by Saxon Andrew
“You’re describing a weapon that would be fired directly in front of one of their charges?” Eddie asked.
“I am. They can be hit from above and the deflection angle disappears. However, I think they could dig their way out of aerial attack. And I don’t think frontal attacks can be avoided.”
“How fast would this projectile have to be traveling?” Tag asked Eddie.
Eddie turned to Bobby and nodded. Bobby sighed heavily, “I guess about twenty-thousand-miles-per-hour to be sure.”
Tag’s eyes bored into Bobby’s, “That more than fifty-miles-a-second!”
“I know!” Bobby replied.
Danielle lowered her eyes and smiled slightly, “To even consider that kind of speed, you must think there is a way to produce it?” Janie remarked.
Eddie glanced at Janie and replied, “A magnetic-rail-gun might do it.”
Janie snorted, “That’s not likely!”
Danielle turned to her, “Why not?”
“Because I assume this weapon would have to be carried by warriors using it.”
Danielle nodded, “They would. Why is that a problem?”
“To accelerate a projectile to that speed would require a barrel fifteen-feet-long and it would have to be thick enough to house the magnets. The barrel alone would weigh at least two-thousand-pounds.”
“What about using a small thruster on the projectile to help accelerate it?” Everyone turned to Eddie. “I mean, if the projectile is accelerated into the magnets with a thruster, it wouldn’t take as long a barrel, would it?” Janie stared at Eddie in silence and he smiled, “Go ahead and say it; I don’t have issues with being proven wrong.”
“For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. The thrust from the projectile would have the recoil of an elephant’s kick,” Janie responded. “Aiming the weapon would not be possible with the violent recoil.”
“What if the rear of the barrel is open for the thrust to escape behind it?” Tag inquired.
“The projectile wouldn’t accelerate as fast,” Janie answered.
Bobby’s face lit up, “No, but it would be possible. A higher thrust could be used to make up the difference.” He turned to Tag, “However, it would still weigh a lot.”
“What’s a lot?” Tag asked.
Eddie’s eyes closed slightly, and he looked at Janie, “Eight-foot on the barrel?”
Janie nodded, “Might do it?”
Bobbie thought for another moment and then said, “This is pretty much a guess, but probably between nine-hundred and eleven-hundred pounds.”
“There is another way to do this,” Janie said with her eyes narrowed.
“What is that?” Eddie asked.
“Use a projectile with more mass and you won’t need as much speed.”
Bobby shook his head, “There’s a point of diminishing returns on that.” Janie shrugged.
“Why did you suggest that, Janie?”
Janie turned to Eddie, “I was thinking that we used teleport systems to send ammunition to some of our warships centuries ago. I wonder if these guns could be fed using a teleport system to instantly replace the round fired.”
Bobby chuckled, “That’s why you were number one in our class. I didn’t even consider it.”
“How much would this round weigh?”
Janie turned to Tag, “To get the same impact force as the larger gun, it would weigh between one and two-hundred-pounds. However, the gun would not have to be as long, and its weight would be greatly reduced. However, either gun would be too heavy for use by our land forces.”
Tag smiled, “You might find it interesting to know that my red-armor can easily lift a ton.” Bobby and Janie stared at Tag and both of them blinked at the same moment.
Danielle smiled, “I’ve seen some of our warriors lift and fire missiles during combat that weighted at least a ton.”
Eddie looked at Bobby and Janie, “Gather what you need to start building a prototype of each weapon. You’ll do your work in the Nightmare’s lab during your free time.”
“What free time?” Janie asked.
Eddie smiled, “That’s time when we’re not directly involved in combat operations.”
Janie hit her head with her palm, “Oh! That free time!”
Danielle and Tag laughed with them and Tag sent a thought to Danielle. She nodded, and he turned to Eddie, “We’re going to delay our trip until they build a prototype.”
“Why?”
“Aren’t the OAs still attacking universes around that advanced civilization’s universe?”
