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When the shuttle touched down in the Lab's hangar there were dozens of Lab Coat wearing scientists there to welcome them back to the facility and gather their luggage from the shuttle.
"Keep the Hoverboards, they will come in handy in just a minute." One of the workers joked, handing Max the meter-long board that he hadn't had much chance to actually use yet.
"Yeah, the lab is enormous, and I heard you got an outer ring apartment, so it's going to be like three kilometers to work every day, and there aren't any cars allowed in the dome, so it's all foot traffic, or personal conveyance." Another added.
"So, the outer ring isn't about the view, it's about seniority, being the furthest from work." Nico mused, giving Uncle Lu a raised eyebrow look.
"Don't glare at me like that. You're both Alpha Ranked, it would take you like ten minutes to get to the lab, and there are electric carts inside to get everyone to their workstations for the day. You're even on the proper floor for your lab posting, so you won't have to wait on the elevator." Uncle Lu whined, making the scientists chuckle.
"Live testing Lab is my favorite posting, but I'm all the way up top here in the coding labs. All we get are rows and rows of computers, making hundreds of sets of algorithms to compare against each other for efficiency and reliability." The first scientist, a tall ginger-haired woman, complained.
Even though a set of code looked like it worked, it might be too long to work smoothly, contain a hidden error, or have an unexpected interaction with another bit of code. There were over a thousand moving parts plus the digitally controlled weapon systems to design and code, so the job was one of the most important, but also one of the most monotonous.
The weapons coders had it the worst. With Plasma based weapons they needed to precisely control the containment field, the rate of charge, heat dissipation, energy frequency and temperature stability, rate of discharge, and the aim. Then, if that wasn't enough work for them, every bit of that had to work together and remain functional and stable during a variety of states of damage, with the ability to bypass certain damaged areas or the weapon would be deemed too unreliable for use.
In short, they were blamed for absolutely everything that went wrong, unless they could prove that it was a flaw in the physical design.
"The first stop is the Coding Lab. You won't need to be here much, since you are in the practical testing lab, but they will likely come to see you on a regular basis after your analysis." Uncle Lu informed them, leading the group into the lab and grabbing a hoverboard of his own, while most of the others jogged to keep up.
Once inside the lab, Max could access a map of the facility and found that not only the lab, but the living quarters were part of the military facility. It wasn't just in this dome, it was this dome. The lab took up the entire city-sized ball sitting high in the sky above Comor on a long tower of some unknown alloy that Max would have to explore later. The level of strength and flexibility was impressive, even if the hab domes had gravity generators to reduce the stress on the towers.
"The coding labs take up five floors, and they're all identical, so there is no good reason to see them all." Uncle Lu began, but Nico cut him off.
"Wouldn't it make sense to make every section a slightly different color scheme, so that you could identify the locations more easily?" Nico asked, looking at the sterile off-white walls of the cubicle-filled floor.
"I did consider it, but that would imply that I intend to regularly visit these floors, and I don't want to get their hopes up. If I need a coder, they come to my office, where there is better coffee." Uncle Lu shrugged, making the scientists laugh and nod their heads.
The coffee was one of the perks of being called to the General's office. He always had a fresh pot on when there was a meeting and only the finest of blends.
"Next up is the structural lab. It is only three floors, but three large ones, given the need for extra height. This section is working on the new Mobile Suits. They're almost as large as a Line Mecha, but the Pilot stands in them with their feet ending just before the knees and their arms tucked in beside their torso. From early testing, we think that this should increase mobility and natural responses by Pilots with lower ranked systems."
Nico wandered away from the group, flying over the stations on the hoverboard until she got to a board with experimental designs on it. The whole group stopped to see what she was up to as the small cyborg pulled a marker from a nearby whiteboard and began sketching a new design on an empty space.
It looked like a basic exoskeleton, with armored boots and weapon arms, but it had wings on the back and an exposed Pilot instead of the usual full shell.
"I like it, very sexy, or not, depending on who is flying it. But wouldn't they just die the moment they get shot at?" The nearest designer asked.
"Not if we give it a proper shield generator. I see you were planning to use the small-scale Cold Fusion generators on the Mobile Suits, so you can port the rear design straight over, then add the wings and the weapon arms. Here is a simple Shield Generator design to add to it. It only needs a tenth of a cubic meter, so I'm sure you can fit it somewhere. My System Function modified it from a design for the Crusader Class Mecha. If you need a practical example of the design, there is a prototype in Stalwart." Nico explained, and the whole section of the lab flew into chaos.
"So that's how you walked away from so many battles without major damage. The status information we were given for your mecha didn't show a Shielding system." Uncle Lu informed Max.
"It was there, but inactive when I was assigned the Unit. Nico has an incredible knack for repairing damaged Mecha components, so she got it up and running again before we even made it to our first engagement. It has taken a serious amount of abuse, and still, I was taking a fair bit of damage." Max agreed.
"Are you done causing Chaos in the design team or do you still need a minute?" General Lu called over to Nico, who was deep in discussion with the designers.
"One more minute, I just have to do this first," Nico called back, then scribbled on the board again, modifying the design to lose the wings, but gain precision control arms, in addition to the stronger main arms, plus a pair of welding and multitool attachments that could be wrenches, sockets, or even shears.
"There we go. The construction exosuit Mark One. Antigravity hover functionality with all the standard mechanical tools used by the repair bay technicians built in." The designers looked dubious, but Nico forwarded them another file and their looks turned to awed reverence.
Even Uncle Lu looked impressed, scanning through the design.
"Get a team on this. Someone from a low-priority design. Those Mobile Suits are supposed to be headed to testing soon, so you can't switch off them yet." He called, all business for a few seconds, but Max could see the joy in his eyes as he looked at the holographic designs for the two exoskeleton suits.
"I knew it was going to be a great idea to bring you two in. Now, onward, from the Structural lab to the Weapons Lab."
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The news of the new designs for exoskeleton suits made it down to the weapons lab well before their tour group did, and the teams that weren't engaged in anything urgent were already reviewing the designs and altering them to accommodate the robotic tools that the lab already used.
There was no need to reinvent a tool they already used, they just needed to mount it to the auxiliary arms, which could be the same as what the workstations already had. Being mounted to the user on a highly mobile exoskeleton would give an incredible deal of Versatility and allow them to work in groups around a single station.
The actual frame and the main arms were the responsibility of the structural lab, but the weapon lab was eager to get the additional limbs functional so that they could send them for testing and begin using them as soon as possible.
The possibility that these skeletons with their anti-gravity boots might be a mass market item never crossed their minds. To the scientists here, these were the evolved form of their own toolkits. To give them away before the whole lab had a newer version was unthinkable.
The version with wings and weapons was mostly ignored as a novelty for fast attack infantry, a low priority role in the eyes of Central Command, but the [Tech Adept Toolkit Version 1] as they had dubbed it, was likely to see initial testing this week.
"If you use an articulating dendrite instead of a crane boom you will get better control," Max suggested when he saw them starting plans for changing the design.
"The coders would strangle us if we sent them a design with hundreds of individual joints that need precision movement on three axes. We will save that for a later version when they're not under as much pressure." The technician laughed while tweaking the torch to use the design that was available in the lab.
The more parts they could reuse, the more code they could keep, and the faster they could begin testing.
"You will like this project, Major Max. We designed it based on your comments about needing better artillery. It is a variable velocity mass driver. It can use the explosive slugs from the existing Battle Cannon without their shells, but launch them at varying speeds, for more effective artillery.
Each turret has two barrels in a single housing for one shot per second at the standard rate. The new design that is being developed to serve as the platform will be nearly Phalanx Class and carry three of them as its secondary armament. But we can get to that later." General Lu told Max with a happy nod.
The equivalent of six Battle Cannons and it was the secondary armament? Whatever they were building was a monster of a mecha.
"We also made progress on the fusion flamer, though the team is having issues forming a convincing argument for its use." One of the other scientists informed Nico.
"Plug the data into a virtual simulator and I will show you the true horror of flame weapons in combat," Nico assured him and the man turned a little pale.
That really was the only way to make Command see the advantages, but the developers weren't combat soldiers, they were Mecha nerds who literally lived in a lab.
"We will get right on it. The new fast-attack platform is ready for virtual testing as well. I will add the fusion flamer tonight so you can test it tomorrow." He agreed, making notes on his data tablet.
"The last zone is your department, the testing labs. You will not be the senior officers there, we have a Colonel in charge of that sector, but the rest of the test Pilots were brought in for the development of the Corvette Class mecha and are all Lieutenants.
