What I should have done:
What do you guys want to do in the morning and lunch?
*write update for morning and lunch*
What do you guys want to do in afternoon and evening?
*writes update for afternoon and evening*
What I did:
Hey guys, wat r u going 2 do tommrw?/
*Its just 1 day lol. cant take that long to write*
*yes tis but a single day, there is naught that the players may fancy to decided upon, none whatsoever*
*nek minute*
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
Well, I guess this is a result of 'first day syndrome.' I'm fairly sure the next days will be short enough to be one update things, but then again, I thought today was going to be short enough to be a one update day. >_>
Votes Results:
Morning theory classes:
>Ranged Combat: 2
>Close Combat:
>Self Study: 12
Afternoon practical classes:
>Ranged Combat: 11
>Close Combat:
>Self Study: 3
Evening elective classes:
>No Join:
>Explore: 13
>Join:
>>: Comedy: 1
Study stuff d56 = 7, 19, 15
XxXxXxXxXx
You were floating on clouds.
Soft sunlight played over your skin, enveloping you in comforting warmth.
A faint beeping shakes the scenery.
You snap your eyes wide open, expanding your Impeller field -why was it off?- shaking off the dream, looking and scanning around you for what disturbed you.
You were on a bed in a room. Your bed, in your room. Ah, right.
A clock on the desk opposite your bed beeps softly, slowly getting louder.
07:00
You shut if off with a thought, before digging yourself out from the piles of blankets and pillows. Pulling up your schedule again you look it over.
>04:00 Onwards: Breakfast available.
>09:00 Morning classes.
>12:00 Morning class ends. Lunch available.
>14:00 Afternoon Classes.
>17:00 Afternoon Classes end. Dinner available.
>18:00 Elective classes may begin from this time.
>23:00 Mandatory end of elective classes.
It was still two hours till morning classes begin, while you certainly did have enough sleep by now, it's still odd that-
A ping from Durga interrupts you. A pre-recorded message, set to play upon waking up?
Curious, you accept and listen and hear your own voice speaks out, "Reminder to Anna Sanchez. Upon waking up, shower and clean. Eat breakfast. Do other normal things. End message."
...you don't remember recording that, but it was useful, you suppose that why the default alarm time was two hours before classes began.
Entering the bathroom, you step out of your clothes, looking for a place to put them. A small door next to the sink marked Laundry catches your eye and you place your clothing inside. The door closes automatically and a soft whump sounds, before the door opens again, revealing a fresh set of clothes.
You stare at the contraption with interest, wondering how it worked, but shake off the thought and walk into the shower.
A host of options appear in your mind as the shower asks what kind of shower you would like. Water temperature, water dispersion pattern, water flow rate, automatic dispersion of soap and shampoo in water flow yes/no, scent of water-
…
You- you just want a normal shower?
The shower confirms with a cheerful ding and the nozzles in the ceiling spray water at you. You flinch as -thousands of projectiles race towards you, no time to dodge- The water hits your Impeller field and runs off. You take a breath and clench your fists. This is just a shower, you've taken showers before, you still remember enjoying them. It's just water.
You turn off your Impeller field off and the water hits your skin, soaking into your hair and running down your body. The droplets strike your body all over and you clench your fists at the sensation. A drop of water drips past your eye and you flinch, closing your eyes and leaning your head against the wall. The drumming of water on your skin and the floor below you fills your head with white noise. You just focus on regulating your breathing.
It only when warm air blows around you to dry you off do you realise that it's over. You stalk out of the stall before the drying cycle finishes, a targeted pulse of your Impeller field throwing the remaining water off you. The shower calls after you, asking if you would like to keep the current settings as the default, you suppress the channel with an annoyed huff. Grabbing your clothes, you throw yourself back on the wonderfully soft bed to calm down.
Fuck showers, you're going to stick to baths from now on.
XxXxXxXxXx
You didn't particularly want to get out bed after falling back into it, but you forced yourself to as the clock struck 08:00.
You walk to the cafeteria, this time using the travelators to speed up your travel.
Entering the cafeteria, you see that you were relatively early, the cafeterias currently not even a tenth filled. Walking over to the buffet table you look over the spread. Pastries and breads of every sort, many that you could not even pronounce the names of, cold cut meats, hot meat products such as sausages and bacon, soups and porridges, dairy products in profusion, eggs prepared in various ways, cereals, various salads, hundreds of different drink dispensers and a rainbow of fruit. It appeared the banquet table had its food portioned by category, then arranged alphabetically, there was that much variety in the food.
You are more than a bit overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of selection available. Cheese and bacon had been a luxury back in the town, highly prized for barter and eventually meat reached the same status, but you were aware that they weren't considered such by the UN in your time in Anchorage. Actually seeing all this, the level of selection and amount was different. Yesterday at lunch the cafeteria had been near full and people had already taken their shares, but now that you were early, you could see the banquet tables at near full load.
You consider just taking what you were familiar with, some bacon, eggs and some bread, before someone talks from your side. It appeared you had been hesitating for long enough that you had been noticed.
"Hey freshie, If you can't make up your mind what to eat, try a little of everything," suggests a blonde cadet from your side, a third year, as she collects a plate, "If you don't like it, throw it. Don't feel guilty about it, the trays might start looking sparse when more people get in, but it never runs out for real."
"Never runs out…?" you mutter, rolling the words around in your mind, the only things that never ran out in your experience were the Antagonists.
She moves past you, collecting fruits then looks back and grins, "Perks of living in an Arcology. Everybody in Perth can gets this much. Get used to it freshie."
She moves on towards a table with a backwards wave.
You turn back to the banquet and shrug, taking her advice, moving from one of the table to the other. You don't even make it a quarter of the way before your plate is stacked too high for you to consider taking anymore.
You move to an empty table and sit down, analysing the food you had taken, due to the manner you were sampling in, your plate was essentially nothing but bread.
…
Best get started then.
You cut off a small mouthful from each and work your way across the plate, left to right. The bread was very good, warm and smooth for some, crunchy and chewy for others, some fragrant and some sweet. However you only manage to make it up to the croutons, before you sit back, far too full to consider eating anything else. You manage to take a nibble of the crumpets but that was it, you could barely taste it.
You turn and look at the other cadets and see many walking with their plates, many more than half full and some stacked as high as yours, to a conveyor, where they put down the plates before the belt takes them through a slot in the wall.
"Hello Anna. I see you are taking a very large breakfast today," you look back over and see Yukari walk over with a tray of her own, she gestures at the seat opposite you with it, "May I sit?"
"Go ahead," you wave her down, "Another Third Year cadet suggested I try everything since I didn't really know what to eat."
You gesture at your plate, "So here I am. It will likely take several morning meals to work my way past the breads. Then I will start with pastries. Though if there is an overlap between the breads served at breakfast and those at lunch and dinner, I will perhaps start on the pastries as soon as tomorrow."
Yukari is staring at you, a spoon full of rice porridge held in front of her mouth, you watch her hold it there for one, two, three seconds, before she drops the spoon back into the bowl and covers her mouth with her hands, her shoulders shaking. You wait, slightly concerned as her face reddens, then she bursts into laughter, collapsing onto the table as she supports her head with her arms.
"Ahahaha- Anna, nahahaha, she meant, she meant for you- hahahaha, oh gosh you- you're actually going through it in alphabetical- ahahaha!"
At this she leans back and collapses on her side to lie down on the couch still laughing. Other cadets in the cafeteria were starting to look over, especially those who were just now entering.
"Umm Anna, did you just break sis?" you turn to find Koujirou standing by, holding a tray of food, gaping at his older sister.
"I did not 'break' her," you snap in protest, "I was just explaining my food choices."
Koujirou raises an eyebrow at you, before he moves next to his sister, nudging her legs further up the couch to sit down next to where Yukari was currently breathlessly giggling, still on her side.
