Here’s a fanfic idea that was stuck in my head. Originally it was about Yui’s friends surviving the Fall of Kyoto but after reading kaizerknight01’s idea of Armored Cores and learning there were a lot of characters in Muv Luv form it’s wikia, it started to change.
In this fanfic, PMCs got involved in the war against the BETA during the 1970’s. The reason for their existences were two reasons; 1. Some are willing to risk their lives or fight harder if they were given lots of money and 2. It allows some TSF pilots from different nations the freedom to join any of the frontlines when politics would have prevented that (eg. An US pilot might not be allowed to join the Middle Eastern front unless it was an UN mission.)
Because the PMCs are not a regular military unit, they have more leeway and don’t follow protocols on treating their TSFs. As a result, PMC TSFs are heavily modded depending on their pilots needs or battlestyles. Some of these TSF might have more armor, more or bigger guns, the ability to carry and use two swords, faster engines, extra missiles, better targeting system, etc.
Despite their help in the war, the US, Soviets and Japanese dislike the PMCs very much with the US seeing them as unpatriotic, money grubbing bastards (half of the PMC pilots are Americans who left the military due to their dislike their country isn’t more involved in the fight against the BETA), the Soviet sees them as Capitalist pigs (the PMCs receives billions of dollars from countries who hire them) and the Japanese sees them as dishonorable warriors with no pride (they only fight for money. The PMCs being composed of foreigners doesn’t help either). As a result, when these countries hire them, the PMC aren’t allowed to fight in the frontlines and are allowed to do two things: guarding and escort the supply lines which the Big Three(which I will call the US/SU/IJ ) to humiliate them and the most dangerous job: becoming the rear guard for the main forces when they’re retreating while the PMCs hold the line and fend off the BETA which they hope many PMC pilots will die while saving their own. Ironically, the Big Three’s attempt on the PMC actually made them stronger and better. Because the supply lines are under their control, some PMCs pilots “borrow” certain weapons and parts for their TSF while making it look like it was lost in red tape, missing during battle or eaten by BETA (there’s one story how a rookie “stole” a Takemikazuchi TSF from an arrogant Japanese pilot who not only acted like a jerkass to the PMCs, but to the pit crews and his fellows Japanese pilots. To get back at him, the rookie, the pit crews and the Japanese pilots sabotage the jerkass pilot’s Takemikazuchi by making it look it could never be piloted again and had to be dismantle while it was secretly being sent to the rookie and his crew to be modded and covered up.) Secondly, the PMC pilots gain a lot of experience fighting the BETA regularly thanks to being in the rearguard where they learn the BETA weakness while finding many ways to kill them in creative ways.
While the PMCs also suffer losses like their military counterparts, theirs are much smaller since most of their pilots are veterans who have fought the BETA more than a decade and the ones who died are the rookies who never survive their first battle or veterans whose luck ran out. Within the PMC command structure, they don’t take orders from the military but their government clients. (eg.The Shogun hires the PMCs which they take only orders from her. They won’t take orders from the Imperial Army or the Imperial Guard unless the Shoguns says so.) To show the PMCs are different from the regular military, the PMCs have their own uniforms and their TSF pilots suit are different which includes e-helmets which helps their pilots better.
So the beginning of the fanfic starts on how Yui and her friends get a new instructor whose a veteran and former PMC pilot hired by the Shogun to teach Yui’s class how they should really fight the BETA instead what their military doctrine says.
I’ll like to say more but I’m busy. But I’ll leave you with this: