THE WEAPONS
THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE
The majority of the Alliance ground forces to be deployed would use equipment that had been battle tested repeatedly during the two years previous. The Riesig assault walker, the Orca MBT, the Groundhog II APC, the Mark-IV Orbital Assault Titan, the Mantis gunship. These would perform to expectations during the hard fighting of the occupation phase of the invasion.
For the initial phase, the ground teams would largely use standard equipment, such as the ubiquitous Avenger assault rifle, omniblades and omnibayonets, and the new Phalanx pistol. The N7 team would also take the standard ground-to-space ordnance coordination omnitools with them. However, given the needs of the mission, a number of specialised weapons would be used to assure its absolute success.
A-62 Strategic Bomber
The Alliance's primary relay-jump capable strategic bomber, the A-62 was introduced in 2162 as the first dedicated means of delivering humanity's WMD arsenal against the Turian Hierarchy during the tense years after the First Contact War. Until the development of the deterrence frigate and the relay-jump capable ballistic missile, it was the early deterrence against conquest by the batarians as well. It can be said that the A-62 saved humanity by merely existing in that dangerous early decade when she first explored the galaxy. By 2170 however, humanity's conventional and WMD forces had been upgraded to the point where the bomber was used more for stealthy orbit-to-ground artillery support, rather than the task of threatening to destroy worlds. It was in this role that it continued to excel, so much so that Alliance carriers from the mid-2160s on were designed to support a number of such craft.
The A-62 is about fifty metres in length, with a wingspan of about thirty metres, but otherwise resembles a downsized classic Alliance frigate with a rounded nose. The wings are not for aerodynamic purposes, but for weapon storage, and operate on a swing-wing system that retracts them over the fuselage for sub-orbital and atmospheric entries. It has four articulated-thrust engines at the rear and bow, an FTL drive core, advanced sensor packages, and a crew of four. It can carry up to 60 metric tons of weapons, ordnance, equipment and/or troops in a great variety of configurations. The aircraft itself has a very small thermal profile, making it ideal for stealth missions.
For the attack on Torfan, nineteen A-62s of No.617 Squadron would be deployed. Three would be configured for insertion of ground personnel by assault pod. The sixteen others would carry guided sub-orbital bombs, virtually undetectable at the time to sensors and extremely difficult to deflect even with the most advanced active defences of today. Large scale kinetic barriers are the only real defence against such devices.
The A-62 continues to serve with both the Alliance Army and Navy, its low cost stealth capabilities continuing to prove extremely useful in the chaos of the post-Reaper era.
Rorsch Anti-Materiel Rifle
One of the two primary anti-armour weapons carried by Alliance infantry, the Rorsch AMR, or RAM rifle, is the latest in a long line of railgun-type weapons first developed in the mid-21st century. Originally an electrically assisted, caseless sabot railcannon, the discovery of the mass effect turned the device into a weapon that could defeat almost any armour in a single shot, as long as the target was unprotected by kinetic barriers. With the development of disruptor ammunition, even barriers struggle to fully protect targets, particularly at short ranges. Torfan was to be the first battle which saw such a modification deployed in the field.
The weapon is not without its disadvantages. It is heavy, weighing in at ten kilos. It also a long weapon at 125 centimetres, a requirement to achieve the muzzle velocities that can penetrate most feasible amounts of armour at range. It is single shot only, the recoil system needing all available space within the weapon so as not to break the weapon and hurt the user. Its ammunition is non-standard, consisting of the round itself contained within a specialised heatsink. Despite these disadvantages, the need for an extremely powerful, long range anti-armour weapon remains a pressing concern for many armies. Alongside the Alliance, the asari commandos adopted it prior to the Eden Prime War. After the Collector Crisis, select turian units were also equipped with it, and salarian STG groups placed it under trial, ultimately finding it too heavy and large for their operatives to use it as a single-soldier weapon.
As a weapon against heavy infantry, even the most heavily armoured krogan was a sitting duck. Against the like of the Verush Heavy or the Jiris IFV, it was capable of penetrating armour and barriers, although it required several shots or a lucky strike to render them combat ineffective. Targeting crew compartments was a particularly favoured tactic of both Alliance snipers and asari commandos, usually starting with the gunner, followed by the driver and commander. This led to some vehicles being equipped with redundant barrier systems and ablatives around these areas, not greatly affecting the ability of the rifle to strike but moving the goalposts far enough for them not to be completely vulnerable.
Shepard would carry one of these terrible weapons onto Torfan, and would use it to spectacular effect. The weapon in question was sighted with a multispectrum scope, with a variable 14x-20x zoom, a side ironsight for emergency use, and a bipod with aim stabilisation buffers.
