Note to All: After the Poker Game, private individual threads took over for the first day in jumpspace. Unless the characters share their actions with the rest of the crew, they will remain in the individual characters' private storylines (see character sheets).
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck
Location: Crew Lounge of the Miishakaal, en route to Gishinridu
1125.6.7 - 09:00 (2nd Day in Jump)
One by one, everyone eventually makes their way from their staterooms to the
crew lounge for their breakfast and first dose of caffeine for the day. Lying on
the table are three shotguns. They have been tied together with ribbons and are
adorned with bows. Boxes of slug and buckshot are neatly stacked in pyramids.
Upon closer examination, you see that the ribbons are nothing more than colored
electrical tape. The bows are spray painted pieces of foam insulation,
delicately, yet precisely carved. A note attached to the ensemble says, "With
Sympathy" with Simrii's signature at the bottom.
Gvarokh, when he first sees the items, leans forward (careful to not touch
anything) and gets a good look at the carved bows.
Vladgorkfeg continues to put together his breakfast with a vaguely confused
look on his face.
Shiraamer examines the bows and ribbons carefully making a mental note to have
Simrii wrap her Christmas packages next time. Even with just electrical tape and
spray painted insulation foam they turned out better then her wrappings. She
takes her cup of morning sunshine and sits down waiting for everybody else's
reactions first.
Everyone is staring at the gift when Simrii strolls into the lounge, yawning.
"Hi guys." He grabs a cup from the cupboard, drops in a tea bag, and then pours
boiling water from the kettle into his cup. Raising and lowering the tea bag he
notices that everyone is either looking at him or the shotguns. "Oh that," he
says, "I couldn't sleep last night. I picked the shotguns up that last day we
were on Larkarda. A gift for the ship. You know, just in case."
After Simrii makes his comments, Gvarokh says, "Nice bows."
"And I'll bet," Simrii says with a smile, "you thought I was just another
pretty face."
Finally Shiraamer speaks, "Hear that Miisha? You got a present and it's not even
your birthday. Where else can we find a crew like this! Thank you Shimrii.
Since Miisha doesn't have opposable thumbs, she gladly allows you guys to have
fun with them...as long as you don't shoot her, of course." She continues to sip
(since they are in space and she automatically rations her coffee intact--ie,
slows down on drinking it) her coffee with a big grin on her face.
Chuck cocks an eyebrow.
Lakir cheerily says, "Ah man, ya shouldn't ave. Or at least, you could have
consulted me on the ammo selection....he certainly could have produced some
alternate loads for where we're headed."
Simrii rolls his eyes as he sips on his tea, "I'm remembering something about a
gift horse and it's mouth right now. Buck and solid slug are all you need.
Explosive rounds are simply a waste of money," he sighs, "The ammunition
manufactures' PR juggernaut rolls on."
Lakir counters, "Yeah. Just remember that when you need the air-burst load for
those boys under cover, or the DS for the clown behind the bulkhead...."
Simrii grins a little as he starts to pull the fixing's of a banquet for
breakfast out of the fridge, "I wouldn't get too worried about people blowing
holes in the hull. I bought a training sim as well: smg, pistol and I think I
got rifle too." He stands up with some green onions in his hand, "I'm not sure
there were so many pretty shiny things there I was a little distracted at the
time." Simrii starts to make an omelet.
Shiraamer says, "I'll have to look at those sims to see how to use some of these
weapons probably."
Lakir changes the subject, "Hey Slade, after breaki, I got a question for ya."
"Hit me."
"Our gunshop guy back on Larkarda gave me an idea, unfortunately one I didn't
twig to until I was talking to the Capn' this mornin. Any chance you can fab me
a barrel extension out of some scrap hull plating for my Gauss Pistol, providin
the Capn' don't mind...?"
Shiraamer grins at her guys -- her family. "I don't think it would take that
much scrap hull plating but I'm not an expert on any of this."
Slade gives Lakir's query some thought, "Hmm. It sounds like it'll be fun to
try, anyhow. I guess we can thread the existing barrel end without cutting into
the gauss windings and turn a piece of bar stock to fit. I don't know that we've
got what it takes to extend the windings down the extension for extra
horsepower, though, and if we did we might have to upgrade the power supply and
electronics too. Don't know if the microcontroller in that thing is even capable
of switching more coils than its actually got."
"Yeah, it does. Worked just fine on my production extension, 'fore I lost
it....."
"And hey, is that barrel rifled? 'Cause I heard doing rifling is really really
hard without a rifling machine. Also, is the projectile centered in the barrel
by the field with minimal barrel contact, or does it ride on the barrel surface?
Because it'll surely encounter friction when it hits our barrel extension, if
you want any accuracy anyhow, which won't be too great for your muzzle velocity,
not to mention your accuracy as it wears down. Have to see how hard the
projectiles are compared to the bar stock we have, and check the coefficient of
expansion of our stock to make sure the tolerances in the threaded interface
won't go all out of whack when you open up with that thing."
Lakir shakes his head, "Nah, no rifling, just the winding of the copper alloy
magnets, and making sure the feed rails line up when the barrel locks...that's
the tricky part."
