Engineer and the Officers [Ashinara - Franerre]

[aimway921]

Sonya was getting ready. Yesterday she has promised Jean-Paul, an officer who arrived with the Franerri ambassador, that she would organize a meeting with an engineer from the Army's R&D department to discuss possible projects on improving both nations weaponry. Unfortunately she wasn't able to secure an officially sanctioned meeting - after all, she was still merely a candidate for Chief of Army, even if the most promising one. Luckily, however, she was personally acquainted with said engineer, and was able to get him to meet... Unofficially.

Early in the morning, Sonya has arrived at the hotel where the Franerri men were staying, beating whomever was coming to pick Luca up to bring him to the Rada meeting by almost half an hour. Motorization was still poor in Ashinara - the country still didn't have a single domestic vehicle production - as such, the vehicle she arrived in was of Gaelic import - a flatbed truck with a two-seater cab.

Hopping out of the driver's seat, she quickly made it to the floor where the Franerri had their room, and knocked on the door, fixing up the collar of her military tunic one last time while she was still alone, away from prying eyes.

[callmedelta]

Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Aymard was just finishing the last parts of putting on his military dress uniform when Sonya knocked. The military dress outfit was blue with red accents, and Jean-Paul hated how much it made him stand out. But alas, he couldn't exactly wear the one more practical uniform he'd worn yesterday, as it still hadn't been cleaned. It was Luca who answered the door, expecting someone to take him to the Rada, though when he saw who it was the man called for Jean-Paul. The man tucked his cap on his head, then exited his room. He stood there and stared at Sonya, clearly waiting for her to explain why she was here.

[aimway921]

"Good morning, Colonel," Sonya said, as she threw an informal quick salute, bringing her open palm to the visor of her cap for but a second. "We're in luck. I've been able to get us a meeting with the R&D Engineer friend much earlier than I anticipated. I've got a truck downstairs. Do you need help bringing down the arms you've brought with you?"

[callmedelta]

"Special Officer," Jean-Paul said, returning a more formal salute. "I only brought three weapons, but all of them were stored in one box for ease of shipping." Aymand unlocked to another room, then stopped in front of a large padlocked box labeled in both Franerri and Common 'Property of the Kingdom of Franerre. Unauthorized tampering with this box is a crime and anyone found doing so will be prosecuted.' Jean-Paul walked around to the other side of the box. "If the box ever gets to heavy for you, just say the word and I'm sure I can get Luca or someone else to help me move the box," Jean-Paul said, bending down to get ready to lift.

[aimway921]

Sonya eyed up the box. It did't look that heavy, did it? Well, even if it did... She got a sour impression yesterday from, both Jean-Paul and Luca, who, while not saying anything, gave off the feeling of distrust to a woman in uniform. Now was as good a time as any to dispel any such notions. Man and woman were created equal by the Great Spirits, and while it was a given in Ashinara, Franerre seemed to need some extra proof. So there was no way Sonya was about to make herself appear weak. Even if she indeed wasn't sure she'd actually be able to lift the box and carry it down.

"I'm sure it's anything I can't handle," she said, as she bent down. Grabbing the handle, she asked "Ready?" and upon seeing an affirmative nod from Jean Paul, heaved up.

The box turned out much heavier than she expected. But there was nothing that can be done now - once Sonya Petlyura committed to something, no force can stop her. Hiding her struggle as she could, she managed to get the box down to the courtyard with Jean-Paul - although it probably took them a bit longer than she would've wanted, but finally they made it to the truck sitting in the shade of one of the trees. After loading the crate up into the bed of the truck, Sonya invited Jean-Paul into the passenger seat while she walked around the front to crank the starter, before climbing behind the wheel.

[callmedelta]

Jean-Paul sat in the passenger seat of the car, waiting for Sonya to enter. He stared out at the city in the meantime, taking in the odd place. It wasn't Franerre, that was for certain. For how admittedly nice the place was, Jean-Paul didn't know if he'd ever like it. Ashinara was just a little too odd for his tastes, but never let it be said that Franerri army didn't know how to do a job right. "So," Jean-Paul asked, still not looking at Sonya, "You said you were educated at a military academy in Ulster-Gaelia? How'd you convince the UKUG to allow that one through?"

