Chapter Text
22nd March
The three teens and Ava quickly jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the exhibition hall. Behind them, Rayla walked at a more leisurely pace while Aleesia walked briskly ahead, eager to see the fruits of the military projects that had been kept under wraps for four years.
At the entrance to the hall, Callum, Amy, and Cassie were already waiting for them.
“Shouldn't you three still be at the parade?” Rayla asked as she watched the three teens already go inside the hall.
“Nah, Uncle Richie is handling that, normally the previous ruler would be overseeing the parade while we the current ones handle the next event.” Amy pointed to the exhibition building.
Rayla noticed how casually Callum, Amy, and Cassie were dressed, a stark contrast to the formal attire they'd worn at the ceremony with all those officials barely an hour ago. "Aren't you supposed to be in formal wear?" she asked.
Callum quickly waved her question away, "This isn’t a formal event so no need."
After a bit more idle chatter, they walked inside. The lobby was immaculate, with polished marble floors reflecting the light and pure white walls lined with large, intricate tapestries. Ahead, they spotted Aanya, Ezran, Ellis, and Ava gathered around an armored vehicle chassis. Aleesia, propelled by her boundless curiosity, was already heading straight for them.
As they got closer, Rayla noticed that the vehicle chassis had no wires or additional components. "Where’s the rest of it?" she asked.
Amy patted the chassis affectionately. "This is just the base heavy vehicle frame. It's one of the Universal Combat Platforms, developed under Project Rubber Ducky."
Ava perked up at the mention of 'ducky,' barking excitedly. Ellis chuckled and patted her. "No, girl, there’s no actual rubber ducky here."
Amy continued, "The universal chassis are versatile. This one is meant for our MBTs, HIFVs, HAPCs, SPATs, SPGs, MLRS, SPAA, and more. We've put it on display to showcase how versatile these are. The rest of the chassis are like this though they aren’t meant to take a huge beating."
Rayla frowned, thinking about the different requirements for each role. "All of them? But each type has unique specifications."
Callum nodded. "That was exactly the problem we had in the war. Every vehicle we used had to have its own chassis with its own dedicated production line and logistics chain. With these universal platforms, we streamline everything. Parts from one can be used to repair or maintain another. No more problems where a unit got parts they can’t use because someone mislabeled a crate or filled in the wrong inventory list."
As someone trained in logistics, such things were the bane of his existence so that being avoided automatically earned his approval. They quickly began showing the other chassis which began with an an eight-wheeled platform.
"The Ranger chassis is whats going to replace the Lancer-33KE, its faster, amphibious, has better protection."
"So this is what I'm going to ride? I want to see it with its hull, armor and weapons." Rayla said trying to picture it in her mind and coming up with things that no sane military would allow.
"No, your new vehicle uses tracks. Just wait a while and you'll get your answer." Callum said since he already knew what changes woudl be implemented on account of him being at the meets where it was decided.
"Huh?" Rayla was pulled back from her fantasies as they moved to the next one which was a tracked vehicle chassis called the Pelican, she wondered if this was her chassis but it turned out to be not it which made her conclude she would get he heavy tracked chassis.
"Ray!"
Rayla looked around and saw them all standing around a display area partitioned with a large reinforced viewing glass wall with various items put on display. She ran over and saw they were all ammunition of various sizes along with other things but the one they were directed to was clearly meant for an autocannon.
"These are just 30mm rounds but we have higher calibers as well." Callum explained pointed to the variety of calibers lining the display, each one bigger than the last.
"What’s this one?" Rayla pointed to a round that looked unusual, its top part was flat with long nail poking out of it.
Cassie conjured a magical illusion to demonstrate. "That’s an APFSDS—Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot. Once it leaves the barrel, the outer casing, or sabot falls away, and the projectile itself is like a small dart with no explosive filler. It’s designed purely for penetration and spalling."
Rayla's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why not use APCBC shells? They have more mass."
Callum shook his head. "This dart has a velocity of 1,975 meters per second and can penetrate 145mm of rolled homogeneous steel almost a kilometer away"
Rayla's eyes widened in shock. "We needed an 85mm gun to achieve those numbers in the war, and now you’re saying this tiny thing can do the same?"
Callum nodded, “Trust me, we've surpassed everything we had from foru years ago. Now the next is one is a PHE – Programmable High Explosive, you can use the FCS to pre-program the fuse to timed, impact, proximity or delayed.”
“Does it have shrapnel?” Aanya asked as she, Ezran and Ellis pressed their faces against the glass case.
Callum nodded, “Yeah though the one right next to it carries more shrapnel than anything else.”
Rayla still seemed skeptical. "Wouldn't a standard HE or HE-VT round be enough?"
