Author notes:
Quick and dirty RM chapter, just because I had way too much shitty hospital coffee and had not much else to do in my free time other than writing. I hope you all enjoy the new release, nonetheless.
Salutation in respect to Private TATTERWING and Private Alejandro Delgado who have retired recently. We thank you for your service and contribution! Next, a warm applause to Private L L, being the newest and probably the only newcomer in recent days. The Imperium of Man and the Belkan Reich sincerely acknowledge your devotion to the cause!
Other than those details, well, don't forget to check out the new pictures in the album and have fun?
Peace be to you all.
There are advanced chapters on Pat-reon for both of my fics, with a couple of special bonuses if you read the fine print :D
https://www.patreo-n.com/Heartbreak117
https://ko-fi.com/heartbreak117/goal?g=0
Income goal 710/800 USD (The increase to 800 is now set to pay the hospital bills and sequelae)
For my fics:
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/55793/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich/
https://www.webnovel.com/book/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich_23809095505377305
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1375924/in-the-grimdark-sector-with-a-system/
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Nicolae meticulously assembles an impressive piece of machinery in her little basement corner beneath the Mansion of Knowledge. Given the usual goofy nature of the Shoggoth, it's indeed quite rare to see her so focused on getting the job done. Although she doesn't quite need them with how durable her existence is, Nicolae can be seen wearing protective goggles and a seemingly normal white lab coat that is, in fact, very durable. They exist on her body more because of an eccentric fashion decision than any other reasonable explanation. To complement the getup, Nicolae wears a form-fitting light purple button-up shirt while her dress pants are of a darker tone of purple. On her hands, Nicolae opts for a pair of white gloves while her legs are held aloft on purple heels. Gliding all over the basement level that is her laboratory, Nicolae is like a storm of white and purple as she puts together another vanity project of her own... Which may or may not be a practical prototype that can be adopted for the wider Belkan Reich.
It's quite unfortunate that, for now, Nicolae is the only one working on this project. No spectators, and no helpers, at least not yet, which is understandable considering this is like 5 in the morning. Even Mobius and Einstein aren't in the Mansion, with them being occupied by Yuki in the Obsidian Castle. So, for now, Nicolae is going at this solo, building herself what she may consider a toy but of practical interest to the Reich. After another whirl of activity that sees Nicolae using her tentacles to speedily boost the assembly process, the finished product is completed and revealed to the world.
It's, in fact, a turret housing a coilgun, but miniaturized like a little toy... Well, at least if Nicolae tests this thing, it won't end in the collapse of Mobius's floor.
Standing up to her full height from her workbench, Nicolae rests her hands on her hips, nodding proudly at her vanity project. While Ningyo and Mei were the ones to pioneer the application of mass driver with their short-lived prototype that blew Mobius' top off, Nicolae's coilgun design, miniaturized as it is, presents a less powerful and more sophisticated, but much more versatile option. The coilgun can achieve high efficiencies and can be designed for lower peak currents. It's also easier to control projectile speed and timing by adjusting the activation of the coils, thus allowing a coilgun platform to be easily capable of performing multi-mission duty. More than that, the coilgun is much more durable than the railgun, a trade that is highly appreciated by the Belkan military. So it doesn't surprise anyone when fundings are given to both the railgun and coilgun. The former is suited for long-distance alpha strike while the latter is for anything closer that needs obliterating. Nicolae here is just using some of that funding to not just build herself a toy but also to further advance the Belkan scientific progress. You, know, for a science?
Speaking of said toy... The miniaturized coilgun is housed in a turret, fitted with all the gizmo and equipment that turn the whole thing into an autoloading menace. In fact, it would not look any bit out of place if it's enlarged and put on the deck of a Reichsmarine destroyer. That design detail alone is more than enough to know which faction of the Belkan military is interested in the coilgun design. If Nicolae's vanity project works well enough as a cute little prototype, future naval coilgun designs may very well be tracing their roots back to it. It would be hilarious indeed when people ask how you develop your super cool and big naval guns and then you present to them with the guns' ancestor, a practical toy.
Now that the coilgun is ready and aimed down range, Nicolae throws the tools on her hands and tentacles haphazardly behind her back. Somehow, all the equipment finds its way into a large rectangle bin with the nametag 'Nicolae's STUFF' splattered unevenly on the side. As the resounding clinking and banging die down, Nicolae hops over to a control console that is wired to her vanity project. With a subtle grin on her face, Nicolae pulls out an audio recorder before turning over to the wall-mounted camera, flashing a V-sign.
