Several long ear rending seconds passed as the incandescent spear was shifted back and forth across the targets, lingering in the center for a few extra moments before Olan Lunere eased their grip on the handles and the weapon shut down. Andrea and Lin were silently discussing theories on how the dramatic effect was achieved. Both of them could see from their infrared sensors that the weapon itself had remained at much the same temperature as it had started, while the air above the path of the beam was a shimmering swathe of vortices as superheated gases rocketed upwards in plumes that traced the course of the beam as it had been swept back and forth over the targets. As for the targets themselves, at the moment the duo could only see from Andrea’s perspective, the high altitude drone had yet to resume its over-watch of the camp.

Their limited viewpoint meant that they could only see that the large rock shielding the wooden target was visibly glowing where the beam had passed through it and in the center where the beam had lingered the rock had obviously liquefied and begun to deform, though it had already cooled enough to stop visibly flowing. The hints of smoke curling up from behind the rock did seem to hint that their earlier impression of the beam penetrating the rock wasn’t an illusion. Olan Lunere walked back over to Andrea. “We should wait another minute or so to ensure we aren’t burned by hot air and then we can examine the targets and you’ll see the most insidious part of this particular weapon’s nature.” True to their word, after a short interval had passed the Olan gestured for Andrea to follow them and walked across the visibly roasted ground cover before gingerly circling the no longer glowing, but still blazing hot rock.

As Andrea rounded the obstacle she was able to see what was left of the wooden target, it wasn’t much. A few scattered fragments of charred wood and scattered ashes were the sole evidence that any target had been there at all. Lin speculated that the wood had been heated so rapidly and unevenly that parts of it had undergone a steam explosion that blew it apart even as the scattering fragments were ignited from the heat. “That’s similar to the sort of damage high energy laser weapons would inflict, though it seems this weapon is not limited to direct line of sight.” Indeed, after a moment's pause to let Andrea take in the sight, Olan Lunere’s words soon confirmed Lin’s supposition. “As you can see, when properly harvested and preserved the natural weapon of the lesser coastal dragon makes for a lethal short range weapon. It doesn’t shoot out any flames, rather within a certain area in front of the small horn that is embedded in the ‘barrel’ of the weapon. Objects melt, burn, boil, or burst depending on their nature. The only limitation seems to be the total weight of material it is able to affect at once before it stops getting things hot enough to cause damage. Everything in what we’ve measured to be a narrow cylinder starting a dozen centimeters or so from the weapon and extending outwards is affected in the same instant when the weapon is activated. The maximum range seems to grow in proportion to the size of the coastal dragon’s horn, though the longest range I’ve ever heard of was around one hundred meters, though that horn was so large that the weapon it produced could only practically be mounted on either a fortress or a royal warship.” Olan Lunere paused for a moment, appearing to see things that pained them before, with a shake of their head, they continued. “While there are some more exotic methods of defending against this weapon the main defense is to simply not be in range when it’s fired. The beast’s preserved organs can only store so much of the sun’s heat at a time so baiting out the user into exhausting their weapon is a common strategy. Realistically there is no way to take cover from this weapon, for all practical purposes anyone within its range is a twitch of the operator’s hand away from a swift and spectacular demise.” Once again they seemed to be looking past Andrea and remembering things they’d rather not.

