drooling. He had a faraway gleam in his eyes, and Absen recognized it as the look of a man with a brand-new obsession.
Something like he himself experienced when he conceived the TacDrive.
Their journey was short this time, debouching into a cylindrical room something like an old-fashioned missile silo, but scaled up, fifty meters in diameter and a hundred high. This time the control room was built into the natural floor, as energy cared little for gravity’s pull.
In the center of the cylinder, from floor to ceiling, ran a tube ten meters in diameter, with rings, heavy metallic fittings, and meter-thick conduits snaking into it at five meter intervals. It merged with the floor and exited the ceiling, which was the near the nose of the ship. Like everywhere else, robots swarmed, working.
“Are we behind the nose armor?” Nightingale asked.
Absen said, “Inside it, actually, just like the Behemoths. Each weapon is in a kind of semi-socket that gives it some traverse, but mostly we have to point the whole ship near our target. The muzzles are covered by trapdoor clamshell slabs to protect them between shots.”
“Nice,” Nightingale replied. “No more surface structures vulnerable to a lucky hit.”
“True, but we have fewer of them. Three Behemoths, three PBs, alternating in a ring around the nose, about two hundred meters between each firing port. Lasers are interspersed all over the ship.”
“What about the other weapons? Electric shotguns?” He meant the railgun-like launchers of sprays of shot, used one time as a final defense.
“Gone. The armor has been upgraded so much that it’s not worth bolting them on.”
“Missiles?”
“Reloadable box launchers near the waist, six hundred at a time, but I want you to take a look at them.”
“Why, sir?” Nightingale asked.
“I’m not at all sure I want them, not for the kind of battle I want to fight. The only reason I am considering keeping them is as a hedge against unforeseen threats. I hate to throw away tools. However, getting rid of them could make room for fuel, railgun ammo, extra power reactors…” Absen turned to Ekara. “I’ll want your input too on that. I suspect I’ll have to decide what compromises will be made.”
“Yes, sir.” Ekara’s eyes roved over the enormous particle beam generator, no doubt calculating the power it would consume.
“So that’s the list?” Nightingale asked expectantly. “Particle beams and railguns as main batteries. Lasers as secondaries, and for defense. Missiles for the Black Swan factors. Fewer weapons, but each far more powerful. I like it, except…”
“Go ahead, Mister Nightingale.”
“Before, we had a lot more of them for redundancy. In the fight to take this system, you lost a quarter of your guns to the pounding we took.” He said “your” because he had been in stasis with the rest of the civilians during the battle, but of course he had studied the reports. “Now, if we lose one railgun or one PB, it’s a very big deal.”
“True, but our damage control will be dramatically better, with all these repair drones. And, you haven’t yet seen the manufactory.”
“Manu- factory ?”
Absen nodded. “Yes. Just like one of Desolator ’s. Once it’s complete, it will be able to rebuild and replace anything on this ship, given time and materials. Anything . A weapon, a new type of ammo, spare parts, whatever. We’ve even incorporated EarthTech nano-construction techniques that the Ryss didn’t have. ”
“Wow.”
“Oh, yeah,” Absen breathed. “This girl’s gonna be hell on wheels.”
Nightingale sat down on the cart, craning his neck up at the ceiling, marveling.
“If you are trying to impress us, sir, you’ve done it,” Ekara remarked dryly. “Is there anything else on the tour?”
“One or two things. You ready to see more, Ellis, or is your brain overloaded?”
“I’ll…I’ll be fine, sir. Show me, oh wondrous Oz.”
“Let’s walk this time,
Something like he himself experienced when he conceived the TacDrive.
Their journey was short this time, debouching into a cylindrical room something like an old-fashioned missile silo, but scaled up, fifty meters in diameter and a hundred high. This time the control room was built into the natural floor, as energy cared little for gravity’s pull.
In the center of the cylinder, from floor to ceiling, ran a tube ten meters in diameter, with rings, heavy metallic fittings, and meter-thick conduits snaking into it at five meter intervals. It merged with the floor and exited the ceiling, which was the near the nose of the ship. Like everywhere else, robots swarmed, working.
“Are we behind the nose armor?” Nightingale asked.
Absen said, “Inside it, actually, just like the Behemoths. Each weapon is in a kind of semi-socket that gives it some traverse, but mostly we have to point the whole ship near our target. The muzzles are covered by trapdoor clamshell slabs to protect them between shots.”
“Nice,” Nightingale replied. “No more surface structures vulnerable to a lucky hit.”
“True, but we have fewer of them. Three Behemoths, three PBs, alternating in a ring around the nose, about two hundred meters between each firing port. Lasers are interspersed all over the ship.”
“What about the other weapons? Electric shotguns?” He meant the railgun-like launchers of sprays of shot, used one time as a final defense.
“Gone. The armor has been upgraded so much that it’s not worth bolting them on.”
“Missiles?”
“Reloadable box launchers near the waist, six hundred at a time, but I want you to take a look at them.”
“Why, sir?” Nightingale asked.
“I’m not at all sure I want them, not for the kind of battle I want to fight. The only reason I am considering keeping them is as a hedge against unforeseen threats. I hate to throw away tools. However, getting rid of them could make room for fuel, railgun ammo, extra power reactors…” Absen turned to Ekara. “I’ll want your input too on that. I suspect I’ll have to decide what compromises will be made.”
“Yes, sir.” Ekara’s eyes roved over the enormous particle beam generator, no doubt calculating the power it would consume.
“So that’s the list?” Nightingale asked expectantly. “Particle beams and railguns as main batteries. Lasers as secondaries, and for defense. Missiles for the Black Swan factors. Fewer weapons, but each far more powerful. I like it, except…”
“Go ahead, Mister Nightingale.”
“Before, we had a lot more of them for redundancy. In the fight to take this system, you lost a quarter of your guns to the pounding we took.” He said “your” because he had been in stasis with the rest of the civilians during the battle, but of course he had studied the reports. “Now, if we lose one railgun or one PB, it’s a very big deal.”
“True, but our damage control will be dramatically better, with all these repair drones. And, you haven’t yet seen the manufactory.”
“Manu- factory ?”
Absen nodded. “Yes. Just like one of Desolator ’s. Once it’s complete, it will be able to rebuild and replace anything on this ship, given time and materials. Anything . A weapon, a new type of ammo, spare parts, whatever. We’ve even incorporated EarthTech nano-construction techniques that the Ryss didn’t have. ”
“Wow.”
“Oh, yeah,” Absen breathed. “This girl’s gonna be hell on wheels.”
Nightingale sat down on the cart, craning his neck up at the ceiling, marveling.
“If you are trying to impress us, sir, you’ve done it,” Ekara remarked dryly. “Is there anything else on the tour?”
“One or two things. You ready to see more, Ellis, or is your brain overloaded?”
“I’ll…I’ll be fine, sir. Show me, oh wondrous Oz.”
“Let’s walk this time,
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