23 May 4009
1300: Session on Future Directions for Particle Beam Weapons, Duranium Legion Naval Conference
As the Lords Admiral filed back into the Conference chamber following their luncheon, they were greeted not by Lord Admiral Criasus, though he did occupy his usual place at the front of the Conference chamber, but rather by Oracle Xeno Sangarius, the chief researcher of the Legion for fire control systems. At first glance, many of the Lords Admiral may have been confused by this, strange as it seemed to have a session on particle beams and warships armed with such weapons be opened by a sensor technology expert. However this circumstance should not have been surprising to any Conference attendees who were properly informed about the Hellfire class and its shortcomings, as opposed to those who formed their opinions based only on the accusations of questionable merit which had formed the basis for much of the morning’s debate. Specifically, as one of the chief limitations of the Hellfire class had been their underperformant fire controls, to those in the know it would have been obvious that Oracle Sangarius intended to address the Conference to present a technological solution to this problem.
While not by this time in Legion history as well-known as Geryon Priapus, as he had not invented a controversial weapon system as his better-esteemed colleague had, Oracle Xeno Sangarius was an accomplished researcher in his own right with numerous industrial contacts in both the Arcadia and Scamander corporations. The reader will note that “Oracle” despite sounding perhaps a bit mystical was in fact the second junior rank for a member of the Legion Academy, one level above the Initiate rank. The reader may also note that “Oracle” sounds perhaps a tad pretentious choice of title for a non-Lord researcher to take upon him or herself; the reader may be correct.
Indeed, this was precisely what transpired, as the Oracle issued brief opening remarks and then immediately dove into the technical details to begin with, he presented a compare-and-contrast discussion of present Legion Navy fire control technology with the new systems presently being developed under his attentive eyes. First, the existing fire control systems were described for the benefit of the Lords Admiral, as while these systems had been in wide use for the past decade it would perhaps be too much to ask those in attendance to recall from memory the fine details of this technology.
Arcadia Weapons Systems Medium Battery Director Mk III
Max Range 192,000 km
Tracking Speed 5,100 km/s
Size 170 tons Crew 14
Arcadia Weapons Systems Defense Battery Director Mk III
Max Range 96,000 km
Tracking Speed 5,100 km/s
Size 85 tons Crew 7
By contrast, the prototypes for what the lead researcher had humbly designated as the Sangarius Directors Mk IV yielded equal or better performance with far lower tonnage demands, with the main weapons variant offering a one-third improvement in maximum range on top of a one-quarter reduction in size while the defense battery variant offered the same performance as existing technology, but required only a bit more than half of the tonnage to accomplish this.
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV
Max Range 256,000 km
Tracking Speed 5,000 km/s
Size 125 tons Crew 10
Sangarius Systems Defense Battery Director Mk IV
Max Range 96,000 km
Tracking Speed 5,000 km/s
Size 47 tons Crew 4
This had been accomplished by two major breakthroughs, which Oracle Sangarius proceeded to expound upon in some detail over the loud objections of several less technically-minded members of the assembly. On one hand, while the tracking speed of the fire directors was effectively the same with the new technology, the size of the computing system necessary to achieve this tracking speed had been significantly reduced by, curiously enough, breaking the problem down and using two computers to lead targets rather than one. The following explanation for this unintuitive result, using such terms as “coarse and fine-grained problems”, was of little use to even the more mathematically-inclined members of the Lords Admiralty, prompting a gentle reminder from Lord Admiral Criasus that the Oracle should be mindful of the time. This reminder was taken accordingly, and Oracle Sangarius shifted into a stimulating discussion of the improvements in fire control range technology, which were even at the present time being achieved largely due to cross-pollination with the particle beam projects of Priapus Energetics and the Scamander Corporation. Particularly, the developments in directed aether beam technology had been adapted for fire direction and was the primary driver behind the improved maximum targeting range - or in the case of the smaller defense battery directors, the more efficient targeting at shorter ranges. To their credit, many among the Lords Admiral did manage to follow some parts of this latter discussion, if only because the relation of these concepts to the particle beam development history sounded vaguely familiar to this segment of the audience.