[aimway921]

"They want to influence us," Sonya said, as she threw the truck into gear and started driving, the engine revving up somewhat high. "They think that by making us loyal to them, they would gain an ally in the fight against Kumosenkan. It's pretty obvious if you look at it - they have agreed to a deal with us to help us industrialize at an astonishingly low price." The truck slowly rolled out of the hotel grounds, and began it's way downhill.

"Tagomych advised to lead them on. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes, and with our current standing in the world, we don't have much of a choice. Simply means that we'll have to deal with the Gaelics after we're done dealing with Kumo and Galra, not before."

[callmedelta]

"Smart," Aymard commented, "Franerre's managed to keep Lusatia at arms length after her colonialization. Slower industrialization, but no stabbing in the back." Jean-Paul didn't comment on which approach was better, likely because he didn't even know himself. If you'd asked him before seeing Ashinara, he would have said that stabbing Gaelia in the back wasn't worth the risk, but with this...Jean-Paul found that assumption being questioned. "Of course, all of that implies that Ashinara and Gaelia survive Kumosenkan and Galra," he added glumly. Jean-Paul withdrew a cigarette and lighter from his coat, taking a drag and blowing the smoke out the window.

[aimway921]

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, Jean-Paul," Sonya said, as she visibly tensed up - just before the truck hit a bump - and thanks to her quick preparation, she hadn't bounced up in her seat as much as Jean-Paul did. "Of course we should prepare for the worst case scenario. But at the same time we should whole-heartedly believe that the worst-case scenario will never happen. If we did, we'd loose the motivation to do anything."

After about 40 minutes of talking, they've reached what looked like the outskirts of the city. The paved road long since gave way to a gravel road, that was slowly transitioning into a dirt road. "Not long left," Sonya said. "The R&D Facility is located just outside the local Army Base - handy when you need security for the often top-secret projects being developed in there, and quick access to a testing range."

[callmedelta]

Jean-Paul gave a wry chuckle. "I get that. I know the Army probably has at least one testing facility like that, but it's a bit above my pay grade. I know a friend of mine and I had a little friendly betting pool on where it would be. He thought it was on some isolated island, I thought it'd be high up on a mountain. Of course, the realistic answer is that it would be just out here in the open with nothing around it, but that's a boring answer. Life's more fun when you imagine it's more interesting. Reality could always use some spicing up, though I'd prefer if that spicing up didn't come from anything related to our careers."

[aimway921]

"Ah well," Sonya chuckled "some things we won't ever know.

Soon enough, the truck pulled up to a checkpoint that interrupted a long fence line, and some buildings visible in the distance behind it. A soldier stepped into the middle of the road, with his rifle pointed - but not shouldered - in the direction of the truck. Another soldier walked up to the driver side.
"Vashi dokumenty" he said, and Sonya gave the soldier what looked like a passport, but much narrower - and a folded piece of paper - both of which she procured from her breast pocket. The soldier spent almost a minute examining them, before raising his head. "Zachekayte hvylynu," he said, before returning to the guard booth. The guard standing with the rifle in front of the truck was becoming visibly nervous. Through the window of the booth, Sonya and Jean-Paul could see that the guard was on the phone - likely confirming the validity of the documents handed to him.

Couple minutes later the guard came back outside. In one hand he was carrying Sonya's document, and with the other, he waived to his partner to raise the boom gate.

"Vybachte za chekannya, Oficer Petlyura," the guard said as he handed her the documents back. "Znayete kudy jihach?"

"Tak," Sonya replied. "Dobry den'". With that the truck once again began moving.

