A Skip Across The Pond

[StaolDerg]

As news of new weapons among the Territorials of the homeland reached Elenria Horizon, the Far-Elenrian military realized that it desperately needed new weaponry of its own to compete. Though the Territorials were a good league away from becoming any significantly modern army, the Armed Forces determined that the comparatively miniscule state of Far-Elenria simply would not be able to compete, regardless of politics, and only worse off if Kumosenkan became involved. The practical answer was to obtain new ones from foreign states- but that extended beyond the jurisdiction of the military. Thus they acted swiftly, delivering a report to the Homebound Commission to drive forward a request through legislature to seek out modern weapons from Elenria Horizon's neighbor.

Figuring that any dispatch to contact the official Rombardan government would end in diplomatic entanglement, the Far-Elenrian government made do with a series of letters to various arms companies of Rombarda, seeking everything from artillery of ten centimeters and above to rifles and pistols, seeking to produce a number under license and learn their internal workings in the process if the companies could not bring a satisfactory product to the table. A generous sum in Koian Jewel was offered for a winning contract, leaving the Far-Elenrian government simply in wait for the companies to respond.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Companies would send their messages back at a rather slow pace. A lot of them had clearly taken time to seek some form of legal affirmation they could actually even do it, and a great many of them outright said no. However, three particular companies, of which three of them were very large Rombardan military contractors, would reply with affirmations. Some smaller companies would as well reply. All of it would be done quietly, or as quietly as they could keep it.

Olive Branch Arms, a prolific small arms manufacturer that produced most of Rombarda's bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles would reply with an offer for a demonstration at a place of their choosing Outside of Rombarda, and then to potentially sell them the license to produce the rifles or to potentially design a new rifle for the Far-Elenrian military to produce and use.

Ballista Arms would respond and offer to sell the license for many of their artillery gun models for them to produce under license and would offer a demonstration if they could get someone to watch to the ranges on Colossus that the company operated for testing, or provide them a location that they could send representatives and some weapons for a test inside of Elenria Horizon.

Panem would offer to sell the license for a fair number of their firearms, most of which were bolt action and sidearms that were used more by private security forces and civilians. Panem would be more willing outright to even offer to extend its ties to the nation if the demonstrations went well and they purchased any of their weapons or licenses to them.

[StaolDerg]

Delighted to have some answering corporations than none at all, the Far-Elenrian government responded to every single reply, inviting them to the Greenfall Demonstration Site in Elenria Horizon, chartering their own corporate freighters to deliver the representatives and weapons to the testing ranges while providing a good deal of covertness.  A wide field at the site would be set aside, reserved for a private demonstration of the arms, the military figuring that a demonstration before any purchase preferable. 

Not all too picky and more eager to simply acquire an effective weapon for whatever the politicians would eventually come up for foreign policy, General Ulsna, placed in charge of the whole commission reviewing the weapons, still figured to make specific requests to the Rombardan companies so they'd have something in mind. For Olive Branch Arms, a service rifle capable of at least 700 yards worth of effective range with accommodation for a rifle grenade was requested. Bolt-action was preferable, but if a semi-automatic alternative was presented with good enough case, the Far-Elenrian government was very willing to pay a larger price for a production license or contract. 

Panem meanwhile would be asked to provide a self-loading sidearm for the Horizon infantry- preferably something with good stopping power with an emphasis on reliability and service life, figuring their experience in the private security and civilian personal protection industries. 

As for Ballista Arms, the Far-Elenrian government would order a number of existing artillery guns, given special accommodation at the testing site with an open field to fire upon. Figuring any artillery would suffice, General Ulsna submitted a simple criteria of an eleven-thousand meter firing range for the battalion guns, 18-kilometer for howitzers, and if possible, coastal or heavy guns of 23-kilomters range.

Satisfied that preparations were ready, the General would personally meet with the representatives and their cargo from the respective companies, the arms carefully loaded from crates disgusied as industrial equipment or components intended for the Far-Elenrian factories.

[VoxApocrypha]

The big three and what smaller companies responded, would have to recruit a few teams of designers.
Since the concern of Rombarda's government was a looming one and it was better that, even if the guns shared some Rombardan design features, the weapons themselves wouldn't be built specifically for Rombardans. In particular Panem would be the first to start work on a design for a semi-automatic handgun, while Olive Branch Arms would choose to spend some time looking through their catalog of weapons to pick something they could modernize and alter, rather than offering a proper Rombardan service rifle from their stock as they felt that if the government itself found out they'd likely end up faced with serious fines and cause an incident abroad. Already their rather quiet trip to Elenria was going to be very much testing the extent to which Rombarda's government actually allowed its contractor companies to have a 'autonomy'.

