After Silver Lightning was shot down, Reid chose not to return to the CE Universe right away. Instead, he returned to his ship and had the Archangel activate its Obscuration Umbrella to stealthily retreat.
Then, taking advantage of the remaining mission time, he carefully considered and analyzed the groundwork he needed to lay for the final battle of Gundam 00's first season, and he also anticipated potential accidents.
During this period, Reid had the Archangel slowly advance toward Granada, then attacked it on the final day.
By this time, the main construction of the Neo-Argama in Granada's military-industrial dockyards was mostly complete. Reid planned to directly seize this meritorious warship, which would remain relevant even into the Unicorn era.
(In the ZZ storyline, Judau explicitly states that the Neo-Argama was built in Granada, not assembled from parts at the La Vie en Rose large-scale dockyard as some people online believe. The original protagonist group simply received the already completed Neo-Argama at La Vie en Rose. To be honest, the author wants to complain: La Vie en Rose is positioned as a logistics and supply base, capable of repairing and resupplying warships. How did it become a construction factory in some people's eyes?)
The process of seizing the Neo-Argama went smoothly. Granada's forces initially tried to resist, but after the Black Tri-Stars appeared and annihilated their vanguard, they immediately turtled up, only defending a few key facilities.
When Granada's forces realized the enemy's target seemed to be just the factory dockyard, they simply abandoned the area. By this point, they had learned from a surviving Bright Noa that the ship attacking them was the same one that had shot down the Argama and annihilated the Neo Zeon fleet.
Granada's commander certainly didn't believe his garrison could compare to that Neo Zeon fleet. He decisively stopped being stubborn; losing one ship was far better than being completely wiped out.
Seeing how cooperative Granada's garrison was, Reid didn't go on a killing spree. He had the Archangel brazenly tow the Neo-Argama away.
Only after capturing the Neo-Argama did Reid choose to return, satisfied.
Upon returning to the CE Universe, Reid immediately went into seclusion in the Factory Module, planning to sleep there for a day or two to avoid Ange, who might still have some lingering fire from the mission to vent on him.
In this situation, Ange wouldn't be venting in bed; she would actually beat him up.
However, while checking his gains from this G Invasion mission, Reid found the harvest to be quite good.
There wasn't much to say about Merit Points. Entering without a faction, the ZZ Gundam and Qubeley together yielded 260 points.
Then, taking out the Argama and all its Mobile Suits, the Neo Zeon army invading Earth, and a portion of the Granada garrison—these three forces provided a massive amount of G-Coins. Reid was once again flush with G-Coins for the short term.
Next were the skill drops.
Junk Dealer (increases the compatibility of parts from different mobile suits, dropped by Judau), Newtype (dropped by Haman), Perfect Soldier (Melee/Shooting/Defense/Reaction +30, dropped by Lakan Dahka), Awakening Lv3 (Awakening Value +90, dropped by Glemy), and Enhanced Person (dropped by Puru Two).
The skill drops this time were all practical. Only the description for "Junk Dealer" was a bit subtle. What did "increases the compatibility of parts from different mobile suits" mean? It couldn't possibly allow a CE-type power connector to link with a Minovsky Particle or GN Particle system, right?
If it meant an operation like attaching an Astray arm to a GINN's body, many engineers in the Junk Guild could already do that. All Reid could say was that, at first glance, this skill seemed best suited for ground crew, specifically for guerrilla squads that had difficulty obtaining supplies.
As for the other skills, Reid decided to hold onto "Newtype" for now. He was already planning for Ange to follow the Innovator awakening path. Until he knew whether Newtype and Innovator conflicted, Reid had no intention of using Ange as a test subject. He could just test it on himself. (Reid was also constantly bathed in GN Particles while piloting the Gundam Artemis.)
As for the others who knew about skills, one "Newtype" skill wasn't enough to go around. When leading a team, it's better to have none than to distribute unevenly. It was best not to randomly give out such a powerful skill without a special reason.
There were no such concerns with "Perfect Soldier" and "Enhanced Person," as Reid decided to hand them over to Tekkadan and let them decide on the distribution. It was a reward for their outstanding performance during their independent operation in the Kingdom of Azadistan.
Reid planned to install "Awakening Lv3" directly on Ange. Her current Awakening Value was barely different from her initial one, and she wasn't proficient with the Funnel Blades, so she needed a stat boost. In any case, Ange had always been a stat-sheet monster.
After reviewing the skills, he scrolled down to the captures. This time, Reid had only captured the ZZ Gundam and the Neo-Argama, so he just tossed them into the Factory Module for analysis.
Further down was what Reid cared about most: the technology drops from Silver Lightning.
