Fandom High School

Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-06-25T12:44:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

The Danger Shop contained a table full of parts and some workbenches. Behind that stood a wall with a single door in it.

In front of everything was Kaidan, his arms crossed.

"This is your final," he said. "You've got twenty-five minutes to grab some parts and put something together. A weapon, a shield, whatever you think will be useful. Then you've got to run the gauntlet. Good luck."

He stepped out of the way.

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-06-18T12:23:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

"So, we've been covering a lot of ballistics-related technology," Kaidan said once everyone had filed into the Danger Shop. "But there's much more we can take a look at. Physics has got a lot to offer to anyone who might have to see combat."

He gestured at a large glowing tube standing in the corner of the room. "There are four states of matter," he said. "Liquid, solid, gas-- and plasma. Now, plasma is an interesting one. It's an ionized gas-- ions are particles with an electric charge, which means they have an uneven amount of protons and electrons. Ionization can occur when an atom gains or loses electrons to become uneven. So an ionized gas is a gas that responds to currents and electromagnetic fields, giving it vastly different properties."

He nodded towards the tube again.

"One of those different properties is that it can form structures," he said. "And it can run hot. That makes it perfect for weaponization." He activated his omni-tool. "This is a manufacturing tool as well as a communications hub," he said, holding it up. "On the battlefield, I can create ionized materials, superheat them, and fire them straight at an opponent. I can also use it to supercool subatomic particles for a similar effect."

He deactivated it.

"Now," he said, "I've got a bunch of grapes, a bunch of microwaves, and some other stuff. I want you to team up and make some plasma happen - then discuss what's making the reaction happen, and how to best weaponize it."

"It's the Danger Shop and the safeties are on, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch yourself while you do it. Just FYI."

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-06-11T16:53:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

"This," Kaidan said, "Is an YMIR mech."

It was large, was what it was.

"It possesses twin mass accelerator canons and a rocket launcher. It possesses extremely sophisticated kinetic barriers and armor. In case it wasn't obvious, it was built with only one purpose in mind: to provide overpowering force against the enemy."

He banged his hand on the metal; the sound carried across the Danger Shop. "Similar mechs have been engineered to contain a pilot," he said. "All the firepower of a mech combined with the versatility and the flexibility of a human mind. Of course, they also get used elsewhere. Because a mech like this can provide a great deal of lift, it's excellent for work in construction and anything else that involves moving heavy objects."

He stepped away from it. "It can be used offensively or defensively," he added, "Especially if someone's inside-- well, it's going to take a lot of bullets to get in there. But that means different building priorities, obviously. Mechs are often slow, and they're slowed down more by the weight of the weapons and the armor. Using it to, say, evacuate somebody is ideally going to involve a lighter mech."

"That's the practical side," he added. "Then there's the moral one. This thing? It can do a lot of damage. And the damage it does is usually going to be lethal. So when is it okay to use one in an assault?"

He pointed the class towards a couple of desks that had just materialized. "I want you to think long and hard about where and how you'd want to deploy a mech if you had the chance," he said. "Then I want you to go and design one. It doesn't have to be specific if you haven't got the specifics in mind, but draw something. And motivate your choices."

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-06-04T09:09:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

Kaidan wasn't there this Tuesday morning, because he was elsewhere taking care of much more important business - getting shot at on a vessel thought derelict some three days before.

There was just a neat, printed note on the door of the Danger Shop:

Can't make it today. Something came up. I'm sorry.
Please write down your name on the attendance sheet.
Practice your aim today.
-- Staff Commander Alenko.

Well. That was that.

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-05-28T14:00:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

The Danger Shop had been set up like an ordinary gun range this time. Sure, Kaidan knew they had a real one in the building, but he wasn't going to take risks with the lives of the students.

"Today, we're going to be talking about bullets," he said. "Projectiles. You had a shot at trying out some last week. We were just focusing on something else back then. Anyway, we've been attacking each other with projectiles for a very long time. It started with pebbles in slingshots."

( On bullets. )

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-05-21T12:55:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

The Danger Shop had been set up as a gun range of sorts, though there weren't any walls between them and the targets up ahead. In turn, the targets looked a lot more like... well, not targets, precisely, more like--

"Shields," Kaidan said. "Personal armor has been a part of combat for as long as our species has been around. They've come in a lot of different flavors, but they're all meant for the same purpose: to deflect projectiles or melee weapons away from the wearer."

He walked along the range, pointing at each target in turn. "In the Stone Age, shields were made of wood or animal hide. It worked against the weapons they knew back then. Nowadays-- not so much, as you're going to find out. As time went on, we added more parts to the concept, like combining leather and wood or adding metal reinforcement. Of course..."

He stopped by one of the targets. "Then guns happened. A projectile propelled by a gunpowder combustion or a mass accelerator is going to punch right through a wooden shield. It generates a lot of force. We've been trying to figure out how to deal with that ever since. In this particular day and age, that means armored shields and ballistic body armor. That's using a combination of strong fibers weaved together to deform the shape of the bullet and spread the force around. Sometimes they come equipped with metal or ceramic plates to keep the worst of the force off certain body parts."

Kaidan still sounded like he thought this was all really old stuff.

"Finally," he said, pointing at the last target - which was really just a stick surrounded by a nearly invisible field that occasionally flashed with a hint of orange. "Kinetic barriers. An invention of my time. Using trace amounts of element zero, they emit small mass effect fields. These fields are calibrated so they invert the force of a small projectile, causing it to bounce off in the direction it originally came from."

There was a brief spark in front of him. Another kinetic barrier, running the entire length of the range.

"On that table, you can find a series of projectile weapons ranging through several eras," he said. "You're welcome to try them out on the shields I've set up. You're also welcome to play around with the duplicates I've got sitting over here." He nodded at those. "Feel free to tinker."

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Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)

2013-05-14T13:01:00Z

Posted by: not_a_whiner

"Morning," Kaidan said as soon as everyone was seated. "Welcome to Combat Tech. For those of you who haven't been in any of my classes - I'm Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko. You can call me Commander or Professor Alenko, I don't care which."

That was a real range of options there, Kaidan.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we're going to be looking into the combat application of various forms of technology. Obviously Fandom isn't always the safest place to be, so if you haven't been acquainted with this kind of tech before, this is going to be a useful starter. For those of you who are, we're going to be building on your knowledge with some safer tech."

He looked around the classroom.

"This," he said, his fingers sliding over his arm and calling up a device that fit along his wrist and hand - it looked a lot like it was made of solid yellow light. "Is my omni-tool. It has a lot of non-combat applications. It's chiefly a communications and manufacturing tool. However, that means it's got its combat applications. For example, I can manufacture chilled or heated metal that can then be deployed at an enemy."

He dropped his hand away from it. "Since this is introductions week," and he was a complete, boring traditionalist, "I'd like to know your names, your classes, and your familiarity with this kind of technology. I'd also like to know what you'd like to learn to defend yourself from, if anything."

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