2024-11-21: New name. New formula.
- Log: 2024-11-14: New name. New formula.
- Cast: Ada Legatum Luckwright, Aurora Dusk (as Emily Ashcroft)
- Where: Foresight Armaments compound, Neo-America
- OOC - IC Date: November 13th, UC 0099
- Summary: The mass production model of the Myrmidon is complete at last! Ada Legatum Luckwright invites the Gaia Sabers to attend her sales pitch, and they send an entourage led by Col. Ashcroft to look into it. In the end, the Solenopsis impresses the Gaia Sabers party so much that they decide to buy it immediately.
<Pose Tracker> Ada Legatum Luckwright has posed.
Foresight Armaments has taken over what used to be its own district of Neo-America, and its central compound has a look to match the somewhat gaudy, monument-laden look of the colony. The central building is a great pyramid embellished with golden filigrees. The hangars and maintenance decks that surround Foresight Headquarters are only somewhat less stylized, built to fuse experimental new architectural styles with neo-classical forms that recall Greek temples and Egyptian tombs, a far sight from the brick buildings and windowed towers that characterize Neo-America's residential areas. The Foresight pyramid is surmounted by spotlights sent up into the night sky seen through transparent atmospheric domes, speckled with the color of nebula clouds and the neon projections of advertisements for products and services. Have you tried Vita-Cola (formerly Reconsti-Cola)? New name. New formula. Same nostalgic taste.
NUNE military requisitions personnel have several times been the guests of Foresight Armaments for demonstrations and canvassing for investment. They've been a reliable source of auxiliary military hardware for years, but this recent 'wunder-wanzer' project has been a strange curiosity of vaporware. The demonstration model has been fielded in live-fire exercises and performed admirably, to be sure. But where has the timetable been to actually sell the damn thing?
The invitation this time doesn't promise a 'soon to be realized' manufacturing schedule. In understated print, it says, 'product is operations-complete and production underway.' When the complimentary trolley-shuttle that crosses the districts of Neo-America arrives at the Foresight grounds, they have been positioned around the hangar grounds to stand visible to arrivals: several rows of wanzers with the same distinct slender build as the Myrmecia, mirror-chrome and silver in color, resting unoccupied. Production, it seems, is more than just 'underway.'
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Col. Ashcroft happens to be the liason sent by the Gaia Sabers to look into the project. It's been failing to materialise concrete results in terms of production schedule since the Sabers were G-Hound. Many exciting demonstrations, yes. Several sightings on the field. All extremely promising, all meaningless without the opportunity to lay their own hands on an actual machine. So, naturally, when Foresight's invitation stated they were actually PRODUCING the damn thing now, she leapt on it. Even if it turns into vaporware again, this is better than listening to some slick-backed-hair Blue Cosmos executive whining like a child to a room full of people with ACTUAL jobs.
On the way, she peers out the windows, examining the scenery. The architecture is definitely not what you usually see in places like this... but she approves. Good taste, and at least they're doing something new. The advertisements are an intrusion, though. Yes, she HAS tried Reconsti-whatever. Why did they change the formula, again? She'll stick to coffee, thank you.
Once she arrives, she is fortunately greeted by actual product this time. Battle-ready, from the looks of things - just missing pilots. And the people she represents can definitely provide pilots. She takes the time to appreciate the wanzers in their rows, chrome shining in the lighting.
<Pose Tracker> Ada Legatum Luckwright has posed.
"Colonel Ashcroft." The senator, flanked with a security team and a handful of assistants. She wears a confident smile, one that knows the circumstances and knows that now, here, she is finally going to make her sale. "Ada Luckwright. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." A firm handshake with her free hand. Her other, as usual, is toting a cup of carry-out coffee. She has a long day, every day. Under her arm is a sealed dossier. "I hope the accommodations were to your liking. Come on in." She leads her guest on the path from the entrance towards the central pyramid building. "They came out beautiful, didn't they? You know they originally wanted to leave them gunmetal grey? Of course, it's not just an aesthetic choice... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Since this is our first meeting, I don't know how much you've been filled in. How much of our Myrmex project have you been familiar with? Shall I start from the basics or just update you on current events?"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Senator Luckwright." Emily's icy blue eyes fix on Ada, and she replies with her own strident smile, small group of officers loitering around her. (At least one of them, a junior officer, has the same eyes. It's a coincidence, but an especially funny one, considering Aurora's relation to her.) "It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Ada's handshake is something she can respect - firm without being deliberately crushing, as if to say 'I am here, and I am strong'. It's the same way she shakes hands.
"I had an enjoyable trip," she says coolly, reflecting on the architecture since that was the most notable part of the journey. Any trip for which that's true is probably a good trip, if you're in the military. A shuttle bomb wouldn't have even broken the top five worst. "Aesthetic might not be the most important thing in a mobile weapon... but that's no reason to stop caring about the presentation. I'm aware of the project, but I don't think I'm as briefed as I'd like to be, and I can't speak for the other officers here. I'd like to hear the entire rundown."
<Pose Tracker> Ada Legatum Luckwright has posed.
"Right, then. From the beginning." Ada gestures to one of her staffers, who holds up a tablet that projects a holographic presentation. It's not synched to Ada's speech, and is ultimately window dressing, but it does shuffle through some schematics and specifications, 3D models, and footage of Myrmecia in action.