Having concluded his thrilling scientific treatise on recent technological advances, Oracle Sangarius next attempted to briefly venture into the dark and confusing world of warship design. Based on his new fire control system designs, he claimed, the major difficulties with the Hellfire class could be resolved quite neatly:
Hellfire Mk II - Sangarius Variant class Frigate 7,500 tons 252 Crew 1,227.5 BP TCS 150 TH 750 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 2-34 Shields 0-0 HTK 55 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 4 PPV 42
Maint Life 4.57 Years MSP 1,409 AFR 112% IFR 1.6% 1YR 110 5YR 1,647 Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2) Power 750 Fuel Use 46.19% Signature 375 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 388,000 Litres Range 20.2 billion km (46 days at full power)
Priapus Energetics Laboratory PEL-4 Neon Beam Cannon (6) Range 200,000km TS: 5,000 km/s Power 10-4 ROF 15
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2) Total Power Output 24.2 Exp 5%
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Historical documents recently acquired from the archives of the Legion Naval procurement offices indicate that around this time period, a proposal to introduce a new naming series for ships of this class beginning with “Sangarius” was summarily rejected, officially on the grounds that the ‘S’ class was not yet under consideration for introduction as a naming series. Officially.
Indeed, at face value this proposed design represented a strict improvement over the present Hellfire class in service. Not only did the pair of upgraded fire control systems address the significant long-range accuracy limitations of the class, but the efficient use of space by these new systems would also free up sufficient tonnage for additional maintenance storage bays to be retrofitted in the now-empty adjacent volumes. This latter element of the revision would neatly address the problem of keeping the unreliable particle beams themselves operational over the course of a protracted engagement at long range, although certainly the improved hitrates which could be realized by the improved fire control systems would also contribute towards this end. In spite of these inarguable improvements, as the reader must by now expect the Lords Admiral had no difficulty in finding faults with this revised design.
The objections from the Lords Admiral can be broadly divided into three camps along ideological lines. The first of these camps, which later commentators have tended to dub as the Reactionary Faction, was predictably led by Lord High Admiral Jack Macaria and objected to the revision of the Hellfire class design largely on the principle of objecting to the Hellfire class in general terms. Whether honestly or for the sake of appearing to make a gracious concession, the Reactionaries accepted the premise that the Hellfire class was, based on previous discussions, here to stay as a permanent fixture of the Legion Navy. However, they argued that as the class had such a narrow utility, and was nearly useless outside of this narrow mission profile, the time and resources which would be spent on upgrades that did little to change this state of affairs would be better spent on the more important ships of the Legion Navy. The gist of the argument is perhaps best summarized by Lord High Admiral Macaria’s comment to the effect of “why invest in these pitiful six-shooter Hellfires instead of powerful cruisers bristling with railguns?” While insubstantial (and wholly unsubstantiated), the retort by Lord Grand Admiral Tethys Argyron that this was “six more shooters than you have” elicited great uproar, necessitated the intervention of the Imperial Guard detachment, and earned the Lord High Admiral the alternately emblematic or derogatory epithet of “Six-Shooter Macaria”.
