NationStates Jolt Archive

Reichgone Albert Lux sat at his desk. it was not overly large, nor was his office. he was near-absolute ruler of the entire Reich, but his office was no more interesting than that of any number of others in regular office buildings. better than a cubical, and little more.

of course, he Was the head of state and government in the Reich, and as a result the room did have additional... features. guards outside the door, for example.

another feature most offices in the Reich didn't share with this one, was the rather stunning young woman sitting across the desk from him, nor the high ranking RE man next to her.

"well" Lux began "tell me. how are things going?"

the entire conversation would be full of cryptic doublespeak, of course, conversations of this nature always were.

"Sire, the materials for hydra move as expected, slow downs here, rapid deliveries there, the occasional faulty part and so on. over all however, all proceeds to plan, and all tests runs are flawless."

"good, good. hopefully it will serve as well in the field. now, what of swordfish?"

"the initial weapons mounts caused unacceptable drag. this is being rectified. otherwise, things proceeds apace. we should be ready for tests within the month."

"excellent!. and leviathan?"

"the recoil was too powerful, which gave us some bother. we bolstered the absorption systems though, so that is dealt with. experiments have proven that it can run absolutely silent and dark.... no one need know it's there until it strikes. the range is impressive, the speed is unfortunately a little low in anything but ideal conditions, but we can't actually do anything about that. nature of the beast and all. two months until the first ship is ready to be launched."

"and after the first?"

"assuming no problems, the next four can follow within the month. five months later, another five can be ready. and another five after that. and another. estimates indicate the expense is too great for more than that to be viable except to replace any losses. "

"right. very good. Lady Pi, you may return to your work... there is an escort for you at the door."

"sire" Pi bowed and left.

"now, Zachius, tell me what you know."

"no real leaks, sire... rumors, rumors of rumors, nothing definite. hydra is putting enough murk in the water, it seems."

"good, good, but i want to see if i can push a little bit. Pi stated things perfectly. and i want you to spread it around.

silent ships, undetectable by normal means, weapons so powerful new systems had to be designed to stop them ripping the ship apart, able to run utterly dark and with very long range.

no mention of what type of ship, of course, nor where they're being built, but emphasis how quickly they can be constructed.. exaggerate... not 5 every five months or so, but one Every month. oh, i know, i know, the production facilities allow five to be built at once, but they can't be built any Faster.... doesn't stop it scaring the life out of anyone who takes this how i hope. "

"it shall be as you say. shall i attribute the weapons system to the hydra project?"

"may as well, it's as mythical as the rest of the deal. now get moving, i've got work to do. "

"sire" the man bowed, and left.

ooc: fortunately, i never date stamped that first post. I'll have to ask HT about time scale

IC:

a week later, Pi was going through the reports on the projects. Swordfish's drag problem had been well overcome, and the prototype was now very streamlined. the Hydroz Craft that would result would be fully functional in just a few days. the final trials would be as soon after that as could be arranged. now all that remained to be seen was if it would to the task it was designed for to the Reichgone's satisfaction.

Leviathan had hit some interesting snags along the way, though they'd been all worked out now, at least on paper. implementation was still underway of a few of the less significant things, and they were still experimenting with the concept of retracting it's weapons so as to disguise it's nature.

the third project, Hydra, was going as well as could be expected, considering it wasn't meant to do anything at all. it consisted mostly of shipping things from one place they weren't needed to another, and leaking unclear details from one actual project or another under the Hydra code name, further muddying the waters. the bulk of the factories and individuals making specialist components for both swordfish and leviathan were informed they were working on project hydra, while those making standard components were told they were for their normal uses.

only those actually working on the construction of the swordfish and leviathan knew any details, and even they didn't always know the fundamental principles, nor did those working on one know anything about the other, except Pi herself, and the RE project security chief, Zachius.

the world was in for something of a shock.