Pulling up the list, Reid broke into a wide grin. The drops from Silver Lightning were incredibly generous.
Normally, a Mobile Armor was a single entity, and destroying it should only drop one set of technology.
But Silver Lightning was different. Its main body was originally assembled from two core units plus additional equipment, and the six Kiharu II units, even as Mobile Dolls, were counted as independent Mobile Suits.
As a result, the six Kiharu IIs dropped every single one of their key technologies, completing the blueprint for that Mobile Suit.
The technology dropped by Silver Lightning itself was the Multi-Core Cooperative Control System.
Furthermore, the two Haze'n-thley II units were treated as the RX-124 Gundam TR-6 [Dandelion II] and the RX-124 Gundam TR-6 [Fahber II] respectively, directly dropping the blueprints for the Dandelion II and Fahber II external components.
In a way, the most crucial aspects of Silver Lightning were its frame, which could support such a large, complex structure during high-speed maneuvers, and its cooperative operating system.
The Multi-Core Cooperative Control System directly solved the system-level problem.
As for the frame, the materials Reid had were far superior to those in the Universal Century. Even if the design was inferior to Silver Lightning's original, the material strength could compensate for the requirements.
The only slight regret was that the manufacturing technology for the Hyper Mega Cannon II didn't drop.
However, Reid wasn't short on various powerful Beam Weapons. A single shipboard-class Destroyer Beam Cannon could serve as a superior replacement for the Big Zam Cannon II.
Thus, Reid immediately had the Xia sisters summon Hoshino Ruri, Nein, and Nami to rewrite Silver Lightning's code. Reid didn't have six pilots he trusted enough to fly Silver Lightning, so it had to be modified for single-pilot control with Artificial Intelligence assistance.
Also, the Mobile Doll programs for the six Kiharu IIs had to be replaced with Kamille's combat data (from the captured Zeta Gundam's bio-computer).
At the same time, Reid also modified these six units. Since he was building a technology demonstrator, he didn't need to cut costs. He planned to change all the compromises made on the original unit due to budget.
Thus, the Kiharu II's thrusters were made independent. Since Minovsky Particles and GN Particles conflicted, and GN Capacitors had poor sustained combat capability, the Mobile Suit was converted into a CE Battery-Powered Mobile Suit.
With independent thrusters, the power of the shoulder Beam Cannons could naturally be greatly increased.
As for the main weapon on the right hand, the original Long Blade Beam Rifle was very practical, ensuring shooting capability while also functioning as a physical sword. This was left unchanged.
A standard Anti-Beam Coated Arc Shield was added to the left hand. (This was to ensure the MA Mode still had a disc shape.)
With that, the Kiharu II Kai was complete. Although its firepower was only slightly enhanced, Kamille's combat data was certainly far superior to the original's idiotic AI.
Similarly, Reid also had to redesign the main body of Silver Lightning, replacing armaments where necessary and abandoning the Minovsky Craft System entirely.
Reid directly connected four GN Drives in series (not using a twin drive system, just a pure series connection) to solve the unit's atmospheric flight problem. This not only saved a huge amount of space but also allowed Silver Lightning to use Trans-Am. He had made a killing in G-Coins this time, so a little luxury was fine.
Of course, the main thrusters still had to be AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactors, and Reid assigned one AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor to each of the two main thrusters.
In terms of armament, the Nuclear Missiles were deleted. Using them in many universes would make one a public enemy; only in the UC universe were they treated as just a special type of weapon.
However, Reid replaced the Nuclear Missile slots with the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Absolute Zero Missiles. These had already proven their utility, being especially effective against heavily armored targets. As long as they weren't blocked by an energy shield, they were super effective against almost any armor.
The various MEGA Particle Cannons on the upper section were retained, though some were replaced with Virtue-type GN Rocket Cannons. There was no way the four serially-connected GN Drives, which had forgone the twin drive system, were only there to provide anti-gravity.
For some of the remaining slots, he simply installed fixed Buster Beam Rifle-scale cannons.
The weapon bays were kept; the various missiles inside were the key to Silver Lightning's ability to unleash fleet-level firepower on its own.
As for the main forward cannon, Reid had originally planned to use a Shipboard Buster Beam Cannon. But at this moment, Nein, who was now dual-threading like a supercomputer, informed him that her calculations showed the recoil would be too great for Silver Lightning's current structure to handle.
But using a standard Wing Gundam Buster Beam Rifle was pointless when the upper section was already armed, and holding two more in its hands would be meaningless and aesthetically unpleasing.
Thus, Nein suggested replacing the main cannon with a Shipborne Positron Buster Cannon. This weapon had moderate recoil, and since a normal warship's main purpose was to carry Mobile Suits, its positron cannon wouldn't have an extended barrel to increase range.