Shaking off the skein of old memories, Olan Lunere walked back to the table they had started at. “The primary way of charging that weapon is by gathering energy from the sun. In a pinch placing it near other sources of heat can charge it as well, though that is expensive and generally not very effective. I’ve heard that some of Unla-Ela’s colleagues are tinkering with methods of artificially providing heat at a rate that would allow for continuous use, but apparently their studies are widely regarded as an overpriced boondoggle.” Olan Lunere chuckled a bit as they spoke, clearly leaning towards the views of the skeptics in this instance. “Now that I’ve shown you the little bit of fancy kit that I was able to drag over the mountains, we can finally look at the real workhorse of weapons, pretty much anyone you come across who’s armed will have some version of this these days.” As they spoke the Olan reached down and picked up one of the devices that Andrea and Lin had both thought resembled guns. The resemblance was primarily in the handle and trigger arrangement, a form factor that appeared to have developed similarly on this world due to the native peoples’ uncannily human-like hand anatomy. When one shifted their gaze towards the rest of the weapon it was quickly apparent that this was not a gun. For one thing there was no enclosed barrel or chamber. Long slender metal darts appeared to be stored in a hopper near the rear of the weapon. As Olan Lunere walked Andrea through the basics of the safe use of a flechette thrower, it quickly became clear that the flechettes were gravity fed down onto a launch rail, that was no longer than the storage hopper, before being hurled at high speed out of the end with every pull of the trigger. Based on the readings from Andrea’s sensors it looked like the small one handed version Olan Lunere was showing them could accelerate its light, thin, roughly ten centimeter long, darts to supersonic speeds, a measurement further corroborated by the telltale Krak! of the sound barrier being broken. Lin was impressed by the mechanism, though not for its destructive capacity but rather because the rate of acceleration was shocking. The flechette launcher didn’t need a long ‘barrel’ because the dart had reached its top speed before it had traveled a distance even half its own length. “Whatever they are using to propel those projectiles is remarkable Andrea! I would need to test it extensively in a lab to get better precision but it appears to be applying massive acceleration while, as best as your implanted sensors can determine, producing no waste heat or sound, I didn’t note any obvious recoil either. The number of applications for that sort of propulsion is nearly limitless.” Olan Lunere had continued to fire rounds from the thrower until after twenty rounds they had emptied the hopper on top. They demonstrated how preloaded hoppers could be quickly swapped in for empties, then they popped a hatch on the back of the handle above the hand grip and pulled out a small, perhaps thumb sized, glass ampule. A green feathery moss-like plant and a small quantity of dirt, or something similar, were contained in this miniature terrarium. Andrea messaged Lin “I bet that’s the source of propulsion you were gushing about just now. I’ll see if they’ll give me some for you to play with.” Olan Lunere held the small ampule up and spoke. “This little plant is what does all the work. It used to be called neck breaker weed for its propensity to launch people and animals, the rapid acceleration of the launch itself was often fatal, or incapacitating, while the eventual landing had much the same effect. Once people figured out it could be kept alive in a portable form, and have its propensity to fling people and objects controlled it quickly became known as warrior’s weed.” they reached down to their belt which was covered in little open topped pockets that now revealed their purpose as they slipped the ampule into an empty pocket leaving it open to sunlight, while they pushed on the bottom of the next pocket over to extract another ampule of the plant which was rapidly slotted back into the flechette thrower. “They do get tired, for this smaller weapon they’re usually able to throw fifty to sixty darts in short succession but then about half a day of good sun exposure is needed to fully restore their vigor. You’ll often see veterans laying out their ampules to get more sun exposure, if they have some down time during the day. These weapons come in all sizes, up to massive siege weapons and ship’s armaments but they all function nearly identically, it’s mainly a matter of scale.” Andrea opened her mouth but was interrupted as the Olan added “and before you ask, no, I can’t give you any of our ampules. We lost some to the cold during our trip over the mountains and we didn’t bring a huge stock to begin with. I can’t take the risk of being unable to defend ourselves against the wildlife, or any Protectorate interference.” Andrea shrugged, then nodded in understanding. “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your protection, even in part, so I’ll content myself with trying out these weapons myself to get a better feel for them.” That defined the rest of the day, with Andrea going through the weapons and trying them out, occasionally asking questions about the Olan’s experiences with the weapons, and any other weapons he knew of. The Olan was happy to share their personal experiences, but they balked at discussing other rarer weapons. “I would be overstepping myself if I revealed anything that my majesties might wish to keep confidential. I will tell you that you’re unlikely to meet with anything more than what I’ve shown you. The Protectorate has no reason to waste expensive and rare weapons and equipment on what I’d guess to be an expendable scouting and/or raiding force. Our own expedition wasn’t granted anything more than you’ve seen, these kinds of weapons are plenty for keeping most wildlife at bay.” Just as the sky overhead began to darken and shade into crimsons, pinks, and oranges, Andrea parted ways with Olan Lunere, they wished her luck in her attempt to meet with the Protectorate, though it was clear from their attitude that they were certain it wouldn’t end peacefully. Unla-Ela had yet to return, but the Olan reassured Andrea that they often got back just after dark, since they pushed to wring out the most possible time in the field as they could. Andrea hiked back to the heavy lift drone and climbed into the capsule, before being lifted rapidly into the sky. As Andrea lounged back and enjoyed the wash of evening colors painting the valley Lin spoke up “Get some sleep when you get back, you have to be at peak performance tomorrow. When you wake up tomorrow I’ll tell you all about what I learn tonight. In just a few hours my infiltration drones will begin living up to their name.

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