To Suffer the Slings and Arrows

[Rusty]

This was probably one of the easier builds in recent memory.

Rusty had experimented with lightsaber based weaponry before, but because he lacked the Force, he was never able to come anywhere close to the results produced by Jedi or Sith. To match their power levels for weapons testing, his devices had been clunky, noisy, and power intensive. They worked, but only just.

The light dart concept went in completely the opposite direction.

When you got down to it, lightsaber tech wasn't that complicated. The basic design had remained unchanged for thousands of years. Though there were some small innovations here and there, the technology had remained stagnant. As a result, it was well understood, at least within certain communities. The public still treated the things like something halfway between a magic wand and a Death Star, but when you got past the ridiculous superstitions, the tech itself was easy. Hell, a grade schooler could probably whip up something halfway functional for a science fair project.

Only the Force made the things special. Force users, be they Light, Dark, or somewhere in between, had perfected and ritualized the art of lightsaber construction to the point that even a child could conjure the necessary mojo to bond the parts together in a way that surpassed mere science and technology.

Rusty wasn't worried about all that crap. All he wanted was to make a short blade last for a few seconds. Once he let go of preconceived notions on what a lightsaber should be, a world of possibilities opened up.

Sitting on a battered plastoid table was a case. In that case were fifteen light darts, each one a fully functioning weapon. They were small carbon fiber cylinders, only a centimeter wide and five centimeters long. At one end was a miniaturized emitter, much like their full sized cousins, but tiny. On the other end was a small durasteel nub, threaded to fit onto most commercially available arrow and bolt shafts.

Also on the table was a wide variety of weapons designed to shoot such projectiles.

Rusty was no bowman. He preferred bullets to bows, but he knew how to use the things. He'd also spent the last few days downloading various programs designed to assist those of mechanical origin in using them correctly. What would have taken an organic years to master, he had learned in under a week.

"Damn, but it's good to be a Shard."

 

[Rusty]

The firing range for today was an outdoors one, rather than the one in the shop. While it was specced to handle some serious firepower, Rusty was nervous about testing these particular devices indoors. If one of them lasted longer than planned, it might potentially keep going for a long, long way. He was planning on using some leftover beskar ore to create a backstop one day, but he had yet to find the time to make that much plating. As it was, an errant dart could hit the backstop and keep going. And going. And going.

So today, he was on a hastily constructed range well outside of Breehara.

The range was fifty meters long, surrounded on all sides by three meter tall earthen berms. The berms were thick, and under normal circumstances, could easily stop most bullets. The light darts might be another story, but that was why Rusty had chosen such a secluded area. If there was anything out there that could get hit by a stray dart, it was hiding really, really well.

The Shard picked up the first dart and affixed it to a standard aluminum arrow shaft. He then picked up a compound bow, a relatively simple affair as far as such things went, and nocked the arrow. The draw was only about sixty pounds, and his mechanical muscles had no trouble whatsoever. He drew back, and sighted along the shaft at the closest target.

At five meter intervals, there were several freestanding chunks of armor plating. The sources varied from personal armor to tank, with thicknesses from a few millimeters to upwards of ten centimeters. The first target was the thickest, nastiest piece of armor plating he could get his hands on. It stood five meters away from his position.

He loosed the arrow. As soon as the acceleration kicked in, the blade activated. It lacked the clarity and intensity of a normal lightsaber blade. It was a dull, muddled orange color, only about six inches long. That would still be more than enough for the task at hand.

The arrow pierced through the steel with no noticeable drop in velocity and kept going. While it had enough juice to punch through the plate, the blade flickered and died before it hit the twenty meter mark. It hit the plating salvaged from an armored air speeder and caromed off wildly, heading towards Force knew where.

 

[Rusty]

Rusty would have frowned in he had a face.

It looked like the act of cutting something drained power at a greater rate than simply existing, so that three second burn was cut by two thirds going through ten centimeters of superdense armor. That was still pretty impressive, all things told, but that could present some problems later on down the road. For now, he'd put in the manual that heavy armor wasn't to be engaged at distances of further than 10 meters. That would make the attempt hairy as hell, but desperate times and desperate measures and all that. It wasn't his problem how the customers used the things, anyway.

