190 Chapter 190
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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Max changed quickly and got in the elevator to go to the Structural Labs on the floors above him, while Nico took off for the Testing Bays again to work on the new Crusader Class Mecha. He was getting more and more worried about what Nico had said, but he had determined to just ignore it, for now, at least he had until Lilith herself came up to talk to him.
"That little friend of yours is an interesting one, isn't she? You might not know it to look at me, but I also have an Alpha Ranked System Compatibility, only my Innate Talent and initial System Talents were all better suited to Lab work than piloting. I can sense emotions through the system, things like happiness, intrigue, and lust. But the only time she showed any sign of emotion was when the conversation turned to weapons designs." Lilith said gently as they rode in the elevator towards their station.
"She's always been like that. Ammosexual a lot of the Cadets called it." Max laughed, making Lilith smirk.
"That's a good word for it. I thought it might be a side effect of the conversion, but if she has been like that since the Academy, it must not be the case. Such an odd tiny woman. She told me a bit about your circumstances before we parted ways today as well. Don't worry, if you're truly interested in our little Moonie, Big Sister Lilith is right here to help you." The last part was whispered so that the other occupants of the lift wouldn't hear her, and it made Max's face blush bright red.
Nico might be the greatest wingman any Pilot could ask for, but did she really need to employ her assistance skills here? He hadn't done anything to annoy her, had he? Max clearly recalled the amusement that she got by sending debutantes to him during the events surrounding the recruitment of the 43rd Armored.
"I will keep it in mind, but for now, work comes first," Max said politely, then realized that Lilith could sense his emotional fluctuations far better than she could detect the inflection of his voice.
The team chatted all the way up to the lab, and Max learned a lot about this team. They had been together for two years now, and most of the ten were veteran researchers. Moonie had been pulled from an Academy in the Kepler Core worlds early due to her brilliant designs, and so was much younger than most, while Lilith was treated more as the team's work mom, or Big Sister as she preferred.
Like Major Payne, back at the Kepler Terminus Academy, her aging had been significantly slowed by the System, and she had been working in top echelon Mecha development for well over forty years now. She had twin boys, who were now long since graduated, and were Piloting Mecha in the planetary guard on her homeworld, but they hadn't inherited her System Compatibility, instead getting low Delta Ranked assessments that were passed over during recruitment thanks to their planet's large population.
Using family relations as a form of address was strange to Max, but he knew that it was common in many worlds. Calling friends brothers or sisters, respected seniors at work Auntie or Uncle. Uncle Lu was a perfect example, as most of the staff called him that way unless there was a good reason to be formal, like a direct assessment of their work. Sister Lilith was the same way, and a pitiful fate awaited anyone foolish enough to refer to her as Auntie. Max considered sticking with Major Lilith, but the habits of the team were quickly wearing off on him, and by the time they had the simulator set up three hours into their shift he had already fallen into the pattern.
"Simulation is up. Whenever you are ready we can begin initial function checks." Lilith called, bringing Max's attention away from his coffee and back to work.
Max booted up the simulation and found himself in a very spacious cockpit, with a familiar control panel, as well as redundant secondary controls of a Comor design that was dropped when they Allied with the Kepler Empire. Max wasn't fully familiar with them, but they were clearly labeled, so he thought he could figure them out easily enough when the time came.
The interior was as spartan as would be expected of a Military Mecha, but there was a bunk as well as an abundance of storage behind his seat, and the roof was high, making the interior have more of a feeling of a long-haul transport or a small cargo shuttle.
[Powering on] Max announced, flipping the switches one after another in the standard power-up sequence.
If things went wrong at this point, the coders were going to have a very bad day tomorrow, but fortunately, the mecha powered up, and the screens in front of Max came to life, showing the simulated view of a large training compound, the featureless default area where most alpha testing was done.
[Let's begin at the fingers and work our way up the arms first] Lilith informed Max over the intercom, and he moved through the joints one by one, making sure everything worked.
First the left arm, then the right. The Torso swivel, the main sensor pod, then down the hips, checking both legs at once.
With all the joints functional, it was time to check the Gyroscope programming, which would keep the mecha upright while walking or otherwise balancing on one leg. This is where they ran into the first problem. Max wasn't sure if it was coding or a hardware issue, but the moment he began to lift a foot, the other one began to sink into the dirt of the testing area.
The X137 was clearly a Super Heavy Mecha, going by the height Max was looking down on the ground from, even though he couldn't see much of the outside from his vantage point, so the weight would be over 150 tonnes. Without the anti-gravity plating working correctly it would sink like a rock almost everywhere it went.
The foot sunk up above the ankle joint, before the dirt below was compacted enough to hold the weight, but that was a definite fail.
[Weight distribution system shows fully operational, please adjust calibration.] Lilith informed Max, who dutifully reprogrammed the settings to increase the output.
After a reset of the surroundings to stock, Max attempted to move again and encountered the same result.
[Confirmed error in Weight Management activation. We will have to abort the movement for now.] Lilith's voice over the intercom in the simulator sounded sad.
[Try environment setting L18. It's a volcanic island, and the ground is sturdy enough to take the weight.] Max suggested.
[Not a bad idea. Resetting surroundings. Confirmed, begin gyroscopic tests without malfunctioning systems.]
The Gyroscope programming was so far off that the machine violently lurched and shuddered every time Max tried to move the legs until he eventually had to turn it off and put it into programming mode, while he moved the Mecha on his own.
That was the advantage of a skilled test pilot, being able to operate without all the usually essential functions, but even when the settings were reprogrammed the system still failed.
[That's enough for the day. We will all be writing reports for the rest of our shift, so the night shift can start trying to figure out what is wrong with the gyroscope.] Lilith sighed, beginning the shutdown countdown on the simulation.
X137 was an incredible Mecha, from what Max could tell, but it needed a lot of work.
191 Chapter 191
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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While Max was working through the frustrations of an all-new Super Heavy Chassis design, Nico was having the time of her life doing the live testing of the X109 Fast Attack Crusader. Built with the angular and humanoid design more common with Line Mecha, and sporting an incredibly powerful thruster array on its back, it could traverse terrain with incredible speed, moving at hundreds of kilometers an hour.
Any enemy that saw a wing of these Mecha coming at them would be rightly scared out of their wits, once they realized what they were seeing.
The Mecha was designed for close to medium range combat, with the new fusion flamer on its left arm, and a sword in its right hand, with an experimental disruptor cannon, mounted over its right shoulder. That was the truly fearsome weapon of the group unless you were in a light Mecha, which would be turned to slag in an instant by the fusion flamer.
The disruptor wasn't perfect yet, but they had found that the side effect of disrupting all electrical activity was just as valuable as the intended effect of breaking molecular bonds.
The weapon was powerful enough to shut down Mecha's reactors from three hundred meters, while at under a hundred meters, it would most often turn any armor it hit directly to ash. When it hit a biological being at a long distance, the radiation fried their neural systems and overwhelmed the body's electrical impulses, killing them instantly, with no visible warning. From close range, organic matter simply vanished in a puff of dust and escaping gasses.
It left no light, no heat, and no noise to indicate that it had been fired, so unless the enemy had a radiation sensor active, they wouldn't even realize why they were dying.
In short, Nico was reasonably sure she was in love.
[If we introduce a wavelength oscillation, I'm pretty sure that we can get the pilot, even if it is through the cockpit shielding.] Nico suggested to the Testing team, which only sighed at her sixteenth lethality increase suggestion of the day.
The problem was that they were all good suggestions, and she usually had some sort of data or algorithm to back them up. The same was true this time, and they added the code for the radiation wavelength oscillation to the simulation and ran it again.
The test started over, with a Line Mecha at five hundred meters, well outside the effective range for the weapon to shut down the reactor or damage the Mecha's armor.
The burst hit the mecha, and something that the team did not expect began to happen began to happen. The temperature of the water-based liquids in the cockpit, including the water in the Pilot's body all instantly spiked to over four hundred degrees Celcius, flash boiling them all to vapor and causing the Pilot themselves to explode.
Half of the team rushed for the trash can as their breakfast threatened to come back up, while Nico and two of the researchers cheered on the successful result.
[Effectiveness still degrades at an exponential rate with distance, but there is hope for it to be lethal against a variety of targets. Moving on to the Crusader Class Tests, and then we can start in on the alien and exotic materials testing.] The team leader announced.
Uncle Lu, who was watching from his office, raised an eyebrow in interest at this development. He hadn't thought about trying to find a radiation range that would penetrate the shielding on the cockpit. They were designed to reject harmful radiation of all sorts, but the Disruptor wasn't just radiation, it only emitted it as a side effect, and the particle beam itself was what was penetrating the shielding, and then emitting the radiation from inside the cockpit.
