Chapter Ninety-Five: Research and Development
Kentares IV, April 19th, 3019
"Why a Timber Wolf? I asked Mackenzie. "I mean, I understand Omnitech, even if I think that there are better ways to get the functionality you need, but why that 'Mech specifically?"
"That is a 'mech I won all of my Trials of Position in." She told me. "No matter the configuration, it has done well in the purpose that it serves."
"Hmm." I thought out loud. "That is not an answer I expected." I told her bluntly.
"Why do you pilot a Warhammer?" Yvonne Hazen asked, the rest of Natasha's ex clan fireteam leaning in to hear the answer. "Would not a Marauderhave done the same job but better?"
"Maybe." I shrugged. "I even had a couple to pick from." I said bluntly, "But something about the Warhammer just clicks." I said after a moment of thought. "And with the upgrades that Natasha made to my typical Warhammer." I inhaled to yell across the room. "That she borrowed without asking again, even after I fixed her Marauder up nicely for her."
"Hey!" Came from the room that Natasha was in. "I brought it back intact this time!"
The six women just looked at me like I was someone who had lost all sanity.
"Why are you arguing with Kerensky?" Winson asked bluntly.
"Because I beat her in an Urbanmechonce." I raised my voice just loud enough for Natasha to hear in the room she was in.
"You let someone get a lucky DFA one time." Footsteps sounded ever closer, finally culminating in the door behind me opening up. "You wanna go hotshot?" Natasha asked from behind me. "I still want to put my new Nightstar through her paces."
"Bring it." I told her with a grin as I spun my chair around like a supervillian. "I can take you."
"As long as you have prep time." Natasha responded. "WIthout it, I find you a touch weak." Natasha poked my chest a little too hard and the cheap office chair I had spun around in tipped over with me in it.
"Should we leave the room?" Winson whispered to Hazen. "I feel like we should."
"Be silent." Hazen whispered back. "I want to see what happens."
April 23rd, 3019
"Jewel, can you give me an estimate on those refits?" I asked the Commodore.
"Two to three months Sir." She responded with a slight delay over the comms. "But after that, we'll have ten more Stings to put into action."
"That's good news Commodore." I told her after waiting to confirm that she didn't have any further information for me. "Send any updates through to Packer for now."
"Copy that sir. Jewel out." Our voice comms shut down, allowing me to jot something down in my notes before consulting to see what my next appointments were.
"Mary," I called out. "I seem to have misplaced the Taurian composition reports."
"No sir," She replied. "Ms. Calderon borrowed them a week ago, she's supposed to be bringing them back when she returns from Taurus."
"Did we make a second copy?" I asked. "Because I could have sworn we did."
"Yes sir," Mary sighed long sufferingly. "I'll bring them up to you in a few."
"You're a lifesaver Mary." I told my secretary. "Remind me to give you a raise."
"Sir, I don't need a raise." She told me as she entered the room. "You pay me too much as is."
"Mary, the reason I pay you so much is because I personally think that it's an appropriate amount to pay you for the work that you put into making sure that this office stays organized."
"But sir," She tried to protest. "I only work thirty hours a week."
"And that's all I need you to work Mary." I told her. "I only work five days a week after all."
"Mark." the five foot nothing women tried to make herself taller. "I Know for a fact that you work more than that."
"Two hours a day filing paperwork on the weekends is not work, Mary."
"Yes sir, it is." She protested. "I don't need a raise dammit, I need more work hours."
"Do you now?" I raised an eyebrow. "How do you feel about babysitting?"
"David's not so bad." She responded. "He seems to be perfectly calm for you, sure, I'll babysit for you and Natasha."
"We'll need you for this weekend." I told her. "Natasha and I have a training exercise with the Ducal Guard planned."
"I can handle that." She said proudly. "How hard could it be?"
April 30th, 3019
"I don't think Mary will volunteer to babysit again." I told Natasha.
"I think you may be right about that." She agreed and we closed the door on the massive mess that was David's room. The two of them were asleep, but it looked like they had been physically fighting, and we weren't quite sure who the winner was.
"Let's go check on the new SLC complex." I told Natasha.
"That sounds like a great idea." She agreed, "Let us go and do that."
Hours later…
"Hull, Natasha," Dr. Rogers greeted the two of us. "I was just about to call you actually."
"What's up?" I asked. "Something wrong?"
"No actually," Dr. Rogers said with a smile. "Something went very well actually, let me show you."
"You gave us the prototype communications device a couple of years ago." Dr. Rogers started her explanation. "And at first the fragility and sheer amount of miniaturization was a daunting prospect." She grinned. "But, we were finally able to duplicated it around six months ago using extremely precise machining, and using that development, were able to bridge the gap between the fragility of the smaller components, and the hardiness of our current technology."
"I present to you the new battlecomputer." Dr. Rogers showed us to a room field with small computers. "With these, we're going to be able to expand the communications rigs for all of our Mithril powered armor without sacrificing mobility like we have had to." She pointed at a much smaller comms device. "We are able to encrypt things wirelessly with some of that prototypes technology, and with a central tower, it will be almost impossible to jam, allowing unprecedented coordination between infantry and combat vehicle units."
"How were you able to miniaturize and maintain durability?" I asked curiously. "The reason I hadn't handed it over before was because it was a one of a kind prototype."
"We didn't miniaturize quite as far as the nanosolders that were on the main boards." She explained, and when used in conjunction with some of the known current conductors and semiconductors, we were able to retain much of the functionality."
"There's even limitless civilian applications as well." She picked up a device that looked identical to an Ipad. "We can use these devices much more easily than the current 'noteputers, and if we EMP harden and encrypt them, they can be used to help maintain inventories easier as well." Rogers dropped the ipad style device screen down for emphasis. "See, not a scratch, and it's operating system is much better than the current one that we use." She looked at me. "Thank you for having Rook help us out with that by the way."
"Not a problem, you should have heard some of the complaints that Rook and his technicians have about operating systems." I told her.
"Well, there should be no problems with that here." She smiled, "Rook was able to set up a programming code that could read all of the formats used by much of the Inner Sphere and Periphery and store data in those formats as well."
"I take it you're going to ask Sharpshooter to start manufacturing these?" I asked Rogers.
"Of course," She replied. "This is something that could be used by any number of learning centers across the Sphere, and it doesn't cost all that much to manufacture either."
"Alright doc, you sold me on it." I laughed a bit. "We'll manufacture them for donation purposes, for NAIS and SLC centers in the Outback for now, with the chance to expand them to other learning centers."
"That is all that I ask Hull." Rogers replied with a smile. "Now, is there something else you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes actually, I wanted to ask about building a plant to manufacture the Sarissa, and what could be done to make it a viable second line unit that retains modern technology." I started, and I saw her brain kick into high gear as ideas began to flow.