"Teddy is a go! Test will start in five seconds!" Nicolae reports with the recorder near her face.
Once the clock reaches five seconds, Nicolae presses a button, powering her coilgun design, aptly named Teddy because it's so small. Small as it is, Teddy is built from the ground up with Magitech instead of traditional technologies. While the coils arranged along the barrel and the smoothbore barrel itself are normal enough, it's their material and the ways they're put together that are uniquely foreign. Runes are used to regulate the energy currents and to reinforce Teddy's durability, while new mana-conductive materials are utilized aplenty to make the vast utilization of runic inscription possible. This gives Nicolae's Teddy a distinct fantastical look, a coat of muted silver material with glowing yellow carvings running its length. The only portion that is not covered in glowing runes is the turret housing, but that can't be said for the things hidden beneath the platings. The chamber of the coilgun is connected to a feed system with a lot of projectiles. To launch the dart-shaped projectile from the chamber and down the length of Teddy's barrel, Nicolae elected to disregard the conventional explosive propellant, fearing the residues from the propellant may damage or contaminate the coilgun. Instead, the Shoggoth opts for a Magitech version of a firing pin striking the butt of a shell, which is another set of words for saying that she uses a spell circle to kick the sabot down range. To be more exact, Nicolae uses a wind spell, nothing too big or intensive, but just enough to create the necessary push behind the projectile. Seem oddly simple, right? And it kinda is, given the fact that Teddy is just a small vanity project. When the concept is upsized to a worthwhile scale, it can be imagined that the firing mechanism of the coilgun may or may not be much different. To power this whole getup, Teddy runs on a mana battery and robust programming. The latter, in particular, is even more computationally intensive than the program used in other railgun developmental projects. When used, Teddy's coils are switched on and off in a precisely timed sequence, causing the projectile to be accelerated quickly along the barrel via magnetic forces. Every micro deviation in the firing process can mean a loss in muzzle velocity, accuracy, or a catastrophic failure which sees the sabot scraping against the barrel itself. Without strong software and hardware, it's nearly impossible to make a reliably effective coilgun system. The hardware part is easily secured, but the software is made by the joint effort of Ningyo, Mei, and Bronya. Nicolae could do it herself but that's just too much trouble for her to stare at a computer screen and drool.
Regardless...
"Loading one in the chamber... And it's loaded~!" Nicolae says spiritedly as she listens to the soft echo of Teddy's internal mechanism working.
Pulling down the protective goggles over her purple eyes, an action that is frankly not required, Nicolae puts her hand over the big red button, but not before one of her tentacles pulls out a slow-mo camera from Yggdra-knows-where.
"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!" Nicolae warns no one in her lab on habit, something she is constantly reminded about whenever she's about to do some damaging test.
However given Teddy's size, its lethality may not match up to that of some military rifle...
"Test firing. Single shot. In three...! Two...! One...!" Nicolae slaps the big red button and then...
Pop
Yup, that's it, just a pop. There's no big muzzle flash, nor is there any powder detonation like conventional weaponry. It's just an audible pop and that's basically it. Teddy is small, so the damage it's capable of dishing out is quite minimal, right? Well about that... That pop was the sound of the supersonic barrier being broken. So small as it may be, Teddy's projectile, a metallic fin-stabilized sabot, was hauling ass down range just like any other bullet. The only difference here is that the sabot is substantially heavier than an 8 mm Mauser bullet, so guess what happens to the standard Belkan infantry armor plate?
The sabot punched clean through the center of the plate can stop at least four shots of 8 mm Mauser before failing.
Even more ridiculous is the fact the sabot went beyond the frontal armor plate, passing the ballistic dummy, and hitting the back armor plate before going out to hit the armored wall of the testing range. That's a hell of a distance to travel before coming to a scorching halt right there, and this is coming from Teddy, a vanity project. Imagine if Nicolae hadn't wasted her time building Teddy but instead constructed a real-scale test bed and tested it beneath the Mansion of Knowledge... Fortunately, Nicolae is on a funsies trip that doesn't involve pissing off a green-haired doctor.