Amy’s expression grew serious. "You wouldn’t last long on the battlefield without these. Trust me."
Callum then led them to two blocks placed side by side. "Now, let's talk armor. The first one here is Composite Armor. It’s spaced armor with layers of different hard and soft materials in between. It’s much lighter than a solid steel plate of equal thickness. It’s what we’re focusing on right now.”
“I take it the second one isn’t as good.” Rayla said
“It’s very good, it’s just not as high up on our priority.” He said as they all looked at a blocky plate of some kind. “This is Explosive Reactive Armor or ERA for short. It’s basically an explosive charge sandwiched between two metal plates. The external plate is frangible so when it explodes the plate fragments into very tiny pieces that are launched against the projectile degrading or destroying it”
Ezran’s jaw dropped. “You’re strapping a bomb on your vehicles?”
“You’d need a high energy impact to set it off. Against HEAT warheads it offer protections similar to 1500mm of rolled homogeneous steel, against large APFSDS it drops to 300mm but the blast does degrade the round.
“But it’s a bomb.” Ezran said still pointing to it.
Callum had to concede that point, “Yes it is, it’s not safe for infantry to be near it when it goes off. It is still extremely useful in an actual war despite that risk. But against the infestation it’s useless since they can’t set it off so it’s not that high on our priority list.”
“So why are you making them at all?” Rayla asked
“It’s for adding extra rooftop protection to vehicles.” Callum said
“You expect me to believe this thing will protect us from artillery.” Rayla wasn’t convinced, having narrowly avoided being taken out by them and seeing many vehicles destroyed by just the blast, she knew better than to think anything was safe from artillery.
“Artillery? No hohoho.” Cassie said gesturing to a missile and next to it was a bazooka but with what looked like cameras where the aiming sight should have been.
“This missile is multi-purpose and can be used to intercept low flying air targets within 14 kilometers. They use laser guidance as a backup but their mainly a Fire-and-Forget weapon, you aim at the target and the system inputs its visual and thermal data then fire and then you run away. The missile’s onboard guidance system will continually track the target and guide it right on top of it. Now aren’t you happy you have 1300mm of explodey armor on your roof?”
Rayla just gulped loudly, during the war she recognized the dangers of unguided rockets even though they had a very short range. These were on an entirely different level and she wondered how much harder fighting would be with these all over the battlefield.
“You can counter those missiles using smoke launchers.” Callum added, “They’ll be equipped on all vehicles as the smoke will block the missile’s sensors though it will still have inertial guidance to try and land a hit. We’re still developing the system to use programmable rounds to intercept them. There are other defenses but right now we can only produce enough for our front line vehicles.
“What do you mean its still in development? I thought mom gave you complete schematics.” Rayla said
“Our mom’s schematics work fine. We don’t have anyone who fully understands any of it yet so fixing any problem that arises is hard in the best of times. We had to make compromises with a lot of things to make everything work. It’ll be many years before everything is fully ready.” Amy explained knowing that without their mom’s expertise, they had to go through this using the good old reliable but slow trial and error hoping they don't blow themselves up in the process.
Callum nodded grimly. "If we were using technology from five years ago, this shoulder-fired missile would be the size of a car."
As the explanations continued, the group’s excitement grew. When it was time to move to the main hall, Rayla, Aleesia, Ezran, Aanya, and Ellis rushed to the door, eager to see more.
"Calm down, you lot!" Callum called after them, laughing as he put his hands on his hips. "These exhibits aren't going anywhere."
They caught up in the first room, where rows of armored vehicles filled the massive space. Rayla and the others stared in awe at the sheer scale of the exhibit.
“Yes yes yes its impressive, now come on.” Amy said as the three just walked past them to the first exhibit which was a boxy tracked vehicle. There were two hatches in front of the turret for the driver and gunner, there was a second hatch just behind the turret. The hull used the light tracked pelican chassis from earlier so Rayla concldued that this wasn't her vehicle.
Amy leaped onto the vehicle, her excitement evident as she began her explanation. “Meet the M2KM4 Roller. It’s designed for a crew of three and comes armed with a 30mm autocannon, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, a pair of ATGM launcher pods, and best of all, the turret is completely unmanned.”
Rayla’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did you just say unmanned?”
Amy nodded. “You bet, the plan is to have all turrets unmanned since its the most exposed part of any vehicle, so if we don’t have crew members inside, we don’t need to armor it as heavily. That saves weight, which we can then use to enhance protection for the crew compartment instead.”
“But wouldn’t that make reloading difficult?” Rayla still seemed skeptical as during combat they burned through ammo quickly and she wasn't sure how much ammo could fit in that turret.
Amy sat down on top of the turret and spoke, “The underside of the turret has a hatch which you can feed the ammo boxes into, the loading mechanism can take it over from there.”
