Ariin escaped the room after hearing about promotions, deciding now would be a good time for his less than legal hobby. He went into the cafeteria and collected his meal, then he set about finding a way back behind the counter and into the kitchen. He sat down at a table, watching the cooks and serves carefully as well the few camera's in the room. He was cassing the place for a daring theft, to make a cake, oh how the once great thief had fallen.

"Heeeeey....bro, twitchyeye...whadeva." 'Sigma's' voice was heard behind the young daring pilot. Her petite frame swayed back and forth, a flask of a strong liquor in her hand. In her breath. She was flat out drunk, with her plugsuit half undone, and obviously leaning a little bit too much in Ariin's personal space."Whatcha doin'?"

Something wasn't right. She couldn't get so drunk too quickly, much less teleport into the cafeteria that quickly.

That wasn't Sigma. The real Sigma was just crossing the cafeteria´s door, one of her hands clasped in her mouth, letting a little gasp as the emotions overwhelmed her.

"Iota..." the REAL Sigma said, discovering the double's true appearance.

Ariin was a little worried at first, granted he had twin sisters but well Iota and Sigma looked, even sounded the same. He looked at Sigma, mouthing the word help then smiled at Iota.

"Hi Iota? Something I can help you with?" He asked trying to be friendly, he knew this girl was drunk but she was still a trained fighter. If she was looking for payback, well he'd have quite the fight before him. Still he hoped Sigma could come over and fix this, he really didn't want to admit he was preparing to steal supplies for a cake... Lorenzo would eat him alive or have Irina do it for him.

Sigma stood there, flabbergasted. The usual calm and collected pilot did nothing, her eyes darting forth and back. She tried to stretch a hand, and do a step, but to no avail.

"You, fuckin' twitchdumbeye." Iota staggered as she pulled her hair back, plopping in a chair, almost not miracously falling over. "Give em back. My fellow clo...sisssters. GIVE THEM BACK. YOU ALL FUCKING MURDERERS!" She yelled on top of her lungs, before breaking into sobs, no doubt influenced by the alcohol, but also by a state of immense grief. "It...fucking hurts...we dolls, fucking hurt...y'know. You're cruel gods..." Iota blabbered.

"And you're the worst of them, Siggy Piggy!" Iota babbled."You fuckin' held back. On me. You had mercy on me. Well, do you feel better now? You only spared me, a..." she took another swig of her booze..."fucking underage drunyard doll. Ain't you feeling now a bit better, like the...the.." She got up, before pathetically tumbling backwards..."Holy Virgin Mary or whateves..."

Ariin sighed, looking away from her, Iota wasn't lying, he had killed that girl another clone, dolls as they seemed to be called. He didn't want to, hell he didn't do going in that they were going to die. He tears up a little when he was how she cried, he could only remember how he would feel if he lost his siblings. "Sigma's not to blame." He said getting up taking the booze away from the clone.

"Neither are you. It's this war, the things they are allowed to get away with, it's because their is a war on." He stood up offering her a hand up. "You are not a doll in my eyes, your the same as me... A human being, same as Sigma over there humans. My allies, people I should be protecting and serving alongside not killing because Lorenzo orders it." He answered flatly staring at Iota. "I'm sorry I killed your sister, hell I'm sorry I never got to meet her. You've got to know I didn't know who the pilots were going in."

He sat down on the bench, reaching into suit, he'd tucked a picture just inside his collar. "Here take a look. I've got sisters to... My only family. I would be in the same you are now if I lost them. You need to live though, you really think they would be proud of you drinking and crying, yelling at some guy to bring them back?" He asked offering her a hand up off the ground.

Sigma stood there, silently taking each one of her daggers, each one of Iota's grieving statemets. "...I...I knew the pilots. I realized it as soon we heard the first one die... but, what...could...I...I'm just...a doll...too. I must...I tried..." Sigma staggered. "I tried to twist the orders...eliminate without killing, but I couldn't command others...I'm just a failure." She began walking towards Iota.

Iota looked first at Ariin, her words becoming slow..."We're not human...it's okay for y...you to kill us. We're manmade humans. Sigma and I...Homunculus project." She stuttered, before continuing. "But Sigma is the success...she's meant to become a real person...and she squanders it...BY SHOWING MERCY AND..."

Sigma's reflexes fired up, as Iota convulsed and lashed, grabbing Ariin before Iota's lunge was proven fatal. And the gunk came out of her mouth like a geiser.

Vomit was a bitch to clean from suits.

"That was close..."

"Well that's not pretty." Ariin sighed looking at Sigma. "Sigma... She's wrong, being human means having compassion, mercy, and caring for others. Irina is the real monster, the way she acted I'd say your more human than her." He answered. "Why don't you watch her for a moment... I'll get something to clean up with." He smiled a little, his robotic eye turning blue. He had a perfect moment for a good caper while the staff were distracted by Iota.

Ariin patted Sigma's head then headed out of her view slipping towards the kitchen, hoping to be in and out before Sigma got curious as to why he went this way. He had a feeling she would report him either way, even if he was doing this for her.

Sigma tilted her head, an inquisitive gesture in her mind, her social graces failing to garner any kind of meaning behind that pat on the head. Her eyes were set on Iota's trembling, gasping figure.

"Iota." Sigma clenched her fist. "I've made many blunders... but you're the one blunder I do not regret. If you were dead, you couldn't talk back to me one last time, yes?" Her hands reached for her clone, shouldering her weight and straightening her up.

"Dum spiro, spero." Sigma said. "While I breathe and hope."

"Heh, you sound like Alpha, Sigma. I'm supposed to be the eldest...one. But somehow..." Iota chuckled so slightly.

"I suppose that being exposed to others made me rethink my identity, not as an extension as Irina...but as myself." Sigma added. "And now...you'll do it too."

Iota looked at Sigma, at loss. She had no words for what the fellow clone said. Finally, she managed to piece something together. "Sig..gy...I think...no...he headed from where I snatched the booze..."

"WHAT?" Sigma exclaimed.

"Pa-pantry raid...just like we used to do, no?" Iota smirked, before being unceremonously tossed into a chair, letting a yelp.

"PILOT ARIIN!" Sigma raised her voice as she stomped towards where he had gone.

Ariin had just finished getting the boxes of strawberries, the last thing he needed. When he heard Sigma yell his name, he rushed out stuffing a strawberry in her mouth he glared her. "Shut up, I'm stealing you a cake. I promised you one and no way in help would Lorenzo let a known thief have free roam in the kitchen." He added showing her the ingredigents. "I got enough that I can make one big enough you can share with Iota now please stop yelling." He finished speaking as watched the camera's rotation.

"Mmmrfuf." Sigma's quells were rapidly silenced as the red, juicy morsel made its way into her mouth. She didn't talk more, but... something outrageous happened.

A pout.

Sigma.Was.Pouting.

And, upon seeing that, the mentally unstable Iota couldn't hold it.

She laughed hysterically, falling in the floor as she did so. And incidentally, drew the attention of the guards.

Ariin ducked out of the cafeteria, finding an old abandoned looking locker he stuff the food inside. Then returned the room and chuckled a little at Sigma, pouting, that was pretty funny considering how up tight she was when they met. "Well Siggy you are growing as person, now why don't I help you get Iota back to her room before he rolls in her own puke? Then we can see out your cake? After all, I bet you and Iota have never had a birthday party." He patted her head as he started towards the drunk girl.

"Stop doing that." Sigma's pout fiercely intensified. "Unless you want to see how much I can resemble Irina." The young pilot snarled in annoyance. "And for your information, I can make birthday cakes aswell..."

"She ends up eating the biggest share, though." Iota vocalized, after her fit. "Siggy is a sugar maniac." The other clone ventured to say. "Aaaand...OW" She cut herself short as an upside down fist collided with her head.

"Come on, you damn drunk doll." Sigma finally said, before grabbing her by the collar of the plugsuit into the living quarters.

Ariin chuckled as Iota spoke. "Sigma I wouldn't I was younger than you and smaller when I killed two grown men, armed soldiers... With my bare hands." He warned her, knowing that in close quarters he could be quite fighter. "Now you and Iota go... Oh and Siggy, I do want you to know that I'm your friend... And if anyone calls you a doll... Well I already told what happened to the last guys who threatened someone I cared for." He gave her a smile, eye even giving a happy face as he turned to go recover his stolen goods and bake a cake.

After hearing the promotions and other information from schedules to various locations, Mai saluted and walked out of the room.

Since her framework wasn't even here yet, she decided to head towards the barracks where the pilots rooms were. HER room specifically. A part of her did want to go to the frameworks hangar and talk to any of the engineers and mechanic's there about the R-1 but again, thought better of it. She just had to accept the fact that the R-1, repairable or not, was gone. And she had to master the R-0 Custom.

Wing Zero Custom.

The irony of it all.

Orders were orders.

Mai just blocked those distracting thoughts and contined to walked towards the pilots barracks. She wanted to make sure all of her personal belongings were in order.

A collab between @SillyGoy and @Evil Snowman.

---

So Harold was squad officer. That came as a surprise to him, given how terribly everyone performed, and especially him. In other circumstances, he would have failed to suppress a smile at this sudden promotion, but a feeling hovering just over the back of his neck told him that he did not deserve it. He felt that Lieutenant Ritsu, by all rights, should have been the one to lead them. This was an obvious choice. Why command did not make this decision, and saw it fit to make him leader, Harold did not know. He did know, however, that it was pointless questioning the matter.

Soldiers were weapons first, and weapons were not required to think, much less disobey. It took some effort, but he managed not to smile during Ariin's chastisement. Yet even with his discipline, Harold had to consciously repress any reservations about slaying other cadets. He was sure that those elusive gods who signed his paychecks, the uniforms with stars and bars, had a good reason for all of this.

With the two senior officers' dismissal, Team Sigma was officially free 'till the next day. He took a few steps back and swept his gaze about to examine his new command, some of whom were leaving the room already. He had already pocketed the proferred badge and put the tazer into his holster which had remained empty since his demotion. It felt good to have the weight of a sidearm at his hip once again. Amongst his new squadron there so many faces, so many different personalities. Perhaps even too different, with a huge variety in background, education and age. This was going to be a difficult one. But he was sure it would all be sorted out, fine and dandy, later on.

The scientist had also mentioned something about punishing Romanovna, the Caretaker's pilot. Harold honestly didn't know what to do as he turned to face the young woman.

The news of having to be punished really annoyed Katya, although truth be told a part of her was expecting it. But that still didn't make it any better for her. The young woman was frowning at the old man as he gave her the news.

"Yes, sir," she stated plainly in response to his orders a hint of disdain lining the words. She wanted to say more but knew a she couldn't or she'd only get herself in to more trouble. The news of her impending punishment was playing on her mind as Ritsu began to explain what they'd be doing from tomorrow onwards. What kind of punishment would Harold give her? Would it be one of the more common military punishments or something else? These thoughts plagued her mind so much she missed half what the lieutenant said.

When Ritsu left the room Katya let out a sigh, before looking at Lorenzo for a moment.

"Better get this over and done with. Hopefully Harold would decide not to make an example out of me." she thought noticing the very same person had turned to face her.

"Right just keep calm Katya, he's just doing his job. No matter, the throws at the instructors back home had done worse." she thought, trying her best to mentally prepare for whatever fate awaited her.

Turning to face Harold, Katya slowly approached the older pilot, standing at attention and giving him a salute.

"Sir. Ekaterina Ozerova Romanovna reporting to you as ordered. Sir." She started again, a small level of disdian lining her words. Katya was still recalling the 'misunderstanding' from before the mock battle.

Harold returned the salute, but shook his head. His voice was also lower and softer than she had heard before. The older pilot stood straightly before her, hands clasped before his back. It was a bearing that had been made instinctive to him during his days as a starfighter instructor.

"No, none of that. No military formalities for now. We're just Cadets. I don't even know how to punish you or what to punish you for in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, we all performed terribly and won only through sheer luck."

"And, uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I know I didn't make the best first impression to you guys, so I'd like to reintroduce myself to you." He held out his hand towards her, "I am Harold Buell."

Hearing Harold say "no military formalities for now" Katya relaxed her stance shifting it to the at ease postion. Glancing over at the old man for a moment as into imply her reason for not relaxing compeltely. After all even if she wasn't too fond of the older pilot so far she would respect his wishes if he didn't want formalities while he punished her. Still, she found it a little odd given this was a prefect chance for him to show off his authoirty. But she wasn't about to complain or say anything.

When Harold mentioned he'd like to reintroduce himself to her Katya gave a slight nod taking the hand he offered.

"Ekaterina Romanovna, pleased to meet you." she stated in a semiformal tone, again glacing over at the old man feeling a little paranoid he was watching this whole interaction.

"As to why you're needed to punish me - to put it simply, I questioned our orders. As for how... well that is up to you. After all, sir, you are the officer now. So you have the power to punish me as you see fit," she stated, shaking Harold's hand once before letting it go.

Her grip was firm and strong. Harold smiled at this. Strength was a quality he'd always admired. "Tell you what, Kate - can I call you that? - before our commanding officer comes in and interrupts our talk, how about we get out of here? Then we can think about how to punish you the best in peace."

With that, Harold left the room, entering the hallways and eyeing several nearby directional signs. The one that interested him the most, however, was "Cafeteria ↑."

He turned to his new charge. "Got any ideas?"

Hearing that Harold call her Kate, Katya eyes narrowed at the officer, an offended look appearing for just a micro second.

"Please do not call me that. I'm Ekaterina or if that is a little too much to say or too hard to pronounce Katya is accpetable. But. Never. Kate." she stated, sounding slightly offened at the potential nickname. Giving a sigh, Katya let her hands fall to her side, before nodding to the idea of leaving.

"That would be good..." she said, trailing off stopping herself from adding something about Lorenzo.

Following Harold out of the room, letting him lead the way once again, she found it rather odd when they ended up in the cafeteria. When asked if she had any ideas Katya looked at her superior officer for a moment thinking about what to say.

