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.