and muttered under her breath, I assumed she
was giving commands to her A.I. Kristi paused to let the suspense build
up for a few more seconds, and we watched the gun fire from both the
perspective of the missile, and the laboratory ship. The shield around
the missile didn’t even slow the pulse of energy down, the shield missile just
blew up.
A few more whispered instructions and I saw ten missiles
start approaching the lab ship. With the new shields they weren’t even a
threat if the plasma cannon missed, so I wasn’t worried about losing the lab
ship. However, it didn’t miss.
The plasma cannon fired ten shots in just over three
seconds, and vaporized the attacking missiles. It was… impressive.
I couldn’t help but worry that our offensive capability had far outstripped our
defensive capability, though I knew I had the ability to change that. It
gave me second thoughts despite the fact our shields were still more than good
enough to defend against any non-Earth ship. Eventually, the new tech
would get out, and then whoever shot first would be the winner. I was
still against building a huge juggernaut of a ship, but updated shields were
starting to look a lot more reasonable.
It shouldn’t be hard, if I built it right not only would the
two shields stack, but they would resonate and reinforce each other, making
them more than double the strength. Even then, it may only absorb one
shot at a time, if two of the new plasma cannons hit at the same time the
shields wouldn’t be able to regenerate fast enough. Of course, the final
question was, would I be able to get the board to pay for it. Essentially
it would take twice as many of the EM and anti-mass rods per ship. The
fact that it would line my pockets and wasn’t necessary against what the rest
of the galaxy had would weigh against it. They would only be necessary
against our new tech, which wasn’t a threat to us, yet, and already doubled our
current shield strength which was considerable.
I decide it was a political battle I’d lose, especially
considering the cuts I’d already seen. It would be hard enough to get the
rest of the upgrades approved. Though, of all of it the power converters
would be the only real additional cost, the rest of it would just be material
cost, which was ridiculously low considering we were using asteroids for
that. I made some notes about a new possible shield configuration and
saved them in the maybe someday pile…
“That… was impressive. How many you think on the
ship?”
Kristi smiled, “We can power thousands of course, but
practically because of hull space, we can double the number. Maybe triple
on the command ship and carrier. So, sixteen on the battle cruisers, and
twenty-four on the carriers and command ships.”
I nodded, “Can you update the design, and then implement
it? I think we’ll have a new ship design by the time the wormhole drive
is done tomorrow, if it works. Do you think the attack shuttles, and
Shield missiles, have a place with this new ship?”
Obviously the anti-FTL missiles would stay.
Kristi shrugged, “For now. I’d say stop building them,
and carriers. They do have a place because they still have an edge over
the rest of the galaxy. Until we lose that edge, and they catch up,
they’ll still be quite effective. Should we update emplacements and
platforms with the new stuff too?”
I frowned, “Maybe the platforms, at least the ships and
platforms can get out of the solar system if something goes wrong with the
singularity. Shit.”
Kristi raised an eyebrow.
I didn’t curse often, or ever really, except when I’ve been
extremely stupid and thick headed.
“What happens if our new ships are defending Earth, and one
of them are destroyed in near orbit.”
Kristi frowned, “Oops?”
I snickered. Oops sorry, destroyed our planet.
My bad… didn’t think of that. Talk about an understatement.
“I’ll finish the
was giving commands to her A.I. Kristi paused to let the suspense build
up for a few more seconds, and we watched the gun fire from both the
perspective of the missile, and the laboratory ship. The shield around
the missile didn’t even slow the pulse of energy down, the shield missile just
blew up.
A few more whispered instructions and I saw ten missiles
start approaching the lab ship. With the new shields they weren’t even a
threat if the plasma cannon missed, so I wasn’t worried about losing the lab
ship. However, it didn’t miss.
The plasma cannon fired ten shots in just over three
seconds, and vaporized the attacking missiles. It was… impressive.
I couldn’t help but worry that our offensive capability had far outstripped our
defensive capability, though I knew I had the ability to change that. It
gave me second thoughts despite the fact our shields were still more than good
enough to defend against any non-Earth ship. Eventually, the new tech
would get out, and then whoever shot first would be the winner. I was
still against building a huge juggernaut of a ship, but updated shields were
starting to look a lot more reasonable.
It shouldn’t be hard, if I built it right not only would the
two shields stack, but they would resonate and reinforce each other, making
them more than double the strength. Even then, it may only absorb one
shot at a time, if two of the new plasma cannons hit at the same time the
shields wouldn’t be able to regenerate fast enough. Of course, the final
question was, would I be able to get the board to pay for it. Essentially
it would take twice as many of the EM and anti-mass rods per ship. The
fact that it would line my pockets and wasn’t necessary against what the rest
of the galaxy had would weigh against it. They would only be necessary
against our new tech, which wasn’t a threat to us, yet, and already doubled our
current shield strength which was considerable.
I decide it was a political battle I’d lose, especially
considering the cuts I’d already seen. It would be hard enough to get the
rest of the upgrades approved. Though, of all of it the power converters
would be the only real additional cost, the rest of it would just be material
cost, which was ridiculously low considering we were using asteroids for
that. I made some notes about a new possible shield configuration and
saved them in the maybe someday pile…
“That… was impressive. How many you think on the
ship?”
Kristi smiled, “We can power thousands of course, but
practically because of hull space, we can double the number. Maybe triple
on the command ship and carrier. So, sixteen on the battle cruisers, and
twenty-four on the carriers and command ships.”
I nodded, “Can you update the design, and then implement
it? I think we’ll have a new ship design by the time the wormhole drive
is done tomorrow, if it works. Do you think the attack shuttles, and
Shield missiles, have a place with this new ship?”
Obviously the anti-FTL missiles would stay.
Kristi shrugged, “For now. I’d say stop building them,
and carriers. They do have a place because they still have an edge over
the rest of the galaxy. Until we lose that edge, and they catch up,
they’ll still be quite effective. Should we update emplacements and
platforms with the new stuff too?”
I frowned, “Maybe the platforms, at least the ships and
platforms can get out of the solar system if something goes wrong with the
singularity. Shit.”
Kristi raised an eyebrow.
I didn’t curse often, or ever really, except when I’ve been
extremely stupid and thick headed.
“What happens if our new ships are defending Earth, and one
of them are destroyed in near orbit.”
Kristi frowned, “Oops?”
I snickered. Oops sorry, destroyed our planet.
My bad… didn’t think of that. Talk about an understatement.
“I’ll finish the
Similar Books