The second camp of objectors, in essence led by Lord High Admiral Aeneas Chalcon and Lord Admiral Palaestra Abderus, were those who considered the proposed revision as not going far enough towards addressing the weaknesses of the original Hellfire design. Specifically, this faction considered the thin armor of the Hellfires to be another critical weakness which had been exposed to nearly catastrophic effect in the first combat action of the class, when Hellfire herself had lost an engine due to the good fortune of a since-erstwhile Belaire gunner. Of course, the Lords Admiral of the so-called Armor Faction recognized that any up-armoring of the class must come at the expense of some other capability, given the tonnage-tight nature of the Hellfire design - and naturally, they had opinions on which capabilities ought to be placed on the chopping block:
Hellfire Mk II - Armored Variant class Frigate 7,500 tons 237 Crew 1,180 BP TCS 150 TH 750 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 3-34 Shields 0-0 HTK 52 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 3 PPV 42
Maint Life 3.66 Years MSP 1,294 AFR 150% IFR 2.1% 1YR 150 5YR 2,250 Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2) Power 750 Fuel Use 46.19% Signature 375 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 385,000 Litres Range 20 billion km (46 days at full power)
Priapus Energetics Laboratory PEL-4 Neon Beam Cannon (6) Range 200,000km TS: 5,000 km/s Power 10-4 ROF 15
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV (1) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2) Total Power Output 24.2 Exp 5%
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Once the rest of the assembly had taken the chance to glance over the proposed design specification, objections quickly mounted. From the historical record, it does appear that the majority of the Lords Admiral were most upset about the removal of the redundant second fire control system, which was generally seen as threatening the reliability of the class in the face of battle damage, and Lord Admiral Abderus’ assertions that the whole point of up-armoring the Hellfires was to prevent such damage in the first place was not generally accepted as a strong counterargument. A second objection, given much less weight by the majority of the assembly but in retrospect probably the more substantive complaint, was raise by Lord Admiral Gaia Pandia who stressed that the reduction of shipboard engineering capacity by one-quarter would lead to increased maintenance strain on the ship, crew, and most importantly fleet logistics tail. This would render the Hellfires even more difficult to deploy and to keep in the field than they already were, according to the Lord Admiral. Admittedly, this argument may have held more persuasive power had not Lord High Admiral Macaria interjected to ask why this should be considered a bad thing, once again disrupting the proceedings by means of a brief fracas.
Returning to the primary objection, by volume if not by import, Lord High Admiral Chalcon suggested an alternative design which might at least resolve the fire control issue raised by so many members of the assembly:
Hellfire Mk II - Armored Variant (B) class Frigate 7,500 tons 242 Crew 1,228.3 BP TCS 150 TH 750 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 3-34 Shields 0-0 HTK 52 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 3 PPV 42
Maint Life 3.11 Years MSP 987 AFR 150% IFR 2.1% 1YR 153 5YR 2,301 Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2) Power 750 Fuel Use 46.19% Signature 375 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 390,000 Litres Range 20.3 billion km (46 days at full power)
Priapus Energetics Laboratory PEL-4 Neon Beam Cannon (6) Range 200,000km TS: 5,000 km/s Power 10-4 ROF 15
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2) Total Power Output 24.2 Exp 5%
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
While this strangely is not recorded in the official meeting minutes, other contemporary accounts indicate that Lord Admiral Pandia experienced a sudden fainting spell and required brief medical attention on seeing that this proposal removed even more critically necessary maintenance supplies in the name of tactical efficiency. The primary proponent for logistically-sane fleet doctrine being thus temporarily indisposed, the bulk of the ensuing debate focused primarily on the question of whether removing passive sensors from a Legion Navy warship was a greater or lesser sin than removing a redundant fire control, with the result being entirely inconclusive.
In any case, it seemed clear that the concept of an up-armored Hellfire class was unlikely to see much purchase given the present mood of the Naval Conference, and therefore Lord Admiral Criasus finally intervened to put an end to the fruitless debate. The Speaker was by this point clearly worn down and tired after multiple days of corralling the pugnacious Lords Admiral, as there is no better explanation for why he immediately committed the grave error of asking if anyone else had a further comment on the topic of the Hellfire revisions. Predictably, this inquiry received an affirmative answer.
