[center][h1][color=9e0b0f]Ava Lane[/color][/h1][/center]
[hr]

Ava looked up from the book she was reading when she noticed one of the pilots in the shuttle with her jerked awake, her face somewhat pale with sweat running down her cheek.

It was clear that she had just woken up from a nightmare.

Having suffered from some form of PTSD herself before being cleared for duty once more, Ava was not a stranger to nightmares, particularly those concerning the battlefield. Well, not too much recently—hence, her being cleared for duty once more—but she digressed.

In any case, even though they had various methods to hide or manage them, nightmares or night terrors were quite common among Framewerk Pilots, especially veteran ones. Judging from this girl's age and uniform, though. She couldn't be a veteran pilot. Ava supposed it was just some nervousness on the girl's part for their first official assignment.

Ava returned her attention to her book. It seemed to be quite the nightmare. She hoped that the girl would fare all right after she actually came face-to-face with Cruxi.

Now, where was she...

...Worries and problems are normal. “How we frame those worries and what we do about them can help us feel more resilient and confident.” Thus, we may define stressors as distress or eustress. By using the right frame of mind, one may use stress as eustress, which elicits a positive cognitive response instead of negative ones...

It was a self-help book recommended by her psychologist, specifically on self-guided Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. She had been cleared for duty, true, but she needed to ensure to keep her mental state in a healthy, or at least combat-effective state. Otherwise, she would be pulled out from active duty again, and she couldn't make him retu—

She stopped the line of thought before holding back a sigh.

That was the sort of cognitive distortion, a 'magical thinking', she needed to avoid. Killing all the Cruxi in the universe won't make him come back. She knew this on an intellectual level, but emotions were hardly rational, were they? There was a reason why, even after centuries since the development of psychiatric science, the human mind was still a mystery.

Well, at the very least, this level of cognitive distortion shouldn't hinder her ability to pilot her framewerk, but if Ava were to be perfectly honest, she probably wasn't still in the best mental state. If they lived in a more peaceful time—though practically no one remembered life before the war against Cruxi—Ava probably would not be reinstated. But given that they were in a desperate war, the brass in the Galactic Federation simply couldn't let a veteran pilot with her track record and aptitude simply retire when she was still somewhat combat-effective.

Thus, Ava Lane was reinstated and transferred to the Solaire Fortress Ship, Framewerk Project XJ9. Objections from Colonel Chapman were dismissed on the grounds of bias, given that he had known her since before her enlistment, when she was dating his son.

The Colonel meant well, and probably thought of her like a daughter, but honestly, Ava was getting restless since her discharge. Going back to the life of luxury as the daughter of Albion Armaments Group's CEO after being on the frontlines for years felt wrong.

Ava continued her reading, spending the rest of the trip perusing the psychology book, before finally putting it down as they were nearing their destination, the massive fortress ship, Solaire.

The passengers in the shuttle were starting to get ready to disembark, with Ava taking stock of her pilot colleagues for the project.

There was, of course, the girl who had nightmares earlier, but beside her, there were also an eclectic group of people.

The first one out of them out of the ship was a short girl with blue hair who started stretching. 

Ava could understand the sentiment. She was not the most physically active person, but even she wanted to move around and stretch her legs after the long journey in the shuttle. However...

Like the other girl, she also seemed like a rookie pilot. As the older girl here, she probably should tell her to be more aware when stretching, especially later on, when they were in their pilot's uniform. Stretching in the tight form-fitting pilot uniform was...well, not everyone wanted the attention it might bring.

Especially when there was someone in their group who was taking furtive glances at the women, that was to say, one of Ava's fellow redheads. Oh, he didn't make it obvious, but Ava was rather an observant sort, and she was used to receiving such glances.

Ava herself did not particularly care, especially since the man seemingly WAS trying to do so somewhat respectfully and not being blatant with the stares, but some of the younger girls, who had not yet been accustomed to the mixed-gender living accommodation in the military, might feel otherwise.

Though Ava supposed he looked decent enough. Not that it mattered much. She hadn't been looking or in the mood for romance after...

She sighed. It had been 8 years, and she knew dwelling on it this much was not healthy. But she couldn't help what she couldn't help.

That aside...the man looked somewhat familiar. Maybe not him exactly, but Ava felt that he had seen some of his relatives in passing in one of the gatherings she attended as a member of the Lane family, perhaps. Which, given her background and the sort of circles her family ran with, meant that he was probably also from money.

As for the rest of the group...

The Thevranian was, of course, the most distinctive out of all of them, being a xenos species. There were some anti-xenos sentiments brewing due to the war with the Cruxi, and humanity's history with the Thevranians itself was rather complicated, sparking political and moral debate almost reminiscent of the colonisation in humanity's ancient history.

