Owl and Hoplon

[Thunderer]

"Come here! Come!" One of the scientists in one of the many laboratories aboard Sunderland was calling Khatri with excitement. "You must see this!" They approached a terminal.
"Poor man... I don't think he was even conscious when he did it...", Khatri said as he was shaking his head, still struck by the events in the interrogation room.
"Yes..." The scientist was not even listening to Khatri. He was currently opening a programme. "Aaah! Here it is! Look!" He excitedly pointed towards a list of statistics. Khatri looked closer. "It's called an ion cannon, but those have only been theorized. Until today... According to this data, it can, upon hitting the bare hull of an enemy ship, drain twice more power than it uses from yours! This should be impossible! But we've done it!"
"So, we can produce them now?"
"Well... No. Not really... We can produce precisely four, so far. We don't have the technology to produce the containment chamber, but among that pile of mostly useless scrap you've brought us, there were two intact ones."
"An energy draining cannon? Is this all?" Khatri somehow managed to be disappointed.
"No, of course not! This is just the beginning! Using what we have learned, we have come up with the idea of EMP flaks. But, the containment chamber is the problem again... We can only use the four you've brought us. Oh, and..." For a second he forgot what he wanted to say. "Yes! There's more! We also have all the theoretical data on the so called "Terminator" cannons. It's the newest development from Kusari. Believe it or not, a joint project between Kishiro and Samura. What we know of it is that it's a fast firing weapon, short ranged and not very efficient, but extremely devastating. The containment chamber is not a problem here, it's quite similar to that of Solarises, but the muzzle is. We can't make the materials durable enough to withstand the overheating. You have, again, provided us with that, but only two muzzles... Oh, and another thing. This one might be a bit more serious."
"Yes?"
"We don't have the faintest idea how to assemble it!" The scientist laughed on his own account. "The data you have given us was incomplete. The whole theory of how it works is there... but not the practice! I expect the top Kusarian weapons scientists to be better informed, but I very much doubt they'd give us a hand."
"Anything else?"
"No, I'm afraid this is all we have... for now."
"Very well. Good luck with your job, and now I shall tend to mine. I will try to get you help from Kusari. Oh, and thank you!"
"Just a duty, Sir." They shook hands and parted ways. The scientist thought about what a superficial man this Khatri was. Such as any soldier. Khatri could not stop thinking about the events from the interrogation room.

Sunderland silently floated through Darlington's atmosphere as if it was any other day.

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