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[Sean Mirrsen]

"Hey, hey!  Stop shooting Manny!"
Yell at Anton, tackle him if he doesn't stop shooting.

"What? Mesk? I ought to shoot you, dammit!"

Anton turns and punches the approaching Mesk in the chest, letting the weight of the Red Hand accentuate his frustration, but leaving the taser off.

"Damn near made me jump out of my suit! Do that again and I'll shoot it with the Gungnir, see how well it crawls as separate deep fried fingers."

Anton looks again at the twitching appendage. "The hell is that thing, anyway? New toy of yours? I don't remember seeing it on the mission."

((Action continued in further post.))

[Empiricist]

Charles walks over to the conference room, careful to keep his weapon's safety on. He wasn't too familiar with such weapons (even though he was nevertheless more familiar with rifles than the more unconventional or exotic options) hence why he always deployed it as a turret rather than wielding it. He stands awkwardly unsure of whether to lean against a wall or stand at attention.

[Sean Mirrsen]

((Oops, missed Simus' message.))
Anton's wristpad beeps suddenly.

Any who would consider staying here with me, I would like to meet sometime soon to review you. If you're not otherwise occupied, meet me in the Sword's conference room. It's going to take a bit for my repairs to finish, so no hurry, but I need to see you.

Anton sighs, waves Mesk and his digitigrade pet off, and gets back into VR, composing a message even as he gets back to the tests.

I'll see you there once I'm done testing these, XO, but I'd say it's too early for the talk of staying or leaving. Let's see if we don't get blasted off this planet by the UWM first - then we'll know for sure who can stay.

Finish that battery of tests, dammit. Then go to meet Simus in the conference room.

[PyroDesu]

That's all right. And right now, I just want a rough estimate - it's for planning a part of the new HQ, albeit a part of secondary importance.

Also, minor suggestion on the clean fusion bomb concept, try using a z-pinch magnetic field to crush a FRC plasmoid in a lithium shell. Should ignite with any fusion fuels you care to use, and it's clean (apart from any neutron radiation from the fusion reaction - that's unavoidable with most fusion fuels). Little bit more complicated mechanism, but probably cheaper than kinetic amps.

[Sean Mirrsen]

That's all right. And right now, I just want a rough estimate - it's for planning a part of the new HQ, albeit a part of secondary importance.

Also, minor suggestion on the clean fusion bomb concept, try using a z-pinch magnetic field to crush a FRC plasmoid in a lithium shell. Should ignite with any fusion fuels you care to use, and it's clean (apart from any neutron radiation from the fusion reaction - that's unavoidable with most fusion fuels). Little bit more complicated mechanism, but probably cheaper than kinetic amps.

Z-pinch? FRC Plasmoid? Excuse me while I look those up (my knowledge of particle physics and field theory is in many places self-acquired), but judging by your description of the process, it's probably not something we have just lying around. I chose the kinetic amps because they essentially take a simple principle with a hard implementation, and apply a direct solution to it. The primary costs associated with building it are the materials - the kinamps, in this case - and the assembly and operation processes are simple. Your proposal, while potentially better in the long run, is going to take away significant resources just on R&D and preparation for manufacture - complete overkill considering they're made for just the one craft at the moment. If you plan to make fusion missile launcher turrets for base defense, that might be a different story, but it'd still take considerable prep time. And that's one thing we don't exactly have in unlimited supply. We have to weigh the pros and cons given the circumstances. See what the R&D people say about your proposal. If it's not significantly harder to make work, I don't mind switching my kinamp-fusion missiles out.

[PyroDesu]

Apologies for not being clear. It's really fairly simple: Take a cylinder with the fusion fuel gases in it, apply a closed magnetic field (the FRC), and use cheap RF antennas to turn the fuel gases to plasma, reversing the field as you do so, so the plasma is contained by the field. Crush a lithium foil liner around the newly-formed FRC plasmoid, using a secondary field, or even modifying the original containment field, and it will ignite fusion. Ignore what I said about a z-pinch, that's a different containment method - using the electrical conductivity of plasma to create the field that contains and compresses it.

((Here's what I'm getting at, used as a rocket and not a bomb.))

[Sean Mirrsen]

Apologies for not being clear. It's really fairly simple: Take a cylinder with the fusion fuel gases in it, apply a closed magnetic field (the FRC), and use cheap RF antennas to turn the fuel gases to plasma, reversing the field as you do so, so the plasma is contained by the field. Crush a lithium foil liner around the newly-formed FRC plasmoid, using a secondary field, or even modifying the original containment field, and it will ignite fusion. Ignore what I said about a z-pinch, that's a different containment method - using the electrical conductivity of plasma to create the field that contains and compresses it.