"How about we sit down? Standing in line like a board made me legs sore." Very well aware that was most likely that not the aim of his question. But truth be told Katya wasn't about to help Harold cook up a punishment for herself. Oh no that honor would be his alone.

Harold was getting an intense vibe from Katya the entire time. He'd expected genial conversation and a lightened mood, but perhaps that just wasn't her personality. It did not dissuade him from trying to get to know her better, though. Determined, he took a chair and sat down across her.

Synergy and teamwork were essential to the performance of any unit. If he couldn't achieve either, what kind of leader would he be?

"So Katya," he said, looking over to the serving line. Over and counter and into the window of the kitchen, he could swear that he saw the flash of Sigma's silver hair for but a brief moment. "Want anything?"

Sitting down, Katya felt a small amount of relief, although really the sitting down as her legs were was an utter lie. She just wanted to sit down as it was more comfortable but didn't want to be truthful. It was rare when she simply didn't want admit she just wanted something but it happened every once in a while. Watching Harold sit down across from her Katya sat her hands in front of her. Looking at the older pilot as he said her name, an eyebrow raising as she noticed he looked into the kitchen window behind her.

Whatever it was Katya didn't bother to pay it any mind. After all, they were here to discuss her punishment that the old man had demanded. When asked if she wanted anything, Katya shook her head.

"No, I ate this morning and I drank on the flight back. So I'm good for now." she stated, thinking of the parfait thing the Lorenzo had said they had waiting for them here. The mere thought of it made Katya stomach growl, much to the young woman's embrassment.

"Well it seems my body is in disagreement. I guess I could eat something." Katya said, trying to avoid mentioning the reward the old man had given them, still not wanting to help Harold punish her.

Harold smiled. "Well, it's not going to be the parfait, because that's your punishment - no parfait. But that was a pretty loud growl. Don't worry, I'll get you some other treat - provided you pay."

With that, he stood up and went to the serving line. Katya could see that as he ordered, the serviceman indeed placed only one tall glass of parfait and a small, mysterious cup on his tray. Harold returned quickly, immediately diving into his dessert with a ready spoon. In the cup was vanilla ice cream layered with chocolate fudge.

"No parfait, but it's ice cream all the same." Harold shoved another spoonful into his mouth. "Seven credits, by the way."

Hearing that she wouldn't get to try the parfait thing, Katya frowned, feeling a little down, given she still hadn't eaten a lot of food from other worlds and her world made food from meat and whatever plantlife one could get their hands on. Even in the military station on orbit it was the same. But it seemed that the real punishment was the fact that she'd have to pay for something else. Something he would get for her, something she most likely have never eaten before and might not even like.

But if that was her punishment she'd have to accept it. Hopefully he wouldn't get something too pricey. Looking over at the serving line, the young woman watched Harold receive something in a tall glass and a cup of something. Both food items were unknown to her. But if she had to take a guess she'd say what was in the tall glass would be the parfait thing. The cup she'd guessed would be hers.

When Harold came back Katya took the ice cream with a nod, feeling a pang of disappointment as she eyed off his parfait, which actually looked quite nice, before looking down into the cup.

"So this is Ice-cream. A fun fact - I've never seen it before till now. Heard about it, but never seen it," she said, ignoring how much it cost, she'd deal with that later.

"So sir, this is your punishment: make a girl eat food she's never tried before and make her pay for it. I think I've learned my lession, I promise not to question orders." She put her spoon to the ice cream and slowly took a bite of it.

"Not bad. I think. It is certainly different."

"Good isn't it?" Harold said. He was eating rather quickly. "And yes - you should never question orders. I know Cadet Sorius, Ariin, likes to talk about heroism and the rights of human beings and this and that, but such luxuries are for civilians."

He let the spoon settle in the glass for a bit, and tented his fingers upon the table. His blue eyes stared intensely at Katya, and his tone became serious all of a sudden. "We are soldiers. We are weapons first, human beings second. Weapons do not think, and weapons do not disobey. When the trigger is pulled, we have to do our best, no questions asked. I'm sure you already know this, but it seems like Ariin has also gone through training as well and his philosophies are radically different from what I was taught. Talking like that to Lorenzo," the former lieutenant shook his head, "if this were the regular Navy, he'd... well, you know how it is."

"So Katya," He smiled again, picking up his spoon. "Enough about such matters. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

As Harold talked about the others and heroism and that they were weapons frist and humans second, Katya couldn't help but shake her head, disagreeing with nearly every word the older pilot said.

"I don't think you are completely right, but I'm not willing to talk about it with you at this time, sir. All I say is - I know we are humanity's sword and it sheild but the question you should ask is, which are you?" she said in a neutral tone, not wanting to get into that sort of conversation with some one she didn't really know. Given she had very strong views on the matter and didn't want say something Harold might take the wrong way.

To her those words made him sound like one of her Eden drones mindlessly clicking away to whatever it was told. But it was just her thoughts and naturally the matter was something more complicated than that.

When asked to tell her about herself, Katya shifted in her seat, still dwelling on what he had just said, the words not quite sitting right with her. Although she'd not say anything about it, those words would bother her for a while. Doing her best to bury them, Katya looked at Harold and gave him a small smile.

"So what do you want to know? I'll admit up front I'm from a hot desert world. I'm what on my world is called a poster girl. No that dosn't mean I pose for posters so keep those thoughts out of your head! It means I'm from one of the many mining outpost that dot my home world. I've been in the militray about 8 months spent nearly all that time in Caretaker."

"Ah, so you're from a rustic background as well." Harold took another spoonful and let the utensil into the remarkably now-empty glass. "So am I. I was born in the Pugh System, to a bunch of stations named Sigma orbiting around a gas giant named Rostosov. Yes, I named my mech after it. We mine Helium-3 from its gas clouds and that's our main export to..."

So the two talked for some length. Harold was determined to get to know at least this squadmate better and his efforts largely satisfied him. It wasn't the instant click and swift friendship that he'd been looking for, but at least the young woman before him relaxed a little. The conversation was reasonably lively, and he could say that they both learned much about each other. They were two young folk from similarly rustic backgrounds but with a significant difference in personality, though at least they now had a strong acquaintanceship. The former lieutenant decided that he would have to content himself with that for now.

Synergy and teamwork were steadily appearing to be two rather elusive, hard-to-get things.

When the conversation between the to pilots came to an end Katya stood up and gave him slaute out of thanks and a hint of respect.

"Thanks for the conversation and going easy on me. Oh and the Ice cream, too." she said turning around taking a step away, before stopping.

"I've been thinking about what you said about what a solider is. I'll say this now since I feel it help will help you understand me. To be blunt I think you're wrong. Any soldier that follows orders blindly is an utter fool, no different from the aliens we will one day face. I'll leave it at that," she said, turning to face him for a moment.

Harold raised an eyebrow. "I hope this doesn't mean that you'll be disobeying my orders, Katya."

"No sir, but I might ask why once in a while? If you answer my why or not is up to you. Well then, good day to you, Harold," she said, before leaving the cafeteria.

As she was leaving, Harold was staring at her back, and was still deep in thought even when the door had closed behind her. Letting his shoulders slump, and a tired sigh escape his lips, he made one decisive conclusion.

He muttered, "These people are difficult..."

But then he came upon another profound realization:

"She didn't pay me back my seven bucks!"

Collaboration between Zero and Serah

When the group was dismissed Zim noticed that Serah quickly darted from the room. It was unusual for her, at least so far as Zim knew, to shoot off so quick. 'Bathroom, maybe?' He mused. He milled around for a moment to give the new leaders a congratulatory salute before he too headed off. He wanted to know about the new equipment that had been added. He did not expect Lorrenzo to actually agree to his request for more armaments, let alone already have plans in place for its advancements. So he headed to the hanger to meet up with Black Star's R&D team. He had worked with them all before, and knew them all by name. Herrick was the head of the team. Short by most standards of height, he still stood taller then Zim. He gave Zim a rundown of what the new equipment could do. Looking over he saw the massive hand that was intended to go over his left hand being fine tuned. The new armor wings too were hanging there being adjusted. They had changed shape slightly, providing a little more coverage for the Framewerks body. Black Star was yet to be returned from the field.

It was then that Zim noticed Serah emerge from the women's locker room. Zim was normally pretty quiet, kept to himself. While, in his opinion, Serah was more outgoing, but perhaps from only the little interaction that they had had before some of that outgoing personality wore off on Zim. He called out to Serah.

Serah had just finished getting dressed, neatly hanging the plugsuit up where it belonged. The fact she was now in regular clothes actually felt kind of breezy, but that wasn't a bad thing. Quite the opposite, it felt refreshing. She did a double-check to see if nothing was left behind before exiting, and almost immediately got confronted by Zim calling out to her when she did. "Oh, hey there!" she waved from a little ways away, jogging over to the older man. Funny, the first time they interacted it was her poking him, not the other way around. Serah had to plant her feet firmly into the ground to avoid crashing into the more experienced pilot, having her usual beaming smile plastered across her face.

"Whatchu doin' here? Getting changed like me? I thought people would be eating sweets right about now! Hey, I like sweets. I should probably go eat that parfait..." she rattled off, chattering away. Serah quickly realized she was overloading her sentences with too many words though, and probably also overwhelmed Zim's brain at the same time. "...But back to you!" she quickly changed gears, a little embarrassed about having already held an entire conversation by herself.

"I was eager to get more information about my new armaments," Zim responded, "But I was planning on changing soon. I was hoping that I could get a data pad with the specs so I could go over them and develop a strategy while I waited for Black Star to come back and get fixed up. I was surprised to see that the equipment was already here."

Zim gestured to the hand shaped weapon that awaited Black Star, "A pretty versatile weapon, actually. Has both melee and short ranged capabilities." He didn't want to bore Serah with the details if she wasn't interested. "I should get changed though, if you'll wait for me we can go get the parfait together?" Zim didn't wait for a response, he simply jogged off to the changing room. It didn't take long for him to emerge from the changing room. Though he was only partially clothed. His buttoned shirt still laid open over his scarred chest. He was actively buttoning it up as he re-greeted Serah. "Ready? Let's go."

Serah puffed up her cheeks when Zim didn't even give her a chance to respond to the offer, almost wanting to yell that he's a meanie at him. But she chose not to, and was instead actually considering it. Though it did sound a little off to her, even if he didn't mean it in that way. What kind of man doesn't know that 'Getting something together' usually meant taking a lady out on a date? Truly, he had no tact around woman. Though Serah had enough common sense to not think of it that way, the entire thing got put into question again when Zim walked out with his shirt unbuttoned. The girl was half-tempted to just bolt out of there.

Though, she could clearly see the circular scar and the burns that surrounded it on his stomach where he had been impaled during his first and only interaction with the Cruxi. Which promptly made her reconsider the entire thing once more. Nobody would really show that off willy-nilly, and especially not to pick up a girl. The entire thing was one giant fantasy Serah got lost in, only to be returned to reality when Zim asked her if she was ready. "...Eh?" she confusedly replied for a moment, freshly snapped out of her daydreaming. "...Oh, uh, right! Sure, let's go!" she cheerfully answered, this time going off ahead instead of Zim. Last time he ditched her, now she'd pay them back by forcing them to follow her tempo. "C'mon, let's hurry before the others eat them all!" Serah yelled back to Zim as she ran through the hallways, making her way to the mess hall.

Zim was forced to follow suit and followed after the younger girl. Once there they queued up in line until they could get served their Parfaits. Once served the odd pair found a table to sit at. After a few bites Zim asked a rather pointed question. "So, I noticed you were the first one out of the briefing room. That surprised me, to be honest. I would have expected you to stay and chat a little bit. Must have been in a hurry to get into regular clothes again?" There was suspicion on his voice, anybody could hear it that was listening. But it was all the pressure that he would apply to the conversation. 'If she wants to talk about it, she will,' Zim thought, 'I wont pry.'

He took another small bite of the creamy treat.

Serah naturally got her parfait earlier than Zim, looking back and sticking out her tongue with a giggle. She loved being earlier than people, and in turn also messing with them. Serah had been the one to pick the table, like a little child dragging their parent all over the place. She was also the first to truly munch down on it, shoving spoonful after spoonful into her mouth. She looked to be enjoying it greatly. There was even a little strawberry on top, and Serah put that in her mouth right as Zim asked his question. Serah choked on the thing and coughed a few times, patting her chest twice to make sure she was okay.

"H-Huh? *Cough!*" the girl choked out, a little confused at first. But then she let Zim finish his sentence and tensed up slightly when she realized what he meant. "O-Oh, right! Erm, no, I uh, had to go to the bathroom real bad..." she spoke, and it was part of the truth. She purposefully avoided saying why, but at least this way the girl didn't lie. "Though I did want to get changed back into my cute clothes, yeah. Could you imagine me running around in that plugsuit all day? I'd die in that thing!" she giggled, shoving another spoon of parfait into her mouth.

"Well," Zim said in response, "That is only natural. We are all only human after all, but that battle was more intense then we thought we would have to go up against. Or, at least it was for me. But, I don't really do sad emotions anymore. Floating nearly dead with a spike through your suit for a few days gives you time to think about things like that."

Zim took another bite of his parfait, he other hand absentmindedly went to the scar on his stomach as he continued, "Gives you time to realize that there are more important things about life then worrying about your past. We can only go forward in time, and so we should always keep your eyes forward in time. But, we are compatriots, we are squad-mates, and you and I are going to be a team on the front line, dodging between weapon fire and cover fire trying to make it to our opponents. You can trust me, on the battlefield and off. Certain burdens need not be carried alone."

Zim took a few more bites of his Parfait in silence. 'Perhaps I read the situation wrong,' Zim thought, 'Maybe she really did just need to go to the bathroom.'

"Ah, you shaid shomeshing about weaponsh?" Serah mumbled whilst still chewing down, apparently not bothered at all by the fact her mouth's full. She followed up on it after swallowing though. "Heardchu and the commander talking about it. The claw and wings, right? I'm amazed you think you can handle that... Not sure how I'd do with Atty if they suddenly mounted something extra on him, Ehehe!" Serah laughed, shoving anther bit of cream inside of her mouth. By now she was nearly done with the thing.

