Could have gone a lot worse....

[actuallyselfish]

After the battle in Paradigm City, the Sol Machine known as ShelLancer trudges it's way back into the hanger bay, docks in a gantry, and powers down

A weary figure in mechanic's overalls clambers out of the cockpit, and after a bit of flailing, descends on one of the cherry picker platforms.

"What the heck was I thinking?" Dido groans, slumping down onto a bench. "I panicked, made stupid calls. And that Decepticon leader thinks I'm a turtle ninja transformer now...!"

She smiles. "...but Hot Damn, I saved some lives out there! Not bad, Dido. Not bad at–"

She looks up at ShelLancer...and finally notices the major damage it's taken: melted armor, broken off spikes, and an endless amount of scratches and dents. All of which needs to be fixed.



"–AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Comments

[herodrawing]

No, it's not that! AHSMB takes a lot of maintenance and I know the mechanics are working hard!

[actuallyselfish]

Dido anger suddenly drains away from her, thanks to the realization that she's, like, shouting at a kid.

"Sorry" She mutters. "I shouldn't have mouthed off at you, Izuru. It's just...I feel like I've betrayed my principles as a mechanic–wrecking machines instead of fixing them, you know?"

[herodrawing]

It's... okay.

[Izuru sighs. That was close.]

But, you see, if a machine is all wrecked then that's good from where I stand. It means the pilot fought valiantly, and still managed to get back to base on their own.

Doesn't that mean your hard work was used well?

[actuallyselfish]

"...Maybe?" Dido says, rubbing the back of her head. "I mean, I'm not all that used to military actions, come to think of it. "

She nods energetically.

"Before I came here, massive mecha damage meant that a test pilot was doing something really stupid, or that a rookie screwed the pooch big time. But now, all the damage is coming from frightening, overwhelming enemies!"

[herodrawing]

Exactly! I mean... if you return, that's already good, right? It means you survived.

Unless you return in a barely working unit and then collapse dead right after delivering news of victory. That'd be bad, let's try to avoid that!

[actuallyselfish]

"Damn straight I will!" Dido says. "I mean, there's a reason the ShelLancer's an armored beast!"

She stares into space for a moment, then chuckles.

"You know what the freaky thing is about all this, Izuru?"

[herodrawing]

Freaky thing, what're you talking about?

[actuallyselfish]

"Back when I was on the design committee for ShelLancer, I pushed for it to be equipped with lightweight ceramic armor." Dido explained.

"Ceramic's cheaper and easier to replace, and I thought ShelLancer was just going to be a big publicity stunt for Solaris. You know, hauled out for disaster relief and Kaiju runts."

Sweat trickles down her temple. "If I hadn't been overruled that day, those Decepticons would have blown me to bits."

[herodrawing]

I guess we can't afford to take things not seriously. Everything's gotta be made combat ready and such.