1012/Project Sunray

Project Sunray
Date of Scene:	22 November 2014
Location:	Earth-115
Synopsis:	So begins Project Sunray, XCOM's first foray into energy weapon design. The group have working energy projectors, but they're unsuitable for field work due to heat dissipation issues, maybe the Multiverse can provide assistance.
Thanks to:	Zwei Lance Benson, Alicia T. Harlaown and Roll for coming.
Cast of Characters:	3, 4, 62, 330, 596

---

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
SEVERAL DAYS AGO.

    Across the Multiverse, several subtle, and a few not-so-subtle advertisements were posted in various places and formats, requesting people with knowledge in High Energy physics, especially related to Directed Energy Devices. The ads also requested any materiel that may assist in an endeavour, along with any relevant schematics or working models.

    PRESENT

    Doctor Vahlen has finally been given lab space to give to the Sunray team. The group of twenty or so scientists have various prototype laser emitters set up in test ranges with protective measures in place. They're running their experiments already, though each prototype has a very lengthy 'cool down' period, where actual heat distortions can be seen rising from the emitter coils and focussing lenses. Not something you'd want to be holding onto in a fire fight.

Lance Benson (330) has posed:
    Lance soon shows up, and when he does, it's in a black lab coat with the Sirius logo on the back. He's in human form, and has a pair of goggles pushed up on his forehead. He steps up to the Sunray lab area, and lifts a suitcase to rest it on a table. A few clicks of the locks and a creak of the hinge later, and he's delicately lifting large vials of colored fluid out of the briefcase, setting them down on the surface. They have labels on them, and any scientist in the room with knowledge of biological chemistry would recognize some of the formulas listed on the jars.

    Lance closes the briefcase and sets it on the floor near the table, then lifts one and considers the readout on it for only a second. "Alright," he murmurs, "Has anyone tried a liquid cooling option yet?" He speaks up loudly for anyone who might answer, and quirks his brows, looking for anyone who might seem promising but not immediately forthcoming.

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Alicia knows a little something about directed energy devices! In her case the energy is magic, but much of the principles remain the same from what she's seen. So when a request for help went out, Alicia was happy to reply. Especially because she's seen the aliens that are attacking this world and they are very troubling.

    Alicia shows up wearing her TSAB uniform. While she has been to this world before, she's never been to the XCOM base! So she looks on with interest as she is guided towards the lab in question. Arriving, she gives everyone a grin and a wave, "Hiya! I hope I'll be able to help!"

Zwei (596) has posed:
    High energy directed energy devices are pretty much one of Zwei's favourite things. Furthermore, an iteration of Earth under attack by a technologically superior alien conglomerate that somehow /isn't/ winning is extra interesting. There's absolutely no way it wouldn't stick its fingers in and stir the pot a little, just to see what happens.

    Zwei decides to send Weiss alone to blend in more easily, operating Asche seperately elsewhere in order to not wind up scaring people. Weiss, for the moment, has changed her appearance little from her default, only going as far as to infuse her skin with some colour, change her hair to a shade of blonde, and reduce the intensity of her eyes to a more human green; having later added glasses for extra intellectual effect. If she is prompted, Zwei will fabricate doctorates pretty much out of thin air, possibly going so far as to temporarily hack an academic database in order to provide credentials.

    Weiss follows in shortly after lance, taking a fraction of a second to thoroughly sample the energy discharge of the test lasers being fired. Meandering over to one at a leisurely pace, she leans in close as if inspecting the casing, while actually scanning the insides with electron microscopy. "That depends, mister biochemist! They abandoned water cooling jackets on ballistic firearms pretty early for concerns of weight, and the fact that sooner or later, the water reaches the same temperature as the barrel anyways. Using something like liquid hydrogen allows for more heat discharge before having to be vented, but it's much more dangerous to carry around~" She stands up long enough to wave at Alicia as she enters the room.

Roll (3) has posed:
    Roll's been here for a while! With her chores at Light Labs all taken care of, she's dropped by day after day to help out! Though the little Robot Master's a bit out of place in a heavily military environment, she's well-behaved, she's picked up a uniform (even if she had to retailor it or get one made) to fit in with the base staff, and she's a huge help during construction efforts.

    Like her brother, Roll was made to be a Lab Assistant. Her specific duties were more domestic originally compared to his, but sometimes four hands weren't enough.

    XCOM couldn't have a better helper for some things.

    Though her outfit's changed, Roll's hair's still done up in a ponytail with a green bow, and she's stitched a Light Labs logo on as an arm patch.

    "So there are two problems, then?" The curious Robot Master asks while strolling by with two huge boxes stacked in her arms. Boxes bigger than she is.

    "Materials that won't melt, and a way to disperse the heat..."

    These are problems that Dr. Light's certainly tackled before, but her own technology's not very applicable here. She's not even good enough to fully explain how SHE works...

