John Locke
V U L K A N
- Intent: To Submit a Special Heavy Starship Weapon for the Locke and Key Mechanics
- Image Source:
- Top Image: Image source: SF Worldbuilding
- Banners and Photoshop work: By me
- Canon Link: N/a
- Permissions: N/a
- Primary Source:
- Manufacturer: Locke and Key Mechanics
- Affiliation: Locke and Key Mechanics
- Market Status: Closed
- Model: Helios Cannon Mk II
- Modularity: No
- Production: Limited
- Materials:
- Durasteel
- Neutronium
- Electronics
- Classification: Advanced Spinally Mounted Proton Beam Cannon
- Size: Extremely Large
- Weight: Extremely Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Protons
- Ammunition Capacity: High (5)
- Effective Range: Battlefield
- Rate of Fire: Very High
- Damage Output: Extreme
- Recoil: Average
- Can program the proton beam cannon to fire in a parabolic arc if desired.
- Long-ranged proton beam cannon
- Capacitors provide multiple shots
- Boom:
- Built on the principle of particle weapons the Proton Beam Cannon is a highly destructive weapon with the potential of devastating its targets.
- Dancer:
- The technology behind the Helios Cannon Beams fires initial guidance beams that the main blast will then follow. Through the ‘magic’ of physics these beams can actually bend through a parabola, allowing the Helios cannon a larger area of engagement than most spinally mounted weapons.
- Multishot:
- The Helios comes equipped with a series of capacitors that can store an energy charge, allowing the Helios Cannon to fire multiple shots with each charge.
- Tick Tock:
- Due to the nature of the weapon, it can not be fired until fully charged, providing a downtime which can be exploited by a canny opponent.
- Dodging:
- The bending capability of the beams has to be programmed before they’re fired, meaning that if an opponent moves between the time the weapon is fired and when it hits the beam would miss entirely.
- Umbrella:
- The stream of protons is ineffective in an atmosphere as collisions with air particles would rapidly destabilise the beam.
- Singularity:
- Since protons have mass, a strong enough gravitational field can disrupt the path of the beam, causing it to miss its target entirely.
- Large:
- The Helios canon is an extremely large weapon, and as such can only be laid down as a spinal cannon for capital ships.
The original Helios Cannon was Locke and Key Mechanic’s first major foray into exotic weapons, a weapons designed specifically for a Super Star Destroyer introducing a new element to the battlefield. While the ship had long since been retired, the design for the weapons still sat in Locke and Key’s database where the techs involved in the new production of ships stumbled across it when searching for inspiration for a new heavy spinal weapon.
The cannons were built around the the same as any other particle beam weapon, a stream of protons are passed through an electromagnetic field which accelerates the particles in a direction while an electrostatic lens focuses the particles into a directed high-energy beam which can be used to cause significant damage to any target it hits. The particles are accelerated to near light speed through this process, and upon impact with a target transfer a significant kinetic energy to their target causing massive damage and overheating to their target.
Locke and Key added their own unique twist to the tried and tested technology by mixing in a bit of obscure physics trivia, the Airy Beam. Airy beams use non-diffracting wavefronts to construct a small energy beam that curves through space. The engineers at Locke and Key mechanics combined the Airy beams with their Proton Beam Cannon, enveloping the protons in an electromagnetic sheath that kept them focused on their target. In this way the engineers were able to extend the range of the Proton Beam Cannon, allowing it to traverse the length of a battlefield while still maintaining its cohesion. The magnetic sheath would follow the airy beam, allowing for a more accurate fire across larger distances.
The Airy Beams have another effect, the waveform can actually travel in a parabola rather than a straight line if the waveform is setup to do so. The structure of the waveform controls the shape of the parabola, and since the waveform is constructed that construction can control the bend of the weapon.
It is this functionality that allows the Houyi to actually bend a Proton Beam, allowing whichever ship fires the beam to curve an attack onto an unsuspecting ship, or around some kind of impediment. Choosing to bend a beam especially over the distances involved in a battlefield means that even with advanced computing and planning it is possible to miss if the enemies movements fail to match your predictions. For that, the Helios is mainly used as a straight Beam Cannon, but the additional functionality exists should the opportunity arise to play a trick. The main advantage of the Helios is that it increases the effective area which the spinally mounted cannon can engage when compared to other weapons.
Further sources
