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Ey e str ain no t d ete ct a ble.
P l ea s e ali gn yo ur eyes wi th the c a m e ra.
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Verification successful. Eye strain patterns indicate you are Council 04.
Zeus Orbital Strike
The Zeus Orbital Strike is a top-secret project by the GSA. It uses a modified antenna, solar panels, telescopes and other improvised equipment to achieve its destructive capability.
A specialised Auxilary Solar Laser is in orbit around the Sun. Said laser has been modified from othersto gather its power from a much larger range of about [removed] square kilometres. It is concealed and is only meant to aid the Zeus. The Zeus then deconcentrates the beam by passing the laser through multiple reversed telescopes. The modified solar panels allow the light to be reduced to a shorter frequency by increasing its energy to the point that it becomes gamma radiation. Each telescope, coated in thermosium, has a 3-cm thick ad-stalinium lid - under normal circumstances it seems to be completely indestructible. The final telescopes concentrate the beam back into a single laser before firing it. Several real antennae are present for communication with the five bases involved in the Zeus activation. The last one communicates directly with a secret meeting room that the Council will be brought to in the event that The Founder deems it necessary to do so.
The Founder can activate the Electron Protocol at any time; the Council's 10 members will be brought to the aforementioned meeting room and all L3 personnel will be notified of the Zeus' existence. If the Council unanimously agrees to the activation of the Zeus and all the Base Directors of the 5 sites broadcast a 8192-character passcode to the Zeus, the Zeus can then be activated. The activation procedure is as follows: Auxilary Solar Laser 01 will point directly toward the first Zeus telescope or the input. The full Zeus will then be turned on. All the [removed] lids but the top 3 will be moved out of place to reveal mirrors which will be manipulated to direct the laser to the correct position. The modified antenna's outer shell will be removed to reveal a parabolic mirror. Finally, the 3 lids will be removed to activate the Zeus. A powerful beam (93% gamma radiation - approx. 0.3% visible light) will be released, reaching the surface in approximately 0.1 seconds.
At ground zero (without atmosphere or ozone) anything there will be exposed to almost 1 exarad of radiation. Most of the time, cells membranes will be instantly ionised and destroyed. The explosive power is meant to be extremely low but still rivals the power of the Tsar Bomba at the location where it strikes. The air around the beam is extrapolated to reach temperatures of up to 8000 Kelvin.
Considering Earth's ozone layer, the Zeus is likely to only achieve a fraction of its full power, therefore the radiation at ground zero is more likely to be around 300 petarads. A simulation shows that the distance required to be safe from the Zeus at full power is at least 100 kilometres, so by default the Zeus is kept at only 10% power. On a planet with no or an extremely thin atmosphere however, the Zeus may render the whole planet uninhabitable, potentially forever on bodies the size of the moon or smaller.
Recorded Uses
The Zeus has only been used once against a hostile species residing near ENC.
On [removed], a GSA ship suddenly lost contact with the operations base. 17 seconds later, a short 129-byte message was received:
Inf█erno 034-283 | Atta$k fro██p omssi█ble ███life | Cannot ho-&^#██###█$████████████
The Inferno 034-283 had been on a heat-mining test at ENC when the incident occured. Contact with the vessel was never restored and the remains were never found.
Observations by nearby satellites (which were subsequently mysteriously destroyed) indicated that antimatter weapons had been used in the area. Since it was deemed nearly impossible using human technology to launch antimatter to space, it was assumed that some kind of sentient hostile life was present near ENC. A signal (the International Human Identification String, or IHIS) was sent to ENC and no reply was received, confirming the presence of either non-human life or the absence of life - either way, no humans would be harmed.
The Electron Protocol was activated and the Zeus was rotated to face ENC. The Zeus was then activated. The resultant release of gamma rays was explained as a gamma ray burst.
One frigate was launched toward ENC with radiation protection. Only a few unknown parts made of an unknown metal were found which were returned to Earth. They are now stored at Base 01.
There are rumours that there may now be life at ENC again. The radiation has also mysteriously disappeared.
We might have an issue.
-The Founder