She then stomped the turret bustle, “ The ATGM’s are stored in here with its own loading mechanism. You can store up to 1,200 rounds for the 30mm and up to 6 wire guided ATGM’s inside the vehicle.”
Amy hopped down from the turret, and they moved on to the next exhibit, eager to show them what else was in store.
The next vehicle they approached was an imposing sight, featuring a long hull with a low profile and a sharply sloped front. Its armor was arranged in angular plates, giving it an aggressive and formidable appearance. It’s turret was mounted at the rear and was equipped with two missile pods.
“This is the Serpent,” Callum explained. “It’s an armored personnel carrier built on the Heavy Universal platform. It’s designed to accommodate a crew of four and transport a full squad of ten soldiers. The unmanned turret is armed with a 30mm autocannon, a coaxial machine gun, and two missile pods for emergencies.”
The group began to examine the Serpent closely, inspecting its features with a mix of curiosity and admiration. Ezran, Aanya, and Ellis quickly climbed inside, eager to explore the interior and made their way to the crew station.
Rayla, however, noticed something different from her previous experiences. “Is it wise to have the crew and the passengers in the same compartment?” she asked, recalling how her old IFV had a thick steel partition separating the crew from the transport section for added protection. This vehicle didn't have that.
Callum shook his head. “The Serpent is designed for rapid insertion, deployment, and extraction. Not heavy firefights. The reduced armor makes it faster and more maneuverable. Its primary role is to quickly transport troops to a designated point then to get out of there. There’s an optional add-on armor package which includes adding a partition for the crew though we doubt it'll make any difference.”
Aanya looked puzzled hearing that. “Won't everyone shoot those missiles if they see it coming.”
Cassie pointed to several bright orange blocks strategically placed around the hull. “These are part of the hard-kill Active Protection System. The system is equipped with sensors linked to onboard computers. When it detects an incoming attack, it detonates one of these block, creating a focused explosion that intercepts and destroys the threat before it can hit the vehicle.”
“Will this system work against APFSDS?” Rayla asked, wondering if her own vehicle would receive similar upgrades.
Callum shook his head again. “It'll be years before it can reliably intercept something moving that fast. The vehicle also has a soft-kill APS that emits radio interference to disrupt laser-guided and other sensor-based weapons,” he added, pointing to several disc-shaped emitters on the vehicle. They were told the specifics of how it worked and the three teenagers tried to compare it to what they already knew.
“Ray, the next one is what you’ll be driving.” Amy said with a grin, pointing toward the next exhibit.
Amy and Cassie quickly leapt on top of the hull of the next vehicle which appeared very similar to the Serpent APC but its heavily up armored profile and centrally mounted turret gave it a more imposing presence.
Rayla just stood there gawking at it unsure how to describe this amazing war machine she would get to crew. Despite it looking so similar to the serpent but she knew this was meant for combat and it was obviously more armored.
“Say hello to the Ravager,” Callum announced, his voice filled with pride. “It's our Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Jump aboard, and we'll go over the details.”
Ezran, Aanya, and Ellis immediately rushed for the transport compartment behind the vheicle, keen to explore. Rayla, however, made a beeline for the gunner’s hatch on top which was clearly labeled, popping her head inside before climbing down into the cramped space.
“There’s so much stuff in here.” Rayla was giggling, her fingers gliding over the screens and control panels that surrounded her. Behind her was a weapon far more intimidating than the autocannon on her old IFV. This was the kind of firepower she’d always dreamed of wielding.
Callum, Amy and Cassie just watched Rayla act like a kid that was let lose in a candy store as Aleesia slowly climbed the hull to look around.
“The Ravager has a 3 person crew and can carry 7 infantry.” Callum said hoping Rayla found it to her liking.
“Really?” Rayla looked around, noticing for the first time that there were only three hatches. “Why just three?”
“Ask Mom,” Cassie interjected with a grin. “She’s the one who designed it that way.”
“What about Sophie?” Rayla asked, wondering what role her friend would play now that the vehicle only needed three crew members.
“What’s her rank?” Callum inquired.
“She made warrant officer a couple of months ago,” Rayla replied.
“She’ll be in the rear company HQ vehicle,” Callum explained. “You’ll get all the details later when you get your new toys.”
Rayla nodded, her curiosity shifting back to the control panels in front of her.
Amy decided to take over explaining, “There is an up-armored version that removes its infantry-carrying capacity for additional armor and power while leaving just enough room to store extra stuff. Maintenance teams can make the conversion in a couple of hours.”
“That quickly?” Rayla asked, popping her head out of the hatch.
Cassie nodded recalling her own surprise when they were briefed on the capabilities of these designs. “The front armor can withstand anything that isn’t a very large caliber gun. The motor being in front means it’ll act as a last line of defense. Sure you’ll be immobilized but at least you’ll still be breathing.”