"Well, I am spent some time operating a lot of different equipment. I used to work on a Terraformer ship. I got used to operating all sorts of equipment, including Framewerks. Though nothing nearly as advanced or complex as these. Plus, prior to being sent to this facility with everybody else, I had spent innumerable hours in simulators. I understand how the machine moves, and I get how to manipulate the controls to make the machine do what I want it to do... but these Framewerks, there is something else going on that I don't get. Maybe it is just Black Star, but it seems like sometimes the machine fights against me," Zim explained casually as he took another bite.

"But no, I don't really think I am going to truly be able to control these new weapons just as easily right off the bat. That is part of why I wanted these specs to look over before I even get into a simulator. I need to know what they can and cannot do, so I know how to use them appropriately and how to apply them to my style of combat," He cued up the spec sheet on the Wave Surger, the over sized hand, "This is something that I will have to get used to. See this has three functions to it. I can use it to grab a hold of something, like a limb or weapon and use extremely powerful microwaves to destroy it. I guess ideally I could use this to take out an opponents sensory equipment, or power supply, maybe a weapon, and incapacitate it. If we were commanded to capture a Cruxi to study it or something, for example, this could be useful. But beyond that, I have the ability to fire off a beam of sorts that I can sweep with to get moving targets, multiple targets, or put extra pressure on a single targets armor if need be. I've never had the range capability before, so I'll have to learn the new targeting controls for that. The third function allows me to more or less launch it like a rocket to clamp on and destroy something from a distance, too."

Serah listened carefully to Zim explaining both his weapon functions, and that Black Star somehow actively works against him. That's a little confusing to the girl, who normally never had an issue with Atty. She and him were like the bestest of friends, or at least the girl liked to believe as much. "Whoa..." she replied in astonishment, before shoving the last spoonful of parfait left in the glass straight into her mouth. "*Gulp*, Wow, sounds complicated. Seems like you'd need to train for awhile to use those... And here I though managing two shields was hard enough!" Serah joked, looking down to see that nothing of the creamy delight was left in the glass aside from a few scrapes on the side. "...muuu..." she whined to herself, disappointed it was already gone. Then she perked up her ears when Zim started to talk again.

"Truth be told, if I hadn't spotted you coming out of the changing rooms back in the hangers, I would probably still be there in my plug suit, or getting into a simulator. Hey, when I finish these last few bites, do you want to join me in the simulators? I could use the practice with the equipment against another melee werk."

Serah froze up just a tad. This guy wanted to fight so soon after that carnage? They were a stronger spirit than Serah, that's for sure. "U-Uh... No, sorry. I can't stand seeing even a simulation of Atty getting wrecked again..." she replied, averting her eyes a little. Which landed on a spectacle happening nearby, where two Sigma's and an Ariin were getting into some mischief. Was... Was Serah seeing things? "Uh..." she mumbled, raising an eyebrow when her focus was drawn to that.

"Ah, well, some other time perhaps," Zim said as he turned his body to see what the younger girl was looking at. He shook his head as he turned his attention back to Serah, "Well, anyways. We are comrades. I wont treat you like some kid sister, and I wont treat you like an enemy, but we are never alone on the battlefield."

Zim took his last bite quickly then. "As you said, I am going to need a lot of practice with these new systems. So I am going to head back to the hanger for a simulator run. Enjoy the rest of rec time." Zim got up, excusing himself and headed out of the cafeteria, returning his dishes to the appropriate place along the way.

Mai had finally made it to her room in the barracks. Though on the way, Mai did note something...odd.

At first, she saw two white-haired and a male cadets moving around suspiciously but when she saw one of them holding...what she guessed were ingrediants from what she assumed was from the cafeteria, she just assumed it was some harmless "hobby". Course, they could get into trouble if they took those things without authorization. Even household ingrediants could make dangerous weapons if one knew how to do so.

But she figured that wasn't the case with the three. So she had just ignored them. They didn't seem to notice her presence anyways.

As she entered, she saw two duffelbags on the bed. One of course was holding...clothing relating to one of her "hobbies". The other, standard clothing and other related items.

As Mai began unpacking, she thought about the cadets that she saw in the room...to Mai, they didn't "seem" like efficient pilots.

But based on who their opponent was as she stated and thought before, they were NOT to be taken lightly. There was alot of collateral damage but they all survived. If someone on their team hadn't, one or more of them would have most likely complained about said cadet or pilot.

It seemed, as she guessed before, that the opposing team suffered the only casualties.

...they may seem...inefficient...but they either have the devil's luck...or they're all truly survivors..., Mai thought as she continued to unpack and straighten out her room.

Then another thought crossed her mind...how long will she last in this division? From the very first one she was trained in, she figured she could handle whatever was thrown at her no matter how physical and even mentally "painful" it was.

But then that division got disbanded for "cruel training practices". But she knew that was a..."garbage" excuse considering how other divisions sometimes treat their pilots. Then, she just "bounced" around from division to division due to her lack of synenergy and teamwork with fellow pilots. Mai was good but that wasn't what other superior officier's were looking for. She even remembered one reporting that "she works too hard if that's even possible. She'll tire herself out before she even GET'S into a framework's cockpit".

That's when..."higher ups" suggested that Mai..."practiced" some hobbies to keep herself in check.

From playing dress-up to sewing clothing...video games...though the only one she willingly did was mechanic's. Just like she was telling cadet Daniel on the shuttle, it was a necessary skill. She personally made sure her framework was ready to go. That was one of the lesson's her first division taught her.

But that was a problem for others since that was the job of other assigned mechanic's and engineers to do.

Orders were orders.

Now here she was...though she wondered how long her personality would rub either Lorenzo or someone else around here before she get transfered again.

She only hoped that she didn't have to..."deal" with cadet Nikolas or anyone similar to him. People like him never learned anything until they're "six feet under".

"...death...is and will be the ultimate motivator...when there's death, people DO pay attention...even when it's too late for the one that's dead..."

That line was one of the lesson's her old instructor told her. With the Cruxi, nothing was of value...no that's wrong. Her instructor had told her that some humans were taken alive at times.

If that ever happened to Mai...she was prepare to do what she had to do...

Feeling like she had done enough unpacking for now, Mai decided that it was time to shower. Even Mai will admit...if she got thrown out of here, it WON'T be because of bad hygine or because she "smells".

Collaboration between Roger Rooney and Zim Hero

It really wasn't too surprising who wound up winning the position of squad leader. Harold had previous military experience and he seemed like he could hold himself together. That there would be a second in command and the fact that they both got tasers was a far more surprising. Hopefully nobody would have to be on the receiving end of one.

Honestly? He didn't care all that much. Rooney didn't really care much for leadership positions. Right now, all he was concerned about was becoming the best pilot in the place. But he wouldn't be able to do it alone. At least, not initially. He was too inexperienced to count on sitting in a VR simulation alone. He'd need a partner. As he walked down the halls he spotted Zim leaving the cafeteria. He had gotten the least criticism and the most praise from Lorenzo. Roger didn't really know the capabilities of anyone else, so he'd use what he had. Solely going off of the verbal lashings it would be best to pair up with Zim. Roger ran to catch up with the older pilot.

"Hey, train with me in the VR room." It was more of a demand than a request. It might have done him better to be more polite, but right now he didn't give a damn.
Zim looked up from his data card as he heard the approach of running feet. When he was addressed with a demand he raised an eyebrow slightly at the younger pilot. "Alright, I was just heading there myself. I wanted to get a chance to see how this new equipment would operate, it'll be better for both of us to have partners. I'll need to get my plug suit on again, but I'll catch up to you in the room shortly."

Soon, Zim was changed back into his plug suit and in the VR room. "What did you want to work on?" Zim asked Roger as he started to take his seat, "I know you are built for speed, from what I saw on the battle field, but it seems you need a little help on controlling your thrusters while in flight?"
Rooney was still wearing his plugsuit, so he went ahead into the VR Room and set everything up. Roger wasn't all that experienced with VR, so he merely kept the settings to as simple as he could get it. One on One would be sufficient. Alone, he couldn't rely on others to shore up his weaknesses, and he could get feedback directly on weaknesses that could be spotted by an enemy.

"I'm not looking for anything in particular to improve on, right now I'm too inexperienced overall to effectively pilot Yeager, and I can't rely on my Synch rate to pad out my skills. This VR mission's going to be one on one." Rooney replied strapping in. "Any problem with that?"
"Nope, that works for me," Zim said as he strapped himself into the VR pod. A few quick button presses and the system booted up and linked the plug suit into the system, exporting bio-metrics and downloading the Framewerk specs. It was a massive amount of data being exchanged, modified, and rendered into visuals, but it happened in a matter of seconds. Zim's body tensed and seized for a moment as the synaptic input of the VR system kicked in, shutting out the rest of the real world. His body relaxing, Zim found himself in the cockpit of Black Star, sure enough, on the HUD was the new targeting system for the Wave Surger, near his right hand were indicators for the new active cloak system, and near his left hand were the mode toggles for the Wave Surger.

Zim looked around to check his surroundings and see what terrain Rooney had selected.
The VR system took the two pilots to a desert location. Black Star and Yeager stood on opposite sides of a deep canyon, whose depth went down several hundred meters, which in terms of Framewerk size wasn't too much. The width of the canyon was about 60 meters. The ground that both Framewerks stood on was a reddish brown, but was solid. If one looked closely, patches of brown desert grass were visible, but there were no natural features large enough to conceal a Framewerk to any significant degree, other than the canyon itself. A strong breeze came in from the East, but it wasn't strong enough to impede Frame movement, only the trajectory of projectiles.

Roger took a few seconds to adjust to the Virtual World before addressing Zim. He made a check on the virtual controls to make sure that his settings were correct. Synch level: 45%. So everything was correct. He made sure to cap his Synch rate at 50% so that he would have to learn control without the training wheels of a decent synchronization.

"Are you ready? The simulation ends when one of us becomes incapacitated."
A deep canyon, no cover, not a whole lot of options for a melee frame to work with. Good thing he had his new toys to play with. His sync rate came in at 48%, Zim noted the improvement, but wondered if it was a true improvement, or if the simulator had generated a random number...

"Ready," Zim said into the comms, he continued off channel, "Isn't that right Black Star?" Zim moving Black Star into a fighting pose, his armor wings were down and his thermal blade was still disabled. Once Roger gave the clear that he was also ready to begin, Zim would immediately give his active cloak a punch, using the first mode, stealth mode. It should have made Black Star invisible to any form of electronic observation. Zim had Black Star jump back away from the edge first, before cutting west. The dust of the desert might give away his movements, so he zig-zagged to try and make it harder to guess where he would be. With the active cloak on, making Black Star invisible, it should also make auto-targeting impossible, forcing Rooney to use Jaeger's gun manually, if he notices the puffs of dust displaced by his movements.
Before Rooney had a chance to even think about going after Zim, he'd have to get across this gap. If he was just going to stand and shoot, why even use Yeager? Why even bother training. No, he had to learn, and the best way to do that now was to act aggressively. And the only way forward was across this gap. In his head for several seconds he ran over the manual steps he would need to perform to cross this gap without assistance from his synch rate.

Roger took in a deep breath to calm his shaking hands. This was VR, he could make mistakes here, at least for now. Shakily, Yeager took a few steps before breaking out into a run. Right before it reached the edge of the chasm, its thrusters activated in a quick, powerful burst, launching it upward. At the peak of its arc, Roger re-angled the thrusters and activated them again, propelling it across the chasm successfully. It wasn't efficient or very fast, but it was enough to make it across. What he didn't account for was the landing. The machine botched the landing, ending up on its rear-end, unable to do much in the realm of maneuvering, let alone attacking an invisible target.
Zim continued making space between he and Rooney. He came to a stop somewhere that he felt was outside of Jaeger’s firing range. Of course Zim had no specific idea, but he had an idea based on the training mission previously. Once there he stopped and waited for Rooney to get his Werk to its feet.

"I hate to state the obvious, but that is what you need the most work on, thruster maneuverability and landings," Zim said. "What is your Sync rating at? Also, on a scale of 1-10, how invisible is Black Star right now?"

Zim waved Black Stars left hand around to see if it grabbed Jaeger's attention.
"Shut up and focus on the fight." Roger snapped, Yeager now back on its feet after taking a good half minute to get back up. Why was he asking about the systems of his machine in a VR mission? How it worked here was completely independent of what it was like in reality. The real problem, at least for Roger was fighting an invisible enemy. From the dust it was kicking up earlier, he had a vague idea of the general direction he had gone, but not much else more than that. Well given what he had, there was one thing he could do: wait and see if anything happened. Black Star was not a long distance machine based on its equipment. If he wanted to attack, he'd have to move before Yeager did.
"Focus on the fight?" Zim replied, "At this point, this isn't about fighting, this is about teaching you to control your machine. Can you do anything other than straight line thrusts?"

Zim noticed that Jaeger wasn't moving, he had decided to wait him out because of the advantage of range. Rooney knew that Black Star would have to close in on him before Zim could attack... except he didn't know about the capabilities of the Wave Surger, Zim's other new piece of equipment. Zim decided not to give up his cover just yet and attempt a launch or a long charge blast yet. "Does Jaeger have thermal imaging on board? I wonder if that could pick up Black Star right now?" Zim asked another question. Based on the abstract, any form of digital observation was neutralized, so he doubted it, but how did such a thing work on thermal imaging? Zim wasn't an engineer, all he knew is that in theory it worked, guess there wasn't much else to worry about.

Rooney ignored Zim's probes and questions. Thinking about them would distract him from the already difficult task of piloting the damn machine with such a low sync rate. He glances at it, 39%. Fan-fucking-tastic.
He waited for Roger to reply about the thermal image before he started to move again, but being ignored Zim started to move after another few moments. Black Star circled wide, heading away from the canyon as he went around Jaeger in what would be his visual blind side before he would start to close the gap. He would move slowly at first, not wanting to give off too much noise, but as he got within one last lunging distance from Jaeger, Zim would toggle Black Stars active cloak from stealth to decoy mode as he opened up his armor wings and reached with the Wave Surger for Jaegers weapon carrying arm.