A few minutes later they approached the buildings that were previously visible from the distance. Unassuming gray boxes of concrete, broken up by doors and windows every now and then. Driving into the complex, a number of people could be seen walking around, both in military uniform and civilian clothes, many carrying something, raging from a clipboard to sizable boxed. It would take the pair a couple minutes of navigating the tight road packed with foot traffic until they reached the front of the central building - although not the largest. Getting out of the truck, Sonya commanded the first two soldiers she spotted - besides the guards posted at the doors - to follow her and Jean-Paul with the crate that they bought in the box.

This building had the largest amount of windows, and overall seemed to have been built with a less utilitarian and more comfortable architecture in mind. This was clearly the administration building of the research complex.

Walking down a few corridors and up a flight of stairs, they have arrived at a door numbered 62. Sonya knocked on the door, and after hearing a reply, opened it, inviting Jean-Paul in. The room they found themselves in was surprisingly large, seeming to have stretched along half of the hallway they just walked down - explaining the overall lack of doors in that hallway. Close to the door there was a wooden desk with some loose papers and packed files on it. Then there was a series of metal tables. Some were empty, and some had various things laying on them - some of which were guns, in various states of being complete or disassembled. Sonya told the two soldiers to place the crate on the nearest empty table, before ordering them to leave.

"Good to see you," a fox man in what seemed to be a simple work outfit said. "My name is Valentin Ustinov," he said, as he extended his hand to shake Jean-Paul's.

[callmedelta]

Jean-Paul tapped his fingers on the side of the truck nervously. He had no idea what the soldiers and Sonya were saying, and he didn't like that. Not one bit. It was a strange thing, but at least he took a strange solace in the fact that if he and Sonya ever went back to Franerre he'd be sure to put Sonya in the same position. Needless to say, Jean-Paul was glad when the truck started moving again.

Now in the room, and thankful to set the heavy box down, Jean-Paul extended a hand to the fox man. "Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Aymard." The Lieutenant Colonel's uniform was a bit disheveled from carrying the box in, but he couldn't exactly fix it now. Instead, he got to work unloading what was inside the box. First, he withdrew three Ilucil Modèle 1915s, the main single-shot rifle used in the Franerri army. Next, he withdrew three Vaccaro Repeating Rifle Modèle 1920s, the more pricy repeating rifled used in the most elite Franerri units. Third, he withdrew three Marron Modèle 1914s, revolvers used by officers and engineers. Lastly came a trio of Sordi Modèle 1927 shotguns. The gun was modern by Franerri standards, a lever-action shotgun with rare usage and that usually wasn't available for export, but Ashinara was a special case. The rest of the case held ammunition for the rifles and hearing protection.

[aimway921]

Sonya and Valentin began inspecting the arms Jean-Paul unpacked. Sonya immediately went for the revolver, while Valentin picked up the IM1915, and started comparing it to the FRVM-1914/20. Cycling the bolt and pulling the trigger several times, he listened to all the distinct sounds the rifles made. He then asked Jean-Paul to show him how these rifles are field-stripped, as well as to show him the ammunition.

In the meantime, Sonya began presenting the Ashinaran equivalents to Jean-Paul. First was the G-88 single-shot rifle. It was a bit shorter than the IM1915, but that is likely explained by the lower average height of Ashinarans compared to humans. Unlike it's Franerri equivalent, the Ashinaran rifle had a straight bolt handle, and was a little bit stiffer in operation. Sonya then pointed to a peculiar detail - a hole drilled in the top of the receiver. This was a gas port, intended to vent any extra gasses. This was a safety measure, as to prevent said gasses from blowing back into the shooter's face in the event that a round loaded with too much powder was shot.

