Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V1 Alagore, Chapter 8

Once the three reached the other side of the temple grounds. Comanche was gathering the enemy weapons and placed them in the back of a truck. The surrounding area had lights from the vehicles and stationary lamps to allow them to work in this darkness.

Three of them, Fraeya, Forest, and Ford, were analyzing some of the weapons gathered, seeing what made them tick.

"Be careful with them," Ryder said as he approached. "They are worth more than gold right now."

"Maybe we should get in the smuggling business," Wallace said as he placed enemy armor inside a crate.

"I know some people," Barrios said. "After this tour, I wouldn't mind retiring early."

"You two would spend it all within a month," Barrett said. "Still, be careful. We don't know how these things work."

Sergeant First Class Gregory Barrett left to help organize the collection; the other two joined the three studying the enemy rifle.

"What have you three learned?" Ryder asked.

"Surprising a lot and little at the same time," Forest said. "These people have completely developed differently than us. Show them Ford."

Sergeant Benjamin Ford showed one of the enemies' weapons. It was bulky compared to American rifles. The base design was wood, like the old World War Two weapons. The closest comparison Ryder could conclude was that it looked like a battle rifle design with a few key features.

The barrel was more significant than any traditional rifle, almost double the size. There was an opening on top where the ammunition most likely was fed through, which were clips beside magazines. There was a charging lever on the side. By the stock, there was a sizable gap with internal wire conduits.

"It is like three designs into one," King said. "That must be heavy."

"It is a little heavier than the M7," Ford said.

"I do know soldiers call these weapons circiletum," Fraeya said. "Not rifles as your people do."

"And check this out," Forest said as he reached into his pocket. He then pulled out three small long and blue pentagon shape balls made from an unknown type of crystal. "We found the enemy carrying these. Some of these weapons had these balls on top of their weapons. We also noticed that it isn't rifled but smooth with these circler rings inside it."

Fraeya then held one of the blue crystal balls so everyone could see. "These are mana-batteries made from Xenoist crystals. This is very common throughout the civilized world on Alagore. These types of batteries are used to power a piece of magitech, so you do not need a mage to energize them."

"I get it," Ford said. He then placed one of the crystal batteries within the gap onto the circiletum "This is how they power their weapons. Fire the trigger; this thing impacts the crystal and sends a jolt of power throughout the barrel. Why, I have no idea, and then pull this lever after each shot."

"You are smarter than you look," Fraeya said.

Ford turned to the elf with a smile. "Thank you." His smile then slowly went away as he reflected on the comment. "I think."

Then Rommel King snapped his fingers. "It is an infantry size coil gun."

"How is that possible?" Ford asked. "Isn't that still science fiction?"

"I am no expert, and I will let DARPA make the final call on it," King said. "But everything you described sounds like a coil gun. Circiletum isn't a Latin word I recognize, but if you think about it, the first half of the word is similar to the word circle, which explains the barrel and the coils inside it. The battery generates the power needed to activate the coils."