Decoy Mode has an opposite effect on enemy radar as stealth mode. Rather than masking the presence of the Framewerk at all, this mode made enemy digital observations see Three of Black Star, it would confuse the targeting systems, panic pilots, shock their sync rates, or do absolutely nothing at all as they would attempt to strafe fire and hit all three targets, and disable the active cloak. In theory, it would be too late to do any real damage to the Framewerk, as he would close in and cut his opponent down with the Thermal Scythe, or he would 'nuke 'em with his Wave Surger.

The ladder was what Zim was attempting to do now. The triple flash on Jaegers's Radar would surly alert Roger to Black Star’s position. Jaeger should turn to fire, the Waver Surger would clamp down on the firing arm and deal a "high-discharge thermal attack via controlled radiation" on that arm, which would mangle the arm, and therefore the weapon, beyond use.
Suddenly, there were 3 Black Stars in a line behind Jaeger, the decoys flanked on either side of the true Black Star. Oh shit! In the back of his head, a voice said that it was impossible for a machine to multiply into three, but the rest of his mind was more focused in trying to respond. Pulling a trigger while rotating in place was something he could do. And that is what he did. Even if they were fakes, maybe spraying and praying would hit the real thing.

The real thing happened to get to him first, destroying Jaeger’s arm in a spectacular explosion. The nice thing about Roger’s artificially low sync rate was that even an injury like this didn't feel all that painful. Well, he didn't have a weapon anymore. Yeager's other hand balled up into a fist as Roger threw a haymaker at Black Star's face. Even if it did land, it wouldn't do much damage, but you work with what you have.
The reach extended Black Star beyond his center of gravity, Zim realized that, and attempting to recover proved ineffective as the blow from Jaegers haymaker threw him further off balance. Too much, and much too late, Zim pulled up on the controls for his armor wings to close down and cover Black Stars body as he fell onto his back. Even Rooney would feel the vibration from the impact through Jaeger.
Using his Scythe for the first time, Zim opened his armor wings again and swung the scythe at Jaegers legs, hoping to catch them and bring Roger to the ground with him.
Yeager fell to the ground with a boom. Its arm and legs splayed out. Panicked, Rooney looked all over for anything he could use. In the distance he spotted his gun, but he quickly found that Yeager couldn't reach it. Zim would be able to get up much faster than Roger, even if the latter was an experienced pilot. Only having one arm made these things difficult.
With Rooney on the ground, Zim had a chance to get up. Even as Jaeger struggled, with only one arm there was only so much it could do. Once back on Black Star’s feet, Zim activated the scythe. Drawing back, Zim easily swung the blade and took of Jagger's head, a second swing took off the left arm. Zim then shifted the scythe into spear mode and impaled Jaeger to the red and rocky sand of the desert.

The simulator brought the session to an end, and Zim's mind was released to the real world. Swinging his feet out of the pod, Zim waited for Roger to do the same.

"Learn anything?" Zim asked.
"...Yeah," He replied, not moving from where he was. "But why are you getting out? We're going again. When I told you to train with me, I didn't mean for one round. We keep going for the rest of the day."
"After that last round, you think you are in a position to tell me anything?" Zim retorted with a smirk. Zim plugged back in and the pair continued training for the rest of Flex time.

---

He saluted silently and nodded acknowledgement to Lorenzo’s response to his question. Afterword, it was a matter of cleaning up shop. Buell, a pale man who appeared to be around his own age was the squad officer. He had no concerns there, but the younger girl that was promoted to the junior officer position was worth pause. Of course, they would have chosen carefully. Daniel shifted his feet slightly. He really needed some time to get to ‘know’ his squad mates better. Analyzing the data from their mock battle would be helpful, though he likely wouldn’t be able to get his hands on it for another few hours, and it would take longer to go over it all.

The training schedule was particularly generous with free time; it was clear that the pilots would be expected to undertake personal training and goals. This was certainly a much looser military division than of the regular ground forces- though it made sense. A glance about was all one needed to realize that these were not just soldiers… just children and adults formed into a team that was meant to handle severe psychological trauma while training to fight an enemy that was slowly eradicating their species. At the dismissal, Daniel turned heel and headed straight for the pilot barracks. He followed Twilight from a distance for most of the way because he was unfamiliar with the layout of the base still. He split off as he spotted his own quarters, softly closing the door- It was a modest room, with a bunk just a step above a cot, bare walls, and a small desk against the wall opposite the bed. At the foot of his bed was an empty plastic storage trunk.

Atop the bed sat two generic bags, and he quickly unzipped the first and transferred the neatly folded clothing the trunk, pausing from time to time to gently brush out a wrinkle. He took the chance to change out of the plug suit into a much less formal attire; standard issue pants and a white undershirt. The second bag was much more important however. Upon unzipping it, his fingers paused on the contents, as if unsure where to start before starting by removing a paper hardback book. He stroked the cover before piling it on the desk, followed by a stack of loose leaf synthetic paper documents and a few notebooks. Along with this came an assortment of office tools, protractors, two calculators, a ruler, etc. Despite the mess, it took Daniel only a few minutes to sort the conglomeration into the various desk drawers; he was familiar with it. In the last drawer, he discovered the training manuals that Lorenzo had mentioned before, as well as the ‘personal device’ he had told Daniel to bring to his office to collect the battle data. He left the device alone, but picked up the first of the manuals before sliding open his door so he could keep track of the goings on outside. Daniel then relaxed on the bed, intending to tear into the instructional text like a teenager into a romance novella until he had a better grasp of the facility than Lorenzo himself. This particular manual detailed the VR simulators, their hardware specs, and operation- as well as instructions on how to load and craft different scenarios for training. It was quite an impressive piece of equipment on its own, really- the ability to calculate for planetary gravity, atmosphere, even average surface rock composition. His hand crept to his ever present notepad, jotting occasional notes on a setting or feature he found intriguing.

The trip to the showers was surprisingly short despite the fact Sigma was carrying her own weight in staggering drunk quality. Iota's motor control however, helped ever so slightly, even if she did wobble quite a bit. Neatly setting aside their clothes, they entered the common, wide space of the showers, as Sigma grabbed an sponge and soap and began her task.

Iota's body was a reflection of her own. Tiny, underdeveloped, a mixture of a child's body and a growing woman...with some baby fat still. But at the same time, scars and incipient muscles were shown. The pattern was different for each one of the clones, but other than this, they both were largely the same. Same hair. Same eyes. Same voice and gait. The only other thing that set them apart were the prominent "Ι" and "Σ" tattoed in the back of their necks.

"Geez, this gunk stinks." Sigma moaned as she scrubbed hard on Iota's neck, kneeling besides the silent clone.

---

After her talk with Harold in the cafeteria, Katya decided she would go take a shower and change out of her plug suit, having forgotten she was still wearing it. The young woman made her way over to the showers with only some difficulty as she took a wrong turn and nearly ended up in the male showers. Fortunately she realized where she was before she walked in and prevented a potentially unpleasent situation.

Once at the female showers Katya stripped down, taking in a deep breath and feeling a little relaxed being on her own, failing to notice the other sets of clothes placed neatly nearby. Grabbing what she needed to clean herself, Katya made her way inside shower area, noticing another girl in the showers as she walked in. But what Katya failed to notice is that the other girl was not alone and was scrubbing her companion. Right now Katya just wanted to wash off any grime and enjoy a nice warm shower, something Katya still considered a luxary.

Picking out a spot Katya turned on the water and let it run over her for a moment. he found it relaxing, helping her forget how Harold had taken away her parfait, something she had been looking forward to trying. After a moment of silence passed the young woman thought it would be for the best if she said hello to whoever was in the shower room with her so that she wouldn't be seen as rude. So, with a sigh she turned to look at whomever it was, only to see two of the same person.

"What the... am I seeing things?" she thought, rubbing her eyes and thinking that might make a difference, but to no effect. Looking at what she was sure she couldn't be seeing, Katya took a step closer to the girls. Drivien by a small amount of curiosity, she recongized the girl she saw was Sigma. But how were there two of her, and why the hell was one of her washing the other? It made no sence and the sight of it confused her. Surely there was only one girl there and she was merely seeing things.

"Maybe... there was something in that ice cream?"

---

Sigma squeezed the sponge hard, sending soapy water everywhere, including Iota's eyes, having been caught offguard by the exclamation of the other pilot. She yelped ever so slightly, before being cut off by Iota.
"Hey, yo-you dork! Mah yeyes!" The other girl lamented, before washing her face, groggily.
"Pilot Katya." Sigma's eyes darted towards the other girl, eyeing her up and down, before sighing.
Everyone is bigger than Irina. I'll never have a decent bust. But I never understood the fixation on that regard...It seems cumbersome. She lingered on the thought a bit, before shaking her head.

"No...this is...well...this is pilot Iota. My...cl-sister." Sigma almost slipped once again, but she was getting better at correcting herself. "We are identical save a few details. We will be done shortly. I apologize for the disturbance."

"...because I'm a drunk...I vomited...well...y'know." This time Iota answered. "All the others are dead...cause the battle. Grief...got drunk. Nice boobs." The other girl replied, before Sigma resumed the scrubbing.

"I'm sorry. No good at social things." Sigma added. "Neither she is."

---

It was very strange hearing one girl talk followed by the other as to Katya the girls sounded very similar to each other. No, similar wasn't the right word; the girls sounded exactly alike, and it made Katya's brain hurt for a moment. She didn't really understand what she was seeing, and her brain was about to overload. Luckily one of the girls said that the other was her sister. Although the identity of who said that eluded her. All Katya saw was a girl that looked and sounded exactly the same as the other one and who now seemd to be addressing her.

"This is so damn confusing. Knowing they're sisters doesn't help. Who is who?" Katya thought, looking a little confused as she eyed both girls trying to work out who they where. Even if Sigma had just pointed out her sister Katya's brain was too confused to properly process the infomation so she only got the name.

Ït's okay. I'm the one who walked in on you two... pleased to meet you Iota," she said just before the girl Katya now was going to assume was Iota explained why they were here and before she she commented on her boobs.
"Nice what?" she said in surprise to the comment not expecting such comment to come about so casually.

Hearing the girl she assumed was Sigma apologize and say neither of them where good at social things caused her to smile a bit in.
Ït's okay. To tell you the truth I'm have a bit of an issue telling which one of you is which. It's confusing me. You sound exactly the same..." she said trailing off, not sure if the pair of girls found having their similarities pointed out offensive or not.

---

Iota tilted her head, sighing. Before Sigma knew, the staggered half sobered pilot firmly tugged her sister's hair, showing the place of the neck where the tattoo was.
"I'm a wal-king...corpse 'nyway, what's a secret more to reveal...We're clones, dolls, homunculi. Copies of Spanova."

"OW!" Sigma grunted, in turn batting Iota in the face."What the hell, Iota?"

"Only Siggy ...was deemed suitable to be an actual pilot...the rest of us...well, we were targets. So yeah, you guys shot us." Iota added, before standing up, and grabbing the soap and sponge, wobbling around, trying to get up. She almost suceeded.

"...and that's it." Iota said. "see...you...Pilot...Katits. Patty..fuck...Kitty...Katrina...Katya!" She finished, reaching for her clothes outside, leaving Sigma in the shower, unable to say a word.

"It's true..." She muttered. "But...we're the dolls." She muttered, before eyeing Katya. "And now you know too. This will be quite the morale downer..."

---

Iota's reaction was one Katya was trying to avoid. As to the young woman it seemed Iota took offence to her words. But hearing that they were clones of that lady they had beaten in the mock battle was not expected. Katya recognized the name from the time when Lorezo mentioned it in the debriefing.

Seeing the tattoo on the neck was a suprise and really hammered in what Iota was saying. Katya looking at the other girl as she mentioned Katya and the rest of team Sigma shot at them. That news alone was quite suprising, as she hadn't expected to meet someone from the other team of cadets.

The news made Katya feel a little sad in a way, but the young woman didn't show it, as Iota started saying goodbye and was teasing her or something. Once Iota had left Katya turned her attention to Sigma and simply ingored her thoughts on Iota's goodbye having no idea what that was about.

Hearing Sigma speak Katya could only make out the part she said as Sigma looked at her. Katya was still not really understanding the whole situation. But it seemed to bother Sigma and that was enough for Katya. She walked over to her teammate and kneeled down next to her.

"Look Sigma, for what it's worth I'm not happy the cadets from the other team died. Hence why I questioned Lorenzo on it and was punished for it. Even if this means nothing I am sorry they died." she said pausing to think of what to say next for half a second.

"Look I don't really get the whole clone deal thing, and please don't try to explain it. I'm not good with bio stuff... it'll just go over my head. Anyway you look human to me so that's what you are. It is really that simple... well to me anyway. Also I promise not to utter a word of this to anyone. I know... what it's like to lose a sister." she said giving Sigma a small weak smile, hoping her words would make her comrade feel a little better. Katya opened up to the younger pilot a little.

---

Sigma eyed Katya. "It's not the first time someone says that...but I appreciate the thought. I've been blurting the whole affair...a bit too much." Sigma added. "I suppose this is what people call...being in an emotional state?" The young girl tilted her head towards Katya in a rather inquisitive sight.

"I wonder..." Sigma began to form words as she stared into Katya. "What drove you people to fight? Loss? Possibly. I was born for this... But then." The young Pilot fumbled her words, letting out a curse as she was unable to grasp, to understand, to talk.

"Still...thank you. Even if dolls are meant to be used by humans. For standing...well." She averted her gaze, as she struggled.

"Backrub! With Iota gone, you shall...uh. Yeah...fueeeeeeehhh!" Sigma finally let out a rather flustered whine, as she evidently gave up on small talk. "I uh. Mechanic, you were the repair drones pilot. Right?" She quickly swapped topics as she went to pick up more soap and sponges, as Iota had snatched them away.

