Episode 73

"Hey, where the hell are you going?! You’re just flying in a straight line!"

Taiki’s roar erupted from the communicator. Taro frantically dove into the Small Craft Control Function on BISHOP to fix the ship's erratic trajectory.

"Yo, Prez. Now this one over here is pulling some funky moves," Cha—the resident youngster—commented with his usual laid-back drawl.

"Gwaaaaaargh! Impossible! No way! This is way harder than I thought it’d be!"

With a pathetic shriek, Taro collapsed out of the seat he’d grown so accustomed to. His brain felt like it had been shoved through a cheese grater. He panted heavily, his shoulders heaving with every ragged, exhausted breath.

[TACTICAL SIMULATOR: TERMINATED]

A notification scrolled across BISHOP’s display, announcing the end of the Mock Battle Program. The Cats, who had been operating the simulator alongside Taro, hopped down from the extra seats in the Control Room—chairs that had remained dusty and ignored until today.

"Ain't working," the leader, Gon, grunted as he gave his body a massive stretch. "Simple maneuvers are fine, but the system can't keep up the moment it needs to make a judgment call. What’s the deal? The processing speed should be more than enough."

Marl caught his gaze and nodded.

"In terms of raw overhead, managing twenty ships should be a walk in the park," she explained. "But like Gon said, the bottleneck is the 'thinking' part. Dodging a Beam is one thing, but reacting to a dynamic battlefield is a whole different beast."

"She’s exactly right," Taro groaned.

"One or two ships is fine, but trying to juggle a massive amount of high-level decisions is a non-starter. It’s a completely different animal compared to parallel-computing simple tasks. Honestly, I have plenty of room if we're just talking about sheer numbers... but man, what a pain. My plan totally backfired."

Taro summarized the grim results and flopped onto his back on the floor. Yuki strolled over and curled up right against his shoulder.

God, she’s so cute it hurts... "Hey, old man. Any bright ideas?"

Yuki cracked one eye open at Taro’s query.

"Don't go expecting new tricks from an old dog. Hey, youngster, what would you do?"

"Don't call me youngster," Cha shot back. He hopped onto Taro’s chest and peered down at his face with a smug, composed look. "The point is, simple tasks are fine, right? So why don't we just simplify the whole thing?"

"Yeah, if it were that easy, I wouldn't be having a meltdown. Also, you're heavy, Cha-tan."

"Hmm, are you sure? Teiro’s parallel processing is the real deal, so the only problem is the parts that need 'thinking,' right? Why don't we just handle the thinking ourselves and let Teiro focus on being the relay?"

"I see... but wouldn't the communication volume and the calculation load go through the roof?"

Koume, who was currently cradling Taiki in her arms, chimed in to address Taro’s concern.

"How about creating a Platoon Management Function, Mr. Teiro?"

Taro let out a thoughtful "Hmm." He gently set Cha down on the floor, sat up, and crossed his arms.

"So, we bundle a bunch of predetermined controls together and simplify the comms in advance? Like, '1' means trajectory control, '2' means attack, and so on. Basically, we’re coding our own Tactical Program like the ones used for ship-board hull control."

"Wait a second," Taiki interrupted as Koume continued her explanation. "That's gonna limit our options. If we can't react to unexpected situations, the whole thing is a giant pile of junk!"

"That should be fine, Mr. Taiki," Koume countered calmly. "Mr. Teiro is capable of writing correction programs on the fly if the need arises. He did, after all, once code an entire docking program from scratch at the very last second."

The group shared a collective, bitter smile at the memory.

"What kind of madness is that? You’re gonna put ship-control software companies out of business... Anyway, what’s the verdict, Boss? Can you do what Miss Koume’s suggesting?"

Gon tilted his head. Taro envisioned a few function controls and hopped back into his seat. "If we do it that way? Probably."

"Basically, I just need to act as a bypass so you and the others can move the Accompanying Craft freely... Alright, let's try a simple version. Give me a sec."

"A sec? You’re not seriously gonna code it now, are you?"

"Okay, done."

"...You’ve gotta be joking, right?"

The Cats stood there, slack-jawed. Shaking off their shock, they moved to their respective seats and synced up with BISHOP.

"I’m genuinely impressed. Boss, are you sure you didn't pick the wrong profession?"

Taro laughed and shook his head at Gon’s praise.

"Nah, I can't do the deep-level stuff or the fine-tuning. This is just a prototype for testing. If I polish it up with Alan and Marl later, it might actually turn into something decent."

Taro integrated his custom Function Group into the simulator and pushed the data to the Cats along with some basic instructions.

"Alright, let's give this another whirl!"

At Taro's signal, the Mock Battle Program roared back to life.

Using the new program as their backbone, the crew engaged the simulated enemy. This time, the results were incredibly promising.

---

"Wait, you want hardware-level control for the program? No, that’s... that’s a bit of a tall order."

Inside the Rising Sun’s laboratory, currently docked at Alpha Research Station, the president of RS Makina crossed his arms, his face twisted in a grimace.

This facility had been moved lock, stock, and barrel from Delta and was already operational as the new hub for their activities. Delta was packed with people and ships, meaning large-scale experiments were buried under red tape. Alpha, by comparison, was delightfully lax.

