wearers. It was a fact that despite that, they still didn't have enough armour to outperform the unarmoured troopers of any normal nation. It was a fact that their weaponry also fell short of the superiority Arkhreifane tsaKell wanted.

But the most irritating fact of all was that while the solution to the problem was obvious - powered armour, after all, had been a staple of science fiction for over two hundred years - the reality fell short, creating another problem behind the problem; Tsaraine was decades away from a workable electromechanical "muscle"*, and thus a workable powered armour suit.

Granted, there were some clumsy hydraulic, waldo-operated things used in construction, but on the field of battle? The thought was ludicrous.

What the Ascendancy needed was foreign expertise, the way the Ghost fighter had been developed by an international team, or the way the Marshall Islander minority had helped develop the Catfish-class transport supramines, or even the way the naval boys had helped get the Air Command's antimagcraft off the ground.

And of course there was a problem with that, too; Tsaraine had been holding it's secrets tight for over four hundred years of authoritarian collectivism, and the habit was so firmly ingrained into the Tsarainese research culture that it was nearly impossible to contemplate.

The Arkhora, however, had gone up through the military, from Air Command to Space Command before the Obsidian Event, and had no such reverence for secrecy. She had practically ordered Kyne to do it, which made the task no sweeter.

"We will have our solution," she'd said, "And we will have it in a timely fashion. We have good allies with good minds of their own - why should we not use them?"

So Arkhreif ralGhema must put aside his concerns, and write what was possibly the hardest letter of his life.


Message To: Heads of Research of the NDA Member Nations(OOC: whatever you lot call your Science Ministers or Black Project Heads or whoever this should be going to. You know best, and so would ralGhema, but I don't!)
Message Fr: Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema, Arkhreifiate of Research and the Sciences
Message Re: A collaborative effort

To my allied counterparts, greetings.

There comes a time when secrecy leads to stagnation, and from stagnation stems defeat. I fear very much that my own division of the Tsarainese machine may have reached that time - at least in one small field.

The Grafiate of Army Development, the subset of Research and the Sciences devoted to the improvement of the Ascendancy Ground Command, has hit a stumbling block beyond our ability to bring down. We seek to develop powered armour suits, but we find we lack the skill.

There are things that, alone, we lack the knowledge to do - but together, we may yet achieve them. I am aware that certain of your nations already use such technology in your militaries, and this entreaty extends not just to you but to all the NDA;

Please, assist us in this endeavour, and the fruits of our research may benefit us all.

I eagerly await your replies,

~ Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema
Arkhreifane of Research and the Sciences

"Hmm..."

TSMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: NDA Standard
Broadcast type: Diplomatic
To: Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema, Tsaraine
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Devon Treznor - Treznor

Curiously, my Minister of Science has had such a project in the wings for a little under a year. Looking over our latest resports, I see we've made some progress with miniature feedback sensor systems, allowing a wearer to get an imprecise feel for what they touch while wearing the glove. However, at this point they tell me they don't recommend picking up any eggs.

Progress has been slow, as our priorities have been focused elsewhere and there hasn't been as much funding for it. However, pooling resources sounds like an excellent way to bring it all together. I will instruct Doctor Alvarado to coordinate with you.

http://www.pwfc.org/images/gallery/smtorso3.jpg
Devon Treznor
Emperor
<end transmission>

I'll post for real, I promise!

Josef looked at the message from Tsaraine, idly tapping the corner of his desk for several minutes before thinking about the sound. "Thunk?" Gazing over at his left -- titanium -- arm he chuckled softly, sending out a brief note to the various NDA members.


Encryption: Standard NDA Protocol
To: NDA Various and Sundry
Fr: Dr. Josef Specter, Director of R&D
Re: Power Armor Suits

The original message was forwarded to me by Ambassador Drzka.

Yes, I do believe we can provide a bit of help with this project. As many of you may be aware, I have a cybernetic limb with full tactile capacity, meaning I can easily "pick up eggs", or pet my dog.

