ID : 5209-006 TITLE : Weapons of Mass Detruction, A Brief Introduction AUTHOR: Seven Swords Special Service, Division of Official History DATE : 129/2350 CLASS.: Secret INDIA INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS CURRENT AND SENSITIVE.
This document details the known Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that exist as of 2350. Not all weapons are actually being produced, but the production means and design work exist for all these weapons. No military force has ever deployed most of these weapons in anger; the last example was the use of the Imperial Space Artillery Section against the Seven Worlds, which was confined to relativistic kinetic energy munitions (strategic scale).
There is little chance of such weapons ever again being deployed by the Starguild, as the destruction would be well beyond the bounds of reason.
This document does not describe the specific models of weapons in production, but rather the broad classes of weapons available to the various forces in known space.
This class of weapons relies on kinetic energy to cause damage. These weapons do not have warheads as such; the entire munition is the non-explosive "payload". There are three basic scales of K.E. munitions: tactical (designed to attack single vehicles), strategic (for cities), and planetary (for entire continents).
Tactical K.E. Munitions
These weapons are essentially spears of some dense material (steel, dense cermaics, and the trans-uranic elements are typical) that is accelerated to great speed before hitting the target. The impact energy is deposited into the target in various forms; typically heat and momentum transfer. The result is often quite dramatic, and tactical K.E. munitions can turn the tide of a major battle.
Typical tactical munitions (going by such names as Thor, King Spear, and HOKEM) are deployed on satellites in orbit around a planet. Each satellite has a number of "rounds", and is tied into the strategic command system of the military forces. The satellite is positioned over a major battlefield to drop these spears on enemy positions. As each round, typically encased in heat-shielding, falls from orbit, they are moving km/s when they impact the target. Since most vehicles and positions are less armored on the top, the effect can be devastating. These systems are of limited use against fast-moving targets, as the rounds are not guided on the way down (HOKEM is the exception).
Strategic K.E. Munitions
This class of munitions makes use of large rocks dropped down the gravity well of a planet. Asteroids or other moderate-sized masses (even derelict space stations have been used) are inserted into a decaying orbit, which impacts the ground at the desired spot. Heat-shielding is sometimes added to increase the impact energy. Steep descent orbits are used to minimize the drag and maximize impact velocity. Some systems use limpet rocket motors to increase impact velocity.
The devastation of such an impact is enormous. A 2000m diameter asteroid can create craters tens of km across. Any city hit by such a mass is obliterated. The impacts can throw enough dust into the atmosphere (if present) to cool entire planets for several years. For airless worlds, even a near miss can exterminate entire colonies.
There is a single report of a tested strategic munition using a very small, disposable Shield drive to achieve impact velocities of 0.01c. The resulting yield from the 1 km3 rock was estimated at 5.3x1012 tons of TNT.
As strategic munitions require large masses, they are only possible in systems with existing asteroid belts. As the majority of occupied systems possess at least small quantities of asteroids, this poses little practical restriction.
Planetary K.E. Munitions
The current title-holder in pure destructive force is the planetary K.E. munition. Consisting of a large rock (typically tens of cubic km of rock) with a full Shield drive, these weapons are expensive. However, for a typical large asteroid (160 km3) at 0.5c (the limit of a standard Shield drive), the impact energy is 42,464x1012 tons of TNT. This is more than 10 million times the destructive potential of the entire 20th century Terran nuclear arsenal.
The impact energy of a planetary munition will exterminate entire continents. The direct blast can devastate entire hemispheres. There is no report of any of these ever being deployed. It is likely that any deployment would be against fully-converted Spectral worlds, as the world is already uninhabitable.
Gravitic munitions are a class of payload that is fitted to various delivery vehicles, such as missiles or cannon shells. The warhead consists of some field generators such as are used in a Shield drive, and a large power source. When detonated, the power source destructively powers the field generators, creating intense gravity gradients.
As the power source is a large capacitor, the gradients can rival those near neutron stars. Anything near the detonation is typically ripped apart by the forces. Starships with operating Shield drives are protected to a great extent, as the field generators of the drive will negate the warhead-induced gradients. However, large gravitic warheads can disrupt the Shield drive's field, assuming the warhead is sufficiently powerful compared to the Shield drive. In this case, the immense gradients of the disrupted field can tear the ship's hull apart. It should be noted that every starship since 2219 has an automated failsafe mechanism that dissipates the drive field in event of such a large disruption; gravitic warheads are therefore of limited use against a starship.
Against targets without an operating grav drive, these warheads can be devastating. Typical shipborne warheads are capable of producing gravitational forces in excess of 1g for several hundred meters. This corresponds to several hundred g's within several tens of meters. At these levels, macroscopic structures rapidly disintegrate, although the forces are still well below the threshhold of disintegrating molecular bonds.
