Nico moved the test weapon over to the stand for the Arisen War Walker armour and began the attack sequence. The armour plating held up much better this time, and only a few cracks were created by the actual attack, but again, when the spray rapidly changed the temperature, the cracks expanded.
The plating held so it would take a much heavier blow to destroy that plate that they had made, but it was still significant damage, and enough that it would give them a noticeable advantage in close combat versus the previous editions of melee armaments.
Nico struck again, and this time the blade caused the plating to fracture. The plate had become temporarily brittle in the hyper-chilled area, and the blade easily cut through the remaining plate.
The blade came to a halt less than five centimetres from the initial strike zone with a screech of alloy on alloy, marking the extent of the brittleness.
As they watched, the plating began to regain its shine and return to normalized temperatures. If they did use this weapon against the Arisen Army, they would have to strike quickly because the effect would only last for ten or fifteen seconds at the longest.
"That's passable. Now, to test it against all the other armours that we know." Nico noted while the Research Team took the more detailed notes and calculated larger scale results for the process.
One after another, the various types of layered, alloy and composite armours failed before the combination of vibration and rapid temperature change. Some would have failed entirely from the energy field that would go over that blade in combat, as it would cut through them like a hot knife in butter, but that wasn't the point of today's test.
"That's nearly everything," Nico declared as the simulated Klem exploded from the vibration churning up its insides before the liquid could even freeze most of the body.
Nergal laughed as the dead Klem that they had created and propped up as a target exploded.
"Well, I must say, I didn't expect that one. Who would have thought that the vibrations were so effective against biomass?" She joked before going to rinse the blood off her armour.
"I think that the Lead Researcher is rubbing off on that one a bit too much." One of the other Researchers teased while Nico activated the cleaning process.
Nico smiled back at them, ignoring the bit of Klem blood splatter on her own armour. "It's good to see people enjoying their work. Plus, this is in line with her research thesis. It might not be quite what she was hoping for, but it's a step in the right direction, and any Innu should be overjoyed to see their thesis advance."
The researchers considered that for a moment and then nodded reluctantly.
"Well, as long as she's not losing track of her studies in favour of watching Klem explode." They agreed.
There might have been a moment where it was headed that way, but the overwhelming need to study cut it short so that she didn't get lost in the pure joy of blowing things up.
"Well, let's get these Mecha charged up, and we will be ready to go. The attacks have been slow to come lately, but we should be ready for when the Galen decides to launch another full-scale attack." Max instructed as the researchers who had gotten splattered returned from the shower in the corner of the room, drying the water off their armour.
The pressure vessels were made of a form of polymer which didn't suffer from degradation in the cold, as pressurizing the tanks before a battle caused the same reaction as depressurizing them during the battle, though on a different scale, as the pressure was increased gradually, instead of decreasing explosively.
With that finished, Max went over and used [Optimize to tweak Nico's Mecha to the same standard as his own, while she used her [Mecha Repair] Function to tweak a few spots in his Mecha, which tested as fully functional, but the System decided weren't perfect.
The lingering Nanobots in the Mecha after both processes would make it easier to do them both the next time, and Max was satisfied that everything was in full working order and ready for battle.
Now, they just needed a battle to test them in.
With the unknown force watching them, Max wasn't going to do a full-on weapons test for the new custom units. If the enemy didn't have access to their thoughts, it wouldn't know entirely what they were capable of, and that could give Max an advantage if the observer was hostile.
"Alright, let's call it a night, and we can get everything equipped in the morning. If we're going to put the older two Mecha on standby, then we should move the personal effects over to the new ones before we need them." Nico sighed, casting a conflicted look between her two Mecha.
In theory, she could actually pilot both at the same time, but that wasn't really practical, and it could put a lot of strain on her mind. Unlike Fighter jets, which were simple to control and mostly involved multiple targeting reticules and not running into anything, two giant Mecha would be nearly impossible to work at full output.
Max and Nico were lying in bed that night when the alarms went off, signalling that the Koleska were under attack. The Arisen would certainly block them from interfering, but the tradition had been set. They would send out their Mecha and observe to make sure that the Arisen Army wasn't going overboard or trying to get through the Anomaly again.
They hadn't tried it in a while, but you never knew when the enemy was going to try something new, and letting them through that Anomaly was still against the Reavers' best interests and Max's orders from Mother Tarith.
As expected, the Arisen brought in more ships to block the human fleet from the fight but were careful not to get between them and the Anomaly. It was becoming a strange routine, and with every fight, the Arisen seemed less interested in actually fighting the Koleska, who was improving at an alarming rate for a species whose technology hadn't changed.
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