Werner Steinn:
"It's the little things that make a mech yours, Asura." Werner answered, "Someone sees a dinosaur in the field, they know they aren't dealing with any old pilot."
“And that'd be a shame wouldn't it, 'cause they'd be dealing with a very special old pilot.” Maya chipped in, delivering an affectionate punch to the shoulder. It wasn’t enough to sting.
“Guess you’ll just have to be dinosaur enough yourself ‘til they give you time enough to make her yours. Something to look forward to.” She tipped her head to the Sherman’s guns.
“It’s got all the important bits anyway - the stuff you need to slag ‘em - and with Asura locked in there’s no way things’ll get boring. Think of it as a chance to remind people how good you are: wreck enough shit to put respect on your name no matter what frame you’re in.”
At that she lazily gestured to her own, Life’s Too Short now uparmoured and
mutilated modified to the point it scarcely kept its former silhouette.
“Might be for the best anyway. If you don’t stand out all that much it just makes it more likely they’ll put the focus on me, and taking hits is the only thing that pile’s good for ‘sides putting fists down throats. Being a bit more low key might suit you just fine.”
Erin Fastness:
”Ain’t no way yer going to be puttin’ some untested scrap code in with me! Might as well set a bear trap and hide it from yourself!”, he exclaimed while Erin rolled their eyes. Bridger then waggled a finger at them. ”Don’t give me no lip back, Erin. You know it ain’t neat to stick untested gear in our chassis,” he finished.
Having appeared genuinely engaged through the briefing, even letting out the inevitable scoff when the flaw came to light, Maya actually looked a little taken aback at what the newbies had to say. Nonetheless she did her best to brush that aside, to seem at least somewhat level-headed. Wouldn't do to bite someone's head off over a dissenting opinion.
“Now I’m not going to tell an NHP what they should be okay interfacing with, but if Science says they’ve scrubbed it clean then that should be enough, yeah?” Words aimed at Bridger but meant for the room.
“I’m all for scepticism, but it’s not like they get anything but trouble sending us out the door half-cocked. Union’s not going to burn a team and give IPS-N free reign to pick the bones just to hit a deadline.”
“Anyway ... if you’ve got an alternative that isn’t bailing on the mission or meeting the ‘trance without protection then I’m all ears.”
She threw her attention Kim’s way.
“As for the plan itself, I’m not questioning the call but I think we’ve got to give the other guys some credit here. We might’ve trounced them before but the Talon’s are meant to be professionals, and unless they think we’re properly stupid then there’s no way they won’t expect us to do a little digging. You can’t tell me they won’t have their doubts if we show up all smiles like nothing’s wrong.” A shrug.
“Too easy, you know. Hard to buy we're walking straight into the trap.”
“Still best to leave them doubting, but I’d put good money on there being some kind of backup plan just in case their magic bullet doesn’t do the trick. I'd want one if it was me anyway.”