That meant that more work needed to be done though. If they had a weapon that could penetrate cockpit shielding, eventually someone would reverse engineer it. If they couldn't defend against it, the results would be disastrous.
There was also a more complex secondary problem. International treaties banned the use of weapons designed to maim or cripple. If this weapon was used in an uncontained manner, it could irradiate a huge area and cause widespread radiation poisoning, which was definitely against the International Convention on War.
Uncle Lu might not have known Nico too well, but he knew that the idea of using the Disruptor as an area of effect weapon would come up sooner or later, and he would have to make sure that no such experiments were conducted, so they could never be accused of designing a weapon capable of creating a treaty breach.
In the past, many Mecha reactors had gone critical, before the designs were modified to prevent such catastrophe, and the radiation from them wasn't considered a treaty breach, because it wasn't an intended effect of the power generators. If they didn't test the Disruptor as a dispersed beam, they could claim it was an unexpected failure if it happened in the future.
The Crusader Class tests were a failure until fifty meters or less, as the varied composition of the cockpit shielding stopped the beam well enough to prevent the targeted radiation emissions. That brought a sense of relief to Uncle Lu. A small upgrade to the cockpit shielding on these new Mecha would make their pilots safe from the side effects of friendly fire. If they could effectively shield the power systems as well, it would be possible to use the weapon with friendly Mecha in close contact, instead of treating it like an explosive weapon, not to be used with friendly units near the target.
Between the X109 and the X137, it felt like every item tested led to two more modifications that needed to be made, but they were coming along well. The Chassis of the X109 was nearly flawless, though lackluster in flight, and the X137 was actually functional by the end of the second week.
To Max, it felt like an eternity of minute changes and adjustments, but two weeks was an incredibly short period of time to rush a Chassis design to theoretical functionality by Mecha Development standards. Most new designs took a minimum of five years to work out all the bugs, and another five to be ready for the assembly line.
Uncle Lu had set a goal of six months to get both new Mecha ready for the first rounds of Battlefield Testing. Central Command had declared that the stalemate must end, so they needed something that would change the balance. Three new designs of Mecha, all with significantly improved capabilities and reduced manufacturing demands might be just the thing to overturn the balance of power, and not only put down the remaining Nobility Rebellions, but also deal with the Empire's more hostile neighbors.
192 Chapter 192
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The Kepler Empire was one of the closest habitable regions to the Galactic core on the south side of the Galactic Plane, leaving them one border largely free of threats, now that Comor had been brought on board, but they still faced great threats from their immediate neighbors, as well as threats from those further distant, who would cross the no man's land of the galactic core to look for new planets and resources.
To their east sat the Eagle and Trifid Empires, both of them were human territories named after the ancient words for their Home region. Both had formed near a nebula, for the abundance of resources, while the Cygnus Empire was named after a black hole that marked the outward southern border of their territory.
To the Kepler Empire's Northwest, at a bit of a distance, but still a significant threat because of the randomness of their violence was a sector of the Klem Territory. An Insectoid species, with a hive mentality, they were nonetheless just as powerful as a Mecha army and routinely stripped planets bare for their own use, then retreated to core hive worlds to feed their Queens and expansion efforts.
They had settled everywhere in the western region of the Galaxy, from close to the northwestern edge of Kepler, all the way out to the Outer Reaches of the galaxy. It wasn't a unified empire, but rather pockets of the species occupied by independent Queens, but the threat they posed to the Galaxy couldn't be ignored.
Southwest of the Kepler Empire, and sharing a border with the western edge of Cygnus, was the Tapani Alliance. Not generally considered a threat, thanks to their history of diplomacy, they still had a significant military presence.
The Narsians were rumored to have begun their existence in the far north of the Galaxy, and shouldn't have been a threat, except for their wormhole technology that opened portals to habitable worlds for them to invade. They had been found in every empire and sector that Kepler had come in contact with, except for the Death Wind Sector, which claimed that the giants had never been brave enough to attack their beloved hive of villainy and Piracy.
Compared to most of the Galaxy, the regions around Kepler were rather sparsely populated, but also highly aggressive. While Kepler had thousands of planets under their jurisdictions, there were Alliances in the Galactic East and North that had dozens of similarly sized Empires in their ranks.
Central Command envied them sometimes, so safe and insulated from threats, with the Fornax, Klem, Narsians, and others not bothering them, and good relations among their neighbors. But a large portion of the military command maintained that it made them weak and that one day they would fall, either from within or from an external enemy tearing their alliance apart with little resistance, thanks to their centuries of peace and technological stagnation.
It was true that weapons of war were much more advanced in this region of the Galaxy, but that wasn't always the deciding factor. For example, the Tion Fleet was known to build massive vessels renting from a hundred kilometers long to the size of a small moon, serving as wandering homes for their nomadic traders and intergalactic explorers. Once, long ago, their army was so mighty that none dared challenge them, and they ruled an entire quadrant of the galaxy by default. Then they started expanding out of this galaxy, and slowly their influence waned, until they only controlled a small region, but held an immense amount of respect.
When their world ships arrived in Kepler, they were greeted by every Planetary Ruler in the immediate vicinity, with full fanfare, despite the fact they were most often only there for a bit of trading and a vacation stop for their residents at a known safe haven.
The Kepler Empire's greatest worries right now were the widespread uprisings among the Nobles who thought the Empire had served its purpose, and the Klem, who had become comfortable in their settlements to the northwest of Kepler and were therefore beginning to run low on resources.
When the Klem began to run low on resources, they would send waves of pods containing an attack force towards nearby systems, and the ones that survived would bring back what they could gather once the planet was fully conquered. Infested was the word that the humans all used for the Klem worlds, given their insectoid appearance, and the difficulty of removing them once they had settled in.
That was the largest reason that Kepler wanted to get stronger in a hurry. If their human and humanoid neighbors kept attacking them, they might not have the resources to defend themselves against the imminent threat of the Klem.
But simply building up the military wasn't their only strategy. At the edge of the galaxy were a number of uninhabited regions that were known to have planets suitable to be terraformed. They were simply too far out, and of no interest to the nearest major forces, so they had never been developed. Central Command had been looking to them as a possible backup plan, settlements to be created in a peaceful region where they could retreat if things turned catastrophic for them at home.
It wasn't a plan for the majority of the populace, but then most of them would be fine no matter what name was on their empire. The same couldn't be said of the Military leaders and members of the Royal Family.
Uncle Lu's timeline of six months was the minimum time that Central Command expected peace with Cygnus to last, as well as the minimum time before the Klem attacks were expected to begin on the furthest outlying planets in the Empire. Unfortunately for Uncle Lu, and the people of Comor, their system was one of the closest to the Klem, and unfortunately for Max and Nico, Kepler Terminus was between Comor and the Klem worlds, since it was a frontier planet at the very edge of the Empire.
So, the race was on to see whether they could reinforce the military and political situation enough to stabilize the Empire, or whether they would be facing attacks on every side again by the end of the year.
193 Chapter 193
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Initial testing was going far better than anyone had hoped, thanks to the in-depth analysis of the design teams and the modular nature of the design process. In only two weeks, functional testing on the X109 had finished.
That meant that the X104, its predecessor that had been designed without the rapid movement thruster pack, was able to be brought back to the testing lab, and rebuilt with all the upgrades that the X109 had received.
The X104 was a direct replacement for the Redemption Pattern Crusader Class mecha. Standing fifteen meters tall, it was on par with the height of the Cygnus Reaver pattern Heavy Mecha but lighter and more graceful. This was why it was initially scrapped as the Main Force Mecha; the reductions implemented to reduce material cost made it too fragile for the rigours of combat, at least in the eyes of Command.
The introduction of the new Tarith Pattern Void Shield, as the Lab had named the design after Nico who introduced it to them, meant that any heavy or Super Heavy Mecha could now take multiple direct hits without severe damage, so the extra layers of ablative armour were no longer necessary, but larger power plants became essential parts of every new Kepler Mecha design.
Since most of the new weapons also drew an immense amount of power, this was a winning solution for the Comor design teams, who had been hard-pressed to justify their weapon's power requirements.
Max had moved into testing the primary weapons of the X137 Super Heavy, a pair of upgraded Ion Bombard Arrays. With fifty percent higher output than the original but keeping the three-barreled design, these weapons were a modern classic, instantly beloved by everyone who used them.
Because they were based on such a venerable design, there was very little that could go wrong with them, other than a few power relays that needed to be upgraded, so they didn't overload during rapid-fire situations.
The decision was already made that the X137 would be going to live testing at the beginning of next week, once they had the first functional prototype chassis constructed with the final design.