Relativistic Missiles
A recent "innovation" in gravitic weaponry, relativistic missiles are an outgrowth of the Divine Lightning stardrive. Essentially, these missiles are a small body equipped with a superconducting capacitor power system that runs a small Shield drive. The drive field geometry has been altered to be that of a blunt cone around the nose of the missile, effectively protecting the missile from forward attack. The missiles, complete with sensor package and a piloting/tracking AI, are launched by rocket booster to a short distance from the host vessel. The missile's Shield drive then engages, accelerating the missiles to roughly 0.5c for the strike against the target. Lacking crew, the missiles are far more maneuverable and robust than typical starships (the missile hulls can withstand far higher forces than a crew).
Upon reaching the target, the missiles impact at full speed, using their powerful Shield drives to disrupt target drive fields (if any). The missile then dumps its remaining power into the Shield drive, causing anything from a severe gravitational detonation (identical to a large gravitic munition) to a small Jumpspace. This is, needless to say, very damaging to the target.
Although expensive to produce, relativistic missiles are among the most powerful weapons available for starship combat. Currently, only the Seven Worlds/Dragoncrest forces are known to have these weapons. Operation: Pheonix makes extensive use of these weapons to obliterate invading Spectral fleets.
The Starguild has few large nuclear weapons, as their destructive potential, unstable nature, and expense are not justified in the current times of limited engagements. For the few times such enormous destruction is desired, K.E. weapons are preferred for their lower complexity and greater robustness. However, small fusion warheads are currently the standard payload for starship weapons, as they are sufficiently compact for deployment in the limited space of a ship-borne weapon, and can cripple starships without needing a direct hit.
Fission Munitions
On July 16, 1945, the first fission weapon in history was tested. Subsequent development of larger and more effecient weapons followed quickly. However, all fission weapons are of relatively low yield, and not particularly effecient compared to the laser fusion or K.E. weapons now possible.
Given the hazardous nature of the reactants, the difficulty of storing armed weapons for long times, and the relative ineffeciency of the warheads, fission weapons are not present in any known arsenal. The designs for these ancient weapons are still around, in various classified documents of the Imperial and other Houses. The Seven Worlds has never had an interest in these weapons, and does not maintain records of designs. The Dragoncrests and Spectrals have never shown evidence of fission weapons.
Fusion Munitions
The original fusion weapons were essentially a fusion reaction ignited by a fission nuclear device. The mid-21st century saw the replacement of these devices with the newer laser-ignition systems. These are theoretically simple devices: a reaction mass of hydrogen is held in a combustion chamber ringed with tuned lasers. The lasers, powered by a high-energy storage battery (currently superconducting capacitors), compress and ignite the hydrogen. The result is a fusion reaction running at 100-1000x106 Kelvin. Basically, the laser system ignites a small hydrogen-burning star. Burn times vary, but are typically on the order of a few tens to hundreds of milliseconds.
Modern fusion weapons come in various sizes, from the small warheads with a few kiloton yield for use in construction, to the multi-gigaton range deployed against fixed installations. As the reactions use pure hydrogen, they have no residual radiation, and the majority of the released energy is in the form of photons. This makes the weapons exceptionally "clean", in that there is no radiation left lingering around the detonation site.
Fusion munitions, like gravitic munitions, are really a warhead type that can be fitted to missiles, cannon shells, or even large demolition packs. Small warheads are often fitted to starship cannon and missiles, while the large warheads are practically restricted to self-guided bombardment missiles. Only the very smallest of warheads is portable enough for demolition use, and even those take over 1 m3 of space.
As with most weapons, a fusion weapon is not capable of penetrating the Shield drive field of a starship. Against the un-Shielded hull of a target, however, the blast can be quite disruptive. Although the weapons have tremendous yield, starship armor is very tough, and a megaton blast even fifty meters from a hull will strip only a few cm of armor. Early testing indicated that even normal steel can withstand multiple megaton blasts a few tens of meters from the detonation point; only 5-10 cm would be lost on a solid sphere. For this reason, it is considered necessary to detonate these weapons essentially in contact with the hull; contact blasts can vaporize up to meters of armor plate.
Against ground targets, the warheads are detonated above ground, to create a substantial ground effect. All orbital bombardment systems also have the capability of penetrating the ground before detonation, to increase subsurface damage for buried targets.
Although of far less destructive power than K.E. weapons, fusion munitions are useful for starship combat, limited ground bombardment, and other low-yield applications (such as construction). Given the abundant technology to produce high-power lasers and the energy sources to power them, fusion munitions are cheap and readily available throughout known space.
