"I know you're on vacation, but how do got feel about a small chat about Mecha over dinner?" Uncle Lu asked, eager to get back to his hobby after a few days off.

"It is a little-known fact, but we were both obsessive Mecha fans from the day we were born," Nico replied with an absolutely straight face, making the cook chuckle from where she was finishing up in the kitchen.

"Excellent, so this thought has been bothering me for a while, but what would you change if you could redesign the Crusader Class Chassis armament options?" He asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

"More artillery. The Battle Cannon isn't nearly enough indirect firepower for the average Heavy Mecha unit, much less a front-line assault unit, which doesn't have the advantage of emplaced infantry positions to saturate the target with artillery fire. Plus, so many weapons have the power to shoot past the horizon, but can't because they travel in a straight line. A variable distance artillery weapon that could keep up with my targeting would be a dream come true." Max answered almost immediately.

"A truly interesting thought. Traditionally, artillery duties have fallen to the infantry, while they also serve to protect the armor from close combat in a combined arms force. But if the Mecha were also doing artillery duty it would allow a smaller Mecha presence in the force without sacrificing firepower, since there wouldn't be any artillery emplacements for the Mecha to defend. What about you Miss Nico?"

Nico was happy to humor the scientist and took a moment to think beyond the obvious increase in firing rates.

"What about something with better short-range area damage? The Ion Cannons have a burst mode, and the claw has a mediocre flamer, but what if we could turn that up to eleven? Do you know much about the fusion drills that are used for asteroid mining?"

Uncle Lu nodded his head. "They use a cold fusion reaction, directed out a nozzle to melt the planetoids into workable pieces. But what would you use them against on a Mecha?"

"Everything. Close quarters Mecha combat, purging non-believers, lighting cigarettes." Nico shrugged.

"That sort of flame could melt bunkers and defensive emplacements and breach fortifications, as well as clearing large groups of light mecha and infantry that had breached the line." Max clarified on her behalf.

Nico's mind had gotten sidetracked by a memory of how a similar weapon in her past life would light up buildings like a candle if you fired it up from the bottom and melted them from the inside.

It was almost too effective.

"Not bad, but it might take some work to make it mobile. What else" Uncle Lu was actually taking notes now as dinner was brought out.

"If you made the Rail Gun fire razor-thin discs it would be much more fun. Like a supersonic Frisbee. Or maybe you could make a heavier pulse laser. The speed is a great advantage over Ion projectiles, and a rapid burst should be possible with staged capacitors. The array type ones like Stalwart uses are great against light targets, but the existing Laser Cannon sucks and it fires way too slowly." Nico suggested.

"Please eat, it's best hot." The chef interrupted them, ignoring the implications of their friendly chat. It was better not to think or know about what went on in the design labs.

"What about a disruptor-style weapon? The ones that break molecular bonds." Nico added and both men stopped to look at her.

"I am like ninety percent sure that doesn't exist." Uncle Lu informed her.

"Of course it does. The Scourge use them to breach ship hulls, so there must be data on them. Nobody would be expecting it, so I'll bet most armors aren't designed to defend against that sort of weapon. It would be a great hidden trick."

"Hmm, I see, here they are. Comor hadn't encountered that species before, so I hadn't studied their technology. It seems like it might be highly compatible with the System as well, so it might be viable as an infantry rifle or implanted weapon for cybernetic augmentations if we can successfully develop our own miniaturized versions." He agreed, now in full scientist mode, speaking around mouthfuls of food as he searched the military database.

"Eat first, science later. We've got plenty of time before the resort trip." Max laughed, taking the data tablet from him and placing it on the table.

Uncle Lu got a pleading look on his face that was almost exactly the same as the one the young Lady Chen used. "Just one more question. Don't you think the Crusader Class Chassis is a bit too short? Of every nation in the southern region of the Galaxy, Kepler's Crusader is the shortest, but that really limits the placement of the ordinance. The more heavily armed and slightly larger Corvette class units we released have been a big hit with the pilots that have used them.

A single pilot Mecha near the size of the Phalanx Class mecha is perfectly viable with an Alpha Ranked System Compatibility. Especially with multiple targeting skills. Going up in size would really increase the Versatility of our elite forces, and the existing Phalanx Class and Crusader Class Mecha were designed before the System was in place and only received minor upgrades over the years, never a full overhaul and redesign."

"Just remember that Central Command thinks in the terms of millions of units per decade when it comes to Heavy Mecha. If you want them to approve a major change like a new pattern of Crusader Class Mecha it needs to be more powerful, versatile, and cost-effective, while also being easy for the Materials Printer to create parts for, so rare materials can sink the approval of an otherwise very appealing design." Max reminded him while Uncle Lu trapped his finger in the table in thought, with his dinner plate sitting empty in front of him.

Nico's mechanical eyes made a light whirring noise as she looked through something in her integrated heads-up display. "Why not give them all advanced shields? I know Kepler and everyone else gave up on them for heavy Mecha due to the problems with power supplies and creating spare parts, but that was a long time ago and I am sure your department could come up with something that was easier to build if they put their minds to it.

That would improve survivability, and make it easier to sell the design since you could go lighter on the armor and structural reinforcements to make up for the extra size. The Crusader is a timeless design, and nearly indestructible compared to anything else in its class, so replacing it won't be easy, but that might be enough to earn you some special forces trials."

"Bunch of lousy bureaucrats. If they left it between Pilots and Mecha engineers we could have so much better equipment, but NO, some accountant says it's too expensive. Bunch of killjoys is what they are." Uncle Lu complains.

"By the way, is there dessert? We didn't eat it already did we?" He muttered, looking at the table that the staff had already cleaned.