Post by him on Dec 24, 2021 5:01:12 GMT
Azarova Vladimirovna had calmed down from the stress of setting up the Imaginese Stall at Tridex. In the days or so that had passed since the opening of the trade fair, she had barely had time to rest as she oversaw the entire Socialist Republic presence in the Hochlands, but she now felt like she was enjoying the experience. Certainly, the vast array of technologies on display were inspiring. The multicultural, multiplanetary event had been overwhelming for some of her comrades, who, having lived for the last few decades in the relative shelter of stagnation and isolation, but for Azarova, it was pure magic.
She found herself now on a procurement mission alongside her colleague Varoslav Chevchenko, an older, stout gentlemen, whose sunken eyes gave off an impression of tiredness, which was only amplified by his greying black hair. The 2 wandered the rows and rows of stalls, all showing the varying weapons of conflict, looking with glee at the possibilities, only to see a price tag that would make it difficult to justify to the higher party officials back home.
One stall however caught Azarova’s eye. Smaller in stature than the rest, but with (what she believed) was a fine collection of goods, at what seemed to be a decent price. She approached a display, hoping to catch the attention of someone. When she finally caught the eye of an individual she smiled, whilst Varoslav perused the goods.
“Hello there” she spoke kindly. “I must say, my colleague and I were just admiring your displays here. We represent a government who is looking to update some of its older arsenal. Infantry, armoured, we are looking for the whole lot. Would you kindly us the service of maybe highlighting a few?”
The stall that caught her eye-or rather, stalls-seemed to be occupied by three individual corporations, sharing the same space in a manner that seemed slightly cramped. They were split into three camps; one seemed to showcase advanced technology with infantry armor and what looked like odd, exotic weapons, another showcased weapons of all sorts and sizes, and the final one had large suits of power armor and two tanks, each with a turret that seemed to track everything around it like an animal sniffing for prey.
Various suits roamed around, along with many midget assistants; they seemed ardent to try and ignore their peers from the other corporations, distinguishing themselves with subtle colorings of their suits and tiny pins. The small helping hands, meanwhile, saw fit to just wander around for the moment, waiting for commands from their bosses as they observed the various displays or chatted and played games with each other.
The individual she approached appeared was nearest to the stall showing off the fancy equipment, having just finished giving a small list of orders to one of the midgets. They smiled in turn, a bit wider than the usual corporate smile, as they began speaking-perhaps they hadn't had many customers yet.
"Ah, yes, of course. Right this way, I believe Dem'yot Laboratories would have much to offer you."
They then moved over to the section detailing the various exotic weaponry, each having various animated holoreels detailing the weapon and it's functions. Two weapons seemed laser-based as they threw a red glow onto their surroundings, while another seemed plasma-based with various bright purplish-blue accents. Yet another was some sort of launcher, though it was rather copiously sized, and a few more seemed like variations on the other energy weapons.
"So, first we have our weaponry, curated and tested to the utmost degree. Tell me, at a glance, which catches your eye the most?"
‘Energy Weapons?!' Azarova thought. ‘Now this is an area the Republics is lacking.’
She turned to her colleague, Varoslav, who was idly stood, looking over the launchers with child like glee in his face.
“Ahem…Varoslav.” Catching the man’s attention as he was shuck out of his gaze. “Varoslav, our friend from Dem’yot Laboratories here has some interesting looking energy weapons…what, in your opinion, would be of most interest to the Republics?”
The gentleman, still caught off guard, turned to look at the presentation of energy weapons. He surveyed for a few seconds before speaking in a dullest tone.
“Hmm…yes, well…could you…hmmm….could you tell us more about these?....please.” He said, pointing at the two laser based weapons with the red glow.
"Ah, our Laspoint weaponry! A fine choice." the corpo said, her smile growing a slight bit wider. "They're not you're typical laser weapon, far from it."