With an eagerness bordering on naïveté, a third camp of objectors to the original Sangarius revision demanded to be heard, headed by Lord Admiral Niobe Chryson and Lord High Admiral Hilaera Antilochus. In fact, the reader should here note that the phrase “headed by” is more accurately understood to mean “consisting in its entirety of”. To a certain extent, this pair of Lords Admiral echoed the concerns of the Reactionaries, but where the previous objectors had asked “why bother at all?”, this third camp instead objected on the grounds of “why bother with such a small change?” The result of this line of thinking was, for most of the other Conference attendees, a profoundly disconcerting design proposal:
Hellfire Mk II - Hybrid Variant class Frigate 7,500 tons 233 Crew 1,292.9 BP TCS 150 TH 750 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 2-34 Shields 0-0 HTK 50 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 4 PPV 28
Maint Life 6.78 Years MSP 3,011 AFR 112% IFR 1.6% 1YR 114 5YR 1,705 Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2) Power 750 Fuel Use 46.19% Signature 375 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 385,000 Litres Range 20 billion km (46 days at full power)
Priapus Energetics Laboratory PEL-4 Neon Beam Cannon (4) Range 200,000km TS: 5,000 km/s Power 10-4 ROF 15
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2) Total Power Output 24.2 Exp 5%
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Long-Range Array (1) GPS 14400 Range 83.1m km Resolution 150
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Missile Warning Array (1) GPS 96 Range 15.6m km MCR 1.4m km Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Over raucous cries from the assembly, the two members of the so-called Hybridization Faction frantically sought to explain themselves. Officially, the justification given by these two Lords Admiral was that the hybrid variant of the Hellfire class would maintain the core capability of the class while also subsuming the reconnaissance and surveillance roles of the Bellerophon class. This would allow the Legion Navy to operate only a single frigate class which would be useful in a range of operational and tactical scenarios, rather than having to juggle two highly-specialized classes for increasingly distant missions. While this justification is admittedly sound, at least by Lord Admiralty standards, the unofficial explanations are far more illuminating with regards to the true purpose of the proposal. For Lord Admiral Chryson, a known fierce opponent of the Bellerophon class which she viewed as a massive tactical liability and waste of valuable Legion crew members, this proposal represented a serious attempt to eliminate the class from the Legion Naval register once and for all, while preserving the essential capabilities of the class on a hull with actual tactical usefulness. Lord High Admiral Antilochus, on the other hand, was also a fierce opponent of the Bellerophon class, if not so noteworthy as her faction co-member, but on quite different grounds. In her view, the capabilities of the Bellerophon class represented a potential threat to the autonomy of the Legion Navy survey command, as several Lords Admiral had in the past suggested that the frigates could serve as fast scouts in advance of the survey frigates, hoping to avoid further first-contact losses. This blurring of cross-command lines would inevitably, in Lord High Admiral Antilochus’ mind, lead to attempts by the main fleet commanders to encroach upon her own command, and thus a proposal which could lead to the elimination of the Bellerophon or any similar follow-on class certainly deserved her enthusiastic support.
Unfortunately for the undersized Hybridization Faction, this would be the only source of enthusiastic support, indeed any support at all, which would be received by this unusual proposal. The Reactionaries, already opposed to even a relatively minor refit which would divert attention from more important fleet elements, certainly could not countenance a major redesign which would only compound their own objections. Lord High Admiral Macaria notably argued that replacing not one but two battle-tested, if controversial, ship classes (and even he had to admit that the Hellfire class had been battle-tested, though he was quick to add a comment about “better the devil we know” to protect his reputation) with an experimental-at-best concept class that sought to do two jobs half as well was almost sure to be a recipe for disaster. Even Lord Grand Admiral Argyron concurred with this assessment, thus the Hybridization Faction had achieved the seemingly impossible task of fostering peace in the middle of the Lord Admiralty, though this was small comfort if any to the two members of that faction. The Armor Faction of course objected to an alternative proposal which could upstage their own ideas, to say nothing of the fact that this proposal made the Hellfire class even less combat-capable by not only failing to improve its protection but by reducing its armament to boot.
In what was perhaps the most embarrassing objection yet raised, Lord Imperator Daedalus Poseidon, the planetary governor of Duratus, requested permission to take the floor. This was an unusual step for a non-Lord Admiral member of the assembly, but nevertheless permission was granted by Lord Admiral Criasus. Thus recognized, the Lord Imperator simply noted that the proposed design, due to the large active sensors, would not be buildable in the existing shipyard slipways currently tooled for either the Hellfire or Bellerophon classes according to his undersecretaries for shipbuilding. Therefore, any refit program would have to be delayed for several additional months even once the required fire control systems upgrades had been introduced into Legion Naval service. While this particular limitation was certainly not insurmountable, the spectacle of two Legion Navy Lords Admiral being countered by a civilian official at a Naval Conference was absolutely the death knell for the hybrid frigate proposal, and after this point the discussion quickly wound down as none of the Lords Admiral present could raise any stronger objections than this, at least for grandstanding purposes.
