"MDR!?"
*CLANG!*
Lying in the repair pod, HK416, who had just been repaired sat up abruptly, shouting MDR's name as soon as she opened her eyes.
Unfortunately, the door of the repair pod hadn't opened yet, and she bumped her head against it.
"Well, your grudge is quite sufficient. Save your energy; we're leaving here soon, so you won't have a chance for revenge." Besides, having an opportunity and being able to win against the opponent were two different matters.
M16 sat on another repair pod nearby, holding a bottle of whiskey she somehow acquired, drinking and pushing HK416 towards the door of the repair pod.
"Tsk! Where did you get booze? Does this G&K Base provide this?"
This Griffin Base looked deserted, clearly not the kind of place that would provide such luxury items to T-Dolls.
"Oh, it's not from Griffin. M1911 gave it to me last night when I asked for booze. She said it was left untouched at their stock, and it was just taking up space, so she gave it to me to put in my pocket."
M16 opened her coat, revealing not only the bottle of whiskey in her hand but also two unopened bottles lying in the pockets of her coat lining.
Huh! What's the meaning of this!? Treating us differently!? Why was she the only one...
Feeling annoyed at being treated differently by those T-Dolls, HK416 felt her magazine pouch and shoulder bag bulging with items.
During the encounter with the Infected earlier, there wasn't time to collect the magazines, so her magazine pouch should have been empty. Yet, it felt stuffed with something...
Could it be that MDR stuffed my pockets with a bunch of junk while I wasn't looking?
"Those were given to you by the Sangvis' Jaeger and SPAS-12. Probably snacks or something. MDR helped too, and mentioned something about appearance fees. Anyway, those guys aren't bad."
M16 shrugged and said, truthfully, that when she was on the verge of losing consciousness in the sea, she thought she was done for. She never expected someone to enter the sinking cabin under such circumstances and rescue them.
"Appearance fees...!? That MDR!?" Angered by the thought, HK416 viciously popped a piece of hard candy into her mouth from her bag, which was also packed full.
Mmm, too sweet, overly sweet...
"Ah, you two, I'm getting reprimanded over there, and you two are here enjoying yourselves. Finish up and come out; our ride is here." While HK416 enjoyed her candy and M16 her whiskey, Angelia walked in with a grim expression.
Seeing the two in such a relaxed state only added to Angelia's displeasure. She wondered when Renault's T-Dolls had stuffed their pockets with these items, and why she hadn't received any?
At least give her something sweet to comfort her frightened soul?
...
There definitely wasn't anything sweet, and bitterness was about all she had. After contacting StateSec, Helian also learned how much they had to pay Renault for this mission.
So, even at a third of the commission price, it was enough to make Griffin feel the slight loss.
So, Angelia, the unlucky one, became the scapegoat for the shareholders at G&K. She was bombarded with criticism, lucky not enought to been driven to quit on the spot.
Not only did she not receive pay from the commission, but her basic salary was also going to be deducted... Was there anyone in a worse situation than her?
Was there? Renault probably didn't know, but Griffin had promised to keep an eye out for heavy industrial equipment to offset the rescue costs. With G&K's connections, they would likely receive news soon.
However, even if there was news, it probably wouldn't be the kind of equipment used by major industrial companies nowadays, but rather equipment abandoned in the Red Zone.
Before the Third War, there were many companies with such equipment, but with the spread of the Collapse Fluid, the increase in polluted areas, and the start of the Third War, most of the heavy industrial facilities in the Red Zone were abandoned.
The only facilities still usable by the surviving companies were those not far from the Green Zone and in the Yellow Zone.
Sending T-Dolls into the Red Zone for any basic operations was too risky. Not to mention the possibility of encountering Doll traffickers, even the unstable communication interference in the Red Zone was enough to cause problems for those companies.
"Commander? Commander! What are you thinking?" Nagant called out to Renault twice before snapping him back to reality. It wasn't a good sign for him to be zoning out in front of the computer so early in the morning. Had he hit his head in the Red Zone?
"Hmm? Oh, just thinking about how to shrink the powered exoskeletons a bit. They're too cumbersome in their current size. And also thinking about making new bodies for P90 and the others."
To be honest, IOP's designers were tireless. Each tactical T-Doll model had its own characteristics, from height and appearance to personality and habits. They probably took advantage of the fact that Autonomous T-Dolls wouldn't complain or get tired, so they pushed the logistics T-Dolls to their limits.
Especially the high-ranking T-Dolls, whose heights and body types varied greatly, each body required various subtle adjustments...
MP40 and C96's bodies were relatively convenient since they could just use the same model M1911 had used before, with minor adjustments to the appearance, and those could be done by the repair pods.
"Shrink them a bit?"
"Yes, just slightly larger than the T-Dolls would be good. They're too oversized now, and they carry too much equipment."
"Does that mean they won't be able to carry machine guns? Aren't the machine guns taken off those aircraft pretty powerful?" Nagant thought the machine guns used by BM59 and the others were quite effective; a few bursts could take out all those mercenaries.
They were indeed powerful, Renault admitted, but they were still a bit too large. Sacrificing some ammo capacity was necessary to fit them onto the powered exoskeletons. If the battle intensity increased further and the bullets ran out, they would be left with nothing but decorations.
In the end, Renault felt that the firepower duration of those machine guns wasn't quite enough, and the operating time of the powered exoskeletons wasn't quite enough either.
Twelve hours of sustainable action time was still not enough for T-Dolls. In a situation like last night's operation, if the duration was a bit longer, Nagant and the others would have been forced to remove their powered exoskeletons.
Similarly, the power cores inside the T-Dolls' bodies weren't quite enough... In short, there was a whole bunch of upgrades to be done, weapons, power, vehicles...
There's just too much to do.