The cheeky doll, Sigma thought to herself.

"I was wondering...if you could...eh...equivalent share of human resources...cooperation...uh...help, me? I can...uh? scrub-back." She finished, a shade of red in her cheeks, and possibly not only because the hot water.

---

Hearing Sigma say she had been blurting the whole affair a bit too much, Katya looked at the younger pilot a little confused not really getting what she meant. But didn't ask her to explain. She got the feeling that it is a topic of conversation Sigma wouldn't want to have with someone she barely knew from that bar of soap Iota took with her when she left.

Sigma's question about being in an emotional state never got an answer. As before, Katya couldn't think of one before the silver heard girl asked another question, and then seemed to start to lose the capacity to put together a sentence. Katya was left trying to suppress a giggle or three. But ultimately she failed, and one slipped out when Katya noticed how Sigma's cheeks turned a little red.

"Aww I can't say no to a cutie like you. Very well. I'll accept your offer. I'll do you then in exchange you'll do me. Just sit down and I''ll get to work. Also, you can relax; I'm not judging you, since its not in my nature to do that. Okay thats not true... its not in my nature to judge a cutie like you." she said pointing at a spot for Sigma to sit down.

"Anyway. Yes I'm the pilot with the repair drones. They're called Eden drones or Edens for short. Good for patching up just about anything on the battlefield. Be it a Frame, a tank, a gun emplacement...heck they could even fix a pocket watch provided it was a really really big pocket watch made out of steel." Katya stated trying to sitmulate some sort of conversation hoping it would make Sigma relax. Katya got what she'd call a tense vibe from the girl.

---

Sigma stared at Katya intently, blinking ever so slowly. The redness of her cheeks approached meltdown levels as she groggily sat next to her, finding that, in fact, the floor of the showers could be used to garner infinite wisdom.

That and probably the fact that she could vocalize baby noises. Cute. A cutie. What the... Well, dolls were supposed to be cute. But she always found that it was more demeaning in a sense usually. She blamed her inexperience, because Sigma had also heard being called cute was also part of the human courtship at some point.

In any case, it was confusing as hell, so she stood there, stiff as a board, awaiting her fate at the hands of Katya.

---

That's when a red-haired girl walked into the shower area. She seemed to be carrying what looked like a jet-black plugsuit and another set of clothing in her hands while being covered in a towel up to her chest. She seemed to merely look in the direction of Sigma and Katya before her gaze turned to any open shower head she saw available.

She seemed to find one and, putting her clothing on a nearby bench, she stepped in and removed her towel to begin bathing.

---

As Sigma stared at Katya intently, the young woman grew a little confused as she watched Sigma's cheeks grow even redder. Having no idea as to why they might be. The thought that Sigma might not like being called a cutie never even entered her mind. The young woman waited for Sigma to get into postion before making the needed preparations to wash the younger pilot's back. Sometimes Katya could be utterly clueless as to how others might feel.

Once she sat down next to her Katya moved herself behind Sigma. Katya was about to open her mouth to let Sigma know she was going to start when a red haired girl walked into the shower area. Katya was a little surprised; she looked at the girl for a moment before looking away. Going back to her task; she started to gently yet firmly wash Sigma's back. Katya forgot to notify her compaion that she was going to start.

Once she started, Katya frowned once again. Not wanting to be seen as rude, she decided to at least acknowledge the newcomer with more then a look.
"Hello." she said looking at the red haired girl for a moment before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

---

"...Ma'am...", was the drone reply from Mai as she started adjusting the shower head to better aim the water at herself.

---

"Uh?" Sigma wasn't even paying attention at the newcomer until she heard Katya responding to someone. Systems were critical. Risk of overload. Blush levels maximum. She began to lean to one side... still stiff as a board.

"Ano-no-ther pi-pi-pilot?" She ventured to make a prompt, her eyes staring intently. Good lord, why is everyone so adult and so big and unnhg. Devious thoughts crossed her mind as she watched the exchange, a mirror of her first impressions of the team. But the thought troubled her to no end, so she did all what the clones do when they felt distressed during a particulary tough chewing.

Look at the shower floor once more. Something wasn't clicking in the place. Like a small cog out of a precise machinery, it all began to crash down all the trainwreck that Sigma's thoughs were, in quick succession.

That girl...even to a clone like her... seemed a little unnerving.

"Pilot, emotion suppression is contraproducent towards synch rates. I am the alleged doll here." She blurted out of the blue, dispelling all the blush in one go. She gritted her teeth. "pilot Katya... I am ready for backscrub. I shall take the turn afterwards. In the meantime, I was wondering..." Sigma then deciding that a fight in the showers was not worth it, quickly switched topics."...if it's possible to fit an inherited part in a Framewerk."

---

Mai did stop bathing herself briefly when one of the pilots addressed her. Normally, she'd wouldn't pay much attention to her fellow cadets but since the transfers from divisions to even talking to the cadets on the transports shuttle to even the "orders" for Mai to TRY to show better synenergy and teamwork, Mai felt it was time to speak up. Even more so since this pilot seemed to be...addressing her training and mindset on being a pilot.

Her back still to the other two cadets in the shower, Mai continued to bath herself but droned,"...my name...is Seven ma'am...and this is how I was trained. I'm better prepared to follow orders...and better prepared to handle the..."physical" and "mental" aspects of the war with the Cruxi..."

---

Sigma's eyes narrowed so slightly upon hearing the comment of the other girl. Better trained? That certainly seemed not right. Simply put, there was no better training. If there had been one, the project she had been part of would have never left the draft board. No one would create an army of clones, if not of despair. He eyed Katya, as she grumbled so slightly.

"Arrogant..." She muttered under her breath, her lips puckering up.

---

Mai didn't hear what but she thought she heard the cadet mutter something. Again, she'd just ignore such behavior. It wouldn't be the first someone didn't "like" her because of her views on proper conduct or simply her personality. But something was different this time.

"...if you don't like me, just say so...I'll give you..."space" when needed...", Mai droned.

---

Hearing the exchange between the other two girls Katya gave a small, quiet sigh. The young woman thought it wasn't really Sigma's place to comment. But Katya didn't make an effort to stop her. However, given how the red haired girl reacted, Katya partly wished she had. She didn't want people to start hating each other on the first day.

When Katya heard Sigma mutter 'arrogant' she pressed really hard on the small pilot's back for a moment. She leaned in so close that she could whisper into her ear.
"Now, that's not very nice. You know she can't help it if the military trained her to act like a damn drone." Katya quietly spoke before pulling away. Looking at the girl that was apparently called 'Seven', Katya shook her head, feeling a pang of annoyance. But the young woman simply buried it.
"Excuse me, please at least look at someone when you speak. It makes it very hard to hear you." Katya said, going back to work on Sigma's back for a moment.
"Okay, I'm done!" she stated with tiny amount of pride, quite pleased with her handy work.

---

"It's not tha..." Sigma began to say something, but interrupted herself. "Tch." She had fallen right in, had she? If that had been her trainer, she would've been kicked in the mouth for such a comment. She looked once again at the floor. "Bias, lack of information...how would I say..." The pilot added. "It's not nice to say you are better right out the bat without any kind of demonstrable proof." She managed to mutter back to Katya. "At least us were taught that much." She pondered as she flexed her back.

Wow, that felt good. And that idiot of Iota is missing it.

She pondered. "Okay, my turn now. Let me see, soap, sponge..." She made a mental checklist, as if it was a mission of utmost importance.

---

Mai heard the comments. Before she started putting the shampoo on her hair, she seemed to do an "about face" and looked at the two cadets. Then, of all things...gave a salute.

"...Apologies ma'am...that was rude of me to say "better"...what I mean is that I went through...a rigorous training program to strenghen me...physically and mentally", Mai droned off.

---

Hearing what Sigma muttered back Katya shook her head, although she did partly agree with Sigma. Even so, it wasn't this new girl's fault, although this new girl did so far seem like the type that bugged Katya. Too drone-like for her liking so far, but maybe it was merely an act. Well, Katya hoped it was. If the red headed girl acted like this all the time, Katya would have an issue.

As the red haired girl spoke Katya turned her back to Sigma, frowning at her words as it sounded like she was saying she was "better" even though she was saying sorry for it.
"You're not the only one; I'm pretty sure we've all gone though some rigorous training to get here. Also please don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel old. It's Katya." she said, feeling yet another pang of annoyance and buried it.

---

"...Again, apologies. Even though we're all...cadets, I say ma'am out of respect. Not anything else ma'a-...Katya", Mai droned but quickly corrected herself.

Dropping the salute gesture, she then turned about again and grabbed the shampoo. Then, she said this as she began washing her hair.

"...And...if for some reason...you don't like my...callsign...my...real name is Mai Twilight...it's nice to meet you Katya and..."

---

"..." Sigma said nothing, eyeing up Mai and Katya. She gently dropped the soap and the sponge, just as Mai was asking for her name. "Sigma. I have no real name... but this is inadequate." The young pilot struggled, rubbing her temple. "Hmm, maybe, different parameters must..."

And then, without warning nor notice, she yanked one of the telephone showers, aiming it at Mai's face with all of her might... and cackling evilly, she sprayed cold water at the fellow pilot's face.

"WIDE OPEN!" She screamed, with a childish glee, beginning to laugh.

---

Mai made a critical mistake. Because she had put the shampoo on her hair, she had to keep her eyes closed just to keep it out of her eyes. But she..."sensed" something admiss when she thought she heard the wet footsteps of one of the cadets suddenly moving around.

And when she yelled, Mai would normally would have dodged. She was trained for sudden situations such as this...but as she thought before, something was different this time.

That's when she got a sudden face full blast of cold water.

She just stood there, solid as a rock despite the blast in the face that she was getting but she knew better. This was just a..."prank" she guessed. Then again, dealing with such things wasn't as bad as dealing with those who gave her trouble.

But she also knew this for sure. These pilots were only trying to be friendly to her in their own ways.

So...she went with it...and bent her head down and began washing the shampoo off her hair with the cold water.

---

Hearing Sigma getting up, Katya looked at her, wondering what the younger pilot was doing. She was watching her actions closely as she grabbed the shower phone and then suddenly aimed at Mai's face, spraying her with water. This caused Katya to start laughing for a moment, finding it highly amusing in a childish way.

Deep down a part of her thought that this was bad as it was a waste of good water. But that part of her had been long buried after months of training and have access to enough water. So Katya got to her feet, watching the two girls closely. Both of them were now enemies for the time being. If this was going to be a water fight then Katya would play along even if it was a little childish.

Moving to a wall Katya armed herself with a showerphone and quickly took aim at Sigma.
"HEADS UP!" she exclaimed in a playful tone as she fired at the younger pilot.

---

"Huh?" Sigma raised an eyebrow, looking at Mai's attitude...or lack thereof. Well, it was a possibility. Given the amount of training Mai's body showed , she probably needed more than a little nudge. "Ah well, time to wash up Katya-BLAKDHFGHGGABA!"

Suffice to say that it was a critical hit, as the poor fourteen year old caught the stream of water at her most vulnerable, while turning to face Katya, and completely distracted in talking. The devastation caused Sigma to flail around her arms wildly, eventually staggering and tripping on her own legs, causing her to skid around the shower's floor with her buttcheeks up in a rather comical fashion.

"...Amn bgou gadya, dou daidord". She muttered, obviously with difficulty, as she tried to get up.

---

Clearing the shampoo and cold water from her vision, Mai took stock on what happened and quickly moved to cadet Sigma's side to assist in getting her back to her feet.

"...I believe there's...a saying...it's all fun and games till someone losses a butt", Mai droned of all things to say.

---

Back in the changing room, the automatic door audibly closed behind a short girl as she quietly skulked towards the locker, making sure her every step was as quiet as they could be, her heartbeat more audible than her breathing. Once she peeked around the rows of lockers and didn't see a soul, Elora finally had the courage to take off her plugsuit. She enjoyed the reward parfait, but the good taste only reminded her of what they had to do to achieve such a luxurious treat. She shivered as she held the folded piloting costume in her hands, partly because of anxiety, and partly because of the cold air that brushed against her skin.

She sweated heavily during the battle, and felt itchy ever since she returned back from the field. While she dreaded the prospect of undressing and being seen by others while nude, she felt like she had no choice but to wash herself. She opened her mouth in shock when she heard what sounded like a commotion in the showers, but instead of screams she heard giggling. Elora shook her head; it was very likely she would be a victim for some of the older girls there, being completely defenceless. She closed the locker with her clothes inside of it, and sidled along the wall of the room until she met the door to the showers. Elora then slowly peeked around it, hoping that nobody saw her. She put her hand to her mouth, muffling a gasp of surprise upon seeing the playful scuffle between Sigma, Mai and Katya; all of the serious pilots. Elora didn't feel like she wanted to intrude upon them, and simply observed in silence.

---

Sigma stood there, clenching her teeth. Her eyes darted towards Mai in disbelief, her entire body into tension. That hurt. It hurt so much... Her sides were hurting. Her skidding had given in to a burst of hysterical laughter, perhaps more surprised by the fact Mai had done such a remark, given the personality than the jape in itself. It was then, when her eyes wandered off to the entry, and locked on the shy, almost flabbergasted Elora.

"HEY ELORA!" She roared. "Don't stand in there! Deal with the traitor!" She pointed at Katya with a firm hand.

"SHOW HER THE FREEZING, WET DOOM OF THE COLD SHOWER!"

---

Seeing Sigma flail around caused Katya to break down into a fit of laugher finding the way the younger pilot ended up highly amusing.
"Wow, these thing pack a punch," she thought as she struggled to regain control of herself. A task that was only achieved when Sigma spoke to Elora Katya quickly spinning round to look at the shy pilot.

