Freya stormed out of the door to the Camp Brededdle and marched right up to the railing at the edge of the walkway. Grabbing the bars on the railing tightly she let out a frustrated growl.

“My people might be from Earth but we’re no Earthlings.” She thought to herself angrily. She looked down and to her left at the people below who were mostly crowding around the console trees but she could see some of them heading to the lobby doors. She hadn’t realized how close she was to the octagon until now. Her mind went back to what Sergeant Gawain had said about her being a cheater and she squeezed the pole of the railing even tighter.

“Hey.” A voice said beside her. Turning towards the voice she watched Toast walk up to the railing beside her. “Don’t worry about the fine. He was supposed to warn you first before he fined you. As long as you don’t get another one for another six months ship time then it will fall off your record.”

“Dammit, did he fire you too?” Freya asked him angrily. She turned away from him and looked out into the concourse. She remembering the condition the platoon leader had given him to be a squad leader was for her to win a spot on the platoon.

“Nah. I walked out. If it makes you feel any better the bastard fined me too.” Toast said looking down at the people below.

“What do we do now?” She asked him.

“Well, the news that we were released should be out there by now. You should get some messages from other platoons shortly. I suggest if you get an invite from another platoon in the second division, do whatever they ask to get in.” Toast said to her looking away from the people below to look her in the eyes.

“What about you?” She asked him concerned.

“I have a standing invite to a platoon in the first division as a scout. I need command experience though and you can’t get that as a corporal in the first division unless you have past experience. I have a year before I need to get Sergeant or they’ll kick me out after this deployment.” Toast said with a sad smile. He looked away from her and down to the people below him again. “This may be it for my career in the Marine Corps. I can’t get enough E-points to get my Sergeant stripes without being a squad leader.”

Feeling guilty about Toast losing his position and maybe his career Freya looked away from him. Her anger fading as she realized just how much Toast had to lose or had already lost with her being kicked out of the platoon. Taking a deep breath she turned to him. “I could make it a requirement that you be my squad leader if they want me in their platoon.” She told him.

He laughed and turned to her. “Don’t do that. Gawain already screwed us both over. You’ll be lucky to get another invite to another platoon in the second division. You won’t have the ability to set conditions. I’ll be ok. Seriously. Who knows, I might get promoted to squad leader if I’m good enough.”

“What about third division?” Freya asked him.

“For you, that would be fine. You won’t be called up to go on a Real-world mission unless your entire division goes but you should have no problems getting enough e-points to re-enlist in five years. Me, on the other hand, I need the e-points I would get in a Real-world mission to stay in. The third division might go on a Real-World mission one day but even then it wouldn’t be a combat mission. It would be something like ‘rattle the saber’ type mission. You know, scare the locals into doing the right thing. I need Real-World combat missions in a squad leader position to stay in.” He told her.

“That sucks,” Freya said sadly.

“It’s easy to get into the Marine Corps but it’s really hard to stay in long enough to make it a career.” Toast said sounding like he was quoting something. “I have enough e-points to get a pretty good discount to get citizenship om a really nice world. Maybe I’ll become a cop. Look, I’ll be fine. All I ask is that you remember me when you become the next field marshal.”

Freya laughed and punched his arm. She still felt bad though. She turned and looked back over the railing not sure what to do. Toast did the same.

“You want to get something to eat at the chow hall?” Freya asked when she couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“Corporals and above get our own chow hall.” Toast said with a small smile. “I can go to your chow hall but it’s frowned on.”

“Oh,” Freya said surprised.

“You know I was so proud to get promoted to Corporal. Did you know that only forty percent of recruits get enough e-points to be promoted? I made enough e-points to get promoted two months early just before the end of my first deployment. I thought getting promoted to Sergeant would be a piece of cake, especially when I got a named platoon in the first division on my next ship. Even when my last platoon leader warned me that only one and four corporals make sergeant I wasn’t worried. I was on track to get a citizenship on the Planet, Annie. It’s the newest paradise planet, you know. Now though, I get what he was warning me about.” Toast said staring off into the distance.

“I’m not complaining though. I get why it’s so hard. We are immortals in the military in service to the Federation. There are probably millions of people standing right behind me wanting my position. The Federation has to pick the best of the best or it would stagnate. All this is a test to see who can rise to the top.” Toast said sweeping his arm out indicating the entire concourse.