They will have to qualify in the Crusader Class to begin testing the heavy Mecha, but now that we have you both we don't have to wait for their skills to be up to standards." General Lu explained.
When they entered the testing lab there was a station for earmuffs to dampen the sound inside, which the technicians assured them could be overwhelming. There was a lot of sound dampening in the lab, but it could only lower the sound level so much.
The lab was currently testing the durability of a new sword design, having a Corvette class mecha strike it repeatedly against an armor plate.
"Will all due respect, that isn't nearly enough of a test. It might be the standardized test, but it doesn't cover the sort of abuse that melee blades will take in combat. Even sparring does more damage than that." Max pointed out.
"You two big shots think that you can put a sword through more abuse than that?" A voice asked from behind a blast shield.
"Sir, yes Sir," Nico responded with a malicious-looking smile while staring at the Comor Pattern Corvettes waiting in the ready area.
"That weapon is our newest design. If you can break it, I will give you each one of my vacation days." The voice responded, sounding smug.
"Deal. Do you have a second one, or is one enough?" Nico asked.
"There is just one, but we have other designs available." General Lu told her and sent a signal from his wrist device for the test pilot to return to the staging area where they were waiting.
"Max, grab a sword and shield. Practical demonstrations are best." Nico called, heading for the test Mecha.
The lab assistants were happy to show him to an idle machine and get him equipped, while Nico jumped up into the cockpit of the Corvette and took a casual combat stance with the prototype blade in both hands.
Once Max was ready and in position, Nico launched a blindingly fast attack at his left shoulder. Max's vision filled with targeting information and he shifted slightly to the right while raising his shield and striking the incoming blade with his sword.
The two blades collided just after the tip of Nico's sword hit his shield and the prototype shattered cleanly in half.
Nico still followed up with the second half of her attack though, spinning the Mecha to strike down at Max's head. He flicked his sword up to defend the Mecha and with a bang that shook his entire Chassis, Nico's blade sunk deep into his own.
She released the hilt of the trapped wagon and stepped back, exiting the cockpit of the Comor Pattern test Corvette.
"The design changes to lighten the weapon introduced a resonant frequency within the range of a collision with common armor alloys. The blade is strong and sharp, but the feedback from a second collision at the right moment will shatter it, something that the standard test wouldn't discover." Nico explained as a frustrated researcher came out from behind the protective wall.
"How did you two make the Mecha move that fast without training?" He asked, upset at the loss of vacation days, the Lab's premium betting currency.
"It's pretty normal for Pilots at our level. But we have trained on Corvette Class mecha before and the controls are the same." Max explained.
"Alpha Rank Pilots are between three and six times as fast as the baseline. They can cap out the control speed limits of the Corvette Class Mecha." Uncle Lu laughed at the disbelieving look on the researchers' faces.
"I think we need to rethink the motive systems for the new mecha already. We approached this with human thinking when the Pilots won't be human." A researcher who had been following them from the door suggested.
"Under the premise that an Alpha Ranked System isn't unreasonably overpowered, but that the Mecha is too slow? That is possible." Another agreed, abandoning the group to discuss their idea while Uncle Lu turned to talk to Max and Nico.
"Let's go to your rooms. Max has 1337, while Nico gets 1339, right next door." Their new boss told them, already walking toward the exit.
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The apartments were slightly more luxurious than the usual officer's quarters but not by much. They were still a single-room suite, with a washroom by the door, a small kitchen, and a double locker-sized closet. The main seating was a couch that folded down so that a bed mounted to the wall could be laid flat. There was a hologram projector on one wall and a low table, but that was the room.
"Nobody really spends time in their room. There are common areas just down the hall, movie theaters one floor up, and a large gym nearby. There is a lot more to see, the lab is basically a city, with over ten thousand residents, so I will let you find the rest on your own. There is a map available if you want." Uncle Lu informed them.
"As far as duty postings go, it's not bad. I see the city runs on ration points more than salary credits, so we should be alright." Max joked since Uncle Lu already knew they weren't short on money and almost everything in the lab could only be purchased with your ration allocation.
It was much like being on board an interstellar ship, but with a wider variety of amenities. This section of the city was normally for noncommissioned officers, the most senior enlisted men, but it was very close to the testing lab, so it was chosen for the two new Pilots.
Housing was deducted from their city ration, so this choice of apartments actually left them with more disposable income than the other Majors, who were staying on the upper floors.
As a long-term posting, and not a traveling one, the scientists lived well in the lab, though they were cut off from family except during their vacation days due to security measures. Even then, a good third of the staff wasn't from Comor originally, so they might as well be traveling, since inviting their families to come to the planet was out of the question.
, Even with all the amenities and the city-like atmosphere, Military rank still determined your level of luxury to a large extent. The mess halls were marked as restaurants with varying menus, but the fancier ones could only be accessed by senior officers without spending ration points. Aboard Abraham Kepler, the good ones were simply unavailable to enlisted men.
You could also get uniform items on a regular schedule, but everyone wore casual clothing. The idea behind the policy was that if they did have an infiltration attempt, the lab could be played off as a civilian facility and the leaks discredited.
To Max, the view out the window more than made up for the smaller room. They were above the cloud level looking down on the planet. That meant every day here was a sunny day, and only the view below them changed with the weather.
It truly was a marvel of engineering and it would have been a waste to push for a premium suite, gaining him a larger space, but moving him to an inner ring of the dome and much higher up, above the center line where you couldn't easily look down without the other levels getting in the way.
Max spent the next hour getting everything set up in his room, hanging his small collection of photos on the wall by his couch, and organizing his closet with the assortment of civilian clothing he had been gifted.
It was a strange feeling putting away his uniform and knowing he probably wouldn't be wearing it for months. The Pilot Suit should at least still see regular use though if he was going to be testing Mecha, which was a relief.
Max was just beginning to get bored enough to consider turning on the news net when Nico sent him a message asking if he wanted to go explore the entertainment district. She had found a games room that was popular with the other test Pilots, and it had 3D billiards.
[Give me 20 minutes to shower and change. I'll come to get you.] Max responded after a moment's thought.
[Don't forget your board, it's a bit of a trip.]
Max washed up and changed into jeans and a black shirt with the top few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. Out of habit, he put on his regulation boots before grabbing his hoverboard and going next door to get Nico.
Max wasn't sure what to call her style, but it looked familiar for some reason. Nico had tucked tight red leather pants into black knee-high platform boots and topped them with a black military issue tank top. Her hair was in a single braid with a silver ornament at the end that he recognized as the focusing ring from a laser rifle.
"Has anyone mentioned how strange your fashion sense is?" Max asked as Nico mounted her board and hovered in front of his face.
"Constantly. Now are you ready to go or what?" Nico laughed, casually spinning the highly modified board to head down the street.
Their apartment building was fifteen floors high, taking up almost the entire height of the level of the dive they were on, and Nico chose to race along near the roof of the dome level. From what Max could tell, that was the equivalent of a fast lane for traffic, and it was almost deserted, with most of the staff choosing a pedestrian route, or using much slower wheeled scooters.
Given that most scientists had lower-ranked or intelligence-focused system functions, and not a lot of physical enhancement, staying on the ground with the twenty-kilometer-an-hour speed limit made sense. But for Max and Nico, that was barely a jog, so flying above the buildings was much more fun. The hoverboards were only good to about fifty meters in the air before their gravity plating started to have issues holding altitude, but theirs had been modified for racing, so Max had high hopes that they could manage greater heights in addition to their blistering speed.
They weren't pushing them at all, since they wanted to learn the layout of the city as they passed by, but both Pilots were still passing the ground traffic like they were standing still.
"There it is. The Sonic Games Emporium. That's our destination for the night." Nico called out to Max as they approached their destination, ten kilometers and two floors away from their apartments.
It was on the lowest level of the Lieutenant's sector of the Testing Department neighborhood, making it a great mingling spot for all the pilots, but the arrival of Nico and Max on modified hoverboards still drew a lot of attention. Partially because of the speed they approached, since the user only stood on top of a hoverboard, and a high-speed crash could well be fatal, especially from a higher elevation, and partially because of the way Nico was dressed.
The red leather might as well have been painted on, and as Max looked around the area, he noticed that slacks and Cardigans or lab coats were the more popular casual wear here. Even he was overdressed for the occasion, and he had simply put on a clean and unwrinkled shirt and jeans.
"We got a couple of daredevils, do we? What department did they stick you two gems in?" One of the officers smoking outside the games room asked as they landed and hopped off the boards.
