Jania wasted no time deciding on her suit. She wasn’t here to mess around she knew exactly what she wanted. Firepower! “Plasma rifle, plasma blade, and the biggest power supply you’ve got.” She grinned, practically vibrating with excitement.

  “I wish there was something larger!” she said excitedly.

  Null barely glanced up from his schematics. “I could add more,” he said, “but not for the competition.”

  Jania frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “There are other enhancements,” Infy explained. “AI-assisted vision, nanite armor, additional combat augmentations, larger guns except we don’t want to reveal too much. It’s not wise.”

  Jania pouted. “But I want the best.”

  Lisa folded her arms. “Infy’s right. There’s already enough attention on you all. No need to make it worse.”

  Chris nodded in agreement. “It’s not just about keeping secrets. If we come in looking too advanced, we might not even be allowed to compete.”

  Jania sighed but relented. “Fine. But after this is over, I need those upgrades.”

  Now it was Chris’s turn. He wasn’t as focused on combat, so he preferred a more defensive approach. “Stun gun and plasma shield,” he said without hesitation.

  Null tilted his head. “You sure?”

  Chris nodded. “I’m training to be an officer. That means one day, I might have to take a life but right now? I can’t, I will feel better with a stun gun”

  Null didn’t argue. Instead, he turned to Lisa. “Are drones allowed in the next round?”

  Lisa nodded. “Yes, but they have to be user-controlled. No AI swarms.”

  A slow, unsettling smile crept across Null’s face. Chris immediately felt uneasy.

  “What?” Chris asked warily.

  “I had an idea.”

  Chris sighed. “Of course, you did.”

  “Instead of a single plasma shield, what if you had five?” Null’s excitement was evident. “A drone shield formation. It would be way more effective. But…” He tilted his head. “It’d take a lot of mental space to control them.”

  Chris hesitated. “That… actually could work. If I had an AI assistant to help.”

  Null tapped a finger against the table. “We could add an AI system…”

  “You can’t, only those with preregistered AI can use them” replied Lisa.

  Chris smirked. “Not for me.”

  Null blinked. “Huh?”

  Chris grinned. “Give that to Max. He’s going to need it.” He packed light last mission, but this time we can use him to his full potential.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Max’s loadout had been easy to finalise a stun gun, medium power supply, and the drone formation. Chris as the squad leader gave the final approval.

  Zeph, on the other hand, had been more complicated. Null had initially suggested a plasma blade paired with a hacking tool, but Lisa had quickly shut that down. “No, I won’t allow it” she had said. “She’s not getting access to any of the tools on board here. It has to be one of the standard ones.”

  Infy had taken his time sorting through the best military-grade options, finally settling on the most effective hacking tool that would still be legal under competition regulations.

  Once everyone had confirmed their choices, Jania leaned against a workbench, arms crossed. “So, what now? We actually gonna build these things, or do we need to take measurements first?”

  Infy’s energy pulsed slightly as if amused. “No need. I already have all of your measurements.”

  There was a brief silence.

  Chris, Jania and Lisa all exchanged wary glances.

  “…That’s creepy,” Jania said flatly.

  Null tilted his head, genuinely confused. “Why?”

  Lisa sighed, rubbing her temples. “Just… never mind. Let’s get to work.”

  The workshop aboard the Voidecho was a marvel of engineering efficiency and stocked with technology that was, for the most part, far beyond that of a human workshop and definitely above what the competition regulations would allow.

  Null stood at the central workstation, surrounded by holographic blueprints hovering in midair. The projection displayed the modular designs for each team member’s battlesuit, rotating slowly as Infy ran calculations in real-time. Precision was key with every piece having to fit seamlessly with the others.

  Jania leaned against a workbench, arms crossed. “So, are we 3D-printing these or what?”

  Infy’s energy wavered slightly in amusement. “We could, but that would take too long. This calls for rapid nano-fabrication.”

  Chris had seen advanced engineering labs before, but this was something else entirely. “And that is…?”

  Null gestured to a circular device in the corner of the workshop. It looked like a hybrid between an industrial lathe and a high-tech forge, its surface embedded with microscopic assembly units. “Molecular assembly,” he explained. “Breaks down raw materials and reconstructs them at the atomic level. Much faster than printing.”

  “And creepier.” Commented Jania

  Ignoring her, Null turned his attention to the material feeds. He had already separated the necessary elements—carbon nanotubes for the muscle fibres, wax-hybrid reinforcement for flexibility, and nanogel padding for impact resistance. The exoskeletal frame required a titanium-graphene alloy, while the power units needed carefully shielded fusion cores.

  Infy processed the final simulations. “Suit fabrication will take approximately 37 minutes.”

  Null was focusing on configuring the power cells. Max’s suit had a medium-output fusion reactor to support his drone network. Chris’s suit had an efficiency-optimized small reactor to power the suit and shield. Jania, of course, had chosen the largest power core available, prioritizing raw combat capability. These all took time to make. It would have been easier if they had all chosen the same thing.

  As the fabricator came to life, the room filled with the sound of the microscopic construction. Metal components assembled themselves with unnerving precision, skeletal frameworks knitting together as carbon filaments wove through the plating. Energy cells slotted into their housings, secured by automated clamps.

  Jania watched, arms still folded. “You don’t even have to touch anything, do you?”

  Null shrugged. “Infy and I already built the framework. The machine does the rest.”

  Chris shook his head in disbelief. “Remind me why you didn’t make yourself a suit back in round two?”

  Null pouted. “Didn’t know I was allowed to” He gestured toward the forming suits. “Now, I know.”

  Jania smirked, shifting her weight onto one foot. “Good. Because I really want to try these out. Also, where is yours?”

  Null pressed a button on his communicator, and a drone hovered in, carrying his suit. It was noticeably different from the others and clearly built with far more enhancements than the ones they had just designed.

  “This is the same suit I wore when we first arrived,” Null explained, running a hand over the armor plating. “I doubt they’ll complain if I use it again.”

  Jania let out an impressed whistle, tracing a finger along the material. “Dang, a nice little suit, for the little man. Too bad it’s not in my size or I would take it”

  Jania moved out of the way of a half-hearted swipe by Null.

  Lisa exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Let’s just get the others built first, all right?”