047. Autocannons and hyperspace magic

December, New Oslo

"Fuck off, you fucking fuck! You absolutely, useless, fuckless-fuck. If there was a fucking orgy you would still be fuckless you fuck!" The voice bellowed from inside the room. The vision of Trellshire's head of research was visible as he threw the executive out of the room. His eyes narrowed, furious.

If one could spit out lasers with their eyeballs, he would be doing just that.

"Useless fuck couldn't manage a fucking piss up in a beer-garten." He finally muttered, returning to the meeting room, the research executives of multiple companies waiting inside.

All shook their heads indulgently.

"Make the barrel longer, my fucking ball sack. As if we hadn't thought of that before. Does he think we're absolutely witless morons or something? Is this what the rest of the Commonwealth thinks of us?"

Chuckles from the others in the room were his answers.

"Anyway, back to what we were saying before that absolute lackwit came in and interrupted us." Trellshire came in, sat down and let out a sigh of irritation.

Defiance's representative cracked her neck, peered down at her notes, and started to talk.

"The problem is the same problem that mankind has experienced since the days of the ancients. All the way back when mankind first learned that burning rock makes tube go boom. Isaac Newton's third law, equal and opposite reactions. When our Autocannon hurl a shell weighing 50 kilograms downrange at the target, and that shell then proceeds to be followed up by three more within a few seconds, all from a mount that is standing on two legs at more than four metres tall... recoil is our largest cost factor when designing Autocannon weapon systems. Our systems have been optimised to engage at a set distance, trying to engage targets out further, will lead to unacceptable increases in inaccuracy."

Those in the room nodded in unison.

"As you can tell from the detailed breakdown of Defiance's Mech Hunter Autocannon/20, while much of the 14 ton weight is in the barrel and the autoloader. Allowing it to fire its 203mm shells at a rate of 4 in 4 seconds... most of the weight is actually located within its recoil systems. At a range of 270 metres, these 4 shells will land within a 20 centimetre disc. Managing the recoil so that the autocannon can fire these shots, land them so accurately and consistently, and then repeat this process 6 seconds later. Without causing the Atlas it is mounted on to swing wildly as its waist-mounted weapon fires, or worse, cause internal structural damage. The recoil systems are so heavy because they need to handle the enormous recoil that larger Autocannons produce. This is why the retro-cannons we see cannot do automatic fire beyond 50 mm, the recoil is too great. Hence, a larger, more powerful shell in retrotech versus many smaller but lighter shells in modern design." Defiance continued, her glasses glinting in the light.

Marie Rosie (how she hated her name), was the foremost expert on Autocannons in Defiance Industries... which, when given their production list... said a great deal indeed about her capabilities.

"Thus, our problem. Trying to match the range of a primitive retro-tech gun system but keeping the deadly damage of a modern Autocannon system. As it is, the Autocannon has been, after centuries of development, maximised in terms of capability, efficiency, and weight. Trying to improve one, will come at the cost to another. For example, trying to increase range with larger shells carrying higher amounts of propellant, would decrease ammunition stowage, as well as increase recoil to mech-damaging levels. Alternatively, increasing barrel length does nothing, not when our propellant burns so quickly to make full use of the shorter barrels."

The others gave a brief clap, sarcastic, of course. They hated this as much as she did, but they did need to cover this again in every meeting. Why? Because there was always someone missing, or someone sick, or someone new, and getting everyone on the same page was crucial.

"But, if we do not develop further, retro-tech weapons will completely overshadow the Autocannon line which makes up such a strong part of our heritage. Further, modern ammunition is highly effective against retro-armour and Krupp-Standard Armour, forcing substandard armour choices amongst our foes. It is for this reason, we have examined the area and concluded the best option to pursue at this moment in time... was to evolve our recoil management systems. To develop them to handle the enormous recoil of our autocannon. Taking inspiration from the ancients, Heimdall has looked into the Soviet AN-94. A weapon system that, using a system of pulleys, and carefully managed parts placement, allowed it to fire two rounds before the recoil of the first was felt. In theory, this allowed for extremely high rates of fire with incredible accuracy." Marie pointed at the schematics for the rifle in front of them.

Those in the room just shook their heads.

"It is as if the weapon is designed from fairy farts and fucking hyperspace fuckery. At least we can confirm that there was some kind of magic going on even back in the time of the ancients. Fucking pulleys to manage recoil? What is this, the medieval ages? Still, if it works, it works. Fucking hyperspace fuckery, I tell you." Trellshire's representative glared at the blueprints before him.

The men and women around them laughed this time.

"Well, we are pleased to announce the success of the 'Recoil Shifted Pulse' system prototypes have been successfully developed for the Autocannon 2, 5, and 10 series. These prototypes, have been developed to be as simple as possible. Specifically, these prototype cannons fire a maximum of 2 shells per firing cycle as to not overstress the prototype systems. They have, we can confirm, been a great success. The prototype cannons fire in two sets of 2 shells at a rate of 600 rpm. We have been able to manage an acceptable MOA at distances of at least twice the standard range per autocannon. These prototypes have been able to maintain the weight of the autocannon, but are naturally more complicated, necessitating greater maintenance work to maintain its capabilities." The clapping and cheering this time was significantly greater, everyone involved was tremendously happy with this development. So much so that they were whooping and cheering.

Marie allowed a grin to make its way across her face. While she wouldn't be as unbridled as Defiance's head, it didn't mean she didn't have some kind of emotion going on.

"I would like to thank the members in this room, and say this development in the Recoil Shifted Pulse system is only possible because we, in the modern era, have developed our material science to this degree. That while the ancients are often a great source of inspiration, we, in the future, are not without our own strengths and capabilities. Finally, I would like to thank Ronaldo Jaxon of Eggers Armaments for his suggestions during the inspiration and design phase of this project."

The room politely clapped again.

"Once the prototypes have undergone field trials, we can begin mass production in earnest and ship out refit kits to front-line units. The Commonwealth, once again, will stand at the forefront of technological development! In future generations, we plan to continue development of the Recoil Shifted Pulse system to match retro-cannon ranges!"

This time the beer came out, the rowdy researchers, most of them over 60 years old living by the mantra of work hard, play hard.

It was too bad that they hadn't even managed to crack open the keg that Bowie had managed to sneak in before the door slammed open.

On the verge of giving him the browbeating of his life, the youth panted.

"The Combine just launched an invasion force at New Oslo! The jump signatures just came through, 50 jumpships!"

Instead of panicking as the youth probably thought they would, instead... the grins on their faces probably made them look just a little demonic.

"I think the targets for our testing just welcomed themselves into our home." Marie said.

"Fuckers are going to regret coming here when we wipe the floor with the cumstains." Trellshire muttered around a mug of beer.

"Why would you want to spread around a cumstain? I swear, you men really have no appreciation of just how much we don't appreciate your bodily fluids in the house." Lockheed said, shaking her head... around a bottle of schnapps.

Marie sighed and ignored them. The transit time to reach New Oslo from the jump point was 25 days... they had time.

A.N. This started out as a simple explanation of Autocannon developments. Uh... kind of expanded way beyond what I thought it would.