Small spacecraft with extreme acceleration possessed incredible maneuverability, but they were completely unsuitable for human pilots. They could only be operated as unmanned drones.

Austin immediately felt embarrassed. He was the one who had pushed Professor Roman to develop this compact interceptor. Now, it seemed practically useless.

This small spacecraft used a massive amount of lightweight alloys, sacrificing some overall performance to achieve its extreme maneuverability. In his mind, space combat should be like atmospheric dogfighting, the higher the maneuverability, the better.

But he had forgotten a crucial detail: high maneuverability required high acceleration. The human body simply couldn't handle those extreme G-forces.

This was no longer the era of solo heroics. The frailty of human flesh was nothing compared to the resilience of machines.

"...It's not entirely useless," Jason said with a sigh as he reviewed the parameters on the screen. "Actually, it's a solid design. Its individual combat capabilities are great, and the production cost is relatively low. If we remove the life-support systems and other crew-related modules, the cost drops even further. We could mass-produce them."

"...In a way, extreme maneuverability is always an asset. It just means they'll serve perfectly as drones."

"Furthermore, if our biological sciences continue to advance, we might be able to augment the human body. Then, pilots could actually fly these ships. We're talking titanium-reinforced skeletons, strengthened vascular systems, and modified internal organs. After all, drones are highly susceptible to electronic warfare, whereas manned craft don't have that vulnerability," Jason explained softly. "Or rather, the widespread synthesis of the Perfect Element might allow us to create a legion of super soldiers..."

Austin was stunned. He hadn't considered that. A biologically enhanced human might actually withstand thirty times Earth's gravity in short bursts! The two men discussed the matter quietly, with Jason revealing some recent breakthroughs regarding the Perfect Element, including the development of willpower-enhancing serums and the start of live animal trials.

Jason then turned back to the chief designer. "Professor Roman, do you have any other models?"

Professor Roman nodded eagerly. "Of course!"

His engineering team had been working tirelessly for years. There was no way their only achievement was a tiny, two-man interceptor. He clicked on another file, and a massive, spectacular 3D model materialized on the screen.

He pointed at the screen. "This is a heavily upgraded version of the old *Victory*-class shuttles. I've designated it the Assault-001, or A-001 for short. It can serve as both a heavy combat gunship and a cargo transport."

"It is roughly thirty meters long, and eighteen meters in both width and height. It extensively utilizes our new lightweight alloys and boasts a maximum payload capacity of 640 metric tons."

"Its top speed is approximately 300 kilometers per second, which is about one-thousandth the speed of light. However, its maneuverability is significantly lower than the small interceptors. It requires a continuous six-hour engine burn to reach its maximum velocity."

This was a true spacecraft. Thanks to its massive size and immense energy reserves, its absolute top speed actually outpaced the smaller shuttles.

Equipped with the latest ion engines, it was leagues faster than the outdated Victory models. A trip from Earth to the Moon in this vessel would only take a few hours.

"The A-001 will be our primary workhorse moving forward. We can easily modify the base chassis to create specialized variants." Professor Roman turned the monitor so Jason and the others could get a better look.

Jason stared at the specifications, studying them in silence for a long time. Even the proposed A-002 and A-003 variants were just modifications of the A-001. Deep down, he still wasn't entirely satisfied!

The Viridian drones could reach speeds of one-thirtieth the speed of light, while humanity was stuck at one-thousandth. Naturally, the comparison left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He finally asked, "Isn't this utilizing our most advanced ion engines? How is the top speed still this low? By the way, what kind of propulsion tech do the Viridians use in their drones? Have they mastered controlled nuclear fusion? Is that why they are so fast?"

Professor Roman paused before explaining. "The Viridian drones actually use ion engines very similar to ours, and their power source is still nuclear fission... It sounds absurd, but the data confirms it."

"The most likely reason is... miniaturizing a controlled nuclear fusion reactor is phenomenally difficult." Professor Roman sighed, lamenting their lack of fusion technology.

Jason nodded in understanding. If humanity had cracked controlled nuclear fusion, the scientific community would have thrown a massive celebration long ago.

However, he had no doubt that the wider Viridian Empire possessed fusion technology. If an interstellar civilization hadn't mastered fusion, it would be a cosmic joke.

But shrinking a fusion reactor down to fit inside a compact drone was an entirely different technological hurdle...

After all, fusion was infinitely more complex than fission. Humanity hadn't even set foot in the doorway of fusion technology; at best, they were just peeking through the keyhole.

"The captured Viridian drones provided us with a treasure trove of data, advanced materials, miniaturized fission reactors, smart operating systems, and highly optimized ion engines. The most critical component is the engine itself..."

Professor Roman pulled up a new set of blueprints. It displayed a breathtaking schematic, the culmination of the engineering department's years of research: the ultra-high-speed ion propulsion engine!

Ion engines, or plasma engines, were a mature form of electric propulsion. They primarily used plasma as a conductive medium. Old satellites back on Earth had used rudimentary versions of this tech, but their thrust output was practically non-existent compared to modern designs.

The engine utilized the Lorentz force, using magnetic fields to accelerate charged atoms or ions to incredible speeds, thereby pushing the spacecraft forward. The underlying physics were identical to particle accelerators and railguns.

Compared to this, traditional chemical rockets were archaic. They burned astronomical amounts of fuel just to generate a fraction of the kinetic energy.

The Saturn V rocket, which first took humanity to the moon, was a prime example of chemical propulsion. Its first stage held 2,075 metric tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene.

Once ignited, it devoured all that fuel in just two minutes and thirty-four seconds.

It expelled high-temperature exhaust at 2,900 meters per second, but that immense effort was only enough to push a 47-ton payload to the moon.

Of the 3,500 metric tons of thrust generated, the vast majority was wasted simply lifting the rocket's own weight and its massive fuel reserves. As a result, its specific impulse was terribly inefficient, only about 300 seconds.

"The faster the ion engine ejects plasma, the higher its specific impulse. Our latest prototype can eject plasma at a theoretical maximum of 3,000 kilometers per second, one-hundredth the speed of light! Its specific impulse is around 300,000 seconds, making it a thousand times more efficient than traditional chemical rockets, with an energy conversion rate of 70 percent!" Professor Roman explained passionately.

"If we had an infinite energy supply, the engine could run continuously and reach even greater speeds. But due to our current energy limitations, the absolute speed cap is about 2,000 kilometers per second. For safety and structural reliability, we capped the operational rating at 300 kilometers per second."

Jason nodded quietly. This maximum speed was actually quite impressive.

Scientists had calculated that even with a robust nuclear fusion drive, a spacecraft could realistically only accelerate to ten percent the speed of light. Fission was naturally far weaker.

The faster a ship traveled, the more kinetic energy it demanded. Push the boundaries too far, and relativistic physics began to warp the equation.

Humanity couldn't become a galactic superpower overnight.

However, he was still deeply perplexed. "Then how on earth are the Viridian ships so fast? One-thirtieth the speed of light? That should be physically impossible using just nuclear fission!"