The technology used to create this limb isn't standard issue for the Hack, or even for GMC, as it has been highly modified several times over the years. However, I believe that the Federation would be more than able to assist in this project without violating any... confidentiality concerns. I will, of course, need to clear specifics with my counterpart from GMC, but I'm pretty sure I can persuade her.

I look forward to working with Tsaraine again, as out last venture turned out rather well for all parties involved.


- Dr. Josef Specter
Director of R&D
The Semi-Autonomous Technocratic Oligarchy of the Most Glorious Hack

Encrypt: NDA standard
Sender: Doctor Heinrich Grast
Recipient: Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema, Arkhreifiate of Research and the Sciences
Message Header: Response to message

My esteemed comrade,

Whilst Iraqstan has yet to fully dive into the concept of powered armour as a whole we have some working prototypes of Armoured Personal Units, or APUs for short, they have proved useful in certain areas of combat but as a whole remain ineffective.

Whilst the two designs differ greatly I would be more than happy to divert some of our research documents into the aspect of powered armour and sensory enhancements through armoured items. I look forward to working with you on such projects.

Sincearly,
Dr Heinrich Grast,
Head of Armoured research.

Alice slipped on her gloves, thankful R&D had finally sorted out the stiffness in the joints, and flicked her hand slightly, her work area shimmering into existence over her desk, several dozen different windows with a large and complex three-dimensional keyboard below, the whole thing a hologram. She flicked a couple of keys, sipping her paint-thinner coffee and smiling at the notification window, 'Power armour? Oh my...'

She called up a few 3-D projections of power armour and bipedal tank or frame proposals from the Army Special Projects Division, hovering them in the air in front of her work area and flicking each gently so it turned slowly like some sort of militant music box. She considered each, tapping a couple to bring up names of major project staff.

She sat back, sighing, 'Hrm...Bleakman, Starke...Morrison? No, she's just had a baby...' she paused, a hand near the Scimitar COM frame image, a rather well-built design with 'PROTOTYPE LOST' hanging in the air above it in red lettering, 'Of course, Ishikawa. She'll be perfect.' She tapped the blank window hovering next to the 3D images labelled 'Army Group Prometheus: No image available' and pondered whether the alloy technology could be released to the NDA. There were more than a few worries about the Prometheus project as it was, probably no good to disseminate the ability for other people to try to build one if it wasn't necessary.

She touched another window, which shimmered slightly, turning into the Federal flag with 'External Affairs' superimposed over it. A voice chimed in after a moment, 'Can I help you, Doctor Specter?'

Alice smiled, 'Can you put me through to Speaker Knight?' There was a short pause before the logo changed to Rachel sitting in her office, looking cheery as usual.

'Heya Alice. What can I do for you?'

Alice tapped a couple of keys to send the note on the power armour project, 'Can you make a statement regarding our interest in this? I'll get in touch with them, but provisionally we can offer a team with Doctor David Bleakman and Professors Shinobu Ishikawa and Rebecca Starke leading up.'

Rachel nodded, 'On it.' She grinned, 'I'm sure you owe me a meal for that, though.'

Alice smiled, 'Oh, that's ok.'

TO: NDA Various and Sundry
Re: Power armour project

The Federation would be happy to contribute our expertise in this field to the project, in particular regarding combat robotics and lightweight high-performance fuel cells, along with our interface technology. A team can be dispatched to work on the project, including three of our most gifted bipedal combat vehicle designers. We look forward to sharing in the results of our labours.