They had already started building everything but the primary weapons, which were still in testing. Still, programming all the Materials Printers to create the new parts was a monumental task for every new Mecha since the final code would be sent to an entire planet's factory facilities for mass production once testing was done, so no errors were allowed.
Instead of going for a monumental level of shielding, the way that the Phalanx Class Mecha did, the X137 had gone with five layers of the standard Shielding unit used in the other X series Heavy Mecha. That gave it enough shielding to take blasts from other Super Heavy Mecha, but it also reduced the vulnerability to massed Heavy Mecha.
The incoming fire would overload the shield generators one at a time, so unless they could get them all down before the first one came back up, it could weather the firestorm. Units like Shining Darkness had a known weakness where they could be targeted for up to a dozen seconds after the shield had been taken down, though actually getting the shield down in the first place was not an easy thing to do.
This also meant that the shield for the X137 could be easily found if the unit was damaged. Every Heavy Mecha in the new lineup used the same one, so they could be scavenged from fallen units when a unit was in need or short on materials. That was a massive benefit over the Ancient design of the existing Phalanx Class Mecha's shielding systems.
There would also be additional weapons created for the X137, though the initial test run would only offer this single artillery variant. It was the same with the X109 and X104. Though they shared the same basic chassis, each mecha pattern would be built with a single purpose-specific layout. Once they were in the field and fully tested, the patterns could be easily changed, based on the need and the supply of spare parts, as the Military currently did with the Redemption Pattern Crusaders.
This new level of diversity would be a challenge for some Commanders, who believed that more Heavy Mecha was the answer to everything. The Corvette Class units had proven themselves to be highly lethal well beyond their predecessors, and the new Super Heavy Unit was such a rare addition that most Commanders weren't even used to trying to factor one into their plans, leaving it mostly to the esteemed Pilots of the Super Heavy Mecha themselves.
Since they were usually Generals, this actually worked out for the best in most situations but if there were going to be multiple Super Heavy units in a Regiment, it would no longer be practical to elevate them all to Generals and have them become independent Command Assets.
Despite being purpose-built, the X series was pretty versatile. The X109 Fast Attack and the X104 both had a pair of Chassis mounted pulse lasers to defend against infantry and light threats, while the 137 paired four of them with two small missile pods that would fire either fragmentation or smoke charges.
The extra cover on the battlefield could be offensive or defensive since the smoke contained long-burning metallic sparks that confused heat sensors. You couldn't see in with conventional sensors, but those in the smoke would also have a hard time seeing out with their sensors, giving an advantage to the Thunder Cannons and their area suppression.
The single largest change to the force was the elimination of the Line Mecha. Instead, Uncle Lu intended that they would be replaced with the Archangel Pattern exoskeleton suits. The winged and heavily armed version of the [Tech Adept Toolkit] that the lab technicians initially didn't care about.
With the light shield generators, they were more durable than the old Line Mecha, plus they were faster, just as heavily armed and could fly. Not particularly well, at least not compared to an actual airplane, but between the wings and the anti-gravity plating, they could maintain one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour over all terrain, keeping up with the X109.
The only significant limitation was range. To save on production costs, they ran on Plasma Cannon power cells. Under optimal conditions, they could go 72 hours without charging, but taking damage would directly reduce that since the shield ran off the same power source as the unit.
Light weapons fire was no big deal, but a hit with a Plasma Cannon or other weapon from a Line Mecha would drain ten hours' worth of charge and temporarily overload the shield. Of course, that same shot could kill or cripple the old pattern Line Mecha, but it was still a common complaint during testing.
In the next run of the Comor pattern Corvettes, they were also getting the light shield from the Exoskeleton. The Comor Pattern Corvettes that had been sent to Max and the rest of the units with Noctem Regiment were the first round of live fire tests for the design, and the new shield designs had necessitated a change to the final design.
The units already in circulation had performed admirably, so they were left in service until the soldiers that were using them came up on their next retirement phase in a few years. The footage collected of the first set of Comor Pattern Corvettes would also confuse the enemy about the capabilities of Kepler's next-generation units.
The smaller they thought the improvement was, the heavier the casualties they would take when the final product showed up.
Even though everyone was disappointed that the exoskeletons weren't going into full production, Max didn't fail to notice that the new Archangel Pattern exoskeleton testers, which physically only covered the arms, lower legs and upper back, with a light frame joining the legs to the upper unit, had all been female. How the Corvette Class test pilots managed that was a mystery, but seeing the tight pilot suits flying around the testing area, Max at least understood how the suit got its nickname.
Chapter 194 Live Testing Begins
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Time seemed to fly that week as Max eagerly anticipated the physical testing of the X137 beginning.
Data analysis of the System Skills of Crusader Class Pilots showed that under two percent of them should be capable of meeting the acceptable standard for individually using the Super Heavy Mecha, which was determined to need a minimum targeting ability to exert simultaneous control of at least three weapons, but preferably five, so that the artillery battery could be individually aimed. For perfect control, nine separate weapons needed to be used at once.
Similar to the issue that the Phalanx Class Mecha ran into, that was too many weapons for almost all pilots, so they added automated defense protocols to the lighter weapons, to deal with nearby threats, while the pilot dealt with the serious ones.
Still, one in fifty was a lot better than expected and meant that they could easily field an entire wing of them with most mechanized regiments. Most regiments currently didn't have any Super Heavy Mecha in their numbers, and their presence would be a turning point for many battles, without creating a higher class of Mecha that would create an arms race.
The team all looked a little depressed under their excitement when Max arrived at work that Monday. The mecha was ready and standing ready in all its glory, so Max didn't understand why they were so glum until he overheard that the Archangel Suit had been sent back to the drawing board. Central Command didn't trust the shield in place of conventional armor, so it was being relegated to the pile of fun ideas that the top brass didn't see the genius of.
Its construction requires under five percent of the materials of a Line Mecha as well, so the project being mothballed was seen as a travesty by the scientists. Uncle Lu was already making new plans for the project though, removing the wings, adding chest armor, and reducing the anti-gravity capability so he could market it as a new armor for Infantry Special Forces.
The full armor the Special Forces used now was expensive and hard to store, so he thought he might still get the exoskeleton to the battlefield that way.
That left them one unit type short of a standard deployment, so a Line Mecha replacement was in the works. Like the original, it would be bare-bones and basic but would equip light shielding and have better mobility than the old pattern.
"What do you think, the humanoid or the transport pod on legs?" One of the X137 team asked Max, who was filling out a questionnaire for pilots about which design to prioritize.
She had a point, the second design did look like someone placed an armored hovercar on a Sentinel chassis. The first one was stylized to resemble a warrior in layered lamellar armor, with the pilot in a semi-seated position in a cramped torso.
It might not be the most practical thing he had ever seen, but it was just plain cool. Max checked the box for the human design, then looked at the comments section and added his personal recommendation.
[It needs a sword. I recommended not sending them out without a sword.]
That would be much better in Max's mind. Even his somewhat unconventional common sense knows you can't make your Mecha look like an ancient warrior and not give it a sword.
The layered design was supposed to take more damage before failing and was easy to replace in modular units. At least, that was the Lab's official position on the reason that design won.
The size and very human dimensions reminded Max of a Narsian commander instead of a Mecha, though. It was a bit unsettling for someone who had fought against them, but he couldn't deny their combat effectiveness. Mimicry was the most sincere form of flattery after all.
That design would take some time to be ready for testing, so the majority of the design teams were focusing on what was almost prepared, with a plan to leave Line Mecha pilots entirely out of the first deployment if they couldn't get a new design ready. There was still some hope, but Command had rejected every replacement for the Line Mecha that the lab had sent over the past few years.
Lamellar mecha was very cool but highly likely to get a summary rejection once it met a bureaucrat's desk.
"Forget all that. We can still play with the exoskeleton suits ourselves. Let's get this X137 powered up for the first time and see what we've got for glitches and bugs." The head of the live testing unit called out.
Max could see that they had an audience above them. Sister Lilith, Moonie, and the others from the chassis and weapons design teams were all here to watch as Max brought the X137 to life for the first time.
"Main power is online. Diagnostic Displays are online. Sensors are active." Max narrated the bootup sequence.
"Power plant active. Hydraulic pressure in range. Control diagnostic shows no errors." The second step of the startup sequence was now done, and Max waited for the computer to run the scan of the weapon system electronics.
"All green. X137 reads good to go."
It was official, the Kepler Empire's newest Super Heavy was ready for live testing.
The whole sector of the lab stopped working for a moment as the supports were retracted, and the X137 stood under its own power for the first time.
