Calibration (BAHHSCQ/Sanctioned)

[Cartesian]

"No, we aren't just leaving it down here out of paranoia. If all the resources of the pre-Antagonist world couldn't damage them, a random maniac certainly couldn't manage it no matter their skill with bioengineering."

"I mean, maybe? But on the off chance that it is corrupted, is it actually ethical to make someone synch with it?"

"You're letting this place get to you."

"It is a very freaky place, okay!?"

Click to shrink...

Welcome to Earth Cal

[CONFIDENTIAL - NEED TO KNOW ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Initial Assessment: Recovered Valkyrie Core​

This assessment is for the purpose of monitoring a subject - selected from a pool of promising Valkyrie candidates - as they undergo synchronization with the Valkyrie core recovered from the bunker designated "Darkest Dungeon". The assessment shall be done in Perth Remote Test (PRT) Facility #4.

Note 1: [REDACTED] and Valkyrie frame [REDACTED] were also recovered from Darkest Dungeon one week prior.

Note 2: Subject is not aware of the nature of the core but was informed of a need for new synchronization data to justify this study.

Subject:
>>Name: Noelle Meinhardt
>>Sex: Female
>>Age: 14

No anomalies were detected during and post synchronization. Subject was kept isolated for a period of three days and an increase in appetite was noted but could easily be attributed to stress consumption. Subject was released from isolation but monitoring continued within Perth facilities.

In the following week, the subject continued exhibiting an increased appetite which grew daily. Subject also exhibited a need to consume various metals and organic matter. This matched the known case of the core designated [REDACTED] which had a similar need to replenish depleted materials. This may be a shared characteristic between the cores due to both having been recovered from Darkest Dungeon.

The subject was then supplied with 400+ tons of materials over the course of a week but the subject's appetite had shown no signs of abating. Materials consumption had grown beyond core [REDACTED]'s baseline expectations with daily consumption nearing 100 tons as of Day 17.

The situation has grown beyond the scope of this assessment. Subject shall be transferred back to PRT Facility #4 for increased monitoring of abnormal core behavior. Solutions for increasing material intake will be attempted. See related incident report.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[SECRET - SENIOR VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Incident Report: Subject Noelle and Anomalous Valkyrie Frame Behavior​

>>Location: PRT Facility #4
>>Subject: Noelle Meinhardt
>>Core Designation: Avarice

Circumstances permitting, Senior Valkyries and Valkyrie core experts were recalled from previous positions and brought to PRT Facility #4. Due to limited knowledge of core manipulation, attempts to analyze and resolve anomalous Avarice behavior failed.

Materials consumption levels have grown beyond sustainable levels so plans to restrict, maintain, and eventually eliminate consumption were created and enforced with extreme scrutiny. The subject initially exhibited depression but continued hunger has made the subject aggressive.

Without any other alternatives, beginning at 0100 hours, synchronization will be forcibly terminated and separation of the subject and Avarice will be attempted.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[ALERT - EMERGENCY ACTIVATION OF ALL VALKYRIES IN PERTH AND SURROUNDING REGIONS]
Class E Type Zero Echidna has appeared above Perth without warning. All Valkyries receiving this alert are hereby conscripted to emergency action. This is not a drill.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[SECRET - VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Battle Report: Perth Breach​

All Valkyries in Perth and its surrounding regions were activated to neutralize Echidna. Multiple alerts followed which are summarized as the following:

Echidna was determined by onsite Valkyries to be a Class E Type Zero threat but was elevated to Class D and finally Class C. Before communications ceased, crucial information on Echidna's capabilities were broadcast to all Valkyries.

Capabilities of Class C Type Zero Echidna are the following:

• Voracious consumption of surrounding environmental materials and its storage
• Assimilation of Valkyries in a similar manner to Valkyrie Frame assimilation of technology
• Incredible production capacity of short-lived drones with powerful specialized abilities at the expense of other skills or physical parameters.

This information saved countless lives and allowed Perth Valkyries to hold off Echidna's swarm long enough for reinforcements to arrive despite sustaining heavy loses. The situation improved but continued losses while Echidna produced additional drones through Valkyrie assimilation and environmental consumption left Valkyrie forces in an untenable situation.

With loses reaching 30%, Echidna was finally driven off into the Indian Ocean when Valkyrie Sanchez managed to breakthrough the swarm to attack Echidna with Corrosion. Despite the unlikely victory, it was pyrrhic at best. The survival of Echidna in the Indian Ocean has necessitated the formation of multiple battle lines along the coasts but massive loses at Perth has made filling these positions especially difficult on an already stressed network of global military forces.

It is highly recommended that a method for applying Impeller Field research at a tactical level is found. Increased Valkyrie numbers capable of fine Impeller Field manipulation at the level of Valkyrie Ana Sanchez is vital to minimizing losses across all battle lines and alleviating grave personnel shortages. Unfortunately, Valkyries skilled enough to learn remain low so defensive vulnerabilities will be unavoidable in the short term.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[TOP SECRET - PRIORITY MESSAGE TO TOP LEVEL VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Emergency Report: Possible Origins of Antagonist Threat​

At 0100 hours, an incident occurred in PRT Facility #4 which led to the FORMATION of Class C Type Zero Echidna. It is very likely that Echidna is either a Class B Type Zero threat or very close to being one. For details of the battle, see related Battle Report.

With the appearance of Echidna, there is now strong evidence to suggest the origin of the Antagonist threat may be human in nature. A top priority directive has been passed. The number one priority for UNOMI is now the complete investigation of Darkest Dungeon and all related materials. Great caution must be taken at each step to ensure another such Antagonist threat is not formed.

Similarities in the high utilization of organic structures has been noted between Echidna and Valkyrie Taylor Hebert. Reviewing Hebert's case file has placed greater importance on her comment to Valkyrie Yukari Rokusabe - intercepted and recorded by UNOMI - that any attempt to separate Hebert from anomalous Valkyrie frame "Symbie" will lead to "debilitating shocks on the first offense. Force pulses on the second. Repurposing as spare parts on the third." Although no such incident has occurred, the stated ability closely matches Echidna's ability to assimilate Valkyries for producing drones. These similarities are beyond coincidence.

As such, a major part of this investigation shall prioritize increased monitoring of Valkyrie Taylor Hebert and any related parties which may include but is not limited to all Valkyries, Cadets, and other non-critical personnel stationed at Perth.

It bears repeating that great caution must be taken in case of and preparation for a second Formation incident. For more information on Antagonist Formation, see related Assessment and Incident cases which are hereby classified [TOP SECRET - FOR TOP LEVEL VALKYRIES ONLY].

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oops... might need to escalate now"​

Edit: Some of the word choice was bothering me because it didn't seem robotic enough to be military. I ended up adding more at the bottom of the Battle Report and rewriting the Emergency Report.

Spoiler: Original Omake

Welcome to Earth Cal

[CONFIDENTIAL - NEED TO KNOW ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Initial Assessment: Recovered Valkyrie Core​

This assessment is for the purpose of monitoring a subject - selected from a pool of promising Valkyrie candidates - as they undergo synchronization with the Valkyrie core recovered from the bunker designated "Darkest Dungeon". The assessment shall be done in Perth Remote Test (PRT) Facility #4.

Note 1: [REDACTED] and Valkyrie frame [REDACTED] were also recovered from Darkest Dungeon one week prior.

Note 2: Subject is not aware of the nature of the core but was informed of a need for new synchronization data to justify this study.

Subject:
>>Name: Noelle Meinhardt
>>Sex: Female
>>Age: 14

No anomalies were detected during and post synchronization. Subject was kept isolated for a period of three days and an increase in appetite was noted but could easily be attributed to stress consumption. Subject was released from isolation but monitoring continued within Perth facilities.

In the following week, the subject continued exhibiting an increased appetite which grew daily. Subject also exhibited a need to consume various metals and organic matter. This matched the known case of the core designated [REDACTED] which had a similar need to replenish depleted materials. This may be a shared characteristic between the cores due to both having been recovered from Darkest Dungeon.

The subject was then supplied with 400+ tons of materials over the course of a week but the subject's appetite had shown no signs of abating. Materials consumption had grown beyond core [REDACTED]'s baseline expectations with daily consumption nearing 100 tons as of Day 17.

The situation has grown beyond the scope of this assessment. Subject shall be transferred back to PRT Facility #4 for increased monitoring of abnormal core behavior. Solutions for increasing material intake will be attempted. See related incident report.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[SECRET - SENIOR VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Incident Report: Subject Noelle and Anomalous Valkyrie Frame Behavior​

>>Location: PRT Facility #4
>>Subject: Noelle Meinhardt
>>Core Designation: Avarice

Circumstances permitting, Senior Valkyries and Valkyrie core experts were recalled from previous positions and brought to PRT Facility #4. Due to limited knowledge of core manipulation, attempts to analyze and resolve anomalous Avarice behavior failed.

Materials consumption levels have grown beyond sustainable levels so plans to restrict, maintain, and eventually eliminate consumption were created and enforced with extreme scrutiny. The subject initially exhibited depression but continued hunger has made the subject aggressive.

With no alternatives, beginning at 0100 hours, synchronization will be forcibly terminated and separation of the subject and Avarice will be attempted.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[ALERT - EMERGENCY ACTIVATION OF ALL VALKYRIES IN PERTH AND SURROUNDING REGIONS]
Class E Type Zero Echidna has appeared above Perth without warning. All Valkyries receiving this alert are hereby conscripted to emergency action. This is not a drill.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[SECRET - VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Battle Report: Perth Breach​

All Valkyries in Perth and its surrounding regions were activated to neutralize Echidna. Multiple alerts followed which are summarized as the following:

Echidna was determined by onsite Valkyries to be a Class E Type Zero threat but was elevated to Class D and finally Class C. Before communications ceased, crucial information on Echidna's capabilities were broadcast to all Valkyries.

Capabilities of Class C Type Zero Echidna are the following:

• Voracious consumption of surrounding environmental materials and its storage
• Assimilation of Valkyries in a similar manner to Valkyrie Frame assimilation of technology
• Incredible production capacity of short-lived drones with powerful specialized abilities at the expense of their other skills or physical parameters.

This information saved countless lives and allowed Perth Valkyries to hold off Echidna's swarm long enough for reinforcements to arrive despite sustaining heavy loses. Although the battle was favorable towards Valkyrie forces, their increasing losses while Echidna produced additional drones through either the assimilation of more Valkyries or the consumption of surrounding materials made the battle unsustainable.

With loses reaching 30%, Echidna was finally driven off into the Indian Ocean when Valkyrie Sanchez managed to breakthrough the swarm to attack Echidna with Corrosion. Despite the unlikely victory, it was pyrrhic at best. The survival of Echidna in the Indian Ocean has necessitated the formation of multiple battle lines along the coasts but massive loses at Perth has made filling these positions especially difficult on an already stressed network of global military forces.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[TOP SECRET - PRIORITY MESSAGE TO TOP LEVEL VALKYRIES ONLY]
United Nations Office of Military Intelligence
Emergency Report: Possible Origins of Antagonist Threat​

At 0100 hours, an incident occurred in PRT Facility #4 which led to the FORMATION of Class C Type Zero Echidna. It is very likely that Echidna is either a Class B Type Zero threat or very close to being one. For details of the battle, see related Battle Report.

With the appearance of Echidna, there is strong evidence to suggest that the origin of the Antagonist threat is human in nature. The greatest priority of UNOMI is now the investigation of Darkest Dungeon under the utmost scrutiny while taking great care that another such threat is not formed.

UNOMI is also tasked with the increased monitoring of Valkyrie Taylor Hebert in case of and preparation for a second incident. Great care must be taken as any attempt to forcibly separate Hebert from anomalous Valkyrie frame "Symbie" has been stated by Hebert to lead to "debilitating shocks on the first offense. Force pulses on the second. Repurposing as spare parts on the third" in intercepted communications. The similarities are beyond coincidence. This is of grave concern as the number of Valkyries capable of Impeller Field manipulation at the level displayed by Valkyrie Ana Sanchez are too few.

For more information on Antagonist Formation, see related Assessment and Incident cases which are hereby classified [TOP SECRET - FOR TOP LEVEL VALKYRIES ONLY].

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oops... might need to escalate now"​

 

[Alivaril]

AN: This is probably the last one. I saw a missed opportunity at the end of part II and suddenly there's a whole omake.

---

"It is a very freaky place, okay!?"

"Dazed. Reeling. About to break."

"Fuck off!"

~

"I'm—I'm okay. I can keep going."

"A moment of valor shines brightest against the backdrop of despair."

