After closer inspection, Ves and Gloriana confirmed that the Dark Zephyr Mark II was not in the best physical shape.
The Unending alloy plating had protected the expert mech for a long time, but it was impossible procure more of it after it had been destroyed in battle.
This forced the maintenance crews to make use of armor plating made out of entirely different materials in order to restore the expert mech's armor coverage.
While the Larkinsons had done their best to match the mass and density of the replacement plating, it was impossible to make everything as congruent as before. The inconsistencies produced multiple misalignments and slightly reduced the fluency and the reliability of the expert mech.
This was just one of many ailments that affected the Dark Zephyr's performance!