Pyro Hawk
Unsure if Phoenix or Kitsune
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2015
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So it's basically the Last Prayer if you are expecting to build them for garrison duty and last possibly beyond the immediate fight? XD
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M176
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
- Joined
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It felt ominous for some reason. Bolt stared at the Heart Crystal and could almost swear it was humming. Whatever the Assembler had put in it was not a standard lesson. Yet he needed to learn it anyway. He placed a hand on the crystal and focused. The trick to pull data from it required a bit of mental reaching.
There was a lot in here. Neatly categorized too. It was actually rather interesting to think about. Data storage in a different way. There was probably a market for this if he refined it as an alternative idea. Something to explore later perhaps. Right now he needed to go down the list of required lessons.
Immediately after selecting a lesson he was almost pulled into a memory and he realized this specifically was the reason why it'd been used. The emotional context.
"What is a mech?" The person in front of the viewpoint was blurred. The blurring was strange, as if they'd been wiped with a cloth.
"Master, must we?" The words came from the viewer, accompanied by a wave of fond exasperation.
"This is a very serious question I'll have you know! Without the backing of our artifact, what is a mech?"
"A mech is a machine in the form of a man. Without the Mech Kingdom it's merely a collection of parts. Without the Neural Interface it's a collection of parts that works poorly. Both of them are necessary." The words were said with a sigh.
The figure nodded approvingly. "Very good. You missed something though. What happens if you make a mech out of sticks?" They asked.
"You can't." Was the immediate response.
"Just like you can't make one out of sticks, you can't make it out of faulty parts. The physics backing the mech make it work just as much as the Kingdom does. That means you need to study dear heart." The figure concluded with a small laugh.
The viewpoint man pouted. "All of that to lecture me on studying? You do plenty of things without adhering to physical rules!"
"I do because I do all the work on the magical side. Reality is two layers pressed up against one another. Think of making things like making a bridge between them. We made the Mech Kingdom to provide one half of the bridge because people like you have absolutely no talent with the other side. Call it spirit, magic, psionics, whatever." Here the figure paused and ruffled his head. "That's why I can teach you. Crafters like me are very restricted. In the eyes of the gods you're a cripple without talent in the things they value. In my eyes you're a treasure. You're brilliant in a way that humanity needs if it wants to be more than cattle. So study, forget the spiritual side. Any work on there will take someone brilliant and touched in a way you are not. That is fine."
Why did that memory feel bittersweet? Bolt wondered, and then decided he wouldn't like the full answer. That was likely one of the Assembler's memories. And his conversation about mechs and something called the Mech Kingdom. Interesting, but he needed more to get context. The man moved onto the next memory.
The memory was censored again. This time in a different way. The Assembler was looking at something that even hints of hurt his brain. It was impossibly beautiful, impossibly complex, and something grand beyond belief.
"Staring at our master's creation again?" A voice made the man turn to see a strange looking woman who appeared to have driven spikes clean through her head.
"They always talked about the Kingdom as if it was the solution to everything." The man said as he turned away and back to the creation. "They never said they'd give everything to it. I can't even remember their face now. I stare at it sometimes thinking that I'll see it again."
His words made the woman snort. "If you could, you wouldn't see it in the physical realm. Put it away. It's too bright."
With a nod the man snapped his fingers and the impossible creation disappeared. "You're here for a reason."
"Good news, we got another Star Designer and God Pilot finally. It proves that the Kingdom can properly ascend people with minimal input, little spiritual backing, and pure physical investment." The woman said and paused. "I've also confirmed that they have full administration rights. This has all been done without a direct command from any of us founders."
"The vision was to provide a steady path upwards without blood or sacrifice. I fail to see what the issue is?" The Assembler asked curiously.
"They're already demanding things." The woman said. "Everyone had full knowledge of the atrocities the Five Scrolls Compact have done. The new ones won't. We're already getting demands to re-allocate budgets towards alien suppression."
"Ah." The rage that came with that was potent. The man clenched his hands before he very carefully unclenched them. "Has the Compact shown any signs of resurgence?"
"You're remarkably calm about this." The woman noted.
"Master wanted this to happen. There's no burning the ladder so others cannot ascend. I must allow... Accept new viewpoints and decisions." The man very carefully grit out. "Also, the Compact has been suppressed enough that I can tolerate looking elsewhere. I will see about stamping out other peripheral remanent."
"Are you sure, have you read the reports on the alien atrocities?"
The man paused and something flashed through his mind. Bolt caught glimpses of it. Statistics, offenses, something about an infection to drive humans mad.
"Let them know they have my approval." He eventually said. "While I still consider the monsters the largest issue I will admit that other things will require a higher priority until we gather more leads."
Some context, but not the most. So the Assembler's master had given everything to make the Mech Kingdom. Literally everything if the memories were stripped like that. Strange. Also interesting. Was that they focused so much on the physical? Was it to prevent people from using others as fuel? That made some sense. It seemed to be a common theme in spiritual works to eat or sacrifice someone living.
Taken together, someone had made a spiritual construct that backed Mechs. Mechs worked by using a physical base to 'reach' for a spiritual base. The entire system was meant to elevate people into Star Designer and God Pilot using mechs. Theoretically this meant they'd created a virtuous cycle. You make a mech, had it piloted, that would strengthen the Mech Kingdom and then strengthen the maker and pilot.
It was a very neat an tidy ideal that had resulted in the MTA becoming what it was. Bolt was pretty sure that everything had been quite distorted from the original idea. It was a pity really. What little he'd seen made him want to know these makers just a bit. They'd made something utterly beautiful.
One more memory to go.
The feeling of cables pressing against his skin made him want to twitch. The spikes driven into his skull made him almost panic. The ice cold suppression covering it all made all of that irrelevant.
"Gathering reason?" He asked coldly.
"Vote." Someone said back.
Rage almost overrode the ice. "Vote on?" He asked clarification and got an entire ream of data. "Vote on?!" He demanded.
"Clarify." The logic speak demanded back.
"Disengaging suppression." The Assembler warned and several of the others gave verbal statements of alarm. Connections for those that couldn't tolerate his anger dropped or were cut by those trying to protect them. "You desire to vote on THIS?!" He snarled out, forgoing logic-speak.
"Control!" Someone called out.
"I will not control myself. I have one line. I have always had one line. Stop mass sacrificing people and children!" The man snarled and rage spiked hot enough that something melted. "This should not be a vote at all. I do not care about the worthless data!"
"Not worthless." The response made the Assembler pause and glare that the Designer that dared question him. (Who they were was censored in the memory.)
"Worthless. Useless. Because it was done by a child of ours you think that excuses this prideful travesty pretending to be science?! No. That has always been my line and I will be certain that it will always be the line we never cross." The Assembler's voice went quiet. "The only vote here should be immediate execution or torture then execution as an example."
"Agreement." One voice rose up, and several more signaled agreement as well.
"What?!"
"Engaging emotional suppression." The Assembler said and the cold flooded back. "Boundaries set. Do not cross them."
"Notated." The statement sounded surprisingly dry despite being couched in logic-speak.
Bolt couldn't help the snort. Of course that had to be added. That was fairly clear as a lesson truthfully. He didn't have any plans of doing that anytime soon.
The rest of data on the crystal was a series of interlocking not quite blueprints. The concepts behind the Mech Kingdom. Well some of them at least. He currently had something akin to elevated permissions now. Where before he'd been able to just make mechs, now he could touch the background that supported mechs.
To make an analogy, before he could run programs on an operating system. Now he could adjust a few things that connected to the operating system. He could adjust some of the output and input.
Right now that didn't mean much. The largest thing he could do was make expert mechs without any assistance. Which would help significantly with any surprises he wanted to make. He did need to address the immediate over the theoretical. Perhaps later he'd come back to the concepts. At the bare minimum he wanted to see how Mechhalla could fit in with all of this. That would again have to be later, when he wasn't in the middle of a damned war.
There was a lot in here. Neatly categorized too. It was actually rather interesting to think about. Data storage in a different way. There was probably a market for this if he refined it as an alternative idea. Something to explore later perhaps. Right now he needed to go down the list of required lessons.
Immediately after selecting a lesson he was almost pulled into a memory and he realized this specifically was the reason why it'd been used. The emotional context.
"What is a mech?" The person in front of the viewpoint was blurred. The blurring was strange, as if they'd been wiped with a cloth.
"Master, must we?" The words came from the viewer, accompanied by a wave of fond exasperation.
"This is a very serious question I'll have you know! Without the backing of our artifact, what is a mech?"
"A mech is a machine in the form of a man. Without the Mech Kingdom it's merely a collection of parts. Without the Neural Interface it's a collection of parts that works poorly. Both of them are necessary." The words were said with a sigh.
The figure nodded approvingly. "Very good. You missed something though. What happens if you make a mech out of sticks?" They asked.
"You can't." Was the immediate response.
"Just like you can't make one out of sticks, you can't make it out of faulty parts. The physics backing the mech make it work just as much as the Kingdom does. That means you need to study dear heart." The figure concluded with a small laugh.
The viewpoint man pouted. "All of that to lecture me on studying? You do plenty of things without adhering to physical rules!"
"I do because I do all the work on the magical side. Reality is two layers pressed up against one another. Think of making things like making a bridge between them. We made the Mech Kingdom to provide one half of the bridge because people like you have absolutely no talent with the other side. Call it spirit, magic, psionics, whatever." Here the figure paused and ruffled his head. "That's why I can teach you. Crafters like me are very restricted. In the eyes of the gods you're a cripple without talent in the things they value. In my eyes you're a treasure. You're brilliant in a way that humanity needs if it wants to be more than cattle. So study, forget the spiritual side. Any work on there will take someone brilliant and touched in a way you are not. That is fine."
