Dan'l stared at the plans on the desk in front of him with a sigh.  They were wrong, all wrong and he couldn't figure out why for the life of him.  Assault rifles weren't exactly rocket science they should be fairly easy to piece together, right.  He didn't want to use an existing frame and add on to it that was far far too easy.  With this, his lab and production facility, at his disposal he should be able to manufacture at least one weapon up to his exacting standards.  With a sigh he reached down to his desk and shredded the paper.  Back to the drawing board it looked like.

He went back over in his mind exactly what he wanted his perfect weapon to be able to do.  It needed to be fairly light weight so it could be transported by soldiers over long distances if they were on foot.  It needed ammo that was also fairly light so that soldiers could take a fair amount of it with them on missions.  The need for it to pack a punch big enough to take down enemy combatants would obviously have to be weighed against how light the ammunition was.  What else? The perfect weapon would be able to fire both lethal and nonlethal projectiles.  These projectiles should be able to be switched at leisure as the need for either could change at the drop of a hat. 

He sat back in his chair with his mind racing thinking back to all of the gun manufacting designs he had ever studied.  Plan after plan after plan racing though his mind as he did so.  Some he took the time to hone in on certail key design elements while others he discarded immedietly.  With the thousands of weapons he had researched this was going to take him a long, long time at this rate.  Leaning back and putting his feet up on his desk he scowled at the thought.  He had time though.  Time and money were no issue the only issue was getting the right design.

A lightbulb went off in his mind and he threw his feet off of his desk.  This was it! He'd get the range and accuracy of a long barrel but without the drawbacks that came with it if he used a pullpup design.  It meant the barrel started further back then on most firearms so a folding stock was going to be out of the question.  That was fine.  Magazine fed obvously but what caliber?  The .308 was something that had been used successfully for a long long time.  It packed quite a kick for something its size.  That sounded just fine as well.  What could he do with the round to make it nonlethal though? Dan'l smirked as the next thought went through his mind, it was such an obvious one.  By adding a small amount of weight he could make the weapon a force multiplier.  A small twenty millimeter underbarrel grenade launcher would give the weapon a massive amount of firepower in addition to granting it access to a wide variety of lethal and not so lethal ammo.

He got to his feet grabbing sheet after sheet of paper and spreading them down on his desk.  It was going to take some time and effort but he would get this done, and done right.  And when it was done it would be the perfect weapon.

Sourcing the correct materials for the build was alway a concern.  For this particular weapon Dan'l wanted only the best.  Titanium while costly was lightweight and stronger than steel.  It might be a pain to work with for some folks but he'd taken the time to research it and with his eidetic memory it would only be a matter of  time before all of the information on working with it came back to him. 

The twenty millimeter grenade launcher was one that was still widely used but he would have to make his own variant of it of course.  One of the main goals would be to reduce the need for a manual site.  It would be a simple process to create a way to aim both grenade laucher and assault rifle by visual display.  That idea would have to wait though.  The gun needed to be built first.

Order after order of goods began arriving on planet each delivered to a different wharehouse in different cities under different names.  From these wharehouses trucks carrying all manner of goods were sent all over the planet.  On a few of these routine trucking routes trucks would be stopped and robbed by a lone individual who only removed a few objest from the trucks before allowing them to continue on their way.  In each instance the manifest would reflect the missing objects to be nothing of importance, mundane.  Due to the lack of evidence left behind and the insignificant monetary value of the goods taken the robberies would soon be placed on the back burner by local law enforcement entities.

With his lab fully stocked Dan'l began the long process of building an assault rifle from the ground up creating each piece by hand.  Sophisticated equipment allowed him to cut the time needed down by far.  However each and every measurement still needed to be done by hand.  Component by component checked and rechecked at is was painstakingly assembled.  With the weapon intact testinig it could take place.

Dan'l flung the latest test model to the ground and stormed off the range furious.  It seemed like every time he fixed one small design flaw he created two more.  He had had issues with muzzle velocity and accuracy that had been fixed.  Issues with firing with sand and / or mud caking the weapon hand to be resolved and were.  Then there were the issues firing in mock tropical environments dealing with high humidity.  The water submersion tests hadn't gone as planned either.  Each test had pointed out a flaw and with time and effort Dan'l had corrected each one. 

The current test put three thousand rounds into the gun chamber and then through the barrel.  Something that was so simple and yet Dan'l had seen the chamber warp slightly.  It shoulnd't have happened using the materials that he was using.  Perhaps by trying to go too light weight he had gone too far making the metal lose its strength.  He would have to salvage what he could from this model and make yet another attempt at the perfect weapon.

A few weeks later Dan'l pickup up the new model and held it tight against his shoulder.  He loved the feeling of a weapon system in his hands especially this one created by him and for him.  He looked through the iron sites, flipped the safety switch to off and fired off a lone round.  The feeling was incredible.  Test after test safely done behind bullet proof glass and in controlled environments had got him to this point.  To finally be able to shoot it as he had envisioned was incredible.  Well almost as he had invisioned.  He still needed to create the targeting system for integrating grenade launcher and assault rifle with a heads up display. 

