Chapter 26

(Author's Note: There are a few instances within this story where technology has not reached the extent of imagination. Some areas have been developed and tested while others are still in our future.)

It had been decided to have Carl build stocks for the weapons before we took them out for test firing. Sandy and I made up the last six to give us a total of sixteen. Carl was able to build stocks for all fifteen of our anticipated rifles that were not bulky or looked like something from Star Wars. The rifle appeared to look more like an assault weapon with a bulky forestock.

Steve had the General agree to only use our original test weapon, and wait until we had test fired the others we were making. He agreed, but wanted some of the Feds' experts to witness our test firing.

Some insight into what S&S had to deal with while working with the government on contracts showed up two days later.

While Steve, Glenda, and I enjoyed our first cup of coffee together, three black SUVs showed up and emptied into the patio. Most were geeks with short sleeve white shirts and ties, but some wore the typical dark suits and sunglasses.

Dennis and Sandy corralled the geeks and kept them a safe distance from Steve. That was all we would need is to get Steve pissed that people were encroaching on his personal, private space. After a breakfast of fast food sandwiches, we went to the open area of the new machine plaza parking area in carts.

Three helicopters came in, landed, and picked up all of the personnel who were to be carried to the barges. After all three aircraft landed and were tied down on the barges, Sandy and I began setting up the equipment. I had one of our security people usher away every geek who began getting close to the equipment. I finally had to announce to all of them, "You don't own nor have you paid for the development of the weapons you'll see. If you accept these weapons after we have tested them, we'll teach you how to use them, and you can assume responsibility of them, and you can do whatever you wish with them at that time. Until then, please stay behind the boundary lines marked for you."

Steve came up to us and told me, "Well said, Sal. Those guys want to know what the hell you have that has caused so much stir. Show 'em, Guy.

The first goal, the same as it had been at the military firing range, was to test fire each weapon at least three times before using any actual target. We set up the bench that was designed to hold the laser rifle and mounted the weapon. We connected the mobile backpack that we were also going to test to determine how long we could fire the weapon before we would have to replace the power pack.

With everyone standing behind one of Gerry's clear composite shields, we fired the weapon by launching three short duration bursts. Each time we watched steam rise from the gulf where the beam hit.

The heat gauges were monitored and the individual rifles were manually checked between each test firing.

It took most of the morning to test each of the weapons. We had reduced the beam length to about 250 milliseconds and found that the power consumption was considerably less than in the previous test. The force of the burst was still quite dramatic, but we were to find out more as the day continued.

The observers were kept busy with coffee and snacks that Steve had wisely provided.

When all of the rifles were tested, and deemed safe to have an individual fire them, we prepared the first rifle.

There were four large balloons for us to shoot at out in the water. After we connected to the mobile back pack, I let Sandy aim and fire at the first one. The target was close, as in within five hundred yards. Upon its disintegration, I told him to shoot the seven hundred fifty-yard balloon, then the one at one thousand yards. They all vanished in front of us. The short bursts were still effective even at the longer distance.

The next target was a small craft motoring at a slow speed away from us, so I waited for it to get about a thousand yards away and triggered the pulse. The boat engine burst into flames before the fuel tank exploded in a fire ball. This was more devastating than I had anticipated.

Dennis and Donny used a portable oscilloscope and attached some leads to the weapon and adjusted the beams. The two men rose up from their activity and Donny said, "We narrowed the beam down to a pin point but it will now move in a slight arc as in a cutting motion. This should give us maximum power focused on a larger area."

Our last target was an aircraft being towed across our firing area. I didn't plan this, but figured that it was something Steve thought up. I tracked the trailing target and fired. The small aircraft on the end of the tow rope wobbled as a wing fell from the towed aircraft. The tow rope was released as the disabled aircraft plunged toward the water. The beam duration was still set at only the quarter second but remained very effective.

Sandy and I next tested each of the other fifteen shoulder fired weapons on stationary targets to make sure the weapons manually fired on command. I had Carl test fire two of the weapons and watched his eyes open wide in astonishment.

