Patrick Hentry Military Compound
General Jenning smiled as he begand typing. For decades since the One Day War, Allanea had no nuclear weaponry to speak of. Today would change that. He began typing.
Allanea’s first nuclear weapon, he thought, need not be a powerful city-shattering ballistic missile. And it would not be. It would be a small, compact, man-portable weapon – just like the Allaneans like.
To:Zeppelin Manufacturing Industries
From: Armed Forces of the United States of Allanea, General Albert Jenning
Classified Top Secret, Red Clearance
Subject: Purchase of the RDX-10
Dear Sir!
I would like to bring to your attentoin that the United States Congress has provided me with sufficient money to buy the production rights and, more importantly, design of the RDX-10 for research purposes. We intend to use the information for the development of our own, reusable equivalent. Please respond ASAP.
Zepplin Manufacturers
29-03-2005, 19:19
ZMI Central Receiving Dept, Level 349, The Ziggurat, Zone One, Megacity One, Earth
The Email blinked in the centre Carl Jamesons attention, a huge list of links to a massive wad of INT-SEC, Data Services, ZMDF and Department of Foreign Affairs reports, all topped of with a short authorisation memo from the gestalt.
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
Due to the fact that Allanea already has the scientific and technical capacity to create such weapons as the RDX-10 we find that there is no justifiable security or stability reason for us not to profit from this sale. While Allanea’s political and military decisions in the past have been questionable and have endangered security and stability of many areas selling them a device they all ready have the capacity to produce is creating no further threat. Sale Authorised.
Generated by the Gestalt @ 20:23
Jameson blinked then began to compose a standard reply.
[Streaming Quantum Encrypted Point to Point Broadcast]
To: Armed Forces of the United States of Allanea, General Albert Jenning
From: ZMI Sales
Re: Sales Enquiry RDX-10
Dear Sir
ZMI industries is pleased to have your interest in our product and even more pleased at your custom. Present per unit cost is 70 million rungs, present production licence cost is set at 1 Billion Rungs. You will find attached short movie of the RDX-10 in test use and partial test results from RDX-10 said test and banking details.
Attached:
RDX-10 Test Movie
RDX-10 Test Data
Banking Details
Jameson stared for a moment then checked over the attachments one by one, the test movie catching his eye.
The scene was a grimy abandoned mining town somewhere in the wastes. Grey dust was piled up against the sides of the shells of buildings, some patched up with new smooth plascrete, others pitted with holes, windows long ago blasted in. The view zoomed along a street filled with the rusted remains of ground cars stopping finally at a large metal and concrete cornubation of a bunker mock up.
Along the bottom of the view text spilled, describing construction methods of the various buildings, the bunkers makeup, atmospheric conditions, even solar activity and pollution count, which here in the wastes was a constant high.
The view then zooms to a heavy looking 6 wheeled transport beside a system of concrete walled trenches out in the grey dunes.
A group of four men in civilian survival suits exit the transport, one carrying a long grey metal case. In the trench a squad of Parashock Division troopers stand about, one idly brushing dust from his helmets optics. The sergeant salutes, and takes the case after placing his data key on a pad proffered by one o the civilians. The civilians retreat to the viechle while his squad takes up position. The sergeant is wearing a heavy gunners helmet a thick visor sliding down over his helmets standard optics. His squad take position in the trench as he stands on a firing ledge neatly opening the case and snapping a fire control cable from his helmet into the launcher. There is a simple trigger and pistol grip on the launchers grey unmarked body. The scene slows down and the sergeant in slow motion presses the trigger. The back blast is a brief white and yellow affair soon ignored as the camera pans to follow the projectiles flight. In one corner of the screen the Parashock squads sergeant is seen taking cover. The rocket hisses over the landscape, following its contours, blasting down the towns abandoned street and then slamming into the side of one of the bunker complexes central blocky structures.
The view slows. The view on the cameras near the town blanks out for a moment before their systems compensate for the over pressure, electromagnetic pulse, light, terrible heat and radiation. Two directly across from the bunker are caught in the star hot ball of energy now making its presence known, before the view speeds up, the bunker section the weapon struck has completely been engulfed in a white hot half sphere, near by structures are lifting out of the ground as its shockwave propagates, huge chunks of concrete and steel flung into the air. The near by buildings flash burn while some collapse as the overpressure wave hits. The implosion sucks in a mass of roofing material , rubble, and the remains of cars and the odd placed test dummy, most already on fire or scorched black, some missing limbs or huge chunks of torso. As the cameras views pan over them “death” symbols appear over each. The blast ends slowly, fires burning throughout the town, the bunker complex in its heart is a ruin, a 30 foot wide crater gouged out of it, most of the structures collapsed, or blown out as super pressurised material rushed through its corridors picking up blast doors as just more mass before slamming out through doors, fire ports, or in some cases roofs. The remains shattered by the shockwave, supports twisted by the effects of what would seem like a localised Richter 10 earthquake at least within the structure. Smoke rose. In the corner of the screen the firing crew 15 kilometres away barely had a few drifts of dust pass into their trench, the corner of the transport just viewable had not barely rocked on its suspension. 0.04 of a kiloton was seen as not a lot by many. In person it was more than enough.
Jameson shook his head, time stamped the message and sent it.