Weapons of Human Space

Overview Lesson — Ballistics, Energy Weapons, and EVA Combat

Greetings, children.

And welcome to our newest lesson.

Today we will be discussing the weapons commonly used across human space, from old ballistic firearms to modern EVA-capable systems, ship-mounted energy weapons, and the more unusual tools developed by certain Hahl peoples.

Before anyone gets excited, yes, I am aware most of you learned basic firearm safety from your parents long before entering formal education. That is good. That is expected. That is also not an excuse to stop listening.

This is not your household safety lesson.

This is your formal overview.

The first thing to understand is simple:

Ballistics is still king.

Yes, energy weapons exist.

No, that does not mean you will be running around shooting little “pew pew” lasers at pirates like your favourite action hero.

I know. I know. Every child wants to grow up pointing a glowing pistol at a space pirate and shouting something dramatic.

Unfortunately for your dreams, personal energy weapons remain impractical for most battlefield use. They are power-hungry, heat-heavy, and usually require systems too large for infantry weapons. Most true energy weapons are ship-mounted. A battleship-grade laser is not a shiny little beam pistol. It is a hull-melting industrial weapon designed to burn through armour at close engagement range.

Fire one of those at a man and you will not merely vaporise him. You will also melt a hole through whatever unfortunate ship section he was standing in, and everyone present will remember the lesson.

So no, children.

No pew pew.

Now then.

Personal firearms have not changed as much as people often imagine. Many modern firearms are adapted for vacuum, hostile atmosphere, or zero-oxygen environments, but the basic design logic remains familiar. In oxygenated environments, Old-Earth weapons such as the AK-47, AR-15, MP5, UMP, and the old reliable shotgun are still widely used. They are cheap, durable, simple, and effective point-and-delete tools.

A firearm does not become useless merely because it is old.

If it still places metal where you want metal to go, it still has a job.

Their modern cousins carry that same logic forward.

A good example is the DK-102, the Dyshat Kislorodom. For those of you who have been practising your Old-Earth languages, that is Дышать кислородом, meaning “breathe oxygen.”

Yes, there will be language lessons. You are welcome.

The DK-102 very much resembles a traditional Old-Earth AK-pattern rifle, and became one of the Empire’s standard military firearms for much of its life. Its most recognisable feature is the cylindrical enclosure around the barrel, connected by internal piping to the weapon’s purge-and-cooling system.

Each magazine includes a small gas bottle. When the magazine is inserted, the bottle seats into the weapon system as well. Squeezing the trigger pushes gas through the barrel assembly, allowing the rifle to function reliably in zero-oxygen and EVA environments without the usual heat and fouling issues. The gas helps drive heat and residue forward through the barrel system, reducing heat buildup and helping keep the weapon from cooking itself shut during repeated use.

Standard reload discipline, for those of you paying attention, is as follows:

Eject the magazine. The ejection mechanism disconnects both the ammunition feed and the gas bottle.

Feed the new magazine.

Thumb the gas connection to lock the purge system.

Rack the weapon.

Then you may continue.

The successor to the AR-15 family, the ASR-30, operates on a similar principle. It uses a barrel enclosure with a built-in horizontal grip and a sealed purge-and-cooling system. Aside from that, it still resembles an Old-Earth AR-style rifle closely enough that most trained shooters can understand its basic handling quickly.

This is the general rule for most modern firearms:

There are weapons intended only for oxygenated environments.

And there are weapons rated for both oxygenated environments and space or EVA use.

When purchasing, issuing, or training with a firearm, make sure you know which type you are holding. Confusing the two is a fine way to embarrass yourself, damage equipment, or die in a manner your instructor will use as a cautionary example for the next twenty years.

Modern sidearms often follow the same logic, with the gas bottle incorporated into the grip or grip assembly. This allows pistols and compact weapons to remain useful in shipboard emergencies, vacuum breaches, and EVA engagements.

Now, none of this redefined small-arms combat quite like the weapons produced by Hahl manufacturers.

Our first example is the FU-Garandly.

I see that smirk.

Yes, Wraith humour. Compose yourselves.

The FU-Garandly was produced by the Wraith company Fiach Ubiystvo. Fiach is Old-Earth Irish for hunt or chase. Ubiystvo is Russian — Убийство — meaning murder or killing.

Again, language lessons. You are welcome again.