"So uh, since I don't think sis is in any condition to talk, why is your plate stacked with nothing but bread?"
You twist your mouth out of its frown and explain the situation as concisely and seriously as you could to Koujirou.
His leans back, you can see his mouth starting to wobble as he suppresses laughter of his own, was your breakfast some communicable vector that made people laugh?
"Aha- Ahem, Anna. You know you can, aheh, just choose the foods that you like to try out, in- instead of going through them like a, a list right?" he said, seemingly exercising a great deal of will to not burst out laughing.
"I will go through the entire menu in that manner anyway, might as well try out everything in order," you mutter, feeling a slight blush rise to your face.
Thinking about it, the third year likely did mean for you to everything in the sense of everything that you want to try out, rather than literally everything. Yukari manages to lever herself up, catches sight of your plate, then falls back to the couch, suppressing a new batch of giggles with her elbow.
"Hahaha, oh my stomach hurts, sorry Anna- ahaha- I don't even know why- hehahaha~!"
You pick up your plate of bread with a sigh, for a moment you consider putting it on the chute with the other students, then shove it into Durga for storage instead. You might need them later.
"See you in class Koujirou," you farewell the boy, he manages to keep his mouth straight as he smiles and waves back, "See ya there Anna."
XxXxXxXxXx
Well.
You weren't sure what to do now. The little message that you had sent yourself said after breakfast, you were to do other normal things.
You doubted that there would be Antagonists so deep into human territory so patrolling was out. You had a fusion power plant now so there was no need to extend your solar arrays and other energy dynamos to recharge your batteries.
Thinking about your batteries, you concentrate for a moment and to assess them. Still busted from taking that particle stream, onium batteries apparently made rather good ERA, another 216 hours until full repair, same with the majority of your dynamos, though those would take another 400 or so hours.
…
Thinking of nothing else to do, you head for the classroom.
The door smoothly opens, revealing a fairly spacious room shaped like a semicircle, tiered rows of seats of increasing height surrounding the central pulpit.
You take a seat close to the middle and mentally glance at the time, 08:21
Well, nothing else to do. You double tap your desk and the integrated computer blinks on.
>>Welcome Cadet 1st Year Anna Sanchez
It was slower and far less intuitive than using Durga, but directly talking to networks for long enough gave you headaches.
You browse through the Academy net. The default page was set to the discussion forums for student and Instructors of the Academy, then one level up were the various websites run by the residents of Perth Arcology on its network, then access to the inter Arcology network. You go up to the highest level network, the so called Internet, and search for topics relating to Higgs, the Impeller field and spatial warping. Thinking about it, you also add some descriptors for Wave Force Manipulation to the search.
An immense number of different results appear on screen from your search, including a fair number marked Classified.
…
Perhaps you should leave those alone? No. You aren't using Durga right now, if you can see them, you are pretty clearly meant to be able to. You notice a small camera track onto you. It appears that the Academy could stop you at any time also. You go ahead and open the links, the very first one on top, which has a title too long to be compressed into the computer screen and is cut off halfway.
Wow.
That's a lot of math and that was only the abstract. What was this article even talking about?
You scroll through the pages.
A 9.3TB equation?
…
Nope. Can't deal.
Maybe you could process it with Durga, but you'd honestly be pretty happy putting it off for about forever.
You broaden your search parameters, removing the terms relating to Wave Force Manipulation. There were many hundreds of articles dealing with the mysterious particle, news articles, scientific papers, opinions posts and public journal entries, mostly from Valkyries. You start off with the news articles but find them sensationalised, ridiculous and in some cases flat out inaccurate. You eye a few of the scientific pieces but upon seeing the rather complicated maths, decide to skip those and turn to the public journal posts by Valkyries. Sent from all over the world, you decide to read through them. Most mention Higgs only in passing, though you browse through the pictures in the post with some interest. It appeared that the manipulation of Higgs particles with the Impeller field is not unique to you, although it appears no one else has brought it as far as to start using Wave Force, most others who do so merely remark on the increased offensive potential of their Impeller fields.
The door opens as you continue to read. A pair of women walk through into the classroom. Instructors from their uniform, sharply pressed white dress blazers and pants.
"Hello," you greet both the instructors, Meyer and Leonhart from their name tags. Meyer appeared in her mid twenties and had light brown hair hanging freely around her head, whilst Leonhart looked in her mid forties and had dirty blonde hair cut short.
"Good Morning cadet," returns Leonhart absently, only briefly glancing up from her tablet.
"Good morning cadet, always good to see people turn up early," chirps Meyer cheerfully with smile to you, "I don't think I remember you from the squadron roster, you're… Sanchez?"
She stops right in tracks, eyebrows raised, her eyes flicking to one side, obviously using her Valk to check on details, causing Leonhart to bump into her back, "Wait you're Anna Sanchez?"
"Oh, you were the orientation scanner. So you're Anna Sanchez?" says Leonhart, looking you over carefully.
"I am," you confirm.
Both abruptly stand straight and salute you.
Um.
"Thank you for destroying Sekhmet," says Meyer, her tone sombre, "We both lost people we knew to that Monster during Alaska."
"We probably wouldn't have been able to pin down Aeon either if you did not go on to shut down the Saskatoon breach," continued Leonhart, both of them still holding their salutes.
"With Aeon and Sekhmet still around, Herakles and Raksha probably wouldn't have retreated from Portland and we'd still be fighting today," said Meyer as both women finally dropped their salutes, "So you undoubtedly saved our lives and hundreds of thousands of others."
For a moment you just stare flatly at them. Saved lives. Did you now? You didn't manage to save even one of the townspeople whom depended on you, but they would credit you with saving hundreds of thousands. -You're late- Shaking your head clear of the memories, you resist a sudden urge to burst into hysterical laughter and simply nod, deciding to accept their gratitude, no matter how underserved it might be, without contest.
Meyer and Leonhart exchange a quick glance, a subtle sideways flicker of the eyes towards each other, Leonhart shakes her head just a tiny bit, Meyer bites her bottom lip slightly, then Leonhart speaks up again, "Miss- uh. Cadet Sanchez, while we're glad to see you, I was under the impression that you were taking an Academic only course and would be taking accelerated classes."
"I was," you say, for a moment considering to leave it at that, "I was asked by a third year to take care of some other cadets, so I'm taking normal classes for the moment."
The two share another glance, slightly longer this time, but before anything comes from it, the opens and other students start filing in. A slight blip of the screen makes you look down and you note that every single document marked Classified has disappeared. Interesting, does that mean you have the same level of clearance as the instructors?
"Welcome to Squadron Four everybody, for the moment, gather near the front of the room," calls out Leonhart with a clap of her hands.
You tap the screen twice again to logoff and walk towards the front of the room, standing slightly behind the first row of desks. The vast majority of the students file in just as the clock hits nine, including Koujirou, who cheerfully waves at you, and Setsuna, whose eyes widen at the sight of you then determinedly slides off to the side to stare at something over your right shoulder. You tilt your head in slight curiosity, sometime since yesterday, Setsuna and Koujirou had both collected Valkyrie frames, though you can feel that neither have theirs equipped, the fist sized Valkyrie cores stored in the belt attached side pouches for both of them.
Quite a few people in the class stare and start whispering to each other, pointing not-so-subtly at Koujirou, whose smile turns a little wry at this. The next two who step into the classroom steal all the attention that Koujirou gathered up.
Shuri and Sandra enter the room.
So they were in the same class as you were, quite a coincidence.
You were not the only one to recognise the pair, the whispering goes still for a moment then resumes at a much higher noise level. Sandra weathers the attention unfazed, a smile on her lips as she nods to some of the other cadets she seems to recognise. Shuri's face twitches for a fraction of a second, not quite a frown, then her face resets to a neutral expression as she walks beside Sandra into the room, giving out polite nods to the cadets whom call her by name.
