(Banned) Weapon Research in my TU

Speaking of research . . . 

Recently I watched again the Star Trek film Insurrection. This will not be a movie review. In the film, there was a space battle scene in which the enemies of the Enterprise used an "isolytic burst" weapon. The Enterprise crew were surprised, as the weapon was banned by some treaty or other, for being unpredictable. I think it was supposed to be a scene to show how the Enterprise crew are creative and resourceful thinkers. Maybe it worked at that, maybe not. Watch the film and judge for yourself.

We never actually see what the weapon is supposed to do. Rather we get told about it by several crewmen, and then the Enterprise defeats it, and the enemies. The weapon might as well have been a 20th century ICBM, or a boring old laser beam.

So I thought, what kinds of crazy weapons could show up in my TU, as unique and probably banned weapons?

Well, there is the "stellar ray" from that post on Edmund Hamilton's "Crashing Suns". That's a crazy-powerful weapon.

Here are some of the unusual and illegal weapons that have been at least researched if not developed by star nations in my TU. The Talaveran Empire has declared a ban on all of them; any vessel found in Imperial Space equipped with such will be impounded and destroyed, or just destroyed if they don't surrender.

"The Imperial Ministry of Defense in conjunction with the Ministries of State and of Science have signed resolutions, later confirmed by the King, banning the experimentation, development production or use of the following devices. Some of these were explored by the Ministry of Defense, but were rejected by the Navy as being “irresponsible, inhumane and contrary to the ways of civilized peoples”."

Project Code: 735D-168W-465N

Project Name: Ruritania

Common name: Ionic Blaster [TL-12]

The Blaster is a 'lightning cannon' projecting a conductive media which has been super charged wit electricity. Upon impacting a target, the electrical charge is transferred to the hull & penetrates the ship. People inside the ship are attacked with a massive electrical surge, The expected result is the main computer and most electrical systems blown out, and the crew dead. Otherwise the ship is fine, but still massively charged. Vacuum is an effective insulator. Large capacitors on the firing ship's exterior can absorb the charge, then the attacking crew can board the ship without resistance.

The weapon was banned due to its 'insta-kill' nature which would be of interest to pirates and those who want to steal ships. “Cruel & inhumane” is the term. Also if another ship without capacitors comes into contact, it could keep on killing. even if the crew survive the ship will be blind and deaf; dead in space which dooms the remaining crew to the loneliest death. Concern over this outcome was another major argument for banning this weapon.

Configurations

100- ton bay, equivalent to a Particle Accelerator

Spinal Mount, equivalent to a Meson Gun-C

Gravitic Imploder deployed against a city. Say Goodbye.

Project Code: 7745X-62P-349S/44

Project Name: Bialya

Common Name: Gravitic Imploder [TL-13]

The Imploder focuses a gravitational field on a point inside a target ship, causing it to collapse inward towards that central point. Ship structure will be warped or bend inward. Vacuum seal is lost, atmosphere is drawn toward the singularity and then escapes, and the enormous gravitational force (excess of 1000 G's) will crush anyone within its radius. Even if an entire ship is larger than the radius of the imploder, the ship will be torn apart & crippled.

If aimed at a planetary surface, the imploder would devastate whatever it touches, and create enormous craters.

Configurations:

Spinal Mount equivalent to a Meson Gun-L

Project Code: 388R-1142M-3V47K/66

Project Name: Genosha

Common Name: Black Hole Generator [TL-15]

This device creates a physical persistent singularity in space.

The black hole's event horizon is 5-10 range bands. As it is persistent it becomes a navigational hazard. Any object or EM Source inside the event horizon is lost, pulled inward at 1000 Gs. At the edge of is horizon, the pull is 10G, dropping to 5G at twice the horizon. A high enough initial velocity away from the singularity may allow a vessel to escape; but the crew of the craft will be subjected to crushing gravitational stress until well away from it.

Configurations

Spinal Mount equivalent to a Meson Gun-T

Project Code:997/X-555X-888X

Project Name: Nambutu

Common Name: Reality Warper [TL-15]

It is not hard to understand why this one was banned. The warping effect is unpredictable & random. Even the firer cannot know what will happen. Whatever it is, it will be bad for someone. The warping field is a sphere 100m in radius (as far as the tests have determined). All of these changes are permanent and irreversible. Why this was considered a viable weapon is not known. Listed here are the effects documented in a test environment.

• time extension/dilation/reversal
• gravity altered – added, subtracted, acts in odd vectors
• sensory disturbances
• living things radically altered/evolved/devolved/disintegrated
• objects or persons disappear/shifted in space/shifted in time/created
• relative distances between things distorted
• energy levels of devices change/drain/supercharge
• heat levels radically change
• characters skills enhanced/reduced/altered/eliminated
• characters age is shifted forward or backward
• mechanical devices activate/deactivate/explode/become sentient
• creatures or beasts appear/age/grow/shrink/mutate/become sentient
• psionic abilities appear/disappear/intensify/special/cause psychosis

Configurations

Spinal Mount equivalent to Meson Gun-K

Unfortunately there are plenty of uncivilized people in my TU that might still want to get their hands on these things. Are there any working models?  Any prototypes, or detailed design schematics? That all depends on whether the Referee wants them to be accessible. Would you have one of these weapons show up in your setting? Why or why not?

image credit: Space Ray from Pixabay
City Destroyer from Pixabay