"I was thinking too, if the front sight is right up at the end of the barrel
we're going to have to either move it, or maybe inside-thread the barrel
extension, which could cause problems with the frontmost set of coil windings.
I suggest we move the sight, and outside-thread the existing barrel. Hopefully
the front sight is drilled and tapped, and not welded on."
"No prob, my top rail is adjustable to 200 meters, about what I can shoot with
the extension, or a real good bench."
"Also got to do some research on the barrel crown angle for those things, though
I guess we can just duplicate what's already there."
"More a continuation of the angle."
Slade thinks for a moment, "So the trick is the windings. Copper alloy,
preferably the correct copper alloy. Maybe we have a spool of solenoid wire in
about the right size. I wish we had a metalworking toolkit. As a matter of fact,
doing any kind of threading without it is going to be a problem. Chuck, we need
to get one of them."
"Getting a metalworking tool kit sounds good to me. Maybe we can pick one up at
our next stop. Now that we've got some of Mersshon's cash we should be to
afford one."
"Are the windings wrapped on some kind of carbon fiber or ceramic former?"
"Yeah. The copper is wound in a helical pattern, with a carbon fiber insulator
separating the helices. Any non conducting rod of the appropriate diameter
should suffice for the forming portion of the operation."
"Hmm, can you buy these things?"
Chuck answers this one, "Yep."
Gvarokh decides to weigh in, "We probably want to defer any testing until
planetside. I don't want anyone around when it is tested, and I don't want to
risk any of the cargo." He pauses to let that sink in, "You know, trying to make
a homemade silencer for an autopistol is one thing, but trying to screw with a
gauss weapon just seems like *asking* for trouble."
Chucks nods his head in agreement, "If you want my opinion, you're asking for
trouble. If you try to modify that gauss pistol, you're gonna break it. You're
better off trying to buy a gauss rifle or SMG on the black market or legally
from a low level world."
Gvarokh looks at Chuck, then adds, "That said, as long as everyone who wants to
be safe is safe, and the cargo is safe, I am more than willing to let you guys
try."
Shiraamer shakes her head again and chuckles at her own limited knowledge of
the weapons, "As for the conversation you guys just had... I'm assuming it was
Galanglic you were speaking? My knowledge is limited to knowing which end to
point at the target and where to squeeze the trigger."
Vladgorkfeg is happily munching away at his tasty reconstituted Venusian Rock
Beast paste.
In response to Chuck, Lakir says, "Nah. With the computing power we got, running
a sim before test firing eliminates the chance of a catastrophic failure. The
code is pretty straight forward. I'm sure Vincent could whip it up in his sleep,
if he doesn't already have it loaded. Most of the basic software can be pulled
form Simrii's sim, pardon the play. I've had bootleg barrels before, with no
problem, 'cept they keep getting damaged every time I use them for hand to
head..."
Chuck replies, "Ok, don't say I didn't warn you."
Vincent speaks up, "Uhhhh I don't have the software. Yeah I could code it,
assuming you guys gave me all of the parameters and tell me how it's supposed
to work, but hacking into Simrii's sim and copying out the software would be
easier. Of course, we'll still need the proper interface so that the gun will
talk to the computer."
Slade adds with a wink, "Let me look it up first and see if we even have the
materials on board."
"Ok."
After Simrii finishes eating, he takes the shotguns and the shells and puts them
into the ship's locker with the rest of the weapons.
[OOC: Simrii only has weapon sim plugs for his Ma-57 and Ma-90.]
Characters: Slade and Lakir
Location: Crew Lounge on the Miishakaal
1125.7.1 - 19:05 (3rd Day in Jump)
Lakir is just finishing up his dinner alone in the crew lounge when Slade walks
in.
"Hey Slade, how's it goin'."
"Fine. I had a chance to do some research last night on your gauss pistol
extension."
"Yah? How did it go?"
"Well, if we had the right tools and materials, we could probably do it. I
looked into the materials we have on board and they're not gonna cut it. If you
want, I can make you a list of materials with purity and tolerance specs so that
as we make stops along the way you can shop for the stuff."
"That'd be great!"
"Cool. One problem though. I'm worried that the extra weight from the barrel
extension is gonna throw off your aim. The center of gravity is gonna shift
forward. We could eliminate that concern by adding a grip to the extension.
That'll make the thing two handed but at least you'll be able to aim better.
What do you think?"
"Nah. The grip is great for close in dirty work; I need the extension for long
range hits, though if I can get enough material, I'll have you fab me a snubbie,
you know, for those close in encounters. I like the long range barrel, just
haven't been able to acquire one that stands up to being used in those unarmed
brawls. Nothin' says "ouch" like gettin smacked with a piece of superdense
upside the head on those high law worlds...." He pauses, "Now that you mention
it, I've been reading up on archaic fighting techniques, and a barrel with a
handle might just fit the bill for a style I've been looking at...even though
I've got the sights rigged for the extra weight forward..."
"Well I'm not really mechanically inclined. Electronics and engineering have
always been my forte, but I'm willing to put my extra experience into making a
bull barrel that'll crack a navy destroyer hull."
"Sounds great."
"Ok then. I'll start working on that tools and materials list."
"Thanks!"
Next: Last Briefing Before Gishinridu