The current scanning and detection technology installed on the HMGS Falcon 1 was the result of centuries of research and experiments. Especially after the discovery of the Roktarian and the war against them, the detection technology of the Galactic Imperium had advanced to the point of them being able to penetrate the Roktarian’s cloaking device. The ships of the Recon Squadron were fitted with those advanced technologies. It was a surprise to Lucas that something or someone was able to be hidden from his ship’s detection.
Whatever it was, it had the technology surpassing the Galactic Imperium. The Royal Capital of the Lilium Empire was located on one of the islands in the archipelago. The map also marked the location of the mothballed space-faring ships. It was located near the island where the Lilies Guard Base was located.
Lucas knew whoever was in the Royal Capital of the Lilium Empire was alive. The reconnaissance drones destroyed on this planet must have been their doing, Lucas thought. Lucas wanted to make sure he and his people would be ready if the residence of the Royal Capital of the Lilium Empire sailed forth and confronted him. Lucas hated facing an unknown enemy, and if he ever confronted one, he would do his best to understand them first and then confront them on his own terms.
Lucas was so deep in thought and reading the entries that he forgot the day had turned to night and the knights who went with him had fallen asleep. The room Facility Commander's room had its own bedroom in the room next door, so when Lucas realised that most of his men had fallen asleep in their quarters, he immediately went to sleep.
The next day, Lucas and the knights spent their time searching the remainder of the facility. After searching all the armouries inside the facility they found 1.000 rifles, 100 Anti-tank Rifles, 100 Handheld Anti-tank Missile Launchers, 150 Machine guns, 30 200mm Towed Howitzer, 1900 Lilium Empire’s Uniforms and thousands of ammunition of many kinds. They also found 10 Infantry Fighting Vehicles and 15 Trucks, alongside 25 Main Battle Tanks in the garage.
Upon closer look, the Main Battle Tank carried a 150mm gun in a turret, with a heavy machine gun as the secondary armament. The model of the Main Battle Tank was Candidum Mk. 11.
“So, we have a healthy amount of rounds for the tanks,” said Max while climbing down from the tank.
“Great, we can use the tanks effectively then. It's just a matter of training these people to use the tanks.”
“Well… I want Sarah to help me train these guys, can you assign her here?”
“Don’t worry, after she is done with the matter in the Royal Capital. I will send her here.”
“Neat, It’ll get the job done easier.”
Lucas observed the Infantry Fighting Vehicles that were parked at the same garage as the Main Battle Tanks.
“I looked through the records and this IFV model is called Ajax,” said Max as he flipped around the documents he carried.
“Ajax? The Lorien Duchy never had pieces of equipment named after Greek Gods. What are their specifications?"
“The IFV can carry 12 people excluding the driver and gunner of the vehicle. The gun is 30mm in a turret.”
“How fast can this thing go?”
“Depending on the condition, off-road it can go 70 km/h at maximum.”
“And the tanks?”
“60 km/h off-road.”
Lucas looked at the Towed Howitzer stored in the garage. He observed the howitzer was of the light variant because the army of the Galactic Imperium usually would have 430mm howitzer deployed in the campaign to support the infantry.
“This is a light howitzer with a 200m gun,” said Max.
“Good enough for infantry support.”
“Yep, it can shoot up to 50 km.”
"Not bad for an old technology," Lucas was impressed.
When he was observing the howitzers, a knight came to them.
“My Lord, all of the men are ready at the shooting range.”
“Good, let’s go there,” said Max.
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Max had ordered the knights to assemble at the shooting range at noon. He planned to teach them to shoot the rifles and guns they found. When they arrived there, the knights were waiting.
“Alright, listen up! Today, you will be learning a new weapon.” Max picked up a rifle. “This is the weapon you will be learning.”
A knight raised their hand and asked, “Is that the same thing you have been using?”
“Yes, pretty much. This is a rifle, a LR-57. It shoots bullets and kills people in an instant, and is able to penetrate a magician's magic defence.”
“Wow…” The Knights were in awe of such a powerful weapon.
“I’ll demonstrate to you how to do it… First, outside combat, always put the safety on.” Max showed the location of the safety lock on the rifle. “You can choose between two firing modes, one is automatic and the other is semi-automatic. Automatic means once you press the trigger, the gun will keep shooting until you release the trigger. Semi-automatic means, you press once and the gun shoots once. Look at me shooting it.”