Sonya then displayed the Ashinaran repeating rifle - similarly prohibitively costly and thus limited to elite troops - for now - the G-11. And the first most unusual feature that stood out was the dust cover covering the action. The rifle was designed to withstand the harsh high humidity climate of the Ashinaran tropics - which also makes it an ideal weapon to work in the wet conditions of naval landings. The gun featured a nickel-coated barrel, that helped with corrosion both from the elements and from low-quality ammunition (not that Ashinaran ammunition was low quality or anything). Even the stock was designed with special carveouts around receiver to flush out water and sand. The bolt on this rifle worked smoother than on both G-11 and both Franerri rifles. The double-stack box magazine holding 5 rounds of ammunition had a tab sticking up that acted as a bolt stopper when the magazine is empty, intended to prevent the soldier from cycling the bolt and aiming for another shot when instead they should have reloaded - a feature the designers were convinced was bound to save countless lives. Finally, this rifle had the same gas vent hole in the receiver as it's pre-magazine counterpart.

Next Sonya showed the Ashinaran service revolver. It was a somewhat small gun that was double-action only. The first difference from most other revolvers was the shape of the hammer - that had no conventional hook shape to it intended for pulling the hammer back with your thumb - instead it was just a plain solid block. This was because the gun was not designed to shoot in a single-action mode. Ashinaran philosophy was that if you were far enough to need a precise aiming of your handgun, you were clearly doing something wrong and should probably use a rifle instead. No, instead, the handhun was supposed to be used at close ranges only. This simplification of the mechanism, while cutting back on the versatility of the gun, had the added benefit of lowering the cost of production.

Finally, the most massive weapon in the room was the SS-12 machine gun. It was a heavy gun with a massive ribbed barrel. The action looked similar to the Maxim guns used by other nations - however instead of it being fed by a belt - the feeding of which required lifting of the top cover - this gun was fed by a 30 round clip inserted from the side. With an efficient teamwork of the shooter and the loader, the gun could fire just as continuously as the Maxims used by other nations - possibly even faster, as the Maxims had about 8 seconds reloading cycle, while a new clip can be inserted momentarily into the SS-12 the moment the previous one runs out, making the action of reloading almost instant, as long as the loader is alive and vigilant.

[callmedelta]

Jean-Paul immediately went for the SS-12. Franerre only had Gatling Guns, and they were too heavy and not available for export. But that Maxim? He didn't have the luxury of seeing the weapon before, but from what rumors Jean-Paul had heard in his time in the military, they blew the old Gatlings out of the water. Seeing them in person, well, Jean-Paul hadn't seen them fired yet, and the 30 round clips would be interesting, but he could already imagine how it worked. The Lieutenant Colonel spared a quick glance at each other weapon on offer. The G-88 was comparable to the IM-1915, and therefore not worth worrying about. The G-11 was, in Aymard's opinion, inferior to the Vaccaro 1920. The five round magazine was far inferior to the Vaccaro's 11, and perhaps an Ashinaran variant of the weapon could be made. The revolver was...interesting, but the merits between a double-action only revolver and a single-action revolver seemed only to have small differences. "Care for some shooting tests?" Jean-Paul asked. 

[aimway921]

"Of course!" Valentin said. "The range is already prepared. I'll get assistants to carry down your crate to test fire your arms as well. We also have prepared our artillery at the range."

After packing the weapons Jean-Paul brought back into the crate, Valentin opened the door to the office, and motioned for the first two workers he saw. As they have ran up to him, he instructed them to take the crate and follow the trio down, back to the truck. Once there, they have loaded the crate into the truck bed - and Valentin hoisted himself up there as well. Quickly starting the truck, Sonya drove it around the building and followed the road that led away from the complex, but in the opposite direction from the entrance they came through. After going by a line of trees, they have arrived at a massive open field. Sonya drove past the gate in front of the field, and parked the truck under a wooden roof held up by 4 pillars - simply a covered parking spot. Several soldiers were loitering around a number of long tables, which also had a number of weapons laid out on them. Short distance away there were two field cannons, and a hefty pile of ammunition next to them. Multiple ammo cans dotted the tables and the floor around them. As soon as the soldiers saw the newly arrived officers, they have sprung to attention. Sonya then ordered them at ease, and called over two to get the crate off the truck and onto an empty table.

"Shall we begin with yours or ours?" Sonya asked Jean-Paul.