Vajra Particle Cannon

## Ship Weapons

 Slot Usage
 3

The Vajra is an experimental energy weapon developed by the Sol Republic over a decade prior to the formation of the Alliance. While the weapon's theory of operation was sound, the sizeable power requirements as well as the overall lack of need placed the project on the back-burner for some time up until recently. After the Battle of Verdun every weapon and technology that had been previously stuck in development hell gained new funding and new purpose. The Vajra was one such weapon. Able to easily borrow some of the design philosophies present in the Ael'id's Breed ships and their sophisticated forms of energy manipulation and projection, the Vajra was made more efficient and simultaneously more symbiotic.

While the original prototype Vajra had relied upon an external power source and fuel in order to catalyze it's firing, the new version used a similar method to Breed Plasma Lances to draw energy for it's utilization directly from the ship's own fusion reactor. This worked well given that the Vajra utilized a form of directed fusion energy for it's application.

Upon firing, the Vajra draws energy from the reactor to align positrons in space into a single line stretching from the tip of the barrel. The barrel, itself, is a large focusing assembly built into the interior nose cone of the ship. This requires that, in order to use the Vajra, the ship's front must be faced directly towards the enemy and the assembly for the weapon must be actuated in order to slide the protective hull plates that cover the focusing barrel normally. Once the barrel is exposed, and the firing cycle has begun, the charged line of positrons is aligned with the desired target before a fusion reaction floods the space with cast-off electrons from the reactor. When these electrons interact with the positrons, the result is a sudden and explosive annihilation of both particles that then results in the discharge of energy. As more electrons are pushed down the line this energy cascade builds in strength, gathering into a torrent of energy capable of causing massive damage to anything it strikes.

While this weapon is significantly less effective against surfaces that ablate energy, or some shields, it is primarily useful against the hardened hulls of starships or ground targets, where the positron-electron clash will cause an immense surge of heat and radiation that will result in the superheating and vaporizing of most solid substances caught in it's blast. The high heat leaves significant scoring on surfaces it doesn't completely melt, and that heat is capable of still causing noticeable damage even after the initial burst of energy has faded.

Because of the nature of the weapon, which draws upon the built-up electrons within the reactor's main chamber, it can only be fired briefly and with long downtimes in between. This means that the weapon, while a useful tactical option, is not as viable in terms of a face-to-face conflict against another ship due to it's nature. Thus, if it cannot guarantee a kill on a target, it is almost universally better to use any other weapon. However, as a last resort, it is both effective and cheaply utilized in comparison.