Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Desolator Airstrike

Desolator Airstrike is one of the Voshkod's support powers.

Overview
"Clear the way comrades!"

-Desolator Bomber crew warning.

Super Reactors have a number of advantages, the most obvious one being the massive amounts of power that they produce. However, Super Reactors also have a number of disadvantages, among them the tendency to produce a green residue as a byproduct. Before long, it was found that this residue was extremely toxic, after an incident where residue from a Super Reactor that was being dumped in a nearby lake made an inspector who had tasted the water extremely sick, after killing off all the aquatic life and turning the lake water an unhealthy tinge of green.

In the wake of this accident, the Voshkod looked into ways of dealing with the residue safely. Treatment and safe disposal was dismissed on the grounds of cost, as was storage. Eventually, deciding that it was better (and cheaper) to just reuse the residue, the Voshkod tried to find some industrial application for it. Unfortunately, all of their attempts failed and resulted in the deaths of several dozen workers. Attempts by Runolf Heart to make the residue into a herbicide and fertilizer proved its effectiveness in killing off weeds. Unfortunately, the chemical also killed off all the other plants and made the ground unsuitable for growing anything, destroying the livelihood of a good many farmers and turning several acres of previously fertile farmland into a barren, poisoned wasteland.

In the wake of this disaster, it was discovered that Heart had managed to make the Super Reactor byproducts even more lethal, namely by concentrating it and adding several other substances, mostly industrial byproducts that factory managers had wanted to get rid of. Testing showed that this chemical could strip a rat down to its skeleton in seconds and dissolve the skeleton shortly thereafter. The Red Army was quick to recognize this compound's lethality, and it was eventually decided to weaponize it, as it would be a convenient solution to get rid of the Union's growing stockpiles of unwanted Super Reactor residue.

Nowadays, the residue is mixed with other chemicals in order to make a powerful cocktail, which is then pumped into bombs and chemical holding tanks. These are the same bombs that are used in the Voshkod's notorious Desolator Airstrikes, which are designed to disperse their deadly payload over the battlefield (various safeguards are built in to prevent the bomb from accidentally going off).

Such weapons have proven extremely effective against infantry, more so than other, older, chemical weapons, and can even corrode tank armor. On the other hand, they have resulted in considerable condemnation from the international community, which has called such weapons inhumane and a violation of protocols on chemical warfare. Generally, the Voshkod has disregarded these protests and continued their usage of Desolator weapons, though they have also been trying to reduce the amount of residue produced by Super Reactors.