A couple more shots with normal arrows confirmed that the basic compound bow wasn't really effective at extreme range. He could place shots where he wanted within thirty meters or so, but after that, things got dicey.

Next up was a crossbow. It was a beast of a weapon, with a 200 pound draw and an advertised range of 150 meters. The Shard screwed a light dart head onto a bolt, and drew the string back by hand. It came with a complicated pulley system for organics, but he didn't need the thing. Once the string was locked back and the bolt loaded, he sighted up on the farthest target, a set of personal armor that was built for a customer who died before he could collect.

The crossbow was surprisingly loud when it fired. It wasn't quite on par with even a small caliber gunshot, but the crossbow's reputation as a silent killer was overrated, it seemed. That didn't make it any less impressive when the bolt went straight through the armor without so much as noticing, and buried itself into the berm.

 

[Rusty]

It has often been said that the main difference between science and screwing around is whether or not you write down the results. If Rusty had been out here just shooting holes in stuff for the fun of it, that would be screwing around. Instead, he was taking meticulous notes on every result. High speed cameras were set up at every target to document the results, each one triggered by a motion sensor that would detect when the light darts came into the field of view.

After every shot, the target was examined in depth, both visually and with an array of instruments. The recovered darts, though their power cells were expended, were also thoroughly examined for wear and tear, and to see how the internals held up to the strain.

The good news was, it appeared that the darts would be reusable. Rusty had some reservations on that. He was worried that the carbon fiber casings might not survive passage through the superheated channel created by the blade. Fortunately, the heat resistant resin used to bind the fibers held nicely, and the exposure was short enough that it didn't strain it overmuch. There were circumstances in which it wouldn't work so well, but that was to be expected.

Right now, all fifteen darts were hooked up to a charger, and it was time to compile some data.

He was initially surprised that the channels created weren't perfect little pinpricks. Rather, they tended to be somewhat wider and more irregular. There was always enough room for the shaft to pass through, but it was hard to predict exactly what sort of channel the darts would carve out.

The high speed provided the answer as to why. Arrows, even aluminum ones, tended to bend and flex during flight. It wasn't something you'd notice visually, but it was plain as day under the high speed. The force of the string set up a ripple-like oscillation that continued for much of the flight. The further the arrow went, the more it stabilized, and the more predictable the channel, but there was always some variation.

There had to be a way to utilize that, but for now, Rusty just made notes. The first version of the light dart would almost be a beta test, and customers would be asked to provide feedback for improvements. Already on the list was a proximity sensor that would activate the blade only when it closed in on the target and slightly more robust power cells. The power cells would require him to flare the base a little, but it shouldn't negatively impact the aerodynamics, so long as he was careful with the design.

 

[Rusty]

A little after noon, the Shard heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching speeder. That would probably be Koko, his personal assistant and the person in charge of making sure RCFC didn't fall apart.

Sure enough, the Shard woman rolled up a few moments later in an expensive looking black landspeeder that probably cost more than a penthouse in the nicer parts of Breehara.

"Hey boss, how's it going?" she asked as she popped open the door.

As per usual, Koko wore a charcoal grey business suit, immaculately tailored. It was a style more commonly worn by men, with only the bare minimum concessions made for the feminine figure across the hips and bust. Somehow, she made it look stylish.

"Not too bad," Rusty replied, turning back towards the screen. He preferred not to use holograms in direct sunlight. "First round of testing is underway. I've got some ideas for improvement for the 2nd version, just need the first to sell so we can fund them."

"Probably for the best. This particular project hasn't eaten into the R&D budget too badly, but you've got too many irons in the fire."

Rusty grunted in acknowledgement. RCFC had always been more of a break even hobby than a true business. Or at least, it had been until he brought Koko onboard. The Shard woman was a supremely capable manager, accountant, lawyer, and a hundred other things that were all necessary to keep a company running. Rusty didn't mind if she had expensive tastes. Even taking that into account, he still probably saved several million credits a year not having to hire people to do all the stuff she did by herself, effortlessly. If it wasn't for her oh so abrasive personality and the fact that Shards tended to stay fairly low key, she'd probably be an executive in some massive corporation by now.

The charger made a soft beeping noise. The darts were ready to go for the next round of testing.

"Care to lend a hand?" he asked.

