“Why is this called mail call and not daily updates?”

Why should it be called daily updates? What if we can’t update every day?

I mean, this thing’s halfway between what I randomly post on our forums every day and a way to formally answer questions. I also use it to throw out content on reasonably regular occasions.

“Question. Just what is the conventional military of the world doing? I get that STEC is supposed to be this super secret organization, but why not get the world to engage in a massive military build-up to counter the Abyssal invasion?”

This question pops up fairly regularly, and I’ll answer it with a few notes. In short, there’s no advantage right now to make this stuff public knowledge and a number of shortcomings.

1. See vol. 1’s reasoning for keeping things a secret. Not many ways to hurt the things short of shipgirl, and your unappealing options are:
   1. lie to people and tell them that the weapons work when they don’t.
   2. don’t lie to people and tell them that the weapons don’t work.
2. STEC doesn’t want to raise world tensions when the Abyssals haven’t struck in force. If there’s a military build up and the Abyssals don’t show, it’s pre-emptively depleting resources and political will that could go towards fighting the Abyssals.
3. Current Abyssal activities are contained.
4. No practical benefit to STEC’s own operations since they don’t really need the massive infrastructural and logistical supports of the other branches of the military.

I can go on, but those are a few examples.

“Could you send me the cubs fan Chicago please?”

Sure.

“Hey Morgane, is New York a real character?”

Er, let me answer this with a question that I’ve received.

“It’s good to see the degree of realism you try to put into this. Too often the supporting elements aren’t mentioned at all, and people these days don’t pay enough attention to the tocroaches to realize that we make those missions happen.”

…

So, I think there’s one thing I do want to clear up. While we’re obviously aware of the massive efforts that goes into supporting any military operation, Pacific has fairies doing about 99% of the jobs that would typically be given to rear echelon/supporting elements.

In other words, because there are so few shipgirls available, STEC would be deploying them…

Hmm, let me give an imperfect analogy. In the same way as the USAF would deploy F-22s or B-2s strategically, STEC basically treats the shipgirls in the same way. After all, having superpowers is pretty handy for doing a lot of stuff that’s not just fighting the Abyssals.

That being said, however, at some point, someone has to ask: what sort of things should a shipgirl be used for? That’s where someone like New York comes in. I’ve said elsewhere that she works as part of STEC’s legal department, and have joked that yes, a New Yorker is in charge of assessing STEC’s ethics. However, New York would actually be a fairly good fit for this role, particularly because she’s wary of almost everything.

Or, to put it this way, New York doesn’t quite think that humanity is largely ready to accept the reality that it lives in yet. In the same way as she’s supportive of suppressing all information pertaining to the Abyssals, she’s generally of the opinion that the less chances shipgirls are exposed to the public, the better for everyone (whether it’s national security or STEC’s operational security) as a whole.

So, suppose a disaster like, say, the 1971 LA earthquake happen. Should STEC send shipgirls to help with the relief effort? New York would say no – patrolling the waters to ensure no Abyssal intrusion occurs is far more important. She would argue that the current facilities and resources of the US government should more than adequately meet the disaster. Failures to do so is a failure on the part of government, and not necessarily on STEC or other organizations.

Governor, let me be perfectly clear here. STEC assets are reserved for counter-abyssal operations. It isn’t something you can just “call in” to salvage your own failures in governance.

What about the people? Well. What about them? Look here. See this? My girls just got rid of this that was roaming a few hundred miles off of the coasts of your state four days ago. You want to know what happens when that thing gets to people?

You’ve read the briefings. Good. For homework, here’s the footage again. I want you to remember just exactly what it is that we’re dealing with –

Oh, you had no idea. Of course you didn’t. Most of you don’t. Now get out of my office, governor. That snow’s not going to clear itself.

By the way. Intel division is two doors to the right if what you saw was too much. Go on.

… Now, let’s say we have impetuous shipgirls that decide to go, screw it, I’m gonna go help. Is she actually going to stamp her foot down and stop them? Most likely no. Not without good reason.

This perhaps is the singularly most paradoxical thing about New York. She likes creating (and refining) rules and regulations, but she herself doesn’t seem to pay too much heed to the particular letter of the rule so long as the spirit is followed. As much as she’s a hardliner outwardly, you could say that she’s got a sort of … greasy flexibility that makes her good on the negotiating table.

And, as a last thought, like any good negotiator, New York keeps people guessing. She’d be easier to deal with if you know what her bottom line is, but good luck figuring that out. 🙂

See you next time.