“Yes, they are,” Eddie answered.
Tag smiled, “Then we need to check them out as well. You know, get the most out of the trip and everything.”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed, “Are you thinking about confronting some of these creatures?”
Tag looked around the lab, “Has anyone here been equipped with red-armor?” The room was silent, and Tag smiled, “By the process of elimination, Danielle and I are the ones to do it.”
“But…”
“We need to know, Eddie. We’ll plan it out and take the smallest risk possible, but it needs to be done.”
Danielle looked around and said, “Let us know when you’re ready,” just before they teleported out.
Eddie rolled his eyes and sighed, “Janie, you and Bobby will work on the prototypes in the Defense Facility’s labs. We’re not going anywhere until you either make this happen or tell the King and Queen it can’t be done. You might think about using highly-compressed dark matter projectiles for these guns and build a model that can be installed on the Nightmare.”
Janie sighed, “Yes, Sir.”
• • •
The OA looked at his row of monitors and blew out a puff of noxious gas through his skin. “What’s bothering you?”
The OA looked at the newly arrived Second Monitor and changed color, “I’m still bothered by a civilization that was eliminated by what we think is a disease.”
“What’s bothering you about it?”
“It happened too fast. Five-universes were depopulated in an extremely short time. It just doesn’t seem right.”
“Go and investigate,” the Second suggested.
“Every time I’ve sent a probe, the surviving universes launch colony ships and the population is reduced even more; that area is far below the critical threshold for invasion and I really don’t know if I missed anything in my first investigations.”
“Send me what you have.”
The First pressed a button and the Second turned its attention to the monitor it was sent. After a short time, the Second looked up, “I see what you mean. Do you think an advanced civilization did this?”
“I have no evidence one did.”
“And if you continue to investigate, the population will decrease even more.” The First acknowledged the Second’s question. “I don’t know if I’d send another probe.”
“Why is that?” the First asked.
“The controller of the invasion schedule recently removed two-monitors for doing exactly that.”
“What happened to them?”
“They were sent to the shipyards to construct ships. They were told if they couldn’t gather enough data with one-probe, they were in the wrong job.”
“I’ve sent more than three.”
“Better hope it doesn’t get noticed!” the Second replied. “The only good thing about this is you did it before I arrived; I should be safe.”
The First nodded and decided to keep close watch over this new Second’s communications. He wouldn’t put it past him to report it to get promoted to the First Position. He decided to leave it alone. If what the Second said was true about two monitors being demoted…it wasn’t worth it.
• • •
Janie was standing next to a large stand in the middle of a desert. She looked out across the desolate, dry, landscape and felt the heat rising from the morning sun. She saw two-dust-devils ru
shing across the dry sand a few-hundred-yards away. Suddenly, Tag and Danielle appeared beside the gun-stand. Danielle looked at the two-large-guns resting on the stand and looked up, “Alex, you are recording this, right.”
“Yes!”
Tag looked up, “What’s wrong with you?”
Danielle sighed, “He’s still miffed about not going with us.”
Tag’s mouth tightened, “ALEX…”
“I know, I know, it would give away our existence if I go! But I don’t have to like it! Who is going to protect you better than Grace and me? Would you be ok with sending us into a dangerous assignment without you being there?”
“If it was for the same reasons, I would. I wouldn’t like it either, but I’d know it had to be done.”
“And what happens to Grace and me, if both of you are killed?”
Tag sighed, “Both of you would have to be moved to a new ship.”
“That’s right! You are the only ones that are linked to this ship!”
“Alex, you and Grace self-destructed against the Yellow Formation without us. Why did you do it?”
“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”
“Answer the question; why did you do it?”
“It was the best way to possibly win the fight.”
“And this is the best way to possibly win this war, as well. I cherish what you did, and you need to cut Danielle and me some slack on this.”
“Both of us are worried, Tag.”
“I know, Grace, and we’ll do all we can to come out of this safely. But it must be done.”