Why did that memory feel bittersweet? Bolt wondered, and then decided he wouldn't like the full answer. That was likely one of the Assembler's memories. And his conversation about mechs and something called the Mech Kingdom. Interesting, but he needed more to get context. The man moved onto the next memory.
The memory was censored again. This time in a different way. The Assembler was looking at something that even hints of hurt his brain. It was impossibly beautiful, impossibly complex, and something grand beyond belief.
"Staring at our master's creation again?" A voice made the man turn to see a strange looking woman who appeared to have driven spikes clean through her head.
"They always talked about the Kingdom as if it was the solution to everything." The man said as he turned away and back to the creation. "They never said they'd give everything to it. I can't even remember their face now. I stare at it sometimes thinking that I'll see it again."
His words made the woman snort. "If you could, you wouldn't see it in the physical realm. Put it away. It's too bright."
With a nod the man snapped his fingers and the impossible creation disappeared. "You're here for a reason."
"Good news, we got another Star Designer and God Pilot finally. It proves that the Kingdom can properly ascend people with minimal input, little spiritual backing, and pure physical investment." The woman said and paused. "I've also confirmed that they have full administration rights. This has all been done without a direct command from any of us founders."
"The vision was to provide a steady path upwards without blood or sacrifice. I fail to see what the issue is?" The Assembler asked curiously.
"They're already demanding things." The woman said. "Everyone had full knowledge of the atrocities the Five Scrolls Compact have done. The new ones won't. We're already getting demands to re-allocate budgets towards alien suppression."
"Ah." The rage that came with that was potent. The man clenched his hands before he very carefully unclenched them. "Has the Compact shown any signs of resurgence?"
"You're remarkably calm about this." The woman noted.
"Master wanted this to happen. There's no burning the ladder so others cannot ascend. I must allow... Accept new viewpoints and decisions." The man very carefully grit out. "Also, the Compact has been suppressed enough that I can tolerate looking elsewhere. I will see about stamping out other peripheral remanent."
"Are you sure, have you read the reports on the alien atrocities?"
The man paused and something flashed through his mind. Bolt caught glimpses of it. Statistics, offenses, something about an infection to drive humans mad.
"Let them know they have my approval." He eventually said. "While I still consider the monsters the largest issue I will admit that other things will require a higher priority until we gather more leads."
Some context, but not the most. So the Assembler's master had given everything to make the Mech Kingdom. Literally everything if the memories were stripped like that. Strange. Also interesting. Was that they focused so much on the physical? Was it to prevent people from using others as fuel? That made some sense. It seemed to be a common theme in spiritual works to eat or sacrifice someone living.
Taken together, someone had made a spiritual construct that backed Mechs. Mechs worked by using a physical base to 'reach' for a spiritual base. The entire system was meant to elevate people into Star Designer and God Pilot using mechs. Theoretically this meant they'd created a virtuous cycle. You make a mech, had it piloted, that would strengthen the Mech Kingdom and then strengthen the maker and pilot.
It was a very neat an tidy ideal that had resulted in the MTA becoming what it was. Bolt was pretty sure that everything had been quite distorted from the original idea. It was a pity really. What little he'd seen made him want to know these makers just a bit. They'd made something utterly beautiful.
One more memory to go.
The feeling of cables pressing against his skin made him want to twitch. The spikes driven into his skull made him almost panic. The ice cold suppression covering it all made all of that irrelevant.
"Gathering reason?" He asked coldly.
"Vote." Someone said back.
Rage almost overrode the ice. "Vote on?" He asked clarification and got an entire ream of data. "Vote on?!" He demanded.
"Clarify." The logic speak demanded back.
"Disengaging suppression." The Assembler warned and several of the others gave verbal statements of alarm. Connections for those that couldn't tolerate his anger dropped or were cut by those trying to protect them. "You desire to vote on THIS?!" He snarled out, forgoing logic-speak.
"Control!" Someone called out.
"I will not control myself. I have one line. I have always had one line. Stop mass sacrificing people and children!" The man snarled and rage spiked hot enough that something melted. "This should not be a vote at all. I do not care about the worthless data!"
"Not worthless." The response made the Assembler pause and glare that the Designer that dared question him. (Who they were was censored in the memory.)
"Worthless. Useless. Because it was done by a child of ours you think that excuses this prideful travesty pretending to be science?! No. That has always been my line and I will be certain that it will always be the line we never cross." The Assembler's voice went quiet. "The only vote here should be immediate execution or torture then execution as an example."
"Agreement." One voice rose up, and several more signaled agreement as well.
"What?!"
"Engaging emotional suppression." The Assembler said and the cold flooded back. "Boundaries set. Do not cross them."
"Notated." The statement sounded surprisingly dry despite being couched in logic-speak.
Bolt couldn't help the snort. Of course that had to be added. That was fairly clear as a lesson truthfully. He didn't have any plans of doing that anytime soon.
The rest of data on the crystal was a series of interlocking not quite blueprints. The concepts behind the Mech Kingdom. Well some of them at least. He currently had something akin to elevated permissions now. Where before he'd been able to just make mechs, now he could touch the background that supported mechs.
To make an analogy, before he could run programs on an operating system. Now he could adjust a few things that connected to the operating system. He could adjust some of the output and input.
Right now that didn't mean much. The largest thing he could do was make expert mechs without any assistance. Which would help significantly with any surprises he wanted to make. He did need to address the immediate over the theoretical. Perhaps later he'd come back to the concepts. At the bare minimum he wanted to see how Mechhalla could fit in with all of this. That would again have to be later, when he wasn't in the middle of a damned war.
Pollyamorous
Please be patient, I'm horny.
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2020
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Huh. You know I'd always pictured the creation and running of the MTA as being just one guy at the top wanting power and control and complete domination, and eventually being ganged up on and killed in retaliation for his evil-ness and leaving a bunch of extremely powerful people squabbling over the remains.
Its origin being a guy who just figured out a way to bypass the normal "Mass human sacrifice" that sounds like had to be the easiest and most straightforward path to power by pushing people into mech battles is a lot more tame and respectable.
I mean it sounds like he had to transform his soul to get the Mech Kingdom running properly, and rather than mass human sacrifice it just leeches off of the inevitable human conflicts which the MTA now quietly encourages so they get more wars to get soul-power from, but with the alternative that people would inevitably bring up it sounds like a universe of never-ending wars is actually the better outcome. Which is pretty sad.
Its origin being a guy who just figured out a way to bypass the normal "Mass human sacrifice" that sounds like had to be the easiest and most straightforward path to power by pushing people into mech battles is a lot more tame and respectable.
I mean it sounds like he had to transform his soul to get the Mech Kingdom running properly, and rather than mass human sacrifice it just leeches off of the inevitable human conflicts which the MTA now quietly encourages so they get more wars to get soul-power from, but with the alternative that people would inevitably bring up it sounds like a universe of never-ending wars is actually the better outcome. Which is pretty sad.
Pyro Hawk
Unsure if Phoenix or Kitsune
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2015
- Messages
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- 31,773
It was more an entire group of the Five Scrolls Compact decided to have 'just a little' civil war to utterly cripple the rest because they'd managed to hide their morals long enough (or had revelations) that they could be dangerous. Especially when they recruited a bunch of forces that everyone had neglected as 'useless' and made them a lot more dangerous. Another group that were their allies ended up becoming the CFA, though those ones decided that 'spiritual stuff' needed to be as excised as possible, rather than converted like the progenitors of the MTA did with the Kingdom of Mechs.
M177
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
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- 476,216
Medical treatment was a very complicated subject in the galaxy, and one place where a lot of the division between tiers broke down. There was probably a careful balancing act for it all in the background, but Lilly didn't know nor care about all of the mechanics behind it. What she did know was that they had machines that handled a lot and one of Phillipe's people were working on getting a degree. That combination of things was what had been used to determine what was wrong with Sami.
Stimulants fell into a lot of categories depending on what you wanted. The casual morning wake-me-up was coffee or tea was a blend of caffeine and some minor supplements depending on what your day was like. There were a lot of options available to make you peppy in the morning if you so desired, and all of it was less addictive than caffeine. On the harder and more potent side there were combat stims, and long-term stims, and other more exotic custom cocktails. Sami had been on long term Second Rate high quality ones designed for times when you needed to work for long hours. Those were meant to be used for roughly 48 hours. Past 72 hours was considered dangerous. Their little patient had been on them for over 100 hours with almost no sleep to break that up.
That sort of abuse could and had killed people. Sami was fortunate she was a designer child from a noble house. She 'only' needed an induced medical coma and a cocktail of drugs to flush her system. Lilly had ordered that they use the harsher stuff for the treatment, for both kind and cruel reasons. She then had the wakeup scheduled and waited at the girl's bedside while she came out of the coma.
"Ooh, what did I drink." The young woman moaned and then clutched at her stomach as she woke up. "Gotta pee!" She cried out with distress.
"Bathroom's thataway." Lilly pointed to a small area to the side.
With a whimper the girl rushed to the small medical toilet area and did her business, then began to groan out in pain as the rest of her system proceeded to remind her that it'd been heavily abused recently. This involved some vomiting, another usage of the bathroom, and pain. By the time the woman was relatively stable she was barely able to move and did not look like a proper noble at all. She looked like someone that had gone on a bender and had the worst reaction possible. Lilly was fairly sure she wouldn't be overusing stimulants like that again, which was the kind reason for the treatment she'd ordered.
