The Sereni-Tree and the Neverending Peril
POSTED BY: TheRealMe
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 03:53
VIEWED: 26649
PAGE 11 of 19
hangar bay of the Tree: SR with the help of Snarky assembles several low tech catapaults. He then creates a whole assortment of prototype projectiles, suitable all sorts of applications: laser guided missles with engines that remotely trigger, tracer beacons, remote detonation mines, EMP delivery systems, armor pierceing high explosive warheads, harpoons with grappling cables, chaff dispersers for electronic counter measures, crybabies that will stick to what ever they are shot at including another ship. All of these launchable from catapaults.
SR then sends a V-mail to TRM.
"I have some of those armaments I promised you in the shuttle bay. When you have time come and have a look see."
SR and Snarky then haul the rest of his goodies down to engineering and begin vodka production. Once the still is up and running SR sets about making his quarters his own.
Scorpion Regent
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the giant banana? are you hallucinating?
*grabs LMD and makes for the pilots seat.
Well, we seem to be doing all right. Maybe theres an autopilot...
*the helicoptor begins to take a nose dive
"Oh god, oh were all gonna die!"
Mai, Secretary of Unmentionables.
http://iammai2.livejournal.com
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*** BACKING UP A BIT ***
TheRealMe helps ScorpionRegent and Wisp clear the Hanger of damaged equipment in order to get it operational for the missing shuttles. Unfortunately, when the Admiral Nelson crashed, it smashed the forklifts and other moving equipment. With real muscle needed, and with Sparky absent, TheRealMe goes to the only place he can. He departs for a time, and returns wheeling a dolly that carries what looks like a partially broken statue of a young woman. Most particularly, it is missing an arm. If ScorpionRegent did not blink when Ebonezer returned for a short time three threads ago, he will realize that this is an image of the Sereni-Tree’s Captain. It seems to have some marks written on its forehead.
TheRealMe sadly regards the damaged statue. Then he nods. “Ebo Golem, follow me.” The statue creaks and groans, and more bits fall off as it struggles to move. It gets down from the dolly and limps after TheRealMe, dragging a leg. “Ebo Golem, please take this shuttle…” He pats the hull of the damaged Admiral Nelson. “… and put it over there.” He points.
The Ebo Golem limps over to the shuttle, grabs hold of a strong point seemingly built for that purpose, and pulls. The statue struggles for a time, with more bits falling off it. TheRealMe cringes at this sight. But slowly, surely, creaking and scraping noises show that the Ebo Golem is having an effect. The Nelson begins to move across the hanger deck.
TheRealMe follows with a dustpan and brush, collecting bits that have fallen from the broken statue. He notices Wisp’s questioning look. “Oh, two Christmases ago, somebody built this statue of Captain Ebonezer. Later, I had a reason to magically animate it. It’s not sentient in any way. It’s just a tool.”
Wisp seems dubious. “It’s not in very good repair.”
TheRealMe grits his teeth. “Recently, back on Boros, we were boarded. There was a big fight in the Common Room. The Ebo Golem, here, got shot… with a rocket launcher. I tell you, superglue is not doing the job.”
As the DRDs scurry around doing their jobs and the Ebo Golem painfully drags the Nelson across the hanger deck, a trio of very large individuals enter the hanger bay. They have white fur and are wearing hardhats. One of them steps forward and bellows, “Friends need help move things? Ervin help! Assan help! Hewitt help!”
Another of the creatures steps forward. “Corbin say she help, too, but Corbin knocked up. No big lift or push or carry for Corbin. Lichna stay with Corbin. Make sure.”
TheRealMe gladly puts the three yeti to work.
After the hanger is cleared, TheRealMe and the yeti depart and ScorpionRegent begins his tinkering on Snarky.
TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree
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Quote:
Originally posted by safeat2nd:
Citizen drops into the copilots seat and flicks the nose guns to life, just as the two fighters following Sparky and his shuttle, appear.
When Citizen starts shooting at the fighters pursuing the Napoleon Bonaparte, Sparky, in seeming madness, moves his shuttle in the line of fire to protect the fighters. For a short time, the Napoleon is taking shots from both sides, from friend and foe. Perplexed, Citizen stops firing. Then, with great concentration and determination he takes careful aim...
Quote:
Citizen fires taking out the wing on the one fighter, causing it to veer into the other fighter, the explosion takes out both fighters.
The ISSCV and the Dagger fly through the debris and into the calmness of the black. Sparky tucks the shuttle into formation with the other two ships.
Sparky veers the Napoleon out of formation with Dagger and the ISSCV. The shuttle shrinks as he does so, and is lost from sight.
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The helicopter containing Mai and LightMeDark plummets for a time. Then its descent slows. Then it stops entirely, and resumes hovering in mid-air. This is quite odd, considering that its rotors have stopped spinning due to it running out of fuel.
From below, Mai and LMD hear a familiar voice. “Good day, Miss Mai, Mister Dark,” Sparky calls up. “I didn’t want to disturb you while you were sleeping, but I couldn’t help but notice that your vehicle has run out of fuel. Would you care to board the Napoleon Bonaparte and return to the Sereni-Tree with me?”
It seems that Sparky had maneuvered the Napoleon underneath the helicopter when it started falling, cushioning its fall. The helicopter is now being supported by the shuttle.
Sparky the Robot
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TheRealMe returns to the hanger bay after getting the message of SR. He is clearly impressed by the array of weapons, and especially impressed by Snarky, whom he examines minutely.
