Elsewhere, a pair of eyes followed the camera feed from the briefing hall, and the lips under them twisted into a smirk. "It seems the social experiment is a success," Lorenzo said, partly to himself, and partly to Ritsu, who was sitting at the monitoring station. The shadowy surveillance room was filed with monitors, each of them connected to a camera located around the Solaire military base, and the two followed the pilots as they began conversing and even arguing with one another.

Ritsu continued looking at the monitors as she asked: "Sir, I understand the reason we are holding this operation, but why were the mission objectives not made clear? These pilots are now thinking they are to fight each other."
"That is precisely why, Ritsu." The old man waggled his finger. "This is a perfect opportunity to observe how these fools really act, especially among some of the subjects," he said as Sigma showed off her legs with an acrobatic performance. "But even now they must keep their social masks on to ensure they are not suspicious...once they step inside their Framewerks, their true nature will come to light. Their fears, their pride...their inhumanity. Of course, once the operation starts they will know who their real target is."

Ritsu sighed as a reflexive measure to push out the nausea that Lorenzo seemed to exude from his eccentric manners. Even after months of working with the scientist, she still couldn't get used to his thoughts that often seemed to linger on the insane side. But, as he was the father of the Project and as the sole man responsible for gaining any kind of advantage against the Cruxi, he could do as he pleased. That was something Ritsu learned to accept over time. "I will hold the announcement now, sir." She was about to open the microphone when Lorenzo suddenly asked. "Before you do that...Is it ready?"

"Yes, sir; Sköll is ready for deployment, alongside the rest of the Homunculus Project capable of combat, as you have ordered, up to a total of 14 Framewerks. But sir, are you sure that-"

"Yes! Now stop blabbering and send those brutes out. This will be their only chance to avoid termination. Besides, she can have some fun, hee hee!"
[hr]
Elora nodded to Sigma's words, her eyes wide in wonder at her strange behavior. "Well, I am glad that you aren't angry. L-Let's do our best out there, okay?" She kept quiet as she observed the discussion that seemed to turn violent really fast. She flinched when Sigma performed her high kick, and put her hands around her head as an involuntary reaction. Memories of violence came back to her, but she didn't let them take over. She instead directed her eyes at Ariin, and she felt at ease again, knowing he was nearby.

But as with many times in her life, once she felt like she could be happy and filled with hope, fate would turn that very same hope into a black abyss of despair. The loudspeaker in the room activated, and Lieutenant Ritsu's voice could be clearly heard from it:
"All personnel, prepare for the start of Operation: Mock Battle. Cadets, your plugsuits are in the changing rooms next to the Framewerk hangars. Suit up, prepare for deployment, and wait for further instructions. System checkups and communications are permitted."
Lorenzo's voice then came out. "If I see anyone deploy their Framewerks prematurely, I will disqualify them!"

"Looks like it's going to start now. I'll try to not let you down, mister Sorus," she said to him, and headed out of the briefing hall. She went to the women's changing room, and found her piloting suit there. She hated putting it on: it was tight, and emphasized her chest and crotch areas in embarrassing ways. She hoped that she wouldn't draw too much attention when she was seen wearing it. [i]At least I don't have a figure like the Lieutenant does.[/i]
The suits themselves are advanced pieces of clothing: They are a one-size fits all, but are skin-tight due to the fact that they protect the pilot's body from trauma by absorbing shock damage depending on the amount of force applied; if a pilot gets punched, or hit with a pipe, or gets thrown around in your cockpit, they won't feel much of anything. They are also fireproof and meant to be a portable life-support system on the field. Once put on, they act as a second layer of skin and can be quite comfortable once a pilot can get used to wearing one.

Once she put it on, she then headed to the hangars, specifically the one where her Framewerk, Logic Gate, was located. Engineers were still putting finishing touches on its preparation when Elora stepped into the incredibly vast area, and they greeted the young pilot and gave her a rundown of repairs or changes they made to the Frame. Elora nodded to their words; she didn't understand everything they said, but she fully appreciated the work they put into LG's maintenance, and engaged in a bit of small talk about the Combat Analyzer when it was mentioned.

Elora then opened up the front of LG's round exterior, and hopped inside. She checked her systems, and they were all green. She then opened up the Combat Analyzer, and set it to limit its unit data processing to only Framewerks. She added LG's data to it for cross-referencing, accelerating data collecting speed by 65%. It was easy enough to do, the Combat Analyzer being a state-of-the art supercomputer that could be customized up to the finest details, though Elora didn't touch on anything more than was necessary. She leaned back on her seat once she was done setting up shared voice channel between her and Sorus, and contacted them once they were in their Framewerks: "Testing, testing, do you read me? It seems the arena will be a flat field with some pillars in the middle and a lake on the east side, but I'll set us up with a better map once we get out there." She then switched to the command channel. "Umm, ready for deployment."

She felt relaxed and at ease while she was sitting in front of a computer; she was truly in her element now. Elora was quite adept with computers for her young age, and was thus chosen to pilot a Framewerk reliant on expert technical skills like Logic Gate was. Unlike the outside world which was full of hate and malice, inside Logic Gate she felt like she was safe from all that. It was comforting, almost as if she was held in her own mother's arms. It even felt like her mother was whispering to her, but she put that thought aside as simply her fantasizing. [i]I miss her. But she would be proud of me, I just know it.[/i]