Now for the cruel one. "Sami Mira." Lilly focused her willpower on the woman. "You are in a lot of trouble young lady."
"Eeee." The woman whimpered. It was an understandable reaction. Not many people could handle this sort of focus.
"I do wonder what you were thinking. Were you so high that ya didn't think of the consequences?" Lilly asked. "You do know that almost every Hexxer at that prison died right?"
Sami made to respond and then started to heave. A few dry heaves later and some water she managed to respond. "They didn't have the sane ones there." She muttered quietly. "It was a dead-end area. You either got the screw ups, the discarded, or the fanatics too fanatic for deployment."
"And which are you then?" Lilly asked.
"Family considered me a screw up." Sami said in an even quieter mumble as she leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom.
"Yet you got put in charge of the facility." The expert continued.
That question had the woman turn and actually look at Lilly. She blinked. "Oh you're tiny."
Lilly snorted. "That's yer answer to my question?"
"I was thinking one of my family's experts came by because only they'd start with young lady, but you aren't from the Hegemony. They wouldn't tolerate a girl your size or with freckles like that." Sami reasoned out before visibly bracing herself and standing up. "You don't know my people, if you are asking questions like that."
"Enlighten me." Lilly responded with actual amusement. She hadn't decreased her willpower display at all. Sami was powering through it with pure grit and what felt like stubborn spite.
"As a member of the Mira dynasty, I have to be in charge of something. It would have been an insult if they'd put me in a closet and said to do nothing, so they put me in charge of repairs and logistics for the boy mechs." Sami explained before wobbling and hunching over. "Then all the bitches and sluts decided to foist everything on me. Blargh!" She turned back to the toilet and heaved. "What did I get put on?!" She demanded.
"That's yer system purging the stimulants. Ya do know you nearly killed yourself right?" Lilly asked mercilessly as she took a step back to give the girl some privacy.
"Mother help me I think I'd rather have died." The woman almost screamed out. "Are you getting off on my suffering?! What did you put me on, and let me off! Painkillers at least!"
"More drugs wouldn't help." Lilly informed the suffering Hexxer. "You'd purge them too. We gave you some of the most potent purgatives we had available. You'll be better in an hour or so. I'm told they're pretty healthy, but not fun to deal with."
"Kill me now." Sami whimpered. "I'm damned and being tormented by a tiny red-headed devil."
Lilly moved a few steps closer and leaned against the entrance, right next to the woman. "Sorry, yer still alive last I checked. Though ya might regret that later. How do ya think the rest of your nation would take you being on a ship with me and Bolt, after basically betraying everyone on the prison?"
Her answer was a wordless whine of distress and the woman gently smacking her head against the nearest hard object.
"Yeah, probably not the worst answer there." Lilly chuckled and stopped flaring her willpower, tucking it in quietly and stopping the direct probing she was doing in favor of a bit of kindness. "So, gonna make an offer here. How'd you like to stick around on the ship for now? You'll have to be banned from using any sort of communications out, but at least you won't be executed."
Sami blinked dumbly at the other woman several times. "Is this a sex slave thing?"
Completely thrown off Lilly stared at the other woman. "Sex slave thing?" She repeated in confusion.
"That's a no then. Pity." There was a note of genuine disappointment in that statement that Lilly did not want to acknowledge. "I mean it's not like I can do anything else here. So sure." Sami eventually answered with almost no care.
"No, what's with the assumption of sex here?!" Lilly demanded.
"You would not believe the amount of lurid fantasies and rumors going around for people like your husband. All that 'we don't need no man' bullshit and then they hop into the VR pods to join the hidden roleplay clubs in Fantasy Unlimited where you're enslaved by some over muscled monster-boy." Sami explained with exhaustion and more than a little disgust and irritation. "Half my list of 'high priority repairs' required me getting their pods hosed out and repaired due to improper use and adjustments. You try believing in the superiority of women when you see that."
"I'm probably going to intentionally forget that information." The expert replied with a long sigh.
Fantasy Unlimited was the most popular game in the galaxy. It was also, well what you'd expect from an all-ages VR simulation that created personal scenarios. To be fair, it did have some very nice child safety controls and was highly reputed as an educational supplement. It was just that it could also create scenarios on demand. The things that allowed were absolutely legendary.
"Wish I could myself." The Hexxer woman muttered. "So, you're gonna stick me in a room and leave me? Not the worse I suppose. Wouldn't mind the sleep."
"There's one more thing." Lilly offered very carefully, and met the wary woman's eyes. She liked the look in the other girl's eyes. Sami was treating things casually on the surface. There was a very sharp intelligence behind it all. "Bolt might offer ta teach you later. We could use a designer. You'd do grunt work not related to the war. Proper hours."
"Ma'am, if you wanted to tempt me you could have just led with that." Sami replied with sudden wide grin that was spoiled by another bout of nausea.
Lilly did feel a little bad about that. Only a little though.
Stimulants fell into a lot of categories depending on what you wanted. The casual morning wake-me-up was coffee or tea was a blend of caffeine and some minor supplements depending on what your day was like. There were a lot of options available to make you peppy in the morning if you so desired, and all of it was less addictive than caffeine. On the harder and more potent side there were combat stims, and long-term stims, and other more exotic custom cocktails. Sami had been on long term Second Rate high quality ones designed for times when you needed to work for long hours. Those were meant to be used for roughly 48 hours. Past 72 hours was considered dangerous. Their little patient had been on them for over 100 hours with almost no sleep to break that up.
That sort of abuse could and had killed people. Sami was fortunate she was a designer child from a noble house. She 'only' needed an induced medical coma and a cocktail of drugs to flush her system. Lilly had ordered that they use the harsher stuff for the treatment, for both kind and cruel reasons. She then had the wakeup scheduled and waited at the girl's bedside while she came out of the coma.
"Ooh, what did I drink." The young woman moaned and then clutched at her stomach as she woke up. "Gotta pee!" She cried out with distress.
"Bathroom's thataway." Lilly pointed to a small area to the side.
With a whimper the girl rushed to the small medical toilet area and did her business, then began to groan out in pain as the rest of her system proceeded to remind her that it'd been heavily abused recently. This involved some vomiting, another usage of the bathroom, and pain. By the time the woman was relatively stable she was barely able to move and did not look like a proper noble at all. She looked like someone that had gone on a bender and had the worst reaction possible. Lilly was fairly sure she wouldn't be overusing stimulants like that again, which was the kind reason for the treatment she'd ordered.
Now for the cruel one. "Sami Mira." Lilly focused her willpower on the woman. "You are in a lot of trouble young lady."
"Eeee." The woman whimpered. It was an understandable reaction. Not many people could handle this sort of focus.
"I do wonder what you were thinking. Were you so high that ya didn't think of the consequences?" Lilly asked. "You do know that almost every Hexxer at that prison died right?"
Sami made to respond and then started to heave. A few dry heaves later and some water she managed to respond. "They didn't have the sane ones there." She muttered quietly. "It was a dead-end area. You either got the screw ups, the discarded, or the fanatics too fanatic for deployment."
"And which are you then?" Lilly asked.
"Family considered me a screw up." Sami said in an even quieter mumble as she leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom.
"Yet you got put in charge of the facility." The expert continued.
That question had the woman turn and actually look at Lilly. She blinked. "Oh you're tiny."
Lilly snorted. "That's yer answer to my question?"
"I was thinking one of my family's experts came by because only they'd start with young lady, but you aren't from the Hegemony. They wouldn't tolerate a girl your size or with freckles like that." Sami reasoned out before visibly bracing herself and standing up. "You don't know my people, if you are asking questions like that."
"Enlighten me." Lilly responded with actual amusement. She hadn't decreased her willpower display at all. Sami was powering through it with pure grit and what felt like stubborn spite.
"As a member of the Mira dynasty, I have to be in charge of something. It would have been an insult if they'd put me in a closet and said to do nothing, so they put me in charge of repairs and logistics for the boy mechs." Sami explained before wobbling and hunching over. "Then all the bitches and sluts decided to foist everything on me. Blargh!" She turned back to the toilet and heaved. "What did I get put on?!" She demanded.
"That's yer system purging the stimulants. Ya do know you nearly killed yourself right?" Lilly asked mercilessly as she took a step back to give the girl some privacy.
"Mother help me I think I'd rather have died." The woman almost screamed out. "Are you getting off on my suffering?! What did you put me on, and let me off! Painkillers at least!"
"More drugs wouldn't help." Lilly informed the suffering Hexxer. "You'd purge them too. We gave you some of the most potent purgatives we had available. You'll be better in an hour or so. I'm told they're pretty healthy, but not fun to deal with."
"Kill me now." Sami whimpered. "I'm damned and being tormented by a tiny red-headed devil."
Lilly moved a few steps closer and leaned against the entrance, right next to the woman. "Sorry, yer still alive last I checked. Though ya might regret that later. How do ya think the rest of your nation would take you being on a ship with me and Bolt, after basically betraying everyone on the prison?"
Her answer was a wordless whine of distress and the woman gently smacking her head against the nearest hard object.
"Yeah, probably not the worst answer there." Lilly chuckled and stopped flaring her willpower, tucking it in quietly and stopping the direct probing she was doing in favor of a bit of kindness. "So, gonna make an offer here. How'd you like to stick around on the ship for now? You'll have to be banned from using any sort of communications out, but at least you won't be executed."