We began wiping them down and putting them into cases when we finished. One of the officers came to us and demanded, "Aren't you going to clean the weapons before you put them away?"

Sandy told him, "We're wiping them down and disconnecting the power source, so they're going to be clean when they go in the cases. There is nothing moving through the weapon but light, and disassembly is highly frowned upon. Check them if you want, but be sure to use gloves if you do."

The thought of who Sandy was talking to gave me a smile. The guy asking about the weapons had silver eagles on his lapel, so he was an Army Colonel. Sandy was probably jumping a few pay grades by giving instructions to the guy.

Our next task was to teach a group of Federal munitions techs how to use the weapon. We ended up having to let each of them fire a weapon. One of the brass begged to fire one, and fired at the water, raising a cloud of steam.

Only Steve and the legal staff remained on the barges to talk to the others at the end of the day. The rest of us went back to our R&D center to finish out our day reviewing the test videos.

Back at our lab, Sandy told me, "I didn't really think that we could pull this off, but we did. Not only that, but the damned thing trashed everything we fired at. You amazed me by shooting down that towed target. You're alright, Sal. You do know how to take care of us."

By the time we got to the patio, our mates had heard of our success and congratulated us on our demonstration. Jenny even made the comment, "You won't believe all of the requests I've had for people wanting to travel here for this. I think I have most of the high brass in the U.S. domestic military requesting help."

Steve walked up, carrying a drink for me, and told the women around me, "Try not to talk to much about what Sal is involved with. This is a big deal and could become a big security problem, so keep it down as much as possible. We've doubled up on security around the park and the business park. The Secret Service has even sent a detail to help coordinate the security."

The five women crowded around me when Steve left, and Rita told the others, "Steve is telling us to keep our mouths shut. Let's make sure we do that. Our man needs us to do this, so let's keep his good deeds to ourselves. We'll reward him later."

The other four gave me hugs and kisses, promising to be circumspect and quiet about the project.

Steve should actually have had more security surrounding the test, but who would know how much interest there was going to be in this small weapon? Wes wanted to work with us to put the smaller version of the weapon in his drone. He felt that we could create more space for other equipment by reducing the weapon's size. The good news was that the beam generator didn't have to move to aim the beam. That was done using a servo operated mirror.

Over the next few days Sandy and I worked on the frequency response weapon that could cause SAMs to explode on the ground before they launched. We could recreate everything within a simulated condition, but not how things would actually work in the field.

This weapon used radio signals with the laser only as a secondary armament. The design was to use a blanket of encrypted signals to disarm the SAM, jam the radar and/or to cause the missle to explode on command. The transmitter would be focused on the launch area giving the burst of signals that would cause the launch disruption. Should the SAM launch, the laser would instantly begin striking the target until it was disabled or self-destructed.

We had to summon Steve for help once again. Sandy and I presented the weapon to Steve and explained how it would work. We went through the simulations with him, and showed him recorded data from the simulations. Steve was smiling when we finished. "I guess you want me to buy some radar equipment with a SAM or fake SAM and let you blow it up."

He thought for a while before saying, "I'm going to see if we can get some captured equipment to use for the test. Do you want to do this with the drone or one of Wes's experimental aircraft?"

I suggested, "Let's have Wes look at what we have and let him decide. We could actually mount the equipment on any of our aircraft for the test. The only advantage would be to have it actually tested using our aircraft."

Steve told me to get Wes over for a presentation and he would work on getting the equipment needed, and maybe bring in some of the major contractors so we could sell the equipment to them instead of being the primary contractors. Sandy was chuckling, since this project was mostly software directing an off the shelf radio beam generator and the same laser we had already mounted in the aircraft. "They'll get all of the source code if they want to pay for it this time. I hope they all want to pay us fortunes for the weapon."

It took three weeks to get everything arranged and prepared at the bomb range. The Air Force decided to use their helicopters to take the brass and major contractors to the range again. The S&S people rode in one of our big transport helicopters so that we could keep some distance from the observers.

