Kali-class Transdimensional Missile

The Kali-class Transdimensional Missile, simply known as the Slipspace Bomb, is an exotic -fired explosive weapon undergoing development in the immediate aftermath of the . Named after the weapons research program that spawned it, the Kali-class was envisioned as a mass-produced version of the sabotaged Series IV CODEN Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine core deployed by during the . By opening a destabilised portal into that ignores traditional safety protocols, it is hoped that heavier or even small armadas could be completely removed from the field of battle. Such a weapon could potentially supplement or replace the UNSC's dwindling stockpiles of and allow valuable charges to be spent on other targets, allowing their battlegroups to operate for longer without resupply. More significantly, hundreds of lives and billions of in war material could be saved that would otherwise be wasted during prolonged engagements.
The Kali Program was formally activated in , with research efforts being headed by Dr. Madeline Urbano. Originally developing a stationary mine designed to be deployed by and commando teams in the field, it was still in the earliest design stage by the time of the Siege of Sol, with only a single working prototype being unveiled. With the War's conclusion sounded in , the design dossier was shifted to a self-propelled missile capable of being fired from any warship. The resulting Kali-class missile would eventually find itself in a curious position to the UNSC's contemporary and its Interstellar Nuclear Kill Vehicle sub-project, both complementing it as a potential deterrence measure and rival munition when used within fleet-killer roles.
Unfortunately, poor analysis results from simulations and field-deployments would see the Kali Program and by extension the Kali-class Transdimensional Missile being scrubbed. Its core issues of a vastly-overestimated lethality, issues with cloaking its radiation signature, and sheer cost of materials would spell doom for further development of the missile. Less then three dozen of these weapons were built over its five-year-long development cycle, and upon its deactivation all prototype models were dismantled. The remaining few production missiles are currently housed within top-secret launch facilities, in the event their unique properties may be needed.
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== History ==
=== Background ===
The concept of using the Slipspace as a tactical tool is an idea almost as old as the first faster-than-light warships.
Since it was first unveiled, many unconventional captains experimented with its peculiar properties, planning to use it as an advantage to either extend their lifespan or use it as a weapon. As such, it was a natural evolution to assume that many wanted to use the slipspace drives they carried as a last-resort weapon to take their opponent with them. Numerous obstacles stood in their way, of course - humanity, for how heavily they used the alternate dimension, still knew very little about the actual properties of slipspace by the twenty-sixth century. Theoretical concerns about damage to the fabric of space-time were widely speculated, while essays put forward regarding 'slipspace salvaging' shot down such ideas as unreliable at best when compared to traditional scuttling protocols. The act of traveling through slipspace without enough charge to push back into realspace could see a ship never arrive at their destination, trapped to wander the oblivion forever. In addition, the construction materials and techniques used made FTL drives an expensive commodity, making physical experiments in the dimension not only costly but also restricted through how they could use them. This also extended to armed factions - the UNSC did not want to damage their SFTEs as it would leave them without a safe trip back to the nearest port, while rogues such as rebels preferred to capture them intact due to the difficulty with acquiring them and their value on the black market. All these reasons contributed to tactics concerning Slipspace maneuvers or using them as weapons as being discouraged by the UNSC at large. Punishments were dealt to non-conforming captains, and a stigma for such tactics saw consideration any consideration of these tactics as unwise and a waste of those beneath their command and vital military resources.
This stigma persisted even after the Covenant War began, as the UNSC's need to recycle damaged ships without leading them to major population centers saw them strictly enforcing the . However, as the war reached its final stages, new revelations came to light. The most significant was . This risky mission used the core of the slipspace drive to destroy the , proving that not only could they be used offensively, but were one of the only weapons humanity had that ignored the Covenant's . With their ability to deal damage to deal damage now established as fact, the UNSC began turning their eyes to capitalising it as one last trump card.
=== Development ===
== Specifications ==
=== Performance ===
In complete opposition to how it was originally perceived, the Kali-class Transdimensional Missile was found to exhibit unreasonably-low killing capacity, a flaw that haunted it until production was terminated. While the jumbling of slipspace currents made travel dangerous for singleships and small corvettes, only a single spot within the blast radius was found to be fatal for any larger ships: the boundary between realspace and slipspace. If a target intersected it when the portal collapses, then the portion which resides within slipspace is effortlessly ripped off and teleported away. The scale of the damage can vary greatly, from simply cutting off a few outer decks to sending entire vital systems such as propulsion into oblivion. Unfortunately, enemy warships trapped within the bubble have proven to be safe, as modern UNSC and Covenant translight engines are capable of keeping them adequately protected from even the roughest of slipspace conditions. Once here, they can simply force their way back into the fight, sometimes within seconds of the Kali-class' blast fading away.
Perhaps the bomb's biggest failing was its reliance on time. Simulations and field-tests have shown that the bomb must be able to adaptively change its operation timer in order to maximise the amount of casualties - something that has proven to be impossible with current technology. The destabilised slipspace field, particularly around the activated core of the missile, hinders if not distorts sensors and communications. The Kali-class missile is unable to accurately detect when enemy vessels have crossed the border, while a detonation code from an observing ship is extremely unlikely to traverse through the currents intact. Only Wavespace transmitters are capable of reaching it reliably. Regardless, the shortest-possible four-second timers are sufficiently long enough for Covenant ships to easily move out of the way of the kill zone, further contributing to the low kill count of the warhead. It may remain a viable option for containing activated NOVA Bombs within slipspace, however.
The missile also suffers from one final drawback in performance that killed any chance of mass-deployment. When in flight and preparing for detonation, the Kali-class' warhead emits high levels of , which grows at increasing magnitudes as the munition closes in on its target. This signature is extremely-easy to detect on sensors, which ensures that all proper point-defence measures will be used to intercept it before it gets within range. Hiding it within conventional swarms of will only marginally increase its chances of success, as flooding the airspace with more targets does not stop it from shining like a beacon to detection systems. The UNSC has yet to develop a way of faking such emissions reliably and cheaply, as experimental decoy missiles do not have the output to match that of the Kali-class, and using decommissioned slipspace drives is costly and considered a waste of resources. As a result, before these missiles can be deployed their sensors must be temporarily blinded, which significantly reduces the independence of these weapons.
== Trivia ==
*The author was inspired to write this article following a heated debate on the Sins of the Prophets Discord. Many of the drawbacks listed on this article were sourced directly from this argument.
== Notes ==
Category:UNSC Weapons