“They give us templates to guide us but there is so much to choose from that no two marines will be the same. They force us to use the crappiest weapons instead of handing us the best of the best weapons that’s out there to see who can rise above the others. They want to see who chooses the right combination of weapons and skills to rise above the rest. They can’t afford only average marines. They need the best of the best but dammit I wanted the prize at the end. The chance to be immortal.” Toast said angerly then he sighed and looked down at the people below.

“I get it. Being Immortal is not all that it's cracked up to be but still, I don’t mind spending years in a virtual reality office overseeing some AI that doesn’t need me to oversee it. Just so in a couple of decades of saving credits, I can buy a body so I could live for a hundred or so years before doing it all over again. I had this plan, you know. I was going to stay in and get First Lieutenant so that I can keep all my mods and by then I would have saved enough money so that I would be able to pay for a few clones right after I get out of the Marines. I would buy a business so that I would make enough credits to pay for all my clones going forward. I would never have to go back to the digital world ever again.” Toast said looking down at the people below again.

“Sorry about that. It was great to meet you Freya.” Toast said standing up straight and turned towards her fully. “I think I’ll….” He said but stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence and stared off into the distance frowning.

Freya looked at him expecting him to continue. When he didn’t she turned around to see what he was looking at but she saw nothing. She turned back around to ask him what had him so distracted that he couldn’t finish his sentence when she got a blue box notifying her that she had a message.

The Iron hand, a named platoon in the Second Division in Third Company, has invited you to try out for the position of 2nd Company Scout. Please report to Camp Iron as soon as possible. Tryouts start 8 minutes and 22 seconds. From: Sergeant Torres, Platoon leader of the First Platoon, Third Company in Second Division.

Do you wish to try out with ‘The Iron Hand’?

Yes. No.

“Iron hand?” Freya asked herself not realizing that she spoke out loud.

“It’s a mech company. A lot of those guys use Iron in their names. It’s always something like Iron fist or Iron finger or something like that.” Toast said shaking his head but he had a huge smile on his face.

“You get an invite too?” Freya asked.

“Yea and we don’t have much time. The camp is on the other side of the concourse.” Toast said pointing down the pole of the concourse. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward a little bit before he started to run towards the octagon. Freya followed him. They raced around the octagon dodging other Marines that were in their way.

The entrance to the Camp was about halfway down the pole of the concourse and it took Toast and Freya about four minutes to get to the correct door. Unlike the last time when she had arrived at a named platoons door for tryouts, there were no people waiting in line. In fact, the door was deserted. Toast paused by the door and told her to catch her breath before they went walked into the light.

You have entered Camp Iron. You have currently have basic guest rights to the main camp. You are not allowed outside the camp nor are you allowed inside any buildings without permission from an Iron hand squad leader or above. You are being monitored at all times in the Compound while a guest of Iron Hand.

Freya stepped into Camp Iron and the first thing she saw was two twelve foot tall Mechs standing side by side in a lean-to like a garage. Freya stopped in her tracks and stared at the awesome sight. They weren’t the giant walking monsters she expected from what she saw on TV but she thought these looked just as cool. The Mechs were the same black color with the federation symbol stenciled on the right breast. The Mech on the right had two energy guns on its thumb side of its arm. The other Mech had two cannon-like barrels on its arms by it thumb like the other Mech but it had two smaller energy weapons on its shoulder.

“Whoa!” Freya muttered in awe.

“Hey guys, over here.” Someone called out. Freya turned to her left and spotted a group of Marines sitting on the grass about fifty feet from the hanger or was it garage? Freya wasn’t sure.

Freya followed Toast as he walked towards the group. As they got closer Freya noticed a sergeant sitting on an upturned bucket. Once they got closer he smiled and waved. Freya waved back and Toast nodded in acknowledgment.

“Ok guys were going to change a few things up. First, did you guys hear about that recruit that got a battlefield promotion and bought herself an RDS (Respawn Dropship)?” The Sergeant asked smiling at the group of Marines. Not waiting for them to reply he waved in Toast and Freya’s directions. “I got her. I picked her up after Sergeant Gawain over in First Company let her go. Said she was cheating but the jackhole never asked the Monarch to confirm. Turns out she’s just that good. I had to make some promises to get her that will affect you guys but I think the changes will mostly be a good one.”

“Gunny gave me permission to expand the Platoon to six squads so everyone here is now officially in. Congrats you guys.” The Sergeant said right before he started clapping. The rest of the new platoon followed his lead and started clapping.