Biological weapons have undergone far less development than other WMDs, mostly due to their unpredictable results. For example, expensive weapon research efforts can be negated by the unforseen environment of the battlefield that kills a biological weapon before it reaches the enemy; the effeciency in life support technology for space colonies means bio-weapons are filtered with little effect on the targets.
Despite the difficulties in developing a viable, effective biological weapon, there are some existing examples.
VISR viral weapon
The VISR viral weapon is a relatively new viral pathogen deployed by the Spectrals against worlds targeted for invasion. There are many reports documenting all that is known about the pathogen and its effects (see Virally Induced Sociopathic Response, vol. 1-25). Only a few notes will be presented here.
The VISR pathogen is currently under study by R&D of all Guild corporations with any medical expertise; Scan is particularly committed, with entire research facilities committed entirely to VISR research (this also helps limit damage from an accident). Trident's RMBK division had an extensive program before the invasion of Rhand in 2349. This research is expected to be continued at the Seven Worlds R&D facility.
There is no known cure or innoculation against the pathogen, but it has a short lifetime outside a host.
It is considered unlikely that the VISR pathogen was developed by the Spectrals themselves - there is little evidence of genetic testing on captured/converted humans. Moreover, the Spectrals have not shown any degree of adaptability in their deployment of the pathogen, resulting in several worlds where the pathogen failed to infect the population due to environmental factors. However, given the projected Spectral abilities in genetic manipulation, the possibility cannot be ruled out.
It is known that the pathogen does not survive vacuum, hard radiation, or other extreme environments. It is known that the pathogen acts like a virus, albeit with a very strange and non-replicating genome. The pathogen consequently appears to be engineered, although it may have very different effects in non-mammalian life. There are some speculations that similarities between the VISR pathogen and SVP-634q indicate that VISR is a naturally occuring agent in the Spectral environment.
SVP-634q bio-weapon
RMBK conducted a large, multi-faceted, research program into defeating the Spectral threat on unconverted and converted worlds. SVP-634q is the product of research into biological warfare against the Spectrals. It is the 634th major redesign, and the 17th minor revision to a Spectral Viral Pathogen.
The design, originally based on samples of the VISR pathogen, disrupts functioning in 14 major reactions of the Spectral biochemistry. From what is known of the Spectral biochemistry, at least 4 of these reactions are (should be) critical to life. In testing on a limited number of captured Spectral organisms, the pathogen produces mortality exceeding 90% in the first exposure. Second exposures resulted in 100% mortality.
From the limited reconnaisance of converted Spectral worlds, SVP-634q should thrive in a Spectral environment. The viral genome includes replication functionality, and the pathogen is airborne upon death of the infected host. In the testing on Spectrals, it was found that the virus eventually causes the disintegration of Spectral exoskeletons. The pathogen then becomes airborne, potentially infecting other hosts.
Due to the very different metabolisms of Spectrals and mammals, SVP-634q is unable to survive in a human host. It also has limited survival times in a normal environment, making is less than ideal for deployment on unconverted worlds. However, deployment should pose no threat to the human occupation of the world.
RMBK managed to finish the prototype stages for a production system for 634q, which would allow widespread production by any modern biotech lab. This work, along with prototype orbital deployment systems, was saved from the destruction of RMBK in an off-site backup, but no work can be done without a full biological R&D facility.
It should be noted that SVP-634q has a particularly vicious infection cycle. The pathogen first begins replicating inside the host, causing little damage for the first 60 hours, at which point the host is most likely doomed. After 60 hours, the replication process begins to consume the exoskeleton, making the host into a walking contagion. At the 90 hour mark, the density of pathogen reaches a critical threshhold, at which time the replication slows and the pathogen begins interfering in the aforementioned biochemical reactions. Death of the host occurs within 30 hours.
It should be noted that although the Spectrals are assumed to have extensive genetic manipulation experience, there is no evidence that they are sufficiently adaptable to negate the effectiveness of SVP-634q. Without widespread deployment, however, this remains unknown.
Although the pathogen is too slow for tactical combat use, it is of immense strategic value. With a suitable orbital deployment system, SVP-634q could be the final component of a world-killing system for fully terraformed Spectral worlds.
One of the classical weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons are of limited use in modern warfare. The widespread deployment of vacuum-rated combat suits with full life-support makes it difficult to deliver chemical attacks against soldiers. The other roles for chemical warfare, such as strategic attacks against enemy civilian populations, are better served by biological, K.E., or nuclear weapons.
Although no known arsenal includes chemical weapons of mass destruction, they are so easily produced that their threat exists to the current time. It is thought that most military R&D organizations have neurotoxin designs in storage for possible production and use.