Daran Ist'Ladaren walked through the VDTFSF Khelena's Research and Development centre, knowing that the Sraralumee was off on business. With the discovery of several aliens in such a short period of time, Khelena has set about getting the Vekimen ready for war, and he could not be happier with the idea. It had been some time since they had a real war to fight, and fighting against aliens would make it all the more entertaining, he was sure of it.
The six gold bands recognizing him as a Thyva glinted in the IR light that filled the development centre, and he was almost where he had to be. There had been some modification to some of the weapons they had utilized in the past, and he was ready to get started on testing them.
As the Ladaren entered the chamber that was the R&D centre, he was met with a sudden boom, a few screaming Sivaros, and a wash of heated air.
"I fucking told you," one of the scientists hissed, his own four banded horn and his slap-happy manner around his subordinates signalling his rank, "You don't turn up the RPMs until things are at temperature. Now clean up your fucking mess, Keva, or I'll personally execute you!" Shaking his head, he looked up at Daran and sighed. "Excellent timing, Thyva," he said, as he walked towards the Ladaren. "Khysze Nithok, at your service."
"I hope none of the important equipment was damaged in this... accident?" He asked, looking around at the various scientists trying to reset the scene. "Specifically what I am here to see? You said you made some modifications to our SG?"
"Nothing irreplaceable was broken," the Sivaro said, waving away the other lizard's concerns before touching his horn. "And it was a different project, so I'll take you to the SG, show you what we've done, and then you can go about the rest of your day."
"Of course. I can't wait to see what it is you have done. I feel the original spreadshot rounds were a little... lacking..." He said simply, following the Sivaro.
"Yes, yes," the Khysze said, turning on his heel and heading to the small arms section of the centre, "We've done a few things that we think you'll like. Especially increasing the size of the shot in the rounds."
Daran looked at the Sivaro with a slow gaze. "Increased the size? Have you modified the weapon to handle a charge of that size or didn't you maintain the original charge?" He asked, keeping pace with the male easily.
"We increased the charge and reinforced the chamber and gas system so it could handle the extra pressure," Nithok confirmed, stopping as they reached the various workbenches that were handling the production of the prototype. "A little heavier than the last iteration, but it should still be within acceptable margins." He paused as he picked up a completed example off of a rack and offered it to Daran. "Of course, you're probably the best judge of that."
Daran nodded, taking the weapon in hand and lifting it up. "You're right, it is a little heavier..." He stated, looking it over before shouldering it.
"We have a range and a variety of ammunition over there if you want to try it out, Thyva," the Sivaro said, pointing at a bench with a few targets set up.
Daran simply nodded, walking over to the bench and picking up the first set of rounds. He loaded them in slowly, taking in the feel. They were substantially larger rounds, but he was fine with that. It wasn't impossible to deal with, and training would quell any other problems the soldiers had with it.
When he was ready to fire, he shouldered it, cocked it, then fired. The kick made the large lizard take a step back, not a good sign as he looked down at the weapon with a slight growl.
"Sorry, sir," the other lizard said after seeing a large amount of recoil. "Apparently," he continued, heading back over to the rack and taking a closer look at another gun, "a few of the previous prototypes got into that rack." Sighing, he threw the weapon onto a workbench before heading over to one of the other benches and picking up another model.
"There we go," Nithok said, heading back over to Daran and offering him the next weapon, "This has a couple of features to help mitigate the recoil."
Daran practically tore the weapon out of the researcher's hands, snarling at him. "I do not need my soldiers being thrown around by such a heavy recoil... You should hope this model is the correct one, as I likely will not give you a third chance to present it..."
"I wouldn't have it otherwise," his subordinate said, nodding his head as he took a couple of steps back.
Daran readied the shotgun again, seeming to take a more solid position than the one he was used to when using the original SG, and pulled the trigger. As promised, the weapon performed much better. He fired it all eight times, before loading a ninth round in, firing it in turn.
