User:Imperial Misanthrope/Plasma Cartridge

The Plasma Cartridge is a type of ammunition developed by ONI scientists after being allowed to borrow and observe plasma technology provided by the Imperium of the Sangheili Empire. The ammunition type is widely used among UNSC warships, favoured over the old-style ballistics because of its enhanced 'metal-eating' capabilities that all plasma weapons boast.

Synopsis
The Plasma Cartridge is a type of heavy ammunition developed for the use in MAC cannons, supposed to eventually replace the old form of ammunition that comprised various types of metal explosives. The Cartridge itself is typically 1-3 metres in length, has a diameter of about 0.8-1.4 metres, and is shaped much like an elongated bullet.

The Plasma Cartridge was first conceived in 2598CE during the Accidental War, as it was observed by Human military personnel that plasma had a much more profound effect on the Marionette ships that their standard MAC’s could offer, Energy Projectors being the only things that humans at the time could use to any great measure to damage Marionette vessels. The idea was that the MAC had enough power to force a projectile passed Marionette psychic defences, however their standard ammunition did not give enough damage. Upon seeing how effective plasma was against the invading fleets, a group of ONI scientists lead by Masashi Shikagawa looked into a method of adapting plasma technology more thoroughly into human weapons. This lead them to a postulation that plasma could be contained within something that could then be fired at a target.

By 2601CE, the team of scientists had successfully created a method of containing plasma within a shell. Instead of using already generated and rapidly degrading plasma stored within a containment unit, they created a method of storing a plasma generator within a shell instead.

By 2603CE, just before the end of the war, the Plasma Cartridge was ready for testing, and passed experiments with flying colours. Unfortunately the ammunition was not ready in time for the war, as negotiations began just a few weeks afterwards.

Mechanics
Despite popular belief, the Plasma Cartridge is not a shell that contains super heated plasma within it. For one, that is rather silly, as the plasma would eventually cool and degrade, rendering it useless. The problem of it burning through its container had been solved using a type of magnetic stasis field that activates upon the charging of the Plasma generator, causing all plasma within the cartridge to suspend itself off of its container.

The Cartridge instead contains a very small plasma generator, like those found in plasma pistols and rifles. The rest of the cartridge contains explosive metal casings, and a supply of Hydrogen gas that is ionized to form the plasma. The idea behind the cartridge is that when it is fired from a MAC, the generator inside picks up on the vibrations via a sensory node placed within the cartridge, activating it and causing it to super charge the gas contained inside into horrendously hot plasma. The cartridge will them strike the intended target, causing damage with the explosive inner shell, and then dealing the true damage with an explosion of plasma. With most targets this leaves a mighty gaping hole, the first successful test was on a scrapped Halcyon-Class Cruiser, were the Cartridge literarily snapped the ship in two, and melted away a decent chunk from where it had hit.

There are several fail-safes to this ammunition that make it less dangerous than one would expect. If the cartridge were to activate via a sudden unexpected jolt, the generator inside would ionize the gas and form the plasma, and the magnetic stasis would kick in. Eventually the formed plasma would degrade and become useless, though this does lead to a few blank shots. The magnetic stasis field is also supplemented. Between the explosive shells and the outer shell is a layer of coolant; should the magnetic field fail, the coolant would cause the plasma to cool down enough to cause at the most only minor burns to the outer shell, by no means has plasma actually leaked out of a modern Plasma Cartridge. This layer of coolant is expelled along with the outer shell when the Cartridge is fired.

Use
The Plasma Cartridge was in use in the Second Remnant Wars, proving extremely effective against Jiralhanaen ships.

Only one class of Sangheili Battle Cruiser utilizes this kind of Ammunition, as the Sangheili prefer the use of now modified and enhanced Plasma torpedoes and other plasma based weaponry to human designed Ballistics.