Disclaimer: I do not own any movies set up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars movies, cartoons, games, books, or comics. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with a commercial aim. It is not for sale or rent.
Phase 5: Changing world III
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Part 3
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Fort Drum
New York, US
Brisk, tiny raindrops poured down when we got to the firing range. Soldiers in dark-green raincoats held a perimeter around a large tent. A few Humvees were parked nearby – likely the transport of the people we were here to meet. The vehicle that guided us here from the base's entrance turned right and parked next to the others.
My security detail piled out, leaving their SMGs inside the cars. Woods went to the trunk of our SUV and eagerly pulled out a large case holding the blaster. He was just as eager as the rest of my security to try the new toy. They were like Children who had to wait to open their Christmas gifts.
I got out, ignored the rain, and walked around the tent's side. I could hear quiet voices coming from inside. A quick glimpse through the Force revealed two familiar signatures. Generals Danvers and Scudder were here, standing in a corner beside another signature.
Inside I could see the Generals I knew talking with a short man wearing an army uniform. He was built like a professional wrestler and almost looked too large for his uniform. A few civilians and a handful of specialists sat at folding tables monitoring military laptops or fiddling with recording equipment.
"Mr. Stark." General Scudder was the first to see and greet me.
"Generals." I nodded. "As promised, I'm here to deliver."
"So we hear." Danvers turned to look at me. "My new command has heard all kinds of interesting news from Stark Industries since we met."
"I aim to please and make an extraordinary amount of money."
"Mr. Stark." The third General spoke in a deep, bass voice. "I'm general Frank Miller, the commander of this base. The Pentagon has decided we'll be testing any infantry-scale weapons and armor you develop and build while in the area."
"Good morning, General Miller. Your base is certainly a convenient location from where I stand. Are you ready for the demonstration?"
"Captain Vance?" Miller turned to one of the specialists.
"We're ready, sir! We're just triple checking the equipment."
"You can do the honors, Woods." I finally let my Chief of Security off the leash.
"Finally!" Woods brought the case with the blaster while one of the troopers guarding the area carried a hydrogen canister.
Woods opened the case and stepped back, letting everyone see what was inside.
"That thing's ugly." Miller proclaimed. "At least it looks like a weapon and not like some toy for my grandchildren to play with."
Woods almost reverently picked up the weapon and opened the stock.
"Keep in mind, this is a proof of concept prototype, not something even remotely ready for field deployment," I warned.
"That's what we expect, Mr. Stark," Danvers noted.
A loud clack sounded when Woods sealed back the stock. The weapon lit up, and while it ran it's automatic diagnostic, the former Major picked up the gas canister. He waited until everything came out green and plugged it in.
"The weapon is live," Woods announced.
"By all means, proceed, Major." General Miller instructed. We went out of the tent, and two specialists with cameras followed us.
"Sadly, we currently lack the technology to create a single power pack that both provides the fuel for the particle bolt and powers up the weapon," I explained.
"Range is clear!" The Range Master announced after giving it one last hard look, just in case.
Woods looked at the set-up targets, smiled, and shouldered the weapon.
"Which first?"
"The ballistic gel dummy to the left, first. Service them left to right, Major." Miller said.
An atmosphere of eager anticipation surrounded me.
"You can open fire now!" The Range Master barked after Miller gave him a nod.
A loud crack-hiss echoed over the range. A bolt of blue light left a sizzling smoking trail in the rain, which quickly dissipated.
Woods hit the target center mass. The particle bolt burned into it before releasing its remaining energy. It boiled and then vaporized some of the gel, creating a steam explosion that tore a vast smoking hole into the target.
Despite what you could see on holo movies or Star Wars here on Earth, even "weak" blaster bolts could fuck up limbs and cause fatal wounds to unarmored targets. It wasn't just logistics that ensured everyone in the galaxy preferred blasters instead of slugthrowers.
Well, this wasn't entirely fair. I watched a New Hope a few weeks ago with Rhodey while we were chilling out one evening. That Rodian, the burned Javas, and Luke's aunt and uncle being burned to the bone? That's the kind of damage a shot from cheap mass-produced carbine could do to unprotected flesh.
The trick was that a blaster shot was more than the mere components of its parts – energy charge and gas to use as ammunition. Much of the magic happened in the combustion chamber. The gas turned into a highly energized plasma state before being shot out as a particle "slug." That was why the chamber was the weapon's most expensive and hardest-to-make component. Without the chamber changing the state of the fuel, we would need a much longer weapon's barrel even to approach similar killing power.