-Rachel Knight, Department of External Affairs, GMC Military Arms

Message To: Dr. Alvarado, Treznori Ministry of Science (c/o Emperor Treznor), the Empire of Treznor, Dr. Josef Specter, Director of R&D, the Semi-Autonomous Technocratic Oligarchy of The Most Glorious Hack, Dr. Heinrich Grast, Head of Armoured Research, the National Socialist Union of Iraqstan, Rachel Knight, Department of External Affairs, the Invincible People's Federation of GMC Military Arms (OOC: Any other NDA members who want to squeeze in will be considered to be in here too)
Message Fr: Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema, Arkhreifiate of Research and the Sciences
Message Re: Re: Power Armour Project

Firstly, please allow me to extend my most sincere thanks to all of you for your assistance in this matter.

To those of you who have contributed research documents to the project, I shall certainly reciprocate once we have some data of our own with which to do so.

To those of you who have offered to send your researchers, you I thank doubly; personal interaction, I believe, can still offer the best medium for exchange of concepts. Please arrive at the Scheighu Aerodrome whenever is convenient, and the Tsarainese maglev network shall take you to the Grafiate of Army Development laboratories in the Eyrie under the Skirré Mountains.

If it can be done discreetly, I would very much appreciate it if your infantry troopers could be polled regarding their requirements or wishes for such a suit; those who will use it, after all, should be our greatest advisors in what to make - we Researchers may between us be able to manage the how, but there are sayings about weapons designed by comittee...

My humble thanks,

~ Arkhreif Kyne ralGhema
Arkhreifiate of Research and the Sciences


OOC: OK, you can fast-forward to landing now if you want, or to arriving at the GAD labs if you really don't want to do a "the aeroplane comes in to land" post.

Grafiate of Army Development Labs, Tsaraine

While Dr. Anamaria Hirsch had arrived seperately from Tech Officer Blixa Cave, and Dr. Lidija Radic, they had all arrive at the labs at roughly the same time. Dr. Spectre had decided to stay home unless his presence was desperately needed, which he didn't think was terribly likely, as the trio he was sending would be more than able to hold their own. Besides, his own specialty tended more towards programming than robotics.

Dr. Hirsch was a materials engineer and metallurgist, she had been one of the scientists who helped bring Project: Nightmare into existance, a project name that always gave her the giggles, considering what it had spawned. She was of average height, with raven-black hair and the tell-tall red eyes of a natural born enhancile.

T.O. Cave felt more out of place than most everybody else, as he wasn't a PhD. carrying "propellor-head". He was just an army officer. Granted, he probably knew more out man-machine interface than anybody in the Hack's R&D department. Also, if they were designing a combat suit, it seemed a good idea to send someone who had just seen a war and was familiar with what would and wouldn't be needed. He was actually about the same height as Ana, which caused him no small amount of ribbing from his squad-mates. Luckily, he tended to outrank his squad-mates, which kept it to a minimum. He also looked like death warmed over at times; rumors were that he was a former heroin addict, but nobody had ever had the guts to ask; consequently, his green eyes tended to look a little bloodshot.

Dr. Radic was likely the most normal (for the Hack) of the Hack's team, and the only robotics specialist they had sent. She'd worked with GMC before, and lead a couple projects in the Hack, but never had a "break out" project, so while highly skilled, she'd never gotten the recognition she'd deserved, which was part of the reason Josef had selected her. She was taller than Ana or Blixa, and had cool blue eyes. She was also probably the biggest geek of the group.

Grafiate of Army Development Labs, The Eyrie, Tsaraine

Having managed to escape the piles of paperwork on his desk - burecracy generates paperwork, and Tsaraine runs on burecracy, so even a nominally paperless office seems to gather sheafs of the stuff - Esgraf Kri-Sahn ralGedh is on hand to greet the Hacker scientists.

"Welcome to the EISD!" he says cheerfully in heavily accented (but perfectly good) English. "I am Esgraf ralGedh - call me Kri-Sahn, please. I'm in charge of keeping this collaboration running well - follow me, please, and we shall go to the EISD laboratories!"

The various corridors of the GAD labs (themselves a subset of the Eyrie) are blindingly white, decorated here and there with a nice landscape painting or a flexscreen stuck to the wall. Various Tsarainese researchers, wearing coats as white as the walls, scurry past at intervals.

