[Oliver’s PoV]

  Daedalus-2’s grin widened until it was almost feral, his eyes gleaming with the kind of manic pride that only came from his creation.

  “Everything,” he said, his voice trembling with excitement.

  Oliver blinked, trying to process. “What the hell do you mean by everything?”

  Before he could get another word out, Daedalus-2 darted forward, gesturing toward the massive, charred frame suspended in the center of the lab. The mecha carcass hung from thick cables, its surface scorched and smoking.

  A deep, rhythmic sound echoed from within its core. A mechanical rumble that almost resembled snoring. The faint vibrations rolled through the floor, resonating in Oliver’s chest.

  Daedalus-2 spread his arms dramatically, one hand resting on his hip, the other pointing toward the smoldering colossus. “Behold our masterpiece!”

  Oliver arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Tell me that’s more than just the burnt-out shell of a mecha.”

  “Of course it is!” Daedalus-2 replied, sounding offended. He spun toward Oliver, his voice rising with feverish excitement. “This is the single greatest leap in technological advancement humanity has achieved in the last decade. No, maybe the last century!”

  Daedalus-1, standing beside him, was calmer but no less proud. “As insane as he sounds right now, he’s not exaggerating. We’ve done something impossible.”

  Oliver’s eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me… you completed the Leviathans project?”

  It was supposed to be a myth, a theoretical design.

  Daedalus-2’s grin deepened. “We didn’t just complete it, Governor. We went beyond it. We didn’t break barriers, we obliterated them.”

  Daedalus-1 stepped forward, activating a small holographic projector embedded into his gauntlet. A sphere of light materialized above the nearest workbench, expanding until it filled the room with a cascade of schematics.

  The hologram depicted the mecha’s internal systems. Layers upon layers of intricate machinery intertwined with Energy conduits.

  Oliver leaned closer, scanning the diagrams as lines of data scrolled across his eyes. His mind raced to keep up.

  He had seen countless mecha blueprints in his lifetime, but this… this was something entirely different.

  Even with everything he’d learned, it still wasn’t enough to fully grasp what he was seeing.

  The schematics projected before him were beyond comprehension, a web of Energy equations and circuit patterns that blurred the line between science and sorcery. He understood the basics, but the deeper he looked, the more alien it became.

  He raised a hand, stopping the two engineers mid-sentence.

  “Hold on.”

  His eyes darted back to the hologram, scanning the lines of data again. “If I’m understanding this right… you didn’t just find a way to stabilize two Crystals being used as a single core for a machine.”

  “That’s correct,” Daedalus-1 replied, nodding.

  Oliver’s gaze sharpened. “You built a system that balances multiple Crystals simultaneously.”

  “Exactly!” Daedalus-2 said, practically vibrating with excitement. He slapped the side of the massive mecha frame. “And this big guy right here, he’s the proof it works. Three Crystals, running in perfect harmony.”

  Oliver frowned, stepping closer to the machine. The faint hum of Energy filled the air, resonating deep in his chest. “Why three?”

  Daedalus-1 adjusted his glasses, his tone calm and precise. “It’s the limit of the material’s tolerance. Anything beyond three and the Energy feedback begins to consume the machine itself. The structure destabilizes. It burns out.”

  Oliver nodded slowly, absorbing the information. “So even with this breakthrough, there’s still a threshold.”

  “Yes,” Daedalus-1 said. “But even with that limitation, the potential applications are endless.”

  Daedalus-2 stepped forward again, his enthusiasm spilling over.

  “Think about it, sir,” he said, gesturing toward the holographic blueprints. “Right now, to build something like a Dreadnought, we have to find a natural Crystal large enough to power an entire ship. Those are nearly impossible to locate and even when we do, they’re unstable. We have to supplement them with nuclear fusion to keep the auxiliary systems running.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  He turned back to the mecha, his hand resting on the armor. “But with this system, we don’t need a single massive Crystal anymore. We can use fractions, smaller shards.”

  Daedalus-1 picked up where his partner left off, his tone more measured but no less proud. “Three Crystals, combined in a Energy field. Each one compensates for the instability of the others. The output becomes stronger, and far more efficient.”

  Daedalus-2’s voice rose again, almost reverent. “Do you realize what this means? We can build anything. Mechas, dreadnoughts, planetary defense grids, machines that don’t rely on rare, unstable cores. Machines that are cheaper, faster, and more powerful.”

  He struck the armor again with his palm, the metallic clang echoing through the hangar. His eyes were wild with the light of discovery. “We’ve broken the bottleneck that’s held humanity back. This changes everything.”

