Sharpening the DaggerCatriona 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