“I’m recording, Tag.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
Janie listened to the Gardners arguing with their ship and shook her head. The Nightmare’s computer was nothing like the computers on the Alexander Kosiev. Maybe someday it would be, as it increased its experiences. Tag turned to her, “What have you set up here?”
Janie smiled, “We’ve chosen this planet because there isn’t any intelligent life on it. We’re in the middle of its largest desert and any deflections shouldn’t pose a problem.”
“Deflections?” Danielle asked.
“We’ve built some vehicles to mimic the shape of the OAs and we won’t know if these new weapons will function without being deflected. If they are, no harm will happen.”
Danielle looked out and scanned the desert with squinted eyes, “Where are the targets, Janie?”
“Buried, Your Majesty.”
“Buried?!” Tag responded. “Why did you do that?”
“We’ve seen how the OAs can dig at an incredible speed, and if Sprigly is right, and they evolved from an underground lifeform, they could dig under you to attack. We decided to make this trial as realistic as possible.”
Tag looked around, and asked, “Where is Captain Cor?” Tag inquired, as he turned his attention to the two-large-guns.
“He’s operating the vehicles remotely from orbit.”
“Tell me how these weapons function,” Danielle asked.
Janie pointed at one of the guns, “The larger of the two-guns uses an eight-foot-barrel and fires projectiles with relatively large thrusters; it weights a little over a thousand-pounds. The smaller gun uses a larger and heavier projectile and has a four-foot-long barrel. New rounds will be teleported in to it as it fires a round. It weighs about six-hundred-fifty-pounds with a round in the magazine.”
“Where is the teleporter?”
“It’s on the Nightmare in orbit.”
“That could prove to be a real issue if a space battle is being fought above the planet,” Tag said as he stared at the smaller gun.
Janie raised her right shoulder slightly, “That is true, Your, Majesty. However, the teleporter is made of compressed dark matter and uses dark energy to power it. It should be undetectable and can be dropped off the ship anywhere within a thousand miles of the planet where the gun is being used, if the ship was forced to flee.”
“Captain, Roberts, how will it know a round has been fired?”
“We used an Algean telepathy sender and receiver. The OAs don’t appear to be able to detect telepathy, so it should be undetectable.”
Tag looked at the circular magazine on the large gun and asked, “How many rounds does the larger gun have?”
“They’re a lot smaller and the magazine holds eight-hundred.”
“Again, that could cause an issue in heavy fighting.”
Janie shrugged, “We’re working on a teleport system for the magazine, but we’re not there yet.”
Tag turned to Danielle, “I’ll take the larger gun.”
“Why? My armor can handle as much weight as yours.”
“It’s a mass issue, Love. My gyro-stabilizers are larger and more powerful than your armor; it comes from being larger.”
“What if we find that the smaller gun doesn’t work?”
Tag smiled, “Then all the female warriors will have to modify their armor to handle the heavier weapon.” Tag turned to Janie, “Help us get these fired up.”
Janie watched the King and Queen activate their armor and saw Tag lift the large gun with one arm. “Boy! I wish I had armor like that.”
“Ask Admiral Taylor to send a requisition for his crew to be fitted.” Janie’s eyes narrowed, and her head tilted, as Danielle added, “You need to understand that if you’re fitted, it will remain with you for the rest of your life. It can be modified but it can’t be removed.”
Janie nodded, “I’ll ask him about it.” She turned to Tag, “The cutout notch in the rear of the gun is put over your shoulder. The exhaust from the thruster will fire back over you, as long as your shoulder remains in that notch.”
“So, shooting from the hip is not an option?”
“I wouldn’t recommend it, Your, Majesty.”
“I assume the notch in the smaller gun also goes over the shoulder, as well?” Danielle stated.
