With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

When/where does this happen? Can you give me a link, pretty please? I'm very curious about your take on Worm.

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It isn't written. There's some old omake stuff about the SI in Worm, but none of it was by me.

I think there was another one about him wrecking someone's garden while in Ophidian mode, but I can't find it.

Zoat didn't write this scene yet.

He said that an orange version attacked a Cauldron HQ after finding out they tested drugs on people and then wiped their memories.

He thought they were evil and when Legend responded to his attack he thought he knew what was happening in the facility so killed him.

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Sort of. He wasn't attacking from outside of it. That was where he started. He attacked because they tried to feed him an amnestic, and that's how they lost Contessa, Doctor Mother and Doorman. An alert went out, Legend responded alone because the doors were down, and... He died.

 

[rkyeun]

goddess of familial love my ass

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Familial love isn't all its cracked up to be. If your concept of love is based on "how families treat each other" you get abortion, domestic abuse, plots to murder your parents or siblings to usurp the thone, incest, abandonment, and other wonderful things in your portfolio to embody upon your children.

 

[Alexcorvin]

It isn't written. There's some old omake stuff about the SI in Worm, but none of it was by me.

I think there was another one about him wrecking someone's garden while in Ophidian mode, but I can't find it.

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Zoat didn't write this scene yet.

He said that an orange version attacked a Cauldron HQ after finding out they tested drugs on people and then wiped their memories.

He thought they were evil and when Legend responded to his attack he thought he knew what was happening in the facility so killed him.

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Okay. Apologizes for bringing it up. Didn't mean to derail your thread if I did.

 

[Stsword]

If that's the fight I'm thinking of then it was Darkseid taking a dive to learn what tyranny was like from the other side.

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I believe that is a reference to Kirby having Darkseid deposed, running to Earth with his tail between his legs, and depowered, because DC wouldn't let him have Darkseid be the first against the wall when the revolution came like Kirby planned all along because DC wanted Darkseid action figure money.

So on Earth, powerless, Darkseid got mugged.

Considering in the stealth sequel, Captain Victory (Orion's son who grows up to be a space cop), Kirby's last words about Darkseid is that Victory's grandfather had been reduced to an impotent ghost who had nothing better to do than torment a small child, until said small child realized the ghost was all hat and no cattle, I think Kirby remained annoyed about not being allowed to kill him in Hunger Dogs like he wanted.

 

[Vaermina]

And you seem to have a very odd and incredibly inconsistent bar on what you consider to be good leadership and character quality, often times to the point that your statements make no sense whatsoever.

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Any halfway competent person with a Zoat upgraded Power Ring would be ushering in the next industrial revolution by the end of their first year.

Also they probably would have brute forced cures for every disease known to man.

Sort of. He wasn't attacking from outside of it. That was where he started. He attacked because they tried to feed him an amnestic, and that's how they lost Contessa, Doctor Mother and Doorman. An alert went out, Legend responded alone because the doors were down, and... He died.

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So much Worm fanon would be required for that, that even just your aborted summation is almost painful to read...

 

[Ardy]

So much Worm fanon would be required for that, that even just your aborted summation is almost painful to read...

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You... you know he can't hear you, right? Did you just want to write it down somewhere?

 

[Ganurath]

Sort of. He wasn't attacking from outside of it. That was where he started. He attacked because they tried to feed him an amnestic, and that's how they lost Contessa, Doctor Mother and Doorman. An alert went out, Legend responded alone because the doors were down, and... He died.

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Vaermina is absolutely right about how contrary to canon Worm that this would be. Cauldron doesn't induce amnesia through a pill, but through a cooperative Case 53 called The Slug. The memory wipes aren't inflicted until a test subject is being sent out for one of their programs, otherwise Shamrock wouldn't have retained memory of her life before Cauldron after she escaped. Neither Doorman nor Clairvoyant would've had reason to be nearby, Doctor Mother would only have been present for data gathering or diplomacy, not data erasure, and Contessa would either be aware that agitating Paul was to be avoided, or defer handling the precog blindspot to someone who doesn't depend heavily on precog. If the doors were down, then Legend wouldn't have had access even if he were allowed to know about the facility, because none of his lasers create dimensional gateways.