Sami blinked dumbly at the other woman several times. "Is this a sex slave thing?"
Completely thrown off Lilly stared at the other woman. "Sex slave thing?" She repeated in confusion.
"That's a no then. Pity." There was a note of genuine disappointment in that statement that Lilly did not want to acknowledge. "I mean it's not like I can do anything else here. So sure." Sami eventually answered with almost no care.
"No, what's with the assumption of sex here?!" Lilly demanded.
"You would not believe the amount of lurid fantasies and rumors going around for people like your husband. All that 'we don't need no man' bullshit and then they hop into the VR pods to join the hidden roleplay clubs in Fantasy Unlimited where you're enslaved by some over muscled monster-boy." Sami explained with exhaustion and more than a little disgust and irritation. "Half my list of 'high priority repairs' required me getting their pods hosed out and repaired due to improper use and adjustments. You try believing in the superiority of women when you see that."
"I'm probably going to intentionally forget that information." The expert replied with a long sigh.
Fantasy Unlimited was the most popular game in the galaxy. It was also, well what you'd expect from an all-ages VR simulation that created personal scenarios. To be fair, it did have some very nice child safety controls and was highly reputed as an educational supplement. It was just that it could also create scenarios on demand. The things that allowed were absolutely legendary.
"Wish I could myself." The Hexxer woman muttered. "So, you're gonna stick me in a room and leave me? Not the worse I suppose. Wouldn't mind the sleep."
"There's one more thing." Lilly offered very carefully, and met the wary woman's eyes. She liked the look in the other girl's eyes. Sami was treating things casually on the surface. There was a very sharp intelligence behind it all. "Bolt might offer ta teach you later. We could use a designer. You'd do grunt work not related to the war. Proper hours."
"Ma'am, if you wanted to tempt me you could have just led with that." Sami replied with sudden wide grin that was spoiled by another bout of nausea.
Lilly did feel a little bad about that. Only a little though.
I read novels
I really do
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the rat colony grows
tanasinn
Versed in the lewd.
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Hexxers are writing Bolt fanfics.
Non-responsiveuncle
Not too sore, are you?
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I'm starting to worry for lily lmao the amount of women who are interested in bolt and don't mind a harem keeping growing and the only thing stoping a few of them is lily and she keeps giving them jobs too lmao
Negation
Shameless Pervert
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I thought the technical term is realfic?
Aires Drake
Not too sore, are you?
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Worse, smut fics. I wonder what their version of Questionable Questing is like, lol.
E3A
Getting some practice in, huh?
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It's Real Person Fiction or RPF from what I can tell of the tags on AO3
I061
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
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Historically the turning point in the Hex-Friday war would be identified as occurring roughly one to two months after the introduction of the Son of War. The exact point would never be really determined due to the fact that the warfronts advanced with extreme variation throughout the latter half of the war. Several fronts had the Hexxers advance until close to the end while others suffered failures and defeats even before the Son was introduced. Every single one of those actions had contained the potential to shift the course of the war.
The reasons for this inconsistent performance on the Hexxer side was also the reason the war started to turn. The Hexadric Hegemony became drunk on its own success soon after their extremely lopsided victories. Their initial successes blinded most of the leadership to the realities of what their victories actually meant for the war. Some commanders charged forward into 'glory.' Others were eliminated by internal forces assuming the victory was the perfect time to eliminate rivals. Still others actually identified the issues occurring but were unable to solve it due to lack of supplies and support from upper levels.
Ultimately the best summary was that Hexadric Hegemony overextended and bought into their own propaganda. This was inevitable no matter what mechs were introduced. The Hexxers simply lacked the numbers to properly occupy all of Friday territory, and their fanatical mindset prevented them from accepting anything less than total victory. The Blessed Squire paradoxically made this worse by enabling their mindset and granting them victories in positions where the Hexxers would have otherwise lost. The lack of manpower became acute very quickly. Some places had to be outright abandoned after victory due to the lack of forces to occupy them.
Bolt's introduction of the Son of War was really just the equivalent of placing a wall in front of a speeding car before it ran out of fuel. It did contribute of course. It equalized the moral disparity and caused several forces to splatter against barriers they would have otherwise broken. This had a cascading effect of causing their momentum to stutter and forced the more sane Hexxers to try to regroup, which caused the supply issue became very apparent and them to become less aggressive. This accelerated the end.
Now the leaders of the Hegemony had seen hints of the issue before this. Cold reality had to be observed by at least some of the generals for a proper campaign to be done. Unfortunately for them they didn't have many options that would both lead to success and appease their internal hardliners. They were forced to rely on a gamble that had already paid out once. They initiated and accelerated plans to deploy another one of Ves' mechs named the Valkyrie Redeemer.
The Valkyrie Redeemer was a spearman / lancer combo that channeled 'The Mother' (the religious icon the Hexxers revered) in a different way than the Blessed Squire. It used a very focused Glow that made someone feel like they were going to die. The intense feeling caused a variety of effects based off personality, with the most common being complete paralysis of the pilot. It was also able to pierce the bolstering effect of a Son of War and would theoretically regain momentum that they'd lost. The plan was to use this wonder-weapon to bolster their forces and allow them to fix some of the supply and manpower issues with the space it gave them.
Truthfully the mech alone wouldn't and couldn't have saved the war effort for the Hexxers. It would have just extended the war significantly and inflicted serious PTSD on many pilots. The death emotion it caused was extremely potent psychologically, but it was also something that could be accounted for and handled, albeit imperfectly. In the grand scheme of things it was just a potent weapon on a singular mech. Yet even that didn't happen here due to Bolt and Hoarfrost.
It has to be said that neither Bolt, nor the Friday's knew the specifics about the Valkyrie. The Fridays knew a new mech was being fielded. Moving a mech from design to implementation took time, supplies, and factory retooling. This sort of movement couldn't be concealed. The type of mech could be hidden though. Which, considering who had designed the last mech, didn't mean much. It was fairly obvious that Ves was going to be responsible for the next mech. So certain factions reached out to Bolt and tried to pre-empt another scenario like the Blessed Squire's introduction. Bolt offered the Hoarfrost design.
Unfortunately the initial design was ill suited for mass production due to a minor flaw. The main exotics used in the construction weren't easily sources for a war machine. For Bolt's singular almost custom mechs it was fine, but the inflation that would happen if the Fridays mass produced it made it not viable. An alternative was found, but it resulted in notably less performance. This necessitated several rapid protypes and some consultation with Gary and Bolt to smooth out the alternative design. The new model, the Yuki-Onna, had less performance, slightly more carrying capacity, a refined blizzard effect, and a dial that could produce an internal 'chill' that warded off glows at the cost of stressing the pilot. The latter was considered a vital component. The Friday Coalition might not have been able to predict exactly what the Valkyrie would do, but they could certainly guess that it'd do something related to Ves signature Glows!
Both mechs hit deployment at roughly the same time. They also clashed almost immediately. Both had different performances that resulted in roughly similar results. Technically this meant they were both a success that reshaped the war again.
The Valkyrie Redeemer was a monstrous duelist. The gaze it could invoke would utterly terrorize a single target, and would frequently cause a person to freeze up long enough for the mech to kill them. In formations the group was both less and more effective, sending out cones of mind-chilling gazes that could utterly break people and formations before their mechs did. Tactically, the Redeemers wanted to break up opposing organizations and brawl in the resulting gaps.
In contrast the Yuki-Onna functioned best in mass formations and near skirmishing tactics. The blizzard effect that trailed behind them grew based on numbers and speed. A 'Cold Front' as they became nicknamed could utterly disable an enemy group when properly angled. Alone they were less effective. The ice-armor was good against glancing hits. Against focused attacks it couldn't stand up long enough to be decisive. They were hit and run lancers that functioned best when they could engage and disengage at their will.
Both lancers ended up being used mostly to attack other units rather than counter one another and would frequently reject any situation that would result in them dueling. While the Yuki-Onna had been envisioned as a sort of counter to mechs like the Redeemer, in practice it mostly ignored them to target other units. In particular Cold Fronts liked to crash into formations protected Blessed Squires and leave before the Valkyries could respond properly. The Yuki-Onna was slightly faster and nimbler than the Valkyrie Redeemer and would lose one versus one, so none of the pilots felt inclined to duel their 'counterpart' mech. Their high resistance to Glows became a way of ignoring the Glows and taking out priority targets rather than a method of directly destroying them.
This wasn't optimal, but the Friday Coalition leadership was satisfied with the result nevertheless and accelerated deployment. Cold Fronts and the Yuki-Onna causing them became almost iconic rather quickly. Something similar happened with the Valkyrie Redeemers. Both formations became displays of hope and despair.
On the designer's side, Bolt had mixed feelings about the result once he heard the initial reports. His mech was useful, but he wasn't quite sure that he liked how it shook out. The Hoarfrost base design was functioning as intended. It was technically countering Glows. Yet it felt close to a draw.
Ves had similar feelings. This was more novel for him. The Larkinson had actually not been matched on the spiritual front before. His mechanical skills had most certainly been challenged, but his spiritual works had always given him a decisive edge that made the mechanical side moot. Bolt had negated that and forced the mechanical parts of the mech to matter once more.
Everyone not in the Hexadric Hegemony could see that the tide was starting to turn at this point. Even inside there were quiet movements from the non-fanatics. Normally this would be where people would cut ties and move on. Ves would have had his now wife Gloria not been a heir to one of their noble houses. He also still owed them four more mechs as part of a deal for support for his bid to the Red Galaxy.