"Begin testing with arm movement. Right arm up" The lead tester ordered, his tone all business despite the festive atmosphere.
"Arm response is within parameters," Max announced as the limb came up to shoulder height.
"Lower arm to the default position and repeat with the left."
Max gave a little wave to the crowd before lowering the limb and repeating the process.
That upset the humorless researcher more than Max had expected. "Was the wrist motion a system error or a user input error?"
"I have it recorded as an unscheduled dexterity test Lieutenant. Arm motion shows within parameters." Max answered, smirking at the glare he was getting from the team leader.
"I will remind you that this is my test bay, Pilot Max." Lieutenant Bean, the humorless man in charge of this bay almost snarled over the speaker as his team laughed at him.
Ever since he found out that he was going to be a testing bay leader during the last employee review he had been insufferable, and everyone on the team was about sick of his attitude. Max just thought he needed to lighten up a little and he should be alright.
Up to fifty percent of employees were shuffled every six months based on their evaluations to encourage productivity. After the bi-annual review, he was in that group, and four months ago he was brought down to practical testing to lead a team whose leader had a poor review.
It wasn't going well for him, and he was likely to be shuffled again early, or be demoted from his new leadership position at the next review two months from now.
Max spent the first half of the day trying not to make life hard on the hapless man as he gave imperious and redundant orders to his team. The bystanders were looking at him with more and more disgust until finally Sister Lilith had enough and stomped into the bay to drag him away for a talk.
"Break for lunch. It's only ten minutes early." Max called, as the senior officer in the bay and put the Mecha in standby mode, waiting on his unlock code.
"Major Max, how about one more lunch with us?" Moonie called sweetly as Max climbed out of the Mecha and hopped over to the catwalk. She had a slight blush on her cheeks when she asked, which Max was certain that any man would find hard to resist.
She was a sweet girl, and Max was going to miss being in her department, so he didn't even think about turning her offer down.
"I ordered a full lunch spread to the bay for all the spectators." Sister Lilith announced, coming back out without team leader Bean, but in a much better mood than she had been in a few minutes ago.
Max had heard that Lieutenant Bean didn't eat lunch with the team, which was very strange in this lab, and coupled with his attitude, Max decided that it was enough to flag him as a suspicious person of interest, with a note that he was a high likelihood for disgruntled employee malfeasance.
Max would have to do up a full report to justify his suspicions, but something about a scientist who was hostile to his own research team just didn't seem right to Max.
Chapter 195 Lunch with Moonie
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The bay was quickly filling with scientists eager to see the new X137 in person. Sister Lilith had ordered more than enough for everyone, which only encouraged more people to come over, and even the sports field-sized bay wasn't going to be enough to hold them all.
Max quickly spotted Nico, who was wearing one of the Tech Adept exosuits and gesturing with the whiplike articulating limbs as she discussed something. Max was surprised to see that they had given up on the crane-style arms so quickly, and moved to the flexible whips, despite the complexity.
Nico came over as soon as she saw him, giving Max a fist bump and hugging Moonie with her additional arms, making the shy scientist giggle.
"After spending so long designing the chassis, I bet Moonie would love a tour, wouldn't she? Why don't you two head up there and I will bring you lunch?" Nico suggested, and Max could see Sister Lilith wink at him.
"That sounds like a great idea. What do you think Moonie?" Max asked, hoping she would say yes.
She nodded nervously and blushed, so Max was going to lead her upstairs, but Nico suddenly picked her up with the suit's extra arms.
"You can climb. I'll bring your princess." Nico teased, slowly floating up toward the door using the exoskeleton's levitation function.
With a leap to the knee armor, then the left Weapon arm, and a swing to the side cockpit door, Max was up well before they were. This door wasn't often used by the Pilots, but if you didn't have a three-meter or greater vertical jump it was annoying to lower the ladder so you could use the top exit, meaning that the side door was the entrance of choice for scientists.
When Max stepped inside to help Moonie he saw that the Mecha was already filled with lunch for two, including drinks and dessert, as well as a tablecloth over the flip-out table and a set of red and white bedding on the bunk.
The interior lighting had been set to a soft red glow, and there was music playing. Those two were definitely Nico's doing since Max has locked the systems when he left.
Though it was designed for one pilot, there was enough room that they had built in some comforts, enough for the two of them to sit comfortably at the table anyhow.
"I, um wow this is amazing. I've never been inside a real one before." Moonie stammered as Max led her by the hand to the bunk, which was the intended seating position to eat at the table.
It shifted back to form a couch but had been left in the down position, likely so Sister Lilith or whoever arranged this could make the bed.
"They really went all out." Max agreed, sliding in next to her and taking the covers off their lunch.
'Steak and lobster with roast corn? How did they even obtain that at lunchtime?' Max wondered while Moonie blushed.
"Sister Lilith went too far. But it looks good, so we shouldn't waste it." He told her with a smile, and she slowly nodded, while taking in the cockpit.
"I don't recall the mood lighting being in the design parameters, plus, this bed definitely isn't regulation." She blurted, then covered her mouth.
Max didn't mean to listen in on her thoughts as she mentally chastised herself for talking about work. Sister Lilith had helped her plan for days, but she was so nervous that the first thing she managed to say was about work.
Max set a hand on her thigh and offered her a bite of food. "Relax, breathe. You're doing just fine."
Her thoughts to a definite turn from work-related matters with the feeling of his hand against her leg, but it did help clear her mind.
"Have you ever played 3D Chess?" She asked him with an excited expression as they began to eat.
Max has only ever seen the game advertised. He had never even seen the board in person before, but it looked like a great mental challenge.
"They preferred shogi in my neighborhood. Maybe you would like to show me how to play sometime?" Max asked and her face lit up with enthusiasm.
"I would enjoy that very much. Nobody else wants to play, but you are amazing at targeting calculations, so you should be really good at chess." Moonie told him with a gleam in her eyes.
"We could play after our shift is finished unless you have other plans?" Max asked, trying to extend this lunch date into something more.
"I never have plans, we can play all the time." She agreed, and Max briefly wondered if he had gotten himself into more than he could handle. But, listening to her thoughts, she was berating herself again for being socially awkward, not realizing that Max wasn't much better around women than she was around men.
When they finished dessert Moonie leaned against Max's side and sighed with contentment, but her face held a look of concentration as she built up her courage.
Her thoughts were practically screaming at Max, he couldn't tune them out even if he wanted to, but Max was thinking the same thing, and it didn't need more words. Placing one hand behind her head, Max leaned in close and placed a deep kiss on her lips, gently laying them both down on the soft bed.
Outside the Mecha, the celebration ran well past the standard lunch break before the stricter researchers chased their teams back to work. Then the bay staff had to clean up before the next round of tests to eliminate foreign object debris hazards, but Nico and the test crew for the X104 Heavy Mecha stayed to help, as well as Sister Lilith, though she sent the rest of her team back upstairs.
Lieutenant Bean had returned by the time the bay was mostly cleaned and was frantically tapping at a data tablet, trying to get the test data back online so that the experiments would be ready to go the instant the bay was prepared.
[Major Max, are you in the cockpit? The cameras are down and I am locked out of the sensor data.] He demanded, bringing Max's attention back to his job.
He placed a finger over Moonie's lips to remind her to keep silent as they sat up and straightened their rumpled clothes.
[I am in the Mecha, Lieutenant. Everything checks out at my end.] Max answered while Moonie hid her smirk at the faint marks on his neck and collarbone.
[We can proceed as soon as the bay is clear.] The Lieutenant informed him, and Max looked outside to see everyone from lunch had already left.
"Have you ever been part of a live test?" Max asked, focusing on Moonie's soft red lips. One extra observer wouldn't hurt anything, and her team was between projects for the day. It was the perfect excuse to spend a bit more time together.
Chapter 196 Suspicious Transmission
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
They had just started the afternoon's movement tests when more visitors came to interrupt their day.
"Lieutenant Bean, kindly pause all testing activity. The servers have logged an unauthorized communication from this location and we are required to investigate." A Major from the lab's Military Police directed, accompanied by no fewer than twenty other officers, including specialists from the Anti-hacking team.
"You idiots had better not have been on social media at work." Lieutenant Bean complained, and Moonie began to panic.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't her workstation and she wasn't supposed to be in the Mecha during testing. Max didn't look worried though, so she began to relax a little. Unlike her specialist rank of Lance Corporal, Max was a Major and a Pilot. He could get away with some little breaches of the standard protocol using personal initiative as an excuse. The enlisted personnel didn't often get that luxury.
Max opened the side door for Moonie and smoothed out her hair a little before lowering them both down on the chassis winch, gently dropping them to the ground.