 

[Darko]

Any halfway competent person with a Zoat upgraded Power Ring would be ushering in the next industrial revolution by the end of their first year.

Also they probably would have brute forced cures for every disease known to man.

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Paul and many of his alternates have already started a technological revolution.

You know they got people interested in magic, brought pieces of advanced tech in the market etc.

The reason why he isn't involving himself in every piece of said revolution is because he doesn't want to let people become too dependent on him and wants others to take initiative, which so far they have.

The same goes for the cure thing.

However you'll probably ignore what I just wrote down, or try to twist it in ludicrous ways, because it contradicts what you say.

 

[PDV]

Vulcan and Hephaestus are much more reasonable than the rest of their families, the Seven Devils, or whatever gods the Klingons had, so them getting killed is unlikely.

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More reasonable, absolutely. But the Thanagarians could nearly say Worf's quote verbatim: "Our gods are [banished]. Ancient [Thanagarian] warriors [fought them off] millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth."
Followed by millennia of materialism and then the recent discovery that Seven Devils worshippers were around in the form of terrorist cults.

There would probably be a sizable faction of heartfelt converts. But there would almost certainly also be a sizable faction of Richard Hawkinses who take a Klingon Atheist approach. I'd expect at least one assassination attempt on Vulcan in the first decade, if he accepts.

 

[Vaermina]

The reason why he isn't involving himself in every piece of said revolution is because he doesn't want to let people become too dependant on him and wants others to take initiative, which so far they have.

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Which is an utterly stupid reason to not be doing those things.

Especially given he could do it so much faster.

All in all that one decision alone is hard proof that he's not actually very competent when it comes to building things up or being a leader.

 

[Darko]

Which is an utterly stupid reason to not be doing those things.

Especially given he could do it so much faster.

All in all that one decision alone is hard proof that he's not actually very competent when it comes to building things up or being a leader.

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No it really isn't.

If he did every single thing then the whole revolution may stop if he was taken out somehow.

He is basically a Lantern that belongs to a group that will go to war against a powerful galactic force. That isn't something that will be easy, or completely safe, so there is a very big chance that he could die.

I think he's also relatively content with the pace of advancement Earth is experiencing, true he may want it to go faster, but it isn't a snails pace like it previously was.

One of the ways he could potentially make things go faster is by going full Tangseid, and I don't think anyone wants to see Paul become that, including you considering your stance on him, and that was probably one of the few times a majority of us agreed with you on you comments about Paul or a version of him.

All in all his decision doesn't prove that he's incompetent at building things up or being a leader, the only things it proves is that he would make a different decision compared to you.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Vaermina is absolutely right about how contrary to canon Worm that this would be. Cauldron doesn't induce amnesia through a pill, but through a cooperative Case 53 called The Slug. The memory wipes aren't inflicted until a test subject is being sent out for one of their programs, otherwise Shamrock wouldn't have retained memory of her life before Cauldron after she escaped. Neither Doorman nor Clairvoyant would've had reason to be nearby, Doctor Mother would only have been present for data gathering or diplomacy, not data erasure, and Contessa would either be aware that agitating Paul was to be avoided, or defer handling the precog blindspot to someone who doesn't depend heavily on precog. If the doors were down, then Legend wouldn't have had access even if he were allowed to know about the facility, because none of his lasers create dimensional gateways.

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Yes, you see, this is why I haven't written it. I just don't know enough about canon Worm to comply with it, and I'd have to read it before I wrote it. And that isn't going to happen.

The Slug isn't really a problem; he just dies too. Doorman wasn't nearby, but one of the people who was called for a door to escape and the SI's ring nommed him via his shard. Contessa was aware once the SI appeared but didn't get any prior warning. Caldron really doesn't have any emergency evacuation procedures? Okay, well I guess there was already a door up and the SI didn't tell his new thrall to close it.

