"What kind of ship?"
Ethan's first thought was not to rush, that he could upgrade gradually, replacing them one by one. But now it seemed there was no need to delay.
Having gathered so much information at once, perhaps he could skip ahead and directly upgrade to a large ship.
"The Endless?"
When it came to large spacecraft, this was the first to come to mind. It was a colossal vessel, said to be equivalent to a fleet, with a length of five thousand six hundred meters.
You had to know, the large battleships in Starship Troopers were only a little over a thousand meters long.
And the Macross from Macross was only about sixteen hundred meters.
Moreover, aside from its astonishing length, the Endless was also a thousand meters tall.
The enormous hull gave the Endless vast interior space, capable of housing nearly everything imaginable. Aside from densely packed arrays of various weaponry, the Endless itself was a mobile spaceport or base. Ten heavy frigates could dock inside it, each being over five hundred meters long. Calling it a fleet wasn't an exaggeration, it was simply a fact.
Ethan wasn't in a hurry to get such a ship right away, but now he wished he could build it immediately.
"Maybe I can make do with a Starship Troopers-class ship for now, and then have Tony build the Endless directly?"
Perhaps building such a massive warship would face many difficulties, but that shouldn't be a problem for Tony, and he would probably enjoy the challenge.
"Or build a small Macross first?"
There was a four-hundred-meter-class Macross. If Tony found it too troublesome, he could build a smaller Macross first as practice.
More importantly, a ship like this wouldn't be wasted once completed. When the Endless was built, these smaller Macross ships could serve as escorts and dock within the Endless's internal spaceport.
When Ethan shared his idea with Tony, Tony also felt there was no problem.
"But I'm not familiar with this Endless you're talking about. If possible, it'd be best for Ada to make another trip."
Even with Ethan's description and the aid of magical visual projections, building from scratch without detailed blueprints and data would be much more difficult. Having reference data would make everything significantly easier, even if some parts needed to be adjusted.
Having witnessed Ada's abilities firsthand, Tony believed this beautiful spy could also retrieve the data for the Endless. He didn't think there was any issue with her doing such "dangerous" work. If it were truly dangerous, Ethan would naturally have other ways to handle it. He was simply making a suggestion.
Of course, even without blueprints, Tony wouldn't abandon the construction plan. He was confident in his abilities, but couldn't guarantee that the "Endless" he built would be exactly what Ethan envisioned.
Ethan understood what Tony meant. He turned and looked at Ada, who was sitting beside him. She hadn't said a word the entire time, whether it was during the earlier conversation with Strange or now while discussing the new ship with Tony. She just sat quietly. If she hadn't been sipping coffee and occasionally nibbling on snacks, one might have thought she was a mannequin.
"After I clear the Macross instance, I'll go retrieve the detailed data for the Endless."
"..."
Instance... clearing... Only then did Ethan realize Ada treated her missions much like playing games, completing them as if clearing stages and enjoying the sense of achievement.
"Is there anything else over there that you still care about?"
In Ethan's view, the most valuable technology from the Macross world had already been retrieved by Ada. He didn't think there was anything left worth her attention.
"Whether it's useful or not, I don't like doing things halfway."
Ethan understood. Even if the remaining data might not be useful, when playing a game, who quits before fighting the final boss?
To Ada, that data was the final boss. Only by defeating it could the game be considered cleared, and only then could she leave with peace of mind.
Anyway, Tony still needed time to study the data they already had.
"Then I'll build a Macross first for you to use temporarily."
"That makes it sound like the Macross is some low-tier junk."
Of course, the Macross wasn't bad. Tony wouldn't simply replicate the existing data. He would definitely adjust the design based on other technologies he had and his personal insight.
For example, he would scrap the transformation system.
Variable fighters were designed to perform multiple functions and adapt to complex battlefield conditions. But for a large spacecraft, transforming was a bit much.
He also didn't plan to retain the typical structural layout of the Macross, where key sections resembled limbs. For instance, the Macross Cannon as the main gun and the flight deck and hangar for launching fighters served as left and right arms. These were positioned at the front of the ship during normal operation. The rear section served as the legs, where the propulsion systems were located.
