Hypervelocity gun

A hypervelocity gun, sometimes referred as an electromagnetic gun or HV gun for short, was a fixed planetary defense weapon used against space-craft such as capital ships.

Bessimir's hypervelocity gun

The New Republic Fifth Fleet used a hypervelocity gun on the Core World Bessimir, as a final training exercise for Operation Hammerblow.

The hypervelocity gun fired bursts of super-accelerated solid slugs at a rate of up to 120 slugs per minute, though rarely for more than ten seconds at a time. To protect the hypervelocity gun against bombardment, it was protected by both ray and particle shield generators, which were buried underground along with the large power plant used to drive the gun and the generators.

The gun's slugs would penetrate a ship's ray shielding and quickly batter down its particle shields intended to absorb slower and fewer impacts. Once a ship's shields were down, the slugs would batter its armor, eventually rupturing its hull and causing depressurization.

While a formidable foe, the hypervelocity gun had at least one exploitable flaw. To fire out from its protective layers, the gun's particle shields would drop in time for a burst of slugs and then rise again. If accurately timed, a clutch of missiles could hit the remaining ray shield, overwhelm it, and allow subsequent projectiles to impact on the gun itself.

Appearances

• Before the Storm (Single Source)