The US Marine Corps has long been the United States' shock infantry troops. Trained to engage the enemy and destroy them on any battlefield, under any enemy fire, to adapt and win under all circumstances, the USMC was one of the first services to move entirely to next generation weaponry.
In 2035 the Objective Force Land Warrior project by DARPA had many sidearms and assault rifles to go through testing. They were being tested for extreme climates, battlefield endurance, structural robustness, energy consumption, and usefulness on the "digital battlefield."
The Marine Corps distained lasers as too weak, despite their exemplary ranges. However Litton/Gerber Weapons Consortium had fielded a set of ion weapons that the Marines began testing.
By 3037 the Litton/Gerber M-2011 Energy Pistol and the M-160 Assault Rifle System found it's way into the Marine Corps Table of Equipment and Organization. The ion weapons did not suffer from spectrum scatter when striking chromium armor foes, nor did they suffer from spectrum scatter when a microcrystal mist grenade or high concentrate smoke was deployed.
The weapons frame was built in Nacelle, CA, with the electronics being built in Toluca, Mexico, and the final product assembled in Toronto, Canada. However, in an unprecidented move, the USMC and the US Navy demanded that Litton/Gerber supply them with twelve automatic assembly lines, micronized as much a possible, and able to be run at the push of the button providing that the raw materials were fed into the hoppers. Despite worries by Litton/Gerber that these micro-factories would be used to produce the weapons without paying Litton/Gerber, after the micro-factories delivery in 2071, they disappeared without a trace, and the slight green tint that the casing of the weapon would possess from one of these factories never appeared on any weapon.
The M-2011 Pistol, Energy, Ion Packet Discharge; is more resembles a submachine pistol of the late 20th Century, is heavier and bulkier than the sleek energy weapons that the Air Force and Navy and NEMA were fielding. That was part of the weapon's charm, as USMC psychologists deemed that the M-2011 looked threatening enough to actually give the enemy pause upon sighting one of these. The weapon was deliberately left in its prototype design for this exact reason.
The M-2011 was designated a "Shipboard Action Weapon" in 3037, issued to ground troops as well as those aboard ships, and the weapon proved itself during many boarding raids as able to handle a sudden armored threat as well as being able to be adjusted to a lower power setting that didn't run the risk of destroying the ship.
The pistol proved its merit in 2058, where NEMA forces had a difficulty establishing landing zones and the USMC established a beachhead on the Sudanese coast, allowing NEMA to land peacekeeping forces and establish a noteworthy presence in the brutal genocidal war.
The grip is hard plastic overlaid with soft plastic handgrips that deform slightly to allow use by personnel wearing body armor, or when the naked hand is slick due to blood, water, oil, or other environmental hazards.
The body itself is made up of synthetic plastics and neo-tungsten, and flash-colored a dark gray color. The handgrip is a light gray, and the sighting rail has a white dot on the rear. The "submachine gun" look was kept in order to capitalize on the fear of such submachineguns like the Uzi and the Skorpian. In addition the pistol frame has 4 picatinny rails mounted on it, allowing up to 4 pieces of supplemental hardware to be added to the weapon. The front sight has a white dot on the rear to assist in nighttime or high glare sighting, as well as the rear sight bracket being retractable to allow modifications to be used on the top side picatinny rail.
The M-2011 fires a packet of positively charged ions by stripping electrons from air molecules injected into the chamber and using a magnetic directional pulse to "fire" the packet of ions toward a target. The impact of this ion "bolt" would cause the electrons in the outer shells of the targeted materials to violently strip away as the ions within the charge tried to balance their electron valence bands. This caused the struck material to slough off with a loud, explosive noise as the molecular stabilization failed. This proved particularly useful against molecularly bonded armor as the molecular bonds failed when the atomic structure became unstable.
The pistol's chamber is fed by two small air injectors, which pressurize the chamber with air in order to give the ionization circuitry something to ionize without resulting in a 2-magazine system. The air injectors are easily replaced or cleaned when fouled, and a trained operator can swap out the injectors in less than 10 seconds even under combat.
The M-2011 is often fielded with a collapsible stock, furthering the appearance of an SMG, as well as a scope, laser desingators or illuminators, a computerized data-node, or one or two air cylinders.
During the Cataclysm this weapon saw heavy use by Marine Corps troops who were on the the ground, and by Marine Corps troops who were tasked with defending the ships from extra-dimensional boarders.
During the Second Dark Ages, those that had this weapon kept it in prime shape, as the injectors were easy to repair or clean, and the weapon was highly durable. In one legendary example a Juicer pistol-whipped a demon from the rifts to death with it when it ran out of ammunition. The Picatinny rails were often removed or lost, and eventually the pistol became a stripped down version of itself. In addition this weapon was rarely sold or traded, but rather handed down through the generations, as the USMC seal on each side of the weapon marked something special to those who inherited the weapon.
By Rifts Earth, this is considered a legacy weapon and the mark of someone who is descended from the legendary Neeman Marines. Anyone found with it in CS Territory will usually be offered a vast sum of money for it, or offered to trade for it, but corrupt CS officers/NCO's will just take it. Surprisingly there are many of these weapons in the hands of the California Native American Tribes than anywhere else.
Weight: 3.5 lbs
Length: 8.1 inches
Caliber: 2cm
Maximum Range: 500m (1500 feet)
Maximum Effective Range: 300m (900 feet)
Typical Combat Range: <10m (less than 30 feet)
Magazine Capacity: 20 shots with standard eclip, 30 shots with extended eclip.
Note: The New Navy is in possession of three of these "micro-fabricators" for the ion pistol, where the other 9 went is a cause of mystery. However, nobody in Rifts Earth even knows they were ever built, so nobody has ever searched them out.
© 2004-2009 all authors as specified. Duplication of contents with permission only! This means you can't sell it, but feel free to print, modify, or use in anyway for your personal campaign use.
All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity to characters or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
Disclaimer.