"We are the two new Crusader Class Pilots for the Testing Department," Max answered with a friendly smile, and the man suddenly looked a little less relaxed. Even off duty, they were still senior officers, and he didn't want to speak out of line before he knew their personalities.
"Relax a little. If I have to go in after that stick up your ass I'm going to make you pay for cleaning." Nico laughed, making the others outside chuckle, and the man they were talking to sigh in relief.
"Wait, I know you two. You're SlumDogRaider and Blood Goddess, from the Gaming Tournament. I heard you were both active duty Special Forces, the boss must be going all out to test the new mecha." One of the men outside said, walking over to check out their boards.
"Yeah. Uncle Lu found out that we could cap out the mechanical output speed of a Crusader Class Mecha, so he pulled us in here. It's a bit strange to be at work without anyone shooting at us though." Nico confirmed.
"Wait, you can do what now?" The same sentiment from a dozen different voices filled the air and Max smacked Nico on the back of the head.
"Good going, now we will never get a game in between questions."
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When Nico and Max went into the Games Room, everyone outside followed them, looking forward to one of the other Pilots challenging them to a match to see how their skills matched up to Nico's bragging.
Sitting in the back row of the room, a shiny new set of Comor Pattern Corvette simulators were lined up, waiting for a challenge. Nico walked straight to them with a smile and turned to face the other Pilots.
"What do you say, boys? Ready to be taken to school?" She asked, bringing a round of jeering from the crowd.
"You got it girlie. We can talk about terms of the wager after I win." One of the pilots told her with a wink, making Max laugh.
"I'm pretty sure she meant all of you, at once. Trust me, you want the backup." Max suggested.
"You're not the only Alpha Ranked Pilot here. I'm not going down to some fresh recruit in a mecha I helped design." The Pilot countered, and Max raised his hands in defeat.
"Alright, we will be watching."
The matches inside the simulator played on the screens above the simulators, as well as in the General's office and the development labs if they had them tuned to the game feed. Both Pilots climbed into their simulators while Max did his best not to laugh at the misfortune that was about to befall that unfortunate man.
When the two logged in, the Games Room could see that the challenger had picked a standard Plasma Blaster and twin shoulder-mounted laser rifles, while Nico had picked two swords to go with the standard shoulder Lasers. Max's amusement made more than a few pilots nervous, but when the scenario set them up fifty meters apart, they had a bit more confidence.
That was only four steps at a run, but it should give the pilot time for two free shots before he needed to dodge and move away from the swords.
The timer started as Nico dropped to one knee, dodging the first Plasma shot, but then she did something nobody expected, she activated the jump thrusters and launched her Mecha straight at her opponent. His second shot flew wide as he tried to adjust to the sudden burst of speed, and Nico raised a sword to deflect both laser shots.
Her own shots hit the enemy mecha directly in the optical targeting sensors, and he lost a fraction of a second as he adjusted his display. That was enough that Nico was in melee range, with the two blades racing at his mecha. He used a standard evasion pattern flawlessly, dodging the first blade, but Nico kept coming forward, smashing the hilt into him and knocking the Corvette backward before the second sword drove up hard between its legs, crippling the mecha and overloading the power plant, leading to instant defeat by the explosion.
"Did you see that? That speed is insane. He couldn't even block in time. I take my words back, there really is a gap between the elite and the rest of us." One of the Pilots made a show of apologizing, much to the amusement of his fellows.
"Just be glad it wasn't you that spoke up first. But we should get in there. If he can't take her, it really might take all five of us." One of his compatriots declared, setting his beer down to drag his friend to the simulator.
"What about you, big boy? Do you think you could take all five of us at once?" A busty brunette researcher asked Max once the other guys had entered the simulator. She definitely didn't mean in the simulator and she did have four friends with her.
"I'm not sure about that. My sword work isn't quite up to that standard." Max declined, but it only made her smile larger.
"Good answer. I think we will be good friends, new guy. I am Lieutenant Carp of the Weapons Development Division, night shift team 3. I missed all the commotion when you came in today, but I'm looking forward to the exoskeleton you two introduced. Those Mechanic Nerds are a joyless bunch, only thinking of tools and Mecha, but that flying exosuit? That's pure genius. Not only would it add capability equivalent to a light Mecha without all the transport bulk, but it would be a huge morale boost to the infantry if it was done correctly."
Max thought about that for a second, and she was right, but he still felt like he was missing something.
"You don't need to understand now, but you will as soon as we get one up and running for test purposes. The day shift already altered the diagram to use most of the parts directly from the Mobile Suit, so we might even have an Alpha Design ready when you get to work in the morning. I do hate to flirt and run, but my shift starts in thirty minutes."
With that she blew Max a kiss and sauntered out with her cohort of female researchers, the swinging hips catching the attention of half the customers in the Games Room.
The Kepler Military was pretty relaxed about relations between soldiers, as long as there were no unintended consequences or nonconsensual actions, but that level of blatant advance was something Max never thought he would see again after leaving the streetwalkers of the downside in his past and joining the academy.
It was tempting though. Even if it might kill him, five beauties at once were enough that he wouldn't just dismiss the possibility. He still had his entire deployment ahead of him to change his mind, after all.
All five men had lined up against Nico, who had switched to a Plasma Shotgun and a sword in her hands. The design of the shotgun was a new one, a lighter version of the ones Max had mounted to Stalwart, designed to be handheld for the Corvette.
The match started with another thruster rush, but Nico wasn't going for the melee attack, she was just getting close enough for the shotgun to blast the rear armor of a Pilot caught off guard, disabling his mecha and letting her use it as a shield to block incoming fire.
His cursing could be clearly heard in the Games Room as he was ejected and forced to watch His mecha torn apart by his allies. Nico was faster moving than any of her opponents, and they couldn't get distance from her to create a proper attack pattern, so it was more like four 1v1 fights than a proper four-on-one.
A second pilot went down to her sword and a third to her shotgun before the final two managed to team up and finally land a hit on her mecha. It was a solid hit, but not a critical area, and she raced towards them with her lasers firing until she was back in shotgun range.
"Where did she learn that? Those shotguns are brand new, but she knows exactly how the pattern will spread." One of the defeated pilots asked, watching his remaining companions try to fend her off in close combat.
"My Crusader was upgraded to equip two of them. She has seen them more than a few times in live combat, plus her System Functions are incredibly well suited to combat." Max explained, as another Pilot was ejected, cussing.
His final teammate was at a flat-out run now, as Nico cut chunks out of his back, then finally chopped a leg off and blasted a hole through the hapless mecha.
"You are an evil one aren't you? Major Nico was it? I will remember today. I won't go down like that again." The last defeated Pilot declared as the two of them left the simulators.
"Of course not, I won't be so nice next time. Just be a good boy and die when I tell you to." Nico giggled while the room stared in amazement.
"I understand why the General likes you so much, you're both oddballs, just like him. I mean that in the best of ways." A researcher joked with Max, half drunk and waving his drink to emphasize his point.
"Now, who is up for a round of 3D billiards?" Max asked, ready to unwind and enjoy his evening. It was the last night of his vacation, and he wasn't going to go back to work without at least getting a few games in. On Level 10, Nightmare Mode, of course, to make it a challenge.
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The next morning came much too early, and Max was not at all prepared for the horrendous noise that his alarm made in the quiet apartment. The sound was familiar, it had woken him for dozens of shifts and patrols in the past, but inside a building, without the sound of war all around him, instead of a mecha cockpit, it just seemed out of place and overly aggressive.
He had set it to go off a full hour before he needed to be at work, giving him time to shower, dress and eat, but he soon realized that he had overlooked one important factor. He had arrived yesterday and unpacked all his gear, but this was not Stalwart. There was no stash of Ration packs, there was no Unit kitchen mere meters away, and he hadn't gone grocery shopping.
His first thought was to ping Nico and see what the plan was, but then it dawned on him that it didn't matter to her, she didn't need to eat. She had completely filled her nutrition storage with high-quality supplements at the resort, so she wouldn't actually need to eat anything for months.
This self-sufficient individual thing was going to take him a while to get used to.
Nico hadn't abandoned her best friend though, and before Max could make up his mind, the doorbell rang, bringing up a view of Nico holding a brown paper bag outside his door on the security screen.
"Just the person I needed to see." Max greeted her with a smile, welcoming Nico into his small and minimalist suite. Hers should be exactly the same at this point since neither had much in the way of belongings, so there was no need for a grand tour.
"I knew we forgot to go grocery shopping, and the security cameras showed a huge lineup at the fast food places between here and work, so I went ahead and grabbed you something to eat from the next floor down." She explained, handing him the bag.