But Silver Lightning had no such constraints; its barrel could be made thicker and longer.
Although this meant the forward cannon would no longer be the original slender type, it looked far more intimidating. Its power was higher than the Hyper Mega Cannon II, its range was slightly less, and its beam wasn't as thick.
Coupled with a complete surplus of electrical power, the Positron Buster Cannon's rate of fire was much higher than the shipborne version, making it perfectly capable of serving as the high-powered main weapon.
However, to ensure the flexibility of this positron cannon, Nein added two large auxiliary Mechanical Arms to Silver Lightning specifically for gripping it. (This also made it convenient to quickly jettison the cannon if it was damaged, avoiding a catastrophic explosion.)
As for its original "legs"—well, in principle, they were supposed to be the balancing wings underneath.
After implementing GN Particle Anti-gravity, these became much less useful.
Nein decided to turn these two balancing wings directly into Large GN Long Blade Rifles.
Like the standard TR Long Blade Rifle, this large version also had two modes.
When the blades were closed, it was a high-heat physical blade that could supplement its close-range combat capabilities, or be used to directly cut through warships or fortresses.
When the blades opened up in the middle, it became a large GN Beam Rifle, capable of firing a beam no less powerful than Gundam Virtue's GN Cannon. For a composite weapon, this output was excellent.
For the rest, Reid replaced the original four wire-guided funnels with Wire-Guided Heavy Particle Cannons, similar to the previous NT-X Gundam (with the rocket module removed).
The reason for using wire-guidance here was that by the time this module was being designed, Hoshino Ruri and the others had finished their discussion and decided to embed the Meteor System's docking program into the core unit's problem-solving.
In other words, the three of them treated the entire Silver Lightning unit as a larger, more equipped version of a Meteor unit. The core unit was just an activator. As long as a Mobile Suit had the corresponding interface, its computer had the interface program, and its own structural integrity wasn't too poor, any Mobile Suit could equip this "Silver Lightning" Meteor unit.
Considering that not every pilot would have an Awakening Value, wire-guided funnels, which were a combination of the Dragoon System, became the optimal choice. Although this would cap the upper limit for a Newtype using them, it wouldn't leave a pilot without an Awakening Value completely missing a weapon system.
Finally, to prevent a blind spot from appearing if an enemy got too close, leaving it without a point-blank attack, 36 concealed High-Energy Laser Cannons were installed on the body of this "Silver Lightning" Meteor. These had insufficient range but were definitely effective against units that got right up against it.
That was about it for the armaments. Next came the "Silver Lightning" Meteor's own armor structure and shield systems.
The shields were easy to handle. With the triple protection of a GN Field, an Artemis Fortress-style Photon Wave Barrier, and a Lambda Driver (same as the Behemoth's), any cannon without special armor-piercing means or an oversized beam cannon would lose its appetite at the sight of the "Silver Lightning" Meteor.
In terms of armor, because it had been switched to a single core unit and the AC Gundanium Alloy had reduced its weight, a lot of space had been freed up.
Nein used this space to design an exclusive cockpit for the core unit, being extremely extravagant.
In other words, this "Silver Lightning" Meteor provided heavy protection for the core Mobile Suit.
If the core unit of the original Silver Lightning saw this treatment, it would probably cry.
Nein treated the Mobile Suit like a human to be protected. A massive, 360-degree seamless armored sphere was just the standard exterior. Inside, various shock-absorbing, insulating, and heat-shielding devices were installed, all built to nuclear-proof engineering standards. This giant armored sphere could even be ejected separately from the main body.
With this, the initial design of the unit's external armaments and main structure was complete. However, modifying the unit's programming was not something that could be done in a day or two.
According to Nein, with such extensive modifications, the original program was only useful for providing ideas; almost everything had to be re-edited. With just Hoshino Ruri and Nami, even with her assistance, it would take over a month of smooth work before they could even begin testing.
Of course, this was partly Reid's fault for priding himself on not being a sweatshop boss and not demanding Hoshino Ruri and Nami work around the clock.
Usually, after they had worked for six hours a day, Reid would send them home.
According to Reid, neither of them was 18 yet, and staying up late for long periods would affect their development.
As for Nein, Reid said, "What does a strong AI like you need so much rest for? Your body has basically no potential for development. You will assist the other two with programming. Besides eating, drinking, and using the restroom, you're only allowed to sleep (shut down) for six hours a day."
Of course, despite saying that, a week later, Reid gave all three of them a three-day break. By the time the Silver Lightning's program was finished, Murrue would probably be about to give birth.
And Reid had long decided that the assessment mission, the final battle of Gundam 00, had to be completed before the child was born.
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