Shuri really did appear quite famous, it appeared that practically everyone in the room knew her, the only other one who didn't seems to understand the fuss like you was Koujirou, you catch sight of Setsuna leaning sideways and whispering into his ear, an awed expression on her face.
"-the Golden Ace, -" "-youngest serving Valkyrie-" "- finally back in Academy-" "-pressure eased enough now-" "-so cool!"
You tune out the noise and lean backwards, you'll search up why Shuri was famous on your terminal later if there is a need to. Your movement appears to have drawn attention however, her gaze, sweeping imperiously over the assembled cadets suddenly locks onto you. Previously smooth and aloof, her expression changed subtly, her brow creasing slightly, her lips thinning, eyes narrowing a fraction. Enough change a look into a glare.
…Hmm.
You do your best impression of Setsuna and look innocently at a point somewhere to the left and past her.
It was not very successful.
She was definitely coming this way. Shuri casually sidles in next to you, turning to face the front of the room without a word to you. You notice Instructor Meyer wince and a slight shake of head from Instructor Leonhart at the byplay between you two.
Sandra walks up a moment later, smiling genially, "Good morning Anna, what a coincidence to see you in this class also."
"Good morning Sandra," you return, deciding to ignore Shuri until she actually talks to you, maybe you were just misinterpreting her look. Sandra smiles wider and walks to your far side, standing next to Shuri. Wow, when Sandra's this close, you can truly appreciate the sheer volume of hair she has. It stretched, blonde, thick and curly along its whole length, to fall slightly past her hips. You unconsciously raise a hand to pet your own short ponytail before you catch yourself and lower your hand.
"Good morning everyone! Welcome to Squadron Four," calls out Instructor Meyer, calling attention back to the front of the room, "For those of you who do not yet know, I'm Instructor Fiona Meyer and this is Instructor Cereza Leonhart. We will be the Instructors of Squadron Four for your first year at this Academy."
Instructor Leonhart takes over at that, "The first order of business for you cadets is to get into your temporary flights. This can be from 4 to 6 people. For the moment, these flights will be temporary, but by the end of week four, we expect you to have settled into permanent flights."
Practically every face in the class turns towards Shuri at that.
Instructor Leonhart continues, exasperation tinged with a hint of resignation in her voice, "Take this time to get to know your fellow cadets and think about who you want covering your back and how well you will get along with your flight members. Find your friends if you can. Do not, I say again, do not just swarm at the cadets with the highest combat ratings. Take a moment and think."
"Alright Cadets, we will give you fifteen minutes to organise yourselves, so go ahead," finishes Instructor Meyer with another clap of her hands.
You turn towards where Koujirou and Setsuna were standing and- a hand catches you by your elbow. You feel the slippery static sensation of low power Impeller fields interacting and turn in surprise. Shuri is looking at you sidelong, one arm reaching out. Even at this distance, without Durga extended, you could not make out the prosthetics that you knew were embedded across her face, it was very good work.
"Anna, how do you feel about joining my Flight?" questions Shuri, her expression somewhat conflicted, Sandra stands behind her, an eager smile on her face, almost bouncing in place in anticipation.
"Sorry, I already have other Cadets in mind," you respond immediately. Where did this question come from? You suppose that your skill would be attractive, but you were nearly sure that she did not like you yesterday following the simulation.
Shuri keeps her hand on your elbow for a second, seemingly undecided between relief and disappointment, before she lets go and nods silently in acknowledgment. Sandra pouts, looking positively crestfallen, but also nods in resignation.
You move on, noting a few eyes following you in interest for a few seconds at the interaction, before the other cadets close in on Shuri and Sandra, a swarm as Instructor Leonhart predicted.
Setsuna and Koujirou stand, mostly by themselves, towards the edge of the room along with a few other groups of cadets. You nod in greeting to the two and again Koujirou grins in welcome to you, "Anna! Good to see you make it. With how the crowd is over there, I don't think I could have managed to make it out in one piece. Also, just before the swarm closed in, I thought you got kidnapped by tall, dark and beautiful back there."
'Tall, dark and beautiful'? Does he mean Shuri Kravala? Setsuna aborts a slap before it even begins and turns her head away with an unhappy pout at your gaze. You were getting a handle for when she was likely to launch her physical attacks now.
"She asked me to join her flight," you say, "but I promised Yukari that I would look after you so I declined."
"Cadet Sanchez," Setsuna suddenly interjects frostily, drawing herself to her full, somewhat unimpressive height, "I do not know who you are or why Yukari onee-sama holds so much respect for you."
She gulps slightly as you look at her, wondering what an 'oh-nay sama' was, but her voice remains steady, "However, I can assure you that I can take care of myself and I can take care of Koujirou too while I am at it."
-It's okay, I can fight them. I can keep you safe-
She reminded you of… you from so long ago. A small smile of melancholy at that thought sneaks onto your face before you reset your expression, "How can you be so sure?"
Setsuna puffs herself up at that, "I already have more than seventy hours synched with Kosenjoubi, forty of them flight hours and I'm already combat rated as a Junior Valkyrie Third Grade. That would take the average Valkyrie at least one hundred and thirty five flight hours. I'm one of only fifty first years already rated as a Junior Valk. I can protect and teach Koujirou everything I know, so there's no need for you to inconvenience yourself."
"I am glad to hear that," you say honestly, the stronger they were, the better for everyone, "but let's leave it to the afternoon practical lesson to compare ability. Then you can make a decision of whether you want me around or not."
"Alright deal!" Setsuna pumps her fist and jumps in place slightly, turning to Koujirou and smirking, "See Koji, Anna thinks I'm awesome!"
Hmm, well Setsuna no longer seems to have an objection so you supposed you were 'officially' accepted into their Flight then.
"Setsu, I don't think that's what Anna was saying."
"You're just sore I whupped you in the simulator after dinner."
"Wha- It was my first time, you dive bomb me three seconds in and I still got hits on you anyway!"
"What's that Mr Zero-Wins-One-Loss? I can't hear you~"
You stand by their side, waiting as the minutes counted down, occasionally listening in on their arguing. Apparently "onee-sama" meant respected elder sister, Setsuna used a ranged combat frame while Koujirou used a close combat frame, Koujirou had not managed to make out the name of his frame and decided to not rename it, he thought that it would be disrespectful, Setsuna thought that was silly as first years were offered a wide range of Valkyrie frames to see which one they have the best compatibility with and then the argument took a tangent and you stopped listening in.
A few other cadets drift over, but aside from talking to Koujirou, something that has Setsuna getting redder and redder in the face, they do not appear interested in joining the Flight even on a temporary capacity, so when the Instructors call time, the three of you were waiting alone.
Your new team designation was Flight Seven of Squadron Four of Perth's 2070 First Years.
Instructor Meyer takes in the scene at a glance, "Well I can see there are some Flights with fewer than optimal members," a looks at your group, "and a few Flights with more than the optimal number of members," over on the other side of the room, Shuri appeared to have gained no fewer than seven other cadets in addition to Sandra.
"As the Flights as they are now are temporary, we will let this slide, sometimes missions will call for larger or smaller Flights as needed," the Instructor continues.
"Right, now we begin your first class as Combat Valkyries of the United Nations."
You lean forwards, interested in the lesson, wondering how normal Valkyries would start their career. Instructor Leonhart starts with a quick recount of recent history, then continues to on to give a brief summary of various Antagonists types and conventional human tactics against them.
