Post by Darth Exolus on Sept 12, 2015 0:38:18 GMT
Turbolift rides were as the name implied, though the distance these ones had to cover was considerable. A two-mile descent into the bowels of the base, and several security checkpoints were what awaited the legionnaires. Everyone, the SICON soldiers and all, were required to relinquish their weapons in secure deposit boxes until they returned. Saleen had opted to be their guide around her home, though her clearance extended only as far as non-classified materials. They entered a laboratory/factory area of the base, which opened out again into a large space, for testing in the central room. Some labs were off-limits, and others were pure theory tests. The first one Saleen brought them to was an armorworks. Among dozens of holographic displays, and a mixture of Rakata and SICON researchers, were several suits of armor, in various states of assembly.
"Well, we'll start with that in mind General, this here is the standard assembly for a APAH torso. Similar to the one I'm wearing, without the beskar woven into the alloy," Saleen began, requesting a demonstration via hand signal, "we took inspiration from the MK III Katarn armor used by the GAR in the Clone Wars."
A repeating blaster rifle, mounted onto an arm lowered from the ceiling, as did a blast screen. It moved in front of a torso piece on a pedestal, and loosed two bursts of fire, with only heat marks to show for it.
"This is the most basic armor our grunts wear. It can shrug off light cannon rounds, small explosives, and thanks to a hydrostatic layer between the metal, impact-resistant. Durasteel, carbides and polymers. Cheap to come by, cheap to fix. The difference is how we make 'em. Can't tell you the exact science behind it, but we sure as hell don't use plastoid injection. I know there's a molecular press involved that binds sheets of alloy together. That's the tricky part, where expenses come into play," she proceeded, nodding to the lead researcher, "thanks people. Keep up the good work."
One nodded, and they proceeded to the central room, where a G-98 model of M-Wing sat stationary, with its engines and power plant partially disassembled.
"We try to simplify. The men and women here don't think about what our technology really needs. They think about what it can do without. Simplify. It's pretty telling when you give a set of plans to the intelligence kids and they can't figure out why the output on this starfighter is so high for the size of reactor it has. Same goes for all our tech. Sure, we could bolt a huge hyperdrive sled to it, and give it the output and firepower of a squadron, but that bakes a whole new batch of problems. The more we simplify and refine, rather than kark up the funding by researching new, the more we can invest everywhere."
Saleen stopped just before the starfighter.
"The G-98 is partly based on the Alpha-3. We bought a dozen spaceframes, and then the eggheads started stripping parts off it, ripping out unnecessary weight. Do you think an elite starfighter squadron needs a translation hardware package? Razor Squadron know Binary. Ion drift limiter? When I was studying aerospace engineering, they let me about the 98 for three months. If Rogue Squadron got their hands on one, they'd be unstoppable. We're waiting for the okay from Union Intelligence to get our hands on the StealthX's design plans. We're hoping to improve the design and integrate it into both the 98, and what you're cooking up back home."
Her long talk over, Saleen bit her lip, wondering whether she could press her luck.
"You want to see what powers all this?"
"Well, we'll start with that in mind General, this here is the standard assembly for a APAH torso. Similar to the one I'm wearing, without the beskar woven into the alloy," Saleen began, requesting a demonstration via hand signal, "we took inspiration from the MK III Katarn armor used by the GAR in the Clone Wars."
A repeating blaster rifle, mounted onto an arm lowered from the ceiling, as did a blast screen. It moved in front of a torso piece on a pedestal, and loosed two bursts of fire, with only heat marks to show for it.
"This is the most basic armor our grunts wear. It can shrug off light cannon rounds, small explosives, and thanks to a hydrostatic layer between the metal, impact-resistant. Durasteel, carbides and polymers. Cheap to come by, cheap to fix. The difference is how we make 'em. Can't tell you the exact science behind it, but we sure as hell don't use plastoid injection. I know there's a molecular press involved that binds sheets of alloy together. That's the tricky part, where expenses come into play," she proceeded, nodding to the lead researcher, "thanks people. Keep up the good work."
One nodded, and they proceeded to the central room, where a G-98 model of M-Wing sat stationary, with its engines and power plant partially disassembled.
"We try to simplify. The men and women here don't think about what our technology really needs. They think about what it can do without. Simplify. It's pretty telling when you give a set of plans to the intelligence kids and they can't figure out why the output on this starfighter is so high for the size of reactor it has. Same goes for all our tech. Sure, we could bolt a huge hyperdrive sled to it, and give it the output and firepower of a squadron, but that bakes a whole new batch of problems. The more we simplify and refine, rather than kark up the funding by researching new, the more we can invest everywhere."
Saleen stopped just before the starfighter.
"The G-98 is partly based on the Alpha-3. We bought a dozen spaceframes, and then the eggheads started stripping parts off it, ripping out unnecessary weight. Do you think an elite starfighter squadron needs a translation hardware package? Razor Squadron know Binary. Ion drift limiter? When I was studying aerospace engineering, they let me about the 98 for three months. If Rogue Squadron got their hands on one, they'd be unstoppable. We're waiting for the okay from Union Intelligence to get our hands on the StealthX's design plans. We're hoping to improve the design and integrate it into both the 98, and what you're cooking up back home."
Her long talk over, Saleen bit her lip, wondering whether she could press her luck.
"You want to see what powers all this?"