We had canopies set up to shield everyone from the direct sun but it also allowed us to keep our technical people away from the observers. The observation tent had some big screen monitors that showed two SAM installations using the contracting companies' own radar. We were going to test both the aircraft and the drone. The monitors under the observers' canopy showed a radar picture of the area out to fifty miles. We were once again going to show the effectiveness of our stealth products.

Before the test and demonstration began, Steve announced to the observers. "Thank you for coming to witness the hopefully successful testing of one of our latest defensive weapons today. The object of this weapon is to counter SAM installations. The weapon is designed to do two things. Should a SAM fire, the weapon will respond and shoot it down before it can get close to our aircraft, the intended target. If the test is totally successful, we will be able to cause the SAM to explode on the ground before launch. So that the stealthy aircraft can be seen on radar for the SAM to fire at, our aircraft will turn their transponders on. This will give the SAM installation a chance to identify and fire at the enemy. We will attempt to thwart the actual launch. The weapon we're testing can be mounted on any aircraft, and could be continuously operational."

Steve pointed to the radar monitors and told them that the first pass will be in stealth mode at under Mach 1. The aircraft will come back with the transponder on so you can see the signature on the monitor. The next pass will be with the transponder on and will be the test of the first SAM site."

I would be concerned for the pilot if I didn't know that Wes was sitting under the sun cover, flying the aircraft from a console similar to how a drone would be guided.

The fighter/bomber went by us at about ten thousand feet, but you couldn't see anything on the radar monitor. The transponder suddenly showed up on the monitor as the aircraft made the turn. The aircraft went out almost fifty miles before turning to come back with its transponder on to attract the now activated SAM battery installation.

I watched Wes wrinkle his forehead as he brought his multi-million dollar aircraft toward a real SAM with the ability to launch. We watched the closed circuit video monitor as the aircraft approached, while the SAM installation readied to fire. The SAM exploded, while still sitting in the firing position, just as the radar locked on.

All you could hear were oohs and aahs from the observers. Sandy elbowed me and said, "Look at that shit, Boss. It worked."

Steve announced that a non-stealthy drone, equipped with the anti-weapon equipment, would make a pass by us, turn, and attempt to attract the SAM. It would then fire a laser and self destruct signal while the SAM was in flight. Steve told everyone to watch closely, because the action would be very rapid if this worked.

One of Wes' techs was guiding the drone at a slow speed. It turned after passing us and went toward the SAM installation. We watched as the SAM launch vehicle readied to fire once again. Multiple SAMs launched, but all exploded before they had reached a thousand feet. The whole thing took less than 3 seconds.

Under the control cover, Wes' techs were all hollering and backslapping over the successful test. Sandy's men came up to us, and one of them said, "That was incredible. We actually designed and built that thing."

I told them, "You guys did a great job. The weapon destroyed the SAM site on the ground and the missiles while in the air."

One of the techs asked, "Didn't the drone destroy the launch equipment? The system is designed to do that."

We looked over at the video monitor and saw that the whole second launch site control panel was in flames from a laser strike. We didn't even realize the drone had fired at the launch vehicle.

To bring the aircraft in safely, Wes had turned control over to someone at the airpark. They sent the drone home to be handled the same way.

Steve handled the observers and advised them that we could be contacted for information regarding the defensive weapons during the following week. He advised them all that they witnessed today was classified 'Top Secret' and couldn't be discussed with anyone outside of their immediate division, and only with those with the appropriate clearances.

As we returned home, Sandy told me, "I'll bet the enemy has a copy of the source code almost as soon as we divulge it. The security within those companies is horrible. It's too bad that we can't send them a phony version for a few weeks."

I looked at Sandy, "Let's discuss this with Steve. That might be the right thing to do. We can get back to them with the correct software later, but an incorrect version will already be circulating meanwhile. It may screw up the enemy's works for a few years as they try to figure it out.

