MSI Kubera Flechette Subgun

Identity & Overview

• Manufacturer: Maialen-Silenus, Inc. (MSI) — Small Arms Division (Mars, Pune Line)
• Model Name / Nickname: Kubera (street name: “vomit drum”, “needle-seat”)
• Type: Compact, high-rate flechette subgun with single-use disposable drum magazine
• Role / Use: Close-quarters suppression and terror weapon — designed to saturate a small volume of space with lethal micro-needles, deny movement, and collapse morale

Physical Description

• Overall visual: bulbous drum, curved receiver, and a folding wire stock with polymer/ceramic composite panels and modern rail segments for optics.
• Length (stock folded / extended): ~560 mm folded / ~820 mm extended
• Barrel length: ~160 mm (shrouded)
• Weight (empty): ~3.4 kg (weapon only) — with loaded disposable drum: ~5.1 kg
• Grip & ergonomics: Oversized polymer pistol grip; extended fore grip integrated into drum housing for two-handed control; rudimentary ambidextrous selector
• Finish: Matte black ceramic-cerium coating to minimize reflections; drum often stamped with factory lot and single-use warning bands

MSI Kubera — Price Estimate (approximate)

• Manufacturing / parts baseline (industry cost estimate): Raw manufacturing cost (materials, machining, basic electronics, factory labor): 8,000 – 22,000 cr (tantalum flechettes and sealed drum tech push this up vs. a simple polymer subgun.)
• Per-drum (single-use flechette drum):
• Factory retail (legit supply, small-lot): 3,000 – 8,000 cr / drum
• Black-market sealed drum (single purchase, no warranty): 5,000 – 15,000 cr / drum (higher if tantalum scarcity, lot tracing removed, or "special" flechettes are used.)
• Street / Market Prices:
• Gray-market sale (restricted jurisdictions, serialized/regulated units): 40,000 – 85,000 cr per weapon
• Black-market retail (de-serialized, modified, forbidden): 75,000 – 200,000 cr per weapon
• Typical gang procurement price (bulk buy + distributor margin): ~55,000 – 95,000 cr each (if bought in lots)
• Premium single-unit (one-off, “cleaned” with autodestruct drum or zeroed serial): 120,000 – 250,000 cr
• Rental / Lease / Short-term access:
• Hourly rental (illicit handoff; armed crew hire): 300 – 1,500 cr / hour (weapon + operator)
• One-day hire (with operator): 4,000 – 18,000 cr
• Disposable drum-only hire (drop & burn scenario): 2,000 – 7,500 cr / drum
• Modifications & Extras
• Criminal mods (light trigger, bypass selector, auto wire for full-drums): 2,000 – 12,000 cr
• Factory “stealth” batches (anti-forensics, autodestruct drums): +15% – 60% premium
• Smuggling/cleaning/serial scrub service: +20% – 120% depending on risk and buyer connections

Ammunition & Drum Magazine

• Flechette type: Collapsed tantalum 3mm micro-needles — short, dart-like projectiles designed to penetrate soft tissue and light armor at close range; engineered to tumble on impact.
• Cartridge: Caseless micro-packet; the drum contains pre-packed propellant cells and needle belts; drum designed to be consumed during a firing session and then discarded
• Capacity: 195 flechettes (single-use sealed drum)
• Magazine characteristic: One-time sealed drum: no quick reloads, no individual mag swaps — you swap entire drum assembly and discard it (drum auto-destructs/lock on removal in some black-market lots)
• Signature: flechette residue and micro-tantalum particulates leave a distinct forensic and EMP signature; drums often serialized for manufacturer recall (if law-abiding), but black-market lots are untraceable

Performance & Ballistics

• Cyclic rate: ~1,500 rounds/min (very high — designed for short, brutal bursts)
• Effective lethal range: ~0–5 meters (devastating at contact to very-short-range; beyond this range lethality and grouping fall off rapidly)
• Practical engagement envelope: 0–12 m for suppression; beyond ~12 m flechettes disperse and lose penetrative effect
• Muzzle behavior: Low-observable flash (propellant sealed in drum), but brutal directional blast and concussion in CQC spaces
• Recoil / controllability: Manageable for short bursts due to low individual flechette mass, but accumulates quickly because of rate; foregrip and two-handed stance mandatory

Modes & Controls

• Fire selector: Safe / single short-burst (3–5 flechettes) / auto short (0.25–0.75 s burst presets) / auto long (up to full drum) — many black-market units have long-auto wired for instant full-drum “vomit”
• Triggers: Heavy travel trigger to prevent accidental full-drum dumps; some criminal-modified versions replace this with light triggers for panic spraying
• Sights: Backup iron; factory micro-reflex; optional rail-mounted holo or short-range thermal reflex commonly added

Defensive/Forensic Properties

• Forensics: Tantalum flechettes and their caseless propellant leave a unique microchemical and particulate residue; trace analysts can link flechette signatures to lot groups and factory lots if drums are legal-sourced.
• Acoustic signature: High-pitched, rapid staccato—distinctive in any enclosed space; sound profile makes it easy for experienced troops to identify a Kubera attack even if vision is obscured.
• Counter detection: Drum-built cartridges are sealed to minimize smoke flag; still, the weapon throws particulates and heat that thermal imagers can pick up.

Failure Modes & Practical Problems

• Disposable drum dependency: If drum fails to index or contains production defects, the whole weapon becomes a paperweight until the drum is replaced.
• Overheating: Sustained long-auto dumps produce heat and warping; weapon can jam if used beyond its intended short-burst envelope.
• Environmental sensitivity: Flechette packs are sensitive to extreme heat/moisture; poor storage leads to misfires or erratic dispersal patterns.
• Mechanical fragility: Drum feed lips and indexing gears are often the first parts to fail; in crude battlefield conditions, this produces nasty hang-ups that are not fixable mid-firefight.
• Collateral hazard: Massive risk of friendly fire and civilian casualties due to spread and penetrating flechette behavior — not a precision tool.

Legal, Tactical & Social Context

• Legal status: Banned or severely restricted in most formal jurisdictions (martial codes, Bureau of Colonies ((BuCol) treaties). On the black market, Kuberas are uncommon among gangs, shock squads, and terror cells.
• Tactical use:
• Terror/room denial: Used by low-end terror cells and domestic shock crews to clear rooms quickly.
• Gang suppression: Deployed to scatter crowds, punish sleeping quarters, or intimidate rivals.
• Shock entry: Thrown into a choke point to break a formation long enough for boarding or extraction teams to pass.
• Social stigma: Considered a “coward’s weapon” by many veterans — indiscriminate and brutal. But feared and effective in slum warfare.