The smell of grease and spice met his nose the moment he opened the bag, and Max wondered just what she had gotten him to eat. Most of the selections here were fairly bland foods, but whatever this was had definitely been spiced within inches of lethality.
"I didn't get a chance to sample them, but there's a breakfast burrito and a collection of their specialty samosas in the bag," Nico explained, turning to leave so they would get to work on time.
With hoverboards, the trip was an easy one. They were on the same floor as the entrance to the Testing Lab, so they only had to fly toward the center of the hab dome over the top of the buildings. With most of the traffic being at ground level, it was under five minutes before they were in line to have their identification checked and enter the Labs.
. "Pilots really are a whole different breed. Aren't you afraid of something happening and falling from the board flying that high?" One of the researchers behind them in line asked as they waited their turn.
"At my level, it's not a big deal. Unless I was doing acrobatics or something, I would just land on my feet. Both the fifty percent and one hundred percent total bonus reformations increased my physical durability." Max explained.
The researcher nodded, and then turned toward Nico, before realizing she was a cyborg and shrugging off his concerns. Even if she fell from the top of the level at a hoverboard's maximum speed, the worst she would do was make herself dizzy and ruin her clothes.
"First day is it? Report to the Colonel's office, fourth door on your left after entry. You will get your kit after the meeting." The security guard informed both Max and Nico in the same intrigued tone.
They didn't get a lot of new people here, and never visitors, so new members of the testing team were the highlight of his day. Even though he knew almost all the people who would be entering on this shift by name, he still had to check their identification and verify it against their biometric data before they could enter the lab. The whole facility was secure, but the lab took it to a whole new level, double-checking everything, with every single entry.
The Colonel turned out to be a strict-faced and very short woman with hair turned to half gray by the rigors of decades in the Military. She was in full dress uniform, and the collection of certification and service badges showed that she used to be, or possibly still was, an intelligence officer with Central Command. Not a field agent, but highly skilled in data analysis and pattern recognition.
"Welcome to the Comor Research and Development Lab Majors. I am Colonel Noor and I will be your direct supervisor here in the Testing Lab. Your assigned locker numbers are available on your wrist devices, and contain everything you will need. Although the lab coats are fashionable, you will not be needing them, there are Pilot Suits assigned to you. They are also a test product, so they should be worn any time that you are inside a Mecha, for data collection purposes.
Today, we have the prototypes of the Exoskeleton suits that were introduced yesterday up for their first round of tests. I hear that you two suggested them, so you will be the first to test them. Bay 29 will be expecting your arrival in thirty minutes.
If there are no other questions, you are dismissed."
Both Nico and Max saluted politely and left the Colonel's office to go get their gear from the lockers. The locker room for the testing staff was much more impressive than Max had expected, having not only Rainfall showers with Ultrasonic scrubbers but also an automated medical bay and android staffed Massage stations. That was a lot of luxury for somewhere to put your work clothes on inside a Lab.
The room was currently filled with staff getting into their uniforms for the day, as every set of clothing was provided, and according to the directions on the inside of the lockers, no outside items were to be brought further into the lab.
Max quickly switched to the Pilot Suit, noting that it was much more form-fitting than the old one, which was loose until it inflated to add pressure, preventing blood pooling during rapid maneuvering.
"Now this is a Pilot Suit. My ass looks fantastic." Nico laughed, zipping up the neoprene suit and strapping on the outer harness which held the armor plates and pockets for necessary equipment.
"No lie detected, Major. Though I do wish the individual cut could be a bit more flattering to the package. Do you think we could suggest a bit of built-in armor pad it out a little?" One of the Male test Pilots laughed, flexing in front of the mirror in his own suit.
The dubious looks that many were giving the suits let Max know that these were a new design, but they were extremely comfortable once they were on. Much like the high-tech base layer to the standard uniform, they controlled temperature and humidity perfectly, with the only downside being that the form-fitting suits did leave you feeling a bit naked like you were piloting in your underwear.
"What bay did you get today? They randomize it through everything you're qualified on so that the data isn't biased by the testers." The pilot who was complaining about the lack of Package emphasis asked Max as he finished deciphering the webbing harness and getting dressed.
"Bay 29, the Exoskeleton testing," Max answered, making sure his suit was on correctly.
"Lucky bugger. I got the Fusion Eradicator again. I swear if that thing blows up one more time I will go to the General and beg to have the design scrapped." The Pilot replied with a rueful laugh, before waving and heading out.
The bays were accessed through a network of overhead catwalks, so that the observers could look down into the bays at the experiments, from the outside of the protective shielding of course, while keeping the foot traffic elevated and out of the way of the heavy equipment that brought the designs to the bays to be tested.
Bay 29 ended up being off in a far corner of the Lab, and Max had to jog to make it there on time after changing, but he wasn't alone. Half the staff had to run to make their duty station on time and get checked in before they were marked as late. Max wasn't sure how particular they were about time schedules here, but going by what he saw in the mind of the Colonel, it was best to be not even a second behind schedule during check-in.
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They arrived at the bay with a few minutes to spare and found that the entire area had been meticulously set up by the previous shift, in preparation for them to arrive.
There were two exoskeleton suits laid out on the tables, each with a different array of mechanical equipment on them. One looked to be the standard Mecha Mechanic suit, as Max had expected, but the second appeared to contain a variety of medical tools, like syringes and bone saws.
"Sweet, one of us gets to play mad doctor." Nico joked, looking over the second suit, while the researchers scuttled about the room.
"Just wait in the chairs off to the side while we finish our data analysis to make sure they are safe to power up. There is coffee if you need it, as well as food." A young woman with a clipboard told them, indicating a spot in the corner of the area.
Max still had the smell of spice on his breath, and one of the researchers who walked by smirked at him. "First day is it? I didn't think there was anyone here I didn't recognize. For future reference, the Lab brings two meals a shift to us, so nobody eats breakfast outside if they work in the Testing Lab. The lines for the restaurants you saw this morning are the design and programming teams, or the night shift grabbing something on the way home."
"That's valuable information to have. We were kind of dropped in without much detail, other than a time to report for duty." Max thanked her, making the researcher blush.
That wasn't an expected reaction, so Max looked at her a little more closely than just the essential details and noticed that she was barely old enough to have finished the academy, and was local to Comor, without a system. Max already knew that those who weren't used to the physical changes that the system brought tended to be overwhelmed by those who had undergone them.
It was said that Kepler had the most beautiful people, but that was almost all down to the System's interference. After the initial rapid growth, it deemed acne, skin blemishes, and excess weight as unnecessary, so it discarded them all. Even if Max ate ten thousand calories a day, his body would simply stop absorbing them after it had reached the upper limits of what it had deemed optimal energy storage. It also increased the energy density of body fat during his and many other Pilots' upgrades, so that it didn't compromise their form.
He would have to get used to the looks eventually, and the crude gestures that Nico was making, suggesting that Max should ask the youthful researcher about a little extracurricular fun after their shift.
The researcher in question didn't notice her suggestion, but a few of the others did and gave the girl an envious glance. Max ignored them and turned an annoyed glare on Nico, who was playing innocent, pouring out a dozen cups of coffee for the staff of bay 29.
Nico was an amazing Executive Officer and an even better friend, but her ideas of what constituted normal and moral behavior simply weren't compatible with Max's sense of how things should be done.
He wondered if it was something to do with his past life since he felt such a strong sense of morality and justice lingering in those memories, but Nico did seem even more open and forward than the rest of the people around him, though not always by much.
"Who takes coffee flavored coffee and who needs stuff in it?" Nico asked once the cups were full, making the researchers laugh.
"See, this is why you need veterans in the lab. Remember when the other Pilots started? They had never even had coffee before." One of the staff joked, making both Max and Nico give him a horrified look.
"Who has never drank coffee? and how does that even happen?" Max asked, genuinely curious.
"They sent them to us straight from the Academy's Special Forces training. They hadn't been on a single mission, all they knew was school, and the Comor Academy doesn't serve coffee, because it's known to stunt growth.
"See, there's the problem. The System will compensate for that, so the Kepler Terminus Academy serves coffee in all the cafeterias, even if the first years don't drink much of it. Plus, it is in every single ration pack. Even if they had been on a few field trips, they should be familiar with Coffee Instant Type K." Max informed them, while the team came to get their coffee, with some adding cream and sugar, and some adding liquid shots that Max suspected were the Cyborg Nutrition Supplements.
Taken by humans, they were a huge overdose of nutrients but designed to be relatively safe, but they gave a long-lasting energy boost, keeping the workers awake for hours. If they were taking them at the start of their shift, the researchers must be getting pretty burnt out.
