The biblical verse just... fit the subject of this blog so well lol I don't support or condemn any religion or religious sect - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc. - and am not, myself, religious. The title was just... fitting and so I used it as a title.
Instead, I'll have to revert to integrated weapons. I took a page from bounty hunters I've hired in the past and seen in action and from a weapon design currently in existence upon a ship I won at auction once.
Throughout the galaxy, when confronted at close ranges by large numbers of foes, I've noticed that mercenaries and hunters alike revert to flame weapons in such situations. I did a bit of research and found that the use of such weapons is well founded.
It seems that all creatures fear fire to some extent. It's almost... primal in its purity. Some religious texts throughout the galaxy refer to it, legends all over include it, and at the back of the sentient mind it seems the ancient fear of fire and flames is all too clearly present. It is both a tool and a weapon.
I intend to use it.
The left gauntlet was the arm of choice for the flamethrower. Primarily because most sentients with two arms tend to be right handed or ambidextrous. That leaves the primary hand or limb free for using the primary weapon, leaving the left hand free for the secondary weapon.
The flamethrower features a twin nozzle design and the entire weapon and fuel source are integrated into the arm itself. There's no backpack fuel source to aim for, no exposed hoses or tanks to strike at. In fact, the system itself runs on solid fuel which is rapidly converted and projected from the arm itself. The pilot light is also internalized with a new and unique starting system.
Rather than an open flame which could give away the position of a wearer, the pilot light is instead a pair of micropanels inside the nozzles. When the weapon is fired, the fuel is shot forwards down the "barrels" and out of the nozzles. As the fuel passes between the micropanels, a high powered electrical charge is triggered and 'arced' across the inside of the nozzles. This ignites the projected fuel and allows the weapon to function as designed.
The flamethrower itself has enough fuel for a solid engagement and is simple to refill when needed at a supply depot. Just open the forearm housing, pop out the empty fuel container, and place a new one inside. Sure, you could theoretically carry spare fuel blocks out into the field, but with the other equipment, this will be too bulky.
The flamethrower has a rough, effective range of forty meters, but can easily reach out fifty or sixty meters, though the effectiveness is far less. The weapon's ammunition is good for a solid engagement if fired in bursts of flame, but when needed can give off a solid minute of fire before the ammunition is completely used up.
The right hand and forearm are the primary weapon of the armor. Some time ago I acquired a ship from Mandal Hypernautics in an auction. Aboard the ship was a unique weapon system the company designed for an anti-starfighter role. I took that concept and the concept of the far, far larger, anti-capital ship hypervelocity cannon I made a while back and scaled it all down.
The result was a miniaturized chaingun mounted into the forearm of the suit. It worked, it functioned, and the rate of fire was amazing. There was one problem, however.
It was bulky.
I had to have room for the cylinder of barrels, for the ammunition feeds, for the moving parts, the electric motor, and all the other necessary things for such a weapon. In the end, I scrapped the chaingun concept and instead opted to keep the same methodology, but with a different application.
I scaled up the ammunition a tiny bit and went with a dual barreled option. Twin barrels, side-by-side, mounted into the forearm. The weapon uses five millimeter caliber ammunition and is accelerated down the barrel by magnetic acceleration coils built into the weapon barrel. Since even railguns and mass drivers have recoil despite what the holoshows depict, I included a recoil suppression system into the forearm. The result is... Frankly, it terrifies me.
I've made starships capable of glassing cities and tanks capable of unimaginable destruction. I've made firearms designed to shred living tissue like paper and weapons that can turn a sentient into a red mist before they can even register their own death.
I fired this weapon at inch thick starship-grade durasteel and watched as the majority of the rounds punched through the metal like it was paper.
The recoil was barely felt, the accuracy was near pinpoint. The ammunition is small and easily fed into the twin barrels and the rate of fire is... terrifying. The weapon fires at around 1,500 to 1,900 rounds per minute with the two barrels and with proper maintenance and Tenloss ammunition, features a very low jam rate.
Maintenance in the field is simple and quick. Any jams are easily dealt with by opening the casing and clearing the 'tube' or chamber if the ammunition has somehow stopped feeding. While the ammunition is in pellet form for the rails inside the barrels, there is not failure to load in zero or low g environments as the integrated magazine features a sort of 'press' to push the ammunition towards the feeding system. Reloading is simple, easy, and quick. Open the casing, remove the 'clip', replace with a new 'clip', and close the casing. Once done, the ammunition automatically feeds into the weapon and the user can begin firing immediately. New clips are easily carried, but honestly if the user is careful with ammunition, the one clip should be sufficient for an engagement. Standard clip size is 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
I have given those who wear my armor the power of fire in one hand and the power of thunder and lightning in the other.