TCB: Thera

by Joe Toon

Downgraded upgrades

August 15, 2020
Two months after the start of the war

To Grand Marshal Paul Andrews,

I do not wish to waste a moment of your time so I will dispense all formalities and move straight to the point: We need more guns and ammunition. The new commands you ordered to advance our lines after this past month’s change of momentum cannot be implemented, and I fear unless we receive replacements for damaged weapons and lost equipment, we may lose all our gained ground this past month. 

At the start of this war, most of the Homeguard were equipped with outdated Mk 35 Kalashnikova Arzen Rifles and Mk 2 Tesla Guns. Now we are barely having one of these among each platoon, with ammunition barely enough to last a skirmish. Some of our soldiers have even resorted to using phased-out firearms to supplement this supply shortage such as Mk 44 Mauser Arzen Rifles, Mk 18 Remington Arzen Rifles, and even something as antiquated as gunpowder weaponry such as the Mk 2 Martini–Henry rifle; all of which are either donated by civilians, salvaged from abandoned storages, delivered by mail from families of our troops, looted from museums, and traded from the Black Market. 

The situation is unsustainable and it is only a matter of time before the enemy realises that. And when they do, nothing can stop them from pushing us back all the way into the Mediterranean Line; leaving Alexandra and Konstantinople vulnerable and opening the Gates of Africa and Europe to them.

We need a solution to the supply shortage post haste and I recommend either fortifying our entrenched positions or falling back to our defensive lines before the enemy realises our predicament.

August 21, 2020
A week later

To Grand Marshal Paul Andrews,

While I understand the predicament of our troops on the field, your orders for resupplying and rearming our troops with the modern Mk 5 Tesla guns or even Mk 2 Novak Assault Rifles will not be possible within a month. Our latest batch of 50,000 Mk 5 Tesla guns were unfortunately redirected to our starbase in Alpha Centauri due to a change of trade routes to avoid increasing raids from the Rixian Corsairs, all while 15,000 of them produced here locally were sabotaged or stolen by elements of the New World Order. 

On the other hand the Mk 2 NA Rifles, while abundant, are lacking enough ammunition to distribute across the fronts. The 5.56 28 Calibre Arzen rounds that is the standard ammunition used for our ballistic weaponry (which I’m sure you are aware of) were mostly issued to the Volunteers rather than the Homeguard; ergo, most of our ammunition factories were relocated in other planets such as Pangea, Terra Nova, New Iceland and New Algeria to deliver them directly to the front against our usual galactic rivals. Which means, most of our supply lines for ammunition are almost a sector away from Thera and would take at least a month to reach us with another several weeks to distribute them across our troops.

Before you ask why they were being forged there instead of our inner systems’ planets, it was due to the decision of the League Council fifteen years ago to better distribute the Arzen into the front as well as providing an easier logistical method to trade out Arzen to our allies and trading partners. It will take at least five years to relocate our military factories back to our inner systems’ planets; so instead we diverted resources and workers to our Mars colony in an effort to convert most of its power and mining industries and focus on military factories, effectively assigning the planet to be our first official Forge World. That said, it will take more than half a year to complete this project which by then we might lose the war.

On another note, while we cannot effectively supply our troops with the latest guns and ammunition, we still have millions of Great War model rifles such as Mk 14 Baker Arzen rifles and the Mk 22 Mauser Arzen rifles in storage facilities across Thera along with trillions of 0.625 calibre Arzen ammunition. Admittingly it isn’t ideal with the evolved forms of combat that we have been used to these past thirty years (seventy if you include the date when we phased out of these models), but it is better than nothing. All that is required is an ample supply of nitrogen and a change of battle tactics and formations and we might just buy us enough time to hold the Equestrians off before our main force comes to the rescue.

August 27, 2020
Six days later, Location [Classified]

“Alright boys and girls, meet your new partners.”

Gallus, Sandbar and a few members of their respective army groups as well as the 53rd Homeguard gathered around a supply truck as it distributed their new replacement weapons.

“Hey Sergeant, what the heck are we looking at?” Gallus asked, eyeing the weapons with bemusement. A sentient many shared. 