More reasonable, absolutely. But the Thanagarians could nearly say Worf's quote verbatim: "Our gods are [banished]. Ancient [Thanagarian] warriors [fought them off] millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth."
Followed by millennia of materialism and then the recent discovery that Seven Devils worshippers were around in the form of terrorist cults.

There would probably be a sizable faction of heartfelt converts. But there would almost certainly also be a sizable faction of Richard Hawkinses who take a Klingon Atheist approach. I'd expect at least one assassination attempt on Vulcan in the first decade, if he accepts.

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Most Thanagarians don't believe that the Seven Devils are real. Their government is... Slowly preparing them for the fact that they are. Vulcan doesn't really want people praying to him or making sacrifices to him; he wants people making awesome stuff and dedicating it to him. Thanagarians would see that as a trade, like endowing a hospital and getting a ward named after you.

 

[Queshire]

What I'm wondering is whether or not Vulcan will get metal wings if he agrees.

 

[Darko]

What I'm wondering is whether or not Vulcan will get metal wings if he agrees.

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He may try to give himself something like that if he wants to fit in more.

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th April
15:01 GMT -5

Christopher -a man who has been happily married for eight years- takes a moment to look Koriand'r over.

"Thought you were dating that Chinese girl?"

"Vietnamese, and I am. This is my colleague Lantern Koriand'r. Koriand'r, this is Christopher-."

He raises his hands slightly. "Seriously, it's Chris."

"-Chris, and he was the man who taught me to shoot conventional firearms."

Koriand'r smiles at him. "You are a warlord?"

"Ah… No, a range master. I've been.. shooting pretty much every day since I was eight."

"I have as well! Who were you shooting?"

He shrugs. "When I was in the army it was mostly Eastern European assholes, but I haven't actually had to shoot a person since I mustered out. Not with a real gun I mean; I've been paint balling with the guys a few times. You?"

"Mercenaries, pirates and raiders. Vega is much more violent than the space around Earth!"

"I… Guess we're just lucky that way. You.. wanna learn how to use Earth guns, or are you here for the Cobra?"

"You have a pet snake? I have never seen a snake!"

"I'll add a zoo to the itinerary." I look at Christopher. "May as well."

He nods, and turns away to lead us into the workshop. When I first started coming here this is where they did lessons on gun maintenance. Those still happen, but recently we've been working on another project.

"Hey, you wanna explain this thing or do you want me to do it?"

"America and my own country of origin have very different cultural practices when it comes to gun ownership. When I-."

"First thing he said when he came here: 'I'm a poor European who's never held a gun in my life and I think they belong in the hands of police officers and soldiers and I need your violent colonial help learning how they work so I don't get my ass killed'."

"And he thinks that's what my accent sounds like. But, yes, when I was just starting out, this was where I came to learn gun-handling. Because unlike Vega -and certain boroughs of New York- Britain has had no violent internal disputes since the Good Friday Agreement stopped our last internal insurgency and I never had a need to use a gun."

"If you know how to use it and don't need it, you don't have a problem." Christopher unlocks a large safe and takes out a reinforced case. "If you don't know and you need it, then you've got a problem."

"If you make an item available for sale to sensible people, you inevitably make it available for sale to less sensible people. It's easier to get a gun in this country than a car."

"Vega has a lot of guns. Do you want some?"

Christopher grins. "Space guns? Oh hell yeah!"

"If you want to get raided by the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, the ATF and the NRO all at the same time then go right ahead."

"Think I could take 'em with mother fucking space guns! Suck my Second Amendment, Alphabet Men!"

"Koriand'r, please don't give or sell weapons to anyone on Earth without consulting me first."

"Of course, Illustres."

"Bah! Still a fuckin' British pussy."

"Careful, Christopher, your knuckles are dragging."

"Oohk! Oohk! Oohk!"

