Chapter 381: — A Weapon That Follows

Lucas had barely finished writing precision loom in his ledger when Malen drew the bomber trial report toward him.

“My lord, we still have the aircraft armaments to discuss.”

Lucas kept his quill on the page.

“Of course we do.”

Lucien glanced across the table. Ironbreaker and Brakka had divided the armour drawings between them, while Gandalf was using an empty cup to keep one of the larger sheets from rolling closed.

“What is the main difficulty now?” Lucien asked.

Gandalf put a finger on the trial report.

“We can detect targets and follow their movement, my lord. The arrays Maerath and I developed have already demonstrated that. But once a bomb leaves the aircraft, our knowing that the target has moved does not make the bomb follow it.”

“And simply carrying more gives us more weight to drop,” Malen added. “It does not answer every target.”

Lucien nodded. He had expected this discussion eventually.

“Then we need guided weapons, along with a wider understanding of the ammunition they can carry.”

Ironbreaker leaned forward.

“For the special forces aircraft as well, my lord?”

“That should be part of it. A weapon that can be released and continue toward its target would give us options beyond mounting another enormous gun.”

Lucien brought up the shop and passed over the finished weapons. A ready-made missile might demonstrate what was possible, but they needed the knowledge to develop and manufacture their own.

He narrowed the results to comprehensive reference collections.

“What we want includes the principles, targeting methods, guidance, different munitions, and the work needed to produce them,” he said. “We should understand why a design works well enough to change it.”

Brakka nodded.

“A drawing that tells me where a part goes is useful. A book that tells me why it belongs there might stop Ironbreaker moving it.”

“I move your parts because you leave them on my bench.”

“That is where the good light is.”

Lucien waited until they had finished.

“For one of our aircraft weapons, I have a particular arrangement in mind. The aircraft supplies guidance during the approach. The missile follows the information it receives, then acquires the target with its own seeker for the final attack.”

Malen considered that.

“The aircraft helps it reach the target, but does not have to remain responsible for it all the way to impact, my lord?”

“Once the weapon has acquired its own lock, yes.”

Maerath set his cup down.

“Then we must examine how each reference finds its target. A device that follows heat and an enchantment that follows a magical signature do not require the same information.”

“Exactly.”

Four collections remained on the page. Lucien opened the first.

GUIDED WEAPONS AND MUNITIONS ENGINEERING — COMPREHENSIVE REFERENCE COLLECTION

Origin: Earth — Information Age

Contents: Principles of targeting and guided flight; infrared, radar, optical, and laser-based sensing; navigation and guidance methods; aircraft-to-weapon information transfer; missile and guided-bomb families; conventional munition effects; materials, manufacturing, integration, testing, and maintenance.

Production Requirements: Precision industry, advanced electronics, suitable computing equipment, and specialist component manufacture.

Milestone Price: 600,000 → 120,000 Points

Remark: Your wizard’s beard is magnificent. Unfortunately, the guidance unit requested a functioning electronics industry. Try waving the beard at the specification again; perhaps it missed your point.

Gandalf’s hand stopped halfway through stroking his beard.

Brakka bent over the table, shoulders shaking.

“Finally,” he managed, “a book with a proper inspection procedure.”

Lucien continued before Gandalf could reply.

“This collection covers several different approaches. An infrared seeker detects heat somewhat like the one you made but smaller. Radar uses reflected radio waves. Other systems follow an optical image or energy directed onto the target.”

“So an enemy does not need to possess mana for those methods to find it,” Maerath said.

“Correct. Their sensing depends on physical conditions. Each method still has its own limitations.”

Malen tapped the report.

“Does it include the arrangement you described, my lord?”

“Yes. The aircraft can provide information during the approach, followed by independent acquisition near the target. But that is one arrangement among several, not a feature shared by every weapon in the collection.”

Ironbreaker held out a hand.

“And the little instruments responsible for all this?”

“We would have to manufacture them. The knowledge is included. Much of the equipment needed to use that knowledge is not presently in our workshops.”

“Then the price buys us another industry along with the weapons.”

“It gives us the means to develop one.”

Lucas wrote the figure down.

“That deserves consideration, my lord. But would we be doing that before producing a useful weapon?”

“For the more advanced designs, much of it would come first.”

Gandalf examined the heading Lucien had copied onto the table’s spare slate.

“We already obtain some similar information through magic. That does not mean our array can be attached to their machinery without developing the connection.”

“And replacing an electrical component with an enchantment changes the design,” Ironbreaker added. “We would need to understand both before declaring it an improvement.”

Lucien kept the entry marked.

“Then let us see what the other collections demand.”

The next title carried an origin several people at the table recognized.

IMPERIAL GUIDED ORDNANCE AND FIRE-CONTROL ARCHIVE

Origin: Imperium of Man

Contents: Target acquisition and tracking theory; auspex and cogitator applications; guided missile and aerial-ordnance families; guidance and control arrangements; anti-armour, fragmentation, penetrative, and other tactical munition studies; materials, production equipment, component fabrication, integration, and maintenance references.