"Don't listen to her! She the traitor! I acted in the best interest of humanity!" she exlaimed pointing at Sigma.
"Plus you wouldn't hurt a fellow support pilot would you? We supporting types gotta stick together, or these combat pilots will eat us alive," she said turning back to Mai and Sigma, but keeping an eye on Elora.
"Now little Sigma, if you could be a good little girl for me and get back on your feet. I'd hate to spray you while you're down,"

---

"...as I said, all fun and games...but Katya. Enough. Cadet Sigma maybe hurt or injured here due to your..."friendly" fire", Mai said as she continued to help Sigma up to her feet. Although the response came out droned, Mai did put some emphasis on "friendly".

She then looked at the doorway to the other cadet called Elora.

"...apologies cadet Elora. Things...kind of got out of hand in here to use the phrase", Mai droned to her.

---

As she feared, it didn't take long for the other girls to find her out, and she reflexively hid back in the changing room. She was in a minor state of panic, trying to listen to a rush of footsteps coming her way, but they never did. Instead there were demands that she would launch an attack on either Sigma or Katya, as both sides were in a make-believe conflict.
As a pacifist, Elora would have rather they simply talked their differences through instead of fighting, and didn't wish to partake in their rivalry. "Uhh...sorry, but I don't want to hurt either of you..." The showers felt like a warzone to her now, and she was anxious to even peek inside again, afraid she would get roped up into something. "C-Could you stop fighting? Please?"

---

Sigma blinked slowly, her eyes rolling sideways upon the realization that Elora, apparently was too terrified to read the mood correctly. Resting her head on her hands, making herself cozy in the floor of the showers, the young pilot added. "...oookay." She took the jab in stride, as she rose back to her full, yet still rather underwhelming height. "We were just playing." Her words droned, as she looked at Katya and Mai, respectively.

"We all will die. We all will be broken. It's better to laugh while we can. Because, these times... will be the most cherished." Her gaze became increasingly sharper as she muttered. "Dead people will never come back. I know... And I lost twelve of them today. Even if their laugh was all the same to my ears."

"Now. I think i need to perform my duties." The young pilot then advanced towards Katya, picking up the sponge and shampoo. "Pilot Katya, depose the shower and prepare for backscrub."

---

Hearing Elora ask them to stop fighting, Katya could not help but sigh. How could have the girl misread the situation so badly? This was far from a fight, if it had been Katya had the feeling she's of been tossed around like a rag doll. Given hand to hand combat was something she never really got the hang of.

As Sigma got up Katya didn't even feel the urge to spray her again, the idea of continuing the childish game fading quickly leaving the young woman listening to Sigma as she spoke a little to much. The younger pilots words making Katya think of her father for a moment, picturing his face covered in a large smile. But Katya buried the thoughts before they had a chance to take hold and upset her.

The moment Sigma said she needed to preform her duties and told Katya to prepare for backscrub. Katya gave Sigma a fishy look for a moment before slowly returning the showerphone to its home on the wall.
"You know, when you say it like that, you sound like a robot." Katya commented as she sat down.
"Alright go nuts Sigma. Elora it's safe to come in now! We've stopped messing around!"

---

Mai watched and listened as things developed. It was when Sigma said her lines that Mai did pay attention. In way, it was...similar to the lesson's she had learned from her first division.

The battles...the sacrifices...the deaths...and yet "emotions" were needed. Even more so in framework sync rates. THAT was what her division..."hated" perhaps now that she looked back on it. Soldiers and pilots who broke down mentally were not soldiers or pilots. In this war, you had to let go...you had to make..."personal" sacrifices...

Mai didn't have a choice when she lost everything...

But to "cherish" moments like these...in a war like this...was tough...cadets don't always last long in a war to save humanity...

...which was why she threw away her humanity...

...but things...felt different here like she thought before...and she now knew the reason for it.

Seeing that Sigma was back on her own feet now, she droned, "I apologize but I must leave...excuse me..."

Checking herself quickly over, she immedately picked up the towel and her clothing on the nearby bench, which had somehow avoided the "water" war before, and prepared to leave.

...I'm becoming inefficient..., Mai thought to herself.

---

Once Elora saw the new pilot dress up and leave, she decided to enter the showers. She kept her gaze down as she travelled to a corner shower, and fidgeted as the water touched her pale complexion. She did know they were only teasing each other, but she stil didn't like the competitive, even aggressive parts of it. However, Sigma's words rang in her head. She also wanted to make happy memories with the others, but she couldn't do that if she constantly isolated herself from the others out of paranoia.

Elora decided that she had to change her own attitudes, and become more social with the others. Since we're all naked, there was no reason to be embarrassed, right?
She thought as she held her breath, and took the spot right next to Katya's, since she felt like the more friendlier pilot of the two. And when she lifted her eyes to look at her eyes like a normal conversational partner, her eyes froze half-way through. "Miss Romanovna, you are so mature," She spoke in a low voice, and put her arms around her shoulders in a coy fashion. "I-I'm sorry for, uhh, not being fun. I just don't like aggression, even when it's done for fun."

---

Sigma tilted her head upon Katya's statement of her being a robot. "A doll only receives 3 hours of classes in social etiquettes." She bluntly stated as she began to gently wipe Katya's back at first, before scrubbing harder afterwards. Methodically and throughoutly, she went on her business as she did so. "And... well, I have to make do with mimicry, observation and insight." She pondered. "It took me a while to make pilot Mai think about her predicament." She finished her sentence by gently tapping Katya's back.

"All set." Her eyes finally darted towards Elora. "Do you wish one, Pilot Elora?" She indicated, pointing the sponge at her.

---

Watching Mai leave Katya shook her head as she wondered what was on the drone like pilots mind. Katya picking up something might have been bothering her. But given she didn't know Mai that well and Sigma seemed to want to up hold her end of their deal, Katya remaind seated. As Sigma started Katya shuttered once, listening to Sigma comment about her only getting 3 hours of being taught social etiquette.

"Dam that's a really bummer. Well if you ever need a hand understanding people I'll be happy to help in what little way I can. I don''t really get people myself so you know I might make things worse but the offers there." Katya said turning her head to the side so Sigma could hear her better.

It was then Katya noticed Elora sit down next to her Katya giving her a small smile in acknowledgement. Giving the girl a once over as she spoke.
"Why thanks, I try... sort of. It's cool, you just didn't like that kinda of fun, I can understand why... I was like that once. But the military durmmed it out of me." she said taking in a deep breath.
"You gotta fight Katya otherwise the Cruxi will eat you alive. A soldier who won't fight is a coward and I won't have cowards in my unit! Refuse to fire on an a target and I'll shoot you!" She said, trying to make her tone sound more like a man.
"That's what one my teachers would say. Before he would locked me in the stockade, make me do an insane amount of push ups or hit me with something.I still don't like fighting but I see now that is needed and we don't get a say in the matter." she said turning to Sigma as she said she was done.

"Thanks Sigma. That was nice. Might call on you to do that again sometime if you don't mind."

---

"Fueeeh." Sigma simply let a small wail as affirmative action. "I uh...can't handle..." She added without missing a heartbeat."Don't know... actually. I think I need to talk to you about the part...Yes! The part. I want to install a certain system in the frame." She finished fidgetting."From another frame. Do you know if it's hard to do?"

---

Elora silently observed the two pilots as they conversed with each other, and was actually slightly glad that so far they haven't given her too much attention. This gave her the chance to actually wash herself, and was about to scrub her back when Sigma offered to do it for her. Afraid of refusing her, knowing she was a clone, Elora meekly nodded. "P-Please be gentle..." she whispered almost inaudibly, and then averted her eyes.

She looked up at Katya again when she talked to her, and nodded in acknowledgement to her words, appreciating the friendliness she put forth. She gulped when the older girl made her male impression; she sounded really convincing, and had difficulty following her, but she got the gist of it. "Oh, okay. Sorry about...bringing that up." Elora knew better than most that talking about one's past was a painful affair. She couldn't have even imagine how much Katya has had to endure.

---

Sigma tilted her head, in a neutral stance. Social interactions were tricky. Why would not she be gentle? Being rough on a fellow pilot would only affect morale. She scrubbed intently, and somewhat more gently than when doing Katya's back. So this is how a fourteen years old back had to be. Not even a scar, unlike Sigma's. Elora was a normal girl, a normal human dragged in the mess.

"There you go, pilot Elora."

---

Hearing Sigma ask about installing parts from another Frame, Katya went into thought for a moment as she put answer together and went over a basic method of installation in her head.
"Well I am not sure given how our Frames are not like the mass production models, but provided they work in the same basic way, it should be a simple matter. Modify or, better yet, swap any connection points to meet your frames specs, link in the part to your Frame's main computer core and any other systems needed. Install any needed software and bolt the sucker in. Well, that's it in a nutshell. It's actually a little more tricky than that and some parts don't work well with some other parts made by certain companies so it requires a lot of modification to work. But all in all, to the engineers here it should be a simple job. They seem pretty smart." Katya stated trying not to go to in depth with in and outs of adding parts into frame, not sure about what level knowledge Sigma had and not wanting to bore her with technical babble.

When Elora said she was sorry about bring up the topic, Katya merely waved her left hand in a dismissive fashion.
"Don't worry about it. It's fine plus I'm the one that took the conversation there. Looking back on it I can see why he was hard on me like that. So don't harbour any bad feelings about it. Plus Karma will get him back three times worse at some point for the really bad stuff. The universe is funny in that way, likes to keep everything in balance. Well, I think. Anyway don't worry about it." Katya said to the younger pilot once giving her a reassuring smile.

As Sigma began to wash Elora's back Katya quickly went about cleaning rest of her body at a nearly inhuman speed. Growing up, she had to wash herself quickly given water was always limited. So now that was simply how she did it unless it was someone else, given she was quite rough when she washed herself.

Finishing up a couple minutes after Sigma had finished doing Elora's back Katya got to her feet and turned to the younger pilots.
"Welp, I'm done. I'll see you two around. It was nice to meet the both of you. I hope the three of us at least can get along. If the two of you ever want to talk with me, please feel free to." she said giving them both a friendly wave before leaving the shower, only then realizing she forgot to get a change of clothes.
"Stupid Katya... Oh well, the plugsuit is comfy enough. I will get changed back in the hangar locker room." she thought as she started to get herself dressed.

---

Sigma stood there, pondering to herself. Maybe I can get... Alpha's framewerk parts to work in the Eiswolf. That'd be a nice homage to her. She thought , as she cleaned up the shower mess, and without another word, grabbed her plugsuit and ventured forth back into the barracks.

"I won't forgive you all, sisters." She muttered to herself. "But I'm making...new...frie-nds? Yes, that's the word, friends." She whispered.

Ariin was still up to no good, or was it good? It was a grey area mostly, he was in his room working on the cake having managed to scavenge everything he needed he set to work cooking. As he worked his mind wandered, he thought of all the pilots that were in the program now. How they would all have to work together, this did also beg the question if they could. He remembered in his combat training that he had lead three other Frame's in combat, granted they were simulated so were the Cruxi he faced.

He also wondered if Lorenzo ran the entire program for Framewerk pilots why was he taught by Colonel Andres and overseen by him rather than Lorenzo. It could have just been Lorenzo was more focused on other projects, after all this was a large program. No doubt he wanted to observe Sigma and the project she was involved in, however Ariin then asked himself another question, was he a project? Here he was, a refugee and former citizen of Mar's now a member of the military. He was criminal, no way around that one, an easily charged murderer and thief. Yet Andres had pushed him in to the program in exchange for no charges and keeping Ariin's family safe.

He wondered if he was some kind of project by the good colonel, perhaps one in reforming and pushing criminals up to die rather than soldiers. That hurt to think of, Andres was a cranky old man but he had always been honest with Ariin and Ariin had always been hones with him. It hurt to think of the father figure as having lied to make him into an expendable toy for Lorenzo. The young soldier sighed, returning his thoughts to the task at hand he soon realized something, he'd made far to much cake batter.

He chuckled at his own screw up, he used up everything except two boxes of the strawberries which he would use to decorate the cake along with the icing. He shrugged and decided he'd just bake all four cakes, enough to share with everyone in the squad then, he hoped. As he slipped back into the kitchen and put the cakes into the oven then waited, having hidden back in the kitchen. Being short, thin, and very limber Ariin had hidden himself quite easily in one of the cupboards. Going back to his thoughts he thought of training, trying to recall if he had ever seen or met Lorenzo before, he had to know if he was just another guinea pig to this guy.

He remember the physical training, having marines, special forces, and other beat on him. Arrin didn't have to beat them, no he had to block and counter them. He was given a stun gun with one shot, it was training on how to handle the Paladin when the enemy closed in. The railgun could only get one shot, Ariin lost for weeks and weeks in row. Until he finally he learned to stop trying to dodge or try to stop the attack. He deflected it, took the hit somewhere less critical then fired point blank into his opponent. Lorenzo could have been there, the observation room was blacked out though Ariin never saw enter it.

He remember squad training, where in his first few weeks he often flew into his own team mates or forgot to call out when firing. He failed those for months until finally he got it down, he won the first time with two of his squad wounded. He only improved from there on, eventually he became pretty good at leading a small AI team of artillery based Frames. Yet he didn't remember seeing Lorenzo when he was pulled from the simulations or terminated during one of his failed runs. They could have been sending him data and replays however, there was no way so one with an ego like Lorenzo didn't pick them all or have a hand in how they were brought here.

The timer dinged, carefully Ariin made his way out and retrieved the cakes, setting to work he decorated them with Vanilla and Chocolate icing carefully doing flowers along them. Between the flowers he carefully placed the strawberries, few would imagine Ariin Sorus, thief, knowing how to decorate a cake. Growing up with four sisters you learn a lot dancing, baking and decorating, sewing, and interior design. Sorus sibling had really given Ariin a robust set of skills, if he survived this war long enough to retire he would be very good caring for a home and family.

After decorating he set them in the fridge to cool, slipping once more out he grabbed his clothes from before from the locker and headed for the showers. He decided if he was another project it didn't matter, he was here now and he would have to live with whatever choice and schemes he brought him here. He was part of Sigma squad, he shouldn't wonder why he chosen but prove he was the right choice for the squad. He showered and washed himself quickly, he smiled and headed out of the showers, changing back into his more civilian clothes.