"Fuck me…" Woods looked at the blaster, then at the target. "Boss, I think I'm in love!"
"Service the next target!" The Range Master barked again. However, his voice sounded different – there was more than a hint of respect in it.
The Major aimed again. His second target was another dummy, this time one clad in what looked like an older model Kevlar vest.
Crack-hiss. A bright afterimage and a trail of vaporized water connected the blaster and the target. The dummy jumped up, obscured by a cloud of vapor and boiled gel.
"So much for Kevlar being fire resistant." General Scudder muttered.
"The particle bolt releases all its energy into the target at contact. Depending on the weapon's power, distance, and armor, a hit might be survivable. Even a primitive weapon such as this one will be lethal if it hits the chest or head without advanced armor to absorb the kinetic effect and distribute the energy. High-end military armor should have an ablative property if hit by an energy weapon of a magnitude that they couldn't simply distribute over the armor's surface and absorb safely. Of course, recreating such armor is much easier said than done."
"Close misses?" General Scudder asked.
"Can cause flash burns or worse. A hit into a stone or metal can boil and vaporize parts of the target. This means molten ejecta and overheated gasses washing over everything nearby. That's why armored weave clothing was popular – it could protect against grazing hits and, more importantly, near misses." I lectured.
"Target three. Fire!" The Range Master ordered.
"The prototype's safe for no more than three shots in succession. After that, it needs time to cool." I noted.
"One more shot then. There's no point risking injury." Danvers offered.
"I think the rain helps a bit in that regard." Woods pointed out. He rotated the smoking weapon, so rain could wash all over it and help cool it. "It's a bit too warm for comfort now. I don't believe that a fourth shout will be feasible."
"You're the one with the gun, Major. No one will force you to shoot again before it cools down." General Scudder looked pointedly at me.
"I want and need him in one piece, thank you very much, General."
"Shoot when you think it is safe." The Range Master said in a normal voice. He was squinting at the second target. From where we stood, the vest itself looked mostly intact, but the same couldn't be said for the torso within it.
"What's the third's armor?" Woods asked.
"Standard Level Three protection."
Woods aimed. Crack-hiss. A loud crack echoed alongside the predictable steam explosion.
"Boss, may I humbly request you get proper armor into production before putting those things on the market?" Woods tapped the blaster. He quickly pulled his fingers away from its side and waved his hand. "It's much more fun not to be the one on the receiving end."
"An inadequate armor can melt and fracture from a direct hit. A soldier might survive such an injury with prompt and good medical attention. In practice, this means said soldier being hit in front of one of the best trauma centers in the country. Such an injury almost certainly means a protracted gruesome death in the field. That won't change until someone develops better options to treat injuries in the field. That's not something I can help with. In some regards, no armor is better than bad armor when facing particle-beam weapons. If you don't have armor that can stop a direct hit, the next best option is armor that can protect you from a close miss." I shrugged. "That won't likely be a feasible option until and unless everyone on Earth transitions to use energy weapons."
"I can see where you're coming from, Mr. Stark. Some ways to die are better than others." General Scudder nodded grimly.
"Is this enough of a demonstration, Generals? If so, I have a weapons design team who would love to work on turning the prototype into an effective combat weapon." I inquired.
"Defensive emplacements with a larger version and dedicated cooling system." General Miller suggested.
"That's one of many options we'll be exploring. That said, it will be some time before we have particle weapons effective, reliable, and cheap enough to be anything but prototypes for testing."
"The weapon works." General Danvers smiled. "More importantly, this is not a mature technology but a taste of what's possible. Our existing weapons systems are largely mature and sophisticated technology. Improvements there would likely be incremental at best instead of paradigm shifts. This, on the other hand?" she waved at Woods. "This combined with what your company is currently developing?" the General smiled at me. "In my mind, you just proved yourself. I will explicitly point it out in my report." Her smile died down. "Prototype or not, this weapon is close in firepower to the alien sidearms I saw used back in eighty-nine." She jabbed a finger at my chest. "You and your weapons, Mr. Stark, just might give us a fighting chance the next time."
"That's the plan, General Danvers."
"Whatever you need, Mr. Stark, we'll ensure you get it if it's up to us," Scudder added in a deadly serious tone.
"Good. Now we can begin bringing this world into the future."