As she spoke, a runt clicked a button on her silent command, and a holographic display soon materialized above the showcase cabinet containing the rifle. It showed an animated diagram of the rifle firing, with various explanatory annotations at each stage of firing, and a series of demonstration videos playing next to it, with some technical details sitting comfortably below. The annotations soon found themselves rather inessential, though, as the suit soon began to explain.
"You see, our Laspoint technology utilizes the material and immaterial in a unique concert. A canister of molten, hyperdense material is stored within the magazine, ready to be fired at a moments notice. When the trigger is pulled, the material is injected, and then propelled at speeds rivaling even the fastest bullets towards the target, assisted by a laser propellant found inside the weapon. Once the projectile reaches it's target, the combination of extreme density, heat and speed at once cause the projectile to not only penetrate, but explode within the target, causing far more damage than the standard bullet you'd see in most firearms.
The unique nature of the projectile allows for even pistols based on the technology to be extremely accurate, up to several miles at minimum." She said, gesturing to the honestly rather bulky pistol they had on display with the slightly-less-bulky rifle. "They're also easy to handle, surprisingly lightweight, and can fire up to 50 shots before needing to reload. The constructions themselves are fairly bulky, as you can see, and refilling the magazines does need specialized in-field facilities, but as a marksman's option they exceed like no other-and compared to other laser weapons out there? They're cheaper than you'd think."
The suit now turned to Varoslav, satisfied with her advertising pitch as the holodisplay was turned off by her now wandering-away assistant. "Now, do you have any questions? And do any other things stand out to you?"
“Very impressive.” Varoslav said, turning to Azarova. “It certainly would be useful for us. Our marksmen in particular would make very good use of it.”
“Very well. For our business we are looking to acquire considerable numbers…or alternatively, the Republics have offered me the power to offer great funds in exchange for the license to produce such weaponry ourselves. Would this be something we could engage in?” Azarova said, smiling at the Suit.
“And…what can you tell me about this launcher?” Varoslav interrupted, looking with glee at the weapon.
"Hmm..." they seemed to ponder the question for a moment. "I'll talk with my superiors, I see no reason to believe they wouldn't be open to licensing negotiations."
"Ah, yes, this." she said, pleased at the other client's seeming enthusiasm. "This is our Portable Offensive Package Delivery Mortar, or POPDM. It's able to be mounted on the shoulder, or set up as a standard emplacement, and despite it's size is comparatively light even with designated packages equipped. It is also equipped with a smart-scope that allows you to calculate the arc of the shell in real time, enabling quick, relatively accurate fire even when under duress."
As she was talking, she pressed a series of buttons, bringing up a series of holographs displaying various rocket-propelled ammunition for the weapon. As they progressed, they seemed to not only get longer, but also more and more unorthodox, first starting with explosives and ending with... personal transport for those midgets wandering around? How odd.
"As for the packages, they come in a few flavors. Usually, they can either be artillery explosives, as seen, or weapons and ammunition delivery caches, for supplying allied troops in hot zones quickly and easily without putting oneself at immediate risk. Then, we made shells capable of acting as floating reconnaissance, and then finally for emplacements we engineered a shell capable of propelling something around the size and weight of..." She took a moment to call over one of the midgets. who was busy looking at a rather chunky TRIDEX pamphlet. "...one of these little guys, without issue."
Her second pitch over, she turned off the displays and faced her clients. "What do you think?"
“Even more impressive” Varoslav speaks, a grin from ear to ear across his face looking at the holographic destruction.
Turning once again to Azarova, he speaks aside.
“I am sold Azarova. There is much here at TRIDEX that I am enjoying, but these seem to be within our range, and look so…fun…”
“I trust your judgement Varoslav”. Herself turning back to the suit. “My colleague here seems to be very impressed. If he is happy, then I am as well. The same question applies as before…would we be able to attain these on license? As far as I am concerned, we are within grasps of a very friendly deal. We can talk finer points of the economics once we know whether we are talking licensing ordirect trade.”
"I'm glad you're impressed." she said, affirming her agreement with a nod. "As I said, I believe licensed production is certainly a major option, and I would be glad to negotiate for it on your behalf."
