Chapter 57

Axel had shown the other members of the security council the new designs of the replacement vehicles for various vehicles and ships which had received great feedback from them.

General Stone (UNSC Airforce) liked the new gunship and dropship which would allow for a broader range of operations. The details on the gunship's capabilities stated it's increase in firepower, maneuverability, speed, defense and it could carry more troops than the Falcon.

Next, he looked over the new Fighter which was designed as a multirole fighter. It came in 4 different designs, each one offering a wide range of payloads but still maintained its ability to conduct multirole missions. It was basically an upgrade from the Longsword as offered improvements across the board.

For the dropship, it was just overall better than the Pelican because of its troop capacity. He agreed that the use of the Pelican as a secondary dropship for special operations and such would allow it to continue to be in service if it was upgraded with more advanced technology.

"I have to say, these designs are unique and offer the chance to improve our military capabilities in the air to contend with Covenant Aircraft. I know that your designs offer exactly what they say as you have proven it multiple times so I think we can put these new designs into production as soon as possible" said General Stone offering his opinion.

Axel nodded hearing the positive feedback from General Black. Now that he was chairman, his designs were about to reshape the war and turn it into their favor.

General Graham (UNSC Army) and General Black (UNSC Marine Corps) both liked the Unmanned Multipurpose vehicle as it would better protect soldiers' lives on the frontlines. Especially since it was an all-around vehicle that could perform in multipole roles allowing for adaptability on the battlefield, which is what the UNSC needs to overcome the Covenant forces on the ground.

"Similar to the S180 Spider tank which you introduced a few years ago, I can see the unmanned multipurpose vehicle transforming the battlefield into our favor and offering our troops on the ground even more support. As of now our current ground vehicles are effective but their protection against Plasma is not good enough and some Covenant ground vehicles have shields protecting them." General Black offered his opinion on the vehicles.

The Spider tank has managed to level the playing field between the Covenant's Wraiths and other heavy vehicles, but we need more variety of vehicles to support our infantry on the ground." Said General Graham as he has first-hand seen how effective the Spider tank is against Covenant Wraiths.

Admiral Ross, who is the CNO offered his opinion on the new ships introduced. In his opinion, they were revolutionary, offering a completely new design to UNSC ships and combined with new weapons they would increase the UNSC's fighting ability against the Covenant in space.

"The new ships I must say will completely advance the Navy to contend with the Covenant ships. Those Autocannons are already extremely effective against the Covenants shields but as seen at the last battle of Harvest the bigger the Covenant ship's the more powerful their energy shields are. 

So, if possible, if we can develop better ship-to-ship weapons designed for taking down the Covenant's shields, it would greatly help us in space combat. The MAC cannons are good weapons to use against them, but the recharge time between each shot will give the Covenant the chance to counterattack before we can fire the next round." Admiral Ross stated his opinion on the new ships and the MAC cannons.

"It's nice that we are actually getting somewhere now" Stated Axel referring to the previous state of the UNSC.

"But there is something else that we would need to build" said Axel as the image of the Star Lifter appeared in the middle of the table. "This is what I call the Star Lifter, it is a massive mega structure, more massive than anything that the UNSC has built before, but it's use will completely solve our resource problem" Stated Axel as the other members looked at the massive structure with interests.

"Is that around a star" Asked General Black.

"Yes, it is, by harvesting the mass of a star we can produce many forms of matter for example, Iron is something that we can produce with this and that is just one thing. If my calculations are correct, we will probably be able to produce all types of metals, minerals, and gases from the star. We would also be able to harvest Plasma from the star" Explained Axel.

Admiral Ross looked between Axel and the image of the Star Lifter to make sure that he was still alive "So what you are saying is that with this we can solve our resource problem which will allow us to produce thousands of military vehicles and equipment." 

"Not thousands but hundreds of thousands" replied Axel.

Admiral Ross didn't know how to react to this technology. To call it revolutionary would be an understatement. This technology would catapult the UNSC into a realm of progress and innovation they had only dreamed of.

"Well then, Axel, let's not waste any more time. Let's start building this... Star Lifter." The room erupted in murmurs of agreement and intrigue as Axel's holographic display rotated, revealing more angles and details of the massive megastructure.

Admiral Ross turned to Axel and asked, "What are the building requirements for such a colossal machine?"

Axel replied. "Of course, it would require many materials that are scarce within our current reach. But with the creation of this mega structure, once it's operational, it can produce the very materials it requires for maintenance and further construction."

General Black leaned forward in his chair. "This is ambitious beyond anything we've ever done before. The manpower required alone will be immense, not to mention the technology needed to even begin such an endeavor."

"Not exactly General. 300k MCUs would be able to do it within a year, but to produce that many we would have to establish more factories to produce more MCUs. If we can reach that amount within a year, then it will take another year to create the star lifter if we have all the necessary resources." Axel already had a plan in place. While originally, he estimated that it would take 4 years, he wanted to speed things up.

Axel also added "Also since we all trust each other here and have the same goals I will tell you about my secret research base that is established on a Forerunner Shield world." Axel then began to explain everything that led up to him discovering the shield world and about what he found in it.

Once he was done the other members were more intrigued about the outcome of the research rather than about him establishing a secret research base.

"We made the right decision when we decided to support you Admiral," said General Graham. "I can see a better future for humanity as a whole and if you keep introducing new technology and learning more about the Forerunners, then the Covenant will not even pose a threat to us come 10-20 years" Added General Graham.

The other members all agreed with this statement offering their shared agreement. The future of the UNSC was bright with Axel leading it and they hoped to live long enough to see how it all worked out.

With that the meeting had ended and Axel dismissed all the other members while Admiral Ross wanted to speak with him about the newfound Forerunner dreadnoughts.

So, they both walked to his office where they sat down to discuss it.

"How powerful are these dreadnoughts" asked Admiral Ross.

Axel replied "They are extremely power. I think just 2 of them could take on 10 Covenant ships though that is just speculation as they have not actually been tested in battle yet."

Admiral Ross nodded while rubbing his chin "And how many personnel would it take to man just one of these dreadnoughts?"

"It would require 1 officer and 15 crewmembers, but I want to increase that number to prevent problems that would arise with so little crewmember onboard, so we could say a crew of about 100 people would be good enough." Replied Axel.

"Interesting" said Admiral Ross as that number was too little for a ship that is supposed to be powerful enough to make the Covenant fleet look like nothing. "If possible, I would like to see them for myself."

"Of course, I planned to put you in charge of the training of crew members for the ships and it would be best if you saw it in person to come up with a good training plan for them" stated Axel.

"Excellent" said Admiral Ross as he stood up. "With that I will take my leave and look forward to seeing the ships in person."

They both shook hands before Admiral Ross left his office. Now that he was left along Axel would start to plan the creation of more factories to increase the production of MCUs to build the star lifter. These MCUs were no different from the current ones as one MCU was built to perform multiple roles and have adaptability.