Max positioned himself to shoot the rifle.
“This is how you hold your gun when standing to shoot. The guns will recoil, so make sure to put a force to hold your gun in position. I’ll do automatic first and semi-automatic,” continued Max.
Max shot the gun at a target 100 metres away with automatic fire mode; he was able to hold the gun in position throughout the firing. “Then, after you shoot and spend all the ammunition inside the magazine, this box here. You reload the gun, just like this.” Max took off the empty magazine on the rifle and replaced it with a loaded magazine. “Then, you cock it to load the first bullet then you can shoot again.”
Max aimed at the same target and shot the gun with semi-automatic fire mode. It was much easier to control the gun in semi-auto mode. The knights were amazed by the demonstration that Max gave.
“All of you have seen how to shoot a rifle. Now, I want each of you to learn by practising how to shoot with it. Each of you take a rifle, please.”
All the knights picked up a rifle laid out in the shooting range and Max coached the knights on how to shoot the rifle. It was a sight to Lucas to see the knights learning to shoot the rifles. For him, it was like watching a baby taking his first step. The knights, all of them, were amazed, confused, afraid and curious about the new weapons they had never seen before.
The LR-57 was an older model of the LR-90, the current rifle used by the Galactic Imperium military. The LR-57 had no built-in night vision and thermal vision, it was a little bit bigger compared to the LR-90.
LR-90 was much more powerful compared to the LR-57 because the latter model was made to be used against the Roktarian.
Since the attack from the Roktarian, the military research and production of the Galactic Imperium shifted to focus on fighting and defeating the Roktarian. The need for powerful weapons to fight the sturdy body of the Roktarian arose and the researcher from the Lorien Institute was able to modify the LR model to have more velocity and stronger ballistic. The first model of such kind, LR-79, got its first field test at the Battle of Dranterra. A group of specialised forces from the Duchy of Lorien was able to hold their own against the surging wave of Roktarian while they were protecting the evacuation zone of the planet. Even though, in the end, they all perished before they were able to be evacuated, the Galactic Imperium High Command took notice of the powerful rifle, and not long after, a decree was made to uniform the service rifles used by all the Empire’s militaries.
The Duchy of Lorien was awarded the right for production of the service rifles used by all the militaries, making them the sole provider of small arms for the Empire. The Duchy of Lorien would modify and improve the rifle they made, until the model LR-90 was created and became the model used widely for 70 years until now.
In the beginning, many protested the Empire on giving the Right Production of the service rifle to the Duchy of Lorien as it could be used by them to monopolise and hold their rival hostage by refusing the direct sale to them. The Empire then made a law that the sale of the rifle could only be done either by direct sale from Lorien or through the Empire’s own store, where the Empire set the price for Lorien to sell the rifle at a fixed price.
For Lucas, the older model was more than enough to be used against anything on this planet. Compared to the world’s military technology and magic, a power he still could not understand how it worked–scientifically. The rifle was more than enough to kill anything that he came across.
A platoon of riflemen could easily wipe out a regiment of knights, Lucas thought.
“Swords and magic clashing against the pinnacle of science, who would win?” said Lucas to Max as they observed the knights learning how to use the rifles.
“Science, of course. Honestly, I’m still baffled by this magic power. There must be an explanation for this kind of power, I’ve read every book about magic I could get a hand on. But, none of them explain much about the magic,” said Max.
“It must be something to do with this planet since the magic could not be used outside the planet’s atmosphere.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I had Lyra tested it on the ship, on the planet’s orbit, but she said the magic did not materialise.”
“Interesting.”
When both of them were talking, Max noticed that someone tried to look at the rifle’s barrel while the safety was off. He instantly shouted at them and scolded them for playing around. Lucas saw the men were getting an earful from Max because of that.
The next morning, Lucas left the facility and went back to Petersburg alone. He decided to leave all the knights in the facility and have them trained under Max’s guidance as well to manage the facility. Before he returned to Petersburg, he went to some villages to have a refreshing time. Since he had been under a lot of pressure and worked in Petersburg, this was his chance to take a little break before returning to his hard work day. After a week of refreshing, he rode back on his horse to Petersburg. The scenery was beautiful, the green grass and the forest were a sight to behold for Lucas.
However, his peace and quiet time was suddenly interrupted when someone came running at him and said, “Help! Please help!”
Give me a break, Lucas thought.