"Come see me tonight with your chess board," Max whispered to her before she scurried over to where Sister Lilith was looking at her with a mixture of motherly pride and understanding.
"Everyone present, please place all electronic devices on the counter and empty all pockets." The officers instructed.
That amounted to wrist devices and a few markers and data tablets since they all checked their outside items into lockers at the start of their shifts.
One by one, starting with the most suspicious group in the officer's minds, the two from the Chassis design labs, they went through everyone who was not from this bay, then scanned them all thoroughly a second time.
Lilith and Moonie were all clear, as were the team from the X104 project, though they spent quite a while doing a diagnostic on Nico, who had internal communication capabilities.
Her logs didn't show anything, and the scan determined that the signal definitely didn't come from her internal transmitter.
About half of the researchers had an augmentic implant for either data processing or calculations that the human mind was not great at, and they were all scanned without incident until the officers double-checked Lieutenant Bean.
He had a data tablet still in his pocket and the officers were not impressed.
"Hands behind your head, fingers laced. Care to explain?" The Military Police Major demanded harshly.
"I just forgot it was in there. It is a lab issue tablet." He insisted.
The officers searched the device, then confiscated it for further inspection. Only Max, Nico, and Moonie got their wrist device back, as they were all standard military issue models and easily searched, the others were gathered for additional inspection.
"This bay is closed for security investigation. Your continued presence in the security offices may be required at a later time, please don't leave the secure area." The Military Police team instructed before directing them to the catwalk and out of the bay.
"There is a break room by the change rooms. We might as well go wait." Nico suggested, leading everyone out of the main testing area, while still wearing the experimental exoskeleton.
"Shouldn't you take that off?" One of the members of Max's team asked.
"We're doing long-term usage testing. The four of us are wearing them during our entire shift for the next week. We needed more data on task assistance and interference before making them general issue." Nico explained, pointing toward the other members of her team who had tucked the extra arms tight to their bodies when not in use, while Nico kept two of the six active as extra appendages.
While Nico preferred the more flexible side limbs, the others seemed to prefer the crane arm that extend from the top for grabbing and holding things in front of them. They had also used the extra appendage to hold their lunch plates and found that it made an excellent improvised table.
If you loop the flexible arms behind your back you can sit comfortably on the couch." Nico suggested, gently settling down on one and grabbing the remote for the television.
The room had a simple flat screen instead of a holoprojector, leaving more space for seating. There wasn't much to talk about when everyone was suspicious about a traitor in the room, so they all relaxed and waited for the next few hours while a comedy movie played in the background.
One after another, they were called away by security to give a report, but none of the members who were called returned afterward, so the researchers in the waiting room couldn't get any additional information and just had to suffer the boredom and anticipation.
Finally, it was Max's turn and he was brought to a room where Sister Lilith, Moonie, and Nico were already waiting along with Uncle Lu and the Testing Lab security chief.
"We have cleared you four as non-suspicious, due to video surveillance of your locations at the time of the incident. The signal originated from somewhere in the lab, but not the Mecha, which clears Major Max and Lance Corporal Moonie. Lilith was on the catwalk at that time, and Major Nico was at the garbage disposal, away from all communications devices." The head of security informed him.
"Could it have been a delayed signal? A lot of people were in the lab over lunch." Max asked, unsure what sort of signal was sent.
"We are investigating that now. We gathered you all here to clear you to return to your duties tomorrow. Live testing of the X137 has been transferred to the team under Sister Lilith until further notice. Major Max, you are still the lead test pilot on the project."
The security officers left and Nico smiled at Uncle Lu. "We're all cleared because we didn't have to send anything from the lab if we wanted to take the data, right?"
Uncle Lu nodded solemnly. "You all have had full access to the data, and were mostly unsupervised through the initial testing phases without a breach. The signal was intercepted and never left the lab, thanks to our security measures, but it only contained a short video clip of the mecha in motion and a bit of basic data from the morning tests."
"Wait, how did Nico get access? She's not on this project." Max asked, confused.
"She is working directly with me on the shield generator project, and we had all the new designs open." Uncle Lu shrugged, reminding Max of all the time they spent talking about technical details.
He was certain neither of them had taken a full night's sleep since he arrived here, but that didn't surprise him at all. Those two valued a good night's rest far less than he did.
Chapter 197 197 A New Atmosphere
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Once they were dismissed, Max headed back to his apartment to freshen up in hopes that Moonie would still be coming over to play chess tonight. First a shower, and his best casual clothes, from the casual wear photo shoot for the tournament winners of course, so he didn't get it wrong, then he cleaned up the few random items laying around his apartment and set the auto clean to dust everything.
By the time that was done, Max was starting to get nervous. He had actually invited a girl to his room. A woman who was an actual romantic interest and not Nico, who was more like family in his mind after all they had been through. The feeling of her cool skin against him as he slept was a hard thing to forget though. Cyborgs are very comfortable to sleep beside, at least ones with that new design of the outer shell.
As though thinking of her had summoned her, Max's doorbell rang and the security camera showed Nico waving at him happily.
"I brought you snacks, two premade meals you just need to heat, and a bottle of Comor's famous wine. Sister Lilith thought you might not be fully prepared, so we covered everything else. I see you did at least clean the place, that is a good start." She rattled off, placing items in the fridge and cupboard as she talked.
"The outfit is good, the place is clean, you have the preparations, do you have a second pillow? A good pillow is essential." Nico teased but actually checked his bed to see if there was a second pillow and if the bed itself was properly made.
"Don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Max asked, sighing at her antics.
"Not at all. You two are an adorable couple. You and me, we've seen a lot of stuff and killed most of it, but you're still a green recruit on the battlefield of romance, and so is she. That's why Sister Lilith and I are doing all we can to help you both get along." Nico explained.
"Like you have so much more experience in that field?" Max laughed and Nico just shrugged.
"Temporarily irrelevant. My System Functions are still in the process of upgrading this new body. that doesn't mean you can't have yourself a nice steamy romance with an equally nerdy researcher while you're on Lab duty. Besides, and I can't stress this enough, you two are good together, I've seen the footage from the Mecha."
Max frowned at that since he was certain the internal cameras were disabled but chose not to say anything. If it was electronic, Nico could find it.
"Do you know anything about the signal that was sent from the lab? It wasn't you messing around to set up things for our lunch date, or scrubbing the camera footage was it?" Max asked quietly, afraid to hear the answer.
"No, it wasn't me, though I did manage to trace it back to the source. It came from the tablet in Lieutenant Bean's pocket, but as far as I can tell, he never accessed it. Uncle Lu and the security head both think he was set up and the tablet was remotely accessed through a virus that self-deleted. They are going over the device tonight to see what they can find.
But you can worry about that in the morning, for now, just enjoy yourself and know that the lovely Miss Moonie is not a suspect." Nico blew Max a kiss and left the apartment to head back to her own unit next door, so Max quickly checked the contents of the food Nico had brought and found that there was also a small bag labeled [Clean Clothes for Moonie] on the counter, making him shake his head at her sense of humor, or maybe it was optimism.
He couldn't very well offer up snacks or dinner if he had no idea what they were, so Max made sure he had a full inventory of everything that had been brought into his apartment. Nico had brought two vegetable lasagne dishes that looked the same, as well as an assortment of chips and some chewy caramel candies, plus some chocolate-covered mints that had a sticky note on them, the same ones that the Lab used for basically everything that wasn't digital.
[Mints are good for fresh breath when you need it. -Lilith]
Max crumpled the note and tossed it in the bin before anyone else could see it, and then nervously washed his hands one last time while checking the layout of the room. It wasn't large, but there were two places at the table to play chess, so he had that going for him. But she was a Lance Corporal, her room was most likely even smaller than this, since most people spent their time in the common areas, and not in what was basically their bedroom.
When the bell rang and showed him Moonie standing outside the door, with a large box in her hands, Max rushed over to open it for her, instead of simply calling to unlock it as he did for Nico.
"I'm glad you could make it after all the chaos today." Max greeted her with his best smile.
"Thanks for inviting me. I'm surprised you chose here to live though, I thought you would be up with the other senior officers and way up at the top like Sister Lilith. I'm almost right above you, three floors up in the Specialists District. Our rooms are really small, so I don't even have a proper table, the bed folds up against the wall to set the table up." Moonie explained.
Max had seen those units before, they had them all over the neighborhood he grew up in. They were the cheapest of options, intended for bachelors, but were mostly rented by couples trying to save money to either pay off debts or feed addictions. His own parents had previously lived in one but had been forced to move when his mother got pregnant, as the suites didn't allow children.