M-97 Viper
A semi-automatic marksman rifle developed by Rosenkov Materials, the Viper is the marksman's answer to the new era of kinetic barriers that began in the early 2170s. Essentially an upgrade of the existing Mantis rifle from Devlon Industries, the weapon was not issued widely in the Alliance military until the 2180s, when it became evident that the Mantis was entirely incapable of defeating both armour and barriers in an anti-personnel role with a single shot. The exception to this delay was the N7 Marine Corps, the command of which had a discretionary weapons budget that allowed them to cherry-pick the very best weapons, albeit in small numbers and according to what was available.
The Viper is cheap and highly effective, and the weapon saw service in almost every military, paramilitary and mercenary group in the galaxy, in a manner akin to that of the Avenger assault rifle. The Firstborn themselves would deploy a pair of marksmen with the weapon, but the rest of that unit's soldiers were not cross-trained in their use. This unassuming weapon would be responsible for the most kills during the initial phase on Torfan in the hands of Shepard.
Type 73 Tactical Cloak
A new innovation in galactic warfare, the tactical cloak saw some limited use in the 2139-45 Cold War, before falling out of favour with human forces due to the expanded use of thermal sensors. After Mindoir however, the Alliance DID's Special Weapons Division determined to upgrade the system and overcome its deficiencies. They succeeded, creating the Type 73 by combining and upgrading the old optical camouflage system of the Cold War era IT-33 with a new heatsink capability, creating something that could hide a soldier from both the naked eye and thermal sweeps. The downside was a shorter operation time than the older device, but the equipment could be used quickly and repeatedly. Heat from the sink was transmitted to the ground via the boot soles of the user or via radiators on the back of their armour, depending on the environmental conditions. Lastly, the new device did not emit the slight buzzing sound of the older device, allowing for close-in stealth actions.
The equipment was very expensive, and was required to be integrated into the armour of anyone who intended to use it, and so it was issued only to the very best marksmen in the Alliance Army and Navy. The First Legion and N7 Marines were the only combat formations to receive the device by 2178.
IL-29 Motion Mine
Developed in 2129 by the Pan-Asian Coalition on Earth, the IL-29 is a spherical anti-tank mine capable of laying in wait for targets and moving into their path based on a variety of sensory input. It was manufactured by the hundreds of thousands during the Cold War, and was adopted by all major Earth military powers in some form or another, most often through unauthorised copycat programmes.
With the discovery of the mass effect, the weapon was upgraded to allow it to 'bounce' or jump, greatly increasing its effectiveness against anti-grav vehicles as well as nearby supporting infantry. Its explosives coupled with an 'EMP' effect allows it to defeat many forms of defences. The mine's primary purpose is to disable a vehicle rather than destroying it outright, but when used in clusters, the weapon is more than capable of doing so. About half to two-thirds the size of a soccer ball, six of the weapons would be carried onto Torfan, each of Shepard's N7 team having two.
THE BATARIAN HEGEMONY
The Firstborn were equipped with Avenger assault rifles, kinetic barriers, a small number of marksman rifles such as the Viper, and batarian fragmentation grenades. For armoured support, they were provided with five Verush Heavies of the missile variation, a measure largely taken out of fear of enemy Orca MBTs and Riesig walkers. These were to be delivered by heavy lift shuttle for raiding operations, but the shuttles in question were destroyed during the Theshaca Raids, leaving them stranded on Torfan. None of the Firstborn were biotics; children displaying such talents were always snapped up early and deployed in the specialised squads attached to the regular corps of the External Forces.
The Torfan Hegemonic Militia were equipped with whatever could be found on the black market, and they were largely self-supplied in that regard. Thousands of early-pattern Avengers and even converted First Contact War era Lancers were most common, meaning that many weapons the militia would use hand been in the hands of Alliance soldiers a decade or so earlier. More modern models like the Vindicator were also represented in smaller numbers, mostly among exiled merchant caste batarians. Most fatefully however, the militia also got their hands on cheap but plentiful heavy weapons.
M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun
An almost brand-new weapon to the battlefields of 2178, the Revenant Light Machine Gun was the first real attempt by galactic arms manufacturers to overcome the rising prevalence of kinetic barrier technology in a man-portable package. As such, it was protected by heavy anti-copying software to safeguard Kassa Fabrication's investment in its design. Kassa, a human corporation operating out of Illium and Noveria, was keen to corner the market before similar weapons could be brought to sale, and would largely succeed until the introduction of high capacity, fast firing SMGs like the Tempest in the 2180s.
The weapon was not generally adopted by Citadel militaries due to its expense, but found plentiful buyers nonetheless. C-Sec would buy a number for their emergency intervention units and for precinct security. Terminus mercenary companies and krogan clans bought the most, the latter able to use the large weapon as a standard assault rifle. The batarians acquired a number through their Terminus allies, almost all of them going to the External Forces troops left behind after Elysium. The most intriguing user of the weapon was perhaps the geth, whom appear to have cracked its anti-copy programming, issuing it to their 'prime' units in large numbers alongside the heavier, slower firing plasma cannon designs they favour.