Albert Lux himself inspected the five completed Leviathan class airships.

painted dark colors, save for the emblem of their guardian spirits on the balloons and their names on their gondolas, even hidden in their hangers, they radiated an aura of menace.

the fronts of the gondolas were almost entirely made up of glass, in three dome shapes. the center, and largest, was for the pilot, helmsman, and other crew who needed visibility. the two to either side were for the gunners, and the 75mm artillery pieces peered out of their mountings menacingly. not much of the gun stuck out at all, in truth. most was housed within the airship so as to require minimal motion to retract and cover it, making the 'ship harder to identify, at least from a distance. it also meant that the gun lined up as nearly as possible with the ship it's self, and did not obscure the rather ... interesting... aiming system.

after some fiddling, the team working on these monstrosities and finally hit upon a method of gaging range and angles. the glass fronts were domes for reasons other than aerodynamics. they were marked in concentric circles, and radial lines at set angles, then subdivided by small dotted grid-lines. distance could be quickly judged by how many grid-lines covered the object in question, assuming the observer had a good eye for the size of things, and how far off "straight ahead" the target was could easily be told by the angel lines. the three domes on each 'ship were also aligned so that the gunner's reports on required angel changes could be implemented based on the main dome's own grid.

the guns themselves could depress or elevate up to 15 degrees, and had a traverse of 5 to either side. more, and the 'ship it's self had to move. there was simply no way to keep the recoil absorption systems in place and not destabilize the load balance of the craft were they to be moved any further independently.

no one was quite sure yet exactly how high the Leviathan class could fly, nor how far, but both were expected to be easily comparable to regular civilian use airships. further testing had been rendered impossible by the secret nature of the project. no one not involved in it would hear a word before their first use. the RES would see to that.

still... Lux eyed the deadly menace this hanger held, ultimately at his command. 'Leviathan, Ixion, Alexander, Shiva, Ifrit' he thought to himself
'these great beasts shall do something none other before has done. and they shall do it in the name of the Reich!'

aloud, he spoke to those around him "begin drawing suitable crews from the armed forces. the gunners from the artillery units, the handlers from the navy, the officers... mostly from the air force, i think. put the cover that it is for combined forces operations, to prevent, or at least limit, further debacles like those that have taken place in times past when the various arms of our forces have attempted to work together. "

the group around him was made up entirely of those who had worked on the project, with one notable, and noticeably baffled, exception.

"Air Marshal Mahkath! take this all in, for these great forces are yours to command!" Lux winked "we named them after the old deities for a reason, you know."

Mahkath was too busy being stunned by what he was seeing to make a coherent reply. taking note of this, Lux continued "there will be at least another three runs. as things stand, that's all we can afford, but things change quickly in this world, when they chose to change at all."

the Reichgone clapped his hands together suddenly, a loud sound in it's own right that then echoed around the hanger, startling it's human occupants
"regardless, Lady Pi will go over the theoretical tactical and strategic usage of these fine vessels of the sky, and the doctrine for their use, such as it is. all still subject to change, of course.

and now,i have appointments to keep, and must be off"

with that, he left the hanger, gathering up RES escorts along the way, and left the complex, headed back for the capital.

Pi read over the various reports. they confirmed things she had seen with her own eyes, and required nothing from her but her signature.

seven Swordfish class submarines completed, and the next five leviathans as well, though those had been a little behind schedule due to constant little tweaks and upgrades on every single 'ship produced.

none the less, the Bahamut, Diablos, Pandamona, Siren and Valefor were ready, and now shared a hanger in a separate part of the country from the older five. training had go as well as it could, when one could not conduct full exorcises for fear of losing secrecy.

the Swordfish were less problematic when it came to training and testing, though they caused far more problems in the production stages. failed seals, faulty weaponry, cracked lenses... the list of problems went on. all now, however, had been fixed. trials indicated that the lack of deck armament did nothing save allow the hydroz kraft to use less fuel to maintain the same speed. it was generally acknowledged, at least amongst those who saw the submarines as a good idea in the first place, that to be effective such a craft could not possibly follow normal prize rules anyway. a somewhat revised, and highly provisional, replacement set had been drawn up somewhere along the way, emphasizing the importance of target identification, kill confirmation, and informing those in the vicinity, After the fact, that the ship had been sunk by a hydroz kraft attack, and thus the attacker was not in a position to rescue crew. if friendlies were known to be in the area, they should be contacted first. failing that, neutral or hostile ships would do. the Swordfish could simply submerge and flee before they arrived.