“I’m making the new squad a special operations squad. Toast, you're going to lead that one. He’s the new guy.” The Sergeant said nodding to Toast. “He’s a 1st Platoon scout with ten years in the corps. He’s should be getting his Sergeant stripes soon. The other new guy or should say gal is Magic. She is the best marksman in the battalion. Got her Golden E on her first mission without any mods. On her second mission, she got promoted to Private and bought herself an RDS.”

“New guys, meet One and Done.” The Sergeant said pointing to the two people sitting beside him. “One is the squad leader for first squad and our primary Mech pilot. Done is our secondary Mech pilot and squad leader for the second squad.”

“One and Done?” The woman to the Sergeants left asked. “We really going with that?”

“Yep.” The Platoon leader said smiling at the woman he was calling One. She rolled her eyes.

“Patterson, Tike. You guys are going to be in the new squad under Toast. The rest of you, mechanics and support staff, are in with me in the command squad. I know, One. That leaves you and Done short but that’s one of the promises I had to make with Gunny to get Toast and Magic here.” The Sergeant said nodding to the woman he was calling One.

“So we are going with three in the first and second squad. Six in the third and fourth squad. Four in Fifth squad under Toast and eight in the Command Squad. I need to see One and Done, Toast, and you too Magic. Everyone else, welcome to the Iron hand. Go check out your barracks rooms and get settled in. We have a mission at zero seven in the A.M. So get some rest or do whatever you guys do to relax. This is a training mission to get ourselves acquainted with each other but don’t forget if you fall below two standard deviations on your mission points, you’re out. I can’t protect you. It’s one of Gunny’s rules. So no slacking off on any missions.” The Sergeant said looking at each member of the platoon before he nodded.

“No tryouts for us?” Toast asked the Sergeant as Freya and Toast walked up as the rest of the Platoon scattered.

Most of the platoon was headed towards a barracks building that looked just like the one in Camp Bredbeddle. Aside from the one building and the small Lobby building, everything else was different. There was no command building like in Camp Bredbeddle nor were there any of the smaller buildings the other camp had. Aside from the garage, the barracks and the lobby there were no other buildings.

Instead of a sea and mountains, Camp Iron was mostly made up of grassland that went on what seemed like forever. There were clumps of trees here and there making a few mini forests and a river that led to a lake and that was it. Outside the neatly manicured lawn that covered the main camp area’s the rest of the area was mostly covered in knee-high grass. It looked nice but Freya missed the mountains of the other camp.

“You have no idea how much effort went into getting you too. So no, no tryouts for you guys. One and Done, we are going to change the way we are doing things now that we got an RDS. I want you and Done to drop with the RDS. It’ll make getting to the Planet’s surface much safer than the Single-use Vehicle Dropship. That means you both are going to need clothespins to attach to the RDS. You guys have enough credits to make that happen?” The Sergeant asked.

“Yeah, it’s just a minor mod.” Done said nodding his head.

“Sure.” One said smiling happily. “This is going to be awesome. We have permission to drop if the ship comes under fire?”

“That’ll be up to Magic. She’s the pilot.” The Sergeant said smiling back the Mech pilot.

“Sergeant I….” Freya started to say but the Sergeant interrupted her.

“Hang on a second Magic. I know what you’re going to say and there is a way around it. One, Done. You guys need anything else?” The Sergeant said not looking at Freya.

“Permission to head out and go to the store.” One said her eyes sparkling as looked at the Sergeant.

“Granted. Go have fun.” The Sergeant said nodding to her. One spun around and like a bullet out of a gun she took off towards the entrance door. Done followed her at a much slower pace.

“Sergeant. All I have is a stock ship. I don’t have vehicle docking locks nor do I have the credits to buy one, let alone two. Plus I have standard engines. Those Mechs weight what two, two and a half tons. That's at least four ton in mass you’ll be adding on to my ship. That will slow my ship down far too much. If we come under any enemy fire I can’t promise you that I’ll make it planetside at all.” Frey said frowning.

“He’s going to give you a loan from the platoon.” Toast said watching the two Mech pilots run towards the door.

“Yes. It’ll increase the platoon tax a bit but it’s doable.” The Sergeant said as Toast turned around to look at him.

“Loan from the Platoon? Platoon tax?” Freya asked confused.

“All Named Platoons have taxes. How else do you think they can they can afford the camp?” Toast replied to her. “How high is the tax going to be?” Toast asked the Platoon leader.

“Depends on the Private here. How much will it take to get everything you need to make it work?” The Sergeant asked.

