Flint took position in the firing range and turned to face the advisor so that he could demonstrate the weapon to him. He knew he wasn't supposed to look at the man directly or something like that, but he wasn't quite sure how to achieve that when in a battlesuit using camEyes. Eh, he probably wouldn't even notice.
"I am a soldier, a bodyguard and an initial tester for recovered equipment and I will be demonstrating this."
He lifted his arm and twisted it around to show the Rainbow Cannon in its No Colour mode, showing the dial and the places where it had merged with the Battlesuit's arm as he talked about them.
"This piece of archeotech is a Variable Colour-based Directed Energy Weapon, referred to as "Rainbow Cannon" for short. Once picked up by a suitable machine, the weapon will merge with it, connecting and interfacing with the machine's power-source and Heads Up Display systems."
"When the trigger is pressed, the weapon draws from the machine's power source, amplifies that energy greatly and then discharges it from its barrel. The amount of power drawn and the effect of the energy discharge is primarily related to the Colour selected."
"Selecting colours is done via this dial. As you can see, the dial is currently set to no particular colour. This is used as a safe mode (since the weapon cannot fire in this state) and is the weapon's default state. Selecting one of the 7 colours by moving the dial causes the weapon to change shape and start glowing with the selected colour. At the same time, a symbol is displayed in the User's head up display that informs them about the function of the weapon."
Flint switched the weapon to Green Mode. The weapon itself starts to glow with an inner green light and reconfigures itself into a shorter, fatter, configuration.
"This is the Green Shotgun mode. It fires a burst of dissolving energy in a wide arc. It is very effective against large masses of lightly armoured enemies at medium range, but fares worse against heavy armour, unless a shot is fired from very close range. As is to be expected, it is not very effective at long range."
Flint took a step to the side to make sure that both him firing and the firing range were visible to the rest.
"Some of the modes create an intense glow and produce large amounts of heat when used. I suggest that anyone lacking suitable protection keeps their distance and shields their eyes."
Once he was sure that he would not accidentally blind or otherwise hurt anyone, he loudly counted down from three and pulled the trigger. Out of the barrel came a shotgun blast of green light that left behind billiard ball sized globs of green stuff that burn and dissolve whatever they're touching before vanishing a few seconds later. Flint turned to face the Advisor again, this time putting the dial to Violet.
"This is the Violet Overcharge mode. By quickly pulling and then releasing the trigger repeatedly, one can fire multiple small orbs of destructive energy that explode on impact with the target. Holding down the trigger for longer will cause the weapon to start charging, drawing more and more power from the Battlesuit's capacitors. The more power drawn, the larger the resulting orb will be and the larger the explosion it will cause. Needless to say, with sufficient power this mode can be quite destructive."
He turned to face the target again and took aim. Once ready, he counted down from three and quickly pulled the trigger two times. Two baseball sized balls of swirling purple energy fly out of the barrel as a result, destroying whatever they hit in a burst of violet light. He then presses the trigger a few moments longer before releasing it. This results in an even larger ball coming out of the barrel that destroys whatever it hits with an even larger and even more destructive flash of violet light.
Now it was the turn of Yellow mode. This causes the gun to become even squatter then the green, almost like holding a large box with a grip coming out the back. the front of the box as a concave form, like a satellite dish set into the rest of the body.
"This is Yellow Mine mode. It creates stationary energy mines that attach themselves to appropriate surfaces and remain there until triggered. Once triggered, the mine will explode, causing damage to everything around it. It is perfect as an area denial weapon or as an improvised alarm (since one cannot disable the mines without causing them to detonate), however the fact that it is not very concealed make it suboptimal for ambushing infantry. As with most area denial weapons, great care must be taken when using this mode in an area where there might be civilians that could accidentally trigger it."
He fired a single mine downrange and left it standing there to be detonated by anyone using the firing range after him.
After that, he switched it to Red mode. This causes most of the mass of the gun to shift back and down, forming a large semi circular mass near the grip while the barrel elongates and ends in an almost spike like protrusion.
"This is Red Plasma mode. Pulling the trigger will cause a lance of superheated plasma to erupt from the barrel of the gun, severely damaging anything in front of it and rapidly draining the suit's power supply. As is to be expected, this is highly effective against both armoured targets with focused fire as well as unarmoured target with sweeps. I will allow it to drain the battlesuit's entire capacitor to demonstrate its destructive capabilities, even though this battlesuit has been fitted with a system that can prevent that by cutting power to the weapon when power reserves drop below a certain level. Be extra certain to keep your distance and shield your eyes as I demonstrate this."
Once everyone was ready, Flint took aim, counted down from three and pulled the trigger. For a few seconds superheated plasma one would associate with the sun billowed out of the weapon, reducing everything in front of it into molten nothing. And then it disappeared. The battlesuit froze as it waited for its capacitors to recharge.
Once the battlesuit had restarted, Flint switched the weapon to Indigo mode. This causes the gun to become very short again, and for the front to branch off into a dozen small, individually moving "heads" like some sort of mechanical hydra.
"This is Indigo Hydra mode. It can track targets in front of it with various methods, thus making discovering targets and aiming at them easier. However, I will not be demonstrating its use here, since it is unable to differentiate friend from foe and I would not like to accidentally harm anyone. I am certain that our researchers will be able to give it that capability soon."
After that came the Blue configuration. This configuration causes the body of the gun to split in two, with a large underslung section and a smaller, spiky rod-like protrusion above it, both running parallel to each other. The underslung portion has almost no light coming from it while the spiky bit is so bright it's hard to look at.
"This is Blue Lightning mode. A single pull of the trigger fires a bolt of electricity at the target. It should be noted that this happens even in vacuum. However repeated pulls of the trigger cause the weapon to draw exponentially more power and convert its function to be even more destructive. With a mere three pulls of the trigger, it has the capacity to create an unnatural thunderstorm, capable of setting fire to an entire city. The storm grows the longer the weapon is allowed to supply it with power, so with sufficient time and power, it could theoretically cover the surface of an entire planet. I will not demonstrate this function, for I do not wish to cause any accidental harm to this city."
And then came the turn for Orange mode.
"And finally, this is Nuclear Orange mode. I believe both its function and the reason I will not be demonstrating it need no explanation."
He switched the weapon to No Colour mode and turned to face the advisor again.
"It should be noted that this weapon doesn't require any additional ammunition and can fire indefinitely as long as it has sufficient power. Furthermore, the destructive potential of certain modes increases when there is more power available."
"Since the only apparent limit to this weapon's destructive capabilities is its power source, with it we will be able to create a very potent weapon for all scales of warfare, from infantry combat, to vehicle combat, to space combat, with each tier being even more destructive than the last. Since it has such interesting capabilities with the capacitor of a single battlesuit, what it could do with more should be quite impressive."
"To that end, now that it has been tested and its capabilities and hazards have been determined, this weapon is scheduled to be transported to one of our research installations as soon as possible."
"This is the end of the demonstration."
Flint waited a few more seconds to see if the adviser had anything to ask. If he did not, he stepped away from the firing range and rejoined the others.
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Topic: Mission 17: Diplomacy (Read 77848 times)