Fiach Ubiystvo is Kaer Hahl’s main arms manufacturer, and the FU-Garandly is one of their more infamous designs. It is, in essence, a Wraith remake of the Old-Earth M1 Garand.

The original Garand was already a respected rifle. Fiach Ubiystvo looked at it and apparently decided it needed to be shorter, harder, bottom-fed, vacuum-capable, and much less polite.

The FU-Garandly uses a twelve-round bottom-fed magazine, a shortened twenty-inch barrel, and a hardened metal-polymer frame. It still fires .30-06.

Nothing says “fuck you, your armour, and your pressure suit” quite like .30-06.

Stop smirking.

Unlike many standard modern rifles, which require the shooter to thumb the gas connection into place during reload, the Wraith design uses a more direct system. The magazine’s gas bottle tube extends from the magazine itself and inserts directly into a rubber pressure seal housed inside the receiver. The gas tubes are contained within the traditional-looking Garand-style frame.

The bottom-fed magazine also allowed the Wraith to add modern optics and attachments without fighting the old top-loading design.

As with many Hahl weapons, the FU-Garandly exists in both oxygen-only and space-rated versions. The original design was created for hunting the dangerous xenofauna of Kaer Hahl. The EVA-capable version came later.

This is often how Hahl weapons develop.

First, something needs to survive the local wildlife.

Then someone asks whether it can also survive war.

Usually, the answer is yes.

The second Wraith firearm we will discuss is the OFU-92.

The “O” stands for Original.

Yes, I am certain they do this on purpose.

For those of you new to modern firearms curriculum and Old-Earth weapon history, the OFU-92 looks very much like an Old-Earth Steyr AUG met an FN P90 at a bar one night and, after too many drinks, decided to make questionable decisions.

As always, the full specification sheet can be found in the Archive. This lesson is an overview, not an armourer’s bench.

The OFU-92 became a mainstay of Wraith military and security services, and later saw adoption by several other Hahl military and security forces. It is compact, reliable, easy to move through tight ship corridors with, and extremely comfortable for Wraith hands.

Those of you without Wraith fingers may find it less charming.

The OFU family is not, however, the preferred choice for EVA combat.

Now, children, ask yourselves a question.

What is worse than a Wraith deciding it can make something more terrifying?

Correct.

A Wraith and a Neko deciding it together.

The Neko have long produced a wide selection of tension weapons and gas-propelled weapons. These include hunting weapons, line tools, harpoon systems, and compact launchers adapted for low-signature use.

The Wraith looked at this tradition and designed an EVA repeating crossbow: the NO-FU.

That stands for Noise Obfuscated.

Yes.

Noise Obfuscated.

They absolutely do this on purpose, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Stop laughing.

Right.

Please, adult faces on.

Most people expect a muzzle flash in combat. Even in space, they expect some kind of firing signature: heat bloom, gas vent, flash, discharge trail, something for suit sensors to catch and trace.

A Wraith repeating crossbow gives them nothing.

No muzzle flash.

No heat spike.

No obvious firing angle.

Just silence.

Then the person beside you stops moving.

The weapon requires the muscle strength of a two-G adapted body or stronger to cycle properly, making it impractical for most baseline users. For Wraiths and other heavy-world or predator-line post-humans, however, it becomes an extremely dangerous EVA tool.

The Neko, not wanting to be outdone in their own field of expertise, developed a gas-propelled cylindrical harpoon rifle.

Again, this is not a toy.

In EVA combat, a harpoon weapon can puncture, anchor, drag, tether, pin, or disable. Used against suits, it can turn a person into drifting salvage. Used against equipment, it can rip tools, packs, drones, or hull-mounted systems out of position. Used against boarding targets, it can make movement impossible at the worst possible moment.

In atmosphere, such a weapon may seem primitive.

In space, primitive often becomes elegant.

That is the lesson you should remember.

Humanity reached the stars and did not outgrow old weapons. It learned where old weapons still worked best.

Rifles remained useful because bullets remained useful.

Shotguns remained useful because corridors remained narrow.

Ship lasers became terrifying because ships could carry the power and cooling systems required.

Vacuum-capable firearms evolved because heat, fouling, and reliability matter more when the environment itself is trying to kill you.

And in EVA combat, weapons many people would consider ancient — crossbows, harpoons, tension systems, gas-propelled projectiles — returned wearing new materials, new engineering, and old teeth.

Sometimes the oldest designs still have function in the future.

And sometimes they are more terrifying than the new.