Adam had only been teasing Akashi at first.
He never expected anyone to slap together a Gundam out of thin air.
Meals were eaten one bite at a time; roads were walked one step at a time.
Take too big a stride and you risked pulling something important.
Building Gundams required solving a whole chain of foundational technologies first.
Akashi, however, took it seriously.
She locked herself in her little workshop for several days straight, buried under mountains of design documents.
Whenever she came out for air she muttered strange things under her breath…
“I shall sortie in Gundam form,” “Unicorn wrecks Strike Freedom,” “My Turn A Gundam is invincible under heaven!”…
and kept staring at her own rigging with a thoughtful, occasionally goofy smile.
The other shipgirls started wondering if she’d broken.
Finally, a few days later, Akashi gathered everyone in the conference room and announced her great achievement: “I’ve more or less figured out the stuff the Commander handed me.” “Huh?!” Reactions varied.
Adam looked genuinely impressed.
Apparently the greedy little merchant who loved selling painted crates and scamming people actually had real skills after all.
The rest of the shipgirls were just confused.
Shua…
Akashi projected a Gundam schematic onto the screen.
“What is that?
A robot?” Taihou tilted her head.
“This is technology from another world that the Commander gave me, nya.” Akashi kept the explanation short.
Since Adam already had the ability to open spatial channels, the shipgirls had long since stopped being surprised by otherworldly tech.
“Gundam technology is a little like ours…
both are war machines built on engineering.
The difference is these mechs don’t have self-awareness.
They need a human pilot, nya.” She used language the shipgirls could understand to give a quick overview.
“So which is stronger, a Gundam or us?” Yukikaze immediately asked the classic flame-bait question.
“I’m not sure.” Akashi scratched an ear.
“If we’re talking about the strongest one…
the Turn A Gundam…
it has star-killing capability.
But a regular Zaku would probably lose a fistfight to a Bulin, even though it can fly.
Combat performance also depends heavily on the pilot.
A complete beginner and a veteran are completely different animals, nya.” The moment they heard “star-killing,” the other shipgirls sat up straighter with newfound respect.
“Is this technology exclusive to the Commander?” Richelieu carefully studied the specifications.
In theory shipgirls could pilot Gundams too, but there was a small problem.
Ordinary combat mechs rarely exceeded a hundred tons, while shipgirls routinely weighed thousands or tens of thousands of tons.
Without materializing their rigging it might be fine, but the moment they summoned it inside the cockpit the Gundam would burst like an overripe grape.
On top of that, it was still unclear how Gundam firepower compared to a shipgirl’s own projected firepower.
“Only the Commander can pilot the actual Gundams, but the technology itself is open to all of us.” Akashi offered a brief clarification.
“Things like shield tech, particle cannons, thrusters…
I think we can modify them and mount them on our rigging, nya.” The tech tree Adam had received wasn’t limited to “how to build a Gundam.” It contained the entire foundational science and advanced technology of the Gundam worlds…
an enormous body of knowledge.
“Whoa, does that mean we’ll be able to leave the atmosphere someday?!” Several shipgirls immediately got excited.
“Uh… that might be a bit difficult.” Akashi cut Formidable’s fantasy short.
“Formidable, with your weight, a Gundam’s thrusters probably couldn’t lift you.” “What’s wrong with my weight?!
Are these big ones my fault?!
Some people would kill to have them!” a certain carrier immediately protested.
“…” “All right.” Adam cleared his throat and the room quieted.
“Akashi, copy all the tech that can be applied to rigging…
beam shields, beam sabers, particle cannons, and so on…
and send it to the port later so they can experiment.
Over here we’ll pool our resources and try to build one actual Gundam.” The main port had far more resources; it made more sense for them to research advanced weapons.
Once completed, they could even test the results against the Sirens.
On Earth’s side, Adam felt it necessary to raise his own combat power.
It would be pretty embarrassing if he ended up the weakest member of the team whenever they went out.
“Got it, nya.” Akashi nodded, finding the plan perfectly reasonable.
“So, Commander, which model do you want?” “We should be able to mass-produce the standard models.
Their weapon systems aren’t that different from what the port already uses…
ours even have bigger calibers.
As for the special ones, except for a few with completely ridiculous tech, things like the Unicorn, the Strike Gundam, the Aegis Gundam… those can be built if we throw enough time and resources at them.” “Do you want a long-range fire-support type, a close-combat brawler, or something focused on defense?” Different Gundams had different strengths.
Some carried massive plasma cannons; others had outrageous mobility that let them maintain supersonic performance as a matter of course.
Adam stared at the long list of models until his eyes crossed.
He propped his chin in his hand and thought for a moment.
“Can you build me one with battleship-level long-range firepower, that can cut down a Siren Arbiter in close combat, and has mobility better than a jet fighter?” “…” Akashi froze.
“Commander, are you picking a fight, nya?!”