"Already with the energy drinks? Didn't your shift just start?" Max asked, watching the staff hold their coffee with a look of reverence usually reserved for lovers.
"We didn't go home after the last one, since the designs for the Exoskeleton were coming in. We've been here all night getting the parts made and prepped for this morning's testing, but we spent the overnight in the upper floor labs." The team leader explained.
Nobody here had nametags, so Max was going to have to ask later, or read their minds to find out who was who. Not that it was truly important in the immediate sense, but building camaraderie was important.
By the time the coffees were finished, the two suits had undergone final checks and were deemed safe to be equipped and activated.
"I will go first. Even if it blows up a little, I should be relatively safe." Nico offered, stepping towards the tables.
"Good, good. Explosion-resistant test pilots are an amazing idea. We should see if we can get that feature added to the Pilot suits." The team leader agreed, nodding her head, and making the frizzy mass of brown curls bounce.
The first test was obviously going to be the [Tech Adept Toolkit v3]. Max politely didn't ask what happened with versions one and two if three was the first one deemed safe for human testing, but with a bit of help from the team, the exoskeleton easily adjusted to perfectly fit Nico's frame, and powered up. A glowing blue ring of light from the plasma cell power module lit up on the back, showing that the suit was operational, and the arms came to life, moving to a neutral position just behind Nico's shoulder line.
There were a series of simple tasks set up on the end table, designed to test the functionality of the arms since the frame itself was more easily tested. Nico activated the anti-gravity plating and hovered for a minute, narrating the trim change needed to make the suit smoothly hover, then glided to the far side of the bay.
The torch, welder, and shears were easily tested as functional, then the variable socket pincers and their extension beam, and finally the clamping claws were tested for accuracy in pressure. The adjustments were accurate to intentions within one gram, at least they were when Nico was using the suit, but that did raise the question of how accurate the neural link controls would be with anyone else using them.
Nico wasn't hacking the suit, but her Innate Talent made controlling the device second nature to her, precision was never going to be an issue unless there was a problem with the suit, which was mostly assembled from precision instruments in the other labs.
"Success. We have success. Every basic function works as intended, the power augmentation and flight systems are all within parameters, and the neural link is working flawlessly, without any major input lag. They did an amazing job on this design, I've never seen a first test so successful." The young researcher who blushed when Max thanked her earlier nearly screamed.
Max looked into her mind for her name, to save himself the trouble of asking later, finding that she was called Anna, and didn't have another name, as she was raised as an orphan by the Military. When she realized how loud she was, she blushed again, highlighting the freckles on her face before she hid it in her hands and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
"It's good to hear such enthusiasm for your work so early in the morning." Uncle Lu called from the catwalks above them, where he had been making his morning rounds when he heard the victory shout.
"Send me the test results and I will send the design back upstairs so they can make tweaks and modifications. Oh, never mind, you already did. Thank you, Major Nico." With that, Uncle Lu was gone again, and the team helped Nico out of the suit before sitting down around a table to write their reports.
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The Testing Lab's daily routine turned out to be a little bit of testing and a lot of making reports on the tests that were done. Or, more correctly from the standpoint of the test Pilots, a lot of waiting for the others to make reports. They reported on the functionality, while all the in-depth details and data analysis was left to the research team. Nico had prepared her report before she even finished the test, thanks to her system functions, but the team took three whole hours of going over the data before they were ready for Max to repeat the test and see how the suit functioned with him at the helm.
It turned out to be incredibly intuitive, even for Max who had no practical experience with complex robotic arms. He did at least have a basic familiarity with Mecha Repair, thanks to his stunted time in the Academy, so at least he didn't make a fool out of himself during the testing.
They both tested the medical version just before lunch was delivered at noon and both Nico and Max were expecting a very dull afternoon of not much happening while the rest of the team did their initial reports. According to the team, after today, they would have ongoing individual tests to go through a few times an hour, so the test pilots wouldn't be so bored, it was just today there was so much base data to enter into the system that they couldn't do any more tests until the baseline for the subsequent results was in the system.
They were saved from absolute boredom by Uncle Lu, who had a simulator for them to test out. The Lab had developed a drone-piloted fighter jet that mounted two enormous Heavy Rail Cannons as well as a pair of Micro Rocket pods for safely and remotely eliminating enemy Mecha. From an altitude of ten thousand meters or more it would be able to engage from over three hundred kilometers away, and still, have the fifty-kilogram projectile impact its target at over Mach 30.
The jet was a flying wing design, almost a perfect triangle, with scramjet engines above and below the main structure and the two rail cannons poking out from either side of the cockpit at the front. As a supersonic fighter jet, the design was sound and fairly traditional, other than the overkill weapons. A kiloton of impact force wasn't in the design parameters of any armor that Max was familiar with short of an Orbital Strike bunker.
"Where do we need to go to find this simulator, boss? This drone looks like a lot of fun." Nico called up at the General on the catwalk.
"Come up to the Structural design lab. They have the simulator there, and it is where most simulated tests take place since we don't build anything until it has proven itself in theory." General Lu instructed them, before waving at the Exoskeleton team and leaving.
"Looks like you two get the fun stuff today. You must have really impressed him if he's sending you to new design testing already. That's pure theory testing, not like down here, where we put the designs together and prove whether their numbers were right or not in the real world." The team leader told them with a hint of admiration.
"But this is the most important step. If the theory was enough we wouldn't have to worry about designs failing or blowing up once they were assembled." Max consoled her, knowing she had a lot of time ahead of her just doing up all the reports for the single round of testing that they did this morning.
They didn't bother to change back before going up, though the Pilot suits weren't needed on the upper floors and they could have switched to one of the casual outfits the office supplied to other workers. Getting to the simulator was more important than fitting in with the crowd.
The bodysuit look attracted a fair bit of attention though, so Max stopped at the door of the Structural design lab and procured them a pair of Lab Coats so that he could avoid some of the inevitable questions about the experimental suit by those who were working on its design.
"Oh, good you're here. We will have to do a quick examination to check you out on the x10 Jet Chassis and then you can start the simulated tests on the drone version. The two are essentially identical, except the pilot will be in a simulator back safely in Command bases instead of exposed inside the jets themselves. Orbital dropped fighters have had a horrendous casualty rate lately, and the hope is that leaving the Pilots behind in orbit will minimize that and allow for a larger force of jets to be sent without decimating the manpower of the transports.
"The logic checks out. I've seen the orbital dropped fighters die by the tens of thousands to ground-based firepower because command made a mistake." Max agreed.
"We watched the footage, but I forgot that you were there on the ground when the Cygnus forces attacked that day. Yes, that is what we want to avoid in the future. Even if the Fighters are destroyed, if the trained pilots survive then we only need to send another wave somewhere safer. Measuring the cost in tons of materials and labor instead of lives sits much better with public perception." The researcher nodded, then gestured to the waiting simulators.
The inside of a fighter jet was ridiculously, childishly simple compared to a Mecha cockpit, and with his targeting skills, Max aced the exam without ever having to drop his speed. Nico also aced the exam, but almost failed on a technicality. Her body wasn't bothered by gravity the way an organic human was, so she wasn't limiting her maneuvering forces as much and almost destroyed the test plane while banking.
"Two perfect scores, with the lowest times ever recorded. I think that goes for Kepler examinations as well. Transferring Mecha Pilots to the Interstellar Navy doesn't happen often, but it looks like there might be some advantages to the practice." A large-nosed man with an afro and milky white skin declared as Max was leaving his training simulation.
"Why not send some of the crippled Pilots over to be tested for this program once it goes live? You don't need arms and legs to operate a Simulator, so even if they have taken damage that their bodies can't or haven't yet regenerated they should be able to serve as Drone Controllers." Nico suggested.
Even better, they would already be on board the transports, recovering from their injuries and frustrated with their lack of ability. Letting them fight would be good for their mental health, Max reasoned.
"Now, if you would like to get in the simulation for the drone Jets, we can begin initial testing."
The simulators had started to draw a crowd now since the man's declaration that they had set new records for the previous examination had carried across the mostly quiet lab section, where most were working on their computers and not practical structures, which were done on the other side of this section of the Lab, kilometers away.
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Max climbed back into the simulator, hanging his lab coat over the back of the machine, and powered up the virtual reality program. It brought him to the cockpit of an orbital insertion fighter inside a simulated hangar in a drop ship, the standard launching point for the experimental fighters.