I chuckle quietly as he unlocks the case.

"See, what Paul wanted to work on was… See, Jerry… One of my guys, Jerry, read something about the AK-Forty Seven…" He points to an American-made version on the wall. "Overtaking the gladius as the deadliest weapon ever. And it's not because it's a great gun…" He shakes its head. "It's not. It's got massive recoil in full-auto; you can barely hit a thing. It's the deadliest weapon ever because it's simple and reliable. You can bury that thing in mud for a week, clean it off with a brush and it'll work fine. And that means it's cheap, so everyone uses it."

"I wanted to know if we could do better."

Because as much as I love cold guns they are not easy to maintain if you don't have a power ring or the intellect of a criminal genius.

Christopher nods, and pulls out the Cobra.

"It occurred to me that the most complex part of the AK-Forty Seven was the ammunition. So we got rid of it."

Christopher pulls out the magazine and removes a single round.

"This is just a lump of iron. The gun uses magnetic fields rather than explosives, which cuts down on maintenance even more. The capacitors make the gun more expensive, but it pays that real quick."

He puts the magazine back it and turns the gun on.

"I wanted to have a solid ammunition block, but the mechanism we'd have needed to put in there to shave it off added too much to the cost."

"As it is, it's cheap, reliable, accurate and can be recharged anywhere with an electric supply. There's no explosive, so full-auto is just as accurate as single shot and burst fire. Rate of fire isn't as good as good assault rifles, but it's better than an AK. Batteries and capacitors just come off-" He takes them off and puts them back on again. "-and can be replaced with more expensive versions for higher performance..?"

I take a bleed torsion generator module out of subspace and pass it to him and he grins as he slots it in. I don't let him keep this on-site just in case, but if we're testing the other parts of the gun it makes more sense to not make us swap the battery out quite so often. Christopher loves it because he's a closet hillbilly.

"The gun has a dial for the power output of each shot."

Christopher leads the way into the range, where quite a few of the lanes are occupied. I'm still not sure whether or not there's a 'peak season' for ranges, but with all of the violence I've seen on this Earth… Alright, conventional firearms wouldn't be all that useful against a lot of it, but I can understand people being more eager to arm themselves even if their popguns wouldn't do anything to -for example- a titan made of water. And even for an anti-private gun ownership proponent like me… I can see how knowing that some people have built-in laser cannons does shift the terms of the debate.

Christopher puts on a set of headphones as Sharon -one of the instructors- spots us and tells the group she's tutoring who we are. They immediately step back, the man who had been firing disarming his weapon before they head over to watch us.

Christopher walks over to an unused range, and I spot someone… I don't recognise as a regular do a double-take at seeing me and then stare at Koriand'r. Christopher attaches a target and then sends it halfway down the range and he takes a firing stance.

"Since there's not much recoil, you don't really need to brace in the same way, which takes a bit of getting used to. You still need to be able to keep the weight of the gun on-target, but if you can do that, you can fire it one-handed accurately. This version's this long because more coils are cheaper than really good capacitors, but if-" He looks away from his target at the gathering audience. "-anyone feels like shelling out, I know a guy who can make a short version. Just don't tell the ATF I told you."

He smiles and takes aim.

"I really like this gun."

 

[Simonbob]

That's so..... American.


Not that I disagree. I want a railgun, too!

 

[Whenever Possible]

So why would propelling a bullet with magnetic fields mean no recoil? Equal and opposite force means that pushing the bullet still gets you recoil, as a function of force applied to the bullet, regardless of the mechanism, shouldn't it? Unless the bullets are a lighter or accelerating more slowly over a longer period of time.

 

[Rafin]

By this point the situation on in Thundera has stabilised to the point where he isn't needed anything like as much. Earth Bet looks like a good place to trade with.

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If trade is his main interest then alienating the local authorities by going full vigilante despite being a complete foreigner seems ill advised. Even of he genuinely is better at nation building than any local, this is not a smart way of convincing anyone of that fact.