Ballista Arms itself had a different feeling and knew that few could easily match what they were able to produce. If the other two corporate giants suffered a blow, Ballista had the image that they were going to be fine regardless. They had loaded up a few artillery pieces that were considered by the Rombardan military in the past and either passed over for newer, better models, but were still considered to be serviceable. Upgrades were needed for some but for the moment they sufficed.

When they would arrive, the representatives would be off of their ships first, all of them wearing maritime uniforms that fit for sailors on long voyages across the Shawbalt and such. They were all of various different species, of which the Panem group was all entirely made up of Kithium, while the Ballista Arms group was a mix of human and Festria, with OBA being mostly humans. The rest were a mix, about ten companies overall with a total of twenty six or so people in attendance, not counting the contractors that came with them for security purposes.

[StaolDerg]

The group of corporate representatives were met at the docks by a number of simply-dressed Elenria Horizon government officers, with General Ulsna at their head to greet the foreign delegation, wearing a plain military fatigues with an officer cap rather than his ceremonial garb. He greeted them an outstretched hand and polite smile, starting, "I hope your journeys here were smooth, gentlemen. Welcome to Elenria Horizon. For the sake of our business, please, call me Mr. Palfi."

[VoxApocrypha]

The representatives would nod their heads respectfully, with a few leaving their small gathering to come over and meet him directly. They would all introduce themselves, shaking his hand as they would speak to him and then step back to either let others go, or to let things move along. Panem's ambassador was a Kithium of which went by Samantha, OBA was a Festria called Avitus, and Ballista Arms was a Human named Krota, and various others as well belonging to the smaller ones. Polite and generally rather nice, they would as well be rather eager to get to business as soon as possible, with the OBA representative leading the charge to get to work as he approached Palfi. After a bit it became clear that the OBA representative was the one more or less leading the delegation at least in spirit, and he would be the one doing most of the talking for the group as a whole.

He would approach Palfi last, and shake their hand, his grip firm but not too strong and his smile polite and business-like.
"Mr. Palfi, it is an honor." He'd say as he drew his hand back. "We're eager to get started as soon as we can. There is a fair lot to show you."

[StaolDerg]

"I'm delighted to hear it," the General replied earnestly, motioning behind to a waiting motorcade. "Transport has been arranged beforehand- please make yourselves comfortable. The range is only a short distance away. I'll have the material in question offloaded and delivered by train to the demonstration site." He'd lead them aboard the decently modern vehicles, though it remained rather clear that the cars were altered copies of older Kumo vehicles from maybe a half-decade ago. The good news was that their accommodations were rather sparse, able to carry the entire delegation with room to spare per vehicle.

Following common courtesy, the Far-Elenrians allowed their guests to board first, Palfi joining Avitus in his vehicle. As the convoy got underway, the scenery of the port swiftly became replaced by the countryside's dense greenery, marked here and there by the occasional dirt road peeking from the trees, branching away from the main road the motorcade traveled down. The quality of the roads were rough and not at all without its own bucking about on the occasional dip, but still manageable enough for the the drivers to manage a fairly good speed to the test site, bypassing small groups of peasants on their way to the market with their livestock and goods.

Within a few minutes the trip had delivered the delegation past sandstone gates of the Greenfall military base within the jungle, slowing to a stop just outside a series of what appeared to be bunkers entrenched into the soil, with stone outcroppings some dozen meters away. An entire field outside of the bunker had been set up to the west for the artillery, with personnel patiently standing by as the delegation disembarked. As Palfi exited the vehicle with them, he assured the representatives on the weapons' arrival. "The train bringing the weapons will be arriving within the minute. I should think that offloading to our spot won't take long."

[VoxApocrypha]

Avitus and the various corporate ambassadors would all disembark their vehicles, mostly meandering around the cars before following Palfi and Avitus while they either watched their surroundings and made careful note of them, or waited for things to get rolling when they found a spot to stand and wait. Avitus would be patient, used to long waits, and simply say "We can handle a bit of a wait." He would come to a halt, standing a few feet away from Palfi, sliding his hands into his pockets as he looked out at the outcropping in the distance. When the train did arrive and the process of offloading would begin, a few of the Rombardan ambassadors would watch, while the others began to head to the field or generally disperse from the cars. They generally avoided getting close to anything that looked important mostly hovered either around Palfi, or Avitus.