She took a moment to glance around silently, her 6 eyes moving over the rest of the display before focusing back on her clientele. "Does anything else catch your interest? I'd be glad to elaborate upon them, if they're within my jurisdiction."
There was indeed, aside from the remaining energy weapons that they presided over; a ménage-à-trois of small suits of power armor sat motionless and at ease nearby, red eye-displays at constant vigilance. Large helical cabinets holding weaponry of all types sat at another stall nearby, rotating and displaying everything from SMGs to SMAWs, while larger weapons platforms and missiles either watched the nonexistent sky or hung above as playful targets. And at the last stall present, two tanks stared at onlookers with great guns, and an estranged couple of power armor and mech suit sat in stylized poses, unmoving in their dynamism.
“Oh my goodness…well I mean…I could listen all day” Varoslav enthused.
“The Socialist Republics are definitely in the market to improve it’s armoured divisions…both vehicle wise, and personnel wise…perhaps you can tell us a little about your power armour, and maybe these mighty tanks you have on display?” Azarova interrupted, but in agreeance with Varoslav. Whilst not as “Weapon loving” as her comrade, there was a definite element of enthusiasm to her words, as she began to enjoy her part in the negotiations and sales.
"Ah, yes. Well, for those ones over here, you'll have to ask that fellow," she said, pointing to another, rather bulky corporate rep who was near the tanks and coupled suit/mech. "but these harnesses here I do have the jurisdiction for." the Suit continued, motioning to the two power-armor models nearby and moving towards them.
"This first harness model on display is from the dependable MK-112 powered armor line, which recently just had it's 50th birthday. Don't let the age fool you-we've kept it up to speed with the other bits of our arsenal over the years, and even with the newest tech we've had trouble beating some of the records it's pulled. Users are able to lug around the heaviest of gearpacks and weaponry without issue and still keep a deft pace, while able to resist penetration from SMG caliber weapons and below. There's a suite of targeting hardware packed in it's lens that has thermal, UV and NV vision modes, and it's power consumption is negligible in comparison to other armors of it's type, allowing it a battery life of roughly 48-60 hours. Best of all, it's cheap enough to field en-masse reliably. I believe the best comparison is what some humans call a... er, Kalas-Nikoff?"
"The second one," she said, now drawing attention to a bulkier harness. "is our own MK-241 supportive powered armor. It's not meant for the direct frontline, despite appearances; it's built especially for medical, engineering and command purposes. It's weight distribution systems are finely tuned for delicate and precise movements, and the viewing suite is installed with industry-grade medical and engineering software-usually, we find electricians excel with it. It's also airsealed and equipped with onboard oxygen tanks, able be used in hazardous environments with ease. Finally, it has a dedicated data uplink and miniature tactical suite, allowing for the apt commander to give out orders quickly and efficiently while on the battlefield."
"The last of the trio here is a tad unconventional," she said, finally motioning to an odd, lightly armored harness. "but I think you may enjoy it. It's a recent design that's part of our Gen-3 military program, fusing two of our older harness models into one. It has a recon suite allowing for quick movement and identification of targets, as well as a data uplink for concise transmission of important info. It also has additional air assault capability, able to have two mini-jets added onto the back here." She motioned to a pair of jet engines mounted on the back of the model, continuing. "These have around 2-4 minutes of fuel inside, and can carry a soldier at high speeds towards a designated location before the enemy can mount a proper counterattack."
“Well, I am suitably impressed. I can safely say that we are more than happy to discuss terms with you.” Azarova says nodding, looking over the stall once more.
“I will happily discuss terms with your tank production colleagues over there, but...later, I think concluding our business here is paramount. So, let’s talk finances and shake on this…”
"Of course, I'd be loathe to keep you waiting." she said, satisfied with their newfound customers. She pondered how much the higher ups would pay her for these upcoming deals, as she offered her hand for a shake and prepared her internal calculator...