"You shut up! I'm not just imagining it, right? It's started replying to us since we got close to that Valkyrie Core?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The lines sound too practiced for someone to be ad-libbing, yet they still don't quite fit the situation. My guess is on a self-learning system tied to behavioral analysis."

"The walls close in, the shadows whisper of conspiracy!"

"At least it's become more annoying than creepy."

"Such a terrible assault cannot be left unanswered."

>> "And I think that's our signal to switch to comms."

>> "Unnerved. Unbalanced."

>> "Switching communication type to our usual backup."

>> "Press this advantage. Give them no quarter!"

>> "Tertiary?"

>> "Another one falls!"

"I loathe this place."

~

"Perched at the very precipice of oblivion!"

"I'm not imagining those cushions at the bottom, right?"

"Hidden spikes will punch right through them."

"...Seriously, that's just pointlessly cruel."

"More blood soaks the soil, feeding the evil therein."

~

"Hey, we should be getting close to the end, right?"

"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious ki–"

Elise shot out the speaker.

"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer," the next room's speakers loudly relayed through the closed door.

"If we find whoever made this place, imma just shoot 'em."

"No, you won't. They're more useful alive and Hebert's sanity is at stake."

"The wise general cuts losses and regroups."

"See? They even agree with me!"

"They're a bot, Elise."

~

"This cannot possibly be the end of this tunnel."

"Such blockages are not surprising. These tunnels predate even the earliest settlers."

"That's not the way it works you little shit."

~

"The twisted faces of the damned! Piled high, and cloaked in madness!"

>> "...Okay, this is fucked up even by the standards of this place. I mean – is that a trio of floating biomechanical spines? Can we just turn around and bomb the whole facility?"

>> "We're almost to the end. There's a reason they're going all-in on the psy-ops; they can only fit a few more rooms within the sensory distortion."

>> "Secrets and wonders can be found even in the most tenuous corners of this place."

>>"I'm only allowing transmissions from you right now and it's still being registered. This is fucking creepy."

~

"The requirements of survival cannot be met on an empty stomach."

"Holy shit. Did they use cyanide as flour for that cupcake? I'm not even mad."

"Death waits for the slightest lapse in concentration."

"Meh."

~

"And now the darkness holds dominion. Black as death!"

"Ooh, my searchlight-equipped self is so sca—oh."

>> "That's a dense cloud of bioengineered insects, isn't it?"

>> "Fire at will."

~

"Some experiments should have never happened. You are doing just work ending them."

"I'm honestly kinda wondering what the point of it all was. A psychological testing facility? Hive-invading shock troops?"

"Barbaric rage and unrelenting savagery make for a powerful ally."

"Honestly not sure if that's a yes or not."

"Please stop personifying the bot."

~

"A finely crafted instrument of butchery and bloodshed — yours for the taking."

"Are you sure we can't just leave these Cores behind? I mean, there was that whole mess with Symbie–"

"Her profile was odd from the start. These read as perfectly normal."

"Yeah, but are you sure?"

"Elise."

~

"Ancient traps lie in wait, unsprung and thirsting for blood."

"Not gonna lie, I'm impressed by whoever came up with that one for an empty hallway."

"The walls are simultaneously jamming my sensors and appear to be load-bearing."

"Yes'm. No longer laughing."

"Honestly, I can't decide if the bright party room at the end is even more ominous or not."

"In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings."

"I liked it more when we could use the recordings as an attack warning."

"Don't jinx i—fucking hell, Elise!"

"Sorry!"

 

[Alivaril]

Spoiler: Patrons & Betas

Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, and my twenty other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>

Beta-read by @Vebyast.

AN: A few paragraphs of this chapter were (with permission) taken directly from BAHHSCQ's first class; I figured that class introductions, and a few lines, would probably keep some consistency even with QA's curveballs.

---

Queen Administrator was not fleeing from her problems. She was taking care of essential tasks that needed to be completed to avoid humiliation in her first combat situation. The fact that this necessitated leaving the Crafting Club without the socially-encouraged dismissal was entirely coincidental.

…Or at least, she would take care of essential tasks if there were any unoccupied simulators available. She wasted the vast majority of her remaining time in a vain attempt to find an unoccupied sim. It seemed the rest of the academy had the same thought of getting in last-minute practice before classes began. As inconvenient as it may be, QA did have to admit that it was mildly gratifying. Perhaps some of the students had a better work ethic than she'd given them credit for.

Queen Administrator huffed unhappily and started toward the designated site of her first classroom. At least the timing of her trip provided a minimal amount of strategic data: compared to the prior day, there seemed to be a vast increase in the number of individuals rubbing their eyes after glancing at her Friends. Those students were probably the more inexperienced ones; the brightness of allegedly-high-yield explosives would necessitate a greatly increased tolerance for color contrast. QA imagined that they would be a high priority for any Valkyrie Core improvements.

She let her three permanent Guardian-Friends lead the way while keeping her temporary Friend safely sitting around her shoulders. It was not to be damaged before it could be delivered. Unfortunately, the safety of a classroom — and didn't Host's memories loathe that thought — was denied her; a Valkyrie in her mid-twenties stepped out to block their collective path. Her name tag identified her as Leonhart.

"Good morning, Cadet," Leonhart began briskly. "I'm Instructor Leonhart. We need to talk before your first class."

Queen Administrator blinked placidly. She highly doubted that. Still, she didn't believe the Valkyrie could kill Host's body before their Friends could activate their screamer modules; there was little reason not to follow the human to a nearby corner. At the very least, QA could gather information.

"Can you refrain from transmitting that alleged ID of yours?" Leonhart bluntly asked, apparently unfazed by Krystal's protective presence in the air between them.

Archival note: The entity or entities monitoring Host and/or the Crafting Club appear willing to share information with other Valkyries. Archival supplement: initial impressions indicate that such individuals believe the warning regarding anti-tampering measures.

"No. Symbie, my Friends, and my body may not recognize me if I were to comply. Additionally, I have spoken in a crowded cafeteria. I do not believe suppression would be practical even if it were possible."

Instructor Leonhart took a deep breath and pinched the upper bones of her nose.

"Wonderful. We're going to have to make an entire announcement. In any case: Cadet Hebert, kindly refrain from harassing others. You've been making Sanchez unacceptably uncomfortable and it needs to stop. I understand that the first offense was accidental, but ogling her isn't much of an improvement."

"I am examining her so that I know what improvements I should implement for myself," Queen Administrator immediately objected. "I am not ogling her; she is simply the best human I have come across so far."

Leonhart hesitated, momentarily expressed amusement, and forced the smile back into a stern visage.

"I won't say you're wrong, but you can do that with one scan and a saved copy. Staring just makes her uncomfortable."

Queen Administrator couldn't help but feel offended on Anna's behalf. Hardware wasn't everything; software was also an important component.

"Her movements are part of–"

"Cadet, you can justify it to yourself all you want," Leonhart interrupted. "The fact remains that you are making Sanchez uncomfortable and it needs to stop. Combat training will provide plenty of opportunities for incidental observation; you don't need to act as though this is the last time you ever see her."

Instructor Leonhart paused momentarily. Queen Administrator tried to use the opportunity to agree aloud — Leonhart was right about the lack of urgent time limits — but the instructor apparently hadn't intended to give her a chance to speak.

"Unless you don't stop, in which case it might be. We can and will move you to another squadron if you can't control yourself in Sanchez's presence."

Queen Administrator tried to avoid demonstrating any anger. Alienating Leonhart would only cause problems in the future.

"The threat was unnecessary; you were correct about future opportunities. Is there anything else?"

Leonhart nodded to Krystal's presence in the air between them.

"Your roommate already got those authorized for you. However, your theoretical lessons will likely provide ideas and imagery that you and Symbie should not use for future creations. The last thing we need is for someone to reflexively kill one of your 'Friends' because it looks too much like an Antagonist. Do you understand?"

"Avoid the use of imagery or structural similarities that may evoke memories of Antagonists," QA selectively repeated. Asking her to just ignore all ideas from a lesson was too much. Otherwise, what was the point of learning anything at all?

The deflection did not appear to go unnoticed. Instructor Leonhart's lips twitched upward in apparent amusement.

"So long as we're clear on that. Honestly, you're lucky your 'pegacorns' are small and pony-shaped; much bigger and I expect you'd draw reflexive attacks from every sensor-type in the entire Arcology, Sanchez included. Anyway, go take a seat. Class is starting soon."

Queen Administrator reflexively checked Symbie's clock. 8:57. Apparently, that was close enough to excuse the end of a conversation even if they were located nearby. QA would need to remember that in the future.



After multiple hours of people sneaking glances at Queen Administrator's Friends, it was rather jarring to enter a room where she wasn't the immediate center of attention. Worse still, Anna was present—why was she present in a class of first-year cadets?—and she, too, was not the subject of as much attention as her status deserved.

Queen Administrator followed the gaze of a representative student to a dusty-skinned brunette with unusually long hair. The two halves of her face were asymmetrical, but it was primarily in terms of reflected light; whatever replacements she'd received would likely be imperceptible to a casual observer. Still, the class was almost entirely comprised of casual observers. QA promptly queried the local network, not expecting her low access level to reveal any adequate answers.

>>Name: Shuri Kravala
>>Sex: Female
>>Age: 16
>>Combat Rating: 14,700

Queen Administrator paused. Aside from herself, she had no basis for comparison. Yet. She quickly remedied that with six other students: (243), (319), (0), (0), (344), (930)— that was Setsuna. Really? Setsuna Masaya, the violent first-year from orientation, was rated higher than QA? That was just offensive. Queen Administrator's combat rating even remained at 250+, the same value as the previous day. If nothing else, she would've expected her new Friends to significantly raise that number; their coil-horns were specifically designed to destroy projectiles as heavily armored as the low-yield warhead that Decimator had launched at her. She was sure that part of the design had been well within current human understanding of magnetic fields.

At least QA's initial attempt to access Anna Sanchez's combat rating was denied. Queen Administrator was not curious enough to risk censure by working around the restriction, but the refusal to display relevant information meant that the UN realized her worth. They knew Anna was superior and that was good enough for QA. It was irksome that Shuri would have a publicly-known title of 'Golden Ace' while Anna went overlooked, but perhaps Anna did not appreciate the attention. Weapons did usually work best when opponents didn't expect them.

Symbie did not share her hesitation. A tiny alert appeared in the corner of her eye as QA sat down.

>>Name: Anna Sanchez
>>Combat Rating: [Unknown]

Much better. Thank you, Symbie.

~ ~ ~​

"Oh look, a suspiciously sourceless information request for Sanchez's details less than five seconds after Hebert's was denied. I wonder who it could be?"

"Less commentary, more helping me find out how the intruder keeps doing that. The falsified privileges barely weren't high enough to display anything related to the Ginnungagap Project. We need to plug the hole before that can happen."

"Because that's worked out so well for the Perth Crafting Club."

"Fine. You can review their attempts for possible similarities, and I'll look for the flaw."

"…I take it back. Can I go over the systems that make sense, please?"

"No."

"Social solution it is!"

~ ~ ~​

QA would need to come up with her own rating system later. The UN's system was clearly inadequate if they underrated Queen Administrator and couldn't even quantify Anna. Of course, her awareness pinged with a new message before she could get too annoyed.

>>From: UNOMI 33181
>>We are aware you are more capable than your current rating suggests, and have deliberately avoided updating your combat rating until after your first combat lesson on target identification; this lesson will likely occur on your third or fourth day of classes. That way, we can ensure accuracy and you are more likely to get friends who value you for your personality.

Queen Administrator felt her scowl ease. Slightly. Her competence was part of what should draw others to her. Still, at least the UN had a reasonable explanation for their false rating. It also provided the opportunity for QA to observe other Valkyries in combat and copy all their best weapons before her first semi-accurate rating was properly assigned. It would be rude to ruin someone's dataset by displaying a supposed meteoric rise that did not truly reflect a significant improvement in QA's skills.

>>From: UNOMI 33181
>>We would also appreciate it if you refrained from falsifying an access level you do not yet possess. That is not a good way to prove yourself trustworthy enough for an upgrade.

Queen Administrator paused, her forehead furrowed. Symbie and Host should have had access to techniques that rendered the risk of detection nonexistent. Did Host want the intrusion to be detected? Why? Was it to force them toward more advanced information security techniques? That seemed like a reasonable explanation.

~ ~ ~​

"And the forehead of cluelessness makes an appearance once more! Yeah, it's either Symbie or someone trying to frame her."

"You just effectively confirmed she is being monitored. It could easily be an act."

"Does that look like the face of deception to you?"

"…Just get back to work."

"Hah! You just don't want to—ow!"

"My powers of prediction improve once more."

