Chapter 85
Taris Approach, Taris System
Ojoster Sector
“Hit confirmed,” Gnifmark Dymurra announced, a slight frown on his face, “But it seems General Grievous still lives.”
“Observation: no explosion was detected,” Augur said, “The Devastation’s main artillery may have been temporarily disabled, but we have failed to eliminate the dreadnought as planned.”
“It cannot be helped,” Bunt Dantor replied evenly, “Admiral Bonteri had stressed the importance of interrupting Devastation’s firing sequence. We were unable to charge Number Two to its full capacity, and thus unable to impart enough velocity on the kill vehicle to impart the atomic energy of its mass.”
I rested my cheek on my fist. Conventional mass accelerators, such as railguns, tended to overpenetrate their targets. Their projectiles traveled so fast that they didn’t have time to fully transfer their kinetic energy to the target. The result was undeniably devastating, but still left energy potential untapped. Incredibly powerful, no doubt–Conqueress, however, operated on an entirely different level.
Her twin gravitic waveguns propelled her projectiles at such extreme velocities that they essentially friction-welded themselves to the target on impact. The collision smashed the atoms of both the projectile and the target together with forces akin to those in a particle accelerator–or even a fusion reactor. This collision would initiate a chain reaction, burning through the entire mass of the KKV and releasing every ounce of its nuclear energy into the target.
Effectively, Conqueress’ projectiles hit with such incredible speed that they overcame the limitations of kinetic energy transfer entirely and stepped into another field of physics. The numbers involved were so unimaginable the effects came full circle.
…That was, if the KKV was fast enough in the first place. And by fast, I meant over 70% the speed of light, at least.