Verusan Armed Forces Council Negotiations, Round 1The Verusan Armed Forces Council is happening this week at a grand hotel in the heart of downtown, the Lyasonne. The affair is mainly a tug-of-war between the army and the navy for resources, authority and royal favour, overseen by the young King Eiros II and his retinue of advisors, chief among them the King’s Adjunct, Bertrand Laruse. The Sky Crusaders have managed to get some of the smallest rooms in the whole place booked for them, in which the entire design team and some additional bureaucrats are bunking.
The first morning passes in a blur of long and boring speeches about the need to win the war against the evil Kolechians, and several of the junior engineers doze off halfway, earning dirty looks from the royal guards. In the afternoon, however, the generals and admirals get down to brass tacks – the perfect environment for the Sky Crusaders to make their move.
Negotiations begin in the Great Ballroom, now littered with haphazardly placed tables and chairs. The Sky Crusaders don’t waste any time, asking the generals and admirals to support the promotion of the Verusan Sky Crusaders to an Autonomous Corps. In return, they promise the “Ox Slayer”, a proposed .60 cal air-cooled heavy machine gun. The plans for manufacturing this weapon, once it is designed, will be shared with the army and the navy.
"And as our first act as an autonomous corps, we shall develop a state-of-the-art heavy machine gun. This deadly weapon system will be available for our army and navy brothers."
To further sweeten the deal, another designer proposes sharing the technology for the Barnett 1915 V12 engine with the army, a move that is quickly supported by the rest of the design team.
We're thankful for the Army's assistance in acquiring technology such as the Bolt Machinegun which is a staple of our armaments, among other things. Now that we're becoming established, we'd like to show our worth by giving back. I present, the Barnett 1915 V12, a twelve-cylinder motor producing two-hundred horses of power. Yes! Imagine the weight two-hundred horses could pull on the battlefield, all attached to one wagon. I think you will find it adequate to power any truck or tractor to great speed, with the right transmission- even if it were covered in armor, even if you towed your heaviest artillery carriage behind it, or a dozen men and a whole crate of bullets. This could be yours and more, as time goes on I believe the Sky Crusaders will continue to produce the most powerful engines seen outside of ships, and maybe other useful inventions too.
Please accept this sample engine for your trials, as a token of our appreciation and good will.
The generals are intrigued by the offer of the Barnett 1915, although some roll their eyes as the concept of ‘horsepower’ is explained to them as one would to a medieval peasant. The size and weight-to-power ratio of the V12 is strictly better than anything the army has at present, but not incomparably so. Some generals are convinced to support the VSC, although many are still sceptical of the impact a new engine could have.
As for the ‘Ox Slayer’ proposal, the army is also interested. A true heavy machine gun (heavy as in calibre, not in weight) could help battles, with its greater ability to penetrate cover. Some argue that a .60 cal machinegun could not be reasonably air-cooled, while others insist that if the Sky Crusaders design team pulls it off, it would be a great boon to the Verusan army. More generals are swayed by the promise of the ‘Ox Slayer’, although a small but growing group is calling for the delivery of this new weapon
before the Sky Crusaders are promoted to an Autonomous Corps.
The navy admirals, however, are outright dismissive of the heavy machine gun proposal. The Verusan navy already has (relatively) fast-firing 6-pounder guns for defence against torpedo boats, and regular machineguns for anti-personnel work. They simply don’t see the need for the navy to have ‘Ox Slayers’ at the moment.
At the afternoon tea, a couple of naval admirals sympathetic to the Sky Crusaders’ cause approach the design team’s table. They explain that while the attack on Kolechian ships in Late Winter 1915 earned the respect of the other admirals, the lack of any significant contribution to the naval battles by aircraft since then has damped enthusiasm. Perhaps a proposal for some new type of aeroplane, either for naval search or attack, would garner a warmer response. Even a simple commitment to keep some squadrons to assist the navy in fighting the Kolechians would go a long way.
As the council breaks for dinner, it looks like the Sky Crusaders have convinced about two-thirds of the generals, and hardly any of the admirals, necessary to get themselves promoted. Further arguing sessions are scheduled later in the night, but for now there is the opportunity for the design team to regroup and come up with new proposals or replies to existing ones.
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Topic: Knights of the Skies: Verusa Thread - Early Summer 1916, Production Phase (Read 60588 times)