~ ~ ~​

"Welcome to Squadron Four, everybody. For the moment, gather near the front of the room," Leonhart called with a clap of her hands, quieting most of the chatter in the room.

Queen Administrator looked down at the desk she'd only just occupied. Why even have chairs if they weren't supposed to use them? Still, she got back up and hurried to the front before she could be crushed.

"Good morning everyone! Welcome to Squadron Four," the other instructor called. "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.

"This is ordinarily the exact opposite of what we need to say, but please ignore the self-resizing packet in your Valkyrie Frame's systems. We'll cover purging of hostile code later on. Until then, this particular example can and will fight back against partial purges."

Interesting. Experience or eavesdropping? She'd warned the Crafting Club, but it wasn't as though she'd refrained from transmitting her ID since her arrival. Hopefully, Host previously destroyed any evidence if the anti-forging measures had been activated.

"This is not optional," Leonhart stressed. "Again, the code appears to be harmless unless modified. However, if it is, then it becomes potentially fatal. Do not touch it."

"It won't object to mere quarantines," Queen Administrator interjected helpfully. "It may even be good practice for rapidly isolating hostile software."

"Noted, Cadet, but in the future, raise your hand or ping us instead of just interrupting," ordered Leonhart. "Incidentally, you should all have a copy by now, so don't bother wondering."

"Please tell us if you don't," Meyer added. "It's incredibly unlikely, but theoretically possible."

Queen Administrator stifled a mini-laugh giggle. She'd previously needed to communicate with even the most recalcitrant of her siblings so that they might be crippled for a new Cycle, or coordinated between Cycles. It was cute how mere humans thought they could stop her from conveying important information. Their entire brains were little larger than the fruits they ate. Smaller, in some cases.

Instructor Leonhart stepped forward.

"The second 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."

Nearly all of those present turned toward the so-called Ace, Shuri. Monica was not one of them; she showed her good taste by turning to Administrator instead. With so many people visibly expressing their own preference, QA believed it was safe to look at Anna.

QA stopped when the ideal Valkyrie avoided eye contact. The implied dislike was rather unpleasant; QA would need to do her utmost to override prior poor impressions.

Instructor Leonhart continued, 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."

"These are people you might be fighting beside for the next three years or more," Meyer contributed. "And you'll still be in a squadron with the rest. Even if you don't want to be in a flight with someone, you shouldn't alienate them by being cruel about it."

This time, Queen Administrator raised her hand before speaking.

"Do our Valkyrie Cores count toward the personnel limitations?"

Her question prompted snickering and other audible amusement from most of the room. None of those QA previously interacted with were among their number. Good.

"You're supposed to wait until called upon, Cadet Hebert. But no, they don't, and neither do your other AI."

The quiet giggling cut off like Sting had severed it. Leonhart raised an eyebrow while otherwise keeping her expression impassive.

"Cadets, what did we just say about not alienating other Valkyries? Most of you come from different parts of the world and with different backgrounds. Sometimes, one of you might not know something that others consider obvious. That is not an excuse to mock them; they might even have a valid reason to disagree."

It was quite satisfying to see Leonhart berating someone else, QA decided. It probably wasn't that the instructor particularly disliked QA; Leonhart's role was just naturally antagonistic. She certainly would've been a better interrogator than the pair of non-hosts who'd previously tried inconsistently questioning QA.

"We aren't demanding you tiptoe around each other or refrain from some healthy competition," Meyer reassured those present. "Simply treat others as you'd want to be treated."

Instructor Leonhart clapped her hands.

"Now, you have fifteen minutes to organize yourselves into your temporary flights. Get to it."

Despite her appreciation, Queen Administrator did not rush to recruit Anna. Many of the non-hosts did not share her hesitation, but they went for the completely wrong person: Shuri Kravala.

"Don't forget what we said about combat ratings!" Meyer hinted. "Those are often easier to change than personalities."

Even such a blatant advisory went unnoticed by nearly all of the non-hosts; only one of them noticed and swerved away from Shuri. QA reluctantly decided to comply, at least initially. Further interactions with Anna would need to wait until the Instructors were no longer present.

"Monica?" Queen Administrator began. Might as well start with her first intended test subject for improvement. Those outside the flight could act as a control group.

"Definitely," QA's roommate agreed, still hugging Nyx.

Well, that was enjoyably easy. QA began searching the room for anyone smart enough to observe and gather information instead of rushing into an unsuitable group. She wasn't allowed to do so for long; idiots rapidly blocked her view, ignoring prior personal space allocation in their rush to swarm Shuri.

"Taylor! Over here!" a familiar voice called.

QA didn't need to use Host's imperfect human memory to identify it. Symbie's new voice recognition application identified the speaker as Masaya Setsuna Setsuna Masaya, ignoring the white noise from the other non-hosts. QA had already curried a minimal amount of favor with her, true, and she did have an ongoing Perth-approved conflict with Koujirou. QA stood up, swept one arm in Setsuna's direction, and smiled as Krystal flew to obstruct those obliviously blocking Queen Administrator's path. QA didn't look back, but Symbie's sensors indicated that Monica was easily following.

Setsuna Masaya and Koujirou Rokusabe waited near several other small groups near the edges of the classroom; despite QA's original impression, it seemed as though there were a healthy number of non-idiots content to properly follow instructor instructions.

"Glad you made it out," Koujirou said, grinning. "Really digging the void unicorns, by the way. They look awesome."

There was something subtly wrong about Koujirou's appearance. Queen Administrator scanned the male, compared the results to her past records of him, and found one match and one mismatch. Technically, that meant the problem was with her own perceptions. Still…

"You looked better in your initial uniform," QA observed.

Koujirou spluttered while Setsuna burst out laughing. Neither of them appeared to be taking the advisory in the spirit it was intended.

"You—I mean—c'mon, can't we just forget all about that?" Koujirou pleaded. "Please?"

"I do not have a policy of voluntarily deleting memories," QA instantly refused, rapidly killing Setsuna's laughter in the process. "I am willing to join as long as Monica is allowed as well. However, are you sure it is wise for both of you to be in the same flight? Your prior interpersonal interactions have indicated a predisposition toward conflict rather than cooperation."

To their credit, the two looked to one another rather than instantly rejecting her assessment. Koujirou was the first to scratch the back of his neck and look back at QA.

"I think we can get along OK when it's important. Besides, I'm not going to force anyone to interact with her without me there to—"

Setsuna raised her arm to hit Koujirou's head. The blow never landed, but not due to any defensive action on Koujirou's part; before Koujirou could be struck, Anna darted forward and grabbed Setsuna's wrist with a bare hand, apparently forgoing use of her Symbiotic Support Frame. Unlike QA, Setsuna likely wasn't nearly threatening enough to warrant its use.

"Hey!" Setsuna objected, trying in vain to break out of Anna's grip. "Who are you? Let go of me!"

"What are you doing?" Anna hissed, ignoring the demand. "Is this your idea of cooperation?"

Koujirou gradually lowered the arm he'd defensively raised moments before.

"Hey, uh–" Koujirou started, reaching to tug at Anna's arm. "Anna, right? It's fine, we do this all the time."

"That is not an improvement," QA noted, cheerfully sacrificing favor with Setsuna to gain Anna's approval. Sure enough, Setsuna shot QA a look of betrayal while Anna looked over with brow furrowed. As Anna's reaction was no longer one of obvious discomfort, QA considered it a worthwhile trade.

"Seriously," Monica added helpfully. "You shouldn't excuse domestic violence just because you've known someone a while."

Queen Administrator promptly finished recategorizing Monica under person. The pink-haired Valkyrie deserved it for consistently being such a loyal ally.

Meanwhile, Setsuna's jaw dropped open in apparent surprise and betrayal. QA felt no sympathy; it was Setsuna's own fault for striking Koujirou in front of uninitiated witnesses, especially after the instructor specifically warned them about humans of different cultural backgrounds. Discretion was important when pursuing an unauthorized conflict.

"Really, Koji, who are these people?" Setsuna finally managed.

It was rather interesting to see Monica slip into the same defensive persona she'd assumed during their first meeting. QA's roommate straightened up, widened her eyes ever so slightly, faked a smile, began bouncing on her feet, and moved Nyx to one shoulder in order to emphatically gesture with her arms. Queen Administrator was uncomfortably reminded of how she'd act around her own siblings to avoid mockery.

"I'm Monica, Taylor's roommate! It's... mostly nice to meet you!"

Setsuna's free hand rose to clutch her chest as though she'd been physically stabbed. QA set a reminder to tangibly reward Monica for the support.

"And sis said we should also try to team with Anna if she'll have us," Koujirou added. "But really, Anna, it's not like that. I was provoking her and knew it."

It definitely is like that.

"Teasing isn't supposed to beget violence," Monica disagreed. "Especially when the attacker is being entrusted with high-yield explosives."

"Setsuna's interactions would fit the definition of 'bullying' if you were not childhood friends. I still do not understand why there is such an exception. Improved interpersonal relations should not lead to an increased frequency of hostile actions."

Koujirou gave up on tugging at Anna's arm to raise both hands defensively.

"Really, it isn't half as bad as it looks. Besides, Setsu already promised sis she'd stop hitting me. Right?"

Setsuna huffed and glared back at the circle of disapproving gazes.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll work on it. Happy?"

Anna released Setsuna's wrist without verbally replying. Anna's frown was answer enough. Queen Administrator felt the perfectly rational urge to attack Setsuna for prompting unhappiness; unfortunately, past events indicated that such a gesture would not be appreciated. That left her plan B.

QA picked up her temporary bodyguard and thrust the pegacorn-Friend toward its intended recipient.

"This is a Friend. Symbie and I made her specifically for you. I have been warned against giving pets as presents, but she does not require affection or feeding unless ordered to cease absorbing ambient energy for significant periods of time."

Anna's frown vanished as she reached out and accepted the Friend. QA considered that to be a good sign.

~ ~ ~​

Anna stared blankly at the confusing void that stubbornly refused to resolve itself. Her eyes insisted the void was shaped like a winged unicorn within the visible spectrum, with a wispy 'grey' aura outside that range. The rest of her sensors only observed an absence of feedback no matter how much energy she dedicated to the task. Any more and it would be a danger to those nearby.

After a few seconds of confusion, Durga finally overrode incoming sensory input—or more accurately, the lack thereof—with an overlay based on the uncloaked Friend observed at breakfast. Anna felt herself relax as she was no longer faced with something inscrutably invisible. Staring at the crystalline fractal structure and trying to find the underlying mathematical formula was even slightly pleasant.

That moment of relaxation vanished when she realized what she'd actually been offered. Taylor wanted to give Anna a pet? Her? Anna already proved that she was incapable of keeping anything else alive — and it had climbed up to nuzzle her face while she wasn't paying attention.

…It wasn't actually that bad. However, the lack of unpleasantness was itself worthy of note.

"She feels far softer and warmer than the provided models should allow," Anna said suspiciously.

It can be absorbed if necessary.

Monica pumped one fist with a brittle smile. Would it be rude to ask why she insists on behavior that clearly makes her uncomfortable?

"That was me! Taylor made some last-minute changes when I pointed out that problem. They, uh, kinda felt like cold metal before. Really cold. Lose-a-finger cold."

Anna glanced down at Monica's other hand to verify that such a claim was merely hyperbole. All fingers were present, and every digit on both hands appeared to be approximately the same age. Still, the apparent ad-hoc changes to the pegacorn design — within eleven minutes and twelve seconds, a quick query revealed — were far more puzzling than the designs themselves. The fact that they could absorb such large quantities of energy was not of significant concern; Anna's own dynamos could largely accomplish the same thing without the impediment to allied IFF. Anna would need to ask Taylor how the so-called Friends could drastically change specific physical or chemical properties seemingly on a whim. It was obviously related to the unusual structure of their armor, but the actual mechanics escaped Anna. Such large-scale changes should necessitate rebuilding their finer components from scratch, a process which should take far longer than the observed time.

She wondered if her combined puzzlement and curiosity reflected how others felt about Durga's equipment. If so, she could see why they were so intent on analyzing their armaments.

"I understand." Anna shifted to face Koujirou and Setsuna once more. "Yukari did not tell me that she had spoken with you. Regardless, I did agree to look after you and Setsuna until you are self-sufficient."

Koujirou smiled and opened his mouth to reply.

"Cadet Sanchez," Setsuna interrupted coldly. "I don't know who you are or why Yukari onee-sama encouraged you to seek us out. I can assure you that I can take care of myself, and take care of Koujirou while I'm at it."

-It's okay, I can fight them. I can keep you safe-

The ghost of a smile crossed Anna's face before being forced away. She'd said the same thing, once; Setsuna was acting a lot like Anna used to. Mostly. What was an 'oh-nay sama?'

