CH 182

Ex-Caliburn

“In the first place, this striker was built as a prototype for [Excalibur]. Since it’s now greatly outperforming the original [Excalibur] we want to differentiate it so we gave it a new name, [Ex-Caliburn]……how is it, not bad right?”

The chief mechanic proudly presented her work but right now the [Ex-Caliburn] seemed unfinished as it gives off the atmosphere of a striker that is a product of a forceful fusion of Calencian and Noredian strikers. Noticing the complicated expression on Kisei’s face, the chief hurriedly continues her explanation.

“I, I mean, we’ve done a rough work on it so it’s still unfinished. Please don’t worry, after we add the finishing touch it will look better!”

“I don’t want to pilot a lame striker either…….well, do your best okay.”

“I get where you are coming from but don’t just haughtily give order to others damn it.”

When Diaroze overbearingly voiced her opinion while crossing her arms, Saki glared at her. However, since she did help Saki out last night, she casually looked back at her and it was Saki who ended up frowning and averting her glare away instead.

“By the way, what part did you improve it on?”

Appearance aside, as a pilot, Kisei is more concerned about how it works. Hearing his question, the chief immediately replied with a grin.

“The biggest change we made was to the engine. We replaced the conventional phase transition turbine with the ultra-high output one we took from [Zentis]. Thanks to that it now has a 50 percent increase in maximum output!”

“T, That’s a lot. Rather, you managed to replace the engine? I thought that the manufacturers were different though…..”

“About that, we cut out the engine mount frame on this part here a little, like this, and put it in.”

“Is that even okay!?”

Hearing how they cut a part of the frame out, even Kisei began to question the decision. In reply, the chief averted her eyes away with a vague expression on her face.

“We’ve reinforced it afterward so it’s totally fine……probably.”

“Probably…..”

Kisei frowned at that anxiety-inducing word.

“Umm, the armor has also been greatly strengthened you know. Noredian royal strikers usually pack an excessive amount of armor plate after all. Not only the ones we pulled from [Zentis] we also took some spare armor stored on their battleship to make it even sturdier too.”

“Do I really need that much armor? Well, I guess it’s better to have than not huh.”

“This guy hasn’t even got hit before after all…….”

Although he has been through a lot of tough battles, the striker he piloted almost never gets hit. Rather than adding more armor to his striker, he would appreciate a lighter weight that would allow him more ease of movement……..

“I mean, how do I say this……..since we added a second seat to the cockpit and a new engine, the old armor frame just doesn’t have enough space ……[Zentis] was a pretty big striker right? Besides, all armor fits on it perfectly when we put it on too.”

“A, as expected, flying in an unarmored striker is scary isn’t it. There’s no helping it…….”

“W, well, more armor wouldn’t hurt right. Even if you get cornered by some crazy strong aces then you should be able to survive too.”

“That sounds pretty convincing coming from you huh……”

Saki added. Diaroze was once cornered by Kisei and her engine was almost got taken out by his photon saber. Without [Zentis] stupidly thick armor, she would have been defeated right then and there.

“Well, armor aside. Since the engine has increased output now, we strengthened the thrusters and weapons as well.”

A striker’s main thruster uses the exhaust heat of the engine to propel forward. That’s why if the engine is strengthened, the thrust capacity would also increase.

“We’ve managed to increase the thrust by 20 percent! We’ve also prepared some very powerful weapons so unlike how some strikers can endure a hit from you before, you should be able to take them down with one shot now.”

“Ahh, I appreciate that. I was having a hard time because I don’t have enough firepower in the last battle after all.”

Since the Noredian Zeniths were so robust that they could still move no matter how many of his attacks hit, Kisei actually struggled quite a bit.

“Head-mounted machine guns, wire guns……..we didn’t make any changes to those two. However, we did replace your normal photon sabers with the high-end ones. The pile bunker’s body was also made to be sturdier and the stake was refurbished to increase the penetration power as well.”

“So it’s a general performance enhancement. What about the rifle?”

“Since it seems that the output of the 8.5Mw rifle wasn’t enough to penetrate the enemy’s armor plate, I took a plunge and prepared a new weapon for you instead. Please take a look here.”

“That one…..it’s from one of the 4 Heavenly, [Parfeel] was it? We took the twin-mega blaster rifle from that heavy-duty zenith and remodeled it into a single mount version. It might be a little difficult to handle but I guarantee its firepower.”

Since Kisei is very accurate with his shot, there’s no need for them to go out of their way to add the whole twin mega blaster as it will only add deadweight instead. The chief made the right call to remodel it. However, Kisei has a difficult expression on his face.

“…..how many shots can I make?”

“…..it has 8 rounds in total.”

“That’s too few……I will bring the old rifle with me too when I sortie. It’s too powerful so it would be a waste to use that on the normal strikers.”

Having to deal with a large number of small fry is the pain of being an ace in an inferior army. The chief understood that so she’s scratching her head with a bitter expression.

“Well, there’s no way around it. The payload capacity has also increased so I think that we should be able to figure it out.”

“Then that should be good enough right. How long do you think it will take for you to finish it? The Noredian army won’t be taking their time forever you know? If you can, I want it done as soon as possible.”

Diaroze’s demanding tone probably came from her old habit as a commander. On the other hand, the chief frowned.

“Well, it won’t even take a week before we can finish up here. I also want to have a test flight before Nored makes a move too so I will do my best to complete it.”

“W, well, don’t push yourself okay.”

Seeing the dark smile on the chief’s face as she started walking to the [Ex-Caliburn], Kisei could only see her off with a cramped expression.

TLN: So, two-seater, crazy thick armor, improved sabers and pile bunker, new heavy duty 8 shots mega blaster rifle……….why didn’t they add Diaroze’s shotgun too I wonder………