"That's why I'm here," Koko responded, grinning. Her HRD had been designed to be pretty by humanoid standards, but something about the way she wore it lent all her expressions a lean, predatory vibe. She looked more like a hungry fox than a fashion model. "Blocked off the whole afternoon."

"Good, because it's gonna take that long."

 

[Rusty]

Getting Koko up to speed on light darts didn't take long. Though she didn't know the first thing about R&D, aside from the toll it took on the budget, the weapons were dead simple to use, and she was extremely clever. Plus, she had absorbed most of the same archery programs that Rusty had, which helped a lot.

After a brief course on how to, she shed her jacket and her dress shirt, revelaing a black tank top that allowed her a full range of motion. Though her slender arms didn't look it, they were incredibly strong, and had no problem drawing back on even the 150 pound draw war bow.

Her results were broadly similar to Rusty's. The light darts performed admirably at all ranges, and the darts themselves survived well. A couple were banged up by impacts against armor plates after then blade was extinguished, but diagnostics showed that the damage was mostly cosmetic.

"Well, what do you think," Rusty asked after the last dart had been recovered. It would take some time for them to recharge for a third round of testing, so they had some time.

"It's effective," Koko said. "I'm no expert, but I can definitely see the utility of the things. I have to wonder if there's not a better way to go about the ignition, though. We're losing a lot of power during the flight towards the target."

Rusty nodded.

"I've got some thoughts to that. We should be able to incorporate a simple proximity sensor into the things. Instead of the accelerometer activating the blade on launch, it could activate the sensor, which would activate the blade a foot or so from the target."

"You'd know better than I would, boss."

While Rusty went back over the data, Koko pulled out a silver cigarette case and extracted a long cigarette. She lit it with a simple, elegant lighter that probably cost way more than Rusty would ever consider paying for an ignition source. He suspected that the cigarette itself was high end too; the smoke didn't smell nearly as harsh as an off the shelf brand would, and it had a vague floral note to it.

He shook his head in disbelief. He didn't begrudge his assistant her vices, but he couldn't quite comprehend how she justified spending that much on lung cancer. Not that her artificial lungs could get cancer, but that wasn't the point.

 

[Rusty]

Thirty minutes, three obscenely expensive cigarettes, and much swearing later, Rusty found a problem.

The number 11 dart had, according to the high speed footage, overloaded upon striking the armor at the thirty meter mark. It had still burned all the way through the relatively thin plating that had been salvaged from a starfighter, but in doing so, it had burned out its emitter. The damage wasn't immediately obvious, and didn't show up in the diagnostic, but the unmistakable flare was visible on the high speed.

Sure enough, when Rusty began to disassemble the dart, the problem was there. Not only had it burned out the emitter, it had damaged the diagnostic chip as well. That was what caused the false green. As far as the chip was concerned, everything was fine, but if they had tried to reuse that particular dart, it would have likely exploded on launch.

A 7% failure rate on reuse wasn't terribly high at a glance, but for a product with as much stored energy as these things had, it could potentially be catastrophic.

Further examination of the dart's trajectory revealed that, after the first shot, it had smacked head on into an armor plate without the blade activated. That had likely damaged the emitter just enough to set it up for failure. When the emitter burned out, the feedback fried the diagnostic chip just so. It was a freak accident, one they didn't anticipate in the development phase. The chips had a reputation for being both extremely durable and extremely reliable, and the idea that a power surge would damage it in such a way that it wouldn't register a fault was nearly inconceivable.

This was a setback, but not a huge one. Rusty figured he could solve that problem in the future by putting a fuse on the input to the chip. It would still be able to pick up data, but any power surge would blow it out, and the chip would register the lack of data as a catastrophic fault.

Fortunately, Koko had brought a tool kit with her, so they should be able to install the fuse on all of the darts before testing resumed.

 

[Rusty]

Adding in the extra fuses took the better part of an hour.

Though the prototype models were designed to be easily disassembled an accessed (a feature that would not reappear on the production line, as it invited reverse engineering), it was still a fiddly task. The components had been miniaturized to the extreme; some of them were only visible under magnification. The diagnostic chip itself was barely more the a few millimeters across, and the inputs were positively tiny.

An organic technician would have required specialized equipment to make the repairs. Rusty did not. That still didn't make the task easy, but at least he didn't have to haul the batch back to the lab.