Seeing the discussion once again settling down, and resolving not to make the same mistake twice, Lord Admiral Criasus hurriedly called the Conference to a vote to determine which design proposal should serve as the basis for the imminent Hellfire refit program - with the precise details of the Uparmored variant to be determined by further work by the Legion Naval ship design offices in the near future. The Lords Admiral, by now feeling perhaps a bit more than peckish, assented to this motion. Following the first roll call, the vote stood at six each for the Sangarius and Uparmored refit proposals, and two predictable votes for the Hybrid proposal, and Lord Admira Criasus therefore announced a runoff vote with the Hybrid proposal removed from consideration.
This second vote would prove contentious. Lord Admiral Chryson was quick to cast her own vote for the Uparmored variant, preferring the most combat-capable design as she perceived matters. With that, the choice fell to Lord High Admiral Antilochus whether to decide the vote or force a tiebreaker. Ultimately, she would cast her vote in favor of the Sangarius variant, causing a 7-7 deadlock and forcing Lord Admiral Criasus to cast the deciding vote. This placed the Speaker in a most unenviable situation, as a vote in either direction would likely make him seven instant enemies in uncomfortably close quarters. It seems likely that Lord High Admiral Antilochus had intended this exact situation, counting on the Speaker’s reluctance to choose a side in this heated debate to deadlock the proceedings as some measure of revenge for the poor reception the Hybrid proposal had received. It appears that this plan, if such it was, nearly worked as Lord Admiral Criasus deliberated inconclusively for several minutes while the rest of the assembly waited with bated breath.
In the end, the deadlock was resolved not by the Speaker but by the Imperator of the Conference herself, Lord Admiral Imperator Aurai Valance. In a rare display of her executive powers, the Imperator declared that she was preemptively vetoing the action chosen by the assembly, as it would clearly cause irresolvable tensions that would likely scuttle the remainder of the Conference. Thus, seeking to honor the results of the split vote as closely as possible, the Hellfire refit program would be split between the Sangarius and Uparmored variants, as both could be constructed from the same shipyard as the original Hellfire class, and the ultimate decision on a final design direction would be made for a future generation of the class based on further battlefield experience. While there was some uproar over the Lord Admiral Imperator’s application of her powers, which were arguably beyond the stated bounds of the Naval Conference regulation, it quickly became clear that a voice vote would not even come close to overriding what had essentially been a glorified veto, and thus the decree of the Lord Admiral Imperator would stand as delivered.
With matters settled, such as they were, the Conference was briefly adjourned and light afternoon refreshments were served.
As the Lords Admiral filed back into the Conference chamber following their light refreshments, they were once again greeted not by Lord Admiral Criasus, though he did continue to occupy his usual place at the front of the Conference chamber, but rather by another civilian face, this time that of the famous Oracle Geryon Priapus of particle beam fame. Given the subject matter of the proceedings, this could not honestly be considered surprising to the Lords Admiral present, but nevertheless much curiosity was aroused as to why the famous researcher would be addressing the assembly at this admittedly late juncture of the afternoon session. This curiosity was significantly enhanced by the conspicuous placement of a film projector in front of a pull-down screen suspended from the ceiling of the Conference chamber, the bottom of which had been secured (for a loose definition of “secure”) to the floor by means of a frayed rope tied to what appeared to be a spare 102 mm railgun barrel. Clearly, the Conference budget planners had neglected to allocate funding for certain necessary presentation infrastructure.
Budgetary concerns aside, Oracle Priapus was eager to begin once the assembly had been re-seated. In short order, he introduced himself, posited that many of those present might be wondering why he was addressing them today, and announced that he was pleased to present the latest technological developments in energy weapons from the Priapus Energetics Laboratory. Having done so, the Oracle clicked a button on a handheld remote and turned expectantly towards the screen. Seeing that nothing had happened, the Oracle then muttered to himself, pressed several more buttons, and finally managed to decipher the correct combination as a recorded video began to play on the screen. Recovering his composure, Oracle Priapus called for the lights in the Conference chamber to be dimmed for optimal visibility, and proceeded to narrate the video for the benefit of his captive audience.