Finally they came to the EISD labs themselves, in the form of a heavy-looking blast door set back from the corridor, with a fairly complex glyph painted on it.

"Home sweet home," Kri-Sahn says, opening the door, "We have everything in here, really, so we shouldn't much have to go outside. I'll give you the half-Khoi tour."

First he leads them past the quarters - a long corridor with doors off both sides. The doors have small whiteboards set into them at eye level, and two-thirds or so have names and messages scrawled across them. "You can pick any one," Kri-Sahn says, "That doesn't already have someone's name on it, and put yours on, and that's your room until the end of the project here."

He opens one at random to reveal a small room - about three by four meters - with bed, shelves, and workdesk squeezed in. A door off that room leads to an even smaller bathroom.

"At the end of this corridor is the common lounge" - Kri-Sahn leads them into it - "Which is where we hang out when we've got nothing else to do, or when we're avoiding doing something we don't want to."

The handful of Researchers occupying it grin at that; some of them call hellos in English of varying qualities. The lounge itself features a wall-full of screens and a lot of good chairs, plus the things one finds in such places all over the planet; microwave, coffee maker, refridgerator, and a forest of mugs with various dregs in them.

"Off the side here we have the mess hall, which is where we eat, obviously. Breakfast is at seven, lunch at twelve, dinner at six, and the staff will fix you a bite to eat most times of the day or night if you ask nicely."

The mess hall is probably the biggest room in the EISD labs, capable of seating all the researchers and staff in the labs and then a good deal more.

"Up these stairs and we have the actual labs proper," Kri-Sahn says, shepherding the Hackers upwards like a cheerful little human sheepdog. "We only really need to concern ourselves with the Project Scarab labs, though - they're down this end. There's a pretty good fabber to make macroscale prototypes, but for microscale thingies we have to go off to the GACD labs - that's the Air Command - and beg use of their nanoforges."

The labs are a rambling sort of warren of computer suites, conference rooms, engineering shops, and the like. Here the usual orderliness of Tsarainese construction breaks down - given a set volume to utilise, the EISD has filled it haphazardly, adding new rooms on as needed with no actual overall plan as such.

"Well, that's everything I can show you," Kri-Sahn tells them, "And we're waiting on the other foreigners to start, you see, but I suppose the Researchers won't mind too much if you wander about - so long as you don't make a nuisance of yourselves, of course - and take a look around. Any questions?"

Professor Henry Forsythe adjusted the spectacles on his nose as he stared at the writing on the wall. He couldn't read it, of course, but he found it fascinating to observe the artistry of the letters, the meaning conveyed by the style of the font. Obviously, from the placement of the letters and the size of various lines, it was meant to say, "Top Secret. Classified work done here. If you don't have the required clearance, keep out or be shot."

He sniffed and adjusted his spectacles again. He trusted his credentials were in order, as he had no desire to be shot. He ran enough risk of that back home, just by making a careless observation that might be deemed too political.

In time, a guard approached and ushered him through the door. He looked with avid curiosity through the windows of the labs and clean rooms the corridor passed through. There was a lot of work being done here, and he was itching to get started.

Blixa nodded, adjusting the bag slung over his shoulder, "No... I don't think there's any yet. Once we actually get started is when the questions will factor in, I should think."

The Federal group was interesting, to say the least; while the small groups of technicians and hangers-on went to sort themselves out accommodation the three project heads remained with a group who seemed to be bodyguards or spooks.

There were nine of them, eight heavily built muscular men with short dark hair and sunglasses, each wearing a black suit and occasionally talking randomly into throat microphones. With them and apparently leading was a young, beautiful woman with long white hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a similar suit and introducing herself simply as 'Sofia.' She stood well over six feet tall, taller by far than the rest of the Federal group.