As the clock neared dinner, he once more retrieved the cakes and brought them out to the table. He'd spent most of his day on this and the sneaking around in the kitchen and killed all his remaining time off. He smiled, four very well decorated and neatly made strawberry cakes two with chocolate icing and two with vanilla. He would have made cheese cake but he promised Sigma strawberries, taking a seat he waited for the others to arrive for dinner in the mess hall and to see his handy work. He really hoped Harold wouldn't ask where he got the ingredients, after all in the military they valued ingenuity, right? He hoped so, because he really didn't want to get punished for cake baking.

And so began the new life of Squad Sigma in Solaire. This was especially true for Elora, who learned from Katya to adapt to her new life, and endure the arduous training as best she can. This resulted in her hanging out around her more than other pilots, almost clinging on to her, though she also kept her distance at times. For some of the pilots, it was a sanctuary that enabled them to grow stronger and realize their potential, while for others it was a prison that tormented them, testing their limits, and every day was a fight to survive. During this time, the Framewerks were repaired, and in some cases modifications were made to them following positive results from testing.

Every day began with physical training held by Sergeant Ken in the gym. He told the pilots that they were already dead unless they made sure they were prepared in both mind and body; he emphasized that their minds would stay sharp and their reflexes remain at top efficiency if they worked out and kept to a balanced diet. He also lectured that the Cruxi bleed just like humans do, and even if a pilot were to find himself outside of a Framewerk he or she could still take out one of the alien scum with his or her BARE HANDS. The training consisted of the conventional like push-ups, squatting, jogging and weight-lifting, but also sports, meditation, and practice of martial arts; the Star Fist-style. The Sergeant showed an example of how a master of the style can throw punches at incredible speed, like from a machine-gun. He encouraged sparring between the pilots, but made sure that nobody got severely injured in the process.

Afternoons took present in virtual reality; Lieutenant Ritsu directed the advanced training simulations where the pilots learned various techniques and maneuvers that could be utilized while piloting a Framewerk, while also testing their accuracy at a simulated firing range. At the pilot's request, Ritsu also authorized virtual competitions with minor prizes for the winner, encouraging the pilots to develop their piloting skills further.

Once a week, Lorenzo would hold long and tedious lectures about Framewerks, such as their history and details to their construction and built-in systems. He occasionally held a pop quiz to startle any pilots who may have snoozed during class, while sometimes he made the pilots do group assignments. He was strict when teaching, but he showed constant interest in their progress.

Lorenzo also taught about the various identified Cruxi units.
Some were front-line shock infantry equipped with energy shields and plasma rifles, and tasked with assaulting defended locations. Their genetic material seems to be identical, and Lorenzo's hypothesis was that these soldier-types are created using some type of cloning technology which he showed interest in acquiring.
Another type was designated as a hunter-assassin type that infiltrate enemy facilities, eliminate key targets and infect victims with their eggs, spawning more of their species behind enemy lines. All these Cruxi units are delivered with the use of specialized troop ships.

---

"However, these won't be your opponents in the field," Lorenzo said while pointing at the hologram during his lecture. It has been a considerable amount of time since the pilots first entered Solaire. "While planetary defences are by this point capable of holding out against an infantry invasion, they are powerless against the war machines they utilize. This is their most basic model of Cruxi mech. They stand about half a regular Framewerk's height, but where they lose in size they more than make up for in their numbers. You can expect to see yourselves outnumbered by these units while out there in the field. While the type I'm showing you is dedicated to long-range fighting, there have also been documented cases of Cruxi mechs equipped with claws capable of rending through even Medium-type armors with a single slash. Sometimes more advanced models accompany them such as this sniper-type Cruxi."

"As an aside note, I would like to mention that, despite our attempts, we have yet to capture a member of what we believe to be their
ruling caste. For the most part they only seem to be located on their battleships that escape into hyperspace at any documented case where their invasion was thwarted, but I know that they must also be present during the later stages of the invasion directing their troops. All in all, while these are the types of Cruxi and their weapons we know about, there may be more unidentified and dangerous weapons currently built by them to counter our use of Framewerks. Be extremely cautious when engaging them. Now then, class is dismissed." Lorenzo then went back to organizing the pile of papers he always took with him to the lectures, but only rarely looked at. He didn't look at them long before a base-wide alarm started blaring out, and Lorenzo's gaze immediately sharpened. "Well, what are you waiting for? To the briefing hall, you damn fools!" He said as he stuffed a bunch of the papers haphazardly into his pockets and walked away with a brisk pace.

Zero enjoyed the structure of his day to day life at the academy base of Solaire. He especially liked learning the martial arts. His small dense form seemed to assist him in the few grappling techniques they learned, his stature counted against him with his compatriots so far as reach for a punch or kick, but growing up in the high-gravity environment of Fortress made his body more durable then most. In short, he could take the abuse better then anyone else. Star-Fist was not a good fit for Zim, but he learned it, and intended to employ its practices and techniques into his piloting where he could, and Black Star being a melee frame, he certainly could.

Zim didn't even mind the long lectures by Lorenzo, while many of the more technical details were lost on him he still found it interesting. It is true that Zim had worked on a terraforming team, using extremely sensitive and advanced equipment, but Fleck had taught him 'You don't need to know how it works, just that it does and how to work it. Leave knowing how it works to the engineers and technicians that fix it.' As long as Zim knew how to make it do what it was supposed to do, he didn't particularly care how it did what it was supposed to do.

Many aspects of Black Star were designed with the capacity to incapacitate his opponents. Both of his weapons were designed to attack isolated aspects of a machine, from weapons, to power supplies, to sensory equipment. So when he was told that despite their best efforts they had never managed to capture a particular type, Zim felt that it was assigned to him, as a personal mission, that he should do that whenever possible, especially any time they come across anything new. However, Zim would clarify this with the mission heads before proceeding of course.

With the lecture finished for the day, Zim was looking forward to heading back to the Simulators. Roger would probably want to spend more time in the sims again, as they had spent much of their free time of late, when suddenly the alarm started blaring. He looked around for a moment, his brow furrowed, until Lorenzo snapped his attention back to him, as soon as the words were out of his mouth he charged the door and made his way to the briefing hall with all due haste falling in with the others as they arrived.

Serah was sort of... Just twiddling her thumbs around after Zim left. She understood that he might have wanted to do something else and not hang around with her all day, but even then it felt lonely for the poor girl. She already hardly knew anyone in the base, and it's not like she had much to pick from... The only other people in the area from her squad had already left, leaving her to play around with an empty glass of parfait. "Siiiiigh..." she softly muttered, opting to say the word aloud instead of just letting out a sigh. The girl was left there for quite a while. Even when she got up and left to scour the base, the hallways were surprisingly empty. At one point Serah could even hear all the girls giggling inside of the showers when she passed by... And opted to stay out. Her gut felt like it was being twisted and contorted in ways it shouldn't have been when those sounds echoed through the lockers. The blue haired girl considered herself not worthy of simple, fun things like that and instead left. She came back to take a shower at some point later in the day, alone, when everyone had left.

When Serah stepped out of the showers, she almost didn't feel like going to get dinner at all... But that would end with her getting in trouble with the higher-ups. So the girl decided to do so anyway, and took a seat away from everyone to eat her food. She didn't seem down whilst eating it all, keeping up that cheery act of her and all, but had made an effort to sit apart. The girl noticed someone was surprisingly absent from all of it, Ariin... He got really busted up in that fight. Serah found it kind of odd how they were gone, the boy didn't seem like they'd skimp on a meal. But as Serah had finished cleaning up her table and was about to head off, they strolled in holding... Cake?! Somehow, some way, Ariin had managed to gather the materials to bake a total of four cakes without the higher-ups noticing! The girl couldn't contain her excitement, rushing over and asking him "Ooooh! Can I have a piece, please? Of the chocolate one?!" with newfound energy. Her day got brightened up a little, at least.

Then, after that day, everything started to become routine. All of the pilots got trained physically, mentally and any other combinations in between. Serah had a bit of trouble keeping up with the standard exercise routines and simulations due to her age and experience, but at least made up for it in Lorenzo's lessons. Unlike most of the people there, she always paid the most attention and studied carefully, sometimes even locking herself up afterwards just to rehearse the material. It reminded her of school, and she wanted to do the best she could because of it. It was maybe not the best reason to learn, but at least she did it. As for the aforementioned exercise, Serah tried her best at the very least. She could keep up as well as any other on condition and muscle training, but always fell short in the sparring matches against the older men of the group. The girl was always more, well, 'girly' than the rest and that stunted her techniques somewhat. The muscles she'd gathered, even though there, was also not as visible as everyone else's. Maybe they were just doomed to a fate like that. This is how most of Serah's days went, with a smile constantly plastered across her face.

Serah was once again attentively listening to Lorenzo's lesson and frantically jotting down notes. Not many other thoughts crossed her mind and she didn't bother to look around in the class to see what the others were up to. Still, sometimes the girl has a passing thought on how she should've socialized more, because in the entire daily routine she didn't really do much of that. Her status with the rest of the group was essentially the same as it was before because she was always locked up in her room, either studying or playing some of her games solo. Lorenzo had now gotten to the point in his lecture about the Cruxi's leaders, and Serah looked up from her notes to take in the hologram's sight. The creature shown had something oddly 'Emperor'-like to it, strangely so considering it wasn't part of human culture. She'd start thinking the two were more similar than initially thought, if it wasn't for those scum causing trouble anywhere.

And then the alarms went off. Serah shot up from her seat pretty much instantly, nearly crumbling up the paper below her hand from balling it up. "Well, what are you waiting for? To the briefing hall, you damn fools!" Lorenzo frantically shouted in the group's direction and all Serah had in reply was a curt "Yes sir!" Truthfully, she'd have loved to add that she was already going but that would be a disrespectful statement which caused her to refrain from doing so. After replying to Lorenzo the girl dashed out into the hallway, trying to make her way to the briefing hall. She'd noticed Zim had departed at around the same time as her, which seriously made Serah wonder what the hell was up with this guy's timing. The girl didn't have much time to lose, so she cut a few corners to speed ahead of Zim, literally sliding in place when she arrived.

For Mai, it was..."different" here as she always thought during the weeks to come.

From classes to training to simulations though, THAT was nothing new for Mai.

She did try her best to..."fit" in but as she thought, her personality tended to shorten conversations rather quickly. Though on the upside, she did pretty much talk to all the pilots and other people around base here at least more than once. And...they didn't "seem" to mind her presence either.

It had gotten to a point as well where she decided to talk to Lorenzo and even Ritsu about things in private. Even more so about her...family history and other related topics. For Mai to even "talk" about such things at all to others in general...it was something that she thought she never do. Something that her first division would either frown upon or even punish her for. But things were different here. More importantly, keeping such things from Lorenzo wasn't exactly the best of idea's. Though Mai had the suspicion that both he and Ritsu were well aware of her classified history. Family and personal included.

As well as her involvement with the Telekenetic System...

She did tell Lorenzo and Ritsu about her personal feelings on that...and what that system did to "her"...

Other than that episode, Mai kept on going with the usual routines. Though in some cases, some of the cadets did try to get..."involved" with Mai a bit. She figured it was just to get her to..."relax" and to stop being "stiff" in their views.

But this is who she was. Mai "Seven" Twilight. Trained Soldier.

...trained killer...

Orders were orders.

Today didn't seem like it was going to be too different.

Then the alarms went off...and Mai knew that reality just came in.

With a "Yes sir!" and a salute to Lorenzo's order, Mai immedately left the current room towards the briefing room.

The passing weeks in Solaire rendered Lora very quiet; almost especially so. It was as if some silent disease had overtaken her, the focused nature she tried to adopt during battles infecting her lifestyle beyond the simulations. Rarely did the junior officer utter words beyond "Yes, sir," or "No, sir." She seemed to almost actively avoid others, staying solitary by preference given the free time to do so. Considering Lora's actions in the mock operation, and her subsequent increase in performance and official rank, the transition was seen as strange, to say the least. Ultimately, as befitting her only-slightly-ascended title, Lora expressed enough power and initiative that most of the executives weren't concerned with her performance.

Among the people in her company, however, the thoughts were wholly more varied. Some accepted it or were otherwise indifferent; Squad Officer Buell, whom Lora found herself butting heads with a bit more often than not during training, was among them. A certain few others saw the gesture as unbecoming at best and unacceptable at worst, Lieutenant Ritsu being the former. Just because she was of a technically lower rank than Harold was no reason to feel jealous or seclusive, she would explain to the pilot, as Lora was still of an officer rank regardless, and thus a face of the team's command.

A valiant yet misguided effort, as Lora felt none of that regardless. Maybe she did wish she had to face Harold a little less often, but that note was besides the point. Truthfully, Lora herself couldn't say for certain what currently made her feel distant from the other cadets. Sometimes, she tried to stay alone to exercise her inner machinations; other times, she felt troubled or homesick and simply wished for solitude.

At the end of the day, Lora got by fine in her training and retained what she learned well enough, and yet she couldn't shake some concern off of her. Even in her best days, the junior officer found herself reflexively gravitating toward her habit of being away from others. She simply had no way of saying why with any certainty.

Perhaps Lora bore a certain anxiety over her Framewerk? Following the mock operation, she seemed to have her own revelation over her experiences with the Blade of Hope, just as Lorenzo expressed his curiosity over such a circumstance. Lora frequently found herself pondering the ideas and implications behind what happened, trying to recall as much as she could from those fleeting rumors about those expert pilots:

With all the talk about Synchro Rates and their importance in being able to effectively pilot a Framewerk, more than once someone had to ask what happened when one reached a 100% rate. The obvious answer was that a Framewerk became perfectly responsive to a pilot's movements, which a well-trained pilot could take advantage of to make the absolute most of their machines. The lesser-heard supposition, meanwhile, claimed the pilot and machine literally became a single conjoined entity, processing and unleashing actions in a deadly synergy. In this state, a pilot with full synchronization was granted absolute control over the frame, and thus became capable of actions and abilities that were not possible otherwise.