Hmm. Well, it sounds workable, but will require either custom automanipulators or significant quantities of energy. One is possible, but heavy on the R&D - you're talking about a customized Plasma Projector without acceleration chambers, with extra modifications for the lithium shell integrated into the mechanism, at least by my back-of-the-envelope estimates here. The other is also possible, but might be too bulky for using in a missile warhead - maybe a bomb or a stationary structure like a fusion reactor (or a particularly nasty modification of a nuclear pulse propulsion engine) would be a better application. So, likewise, potentially problematic, and requires R&D. Worth looking into, however. I won't deny that my 'solution' is as elegant as a fifty-pound sledgehammer, so we can definitely improve on it. We'll discuss it at the meeting. Hopefully some R&D people can chime in too.

[GreatWyrmGold]

-snip-

Take the razor.
"Thanks."
"...Wait, you're Mister Jim? You don't look much like him..."

Beep
Grate paused the simulation for a second to check the message. It sounded like a high-priority beep.

Any who would consider staying here with me, I would like to meet sometime soon to review you. If you're not otherwise occupied, meet me in the Sword's conference room. It's going to take a bit for my repairs to finish, so no hurry, but I need to see you.

Dear Mrs. Simus,
Where are you, and how long will it be until you're ready?
Sincerely,
Grate

((An OOC answer in turns would doubtless be useful to me and others.))
He paused, thinking about the simulation.

Dear Mrs. Feyri,
I'm glad you're alive and okay.
Love,
Grate

((What thread(s) is/are Tiruin watching/playing in at the moment?))

[PyroDesu]

((Hopefully, PW won't keep me unfinished for more than another turn or two. Probably could've gotten out this turn had I not needed to deal with Auron.))

I beg to differ. At the scale we're working on, I think a nonmanipulator version should be feasible - it won't need to contain very much, and it certainly won't need to contain it more than a moment, just before detonation.

Also has the benefit of being completely fail-safe until it receives the detonation signal from its fuze. Until that, it's just a tube of gas with a lithium foil around it and some electronics outside of it (obviously not exposed, since the warhead will be in a missile case of some sort).

I'm in the infirmary, being repaired. It shouldn't be too much longer, the majority of the work is done, I think, but it might be a bit.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Sigh and save the game (if you want to think of it that way) before going to the infirmary. Chat with someone who is neither busy nor in a chemical repairing tank.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I beg to differ. At the scale we're working on, I think a nonmanipulator version should be feasible - it won't need to contain very much, and it certainly won't need to contain it more than a moment, just before detonation.

Also has the benefit of being completely fail-safe until it receives the detonation signal from its fuze. Until that, it's just a tube of gas with a lithium foil around it and some electronics outside of it (obviously not exposed, since the warhead will be in a missile case of some sort).

The question is not in the size of the containment or the amount of material used. It's in power supply. A missile is a self-contained package that needs to make its best speed to the target and not get shot down. Compressing a chunk of matter to fusion-initiation pressure conventionally takes explosive power in the hundred-kiloton scale, though obviously only a fraction of that actually makes it to the material. Now, there's this ship I'm outfitting, carrying a super-high-power plasma cannon with a comparable - though in all likelihood higher - power output. It uses the most advanced power capacitors we can produce to squeeze enough energy required to fire the weapon into the ship's frame, and the entire ship can only carry six shots, using the capacitors like bullet cartridges. How big a missile is going to be needed to carry the power supply involved in fusion-compressing the plasmoid shell in the warhead? Would that missile be able to evade point defense fire? It's all pros and cons, really.

I'm not saying the lithium-shell approach is worse, or unworkable. But it'll need serious looking into, and I'm going to need some qualified help to pull it off here in VR. So once you're done with your- wait, repairs? What happened? I felt the Sword shudder recently. Did the administration building collapse? I bet Auron caused it. Plowed his junkbot through a load-bearing wall or something. Anyway, once you're done we should collaborate and work the best solution out. I'll finish these tests first, if you don't mind.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I bet Auron caused it. Plowed his junkbot through a load-bearing wall or something.

((So close. So amusing.))

[PyroDesu]

Close. Auron blew it up. He hit a volatiles tank trying to shoot me. In the braincase.

He's died twice for that folly, and when he wakes up, he won't be quite the same.

