Meson Accelerator
The Meson Accelerator is a dual particle accelerator, designed for work with electrons and positrons. The collision of an electron and a positron creates a pi neutral meson. Mesons have short half-lives, which can be prolonged to precise duration by accelerating them to relativistic speeds. Mesons do not interact significantly with other particles, and matter is therefore transparent to them. By controlling the velocity of the beam, the mesons may be caused to decay inside a target, producing intense radiation effects.
The Meson Gun is a weaponized version of the Meson Accelerator, producing strong pulses of mesons desgined to produce maximum damage effects in a target. Most large modern warships have meson accelerators as their main weaponry.
Because the beam does not interact with rock, there are deep meson sites used for planetary defense. The sites are buried deep into the world's crust, and can defend against attacking ships with impunity. Unfortunately the sensors necessary for targeting and possibly the power source (detectable by neutrino emissions, if nuclear) are not as fortunate.
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