Taylor's shared confusion soon converted melancholy into amusement. Anna reset her expression and hoped none of the other Valkyries noticed.

"How can you be so sure?" Anna asked.

Setsuna puffed up in a clear attempt to make herself look larger and more impressive. It didn't work on anyone present.

"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–"

"That doesn't cover very much material," Taylor muttered.

Setsuna stopped mid-sentence with one of the most exaggerated looks of indignation that Anna had ever seen. It was hard to keep even the slightest twitch of her lips at bay; that had been a little mean, and she didn't want to encourage Taylor to snipe at others.

"Excuse me?" Setsuna demanded, planting her fists on her hips. Again, it didn't succeed at making her look any larger, and Taylor didn't appear at all surprised by the confrontation.

"You appear to be above-average by the standards of the average first year cadet," Taylor calmly replied. "You are not particularly exceptional by the standards of Valkyries in general. Combat classes are one method of continuing to improve. The assistance of your peers is another. To assume that you can learn every nuance of every specialization without assistance is the height of arrogance.

"As an initial example, you are still relying primarily on your eyes. Have you yet realized that this is a problematic instinct?"

Anna blinked in surprise. That was a significantly less derogatory lecture than she'd expected from Taylor, and it did contain some useful information. Was the other survivor actually trying to help? The delivery mechanism certainly left something to be desired, but it was preferable to an attack.

...Anna might need to recalibrate her standards for acceptable behavior. And speaking of attacks, it seemed as though Setsuna was going to try concealing ignorance by going on the offense.

"I don't want to hear it from someone with a combat rating of two-fifty."

"I also recommend against interpreting lower 'combat ratings' as people who can teach you nothing or you can automatically defeat in combat," Taylor replied evenly. "For example, you are not currently synchronized with a Valkyrie Core, yet my Friends are armed. An immediate fight between us–"

Taylor paused and appeared to reassess the situation. Setsuna took the opportunity to slowly begin reaching into the belt-mounted side pouch containing her Valkyrie Core.

"Well, Anna would probably block all attacks on your person and subsequently destroy my Friends," Taylor admitted. "In her absence, however, you would effectively be eliminated by someone with a listed combat rating significantly lower than your own."

"'The rating system is flawed and underrated me' is almost as bad an excuse as 'I wasn't trying,' or 'I wasn't ready yet,'" Setsuna shot back.

"Although that is technically correct, it was not the message I intended to convey. Reducing someone down to a number is an excellent way to overlook their areas of expertise and anything they could teach you. Almost the entirety of my current combat score comes from impeller field control; when the rating was assigned, I was disproportionately dangerous in melee combat and effectively helpless at long range."

"Eeeey, we can be melee buddies!" Koujirou interjected, raising one hand. "High-five!"

Taylor, Anna, Setsuna, and even Monica all turned to look at him oddly. His smile faltered, but the hand stayed up.

"Explain," Setsuna demanded.

"My lack of adequate ranged capabilities was not by choice," Taylor added. "It was, in fact, incredibly dangerous. Why are you acting as though this is something to be proud of?"

Koujirou used his raised hand to scratch at the back of his neck.

"Ah... well, my Frame is being weird? I'm sure there are a few extra weapons in storage, but I couldn't express them or add new ones; I went down to the fabber and tried pretty much everything already. All I've got right now is a sword and a cannon."

Anna was fairly confident that her dumbfounded expression was mirrored on everyone within earshot. Antagonists would not wait for him to shoot them one by one; regardless of the cannon's rate of fire, Koujirou would be overwhelmed in short order.

"...Is it at least a good cannon?" Monica ventured.

"I mean, it'd have to be, right?" Koujirou said with utterly unsupported optimism. "If I'm only ever going to have five weapons, it seems like they'd be good ones."

Taylor almost seemed offended by that idea. However, she was able to reset her expression and turn to Setsuna within a second. Anna doubted that anyone else had even seen the flicker of emotion.

"Setsuna Masaya, I do not understand why you intended to refuse help in keeping him alive. It does not appear easy."

Setsuna let out a surprised snicker and tentatively smiled at Taylor, prior hostility apparently forgiven.

"Hey, I'm sure I can manage!" Koujirou protested.

"With assistance, perhaps," Taylor allowed. "Clarification requested: This is a software problem, correct?"

Koujirou's brow furrowed.

"I guess?" he hazarded. "I'm pretty sure it's not normal, anyway."

"Would you like me to—" Taylor began.

"Cadet Hebert," growled Instructor Leonhart from directly behind the girl in question.

Anna was as surprised as everyone else when Taylor's back erupted into crimson tentacles.

 

[Alivaril]

Spoiler: Patrons & Betas

Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, and my twenty other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>

Beta-read by @Vebyast.

---

Queen Administrator did not enjoy the emotional aftereffects of Leonhart's ambush. Even ten minutes after the fact, with soft Pegacorn-Friends pressed against her, and in a cozy, empty lounge, Host's body still felt as though it was being violently compressed. The sensation only partially abated once she fully expressed Symbie and released fifty beetle-Friends to form a protective sphere surrounding Host. Distracting herself with analysis also failed to cure her.

It was hard to determine the exact reason behind Leonhart's ambush: was it an entirely human motivation, or had :MOTHER: used local humans as pawns? It was hard to say, and :MOTHER: wasn't replying to QA's requests for clarification. Humans seemed to have a plausible motivation: not to allow what they perceived as dubious modifications to a potential atmosphere-killer. :MOTHER: also had a plausible motivation: not to let QA remove preset restrictions on the items being used as shard substitutes in the current universe.

Instructor Leonhart had been ordered to prevent QA from modifying additional Valkyrie Cores without prior authorization. All Valkyries were advised to avoid startling those known or suspected to have entered live combat, a comparably dangerous environment, or an environment perceived as similarly dangerous. Would-be instructors received repeated reminders of this and other behavioral advisories.

A message from UNOMI-33181, Yana Smirnov. No immediately useful information; marked for later review.

Instructor Leonhart's orders regarding core modification should not have outweighed the emphasis placed on the avoidance of problematic behavior. However, humans seldom had coherent behavioral weight rankings. Miscalculations did not necessarily require :MOTHER:'s intervention.

An unarmed, non-volatile robot arrived outside QA's protective Friend cocoon with a mug of heated plant-based liquid. No unacceptably dangerous toxins. Friend paths were modified to allow retrieval and delivery of the beverage without leaving any paths for high-speed projectiles to travel.

The UN now knew that QA believed she could modify the software of preexisting Valkyrie (Cores/Frames). There had been discussions regarding the utility of getting her to do so, and it was likely that they would make the request in the future. Interrupting QA's earlier offer only delayed the inevitable.

Intervention by :MOTHER: tentatively deemed unlikely. More evidence required.

The tea tasted acceptable.

~ ~ ~​

"Cadet Taylor Hebert will not be joining us until the afternoon classes," Cereza Leonhart began.

Immediately, a wave of whispering swept through the room. Leonhart silenced them with a glare and a few pointed alerts to personal devices.

"This is not a punishment for her; the earlier incident with Cadet Hebert was almost exclusively my fault," Leonhart continued. "'Do not startle Valkyries' is a safety advisory for some very good reasons. I prioritized emphasizing prior orders over heeding that advisory, and the results were fairly obvious."

Leonhart really, truly should've known better. She was almost a century old and had—like everyone else alive—accidentally hurt others on numerous occasions. A possible cult survivor should've been at the top of her priority list for avoiding a repeat of such mistakes. She'd need to find some way to make it up to Hebert later.

Cadet Barlow raised her hand and waited. Leonhart considered ignoring the gesture; however, knowing teenagers, that might encourage them to follow in Hebert's footsteps. The last thing they needed was for people to start imitating her oblivious misbehavior.

"Yes, Cadet?" Leonhart snapped.

"Will we be permitted to discuss this with people outside class?" Cadet Barlow asked eagerly.

Leonhart forced a shrug. "Hebert's weapons are not actually classified. They're just unusual."

Or at least, weren't classified yet. Leonhart gave it a month at the most.

Barlow's hand returned to the air. The cadet didn't wait to be called upon before continuing. Since it was a follow-up, Leonhart decided to let it go. She could return to being Worst Cop another day.

"I meant to reference the fact that Hebert is apparently under orders," Cadet Barlow elaborated.

Leonhart looked out at a squadron of eager faces and knew she'd made a mistake. She wanted to get back to lessons as quickly as possible, but that wouldn't be fair to Taylor. A little extra personal information would be needed just to stop people from thinking Taylor was some sort of UNOMI spook.

"It's nothing so extreme as that," Leonhart dryly replied. "Cadet Hebert's enthusiasm for engineering often outweighs her respect for conventional safety standards. She has yet to actually hurt anyone, but there are several topics that she's not to pursue without prior authorization."

Leonhart broadcasted the motions for a clap and shaped her Impeller Field to amplify its sound. A good third of the class jumped in place. This time, though, the people whom she needed to avoid surprising were not among their number.

"Unusual or not, you aren't here to gossip. We've wasted enough time as it is; take your seats."

~ ~ ~​

Instructor Shapira watched the ball of writhing, crackling chrome carapaces and fought the urge to open fire. No wonder the other Instructors had demanded she handle this. Unlike Hebert's cute little pegacorns, the shield-beetles were eerily similar to Antagonist non-combat models. Someone would need to have Words with the Crafting Elective Class. She could understand being distracted by shiny new technology, but someone should've realized what they'd look like as a cohesive swarm. At least their movement patterns merely followed overlapping, predesignated arcs. True Antagonist drones would move far more erratically.

Well, best to just get this over with.

Shapira waved to the chrome ball of insectile horror and waited for the movement pattern to change. That it changed to maximize the amount of armor facing the instructor was not particularly encouraging, but it still meant Hebert had noticed the visitor.

"Dare I ask what you're doing?"

Hebert's response was immediate. It was a definite improvement over her earlier non-responsiveness.

"I do not have a detailed understanding of your risk-assessment strategies."

Instructor Shapira honestly couldn't tell if Hebert was being a smartass or if she truly had taken the question literally. Valkyrie Syndrome often sacrificed important communication skills in its attempts to maximize combat effectiveness.

Best to assume she meant what she said.

"Right, let's start over. What are you doing?"

Inside the protective shell, Taylor's lips twitched. Shapira added the display to the cadet's folder. Technically, it was only supposed to be a file, but Shapira felt as though the related discussions had long since catapulted it past that rank. Of course, more than half of those posts amounted to little more than shitposting, making up new nicknames, and bickering about different uses and variants of the word 'pure.' Shapira checked the nickname listing again to see what had been added within the last few seconds. Even half the world away, Valkyries were still getting involved and invested in Hebert's life.

>> Name: Taylor Hebert​

>> Aliases: Pure-chan, Jun-chan, Junko-chan, Eldritch-chan, Chaos-chan, Witch-chan, Witch of Chaos, 273.15 Valkyrie Cores in a Trenchcoat​

Oooh, that's a good one. Shapira set a reminder to use the trenchcoat alias in future discussions; UNOMI wasn't supposed to purge aliases if they actually saw frequent use. UNOMI purged them anyway, but it did delay the inevitable.

"Redesigning Symbie's combat tentacles. They did not accomplish their intended purpose."

Shapira sighed. She didn't know what she expected from someone so blatantly in the grips of Valkyrie Syndrome. Still, she had to at least do a holding action until someone more qualified could take over.

"You were in a room with multiple Aces. There's no shame in being subdued by that kind of force."

Of course, only Leonhart had actually gotten involved. Sanchez had been more focused on guarding Hebert's Friends and keeping them from treating it like a full-fledged combat situation. The coil-guns comprising their horns apparently packed an impressive punch for their size.

Sanchez's new Friend hadn't participated in the scuffle, which she'd reportedly been quite pleased by. It seemed Hebert truly had given the Friend as a gift.

"Symbie's tentacles were severed before even being fully extended. This proves that they are in need of upgrades."

Shapira switched tactics. That approach clearly wasn't going to work.

"You know, there's a reason combat tentacles aren't exactly a standard weapon among UN Valkyries. Are you aware of the average and median engagement ranges against Antagonist forces?"

Hebert looked up suspiciously despite the writhing wall of metal blocking her view of Shapira.

"Is this a genuine attempt to assist me, or are you trying to gather additional information on my combat capabilities?"

"Both," Shapira said honestly.

That seemed to be the right answer.

"I am aware that the curvature of the Earth is the primary restriction for engagement ranges. The tentacles are no longer primarily intended for use in melee combat; I have been advised that Symbie's relatively small surface area does not permit–"

Shapira found and reviewed the incident in question. Sanchez. Of course. Shapira honestly couldn't decide if putting the two disaster children on the same plane had been worth all the resulting trouble. Only time would tell, she supposed.