Shown in the recording was, according to Oracle Priapus, a PEL weapons testing range in orbit of Luna, with the camera focusing on a test-firing target rack to which a pair of 508 mm armor plates of the type used in manufacturing the Charybdis-class destroyers had been securely fastened in series. For the benefit of the assembly, Oracle Priapus noted that this total thickness of armor, in excess of one meter, was the same as the proposed armor thickness for the upcoming class(es) of heavy cruisers, and that even the heaviest Belaire lasers known to the Legion would not be able to penetrate this armor in a single shot, although the heavy spinal lasers of the Sovremennys would at least be able to punch a noticeable hole in the underlying plate. The assembly was urged to keep this in mind as the weapons test being shown that day played out.
As the video continued to play, a bright beam suddenly lanced through the camera field of view, impacting on and penetrating the armored target. To the shock and amazement of all present, not only was a significant amount of debris visibly ejected from the back side of the target assembly, but the brilliant beam could clearly be seen to continue beyond the target, albeit at much-reduced intensity, and impacting on a presumably unpopulated part of the lunar surface below. The Lords Admiral were immediately thrown into a great uproar at this demonstration of a weapon which could slice through a solid meter of duranium composite armor as if it was merely a few sheets of paper. The initial reaction of the Lords Admiral was, naturally, excitement over the potential to deploy and use such a powerful weapon. However, this reaction was quickly matched by fear and panic over the possibility that such a weapon might render even the most heavily-armored cruisers of the Legion Navy utterly defenseless. In the midst of this, Oracle Geryon Priapus stood at the front of the chamber smugly, waiting for the uproar to subside so as to resume his own presentation. Eventually, curiosity overtook blind panic, and the Lords Admiral returned their attention to the presenter who clicked another sequence of buttons on his handheld remote, at least some of which were necessary, to show a new proposed class of weapon on the screen:
PZ-1202-L Neutron Lance Proposal
Beam Strength 12 Rate of Fire 50 seconds Maximum Range 200,000 km
Particle Beam Size 16 HS (800 tons) HTK 8
Power Requirement 37 Recharge Rate 4
Cost 207.9 Crew 48
The neutron lance, as Oracle Priapus presently explained, was an evolution of the original particle beam concept which used gravitic directors exclusively, rather than superconducting electronics as in a typical beam cannon. By using neutrons as the beam payload rather than neutralized ions, tremendous penetration could be achieved, such that the neutron lance did not so much impact the armor of a ship as much as it drilled straight through the armor. The Oracle claimed that the particle lance could enter a Belaire Kirov-class strike cruiser through the bow, excoriate the entire ship, and exit from the stern armor section with power to spare. While this claim seemed perhaps a bit dubious, none among the assembly dared attempt to contradict it.
What the Lords Admiral did dare to ask, as they regained their wits following this impressive display of firepower, was why such a powerful weapon was not already in service. At this question, Oracle Priapus muttered something about “gravitic instability” and informed the Lords Admiral that the weapon was not yet entirely stable under testing conditions. Particularly, the weapon which had been fired in the presented test had actually imploded immediately after firing due to a loss of gravitic containment, an event which had been strategically not shown in the promotional material. Maintaining both stability and weapon power remained the primary research task facing the PEL staff scientists, although if the Oracle’s associated funding requests were granted the work could be completed in less than thirty months by his own estimation.