Tony intended to return to a classic battleship structure, building an integrated spacecraft. He also planned to eliminate the flight deck entirely. After all, Macross fighters didn't need runways. Even within an atmosphere, VF fighters could take off without one.
"So... it's just a regular space battleship."
Watching Tony's changes, the ship in front of them gradually became no different from an ordinary spacecraft. Tony noticed this too and glanced at Ethan.
"Should we keep the transformation function after all?"
"Let's forget it. It's fine for fighters to transform, but something this big doing it... It looks cool, but it's not very practical."
Tony nodded and continued adjusting the design.
He hadn't yet fully digested many of the technical documents, so the current modifications were still superficial. Once he fully studied the material, he would definitely implement deeper changes.
Even so, the parameters already decided were enough to shock the world. If Tony were to publish these specs and announce that Stark Industries was about to begin construction, the world would probably lose its mind.
After some discussion, this Macross was set to be around five hundred meters long. Although detailed specs hadn't been finalized, it was confirmed that the ship would be capable of faster-than-light travel. Exactly how fast would depend on how well Tony could integrate Cybertronian and Kryptonian tech. The ship would also be able to perform space jumps within the Marvel Universe.
The front of the ship would feature the Macross Cannon, a heavy particle cannon. It would also be equipped with dense arrays of weaponry like anti-aircraft systems and missiles, along with an energy defense layer and an external energy shield. Just from these specs alone, one could already imagine how powerful this warship would be.
"Should we name it?"
Ethan didn't hesitate.
"How about Morning Star?"
Strictly speaking, this was the team's first truly self-built spacecraft. The Artemis was acquired through trade and only refitted. It wasn't built from scratch.
Morning Star also symbolized a new beginning. Ethan felt it was fitting.
"Morning Star class?"
Once the ship's design was finalized, and considering that the Endless could carry ten of them, this heavily modified Macross would certainly not be the only one built.
Following naming conventions, ships with the same design were considered a class. They could all be called the Morning Star class. Of course, apart from the first one, the others could have unique names.
"Let's skip naming the first one, but the second one has to be called the Stark."
"Why not call it Winterfell?"
"..."
"Northern Realm is good too."
"Northern Realm sounds nice."
"..."
After some casual chatter, Tony left.
The research addict had entered work mode and didn't return to chat again.
Ethan then made a trip to Asgard, catching up with Thor and Loki, and checking whether Thanos had tried anything behind the scenes.
As expected, Thanos had indeed secretly contacted Loki, trying to persuade him to go against Thor again and incite civil unrest in Asgard. But this time, Loki didn't agree.
"You know how much I wanted to agree, but unfortunately..."
Loki's refusal wasn't because his personality had changed or because he didn't want to cause trouble, but because he could see Thanos was just using him. Even if he overthrew Thor, he wouldn't become Asgard's new king, because Thanos's goal wasn't just Thor. After dealing with Thor, he would be next.
So he rejected Thanos's offer and even showed off some of his increasingly strong muscles, making Thanos more cautious toward Asgard.
It looked like the Marvel Universe's Earth would enjoy some peace for a while. After checking in, Ethan brought Ada and left the Marvel Universe.
Back on the Artemis, Ada didn't linger. She immediately returned to the Macross world to continue clearing her instance.
Ethan, meanwhile, turned his attention to finding Shirou.
So much time had passed, Shirou should have already resolved his personal issues. Ethan was ready to arrange his second test.
Unexpectedly, before he even set off, Sherry, who had returned to the Resident Evil world with her mother, suddenly came back.
"Why did you return alone? How's Annette doing over there? Where are the others?"
"Everyone's fine. I just got bored, so I wanted to come back and see if there's anything interesting going on."
(To be continued.)
Junkdog's Note: It's been a while since I dropped a new fanfiction. I'm thinking of dropping one soon, so if you have any you'd like me to check out, or maybe one that got abandoned, do tell me in the comments.