So, in a quiet public statement he both praised Bolt's designs and vowed to produce four more mechs that would show the world his Glows were the best. It was the closest one could get to publicly challenging another designer while also being polite about it. Notably, this was a markedly different tone than his typical style in public speaking. Ves Larkinson had a tendency to go for the throat socially. Rumors naturally started to spread.
The reasons for this inconsistent performance on the Hexxer side was also the reason the war started to turn. The Hexadric Hegemony became drunk on its own success soon after their extremely lopsided victories. Their initial successes blinded most of the leadership to the realities of what their victories actually meant for the war. Some commanders charged forward into 'glory.' Others were eliminated by internal forces assuming the victory was the perfect time to eliminate rivals. Still others actually identified the issues occurring but were unable to solve it due to lack of supplies and support from upper levels.
Ultimately the best summary was that Hexadric Hegemony overextended and bought into their own propaganda. This was inevitable no matter what mechs were introduced. The Hexxers simply lacked the numbers to properly occupy all of Friday territory, and their fanatical mindset prevented them from accepting anything less than total victory. The Blessed Squire paradoxically made this worse by enabling their mindset and granting them victories in positions where the Hexxers would have otherwise lost. The lack of manpower became acute very quickly. Some places had to be outright abandoned after victory due to the lack of forces to occupy them.
Bolt's introduction of the Son of War was really just the equivalent of placing a wall in front of a speeding car before it ran out of fuel. It did contribute of course. It equalized the moral disparity and caused several forces to splatter against barriers they would have otherwise broken. This had a cascading effect of causing their momentum to stutter and forced the more sane Hexxers to try to regroup, which caused the supply issue became very apparent and them to become less aggressive. This accelerated the end.
Now the leaders of the Hegemony had seen hints of the issue before this. Cold reality had to be observed by at least some of the generals for a proper campaign to be done. Unfortunately for them they didn't have many options that would both lead to success and appease their internal hardliners. They were forced to rely on a gamble that had already paid out once. They initiated and accelerated plans to deploy another one of Ves' mechs named the Valkyrie Redeemer.
The Valkyrie Redeemer was a spearman / lancer combo that channeled 'The Mother' (the religious icon the Hexxers revered) in a different way than the Blessed Squire. It used a very focused Glow that made someone feel like they were going to die. The intense feeling caused a variety of effects based off personality, with the most common being complete paralysis of the pilot. It was also able to pierce the bolstering effect of a Son of War and would theoretically regain momentum that they'd lost. The plan was to use this wonder-weapon to bolster their forces and allow them to fix some of the supply and manpower issues with the space it gave them.
Truthfully the mech alone wouldn't and couldn't have saved the war effort for the Hexxers. It would have just extended the war significantly and inflicted serious PTSD on many pilots. The death emotion it caused was extremely potent psychologically, but it was also something that could be accounted for and handled, albeit imperfectly. In the grand scheme of things it was just a potent weapon on a singular mech. Yet even that didn't happen here due to Bolt and Hoarfrost.
It has to be said that neither Bolt, nor the Friday's knew the specifics about the Valkyrie. The Fridays knew a new mech was being fielded. Moving a mech from design to implementation took time, supplies, and factory retooling. This sort of movement couldn't be concealed. The type of mech could be hidden though. Which, considering who had designed the last mech, didn't mean much. It was fairly obvious that Ves was going to be responsible for the next mech. So certain factions reached out to Bolt and tried to pre-empt another scenario like the Blessed Squire's introduction. Bolt offered the Hoarfrost design.
Unfortunately the initial design was ill suited for mass production due to a minor flaw. The main exotics used in the construction weren't easily sources for a war machine. For Bolt's singular almost custom mechs it was fine, but the inflation that would happen if the Fridays mass produced it made it not viable. An alternative was found, but it resulted in notably less performance. This necessitated several rapid protypes and some consultation with Gary and Bolt to smooth out the alternative design. The new model, the Yuki-Onna, had less performance, slightly more carrying capacity, a refined blizzard effect, and a dial that could produce an internal 'chill' that warded off glows at the cost of stressing the pilot. The latter was considered a vital component. The Friday Coalition might not have been able to predict exactly what the Valkyrie would do, but they could certainly guess that it'd do something related to Ves signature Glows!
Both mechs hit deployment at roughly the same time. They also clashed almost immediately. Both had different performances that resulted in roughly similar results. Technically this meant they were both a success that reshaped the war again.
The Valkyrie Redeemer was a monstrous duelist. The gaze it could invoke would utterly terrorize a single target, and would frequently cause a person to freeze up long enough for the mech to kill them. In formations the group was both less and more effective, sending out cones of mind-chilling gazes that could utterly break people and formations before their mechs did. Tactically, the Redeemers wanted to break up opposing organizations and brawl in the resulting gaps.
In contrast the Yuki-Onna functioned best in mass formations and near skirmishing tactics. The blizzard effect that trailed behind them grew based on numbers and speed. A 'Cold Front' as they became nicknamed could utterly disable an enemy group when properly angled. Alone they were less effective. The ice-armor was good against glancing hits. Against focused attacks it couldn't stand up long enough to be decisive. They were hit and run lancers that functioned best when they could engage and disengage at their will.
Both lancers ended up being used mostly to attack other units rather than counter one another and would frequently reject any situation that would result in them dueling. While the Yuki-Onna had been envisioned as a sort of counter to mechs like the Redeemer, in practice it mostly ignored them to target other units. In particular Cold Fronts liked to crash into formations protected Blessed Squires and leave before the Valkyries could respond properly. The Yuki-Onna was slightly faster and nimbler than the Valkyrie Redeemer and would lose one versus one, so none of the pilots felt inclined to duel their 'counterpart' mech. Their high resistance to Glows became a way of ignoring the Glows and taking out priority targets rather than a method of directly destroying them.
This wasn't optimal, but the Friday Coalition leadership was satisfied with the result nevertheless and accelerated deployment. Cold Fronts and the Yuki-Onna causing them became almost iconic rather quickly. Something similar happened with the Valkyrie Redeemers. Both formations became displays of hope and despair.
On the designer's side, Bolt had mixed feelings about the result once he heard the initial reports. His mech was useful, but he wasn't quite sure that he liked how it shook out. The Hoarfrost base design was functioning as intended. It was technically countering Glows. Yet it felt close to a draw.
Ves had similar feelings. This was more novel for him. The Larkinson had actually not been matched on the spiritual front before. His mechanical skills had most certainly been challenged, but his spiritual works had always given him a decisive edge that made the mechanical side moot. Bolt had negated that and forced the mechanical parts of the mech to matter once more.
Everyone not in the Hexadric Hegemony could see that the tide was starting to turn at this point. Even inside there were quiet movements from the non-fanatics. Normally this would be where people would cut ties and move on. Ves would have had his now wife Gloria not been a heir to one of their noble houses. He also still owed them four more mechs as part of a deal for support for his bid to the Red Galaxy.
So, in a quiet public statement he both praised Bolt's designs and vowed to produce four more mechs that would show the world his Glows were the best. It was the closest one could get to publicly challenging another designer while also being polite about it. Notably, this was a markedly different tone than his typical style in public speaking. Ves Larkinson had a tendency to go for the throat socially. Rumors naturally started to spread.
Golgotha
The one that reads too much
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When it's one designer on each side of a war, a strange game of chicken begins.
Do you build your mech first and early to get momentum? Do you wait and see that they build, holding off to the last moment to try to hard counter the other designers work, at the cost of having less mech and less time to design? Do you both build as fast as possible to cover multiple possibilities?
Because of the spiritual side, they can only really counter each other. Makes for an interesting chess game!
Do you build your mech first and early to get momentum? Do you wait and see that they build, holding off to the last moment to try to hard counter the other designers work, at the cost of having less mech and less time to design? Do you both build as fast as possible to cover multiple possibilities?
Because of the spiritual side, they can only really counter each other. Makes for an interesting chess game!
Passing Pinecone
(Secretly a pineapple)
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Morale
Damn, the BoltXVes shipping is really going to take off now, huh?
Last edited:
tanasinn
Versed in the lewd.
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Ves really went all in with the worst faction he could have. Did he do the same in the original story or is this him having a melty from Bolt showing him up?
lost star
Connoisseur.
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He needed a backer. Gloria posted on space book that she was his destined wife and the Fridays immediately decided he was toxic. It was either hex or die at that point.
After the first two mecha the rest were mostly inconsequential though.
Molder
An idiot weak to praise.
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Ves brought Gloria onto himself funnily enough. He fucked up and acted like a fanatic when explaining his design philosophy to the MTA then immediately went to a dating service for designers. They let Gloria watch his explanation in his own words, something they weren't supposed to do and she was hooked.
M178
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
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"Ya know, I didn't expect you to be quite so... Enthusiastic about this." Bolt observed as the woman practically bounced on her heels in front of him.
He'd just sent out the designs for the new Friday mech and really hadn't expected the girl to rush to the design room after he'd indicated he was free. Admittedly he hadn't known what her reaction was going to be really. Lilly had cleared Sami for some simple stuff, but this was the first time he'd actually spoken with her.
"Listen, short of being apprenticed to a Master, you're the next best thing. Maybe Ves too, but I'd rather stay very far away from Gloria." Sami said with another eager bounce. "Also, mechs! I haven't done anything with them in forever!"
