The Kss'thi is a large, ship-to-ship weapon currently in use by the I'ee's more capable military craft. It is effectively a sniping weapon, delivering deadly blasts of particles from extreme ranges.

Kss and Thi are two I'ee 'words' which roughly translate to 'fear/anger' and 'kill', respectively. In modern days, Kss has been used prevalently as the sound used to describe anything related to hostile alien species, most notably, the Kss'kss'tut; the name used to refer to the I'ee's border with the NMX.

The Kss'thi cannon is one of the many pieces of wreckage found by the I'ee littering the space of their home systems. While a great many of these wrecks were wholly useless to the fairly unimaginative insects, who merely assumed that such wreckage must always have been there, a few of the more interesting pieces were scooped up by curious engineers from the Ithee family as the years passed by. While vastly different in composition and make to the abandoned technology left upon their homeworld, the Kss'thi's secrets were cracked within a few decades of study, testing and accidents. At least, one of its secrets was.

In effect, the cannon is a particle gun, accelerating a dense cluster of particles from its barrel at near-light speeds. While the I'ee have never been able to decipher exactly what kind of particle the gun shoots, the power source was fortunately within their means to replicate. Even so, the Kss'thi is a bulky and costly weapon for the I'ee to manufacture, generally used from afar as a heavy sniping weapon.

This weapon is an oddity in that it is one of few pieces of I'ee technology to be given an official name recognised by all of its users. This is thanks mainly to its heavy firepower and resultant effectiveness in defending the I'ee's home territory, compared to their native weaponry.

• Designer: Unknown
• Manufacturer: Ithit
• Name: Kss'thi
• Nomenclature: N/A
• Type: Particle
• Role: Long ranged ship-to-ship weapon.
• Length: >350 m (size varies depending on power and make)
• Mass: >50 tons

The appearance of the Kss'thi is one that has changed dramatically over the years. While initially staying true to the design of the original, salvaged pieces, later models have begun to replace the alien motifs with those of the I'ee. Characteristics shared by all models are a long barrel with a frill of glowing conductors splaying out from where it meets with the bulky power source. Pictured below is one of the original cannons salvaged by the I'ee, with added components to replace damaged/missing alien ones.

• Muzzle Flash: The muzzle flash of the Kss'thi is a four-pointed burst of orange light that flares for approximately half a second before dissipating. The light is bright enough to be seen by the target mere moments before being struck by the projectile.
• Retort: When fired, the channelling rods surrounding the barrel shake with a violent, high-pitched keening sound which increases in volume before culminating in a tearing screech as the projectile is fired. The weapon's firing also produces vibrations which can often be felt by the crew of the vessel firing the weapon.
  • Projectile/Beam Appearance: Despite the brightness of the muzzle-flash, the actual projectile of the weapon is hard to see, particularly against the blackness of space where it is most commonly used. It resembles a dull-orange 'bubble', stretched out flat, until it reaches its target; upon which it explodes with a brilliant, red light.
• Effective Range 5 AU
• Rate of Fire: 2 rounds per minute
• Recoil: N/A

• Energy Source: Alien energy source
• Average DR: Tier 12, Heavy Anti-Starship
• Round Capacity: ~50 rounds per fully-charged core.

• Firing Mechanism: Capacitor discharge
• Loading: Capacitor recharge
• Weapon Sight: When using the weapon at its full range, front-line spotters with optic communications systems are used to provide targeting information to firing crews.

Littlewasp created this article on 2016/03/31 04:27.