 

[thebishop8]

Christopher -a man who has been happily married for eight years- take a moment to look Koriand't over.

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Change "take" to "takes".

Christopher attached as target and then sends it halfway

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Should that be "attaches a"?

 

[Darko]

take a moment to look Koriand't

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'takes'

'Koriand'r'

make of available

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'make it'

more coils is cheaper

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maybe 'are cheaper'

'I'm a poor European who's never held a gun in my life and I think they belong in the hands of police officers and soldiers and I need your violent colonial help learning how they work so I don't get my ass killed."

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Maybe add an extra ' at the end since he's apparently quoting Paul.

If trade is his main interest then alienating the local authorities by going full vigilante despite being a complete foreigner seems ill advised. Even of he genuinely is better at nation building than any local, this is not a smart way of convincing anyone of that fact.

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I don't think he's interested in trade.

 

[XenoSmasher]

I feel obligated to point out that most of the recoil from a firearm comes not from the explosion, but from Newton's third law.

 

[Grimnar]

Was he wearing a MAGA cowboy hat, with tumbleweed drifting by in the distance?

 

[Simonbob]

Was he wearing a MAGA cowboy hat, with tumbleweed drifting by in the distance?

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I really hope so.

 

[TheEyes]

"This is just a lump of iron. The gun uses magnetic fields rather than explosives, which cuts down on maintenance even more. The capacitors make the gun more expensive, but it pays that real quick."

He puts the magazine back it and turns the gun on.

"I wanted to have a solid ammunition block, but the mechanism we'd have needed to put in there to shave it off added too much to the cost."

"As it is, it's cheap, reliable, accurate and can be recharged anywhere with an electric supply. There's no explosive, so full-auto is just as accurate as single shot and burst fire. Rate of fire isn't as good as good assault rifles, but it's better than an AK. Batteries and capacitors just come off-" He takes them off and puts them back on again. "-and can be replaced with more expensive versions for higher performance..?"

I take a bleed torsion generator module out of subspace and pass it to him and he grins as he slots it in. I don't let him keep this on-site just in case, but if we're testing the other parts of the gun it makes more sense to not make us swap the battery out quite so often. Christopher loves it because he's a closet hillbilly.

Click to shrink...

What you're saying here is that OL invented room temperature superconductors, and super-capacitors with the same storage capacity as gunpowder, because that's what you need to make a coilgun anywhere near the same lethality as a conventional firearm. But, instead of using those two Holy Grails of Industry to put the entire automotive industry on notice he decided to put them into a hobbyist coilgun.

Who's the violence-obsessed colonial now?

Oh, and the bullet is probably still made of lead, not iron. Iron is too hard for a bullet, unless you're trying to make an armor piercing round; bullets are made of soft metal both to be easier on range back-splashes, reduce shrapnel flying around in an enclosed gun range, and, in practice, to be more lethal when hitting soft tissues.

Since there's no recoil

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Unless you're firing a second bullet out of the back of the gun, or violating physics in some other fashion, there very much is recoil. Did OL also invent an inertial dampener for his hobby weapon?

 

[128Hunter]

If you want to talk cultural appropriation, they were the leaders in the field.

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It's not much worse for them than any other culture of the time actually. You have to remember that as near as we can tell from records they likely were originally Greek, being descendants of survivors of Troy... at least if you discount the official origin story where the founders were raised by wolves and the people just sort of happened without a decent explanation because mythology?

So why would propelling a bullet with magnetic fields mean no recoil? Equal and opposite force means that pushing the bullet still gets you recoil, as a function of force applied to the bullet, regardless of the mechanism, shouldn't it? Unless the bullets are a lighter or accelerating more slowly over a longer period of time.

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Yes there is still recoil but a lot of modern firearm recoil is due to the explosion and the movement of the internal mechanism's. If you remove that then it becomes a lot easier to keep on target unless the round itself is big enough to cause a wake.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Change "take" to "takes".
Should that be "attaches a"?