There did not appear to be too much variation in conventional human tactics against Antagonist forces however, it mostly boiled down to launch hundreds of thousands of missiles and shells at Antagonist groupings. This is then followed by calling in Valkyries to suppress the AG interception units revealed when they fire to intercept the missiles, quickly followed by fast air to contest air superiority. All this time, high yield weaponry would be deployed selectively against newly discovered concentrations of enemy forces. While the heavy AG units were occupied by Valkyries, armoured formations advance with heavy air support advance and bury Antagonist units under Humanity's overwhelming numerical advantage. Lastly, infantry would sweep behind the main thrust for scattered remnants of AG forces.
While this was all happening in the planetary atmosphere, the battles in space was one of hide and seek that would begin weeks before the ground engagement as the various orbital forces stop each other from conducting bombardment on each other's staging areas and supply depots, moving through high and low orbits, hiding in the debris and radiation pockets that cluttered all levels of Earth orbit. Humanity nominally held orbital superiority over much of the planet, but even Valkyrie battleships could not withstand the anti-orbital weapons of Major Breaches for more than a few minutes at a time and would take damage from the anti-orbital weaponry of minor breaches, so attacks on AG controlled territories would have orbital forces descend into atmosphere and begin direct fire support for ground forces if orbit was declared swept sufficiently clean.
Once deployed enemy forces were sufficiently depleted, then attacks on enemy redoubts could begin, which was either the job of Valkyries if orbit remained contested, or the job of spaceships if orbit was clean and the redoubt was far away enough from a Breach for the ships to attack whilst a safe distance from the ground.
Once the Higgs Engines and the Higgs Generator of a redoubt were destroyed or disabled and along with them, the production capability of the redoubt, high yield weaponry would be used to collapse the perimeter structures and drones and infantry would sweep through the labyrinthine central structure to make sure it was cleared of hostiles and hopefully secure Higgs engines and Generators. If Valkyries could be spared, they would assist in this.
Appearances of High Level Antagonists change the equations significantly and Instructor Meyer gave a very basic overview of the various Types known to human forces.
Type 5s were air superiority units, capable of destroying entire squadrons of human aerospace fighters without problem from neutral scenarios.
Type 10s were artillery units, usually counter firing on human formations during concentrated pushes against AG redoubts.
Type 16s were small, stealthy but powerful Antagonist ground units, apparently serving an equivalent role to special forces infantry, usually inside redoubt tunnels to murder human infantry or hiding amongst destroyed AG units to ambush human armoured and artillery formations.
Type 18s were battlefield control Antagonists, capable of jamming, E-War, space warping and periods of full spectrum electromagnetic stealth, mostly found in space but always ready to give human ground forces a nasty surprise alongside other high level Antagonists that it might have been hiding or negate entire waves of missiles and drones with its jamming.
Type 7s were the general purpose monster, capable of everything that the other types were at reduced capacities, which made them the most dangerous to human forces as they were most flexible.
Type 2s were High Level Antagonists apparently created specifically to counter Valkyries, armed with single target, high precision weapons, they were deployed against Valkyries exclusively.
You calmly view the pictures and diagrams the scrolled across the board, looking for any unfamiliar enemies. You didn't find one, though you had only encountered Type 2s once you began your assault on Saskatoon Breach, so you pay rapt attention to the unfortunately brief description of the monster.
Instructor Leonhart steps forwards now, "Lastly and mostly, the Type Zero."
New pictures scrolled across the screen, a funeral under the shadow of the destroyed Elazig Hive for the one hundred and thirty six Valkyries and twelve of the Three Hundred killed by Indra during the doomed first push. Blurry pictures of the first interstellar space ship of humanity, Ark ship Noah, bisected by Abraxas at nearly a million kilometers from Earth, its terraforming tools and gene banks spilling out into the vacuum. Three shattered UN Arcologies of eastern Africa, destroyed by Aswang to result in fifty million civilian dead in just one hour.
"The three most infamous and publicised instances of attacks by Type 0s, before public information on them was squashed by the UN," a few cadets murmur in surprise at this, before Leonhart continues.
"I'm sure that even before you came here, you all researched Type Zeros. Know this, there is no standard doctrine for dealing with Type Zeros. The appearance of an unknown Type Zeros with a Generator output of Class B or above calls for a general halt of operations, or even retreat, of the entire front until its patterns are recorded. The first rule for you personally when it comes to Type Zeros is that you cannot win a fight against one alone. The second rule is that you cannot win a fight with your flight. The third is that you cannot win a fight with your squadron. Simply do not confront them head-on. If you become an Elite pilot, you may begin entertaining thoughts of attacking Type Zeros with a squadron of other Elites."
You shift slightly in discomfort at that, you understood that a normal cadet stood less than a ghost of a chance against a Type Zero, but the advice for fleeing and the certainty with which Instructor Leonhart advocated this bothered you at a fundamental level. You take a brief glance sideways, both Setsuna and Koujirou were absorbed into the presentation, leaning forwards in their seats with looks of concentration on their faces.
You would not be able to rely on your Flight for support against a Type Zero, nor would it be right for you to do so after promising to protect them.
Instructor Meyer steps up, beginning a in-depth analysis of tactics for Valkyries against Standard AG forces, attacking at range and attacking close in for the various types of normal AG units. You listen for a few minutes, but it's nothing that you don't already know. You lean forwards and again begin browsing the net for texts and other records relating to Higgs and Impeller use by other Valkyries, occasionally responding to questions asked by your two teammates when the Instructors quiz the Squadron on how to respond against various AG units. In particular, you read with some interest in how some Valkyries talk of using their Impeller field to shape plasma.
XxXxXxXxXx
Theoretical (Transcendent Offense): (0)+7+3 = 10/???
XxXxXxXxXx
"… which brings us to the conclusion of this lesson. That is it for theoretical today Cadets. Meet up in the lobby of simulation room L-four. You might get to put some of what you just learnt into practice so don't just let the knowledge slip out of your head," finished Instructor Meyer, again with a clap for emphasis.
Koujirou gives a mighty yawn as class ends and people start standing to file out of the various exits. He stands up and stretches, "Alright, so Anna, Setsu, want to go off and get lunch now?"
Setsuna mirrors his yawn, but manages to nod.
You shake your head, "Thank you, I've already got lunch."
You retrieve the plate of bread that you stored at breakfast.
Koujirou boggles, "Hang on Anna. You kept that plate of bread? You know you can get it fresh from the cafeteria right? Not that- I mean, slightly fresher… hmm, I've never tried food that's been enhanced by a Valkyrie core, I wonder if it taste better as well as being more nutritious."
He trails off halfway, looking at your plate of bread speculatively. You're about to offer to share when-
"Oh c'mon you moron, you'll get plenty of chances to eat Valk enhanced food later on through the year on our fieldtrips," Setsuna grabs onto the back of his shirt and drags Koujirou out of the room.
You shrug and pick up the Curry bread, noting it was still piping hot and crispy on the outside and take a bite out of it.
XxXxXxXxXx
You walk over to the large scale simulator room, this time having stopped your sampling at the Pretzel, the last of the breads that you were able to fit on your plate. You're quite confident that if the full selection of breads is served at dinner, you will be finished with the bread section. Entering the lobby, you note that you were again early, having simply wandered over after finishing your lunch.
For a moment you wonder if you should be elsewhere. What do normal people do during lunch? 'Eat and relax' Yukari had said during lunch just yesterday. You've eaten. So now it's time to relax.
You lean against the wall and wait, appreciating the quiet and solitude.
…
XxXxXxXxXx
Some time passes in peace.
…
"Miss Sanchez? Why are you here so early again?"
You wake up with a slight start, beginning a scan- before you squelch it. Instructor Meyer was standing on the other side of the lobby, having just entered the room.
"I was waiting for class," you answer promptly, rolling your neck slightly, no matter how much you did it, sleeping upright always made your neck sore.
"By yourself? Did you just come right here after morning class ended? What about lunch?" Meyer asked more questions, looking confused.
