His brief blunder with Iris aside, the rest of the installation proceeded without issue. Once the cockpit’s interior beca whole again, they invited the ch pilot assigned to this Inheritor to test it out.
"Will anything really change?" Chief Carmon asked with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"I know it doesn’t seem very impactful, but it’s been proved that the surroundings of a ch pilot can drastically influence the way he pilots his ch. A pilot who is uncomfortable in his own ch will only be able to exert eighty percent of his full potential."
Ves quoted an old study that actually tested this premise out. Put a ch pilot in a rotting old rusted cockpit, and his performance fell off a cliff.
Nevertheless, adding excessive comforts in the cockpit risked a backfire as ch pilots tended to beco more complacent while they piloted. They lost their edge and beca less alert.
After decades of experintation, the ch industry ca to a consensus that the best cockpit was a clean and sterile environnt. Any comfort provided to the pilot should be understated and invisible. It should facilitate the ch pilot for long stretches of ti without inducing too much physical discomfort. It should also be uncomfortable enough to keep the ch pilots on his toes.
All of this sounded simple at first glance, but in practice it was very hard to apply. Every ch designer held their own ideas on how far they needed to go in terms of inducing comfort and tension.
Ves had always leaned towards the camp that stated that the best way to go was to go with comfort. It fit well with the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord designs, as they had both been designed to operate for long stretches of ti. The X-Factor was also strongly associated with comfort, though not everyone bought this line of thinking.
Many ch designers found excessive attention to this area to be a massive waste of ti. Ves rembered his last visit to Leemar, where he got entangled in a design duel with Oleg. Master Olson’s genius disciple strongly believed that designing a stronger ch mattered the most.
"Would you rather sit in a comfy chair as your ch falls short and explodes, or sit in a neutral chair and ride your ch to victory?"
In any case, Chief Carmon and Lieutenant Chandis shared the sa skepticism as they watched the ch pilot clamber into the completely renewed cockpit.
"Everything is shifted!" The ch pilot broadcasted from the cockpit. "Give a couple of minutes! I have to relearn where everything is positioned!"
They waited and waited until the Inheritor finally booted up. The slim ch ca to live and started to stretch its hands and fingers.
"How is it going so far?" Ves asked while he glanced at the control panel that showed the Inheritor’s paraters. Everything looked green so far. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Okay? This is more than okay! I feel great!"
The ch pilot displayed the usual exuberance of soone who got dosed in the X-Factor for the first ti of their life. Ves was highly familiar to such reactions, so as soon as he heard the jubilation in the voice, he knew he succeeded.
The ch he worked on radiated a faint pressure. It was very weak, and were it not for his highly tuned senses and his knowledge on what to look out for, Ves wouldn’t have been able to spot it. He was afraid that his work on the cockpit was too inconsequential to count, but evidently his fears could be put to rest.
Back at the professor’s office, Ves and Iris waited in their seats as Velten finished parsing the readings.
"I see that your test pilot has perford up to twenty-eight percent better than usual at the start, but diminished as the simulated combat tests dragged on. How can you prove it’s not the placebo effect at work?"
Professor Velten doubted the effectiveness of his changes. She insinuated that the only reason the ch pilot delivered a better performance than the norm was because he was motivated to do so and he mistakenly believed the rearranged cockpit would asurably improve his piloting ability.
Many tis, the performance of a ch pilot hinged on his beliefs. If he believed a battle could be won, his morale would be high. If he believed he was being sent into a hopeless battle, his morale would be rock-bottom and he would be constantly be thinking about escaping rather than winning the battle.
If Ves had access to more chs, he could have setup a rigorous experint to prove that it wasn’t just a delusion at work. Unfortunately, he was only allowed to work on a single ch, so he couldn’t provide any hard data to prove otherwise.
He instead turned to another argunt he prepared beforehand. "I can’t rule out the influence of the placebo effect, but suppose that this may be true, what does it matter? Any chance we can increase the performance of the ch pilots of the Inheritor is one we should grasp. Even if the ch pilots find out the truth and the placebo effect loses its strength, we’ve already reaped the benefits by then. Truth or false, the twenty-eight percent performance boost is very real."
Velten looked very severe at Ves. "You are playing a dangerous ga here. You are playing with the fundantal trust that ch pilots have bestowed on ch designers such as you and . They entrust us with the design of their war steeds. What you have just suggested is a violation of the responsibilities we hold as ch designers."
The accusation bit deep into Ves. The professor wasn’t wrong. Ves essentially tried to pass of snake oil as dicine to their gullible ch pilots. Once they found out the truth, every ch designer aboard the Wolf Mother would suffer a collective loss of trust and intimacy.
