Murderer Tank Destroyer

## Tactical information

* **BANG:** The Murderer is built for a single job, to destroy hardened targets. And this is a job at which it excels, perhaps not quite to the level of the famed Perun, but it is something to fear.

* **Is that all you got?:** Defying the trend of Tank destroyers to be unable to take punishment as well as dish it out, the Murderer armors itself to hell and back, allowing itself to destroy other vehicles with little fear of retaliation. The Murderer can even further increase it's deadliness by partially burrowing itself to provide a more stable platform and a lower profile, letting it shoot faster, farther, and be safer.

* **Watch my flanks:** In addition to being inefficient at best against light vehicles and infantry due to it's low rate of fire, the Murderer is defenseless against enemies that approach it outside of it's arc of fire, and it's rear armor is not quite as impenetrable as it's front. When it is burrowed, it needs some time to unbury itself and respond to threats. Furthermore, it's speed leaves much to be desired. As a final issue, the Murderer most certainly isn't easy on the bank.

* **Go away:** The most skilled and accomplished of Murderers attach swiftly firing hard-light projectors onto them to help give them some protection against infantry and aircraft, though they can do little but annoy something faster than a helicopter.

## Unit History

**Ambush at Liaoning**

The following are intercepts from a Chinese patrol attempting to break the PLA presence in the region.

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "We are now what we once knew as Shenyang, and the PLA defiles it further after they've blew it apart! Maintain dispersion, and wipe out their fort to the last atom!"

(\*hoop wheels scratching the ground\*)

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Be advised: enemy artillery detected near the enemy fort. Proceed with utmost caution."

**Officer Pan Qiu-Xin**: "Have the advance elements spotted anything yet?"

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "Sir, we're receiving static! They aren't responding!"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "No feeds from them as well, sir."

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: \*sigh, with slight signs of rage\* "Keep advancing, we have better front lines."

(\*ten minutes later\*)

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "To all Royal Guard units, regroup with the main force this very instant. This is an or-"

(\*feed is distracted; loud sound of a shell striking a Nian tank drowns out the transmission\*)

(\*Nian proceeds to erupt, emitting a blue, spherical glow\*)

(\*Particles are detected in the glow, notably electrons outracing photons)

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "Nian #1 is vaporized! We need to go back; commmunist ambush!"

(\*same sound from earlier comes back\*)

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "So is Nian #8! Get away from this area at once!"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Commander, I think this does not bear the marks of the PLA-"

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "Enough with observing! Sgt. Fang, send out the mistresses! Officer Pan, neutralize their AA vehicles at once!"

(\*multiple rockets firing simultaneously\*)

(\*registed hits at unidentified tanks from some rockets\*)

(\*unidentified ray zaps followed by audible women screams\*)

**Sgt. Fang Xin-Yue**: "Mistresses alone won't destroy them, Commander! We need heavier ordnances!"

(\*large footfalls thunder through the field, sign of advancing Mantis war walkers\*)

**Mantis Officer Liao Qi-Wei**: "...you called?"

**Sgt. Fang Xin-Yue**: "Mantises, set them ablaze **now!**"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Do not retreat whenever possible."

**Mantis Officer Liao Qi-Wei**: "...plowers, you heard the woman. Bring your rays to bear. **ULLA**."

(\*buzzing of heat rays plowing through the unidentified forces\*)

**Mantis Officer Liao Qi-Wei**: "...keep at it."

(\*deafening cracks from artilllery barrage, severe impact on the three walkers\*)

(\*massive bang as Mantis crashes to the ground\*)

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "Damn it... Officer Liao's Mantis is downed! Sergeants Zhang and Geng, get back for repairs, now!"

**Gunner Wang Ruo-Xian**: "Officers, I've spotted multiple aircraft just above the Mukden ruins! Where are the goddmaned birds?!"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Dalian, engaing in dogfights. Communications note a particular resemblance to the unidentified forces here-"

(\*unidentified tanks spring from the ground, firing what appears to be hard-light at the walkers\*)

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "Commander! Enemy tanks have surfaced! Evacuate Officer Liao's walkers, do *not* let them fall into their hands!"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Provably not Red Chinese, then."

