Tau Cannon

The "**Tau Cannon**" is a superweapon created by Theo and Otto.

## History

### Early History

The Tau Cannon began life as an ordinary World War 1 Howitzer MkV 12" RailGun, built in 1917 for the war effort. However, this particular railgun was never used, and was stored out of use at Folkestone Harbour after the war for potential repurposing by the Navy. The intention was to separate the wagon and the gun, with the gun being mounted to a naval vessel, and the wagon being sold off back to the railways.

Unfortunately for the navy, Theo and Otto happened to find out about the decomissioned weapon whilst visiting the area for a health check up at Ashford Works, and, feeling that they could find a much better use for such a rail mounted weapon, stole it and brought it back to the Dark Railway,much to the surprise of their owner, Lord Theodore Dark.

Initially, the twins stationed the railgun (as originally built and, potentially, operational) at Soma, mainly to scare and intimidate the visiting engines to the railway, who always teased the twins due to their small size. However, with world war two looming, the twins decided to store the railgun at their lair, just in case the government discovered it and recomissioned it for the war effort.

A government representative actually did arrive on the railway in the early months of the war, requesting information on the railgun apparently stored there. Mark Dark, who was in charge of the railway at the time, denied any knowledge of the gun, so the representative approached the twins at Soma, the last reported location of the gun. Finding the gun to be absent, and beleiving the twins' assertions that the gun had been taken away from them many years ago, he left, leaving the twins glad that they hid the weapon away from prying eyes, after all.

After the war, the railgun remained in storage at Theo and Otto's lair, where it remained forgotten, for many years.

### Conversion

In 1957, the twins began working on an experiment to manipulate the atomic structure of objects, which eventually became "*Excelsor 2*", a matter manipulating machine. Though it was successful, they feared it would be dangerous in the wrong hands. Thus, they decommissioned the machine. During this, the twins rediscovered the railgun at their lair, and, not wishing to waste their work on *Excelsor 2*, began repurposing the railgun to become a "superweapon of epic proportions".

Using the main modules, algorithms and programming of *Excelsor 2*, the twins succeeded in miniaturising the technology and adapting it for use with the railgun, hiding the processors and modules within the wagon, and storing the main particle accelerator inside a disguised ammunition box. The twins tried very hard to maintain the asthetic look of the original railgun, in order to disguise it's true purpose.

The two machines worked in a similar manner, both having the ability to modify the atomic structure of an object into a completely different form by rearranging the molecular structure of a subject. The principle difference being that the gun harnasses previously undiscovered "Tau particles" within it's miniaturised particle accelerator, which are more dense than the "Muon particles" used with *Excelsor 2*. It is for this reason that the weapon became known as the "**Tau Cannon**".

### As the "Tau Cannon"

It was regularly used during the construction of "*Excelsor 3*", the successor to *Excelsor 2*. Fortunately for the twins, the Tau Cannon survived the Event Horizon incident of 1963, but was damaged and required repairs to the particle accelerator before it could be used again. It was successfully hidden at Soma for many years as "a rainy day project".

When Leno arrived on the railway in 1965, the twins, striking up a friendship with him, discovered that Leno was very interested in thermodynamic sciences, and asked him if he might be able to help them repair the Tau Cannon. Leno agreed, and, together, the three engines managed to repair the particle accelerator, with Leno actually improving the design somewhat, preventing it from overheating during prolonged use and making it more stable at lower temperatures. It was this project that cemented Theo, Otto and Leno's friendship.

In 1968, the twins brought the Tau Cannon with them to Merecombe when a visiting engine arrived. When Oliver Cromwell began to get irritating, Otto revealed the Tau Cannon, using it to deconstruct the pacific, turning him into a small tank engine to teach him a lesson, before successfully returning him to his normal appearance. The use of the Tau Cannon successfully scared Oliver Cromwell into vowing never to return to the railway, satisfying the twins.

In 1969, Otto brought the Tau Cannon to Galen Junction during an investigation into a fire at the shed there. They were confronted by Repulse, who had been possessed by the ghost of Leanne, who revealed that she had caused the blaze. Otto pulled the cannon on her, demanding her to explain everything, and when Repulse began begging him to kill her, Otto prepared to fire the cannon before being interrupted by Pogo. Pogo asked Otto to use the Tau Cannon to weaken Leanne's spirit so he could contain her, and Otto complied, screaming it was revenge for the death of Owen, who died in the shed fire. In 1971, the twins tried using the Tau Cannon to threaten Five into telling them what was going on at the Junction. As they fired up the cannon at Five's refusal to talk, Leno arrived and tried to object to their methods. The twins ignored him, but were suddenly caught by Mr. Dark before they could do anything else.

By 1976, the Tau Cannon had been retired to the Galen Junction Railway Museum with the twins. That year, the twins offered to use the Cannon to restore the collapsed viaduct at Soma in order to speed up plans for the now closed quarry. Upon its reactivation, the twins used it to reconstruct the viaduct in an instant. They also offered to use it to help with the rebuilding of the line's new extension to Barbourne, but first chose to use it to help out Clyde, who had been hiding on the railway to avoid detection by British Rail. The twins brought Clyde to Soma and prepared to use the Cannon to transform the diesel into a different engine. In their haste to complete the process, however, they overcharged the Tau Cannon, and as they proceeded to fire it upon Clyde the gun backfired upon itself, completely destroying it. Though the Cannon succeeded in altering Clyde's appearance in its death throes, an overdose of Tau particles left him with the ability to change his appearance at will into any form he wished, albeit with a lot of self control required on his part. The twins were saddened by the loss of the Tau Cannon, and lamented their inability to fix Clyde without it.

## Appearances

### The Dark Railway Series

* Series 5 - Claim to Fame
* Series 6 - The Prime Time of your Life
* Series 7 - Mothership Reconnection
* Series 9 - Rock Shock (*mentioned*) and Wipeout

## Trivia

* Due to the difficulty of reskinning the asset, the Tau Cannon resembles a normal Howitzer MkV 12" Railgun.
* The name is a direct reference to the Tau Cannon weapon featuring in the video game series "Half Life".