Of the group themselves, Professor Shinobu Ishikawa obviously stood out the most, the little black-and-white Neko glancing curiously around as she walked through the halls. She'd occasionally stop and flick the holo-PDA prototype she carried, quickly jotting down a few details and sliding the resulting note to a sub-window around the main one, a forest of such little notes already surrounding it.

David Bleakman would be noticed next, mostly because of the way he looked. Everything about him was measured and immaculate; even his moustache and goatee beard seemed to have been squared off with some kind of precision instrument. He wore a pair of steel-rimmed glasses, his dark brown hair clipped short. His voice, while not emotionless, was never raised above or lowered below a normal conversational tone at any time.

Lastly, simply because of her lack of obvious eccentricity, one would notice Rebecca Starke. She tended to go about her work quietly and seemed normal enough, if not a little shy. She occasionally flipped through her notebook as she walked through the halls, apparently deep in thought. Her short pale blue hair had a couple of small clips in it, and she had red eyes.

OOC: Now everyone that I know is attending is here, and given that I can't be bothered to give the half-Khoi tour more than once, I fast forward to the big shiny briefing. Unless of course someone wants to do something before that, in which case we can take advantage of the miracle that is fluid time.

Mess Hall, Esgrafiate of Infantry Development Labs, The Eyrie, Tsaraine

As the largest single room in the EISD labs, the mess hall did double duty as lecture theatre and meeting room; with the folding tables folded up against the walls, the chairs neatly arranged in rows, and a large flexscreen display tacked over the hole in the wall where food was served, it managed to look quite presentable.

Kri-Sahn ralGedh gave the assembled Researchers and foreigners a wide grin, and began to speak.

"Hello! You all surely know the basic facts, so I'll keep this as short as I'm able. The Ground Command wants powered armour combat suits, and around here the Ground Command usually gets what it wants. In this case, it means bringing in foreign expertise, which is why the scientists of our allies are present here.

"Tsarainese research data on electro-contractory cord, such as it is - artificial muscles, in the use that the Ground Command wants - is in the EISD filespace. Our allies, particularly the Semi-Autonomous Technocratic Oligarchy and the Invincible People's Federation, are apparently better at it than us. Their assistance is most appreciated.

"And so I present Doctors Anamaria Hirsch and Lidija Radic of the Oligarchy, as well as Tech Officer Blixa Cave of their armed forces; Professor Henry Forsythe of the Empire of Treznor; and Professors Shinobu Ishikawa and Rebecca Starke, as well as Doctor David Bleakman, of the People's Federation.

"With us from outside the GAD are Researcher Commandant Zreydt keiMaré of the Esgrafiate of Direct Neural Interface Development and his assistants, as well as Arkhesen Zvanrai keiTanist and her platoon, here to assist us in figuring out just what the Ground Command needs."

Kri-Sahn didn't mention Sofia and the other GMC spooks at all (although some of keiMaré's assistants might seem, to the discerning eye, to be rather more observant than assistants had any right to be, and a discerning mind might have extrapolated from that that they were in fact State Security Corps officers here to keep an eye on the foreigners).

"Well," Kri-Sahn continued, "That appears to be everything I have to cover, so questions are most welcome."

Forsythe sniffs loudly and adjusts his spectacles by way of introduction. "I'm unfortunately familiar with the infamous military mindset. As you say, what the Ground Command wants, the Ground Command gets. I presume the Powers That Be have a time frame in which they wish to see a working prototype? In spite of the unyielding truth that science cannot be rushed, the military always wishes to do so. What penalties can we expect if we fall behind their schedule?"

Kri-Sahn, like most Tsarainese Researchers, is rather confused by Forsythe's attitude; after all, a good deal of the AR&tS was a military research establishment, and the people on the military side of it didn't much speak to the people on the civil side of it. After all, a maser cannon has very little similarity with a microwave oven, even if they do both run on microwave radiation.

"Ah, well, as yet we don't actually have a deadline, Professor Forsythe," he replies, "Since we don't yet know what everybody has to contribute to the project. Once we know that we'll know what we have to do, and we can work out how long that should take from there."