There were nuances to be had on that front, to be sure, but frankly, Ava did not care too much about them. She had met a few Thevranians serving in various positions within the military during her career. Like humans, some were obnoxious, some were pleasant to speak with. As long as they were fighting the Cruxi, Ava did not really concern herself with that can of worms. It was for philosophers and politicians to debate.

Another distinctive-looking one was a man, about her age, perhaps a bit older, who had spiky blue hair and was wearing a t-shirt with the words "√-1 2³ Σ π  and it was delicious" on it.

Imaginary numbers, 8, sigma, pi and it was delicious?

Oh.

i, eight, sum, pi. I ate some pie, and it was delicious.

The sort of joke that would come from engineers. Ava wasn't an engineer herself, but due to her position as the daughter of AAG's CEO, she interacted with some engineers in her youth. Also, that she liked reading about framewerk and technology and was planning to go into framewerk research before she ended up enlisting. So she was familiar with these sorts of jokes.

Still. This sort of pun-like joke was last in vogue in...maybe the 21st century, perhaps? There were some people who were enthusiasts for the culture of humanity's homeworld in that time period. Ava supposed he was one of them, then.

Though seemingly less quirky than the other two with distinctive looks, one of the other girls, who had white hair worn in a ponytail, also caught her attention.

White wasn't a very common hair colour, after all. If it were only that, then it wouldn't really be that weird, in this age of genetic engineering and cybernetic enhancement, either due to aesthetic reasons or a benign side effect, odd hair colour was an occasional phenotype seen in the population.

But it was the fact that while age-wise she seemed not that much older than the two young girls, Ava felt like her demeanour and the look in her eyes were closer to someone who had been on the battlefield for some time. Definitely not a wide-eyed rookie pilot. The distinctive symbol on her clothes, a silhouette of a humanoid with wings, denoted that she was probably part of a specialised unit prior to this assignment.

It was then that her train of thoughts were interrupted by a blonde pilot behind her who made a clicking noise with his tongue, before almost running into another pilot, as he hurriedly made his way toward the shuttle's exit.

This might be presumptuous for her to assume, but given his seemingly hasty temperament and his build, he looked like a picturesque representation of the 'hotheaded army man'. The ones that some people might derisively refer to as 'dumb musclehead'.

Ava never really took issue with those sorts of people, though. They could be obnoxious at times, but really, so was everyone, honestly. In fact, as someone who was pretty indecisive and tended to overthink, she sometimes admired those who could just jump into the fray and take action.

There was definitely a decent chunk of her old squad under Colonel Chapman, who was those types. She hoped they were doing fine.

Finally, last out of the shuttle like herself, was her other fellow redhead, this time a woman who was seemingly the oldest of the group.

She might look unassuming and gentle, but given the typical young age for framewerk pilots to enter service in this desperate war, she probably had served several years, at the very least, as long as Ava herself, with 7 years of service. And no incompetent pilots survived that long against the Cruxi.

The woman immediately engrossed herself with observing the framewerk models.

Ava inwardly approved. She, too, had great appreciation for the engineering marvel that was the framewerk, if more on the academic side rather than the actual hands-on engineering side.

Her own unit, designated as Argent Wings, was a good example. It had technological marvels blended seamlessly with the elegant design, almost like a knight for the modern age, one with wings.

Well, those sorts of designs philosophy were typical of Albion's models. The high-performing framewerks with distinctive designs were sure to inspire and improve morale on the battlefield, or that was the idea...though she was also sure that more cynically, it also had to do with the fact that the fancy designs were attractive to more prideful pilots, most often, those coming from money.

Ava then made her way down the shuttle, where they were greeted by their unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Ritsu Kaname. Seemingly about her own age, with one rank higher than hers, probably meant that Lieutenant Kaname, too, was a veteran.

Though unlike Ava, who was fast-tracked into piloting because of her aptitude, she gave off the professional vibe of someone who probably went through the officers' academy and the proper career military track. At least, that was Ava's impression of hers.

If nothing else, she seemed to be able to handle Colonel Chapman's inevitable, well-meaning yet harsh inquiries regarding Ava just fine.

Then, an ageing man—who anyone remotely connected to the framewerk industry, let alone Ava, who was the daughter of one of framewerk's largest manufacturers, would recognise—made their way to their group, introduced as their Executive Officer.

Professor Lorenzo, the one responsible for the new generation framewerk designs that improved their efficacy exponentially to the point where there were rumours that they were more than a machine.

The 'official' explanation most commonly held was that, due to how new and experimental these technologies were, they were almost like a 'black box' that we did not know the full extent of yet.

