Future Youtube's latest hit

[cloningblues]

[Asagi's being even more of a grump than usual lately, and it's hard not to see why. The operation made everyone look like fools on live TV, but especially him and his epic failure to dock with Blue One's Assault Jaeger. Now it's all over the internet! Which is probably why he's desperately trying to stay away from anything with a net connection right now, and grumbling to himself in one of the common areas.]

Who even thought doing a live broadcast of a combat mission was a good idea...

Comments

[ugyuuya]

I was surprised when the debrief listed those new forces as part of the enemy forces encountered. The reaction of your machines to them was also surprisingly erratic. I know that there was a similar reaction in your earliest engagements. It seems like an unusual design choice for a combat unit.

As you just said though the most important thing is that nobody bit it even if I wouldn't call Leos' "mech" by that designation anymore. Life is easier when you can laugh at yourself when the situation calls for it. Just don't forget that alright.

[cloningblues]

I'll try to remember that...

[It's not exactly easy to laugh at yourself when you're an insecure 17-year old, though.]

About that reaction... Do you know how AHSMBs work? I don't think it's classified to tell you what I know.

[ugyuuya]

I haven't really been briefed fully on the AHSMBs so if you want to share I think it'd be neat to know. Especially if it's something to do with why your machines froze up so we can look for a fix.

[cloningblues]

It's not a technical glitch. AHSMBs work on the pilot's fight or flight instinct. Normally they operate in self-preservation mode, and you have to get into an aggressive mindset to enter combat mode.

It's like the mech has a mind of its own, which you can influence. And when we faced that white Wulgaru unit, Blue One just... froze up in fear.

[ugyuuya]

So your mech instinctively recognized the white units as a superior threat and overrode your ability to control them as part of it's own fight or flight response?

If that's the case it's a useful if dangerous threat evaluation but why didn't it happen before with the BETA or in any of the other sorties? Perhaps there's some connection between the units that lets the AHSMBs better gauge the strengths of Wulgaru units.

In either case as soon as we were able to break the focus on your units the issue resolved itself so it seems that the solution there is to keep appropriate support to keep the units from being pressured back into that state which is part of why we're up here like this [he gestures towards the pilot suit]. The helmet designs they're coming up with are a real pain though, makes such a mess of my hair. [VG grins jokingly towards the younger pilot.]

1/2

[cloningblues]

I don't know. There's so much about AHSMBs that I don't understand... And even if I did, it's still confidential info and I don't have access to it.

The best I can do is make wild guesses and try to master Blue One so today won't repeat itself. I don't like being kept in the dark, but I don't like when everyone points and laughs at me even more.

2/2

[cloningblues]

...Wait. You've never fought in space before?

Re: 2/2

[ugyuuya]

TSFs were designed primarily with Anti-BETA operations in mind and those have all been on Earth. Orbital Diver operations against hives have met with limited success but the shells and shuttles they use for those mean that the TSFs themselves aren't maneuvering until they are well within the atmosphere.

Thankfully the use of Anti-Laser countermeasures and the threat of potential infectious or toxic components from exposure to BETA or their Hives means the TSFs have a robust environmental sealing system so the helmets are more a precaution against damage breaking the vacuum seals.

The shift in engagement environments has been a challenge but the type of high speed multi-directional maneuvering that TSFs were built for means that the thruster controls are already robust and fuel capacity shouldn't be a major issue. The addition of thrusters to the shoulders has been common with 3rd generation unit development and helps a lot with the issue of thrusting "downward" efficiently. The Eagles that Stella and I use will have a bit more trouble than the ACTV that Tarisa uses or the XFJ-1 that Yuuya pilots but after the training and chance to practice I don't think we'll be any worse off than a Gespenst or Huckebein in similar conditions and with tuning and adjustment we should see continued improvement.

[VG stops for a moment and rubs the back of his head a bit sheepishly at the rather long information dump. It appears that the carefree teasing playboy may have a bit more depth to him after all.]

[cloningblues]

That's... A lot more technical information than I expected. You're really knowledgable about such things, huh? You should probably talk to Suruga when you get the chance. He really digs this stuff.

Also, from one long-haired guy to another: you should consider one of the helmets MJP Project uses. They don't cause any trouble.