M117
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
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They were going to hold off on selling the Cursed Crow for a bit. Probably until it had been fielded for a few battles and the abilities became well known. They were a bit out there and would be extremely useful as a surprise. It could also use some more field testing. The inconsistent effects of the curse were both interesting and unexpected. The nanomachine programs had been to just disrupt the systems, not to cause such wildly different results. This decision to keep from selling didn't mean they didn't need to go through the steps to get it ready for selling. This meant MTA approval.
Bolt wasn't really surprised to get a call from Bubbles after he'd submitted the design. The woman looked just a little bit irritated.
"You did make that newest design right?" She asked bluntly after the call connected.
"That's the first question?" Bolt responded in mild confusion before nodding. "Yes I did."
"Good, because the style doesn't match anyone in that mountain of yours. It's like a completely different person designed it alone." Bubbles heaved a sigh and stared at the ceiling of her ship as if pleading with a higher power. "I swear, no one else gives me work like you do!"
"I'm... Sorry?" He didn't know if that was appropriate, but it felt like something he had to say.
"No, no need for the sympathy here. This actually isn't that large a problem all told. So far as designer quirks go, it's actually almost mundane. We have a checkbox for this one." The woman wiped away the traces of annoyance she was showing as she bounced up in her seat. "It's just another bit of talent on an already lengthy list." The woman finished with a half glare that turned amused as she added. "It also means more work for you for once!"
"Well, ain't like I got a lot of that at the moment." Bolt drawled back with a bit of sarcasm.
"Haha." Bubbles bounced in place as she giggled. "Well in this case, if your aides or you want to have anything attributed to them specifically, like they need to do with their Journeyman credentials, they need to enable some recording programs. We have to be totally certain who did the design."
That was actually very reasonable. "I can do that easily." Bolt agreed with a nod.
"I'll setup a notification on my end for when they submit their original mechs and give them a once over myself to smooth out things for both of us. The paperwork involved there can get messy if I don't pre-empt a few things. Based on the records they're pretty close." Bubbles mused casually. "They'd be on the low end as Journeyman, which isn't impressive, but will be useful as filler. No offense intended."
"Genuinely not sure how to say things like that without being mildly offensive." The man said with a small shrug. "How do you say you're below average? It's not like I need them to be spectacular. They're good friends and the help they provide is extremely useful. That's more than enough fer me."
"There's leadership courses out there if you want to know how to manage people. Otherwise just tell them that." The senior advised with a shrug.
"Hah yeah, but I'm sure you have other things to do, and a reason besides complaining to call me." Bolt settled back in his chair as he stared at the monitor.
"I would consider us at least friends by now. This isn't like completely official business but it's covered under clarification of design so I can gab for hours if I wanted to." Bubbles said with a hand wave while also relaxing. "But yes, I suppose we should start on the official reason we need to talk. The next part is officially recorded. Just be sure to stare at the screen, and understand that I got a few scanners on you right now detecting lies."
"Er." Bolt took a deep breath and let it out. "This big?"
"Not really. We're covering our backsides early by doing some paperwork early." Bubbles said with a small sigh. "All right, starting. Did you knowingly attempt to interfere with the neuro-helmet?"
The question made him blink. "No." He said very firmly.
"Did you knowingly attempt to create a system that directly targets a pilot?" Bubbles continued in a very bored tone.
"No." Bolt refrained from asking for clarification.
"Final question. Did you order any of your subordinates to do either of the previous?" The woman asked.
Really? "No."
"Good." Bubbles let out a long sigh and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "I want a painkiller and I don't even have a headache."
"The Curse Crow's weapon doesn't even come close to the pilot." Bolt pointed out the obvious. "The curse effect is pure mechanical!"
"I know that, our techs know that, the accusation will still come. The nanomachines involved in it shouldn't be able to do what they do, and they shouldn't be as random. Yet here we are." The MTA official waved her hand to indicate the video call they were in. "It's actually like not that out there as an effect. We've had hacking specialists that could do something like your crow is doing. You just did it with needles and nanomachines. I will say congratulations are in order for this one. You're showing off some serious versatility with it and that's genuinely impressive."
"Why thank you." Bolt responded with a small smile before he sighed. "I really hope I don't trigger whatever this was again though."
"Hun, I'm hoping you don't do it for another month." Bubbles replied back with a small laugh.
"I'm not that bad!" Bolt shot back as the call stopped.
He snorted to himself. He wasn't! Though he was pretty sure that if they knew everything he was doing he'd be in a nice little golden birdcage. Best to avoid that.
Fortunately he didn't have any more big things on the horizon. Dai and Wu were actually the ones with the big thing. They were each going to make a mech alone. Bolt knew for a fact that neither was going to be a breakout hit, nor would they be that useful in the grand scheme of things. As painful as it was to say, their designs were very average. About the only thing unique was that they'd picked up a sort of bastardized spiritual ability from working with him frequently.
Simplified, the two had figured out how to use spiritual power slightly in their own designs. They didn't do it like Bolt did. They just sort of reinforced what they could do in their specialties. Dai could feel out how his weapons would work and make them work the way he wanted to, and Wu could do similar. It was a more deliberate and conscious Journeyman specialty, and probably meant they were pretty close to breaking through.
It was also partially how they'd managed to create the Crow's effects in retrospect. Bolt had merged their specialties together and reinforced them with great care and all the delicacy he could manage and that had included all their 'spirit.' Bubble's question about the maker had actually been semi-serious. It was like the mech had been designed by someone who specialized in nanomachine weapons with a backing of spiritual power rather than three people working together.