The series of complex simulations that the executive officer conducted offered no real insight over the phenomenon Lora went through, however- the compiled results suggested that attempting to integrate the Blade of Hope into Dynasty's main suite would generate a net loss in synchronization, considering her lack of general experience with the weapon. Furthermore, the sword wasn't designed to accommodate the certain weight-balance issue present in Dynasty's loadout, and generally led to unfortunate results in a virtual environment.

That disappointed them, yes, but it also painted that event in the battle as just a random miracle. Lora just couldn't bring herself to accept that thought, and if Lorenzo shared the same feeling, he didn't let it on immediately.

So, many other times, Lora would find herself using her privacy to think and to study these things, trying to find information and conduct theories, or simply to draft up something else for Dynasty to work with in the future. Unfortunately, the junior officer just didn't bear close to enough expertise in these fields, and she couldn't quite devote herself to learning more while also juggling Solaire's basic training. Ultimately it seemed to place her in a certain limbo, where she wanted to know more and advance further but could not do so in any one field.

Maybe that was the thing which kept her so quiet and conflicted.

---

Today was another day, with another lecture from the professor. One of the subjects this time regarded the Cruxi as a whole- the details, individuals, and vehicles that together composed humanity's unified enemy.

The topic was rendered a bit shorter than the others, however, due to the severe lack of technical information for these aliens and their weaponry. This only revealed the fact that Cruxi were deathly secure about their technology and their high-ranking personnel, using all sorts of strategies and fail-safes in their soldiers and equipment to prevent capture. The certain devotion over it almost bordered on the obsessive, but in the end it could not be helped much while the human forces remained on the defensive against the Cruxi.

"All in all, while these are the types of Cruxi and their weapons we know about, there may be more unidentified and dangerous weapons currently built by them to counter our use of Framewerks. Be extremely cautious when engaging them. Now then, class is dismissed."

As was typical after the lectures, Lora saw herself being one of the first to start packing. Writing and keeping her different notes in a binder let her be more organized and quick to transition, and the junior officer couldn't help but be a bit surprised that someone like Lorenzo himself didn't invest in one. Then again, Lorenzo proved to not be the typical kind of scientist restrained by things like "sense".

The broadcast alarm suddenly going off snapped everyone out of their thoughts, and Lora could swear she heard someone yelp in shock. Was it her? She hoped it wasn't her.

"Well, what are you waiting for? To the briefing hall, you damn fools!"

By the time the professor had finished his sentence, Lora had haphazardly dropped her binder back onto her desk and was at the door. While Zim already dashed ahead, the junior officer called to everyone, "You heard the man, let's go!" before pursuing them to the briefing.

(Ignore this, wrong tab)

Adjusting to life on Solaire came fairly quickly for Katya, the young woman finding that what she was being made to do now wasn't far off form what she had spent the last 8 months doing. So to her it was mostly getting used to the new faces and trying to find food she liked given there was nothing she was used to eating available. So for this she relied on Elora who Katya noticed started to hang around her quite a lot, the young woman at first finding it a little odd, but overall didn't mind the company. As time progressed Katya started to see Elora as a friend and became a little protective of the younger pilot. More then willing to come to her aid or aim a slightly pointed word at someone when someone upset her. Something she was sure a few of her squad mates picked up on but Katya didn't really care.

As for her classes Katya struggled to learn the basics Star Fist-style so avoided sparring with anyone. Finding her inability to learn the martial art at a decent rate was a bit of a downer, but once she eventually picked up the basics it didn't bother her. Although she still avoided sparring throwing every excuse she could think of when asked to avoid having to participate. Not that it always worked, but it never stopped her form trying.

Training with Ritsu was something Katya always found exhausting finding that being near the lieutenant always seemed to inspire her to push herself. Finding a lot of the what the lieutenant had to teach quite useful aware the maneuvers she was teaching them may very one day save their lives. That and Katya liked pulling on maneuvers in Caretaker even if some of them where quite difficult and Katya ended up tripping Caretaker over several times.

The lectures Lorenzo gave is where Katya stood out the most, her brain acting like a sponge during each lecture as she sat and attentively listened to everything the old man had to say. Although she did find his method of teaching rather dry and quite boring. So every once in a while struggled to maintain focus and ended up doodling in her note book. So several pages had cute little drawing of framewerks and various other little critters. She did however enjoy learning about Frameworks and when Lorenzo taught about it Katya picked his brain on the topic as much as he would allow her.

As time progressed Caretaker was eventually repaired it taking quite sometime to manufacturer a new leg. During that time Caretaker had miniaturized Hyper-wave Comm array installed. Which much to Katya annoyance required her to under go several lessons on how to use it properly and had to read a manual so thick it could be used as a weapon. Luckily thought the officer that taught her how to operate the array showed her the parts she needed to read and those she could skip.

As for dealing with the squad-mates Katya made an effort to get to know Zero, Sigma, Serah and Elora. Although the last one she simply because she was around a lot. Although she had no idea what they thought of her but she liked to think she was at least getting along at least some them well. As for the rest of the squad Katya did try to interact with everyone else a little but found it a little harder to deal with them on more personal level. But she still made a basic effort although Katya tended to avoid Mai finding that woman got on her nerves

---

It was a day like any other Katya was sat in another one of Lorenzo's lectures paying close attention to what he was saying and taking notes. All the while trying to keep herself for doodling in her note book knowing what the old man was talking about was very important. Even if it this lecture was somewhat lacking in concrete information. When it the lecture was over Katya let out a huge sigh, as she started to back up her things all the while he mind was else where busy trying to work out what she do with today free time. But just as she started to plan things out a base-wide alarm started sounding pulling Katya back into reality as the old man told them to go to the briefing room. Know there was little time to waste Katya left the room and headed towards the briefing room. Falling into line with the others when she arrived.

And a week passed by. Sigma found most classes trite, an encore of what she had been implanted with the memories of Spanova, but it wasn't a bad encore. After all, knowledge was best kept better if taught twice. She even allowed herself to cast furtive glances during the briefings to other pilots, to see how they were doing.

By learning their behaviour, she could probably learn to be less stiff, although some cases, like Mai...were not good test subjects. And Iota, her fellow clone, was not one either. Unsurprisingly, the higher ups had made a "you spared her, you bought her" approach when dealing with the clone, stating that it was up to recruit Sigma to provide lodgings to the fellow clone.

The two strawberry cakes were lost in the struggle, but the noble sacrifice allowed them to convince people (namely Ritsu) to let Iota and Sigma share a room. Even if it was just one bed. It made sense, as they simply were two shades of the same template, and in that regard, clones did have a tendency to huddle up together in the facility before.

Star fist was a real workout, although Sigma lamented that her memories and creation had artificially bumped her skill way above her age, and as much as she loved to give Elora or Katya some sparring, she was too afraid to break someone's nose in that regard. As such, Sigma's technique was often tested against the more experienced male soldiers, whose brawn and size offered a clear handicap against the young but talented pilot. It would also force them to keep their guards up, and probably dent their patronizing attitudes a bit more.

And there was Iota... Well, suffice to say those matches were intense. Perfect mirror matches, that scalated to their fullest... and at some points had to be forcefully stopped by the instructor. Iota's goddamn feisty nature, taking a leaf out of Spanova did not certainly help.

---

The lesson was rather interesting for once, if Iota wasn't hellbent to start a paper ball war with Sigma at the risk of being decommissioned by Lorenzo. Sigma's inside boiled, but she was still decided to not retaliate. Until the paperball hit her nose with force.

Oh now you've done it.

Sigma began to crumple a paper...and the alarms all rang out at once. Startled for the briefest moment, she left her notebook go, and then Lorenzo's prompt shook her into her senses curtly and quickly.

"Yes sir." Both clones said in unison, looked at eachother, and then ran synchronized towards the briefing room.

Roger did as Yeager was meant to. Go at full power. In every class he committed to doing his absolute best the entire time to the detriment of socialization and relaxation. He noticed Katya was exhibiting similar behavior, but for entirely different reasons. He was spurred on by a mix of spite, anger, and a need to catch up to the rest of the pilots and surpass them, lest he be left behind. Constantly going all out was exhausting, and would lead to a crash and overwork, potentially being more harmful than in the long run. He knew this in the back of his head, but reasoned that it would be better to crash and burn than slip away into obscurity. He vowed that he would become the best pilot here (as unlikely as that was) and he wouldn't be able to do that if he was pussy footing around.

Fitness programs were nothing new to him, and he performed on the upper end of the team, probably due to his age and experience. He wasn't as strong as Zim or Harold, and Ariin ended up being faster, but that didn't really bother him too much. He did pretty well all around when it came to pure athleticism.

What he did excel at was Star Fist martial arts. He had a natural talent for it, and was probably the best in the class at it, aside from Sigma and her "sister." While he had the edge against them in brawn and build, it was pretty clear they had far more experience and agility than he did. He quite enjoyed practicing the forms of Star Fist, finding a natural preference for the more external aspects. While practicing he could rest his mind for awhile and let his body do the work. Aside from Sigma and Iota, his closest match up would probably be Zim, whose sheer bulk and tenacity allowed him to really lay on the hurt when he could get a hit in.

Virtual Reality training was probably Zim's most difficult class, partially because he'd continually artificially lower his synch rate by 20% so that he'd be forced to rely on his poor piloting skills. Despite this, he didn't feel as if he was improving. It was frustrating, and the frustration would only further fuel his fire to get better and shove it in the face of that old bastard.

Speaking of which, Lorenzo's class wasn't too difficult for him. He was used to learning about the logistics and mechanics of airplanes, learning about the logistics and mechanics of framewerks was a far more complicated task, but a familiar one. When he'd get stuck, he would find a way to find an aeromechanical equivalent (or close enough) and use that to make more sense of how everything worked. That didn't change the fact that the lectures were boring as all get out, but you can't control everything.

During free time, when not eating or taking a piss, Rooney would try to drag another pilot into the VR room to practice until they left or it was time for lights out. When he couldn't get a partner, he would just sit in the room alone and run through drills in his head.
______________________________________________

Roger was halfway out the door of the classroom when the alarm rang out. He swore under his breath and walked briskly towards the briefing room. Unless this was some mock fire alarm, whatever they were about to be told wasn't going to be good.

Arinn had been doing very well with Star fist, his past martial arts training and work ethic had him practicing constantly. His strength had come long way since when he first began military training, his speed was still very good. He would have preferred something more acrobatic, while he was good Sigma and Iota seemed to be above and beyond the rest of the class. Still he seemed to very capable, being young and having a lot of previous training probably helped of course.

In class he didn't work very hard, in truth a lot of it seemed to cover stuff the colonel had beat in to his head a dozen times over. While his note taking was slow he did write down things he thought were important or necessary to learn. His grades would slightly above average, as he often daydreamed or had his mind wander while in class. Still any test of proof of concept, he understood everything Lorenzo taught them. He might not have been a squad leader but he would damn sure he was good enough that if they ever transferred him he might get the job.

---

Currently he was watching Iota throw paper balls at Sigma, he was hoping to see Iota win this little paper ball war. The alarm blared he jumped and jogged for the door before Lorenzo had even finished his insult. Arriving the briefing room he silently wondered if this was Cruxi attack or a drill, both were possible however he leaned more towards real attack.

Solaire, to Harold, was an experience that was mostly new but one that he had little trouble adjusting to. He'd been through military training before and so more or less knew what to expect, including dedicated classes for his unit's on the battlefield, but he was surprised to find specialist martial arts among Team Sigma's curriculum. Nonetheless, he fit into the role of squad officer like a glove, but due to the varying personalities among his charges - and his innate incompatibility with Lora - there were more than a few times in which he was frustrated. Still, they had all developed some synergy, and with a proper chain of command, there was no questioning who was in charge.

Every time he would order them to fall in-line, the sheer variety of colors never failed to instill in him a sense of wonder. Everyone looked at him in differing ways, and each soldier held him- or herself differently. Each personality was distinct and instantly recognizable, from Roger's accent, to Zim's diminutive stature, to Sigma's luxuriously exotic hair color. And in this niche unit, these already unique people had equally unique Framewerks - in form and in function - and their own combat expertise. Morale was no issue as everybody seemed to resign themselves to this path in life and, all in all, everyone was looking sharp. Ariin, he noted, looked as confident as ever. Their postures were sure and stiff, and they all addressed Harold as "sir!"

It somewhat irked him then, that some of his charges were sharper than he was. Under Lorenzo's academics, he was often surpassed by others, especially Katya, who seemed to find no issue with any of the given material. For a time, he tried harder than normal, but found out that he could never outperform the young woman, and so returned to a more relaxed pace of learning.

During his free time, he mostly spent his time alone, but often checked up on how the others were doing, especially Elora, whom he regarded as especially fragile. That he was the team's commanding officer complicated things a bit, as this duty conflicted with his desire to socialize with his comrades. He found himself talking to Katya most of all in matters unrelated to the military, hoping to build up what had begun after the Mock Battle towards some unknown point. He spent some time in the simulators too, putting into practice what he'd gotten from a new wealth of material from the military section of Solaire's expansive library.

Today was another day of his second take on officer school. Lorenzo, as usual, was the lecturer, and imparting material about Cruxi forms and types. Harold listened and took notes, and by the time it was over and the alarms were blaring, he had already put away his pocket notebook. He briskly walked to the briefing room, finding enough room in his concentrated mind to wonder about Iota - Sigma's apparent family, and the sisters she had lost, and Harold had killed, during that "Mock" Battle.

He was among the last to arrive, and he surveyed the room to find the team complete and already lined up. Very good. He stood before them, hands clasped behind him, and walked up and down the formation as if on inspection. He was only doing it to kill time, really, as he hated being idle. When either Lorenzo or Lieutenant Ritsu show up, Harold would bellow a strong "Officer on deck!" and lead the salutes.

He wondered if they were finally being deployed. If they were, he was confident in the team's victory. Perhaps his platoon looked like a chaotic, duct-taped amalgamation with enough variety to dazzle a bazaar, but he knew that each member was prepared to do their duty - or even to prove themselves.