The Technology Throne

[Achkaerin]

Introducing the daily activity of Riviere Corporation, the world leading Research and Development firm. Follow the staff as they seek to keep the long tradition and legacy intact with a little bit of science, plenty of future planning and a lot of showing off thrown in.

Table of Contents

The Four Hundred Kilometre Challenge
Finding Four Hundred Kilometres
Sharpening The Dagger
The Art of Preparation

[Achkaerin]

The Four Hundred Kilometre Challenge

It was another long day in Foxton, another cold one too as the storm season got ready to settle in. Nicola Johannson the resident weapons geek stood in her lab it was this kind of meeting she hated, because it had a good news bad news vibe to it. She looked across to where her friend and her boss Catriona Rowan stood.
"Ok let's hear it Nicola." Catriona said
"As everyone knows we've been asked by the military, in particular the Imperial Navy to look at what's being termed the 'Zircon Problem'. For anyone who doesn't know this is in relation to Kaitaine's new missile, that they've just rolled out into service with their military. It goes at Mach five, it's elusive and it has a range of one thousand kilometres." Nicola said "To put it candidly it's one of the sexiest pieces of weapons development I've ever seen."
"Would you like us to buy you one for your next birthday?" Clark Franklin asked, this got a few chuckles, this was without question a serious matter but Riviere worked with a little bit of humor in its heart.

"Very funny." Nicola said "The problem is best summed up as what you can see on the screen there." she pointed a monitor that showed a ship outline and a red circle around it "That's a representation of the one thousand kilometre buffer zone every Kaitaine vessel now enjoys, because unless Kaitaine are stupid enough to broadcast which ships carry these things we have to assume they all do. To put it another way a Kaitaine vessel camped in the Matilda Channels armed with one of these things would be able to hit anywhere in the Channels, one in the Mhorish would have the northern coast of Ardia and the southern coast of Alba Karinya well within its range, and with no effective countermeasure system you see the scale of the tactical advantage this weapon permits. There is no shield against this so once we've dispensed with that theory we're left with only one - the sword."

"If you can't beat them join them." Catriona said "Sounds about right."
"Now we can't just go building a hypersonic from scratch." Nicola said "It would take many many years to do all the theory and then practical application, the design, the testing etc. Fortunately we have something of a head start." she brought up another image on the monitor "This is one of our Sienov's, it's a conventional cruise missile that travels at Mach three. We asked our Rokkenjiman Campus to do some early exploratory theory on developing a faster missile from this - what we term 'Heaven's Dagger', they looked more at the aerodynamics and stuff. Meanwhile I also asked Alex" she indicated Alex Minchin "To do the same. The good news is that he thinks it's possible to increase the speed of the Sienov, potentially doubling it by using a new fuel formula, which he's working on."

"So potentially faster than the Zircon?" Catriona asked
"Theoretically yes." Nicola said "Do you want the bad news?"
"Hit me." Catriona said
"The range would still be six hundred kilometres, which while not being bad for a first try come stepping stone still leaves the Zircon with not significant technical advantages but also a four kilometre range advantage." Alex said
"So we'd have a missile that would be great against anyone except Kaitaine on the sea because we can't get close enough?" Catriona asked
"Pretty much." Nicola said
"Then you'd better find me those four hundred kilometres Nicola." Catriona said
"Trust me I intend to." Nicola said

[Achkaerin]

Finding Four Hundred Kilometres

Nicola Johansson made what had to be her thirtieth cup of coffee, she'd been working for at least thirty six hours straight and it wasn't just her who'd been hitting the caffeine Clark Franklin the resident robotics genius had been as well.
"Let's go over it again." Nicola said
"We need a way to get a Heaven's Dagger four hundred kilometre's without getting detected before launching it." Clark said
"So if conventional air is out." Nicola said "What does that leave?"
"Sea and underwater." Clark said "Which is why I'm telling you the Resonance is the best bet. Modular payload bay for a variety of missiles. Fast enough to cover the distance. And it's an excellent hound."
"I guess." Nicola said "The alternative is the Dragonfly which is faster but I doubt could evade a Kaitaine vessel for the four hours it would take to cover the distance to firing range."
"It's nimble and got a good design." Clark said

"Progress?" Catriona Rowan the CEO of Riviere Corporation asked coming into the lab
"We're down to two the Dragonfly and the Resonance." Nicola said "In theory both can do the job but the Dragonfly would have nowhere to hide and you'd probably hear it coming before you saw it."
"Well I've never been one to put all my eggs in one basket." Catriona said "Status of both of them?"
"About to start testing." Nicola said "Both."
"Let's incorporate their tests into the upcoming exercises." Catriona said
"Ok." Nicola said "Let's see who the Air Force can find to fly this thing."

