Scarlet Rifles

> *Make ready! Present! Fire! - Lieutenant of Her Majesties Army, Jeremiah Garfield*
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## The Scarlet Rifle

The Scarlet rifle is the standard weapon template for all of the Eternal Empire's standard infantry. It is mass produced in manufactories across the entire nation and is known for being devilishly simple yet dangerous; its old world design and unreliable nature betrays its lethality, a weapon of war that had brought the lives of millions, if not billions to an end.

Though it is primarily made for battlefields the are variants that work well (such as CQC and inner building combat) but they pale to weaponry purpose built for those environments; the Scarlet gun is a gun carried by almost every solider and thus it is expected to be used in varying environments like arctic plains as well as sprawling deserts, so the gun can be quickly reassembled in armories or by soldiers with the know-how in combat situations.

The standard weapon itself is a mid-range semi automatic las-projector that fires in short bursts of three to seven depending on the variety. A single shot is powerful enough to burn a small 3cm hole straight through an unarmored foe which is lethal if it hits vital organs but otherwise usually cauterizes the wound it makes, the weapon has a fire rate at maximum of one shot every half second. Its accuracy is unreliable as even straight shots can go off course and it overheats after 12-16 shots; the gun can be switched to a high power mode that shoots further and more accurately, though at the cost of limiting the gun to a single shot, or to a close range buck shot style though again at the cost of great power. It does not sound like a weapon standard infantry should use in the Commonwealth, but the Empire's infantry is fundamentally different, the Empire masses its standard soldiers into line infantry divisions; the masses of tightly packed infantry coordinate fire to make up for the loss of accuracy and ensure the enemy get more than a just one good volley of fire. Enough concentrated fire from over 50 guns is enough to fry even lightly armored tanks, should they get close enough as ether the lasers cut through enough internal mechanisms or the driver/pilot (if there is one) is cooked alive in the vehicle.

The Scarlet rifle is a simple to use weapon but nonetheless many xenos are confused as to how to operate one; the weapon is powered by a large battery pack that is fastened to a soldier's belt and is fired through pulling a trigger, this alone does not make it fire though, the weapon has a priming rod that must be pushed down the muzzle of the gun between every 6 shots. The rod serves two purposes: firstly to act as a secondary heat sink for the heated gun barrel; secondly the back of the gun has a small reactor that turns the energy from the battery into a powerful laser but in doing so it shakes violently and after 6 shots it automatically switches off to cool down, when the rod touches this reactor all the heat is transferred to the rod. This re-primes the gun but now the rod is super hot; soldiers wear a special glove on their left hand that absorbs the heat long enough for the rod to be removed by hand and placed back inside a side compartment of the soldiers backpack which has a cooling mechanism. The process is repeated until 12-16 shots are fired, by which time the gun and rod are both too hot and need a minute of intense venting to cool down, while this happens the battery pack is switched to allow the used one to recharge.

### Standard Weapon Firing Modes & Variants

#### Standard Weapon Firing Modes

The weapon can be used for all ranges but only most effectively at mid-range.

* Long Range - Must cool after 1 shot but 3 times as powerful and accurate.
* Mid Range - Must cool after 12-16 shots w/ rod use (Shots weather dependent and accuracy is variable)
* Short Range - Must cool after 5 scatter shots.

#### Standard Weapon Variants

As planets across the galaxy vary massively these guns must work almost anywhere, all rifles have interchangeable to be customized to the environment they will used in.

* Standard - Use in average temperature zones similar to Earth / New-Earth
* Arctic - The reactor is switched to a more powerful variant as the cool environment cools the gun
* Desert - The gun struggles in this environment. The metal around the gun has holes drilled into it and lower powered reactor is fitted, the gun can actually fire more like 18-22 shots but its lethality is far lessened. (The empire has a history of having hard times dealing with desert empires in their region and this is a proof of the problem.)
* Jungle - The long range mode is removed and a rotary barrel is installed, the gun actually becomes very much an automatic rifle as quick fire rate is often needed to quickly snap to targets and fire.

### Variant Scarlet Rifles

These rifles are fundamentally different and built for different combat scenarios. The are still a variant of the Scarlet though and so do not preform as well as purpose built weapons that are given to more experienced soldiers. Every regiment or platoon has some soldiers who carry these for tactical variance.

* Storm Variant - Small, compact and high rate of fire. Used by squads for room clearance and given to the front ranks of charging infantry
* Gatling Variant - Extreme rate of fire and high battery-capacity. Used on static defenses made by common infantry, will stop infantry but don't expect it to dent anything with more armor than heavy infantry.
* Anti-Armour - Contrary to the name it is somewhat useless against anything heavier then a tactical assault truck and you'd need maybe 5 to pose a threat... a regiment of 120 men only have 3, though their are usually more than 1 regiment.

### Scarlet Rifle Specification

Weight: 5.8 kg

Length: 145 cm

Ammo: Self recharging battery pack and enhancing reactor

Clip Size: 26 shots (Though the gun overheats before drained giving time to recharge)

Rate of Fire: Semi-Auto (60 RPM without considering ammo or need to cool)

Feed System: Cord attached between battery pack and rifle

Reactor: The Newton MK.2 combat variant

Recommended Firing Range: 500 - 2000 M

Maximum Firing Range: 3500 M

## The Scarlet Rifle MK.2

Technology has come far since 2246 and with war declared on the technologically superior Commonwealth the Imperial Army has began implementing the newest model.

> *"More powerful, more reliable and most importantly, not liable to exploding in our soldiers hands"*
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The new model was introduced in 2310 but only started mass production with the declaration of war; the gun features an inbuilt cooling system that complements the rod, a smaller but more powerful battery pack, a slightly more powerful reactor and a vent that can be pulled out from the side to cool the reactor between shots. The end result is a slightly more powerful rifle with a much higher rate of fire, more than tripling total shots (now between 38-46 before intense cooling); a well trained solider with the right conditions may not need to flush the heat from the gun at all, only stopping to switch battery packs... which soldiers now carry 5 of instead of 3.

### Scarlet Rifle MK.2 Specification

Weight: 5 kg

Length: 132 cm

Ammo: Self recharging battery pack and enhancing reactor

Clip Size: 60 shots (Though the gun often overheats before drained giving time to recharge)

Rate of Fire: Semi-Auto (180 RPM without considering ammo or need to cool)

Feed System: Cord attached between battery pack and rifle

Reactor: The Ascalon MK.1 combat variant

Recommended Firing Range: 500 - 2800 M

Maximum Firing Range: 4600 M