"Fine fine." Bolt waved the girl into the design room and took a seat on one of the front desks. "You just graduated from some Hexxer college right?"
"Only the finest in educational standards, complete with mandatory training on behavior an how to treat boys." The woman confirmed as she took her own place. "I'm quite the disappointment due to not breaking through soon after graduation."
"That's a bit confusing." Bolt replied with an upraised eyebrow. "Lemmie see yer mechs." He brought up the search and engine and paused at the results. "Ah, did you not make any?"
"It's tradition that we're apprenticed under a Senior or higher after graduation for some further polishing and guidance to Journeyman. The woman I worked with wasn't horrible, but the work was mostly in review and going over other designs." The woman said with a small frown. "I think she was mostly mad at my lack of piety in some of my work."
"Ah, the six-point latch question?" The Senior mused out loud.
Sami looked caught off guard at that statement. "You know about that one?" She asked.
"I'm familiar with most general styles in this sector and some in a neighboring one. The six point latch problem is a religious question about a physical problem. How reverence is appropriate for mech design, and how many sacrifices are you willing to make? Sometimes even using the six-sided bolts and screws can be a problem and it's a serious question about thematics that's actually relevant to almost all mech design." Bolt said before he shrugged. "I'm ultimately looking at it from the outside in, so my conclusions are different than yours. You should do what works with you. In fact..."
The man tapped at his console and then shifted permissions here and there. Sami wasn't going to have access to a lot of designs that he was using on the ship, but all his Third Rate designs were fair game after some light censoring. He also gave her access to previous designs and a full parts catalog.
"Hm?" The girl made a confused noise as she looked at her own design console.
"I want you to make a Third Rate mech. No restrictions, take the rest of the day." Bolt instructed the woman. "Doesn't matter if it's finished. Doesn't matter what it is. Just make the first thing that comes to mind."
A mix of emotions flashed across Sami's face before she frowned. "Third Rate? Isn't that kind of simple?" She asked neutrally.
"If you feel that way then it should be easy to make one." Bolt replied back with a small chuckle. "Now get going. This ain't a pass fail question, I really just need a baseline."
That seemed to clear things up for the girl and she got to work. Bolt watched her a moment before forcefully turning his attention away. There was nothing worse than watching someone do something wrong, but he needed to see her strengths and weaknesses.
In the meantime he also needed to work on the new expert mech. Fortunately Naoto didn't really need anything unique or special. An upscaled Valefar was perfectly acceptable. They'd actually upgrade and remake the one he'd ascended in. The only thing that was needed was a proper resonating material, and that was actually remarkably easy to arrange.
For once Bolt didn't need nor want to innovate. He just needed to do simple design work. It wasn't uncommon for experts to want to keep their mechs. There were plenty of documents and published studies as to what to do there that he had access to now. There were even notes on how to gently persuade the experts to change things if there were unsuitable conditions. It was mildly amusing to see a checklist of instructions that started with 'Do not call your pilot stupid.' This was for seniors by the way. Mechanical skill didn't translate to social skill.
Several hours later Bolt glanced at the time and nodded. "Ok, done."
"Huh?!" Sami startled. "Already?!"
"You're on a sane schedule now. After today it'll be four hours of general work that I need you to do, four hours of personal study or design time, and I will personally throw you out of here if you use all your personal time to do mechs." Bolt ordered very firmly. "I do not want to see you missing sleep or I'll take drastic measures."
"Yes Ma'am, er sir." The young woman responded reflexively.
"Now onto the design." Bolt brought up the mech.
Fortunately he'd expected something bad so he didn't wince. It closer than he'd like, but he kept his expression neutral. The mech in front of him was bad. Bolt had to specifically remind himself and then discretely look up what was average for an initiate before he started to really evaluate things.
His was immediately drawn to the lack of religious iconography. The woman hadn't let her religion impact the design at all, but that smacked of her trying to please him more than what she wanted. Sami did believe. She also wanted to impress him. He wasn't impressed, but that was because he wasn't sure what the average designer of her level should be at. Bolt was only able to eyeball it and judge it using other designs before he discarded the idea entirely. This was his student now, so he needed to know what was good or bad for her. How she rated towards other designers wasn't important at the moment.
The mech was a rifleman. Third Rate, with too little focus on the core function and unfinished. The former was a telltale sign of someone trained in Second or First Rate mech design. She had traces of several specialties but nothing out of the ordinary. He could probably trace her teacher's specialties but only with effort. This was a good thing. She was essentially a blank slate, which was how designers of her level should be.
Her creation was a very standard and generic design. Textbook, if you accounted for the Second Rate educational slant. There was a hint of deviation here and there, and he couldn't narrow down the causes immediately. That would have to be identified now.
"You have an implant?" Bolt asked.
"Standard one for most designers of my level." The woman responded with a hint of unease.
"Did a lotta repair?" Bolt continued.
Sami's expression indicated that she did. He didn't even need a verbal answer there. She'd done a lot of repair work, which was where that deviation came from. The woman had adjusted it based on what she thought would be easiest to repair.
"That explains what I'm seeing." Bolt closed out the design and closed his eyes as he thought how to say this. "You're at the level you should be for a newer graduate." He evaluated out loud. "Which only means we don't need remedial lessons from me." He highlighted things on the design. "Here's some small tips. Your work was solid here. This area would cause stresses if you jumped. The arms are too unstable, and you spread the design out too much for a Third Rate design. Third Rates are extremely limited in space. Otherwise this is a functional mech, which is very good for the time you had to do this in. You should be developing your personal style now, which is what your next goal will be and what I'll guide you on. What do you know about the rational passionate divide?"
"A divide?" Sami asked with confusion.
"Designers fall into one of two camps. Rational, where they do reason with design, and passionate, where they follow their emotions. The prevailing thought in the MTA is rational design. I've found they both have strengths and weaknesses. Right now thanks ta yer implant and teaching you're doing things rationally. It results in very standard and consistent designs." The senior explained quietly. "Mechs like that only succeed based off your technical skill. Passionate mechs are inconsistent but can produce innovative and unusual effects."
"I got flat Bs for all my technical classes." The Hexxer woman noted with narrowed eyes.
"You can brush up on technical skill. I can help with that if you want." Bolt said and settled back in his chair. "My master is pure rational." He didn't say who the master was, but the Assembler had practically founded the rational school of thought and had explained the core of it in his lessons. "With enough work and familiarity with other designers rational designers can mimic other designer specialties. They can innovate too, but it's iterative and slow buildup. That's the strength of it, it's consistent, predictable, and relatively controllable."
Bolt's ability to mimic other designers was very different in that regard, but that wasn't a topic for this lesson. This was general attitudes and the basis for future mech designing. Sami had the base, it was time to build on it.
Sami didn't seem to want to hear it the differences based on her mulish look. "It sounds boring though. I've done enough boring, and enough controllable. How'd I become an passionate designer?" She asked.
"I give you an account in Iron Spirit in a Third Rate ecosystem. You'll have full access ta all my part licenses in there. Design mechs that are fun for you." Bolt explained with a small grin at the face she made. "If you make a mech that was both fun to make and successful then you're on the path. My suggestion is to find a mech or two and adjust them first, then make your own when you feel confident."
"That's it?" The young woman asked incredulously.
"You already have the technical skill as a base." Bolt tapped at the design again. "What I explained is the next step. Becoming a Journeyman is defining yourself and your style. How you think, what you specialize in, and if you feel like you can do this the rest of your life. It ain't for everyone."
Sami stared at him. "You are encouraging me to drop out?"
"I'm saying you need to understand it's an option." Bolt shut down the designer station and stood up. "You are not slaved to being a designer. I don't want that. If yer learning from me I want commitment."
The woman gave a small laugh at his wording. "Sure, commitment." Another small laugh came from her before she nodded. "Give me that account. I'll do it."
Bolt didn't see any serious ambition there at the moment, but that was fine. There was enough of a spark to work with there. The rest was going to be on the girl.
He'd just sent out the designs for the new Friday mech and really hadn't expected the girl to rush to the design room after he'd indicated he was free. Admittedly he hadn't known what her reaction was going to be really. Lilly had cleared Sami for some simple stuff, but this was the first time he'd actually spoken with her.
"Listen, short of being apprenticed to a Master, you're the next best thing. Maybe Ves too, but I'd rather stay very far away from Gloria." Sami said with another eager bounce. "Also, mechs! I haven't done anything with them in forever!"
"Fine fine." Bolt waved the girl into the design room and took a seat on one of the front desks. "You just graduated from some Hexxer college right?"
"Only the finest in educational standards, complete with mandatory training on behavior an how to treat boys." The woman confirmed as she took her own place. "I'm quite the disappointment due to not breaking through soon after graduation."
"That's a bit confusing." Bolt replied with an upraised eyebrow. "Lemmie see yer mechs." He brought up the search and engine and paused at the results. "Ah, did you not make any?"
"It's tradition that we're apprenticed under a Senior or higher after graduation for some further polishing and guidance to Journeyman. The woman I worked with wasn't horrible, but the work was mostly in review and going over other designs." The woman said with a small frown. "I think she was mostly mad at my lack of piety in some of my work."
"Ah, the six-point latch question?" The Senior mused out loud.
Sami looked caught off guard at that statement. "You know about that one?" She asked.
"I'm familiar with most general styles in this sector and some in a neighboring one. The six point latch problem is a religious question about a physical problem. How reverence is appropriate for mech design, and how many sacrifices are you willing to make? Sometimes even using the six-sided bolts and screws can be a problem and it's a serious question about thematics that's actually relevant to almost all mech design." Bolt said before he shrugged. "I'm ultimately looking at it from the outside in, so my conclusions are different than yours. You should do what works with you. In fact..."
