Yggdrasillian Grappler Electrode

Each finger on the Yggdrasillian Grappler possesses an electrode which appears as a claw. These are used to power damaged devices that may have their own thrusters and be too large to store, or to weld damaged components, such as ship hulls or circuitry, even those of the ship they are equipped on. The Yggdrasill and other ships, with the computerized grapplers and larger scale, can do a great deal of repair work in a relatively swift amount of time…as long as the work is simple enough for the computer system to understand. The more exotic and elaborate repairs must still be done manually, and take time, even with the Yggdrasillan ship’s grapplers. In this case, Mechas are more prudent, though the ship can switch to tactile or manual mode for this if it has a skilled grappler operator. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of the ship, not many such operators, save the ship’s original pilot, are even available. Due to various welding needs, current and voltage can also be calibrated dynamically by computer or tactile control. The grappler computer system can communicate with the ship’s sensors for this task, and if repairing the Yggdrasill itself, it can access the ship’s own schematics and internal sensor system, even polling affected systems to determine status.

The electrode “claws” can also be used as a mecha disabling feature or weapon. If an electrode is used on a Mecha not designed to protect against excessive electrical voltage or current, the electrodes can damage or fry the control system of a mecha. If the pilot is using a sort of neural interface, such as SLICS or SPINE, the nervous system of the pilot can be critically damaged. However, most Mechas with a type of neural interface are military-made, and likely of a high enough quality to properly shield their pilots’ nervous systems from electrical attack. It is still a dangerous system, in any regard.