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Doctor Vahlen stands to one side, working on her Datapad with one hand, collecting the information from each part of the team into a central document for archive purposes. The Good Doctor doesn't partake in research herself, for the most part... aside from the occasional Interrogation of a captured Alien. Her clear, intelligent blue eyes watch the incoming Elites, taking note of Doctor Benson as he sets up his chemist set. "Ah, Doctor Benson. It has been far too long." she offers, but lets the closest 'Team Leader' speak up for himself.

    The middle aged man adjusts his glasses. "That was one of the first things we tried." he glances to Weiss. "And the young lady is correct, every permutation we attempted resulted in either a far too heavy system that only functioned for an insufficient number of shots, or a dangerous venting system that turned out to be more dangerous to the operator than return enemy fire." he doesn't seem to be dismissing the option outright though. "If you have any insights, or methods we haven't thought of, we'd be willing to hear them."

    Another scientist moves to Roll. "Do you think you could bring in Crate 3445211 on your way back? It's got the replacement coils and lenses for this experiment run. I forgot to requisition it on this morning's roster and they won't send it until one of the MECs can swing by, and they're all being maintained in Cybernetics right now." he asks, tapping things into his datapad the entire while. "I'll owe you!" he adds, before returning to his station. His buddy nudges him. "She's right too, though we've got the materials, those Alloys won't melt easily, but we need some way of bleeding off the heat... that's the main problem."

    Vahlen chuckles softly. "This is why we asked for experts in the field. Our best minds are struggling, but perhaps a fresh approach can nudge us in the right direction."

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Hmm, I'm afraid you're going to find that thermal transfer is always going to be limited to what the conductivity and the specific heat of the materials being used are. It's easy to distribute heat into a specific part of the weapon, but it takes a long time for heat of any kind to bleed into Earth's atmosphere. You'd either be using disposable, replaceable heat sinks, which might work but could be very expensive; an air cooling turbine, which will require a larger amount of electrical energy to be generated by the weapon; or you'll want to increasing the lasing efficiency from the ground up, which is more complicated, but results in less waste heat and more energy being directed downrange. I personally recommend the last option, perhaps combined with the former. I'm qualified to help with both!"

    Weiss gives Vahlen her best, most winning smile; practically oozing eagerness to help.

Lance Benson (330) has posed:
    Lance looks over at Weiss, the combination of her words and his unfamiliarity with her making him give her this look like she were emitting strobe lights and speaking in tongues. The look doesn't last that long, instead replaced with that same warm smile he was using when he gave his question out before. The jar of colorful fluid is set right back down on the table.

    Vahlen's remark gets him turning his head, and his ears perking -- the flaw with his transformation manifested in his fuzzy ears, kind of cutesy as a matter of fact -- and then wilting as she parrots what the new person said. "/These/ are not water or liquid hydrogen," he assures them, picking up another of the jars. He pulls a small device like an electronic needle from his pocket to draw a dose out of it, soon after locating a burner and a dish. He turns the burner up to mask, fills the dish and sets the dish on top of the burner. The liquid crystallizes gradually over a minute or two, and then disperses as smoke into the air. "Don't worry, harmless to breathe in," and then he reaches to pick up the dish he just used with his bare hand, and sticks it up against his face.

    "This particular compound is my favorite. It's hard to manufacture, and might gunk up the weapon, but it's been promising so far, as you can see. It's derived from a species living on a high temperature world, these large spider-like creatures. Protects their eggs if they get exposed to sunlight for too long." He sets the dish down, apparently completely fine. "Not a miracle solution but similar compounds might be the way to go."

    "Can't help you as far as engineering goes, though, emitting less heat would be more reliable," he says, gesturing to Weiss.

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Alicia waves her hand, bringing up several holodisplays showing the information about the laser weapons. She hmmms quietly, musing, "Mage Devices use liquid cooling utilizing highly compact and heat efficient compounds. They do vent... A lot... But we have ways of mitigating the threat of that venting. Unfortunately they won't apply in this situation. However, I think a combination of functions might work..."

    Alicia nods in agreement with some of Weiss's words, "A liquid transfer system to move the heat into ejectable cartridges is one possible solution. It would remove the venting issue. Though the user would need to carry around additional cartridges to replace those used up." She taps her chin, "Cost wise it depends on the material used in the cartridge..."

Roll (3) has posed:
    "Sure!" Roll snaps a salute while grinning childishly after setting the boxes down. "...ALL of them are in maintenance?" Well, that's worrisome, but oh well! She'll jsut go grab the crate.

    "You're sure the metal won't distort or crack from the repeated heating and cooling? Ah... answer that when I'm back!"

    She scurries out of the room, footsteps going CLANK CLANK CLANK. She's much lighter than one would expect of a Robot her size, but she's still as heavy as an adult if not a bit more so...

