Before the modules Andrew bought arrived, the squadron of drone fighters was prepared and armed with the new torpedoes.
-Why didn't you reconfigure a heavy fighter to carry these things?
Arien asked, seeing that the torpedo was longer than the fighter that carried it.
-Because heavy fighters are slower than these, their chances of returning after an attack are lower.
Additionally, it is much easier to reconfigure a normal fighter than a heavy one.
Nairin explained.
-While they were talking, the droids connected the modules into a set of targets for the new weapons.
There were four of them to be used for a specific test, with the last one having a triple layer of shields, and at the request of Nairin, was surrounded by storage modules filled to the brim with rocks.
The first target was a single-tier 4 shield generator attached to 4 solar power modules.
The first fighter started its attack run when everything was ready.
-Torpedo away.
Binon, who was piloting the craft remotely, said the moment the massive weapon detached and the fighter banked up, before being placed on autopilot.
The torpedo went straight for the target, but to everyone's surprise, the shields suddenly flared up like they were under attack, before the weapon reached them.
A moment later, the weapon went through he shields as if they were not even there, hitting the target, embedding itself in the modules, before detonating, ripping it apart in a massive explosion.
-Target destroyed.
Binon said with a happy smile.
-Ladies, what the hell was that?
Andrew asked, barely believing what he had just seen and even rewinding the recording of the test just to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him.
-That was a successful test.
Nairin grinned cheekily at him, but the glare he sent her way was enough to put her in her place.
-We added a frequency modulator to the warhead, along with a small emitter.
The shields work by scanning a wide spectrum of frequencies incredibly fast to find one that will stop the incoming attack.
When they find the frequency, they lock it in place until the attack is over, before beginning their scan again.
Each part of the shield is doing it separately, to avoid being his with a different type of weapon at the same time.
That's why, during a battle, they lose so much power after being struck.
Our torpedo sends a signal that the shields read as an attack, so that part of the shields switches to this frequency, making it useless to stop anything else for just about one second.
Using this window of opportunity, our torpedo can pass straight through that section of the shields and go straight for the ship's hull.
The student explained with an adorable pout.
She was not happy that her moment of triumph was interrupted by a grumpy emperor.
-You mean that you two figured out a way to bypass the shields?
Aelita asked, barely believing what she saw and heard just now.
-Not exactly bypass, but more like creating a hole in them without taking them down.
Nairin explained.
-Either way, if we use these weapons, we need to be sure that we destroy every enemy ship.
Andrew said, seriously.
-If we let even one vessel escape, there is a chance they will be able to figure out how this weapon works.
Not to mention that there is a chance that someone had figured out the same thing in the past.
-We can't do anything about that, but if I'm right, then no one should have these kinds of weapons.
From what I saw during the invasion, they focus more on taking the shields down entirely by draining them.
Nairin shrugged.
-Alright, let's continue with the tests.
Binon said, taking control of another fighter.
The second target had tier 4 and tier 3 shield generators.
However, the torpedo had no problem, destroying it as well.
The third target with two tier 4 shields didn't fare any better.
-The final test.
Nairin said excitedly, as this was the hardest target they had prepared for a weapons test so far.
Three shield generators and the armor made from the storage modules made the target extremely tough.
-Torpedo away.
Binon said, firing the weapon.
This time, however, the torpedo didn't breach the shields and detonated the moment it connected with them.
-What happened?
Nairin asked, seeing that the target survived their attack.
-Vulcan, can you determine why the weapon failed?
Andrew asked.
-The third shield generator was not affected by the signal sent from the weapon, allowing it to intercept the attack.
The AI answered a few seconds later after analyzing the data.
-So much for this weapon.
Binon said, with a resigned tone, as she loved their new toy and hoped it would be able to pass all the tests.
-No.
Andrew said, shaking his head.
-We will start production of these torpedoes as well as modified fighters to carry them as soon as possible.
Additionally, according to your suggestion, we will equip our ships with them.
So the two of you better start figuring out where to put them and how to integrate them with our ships.
-But it failed, you have seen it yourself.
Nairin said.
-Wrong.
It only failed with a triple-layered shield.
Aelita corrected her.
-Have you ever seen a ship with triple-layered shields?
She asked the young engineer, who only shook her head.
-You are a brilliant engineer, Nairin, but you need to start looking at things from more than just one angle and look for the utility of your innovations not their failure or success.
She smiled at her student, who was very quickly outgrowing her.
-You see, even if it can't penetrate triple shields, it will certainly get past a single shield, and that's more than enough to make it useful.
-Which is why we will implement them across the fleet and the core territory as soon as possible.
Andrew chimed in, also smiling.
-The two of you might have just given us the advantage we need to survive in the Battleverse.
He said to both ladies responsible for developing this weapon.
Making both of them happy to be praised for their work.