After two more weeks, the first of the new Cutters was ready for testing, and the other four were waiting on final assembly so that they didn't have to be pulled apart if there were changes that needed to be made to the design.
Major Miller had won the game of rock, paper, and scissors, so his team would be going with Nico to do the testing on the new ship.
It was an honor among Reavers to be the first to do something, especially something as insane as this test flight was likely to be. They would do a maximum speed test, then maneuvering, followed by less-than-light speed maneuvering, and a simulated combat strike, with Nico launching drones at an asteroid that one of the Companies wanted to be split up into manageable chunks.
She was getting better at the [Drone Controller] System Function, Max noticed, and planned to launch five Drones at once to do the assault.
This would be the first time that the drones were seen in action, and their firepower wasn't to be underestimated. Despite their tiny size, they were a true menace to any light or medium-class vessel they came across, especially if they were deployed en masse.
[Terminus Cutter X1 ready to launch from Quadrant 5 bay 1] Nico reported from the construction bay on the Lunar base.
[Begin testing.] Uncle Lu confirmed, unable to hide the eagerness in his voice.
He might be in love with Mecha, but the new ships were still his brainchildren. Seeing the first of them off was a day that he had been eagerly awaiting since they destroyed the first Cutter in the trial of the new Warp Drives.
The ship had been loaded with ore, simulating the mass of a Mecha Battalion, so that the test wouldn't be biased toward empty performance, at the request of the other Captains who had intended to purchase one of the vessels after testing was complete.
The extra weight didn't seem to make any difference to the ship, and it smoothly transitioned to Warp with a flash of light, but no noticeable disturbance inside the vessel itself. At least not enough to visibly affect the crew.
[Beginning Maximum Speed test.] Nico reported, and the data stream started to distort again as the vessel exceeded the Warp 6 transmission speed of their communications.
It raced out into open space, then Max saw that they had begun maneuvering tests, once it hit the safety-governed maximum speed of Warp 11.9. That was 95 percent of rated engine capacity, and pushing any harder could possibly affect their defensive systems, due to lack of power.
The ship seemed to handle the maneuvering just fine, with the Warp field adjusting smoothly to their maneuvers and not putting any excess stress on the structure.
They returned to the Star System and began a tight pattern of standard evasive maneuvers at near-light speed, the maximum stress state for the ship, and Max didn't see any stress warnings at all. In fact, the ship seemed to be completely undamaged by the maximum output tests, a rarity among any pattern of vessels.
They approached the designated asteroid and slowed so that Nico could launch the drones, which showed off their own maneuverability for a moment before blasting the rock to bits and returning to their bays.
The main weapons of the Cutter itself weren't publicly displayed, for security reasons. It was unreasonable to expect that an entire planet and hundreds of Reaver Companies wouldn't have anyone in their ranks who wasn't sending data to unknown factions.
In fact, that was pretty much expected. The Reavers might want them for themselves first, but after that, they would want to be selling some of these vessels and weapons that were being developed to other unaligned groups they had friendly relations with.
The design of the ships was confidential for now, and the purchase price for anyone other than the handful of Reaver Companies in the affiliated group who had negotiated new technology discounts in the original deal regarding the God Class Mecha would be astronomical, but that wouldn't stop at least some of the Mercenary Groups who were flush with resources from trying to get ahold of one over the next few years.
[All tests complete. Returning to base.] Nico reported, and Max could hear the cheering in the background.
They had done an exemplary job of piloting the ship, and nothing broke, so there would be a celebration when they returned home tonight, leading to an official assignment once all five vessels were assembled and tested at the end of the week.
Max only wished that he had more data on the design of the new God Class Mecha. As far as he could tell, it was all being done by Uncle Lu, isolated in his lab with only Materials Printers and a handful of robotic constructors under his command.
That was his version of operational security. Nobody would miss one Scientist, and would just assume that he was holed up somewhere working on the ship designs, while he was actually doing a much more important project in secret.
[Commander, did you know about the kitchen in this new ship? This thing is incredible. You just push a button and it makes the food you ordered right in front of you.] One of the Cutter Pilots sent to Max as the ship made its way back to the docks.
They would have over an hour since they had arrived at the very edge of the outer asteroid field to do the drone tests, so they had gone to explore the ship and have some lunch while Nico watched the controls.
[The Replicators are reproductions of the ones on Terminus. Their range of selections might not be perfect, but they can make a pretty good variety of meals that are better than travel rations.] Max replied to the excited crew.
[Best Posting Ever.] The Pilot replied, making Max laugh. No wonder Major Miller liked them, they knew the value of a good kitchen, and the man was obsessive about Battalion logistics.