[Launch in T minus fifteen seconds. Please remember structural limits exist within the simulation.] A robotic voice informed him and Max chuckled at the warning that was very clearly for Nico.
The countdown commenced and the bay doors opened, showing that he was facing straight down towards a yellowish orange planet. A Sulphur Waste if Max's guess was correct. They weren't often human habitable but were often hotly contested due to the abundance of resources that formed inside them.
The fighter was launched towards the planet with a shuddering lurch as the variable thrusters mounted outboard on the wings engaged to adjust his speed and trajectory on the automated path. The two simulations were separate, so Max was alone in this place, hurtling to what felt like certain doom.
Dropping in a Lander was much more relaxing than watching the fires of orbital entry fill the cockpit window in front of you. The jet was out of his control for a while while the harsh entry overrode any attempts at maneuvering, so Max made a mental note to increase the output of the outboard thrusters so that this vulnerable moment could be eliminated and Pilots could begin their attack pattern over a minute sooner.
The force was well within structural limits, so a bit of maneuvering wouldn't hurt anything, and could prevent the destruction of a lot of units. Max wasn't familiar with the limits of other aircraft, but for this one, the solution seemed plausible.
Once he had slowed enough to maneuver again, Max brought up the targeting sequence, finding that there were two clusters of Cygnus Reaver Class Heavy Mecha, ending in a single Cygnus Super Heavy unit. The program was likely set before the treaty between the two sides had stabilized when everyone assumed that the long-standing feuds would erupt into battle again any day. There was still a chance of that, but it was looking increasingly slim with every week that passed, as more and more trade agreements and alliances were formed.
The first target was a cluster of five Heavy Mecha, and Max's targeting skills had already come to life, though the jet was nearly five hundred kilometers from the target. He trusted his System on this front more than anything else, so Max sent round after round towards the target. The Rail Cannons could only fire one shot every three seconds, or a six-second gap per array. That was a truly abysmal rate of fire, but the amount of energy needed to propel the rounds was immense.
Two mecha were immediately scrapped by the Rail Cannons, and then another and another. With the speed he was traveling, Max was already too close to make the fifth attack, so he turned the missile pods to a rearward position and launched them down at the last Mecha while turning the jet toward the second target.
The jet groaned ominously, and Max checked his structural readings, seeing that he was already over eighty-five percent of capacity, into the danger zone for structural integrity. If they were going to have Mecha Pilots operate these jets as drones, some serious work was going to need to be done. They were simply too fragile for the way they were going to be used, and now Max understood why Nico had almost blown hers up. He followed the optimal route for the test, while she had likely improvised and ended up with more sharp turns in her route.
?<0,>?,?l The second squad was only three Heavy Mecha, and they fell to the Rail Cannons from over three hundred kilometers away. The guns might be ridiculous and unwieldy, but he couldn't argue with their absolute power. He hadn't failed to get a single hit kill with them yet.
Max banked and turned for the Super Heavy coming in low above the hills where the Super Heavy's powerful weapons wouldn't be able to target him as easily, then put two nearly simultaneous rounds into it, breaking the shielding, but he was still out of missile range and the second round lost most of its velocity before the shield collapsed. Max knew the tactic now, and waited the full six seconds, firing both Cannons at once and following them with a full volley of armor-piercing missiles as his jet raced toward the target at over a thousand kilometers an hour.
The shielding around the Super Heavy Mecha fell in an instant and the missiles impacted all over the joints of the armor and the cockpit. The Mecha collapsed like a doll with the strings cut, and Max turned straight up, gaining altitude, where the crippled Mecha couldn't easily target him and he would be safer from surprise ground fire.
At the five-second mark since his last Rail Cannon rounds, he banked back toward the ground, firing both at once again. The shields hadn't come back up, and the rounds drilled deep into the mecha, causing a core breach, and Max turned away in a hurry as the first signs of a chain reaction glowed in the torso before turning into a full-power nuclear explosion.
[Scenario Complete. Ending in 5 seconds.]
Once he was brought out of the simulation to the lab, Max found the researchers in a flurry of activity, talking rapidly over each other and comparing notes.
"Did we do something strange?" Max asked Nico, who seemed just as confused as he was, though nothing showed on her face.
"I have no idea. I just took out the mecha the most efficient way and then they called me back to wait for you. I've only been back about five seconds longer than you have." She explained.
"You didn't have to loop up to take out the Super Heavy with a second volley?" Max asked.
"Nope, I waited until I was in range and disabled the shields with the missiles then used the Rail Cannons to blow it up." Nico shrugged.
Yeah, that was a good idea too. Max hadn't expected the shielding to hold that well though and had thought the second shot would make its way through and damage the mecha so he could finish it with missiles.
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"So, what are the Pilots' impressions?" The team leader asked, data tablet in hand.
"Too fragile, since the Pilot isn't in danger of over force injuries, they can put the jet through much more than usual. Also six seconds between rounds? Are you messing with me? At least put in a set of staged capacitors so that the thing can fire a second volley before its main weapon is helpless. A high threat engagement is two seconds long before someone dies. Six seconds might as well be worthless." Nico's cutting criticism made the designers a bit pale in the face, but she had offered a partial solution, so the designers had something to work with, even if they were going to go back to the drawing board on the structure to make it stronger without adding additional weight or changing the balance.
"Anything else? Pilot Max?" The team leader asked hopefully.
"The descent thrusters are too weak. You're helpless for almost a minute during descent before they can get the thing under control again. That might be at high altitude, but anti-Lander fire can reach you up there, and it is a whole minute of helplessness where you can't maneuver properly. If the output of the outboard variable direction thrusters was increased you could greatly cut that down and increase survivability." Max suggested.
"Why do I feel like we just got a B minus on an Academy of Engineering assignment?" One of the others asked, making the researchers laugh.
"It's refreshing, isn't it? Test Pilots, who don't kiss ass?" General Lu laughed, coming over to see how things went.
"I don't know if I would use that particular word for it, but it is a change for sure. We have a lot of changes to make to bring this design up to the standards that the Test Pilots have requested." The lead designer informed him, sending over the notes.
"Oh, that sounds fun. I didn't think about that. Yes, with the pilots being remote, we can really flog these things for all they are worth. Well, you know what you need to do, I will send the gentle criticism of the firing rate down to the Weapons Design teams and we will revisit these tests at the end of the week."
That didn't seem like much time to Max, but the team only nodded and started making notes, preparing for the next round of tests.
"That's it for the day. Test Pilots have much shorter working hours than most of the team, since we only need them here when things are working, and the projects that I recruited you for aren't ready yet." General Lu informed them, reverting back to the relaxed and smiling version of himself they knew best.
This was the real Uncle Lu, the one that didn't need to be serious and respected in his official capacity. Max wondered how such a laidback guy had even made General unless there was a design in his past that was so essential to the Kepler Empire that he earned the promotion for his contribution. Knowing him, it was very possible that he had made something incredible at a young age and ended up at the top of the promotion pile before he even knew what was going on.
"Why don't we all get a snack and then we can talk about these new Mecha designs that you're working on? If they're not ready for alpha testing on the simulators yet, we can still make some fun changes, right?" Nico suggested, making Uncle Lu give her a genuine smile.
"I suppose that is true. What do you want to see first? The X109 and the Fusion Flamer, or the X137 which will be getting the Tri-Axis Variable Velocity Mass Driver?" Lu asked.
"First of all, you need to work on that name, Tri-Axis Variable Velocity Mass Driver is way too long. Pilots would give it a ridiculous nickname like the Boom Gun if you didn't come up with something good first. But I really want to see it." Max decided.
"Boom Gun, I like it. Maybe Thunder Turret. You will understand when you get a chance to test it. We have a simulation version of the raw weapon available already, but the chassis that it is supposed to go on had to undergo some major revisions after we created the design last week. I'm sure you understand." Lu laughed.
He made them redesign an entire Super Heavy Mecha from the ground up for a specialty artillery weapon after just talking to Max for a few days after they met. General Lu was an absolute madman, but the Pilots were going to love him.
General Lu led them to another region of the lab, taking almost an hour to walk there, with the distance and the constant stream of researchers needing his input on the various things that they were working on. As they walked, it became clear that Lu was the brains behind this entire operation, and he wasn't a supervisor, but the lead researcher on every project in the lab, with many of the ideas and base schematics having come directly from him.
The team working on the gun was only using a simple VR headset with a neural link for testing so far, showing the user a scene of the guns mounted on a flat concrete surface with the ability to aim and fire them, as well as inspect the unit itself and make adjustments.
They all sat down and equipped the sets, joining the team members in the simulation to show off their new toys.