Blixa smirked slightly at Forsythe's comment, wondering why the military was always the bad guy. They paid the bills, after all. Damn eggheads. Of course, he simply kept his mouth shut, as he was surrounded by said eggheads. He found himself wondering which was more uncomfortable: this room, or wondering when he would be shelled to death back at North Point.

Ana blushed softly as she was introduced, never having gotten used to being called "doctor", idly fingering the shiny, silvery ring on her left hand. She glanced at Lidija who smiled, standing up when she had a moment, her voice having a slight Russian accent, "Perhaps the best place to start would be figuring out how far you've come and seeing where to go from there, no?"

"That works, yes, although, as I said, what we've got as yet isn't all that much. Most of it is the work of Researcher Sevai tsaKhelat here."

TsaKhelat, when she stands up, turns out to be, as her name suggests, one of the Tsa; black-haired, black-eyed, pale-skinned (seeming even more pale against the white of her coat), and so tall she appears emaciated. Pretty, for all that, in the fine-boned patrician Tsa way.

With no perceptible physical actions - Sevai is one of those people who've recieved the fruits of Zreydt keiMaré's work - the big flexscreen on the wall lights up to display grainy video footage; a greyish metallic spaghetti-shape with a few wires running offscreen.

"This is one of the first examples I made of the latest model," she says. Her voice is clear and melodious; a good singing voice (not that Sevai would do something so undignified as singing), and her English is similarly lucid and precise. "Currently in it's collapsed state. As I apply power it becomes taut - you can see the current readout on the side of the footage."

The squiggle of cord does just that, stretching out to full length and off the screen.

"This five-millimeter cord can't move more than a kilogram or so, though - if I up the power, it burns out. I haven't yet managed a higher-diameter or higher-current variant yet, either, though I am working on it.

"Thus the current problem" (Sevai continues, blissfully unaware she's made a pun) "Is density; a "muscle" large enough to move any significant weight becomes too heavy to move itself."

Shinobu watched the demonstration carefully, flicking her PDA a couple of times as she coughed, 'Well, my field is Frames rather than infantry exos, so I'm used to having a much bigger internal area to work with than this project gives me.' She grins, 'I'm sorry, I must sound a little pessimistic.'

'Unfortunately, while the solution the Scimitar COM Frame uses would be perfect for this project it's still too highly classified to be offered openly, and since biomechanical systems using enhanced muscle tissue have problems with cramps when used for extended periods under high combat stresses, they're not really suitable either. We have done some work on synthetic electromechanical muscle fibres, though, though that would be more Doctor Bleakman's field than mine.'

Bleakman smiled slightly, and stood, brushing non-existent dust off his clothes, 'That would be correct.' He ran off an incredibly technical list of project reports seemingly from memory, noting several as 'promising' and offering to fetch the specifications of those if such was required.

Shinobu stood again afterwards, 'Regarding our specifications, um...' she checks her PDA, 'Obviously operation under harsh weather conditions is our top priority, specifically freezing fog and blizzards, with generally high tolerances for extreme cold, icing and so on. The Army sees these units as being deployed in either a shock infantry or unit heavy support carrier role; that is, a single exo within a unit carrying an outsize automatic or anti-tank gun to support the groundpounders.'

'I've been authorised to offer the Leia Hanson Army Base's new Advanced Testing Range for environment testing, along with the standard Army Special Projects Division test areas and so on. Is that ok?'

Forsythe peers at the display, then at the statuesque Sevai. "Without going over the numbers, it seems to me that your initial problem is too much perfection. Your muscle performs as designed, too perfectly. Have you attempted to alloy this fibre with superconducting material? We've received much benefit from joint research in superconductors with Der Angst. It may be possible that research may yield some benefit for you."