Rayla nodded, understanding the logic. An IFV wasn’t meant to go toe-to-toe with tanks, it was built to support infantry. But knowing the front was so heavily armored gave her a sense of security. It could have made a huge difference in her first battle of the last war, where a tank would’ve killed them if reinforcements hadn’t arrived in time.
“And this?” Rayla pointed to the turret behind her.
Amy sat on the turret, legs crossed before speaking, “It an unmmaned turret with a 57mm autocannon. It fires APFSDS, HE-VT, HE, APHE, PHE, AHEAD rounds, it has a fire rate of 2 rounds per second with a total capacity of 8,000 rounds. There’s a 12.7mm coaxial gun with 12,000 rounds. The turret has a remote-controlled mount for a machine gun that can be aimed independently from the main gun. You can equip it with either an etheric or standard 12.7mm machine gun. The standard has a maximum capacity of 12,000 rounds, while the etheric can fire 16,000 shots. Additionally, there are four missile pods, and you can carry up to 120 missiles in total.”
“Wow, that’s a lot!” Rayla wanted to cry tears of joy at how much firepower she was being given.
“Yeah, but that’s just the total capacity,” Callum cautioned. “In reality, you’d only carry a few hundred rounds for the main gun and maybe ten missiles unless you were in some dire or very unusual circumstance. We’re ramping up ammo production, but we have to be smart about resource allocation.”
Rayla’s initial excitement quickly fell down the cold dark abyss known as reality, but she understood the reasoning, if a vehicle got destroyed then all that ammo would be gone with it, then a thought occurred to her, “Whats the gun elevation and depression on this?”
“Depression is -6 degrees though if you adjust the vehicle suspension then you can get it down to -12 degrees. All our vehicles have this feature. Elevation is 80 degrees.” Callum explained and Rayla squealed happily.
“The missiles can be fire-and-forget, wire-guided, or laser-guided,” Callum continued. “You can transfer fire control for the missiles or machine between you and the commander.”
“Where do you keep the ammo?” Rayla asked, the sheer volume he mentioned which after a few seconds of scrutiny was clear would never fit inside the vehicle.
“The ammo is stored in coins, the system extracts it and it coalesces fully formed in the loader which shoves it into the breach and fires. The unsealing device is the hardest part to mass-produce so it and the coins are kept in the lowest parts of the hull, away from the turret. This design eliminates the risk of ammo detonation.”
Rayla could see why the crew size was cut since the vehicle could handle ammo loading autonomously.
Just then, Ava popped up from the driver’s hatch, barking enthusiastically. Amy and Cassie quickly helped the large wolf climb out before she dashed off to the back of the vehicle.
“Back to the topic at hand,” Callum cleared his throat. “The Ravager is equipped with phased array radars, lidar, and a laser range finder which can be used by the FCS to track both ground and airborne targets, though it’s still in the final testing phase. It also comes with a few quad rotor drones for reconnaissance or surprise attacks.”
“Drones?” Rayla’s interest was piqued.
“Yeah, they’re small remote controlled flying toys. Just fly them high to get a better view without exposing yourself or carry a big grenade that you can drop on top of an enemy position.”
“Great more death from above.” Rayla lowered her head back into the crew compartment, she wondered if more things will come down from the sky to try and kill them.
“We have plenty more ways to rain death from above,” Callum teased, making Rayla hiss and sink deeper into her seat. She probably would’ve closed the hatch if she could.
“The PHE rounds are also handy,” Callum continued. “They can be set to detonate above enemy trenches and the larger caliber is great for breaking through walls.”
“What about those?” Aleesia asked, pointing to another IFV on display a few meters away. It looked almost identical to the Ravager, except the turret housed a much larger gun.
“That’s also a Ravager, that turret is equipped with a 75mm, 105mm gun. There’s also a version with a 125mm cannon. You can swap out the turret on this one for any of those or even a 30mm if you want.”
“Amy, Cassie where do I start worshiping your mom?” Rayla asked as she finally understood why they were replacing all their old vehicles despite their impressive record. These new designs were versatile enough to handle almost any combat scenario.
“Mom’ll ground you for life if she heard you say that.” Amy said
“I’m an adult, she can’t ground me.” Rayla protested.
“Tell that to our grandpa.” Amy countered which made Rayla shut up in confusion.
“Let’s keep moving,” Callum called out, hearing Ava’s bark from the transport section. When he glanced over, he saw the wolf and his siblings already strapped into the seats, ready for a ride.
“That means you too, cadets,” he said, helping them out of the vehicle. The three saluted playfully before dashing off to the next exhibit, Ava bounding along behind them.