Fortunately while that sort of technique was unusual for designers, it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. If you removed the spiritual power part, there were actually a notable amount of designers who could do that in official records. Bolt's achievement there was more in the fact that he'd added another thing he could do to an already large list. Which actually didn't mean that much. He was already 'valuable' in the MTA's eyes. This was like adding a one to a thousand. Notable, but not at the same time.
Bolt wasn't really surprised to get a call from Bubbles after he'd submitted the design. The woman looked just a little bit irritated.
"You did make that newest design right?" She asked bluntly after the call connected.
"That's the first question?" Bolt responded in mild confusion before nodding. "Yes I did."
"Good, because the style doesn't match anyone in that mountain of yours. It's like a completely different person designed it alone." Bubbles heaved a sigh and stared at the ceiling of her ship as if pleading with a higher power. "I swear, no one else gives me work like you do!"
"I'm... Sorry?" He didn't know if that was appropriate, but it felt like something he had to say.
"No, no need for the sympathy here. This actually isn't that large a problem all told. So far as designer quirks go, it's actually almost mundane. We have a checkbox for this one." The woman wiped away the traces of annoyance she was showing as she bounced up in her seat. "It's just another bit of talent on an already lengthy list." The woman finished with a half glare that turned amused as she added. "It also means more work for you for once!"
"Well, ain't like I got a lot of that at the moment." Bolt drawled back with a bit of sarcasm.
"Haha." Bubbles bounced in place as she giggled. "Well in this case, if your aides or you want to have anything attributed to them specifically, like they need to do with their Journeyman credentials, they need to enable some recording programs. We have to be totally certain who did the design."
That was actually very reasonable. "I can do that easily." Bolt agreed with a nod.
"I'll setup a notification on my end for when they submit their original mechs and give them a once over myself to smooth out things for both of us. The paperwork involved there can get messy if I don't pre-empt a few things. Based on the records they're pretty close." Bubbles mused casually. "They'd be on the low end as Journeyman, which isn't impressive, but will be useful as filler. No offense intended."
"Genuinely not sure how to say things like that without being mildly offensive." The man said with a small shrug. "How do you say you're below average? It's not like I need them to be spectacular. They're good friends and the help they provide is extremely useful. That's more than enough fer me."
"There's leadership courses out there if you want to know how to manage people. Otherwise just tell them that." The senior advised with a shrug.
"Hah yeah, but I'm sure you have other things to do, and a reason besides complaining to call me." Bolt settled back in his chair as he stared at the monitor.
"I would consider us at least friends by now. This isn't like completely official business but it's covered under clarification of design so I can gab for hours if I wanted to." Bubbles said with a hand wave while also relaxing. "But yes, I suppose we should start on the official reason we need to talk. The next part is officially recorded. Just be sure to stare at the screen, and understand that I got a few scanners on you right now detecting lies."
"Er." Bolt took a deep breath and let it out. "This big?"
"Not really. We're covering our backsides early by doing some paperwork early." Bubbles said with a small sigh. "All right, starting. Did you knowingly attempt to interfere with the neuro-helmet?"
The question made him blink. "No." He said very firmly.
"Did you knowingly attempt to create a system that directly targets a pilot?" Bubbles continued in a very bored tone.
"No." Bolt refrained from asking for clarification.
"Final question. Did you order any of your subordinates to do either of the previous?" The woman asked.
Really? "No."
"Good." Bubbles let out a long sigh and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "I want a painkiller and I don't even have a headache."
"The Curse Crow's weapon doesn't even come close to the pilot." Bolt pointed out the obvious. "The curse effect is pure mechanical!"
"I know that, our techs know that, the accusation will still come. The nanomachines involved in it shouldn't be able to do what they do, and they shouldn't be as random. Yet here we are." The MTA official waved her hand to indicate the video call they were in. "It's actually like not that out there as an effect. We've had hacking specialists that could do something like your crow is doing. You just did it with needles and nanomachines. I will say congratulations are in order for this one. You're showing off some serious versatility with it and that's genuinely impressive."
"Why thank you." Bolt responded with a small smile before he sighed. "I really hope I don't trigger whatever this was again though."
"Hun, I'm hoping you don't do it for another month." Bubbles replied back with a small laugh.
"I'm not that bad!" Bolt shot back as the call stopped.
He snorted to himself. He wasn't! Though he was pretty sure that if they knew everything he was doing he'd be in a nice little golden birdcage. Best to avoid that.
Fortunately he didn't have any more big things on the horizon. Dai and Wu were actually the ones with the big thing. They were each going to make a mech alone. Bolt knew for a fact that neither was going to be a breakout hit, nor would they be that useful in the grand scheme of things. As painful as it was to say, their designs were very average. About the only thing unique was that they'd picked up a sort of bastardized spiritual ability from working with him frequently.
Simplified, the two had figured out how to use spiritual power slightly in their own designs. They didn't do it like Bolt did. They just sort of reinforced what they could do in their specialties. Dai could feel out how his weapons would work and make them work the way he wanted to, and Wu could do similar. It was a more deliberate and conscious Journeyman specialty, and probably meant they were pretty close to breaking through.
It was also partially how they'd managed to create the Crow's effects in retrospect. Bolt had merged their specialties together and reinforced them with great care and all the delicacy he could manage and that had included all their 'spirit.' Bubble's question about the maker had actually been semi-serious. It was like the mech had been designed by someone who specialized in nanomachine weapons with a backing of spiritual power rather than three people working together.
Fortunately while that sort of technique was unusual for designers, it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. If you removed the spiritual power part, there were actually a notable amount of designers who could do that in official records. Bolt's achievement there was more in the fact that he'd added another thing he could do to an already large list. Which actually didn't mean that much. He was already 'valuable' in the MTA's eyes. This was like adding a one to a thousand. Notable, but not at the same time.