When they began to set up the weapons, the delegation grouped up again behind Avitus to watch.
"If you would like we can go out there and assist in servicing the weapons and showing them how to operate them."

[StaolDerg]

Palfi encouraged them with a nod, motioning towards the weapons being prepared by the soldiers. "Please, by all means. We wouldn't want to mishandle nor break anything." The general was appreciative of their professionalism. It was honestly impressive alone that they'd even had considered the offer from such... backwater customers as Elenria Horizon. He'd make his way to the first stands in preparation for the demonstration itself, the room just enough to accompany the whole delegation without being cramped.

The soldiers were careful with the equipment, unpackaging the weapons to the bunkers, from the inside out demonstration stands that saw over the whole field. The small arms and machine guns were set up along each stand, with range-marked targets set up in the distance and pre-ordered ammunition stockpiled in a nearby dump, located only behind a door to the bunker itself. For the artillery, their separate range was set up only a short distance away, outside, with a dugout for observers.

The soldiers would welcome any advice or instruction on the operation of the weapons' setup, following every word precisely as they set about their work. 

[VoxApocrypha]

They would for the most part generally only help to set them up, and then provide instructions on how to load, prime and fire the weapons, which was relatively simple all on its own. Despite whatever mechanisms might be in the weapon itself, the general operation of a gun is usually brought down to just a few simple things that most soldiers regardless nation by this time would know regardless. They would after that take on observer positions, since they were going to start off first with the small arms and then move to the larger weaponry from there.

[StaolDerg]

The soldiers were able to figure out the weapons fairly quickly with the help of the representatives, tidily setting up for the demonstration with the presiding drill officers giving Palfi the ready signal in a show of small red flags presented towards the ground.

Finding the whole presentation suitable to begin, the General would turn to the observing delegation to inform them of his readiness to begin. "Very well, then. Please, let us start- Will the sidearms suit for the first demonstrations?"

[VoxApocrypha]

The representatives made an effort to generally not be overbearing and arrogant, generally trying to as well be polite. After all most of them had at one point been contractors or served in Rombarda's armed forces and spoken to and interacted with foreign advisors, interpreters, military personnel, and so on with equipment both forwards and backwards to Rombardans. When they were finished they had either politely moved off to the side, or they were already with the delegates.

They'd start with the sidearms first.
"Yes, that'd be good. We'll work our way up."

With which, there were several.
All of them were rather standard fair for sidearms, and all of them were actually semi-automatic. They were not flashy, they were built for function and utility, and as such they lacked aesthetic stylings and their wooden furniture was about as much in terms of style as they'd get, mostly because the wooden portions saved cost on metal. Off to the side more typical sidearms that were similarly utilitarian but seemingly older as well lay by a crate, as well as the ammunition they used. The OBA one, the Panem one, and the Ballista one would generally only differ in slight but noticeable ways, with the OBA one having a shorter barrel while the Panem one was longer, and the Ballista one just seemed slightly bigger overall with normal proportions otherwise on the weapon itself, probably to fit Festria hands a little better.

[StaolDerg]

Already appreciative of the weapons' pragmatism, Palfi would request each one to undergo an endurance test, while checking over the ammunition used, concerned over the feasibility of domestically producing the bullets used. It was quite clear he was looking for standardization, making note on the weapons' effective range and accuracy as the soldiers tested each of the sidearms.

Personally, he had two types of weapons in mind that he needed: one high-performance model for the standard forces of the Far-Elenrian military, and a more compact model for... political flexibility, given the current indecisiveness of the national government's standing policies towards the Homeland. The latter would need to small enough to hide for infiltration, but reliable enough to be serviced repeatedly at a close range. For the former, he figured that a large and powerful bullet would be preferable- after all, the first taste of combat with locals had been less than tasteful, introducing the Far-Elenrians to the illustrious concept of greater stopping power. It'd also need to be sufficiently reliable, so less parts, and most importantly, hardy. The humid environment of the islands demanded a weapon at least resistant to the degradation of ammunition and primer- with luck, he might even be able to secure a research contract with Panem for at least the technology in tooling such ammunition. In pursuit of those goals, he paid more attention to the Panem and OBA submissions, trying to mark proper adjustments to them should a contract be secured.