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Vahlen falls silent, resuming her 'Lead' role of archiving the incoming data. The first man to speak up watches the substance. "Hmm, that is an interesting substance." he offers simply, than looks to Weiss. "This current experiment run is attempting to increase the efficiency factor. The three systems are running different frequencies of laser, from there, we'll increase the output while reducing the overall thermal footprint... but a laser is still a laser, it'll cause heat regardless." he glances to Alicia, and walks on over to peer at the holographic readouts. "So your technology successfully integrated a venting system. Interesting, however these weapons must be easily man portable and light enough that they don't encumber our troopers. We're aiming for a system that's about as heavy as our current projectile firearms options."

    Another researcher pipes up. "I've been toying with a 'Thermal Magazine' idea, but I've not had much headway on how to implement it, our blonde friend reminded me with her suggestion."

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Weiss makes the effort to machine an outwardly visible emitter wrapped around her wrist rather than just projecting a display directly from her 'skin'; suspending a basic 3d map of the test laser's interior components rearranged to fit inside a vaguely rifle-sized casing for simplicity, with an animation of a somewhat bulky but otherwise standard sized magazine inserting into a bullpup position using the main crystal as the chamber.

    "For increasing efficiency, your wavelength would be more easily manageable by filling the space between the diode and each crystal with Kerr lensing fluid to refract the beam into a gradually tighter shape rather than doing so in several stages. For waste heat, I'd suggest machining a typical ballistic magazine size to be filled with repeating wafers of high quality graphene. Have the magazine release pull back a covering that allows them to slot directly into the coil, where they will divert all radiated thermal energy due to the material's superior conductivity. Eject it once a sensor reaches a predetermined temperature, then stick the heatsink back in a holster full of that crystallizing fluid, letting it soak until it turns to smoke, allowing it to be retrieved once it's ready again, thus doubling the number of reloads. What do you think?"

Alicia T. Harlaown (4) has posed:
    Alicia nods to the researcher, "With our technology level we have developed a high level of micronization..." She holds up her wrist to show the rose-shaped gem hanging from her bracelet, "You wouldn't believe how much power is in this small thing." She grins.

    But, back to the subject at hand! Alicia listens to Weiss, nodding a long. Though she does point out, "We have to keep in mind that the solutions need to be something that this facility is capable of manufacturing. I imagine X-COM don't want to rely on off-world supply of key components or materials."

Roll (3) has posed:
    "Ugh, I'm not good at thinking about weapons much!" Roll yammers as she comes back into the room. She's shuffling along at a very good speed with the requested crate, and goes to set it down near the scientists. Only now does she have a chance to look around at everyone who's gathered. Zwei's a new face! Or rather, Weiss. The little Robot Master eyes them with considerable curious interest!

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Vahlen pipes up. "Zhat is correct. To maintain this facility's secrecy at the least... we must be able to manufacture the vast majority of our equipment 'in house' as it were. Raw materials can be brought in with the CERN Facility deliveries and sent down to us, but in the end, this is our world and our fight, we must be able to do this alone should we need to."

    The researcher that asked for the crate thanks Roll, and cracks the seal. There's a prototype rifle inside, along with the replacement coils. "Oh, yeah, we made a 'working model' to test out some design aspects." he says, lifting it up. It's a white frame, with a large 'pack' in front of the trigger guard. That's presumably where the power source is.

Lance Benson (330) has posed:
    There's soon a waggling of Lance's finger, "I can have the machines for manufacturing the coolant shipped over here or built on-site from the right schematics," that directed to Alicia's concern, "So making more of it is more a matter of ordering the raw materials on-world and not shipping any complex biochems here from the Multiverse." He picks up another jar, looking at it thoughtfully.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "That /is/ a salient point." Weiss admits to Alicia. "We might also be able to use your venting technology to miniaturize something into the magazine itself. Use the liquid coolant sandwhiched between layers of graphene to distribute the heat, and then discharge the pressurized vapour once it builds to level that might compromise the weapon's operation. No need for a bulky holding apparatus that way! As for graphene, it's basically pure carbon. I don't think you'll be able to manufacture the pure stuff in large quantities with your evel of technology, but I could show you how to make 'good enough'."

    Weiss returns Roll's stare with a smile and a tiny wave. "Hi! Do you work here?"

Roll (3) has posed:
    "DLN-002 Roll Light, from Light Labs! Mhm, part time!" Roll's childish grin is a bit infectious... though it's not quite as wild as Rock's, that's for sure. She leans in, waggles a finger... "So not half as important as everyone else who works here. Don't mind me!"

    Of course, to any sensors, Roll's apparent humanity - and pre-teen at that - is only skin-deep. Appropriate for someone who prefixed their name with a serial number. "Housekeeping and engineering assistance are my specialties, in that order, but if anyone needs help then you'll get my all!"

    And if that means hauling huge loads that would normally take whole teams or special staff, well, that's apparently fine with her. "Sorry, I'm not the genius my father is... he'd have this figured out in a jiffy!"