"Yes. Yes. I ate and I rested, I have already completed lunch."
Meyer stares at you for a second, then her eyes flicker slightly to the side, communicating silently over her Valkyrie most likely.
After a few moments, the Instructor shakes her head slightly, "Anna, I- okay. Anna, you should be hanging out with your friends, talking and getting to know them during your free time. If you're uncomfortable around people, Perth Arcology below has some great biomes that every cadet should find time to visit, especially if they haven't been in an Arcology before, even the City itself. Really, if you have nothing else to do, we're extending an invitation to the Instructors lounge to you. You don't have to talk if you decide to come, but you can hang around and listen to us whinge, maybe share some thoughts about how the war is going on, things like that, we've all been through years of battle as well. Leonhart's over ninety years old, she lived through Impact, so we all know. Did you at least sign into an elective class?"
"I am planning on visiting them all."
"Okay, that's good. They might formally open at six at night, but there's likely people who there during lunch and breakfast too, so you can visit them also."
She then hesitates a moment with a slight scowl, her eyes flickering back and forth, "There's also the 4th cafeteria. A few there might have egos the size of the Arcology, but most of the third years there will also be combat veterans. They know when someone is just there to rest."
You tilt your head slightly at the last suggestion, it sounded somewhat contrary to the previous ones, then answer, "Thanks for the advice, I'll think about it."
Meyer continues standing there for a second, looking troubled, then brightens and brandishes her datapad at you, "I'm about to go set up the simulator for the class, do you want to join me? It's very interesting to watch."
You wince slightly at the thought, "Thanks, but I don't like the sensation of the simulator setup, feels too much like a Type-18."
"Ah, yeah, you're a sensor type," murmurs Instructor Meyer, "Well, when the clock strikes two, Instructor Leonhart will arrive and once everyone is here, she'll pass you all in together. See you then Miss Sanchez."
You almost respond with the habitual 'call me Anna', but somehow saying that to an instructor felt inappropriate and you simply say goodbye as she enters the simulator main room.
You straighten up and wait for the remaining few minutes to pass as more and more students come in. Almost exactly on the dot, Instructor Leonhart stepped into the room lobby herding a last few cadets before her. She was over 90 years old? She did not look it.
… You suppose this was the same effect that had people guessing that you were older than you looked. You wonder for a moment how old Meyer was if Leonhart was over ninety and looked in her mid thirties.
You give a brief wave to Koujirou and Setsuna, enthusiastically returned by Koujirou, then fall into step behind them as you all enter the simulation room. They had both synched their Valkyrie frames sometime over lunch.
The large scale simulator room was not that much different in appearance to the smaller one, except scaled up in every dimension, more than thirty meters in diameter compared to the smaller rooms mere seven. Durga traces the flows of Higgs through the surrounding machines, which seem to writhe and twist upon themselves as you watch from the spatial shivers surrounding them.
Ugh.
"Alright cadets, for those of you who have not entered a simulator before, this may look rather alarming but do not be worried, these simulator are explicitly safe. We will enter on the count of five."
You roll your shoulders slightly, annoyed at the sensation of space distortions growing stronger and stronger.
"…two, one-"
Space around you wrenches, twists, the walls around you collapse inwards-
And you were once again outside of Perth Academy, on the surface. Instructor Meyer was already there, lazily waving to the squadron.
"First thing cadets, remember in theory how we told you all of what you can do and 'things to not do' inside the simulator, I once again emphasise, even if you are capable of them, do not use spatial warping abilities, for Higgs usage, use vocal prompts. You will be able to use both freely in the above ground airspace and the arenas," calls out Instructor Leonhart, her voice seemingly coming from every direction.
She glares around until there is a chorus of nodding and acknowledgements then looks towards Instructor Meyer. Both Instructors extend their Valkyrie frames in a flash of white light, weapon systems still retracted.
"Flights who are mostly comprised of cadets without many flight hours or even never synchronised with a Valk outside of compatibility testing, to me!" calls out Meyer, also with voice coming from every direction.
"Flights who are mostly cadets with flight hours or have synched with their Valk cores multiple times, this way," sharply gestured Leonhart.
You take a step towards Leonhart before looking back for an opinion from your teammates, but both Koujirou and Setsuna also walk towards Leonhart without objection.
There were two flights gathered around Leonhart, Shuri's Flight with its nine people, a Flight of four and your small Flight of three made for three total Flights, though the sheer size of Shuri Flight really meant that there were enough cadets for four Flights total, even with your smaller than average Flight. All in all, there were around even numbers of people between the two groups.
As a passing curiosity, you pull up a combat rating thing that people have been mentioning into your vision. Some of the cadets in your group were rated in the two to three hundred range while those in Meyers groups for totally new Valkyries were mostly '0's as expected. Setsuna, giving truth to her boast, was rated '930'. You honestly have no idea what the numbers mean and take further looks around. As you expected, Shuri was rated rather highly at… '14,700'?
That… was a rather enormous difference numerically.
You look around some more for other comparisons, Sandra who stood right next to Shuri was labelled '790', lower than Setsuna and no where near her wingman. The cadet, Syifa Wulandari, at the center of the third Flight was moderately highly ranked also, with a rating of '4500'. Three other cadets aside from Setsuna had a ranking above '900', but there was nobody close to the ten thousand mark, let alone half that again as Shuri was. You idly research your own combat rating and find a question mark.
Huh.
Well, nothing for it, you close the list as Leonhart begins talking.
"Now most of you would already be familiar with synchronising and extending and your Valkyrie frames, but regardless, we start there. All cadets, synchronise your Valkyrie cores if you have not already and extend your frames."
There was a dual flash of light as you and Shuri both extend your respective Valkyrie frames in milliseconds, followed fractions of a second later by Syifa.
Setsuna finishes a couple of second later, revealing Kosenjoubi, an elaborate, nearly ceremonial, red frame with golden highlights, her helmet had a wide clear visor, showing almost all of her face. Brightly glowing blue thrusters clustered around her back, ankles and wrists, likely double serving as a weapon system, likely a zero range plasma caster. A pair of cannons were mounted at her hips, currently set to a neutral position of pointing behind her like a tail, while a pair of plasma casters were slung behind her back. Missile racks were strapped to the outside of her legs and a melee halberd was equipped in its recessed form over her left vambrace.
Koujirou nearly keeps pace, his own frame, thin, elaborately articulated white plates with red highlights and a black under layer taking shape moment later, his helmet also with a large clear visor. Large thruster bands for plasma arc engines like yours were wrapped around his pauldrons and greaves, supplementing more thruster arrays that emerged from his feet and back. A melee halberd shaped like a curved sword of some sort was equipped on his hip and a cannon on his left vambrace… and nothing else.
You look over his frame more carefully but find nothing, surely that couldn't be it? Maybe he was already at the skill level where he could hold weapons in storage and change their materialisation manner?
"Where are your other weapons Koujirou?" you ask him over comms.
He jumps slightly, then scratches at his helmet, "Ah… well, I've got more don't worry, it's kinda weird though. I can feel them in storage, but I can't seem to extend them right now. There's two more, then a third that feels even harder to express out for some reason."
You shake your head minutely, one cannon and a melee halberd? Far too little utility to survive against Antagonists- you check yourself at this thought and turn your attention to Shuri. Her frame now sported both Particle cannons deployed alongside her thrusters and melee halberds, which she had two out right now, and some large plasma weapon now sat along her back over the Higgs engine along with a pair of missile racks nested next to it.
As you expected, her frame had more than just her particle cannon and halberd.
Over at Meyers group, you see some cadets synchronising with their first Valkyrie cores, a few falling over at the shock of the enhanced sensory input. A few went right on to extending their frames, all of them without exception had more weapon systems than Koujirou did.
"You should change frames," you advise Koujirou bluntly, "Or at least integrate some more ranged weapons."
