“So, what are the Pilots’ impressions?” The team leader asked, data tablet in hand.historical

“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.”