"Hmm, is it a technical hurdle? I’ve got the funding side mostly figured out."

Makina shook his head as if the very idea was absurd.

"No, if it were possible, I’d build it even if I had to do it out of pure spite. But this is completely out of my league. We do mechanical control, sure, but high-level electronic control is..."

"Ah, I get it. It’s the 'I can build anything if I have the parts, but making the parts themselves is hard' thing?"

"Precisely. Though, keep in mind that only applies to electronic components."

President Makina seemed a bit miffed, his professional pride stung. Taro smoothed things over with an "Of course, of course," before continuing.

"By the way, do you have any leads on electronic component manufacturers?"

"Do you require a major corporation?"

"Nah, small is totally fine. Actually, if they're too big, it might be a hassle."

"I see... Understood. Please wait a moment."

President Makina turned and vanished into the back office. Left to his own devices, Taro idly wandered over to a 3D Modeling Machine nearby.

"Man, this is cool... You just feed it a 3D blueprint and the part pops out, right?"

Inside the boxy machine, a metal component was being carved, blasted by a Laser, and gradually shaped. Its complex, curvy geometry looked like a nightmare to manufacture by hand. It might be possible, but you’d have to be a masochist to try.

"That is correct, Mr. Teiro," Koume answered from her silent post behind him. "Depending on the model, most metal components can be fabricated this way. The era of molds and paper blueprints has, unfortunately, reached its end. This applies to massive industrial parts and beautiful girl figures alike."

"I still think hand-sculpted is better for figures," Taro muttered, picking up the finished part as it slid out of the machine. "Hmm. Even to a total amateur, this looks perfect. What is it, though?"

It was a component about ten centimeters in diameter. As he was tilting his head in confusion, President Makina returned.

"Here is the contact info for the corp we usually buy our electronics from: BB Electronics. Here you go."

He held out a small chip. Taro snatched it up and scurried to the corner of the room to make the call.

Taro ran off like a kid with a new toy. President Makina watched him go with a warm, fatherly gaze before placing the part Taro had been holding onto a conveyor belt.

"President Makina. Mr. Teiro was curious—what is that part used for?"

"Just 'Makina' is fine," the president said, looking up. "A few generations back, the family changed our name to match the company. As for this... well, er... it’s not exactly the kind of thing one discusses openly with a lady. It’s the kind of thing our company frequently handles—it's, uh, 'that' kind of item. Our external orders are a bit... specialized."

Makina stammered, trying to dodge the question. Koume glanced at the part sliding down the belt and gave a composed nod. "I see."

"As you probably know, our sales aren't exactly booming, aside from the internal rotating warheads and a few other things... well, work is work, I suppose," Makina added with a sigh.

Koume stared at Makina with her usual blank expression, then suddenly pressed a hand to her mouth and turned around.

"Mr. Teiro! Apparently, this is a BISHOP-linked Electric Kokeshi! Why don't you take a prototype home for a spin?"

Koume’s voice rang out across the office. A moment later, Taro came jogging back. "Now that sounds like a top-tier item!" he shouted enthusiastically.

"Problem is, I don't have anyone to use it with... Damn it, just kill me now. Oh, right. The president over there said it’s a go. They’ll be heading this way soon."

Makina gave Taro a look of utter bewilderment.

"I’m sorry, what? Are we having a meeting?"

"Nah, we already decided to work together. The whole office is moving here in a bit."

"The whole office?! Mr. Teiro, what on earth are you planning? If it’s just hardware for that program, you don't need to go that far!"

Moving an entire office was a massive undertaking. BB Electronics had nearly a hundred employees and a serious amount of heavy equipment.

Taro just shrugged at Makina’s panicked face.

"I mean, it’s not just for 'one' thing. We're gonna need all sorts of electronics from now on, so why not just have a dedicated department? It’ll make your life easier too, Makina-san."

"A department?"

"Yeah. I talked it over with Marl just now and decided to just buy 'em out. BB Electronics was on the Union membership list, and she’d been eyeing them for a while anyway. Perfect timing, right?"

Makina stood there, mouth hanging open at the casual bombshell. He finally just shook his head, surrendering to the madness. "Mr. Teiro..."

"It’s... truly wonderful that you have such a surplus of funds. Um, actually... I have something I would like to discuss. Will you hear me out?"

With a heavy secret weighing on his heart, Makina bowed deeply. Taro probably didn't know exactly what was going through the man's head, but he sensed the shift in mood. He and Koume listened with newfound gravity.

By the end of that day, Makina ceased to be a company name and became a brand. Within a few days, the name was officially changed to BB Makina.

Makina’s proposal had been simple: out of a sense of guilt for being a "deficit-ridden" branch dragging down the group, he wanted them to be fully absorbed. Taro didn't give a damn if the experimental Makina branch lost a little money, but the people working there did. They wanted success. They wanted to prove they were a vital part of the group.

Rising Sun designated BB Makina as its internal development department, and on paper, that was that. However, Taro chose to walk side-by-side with them, granting the department a massive amount of autonomy.

The shift in how they handled the once-experimental Makina signaled something much bigger: the Rising Sun’s full-scale entry into the manufacturing industry.