“Yes, it does, Your Majesty,” Janie answered. Tag put the notch on his shoulder and gripped the stock with both hands. His right hand fell naturally on the gun’s trigger housing. Janie began giving instructions, “The red slide switch directly above your trigger finger arms the gun and the blue slide on the stock in front of your right hand activates the teleportation system. If you want to stop firing, you can turn off either switch. However, if there is a round still in the chamber, it can only be stopped by deactivating the gun. At the moment, your gun is not connected to a teleport system, so the teleport switch is inactive.” Janie turned to Danielle, “Your system operates the same, however, your teleport switch is active.”
Tag looked through the aiming system and said, “Do you mind if I take a shot before we start this?”
“Go ahead.”
Tag lifted the gun and stared at the mountains in the distance. His armor’s tactical software sent a number to the top-center of his faceplate telling him the mountain was fifteen-miles away. He aimed at the peak of the mountain and the gun changed barrel position in the stock. He lifted his head and asked, “Did the barrel just change position?”
Janie nodded, “Yes, it automatically aligns with the target you’ve selected in the sights.”
Tag put his eye back to the gun and aimed again. He slid the activate switch to on and pulled the trigger. Something instantly left the barrel, with a huge boom, and Tag felt a hard press on his right shoulder. An instant later, the top of the distant mountain exploded.” Tag shut the gun off and turned to Janie, who had on sound deadening headphones, “I didn’t think there were any explosives in these rounds?”
“There aren’t. That explosion was caused strictly by the kinetic energy of the round.”
Danielle watched Tag and then raised her gun, aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Tag smiled, “You have to turn it on, my Love.” Danielle rolled her eyes and activated the gun’s switches. She aimed carefully and pulled the trigger. She almost lost her balance but managed to keep her feet under her.
“You have t
o use your legs to brace you, Your Majesty.”
The explosion on the mountain happened before Janie spoke. Danielle turned the gun off and said, “I felt the round teleport in.”
Janie smiled, “It weighs over a hundred-pounds. You will feel it when it arrives.”
“That round weighs more than I do,” Danielle commented.
Tag chuckled, “Well praise the heavens for your armor, Danielle.” He turned to Janie, “I think we’re ready to do this.”
“What’s the danger of us hitting each other if we’re being forced to run,” Danielle asked.
“Your Majesty, the weapon’s software will not fire if it detects the frequency of Realm armor in the line of fire.”
Tag raised an eyebrow, “Boy! You’ve put a lot of work into this.”
Janie smiled, “What do you think would happen to us if either of you are injured using these new weapons? I’m teleporting up to the Nightmare and watch what happens from there.”
Danielle’s forehead creased, “That’s an excellent idea!”
Tag glanced at Danielle, “Lock and load. Stay either beside or behind me. If we need help from the other, send a thought.” Danielle nodded and heard her gun issue a small, whine as she activated it.
Danielle turned and looked behind them, as she said, “Calling these things guns doesn’t sound right.”
Tag moved his eyes over the ground in front of them and nodded, “I agree. What would you suggest?”
Danielle chuckled, “Big mama and big poppa.”
Tag laughed and saw twenty-large circular shaped vehicles emerge out of the sand a hundred and fifty-yards in front of him. He started to call for Danielle’s help but heard her shout, “I’ve got twenty-bogies moving in behind us!” as she started firing.
Chapter Seventeen
Tag braced his legs, swept the barrel out toward the fast-moving vehicles, and discovered whenever a target moved into the targeting system, the gun would lock on it. He opened fire and the barrel released its lock, as he swept the barrel across the line of approaching targets. He didn’t have to aim, he just had to pull the trigger and keep the barrel moving. The vehicles were the shape of an OA and he was firing on a downward trajectory toward them. In what seemed like an instant, all forty-vehicles were blown apart and flipped over. Tag swept the gun across the terrain in front of him and suddenly saw three-vehicles come out of the sand less than ten feet in front of him. He swept the barrel across and rapidly pulled the trigger three times. The vehicles flipped over and flew away from them in crashing rolls. Tag felt small fragments hitting his armor.