"We got the firing rate down to one point five seconds per barrel, but any faster and we are having feed issues." One of the researchers greeted them without any preamble.
"I might know how to fix that. I had to modify the feed on my Battle Cannon so that it wouldn't jam or bounce rounds off the edge of the breech at higher rates of fire." Max suggested, bringing up the design that was saved in his wrist device.
pA?,??.?0m "Oh, the Battle Cannon on Stalwart. We modified the design to match when we got the data since we noticed the rate of fire, but we are still having issues."
"Simple fix, shave the feed connector so that the rounds don't come in straight but at a five-degree angle, that will stop the feed jams. I did it to Stalwart after the first battle." Nico added and then walked over to the turrets to make the same change.
It was a simple thing, and in the digital surroundings only took a second for her to accomplish it before she looked over the three turrets, with their linked Battle Cannon barrels. If they could each hold the fire rate of Stalwart that would be about four and a half rounds a second from a single Mecha.
Uncle Lu had said that this was the secondary armament, but it was a truly formidable one even if it was the main weapon of a Super Heavy.
"Everyone Clear. Test Firing in ten seconds." The researcher announced, getting the test prepared.
The Guns lit up with repeated high explosive rounds, carpeting an area of the scenario in explosions as everyone wrote notes until finally a tremendous explosion destroyed the simulated turret and ejected everyone from the simulation.
"Now what the feth was that? I swear it never blew up before, it's just a lot of Battle Cannons for the Emperor's sake." The lead researcher complained while Nico laughed.
"Stalwart has the same issue. You have to watch the heat dissipation at the breech, or it gets hot enough to spontaneously detonate the explosive rounds. The problem is minimized if you're firing armor penetrating sabot rounds, but it is still possible." She explained.
"So we need to lower the fire rate, or come up with a better heat dissipation method? Maybe improvements to the liquid cooling? What did you do in Stalwart, Major Max?" Uncle Lu asked.
"I just stopped firing for five seconds once every fifteen seconds to let the gun cool down a little." Max shrugged. It wasn't a problem that they had fully solved, but it was enough to let the gun keep operating.
"What you need to be more concerned about is barrel damage from the intense heat. If you used Battle Cannon barrels directly, they will quickly overheat and warp with repeated use at that firing rate. Stalwart replaced barrels on a fairly regular basis." Nico added.
"Improved cooling, and we can use the barrel enclosure as a heat sink while cooling the entire length. That should solve the packaging issues, at least until they take a few hits, but that would likely disable a turret anyhow." The researchers began to ramble, and General Lu led the two Pilots out of the lab with a smile.
"Good work for your first day. Now go home and cause chaos elsewhere. My staff has enough to do for the day."
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Max led the way back to the changing room and left the Pilot suit behind, after filling out a report on the shift long comfort level and essential tool accessibility of the harness. Once he got past the feeling of being nearly naked in the light body suit, it was incredibly comfortable for daily activities, and he wouldn't mind wearing it again every day if he had to. Inside a cramped cockpit, it would be even better than the regular loose jumpsuit style, which often folded under the legs and made the pockets inaccessible while operating.
Max knew that for an extended deployment more than a few Crusader Class Pilots simply didn't get dressed and operated in their underwear. Max had always been a bit too paranoid about something unexpected happening and causing him to end up outside or on a video chat in his underwear, so he at least put pants on, but Nico routinely delayed video links with Command until she had gotten dressed, so she was certainly operating in something less than her uniform.
He likely wouldn't be wearing the harness during operations though, or at least not all of it. The armor plate would only get in the way of his cockpit securement, and the straps across his back would not be comfortable for long-term wear over the course of weeks.
All of that went into their notes, and they made their way back to the apartment, stopping along the way to grab a collection of groceries and other essentials. The apartment had all the cooking utensils that they could need, as well as an automated washing machine, but they hadn't had time to stock food yet.
Max noticed that Nico was also doing some grocery shopping, getting an assortment of nonperishable foodstuffs to take home with her, despite not needing them.
"Planning on hosting a party?" Max asked, wondering at her selections.
"Special events need cake. These ingredients will make one at any time, and they are shelf stable so I don't need to worry about how long it is going to be before a situation calls for cake." Nico explained as if it was incredibly obvious. Perhaps it was, just not to Max.
Once they got home, Nico dropped her groceries on her counter and came over to help Max put away his much larger haul. They had left early, but they had been there for both breakfast and lunch servings in the Testing Lab, so Max decided to relax for the afternoon, watching movies with Nico.
"Why don't we start with the Classics? I know you missed a lot of the essentials of movie culture, so we can start with the comedies and go from there." Nico suggested. That worked for Max, comedy movies were an easy win in his books, so they settled onto the couch and put on a supposedly cult classic comedy called Space Orbs.
Max recalled the credits ending, but the next thing he knew, his alarm was going off and he was waking up with his head on Nico's lap.
"I guess we fell asleep watching movies." She mumbled, reaching across to turn his alarm off.
Max wondered what happened. The night before, he had tossed and turned for hours before falling asleep, but last night he was out after a single movie, and on the couch no less, not even in bed. He must have been more tired than he thought.
They didn't stop for anything this morning, simply going to the office, where they could have a much more luxurious shower and would be putting on fresh clothes anyhow. Their arrival by hoverboard didn't attract as much attention as yesterday, mostly because they were a half hour early and there were only a few people headed to the lab at this time, with everyone else showing up right before their shift was set to start.
After a quick shower, Max checked his work locker and found that the Pilot suit was the same as yesterday, but in a different color combination, so it might be a slightly different model or composition than yesterday's outfit. This one had a different top layer setup as well, a soft cloth set of overalls instead of a webbing harness. They were long-legged and tucked into his boots, but sleeveless, which might be more comfortable than the webbing harness, though they looked rather odd, like he should be wearing a shirt, but wasn't, with the short sleeves of the base layer looking like an undershirt.
"Oh, you got that one, it looks strange, but it's way more comfortable than the webbing. Looks like your partner got something strange." One of the pilots laughed, pointing to where Nico was looking at a jumpsuit that was more mesh than anything else.
She slipped it on and Max couldn't help but draw in a surprised breath. "That outfit is just barely making it in so many ways. Tell me there is another layer that goes with it."
Nico smirked and shook her head. "Cyborg combat suit version 9, optimized for cooling and defense against edged weapons. Supposedly this thing will take the blade of a Line Mecha without tearing. I think I like it, just the looks it gets are worth it."
"I'll tell you what though, I couldn't wear it, and I'm partial conversion. My balls would hang out of the mesh and don't even get me started on the chafing." One of the other Pilots laughed as Nico grabbed a Lab Coat to wear over the suit.
"You know, you can turn down the suits if they are unsuitable for use." One of the female researchers informed them, coming into the room too late to actually see it.
Nico turned with her coat open and tilted her head at the scientist. "It's functional, but whoever designed it needs to get laid. I'll have to go upstairs and have a conversation with them later."
The researcher's eyes bugged out at the mesh suit, and she stuttered, trying to form a response. Colonel Noor saved her the trouble though, grabbing another suit and throwing it at Nico.
"No need, either of you. I will go talk to them personally, but if you like it, you can keep it. Maybe wear it as a base layer or something." The Colonel's face looked furious, so she must have been watching the cameras to see if there were any issues with the day's outfits.
"Understood Colonel. Under a crop top and skirt, it would actually look pretty cute." The strict woman just shook her head at Nico and marched out to go verbally tear someone a new orifice.
"Well, that was a fun way to start the second day, hopefully, we get a testing station that is just as interesting." Max joked, checking the duty roster on the wall to see where he would be. He was on X10 development testing, while Nico was back in Bay 29, doing the second day of practical tests on the [Tech Adept Toolkit].
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The rest of the week went the same way, Max tested the incremental improvements to the orbital insertion fighter jet while Nico worked with the team on the practical tests of the Exoskeleton. They eventually forced the coding team to write up fully articulated dendrites to replace the crane boom arms, making for better access in tight areas, and better overall articulation without moving the user's physical body.
Ten suits had been made so far, and the Testing Department were all jealous of the staff of Bay 29, who were wearing them all day, for "Testing Purposes" as they did the modifications on the medical version dubbed the [Medical Adept Toolkit v3]. The extra arms increased productivity and precision, as well as reduced user fatigue, and petitions had already been launched to declare the suit as suitable for service so that the other bays could get them as well.
The digital design of the fighter plane had come a long way in a single week, with the structural integrity increasing by over forty percent, allowing much more comfortable maneuvering for Pilots like Max from a remote position. They also got the reload time on the Rail Cannons down to three seconds from six. That let the pair fire one shot every second and a half, an acceptable rate if you fired them alternately.
