The Slingshot

For a very long time Grimpaw would sit in his shack on the warwagon prep deck, carving the intricate design into the entire outer shell of the hand cannon, as he and Poppler called it, usually after he dropped working on his pre-C.A.T. suit armor out of frustration. Only problem was, he wasn’t happy with the typical choices of firepower he had, so it was basically a rifle shell becoming art.

It was a very rare piece of metal and he wanted to do it right.

He and Poppler had discussed what the charr wanted to do with it about the same time as they were working on the C.A.T. suit. Grimpaw told him that unlike the armor, this rifle steel had a .086% impurity that actually made it stronger, and that he had to hand stamp all of the parts but the barrel himself.

Poppler took a sample of it to be analyzed back at his college, and when he returned brought the materials needed to begin work on what he considered a particle beam/rifle hybrid.

Charr were known across Tyria for creating some of the most precise and detailed mechanical devices ever; that crafting paired with asura technology is a very powerful thing, as acknowledged by the Snaff prize committee. But now instead of a first of co-creating armor, the two were going a step further with what they had dubbed the particle beam hand cannon.

‘The particle beam itself is not the ammunition, Grimpaw, so it won’t be firing a beam out at your target. Though I can come up with something like that for you if you wish.’ Poppler walked over to the table where the pre-project rifle lay near Grimpaw and picked it up, popping it open toward the charr. ‘There will be no explosion that fires your bullet, but there will be an explosion as the gas traces leave the barrel and run smack into the soundwave crack.’

‘And you won’t need bullets, only the gas.’

Grimpaw Grindgear testing the particle beam hand cannon

‘Unless you want to keep your artwork, I will have to cut the barrel of your rifle into the pieces I need. If you give me permission, I’ll get started on this right away.’

Grimpaw looked down at the asura in condescension, ‘Poppler, I don’t recall agreeing to you doing any of this without me involved from start to finish. This has been and always will be my project, just like this armor I’m wearing (the C.A.T. suit). You wouldn’t have that prize if you didn’t have my armor to put it in.’

‘Don’t know about the prize, but yes eventually I would have done that on another set, Grimpaw. As I told you, I was already working on being able to do that when we met. And I’m not trying to take anything from you, Grim. I know what this means to you, I’m just trying to help.’ The asura set the rifle back on the table.

The charr engineer stood looking at the floor, thinking w/ crossed arms. Looking up at the asura, ‘No, you won’t be cutting my rifle. If anyone does it will be me.’ He turned to his precious and sighed touching it, shaking his head. ‘The way this has to be done, a normal firing chamber and barrel simply won’t work Grim, there isn’t enough room. I wouldn’t suggest doing that otherwise.’

Poppler explained to him that inside the finished barrel itself would be a mostly harmless version of eight particle beams in a rifled cylinder shape that were kept reflecting, constantly moving from chamber to exit inside the barrel, that was where the extra size came in. In the chamber, instead of bullets, would be a pressurized container with a tweaked lead based gas.

When pulling on the trigger a small bit of the gas would be injected into the particle beam barrel; as the lead gas hit the beam tube moving toward the exit, it would begin to solidify and spin fast in the rifled beams, getting red hot and spinning the tip into a rifle point (that’s where the extra strength in the metal mattered) before barrel exit through a small coolant bubble.

From pull of trigger to firing was about the same speed as normal gunpowder, but this weapon would create and fire the ammo in the same time. There was no gunpowder explosion when fired, but the sonic crack when the bullet left the barrel was louder than normal gun fire.

Grimpaw being typical charr, wouldn’t have it any other way.

Grimpaw inspecting the hand cannon during tests

Weeks later, when they tested the finished hand cannon for the last time, and the sun had set hours before, Grimpaw was making final adjustments to the rifle when a quick knock and the door opened….

‘Saw you out on Ashford Plain shooting a pretty big lit up slingshot earlier, soldier, what was it?’ Dinky asked as he closed the shack door. Grimpaw described the hand cannon and told him of the results. Incredible as they were it was hard to not take a charr engineer, who literally grew up exploding things, seriously. ‘What’s his deal?’ Dinky asked, sitting on a stool and flipping a pointed thumb in the sleeping asura direction behind him.

‘We finished testing it tonight, sir. Except for cutting it up I did most of my work on it a long time ago, he finished it with the particle beams and lead gas. Now he’s just a tired little creature, hehe…’ The legionnaire laughed. ‘So, when do we get to begin production of these guns, are you about done yet?’ He rubbed his paws together greedily, always ready for a hot new weapon.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but this gun here will always be a one of a kind. The steel has an impurity that makes it stronger than our normal die, and we don’t have any of it left. This gun would explode on me if it didn’t have that. I was lucky to discover it pouring for tank parts one day long ago. And I can’t recommend you using anything else.’ Dinky sighed, ‘Alright. Mind if I test it?’ Grimpaw stood, took the rifle and waved him toward the door.

‘Wow Grimpaw, that’s not only a helluva kick but a helluva crack, that sound, haha!’ He handed the rifle back to Grimpaw out on Ashford Plain. ‘Here’s one of things we added to it, sir. See that moa right there?’ Dinky nodded looking at the bird. ‘Overcharged Shot…’ Grimpaw took a few steps toward the friendly bird and pulled the trigger- the engineer was thrown backward ten feet, but the moa was launched thirty feet away, nearly dead and naked.

He put a misery bullet in the bird, then turned to walk back into Black Citadel with his legionnaire, continuing to discuss the gun such as the sync with his turrets. The legionnaire smiled, ‘Haha! Unbelieveable, and hilarious! Great job you two. Make sure you get that to the centurion to see, so he knows what it is that’s sounding like a cannon firing right next to him in the field. Now go get some sleep, looks like you could use it.’

They stopped from walking back in to the Citadel across from the war wagons. Grimpaw saluted, ‘Will do, sir. Goodnight.’ Walking into the shack Grim glanced over at Poppler sleeping on his cot as he swung the door closed, then stumbled into his own bed, curling up around his precious. Poppler could be heard sitting up, ‘Seems to work great, Grimpaw. Do you like it?’

‘I love it little buddy, thank you.’ Grim replied. ‘You’re welcome my friend. We make a good team,’ Poppler said, laying back down. ‘That we do, Pop. That we do…..’ the charr half mumbled, sliding off to La-La Land.