The Revenant itself is heavy and large, at seven kilos dry and 110 centimetres long, but its firepower more than makes up for those deficiencies. It possesses a variable fire rate, a minimum of 700 rpm for standard targets at range up to a maximum 1000 rpm for use against krogan and biotics. It uses standard heatsinks, and is capable of firing eighty shots before requiring a reload, a significant improvement over many standard assault rifle designs. With modifications, the magazine capacity can double, turning the whole setup into a medium machinegun, and such modifications were commonplace. Its factory output is less accurate than an Avenger due to recoil and its less delicate inner workings, but most of the weapons are equipped with aiming VIs that compensate for its large amounts of recoil.
One in three of the Firstborn was issued with a Revenant. The unit had absolute confidence in the weapon, and it was deemed a vital tool for a formation that knew it would often be outnumbered in battle. It would prove itself utterly lethal on Torfan, but its weaknesses as a pseudo-assault rifle in the hands of non-krogan would also be exposed.
M-451 Firestorm flamethrower
A weapon banned in Citadel space for 'exposing combatants to unnecessary pain before lethality', the Firestorm was and is extremely popular throughout the Terminus systems. Its utility in urban and jungle settings is highly prized, as is its ability to suppress the healing capabilities of krogan and vorcha, both of which are numerous in Terminus space. It is an old design, and has been copied so many times that the matter of who designed it first is disputed.
Requiring no large exposed fuel tanks, the Firestorm was the first flamethrower design that made the use of such a weapon viable and safe. It is capable of throwing flames to a maximum range of forty metres, though its optimum firing range is half of that. The fuel itself is a compressed mixture, often varying from supplier to supplier, which is lit by a guide-light on the front of the weapon as it exits the barrel. Most mixtures included some proportion of triethylaluminum, a substance that burns white-hot, making the weapon viable against heavier-armoured infantry and lighter vehicles.
No small number of Firestorms found their way into the hands of the Torfan militia, as they were almost as cheap as an Avenger to buy or manufacture, and their ammunition was even easier to come by than heatsinks. The primary planned function of the weapon was not to kill Alliance soldiers, but to lay down thermal screens in order to confuse sensors both in orbit and on the ground, a tactic that had shown much success on Elysium, Anhur and elsewhere. However, the use of the weapon in any role only increased the brutality perceived as necessary both by General Petrovsky and the ordinary Alliance trooper. The Firstborn would deploy no Firestorms, as they found the weapon dishonourable due to its wide use by those with low caste or casteless status.
ML-77 missile launcher
A semi-automatic missile launcher, the ML-77 was the poor man's anti-armour weapon of choice. Developed by and for the Blue Suns mercenary group, the designers soon left that company and founded their own arms manufactory, ML Concern, to sell the weapon for their own profit. Although protected by similar fabrication rights technology as the Revenant, the producers of the ML-77 aimed for maximum market share through volume rather than quality, and the weapon was sold cheaply to every single military power in the Terminus either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, ML Concern took a page out of the same book as the Avenger, and released ammunition fabrication plans for free, greatly increasing the number of clients who could buy the weapon.
The ML-77 as a weapon was highly versatile due to its design. Stacking numerous missiles into a tube one behind the other allowed for rapid fire, a feature that completely outclassed previous designs, including the human-made RPG-166 and the turian Tankfist. Furthermore, the missiles were capable of homing on heat signatures at a surprisingly long range, though the exact range varied according to model. This meant that the launcher could be used effectively, albeit not with complete effectiveness, in anti-vehicle, counter-sniping, anti-fortification, and low altitude anti-aircraft roles. The weapon was not without its faults. The heat sensors could be easily confused, and care had to be taken with regard to friendly fire as a result. Modern active defence systems, particularly the advanced vehicle systems deployed by the Alliance, were capable of swatting the missiles out of the air with a 95% degree of success, even at close range. They also had no ammunition modifications that allowed them to defeat kinetic barriers with anything other than the force of their impact and explosives. However, against heavy infantry and light vehicles, the intended targets that its designers had in mind from the beginning, it was more than capable of turning the tide of a firefight.
Other than the Blue Suns, whom were able to buy it at-cost due to their close ties with the designers, the weapon would find its way into the hands of the Eclipse, the Blood Pack, CAT6, the Grim Angels, the Talons, Aria T'loak's Omega group, the Quarian Migrant Fleet, the Geth Collective, and Alliance Planetary Defence Forces. Batarian forces had a small number of examples, preferring to rely on their own heavy armour, but the External Forces in the Terminus were forced by necessity to arm themselves with the ML-77 by 2178. Large numbers of the weapon found their way into the hands of the Torfan militia, for much the same reason they had large numbers of Firestorm flamethrowers; they were economical.