Moonie set the game up on the table and activated the holoprojector before taking off her coat, showing off a delicate and heavily freckled collarbone above her light gray bodycon dress. The hab domes were temperature controlled, so jackets weren't really a necessity, more of a fashion choice for soldiers that were used to wearing them as part of the uniform.
"You look lovely tonight," Max told her, taking a seat across from the blushing researcher and admiring her past the chess board.
"Thank you, Sister Lilith bought it for me, she said it would bring me luck." Moonie smiled, but Max could see her thoughts. What Lilith had said wasn't to wear it for luck, but to help her get lucky, which had almost made Moonie refuse the form-fitting garment.
"Okay, so here are the basic rules to the game." Moonie began, honestly excited to play chess, which brought Max's attention back to the task at hand. Since he could read her thoughts, the game shouldn't be too hard to pick up on, or so he hoped.
Chapter 198 198 A New Atmosphere Pt2
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max woke up the following day to the sound of the shower running and the doorbell ringing. Looking at his watch, he had seven minutes to be at work if he wasn't going to be late, so he hurried to throw his pants on before unlocking the door for Nico.
"Get a move on, you two. You will have to give Moonie a ride, or you will both be late." Nico laughed, hearing the shower running, then left and closed the door behind her.
Max realized that he should have set an earlier alarm since he usually showered at work in the change rooms, but Moonie was used to getting ready at home since she had been working in the upstairs labs, and her job didn't require a change of clothing.
"I heard her. I will be out in a second. You won't get in trouble for coming to work without a shower, will you?" Moonie called as the shower cut off.
"No, I need to change into one of the Pilot Suits every day, so I shower there. It's easier, and you count as clocked in before you enter the shower rooms." Max called back while Moonie came out in one of his shirts that he left hanging in the bathroom.
"I, um, I may have forgotten to bring a change of clothes." Moonie stammered when she realized her mistake.
Max walked to the counter and picked up the small bag, handing it over to her. "Either Nico or Sister Lilith thought of that, and they sent this over yesterday before you arrived."
Moonie just smiled and opened the bag, which contained another simple dress, a hooded and comfortable-looking item that had corset laces at the sides, as well as clean underwear. There were even a pair of slip-on flats in there. They really had thought of everything.
"When I first arrived, I didn't understand casual clothing. I was raised at the Military Academy since my parents were deemed unfit, so I had never worn anything but a uniform. For the first six months, Sister Lilith dressed me every morning." Moonie smiled, dropping the shirt and sliding the dress over her head.
"I wasn't that bad, but since I grew up on the downside, I wasn't good at casual clothing that would suit the station. Nico helps me when I'm in a jam, but her own fashion sense is questionable." Max consoled her since she was looking embarrassed again.
"She dresses like a Reaver for sure." Moonie laughed.
Once he heard the word, Max knew where he had seen Nico's fashion before. There were trading ships on the Kepler 142 Station, her family's homeworld, that dressed that way. From what he remembered, they were basically mercenaries, selling whatever goods they could get to trade, as well as their combat services all over the neutral territories and to planetary governments with problems that they didn't want to involve the Military in.
There had been talks many times over the years to have them declared a criminal organization, but so many people used their services that the motion never actually made it to the Emperor, and none of the Emperors had ever taken it upon themselves to do anything about the situation. In fact, the Reavers were said to have been formed as a private army by one of the early Emperors before the Military was as strong as it is now.
Max would have to ask her about it later and see what her thoughts revealed. He already knew that the Tarith Family was no ordinary family, given how everyone knew them, even the Cygnus leadership, but the topic of exactly how that happened never really came up, so all Max really knew of her family history was the final battle that ended their leadership of the planet Kepler 142, where they held off an invading army alone for an entire year and a day until reinforcements arrived to rescue them.
Since Moonie was now dressed, Max straightened his clothes and grabbed the hoverboard.
"I hope you're not afraid of heights. We are going to be in a bit of a rush today to get to work on time." He teased, leading her out of the apartment.
"I've never actually ridden one before, but I've seen you coming to work on it before, and it is really fast. We should make it with 42 seconds left if the line is at statistical average." Moonie agreed, holding out her arms so he could pick her up.
The board was only big enough for one set of feet but had more than enough power to support the weight of two people, though his top speed and height would suffer for it. Not so much that he couldn't still hover above the buildings, but not the usual breakneck pace that they set on the way to work, enjoying the wind on their faces.
The line was almost gone today, and Moonie cheered at the fact they would be on time for work, climbing down from Max's side when he landed at the doors amidst a round of whistles and jokes about loverboy showing off for his girl.
"Just on time today, Major Max. The Colonel is in the change room waiting for you to arrive." The gate guard informed him as they checked in for the day.
"See you at the bay then," Moonie called, running away, with her hood bouncing on her shoulders.
"You pretty boys get all the luck. It's not fair, I tell you, save some of the pretty ones for the rest of us." One of the other pilots joked as Max entered the locker room.
"You could try hitting on Major Nico. She's pretty cute too," Max suggested, making the other pilots, as well as the Colonel, all laugh.
"No encouraging the Pilots to take on suicide missions, Major." Colonel Noor told him in a serious voice that only made the other pilots laugh harder.
"It seems you are already aware of the change in the testing team for the X137, so that saves me a lot of time this morning. But that isn't important enough to bring me in person. The x137 will require one hundred percent uptime, so alternate cockpit configurations for a second occupant will be tested along with the Mecha. Keep notes on potential long-term comfort and interference issues, as well as storage issues for an extended deployment with two individuals." The Colonel informed him.
That wasn't a surprise to anyone. Ever since the System came into effect, that has been the primary reason almost all Super Heavy units that get deployed still have two pilots instead of one very skilled one.
"Will the second person be a Pilot as well?" Max asked for clarity, so he knew what would be needed.
"The second occupant is intended to be a technician with Piloting skills. They will not be the primary combat force, but an onboard repair staff is believed to have the potential to keep the Mecha running more reliably in combat than the current two pilot setup." Colonel Noor informed him.
"Thank you, Colonel. I think I know exactly what we will need for the testing then. Technicians will require tool storage, where a Pilot wouldn't, as well as somewhere to place replacement parts, or raw materials and a printer." Max answered with a fist to the chest Kepler salute.
"Good, you get the issue that we are facing. I expect a full report on my desk at the end of the week. New cockpit designs will begin digital testing this afternoon, with physical tests in the morning.
Chapter 199 Cockpit Design Needs Work
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max hurried into his work clothes, another variant of the tight Pilot Suit that the Comor designers favor, and headed for the bay to begin today's tests.
After climbing into the cockpit with a wave at the testing staff, Max found Sister Lilith waiting for him, with a smirk that promised that she intended to get every juicy detail of yesterday's date night.
"I will be your assigned technician today. I have the most practical experience with Mecha repair, so it made the most sense. This design clearly isn't going to work, it doesn't even have a second seat with restraints, and the bed isn't secure enough for the second seat during heavy combat.
The storage is good for two pilots, but not enough for tools if I'm going to actually accomplish anything. But there is a small maintenance room below us with reactor access. We could put the tools there. If we can get a small materials printer to make repairs on damaged parts that could work since the reactor room has access to most of the internal structure.
The biggest issue will be getting the parts removed and brought to it." Lilith finished her speech and looked around for more flaws in the design.
"If we equip the tech with the new Exoskeleton they can take care of most of the repairs in place if we have some raw materials. It can weld, bend pushrods straight, plus print seals for the hydraulics and boards for the electronics. We will just need enough material for it to work with.
Clearly, we can't really keep extra armor plates on board, unless we strap them to the outside somewhere, but with a supply of materials, you should be able to keep the Mecha running. I will introduce damages during this afternoon's virtual testing and you can check the feasibility of access and repairs during service." Max agreed, trying to think of a better solution.
With the shielding they shouldn't need armor repairs too often, usually, weapon repairs are the priority for Super Heavy Mecha and the armor is an afterthought that is taken care of when there is time.
Lilith sent for a seat harness to be sent up right away, rectifying the oversight so she could strap herself in properly with the bed folded into the couch formation. It took minor modifications, but this cockpit design was going to be pulled in a few days anyhow to live-test the next version.
"This isn't bad. It is secure, I can see the diagnostic Displays and reach the main circuit board in case of overload. Not a bad location for the technician." Lilith noted it out loud, recording the observations on her tablet.
"A second bunk might be a good idea for long idle times. But it would interfere with the storage above you." Max added.
"Yes, for a standard assignment pair, the second bunk would be essential, we will have to work on the storage. Though it might not be necessary for all units. The combination of yours and Moonie's shampoo on the cushions is a nice combination. I wonder how they got so mingled?"