"Much better..." He said, looking at the metal target he was just firing at, and the several holes in it. "And very effective. The charge is still more noticeable, but a more rigid firing position than what we use on the 12 gauge is all that is needed to compensate for that," He said, picking up one of the slugs.
He examined the metal casing, narrowing his eyes. "Why is this one metal?" He asked.
"The metal casing helps reach higher velocities," the Sivaro said, taking a step forward. "It was designed with Kiraten shooters in mind, so it might have more recoil than you can handle, sir."
Daran thought about that loading one of the rounds in. He noticed one of the targets were much thicker than the rest. "I take it that is for this round," He said, taking aim.
"That is correct," the Khysze replied, looking downrange in anticipation of the damage.
Daran pulled the trigger and was thrown back in a similar manner again, but the target down range was practically destroyed as the solid slug slammed into it, punching a massive hole the size of his head in the metal. He didn't seem angry this time. Actually, he smiled.
"Oh... I just cannot wait to see what this would do against an enemy!" He grinned, letting the smoking brass casing pop out and looking at the Vekimen researcher. "I can tell why a Kiratan would use this..."
"Yes, though if you don't mind me saying Thyva," Nithok said, returning a slight smile, "You did a good job with dealing the extra recoil." Pointing at the other types of ammo, he asked, "Want to try another round?"
"Yes. What else do you have?" He asked, looking over the other rounds. "Most of these don't have familiar designations..." Daran stated, looking over the shells.
"First," the Sivaro said, picking up one of the black shells with a red stripe, "We have a high explosive slug that has a blast radius of one and a half meters. Nothing too special about it though," he continued as he picked up another type of ammo, coloured black with a red and white stripe, "since we have a high explosive slug with a fragmentation layer, which has a three-meter radius of lethal fragmentation."
"If they are as effective as the last two rounds, I don't think we will have to worry about effectiveness, will we? Though I like that it puts ranged explosives into the hands of your average soldier. I can see these being put to use all over the field of battle," Daran stated simply.
"Indeed," the other lizard said, putting down the two rounds before picking another black shell, though this one had a Blue stripe. "This is an anti-armour, high explosive round, which can penetrate two inches of steel. Our enemies will hopefully be unpleasantly surprised when they find our shotguns to be useful against armoured targets," he said, noticing Daran looking at the shells carefully.
"Lastly," the Khysze said, picking up the last shell, we have an incendiary round that shoots flames up to a hundred feet away, setting easily ignitable materials on fire."
"Sounds like we will have a very strong variety when it comes to our abilities. Now, I understand you have an attachment set up to run all these weapons without needed the shotgun specifically, correct?" He asked, looking at the rack of weapons.
"That we do," Nithok replied, walking over to the rack and picking up a VDR with an attached shotgun barrel underneath the rifle. "This is an under-barrel shotgun for our rifles. It has a four round magazine, enough for special situations, but not enough for a sustained firefight with them."
Daran looked the VDR over, taking it in his hand and taking the grip of the under barrel. He loaded four buckshot rounds in and fired all four, enjoying the semi-auto of it, but knowing it left it easier to break. "Not as much a kick. Systems in place to vent excess gasses?" He asked, looking the platform over.
"Exactly," the Sivaro said, smiling like a teacher who saw a student learn something difficult. "That's everything we have to show you, Thyva. Any improvements you want on the weapon?"
Daran shook his head, putting the weapon down. "No. It's good enough for production. Send the schematics to all the plants, have them cancel the 12 gauge. Priority clearance. I want all the 12 gauge replaced within the month," He ordered, turning and walking away with little ceremony.
"Yes, sir," the Khysze said, touching his horn in farewell before he turned to the other Sivaros. "You heard him. We have a month to get this to our troops, so get the fuck moving or I'll find an airlock to throw you out of."
Subject: VDTF VDSG Dev Thread