Titanium Sabot H

The mechanical trigger hit the cartridge, giving heat to the few metallic sparks that erupted inside. The propelling compund, a careful mix of explosive and oxigen  sprung to life. Small molecules burst from the heat of the sparks, rapidly devouring the air they were floating in. In a matter of nanoseconds, the whole charge was spent, and the giant surge of energy split the cartridge open. It didn't waste much energy, so the inflation of the flue continued to push the bullet forward, into the rotating spiral of the barrel. The outer sheath of the bullet slightly melted, and took the shape of the barrel, allowing it full control over the motion. A few more nanoseconds, and the explosion given away all it's pressure, directly into the bullet, which accelerated to five times the speed of the ripples it would make in the air. It left the barrel instantly, further propelled and shaped by it, launching into the open. Some of the flue had escaped with it, with no containers restricting its inflation, giving a last nudge to the small projectile. The bullet darted through the relatively thick recycled air of the station, connecting on the metallic surface it was aimed at.

The outermost sheath heated up further due to the friction from the air, and the pressure poised by the armoured cloth. The heat dissipated quickly as the molten matter flew off the bullet, weakening the molecular structure of the armor. The cords started to split as the blunt and soft outer shell gave way to the second, hardened and sharpened sheath. Soon this layer of the bullet took all the heat that the tremendous force it was fired with caused upon impact, and its hot, pointy front combined with the polished surfae pushed it through easily. The second layer of the armor was more problematic. The ceramic scales that overlap each other beneath the clothing stood ready to take the energy away from the shot. The third sheath however, an incredibly dense but flexible metal compund broke the second sheath into sparks and caused the bullet to pivot slightly and turn around the edges of the scales, bypassing the resilient ceramics and breaking through right into the skin. The sheath was spent in the process, and the bullet had lost four fifths of its energy, but the sheaths had done their job and penetrated the armor. Now it was the shell's turn - there were nanofiber reinforced bones it its way. The hot metal burned through the flesh, and the volatile matter slowly took the shape of a waterdrop, it's titanium core tearing into the flesh and bones, finally stopping in the left chamber of the heart, leaving it essentially disfunctional, though neither of the other wounds caused by the projectile were bleeding.

Just about when the bullet passed through the last layer of the victim's skin, the Imperial Armaments 'Regimen' PER-60 started its recoil cycle. The barrel retracted in the bullet's wake, and the second round was lifted into position within the gunlock. The trigger loosened back as the murderer's finger released the trigger and the spring pushed it back into its place. Most of the kinetic energy from the recol was spent by now, and as the first ripples of yound started to emanate from the shot, the handgun returned to its previous position, no longer forcing the hand upwards.

The murderer, a certain capsuleer from a certain corporation looked at the target. The tripple-sheathed, high velocity Titanium Sabot H round did it's job well. He was thinking about the globalization capsule technology brought to the unverse. He just left his Jovian-made hydrostatic capsule in a Gallente station in Amarr space, only to be assaulted by an assassin of Intaki origin, who was probably working for a Caldari corporation, judging by his equipment manufactured by the Kaalakiota Corporation. The sidearm he used to protect himself was designed by an Amarrian corporation to fire rounds favored by the Minmatar, no less.

Interesting weapon, the IA 'Regimen' series. These sidearms were designed to use conventional explosive-propelled projectiles of 6 mm caliber, which aligns well with the corporation's core philosophy. It was no coincidence that the 6 mm 'H' series of traditional minmatar design fit well into this handgun. The logic there ould go like this: if you are out in the open, where you are prone to assaults, it is best that you have a reliable gun at your side, one which can be fired immediately with good efficiency and cheap charges. The mechanical firing method also came as a side effect of this - you can't jam a weapon that doesn't have microchips in it. Alas, the PER-60 could fire a nail if it had the proper cartridge.

The assassin was well prepared. Killing a capsuleer in his quarters would not necessarily dispose of him, but, especially if they last died a long time ago, could wipe a lot of memories out of them. What, however, he failed to register is this particular capsuleer's bad habit to be always alert and don't trust anyone and anything. That's how life went in New Eden.