"The consequences are heavy, but what’s a little scorn compared to a failed operation and the defeat and dissolution of the 6th Flagrant Vandals? We need to pull out all the stops for the upcoming system assault. In my opinion, we shouldn’t be afraid of resorting to short-term gains that co with a price. As long as we delay the paynt, anything is justified."
If his ethics professor back at the Rittersberg University of Technology could hear his words, the old man would smack his face until his cheeks turned red.
Professor Velten shook in her seat, and it seed as if she contemplated doing the sa, despite the risk of breaking her fragile hands. A few seconds later, she subsided for so reason.
"Do you know that the MTA routinely investigate egregious violations to the code of conduct of ch designers? You do not have to break the law to run afoul of their Compliance Departnt."
ntioning the Compliance Departnt sent a chill through the backs of Ves and Iris. The relatively boring administrative na belied the enormous amount of power they wielded over human space. They enforced the rules set by the MTA and more famously cracked down on any organization that violated the fundantal taboos set at the start of the Age of chs.
One of those taboos happened to be a prohibition on the developnt and propagation of weapons of mass destruction, sothing which Ves had deliberately stepped upon a while ago. If the MTA ever found out that he worked on a gamma laser rifle, the Compliance Departnt would hunt for him to the ends of the galaxy.
In short, Ves did not wish to be investigated by the Compliance Departnt.
Yet on the matter of the cockpit, Ves believed that the MTA had better things to do. They wouldn’t move out their Compliance Departnt over a small violation of ethics.
"The ends justify the ans, especially since the ans don’t co with a heavy price." He retorted calmly. "Trust can be regain and bridges can be rebuilt, but the dead can never be brought back to life. What’s the harm of telling a couple of white lies?"
This argunt weakened the Senior’s resolve, but it hadn’t been able to tear down her adherence to the rules. "Beneficial or not, it is wrong to deceive the ch pilots. I won’t accept any deception in my departnt."
This old hag! Ves wanted to curse this stubborn Senior, but held his emotions in check. He absolutely couldn’t afford to reveal his true emotions. His face slipped into an impassive expression as he extended another argunt.
"Ma’am, too much is at stake for you to make this decision on your own. Compared to a short-term performance boost of up to thirty percent, it’s a lot better than any other proposal. Why not take it up to Colonel Lowenfield and let her decide? As the commander of this regint, she should have the ultimate say on what is best for herr ch pilots."
This seed to resonate with Professor Velten. She ntioned the code of conduct to illustrate why he shouldn’t propose his plans, so Ves threw it back in her face.
The code of conduct stated that ch designers who worked on behalf of a client should be responsive to their demands. ch designers also needed to be open and transparent about their work, and be ready to flip their designs in a completely new direction if their clients demanded any major shifts.
Ves basically maneuvered the professor into kicking the issue upstairs. If Velten refused to bring the issue up to Colonel Lowenfield, then she would prove that she was a hypocrite who didn’t live by the rules she espoused.
Eventually, the professor ca to a decision. "Wait a mont."
A screen that shielded most sounds and transmissions from leaking out sprang up around the professor. Ves patiently waited as Velten rang up the colonel and presumably discussed his proposal.
Several minutes later, the screen disappeared and Velten ca back into clear view. Her wrinkled lips pursed with discontent. "The colonel, in her eminent wisdom, has decided that the stakes are too high. She has weighed the extra work your proposal demands and the downsides to lying to our own ch pilots against the benefits that it might bring."
And? Ves wanted to ask, but he kept his eagerness from bursting out his words.
"She approved your proposal. In fact, she gave us broad discretion on how to reschedule the planning so that we can deliver the finished chs to the ch pilots at the right ti. Too soon, and the placebo effect will wear off before we launch the assault. Too late, and the ch pilots won’t be accustod to the buckethead interface and the other changes."
Ves and Iris grinned. Were it not for sitting in front of a Senior, they would have whooped and cheered.
The most important thing was that Ves finally got sothing solid past the professor’s walls. Sure, he might have pissed her off, but he didn’t take it too hard. His goals were pure.
The professor spoke again. "You shall be held responsible for coming up with this proposal and implenting it to as many Inheritors as possible. Work with the planners at logistics to get this done. I don’t want my hands to be stained with this project."
"Will do, professor." Ves bowed his head in thankfulness.
Though he hadn’t expected to be held responsible for the broad implentation of his design changes, it was an unexpected boost for him. For as long as Ves stayed aboard the Wolf Mother, he had never gotten exposed to any other major assets of the Vandals. He didn’t know how many ships they owned and how many chs they could field.
He could finally fill in so of the gaps in his knowledge if he was given the right access. Anyone else might think this job was a bother, but Ves saw it as a pri opportunity to learn more about the Vandals.
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