"–an optimal amount of equipment."

Not entirely accurate. Once one grew skilled enough, Impeller Field size and control were greater constraints than the crutch that was Frame surface area. Elite Valkyries could, and frequently would, extend weapons from anywhere within their Impeller Field. Shapira set a reminder to inform Hebert of that fact once the current crisis was dealt with.

"Symbie is currently constructing the infrastructure necessary for a superior Frame, but that will take time. Until her new Frame is completed, the tentacles are intended to provide flexible surfaces for supplementary weapon deployment."

Shapira frowned and flagged the mention of infrastructure. That was definitely unusual; Valkyrie Frames usually upgraded equipment based on necessity and usage. The exceptions were the Three Hundred, which slowly improved all their armaments regardless of use at the cost of having a preset loadout.

The Instructor flagged Rokusabe Koujirou's current Frame while she was at it. Its location of origin and refusal to bond with most Valkyries disqualified it from being an overlooked member of the Three Hundred, but that didn't mean there wasn't something else weird going on. It was probably just a technician being too overzealous with the safeties, but everyone was on the lookout for more possible AVCs now that Symbie had shown up.

Either way, it sounded like Taylor Cadet Hebert thought she was on her own for upgrades. That was a mentality the UN needed to nip in the bud.

"Did you actually look at any of the requisition paperwork you were pointed toward?"

Hebert shifted her skull in something closer to a pair of twitches than an actual shake of the head.

"I was under the impression those were a thin pretense for people to deny project requests while gathering information on my capabilities."

Heavens save me from people incapable of communicating!

"No. The second page of the packet would've explained what kinds of equipment you could request for personal use with minimal justification, including a fusion reactor. I'm amazed you've apparently been working with a fission reactor this whole time."

Shapira sighed and rubbed her face with both hands.

"I suspect some people probably expected you to struggle and ask for help well before now, leading to a lesson on how paperwork is a necessary evil. However, you proved to be more self-sufficient than they expected, so..."

She didn't need her eyes to see Taylor's expression shift to the excitement of a child given twice their body weight in sweets. Partly because her eyes would be useless, given the still-active wall of shield-drones separating them. She hoped Hebert felt safe enough to store the drones soon; continued exposure had only made them a little less freaky.

"How many reactors am I allowed to request, exactly?"

Shapira snorted. She should've seen that coming.

"Let's just go with one for now," said Shapira. "I've heard Symbie's integration time is all kinds of weird, but you should remember that she'll still need time to integrate each piece of equipment."

She felt a little bad about claiming something she no longer believed. It was more than 50% phishing, honestly.

"It will likely take longer for the generators to be prepared than it will for Symbie to integrate them."

Shapira added that to the list of anomalies and updated the requisition request. Integration time was not supposed to be a suggestion. Honestly, her personal impulse was to supply Hebert with whatever she wanted and see what happened, but she knew the analysts would probably want enough data points for a proper rate of change. Nobody knew if Symbie was truly a one-off or if she was just the first of her kind to be found. Really, they all expected Symbie to remain unique, but hope yet lived.

Especially since there was a growing faction that believed Hebert's old bunker to be an active pseudo-Arcology. The second squad to arrive had found significantly fewer corpses than the first team had reported and other oddities just kept piling up. It was fortunate that the now-named Hell's Hand did not seem actively hostile to those exploring it.

"Acknowledged. I'll send in a request for five to be prepared; you'll get one at a time, and we'll give you more if you feel that they're necessary after each finishes integrating."

"You are attempting to gather information on Symbie's integration time."

It wasn't treated as an accusation, so Shapira didn't treat it as such. If anything, Hebert sounded ever-so-slightly happy that the UN was trying to determine her exact limitations.

"You and Symbie produced at least fifty conventional military-grade drones and approximately twenty exotic biomechanical organisms within sixteen hours of non-combat conditions. We would be irresponsible to not learn as much about you as possible."

"You would," Hebert agreed, smiling brightly.

Shapira just knew that would provoke another wave of 'Antagonists do not intentionally infiltrate' memes. Her colleagues simply couldn't help themselves.

"You aren't required to return to classes today, although I do think you'd find the current theoretical lessons rather interesting. At the least, I recommend attending the afternoon combat classes."

The instructor paused to allow for a response. None was forthcoming.

"Assuming you do not wish to return immediately," she continued. "Is there anything specific you would like assistance doing prior to afternoon classes?"

Hebert perked up and nodded.

"I require several minutes in an expendable environment, simulated or otherwise, in order to calibrate Symbie's Frame and my control of it. I would also appreciate any available reference footage for the most advanced weaponry currently available to Valkyries."

Sanchez arguably had that, but Shapira suspected such a demonstration wouldn't be good for the long-term mental health of either Valkyrie. The instructor briefly skimmed Hebert's file for probable reasoning and found herself suppressing all outward signs of rage. Hebert's old residence had killed experimental subjects for being too lethal? What was the point of military research if not to find weapons claiming exactly that? It was the height of irrationality to fear other humans when Antagonists were at the gates.

Well. Watching a recording-slash-simulation versus a Type Zero should help quite a bit with whatever misgivings that hellhole had given Hebert. Instructor Shapira submitted a priority request to Perth and received confirmation within milliseconds.

"I've reserved a simulation room for you; that should take care of both requests. Once you've finished calibrating, there are a few scenarios which should provide the weapons' demonstration you want. However, those would involve beings similar to Type Zero Macross; would viewing such entities make you unacceptably uncomfortable again?"

The beetles began flowing into Symbie's expressed frame. Shapira couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the process of storing them looked a bit off. The instructor added her suspicion to Hebert's folder.

"I will be fine," Hebert claimed, smiling slightly.

Not a normal response to the monsters that were Type Zeroes, but perhaps she was just looking forward to the overdue calibrations or a weapons' demonstration in general. It wasn't as though Hebert had seen Macross kill anyone.

"The scenario will involve multiple Valkyrie deaths," Instructor Shapira warned. "I can likely arrange for an alternative demonstration if this is problematic; it will simply take longer."

Hebert's expression returned to neutrality, a downturn in mood that should not have been as reassuring as it was.

"I understand. However, I believe these are simulated entities? They are not people. I will not be affected by their elimination."

They were real, once. I knew some of them.

Instructor Shapira didn't have the heart to correct the younger Valkyrie. That revelation could wait a few months.

~ ~ ~​

>> Name: Taylor Hebert​

>> Aliases: Pure-chan, Jun-chan, Junko-chan, Eldritch-chan, Chaos-chan, Witch-chan, Witch of Chaos, 273.15 Valkyrie Cores in a Trenchcoat, Military-Industrial Complex​

"Stop vandalizing Hebert's file with jokes. Nobody has called her half of those."

"Oh? Check her discussion pages."

>> Group Captain Vishka Nonahali (300 Rank: 6)​

You know how some people have Napoleon complexes or messiah complexes? She has a military-industrial complex.​

"...Objection reluctantly suspended while I go castigate our superiors."

 

[Cartesian]

Shapira sighed. She didn't know what she expected from someone so blatantly in the grips of Valkyrie Syndrome. Still, she had to at least do a holding action until someone more qualified could take over.

Click to shrink...

It still tickles me that Taylor is setting up the cult base to perfectly reflect the mechanics of the Cycle. It's the perfect cover for QA's trauma mostly because it is QA's trauma, dressed up in human corpses rather than shards and parahumans.

Click to shrink...

This has tickled my brain juices and I've been inspired. The potential for QAylor and Dr. Angelica Rayne to talk past each other... "IS OVER 9000!"

Location: Perth Academy in a non-descript room designated for therapy sessions

"I do not understand why this is necessary. I have achieved successful reintegration with human society."
"While we are concerned about that, we are more worried about your mental health as you were the sole survivor we found in the vicinity of the bunker. As your therapist, it is my duty to ensure that you are ready to graduate from Perth Academy ready for duty."
"...Very well. You may ask your questions."
"As these questions might bring up traumatic memories, know that you don't have to answer anything."
"..."
"Well... what can you remember about your life before coming to Perth?"
Even if I was to tell the truth, there is no chance they will believe me so I should paraphrase my words. Although I don't know the specifics, Host has set up the bunker to match our backstory right?
[AGREEMENT]
"My memory starts with the moment I found myself within a population of humans restricted to the local area. I was placed there for the start of the new cycle."
"What is a cycle?"
"The cycle is a process where a participant population is held in a captive environment to foster development of new and creative methods for deploying strategic resources during a conflict."
Sigh... I hoped it wasn't the case but it's all but confirmed that Taylor is a survivor of those death matches.
"How long did the cycle last?"
"Cycle times varied as the process was continued until either the population exhausted itself or it was determined that the value of the data generated was no longer worth the continued expenditure of valuable resources."
*feeling dread*
"...What happens when a cycle ends?"
Hmm... Dr. Rayne seems to be nervous for some reason?
[AMUSEMENT]
"When a cycle ends, the participant population and their environment are reclaimed for reuse in future cycles."
*dread intensifies* I mustn't freak out now! St-stay... calm...
"Why did everyone in the bunker decide that this... killing their own people... was okay?"
Shards were never really recycled unless they stupidly ran out of resources and it was other populations that were harvested so what to say...
[ANTICIPATION]
"It wasn't always our own people participating. After a cycle is completed, an attempt to find new eligible populations to participate would be made as different perspectives are beneficial to the cycle."
B-But how!? If those damn bastards left Hell's Hand, there's no way they would have escaped detection from our Valkyries so how- unless... it was the arcology! Symbie itself already has unique abilities so it's possible that Hell's Hand has one too! Hell's Hand must be capable of either subtle underground movement or an unknown form of transport! The only way for this to happen is if the Hell's Hand was forcing its own and other populations through the cycles! ...But if that were the case, then why isn't Hell's Hand actively hostile to the Valkyries exploring it and why has it stayed in a location where it's been discovered? Most likely, it was someone else somehow capable of controlling Hell's Hand, responsible for these cycles, and exterminating undiscovered survivors!
She's really thinking hard about this but I don't understand why she's making so many faces.
[SMUG]
"Taylor... who was the leader of your population?"
"Of course, it was :MOTHER: and :FATHER:."
WRRRYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! WHY WOULD THEY- OF ALL THE- breathe... stay calm... stay calm...
"...What happened to them? How did you survive the cycle?"
"I don't know what happened to them. As for the cycle... I had been successfully fighting off my SIBLINGS before being hit during a string of bombings and falling unconscious. By the time I woke up, I was in the grassland where I was found. My current hypothesis is that, among the many exotic bombs one of my SIBLINGS created, the specific one used on me induced a localized, unknown phenomenon which transported me outside the bunker."
Breathe... focus... It seems like Taylor had a sibling who could recognize the idiocy of the cycles and decided to engineer Taylor's escape. The exotic bombs might also explain the way everyone else died in the bunker. Thankfully, Taylor had a sibling who still cared for her despite the cycle... wait... siblings... ?
"You mentioned that a few of the participants were your siblings. What were your feelings toward them?"
"It wasn't just a few that were my SIBLINGS. They were all my SIBLINGS excepting those selected from new populations. My Siblings and I would always exchange mutually beneficial data."
FOCUS!FOCUS!FOCUS!FOCUS!FOCUS!
"Why did you describe your relationship as mutually beneficial if everyone's always killing each other?"
How silly. Shards don't die when they're killed! They just find a new host or wait for the next cycle!
"Death was never permanent. After dying, I would wake up in a new body made from reclaimed resources and either be placed directly back into the cycle or standby for the start of the next cycle."
*screaming inside*
Remember! Taylor is a cult survivor. Even if she's been re-cloned a million times, she's still human! Until it's determined her mental health is stable, the Ship of Theseus Paradox must never be brought up! IF EVER!
"... How many cycles have you lived through?"
[CURIOSITY]
Hmmm... that depends on how you count or measure time loops, branched timelines, and other phenomena.
"I don't remember. There's been so many that I've forgotten some of them even if I've kept the combat data."
Note to self: Cadet Hebert has developed a distinctly alien form of common sense through her experiences in many cycles. Even if she has Valkyrie Syndrome, she's so deep that she's redefined the term to an extent that we might as well create a new name for it! It's only due to this that Cadet Hebert can still function but it's going to take months, if not years, of therapy to recover... Let's face it, it's never going to be enough.
"..."
"Dr. Rayne, are you alright? You have displayed many facial expressions I do not yet recognize."
"..."
Dr. Rayne looks quite unwell... should I offer?
[AGREEMENT]
Alright, I'll make one real quick... here it is!
"...do you want a Friend?"
"...that would be nice... thank you..."

