Five Nine Nine

For at least the last two hundred years, the finest high power rifles in the 'Verse have been made by one company: Ritter&Lau. They are legendary for accuracy and reliability and have been the premier choice for competition marksman since, well. . . Since they started making rifles. R&L has also made a line of military spec sniper rifles that, while not quite as accurate as their competition models, are some of the best that have ever taken the field. The sniper variant trades a fraction in accuracy and stability for even greater reliability and robust construction.

The milspec ones also, perhaps surprisingly, cost a good deal less than their competition models. But they're still a good deal more expensive than the more common weapons deployed with most field units. Thus, an R&L only went to the most lethal snipers or special operations units. Or, more rarely, to a soldier with a good deal more money then brains. And in that case, they'd usually opt for a competition model.

Me? I'd been rather fond of both of my Ritter&Lau 415's.

The R&L 599 could be considered the 415's big brother. It used a similar 'big charge pushing a small round' concept that made the 415 so lethal, but used a longer 20mm auto-cannon cartridge in place of the 415's 20mm base load. At a bit over 1200 meters per second, it's 13mm, 685 grain round generated around 32000 joules.

Like the 415, the round had a dead flat trajectory and could punch great gaping holes in targets a solid three kilometers off.

I just hoped the new 599 arrived in time. And, when it did, I hoped I would be able to get off one clean shot. It would have to be enough. Enough to punch through Ravish's armored brain box and put an end to the machine's attacks.

Assuming, of course, the Sappers didn't get to it first.