He cringed at the thought.  Today was not about things he needed to do it was about things he had completed.  He jacked the chamber for the grenade launcher forward and loaded a round.  Aiming down range three hundred yards he grinned at the whoop as the round left the barrel.  A feeling of pride swept over him as the round exploded over the intended target completly shredding it.  He opened the chamber and loaded yet another grenade this time firing at a small number of targets their size and position replicating a group of protesters.  He watched with interest as the round was loosed before opening up releasing a cloud of riot gas.  So far everything was working just as he'd hoped.  The final round that he wanted to try out was something that had been played with long ago.  He loaded a bean bag round into the grenade launcher shooting it at a target a mere fifty yards away.  The target should have been hit and the bean bag bounced off of it.  Dan'l stared at the target transfixed by the damage.  Whatever had been in the bag had propelled it through the target leaving an enormous hole in its wake.  Back to the drawing board on that particular round.

Dan'l fumed as he thew the latest design for the heads up display to the floor.  It had seemed so promising and then it had leaked like a sieve.  For the weapon system to shoot riot gas he needed to be able to protect himself from it.  That meant a gas mask or sealed helmet of some kind.  One of the problems he was running into being the long beard that protruded from his cheeks and chin.  There was no way he was going to get rid of that.  He couldn't call himself a dwarf if he did. 

He smacked a fist on his desk before grabbing another sheet of paper and outlining yet another design, the seventh today alone.  There was no other way around it he was going to have to trim the beard, not get rid of it.  He walked from his lab into his break room searching for a knife and a mirror.  Knife in hand he made his way to the latrine where he as calmly as he could he removed two and a half feet of beard.  He stared into the mirror for a few minutes barely recognizing himself before chucklng softly.  If he couldn't recognize himself the dwarves sent to find him wouldn't have any better luck.

Returning to the new outline he grinned.  The new shorter beard would fit perfectly.  He would have to play with the design a bit but it shouldn't be too hard to create two different options.  His first option would be a gas mask with one large optic so that it didn't limit the user's vision on the peripheries.  The second design would be usefull in situations where gas either wasn't an option or wasn't going to be used.  The optic would resemble a pair of sunglasses.  He would ensure the optic were sturdy enough to be used as shooting goggles as well as being able to change appearance so that they would not reflect light back at the target if stealth was necessary.

It would take some time to build the latest design but Dan'l had high hopes for it.  He looked forward to joining it with the new weapon he had created.  The "kill house" was the ultimate test for the weapon and optic combination he couldn't wait to take it there.

"Play random hostage simulation authorization code zulu alpha papa tango."

Heartbeat slightly elevated Dan'l pushed the door open.  With the weapon tight to his shoulder he quickly scanned the room for signs of life.  A man armed with a sawed off shotgun apparently heard the door swing open and turned towards the door.  Three .308 bullets struck him before he was able to make a sound.  Moving quickly but quietly Dan'l continued down a hallway to the right.  An open doorway on the left needed investigating.  As he approached a woman saw him and lunged for an automatic pistol on the bed a few feet from her.  Without thinking Dan'l fired the grenade launcher at her.  The bean bag, now nonlethal, struck her and sent her flying.  With practiced ease Dan'l quickly cuffed her before continuing. 

He loaded another round into the grenade launcher counting the seconds it took as he did.  One, two, three seconds.  If he needed it he could still fire lethal ammunition as the weapon was being loaded.  On the move once more he went from room to room clearing each with the applicable gunfire or bean bag.  When he approached the last room he paused this room had to hold the hostage and he was unsure of how many enemy.  A quick glance into the bottom corner of his optic told him he had seven rounds remaining in his magazine.  Rather than have to change it in the midst of a firefight he dropped the mag and inserted a fresh one.  The optic blinked thirty.  One .308 in the chamber and one bean bag loaded as well he kicked open the door.

Immedietly Dan'l could see two small children tied to chairs in the middle of the room.  Behind them at a small card table two men turned towards him.  Acting in unison they leapt towards the children. 

"Aw shit."

It looked as though neither man held weapons of any sort.  Dan'l fired at the one closest to the childred knocking him back with the bean bag grenade.  The second man took advantage of Dan'l's hesitation grabbing one of the children in a choke hold from behind.

"I'll kill her you know I will.  Drop the weapon."

"Shit shit shit!"

Dan'l had no other option than to do what the man said.  He set the rifle on the ground keeping an eye on the man in front of him.

"Good now you're going to turn around and walk away."

"I'm afraid I can't do that.  Not with you threatening those kids."

"If you do ANYTHING I'll kill them."

Dan'l watched the man through the optic reading his movements and that of the hostage in his grasp.  He turned as though he were going to leave after all the hand out of sight moving up to about chest level as he did.

"I'm leaving..."

The small single shot pistol held a .410 shotgun shell loaded with a specially designed round.  When fired it activated an electric charge that would be unleashed on impact.  Linked with the optic accuracy was not a concern.  The shot went right where it was supposed to directly into the exposed shoulder of the man holding the child.  The intense voltage dropped the man instantly.

"but now without them.  End hostage simulation."

It looked like as much as he liked the new weapon system it still had a few kinks in it.  Two to three seconds for a nonlethal round to be reloaded hadn't seemed like a bad concept and really wasn't. However, a backup weapon was going to be a requiment going forward.  The thought of merely putting bullets into the enemy combatants didn't even enter Dan'l's mind such was the strength of his code of ethics.

End design thread for LDV-7 assault weapon system