In any case, while the technology was not yet mature enough for deployment with the fleets of the Legion Navy, Oracle Priapus had wanted to present his work in progress to the Conference to stimulate their imaginations regarding the future of particle beam weapons. To this end, he also presented a tentative design proposal for a neutron lance-armed heavy cruiser which could accompany the fleets of the Legion to provide massive anti-ship first strike capabilities, likely functioning as a capital ship killer in its own right:
Priapus Proposal class Heavy Beam Cruiser 20,000 tons 587 Crew 3,529.7 BP TCS 400 TH 2,000 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 8-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 121 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 18 PPV 96
Maint Life 4.07 Years MSP 5,505 AFR 178% IFR 2.5% 1YR 533 5YR 7,997 Max Repair 500 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
X-1000 Heavy Cruiser Engine (2) Power 2000 Fuel Use 24.75% Signature 1000 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 553,000 Litres Range 20.1 billion km (46 days at full power)
PZ-1202-L Neutron Lance (6) Range 200,000km TS: 5,000 km/s Power 37-4 ROF 50
Sangarius Systems Beam Weapon Director Mk IV (2) Max Range: 256,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2) Total Power Output 24.2 Exp 5%
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1) GPS 16 Range 6.4m km MCR 574.5k km Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
The Oracle was quick to note that he was of course a weapons developer, not a ship designer, and as such the design was sure to be flawed in many ways and was only presented as an example of what could be possible with this shocking new weapons technology. Seizing on this, Lord Admiral Criasus quickly announced that no comment period or debate would be held regarding the details of the proposed design, although general discussion of the proposed neutron lance weapon could proceed as usual. For once, such a restriction was hardly necessary as most of the Lords Admiral remained shell-shocked by the raw killing power they had seen that afternoon. The notable exception to this was Lord Grand Admiral Argyron, who in contrast to her peers in the assembly was quite nearly gloating with exuberance and took the opportunity to declare that afternoon’s presentation as a watershed moment for particle beam weapons. While surely many members of the assembly took exception to the Lord Grand Admiral’s boastful attitude, no exception could be taken with the substance of her statements; indeed, even Lord High Admiral Macaria concurred that this neutron lance technology certainly merited further development given the impressive power which had been displayed that day.
Fortunately for the traditionalists among the Lords Admiral, it did not take too long for a proper debate to break out, as Oracle Priapus’ request for further research funding required close and contentious consideration before it could be answered. At one extreme was the Lord Grand Admiral Tethys Argyron Faction, consisting of a single member, which advocated for the maximum possible funding to be granted and a heavy beam cruiser class to be laid down within thirty months. Despite having considerable political pull, this faction curiously failed to produce more than a single vote.
Towards the middle of the debate, a more moderate faction consisted of the less extreme pro-particle beam Lords Admiral, including Lords Admiral Abderus and Hydra, as well as some of the Modular Fleet supporters from the previous day, including Lord High Admiral Makedon and Lord Admiral Pothos Aleus. These officers advocated for a five-year plan, anticipating that a beam cruiser class might be laid down by the beginning of the year 4015. While the neutron lance concept was intriguing, these faction members argued, it was unproven in battle and the Legion Navy could not afford to overfund such speculative research at the expense of other critical needs. This faction saw considerably better success, procuring five votes with modest support from Lord Admiral Chryson who considered the potential for a new capital ship class worth the investment.
However, the majority of the Lords Admiral ultimately sided with the most conservative faction, vocally led by Lord High Admiral Macaria with Lord Grand Admiral Thanatos Adrastus throwing his considerable political weight behind this proposal. In practical terms, not only from a research and development perspective but also from a ship construction and refit perspective, the Legion Navy simply had too much to accomplish in the next several years as it currently stood, these supporters argued. Thus, as impressive as the neutron lance appeared to be from these tests, in realistic terms it would be most likely to see deployment in a following round of upgrades and refits. Given that the Legion Navy was approaching ten years of interplanetary service and was just now preparing to undergo such an upgrade program, this next round of upgrades could conceivably require anywhere from ten to twenty years to take place. Thus, the funding package which ultimately gained majority support would fund the PEL neutron lance department over a ten-year period, at which point the technology would be either ready for implementation or else considered non-viable for battlefield use.
As this had been decided, and the afternoon session began to wind down, a somewhat tangential question was raised by Lord Admiral Glycon Limos who suggested that perhaps some parallel work ought to be done to determine some means of countering this terrifying weapon. After all, he postulated, if the Legion research establishment had developed a workable prototype of such a weapon, it was not unthinkable that some alien race might also have stumbled upon the concept. While the Lord Admiral admitted candidly that he had no idea what kind of technology might counter such a powerful weapon, he certainly believed that some effort to investigate whatever possibilities could be conceived of would be a worthwhile activity. By voice vote, the assembly was found to be broadly in favor of this, and a note was made in the Conference record to open a new department within the Legion Naval Research and Development Corps to begin investigating such possibilities.
With matters thus settled, the third day of the Naval Conference came to a close - but over dinner and in many cases drinks that evening, many of the Conference attendees speculated in muted tones about how the following day’s session might proceed…