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Thank you, corrected.

If trade is his main interest then alienating the local authorities by going full vigilante despite being a complete foreigner seems ill advised. Even of he genuinely is better at nation building than any local, this is not a smart way of convincing anyone of that fact.

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As he sees it, creating stability is a prerequisite to a trading relationship. If the current government don't like it, the sane people who replace them will.

'takes'
'Koriand'r'
'make it'
maybe 'are cheaper'
Maybe add an extra ' at the end since he's apparently quoting Paul.

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Thank you, corrected.

Was he wearing a MAGA cowboy hat, with tumbleweed drifting by in the distance?

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He is not currently wearing a hat with any logo on it.

Please remember the modern politics ban.

 

[Rafin]

Since there's no recoil

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How does it disable the action-reaction part of physics? Because real life railguns definitely have recoil.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

14th April
15:01 GMT -5

Christopher -a man who has been happily married for eight years- take a moment to look Koriand't over.

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Bah! That's no good estimate of her beauty. Hells, she can make a dead man look twice!

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"Thought you were dating that Chinese girl?"

"Vietnamese, and I am. This is my colleague Lantern Koriand'r. Koriand'r, this is Christopher-."

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And their relationship is strictly professional. OL's too loyal to Jade for anyone else.

He raises his hands slightly. "Seriously, it's Chris."

"-Chris, and he was the man who taught me to shoot conventional firearms."

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Now, how's that going to look to Kori?

Koriand'r smiles at him. "You are a warlord?"

"Ah… No, a range master. I've been.. shooting pretty much every day since I was eight."

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Ah, of course. She has no other reference for combat teachers. And eight years old? Sounds like he was slacking. Or did it take him that long to learn safety?

"I have as well! Who were you shooting?"

He shrugs. "When I was in the army it was mostly Eastern European assholes, but I haven't actually had to shoot a person since I mustered out. Not with a real gun I mean; I've been paint balling with the guys a few times. You?"

Click to shrink...

Presumably her ring can fill in the cultural gaps, like 'paint balling'.

"Mercenaries, pirates and raiders. Vega is much more violent than the space around Earth!"

"I… Guess we're just lucky that way. You.. wanna learn how to use Earth guns, or are you here for the Cobra?"

Click to shrink...

The 'Cobra'? I'm guessing this is why they're here.

"You have a pet snake? I have never seen a snake!"

"I'll add a zoo to the itinerary." I look at Christopher. "May as well."

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Oh, gods, Kori at a zoo? Better be prepared to chase her everywhere, she'll be like a kid in a candy store.

He nods, and turns away to lead us into the workshop. When I first started coming here this is where they did lessons on gun maintenance. Those still happen, but recently we've been working on another project.

"Hey, you wanna explain this thing or do you want me to do it?"

Click to shrink...

Someone better start explaining, either way. What is the Cobra?

"America and my own country of origin have very different cultural practices when it comes to gun ownership. When I-."

"First thing he said when he came here: 'I'm a poor European who's never held a gun in my life and I think they belong in the hands of police officers and soldiers and I need your violent colonial help learning how they work so I don't get my ass killed."

Click to shrink...

Huh, quite a good impression... Of a snooty Londoner. And I thought you were going to let OL explain, man?

"And he thinks that's what my accent sounds like. But, yes, when I was just starting out, this was where I came to learn gun-handling. Because unlike Vega -and certain boroughs of New York- Britain has had no violent internal disputes since the Good Friday Agreement stopped our last internal insurgency and I never had a need to use a gun."

"If you know how to use it and don't need it, you don't have a problem." Christopher unlocks a large safe and takes out a reinforced case. "If you don't know and you need it, then you've got a problem."

Click to shrink...

Indeed. Better to take a leaf out of Batman's book: Be prepared for anything.

"If you make an item available for sale to sensible people, you inevitably make of available for sale to less sensible people. It's easier to get a gun in this country than a car."

