Information Exchange

Date/Timing: 20 Jan 2019
.
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT
Landline telephone call
PPDC Marshals' weekly conference
20 January 2019
.
KLIMENT KOZLOV, VLADIVOSTOK: [clears throat] Everyone, time to begin.
[muffled grumbling]
KOZLOV: Readiness reports first. Pentecost?
STACKER PENTECOST, ANCHORAGE: The fault in /Brawler's escape system is repaired so they're once again available. /Lady and /Chrome are combat ready.
KOZLOV: By the way, have you located the cause of your New Year's poisoning?
PENTECOST: The /Chrome technicians responsible turned over the pieces of the still as soon as they were up and about again.
CEBRIAN ARRIOLA, PANAMA: Learned their lesson?
PENTECOST: We can only hope.
KOZLOV: Nguyen, how is Hong Kong?
THOMAS NGUYEN, HONG KONG [temporary]: [papers shuffle] /Shaolin remains unavailable and /Brave 2 will be down for a few days while she's decontaminated.
VICTOR PELAEZ, LIMA: With what was she contaminated?
NGUYEN: [sighs] Hazelnuts.
PELAEZ: Hazelnuts.
NGUYEN: J-Tech decided to try a new flavour of CryoCream, but forgot about Ranger Xie's allergy to tree nuts, so.
CHRISTINE MATEVOSIAN, LOS ANGELES: Is he alright?
NGUYEN: Just a rash. He'll be ready before his Jaeger is.
[murmuring]
KOZLOV: Well, then. [a beat] How fares Lima, Pelaez?
PELAEZ: All of my units are combat-ready and nothing unusual has happened.
NGUYEN: [mutters]
KOZLOV: What was that?
NGUYEN: Nothing.
KOZLOV: Matevosian?
MATEVOSIAN: Our only hiccup this week was the result of /Romeo's engine tune-up: instead of adding five percent to running speed, we lost four percent.
PELAEZ: These were the changes J-Tech made to /Diablo last quarter?
MATEVOSIAN: The same. Our chief is still preparing her report, but her working theory is that the new ratios simply don't work with a Jaeger of /Romeo's weight. Long story short, we've de-tuned them.
KOZLOV: Anything to report, Arriola?
ARRIOLA: Everything's as it should be.
PENTECOST: I take it your granddaughter was rescued from the Costas?
ARRIOLA: [snorts] More like she escaped from them.
PENTECOST: This should be a good story.
ARRIOLA: We got her back when a passing tech spotted a mound of lace creeping along a hallway and brought her to my office. [a beat] Xiong, what do you recommend for punishment?
XIONG LI-HUA, SYDNEY [temporary]: They probably worried themselves sick trying to find her, but if you feel that isn't sufficient, perhaps deny them cake for a week?
ARRIOLA: Hmm, I'll try that. Thank you.
XIONG: You're welcome.
KOZLOV: Your updates, Xiong?
XIONG: /Vulcan Specter will be operating with its Spare for the next six weeks—
SOUMA MINAMI, TOKYO: Which Jones is broken this time?
XIONG: The younger.
ARRIOLA: Figures.
XIONG: For once, he wasn't the instigator of his own misery.
SOUMA: How unusual.
XIONG: Aside from /Vulcan's temporary change of pilot, Sydney is operating as well as can be expected.
KOZLOV: Very good. Souma?
SOUMA: J-Tech has finally received a properly ground replacement lens for /Victory Angel's plasma blade and will be installing it tomorrow. I have lodged a complaint with the contractor about the substandard items they shipped previously.
MATEVOSIAN: Fat lot of good that'll do.
SOUMA: One must go through the motions sometimes.
MATEVOSIAN: There's the difference between you and I: I'd send a Jaeger to lodge that lens up—
[chuckling]
PENTECOST: How about you, Kozlov?
KOZLOV: [sighs] /Alpha broke their own record for longest sustained neural handshake: twelve hours.
ARRIOLA: How far off course were they?
KOZLOV: Instead of tracking the coast southward, they'd covered half the distance to Sapporo before we were able to convince them to turn around.
ARRIOLA: How do they keep doing this?
KOZLOV: Stubbornness. Their external speaker system also regularly dislodges the tracking beacon.
XIONG: On the subject of volume ... Thomas?
NGUYEN: Disney's stopped playing "Let It Go", so I believe the 'heartfelt' apologies from Chief Tse and the triplets have placated them.
XIONG: And the roof?
NGUYEN: Repairs are underway.
ARRIOLA: Do we want to know what—
NGUYEN: No. No you don't.
KOZLOV: [clears throat] Yamane, you've been quiet so far.
YAMANE TAKAHASHI, NAGASAKI: Pardon. I've been multitasking.
KOZLOV: Oh?
YAMANE: The east wing is currently under lockdown because of a containment breach.
ARRIOLA: Equipment failure or Geiszler?
YAMANE: [sighs]
MULTIPLE VOICES: Geiszler.
YAMANE: He, for want of a better word, 'exploded' what he thinks was a salivary gland and the resultant slurry began eating through the steel decking material. Thankfully, the concrete sub-floor seems resistant.
PENTECOST: Casualties?
YAMANE: Two techs suffered minor burns and Geiszler's glasses were completely ruined.
MATEVOSIAN: Well, that should keep him out of trouble for a few days.
ARRIOLA: One hopes he can't explode what he can't see.
YAMANE: While he won't be destroying any more of my station, he will be harassing my administrative staff with requests for funds to buy replacement samples.
KOZLOV: I thought you had all the samples available.
YAMANE: We did. He just ruined them all.
MATEVOSIAN: Guess we'll have to kill him some more so he shuts up.
YAMANE: That would be most helpful.
SOUMA: When does Physics next expect Breach activity?
NGUYEN: Gottlieb estimates we'll see something by the end of March.
PENTECOST: That's all he has?
NGUYEN: Predicting the future's not an exact science yet.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Skeleton Key
Category:Cultural Exchange
Category:Kozlov
Category:Kozlov (ficlet)
Category:Stacker
Category:Stacker (ficlet)
Category:Shatterdome shenanigans
Category:Arriola
Category:Arriola (ficlet)
Category:Nguyen
Category:Nguyen (ficlet)
Category:Xie (mention)
Category:CryoCream
Category:Matevosian
Category:Matevosian (ficlet)
Category:Pelaez
Category:Pelaez (ficlet)
Category:Costa twins (mention)
Category:Xiong
Category:Xiong (ficlet)
Category:Xiong's (cruel) unusual punishments
Category:Andrea (mention)
Category:Logan (mention)
Category:Souma
Category:Souma (ficlet)
Category:Team Cherno Alpha (mention)
Category:Team Vulcan Specter (mention)
Category:Team Chrome Brutus (mention)
Category:Team Horizon Brave (mention)
Category:Team Romeo Blue (mention)
Category:Team Diablo Intercept (mention)
Category:Team Victory Angel (mention)
Category:Hong Kong Disney (mention)
Category:Tse (mention)
Category:Wei triplets (mention)
Category:Yamane
Category:Yamane (ficlet)
Category:Newt (mention)
Category:Hermann (mention)
Category:Ficlets with images