[Achkaerin]

Sharpening the Dagger

Catriona Rowan, Riviere Corporation's CEO walked into the weapons laboratory of the campus
"I thought the Dragonfly and Resonance were ideal launch platforms for Heaven's Dagger." she said, she was looking at where Riviere's weapons geek Nicola Johansson and robotics expert Clark Franklin were once again beavering away, working hard.
"The Resonance is." Clark said "The Dragonfly isn't. Too slow it can't cover the four hundred kilometres quick enough for an air attack to be practical, as such it's a sitting duck."
"Meanwhile the Resonance is small and difficult to pick up with the modular payload bay it has it can carry the weapon and get close enough to fire it without being detected...in theory." Nicola said
"In theory?" Catriona asked
"Well we have to wait to actually simulate this scenario before we can say in practice." Nicola said "The other possibility is the Normandy class."
"And what do we make of Rokkenjima's latest thing?" Catriona asked
"Unhelpful to say the least, it's unnecessarily provocative." Nicola said "Fact is we're months ahead of them on this and they know it so why bother putting Kaitaine on notice?"
"And we're not advertising that." Catriona said "So how does the Normandy class shape up for this?"

"It can do it." Nicola said "It's small and stealthy and with a little bit of work can fire missiles."
"So you're hoping that the stealthy possibilities of the Normandy class mean that it can get within six hundred kilometres of the target?" Catriona asked
"In theory it's possible." Clark said
"But there's only one way to find out." Nicola said "We need to simulate the scenario."
"So we need to simulate whether a Normandy Class can get to within six hundred kilometres of another ship without being detected." Catriona said "The Navy's going to love this."
"It doesn't matter how good the missile is if the launch platform is unworkable." Nicola said
"I'll pass that on." Catriona said
"However if this works then we have the means." Nicola said
"Which means we only need the weapon itself." Catriona said "How is that coming along?"
"Early application stages." Nicola said "It'll be competitive but we still lose those four hundred kilometres to Kaitaine."
"And we can't get those back?" Catriona asked
"We've been doing this since the week after Kaitaine first tested the Zircon." Nicola said "Priority is to match the speed, range will come later."
"Well as long as we don't have to explain the term stepping stones to the military we'll be fine." Catriona said "Did the Resonance perform well in its initial test?"
"Yes." Nicola said "But it was tested as a scout not as a predator."
"Then we should schedule a second test and see how it does." Catriona said
"Agreed." Nicola said

[Achkaerin]

The Art of Preparation

Just another day in Foxton at Riviere HQ, but this was a day that was seeing a rare occurrence, standing in reception was Edward McKinlay, the CEO of McKinlay Shipyards the biggest name in Achkaerinese ship building, he was waiting for his counterpart and here she came striding down the stairs and across the floor, Riviere's CEO Catriona Rowan
"Sorry to keep you waiting Edward." Catriona said
"It's fine." Edward said "Shall we talk out by the lake?"
"Lead on." Catriona said, the pair left the building and walked the relatively short distance to the shore of Foxton Lake "So are we talking the Sẹnaid Class and Musketeer Class?"
"How did you know I had those contracts?" Edward asked
"If I haven't got them chances are you have." Catriona said
"Do I need to hand over the specs or do you have some ideas?" Edward asked
"I read the same tender you did." Catriona said
"So what can you give me?" Edward asked

"Latest Riviere Operating System and SCION on both, Xiaoyu's Eye on both. Aurora on the Musketeer with the cyber and electronic warfare stuff." Catriona said
"Xiaoyu's Eye is passive radar right?" Edward asked
"Yep." Catriona said "We've been working on it for years."
"I assume there's retrofitting of this as well." Edward said
"One advantage of the SCION upgrade going on is that we don't have to advertise this." Catriona said "Just the timing really stinks with everything going on in the world right now."
"You'll get there." Edward said