Very Dangerous Array

Description

"It's not astronomy ...It's Proactive Target Acquisition" 2003-06-28

The Very Dangerous Array (VDA) is a high-resolution sensor net built using a number of terapedoes. Analogous in function to The Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, it uses a large number of relatively-low-resolution sensors to create a high-resolution composite. Unlike New Mexico's VLA, the VDA has the ability to generate a significant amount of "blam".

A VDA can also help get around the pesky speed-of-light limit on the distance from which traditional missiles can be detected (as expanded upon in a footnote 2005-03-13.

History

Invented by Commander Kevyn Andreyasn when the Serial Peacemaker was hiding under a beach to avoid detection by UNS ships, and was effectively blind as a result 2003-06-24.

Basic Technologies used

[Insert a brief list of the technologies necessary for this weapon. These should all have the "technology" tag.]

• Hypernet
• Teraport (not strictly necessary; non-FTL torpedoes could, in principle, be used, but would be much less effective)

Notable Examples

Presently, the only known VDA is in the possession of Tagon's Toughs. Though, from some perspectives, the PD Fleet may qualify.

Appearances

First appearance

First reference [2003-06-24]. First image 2003-06-29.

Other notable appearances

• VDA Node 42 was instrumental in the events of Resident Mad Scientist, in particular part 5 2005-04-01.

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Author's Note

[This space is reserved exclusively for Howard!]

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Speculation

As "very, very proactive target acquisition" [2003-06-27], the VDA is likely deployed whenever it wouldn't be a Bad Idea to do so (at least, by the Toughs' standards, anyway).

The Very Dangerous Array name was re-used in the Troy Rising series, except as a distributed array of mirrors used for solar-pumped laser power.

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