"Eh, I actually went down to the fabricator to try yesterday evening but I can't seem to do it. But- I kind of don't want to change frames either, I bonded with this one during compatibility testing. They used to use this one for general compatibility testing since no one registers high compatibility with it specifically."
He sounded rather reluctant. You think it over, as you've only ever used Durga, you wouldn't really know what changing frames was like, "Have it your way then, make sure to figure out how to use those other weapons before you go onto the battlefield. You do not want to be holding something unfamiliar during a vital situation where lives are on the line."
"No probs Anna," he said, "but ah- where are your weapons?"
"I'm keeping them in storage. I don't need them out yet."
Setsuna turns and stares at you suspiciously, Koujirou tilts his head in surprise.
Before any more could be said on the subject, Instructor Leonhart begins talking again.
"Alright my cadets, from now on, treat this simulation as a battlefield. I understand that sustained expression of the Valkyrie frame, or simply keeping a core equipped, can be exhausting for those who are not used to it, but the Antagonists will not wait for you feel ready for a fight and in here neither shall I. Endeavour to keep your frame active for as long as you can."
A chorus of "Yes Instructor" dutifully rings out.
She nods sharply and continues, "As said in theory, the air is the Valkyrie's natural domain, it's most likely where you will be spending most of your time in combat. Some of you may have not flown before, so here and now, inside this simulator, is the best time to start. We start with simple manoeuvres."
Glowing green rings appear in the air.
"Follow me through the rings, bumping into your fellow cadets or touching the rings on your way through them will lose you score," calls out Leonhart, taking off on low thrust, ascending into the air, "Cadets who are confident with flying, you may fly ahead and try to complete the course in the minimum amount of time, the shorter your lap, the higher your score."
"Race you," smirked Setsuna at you.
"Make it a three way race?" questions Koujirou with a daring smile, but at Setsuna rather than you.
"Alright Koji, you're on!" shouts Setsuna, blasting off.
"Hey you- cheapskate!" yells Koujirou, launching himself off after her.
You burn after the two with a slight shake of your head. The two twist and turn through the course, coming far too close multiple times as they fly forwards, centimeters separating the two.
>>Cadet Masaya has contacted Cadet Rokusabe.
Oh boy.
>>Cadet Rokusabe has contacted Cadet Masaya.
The two were began going at it, no longer considering the contact between them and the rings or them and each other.
>>Cadet Masaya has contacted Ring 53.
>>Cadet Masaya has contacted Cadet Rokusabe
>>Cadet Rokusabe has contacted Ring 58.
Yep, they were trying to ram each other into the rings now. You shift, weapons unconsciously manifesting halfway around you before you retract them. Was this part of their 'normal' physical… relationship? Are such things even allowed in a lesson? You were quite sure either would get a blasting if they suggested to attack the other in any manner no matter how minor in a theory lesson, so surely this should be absolutely off bounds.
"Anna, just so you know, you are scored on this as a Flight."
A private channel from Shuri.
"This is meant to be team exercise where you help your team mates with formations and awareness," she continues, "If they keep that up, there's no way they will win, even if they do come first, which they probably won't."
Indeed as Shuri talks, Syifa and one of her flight passes both of them. Both of them had slowed down significantly now that they were ramming each other into the rings. This exercise seemed specifically designed against your flight mates. Then again, if the purpose of the lesson was to teach people how to work together combined with the fact that there would be no danger inside the simulator…
"Well," you finally respond, "I suppose I could let this exercise teach the lesson it's meant to teach…"
The Instructor was leading the rest of the students, staying silent as she watched from behind.
"Are you going to? I somewhat wish I did," grumbles Shuri.
Thinking about it, you did see several of her Flight bumping into her as they jostled for positions around her, before she apparently explained the purpose of the exercise.
"No I don't think I can," you murmur, mostly to yourself.
You push power to your thrusters and push between them before they could ram each other again.
"Setsuna, Koujirou! You are going to lose the exercise," you call out on flight channel, "Scores are calculated on a flight by flight basis. If you can't work together, at least don't work against each other."
They falter at your words and slow down further, staring silently for a few seconds at each other, likely having an argument of their own on a private channel, before both turn and bow mid-air at you.
"S-sorry Anna, we got caught up-" says Setsuna, then yelps as her posture sends her tumbling forwards before she corrected thrust ratios, nearly impacting against Koujirou again.
"Lets just finish," you allow with a sigh.
XxXxXxXxXx
Your flight still came last on average score.
By the time you intervened, it was too late to save the average. There were only three flights anyway and none of the others had fallen into the level of chaos as yours had so you weren't really surprised. It also turned out there was an enormous unmentioned penalty to deliberately pushing another cadet into the rings.
"So. Children. Tell me," growls out Instructor Leonhart, her armoured form looming over the despondent forms of Setsuna and Koujirou, "What. Have we learnt today?"
"…uh, well-" starts Koujirou.
"Wrong." Leonhart squashes the rest of his reply, turning her back to you three and looking to the rest of the group, "Of the sixteen cadets in our group, how many of you heard and understood when I said 'treat this simulation as a battlefield'? A show of hands."
Some hesitantly, some reluctantly, a full thirteen hands rose into the air. You did not even consider raising your own, you understood what the Instructor was doing.
And you hate it.
Setsuna's own hands had balled into fists and her lower lip was trembling now.
Instructor Leonhart turns back around to the trio of you, focusing on Setsuna now, "Well Junior Valkyrie Third Grade Masaya, do you think you can answer correctly?"
"We should have worked as a team," mutters Setsuna after taking a breath, looking at her feet, her hands now trembling.
"And?" Leonhart turns to you on this.
"We must not attack other humans, neither here nor anywhere," you return succinctly.
Through her visor, you see her brow creases for a instant, did she have some issue with your wording?
"Good," she cuts out brusquely.
"This is not a kiddie school. These are not games. Try that on a true battlefield and you would be lucky to escape court martial. If you were unlucky, you would be dead. If you were really unlucky, it would be your friends who are dead."
Koujirou and Setsuna flinch at that grim declaration. You just clench your jaw.
The rings appeared in the air again, this time moving and undulating like an enormous python.
"Now we go again."
XxXxXxXxXx
For an hour afterwards, seventy more circuits through increasingly complex paths followed, with more and more stringent rules and surprises in the course as it evolved. From a series of moving circles firstly to a solid tube obstructing views of what came next, then to a moving solid tube, to a simulacrum of a series of rock caves complete with collapses and finally to a moving simulation of a Breach Craft throat, complete with valves, plasma mists and spasms.
It was gross.
Instructor Leonhart had stopped upping the complexity when only you and Shuri were able to complete the courses. It rankled you, but with the rules set up as they were, even if you physically pushed and pulled your two team mates away from the various 'instant death' zones that appeared as the difficulty ramped up, so much contact eventually disqualified you before you could reach the end of the course. Very soon after you were disqualified, your two team mates would be too, unable to react in time to the various surprises inside the course without you there.
You did admire the persistence of both your charges however. They stuck in there and continued attempting to complete the courses despite obvious exhaustion until they were part of only five cadets attempting the paths at all, the rest simply concentrating on floating with their Valkyrie frames extended, too exhausted to fly more. You, Koujirou, Setsuna Shuri and Sandra were the last ones flying.
Once the last run had finished, which Shuri won again, her close combat frame's acceleration advantages allowing her to edge you out in these courses, Instructor Leonhart leads the group back down towards Meyer's group. Everybody there appeared to all have managed to equip Valkyrie units and had been running through a rather simple air course of their own, displaying the entire squadron with their Valkyrie Frames equipped for the first time. Some of your group however, collapse with groans once they reach the ground, a few even letting their Valkyrie frames retract as they sit down, clasping their heads.