The weapons looked old and sophisticated; each one had a frame like an oversized musket with a circular shaped vertical chamber. A tube was attached underneath with several brass exhaust pipes on the left side of the rifle while to its right was a large hole which many guessed was where a magazine of Arzen should enter. The barrel had several cooling coils leading to the end of the muzzle, resembling a whisk with a wooden stock handle underneath and sighter at the top. The tube underneath snaked further to a small canteen labelled "Nitrogen" attached to the end.

"Is this supposed to be a joke, Sergeant?" a Homeguard private by the name of Isaac Montmorency spoke out, "These guns are older than the High Marshals!"

"Can't help that, private," replied the dark skinned man, Sergeant Frisbee, "These are the only things we've got on stock with enough ammo to last us until our relief arrives." 

He takes one of the rifles with one hand and a flask in the other. "This," Sgt Frisbee announced, "is the Mk 14 Baker Arzen rifle; the gun that served the British for sixty years of the Great War. She may be heavier than the KA 35s you are used to, or for you who had the chance to play with the classier ladies like the NA 2s, but believe me, the Baker is one of, if not the most reliable rifle in history."

"By reliable, you mean one of the first Arzen Rifles that doesn't constantly explode due to overheating or faulty cooling," sneered one of the privates.

"Stow it Reese! You will show this girl respect because you two will be getting to know each other for the duration of this war."

“Why the tubes and vents?” asked Sandbar.

“You all know how Arzen works, right?” asked the sergeant.

“Yeah; stick it in the chamber, ignite it, and it fires itself out.”

“Exactly,” replied Sgt Frisbee, “However, you lot have the luxury of having adamantium alloy for bullet casings. Folks back then couldn’t figure out how to slide them in casings without melting them, so they just shaped the bullet and let the chamber of the gun act as the casing.”

He took out a small cylindrical tube, opened and took something from inside, and held out before them a marble-shaped crimson crystal in the palm of his hand. Arzen. 

“Wait, that’s what the bullets looked like?” Gallus exclaimed unamused, “I thought this was a rifle, not a musket.”

“Oh it’s still a rifle, kid,” the sergeant corrected him, “Once ignited it doesn’t stay rigid. It’s the chamber’s job to shape it as it ignites and blast it out as quickly as possible, otherwise you have a piece of reactive lava in your gun and you’ll have five seconds to run before it explodes in your arms.”

“Is that what the nitrogen is for?”

“Correct. It acts as both the weapon’s coolant and steamed pressure ignition.”

Gallus’ eyes widened with horror as he stared at the weapon. “Wait a minute, are you telling me that this gun… is a pressure cooker?!” he shrieked.

The Theran locals burst out laughing from some of the volunteers’ reactions. 

“Give the bird a prize!”

“Could not have said it better myself!”

“What’s the matter, Blue? Cold feet?”

“Oh don’t worry mate, you only have a 1/50 chance for that to blow up on you.”

“You’ll probably be killed by the enemy before rolling that chance.”

“Alright, stow it you lot!” Sgt Frisbee ordered, silencing the troops, “I know most of you know about this old girl and her Prussian cousin, but you will treat them with respect. Keep her chambers cleaned and her parts maintained and she will not betray you.”

With that, he put back the bullet into the cylindrical tube and inserted the opening into the magazine porthole of the rifle with ping. The Sergeant then proceeded to connect the bottom cable tube together with the canteen of nitrogen and holstered said canteen to a pouch by his waist buckle. He then took a firing stance, put on his tinted goggles, aimed for the shooting gallery, loaded the rifle with a lever action and pulled the trigger.

A sharp piercing blast fired from the muzzle of the gun as a visible, blinding red light projected from the weapon and into a five inch thick metal target, melting right through it to the other side where it dug into an elevated mound of earth. The rifle’s exhaust pipes hissed out pressurised steam as Sgt Frisbee reloaded the chamber with another lever action.

He removed his goggles and turned to the troops, noting several of them blinking the blinding light from their eyes. He gave a scoff.

“Did you all forget rule number one before firing an Arzen or Tesla weaponry? Always wear your goggles.”

August 28, 2020
The next day

To all Commanding Officers and Staff,

Due to our distribution of outdated Great War weaponry, 1970s Tactics are to be implemented into the front. Rifle companies are to provide fire support to shock troops during assaults and remain in defensive lines within the trenches in an enemy attack rather than counter charge. 

For further details, see attached manual within the correspondent.