"OwO! It appears the test firing proceeded smoothly... Although I didn't expect something I fashioned out of melted-down bolts to actually puncture the test dummy." Nicolae says to the recorder while crossing an arm beneath her bust. Her slow-mo camera is still capturing everything in crisp footage. "But I guess I should have thought this over on a spreadsheet more after I failed to find the dummy rounds."
"Anyway~!" Nicolae just shrugs and hops to a side console and increases the output of the coilgun. Flicking a couple of switches, Nicolae then says into the recorder. "Test firing. 3 seconds burst. In three...! Two...! One...!"
SMACK
After Nicolae gives the big red button another slap, Teddy makes a series of cute roars for exactly 3 seconds.
PopPopPopPopPopPop
Yeah, Teddy sounds cute, and the damage it managed to dealt in 3 seconds should be noticeable if not for the ballistic dummy's already exploded condition. Instead, what Nicolae pays more attention to is the munition feed system inside Teddy. One of the advantages of a coilgun, or at least the one Nicolae made, is its quick refire. In this case, Teddy managed to fire a burst at a rate of 800 rounds per minute, that's 13 rounds per second. Extremely fast and highly lethal for something that's supposed to be a toy. Granted, Nicolae built Teddy to have all the bells and whistles, which won't be fully applicable when you upsize and mass-produce a coilgun turret. Nonetheless, the proof of concept is there. Teddy, and all of its delicate, miniaturized mechanisms, works. The feed system ran smoothly despite the bootlegged projectiles Nicolae gave it to run. The recoil dampener, well, kinda seemed redundant considering Teddy's very soft recoil but it's there and worked great. The wind spell circuitry that acts as the 'firing pin' performed admirably even when put under a splendid fire rate of 800 rounds/minute. Of course, since this is a coilgun, the 800 rounds/minute is the nominal setting, which is of the same power level as the single shot that punctured the dummy, there are other settings that can be used. Nicolae can trade fire rate for additional firepower and vice versa. Different munitions can also be put into the chamber, with different power settings being used to accommodate specific types of ammo. This is a big selling point of the coilguns as one does not need an armature to launch a projectile. Coupled with the fact that coilguns can be operated underwater and in more adverse conditions thanks to the protective shroud over their coils, unlike the harder-to-protect exposed railings of the railguns, it's the Reichsmarine's hope to see coilgun designs being perfected and adopted. After all, one can launch any munition known to man through a coilgun's barrel, whether or not it's a guided high-explosive shell, an Exoscar missile, or Yggdra forbid a Minibreve WMD. So does possiblity is endless.
Surprisingly, other than the Reichsmarine, it's ONI who also wants a piece of the coilgun and railgun technologies. With the Richthofen Space Station up there, only an idiot would fail to see the potential to weaponize space against the enemy of the Reich. To aid in that endeavor, Nicolae even heard that ONI yanked a certain Admiral from the Spanish Inquisition Navy for his talent in long-range gunnery strikes. Other departments in Section Four are working with the man to come up with a computation system for global artillery bombardment, and progress from that is particularly slow but steady. That is, however, understandable as it's a whole new breed of warfare ONI is exploring/
And they thought beyond-visual-range engagement would be the end of it, but Yuki and Dreamer have other ideas, apparently.
Shrugging to no one in particular, Nicolae whistles as she checks the Teddy's accuracy.
"Yup, as expected, there's little deviation in accuracy here since the barrel doesn't shake or recoil as much, unlike conventional firearms. Since the sabot doesn't scrape against anything and there's fin-stabilization in place, accuracy grouping is kept as tight as possible. But hey, what do I know, this is Teddy we're talking about."
Nicolae then shut down the contraption, opting to continue testing when the rest of the brainiac trio arrived. Hopping to Teddy after unhooking its power supply, Nicolae leans over to take a look at the front of the coilgun turret. There, she uses a tentacle to draw a smiling teddy bear, with the smile being drawn over the barrel.
"Any further testing though will require me to construct Theodore." Nicolae speaks into the recorder after marveling at her artistic finesse. "Hmm... Should I put Theodore in my jet-powered Leopard? It will be a good chance to test the stabilization feature of a bigger coilgun turret while being driven on jet-propelled treads."
Somewhere all over the world, the Yuki(s) sneeze and shiver as if someone is just about to butcher their proud creation.