Words aside, Instructor Leonhart appeared to know the limits of the cadets quite well and declares a quarter hour break.
Koujirou is one of those people who've clearly had too much to handle, his eyes swirling about in their sockets as he sinks to the ground.
Setsuna manages to continue keeping Kosenjoubi extended, she settles Koujirou into a more comfortable resting position then stands and stares at you for a few moments.
"You're an Ace Pilot," she states rather matter of factly.
"I have not taken a combat test before, so I don't know," you deflect with a slight shrug, it was likely that everybody in the group already knew, but you didn't feel much like broadcasting it.
Setsuna shakes her head, then rubs her visor with her palms, muttering under her breath.
"…Okay," she straightens, "Okay… I didn't know why Yukari respected you so much at first, but for what it's worth, I'm glad that you joined our Flight and I'll try my best to learn from you. And I'm also really sorry I got you into trouble then."
You tilt your head slightly in surprise.
"B-but! I'll get better than you someday! I'm planning to make Ace level as well! Then I won't need to rely on you or anyone else for protection," she flares up suddenly, glaring up at you.
Well, looks like Setsuna did not change her spots so easily.
XxXxXxXxXx
Koujirou had recovered once the two Instructors called an end to the break, still grimacing and rubbing at his head, but now functional and back in his Valkyrie frame.
"Alright cadets. From now on, we begin practical weapon training alongside manoeuvre practice," said Meyer, "As Valkyrie frames often sport differing and non-uniform weapons, this part of the lesson will be broken up into two general halves. Combat at range and close in combat."
"Divide into flights and decide amongst yourselves which role you would like to eventually play. Everyone, no matter what your frame configuration is, start off practising as much combat at range as possible, as familiarity with combat at range is necessary to close the distance."
Targets appeared floating in midair, simple polygons floating this way and that. Again, Durga marks them as decoys and this time you let the designation stand as they were making no pretensions about being anything else.
As it turned out, firing of missiles was a very in depth exercise rather than the fire and forget that you had expected it to be after the simulation on your first night, requiring a specific order and launch frequency that changed depending on relative altitudes, distances and velocities between the Valkyrie and the Target for maximum effect. First was to launch long range launching active seekers, then long range passive seekers, then setting up brackets and area denial with long burners with long linger times, then finally launching the medium range high manoeuvrability fast seekers.
This would take entire missiles artillery batteries or full alpha strikes from naval cruisers to set up with conventional equipment but was within the capabilities of singular long range focused Valkyrie frames thanks to the storage, compaction and refinement abilities of the Valkyrie cores.
The manner which Valkyries fought also depended heavily on their specific frame types, both Instructors made rounds advising on likely tactics for cadets.
Upon reaching you as you were resupplying on your missiles, Instructor Leonhart paused for a moment, "Anna… don't try to do too much at once, there is only so much one person can carry."
You freeze for a moment at the words, then continue loading missiles without a word as she moves on.
"Cadet Rokusabe! Get some more damned weapon systems! No you can't just fly up to them and hit them with your sword!"
XxXxXxXxXx
Practical (Target Rich Environment Level 1): (56) +19+3 = 78/???
Character Relevance increases to 8 (Notable Side Character/Harem Nominee)
XxXxXxXxXx
You glare at the roll of Yufka on your plate.
Why had you decided to do this?
It was all a misunderstanding on your part in the first place.
You hate bread.
There was only Zopf and Zwieback left after the Yufka.
You can do this.
It was delicious in every objective manner. Warm, chewy, fragrant.
You hate bread.
You take a perfunctory bite out of the last two different slices of bread and stand up.
"I have completed dinner," you declare stonily.
On the other side of the table, Yukari collapses into another attack of giggles, Setsuna stares at you open mouthed in shock and Koujirou maintains an absolutely expressionless face, but his faintly trembling shoulders show he was close to his limit.
You place the plate of bread into your storage again and march out of the cafeteria.
XxXxXxXxXx
Right. Elective classes, you open the list and consult the various locations.
Suddenly it occurs to you that exploring down the list in alphabetical order may be a poor decision like your food sampling. You open up more detailed descriptions for the various classes but there was enough variety that you were reasonably sure that it should not end in the same manner.
You decide to allocate one hour to each class as you scroll down the list, first was Aerospace modelling.
XxXxXxXxXx
Inside one of the expansive fabricator rooms, you find the elective class. A sign hung in front of the door declaring that Valkyrie cores must be synched before entering the room. You confirm the electronic prompt with Durga and the blast doors slides apart.
Small scale models of many different planes and rockets festooned the shelves of the room, some flying lazy circuits inside the high ceilinged room, filling the entire room with a whirring noise. You recognised a few different models of light planes that you had seen in the town, but most were completely unfamiliar to you.
There were some people gathered near the fabricator units forming what appeared to be tiny compressor engines for a model of a pre Impact passenger jet, but most people appeared to be throwing small folded pieces of paper around the room. Paper aeroplanes you recognised, though some of the designs were elaborate far beyond anything you used to build.
There were two third year Valkyries arguing quietly near the side of the room and you can't help but overhear as you walk past.
"-clearly origami-"
"-aerospace includes gliders okay?"
"We don't have enough formal members as is, can't you help me out here Liu?"
"-small scale modelling, not us-"
You move on past and sit down at one of the various tables, absentmindedly folding up a paper aeroplane from memory as you quietly watch the rest of the class. Compared to the actual classes with the Instructors heading them, the elective class was amazingly freeform. You idly launch your paper aeroplane, giving it a slight push with your Impeller field.
It soars towards the ceiling, before tracing a lazy spiral towards the ground. Then a model military jet angles towards it, there was a small flash of light and your paper plane smokes, then tumbles towards the ground, a small hole bored through one of it's wings.
Huh.
"Interested? You can call it down if you want a closer look," the third year who had been arguing at the side of the room walks over, tracing your glance, "Rafale, land."
The jet you had been watching turns and glides downwards, angling down and slowing until it extends tiny wheels from it's body and uses the table as a runway, sliding to a stop in front of you.
The third year gingerly picks it up and holds it out to you.
"Analyse it with your Valk if you want freshie, but honour rules here say we don't integrate anything we build to improve them."
"Thanks," you say to her, cradling the small machine with your Impeller field. It was remarkably light yet solid, somewhere under five kilograms for a model around half a meter long.
"Hold it there for a second will you?" asks the senior, fishing out her datapad from her pocket and extending a wire from it.
"Sure," you say absently, directing a scan into the small machine as the senior plugged her datapad into the model. Small hydrogen fuel cells, high energy density batteries, processor cores, various sensors in the nose cone, a small compact laser system, too low power to hurt an Antagonist of any class but capable of burning paper with enough time focused on it. You paid most attention to the tiny compressor engines slung under its wings though, it was amazingly intricate work.
"Thanks," she says as she puts away her datapad, "Someone tried to be smart and decided they wanted to see model dogfighting again. Since we don't do and see enough fighting already apparently. Anyway, interested in joining?"
"I'm just here to tour," you respond.
"Well, paper gliders are alright, but if you want to get into this stuff, you need to look at the design and construction on the fabricator. Just leave the jet on the table, it'll taxi itself to a shelf to recharge. Come with?" she says with a gesture towards the fabricator.
"Sure," you respond, placing down the jet, which instantly starts up its engine and start rolling towards the shelf, and stand to follow the senior.
XxXxXxXxXx
Next on the list was the Athletics class. It was held inside the middle of the Perth Arcology. You descend down a series of freight elevators alongside the cargo and walk through service corridors directly to the location.
It opened up to a fairly large sports stadium. Tiers upon tiers of seats surrounds the field all the way up. A large scoreboard was projected around the upper edges of the ceiling a series of records sliding scrolling continuously across it.
