LSF Project Development Log

[Jayce]

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Development Log, Project: HEDGEHOG
Liberty Security Force
Dept. of Tactical Operations
Sr. Agent 'Tracer'

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This log is being created to provide a record of the development of an experimental weapon system designed to counter the newly-created "Corona" beam cannon in use by pirates and rogue military elements throughout Liberty and the surrounding systems. Following the creation of the weapon, this log will be maintained for testing results and combat AARs.

The advent of the Corona beam cannon has, thus far, been disastrous for traditional capital vessels. Allowing bombers to strike with extreme accuracy from a safe distance, the Corona has revolutionized modern capital combat. Previously, larger vessels could utilize flak and countermeasure systems to disrupt the tracking of, and destroy, the relatively slow and large Nova and Incapacitator torpedoes. In addition, many craft smaller than battleships possessed the ability to evade the majority of Supernova cannon projectiles at range. This forced opposing bombers closer in to ensure an acceptable hit rate, opening them up to attacks from Solaris and secondary turret fire.

With the creation and distribution of the Corona cannon, however, these truths have changed. The light-speed travel time of the weapon negates the maneuverability of even the fastest capitals and sub-capitals, while also allowing the ability to strike from maximum range with no loss of damage effectiveness. At the range the Corona cannon remains effective, all weapons in the Libertoninan arsenal, save one, are unable to inflict enough damage to snubcraft that put forth even the slightest effort into dodging. That weapon has been the mainstay of the Security Force gunboat fleet for years: the fast-flying, accurately tracking Silencer missile. Having gone through multiple iterations in the past 100 years, the Silencers combination of range, speed, and tracking ability appears to provide an excellent solution to the new problem facing our Agents.

An issue arises with the subject of numbers. While the Defiant is small and fast enough to utilize a single or pair of Silencer launchers to effectively combat snubcraft, our Archer and Interdictor-class vessels are large enough that a single launcher would be unable to provide sufficient coverage. Simply adapting the weapon mounts of the Archer and Interdictor would require massive redesigns of the ships frame, and render the turret mounts useless for standard cruiser and battlecruiser weapons. A happy medium must be reached.

The recent emergence of the Cult of Technology may provide the solution. Combat reports from Naval and Security Force vessels reveals that, while their missiles are comparable in damage to our own, their trajectory-computing and compensating abilities far exceed ours. If the Agency is able to adapt and utilize their guidance technology, we would be able to miniaturize the Silencer missiles themselves, allowing the creation of a self-contained, rapidly-restocked launcher and ammunition feed module. As such, a transmission has been dispatched to all academic and scientific groups affiliated with the Republic in order to gather information and samples of these weapons. Further investigation will be required in order to ascertain whether or not our level of technology can create a reasonable facsimile of the Cult's guidance computers. A communication will be relayed to Ageira Technologies once sufficient data on the Cultist weapons has been acquired. Their expertise will be invaluable in reverse-engineering the Cultist technology, as well as creating usable examples for Agency use.

Due to the sensitivity and security required by this project, I will personally oversee and participate in the collection and return of all materiel related to this project, codenamed "HEDGEHOG." The Willow Grove has had her holds cleared of extraneous contents, and my Rhino equipped with a cloaking device has been loaded aboard the landing bays. Until sufficient responses from interested parties possessing the relevant scientific data is received, we wait.

Senior Agent 'Tracer'
Agent in Command
Dept. of Tactical Operations

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Attached files: [1]

Important: This log remains the property of the Libertonian Armed Forces and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Neural Net Communications Act 807 A.S, Section 30. If you have accessed this message in error, you are requested to contact the creator and delete the log.

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