"Well, thank you! It seems that you are quite the engineer. Would you be willing to train us in the operation of these weapons?"
TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
TheRealMe returns to the hanger bay after getting the message of SR. He is clearly impressed by the array of weapons, and especially impressed by Snarky, whom he examines minutely.
"Well, thank you! It seems that you are quite the engineer. Would you be willing to train us in the operation of these weapons?"
TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree
"Sure, catapaults are extremely low tech which is why reavers like them so much. These are improved versions of Ballistae. They go back as far as ancient Rome, on earth that was. Essentially they are giant crossbows. I added cams and pulleys to increase the force and these are made of spring steel and braided winch cable instead of wood and rope, but the principaI still applies. I plan on mounting them in discreet locations on the outer hull in some form of pop up mount so they don't show up visually when we are coming into port at some civilized location. The mounts will be capable of spinning a full 360 on the horizontal and go 180 on the vertical. I still need to figure out a way to make them self loading, but I all ready figured out how to make them fire remotely, observe."
SR prodouces a small device the size of a tv remote control from his pocket. He articulates it so a control pad is revealed. he pushes a button and a click is heard from the nearest Ballistae. There is a whine as a winch engages and the great bow is pulled back to full draw. There is another click and the winch shuts off. SR turns to Snarky.
"Snarky if you would be so infinitely kind as to please load that two by four into the balistae."
Snarky loads the two by four into the Ballistae and steps away from the catapault. SR motions that he and TRM should move behind a stack of shipping crates. He then hands TRM a pair of safety glasses and dons a pair himself. TRM puts on the safety glasses. SR pushes a button on the control pad and the Ballistae fires. The two by four flys across the shuttle bay and impacts a section of spare hull plating that SR and Snarky had set up as a target and explodes into a shower of splinters.
"Newton stated that a body at rest or in motion tends to stay that way unless acted upon by some outside force. Outside of a planets gravity any missile fired from a Ballistae will not stop and maintains it's momentum. So range is infinite. They are so small that they will not show up on sensors If we want even more speed we can add a rocket that fires after the missle is launched. So as you can see using one of these is a push button operation. I'll hook up a joy stick to control servo motors and camera gunsite arrangement to work out aiming them once they are on the hull. The projectiles I'll have to figure out some more buttons for, but they are pretty much fire and forget, with a few exceptions. I'm thinking a projectile with a thermite lance tip that could burn through anything would be a real ship killer if it hit in the right spot. Oh, I'm sorry, any questions?"
Scorpion Regent
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"Well, this is a rather low-tech answer to weapons technology, but I suppose that will save us power. These are mostly for close-in fighting, I expect, or otherwise you would need to take into account enemy velocity and light-speed lag. Perhaps we can install computers with prediction algorithms. Still, if your target changes course, we wouldn't know it until the light arrived.
"Also, I've been conducting experiments in metallurgy involving blades with mono-molecular cutting surfaces. Perhaps projectiles of that sort would make these weapons more effective. But as you say, we can also launch rockets that have their own motive power."
TheRealMe muses.
"You know, TheGreyJedi was also an enthusiast of low-tech weapons. I'll have to take you up to the roof sometime to see his MaRTHA: 'Mighty and Righteous Trebuchet, Hellacious Armament'.
TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree
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“I think I’ve got an idea” Says Wisp leaving the hangar bay. TRM and SR exchange bemused looks and continue their work.
Wisp walks down to engineering for the first time and is quite surprised by what he see’s. The room is badly lit and cables and pipes hang everywhere. With great care he steps inside squinting in the twilight formed from the coloured hues from different machines.
“hello. Anybody Here”
“hi” says a voice from right behind Wisp making him jump and let out a very uncool noise “sorry did I frighten you?”
“No im fine”
“I'm Jet. And you are?”
“Wisp still fairly new. Listen SR TRM and me were making some weapons in the hangar and I was wondering if you could help me out?”
“sure what do ya need? But don’t say power cos were running low at the minute”
“Chemicals actually. I was after some tribenzoicmethylsulphate and azophenolaminite?” Jet looks at Wisp like he’d just asked for some pixie dust “The first should be a coolant liquid and the second a bio-hydraulic fluid.”
“oh. Yeah ill look through my stocks and see if we’ve got any” She walks off and disappears into the gloom. Wisp continues to stand very still afraid of falling over and breaking something. “why do you need em?” shouts a disembodied ethereal voice from the back of the room.
“were making low tech weapons and if you combine those two with the right catalyst, say a ships hull, you create a very corrosive acid”
“Cool. Where’d you learn that?”
“In my time handymanning in lots of jobs I spent my evenings studying chemistry from text books and when I worked as a janitor in a lab I arranged a bit of tutoring”
Jet returns with Two large barrels on a trolley “here ya go we’ve got loads back there. Good luck!!”
“thanks” Says wisp as he takes the hover trolley and returns to the hangar.
“Where’d you go?” asks SR as he tinkers with his ballista.
“Gathering supplies. Watch this”
Wisp takes a pipette of one liquid and places it on a piece of scrap. Nothing happens
“WOW im in awe!” says TRM
“Wait”
Wisp then places the scrap on a very large pile of scrap and drops a pipette of the other liquid on top of the first. The pile of scrap immedatley melts leaving a molten mess on the floor.
“Good enough for ya?”
www.myspace.com/didxl
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