Max did his best to ignore Sister Lilith's teasing. Let her guess all she wanted, he wasn't giving away any secrets.
"If we scrap that entertainment station, we can put a load of extra storage next to the food preparation station. Maybe swap it out for a roll screen, so it is available when needed but doesn't use up space? This design of the cockpit is more Naval Fleet Officer than cramped Mecha quarters anyhow." Max suggested.
Lilith got to work designing while the team led Max through a series of movement and pose tests to check design interactions at extreme angles.
Digital design, which this team was originally in charge of, caught most things, but the chance of chafing or pinch points for lines and flexible parts still needed to be verified after assembly.
They had already found two Hydraulic lines that could possibly flip around and get caught on other parts, one under each arm, that the digital design didn't predict.
"This Mecha has a much better range of motion than the old Phalanx did. It couldn't aim straight up because of the design, but this one can even shoot backward over the shoulder, it is a very impressive structure." Max commended the X137 as they finished the morning tests and Lilith sent off the proposed cockpit changes for the base computer to render into a virtual reality simulation to test after lunch.
The team all gave Max a knowing look when Moonie sat next to him at lunch, and finally, Sister Lilith couldn't hold her curiosity in anymore.
"So, we all know you two had a great night, but have you made it official?" Lilith asked.
"What makes you think things went that far?" Moonie asked, clueless as to why everyone was teasing her so much today. None of them had seen her arrive with Max.
"You use a citrus body lotion and floral perfume. Max uses a coconut lotion and no cologne, plus he uses the standard scent officer's shampoo, while yours is minty." One of the other members pointed out.
Max was impressed, and a bit disturbed that he knew the scent of his coworker so well. The man must have caught the look Max was giving him because he hurried to make himself understood.
"Don't get me wrong, we work at adjacent computers all day, I am not into something weird." He defended himself.
"That really didn't make it sound any less creepy. But he's right, Moonie always smells good, but today she smells like you. Not that you smell bad, but you don't smell like Moonie." One of the female researchers, a tall brunette with short hair, agreed.
"I told you, Sandi, we played chess until very late and I slept over," Moonie said shyly, and Max gave her a one-armed side hug.
"Enough picking on Moonie. Did we find everything today, or should we begin tomorrow with a repeat of the movement tests?" Max asked, changing the topic.
"We had to make a couple of changes. Let the night shift do the physical updates, and we will check them in the morning to make sure we didn't introduce any new problems." Sandi, the short-haired brunette told him.
"Well then let's get a cockpit design for them to work on as well. Can't let them slack because we couldn't make a decision." Lilith declared, getting up from the table and cleaning up her lunch tray.
Chapter 200 200 Cockpit Design Pt2
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
After lunch, they all headed to the couches in the testing room to enter the virtual reality simulation for the cockpit testing. They were just simple virtual reality headsets, but it was good enough to do the modifications to the design that were needed at this stage.
This setup would allow them to modify the interior, as well as add and remove standard items to make the design more user-friendly. Fortunately, they had a variety of body sizes in the team, so they wouldn't need to call anyone else in for the user function verifications, which would save them a lot of time between finishing the digital design and getting the physical prototype made.
The simulation was just the cockpit and internal structure area of the Mecha, as well as the structure of the pod that it mounted in, including shielding and the final layers of ablative armor. Unlike Cygnus which used ejection pods, the cockpits of the Kepler Super Heavies were a black box, intended not to be breached, even if the Mecha was destroyed.
Max was a fan of the ejection method, though he did realize that there were many drawbacks to being helpless in a small pod that could be buried in rubble or carried away by enemies, instead of being trapped in hundreds of tons of disabled Mecha.
They helped the Pilots survive, especially in a space battle, but at the same time, they were often hard to track, and there were known instances where they were lost entirely after a battle, with neither side claiming recovery of the Pilot inside.
With Lilith at his side, Max tested out the cockpit ergonomics, adding every conceivable tool, spare part, and an excessive amount of personal gear to the storage, modifying and shifting it until they could easily store and access everything within the confines of the space they had.
Building storage into the upper folding bunk turned out to be the winning recipe for the last of their storage needs, being used for items that needed to be accessed in a hurry, including the medical kit, the diagnostic tablets, and the two occupants' emergency sidearms and survival kits.
They always took up a large amount of valuable space, since they needed to be accessible in seconds, but there wasn't usually a good space for them. Increasing the thickness of the upper bunk a little let them be placed out of the way, and made them even faster to grab in an emergency.
Nothing was left unmodified. Even the layout of the standardized head compartment, with its vacuum toilet and an overhead shower, was reworked.
"What does everyone think? I know you were working on the upgrades to the armor to deal with Disruptor weapons, but head inside in pairs and tell me if you find anything awkward or inconvenient." Sister Lilith instructed, sending her team in one after another.
This led to a short argument and another minor redesign. The food preparation station was made modular, so the user could switch the locations around after it was pointed out that a left-handed user had a hard time using the coffee pot in the position by the back wall.
The removable canisters for the spare raw materials to be used for repairs were a big hit with everyone, and they fit into the standard maintenance cart, so nothing on a ship's inventory needed to be modified to work with the new mecha, other than the hangar bay securements.
[Nico, where did you put the auxiliary sidearms on the X109 Fast Attack Mecha.] Max asked when concern about the overhead locker being thrown open by impact and dropping a rifle on someone's head was raised.
[Two rifles in the back of the seat and a pistol under the control module by the right knee.] Nico responded, and Max took a moment to consider if they might have gone too light on the firepower. Nico had as much firepower for one person as they did for two.
"Hey, Lilith, pull up the Pilot seat from the X109. I heard they redesigned it for weapons storage, so we can make the bunk storage less critical, and maybe open from the top under the mattress." Max suggested since he didn't know where the file would be found in the server mainframe.
The two models were nearly the same, but one had an opening back plate, which stored a pair of rifles, a small water tank, and a week's rations. Once they switched out both forward seats for this model, they now had enough storage to keep the pilots provisioned in the case of extended breakdown. Part of the insert could even be pulled out, making a small backpack full of water and food.
"Now I understand why they were so upset with her in the design team. This seat is a great improvement, but making it so complex had to be a nightmare for the team." Lilith smiled, reaching for the coffee pot before realizing they were in the simulation and there was no actual coffee available.
"Should we fix the bunk and send this to mockup for physical construction?" Max asked while considering what the bunk could be used for now.
"Why don't we make it a large open cabinet, accessible from the top? It could hold formal uniforms or function outfits flat, or extra rations and provisions." Lilith suggested.
"We have so much stuff in the lockers now, there's no need for more clothing storage. But something to hold more food and drink, then put an assistance ram on the bunk to offset the expected extra weight." Max decided, letting Lilith redesign the upper bunk.
By the time they finished, the others had modified the armor to be sufficiently improved that they would feel confident if they were the ones in the Mecha on the front lines. That was the standard Uncle Lu insisted on, and they weren't sure that he wouldn't actually send them to find out in person if there were complaints about the Mecha being subpar.
The design was incredibly rushed though, so everyone was sure that despite their best intentions there would be issues once it hit combat and battle damage was introduced.
That reminded Lilith that she wanted to test the Tech Adept skeleton on simulated internal damages, to check the level of access that was available without going outside the Mecha. If it was a limb, there was no other choice, but a torso, hip, or shoulder joint should be repairable, as well as most of the main wiring loom and hydraulic system.
The flexible whip arms turned out to be much more versatile than expected. The small manipulation arm and material welder could reach all the way to the elbow joint to repair damages, using the access holes for the wiring and hydraulics. With that level of access, they could even get at the backside of most of the weapons, so small repairs like a blown capacitor could most likely be done without leaving the Mecha, keeping the technician much safer.
"Alright, we've done what we can for the day. Let's get this sent off for finalization and come back tomorrow." Sister Lilith declared, booting everyone out of the simulation before she sent it away to become someone else's problem for the night.
Chapter 201 Aboard Abraham Kepler
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
While the staff at the Lab was working to get the new Mecha designs finished, far above them, docked to maintenance station three, Abraham Kepler, the President Class transport was getting the most comprehensive overhaul that the crew had ever heard of.
Firstly, the warp drive was being fully upgraded and not just refueled, with the intent to increase the ship's maximum speed by over fifty percent to make it a more efficient first response vessel. Secondly, the entire crew quarters and every hangar bay needed refurbishment after the damages and hasty patches during the Scavenger attack.
Every bulkhead, every floor plate, and every electrical connection was checked, verified, and resealed.
On top of that, all new mecha repair gantries were being installed for the new mecha contingent that was going to be boarding in a few months. They weren't the same pattern as the previous gantries, and there were no Mecha currently on board to test them against, but they looked to be just as functional.