>100m Sprints - 3.56s - Shuri Kravala<
>200m Sprints - 6.82s - Shuri Kravala<
>400m Sprints - 13.41s - Lesidi Traore<
>110m Hurdles - 4.41s - Shuri Kravala<
…
You raise an eyebrow at the familiar name. Really? She really was a superstar.
In the center of the field there was a moderately large group of Valkyries, performing various activities. There was another similarly sized group of Valkyries just standing around, not just Valkyries, they seemed to be talking to boys? Male athletes from the look of them. They just seemed to be talking and mingling rather than performing any athletics.
You walk past them and look over the track. One hundred meters exactly from starting line to finishing line.
You rarely ran with your legs once you managed to integrate an electric engine some time ago, when you needed to get places fast while your engines were out of power or repairing, you had jumped with the assistance of your Impeller field. You still somewhat remember playing tag but that could hardly be called competitive running. You consider the track, then bounce up and down on your feet slightly, trying to remember what it was like to run.
You can't, the action of running simply doesn't ring any bells in your head.
Well, it had been a while.
You decide to simply watch this time, maybe your will remember with some encouragement.
XxXxXxXxXx
Third on the nights agenda, Amateur novel writing and literary critique, located in one of the Academy's classrooms.
You enter the room and take it in. Most of the Valkyries were clustered at the front of the room using the holoprojector to read a text aloud, whilst smaller clusters of Valkyries were gathered around the periphery of the room, whispering to each other and occasionally bursting into giggles.
You walk towards the largest group first, listening in as the holoprojector's artificial voice read out the text in a soft but deep male voice,
>He blazed into the restaurant. Customers halted with soup spoons halfway to their mouths to stare at the impossibly glamorous man who had just walked in in a storm of testosterone and muscle.<
You tilt your head in confusion. What?
As you listen on, it becomes more and more difficult for you to follow the plot, the sentences were rather too complex for you. The other Valkyries appear to have no problems understanding the prose as they gasp and cover their mouths and giggle into their palms in turn. One particularly notable one you have Durga record and analyse for you as you could not make head nor tail of what it was about.
>>Translating: "Maria had been reading a chryselephantinely overwritten book called Moll Flanders in the coach, and very definitely she thought the somber, passionate, tragicomic and picaresque story was most absorbing, and certainly presented the dark, sinister, underground side of English life in a vivacious and veridical manner that carried conviction, but she wished Mr. Defoe were not so in love with ornamentally excessive adjectives and long, stentorian, and somewhat inchoate sentences that, even by the standards of the time, seemed to twist and turn through curlicues and arabesques and wind on and on through ever-increasing clauses and sub-clauses, including abrupt changes of subject and total non sequiturs, even if he did seem to be making a unique effort to understand a woman's perspective on the world, which was all to the good, of course, and it was less monochromatically monotonous (she had to admit) than the other one he wrote with virtually nobody in it but that one ingenious mechanic on the island, living in total isolation until he found that mute but ineluctable footprint; and yet it could all be told as well and be more pleasant to read if those sentences did not get so totally out of control and sprawl all over the page so often in positive apotheosis of the lugubrious style, and then she wondered if reading so much of such labyrinthine and arabesque prose for so long in the hot carriage had affected her own mind and she were starting to think like that herself, instead of just enjoying the shade of the oak trees and resting from thought in the dense cool quiet of the mid-afternoon English summer."
>>"Maria read a book called Moll Flanders in the coach. The subject was English criminals in the pre Impact era. She found the language of the book overly complex. However, it is more engaging than another book by the same Author which focused on a mechanic on an island. The complexity of the language eventually drives Maria insane. The end."
You blink in slight shock. Well that was depressing.
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The fourth elective class was architecture, located inside Simulation Room L-12 every Monday evening.
You enter the simulation space, again annoyed at the shuddering space that preceded entrance and exit from the simulation.
You were standing… somewhere.
Enormous towers, kilometers wide and stretching far into the upper atmosphere rose up in every direction. Thin, shining cables reached out into space, floating spaceships the size of Arcologies hung in the air. Spires, delicate and graceful next to their blocky cousins, stab into the sky here and there. As you watch, one of the enormous towers wavers, dust falling from one side as something internal gives and the entire structure collapses like a pyroclastic column. Before the falling section hits the ground, it suddenly disappears along with the rest of the tower. In the distance, more enormous towers begin ascending into the sky, monumental in their bulk, pieces of construction material appearing around them to slot themselves in.
IFFs popped up on your screen, showing the locations of Valkyries, some hundreds of kilometers away.
A small notice appears on your screen requesting you not attack any of the structures as they were undergoing testing at the moment.
You confirm it and express Durga, taking to the air to explore the labyrinthine space and the titanic buildings within it.
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You were almost loath to leave the fantastical simulation, but force yourself out and walk for the surface observation towers. Acknowledging the notice that exiting the Arcology without a Valkyrie synchronised was an offence, you exit to the surface.
Flying a few kilometers from the Academy, you find and land alongside the class.
Around two dozen Valkyries, some suited up, sit or lie down in the shrub grass, staring at the night sky. You weren't sure whether to keep Durga extended or not when a request from another Valk comes in. A high bandwidth in/out data sharing program, you accept it and gasp.
The power of a dozen Valkyrie frames sensors and sharing data across them made for an incredible picture of the night sky. This was a jump on par with the sensory boost you experienced when you equipped Durga with its new sensor suite. You stare out at space, occasionally zooming in on the plentiful orbital debris, occasionally looking much out towards the stars. A ping comes from one of the Valkyries and you turn your attention to what she was pointing out. A UN space fleet, centered around the Valkyrie Battleship Sydney and two 'normal' space battleships alongside a five carriers and their attendant swarms of aerospace fighters, they were swinging over Australia in their polar low orbit patrol route. You barely catch it, but the white glimmers of 300 frames appear near the thruster wake of Sydney for just a moment.
A few minutes pass as the class follows them before they disappear over the horizon.
Then you all return to looking out to space.
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Elective: 15
15/5=3
Aerospace modelling - 3/30
Athletics - 3/30
Amateur novel writing and literary critique - 3/30
Architecture - 3/30
Astronomy - 3/30
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You sigh as you once again lie down on your bed, feeling rather drained. You had fought continuous battles that lasted longer than this but for some reason this one day exhausted you.
Another voice message, once again from yourself pings in, again one that you don't remember setting up. You stare at it in irritation before opening it.
"Bath, brush teeth. Remember to sleep. End message."
You scowl and haul yourself up. At least you weren't suggesting you shower to yourself.
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As always, feel free to abstain votes. If you choose to do nothing during breakfast, lunch and dinner, Anna will just loiter near the classrooms waiting for classes.
Also, sometimes I will likely cut an update off in the middle of a day to present a decision to you guys as I really, really should have several times this update, they won't affect the votes for the rest of the day though.
Continue down The List for breakfast?
[]Damn the laughter, full ahead.
[]No, no more. You do not want to ruin pastries for yourself also.
[]Write in?
What do you do in the morning?
[]Write in?
[]Nothing.
What to study? (Slight change here as I managed to work out a proper upgrade path for you guys that wasn't stupid. You may try to improve an existing special modifier or attempt to gain a new one with the self study write in option.)
[]Morning: Self study. Continue as is. (Transcendent Offense)
[]Morning: Self study. Write in particular subject.
Do anything in lunch break?
[]Lunch: Hang around with friends?
>[]Who?
[]Lunch: Hang around the cafeteria.
[]Lunch: Visit Perth Arcology.
[]Lunch: Bum around the Instructors lounge.
[]Lunch: Visit the 4th cafeteria.
[]Lunch: Write in.
[]Nothing.
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Detailed responses to the thread and stuff and updates to character sheet in a bit, cause there were a lot of responses this time. Promise that it won't take as long as the update to write the responses though.