Freya bit her lip and thought about it. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to do some research.”

“When you do the research I want you to look into the ammo resupply mod for the Mechs. Give me three quotes. I want one quote with just the cheapest and very basic vehicle dock and the resupply mod without a new engine. Then give me the same quote but with an engine that will get you close to what you have now in terms of power and then your dream list to get it all done. I need it in two hours.” The Sergeant told her. He gave her a sympathetic look before he turned to Toast.

“About your squad. It’s going to be you and Magic with two heavy Armor gunners for backup. Since Magic is a drone operator I’m keeping the one we have in my squad. I’m going to use your squad out in front of the rest of the Platoon being spotters for the Mechs. Your secondary tasks will be a kill squad or overwatch depending on the mission. You good with that?” The Sergeant asked Toast.

Freya was only half listening to their conversations as she brought out her tablet and started searching the prices for the vehicle docks and the resupply mod for her ship. The dock was not going to cost her all that much. In fact, it was pretty cheap for a ship mod. The resupply mod for Mechs was only a little bit pricer but it brought up a big problem. She did not have enough space for the printing supplies that it recommended in her current tank in her ship. She would need to either take out the one she had and get a bigger one or buy a second one. If she bought a second tank for what it recommended then she would need to remove a respawn pod for space.

She copied and pasted the cheapest option, which was losing one of her respawn tanks and adding a second tank, to her report. It was cheaper because than but she lost a respawn pod. She added how much it would cost to get a bigger tank and removing the one she already had instead of getting a second but much smaller tank, in her report.

“It’s not that much difference in cost but he did say he wanted the cheapest quote.” Freya though as she completed the first quote.

She then researched the new engines and was staggered at what it cost. To just get back to the same speed as before with both Mechs loaded it would cost a little more than a third of what the ship cost her in the first place. She added in the new tank and all the stuff he wanted on her ship and she signed.

“There is no way he is going to approve of that.” Freya thought to herself looking at the price. With a sigh, she looked around and found the best of the best for mods and supplies and added them to the list as well. The best of the best would cost her a lot more than what she had paid for when she bought the license for the ship.

“Maybe there is a way to mod out my engine to get more power.” She thought to herself. She opened a new window and started in on her research.

“Magic, what type of drone do you have?” The Sergeant asked breaking her concentration. She was deep into reading about how to increase power from engines. It wasn’t in the shop so she had to go online and find it in Engineering forums. It gave her a few ideas but so far she hadn’t found a cure-all for her engine problems.

“Yes, Sergeant?” Freya asked looking up away from her tablet.

Toast smiled and the Sergeant frowned. “What kind of drones do you have?” The Sergeant asked her again.

Embarrassed she gave him the list of all the drones that Sergeant Gawaine asked her to get before he kicked her out of his squad. “The severance drone looks good. Can you link the feed to the Mechs?” He asked her.

She checked then shook her head. “Sorry Sergeant, the feeds are encrypted. I can’t even send it to them. It has to go to coms receiver. If they buy the equipment and get the coms skill for them yes.”

The Sergeant sighed and rubbed between his eyes. “Ok, I need you to find and buy a drone that can send real-time information to the Mechs without them getting any expensive equipment or skills.”

“Yes, Sergeant,” Freya said looking down at her tablet again.

Her concentration was broken again sometime later when Toast spoke. “He may have overpromised too much to get us.”

Freya looked up to find that she was alone with Toast. She looked around and found the Sergeant heading to the barracks. “Toast, what he wants is going to cost a lot of credits. I can’t even find a drone that will send information to the Mechs without the skill or the receiver. Everything I looked at so far has to go through a Comms tech. I have some ideas on rigging one up but there isn’t one out there that I can find to purchase.”

Toast nodded sadly but then he froze. “What did you say?” He asked her.

“I can’t find a drone that will do what he wants,” Freya said confused.

“Did he not hear me?” She wondered to herself as Toast down at her intently. “Did I say something that was wrong?”

“No, not that. You said you can build a drone?” He asked her.

“Well, not build one from scratch. I can probably put one together from parts of other drones but I’m not sure if that's legal.” Freya said frowning.

Toast reached down and grabbed the back of her uniform.”Sergeant Torres!” He called out pulling on her uniform. He pulled her to her feet and started pulling her towards the Sergeant. “Sergeant Torres!” He called out again.