"Vega has a lot of guns. Do you want some?"

Click to shrink...

Oh, for Ophidian's sake, Kori, did you not learn anything from Manga Khan?

Christopher grins. "Space guns? Oh hell yeah!"

"If you want to get raided by the FBI, then NSA, the CIA, the ATF and the NRO all at the same time then go right ahead."

Click to shrink...

That's a lot of TLAs... It'd look like a bowl of alphabet soup in there!

"Think I could take 'em with mother fucking space guns! Suck my Second Amendment, Alphabet Men!"

"Koriand'r, please don't give or sell weapons to anyone on Earth without consulting me first."

Click to shrink...

"Seriously, we just got through with Comic King trying the same thing..."

"Of course, Illustres."

"Bah! Still a fuckin' British faggot."

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Wow, such an affectionate relationship...

"Careful, Christopher, you're knuckles are dragging."

"Oohk! Oohk! Oohk!"

Click to shrink...

Seriously, I'm now picturing a forty-something hillbilly-looking guy, a hundred pounds overweight with a big old beard... When he's probably only twenty pounds over, fit and either clean-shaven or neatly trimmed.

I chuckle quietly as he unlocks the case.

"See, what Paul wanted to work on was… See, Jerry… One of my guys, Jerry, read something about the AK-Forty Seven…" He points to an American-made version on the wall. "Overtaking the gladius as the deadliest weapon ever. And it's not because it's a great gun…" He shakes its head. "It's not. It's got massive recoil in full-auto; you can barely hit a thing. It's the deadliest weapon ever because it's simple and reliable. You can bury this thing in mud for a week, clean it off with a brush and it'll work fine. And that means it's cheap, so everyone uses it."

Click to shrink...

It'll work, yes, but not for as long as people might think... It's also cheap because the USSR made a fuckton of them, so when they collapsed, millions of AKs spread overseas.

"I wanted to know if we could do better."

Because as much as I love cold guns they are not easy to maintain if you don't have a power ring or the intellect of a criminal genius.

Click to shrink...

Or at least a detailed maintenance manual and a minor degree in engineering?

Christopher nods, and pulls out the Cobra.

"It occurred to me that the most complex part of the AK-Forty Seven was the ammunition. So we got rid of it."

Click to shrink...

What's complicated about a rifle round? It's a tiny firecracker in a metal can...

Christopher pulls out the magazine and removes a single round.

"This is just a lump of iron. The gun uses magnetic fields rather than explosives, which cuts down on maintenance even more. The capacitors make the gun more expensive, but it pays that real quick."

Click to shrink...

You made a mass-produceable coilgun? That fires what are basically metal pellets? Huh.

He puts the magazine back it and turns the gun on.

"I wanted to have a solid ammunition block, but the mechanism we'd have needed to put in there to shave it off added too much to the cost."

Click to shrink...

And it would also end up being called a Mass Effect copycat. Besides, Shuriken weapons are cooler in that respect. Can't beat molecule-thin ninja stars!

"As it is, it's cheap, reliable, accurate and can be recharged anywhere with an electric supply. There's no explosive, so full-auto is just as accurate as single shot and burst fire. Rate of fire isn't as good as good assault rifles, but it's better than an AK. Batteries and capacitors just come off-" He takes them off and puts them back on again. "-and can be replaced with more expensive versions for higher performance..?"

Click to shrink...

One drawback is that it's a lot more lethal - no option for low-lethality rounds. But... American.

I take a bleed torsion generator module out of subspace and pass it to him and he grins as he slots it in. I don't let him keep this on-site just in case, but if we're testing the other parts of the gun it makes more sense to not make us swap the battery out quite so often. Christopher loves it because he's a closet hillbilly.

"The gun has a dial for the power output of each shot."

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So, from 'hard punch in the gut' to 'Wall? What wall?'...

