I do not own anything to do with Star Wars and Harry Potter, rights are currently held by Disney and Warner Bros respectively.
I make no apologies for the bad street-name puns in the previous chapter. After all, JK did Diagon and Nocturn, all I did was take it a few steps further.
Also, this is now the longest story I have written yet! Whooooo!
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Military
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"General."
"General."
The two four-star Generals nodded to each other as they took their position on the main dias set in the middle of the rows of benches on a rise overlooking a large training area.
"So, do you have any clue what this is about? Must be something important to have Air Force and Army here."
"And Marines." Said the Air Force General, looking at the new four-star General stepping up. "Hello Jordan, fancy seeing you today."
"Frank, Phil." The new arrival said, walking forwards to join them at the bannister. "I was told that there was a demonstration of a new vehicle or two today. I know that they've borrowed a squad of Marines for the demonstration."
"Really? I was told they were supplying their own pilots. Well, ten minutes until the demonstration is due to start."
The three generals leaned against the railing, looking out through the wall of reinforced glass set just in front of the stand, between them and the demonstration area, then the Air Force general frowned.
"Are either of you cleared for case Mike Echo Romeo Lima India November?"
The other two generals nodded slowly.
"Runes."
The Marine general leaned forwards, his eyes darting to each corner of the large panes of thick glass set in the thin metal frame, then he nodded.
"I only got the basic briefing, either of you got higher than that?"
"I'm a Squib, father was magical, I'm not." Said the Army general. "I got enough of an education to know that those are reinforcement runes, designed to boost the strength and resilience of whatever they're applied to."
"Someone obviously refuses to take chances. Suddenly, I'm interested."
The trio fell silent again, scanning the field beyond the transparent shield. Several groups of dummies were situated in sandbag-reinforced foxholes while a couple of tanks and other vehicles were off to one side.
"Remote controlled vehicles." The Army general noted.
"You're right, Frank. The drivers are over there… your guys, I see."
"Five minutes."
"Movement, ten o'clock."
As they watched, a group of soldiers trotted onto the field and quickly checked the buildings and vehicles before retreating from the field. Another moment passed, then a man in a civilian suit strode out, microphone in hand. Stopping a hundred meters from the dias, he switched on his microphone and tapped it twice, the sound echoing from the speakers.
"Testing, testing. Ladies and Gentlemen, Honoured guests, distinguished visitors… did I leave anyone out?"
Two of the generals half-smiled at the attempt to break the rising tension.
"On behalf of my employers, WolfTech Industries, I thank you for coming today. My name is Remus Lupin and before we begin, I would like to give you a bit of an overview.
"WolfTech industries believes in exploring new directions of technology. A few months ago, we had a breakthrough in the creation of something that even by itself, will revolutionise everything, a room-temperature superconductor."
A sudden burst of noise, questions, exclamations and even curses rose from the benches and Remus held his hand up for silence. After another moment, the noise slowly subsided.
"Thank you. As I'm certain you are aware, such a material will allow for faster computers, better power transmission, improved communications… and the development of previously unexpected technological marvels, such as this."
A whining noise sounded and a large number of gasps rose as a long, thin vehicle crested one of the hills. Propelled by a jet turbine with the intake at the front of the vehicle, the most amazing thing about the bike-like vehicle was that it had no wheels, instead hovering a meter above the ground.
"What you see approaching is a currently unarmed Biker Advanced Recon Commando speeder, also called a BARC speeder mark one. Four point six meters long, capable of almost four hundred kilometers an hour and highly maneuverable, a BARC Speeder is capable of traversing any terrain. Minefields are useless against it, it can go over land and water with equal ease and is equipped with a pair of underslung machine gun mounts with ammo feeds and storage. It uses the superconductive metal that I mentioned earlier in special arrays underneath, generating a repulsion-effect field that supports it as it moves and it is capable of reaching altitudes in excess to two-hundred meters. In other words, it is a scout's wet dream."
The speeder, which had been driving in circles and figures of eight accelerated away and Remus started to walk towards the edge of the barrier as the remote-controlled vehicles roared into life and began to move.
"Finding the enemy is one thing, but what do you do once you have found him? This is where you need the heavy assault capability. A way of getting soldiers in as fast as possible and supplying them with covering fire. Helicopters are useful for that, but they can be rather limited in where they can go and how fast they can get there. We at WolfTech looked at the concept of the helicopter in combat and applied our new technology to it, creating the Low Altitude Assault Transport, Infantry version, often called the Larty."
A throbbing whine sounded and then three of the strangest vehicles that the generals had ever seen rose over the hill that the BARC Speeder had vanished behind. The angular vehicles flew towards the field and then the two guns in the nose started to fire, lines of dust and shredded targets showing their accuracy.
"A Larty can fly at up to five hundred kilometers an hour and carries a significant amount of weaponry." Remus noted as he closed the small door behind him and started up the stairs to the dias. "Two heavy miniguns are mounted at the front, set in spherical mounts for independent control. Another two miniguns are on swivel-mounts for use by the crew, one on each side at the forward doors. The wings each hold two machine guns in the spheres you see, one fires above the plane of the wing, the other below. A trio of air-to-air rockets are located under each wing, while two mass-driver missile launchers are mounted on the top, using repulsorlift rings to accelerate the missiles fired from them, each have a magazine of twenty missiles. An aft-mounted minigun discourages pursuit. Minimum crew is one pilot, but for a higher level of efficiency and lethality, a co-pilot is required, as well as several gunners. A Larty can carry up to twenty-four troops and two speeder bikes."