[piecewise]

"Hey, hey!  Stop shooting Manny!"
Yell at Anton, tackle him if he doesn't stop shooting.

"What? Mesk? I ought to shoot you, dammit!"

Anton turns and punches the approaching Mesk in the chest, letting the weight of the Red Hand accentuate his frustration, but leaving the taser off.

"Damn near made me jump out of my suit! Do that again and I'll shoot it with the Gungnir, see how well it crawls as separate deep fried fingers."

Anton looks again at the twitching appendage. "The hell is that thing, anyway? New toy of yours? I don't remember seeing it on the mission."

((Action continued in further post.))

"Hey, hey!  Stop shooting Manny!"
Yell at Anton, tackle him if he doesn't stop shooting.

[mesk dex:5+1]
[Anton dex:5+1]
[Mesk str:5]
[Anton str:4]
Mesk tackles Anton to the ground, while anton begins pounding away on mesk's kidneys and delivering punishing blows, even while on his back. Mesk, unfortunately, seems completely unfazed because of his inability to feel pain.

"WHAT DID MANNY EVER DO TO YOU BESIDES LOVE YOUR FACE?!" He shouts, pounding his fists against anton's helmet.

Right, Simus, I'm positioned to take control of the spider tank.

Hop into what passes for a control unit, study the controls in preparation to power down.

The controls are kinda like a ship...or more like 3 different ships welded together with controls that control things completely unrelated to what they should.  Dang it auron, you clearly weren't expecting other people to use this,were you?

Simus, with assistance, goes back to her chemical bath to finish her repairs, sending messages instead of trying her garbled-sounding voice, for now.

Maybe, but it's why I asked you accompany me - I know I might've done something stupid and left him with all the support off. That, and your input. How much of the chemical would it take to tone down a person's emotions so as to render emotional impulses either severely reduced, or void altogether? Or another method altogether, I'm only familiar with the one possibility.

Shut it down as soon as you are able. If you think you can, get that inane cannon off of it and send it back to Steve for recycling. Leave the base itself be, though - it's scrap-made, not worth anything, may as well keep it intact. Maybe try to find a more appropriate weapons package for it.

We'll build under that Aurora, and underground as much as possible, with the tunnels our entrance. I don't have any particular design scruples other than let's make it as efficient as we can, while still being defensible - and an elevator off of the main control room's hall that leads to a special level, with a conference room and facilities for me and the others who elect to stay with me.

Any who would consider staying here with me, I would like to meet sometime soon to review you. If you're not otherwise occupied, meet me in the Sword's conference room. It's going to take a bit for my repairs to finish, so no hurry, but I need to see you.

You're gonna be in that bath till monday. You're pretty fucked up.

I'm not sure if what you're attempting to do here would work. It may prevent him from taking another spur of the moment shot at you, but the argument that gave rise to that was based on a difference of opinion. Limiting emotional response will not eliminate differences of opinion. In fact, it might make him even more dangerous because he won't attack you out straight out. He'll plan it and probably actually succeed, if he sees you as being a threat. 

>Understood.

Charles walks over to the conference room, careful to keep his weapon's safety on. He wasn't too familiar with such weapons (even though he was nevertheless more familiar with rifles than the more unconventional or exotic options) hence why he always deployed it as a turret rather than wielding it. He stands awkwardly unsure of whether to lean against a wall or stand at attention.

To the conference room you go.

((Oops, missed Simus' message.))
Anton's wristpad beeps suddenly.

Any who would consider staying here with me, I would like to meet sometime soon to review you. If you're not otherwise occupied, meet me in the Sword's conference room. It's going to take a bit for my repairs to finish, so no hurry, but I need to see you.

Anton sighs, waves Mesk and his digitigrade pet off, and gets back into VR, composing a message even as he gets back to the tests.

I'll see you there once I'm done testing these, XO, but I'd say it's too early for the talk of staying or leaving. Let's see if we don't get blasted off this planet by the UWM first - then we'll know for sure who can stay.

Finish that battery of tests, dammit. Then go to meet Simus in the conference room.

Mesk is currently trying to beat your face in. You're a bit busy.

Also, next turn, when you do try and get it done again, could you quote or repost the original post of tests?

Sigh and save the game (if you want to think of it that way) before going to the infirmary. Chat with someone who is neither busy nor in a chemical repairing tank.

Team mate or just anyone? You could talk to a nurse but they'll probably be busy.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Team mate, presumably, for the reason you mentioned.

Is anyone else eve  in the infirmary?