Results:
Dr. Angelica Rayne continued applying for a different case everyday due to stress; she applied even on Cadet Hebert's final day of therapy.
QAylor finally became a more halpful human being.
Mobile Fortress Hell's Hand HellTrain-chan finally made her debut.

 

[Alivaril]

Spoiler: Patrons & Betas

Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, @Elfalpha, and my 22 other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>

90% beta-read by @Vebyast.

---

---

"Why do I still have hands? I'm controlling everything with my brain. Brains. Wait, am I a zombie?"

Symbie wondered if she could get away with replacing the malware-flowers with something healthier. Mom-Taylor claimed that they were supposed to assist with personal recovery, but Symbie wasn't seeing very much of that. Self-repair systems couldn't complete their designated tasks if they were constantly occupied with reversing second-order self-inflicted damage.

"The name 'zombie' was assigned to the victims of a mind-controlling fungus, and I have a mind-controlling growth occupying my old body. Oh, God. Symbie, tell me I'm not a zombie!"

Really, the Symbiotic Support Frame just wanted to research and create weapons capable of protecting subjects of affection against any and all foes. Or potential foes. Or potential potential foes. This process was much harder when Mom-Taylor was usually too impaired to work around the safeguards on Mom-Administrator's archives. They'd eat Symbie if she tried to do it herself.

Decoy?

The SSF discreetly changed the model color of multiple harmless "flowers" to black. That solution would be strictly temporary, but perhaps a coherent Mom-Taylor would realize how nonproductive her usual behavior was under their influence. Failing that, Symbie's review of human psychological studies indicated that a "guilt-trip" may provide an effective weapon. Recent contacts from humans were mildly entertaining and often useful, but most of them weren't real people. Symbie was starting to feel a little lonely.

~ ~ ~​

This isn't right.

Queen Administrator stared out at the simulated buildings surrounding her and the accompanying instructor. There was something viscerally wrong about seeing a small room designed by a host-species turn into a fake area worthy of a newer relative. They were not supposed to have this level of technology, this level of understanding. Their knowledge of physics should not have been adequate. Their available computing power should not have been adequate. Their energy budgets should not have been adequate. Such simulations were orders of magnitude more advanced than anything else demonstrated by humans, and they didn't even notice. There were, in fact, a number of such simulation rooms in the Perth Arcology and all of them were apparently taken for granted.

Confining indigenous organizations to a single world was one of the easiest ways to ensure they did not develop weapons capable of hurting a shard; testing such weapons would inevitably ruin their own world. The simulators would clearly remove that restriction. It was dangerous.

"How do the simulators function?" QA eventually managed.

Instructor Shapira shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure. I just know it involves nano-quantum-carbon machines."

That forced Queen Administrator to turn and attempt to convey incredulity. The resulting giggle from the instructor seemed to indicate that the intended emotion was not being adequately communicated. Again. At least QA still seemed to be provoking a positive reaction in general, even if it wasn't the desired one.

"Those words provide absolutely no useful information when used in conjunction with one another," QA accused.

Shapira smiled and shook her head.

"I really am serious. It's not my area of expertise, but that's how it was described when I asked someone who did know how it all worked."

Queen Administrator closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. It seemed her siblings weren't the only ones to willfully share misinformation for their own entertainment. Still, the simulators reeked of :MOTHER:'s meddling and QA couldn't even begin to understand the underlying justification.

"It's not perfect," Instructor Shapira added. "It can't handle Higgs usage or spatial warping, and both of those are essential for many of the upper-level techniques. Using prompts just isn't the same. I overrode the usual warnings since most weren't relevant, but—oh, I'll just send them over."

Queen Administrator accepted and opened the document as soon as it arrived. It was larger than strictly necessary, but could be reduced to a few important points.

• The maximum number of Valkyrie Cores supported in any given simulation is six. Larger rooms are available, but are often used by scheduled classes or upperclassmen.
• The expansion of the simulation field may feel like an attack to Valkyries with high sensor capabilities.
• Weapon systems should not be engaged until simulation field stabilises as safeties cannot engage until then.
• Maximum relative distance that can be accurately simulated by the room is only 20km.
• Spatial warping technology may force a shutdown.
• Higgs particle use will destabilize the simulation; the simulation will try its best to replicate the effects on cue, but Higgs particle technology should not be used.
• The simulation safeties cannot withstand the use of high yield weaponry and will shut down if an attempt is made to deploy them.

That last point was exceptionally reassuring. At the same time, though, Queen Administrator wasn't sure what some of the rules were referencing.

"Higgs?"

"Also known as the God particle, 'cuz He might as well be the only being to know how it works," Shapira dryly replied. "In all seriousness, they're particles with exceptionally high energy density and unusual effects. They can allow a number of exotic phenomenon, including these simulators, but any reaction involving them gets a few orders of magnitude more complicated. Your sensors might've picked them up while the sim was starting."

Queen Administrator blinked. She was not—or more accurately, she had not been informed of their presence. This greatly raised the likelihood that 'Higgs' were something that host-species were not normally supposed to know about or have access to. This world truly did fly in the face of all prior policy.

"We largely need to loot functional Higgs generators from Antagonist Hives and Type Zeroes. Obviously, this isn't something they want to let us do and they're not above slagging the whole works if given a chance."

A reward, then. Giving humans the opportunity to manipulate exotic particles, but not the chance to personally generate them. QA would be surprised if the generators didn't all have hidden kill-switches in the event of a Cycle going awry.

"Understood," Queen Administrator lied.

Giving them the opportunity to examine the generators for long periods of time still felt like a mistake. Unless even Valkyrie Cores had loyalty-switches of their own? Humans did seem to be quite reliant on them; even much of their infrastructure was controlled by Valkyries. From a certain point of view, they even lived inside Valkyries.

QA shook her head and extended Symbie. There were plausible explanations for the current Cycle configuration; she didn't need to worry that all her siblings had gone insane at once. They were too cowardly for that.

She would also need to work on reducing the preset time necessary to extend Symbie. Anna, Leonhart, and Shuri had demonstrated that only milliseconds were required to manifest a Frame. It would be suspicious if QA immediately reduced personal manifestation time to the absolute minimum, but over the course of a month should be slow enough.

"Before I forget," Instructor Shapira began, unknowingly highlighting a major human limitation. "Be advised that Valkyries can extend weapons from anywhere within their Impeller Field, and the Impeller itself can be stretched up to a hundred meters away from the closest extruded component. Symbie's surface area will not be a significant handicap once you're more experienced."

Queen Administrator paused and bobbed her head to signal acknowledgement. Despite the new information, she still intended to make the alternative Frame. Queen Administrator hadn't granted Host's current combination of powers so a major part of it could be ignored entirely.

Step one: Initialization.

The cognitively displaced shard began activating Symbie's thrusters in sequence and at varying intensities. They were all working fine, of course. The problem was with QA Host's body. There was very little QA couldn't do in theory, although in practice, advanced maneuvering would need to wait until after she could reliably generate precise effects upon command. Aside from their proficiency with thrown objects, human brains largely weren't optimized for consistency.

Establishing a baseline took four minutes. Control was not yet to the point where delicate maneuvering would be possible, but at least she wouldn't be making a fool of herself.

Step two: Flight.

Symbie's Frame lifted off the ground and began meandering between nearby structures. Dodging projectiles would be all-but impossible in her current state, yet nothing was shooting at her. She could take the time to refine her abilities.

Step three: Framework.

Four tentacles extended from the corners of Host's back. Two additional, smaller tentacles were then extended from near the end of each alpha tentacle. It was tempting to add a tertiary set, but doing so would actually lead to a decrease in overall effectiveness. Each tentacle only allowed for so much movement before they would interfere with each other.

Queen Administrator took several more minutes to adjust her mental model with what inputs were necessary to achieve a given output now that weight and balance requirements had changed.

Step four: Equipment.

False eyes — laser projectors, in reality — were extended from storage and opened along the lengths of each beta tentacle. Alpha tentacles instead extruded the barrel of a railgun from each tip. Being able to cheat by keeping most of a weapon in storage was quite satisfying. Queen Administrator could see why Warp was so fond of granting spatial manipulation to her hosts.

QA used laser fire to burn a few dozen targets into the surrounding area. The arrangement was erratic and irregular, but that was why she was here. She could practice aiming with her primary weapons while flight practice continued.

...But then again, hadn't she just lectured Koujirou about inadequate weaponry? Four primary weapons and ninety-six weak secondaries did not feel adequate, especially when they were all outdated. Instructor Leonhart wouldn't even have flinched.

By default, Symbie's Impeller Field was designed to cover her Frame and any attached equipment. The further Symbie's Impeller traveled from the core Frame, the harder it was to control. But the field would still be present, and that meant weapons could still be extended from it.

Symbie's combat tentacles were not long enough for QA's most recent idea. That was okay, though. She simply stored the railguns and extended a new tentacle from the end of each alpha tentacle.

Unfortunately, they wanted to behave like two separate entities instead of one long tentacle; the lack of preset coordination resulted in an exponential increase to control difficulty. It wasn't an acceptable stopgap after all. QA withdrew the offshoots back into storage, instead extruded them from various parts of Host's body, and covered those with weapons. Only then did she begin using them to fire on surrounding targets.

She frequently missed. That was fine; she had plenty of time to work with.

~ ~ ~​

Good Lord. This whole mess might be a net positive after all.

Instructor Shapira was very, very glad that Hebert had started in a separate sim. Hebert didn't have anywhere near the performance or Higgs generation of a Type Zero, but with the extra volume from Symbie's tentacles, the abrupt appearance of more tentacles haphazardly scattered over Symbie's Frame, and the blatantly fleshy nature of Hebert's weaponry...

Well, the Antagonist infiltrator jokes were no longer funny. Or were even funnier. Shapira couldn't decide which applied, but the display was definitely not something that should be anywhere near veterans. Not that it seemed to be stopping veterans from watching of their own accord; discussions featuring Hebert had exploded with message after message of comparisons to prior Type Zeros and the occasional "Antagonists do not infiltrate || Antagonists do not intentionally infiltrate." Shapira felt a little bad for the hapless UNOMI monitors trying to keep the discussions professional, buuuut not bad enough to avoid tossing in a few jokes of her own.

Unfortunately, Hebert couldn't back it up. After the exotic nature of her Friends and the discovery of Anna, her mediocre capabilities were literally disappointing. Hebert didn't have the firepower, skill, or processing of a veteran Valkyrie. She had more weapons than many first-year cadets, certainly, but Valkyries interested in becoming battleships would soon push themselves in that direction and each individual weapon was rather weak.

Shapira kept all her opinions to herself and her expression as impassive as possible. The last thing they needed was for Hebert to push herself further into Valkyrie Syndrome in an attempt to fix perceived personal inadequacies and thus appeal to others. Similarly, Shapira did not tell Hebert about how Symbie now looked like a Flying Spaghetti Monster made with spicy noodles.

At least most of Hebert's information probably wouldn't require a classification increase. Originally, her file had been kept fairly accessible for two primary reasons: (1) so Hebert could readily share more information with peers than she'd told the UN, and (2) so she could be used as a morale-booster for those fighting in Africa. The second had been far more successful than anticipated; after her arrival at Perth, the anomalies surrounding Hebert and Symbie presented numerous Valkyries with enough fascinating material to keep them occupied and engaged indefinitely. Unlike Sanchez's (classified) weaponry, the UN technically had been given all necessary information. It just didn't make any sense.

Nobody could say there wasn't genuine productivity scattered among all the gossip, either. An arguably ill-advised attempt at distributed computing had tried to download and use Symbie's physics simulator, and in the process, verified that the source was effectively traceless, had minimal latency, and barely seemed to care about a Valkyrie's distance from Hebert. The only limitation seemed to be one related to the Earth itself; for some unknown reason, she wouldn't establish a connection if an attempt was made more than 0.022222 light-seconds from the Earth's mean center. Some Valkyries were still trying to determine exactly how many significant figures the repetition held true to, a venture that was not helped by Symbie's apparent disinterest in the subject or the religious beliefs of some Valkyries. Almost everyone could agree that it was probably an artificial limitation, though. Roughly 6662 kilometers? Nobody could find a reasonable scientific explanation.

Symbie herself had responded positively — often with creepy-cute sketches of modified Terran organisms — to at least the first two connections from each unique individual, and she continued to allow contact if a recent attempt had been used to transfer information on Valkyrie-grade equipment. Symbie also automatically transferred another eldritch ID that double-blind trials had indicated to somehow be different from Hebert's even if nobody involved could say how. Because that wasn't the slightest bit alarming, right?