There was only one odd part about them. A number of them seemed to be for Super Heavy Mecha when they already had General Tennant and the Shining Darkness in residence.
The venerable Mecha had been moved to the station during the refurbishment efforts, but the crew listing still showed it as being stationed aboard Abraham Kepler.
Corporal Fritz was in charge of the refurbishment of the final three launch bays at the rear of the ship, a high honor that indicated to everyone around him that he was likely to be promoted to Sergeant as soon as this refurbishment was over.
The men who worked with him all respected him, and he was excellent at his job, but that had been his downfall. He was simply too good at diagnosing and repairing Mecha, so Command had held off on his promotion, sticking him at Lance Corporal, with an Engineering Specialty, for most of a decade.
That didn't really bother Fritz though. He enjoyed his job, and the people he met while doing it.
This final bay was an unusual one for Abraham Kepler. The ship had many other launch bays for orbital insertion fighters, but this one was the only one in Corporal Fritz's assignment. They wanted it changed out to launch a new pattern of fighter, which was nothing unusual, they changed them all the time, depending on what enemy they expected a mission to be meeting, but this time they wanted the refurbishment to include fifty VR pods in what used to be a crew ready room.
That made the Corporal think that this might be the last hoorah for the high casualty attack planes and that the storage racks were going to be only for emergencies. Normally all the pilots would assemble in this room, updating their wills and leaving messages for loved ones before launch, so if this room was being eliminated, there was a good chance that the pilots were as well.
They might only fight for a few hours of every deployment, but it wasn't unusual for them to lose a quarter or more of their numbers every time they were deployed. Some ships even went as far as recruiting prisoners or using soldiers on punishment detail to pilot the fighters when they were needed.
At least they had approved a color change for the hangar bay. It used to be a dull gray-green, but now it was a sky blue with white accents, making it feel a bit less miserable to be hanging out in the hangars all day. Less like an enormous warehouse, more like he was outdoors.
Because they were in the middle of a refurbishment and not on vacation like the Pilots and infantry were, Corporal Fritz hadn't had the chance to see the real sky above him in over a year now, and likely wouldn't for at least one more, unless they got this refurbishment finished ahead of schedule and earned a few days down on the planet below them.
"Fritz, we've got the next round of directions in from the design crew. They say that the structural team has finished the work on the hallways between our bays, and we can close them off to complete the painting and install the new floors." One of his team members called out, pulling Fritz away from his thoughts about the future of the Orbital Insertion fighter teams.
The VR pods weren't here yet anyhow, so there was no point in worrying about them, only about painting the room to put them in.
While Fritz worked to get the ship ready, General Tennant was working to keep the crew in the dark about the nature of the changes that were being made. Everything was done in modules, and the crews were carefully segregated by sections of the ship deemed in need of structural repair.
That had kept the crew locked aboard the ship for over a month already, but the major overhauls were nearly done, and they were mostly waiting on the final bits of crew comfort, as well as the final work to be done on the faster-than-light engines.
So far, it was clear that none of the teams working the bays had realized that the whole ship was being converted for a new pattern of Mecha, or that there were going to be a rather astounding number of Super Heavy Mecha aboard it. Having just two of them on board for the last few missions had raised gossip and spread rumors among the crew, rumors that the communications teams had to work hard to keep from being spread to friends and family of those aboard, for security reasons.
They had been working hard to isolate all chances of breach and betrayal before they could set out, and at his suggestion, they had even gone as far as having the manufacturing moved from the closest few planets here in the Comor System, to mostly uninhabited outposts a few star systems away.
Since there were only factories on the planet and no civilian population, they were ideal for a secret run-up of new designs, and the losses would be minimal if they were discovered and Command had to scuttle the plant to keep the technology out of enemy hands.
Chapter 202 Call The Boss
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
The next morning brought a freshly built cockpit mockup from the night shift, installed in the prototype of the X137 and ready to go the moment that Max and the team walked into the bay.
It had everything that they had requested, including the upgraded shielding and the new design seats, they had even put removable dividers into the under-bunk storage to keep items from shifting around while in motion, a small detail that Max and the team had overlooked, and one that wouldn't have caused anything worse than an annoying rattle as items shifted.
"Power it up and make sure that everything works. We had to change a lot of the electrical routing to make the packaging work without compromising the integrity of the shielding around the cockpit pod." The head of the night shift, who stayed behind to meet them this morning, instructed with a smile, already knowing that it should work.
They didn't have a test pilot on the night shift, but they could at least power the unit up and do a diagnostic on it.
Most other projects had Pilots on every shift, but the X137 was a bit of an outlier. They didn't have any more Pilots qualified to Pilot it other than Majors Max and Nico, so all the testing was done on the day shift.
They spent two hours going through every relay and possible motion configuration to make sure there were no more issues before Sister Lilith declared that the Mecha was fully functional. That meant that they could call Uncle Lu here, and see if they could get approval to walk it to the test firing facility, where they could unleash the weapons for their final check and clear the design as completed.
Both of the Crusader Class replacements for the Redemption Pattern Mecha had already undergone this stage more than once, due to design modifications, but this would be the first time the Lab had actually sent a Super Heavy to the bay. It was a cause for celebration if the Base Commander would approve it, and Uncle Lu did love approving live testing of his new designs.
It didn't take long before the man himself was at their bay to verify their results and get ready to formally move the Mecha to the live fire bays. They were on the same floor, but in a contained area near the edge of the facility, so that any accidents wouldn't cause serious damage to the rest of the hab dome facility.
"Since we have a qualified Pilot already in the Mecha, why don't we skip the transport rack and let the testing bays see just how well you all did?" Uncle Lu suggested, signing off on the change of location paperwork that Lilith had sent him.
In Max's mind that would be the best possible option. The ground floor between bays was strictly off limits to all pedestrian traffic, thanks to the number of Mecha and forklifts that traveled between bays, bringing materials and taking away failed experiments, so there wouldn't be a fear of stepping on anyone while he walked across the city.
It would be loud, even with the noise canceling, but Max could minimize that with good control of the Gravity plates and a smooth walking motion.
"Pilot Max, please be ready to begin the movement in 1 minute. Directions for the route are being sent now, please maintain the indicated pace." Sister Lilith instructed, reminding Max that all movement between bays was monitored, with much of it being automated, so maintaining the correct speed prevented collisions and traffic jams.
Max moved out, carefully following the directions, as every tester in the area came to watch from the catwalks. The X137 was the pride and joy of their Lab, the first new Super Heavy Mecha that the Kepler Military had approved in nearly a century of warfare. Sure, they had issued hundreds of upgrades over time, but the basic designs had been the same for most of the Empire's history.
With its release, they could soon be considered technologically on par with the greatest of Militaries in the Galaxy, and not an Empire holding on by sheer perseverance.
It was not an easy task to improve on the existing designs, like many truly ingenious things, they were simply better than anything that had been intended to replace them, enduring through time well beyond their intended lifespan. Many had joked over the years that Kepler's Mecha was the rubber tire of the war machine industry. The rubber tire, in various incarnations, due to planetary differences in plant life, had been around for millennia, and it still was commonly used on many worlds for everything from children's toys to light industrial equipment.
There simply wasn't anything that could replace it and not be cost-prohibitive in regions without easy access to the higher end of technology, like many agricultural worlds that lacked the rare resources to replicate anti-gravity plating locally.
Max had learned from some Pilots who had grown up in such worlds that the common person believed that if they were intended to float through the air, they would have been born with wings. The rich could fly all they wanted, but the ground was where humanity truly belonged.
That belief led to the idolization of the Mecha. Huge and stompy, firmly grounded on the earth the way a proper human should be, they were a symbol of might and hope to the masses. Even on worlds as advanced as Kepler Terminus, where wheeled vehicles were all but unheard of, Max felt that belief on a personal level.
The poor walked, and the rich floated along in their hovercars. That was how it was, and the Mecha were seen as hope for a better future, even at the risk of one's own life.
Max precisely followed the route as he was lost in his memories, watching the crowd cheer on the mightiest addition to the Kepler Military. Word had already spread that the design was approved for construction, they just had to finish the final tweaks so that the factories could begin their work.
For the bureaucracy of the Kepler Empire, that was astounding. Too astounding in fact. Enough that Max suspected that this decision had come straight from the Emperor to Central Command and had been decreed to Uncle Lu before the design was even put through testing.
"There would be a new Super Heavy, and it would be better than the original, or else." That was how Max imagined the conversation went. But they had done it, the X137 was moving on its own to go test an all-new weapons suite. One last test and the factories would be hard at work.