It was mid afternoon by the time he finished, and despite being fairly early spring for this part of Dressel, it was sweltering. Koko had gone off behind a berm to shed her dress pants, lest the heat and her artificial sweat ruin them. She traded them for a pair of leggings that Rusty vaguely recognized from a line of high end athletic wear. Even in a tank top and leggings, Koko still made it look like a fashion statement. He looked like a battle droid playing dressup as a lumberjack in his thick denim jeans and flannel shirt.

Oh well. At least the heat didn't bother him.

The growing storm clouds off in the distance might, however.

"I think we should probably wrap this up," he told Koko. "Those storms look pretty gnarly."

She nodded in agreement as she checked the forecast on her datapad.

"Looks like they're going to be severe. Chance of tornadoes, even. They're saying they might even have to bring up the city shields if they blow towards Breehara."

Rusty swore. He still had trouble adjusting to the lack of the restraining bolt that had censored his speech for the last few years.

"Alright, one more round, and then we'll boogie."

 

[Rusty]

Rusty and Koko took seven arrows apiece. The number 11 arrow was down for the count, so that left them an even 14 to play with.

"When I say go, we're both going to unload as fast as we can on the closest target. The idea here is to see if the light darts have a negative impact on the delivery system when used concurrently."

Koko nodded. She had chosen a simple recurve bow for this test. The wood and fiberglass laminated limbs had a draw weight of 80 pounds, which was just fine for her, and the shorter length meant that she could maneuver it with her slight frame more easily.

Rusty had picked out an old school longbow. The six foot long yew weapon could launch a conventional arrow through plate armor at well over 100 meters, though aiming at that distance took some doing.

"Ready? GO!"

Before the last word had even left his voice box, he had the first arrow nocked. He drew, loosed, and fired in one smooth motion, not even pausing to see how the first one went before loading his second.

Koko growled when she realized that her boss had jumped the mark, but didn't let that throw her off. Her first arrow loosed only a split second behind Rusty's, and her second was even closer.

Without having to worry about things like fatigue, both Shards were able to send all seven arrows out in a matter of seconds.

Koko's bow seemed to have held up fine. It had a small groove on the handgrip designed to accommodate the arrows, and there was never any danger of them accidentally coming into contact with the limbs.

Rusty's fared slightly worse. On his final shot, he had drawn back just a smidgen too far, and there was a smoking scorch mark on the bow. Given the enormous stress the act of firing placed on the thing, he wouldn't be comfortable using this one again.

"I think that went well," he said as they walked out towards the target. Both of them had managed to slot their shots in a circle no bigger than three inches around. The thick metal was practically glowing from the heat. "Let's gather the arrows up and give them a once over before heading back."

 

[Rusty]

It was clear that most of the arrows were total losses at a glance.

Though previous iterations had no trouble coping with the heat, they hadn't tried rapid firing the darts into a small portion. The buildup of thermal energy had begun to cook the things, and everything after the third arrow was in increasingly worse shape. The final darts fired were actually burning quietly when they found them. If not for the fact that the power cells had been completely discharged, they might actually have exploded.

That brought up some doubts about the viability of using a more high powered cell. On the other hand, if they could figure out a way to make the things explode, that might be a selling point. All of that, however, could be considered for the second version of the darts. And that would have to wait for the first version to take off.

Like any good testing session, there were as many questions as answers in the data. They had enough data to suggest that the initial design was marketable, however, and that had been the point.

Wordlessly, the Shards began gathering up the cameras, sensors, and other assorted equipment and loaded them in the back of Rusty's hovertruck. The plates and the berms would stay. Even assuming they weren't washed away by the storm, the plates had all taken a beating, and likely wouldn't even be worth scrapping. They could come back later if they really had to, but for now, getting the expensive stuff out of the storm was the priority.

"Well, I'd call that a good day's work," Rusty said as he loaded the plastoid table they had been using into the truck. It was the last thing to go.

Koko nodded.

"Agreed. It was nice to get out of the office for an afternoon. Back to work tomorrow though."

"No rest for the wicked."

The Shard woman laughed.

"Speaking of, you've got an appointment at 0900 to meet with some tinpot dictator. He thinks you can provide weapons for his troops, and he's awful vague about how he plans to pay for it."

"Son of a queen."