When there finally was an opportunity to talk to Steve about our idea, he listened intently and even squirmed around a little. When he finally had thought the problem through, he sat up straight saying "It's actually a good idea, and we should probably do something like that to divert the thieves that are trying to steal our software."

Steve had turned in his chair to look around the patio, and when he saw who he wanted, he waved for them to come to us. Tiny came over to hear what we had proposed to Steve. The big man grinned and said, "I like it. As long as we let top management know that the code we originally send isn't going to work, they will probably embrace the idea to keep from being labeled as security risks."

That's when Sandy suggested, "How about we put different code into each package we sell, so the leaked code can identify which company has the leak. That way, the FBI can work on that group rather than all of them. We'll know it if there are more than one, and can attack all of the leaks at once."

I patted Sandy on the back, and told him, "Good thinking, Sandy. Security leaks are bad, but it's even more important when it comes to national security. I'll have to be careful or the feds are going to be trying to hire you away from us."

Sandy quietly laughed and said, "I'll bet they don't pay as well as S&S. Sandy and I have our future right here, and our plans are definitely not working for the government."

All of us in the R&D group gathered together to talk about how well the test had gone. Wes came to join us and looked around at all of us, "Okay, who's going to begin rotary wing training so that I can get some help with the new aircraft Steve's group is talking about? They want an enhanced passenger helicopter, and want us to develop another form of quiet rotary wing aircraft. Just keeping a turbine down to a roar is the first of the many challenges. We can start with the technology we learned on the drones, and go from there."

We programmers were thinking that Wes was going to push the others in R&D into rotary wing training, and agreed with him until he said, "You need to take the lead and begin right away, Sal. Sandy and his team should begin training, along with Gerry, Donny, and Dennis. Some of you haven't even begun basic flight training, so you have a long way to go before you're useful in developing what we need."

I shouldn't have been grinning, as Wes told me, "You're the leader and have to be first. We have hired an engineer who is proficient in that type of flight and will be an asset in our training and research. You'll meet the new engineer on Sunday, Sal, so be ready to begin working within the new department the same way you do with me."

Something in the way Wes was pitching this didn't sound right. Rita was sitting with me, listening with a grin on her face. I asked her, "What are you grinning about? Do you know this new engineer?"

"No I don't, but I think I have an idea, Sal. Let me go talk to Jenny. She might know something."

Sandy's three programmers asked me if it was true that they had to take flight training, then learn how to fly helicopters. They thought that they could learn what made helicopters work without learning how to fly them.

I was actually thinking the same thing, but every time we began talking like that, another person from the rotary wing group would come to us and give us a few more reasons why we needed to know first hand how a helicopter worked.

Chuck and Lisa joined the conversation for a few minutes, and told us how important our new mission was. Lisa told of her experiences with the VSTOL aircraft, and Chuck talked about a couple of instances where his knowledge of helicopters got him out of trouble. Knowing the intense couple's value, I was in agreement with our employers that we should be good students and continue to learn as rapidly as possible.

Sunday morning was sort of scary, since we were going to meet Wes' new rotary wing counterpart. The new person was to have arrived overnight, and was at the hotel waiting to be transported to the patio for introduction during our usual Sunday morning breakfast.

Tiny and Henry were conspiring to ease the new person's introduction by handing out huge Bloody Marys to all the R&D programming folks. I figured we would find a mutual footing, so I was enjoying the drinks and the views of all the ladies of the patio showing most of their charms in their sexy nighties.

Jenny had been a little reticent about the new person, but told me I'd probably enjoy whoever it was. I know that there had been a love fest with my harem on Saturday night, the likes of which had not been seen for a while.

I was sitting with Steve and Charlie when Charlie pointed out a new person among us. He said, "Would you check out that babe. I'm thinking that Chuck is adding another piece of talent to his group."

Steve commented, "By the way she's hanging onto Star and DeDe, she may not be a part of Chuck's group."

He had a point, and I was trying to think of why the very well-built addition was with those two until I had an epiphany. I was looking at our new rotary wing aeronautical engineer.