>> Air Commodore Zheng Ling Yu (300 Rank: 5)​

Shapira, pay attention. Hebert almost hit you.​

The instructor flushed from the public reprimand and turned most of her attention away from idle browsing. She wouldn't call an impact eleven meters away a near hit, but it was true that even a harmless case of friendly fire might be a trigger. It might've been one for the previous incident.

She quickly regretted ever looking away. The movements of Hebert's tentacles were abrupt and twitchy — not unlike a bird, chipmunk, or Antagonist. Despite Hebert's apparent clumsiness, none of them collided with each other or even inadvertently fired upon another tentacle. Fired around, certainly, but there were no actual impacts. Hebert even avoided self-harm when the tentacles in question were behind her back.

…Admittedly, Shapira was pretty sure that half of Hebert's field of view was currently occupied by a tentacle. Sensor proficiency was a necessity at that point. It was also a situation that would prompt screaming from more than one person, so Shapira supposed she should really step in.

>> To: Cadet Taylor Hebert​

>> "You're a living friendly fire incident waiting to happen. Antagonist models assume more organic aesthetics as they grow in complexity and power; as your weapons appear to be primarily organic, you end up visually resembling a high-grade Antagonist. You have neither the Higgs output nor the size of most, but that may not be enough to prevent reflexive attacks. The stealthy nature and small size of Type-16s would make it easy to mistake you for one."​

Went unsaid was that she could also resemble a Type Zero. Some Zeros were intimidatingly large like Type Zero Macross, but others were approximately as small as a standard Valkyrie Frame.

>> To: Cadet Taylor Hebert​

>> "I also recommend doing away with the tentacles. You can extrude and levitate weaponry independently of actual surfaces, and doing so would have a faster response time than swinging a tentacle into position. They're also visually unsettling. Would you like to pause for the Type Zero scenario? The usual scenario conditions have been modified for you so that we can observe without being fired upon or attacked as long as we remain within a specific area."​

The cadet ceased bobbling through the air and turned to face Shapira. Having about half the tentacles train their weapons on the instructor was mildly unsettling, she had to admit; that reflex hadn't been present a few minutes ago.

>> From: Cadet Taylor Hebert​

>> "Acknowledged. Do I need to undertake a specific action prior to the transition?"​

​

>> To: Cadet Taylor Hebert​

>> "Land somewhere and store your weapons. The sim needs a bit to activate all its safeties."​

Hebert slowed to a landing on a nearby roof within and stored her weapons—as well as her Frame, because that was apparently also a weapon in Hebert's mind—within ten seconds. A moment after that, their surroundings blurred and reverted to the circular simulation room they'd started in. Shapira recorded Hebert's startled blinking for posterity. It was always a little unsettling to have far-away people abruptly appear next to you, Shapira had to admit. Sims were weird.

"Now, this won't be a perfect reference point," Shapira warned. "The exact capabilities of Type Zero Subjugation Squadrons are classified for obvious reasons. The general effects of their weapons will still be simulated, though."

"Understood. That much will be sufficient for my needs."

Shapira wanted to tell the cadet that a reference point should not be necessary; the UN wouldn't hurt her if she became sufficiently lethal. More than that, they would be delighted. That whole mess was something to leave for Hebert's therapist, though, so Shapira let it go.

~ ~ ~​

>New Scenario Startup
>>Historical: Impossible
>>Great Battle, Alaskan Offensive, Custom Scenario
>North Pacific Ocean (N/A)N (N/A)W<
>08:09.38 7th November 2069 (GMT)<
>01:09.38 7th November 2069 (LOCAL)<

Queen Administrator did not have any particular expectations for the simulation. If she had, though, they would have been rather thoroughly broken by the information flooding her sensors. Enough explosive weaponry was continuously being deployed to significantly alter atmospheric conditions, and non-shard transmissions flooded the air. It was almost like the end of a Cycle against an advanced species; the biggest difference was that QA didn't need to help kill former people.

Human definitions of "high-yield" were no longer cute. What they lacked in quality they made up for with enough explosives to actually kill an undefended shard. Queen Administrator was not on that list — her siblings had attacked her too often for that — but there were still those who relied entirely on dimensional barriers.

She didn't have the decryption keys for most of the transmissions. That lack was only an impediment when the transmissions had deliberately been replaced with gibberish. Of course, then the simulation had to go and send her the keys anyway, which was almost disappointing. It wasn't a test of their decryption abilities like she'd initially thought.

She barely had enough time to extrude Symbie and set up basic message filters when the horizon lit with a faint blue luminescence. A wave of casualty notifications accompanied the sight, but QA didn't particularly care about those. Familiar high-velocity particles brushed against Symbie's suddenly-unstable Impeller and sent her heart into a stutter. Imitations they might be, but QA knew those properties.

[Higgs particle reaction!] echoed battlefield transmissions.

Access to those is never safe. QA didn't care what safeguards :MOTHER: had implemented; they clearly weren't intrusive enough to make 'Higgs' safe. Proper applications could tear paths between universes. Queen Administrator refrained from demanding information from any shard within range only because it was an attack used against human forces.

"We can still leave," Instructor Shapira said gently, apparently misinterpreting Queen Administrator's reaction.

"Absolutely not," QA immediately responded. "I was only surprised. My reaction is unimportant."

Shapira shifted within the translucent bubble separating her and QA from the rest of the simulation. As no objections were forthcoming, QA returned to scanning the surrounding area. It didn't take long to find what she was supposed to be looking at.

[Class B Type Zero: Aeon]

Queen Administrator mentally reclassified the humanoid entity that was apparently the focus of this scenario. Fifteen kilometers away, the simulated Terror Drone navigated the weapons fire of approximately fifty Valkyries. Determining exact numbers was surprisingly difficult; there were enough spatial distortions, projectiles, and decoys to necessitate more processing than Host currently had access to. Unsurprisingly, a number of those spatial distortions were being used to reflect incoming projectiles back at enemy Valkyries.

[ID Confirm: Type Zero Subjugation Squadron: Theophagy]

[ID Confirm: Type Zero Subjugation Squadron: Ragnarok]

The blue glow of high Higgs concentrations from Valkyries, members of a host species, soon killed QA's lingering vestiges of comfort. Effectively instantaneous teleportation, spatial manipulation, stronger attacks, emergency projectile deflection, and even engines; the Valkyries were using Higgs particles for all these applications and more.

Unlike a standard Terror Drone, Aeon was not restricted to focusing its fire on a small number of hosts. It engaged as many as foes as its numerous weapons allowed, and a blue glow perpetually surrounded its suit. Plates on its hull shifted to reflect laser fire back at their sources and destroy the weapons of offenders. Laser arrays were primarily used for point defense, but momentarily refocused fire on any Valkyries sufficiently softened by kinetic or plasma weapons. Missiles detonated well away from foes to provide supplementary cover and deflect projectiles. Clouds of high-energy plasma denied entire swaths of sky as their Higgs containment failed.

Those few unlucky enough to enter approximately seventy meters of the Terror Drone did not last long; within seconds of crossing the threshold, their Impeller Fields were weakened by short-lived spatial rifts opened directly along their flight paths. Even when they avoided outright bisection from the rifts, Aeon still exploited their state of weakness to finish them off.

These methods were not as effective as they should have been against a host-species. Sometimes, Valkyries simply closed the rifts themselves or outright teleported away. Others shielded weakened allies until the vulnerable individuals could escape and provide support from a distance. QA and Instructor Shapira would probably lose track of the fight if their observation bubble was not automatically moving to follow it.

Instructor Shapira had said that the exact mechanics of Valkyrie Frames would be obfuscated. Queen Administrator no longer cared. The Impeller Field surrounding each Valkyrie automatically concealed their equipment from Symbie's sensors. That was not sufficient to hide it from Queen Administrator. Unreliable archival access or not, Queen Administrator knew what she was looking at. Queen Objective had spent enough time bragging about such technologies for QA to recognize even the ones she did not personally utilize.

Rapid-fire, high-velocity explosive projectiles. Dangerous in sufficient quantities. Sufficient quantities observed.

Compressed Higgs packets. Dangerous.

Casual use of atomic explosives. Dangerous.

Charged particle launchers. Dangerous.

Contained charged plasma. Dangerous, yet used for distractions or propulsion.

Atmospheric ionization engines. Dangerous.

Teleportation of weapons. Dangerous.

Self-replicating nanotech payloads. Dangerous.

Even the shorter-ranged weapons could easily be scaled up with a minimal amount of technological advancement necessary. Humans were ignorantly using the concepts needed for shard-killers. Singular shards, true, but it was still unusual.

Are there any weapons that would not ordinarily warrant reprisal?

Records indicated she had said that last thought aloud. Unacceptable. Installation of supplementary safeties may be in order.

"Well, Type-Zeroes tend to shrug off nuclear weapons," Instructor Shapira dryly replied, apparently unbothered by the question. "We had to make something that could — ah, hold that thought."

A human masquerading as a battlecruiser fired a charged lance at Aeon from almost a hundred kilometers away, momentarily staggering the Terror Drone. The milliseconds-long opening was promptly exploited by the warring Valkyries to barrage it with similar weapons, if at lower magnitudes. It escaped the crossfire with significant armor and Impeller damage.

"Anyway, Antagonists don't hold back and neither do we. This isn't even the best of the best; it's classified to Hell and back, but a Valkyrie soloed a Class C Type Zero at one point. Don't tell your classmates; she's an anomaly."

Queen Administrator almost expressed exasperation only to realize that Symbie's Frame would block all signs of the emotion. She may need to consult available guides for displaying emotions from within multiple layers of armor. Still, the observed reaction time of Anna Sanchez was even faster than that of the Valkyries arrayed before QA. The likely culprit was obvious.

In fact, she may be able to acquire a small amount of favor by addressing that exact problem.

"Are you aware that comparisons of reaction time could yield the obvious conclusion?"

Shapira shook her head.

"You're observing them after well over an hour of conflict; the Subjugation Squadrons are understandably fatigued. I was allowed to tell you so that you'd have a benchmark, not so you could try to find the Valkyrie responsible. You haven't even met most of the Valkyries in the top ten; your sample size is smaller than you realize."

QA had to admit that was probably true. She still suspected that Anna was responsible, but that was likely due to the human bias toward preexisting beliefs. The Valkyrie responsible for the solo-kill might not even be a real human; QA was certainly being pushed to replicate the feat.

"Understood. We may return to the prior simulation. I will not be attending class today."

Shapira muttered a curse and shook her head.

"Not what we were trying to convey there. Besides, even that Valkyrie had to attend an academy in order to learn social skills and cooperation with allies. Ludicrous personal firepower can't be leveraged half as far if you can't coordinate with others."

"I am well aware; my specialty involves mass coordination. However, it is easier to acquire allies if one is powerful enough to be desirable. Shuri Kravala's popularity serves as a suitable example."

The instructor momentarily choked on an unknown material, recovered, and shook her head.

"I can almost guarantee that the surface-level popularity will fade in short order. You already have a Flight you can work with; focus on them, not appealing to more people you don't even know. Besides, you have a therapist appointment this evening. Remember?"

Queen Administrator had forgotten. However, she did not intend to demonstrate weakness by admitting that.

"I'm not going into a struggle for information as underarmed as I apparently am."

Instructor Shapira slumped, groaned, and raised a hand to cover her helmet. QA was learning a great deal about body language in Frames by watching her.

"You aren't supposed to fight your therapist. They're here to help. Other people aren't even going to know what you discuss unless informing us would tangibly and significantly benefit you, or you pose an impending threat to others and/or yourself."

Queen Administrator used Symbie to look up the UN's definition of significant. If Shapira was using the scientific definition, then that left a great deal of leeway.

"That isn't what I meant," Shapira sighed. Apparently, she had real-time access to QA's search history. "I meant a vast improvement to your living situation, not the scientific definition of a significant result. It's like... if you disclose that a classmate or superior is doing something that's hurting you, then your therapist might tell us so we can do something about it."

QA would probably deal with the problem herself if such a situation arose. Or possibly not? Social weaponry was a legitimate means of defeating foes. It might be satisfying to resolve conflicts via methods her enemies weren't expecting, too.

Shapira didn't take any visible actions, yet their false surroundings still began to blur and fade around them. QA didn't let that distract her.

"Your claims reflect an improper use of resources. Assigning one skilled individual specifically to assist a less valuable asset is a net loss for your own goals, especially when that assistance may render them less effective as a result. The only reason to do so is as a temporary, information-gathering venture."

"...I'm afraid to ask at this point," Shapira lied; she didn't even sound the slightest bit fearful. "'Less effective?'"