Sevai frowns a little at Forsythe's suggestion. "The required coolant system for superconducting materials would surely decrease the efficiency of the electrocontractory cord - the Greater Ascendancy does not possess room-temperature superconductors. I'm not aware if your Empire does, I'm sorry. If that's so, I'd be very interested in anything you could provide.

"Doctor Bleakman, your knowledge seems just what we're looking for; I should certainly like to go over that data with you later."

At a nod from Kri-Sahn, Sevai returns to her seat, and the EISD Esgraf takes center stage once more.

"I'll have to get authorisation from higher up," he told Shinobu, "but your offer of testing facilities in the People's Federation is likely to be accepted; after all, your weather is so much colder than ours! We were planning to have the AAC's GNWD - that's the Grafiate of Nuclear Weapons Deployment - irradiate a small area topside here for radiation testing.

"As for the design specifications, Arkhesen keiTanist can probably tell you better than I."

The woman who steps forward is as short and brown-skinned as the Sche'dayach, but very heavily muscled; she gives the impression of a dwarf in uniform.

"I think the Arkhreifane tsaKell has an idea of equipping every person of the infantry with these systems," Zvanrai began, "But likely the reality falls short. More realistic assessments place these systems, as you suggested, in a unit support role, though I think there may not be a way to incorporate both automatic and anti-tank weapons."

Her voice is deep and her accent is very heavy (OOC: I would have changed all that into Sekhel sentence structure, but I couldn't be bothered and it would have been hard to read), but the gist of her words gets across.

"That's right," interrupts a woman in Researcher whites, "The, the plans we have at present call for a pair of heavy automatic guns - one on each arm, tse kha? I suppose we could change that, but it would mean changing the ammunition systems as well, and dual systems might not work so well."

"Thankyou for your input, arSzianu," Kri-Sahn says. Someone else might have said it with sarcasm, but Kri-Sahn is still smiling, and seems to geniunely mean it. Researcher arSzianu blushes prettily, and sits back down.

Forsythe bristles and crosses his arms. "Well of course the Empire has room-temperature superconductors. Why do you think I brought it up? But for assisted strength armor and artificial muscles, you'll want better than that, won't you? It gets plenty more hot than room temperature in battle! That's why we've been collaborating with Der Angst. They helped us develop our current state of superconductor, and are helping us to improve on it. I've been integrating it into my own work, and I see it'll have profound applications.

"Now, do you have any other silly questions, or shall we get started? I'd like to see the science behind this gizmo of yours."

Shinobu blinked, 'Are you suggesting that we go with a system that has no grip armament and only direct weapon mounts?' she flicked through her PDA, 'Um, got a note here somewhere relating to that, ah, here...'

She read it quickly, then continued, 'ASPD has found that there are numerous advantages to a default grip armament with no fixed weapons, most notably a decrease in weight and therefore manoeuvrability of the unit itself, and a saving of wear on the arms by the removal of strain on them. The decrease has particularly noticeable effect on time between swapping out elbow and shoulder joints in field tests and simulations.'

She checked her PDA again quickly, 'ASPD's final recommendation was that the unit carry it's primary armament in both hands and that the primary weapon in question be similar in layout to an infantry heavy machine gun, with anti-tank and sniper weapons other possibilities. This has the added advantage that the armament is far more easily swapped out, meaning that problems with using anti-armour or heavy fullauto weapons are neatly avoided.' She pauses, 'Um...'

Bleakman stood, sighing slightly, 'What Professor Ishikawa is saying is that the external mounts are at very best an extravagance and at worst a burden that only wastes mass. A pair of heavy automatic weapons on an infantry platform aren't really necessary; for weight of fire a single rotary gun is perfectly adequate and easily within the unit's required lifting capabilities, and for practicality the standard machine-gun layout should be more than adequate outside exceptionally bizarre mission requirements. I only really see fixed arm mounts as necessary in an anti-aircraft role, and a modern man-portable tube-launched missile can perform that job more effectively than a double light antiaircraft gun anyway, and a tracked or wheeled platform could do the same job and carry more ammunition.' He pushed his glasses up with his forefinger, 'Realistically, grip armament is the correct option for any bipedal platform too small to be used in an artillery role.'