The man tapped at his console and then shifted permissions here and there. Sami wasn't going to have access to a lot of designs that he was using on the ship, but all his Third Rate designs were fair game after some light censoring. He also gave her access to previous designs and a full parts catalog.
"Hm?" The girl made a confused noise as she looked at her own design console.
"I want you to make a Third Rate mech. No restrictions, take the rest of the day." Bolt instructed the woman. "Doesn't matter if it's finished. Doesn't matter what it is. Just make the first thing that comes to mind."
A mix of emotions flashed across Sami's face before she frowned. "Third Rate? Isn't that kind of simple?" She asked neutrally.
"If you feel that way then it should be easy to make one." Bolt replied back with a small chuckle. "Now get going. This ain't a pass fail question, I really just need a baseline."
That seemed to clear things up for the girl and she got to work. Bolt watched her a moment before forcefully turning his attention away. There was nothing worse than watching someone do something wrong, but he needed to see her strengths and weaknesses.
In the meantime he also needed to work on the new expert mech. Fortunately Naoto didn't really need anything unique or special. An upscaled Valefar was perfectly acceptable. They'd actually upgrade and remake the one he'd ascended in. The only thing that was needed was a proper resonating material, and that was actually remarkably easy to arrange.
For once Bolt didn't need nor want to innovate. He just needed to do simple design work. It wasn't uncommon for experts to want to keep their mechs. There were plenty of documents and published studies as to what to do there that he had access to now. There were even notes on how to gently persuade the experts to change things if there were unsuitable conditions. It was mildly amusing to see a checklist of instructions that started with 'Do not call your pilot stupid.' This was for seniors by the way. Mechanical skill didn't translate to social skill.
Several hours later Bolt glanced at the time and nodded. "Ok, done."
"Huh?!" Sami startled. "Already?!"
"You're on a sane schedule now. After today it'll be four hours of general work that I need you to do, four hours of personal study or design time, and I will personally throw you out of here if you use all your personal time to do mechs." Bolt ordered very firmly. "I do not want to see you missing sleep or I'll take drastic measures."
"Yes Ma'am, er sir." The young woman responded reflexively.
"Now onto the design." Bolt brought up the mech.
Fortunately he'd expected something bad so he didn't wince. It closer than he'd like, but he kept his expression neutral. The mech in front of him was bad. Bolt had to specifically remind himself and then discretely look up what was average for an initiate before he started to really evaluate things.
His was immediately drawn to the lack of religious iconography. The woman hadn't let her religion impact the design at all, but that smacked of her trying to please him more than what she wanted. Sami did believe. She also wanted to impress him. He wasn't impressed, but that was because he wasn't sure what the average designer of her level should be at. Bolt was only able to eyeball it and judge it using other designs before he discarded the idea entirely. This was his student now, so he needed to know what was good or bad for her. How she rated towards other designers wasn't important at the moment.
The mech was a rifleman. Third Rate, with too little focus on the core function and unfinished. The former was a telltale sign of someone trained in Second or First Rate mech design. She had traces of several specialties but nothing out of the ordinary. He could probably trace her teacher's specialties but only with effort. This was a good thing. She was essentially a blank slate, which was how designers of her level should be.
Her creation was a very standard and generic design. Textbook, if you accounted for the Second Rate educational slant. There was a hint of deviation here and there, and he couldn't narrow down the causes immediately. That would have to be identified now.
"You have an implant?" Bolt asked.
"Standard one for most designers of my level." The woman responded with a hint of unease.
"Did a lotta repair?" Bolt continued.
Sami's expression indicated that she did. He didn't even need a verbal answer there. She'd done a lot of repair work, which was where that deviation came from. The woman had adjusted it based on what she thought would be easiest to repair.
"That explains what I'm seeing." Bolt closed out the design and closed his eyes as he thought how to say this. "You're at the level you should be for a newer graduate." He evaluated out loud. "Which only means we don't need remedial lessons from me." He highlighted things on the design. "Here's some small tips. Your work was solid here. This area would cause stresses if you jumped. The arms are too unstable, and you spread the design out too much for a Third Rate design. Third Rates are extremely limited in space. Otherwise this is a functional mech, which is very good for the time you had to do this in. You should be developing your personal style now, which is what your next goal will be and what I'll guide you on. What do you know about the rational passionate divide?"
"A divide?" Sami asked with confusion.
"Designers fall into one of two camps. Rational, where they do reason with design, and passionate, where they follow their emotions. The prevailing thought in the MTA is rational design. I've found they both have strengths and weaknesses. Right now thanks ta yer implant and teaching you're doing things rationally. It results in very standard and consistent designs." The senior explained quietly. "Mechs like that only succeed based off your technical skill. Passionate mechs are inconsistent but can produce innovative and unusual effects."
"I got flat Bs for all my technical classes." The Hexxer woman noted with narrowed eyes.
"You can brush up on technical skill. I can help with that if you want." Bolt said and settled back in his chair. "My master is pure rational." He didn't say who the master was, but the Assembler had practically founded the rational school of thought and had explained the core of it in his lessons. "With enough work and familiarity with other designers rational designers can mimic other designer specialties. They can innovate too, but it's iterative and slow buildup. That's the strength of it, it's consistent, predictable, and relatively controllable."
Bolt's ability to mimic other designers was very different in that regard, but that wasn't a topic for this lesson. This was general attitudes and the basis for future mech designing. Sami had the base, it was time to build on it.
Sami didn't seem to want to hear it the differences based on her mulish look. "It sounds boring though. I've done enough boring, and enough controllable. How'd I become an passionate designer?" She asked.
"I give you an account in Iron Spirit in a Third Rate ecosystem. You'll have full access ta all my part licenses in there. Design mechs that are fun for you." Bolt explained with a small grin at the face she made. "If you make a mech that was both fun to make and successful then you're on the path. My suggestion is to find a mech or two and adjust them first, then make your own when you feel confident."
"That's it?" The young woman asked incredulously.
"You already have the technical skill as a base." Bolt tapped at the design again. "What I explained is the next step. Becoming a Journeyman is defining yourself and your style. How you think, what you specialize in, and if you feel like you can do this the rest of your life. It ain't for everyone."
Sami stared at him. "You are encouraging me to drop out?"
"I'm saying you need to understand it's an option." Bolt shut down the designer station and stood up. "You are not slaved to being a designer. I don't want that. If yer learning from me I want commitment."
The woman gave a small laugh at his wording. "Sure, commitment." Another small laugh came from her before she nodded. "Give me that account. I'll do it."
Bolt didn't see any serious ambition there at the moment, but that was fine. There was enough of a spark to work with there. The rest was going to be on the girl.
zephyrbarnes
Know what you're doing yet?
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Commitment... how could a hexer who was expecting sex slavery potentially misinterpret a statement like that I wonder???
BismuthBorealis
Know what you're doing yet?
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Ngl, I kinda want sami to continue calling bolt ma'am, especially since I doubt he'd care a whit. Probably get an amused reaction from others too, which'd be fun.
Sceptic
Critical Irrationalist
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So much envy from them, too.
M179
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
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As much as she disliked to say it, the carrier she'd inherited from her estate was useful. The thing was capable of holding enough mechs to be useful, fast enough to avoid most problems, and durable enough to handle any problems that did catch it. That was without the tuneups Gadget had done. It was in essence perfect for their goals, if you discounted the cost of maintaining it. As a high quality carrier that did everything it was on the upper end of expensive for a ship. Most of their profit from the job was being spent on that and supplies for the mechs. Really the upkeep of all of it was such if they were just restricted to their salvage income they would have almost no profit at all. You got what you paid for in this instance, and they paid a lot.
Fortunately Bolt pulled in enough independent income that the could likely maintain several ships like the carrier if they needed. Military contracts could be extremely profitable, and Bolt had gotten two sweetheart deals by this point. This meant that the only real issue they had was in maintaining their operating was keeping their secrecy when gathering supplies. If no one knew where they were in the void before they hit a place, predicting where they would strike next was extremely hard.
Lilly tried to be careful while she helped arrange the supply runs. Her contacts with the space-born clans had continued to grow, and they weren't afraid to route her the required supplies for a small fee. That meant they'd have to supply in what amounted to dead zones in space, but that was more a bonus than a problem. The carrier had plenty of ways to keep people entertained and the wide open void gave them the perfect viewpoint to avoid ambushes. It also meant she could pay a bit more for news and the like, though the results from that were always going to be mostly rumor and heresy.
"All Hail the Arch Heretic!" The man said on the short range radio as the shuttle approached.
"Why do I get the feeling that asking you to look into things was a mistake." Lilly muttered back.
"Why miss blasphemer, I could never guess." The reply came with a chuckle before the man continued. "But yes, the Hexxers are squawking about you, and have issued a bounty. They also refer to your husband as the Arch Heretic, the Corpse Thief, the Blasphemer, the Defiler, and any other name they think could stick. Really the amount of curses going your way would make me blush if I had any shame at all. I think the last tale was him laying on a mountain of bodies with you chained up on a throne."
Lilly genuinely wanted to cry about that. "Oh god." Neither she nor her husband had wanted fame and now she had the worst possible images stuck in her head thanks to her talks with Sami. "All right, so I regret even asking now."