Production Requirements: Advanced forge infrastructure, specialised materials processing, miniature cogitator manufacture, and highly skilled technical personnel.

Milestone Price: 2,400,000 → 240,000 Points

Remark: A splendid answer to enemy armour, provided you already possess the factories. If your production plan contains the phrase “the dwarf will figure it out,” kindly inform the dwarf before purchasing.

Ironbreaker slowly turned toward Lucien.

“My lord?”

“I have not purchased it.”

“I appreciate the warning.”

Lucas looked at the price.

“For once, so do I.”

Lucien opened the collection’s summary. Unlike a single weapon blueprint, it was divided into studies of target acquisition, control, propulsion, weapon effects, and the industrial work supporting them.

“This is substantially broader than a missile pattern,” he said. “It explains the systems behind several families and the equipment needed to produce them.”

“What are an auspex and a cogitator?” Malen asked.

“Sensing equipment and a machine that processes information. Their exact capabilities depend on the design.”

“So these are technological methods as well,” Gandalf said.

“Primarily, in this collection. We should not assume their instruments read our mana simply because their universe also contains supernatural forces.”

Aurethar opened one eye beside the fireplace.

“A wise precaution. Two creatures having teeth does not make one an acceptable replacement for the other.”

Brakka glanced toward him.

“That explains why nobody has hired you as a saw.”

“My rates would ruin you, Shorty.”

Malen brought them back to the entry.

“What makes this worth twice the Earth collection, my lord?”

“The range of advanced ordnance knowledge and the systems supporting it. There are methods intended for heavily protected targets, demanding battlefield conditions, and weapons far beyond our present capability.”

“Beyond our capability to use or to make?” Ironbreaker asked.

“Some of both. The miniature control machinery, specialised materials, and production standards would be difficult. Buying their instructions will not put those machines in Titanworks.”

Ironbreaker rubbed his beard.

“Does it explain how to make the equipment, or merely tell us which factory to order it from?”

“The supporting manufacturing references are included.”

“Good. Then it is difficult work we can examine, rather than a list of things we cannot obtain.”

Lucas gave him a pointed look.

“Difficult work has a habit of appearing in my ledger under six different headings.”

“Aye. This one might deserve seven.”

Lucien read a little further, then shook his head.

“Some patterns also use methods we would have no reason to reproduce. One Imperial anti-aircraft design uses an interred servitor to guide its missile.”

Lucas’s quill stopped.

“Someone inside the weapon?”

“Part of a particular design. It is not how all their guided weapons work.”

“Leave that chapter shut, my lord. Recruiting artillery crews is expensive enough without making every successful shot a vacancy.”

Even Maerath smiled at that.

Lucien marked the collection and opened the third.

MASS-EFFECT GUIDED ARMAMENTS — DESIGN AND PRODUCTION COLLECTION

Origin: Systems Alliance

Contents: Guided-weapon theory, target sensing and computation, navigation, control, tactical munition families, field-assisted weapon systems, and supporting production and maintenance practices.

Production Requirements: Advanced electronics, precision fabrication, and element zero for field-dependent designs and equipment.

Milestone Price: 1,600,000 → 160,000 Points

Remark: An impressive discount on technology built around a substance you do not possess. Your enemies will surely admire the affordability of the empty mounting.

Lucas recognized the material before Lucien finished reading.

“Element zero again, my lord?”

“Yes.”

“Can we produce it with anything in the collection?”

“No. The knowledge includes how to use it, not how to make a local substitute.”

Gandalf leaned forward.

“Could our magic reproduce the functions of those fields?”

“Possibly some of them,” Lucien said. “But we would have to establish that ourselves. A spell performing one similar task would not prove it could replace the material throughout their designs.”

Ironbreaker nodded.

“And I would rather compare the two promising collections than buy this one on the hope that we can remove its central requirement.”

Lucas crossed the price off his page.

“An opinion of yours I can afford.”

That left the magical reference.

Lucien opened it and read the origin aloud.

ARCANE GUIDED ARMAMENTS AND APPLIED MUNITIONS — COMPLETE ARTIFICER’S COLLECTION

Origin: Orinthian Concord — World of Therys

Contents: Principles of spell-guided flight; magical observation and target designation; signature recognition; external guidance and autonomous acquisition; guided weapons, aerial charges, and specialised magical payloads; interactions with wards and interference; materials, core and control-crystal manufacture, integration, testing, and maintenance.

Production Requirements: Advanced artificing, precision workshops, stable control crystals, and regulated mana supplies.

Milestone Price: 720,000 → 144,000 Points

Remark: Your ammunition can now follow instructions. This does not guarantee that the idiot issuing them has selected the right target. A more intelligent officer is sold separately.

Aurethar’s laughed loudly at this disturbing the ashes beside the hearth.

Lucas waited for the noise to subside.

“I would like the price before we dismiss the possibility.”

Gandalf had already drawn the trial report back in front of him.

“This is closer to the work we understand. But magical signature recognition is not the same as the heat detection we installed in the bomber.”

Lucien checked the relevant summary.

“It includes several methods. Some follow a target’s magical signature. Others use a designation placed on the target. The guidance arrangements also include receiving instructions from an external observer.”