"The Myrmex-2 Engine is a broad-spectrum miniaturized psychoamplifier based on the principles we've identified in psychodriver quantum brainwave interpolation. Despite its size, Myrmex-2 is capable of psychokinetic interpolation in excess of what we see in full-scale mobile suit psycommu. Pilots are required with certain quantum brainwave indications, comparable to those associated with psycommu synchronization. Nearly every aspect of the MFW technology derives from this central psychoamplifier, powering the unit's neural interface, its kinetic shielding, its high velocity travel booster, and of course, the unit's outsized offensive power. Despite its appearance as brute strength, it's produced by mass kinetic interpolation fields projected through spatial mapping. The kinetic interactions can be effected arbitrarily within a vast range so long as an uninterrupted chain of contact exists between the unit and the point of interaction."
Ada turns back to Emily while she slides a card into a reader to enter the pyramid. Despite her smile, her eyes are expectant. At least one clear critical question is anticipated, and perhaps this is a test of how sharp the Colonel is, and how easily she can be led around.
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
There are critical questions already. The Colonel's attentive gaze turns inquisitive, and the barrage of questions begins.
"I have several questions: First, these quantum brainwave indications: to be clear, anyone who can operate a psycommu can operate a Myrmex-2 engine?"
"You describe the engine both as a psychoamplifier and as 'powering' various functions. Is 'powering' literal here? I assume so, considering the central psychoamplifier is called an engine. How does the engine generate power?"
"Is there an upper bound to the force the psychokinetic fields generated by the unit can exert? Do they experience drop off as range increases, or as the force 'travels' through various material?"
"On the topic of power: What is the unit's operational time? Is it affected by using the various psychoamplifer-derived functions?"
A couple of the officers in the tour group, stirred by the list of questions, look lost as they begin actually paying attention. The junior officer with the blue eyes is also watching expectantly, wandering gaze having returned from the units outside.
<Pose Tracker> Ada Legatum Luckwright has posed.
"Mm. Technical questions." Ada gestures to the aide with the tablet, who begins to call up more screens of specifications. "There will be an information packet for you take home, but the short of it: operational time is obviously not unlimited but is more than competitive with the average wanzer. There's a supplemental conventional battery to support during surges but the majority of the functions of the unit are performed directly by the Myrmex Engine. Psychokinetic fields are preserved for significant battlefield ranges before falloff begins..."
That stuff is for the eggheads. Ada is not a scientist. "There is, of course, the elephant in the room, the big question. Why a 'wunder-wanzer?' Why an expensive eight-meter wanderpanzer with destructive power to rival a thirty-meter mobile suit? Lyman." The aide switches the holographic display to a mock-up diorama of a densely built military industrial center.
A tiny blip falls directly down in from out of frame, and the industrial sector immediately begins to erupt and collapse. The display has to zoom in considerably to begin to make out the details of the MFW-2 Wanderpanzer veering through enclosed hangars and tearing up underground gas and electric trunklines.
"Alpha strike capability. Each MFW-2 Solenopsis is capable of unescorted orbital insertion, enabling fast and devastating strikes against identified hotspots of hostility located beyond the reach of logistical support. Conflicts are not won by killing soldiers. They are won by eliminating an enemy's logistical ability to resist. Solenopsis is Foresight Armaments' solution to future war: the modern mechanized special-operations unit."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Emily opens her ears and listens to the answers to her questions, mostly satisfied. "Mm, I see... I'll pass the packet on once I'm done here."
Yes, why a wunder-wanzer? Why build this engine into a small frame like this? Of course, Emily can recognise a rhetorical question, and as soon as the display changes, her eyes fix on it. The psychokinetically powered destruction begins, and she immediately understands the practical considerations of the machine. An appreciative glint appears in her eye as she looks on. The assembled officers begin ooh-ing and aah-ing as they watch, too, thoroughly impressed.
Unescorted orbital insertion. Rapid strikes against enemy infrastructure. Total destruction of production capability. It's an amazingly clean way to wage war, too... "Special operations," she begins with a knowing tone, "are something of an area of expertise for me. Yes, I believe we will be adopting Foresight Armaments' solution with all haste." She smiles. She already has a target or ten in mind, actually...
A senior officer - a Commander - in the back speaks up. "Production is already underway, and we saw at least one batch of units ready to go. How soon can we get our hands on this unit?" "And for what cost?"
<Pose Tracker> Ada Legatum Luckwright has posed.
Ada smiles. Nothing else needs to be said, it seems. This is the supreme appeal of this design. A dagger to thrust in the enemy's heart.
"We have nearly a hundred Solenopsis units operational and ready to ship immediately on signing our contract of sale. More will come with every production quarter. And, of course, we will keep you abreast of new developments. The brilliant minds that have realized the Myrmex-2 are already at work on their next project for our peacekeeping forces. We foresee a bright future for the security of the Earth Sphere."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
As approving murmurs go through her entourage, Col. Ashcroft smiles wolfishly. This unit is exactly what they needed. A dagger to cut the enemy's tendons and bring swift, total victory. Once ZAFT's production capabilities have been annihilated, they will have no choice but to surrender under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Side 3 will not be far behind. The era of Zeon is over, and the reunification of the Federation is within her grasp. This is the future, Ashcroft thinks. 'You will be a threat no longer.'
"Yes. A bright, secure future indeed," the Colonel drawls gleefully. "It will be our pleasure to sign that contract and have the units in our grasp as soon as possible. I look forwards to a long and productive partnership, Senator." She extends her hand to close the deal with a handshake.