HVs-2 hypervelocity gun

Hypervelocity guns (HVG) were fixed planetary defense weapons used against capital ships.

The HVG fired bursts of super-accelerated solid slugs at a rate of up to 120 slugs per minute. To protect the HVG against bombardment, it was protected by both ray and particle shield generators, which were buried underground along with the large power plant use to drive the gun and the generators.

The gun's slugs would penetrate a ship's ray shielding and quickly batter down its particle shields intended to absorb slower and fewer impacts. Once a ship's shields were down, the slugs would batter its armor, eventually rupturing its hull and causing depressurization.

While a formidable foe, the HVG had at least one exploitable flaw. To fire out from its protective layers, the gun's shields would drop in time for a burst of slugs and then rise again. If accurately timed, an overwhelming clutch of missiles could hit the remaining ray shield, overwhelm it, and allow subsequent projectiles to impact on the gun itself.