**Sgt. Fang Xin-Yue**: "Fire away, men! Not a single backward step!"

(\*sound from earlier as Mantis is disassociated, another Mantis hitting the ground, the last sustaining multiple hard-light strikes at its legs)

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "Whatever... Sgt. Zhou, is it playtime yet for the brutes?"

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "From the looks of it..."

**Mantis Officer Zhang Yi**: "Firing neutron missiles, now."

(\*Juwuba grunts, along with massive punches\*)

(\*two explosions rattle the field, both unidentified tanks destroyed\*)

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "...we might need more."

(\*unidentified airships descend\*)

**Mantis Officer Zhang Yi**: "...I see them... they're dropping more..."

(\*more tanks emerge from the airships, remaining Mantises get disassociated\*)

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "Deploy turrets, at once!"

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Our message will never reach the Assembly in time."

**Officer Pan Qiu-Xin**: "My snake can easily devour them! They'll just chew through our turrets, at this rate!"

(\*gamma ray blast delivered by Serpent Tank\*)

(\*no sound registers\*)

**Officer Jiang Kai**: "Negligible effect-"

(\*hard light propels through Officer Pan's Serpent Tank, middling explosion\*)

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "Officers Jiang and Pan are KIA! To anyone still alive, escape!"

(\*cacophony of Nians being disassociated, one by one\*)

**Sgt. Lei Jie**: "This old hound still bites-"

(\*Sgt. Lei's tank gets disassociated\*)

(\*Undefined Fantastic Objects come down, transparent beams levitate survivors\*)

**Sgt. Zhou Ren**: "N-never I have felt light like this... abductees, **never** give them any information!"

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: \*shaken tone\* "Did... did anyone survive their onslaught?"

**Driver Yuan Jian-Bin**: "I did, Commander... but they went after our tanks, they'll probably ignore my transport!"

**Comm. He Zhi-Hao**: "Lead me there and get us out of this inferno!"

**Driver Yuan Jian-Bin**: "Yes, sir."

(\*Log ends\*)

## The Murderer

Whereas humanity's tank destroyer doctrine has lead to rather lightly armored vehicles that rely on ambush, sheer range, or speed to survive other tanks and get their kills, the Imilki's tank destroyer doctrine instead called for using the fact that weight could be saved by removing turret systems by adding more armor to supplement the bigger gun. While this has lead to slow, and frequently less than mechanically reliable platforms, it has lead to very powerful systems. The Murderer exemplifies this doctrine.

While not quite packing the assurance that it will never be hit by return fire if properly used like the Perun, the invisibility of the Bulldog, the speed of the Havoc, the turrets of the Jishin, the strafing power of the Thresher, the affordability of the Rama, or the rate of fire of the Peacock, the Murderer combines hitting power with armor. The armor comes from thick, angled layers of nano-engineered composites designed to ensure any impactor would have to strike a great deal of armor, supplemented by low-grade EM shielding to reduce the hitting power of both projectiles and energy weapons somewhat. The hitting power comes from one of the most feared technologies of the Ecumene, Electron-disassociation.

Essentially working by tweaking electromagnetism in a certain area, the Disassociator turns the electrons of an impacted area into positrons, a form of anti-matter. The important part of this however, is that now the positrons are the same charge as the protons they orbit, causing them to repel violently from their own atoms. The nuclei, being pushed away by the repulsion force of their former electrons breaking free, start up a game of atomic pin-ball, bouncing away from each other and essentially tearing apart the entirety of the affected structure. Needless to say, this is an obscenely lethal principle when weaponized, and the Murderer fires a kinetically accelerated shell with a disassociation warhead inside.

While much more primitive than the model used by the military, the observational forces on Earth are not wanting for tank killing firepower thanks to the murderer. While attempts at using them against Peruns to study them ended with the Peruns striking them first at range and keeping them locked down by tesla canisters before being destroyed without destroying a single soviet vehicle, other powers are perhaps not so fortunate should they be unable to exploit the Murderer's blindspots. Those targeted by the murderer are left as highly reactive pieces of scrap somewhat lighter than before for want of electrons, barely recognizable following such savage devastation.