The gift

[srwu_mods]

[1]
Unity Group's finance-related problems have eased over time. Nowadays they are pretty much gone and situation is back to how it was before.

But now, you get a reminder why the problems started in the first place.


"Holy crap! It's like Christmas came early!"

Loni's here. And so is his new unit. In the hangars, equipped with twin beam katanas, stands a stark white unit. The top of the line one of a kind prototype - the BrightSaber.

[2]
What about the old FightSaber? It's still being used, as a matter of fact someone is taking it through a training course right now. It jumps from cover to cover swiftly, shooting down target drones with gravity blasts while avoiding their counter fire.

Once the course is over, the time and score displayed are impressive. Browsing the results database would show that despite the unit being underequipped compared to its loadout from before, it scored higher than Loni ever did. But he's not the pilot this time.


"Yes, that's acceptable. I can work with this."

Ilinka is.


"Nice, Ilinka. This is a much better ride than a crappy old Gespenst. Now you won't need rescuing all the time anymore!"


"..."

By the way, Desta's nowhere around. Maybe the third of the Gavin party is not in mood for Christmas spirit.

Comments

2

[kill_all_vagans]

... If it's a better ride why did we need to finance a replacement?

[Yeah, Flit's a little peeved. Seeing the BrightSaber's been bugging him, and he has a huge roll of design schematics under his arm for some reason.]

[srwu_mods]

"Because FightSaber's not enough to take on those cultist freaks, obviously! You can't just compare it to a Gespenst, that's like, bottom of the barrel."

[kill_all_vagans]

Gespensts aren't-

... You're talking about one of the most reliable mass-produced machines the ESUN has! And being here I've even seen weaker machines like Genoaces do amazing things! There's tons of pilots who would love to trade up to a Gespenst!

[Not that Flit's going to bring up how helpful the DODS Guns have been now. Or that his design plans -plans that could've entered testing if it weren't for this "BrightSaber" gobbling up funding- were for a successor model that would be more versatile. Loni wouldn't even understand the distinction between raw power and adaptability.]

[srwu_mods]

"Maybe it's okay for scenarios that normal pilots find themselves in, but for fighting those Good Men guys, a mass produced unit isn't enough."

[kill_all_vagans]

But it kept Ilinka safe all this time, right?

[He turns to the girl, wondering her view on all this.]

Are you using the FightSaber because you think you really need it, or just because it's available?

[srwu_mods]

"Not sure I'd call it safe if she was in hot water all the time!"


"That's true. Apollonius is right, the Gespenst may not be enough to handle the Lady's Good Men. I needed an upgrade."

[kill_all_vagans]

Hence the FightSaber.

... I just hope you don't decide you need to take all our funding to make another replacement for it too.

[srwu_mods]

"Come on, it was just a one time thing!"

[kill_all_vagans]

Several months isn't a "one time thing"! And what if you decide Desta would need a new machine next and do it again?

[srwu_mods]

"I just said, this was just one unit and I won't ask for another one! Give me a break..."