"If it helps, even the witches don't really believe most of it. The propaganda peddlers are really just throwing things out there. They don't like that you got something that rivals what they consider holy mechs. Gotta say I like the look of the Ice Maidens. They're one of the most cinematic mechs I've seen in ages." The man paused. "Are yours different? Cause I saw the versions they're rolling out and they aren't nearly as good as yours."
"The Hoarfrost model is internal. The Yuki-Onna are what the Friday field. There was a bit of a problem with the exotics when sourcing them." Lilly explained.
"Does explain the order and price changes then." The shuttle docked with the carrier at that point. "We've got another load by the way."
"No rush." Lilly replied and kept Dowry at an active scan.
Trust but verify and all that. Dowry wasn't the best in space, but her scanning was good enough to pick up anything reactive. Plus it was easier to deploy when you were already out there and all that.
"Friday news is a bit different. There's still a large hate towards Ves, but with the victories and your stuff it's dying down a lot. Your group's considered some flashy maverick that has been running around doing random prison breaks like a modern day superhero. You'd be the talk of the town if the internal salty conflicts weren't sucking up airtime." The man said after a few beats of silence while his shuttle was unloaded.
"Venerable Lilly, two bugs, three instances of skimming, and two improper orders." A man on another channel informed her.
Lilly nodded. "Isolate the bugs. We have to assume we missed a few, so you know the drill." She ordered.
"Into the melter!" Her subordinate said with a laugh.
Some bugs and sabotage could get really tricky. The easiest way of dealing with all of that was just processing it all immediately. Only First Rate stuff could avoid destruction after that, and if that was being used they were screwed anyway. (Bolt did have a few discrete ways of checking, but they didn't want that known.)
"Got a few misfiled supplies." Lilly forwarded the records of two of the skimming attempts and all the mislabeled orders. Had to both keep them guessing and get the proper materials they needed. Letting one skimming go through would make them uncertain as to what they were catching.
"Blasted packagers always try to stiff us. Don't worry, I can get that solved." The supplier didn't miss a beat blaming someone else. "I'll get that on the next trip. Any last minute requests?"
"I'd rather not pay the extra surcharge for that." The woman said with half a smile. "So trouble in Friday paradise?"
"They like to dress it up, but there's about five separate factions with different ideas in the Coalition. It's probably going to be one less soon, especially if you get that disinheritance done. When the last heir is gone the people using that faction as a sock puppet are going to have to find another front." The shuttle pulled away and moved back to the visiting ship as the man explained. "That plus how things went will really shake things up. Anyone not the Guagers were getting hosed until your husband's mechs came around. Now that they're not drowning they have questions about certain behaviors and it's loud enough that I'm hearing it. Only the fact that the Hexxers are insane is keeping things together, and even that won't last forever."
"Ah." Lilly breathed out. "Lovely."
"Ain't that the truth. This is why we live in space. Sure you get issues in some areas, but if you don't like your neighbors you up and leave." The man chuckled. "Be right back. Next load should finish up the order."
Lilly made the mic click and settled back in her cockpit chair to think. It would figure that winning wasn't going to make things easier. They didn't want to pull back either. The Hexxers were going to start losing soon, and desperate people did very stupid things. Threading the needle here was going to be difficult.
"So that's general news." The man said as he docked in the supply station several minutes away. "More local news is a bit mixed and more specific. Not sure if you care much about it. Biggest thing is actually people wondering what mech your husband does next and what heroics you're going to do."
"Can't say anything about either really." Lilly responded with a small chuckle.
"Don't expect you too, but if you take requests, we'd love to see a space mech. I'd even chip in for something myself." The supplier said.
"I'll relay that. Knowing him he'll take it as a challenge."
"Hah! If he does something good I'll get you a discount of one percent!"
"Stinnngy!"
Fortunately Bolt pulled in enough independent income that the could likely maintain several ships like the carrier if they needed. Military contracts could be extremely profitable, and Bolt had gotten two sweetheart deals by this point. This meant that the only real issue they had was in maintaining their operating was keeping their secrecy when gathering supplies. If no one knew where they were in the void before they hit a place, predicting where they would strike next was extremely hard.
Lilly tried to be careful while she helped arrange the supply runs. Her contacts with the space-born clans had continued to grow, and they weren't afraid to route her the required supplies for a small fee. That meant they'd have to supply in what amounted to dead zones in space, but that was more a bonus than a problem. The carrier had plenty of ways to keep people entertained and the wide open void gave them the perfect viewpoint to avoid ambushes. It also meant she could pay a bit more for news and the like, though the results from that were always going to be mostly rumor and heresy.
"All Hail the Arch Heretic!" The man said on the short range radio as the shuttle approached.
"Why do I get the feeling that asking you to look into things was a mistake." Lilly muttered back.
"Why miss blasphemer, I could never guess." The reply came with a chuckle before the man continued. "But yes, the Hexxers are squawking about you, and have issued a bounty. They also refer to your husband as the Arch Heretic, the Corpse Thief, the Blasphemer, the Defiler, and any other name they think could stick. Really the amount of curses going your way would make me blush if I had any shame at all. I think the last tale was him laying on a mountain of bodies with you chained up on a throne."
Lilly genuinely wanted to cry about that. "Oh god." Neither she nor her husband had wanted fame and now she had the worst possible images stuck in her head thanks to her talks with Sami. "All right, so I regret even asking now."
"If it helps, even the witches don't really believe most of it. The propaganda peddlers are really just throwing things out there. They don't like that you got something that rivals what they consider holy mechs. Gotta say I like the look of the Ice Maidens. They're one of the most cinematic mechs I've seen in ages." The man paused. "Are yours different? Cause I saw the versions they're rolling out and they aren't nearly as good as yours."
"The Hoarfrost model is internal. The Yuki-Onna are what the Friday field. There was a bit of a problem with the exotics when sourcing them." Lilly explained.
"Does explain the order and price changes then." The shuttle docked with the carrier at that point. "We've got another load by the way."
"No rush." Lilly replied and kept Dowry at an active scan.
Trust but verify and all that. Dowry wasn't the best in space, but her scanning was good enough to pick up anything reactive. Plus it was easier to deploy when you were already out there and all that.
"Friday news is a bit different. There's still a large hate towards Ves, but with the victories and your stuff it's dying down a lot. Your group's considered some flashy maverick that has been running around doing random prison breaks like a modern day superhero. You'd be the talk of the town if the internal salty conflicts weren't sucking up airtime." The man said after a few beats of silence while his shuttle was unloaded.
"Venerable Lilly, two bugs, three instances of skimming, and two improper orders." A man on another channel informed her.
Lilly nodded. "Isolate the bugs. We have to assume we missed a few, so you know the drill." She ordered.
"Into the melter!" Her subordinate said with a laugh.
Some bugs and sabotage could get really tricky. The easiest way of dealing with all of that was just processing it all immediately. Only First Rate stuff could avoid destruction after that, and if that was being used they were screwed anyway. (Bolt did have a few discrete ways of checking, but they didn't want that known.)
"Got a few misfiled supplies." Lilly forwarded the records of two of the skimming attempts and all the mislabeled orders. Had to both keep them guessing and get the proper materials they needed. Letting one skimming go through would make them uncertain as to what they were catching.
"Blasted packagers always try to stiff us. Don't worry, I can get that solved." The supplier didn't miss a beat blaming someone else. "I'll get that on the next trip. Any last minute requests?"
"I'd rather not pay the extra surcharge for that." The woman said with half a smile. "So trouble in Friday paradise?"
"They like to dress it up, but there's about five separate factions with different ideas in the Coalition. It's probably going to be one less soon, especially if you get that disinheritance done. When the last heir is gone the people using that faction as a sock puppet are going to have to find another front." The shuttle pulled away and moved back to the visiting ship as the man explained. "That plus how things went will really shake things up. Anyone not the Guagers were getting hosed until your husband's mechs came around. Now that they're not drowning they have questions about certain behaviors and it's loud enough that I'm hearing it. Only the fact that the Hexxers are insane is keeping things together, and even that won't last forever."
"Ah." Lilly breathed out. "Lovely."
"Ain't that the truth. This is why we live in space. Sure you get issues in some areas, but if you don't like your neighbors you up and leave." The man chuckled. "Be right back. Next load should finish up the order."
Lilly made the mic click and settled back in her cockpit chair to think. It would figure that winning wasn't going to make things easier. They didn't want to pull back either. The Hexxers were going to start losing soon, and desperate people did very stupid things. Threading the needle here was going to be difficult.
"So that's general news." The man said as he docked in the supply station several minutes away. "More local news is a bit mixed and more specific. Not sure if you care much about it. Biggest thing is actually people wondering what mech your husband does next and what heroics you're going to do."
"Can't say anything about either really." Lilly responded with a small chuckle.
"Don't expect you too, but if you take requests, we'd love to see a space mech. I'd even chip in for something myself." The supplier said.
"I'll relay that. Knowing him he'll take it as a challenge."
"Hah! If he does something good I'll get you a discount of one percent!"
"Stinnngy!"
Negation
Shameless Pervert
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- Jul 27, 2019
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I think that's just Hexxer designer internal politics conflated with religious propaganda.
Which makes me want Bolt to design the most Hexxer religiously compliant mech that is extremely masculine, can only be piloted by men specifically to defeat religious Hexxer mechs.
Emptiness
That which encompasses reality
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2024
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"The designer's latest work, the GigaChad-9000, is reported to be even more effective than previously thought. Some concerns have risen after the Mech was discovered to bombard enemy communications with the phrase "Skill Issue" after every successful engagement."