Kaidan Alenko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
not_a_whiner) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2013-05-21 12:55 pm
not_a_whiner) wrote in fandomhigh2013-05-21 12:55 pm
Entry tags:
Combat Tech, Tuesday Morning (1st Period)
The Danger Shop had been set up as a gun range of sorts, though there weren't any walls between them and the targets up ahead. In turn, the targets looked a lot more like... well, not targets, precisely, more like--
"Shields," Kaidan said. "Personal armor has been a part of combat for as long as our species has been around. They've come in a lot of different flavors, but they're all meant for the same purpose: to deflect projectiles or melee weapons away from the wearer."
He walked along the range, pointing at each target in turn. "In the Stone Age, shields were made of wood or animal hide. It worked against the weapons they knew back then. Nowadays-- not so much, as you're going to find out. As time went on, we added more parts to the concept, like combining leather and wood or adding metal reinforcement. Of course..."
He stopped by one of the targets. "Then guns happened. A projectile propelled by a gunpowder combustion or a mass accelerator is going to punch right through a wooden shield. It generates a lot of force. We've been trying to figure out how to deal with that ever since. In this particular day and age, that means armored shields and ballistic body armor. That's using a combination of strong fibers weaved together to deform the shape of the bullet and spread the force around. Sometimes they come equipped with metal or ceramic plates to keep the worst of the force off certain body parts."
Kaidan still sounded like he thought this was all really old stuff.
"Finally," he said, pointing at the last target - which was really just a stick surrounded by a nearly invisible field that occasionally flashed with a hint of orange. "Kinetic barriers. An invention of my time. Using trace amounts of element zero, they emit small mass effect fields. These fields are calibrated so they invert the force of a small projectile, causing it to bounce off in the direction it originally came from."
There was a brief spark in front of him. Another kinetic barrier, running the entire length of the range.
"On that table, you can find a series of projectile weapons ranging through several eras," he said. "You're welcome to try them out on the shields I've set up. You're also welcome to play around with the duplicates I've got sitting over here." He nodded at those. "Feel free to tinker."
"Shields," Kaidan said. "Personal armor has been a part of combat for as long as our species has been around. They've come in a lot of different flavors, but they're all meant for the same purpose: to deflect projectiles or melee weapons away from the wearer."
He walked along the range, pointing at each target in turn. "In the Stone Age, shields were made of wood or animal hide. It worked against the weapons they knew back then. Nowadays-- not so much, as you're going to find out. As time went on, we added more parts to the concept, like combining leather and wood or adding metal reinforcement. Of course..."
He stopped by one of the targets. "Then guns happened. A projectile propelled by a gunpowder combustion or a mass accelerator is going to punch right through a wooden shield. It generates a lot of force. We've been trying to figure out how to deal with that ever since. In this particular day and age, that means armored shields and ballistic body armor. That's using a combination of strong fibers weaved together to deform the shape of the bullet and spread the force around. Sometimes they come equipped with metal or ceramic plates to keep the worst of the force off certain body parts."
Kaidan still sounded like he thought this was all really old stuff.
"Finally," he said, pointing at the last target - which was really just a stick surrounded by a nearly invisible field that occasionally flashed with a hint of orange. "Kinetic barriers. An invention of my time. Using trace amounts of element zero, they emit small mass effect fields. These fields are calibrated so they invert the force of a small projectile, causing it to bounce off in the direction it originally came from."
There was a brief spark in front of him. Another kinetic barrier, running the entire length of the range.
"On that table, you can find a series of projectile weapons ranging through several eras," he said. "You're welcome to try them out on the shields I've set up. You're also welcome to play around with the duplicates I've got sitting over here." He nodded at those. "Feel free to tinker."
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