Of course, he was not intending to build Kesternrim in one day. so to speak. The most likely course of action would probably be to procure the designs and study them, then produce a licensed variant with the needed changes. Money was hardly an issue- the Homeland Commission would certainly find a source once he reported back with results. He remained attentive and thoughtful throughout the demonstrations, listening carefully and politely to anything that the delegation had to offer on the weapons' nature.

[VoxApocrypha]

The weapons were simple enough and didn't seem like they were maintenance-heavy either. What they were however, was loud, and the representatives seemed aware of that.
The Olive Branch Arms sidearm the first to go up, and it packed a noticeable punch. Its main issue would be long-range accuracy, of which was probably because it was intended for close-range self-defense. The Panem one had neither issue, but naturally, because it was mostly meant for civilian and contractor sale, the weapon had less of a punch, but it did have more stopping power since its ammunition was subsonic and as well, was supposed to bounce around in the target. The Ballista arms one is a hand cannon, naturally, at long ranges, it's difficult to control and to land a precision hit, but the bullet puts a fairly large hole in what it hits, basically a rifle round on its own.

The Rifles were more or less similar.
Despite minor design differences, they were all clearly designed to fit the needs of Rombarda's infantry, the ability to strike over a range.
The first to go up were the Bolt Actions, if only because it was an offering at a simpler weapon they had a lot of, and then the rest were Semi-automatic evolutions of those weapons.
Panem's was mostly made with wood and then a relatively small number of metal components including the barrel, and the round it fired was about typical size. It was fed by a clip pushed in from the top.
Its biggest issue was said to be that it could jam and that over a long range it might not be as accurate as other weapons.

The OBA Rifle was a semi-automatic that, was as well clip-fed, this time from the side - of which fired quick. It had a replaceable stock that was screwed into place, made with plastic rather than wood like the rifle of it. It was as well, shorter, meant usually as a weapon to be used in Arema since the woods did not offer great ranges to fire from in many instances, and the closer quarters required a weapon better suited for it. At short to medium ranges, the weapon was fairly accurate, but suffered at extreme ranges, though it did meet the minimum requirements. The Ballista Arms rifle however, would be able to hit at further distances than either was normally getting, and was semi-automatic, but mostly metal, unlike its counterparts. It fired slower though, and as well was slightly more prone to jamming.

[StaolDerg]

The good news was that all of the pistols seemed reliable enough for the purposes he needed. Licensed production would be able to simplify the parts as needed down the line. Taking note of the Panem one for standard military service, he'd mark it on his clipboard as suitable for the Far-Elenrian military. Its stopping power and ranged accuracy would do just fine. The OBA sidearm would be good for his other objective with maybe a few tweaks to the pistol's weight and ammunition, given it seemed an excellent close-quarters weapon. He'd check with the delegation to see if the changes were possible, while altering the well-powerful cartridge to a flat point to improve its effectiveness close in. After all, a powerful but inaccurate bullet would be no help if it didn't hit its target anyway. 

Moving onto the rifles, he needed a bolt-action for regular service with a sniper variant, and semi-automatic for future development. Rombarda's doctrine of ranged marksmanship would likely serve well here, and looking over the Ballista Arms entry, he believed there was promise. He'd ask if the action could be swapped for a bolt action- its accuracy was what he wanted the most, after all. The OBA rifle would be considered to be a work in progress as he looked it over, deciding for the sake of local resources that they'd have to produce the stock as fixed wooden pieces if they were to obtain a license. The fire rate was impeccable, but there he found himself in a heated discussion with his own officers over infantry doctrine, of whether marksmanship or fire rate mattered more on the battlefield. Marksmanship would mean a better conservation of a soldier's resources, while fire rate would increase the chances of a soldier's hit rate with the number of rounds put down range and suppress enemies. 

In the end, they'd put the conversation aside for later, with Palfi still stalwart that marksmanship's accuracy and reliable from a steady shoot-first policy would win engagements, while the officer argued that bullets were cheaper than lives that could be risked by the slower rate of fire despite the reliability issues. A request would be made for each weapon to be redesigned for greater ranges, given both Elenria and Far-Elenria's relatively open environments of deserts to plains and island tropics, respectively.