Fused Tech
Barbarians on spaceships! Remember them? My beloved barbarians storming the decks with swords and crossbows! They're getting an upgrade. As any barbarian will tell you arrows and bolts suck next to bullets. They just do. Being barbarians you can't always make the jump to full on assault rifles without a few tech level hiccups along the way. After all if it were that simple every planet would have a TL 15 store. The planet Peraspera in my Icy Shores setting had just this problem. While not up to even 21 century tech standards the locals were able to maintain and even expand an industry producing air crystals, a commodity that was prized in life support systems. This and low offworld funds for importing firearms made it a tempting target for raiders. The charges against several corporations for hiring raiders to encourage the Perasperans to sell their facilities cheap remain unproven. Without a lot of guns the Perasperans decided that they did not have to be impregnable t