2010-03-20, 16:41
The G-9 Smart Filament Munition, more commonly known by such streetnames as "Nerve-Wracker" and "Nerveseeker", is a special hand weapon projectile ammunition developed by Imperial Armamanents. The development began as a reaction to military requirement for a projectile with a high-percentile kill capability regardless of hit location, as long as penetration of live tissue was achieved.
The bullet itself comes in various calibers and can be readily loaded into any standard-sized cartridge, and use normal propellant loads and chemicals.
The bullet comprises of a tritanium alloy core with a Tritanium-Mexallon alloy tip for maximum penetration. Within the core is a chip programmed to recognise when the bullet has become embedded in human (or any similar animal) flesh. Around the core is wound several metres of smart filament, which goes into action once the chip gives the activation signal. The filament seeks nerve tissue and penetrates it, travelling up and down the target's nervous system. Once the wire has all spooled out (a process only taking a few seconds), the core starts emitting electric shocks to disrupt the target's nervous system.
The idea behind the projectile was that the filament hopefully reaches the target's brain, and disables or even kills it with the electric shocks it emits. In practice, the projectile has displayed two major flaws: Firstly, the filament isn't "smart" enough to know where it's traveling. Instead of finding it's way to the brain, the filaments might simply travel from one leg to the other, for example. The other flaw is that IA has been unable to provide the projectile with a strong enough power source to cause sufficiently strong electric shocks, and even filaments that end up in the brains often fail to kill their target. Both of these issues are being studied in IA's test labs, to hopefully come up with improvements to the projectile.
While the projectile isn't the all-aspects kill device it was hoped for, it's still an extremely dangerous munition. The initial penetration has lethality comparable to any armor-penetrating bullet, and the electric shocks caused by the filament can cause death. Even when not lethal, the shocks emitted by the system are usually excruciatingly painful. As such, the projectile has found popularity amongst slave handlers and slave hunters, who have discovered that shots into the extremities with the G-9 are an effective way of disabling their targets, while the pain caused by the filament acts as a powerful punishment method.
Treatment for personnel wounded by G-9 munitions should concentrate first and foremost around the separation of the core from the filament. This will prevent the core from emitting electric shocks into the victim's nervous system and thus prevent unneccessary pain. The core can then be removed just like a normal bullet.
While the filament itself is a foreign object in nerve tissue, it's not immediately lethal and can be left in place in field conditions, for removal in a properly equipped medical facilities. The removal of the filament is a slow process, and can lead to permanent nerve damage if done improperly. The usual methods are either removal in sections by endoscopic operation, or by the use of various nanobot systems to destroy the filament in situ and transportation of the remnants out of the body.
Pod pilots should note that the smart filament has a slightly reflecting surface, and has been known to interfere - if the filament has reached the victim's brain- with the in-pod brainscan used to rescue a pilot's mind in the event of a pod breach. While the chance of this occurring is very small, pod pilots are urged to consider refraining from pod-endangering combat activities until the filament can be removed.
(And that, boys and girls, is why Fifinella has been walking with a limp for the past 2 weeks and hasn't been seen in a combat ship lately)
The bullet itself comes in various calibers and can be readily loaded into any standard-sized cartridge, and use normal propellant loads and chemicals.
The bullet comprises of a tritanium alloy core with a Tritanium-Mexallon alloy tip for maximum penetration. Within the core is a chip programmed to recognise when the bullet has become embedded in human (or any similar animal) flesh. Around the core is wound several metres of smart filament, which goes into action once the chip gives the activation signal. The filament seeks nerve tissue and penetrates it, travelling up and down the target's nervous system. Once the wire has all spooled out (a process only taking a few seconds), the core starts emitting electric shocks to disrupt the target's nervous system.
The idea behind the projectile was that the filament hopefully reaches the target's brain, and disables or even kills it with the electric shocks it emits. In practice, the projectile has displayed two major flaws: Firstly, the filament isn't "smart" enough to know where it's traveling. Instead of finding it's way to the brain, the filaments might simply travel from one leg to the other, for example. The other flaw is that IA has been unable to provide the projectile with a strong enough power source to cause sufficiently strong electric shocks, and even filaments that end up in the brains often fail to kill their target. Both of these issues are being studied in IA's test labs, to hopefully come up with improvements to the projectile.
While the projectile isn't the all-aspects kill device it was hoped for, it's still an extremely dangerous munition. The initial penetration has lethality comparable to any armor-penetrating bullet, and the electric shocks caused by the filament can cause death. Even when not lethal, the shocks emitted by the system are usually excruciatingly painful. As such, the projectile has found popularity amongst slave handlers and slave hunters, who have discovered that shots into the extremities with the G-9 are an effective way of disabling their targets, while the pain caused by the filament acts as a powerful punishment method.
Treatment for personnel wounded by G-9 munitions should concentrate first and foremost around the separation of the core from the filament. This will prevent the core from emitting electric shocks into the victim's nervous system and thus prevent unneccessary pain. The core can then be removed just like a normal bullet.
While the filament itself is a foreign object in nerve tissue, it's not immediately lethal and can be left in place in field conditions, for removal in a properly equipped medical facilities. The removal of the filament is a slow process, and can lead to permanent nerve damage if done improperly. The usual methods are either removal in sections by endoscopic operation, or by the use of various nanobot systems to destroy the filament in situ and transportation of the remnants out of the body.
Pod pilots should note that the smart filament has a slightly reflecting surface, and has been known to interfere - if the filament has reached the victim's brain- with the in-pod brainscan used to rescue a pilot's mind in the event of a pod breach. While the chance of this occurring is very small, pod pilots are urged to consider refraining from pod-endangering combat activities until the filament can be removed.
(And that, boys and girls, is why Fifinella has been walking with a limp for the past 2 weeks and hasn't been seen in a combat ship lately)