Nico smiled sweetly at Max as soon as the last of the Line Mecha were moved over to the Destroyers for their final testing phase and out of her control.
"You know what this means, right? The Line Mecha are all gone, the bay is empty, we're all stocked with raw materials, and it is time to get started on my personal toy," she declared, nearly bouncing with joy.
"Let me guess. A bigger and better version of everything that is on the Line Mecha?" Max asked.
"Nope, too predictable. I want to keep the tiny Mass Drivers as a secondary weapon system, but I will put them in a Gatling-style array, one on each shoulder, mounted on a pivot for better firing angles.
Then I want to modify the Disruptor Lance to have a wider range of variability for different enemy shield setups. One of those one both forearms, as Cleansing Light has. Then my usual twin blades and I think we need something special to make up the surprise weapon.
The Darklings gave me the idea when they said that we were using their old toys. If these are their old toys that we're developing from, that means we're on the same development trajectory that they followed.
They took it to ultra-enhanced augmentic suits, presumably over similarly augmented biological individuals, but they have a strong case that ever-increasing size isn't the answer. Larger Mecha can't breach ships as easily, only destroy them.
So I want maximum power output in a Super Heavy Class Mecha Chassis. No larger than Shattered Pride, but with at least five times the firepower." Nico explained.
Her cheerfulness was infectious, and not only the Innu but Max was also being pulled into her pace as she described the Mecha that she wanted.
She brought up a hologram as she continued. "The Darklings gave me a great idea. They shred the outer hull of the Arisen ships to create breaches and render their armour ineffective. I had plenty of time to analyze their blades, as well as their unique energy weapons.
As they said, they are similar to our Disruptors, so that is the direction I will take with mine, but the blades are incredibly complex constructs. They're actually designed to create a harmonic resonance with the enemy by altering the energy flow, causing the target to actually destroy itself from the inside out.
The blade cut isn't the major part of the damage. The cracking of the structure underneath is.
I think that I can do it with my blades and the ones that I will mount to the forearms and shins of my new Mecha. It will turn a simple kick or elbow into a Mecha-shattering killing blow."
Max smiled at the kill-happy little cyborg. "So that's your secret weapon, Mecha Kung Fu, shattering their ship with a simple strike? I like it."
Nico shook her head.
"No, that's just a really cool knife. My idea for a special weapon is one that I found signs of after the Darklings cleared out that Destroyer.
They used micro portals to throw prisoners back to their ships. Just small precision portals, likely with a tag of some sort. My guess would be a collar that the prisoners can't remove that returns them to a set point when activated.
I want to weaponize that to open short-duration micro portals all over a ship whose shields are down. It would explosively decompress the vessel, which almost any decent modern vessel can survive, but an unprepared crew would not."
Max took a second to process that war crime in the making.
"So, your plan is to let the pressure of the vessel vent atmosphere and people out at thousands of points through an enemy ship, and then just go in and clean up?"
Nico nodded and brought up her preliminary design schematics for the weapon. "It's great, isn't it? It's also multipurpose, as we can expand them and target people, so we can use it for rescue efforts and battlefield cleanup. If I get it working as precisely as I want it to, we could even equip it on Mecha like an emergency escape button, returning them to their mothership when they've taken critical damage.
It would not only be a tactical advantage, but it could also save lives."
When she put it that way, it was hard to argue against Nico's latest weapon of mass destruction. A homing beacon would actually be incredibly useful in combat to save Pilots' lives. Even if it was on the Pilot themselves, the Mecha could be replaced. As long as the Pilot survived, they could fight another day.
"It can't be a standard portal, though. They're too unstable to use here." Max reminded her.
"Minor detail." Nico countered.
"We have a timeline. You can't be out of commission forever. I have things I want to get done, and they involve killing hostile aliens." Max reminded her.
"Hmm, that is a dilemma. Alright, I will put that on the side as an additional weapon and look for another suitable secret weapon. Maybe something retro, a weapon that they would never expect to be used against them, so they've forgotten to defend against it." Nico pondered.
Her thoughts clearly weighed the potential for going to hunt down species that had offended her more highly than spending time developing her new weapons system, which was a relief to Max. They could turn it into a safety beacon later without risking giving the enemy ideas and having them use a similar technique against the Koleska or the other human vessels.
Nico pondered for a moment, then realized that the answer was with her this entire time.
"Predator Probes. If we put recombining Nanotech drones in a projectile, we can fire them against the enemy hull, then let them recombine and work their way through the ship. We can recreate the Scourge, but without the rogue AI, and unleash them on the enemies of Humanity." She cheered.
"And you don't see how that is likely to go immediately wrong?" One of the Researchers asked.
"Fine, maybe it's not the most practical idea."
One of the other Researchers held up her hand, holding a data tablet that Max identified as her thesis.
"I have a theory that we can make a self-recombining organic acid. It would naturally eat through all things metallic, and keep refreshing itself so that it didn't get weakened by the sludge. If my theory is right, it is sure to earn me my Doctoral Degree, and I haven't ever seen any defence against acid attacks other than shields on a space vessel."
Melting holes in their ship with acids instead of fire? That could work.
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