  “But… how long?” Oliver asked, his voice low but sharp. “How long until we can put this into action?”

  He didn’t need theories. He didn’t need promises about the future. The war was already here, and every second wasted meant another city burned, another world lost.

  Daedalus-1 rubbed his temple, his mind clearly racing. “Immediate, sir. The system isn’t complex to apply.” He began muttering under his breath, running through numbers as though calculating the impossible. “Mass production will be difficult, but… yes, it can be done. We can start now.”

  Daedalus-2 nodded quickly, his tone more grounded but still brimming with excitement. “Exactly. We can begin manufacturing immediately, but we’ll have to prioritize. The production rate will be low, so we’ll need to focus on key assets.”

  Oliver turned away for a moment, his eyes sweeping across the hangar.

  He stood there, watching it all, the gears of his mind turning faster than the machines around him.

  'Maybe this is it,' he thought. 'Maybe this is what we need.'

  He turned back to the Daedalus engineers, his expression set, his voice steady. “All right. I don’t know where our focus should be yet, but I’ll need your help to decide.”

  Both men straightened instinctively.

  “We’re preparing to strike the Orks,” Oliver continued. “A full-scale offensive. The goal is to break through reach Earth and use it to complete our objective.”

  The words hung in the air like a spark in a fuel line.

  Daedalus-1 blinked, his mouth half open. “Sir… you mean a direct assault?”

  “Yes,” Oliver said. His tone was calm, but the fire in his eyes told a different story. “We use their own attack as a scapegoat to bring our soldiers. We’ll turn their invasion into our invasion.”

  Daedalus-2 swallowed hard, his earlier bravado faltering. “That’s… that’s bold.”

  Oliver didn’t flinch. “It’s our best chance.”

  The two engineers exchanged a glance, their faces pale under the harsh white lights.

  “When we started this,” Daedalus-1 said quietly, “it felt like we were so far from reaching it. Like we were building for a future we might never see.”

  Daedalus-2 nodded slowly, his voice softer now. “Yeah. It was just a dream.”

  Oliver nodded in agreement.

  “Yet, even if everything goes right, we still have an issue,” Oliver said.

  The Daedalus engineers looked up worried.

  “Even if we manage to deal with the Ork forces on Earth,” Oliver continued, pacing slowly, “nothing will stop them from retaliating. They’ll come back and they won’t care about the Grand Game anymore.”

  He stopped, turning to face them. “And when they do, we’ll be exhausted, part of our fleets destroyed, our people wounded. We’ll have nothing left to stand on.”

  The two engineers exchanged a glance, the weight of his words sinking in.

  “I need something,” Oliver said firmly. “A contingency. A weapon. Fast, powerful, something that can hit the field and push them back before they erase what’s left of us.”

  Daedalus-2 leaned toward his partner, lowering his voice. “Do you think it would work?”

  Daedalus-1 frowned, tapping his chin as though calculating invisible equations in the air. “Maybe. The Morph Mecha… but could we even build it in time?”

  “And someone would need to be trained to use it,” Daedalus-2 added, his tone uncertain.

  Oliver turned toward them, his expression resolute. “I’ll handle that.”

  Both engineers looked up.

  “We’ll hit with everything we have,” Oliver said, his voice steady, his conviction unshakable. “But we need soldiers ready to take over once the first strike ends. We can’t let the momentum slip.”

  Daedalus-1 straightened, his eyes gleaming with determination. “Then we’ll give you a mecha that will change the battlefield.”

  “We’ll build what they could never imagine,” Daedalus-2 added, already moving toward his terminal.

  “Send the soldiers to begin training immediately,” he said over his shoulder. “They’ll need to learn how to handle what’s coming.”

  “Done.” Oliver turned toward the exit, ready to leave and begin preparations.

  But Daedalus-2’s voice stopped him.

  “Wait!”

  Oliver turned back. The engineer was already moving toward a long metallic case resting against the wall. It was nearly two meters long, reinforced with steel plating and sealed with multiple magnetic locks.

  Daedalus-2 dragged it to the center table and pressed his hand against the console, entering a series of codes. The locks hissed, releasing with a faint click.

  “If this is going to be the main offensive,” he said, his voice low, almost reverent, “then you’ll need to take this with you.”

  Oliver stepped closer, his curiosity piqued. The case opened with a soft hydraulic sigh, splitting down the middle to reveal its contents.

  Daedalus-2 smiled faintly, pride gleaming in his eyes.

  “This, Governor,” he said, running a hand along the edge of the case, “is Project Styx.”

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