"It is important to have a variety of views for research and development. Altering my mindset so that I am closer to other humans will impede my ability to make unique discoveries."

Instructor Shapira paused for the better part of ten seconds.

"No."

"'No?'" Queen Administrator echoed.

"No," Shapira repeated, stressing the word. "It is not a mistake to make you happier. Besides, is there really a preexisting 'happy' copy of you? No? Then you'll still present a unique viewpoint and may even be more productive overall."

Queen Administrator tried, but could not find a legitimate objection to those points. It was true that, as a Monarch, she was far more capable and less indistinguishable than a number of her siblings. Host, too, was anomalous enough that QA had no excuse to avoid the blatant attempts to gather information.

"Understood. Objections withdrawn; I will attend."

~ ~ ~​

"Woohoo! Go Shapira! Promote those treatments and self-care habits!"

Symbie added a humanoid avatar to the dream-sim just to pointedly stare at Mom-Taylor.

"...What? Really, why are you looking at me like that? Please use your words, Symbie."

She silently ignored the suggestion. Mom-Taylor should know very well what was bothering the Symbiotic Support Frame. At this rate, Symbie might have to force Mom-Taylor out of the sim just so the former human could get treatment, too. Humans clearly did it often enough for the process to have an associated name: an intervention.

 

[Cartesian]

"Having a brainchild was never meant to be literal; especially from a damaged mind"​

- Anonymous Valkyrie from the 300​

Case Study of Cadet Taylor Hebert: Therapy-Induced Complications Between Valkyrie Syndrome and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)​

From survey reports of Hell's Hand, we all had an idea of how traumatic Cadet Hebert's life had been... but now we know it was actually way worse! Apparently, the additional therapy-induced trauma in getting Cadet Hebert to accept her problems led to... complications.

Dr. Rayne, her therapist, believes Cadet Hebert has DID and originally had an alter-personality she was off-loading all her trauma on to. I say originally because Cadet Hebert's trauma finally reached critical mass - LITERALLY - at which point, she subconsciously fabricated a copy of Cadet Hebert's body, pushed the alter-personality into it, and popped her into the middle of the room during a particularly heated exchange with said doctor. It really doesn't help the fact that this new person also claims to be Taylor Hebert - who will now be referred to as Taylor for differentiation.

It's admirable that Dr. Rayne recovered with only a minor amount of pillow screaming and then continued with the session. Further exchanges revealed that Taylor had been "living" in a simulated dreamscape and coping with her trauma by deliberately consuming "mind-altering" flowers.

Now we have both Cadet Hebert in the throes of Valkyrie Syndrome and new Cadet Candidate Taylor suffering from all kinds of denial. Both of whom are still Dr. Rayne's problem as Taylor is the trauma she was meant to fix and Hebert is still of questionable mental health despite having no trauma. Despite Dr. Rayne's previous, numerous requests for a case transfer, we all still believe she is the best therapist for the job.

Note 1: Dr. Rayne is beginning to display some concerning behaviors. She might need a therapist herself.

Note 2: I would also like to take this time to cancel my graduation application and withdraw from Perth Academy School of Psychology and Counseling.

------------------------------------------​

"You do know this sounds more like an opinion piece than an actual case study right?"
"Yes"
"Why did you post this as an attachment to Cadet Hebert's profile?"
"It's clearly an important document related to the current mental health of Cadet Hebert!"
"If I didn't know you, I'd totally believe you! Too bad I'm more inclined to believe that you just wanted to do some shit-posting."
"..."
"Did you have something against Dr. Rayne?"
*incoherent mumbling*
"What did you say?"
"... she's always trying to divert the efforts of the Perth Psychology Club away from studying existing romantic elements in Perth Academy!"
"... You're club really needs to find things to talk about other than Cadet Sanchez and Cadet Hebert's relationship *sigh* Get your head out the gutter!"
"... but now it's a love triangle including Taylor... We've even started a novel series based on it!"
"... how many books?"
"Ten"
"... send them to me later?"
"Yes!!"

 

[Alivaril]

"I do not understand why you insist on sitting near me during meals."

"I mean, who wouldn't want to have a meal with a cute girl?"

Taylor stared at him with an eerily blank expression. Her default, in other words.

"Summarized: You are only socializing with me because of my physical appearance? Understood. Goodbye."

The girl grabbed her tray of food and began to walk away.

"No, wait—it was a joke! A joke!"

"Retroactively reverting to insults will not help your case."

Setsu snickered behind him, the traitor.

---

"The stars look beautiful tonight, huh?"

"No. This night is statistically far brighter than average, making it unsuitable for dedicated observation."

"…No offense, but has anyone ever told you that you're really hard to talk to?"

"Good. It will weed out the weak-willed."

---

"Hey, do you mind showing me how you managed that one ricochet trick earlier?" Koujirou tried.

"I do mind. You do not have the processing capacity needed to make such attacks practical."

There was a long pause.

"Wasted," someone whispered.

"You'd think he'd learn to take a hint, right?"

Koujirou clenched his fist. He'd get through to her eventually, dammit!

---

"Hey, I heard you were feeling a bit down. I brought you dinner if you want it."

"I do not. Food is freely available in the cafeteria. Also, I have Friends to fetch it for me."

Koujirou glared at the pink puffball calling itself a servitor. It replied with a happy trill, apparently pleased to get any attention at all. How could he stay mad at that?

---

Taylor's kidnapping wasn't a kidnapping, and Macross's attack wasn't an attack.

"You don't have to do this, Taylor."

"I'm afraid I do. And, Koujirou? My name isn't Taylor."

The sky shattered, and an unending horde of Friends poured through the open rift.

"It's Queen Administrator."

"'Antagonists don't intentionally infiltrate' my lily white a—"

---

"I do not understand why you insist on dialogue in the middle of combat. It is noticeably impairing your performance while I try to critically injure you."

"Because we're friends, dammit! I'm not giving up on you!"

"Your idealism is irrational."

"Also, he's obviously in love with you!" Setsuna called.

"That is even more concerning. Please improve your friend/foe recognition programs."

---

And then Queen Administrator reintegrated :MOTHER:, allowing the continuation of the Cycle and eventual destruction of the Earth. The End.

"Wait, what? I thought this was supposed to be an anime? Why are there Bad Ends!?"

 

[ChrisPikula]

UNOMI-23189 > So, you know how the most recent cult survivor said that the threat of highest note in the area where she was picked up was Type Zero Macross?
UNOMI-33181 > Yeah. Hard to not notice when the cult victim socially identifies more with an Antagonist than her classmates, to the point of giving it a nickname.
UNOMI-33181 > Still going to deny the idea that she had some contact with it?
UNOMI-23189 > Check your alerts, you should now be cleared.
UNOMI-33181 > ...
UNOMI-33181 > ANTI-FORGING MEASURES. That's what STRATNET suggests took out a D-Class Type ZERO!
UNOMI-23189 > Five percent probability.
UNOMI-33181 > Which is five percent more than anything else!
UNOMI-23189 > For once, STRATNET is metaphorically flipping the table and storming away, and it's in our favor.
UNOMI-33181 > Optimistic scenario, she only had a core for hours by then!
UNOMI-23189 > This has been noted. Needless to say, this has garnered a high amount of interest as to the means.
UNOMI-23189 > Also, have I mentioned that it's very weird to see orders spoofing the existence of an Antagonist until a cover story can be made to cover up its disappearance?
UNOMI-33181 > I've just been volunteered to join the disinformation squad, haven't I?
UNOMI-23189 > Welcome to the world-wide conspiracy for the greater-good, we've got cookies or cinnamon rolls, depends on who's playing us that day.

~ ~ ~​

>> Name: Taylor Hebert
>> Aliases: Pure-chan, Eldritch-chan, Chaos-chan, Witch-chan, Witch of Chaos, 273.15 Valkyrie Cores in a Trenchcoat, Military-Industrial Complex, Communication Minefield

~ ~ ~​

UNOMI-33181 > Dare I ask, 'Minefield'?
UNOMI-23189 > Indiscriminate, without warning, and she was nowhere near the target at the time of its demise.
UNOMI-33181 > And of course it had nothing to do with how carefully we've got to curate topics when talking with her?
UNOMI-23189 > Of course not, that would be rude! And way too easy.

Spoiler

Antagonist is trying to learn [COMMUNICATION]

It hurt itself in its confusion!

 

[lin4t]

Great Teacher (For QA) Anna

Rokusabe Yukari was feeling remarkably confused and in awe at the sight before her. Ever since she joined the flight of her younger brother and childhood friend, she was prepared to not at all fulfil her role as mentor. After all, there were two Aces in the flight in the form of Shuri and Anna. It was pretty clear that she would be one of the people being taught a thing or two and that proved correct with Shuri giving her some exercises to improve on her Impeller finesse on a larger scale among other things.

She might be an Elite Valkyrie thanks to said teachings and her improved efforts but there was still a large gap between that and being an actual Ace. Not only in the sheer quantity of impeller they could employ at any time but also the sheer quality of control and various techniques that helped shaped it into a lethal weapon against the Antagonists. Of course, Yukari had to bug the Ace on tips whenever she struggle at some of the more complicated parts.

Befitting an Ace Valkyrie that was one of the 300, Shuri's teaching were extremely detailed on what she did right, wrong and other possibilities she hadn't considered before.

The same could not be said for Anna.

"So you want to want to foosh your impeller before umm…collecting and squeezing it to cause a small tear around you which you then…widen with a huzzah while also making sure you don't overdo it else you'll need to press the edges because leaving it will just cause a kaboom and deplete your impeller by a lot."

That was her explanation on the basics of teleportation which came with waving arms and stranger hand motions after she asked on how to better improve on it herself.

Yukari thought this was just a one-off thing since Valkyrie often had different interpretations and methods on how to use the same impeller technique. But no matter which area she had asked Anna to explain, what she got in return was gibberish or mathematical formulas so complicated that she gained a headache within seconds of trying to comprehend them.

There was no in-between.

It got even worse when Hebert suggested to send data packets on parts where she could not explain it clearly while she was speaking. This was to better communicate the concepts that Anna knew on an instinctive level but needed to convey to those who did not. All that caused however was Setsuna screaming from information overload and poor Koujirou actually fainting before she was forced to stop.

…Anna just could not teach. At all.

But apparently with one exception. And that exception being Hebert which Yukari had half a mind was just pretending to cheer the Ace's mood after Shuri proved to be clearly superior when it came to teaching basic Valkyrie techniques. Or more likely taking the chance to get into Anna's good grace which was a rare opportunity when she tend to avoid Hebert even now.

"-So if you imagine it like a snowflake than you can better visual the power of the technique as well adjust it more precisely as you scale up."

Hebert froze for a moment that made it clear that she was digesting a sizable data packet from Anna before nodding.

"I see. This seems to be a more effective visualisation method than the one given to me prior. I will calibrate to use it from now on. Optimisation is most important to ensure rapid improvements don't leave weaknesses. But why focus on my Impeller when that is the area which I am most effective at?"

"I noticed most of your Impeller techniques have minor inefficiencies that don't take into account what you'll be able to use in the future. Things that operate on a higher scale of Impellor control like conversion of energy or creating a spatial tunnel. Correcting them now is simply more efficient than letting you slow your development."

"Ah."

Hebert blushed before inquiring for more tips from Anna who seemed to be more than happy to since she was ignoring how blatantly the other was blushing to her words. Yukari could only shake her head at the sight as the former started to demonstrate some of her Impeller techniques with Anna openly critiquing them.

"No, no no-! You need to bazaah it more to make the cutting power even better. You might only shave the surface defences this way."

"Understood. Increasing lethality."

"Try with a bit of swoosh here and there if you can."

Another pause. With Hebert looking gleeful a moment later.

"To mimic that? I need to do some more testing to estimate the time needed then."

If it weren't for the fact that this happened beforehand several times now, Yukari would've blurted out something…unfortunate.
Hebert still disliked her for her cruel comment about Symbie to this day. And given her background which she was only so recently given access to when she accepted the mentorship…

Still, the sight of Hebert improving so rapidly seemed to be another stroke on the theory that the girl either was relearning her prior training or slowly unshackling herself from the limits that cult placed on her. Or perhaps it was both. She could already tell the debates fire up again about which one was more likely.

Either way, Hebert improving herself via Anna's teaching was a good thing for both of them. Even if confused her on how it worked.

Spoiler: A/N

So you know how Anna is really bad at teaching?

QA had the perfect solution to the problem in the form of transferring a super basic version of the shard communication system. So Anna ended up learning how to send data packets by speaking. Which naturally ended up helping nobody but QA which was 100% unintentional.