What is an A.D.E.P. rifle?
An A.D.E.P. rifle is an active denial electroshock plasma device.
The weapon is fired by a police officer in the clean urban fantasy thriller, Moondog and the Galium Satyr by Neil Mach.
The abbreviation A.D.E.P. stands for Advanced Denial Electroshock Plasma.
The A.D.E.P. rifle is a pain-inducing nonlethal weapon that's designed to elicit a behavioural change in the selected target, and is effective at medium to long range.
The rifle is outwardly similar (to look at) as the Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal F2000 (shown below) although the A.D.E.P. weapon has no cartridge ejection system because the rifle doesn't require cartridges.
In the urban fantasy novel Moondog and the Galium Satyr, an officer arrives at a crime scene equipped with an A.D.E.P. rifle and explains how the weapon functions: 'The beam, which rapidly warms and ionises gases around the target, generates hot plasma, and it's the plasma that produces a burning sensation (for the target) —the burning sensation lasts a split second...'
The officer suggests that the 'effect' of the weapon is 'similar to being hit, at long-range, by a Taser.' The officer also suggests the effect won't permanently harm a biological target.
The officer mentions that the A.D.E.P. plasma rifle is currently 'on test' with the British Ministry of Defence Police.