The Sergeant who was about ten feet from the barracks stopped and turned around. Toast started to run towards the Sergeant pulling on Freya’s uniform. Freya yanked herself free but the Corporal didn’t stop running. Not sure what was going on she chased after him.

“What's wrong Toast?” The Sergeant asked him looking back and forth at Freya and the Corporal.

“Tell the Sergeant what you just told me.” Toast said when got to the Sergeant.

“Ah, I can’t find any drones that will do what you want,” Freya said afraid she had said something that would get her in trouble.

“Not that, the other thing.” He said excitedly with a manic grin.

“I can maybe rig something up to do what you want it to do. Not build it but maybe if you had some spare parts I could maybe build something that would work. Maybe.” Freya told him. She felt a shiver a fear run through her body as the Sergeant’s expression change to a stern expression. She felt her mouth dry as he stared at her for a few seconds.

“How?” He asked her.

“Well, I’ve been studying FTL communications on my own because the math is really cool. I mean faster than light energy particles. Well, not really particles but ….” Freya said nervously but her rambling was interrupted by Toast.

“Freya!” He spoke her name stopping her mid-rant.

“So, I’ve been studying communications equipment and I think I can pull parts from other communications equipment to make something that will work with the Mechs.” She explained to the Sergeant.

“Can you do it but stay with the same company?” He asked her. At her confused look, he explained further. “Can you do it but with all the equipment from the same company?”

Freya frowned. “I’m not sure I can even do it in the first place. I think I can get it to work but I’m not completely sure. I need to do some research and I need the spare parts to test my ideas with.”

The Sergeant didn’t say anything for a few seconds then he turned to Toast. “I get seventy percent.”

“What? That’s outrageous. Fifty percent and not a credit more.” Toast said completely confusing Freya.

“Can you front her the credits to pay for a lab and the equipment she will need?” The Sergeant asked Toast. “The Platoon can. Besides if she goes at it alone then the Marines will take seventy-five percent from her. This way she saves five percent after she pays back the loan.”

Toast did not say anything for a few seconds. “Ok, just to be clear the credits go to the platoon and not to you. correct?” He asked.

“I get two percent of the taxes as the administrator so in a roundabout way I’ll get some of it but yes the credits will go to the Platoon. Hell, if this sells the way I think it will then there won’t be any platoon taxes. In fact, we might get a surplus that we can spend towards the Camp.”

“Deal.” Toast said holding his hand out for the Sergeant to shake.

“What?” Freya asked hopelessly confused.

“The platoon will loan you the credits to make your drone. If you succeed then you can repay the platoon and all is good. If you can’t then you have to pay the loan back and it won’t be pretty. So before we do this, make sure you can really do what you told us. Otherwise, you’ll be so far in debt that I guarantee that you won’t be able to buy anything for the next five years. That’s on top of what the others will feel towards you when they find out we have to raise the platoon taxes because of you.” The Sergeant said to her.

“I don’t know if I can do it. I should be able to and it doesn’t look all the hard but there are a lot of ways this can go wrong.” Freya told him getting slightly angry.

“Do what you think is right. I can’t make this decision for you but I suggest that if you think you can then do it.” The Sergeant told her.

She frowned as she thought it over. She had already done some of the research and it looked doable. She couldn’t find a reason why it wouldn’t work. The tech was already out there but so far no one had minimized it yet as a drone.

“Even if I can make it, the Drone will end up costing a lot of credits. The parts to make it are already expensive so it might be out of your normal person’s ability to buy it.” Freya told the Sergeant.

“That's why we want you to use the parts from the same company. We then can sell them the plans and let them figure out how to make it cost efficient.” The Sergeant told her.

Closing her eyes, Freya took a deep breath. Not sure if she making the right decision she shook her head and agreed. The prospect that she might create something unique and new really excited her. Ever since she got her degree in math and military science something had changed in her. She wanted to see if she really was smart enough to do something like this. All her life she had been a D student but the Marines gave her the option to be better. She had to try.

“When do we start?” She asked the Sergeant.

Apparently, the answer was right now Freya learned as she followed Sergeant Torres and Toast to the lobby door. The Sergeant typed something into the screen then stepped back.

“This is going to give you access to a lab and any parts you need to make your drone. If you need anything else you’re going to have to call me to get permission before it will allow you to do it. It’s an infinite instance so take your time. You literally have forever so if you find yourself in a bind or you’re stumped just stick with it and do more research. If you discover that you can’t do it or discover it’s impossible then come on out but make sure because once you’re out you can’t go back in without paying the credits back to the platoon. Understand?” The Sergeant asked her.