One of the Larties dropped to hover barely a quarter of a meter above the ground in front of the barrier and the doors swung open and back, letting three squads of Marines pile out and take up defensive positions around the craft.
"Of course, sometimes something heavier is needed."
Another Larty crested the hill, but even a civilian could see that there were some major differences.
"The LAAT carrier varient, designed to transport vehicles and other hardware." Remus announced as the gunship turned to reveal that it was carrying an odd vehicle with six legs. "One pilot and three miniguns for defence, two forwards and one aft, designed to get the hardware into position and then get out again."
The LAAT/c swooped down and the two armatures that were holding the walker in place retracted, letting the LAAT/c pull away unencumbered, turning smoothly and accelerating rapidly back the way it came.
"The All-Terrain Tactical Enforcer." Remus said as the metal beast started to walk forwards. "Capable of crossing obstacles that would leave wheeled and tracked vehicles stranded and can even wade through water up to ten meters deep. Propelled by six legs which have been equipped with retractable wheels, they can walk at up to forty-five miles an hour, or roll at up to a hundred and ten. Thirteen meters long, the AT-TE has a pilot, a navigator and up to five gunners controlling six heavy miniguns, four forwards and two aft. For the largest obstacles there is a mass-driver cannon mounted on the turret at the top."
The turret turned 360 degrees, showing that the cannon was mounted in a slightly offset fashion.
"Fully enclosed, the turret is accessable from inside the AT-TE, meaning that the top gunner remains shielded from most weapons systems. With the AT-TE thirteen meters long, five wide and five high, it can carry up to thirty-two troopers inside its armoured shell, ready to deploy."
On cue, two doors opened on either side, flanking the central leg, and more Marines flooded out. At the same time, the turret rapidly swung round and fired, the noise suprisingly quiet. The explosion of the building it had fired at more than made up for the lack of volume, however.
"The AT-TE carries sixty rounds for its main cannon with three different magazines for high explosive, piercing or rocket-enhanced."
The gun fired again, but this time the round seemed to ignite mid-air and screamed towards its target.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Remus said, "I present to you the future of warfare. And for outside combat, we have the police, firefighter and ambulance varients."
Three more Larties appeared, these ones noticably different. Lacking the wing weapon-spheres or dorsal mass-drivers and with flashing blue and red lights along the edges of their wings, they swooped in and came to a hover.
"All the weapons have been removed. The police version boasts twin independent searchlight/camera arrays and contains a small cell in the aft, capable of holding half a dozen prisoners. The ambulance version has a remodelled aft section which contains a small infirmary and enough stretchers for eight people while the firefighter boasts two forwards water cannons and a water tank two meters by two meters by four meters, giving it enough water to tackle most blazes. These civilian models have a top speed of four hundred kilometers an hour, making them very advantageous for those who wish to invest in them."
The three generals noted that most of the crowd was muttering to each other in excitement and astonishment.
"If anyone is interested, we will be happy to loan them the craft for three months for testing and evaluation purposes, no charge."
The roar of the crowd increased.
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"The new factory is a go." Remus smirked as he and Sirius watched the last of the thirty completed LAAT/i's lift from the landing apron on the first stage of their journey. "The name WolfTech will soon become the best-known vehicle manufacturer on the planet."
"And how is the recruitment going?" Ahsoka asked from behind them.
"We've managed to pull almost all of the non-hostile werewolves out of the UK and are in negotiations with several American Packs who are interested in joining."
"I've approached the Salem Witches Academy, they opened it to Wizards a couple of decades ago but still haven't got round to changing the name." Sirius added. "They've agreed to take Harry and the others as students, but they want to meet you tomorrow."
Ahsoka raised a brow at Sirius and he shrugged self-consciously.
"One of the Shamans wants to check that you're not actually a demon. Apparently they've had to put down several attempts by demon-sumoners to seize power, so they're slighty worried."
Ahsoka sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. But you two are coming with me."
"We wouldn't have it any other way." Remus grinned.
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-o+o-
New York Times
The Future Is Here!
In an incredible announcement that promises to totally rearrange everyday life, WolfTech Industries unveiled the room-temperature superconductor, a metallic alloy that allows for the transmission of electricity without any loss whatsoever. Already, power companies have placed orders for the replacement of over a million miles of cabling in order to significantly reduce the loss of power during transmission.
If this wasn't enough, WolfTech industries has unveiled fusion reactors that utilise the superconductors to create magnetic fields that can contain the power-generation process that converts hydrogen (which can be easily liberated from water via electrolysis) into helium, liberating huge amounts of power. The first Fusion power station opened last week in California and with at least two planned for each city, the price of electricity (and America's reliance on imported fuel) is set to plummet.
Finally, WolfTech unveiled something that has until now only existed in science fiction, repulsion field generators. These newly-dubbed Repulsorlifts can lift heavy vehicles into the air, suspending them a meter or more above the ground. By angling the field, the vehicles can move or jet engines can be added for higher velocities. Several models of Repulsorlift Speeders are already on the market and will be reviewed in our weekend edition.
With the American military eagerly purchasing special vehicles that can replace all their transport helicopters and Armoured Personnel Carriers, as well as new cannons which do not use explosives and therefore have only a fraction of the recoil of traditional guns, all eyes are now on the up-and-coming company. What technological miracles will they unveil next?
-o+o-
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Authorial afternote :- yes, the craft here don't match up with the Star Wars originals, but that's because they're using Earth-tech to make them, hence they are slower and generally slightly less capable. I did upgrade the AT-TE's a bit though, the lack of wheels in the feet of the originals never really made sense to me, it limited them from a strategic viewpoint, and a tactical one too, come to think about it…