Three people had gathered in the War room of Fortress Ship Solaire, the darkened chamber illuminated by the light from a hologram of the galaxy that was projected from the center of a round table. Various textboxes of starships, planets, and other cosmic entities flashed by as the hologram slowly rotated.

"Have the Cadets settled into their new squad yet?" An imposing man wearing a fleet commander's uniform asked, sitting across from Ritsu and Lorenzo. 

"Yes. They have passed the initial requirements in terms of both physical and Framewerk handling skills. However, some of them are...problematic," she admitted.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo was typing away on a computer: instead of using a hologram interface, he resorted to manual clacking of a keyboard. He was responding to an email he had received the other day:

[quote=@AtomicNut]
[Hider=Email from Astolfo to Lorenzo]
Subject: Cruxi Logistics.

Dear Professor,

I will be brief since even wasting a minute of your time could set back the Cruxi war. I have seen the video. Two things. Cruxi seem to understand the concept of terror and intimidation. Is there any way their troops can be inflicted with it? Two. It seems they are keen on harvesting resources. Is there any kind of resource chokepoint to delay their advance?.

Regards,

Astolfo Bugatti.
[/hider]
[@Ariamis]
[/quote]

[i]The Cruxi rank-and-file have been identified as possessing an unnatural drive for combat, likely because of modifications to their cognitive perception, and as a result resist most normal attempts at intimidation. However, they are known to rout when faced with certain defeat. Overwhelming them with dread by slaughtering their kind has also been reported as possible. As for your second question, several Cruxi-manned orbital outposts have been spotted where the Cruxi fleets both prepare for invasion of star systems as well as bring in prisoners for what I can only assume to be processing and distribution. Intelligence on these outposts are limited, so do focus your efforts on capturing any Cruxi commanders you encounter for interrogation.
[/i]

He pressed the enter key with a crooked finger, and shifted his single eye to glance at Admiral Cain, who was looking at him with a dour expression. "Professor Lorenzo, your selection of candidates for this project has been...eccentric," he spoke. "Some of them seem emotionally unstable if not outright hostile to each other, and I have received reports of several incidents that have caused unwanted attention from the rest of Solaire's staff. There is even a Tevranian, and an outdated Lilim. What possible reason could there be for bringing such an eclectic sampling of Framewerk pilots together?"

Lorenzo cackled in return. "You don't understand, Cain. If we are to unlock the mysteries of humanity, we need to give the necessary keys to our bright-eyed door-openers. And that requires a variable pool of potential candidates to stimulate their wills, and the collective unconsciousness by proxy."

The admiral Cain. "I'm afraid your explanation is lost on me. But in other words, you see that the project can proceed like this, despite the mounting tensions? How are they meant to fight as a single unit when they are already fighting among themselves?"

"Also, we need to discuss on the parameters of the training mission to evaluate the most fitting squad leader," Ritsu interjected. 
"For example, Cadet Lane, with the previous rank of Second Lieutenant I might add, has given the following proposal."

She swiped her hand on the holographic interface, and her message enlarged on the central screen:

[quote=@Randomguy]
[@Ariamis]

[hider=Ava's proposal]
[b]Subject:[/b] DECISION - Proposal for battle simulation to choose Squad Leader

1st Lieutenant Ritsu Kaname,

I would like to submit a proposal for the battle simulation to choose the squad leader of Project XJ9.

I think that simple combat simulations against the Cruxi are inadequate to choose a squad leader. I have attached my proposal that I think would assess leadership quality better. Please review at your convenience. Thank you.

[Attached is a proposal of a simulated battle scenario based on real battles that the Federation had in its records, where a hard decision needed to be made. For example, Ava gave several examples of battles where the squad leader needed to pick how to deploy their squads between two vital objectives/targets. The proposals outlined that each pilot should take the role of the leader in the simulation, with AI simulating their squad members to be commanded by the leader. Everyone should be given the same scenarios so they can be judged objectively by Ritsu based on a given scenario.]
[/hider]

[/quote]

"I think this is an excellent idea," Admiral Cain spoke after skimming through the proposal. "Given the chance to perform their role separate from any possible bias from fellow pilots, we see their capability for the role."

"BAH!" Lorenzo slammed a fist on the table, causing Ritsu to adjust her glasses in mild surprise. "What a sterile, and more importantly, soulless way of evaluation! As advanced as AI has become, nothing can match the experience of real people as they rush headlong into plasma fire! I refuse!"

Ritsu sighed. "Very well then. What do you propose then, Executive Officer?"

Lorenzo smiled in a sinister fashion. "This." He clacked on his keyboard, and the two saw another proposal. Cain slowly nodded. "I understand now. Well then, I suppose that would be as proper test as any."

Ritsu was not as convinced, but she knew better than to protest. "Very well. We shall proceed then as suggested." She stood up from her seat, and saluted Cain, who saluted back. Lorenzo, however, was focused on something on his screen...

[hr]

The week had passed, and so a message was sent to the pilots of Project XJ9 to report to the briefing room for their virtual training mission. Once there, Ritsu saluted the pilots, and began the debriefing, with Lorenzo standing on the sidelines alongside Liisa.

"The parameters for the training mission have been decided," she announced, and opened the projector. It showed an image that immediately conveyed the type of mission they would partake in:

"The mission is to eliminate all members of the opposing team."

The projector image showed two Framewerks, similar to sock-em rock-em robots, in a boxing match.

"You will be split into two teams, and given an hour to prepare for the mission before you enter the VR training room and enter the prepared virtual reality space. When your Framewerk takes enough damage, or you consciously forfeit, you will be automatically rejected from the VR session, as per usual VR training guidelines. The Framewerks and their systems will be connected to the VR mainframe, and will be perfectly replicated. There is no intelligence regarding the environment the mission is to take place in," she added, as if expecting questions.

She changed the projector image, and it listed the two teams: Team Apple, and Team Mango.

"I was hungry," Lorenzo added in with a grin. Ritsu continued with a roll of her eyes.

"Members of each team will be listed by their Framewerk callsigns. Note that in addition to the regular general and squad communication channels, a separate communication channel has been created for each team."

Members of Team Apple were listed as:

-Horst
-Sleeping Thunder
-Logic Diver
-R4-PT0 Type R
-Shiva
-Electric Dragonfly

And members of Team Mango were listed as:

-Argent Wings
-Cockroach
-AA-XOTRY
-Argo
-Mother Goose
-Guinevere
-5Q-U1 Type D

Elora started visibly trembling as she realized the mission was going to pit half the squad against the other. It was a harrowing thought, and one she had not expected, nor was prepared for. 

[i]I'm going to fight...My squad-mates?[/i]

A part of her wanted to refuse, that she wanted to fight with them instead of against them. Yet, a certain part of her, deep inside, welcomed the opportunity, though she wasn't fully conscious of the reason. She glanced over at the others, wondering if they were as surprised about this as she was.

Ritsu spoke up before the various inevitable voices could reach an uproar. "Make any preparations you deem necessary. Dismissed," Ritsu concluded with a salute, while Lorenzo rubbed his hands together, looking pleased at the looks of confusion and eventual dismay with the pilots.

"Umm..." Elora approached the closest teammates of Apple team, which happened to be Aurora and Arrish. "We should discuss tactics somewhere private. Also, I...I have a request, if you don't mind."