Shinobu nodded quickly, looking a little put out, 'Um, yes. There's also a few issues with pit traps and damage to fixed weapon mounts as opposed to grip arms, and some data about difference in arm traverse rates with and without fixed mounts. I've got the data here if you want it.'

Blixa nodded, not really bothering to stand, simply lifting his head slightly, "I'm going to have to agree with them. GMC's frames got beat around pretty severely on Grafton's, but I can't imagine them being anywhere near as useful as they were with fixed mounts. Fixed mounts also have the problem of potentially getting in the way when you're in a non-combat situation. While combat will be their primary roll, being able to easily drop the weapons and carry stuff is amazingly useful." He smiled thinly, "Remember, just because a unit performs well in simulations and field-tests doesn't mean it necessarily will be successful in actual combat. I realise that we aren't warmongers here, but..."

Kterris arSzianu stands back up without waiting for Kri-Sahn to indicate that she should. Respect for authority is a big thing in Tsarainese culture, but Kri-Sahn doesn't seem to mind; he continues to smile quite cheerfully as Kterris replies.

"Our designs do have gripping systems - hands, essentially - but the weapons mounts are located on the forearms. We believed that having "carried" weapons, like a scaled-up Armoured Combat Suit, would create problems with mobility of the arms - evidently you believe differently?

"In any case, with better, lighter systems we may be able to do away with that problem - although that's more Researcher tsaKhelat's area than mine."

Her voice turns somewhat frosty when she mentions the other Researcher, and tsaKhelat glowers darkly; there's some animosity there, obviously.

"We'll need to do some closer comparing of designs later, evidently - the People's Federation has more experience than us in bipedal systems design, after all."

Kterris doesn't seem fazed by the presence of the Neko - although a great majority of Tsaraine's population would be, she's met the few members of that species in the Marshall Islander expat research community. They tend to be rather fervent believers in Sound Governance - they'd immigrated to Tsaraine, after all - but good people, generally, fur or no.

Blixa nods, "I see your point, but I'm coming at this from a different angle than you folks. If seems to me that the fixed mount is more trouble than its worth. When you're getting shelled, every moment counts, and being able to drop-and-grab to switch armaments is going to be a Hell of a lot faster then mucking around with hardpoints." Shrugging slightly, he adds, "If it's a matter of design limitations, I can cope with that, but I don't think going with fixed points if grip is available is a good idea."

Lidija placed her hand on Blixa's shoulder, gently pushing him back into his seat, "We understand, Tech Officer, but it appears that at this point we don't know which we can do." She grins slightly, "Patience."

"Well, we'll have to discuss that, I guess; you have the advantage in experience, like I said."

Kterris seems stuck for words after that, and following an awquard (OOC: Za karkaradt! Messing about with elven languages has left me at a total loss on how to spell anything with a kw, ku, qu, or similar) silence, Kri-Sahn takes the helm again.

"Allright then! I guess we should break up into smaller groups now, so the specialists can start work in their respective fields. TsaKhelat will take charge of everyone on the physics side of things, and arSzianu can take charge of everything on the design side. Technical Officer Cave and the platoon of Arkhesen keiTanist can assist the design group."

Kri-Sahn would, perhaps, have made a very good school teacher in some parallel universe.

Cave looked up, trying to remember which was the Arkhesen keiTanist before wandering in the general direction that he was directed to go. He was still a little uneasy about being around all the scientists, but figuring they'd made something utterly unworkable without some real world experience. Drs. Radic and Hirsch followed along, talking quietly with each other, largely comparing notes on what Lidija was hoping to do, and Ana telling her about various stress and heat limits.

Ana spoke once they got into their groups, her voice soft and uncertain, she wasn't used to public speaking, "Ah... so... let's see what we've got..."