"So...All that really happened huh? I'm sorry...Sorry about what happened to Harper, to you, to Crow...Most of all, I'm sorry that my masterpiece let you down so hard, I'm absolutely ashamed of myself..."
Tears welled up in Lex's eyes, Angelus knelt down to her level.
"Alex, don't apologise, Anubis is flawless, an AC is only as good as the pilot flying it, clearly I'm just not good enough for her."
"Don't say that Angel, you're the best pilot I know, that's why I picked you for this project, listen, the repairs are complete, upgrades are underway now and I can tell you, you're gonna love them!"
Lex swiftly rushed off back towards Anubis, Angelus tailing behind her, all the while she may as well have been speaking to herself.
"Okay, so the sniper enhancements clearly aren't working for you, a major flaw in Anubis is that you just can't make up for the loss of mid range combat abilities if all you're packing is a sniper rifle and a vibro-spear, so how's this? I've designed a new burst homing laser with alternating fire modes so you can work with it at mid to long range, you've lost the functionality to divert power to increase the strength of a single shot, however, you can use it to increase the number of shots fired. Drawing power from half the primary systems should, in theory, give you the ability to fire approximately 80 mid powered shots,the collection of shots should have enough strength to punch a freakin' five mile deep crater in the surface of Mars! Not only that but we've also inst-"
"Lex! Calm down, take a breath for once in your life, I know you get excited about these things but just...Cool it would you? It's hard enough keeping up with you without you going off on a tangent about technology that I really don't understand."
Lex let out a soft, nervous chuckle.
"Okay, okay...Sorry Angel, I forgot, me talking fast is a big no-no for you, anyway, where was I? And I'll try to keep it slow for you, mmkay mister?"
"Don't get sarcastic with me Lex, just tell me what you plan on doing with Anubis to make sure I don't get my ass handed to me again."
Lex set off towards Anubis once again.
"Alright, yeah...Where was I? Oh right, we've added an upgrade to Anubis' headpiece, essentially they're video enhancement goggles, they'll let you zoom in and take a shot at an enemy from some distance. Should make up for the loss of a rifle with a scope, though I suppose the loss of a charged shot means you won;t be using it too much, still, you know what we're like here, all about the long range stuff!"
"Yeah I know, anything else?"
Two more upgrades, the Zero Shift drive is now self sufficient, it'll draw off its own power supply rather than directly from your generator, I was never happy with the fact that it drew energy from the AC core anyway, so you're good for about 5 sector wide jumps before the drive does starting eating your primary generator...Finally, we've added a prehensile tail, it may look more cosmetic than tactical, but it'll come in useful, a prehensile tail...Well, you know monkeys right? How they can grab things with their tail? It's literally that, Anubis' tail will be able to grab things, from basic metal supports to enemy ACs, the tail basically acts as a free arm, you know...Just very close quarters, no equippable weapons, but it can grab.
"Impressive, any drawbacks I should know about?"
The drive is still a little unstable, as usual you may experience a few issues with it until Anubis' AI is able to synchronise the drive's base code, still, aside from that, Anubis is a force to be reckoned with again, your armour is fully repaired and your shields have been upgraded, should be able to withstand a shot from that CANOPUS cannon now, give it about an hour and Anubis will be flying again!
Angelus knelt down and spun Lex around, hugging her briefly before standing back up.
"You're a star Lex, I suppose I'd better go speak to that new commanding officer that Nest sent in earlier...Take care, and let me know when she's done!"
