Anti-Gravity Accelerator

Conception
The idea for the Anti-Gravity Accelerator originated with Dr. Jareth Kin in 2559, while he was on liaison duty with the Sangheili. He theorized that by using Covenant based grav-lifts, objects of numerous types could be accelerated to speeds similar to magnetic accelerators. This idea was unpopular with the scientific community, but Kin pursued it nonetheless.

Initial Testing
To test his theory, Kin created a miniature model in his laboratory and copied it to computer databanks. There, he perfected the schematics and mechanics of his theory, running thousands of simulations, both computer and real-life based. Then, with a clear idea of his concept, and a working technical diagram, Kin took his designs to the one group that could fun a full scale version of his idea: ONI Section III.

Further Testing
Jareth Kin presented his ideas and designs to Section III, much to the intelligence agencies delight. Section III assigned a full team to build a working, full scale version of Kin's design, with Kin supervising closely. Construction began in 2561, and ended later that year, with the finishing of the full model. Jareth's designs were followed strictly to the letter, and secrecy was mandatory for all members of the project. Materials were supplied as needed, and huge amounts of classified technology were involved. Near the beginning of 2562, with the accelerator complete, testing began. Initial results proved that the device did indeed work as hoped. It was discovered that it could accelerate practically any objects to high speed.

Repeated testing showed that the longer the accelerator, and the more gravity lifts used, the faster objects could be accelerated. Tests showed that with a long enough accelerator, ordinary objects, not even metal slugs, could be accelerated to speeds matching, or even surpassing, MAC systems. Jareth Kin theorized that with an accelerator several dozen, or perhaps, hundred miles long, and with no air friction to slow it down, the accelerator could be used to boost and object to near the speed of light. When testing finished in 2564, the decision was made to outfit a small group of capital ships with new Anti-Gravity-Accelerator-Cannons, or AGACs, to test the combat potential.

Military Use
The ships of the small fleet were outfitted in shipyards around Earth, and were soon deployed. Roughly half a dozen ships, many of their captains were angered at the removal of their MAC systems with new, non-combat tested technology. ONI responded with the declaration that the AGAC was just as useful as the MAC, but were soon forced to eat their words.

The fleet was quickly found to be almost hopelessly crippled. It wasn’t the ships themselves—it was the AGAC. While useful in a controlled environment, the AGAC was soon found to be an engineering disaster. It was full of problems waiting to go wrong, and with the UNSC’s limited understanding of anti-gravity technology, they found it impossible to maintain and keep working outside of the lab. Very soon, the ships were fitted with MACs once again, and thus, the idea died slowly off.

Sangheili Experiments
However, while the idea faded away in the UNSC, the Sangheili took an interest in this new way to use their technology. Creating a lab inside an abandoned warehouse that had been established by human traders on Sangheilios to ensure secrecy, the Sangheili created their own accelerator. There’s was much more elegant, and was composed of the accelerator, which was made of numerous grav-lifts and grav-accelerators, and an outer shield wall. This design never entered the military.

Physics
The anti-gravity accelerator was vaguely similar to the MAC on it’s most basic principles, but differed wildly in many ways. The AGAC accelerates using banks of Sangheili based anti-gravity capacitors. Each of these capacitors directs a gravity field down a narrow shaft, which engages just over the capacitor, and pairs together with others to increase speed. As an object moves down a shaft, it passes over each capacitor, increasing in speed dramatically at each capacitor. By the time an object has reached the end of an eight capacitor accelerator, it is moving at roughly 3200 mph.