Maerath nodded.

“Then the aircraft could direct the initial approach. For the final stage, the weapon would need a suitable signature or designation it could identify for itself.”

“And if our aircraft finds an ordinary wagon by its heat?” Malen asked.

“The aircraft has found it,” Maerath replied. “A seeker built only to follow mana still has nothing suitable to acquire. We would need another method, such as a mark the weapon can recognize.”

Malen sat back.

“Good. I wanted that answered before someone promised these things could find anything.”

Gandalf tapped the table.

“Magical concealment and interference will matter as well. Their collection studies those problems, but the enchantments must be tested against the magic used here.”

“And Earth’s seekers have different problems,” Lucien said. “None of these collections gives us a universal eye.”

Cedric looked toward the two marked entries.

“The Imperial collection offers the weapon and production knowledge. Therys offers magical means of observation, guidance, and control. Could we develop something using both, my lord?”

Ironbreaker answered first.

“Eventually. Provided we do not begin by pretending that a crystal is a cogitator because both fit in a box.”

“I meant developing the connection,” Cedric replied. “Not hammering one into the other’s mounting.”

“Then I have fewer objections.”

Lucien enlarged the two summaries beside each other.

“That is the approach I favour. The Imperial archive would give us a demanding technical foundation, including the range of munitions we need to study. Therys would give our artificers a complete body of magical armament knowledge to work alongside it.”

Lucas glanced at the figures.

“We are buying two entire collections?”

“Yes.”

“Three hundred and eighty-four thousand points, my lord.”

Lucien waited while Lucas finished the subtraction.

“That leaves one hundred and ninety-two thousand from the milestone grant. We have further requests, and this purchase will create expenses of its own.”

“I know.”

“Then why this pair instead of Earth and Therys? That would leave considerably more.”

Lucien turned toward the Imperial listing.

“The Earth collection is valuable but i want something that can help us for a long time. For this purchase, the Imperial archive offers more advanced weapon families and room to develop beyond our first successful design. The sale has brought it within reach.”

“But it remains the harder choice,” Lucas said.

“Yes. We should make that decision knowing it.”

Ironbreaker studied the copied requirements.

“My lord, I support buying it. I will not promise you a faithful copy of an Imperial missile next month. Some of the tools alone will require work we have never done.”

“Nor am I asking for one.”

Gandalf moved his cup off the drawings.

“The Therys material should let us approach some functions through artificing. Where it does not, we must either develop the technical equipment or choose a less demanding design.”

Brakka nodded.

“And whatever we build must survive being made by more than the four people sitting here. I don’t want a missile that works beautifully until the only dwarf who understands it takes a day off.”

Lucas looked from one specialist to another, then underlined the total.

“Very well, my lord. But the first report includes the workshops, people, and materials this will require. I refuse to discover an additional factory hidden under ‘minor preparations.'”

Ironbreaker grinned.

“We’ll write ‘large preparations.'”

“You’ll write an estimate.”

Lucien confirmed both purchases before the dwarf could improve the wording further.

Knowledge Purchases Confirmed.

Imperial Guided Ordnance and Fire-Control Archive: 240,000 Points.

Arcane Guided Armaments and Applied Munitions: 144,000 Points.

Total Deducted: 384,000 Points.

Heavy reference cases appeared on the cleared end of the table. Lucas caught his ledger as the nearest case pressed against it.

Ironbreaker opened the Imperial index. Gandalf and Maerath took the first Therys volume, while Brakka unfolded a catalogue of production equipment.

Dray reached for the munitions index.

Lucien watched them for a moment before speaking.

“Begin by comparing the requirements with what our workshops can actually produce. Then propose the first weapon.”

Malen nodded.

“The bomber gives us room for the initial equipment, my lord. We can work toward a smaller version for the special forces aircraft once the first design justifies it.”

“And the guidance arrangement?” Gandalf asked.

“Aircraft guidance during the approach, followed by the weapon acquiring its own target for the final attack. Decide which sensing method suits that first weapon. Do not promise it every method in both collections.”

Maerath made a note.

“Yes, my lord. We will also establish how the crew knows the handover has succeeded.”

Lucien turned toward Ironbreaker.

“If the Imperial pattern cannot be reproduced, explain what prevents it. If you propose a magical replacement, explain what the replacement changes.”

“Aye, my lord.”

Lucas closed the purchase column.

“And you will all explain what it costs.”

Aurethar stretched beside the hearth.

“There. You have your independent tracking system already. It follows expenditure through walls.”

The dwarves laughed while Lucas carefully turned to a fresh page.

Malen waited until they had settled.

“My lord, there is one related request.”

Lucas looked up.

“Naturally.”

“If the commandos cannot reach their aircraft, they will depend on the accompanying mage for withdrawal. We should examine what can bring the squad home if that mage is injured.”

Maerath closed the index beneath his hand.

“Prepared anchors and retrieval workings would be worth examining, my lord.”

Lucien reopened the shop and selected spatial magic.

Lucas drew another column.

“Bring the men home with their equipment, if possible,” he said. “I have just seen what replacing it will cost.”