Mjolnir

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Automatic Grand Artillery System
"Tremor"
Mjolnir Mark I.jpg
Mark I platform armed
TypeHeavy artillery
Planetary defence
Place of originEastern Union
Service history
In service2008 –
Used by Eastern Union
WarsAvatar Wars
Production history
Designed2007–2009
VariantsMark I, Mark II
Specifications
Calibre300mm
Barrels2 (Mark I)
4 (Mark II)
Rate of fire1 round/s (Mark I)
3.75 rounds/s (Mark II)
Feed system15-round autoloader (Mark I)
30-round belt (Mark II)

Mjolnir” is the codename for the Tremor Automatic Grand Artillery System (AGAS) developed by the Eastern Union. The name is taken from the hammer of the Norse god Thor, fabled to always hit its mark. Mjolnir is a network of static artillery platforms, designed to propel high-explosive shells thousands of kilometres in rapid succession.[1] Tactically, it fills the role of saturation bomber, able to level a wide area within seconds. Due to its indiscriminate method of targeting, the United Nations has pushed strongly to ban the use of the weapon in combat. To date, it has been used offensively only twice, albeit to great success, against targets in planetary orbit.

Design

Development of Mjolnir is believed to have started in 2007 at the request of Thorvald of Lym, who "[wanted] a really powerful artillery that can blow up the enemy while sitting far behind friendly lines". The complex itself comprises a fixed artillery platform, housed in an underground silo to protect the gun while out of action. The Mjolnir network provides centralized command and control of all emplacements at once, allowing synchronous fire against a designated target. The network was rendered fully operational by early 2008, in the midst of the Avatar Wars.[2]

Mark I

The original design, later named "Mark I", is a dual-barrelled omnidirectional turret firing 300mm high explosive shells. It can be brought into action from underground storage in 7 seconds and brought out of action in 12 seconds. Using a system of alternating fire, it can deliver 15 rounds in 15 seconds before requiring a manual reload. Intended for surface-to-surface barrage, its first combat use was instead against spaceships in low orbit during the Battle of Earth in DYOS 10, in which it proved devastatingly effective as an ersatz orbital gun.[1]

Mark II

Following the outstanding performance of the Mark I, a new design was undertaken to satisfy requirements for official designation as an orbital defence system. The Mark II platform replaces the turret with a fixed gun on a rotating base, elevated through hydraulic lifts. The gun employs four cyclically-rotating barrels loaded through an externally-mounted belt-style feed. The new design drastically increased the fire rate over the Mark I, to 30 rounds in 8 seconds before the barrels risked overheating. The new design also improves the gun's stability, allowing for increased muzzle velocity that helps compensate for the hydraulic system reducing the gun's maximum elevation.

Conversion of the network to the Mark II gun began after the Avatar Wars but was suspended with the onset of the Nazi invasion.

Emergency shutdown procedure

Recognizing the strategic vulnerability of a fixed artillery emplacement, technicians spent the months following Mjolnir's first operation installing new security protocols to prevent compromised platforms being turned against the Union. In addition to standard electronic countermeasures, the crew can activate a 'kill switch' that severs the station from the main network and scrambles internal programming, rendering the gun inoperable. Schematics for the new measures are held by the Federal Security Service, meaning restoring functionality requires calling in an outside crew that may take weeks to complete repairs. As such, the kill switch is generally regarded as a last resort by personnel at risk of overrun. When forces under the command of Feldmarschall Schäffer captured a Mjolnir complex in Belarus, they were unable to use it.[3]

Service history

The fleet of the New Avatar Order is savaged by a full Mjolnir salvo.

Development of Mjolnir was apparently so secret, Thorvald's doppelgängers were unaware of its existence. It was brought online by Bjørn in 2008 under order of Thorvald, who sought to use it as a trump card against the Avatar Supreme Commander, whose space fleet was then in orbit over Earth.[2] After the Coruscanti Loyalists drew the Avatar fleet over Russia, the guns commenced a synchronous barrage that destroyed several ships and forced the fleet's rout from the Solar System.[1] The operation, which technically constituted Mjolnir's first live field test, rendered the project a smashing success, as the engineers had not intended the artillery ordnance to be capable of achieving escape velocity.

Mjolnir was deployed in full a second time following the Battle of Fort Schmerzen, destroying fleeing Combine spacecraft retreating from Earth.[citation needed]

Fun facts

  • The Tremor AGAS is the Russian superweapon in the Rise of the Reds mod for C&C Zero Hour. The Mark I model is from the original mod (v1.2), while the Mark II is from the SWR redesign.
  • The Mark II platform was intended to appear in a cut comic for DRAW Your Own Story 11, but otherwise has yet to feature in canon.

See also

References