Metalorn’s surface
A week earlier, it was an empty, abandoned lot filled with refuse and old building material. Within that week, one the massive behemoths of the Confederation’s Verizon construction droids marched in, consumed the debris, and left its mark behind. It was an octagonal construct of ferrocrete stood just above three standard stories. And on its top, the revolver-style railgun pointed up at the sky in silent defiance of the powers amassing above.
Pegasus-class Star Destroyer Liberty, in orbit around Metalorn
“Captain,” shouted out an officer from the crew pit, “installation THX-14 is preparing to fire.”
Max nodded. “Are the targets ready?”
“Yes sir. Echo One and Two are ready. The asteroids they dragged in system are prepped as well.”
“And the engineers are offboard?”
“Yes sir. They finished their automated control system. We’re taking them in the bay now.”
The flag officer of the Contegorian Confederation fleet of Metalorn nodded. “Very well. THX-14 is cleared to fire.”
Protector-class Flak Tower THX-14
“We’ve got the target lined up. The Liberty has cleared us to fire, sir.”
Lieutenant Carkos nodded, looking across the room. They were on the second level of the installation in the control center. Holo-projectors, monitors, several different sensor readouts, and the targeting equipment of the tertiary weapon circled the wall and a small island in the center of the room. Carkos walked over to his station and inserted his rank cylinder. The building’s computer scanned the man’s features and checked them against those of the rank cylinder and its own records. A small changed from red to green. The weapon was now authorized to fire. Above the command crew, the three-barreled electromagnetic gun cocked as the links of large ammunition fed into the gun. The turret ring swiftly rotated the gun to line up with its first target: a dated, armored barge. And the weapon fired.
Its three barrels quickly rotated; sending out a three-round burst of hardened, armor-piercing shells. Surging at several thousand kilometers per second, the shells surged through the atmosphere into space and found their target. While the shells were not very large compared to a capital ship, they allowed for a high velocity; and consequently a high kinetic energy. Each round slammed into the derelict barge, easily bypassing the shields and slamming into the armor. More AP bursts from the automatic weapon quickly ensued, tearing about the craft with ease. Echo One was no more.
The weapon switched to select Echo Two; another armored barge hastily converted into automated testing platform by the Confederation Engineering Corps. But the rounds fired at this spacecraft were different. As they hit the hull, the shells exploded violently, forming brief nuclear-thermal fireballs that engulfed the hull of the barge, destroying external equipment but not penetrating the heavy armor of the testbed. More noticeable to sensors was the surge of radiation generated by the mesons. Radiation that briefly interfered with the barge’s electronics. If a live crew had been onboard, it would have been worse. There was enough radiation within each of the shells to cause radiation poisoning to the crew; if they were near the outer compartments of the hull. Bacta could cure that, albeit it was unlikely that bacta would be that readily available in a combat situation.
Lieutenant Carkos stared at the targeting screen. “Targets destroyed…”
A week earlier, it was an empty, abandoned lot filled with refuse and old building material. Within that week, one the massive behemoths of the Confederation’s Verizon construction droids marched in, consumed the debris, and left its mark behind. It was an octagonal construct of ferrocrete stood just above three standard stories. And on its top, the revolver-style railgun pointed up at the sky in silent defiance of the powers amassing above.
Pegasus-class Star Destroyer Liberty, in orbit around Metalorn
“Captain,” shouted out an officer from the crew pit, “installation THX-14 is preparing to fire.”
Max nodded. “Are the targets ready?”
“Yes sir. Echo One and Two are ready. The asteroids they dragged in system are prepped as well.”
“And the engineers are offboard?”
“Yes sir. They finished their automated control system. We’re taking them in the bay now.”
The flag officer of the Contegorian Confederation fleet of Metalorn nodded. “Very well. THX-14 is cleared to fire.”
Protector-class Flak Tower THX-14
“We’ve got the target lined up. The Liberty has cleared us to fire, sir.”
Lieutenant Carkos nodded, looking across the room. They were on the second level of the installation in the control center. Holo-projectors, monitors, several different sensor readouts, and the targeting equipment of the tertiary weapon circled the wall and a small island in the center of the room. Carkos walked over to his station and inserted his rank cylinder. The building’s computer scanned the man’s features and checked them against those of the rank cylinder and its own records. A small changed from red to green. The weapon was now authorized to fire. Above the command crew, the three-barreled electromagnetic gun cocked as the links of large ammunition fed into the gun. The turret ring swiftly rotated the gun to line up with its first target: a dated, armored barge. And the weapon fired.
Its three barrels quickly rotated; sending out a three-round burst of hardened, armor-piercing shells. Surging at several thousand kilometers per second, the shells surged through the atmosphere into space and found their target. While the shells were not very large compared to a capital ship, they allowed for a high velocity; and consequently a high kinetic energy. Each round slammed into the derelict barge, easily bypassing the shields and slamming into the armor. More AP bursts from the automatic weapon quickly ensued, tearing about the craft with ease. Echo One was no more.
The weapon switched to select Echo Two; another armored barge hastily converted into automated testing platform by the Confederation Engineering Corps. But the rounds fired at this spacecraft were different. As they hit the hull, the shells exploded violently, forming brief nuclear-thermal fireballs that engulfed the hull of the barge, destroying external equipment but not penetrating the heavy armor of the testbed. More noticeable to sensors was the surge of radiation generated by the mesons. Radiation that briefly interfered with the barge’s electronics. If a live crew had been onboard, it would have been worse. There was enough radiation within each of the shells to cause radiation poisoning to the crew; if they were near the outer compartments of the hull. Bacta could cure that, albeit it was unlikely that bacta would be that readily available in a combat situation.
Lieutenant Carkos stared at the targeting screen. “Targets destroyed…”