Christopher leads the way into the range, where quite a few of the lanes are occupied. I'm still not sure whether or not there's a 'peak season' for ranges, but with all of the violence I've seen on this Earth… Alright, conventional firearms wouldn't -weren't- all that useful against a lot of it, but I can understand people being more eager to arm themselves even if their popguns wouldn't do anything to -for example- a titan made of water. And even for an anti-private gun ownership proponent like me… I can see how knowing that some people have built-in laser cannons does shift the terms of the debate.

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And I suppose, if the Danner formula ever gets made workable in a post-natal form, these might help keep the balance of power away from the bullet-resistant strongmen...

Christopher puts on a set of headphones as Sharon -one of the instructors- spots us and tells the group she's tutoring who we are. They immediately step back, the man who had been firing disarming his weapon before they head over to watch us.

Christopher walks over to an unused range, and I spot someone… I don't recognise as a regular do a double-take at seeing me and then stare at Koriand'r. Christopher attached as target and then sends it halfway down the range and he takes a firing stance.

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That feels significant. But then, two orange-glowing people, one of which is a space-babe in booty-shorts, would be distracting.

"Since there's no recoil, you don't really need to brace in the same way, which takes a bit of getting used to. You still need to be able to keep the weight of the gun on-target, but if you can do that, you can fire it one-handed accurately. This version's this long because more coils is cheaper than really good capacitors, but if-" He looks away from his target at the gathering audience. "-anyone feels like shelling out, I know a guy who can make a short version. Just don't tell the ATF I told you."

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It wouldn't be completely recoilless, as others have mentioned. But I presume the recoil would be much lower (because the only thing moving is a lump of iron weighing what, 200 grams?) So, low enough that it would be manageable with one braced hand.

He smiles and takes aim.

"I really like this gun."

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And after this demonstration, so will everyone watching. Seriously, if every person in the range doesn't get a little orange, I'd be concerned.

Presumably, once it's fully worked out and the materials involved are more widely available, OL will arrange manufacturing and distribution to police and armed forces? Hopefully with a hidden mechanism to enable tracking or remote disabling of stolen units. And if it happens before the Sheeda invasion, well, iron slugs versus 'fae' might be more effective than lead...

Corrections:

...raided by the FBI, then NSA, the CIA...

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...raided by the FBI, the NSA, the CIA...

"Careful, Christopher, you're knuckles are dragging."

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"Careful, Christopher, your knuckles are dragging."

Alright, conventional firearms wouldn't -weren't- all that useful...

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Something seems off here. Missing word perhaps? Or is he interrupting himself?

 

[Handlewithcare]

What you're saying here is that OL invented room temperature superconductors, and super-capacitors with the same storage capacity as gunpowder, because that's what you need to make a coilgun anywhere near the same lethality as a conventional firearm. But, instead of using those two Holy Grails of Industry to put the entire automotive industry on notice he decided to put them into a hobbyist coilgun.

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A) the point was simplicity

B) I'm pretty sure superconductors aren't necessary

C) the gun explicitly has a battery as well as capacitators.

So why would propelling a bullet with magnetic fields mean no recoil? Equal and opposite force means that pushing the bullet still gets you recoil, as a function of force applied to the bullet, regardless of the mechanism, shouldn't it? Unless the bullets are a lighter or accelerating more slowly over a longer period of time.

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Continuous acceleration along the barrel instead of one rapid explosion? But even that would produce recoil of course.

 

[Darko]

Oh, gods, Kori at a zoo? Better be prepared to chase her everywhere, she'll be like a kid in a candy store.

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I can already see her attempting to pet the tigers and lions and them actually enjoying it.

Considering some of the animals that exist on her planet the animals in Earth zoos may be considered tame in comparison.

I'm reminded of this DC/Marvel fusion fic where Zod, who's a good guy, got himself a lion as a pet and after it tried to bite him and failed it became more like a docile cat.

Oh, for Ophidian's sake, Kori, did you not learn anything from Manga Khan?

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In fairness Paul has been giving them all sorts of things from Earth, so maybe she wants to give something back and they seem to like guns.