She nodded her head nervously. The Sergeant nodded back then put his hand on the screen unlocking the door. Taking a deep breath Freya stepped into the light.

The lab was just a large room with a bunch of closets in it. The closets were locked and she had to input what she wanted in them before they would be unlocked. The room had a large table in the middle of it. The best part of the room was a wall-sized screen that linked up to her tablet. She found a chair and sat down in front of the wall-sized screen and started her research.

The Drone she wanted to create was a Drone that could communicate with anyone that had the ability to receive the signal. That signal had to be encrypted or it would give the enemy information about them or their fellow Marines. The encryption had to be unique but simple enough so that it would not need overly specialized skills or equipment to receive and understand the message.

What she came up with was to use FTL energy particles. There were something like 2.4 to the eleventh power of energy particles that were flying around at or above the speed of light at any given moment. Some of those particles could be changed in a very subtle way to mark them. FTL communications were based on the ability to do just that. The process was called energy printing.

The best part of making this technology small enough to fit on a drone was that it was naturally encrypted. As long as the receiver knew the algorithm of the markings on what looked like a random particle but were, in fact, were energy printed particles then it could receive the message. It would need a low AI to read the signals but that wasn’t really a problem as there were already AI’s out there that could do it. She didn’t even have to create an AI to read the message. She or who even bought her design could just buy it from any number of distributors.

She started by researching drones themselves. The drones she was used to was made up of cloud particles that when combined created the functioning part of the drone. In other words, if she wanted to create a drone that fired a bullet then she would have to create a cloud that would come together like a gun then have the cloud somehow pull the needed ingredients from the environment or have some of the cloud convert itself to fire the bullet.

She tried to create a drone from scratch at first but she didn’t know enough about clouds to do it right. After many failures, she stopped trying and decided to try to not reinvent the wheel by looking for a Cloud that could be made to make the parts that she needed to print the energy particles. In the end, she didn’t find one cloud that could do it but she found if she combined several clouds together they could produce the effect she needed.

The next part was trying to find the company that produced all the clouds that she needed by themselves. This led her to spend a really long time trying to combine different types of Clouds together to get the results she wanted. She finally found a company that was, funny enough, a company that created cleaning drones for office spaces. It had all the necessary clouds to make her drone.

The next part was creating a receiver that was simple enough that it didn’t need an expert to understand what the AI was trying to tell the receiving person. In fact, she wanted an audio-visual component encoded into the signal so that the person receiving the signal could watch what was going on as it happened instead of trying to interpret the data. Most of that led her to research companies that produced encrypted communications receivers which lead her researching encrypted coding. Once she understood enough about coding she then had to go back to try to find a coding system that the cleaning company could either lease or buy that would do the job.

Finally, after all the hard work she created her first drone. She submitted it to check to make sure she was not impinging on someone else's copyright. Less than a second later it was returned to her rejected. The coding system that she had found was too close to another system sold by an FTL communication company. The Drone itself passed but the software did not. It took her three more times to find the correct software that would pass copyright laws. When it came back as free to copyright she submitted it to Sergeant Torres and the Iron Hand platoon. She had finally successfully created a new drone. Granted it was made out of other drones but no one else had created anything like it before.

She took her notes and downloaded them on to her tablet. She had done some research on Dropship engines and discovered some facts. One the factory engine she had was an old one and most of the possible upgrades had already been done to it. There was little left to upgrade. She found a slightly cheaper engine that could be modded to get more power out of it and it cost less than the one she had found previously.

She also found her dream engine. The power increase would be only twenty percent over her current baseline of what she had now but that twenty percent with the new engine was with all the weight added on so it was a lot bigger boost than the twenty percent power increase implied. The new engine also added thirty percent more maneuverability fully loaded down. The cost for the engine was an insane amount of Credits but a girl could dream. It also had a lot of mods she could get to increase the already impressive output. Fully modded she could get a total thirty percent power increase with her new max weight over her current baseline with her current engine with no weight added. In other words, it would faster than her ship now fully loaded with everything. The engine also had an amazing forty percent total maneuverability increase out of the engines fully loaded down.

Taking one last look around at the lab she smiled happily. She had no idea how long she had been in the lab but it felt like years. She was glad negative emotions were removed with time compressed in the lab, or she would have gone crazy a long time ago. She turned towards the door and pressed her hand on the lock. After confirming that she really did want to leave she stepped into the light.