That somewhat limited the damage output, but the impact force of the shells tore through nearly anything, so the spray and pray method wasn't really necessary.
The Kepler military was big on precision, and well-aimed shots with deadly weapons, but Max also knew that simply saturating an area in weapons fire worked just as well, with a much lower skill threshold. Unofficially, it was the way of the infantry already, though it was seen as beneath the Mecha Pilots.
The Testing Department got one day off every week, and Max was getting ready for his first true day off from the new posting when laughter in the locker room caught his attention. They were looking out into the labs, half of them still naked from the shower, but they had run out to see whatever was going on anyhow, so it must be good.
Max came out to see that the notice on the wall was declaring that the two new exoskeletons had passed testing and were now decreed ready for laboratory general use. The testing team had decided that this was the perfect time for a show, and they had assembled outfits to match their project. Five men in Coveralls and Lab Coats, with the [Tech Adept] exoskeleton on, and six women, including Nico, wearing the [Medical Adept] version in very short nurse outfits, complete with the hats.
It was the first good laugh anyone had all week, and they were going all out cheering for the upgraded equipment. Or maybe for the flying nurses, but that was the same thing, really. They were all coming off shift as well, so they flew over to the changing room to get out of the suits, where Nico showed them a trick to get undressed. If they had the grasping arms of the suit hold onto the hangars in the locker, they could simply power down and step out of them, and the suit would retract automatically to a compact form for storage.
"Congratulations on the successful testing, Bay 29. Starting tomorrow you will be on the X109 Mecha testing. It won't be quite as rapid as the exosuits, but it is an all-new design, Crusader Class, with new weapons systems. You will be testing the entire integrated unit at once." Colonel Noor declared, killing their joy for a moment. An all-new mecha, with all new weapons, would take a significant amount of time to finish testing.
"Also, the X137 Chassis has moved to digital testing, so you can finally escape Jet Fighter testing Major Max. I'm sure the design team will thank me for approving live tests instead of letting you make more extreme modifications to their design." The Colonel added, then left the room.
That was what Max had been waiting for all week. The X137 was the Chassis that the Tri-Axis Variable Velocity Mass Driver, now officially code-named the Thunder Gun, was supposed to be mounted on.
That would finally get him back in a Mecha, even if it was simulated, and end a week of torture by boredom. Max wasn't under any illusions that the digital testing of a mecha would be that much more exhilarating, but at least it would be a mecha.
Max decided to make a stop off at the Games Room for a drink, caving to Nico's insistence that he needed to learn to have fun at some point. Not that she did much of anything, spending half her evenings watching movies with him and the other half of them discussing Mecha design with Uncle Lu.
Max was in on most of those conversations as well, and the constant thinking about new Mecha was helping to refresh his memories of the Mecha in his past life. From what he could tell, they were much more advanced than the ones that the Kepler Military used, ahead of even the designs that were making it to the testing floor of the Lab, but he was still missing some essential knowledge of his past, and couldn't seem to find the memories of exactly how they worked or enough of the design details to explain them, running into the last bits of fog in his memory when he tried.
He had been trying, but the fog simply wouldn't budge. It also felt different than the other parts of his memory that he had to work to recover like it had been blocked on purpose and not by coincidence. There was a chance that the being that reincarnated him had locked this portion away on purpose, hiding things that it didn't think Max would need or that would hinder his next life, but some of them, like Mecha Weapons design he would have preferred to have access to.
Though maybe that was the point? He had spent centuries in boredom as a Nation's hero in his past life. What if the Mecha he piloted had something to do with it? If that were the case, he might irrevocably damage his happiness in this life, leaving him in a level of boredom and drudgery even more monotonous than digital design testing for the remainder of his natural life, and that would never do. Once the upgraded Mecha for the next generation of Military deployments was finished he was going to work to get himself reassigned to combat.
Maybe live fire testing of the new X137 that Uncle Lu had designed for him would be a good enough excuse?
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Max greeted the next morning with an uncharacteristic wave of enthusiasm, despite the monumental hangover brought about by a night of drinking and gambling at the Games Room. Today, he was scheduled to begin work on the new Heavy Mecha Project X137.
Though perhaps it would better be called a Super Heavy Mecha, given the size of the weapons that Max had seen prepared for it. He hadn't seen the design specs on the new Mecha yet, but it had to be a pretty substantial frame if it was going to take the beating of six Battle Cannons rapid firing from its back. He didn't even know what the Main Armament was supposed to be for it yet.
Given the estimated size, the Phalanx Class main weapons were all going to be viable options, or perhaps the Lab had prepared something unique for it. They did say that they were making progress on the Fusion Flamer, so the x137 Might be getting close quarters infantry suppression as well as Artillery capabilities.
"Ready to get back into a Mecha simulator?" Nico asked, walking in his door like she owned the place.
"More than you could possibly know. The controls on an Orbital fighter are so simplistic I wouldn't be surprised if you could manage them with your [Drone Controller] Ability." Max agreed.
Nico was looking much more subdued than usual today, wearing one of the oversized hoodie and tights outfits that were popular among the majority of female researchers for the ease with which they could be changed out for work. They weren't even brightly colored, just a gray hoodie and black pants. It was a bit odd to see her that way like she was wearing camouflage or something.
"Alright, let's get a move on, so we can beat the lineup at the entrance," Max told her, grabbing his hoverboard on the way out the door.
Now that they were settled into a routine, they didn't race along like they did the first few days, instead, they slowed down some to wave at and catcall friends from work. Many of them catcalled back, envious of the transportation the two Majors brought with them.
Most of the staff got no warning at all before they were transferred in, so they didn't bring anything with them other than the standard military kit. The hab dome sold anti-gravity boots that were fairly fast, but more like ice skates, in that they only hovered a meter or less off the ground. So while they could fly down empty streets, they couldn't compete with the hoverboards for versatility.
Much to Max's surprise, a number of workers from the structural design labs were already in line at this entrance today. He knew that a lot of them lived in this zone, but they didn't have to change before their shift, so they usually showed up at least half an hour later than the Testing Lab workers did.
"You're Major Max, right? I'm Lilith, head of the X137 design team." A tall and curvy blonde greeted Max the moment he landed at the back of the line.
"Then it sounds like I will be the first of your digital testers. It's good to meet you, Lilith." Max answered politely and the woman got an intrigued look on her face that Max wouldn't quite place, but he was almost certain that it spelled trouble for him.
"We're all from the same team, we came in early today so that we could get a fresh start on the project and not waste half the morning getting set up. Apparently, they changed the design parameters twice in the last month, and the Coding team was going insane trying to get everything that the Structural team demanded to function." A smaller blonde with bright green eyes declared much too happily for the sentiment behind her words.
She had an aura about her like she just wanted someone to be kind to her. Kind of like a puppy that was meeting new people, and it was impossible for Max not to want to pat her head and tell her she was a good girl.
That might be very odd to actually do though, given that he was likely five years younger than most of the staff here, but Max was sure he would not have a hard time making friends on this team.
"I see you've met Moonie. Be nice, she's a fragile little flower, who had never had her blossom picked." One of the other researchers teased, making the smaller woman blush and the rest of the team laugh.
"No blossom picking until she's at least 40 years old. We all know our precious little flower is only interested in wholesome things like Plasma Flux Capacitors and servo actuators." Lilith admonished the team, which only intensified the laughter.
"Wholesome is the true path." Nico agreed, making Moonie giggle.
"I wouldn't call your obsession with mecha wholesome though." Max pointed out and Nico just shrugged.
"You love mecha too? Have you seen the new designs for the new Comor Pattern Fusion Plasma Reactors?" Moonie asked, making Nico smile.
"They won't let me play in the reactor design team yet, since I'm still new. I'm on the X109 Fast Attack Crusader project now." Nico clarified, making Moonie sigh.
"That's a shame. It's such an amazing breakthrough, but only so many people get to be on the design team. They're using it in the X137 though, so I managed to get in here, and get my chance to examine it close up." Moonie explained.
"I'd say to tell me all the juicy details, but we both know that's not allowed." Nico winked, then stepped forward to check herself into work for the day.
She hung around to the side for a moment until Lilith got through the checkpoint, then whispered something in her ear before waving and going to the changing room. The tall blonde gave Max an even more intense version of the intrigued look that she had given him the first time they met, and Max began to worry about what Nico had told the woman. It was definitely about him, but the look he was getting was a mixture of playful and something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on.