Thus, there were reports of framewerks performing at much higher capability than what they were capable of on their design documents. Also, the fact that some pilots—such as Ava—were able to 'synchronise' with a framewerk at an unprecedented rate. The pilot's uniforms were designed to be able to interface with framewerks, but the fact that some people were able to command the framewerks as if they were their own body, without additional technologies, was still a relatively unknown phenomenon.

There were, of course, other mysteries held within the framewerks, but that one was the one Ava had personal experience with.

She wondered if the Professor actually knew more than the officially released information.

As Professor Lorenzo addressed her, Ava gave the man a smile before nodding, "Thank you for the kind words, sir. I'm sure Father also deeply appreciate your time in Albion's R&D Department."

She didn't really know the Professor on a personal level to like or dislike him, but she knew how important the connection AAG had to him was.

She and her father might have their disagreements on her serving as a framewerk pilot, but they had a generally good relationship, and he had begrudgingly supported her by having Albion design her framewerk for very high performance.

So the least she could do was to be pleasantly polite to the professor, so it would not reflect poorly on her family and the AAG.

The Professor then addressed the other members of their group. Some were about what Ava expected—if rather dismissive in the case of the Tevranian, but again, those sentiments were not unheard of, especially in the older generation—others were more curious.

Such as the Professor's distaste for the white-haired girl, who apparently—as Ava thought—from a special project, codenamed 'Olympus'.

Olympus, as in...the really ancient Greek Mythology that was present in numerous classics of the 21st centuries popular pop culture?

Considering they were deities, that was a peculiar pick of a name.

Ava was also interested in the Professor's comments regarding one of the younger girls, the one he said to have the highest aptitude.

Ava was someone who had an abnormally high synchronisation with her framewerk. Furthermore, she was the possessor of the unique ability that was hypothesised to manipulate theoretical concepts able to defy laws of physics, designated as [Humanity's Potential]. The activation was rather random, but it had saved her life several times.

Thus, it was not often—the first time, even—she had met with someone with a better aptitude than her.

Ava wasn't jealous or bothered, of course, merely curious. In the first place, she wasn't the competitive type, and what little competitive spirit—if there were any to begin with—had surely been eroded by years fighting Cruxi on the frontlines. At a certain point, things like rivalry or jealousy just felt petty. If the girl was of an even better aptitude than herself, all the better. That meant their unit would be even more effective against the Cruxi.

Evidently, though, the sentiment was not shared by the hotheaded blonde pilot—who introduced himself as Griffith—as he then proceeded to suggest they test their skills against each other and hold a weightlifting contest, as well as some off-colour comments toward the Tevranian, which sparked an argument between him and the red-haired man, whom the Lieutenant introduced as Arrish Duval.

Duval...

Ah. That was why she felt like she had seen a probable relative of his.

The Duval Family had a poor reputation due to how they were in charge of the defence of the first area that encountered the Cruxi, and then proceeded to cover up the attack on the initial planet the Cruxi attacked.

Still...even now, they had money and influence. Thus, business was going to business, and the family was one of Albion's prominent shareholders. She must have seen one of his older brothers at a social gathering once.

In any case, as the two started to argue about inane things, such as Arrish's leering at Lieutenant Kaname's 'assets', Ava found herself resisting the urge to massage her temples in exasperation.

She thought about stepping in before eventually deciding otherwise.

Perhaps if her rank as a commissioned officer of 2nd Lieutenant was still in effect, she might be compelled to step in, as it was her responsibility as the higher-ranking officer.

But as it was implied that they were all effectively the same rank of cadets in the project, Ava found herself remaining in her comfort zone as an observer, deciding to leave it to the actual officer in charge, Lieutenant Kaname. Surely she would step in eventually, right?

Speaking of being in charge, she had no interest in taking the unit leader spot. Her mental issues aside, she just had little aptitude for command.

However, she would be sure to write a proposal to the Lieutenant as suggested regarding training simulations. Picking a leader based solely on combat missions was not the best policy, at least if it were a straight combat simulation. A squad leader did not have to be the best pilot, merely the best at commanding the squads. 

The capability to make sound tactical decisions quickly and manage the rest of the pilots was more important to a squad leader than purely combat ability.

In any case, putting all those things aside for now, Ava turned to the Lieutenant, "Pardon me, Lieutenant Kaname, but if it is at all possible, is there anything that can be disclosed regarding the purpose of our squad? There are several oddities, but the ones that immediately came to mind were that the Executive Officer, Professor Lorenzo—who is not a military man—seems to have an interest in our squad, and that instead of using our previous ranks, we are considered cadets. That implies that this Framewerk Project is rather unorthodox, being outside the regular chain of command of the Galactic Federation, probably for specialised research purposes given the Professor's involvement."