2025-01-15: Owner's Operation Manual
- Log: 2025-01-15
- Cast: Lilium Valerie (as herself in a tube and Dr. Rebecca Frankford), Aurora Dusk (as herself and Col. Emily Ashcroft)
- Where: Classified location, Side 7
- OOC - IC Date: January 15th, Universal Century 0100
- Summary: A few days before the first emergency deployment of the Boosted Songstress project's primary subject, Colonel Emily Ashcroft (accompanied by her usual subordinate, Second Lieutenant Aurora Dusk) are more fully briefed on the program's nature, its capabilities, and how to manage its subject once she's prepared. And then something goes wrong.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
The undisclosed asteroid base's combination machine shop and operating theatre is alive with the sounds of activity.
Various workers in colour-coded sterile jumpsuits float to and fro. Orderlies wearing white swarm around the ginormous tank in the center of the room, manipulating the instruments that reshape the subject within. Marked with orange stripes, the mechanical engineers struggle to assemble the Variable Fighter besides it. And clad in pure black, a third, unknown role commute between the two sites, seemingly doing an equal amount of work at both...
Above this hive of activity, three uninvolved figures can be seen in one of the many viewing ports into the chamber. Doctor Rebecca Frankford, project overseer, is a common sight--but if the various workers under her command were to look up from their tasks, they'd find the remaining two unfamiliar to her.
The doctor, not taking her eyes off the center of the room, sighs softly. "Well, Colonel... you're here for a more... extensive briefing on the subject's specifications, yes?"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"That's correct, Doctor," responds one of the other figures - the one dressed like a senior officer. "Considering said subject is frequently in my chain of command... and my own field of expertise, I think this project is relevant to me." Emily's eyes flicker to the third figure, the teal-haired junior officer currently staring down at the proceedings, trying to figure out what everyone is doing.
"Which, I doubt I was invited to the initial briefing just for the hell of it."
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
The Doctor nods, turning around with a faint smirk on her face. "Well, then. Let's get down to it, shall we?"
She pulls a remote from one of her labcoat pockets, and walks over to one side of her office to pull down a projection screen. She clicks her remote, and a slide projector activates--although nothing is on its screen, at least not at present. She casts a curious glance to Aurora for a moment, watching her watch the various workers go about their tasks around Lilium's... enclosure.
"Well... You're cleared for a decent bit information then you were given at that meeting... and your expertise with the subject in her former life is certainly not unwelcome." Her face darkens for a moment. "If the general staff were any slower about clarifying their specifications for her, I'd be asking for your help reconstructing her personality without a backup right now..."
She sighs, shaking her head, and advances the slide. A complicated anatomy chart appears on her projection. It's unmarked--the usual biological information aside--and is helpfully labelled 'BOOSTED SONGSTRESS--INITIAL SUBJECT' Dr. Frankford turns to Emily, her smile returning to her face. "Well, then... where should we begin?"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
When she feels Rebecca's eyes on the back of her head, Aurora turns to look behind her. She begins periodically switching between watching the technicians work and studying the projection. Hopefully, Lilium hasn't been messed up too badly...
Frankford launches into her explanation, and when she reaches the part about reconstructing personalities, her "guests" both look at least a little shocked.
"What?" Aurora blurts out, and her mouth briefly hangs open after. Personality alterations aren't rare, but a total wipe is horrifying to her.
Even Emily blanches at the almost drastic mistake."...I'm sorry, did you say 'we almost had to reconstruct her personality from scratch'?" She regains her composire faster than Aurora, though, beginning her questioning with an even tone. "My first concern is probably how drastic the changes are, and the effect on the subject's personality. You mentioned in the presentation you used first generation techniques to enhance her, yes? To get the... level of opennness required of the project." The two are both studying the graphs intently. Emily herself has enough experience to know that Rebecca can springboard from that
question to whatever other matter she'd like to raise next.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
Dr. Frankford nods gravely, setting down her remote and picking up one of several seemingly near-identical pamphlets from her desk. The one she's holding currently is marked 'BOOSTED SONGSTRESS PROJECT TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS--FIRST REVISION'. "We initially had very.. specific requirements for the subject's personality. Cutesy, innocent, bashful... an odd choice for a twenty-four year old woman, for sure, but we still had a pool of four other potential candidates then... Most of them far more suitable for it. Once we managed to get word up the chain that they'd... fallen through, though, they relented on the total wipe-and-replacement."
She sets the first revision down, and picks up what looks to be the fifth. It's notably thicker than the first, on closer inspection. "Luckily, I'd been holding off on the order..."
She coughs, shaking her head "Of course, most of the specifications haven't changed that much--but we were able to preserve her as herself, thankfully. Even if we did need to make a whole new her, it'd be far more effort than it's worth... Oh, the enhancement techniques?"
The remote is picked back up, and an overlay appears on the slide. Quantum brainwave readouts, altered sections of the brain, chemical treatment regimens... Old techniques. Primitive ones. Applied far more extensively than they were in their heydays.
"As you can see... We've optimized her Quantum Brainwave attunement primarily for receiving. She remains psycommu-compatible, of course, since that was in the specifications... but most unnecessary regions of her brain are devoted to listening in on other's emotions."
Doctor Frankford smiles slightly wider, and temporarily brings a series of map diagrams with circles on them onto the slide. "At a regular level of performance, she should be able to discern the emotional states of every brain in a five-mile radius!" The slide advances. A larger set of circles. "With her full focus devoted to it, she should be able to hear as far as ten..." Another slide. Yet larger circles. "And in theory, with the right course of stimulants, we could get her up to fifteen--although of course, she still needs to be able to interpret that data... We still need to keep her sedated at present, since we haven't completely finished calibrating how she reads it as sensory input. Not that we can really leave her aware anyway, since she's still undergoing major surgeries..."
She shakes her head. "Of course, as I'm sure you know very well the older processes have... irregularities. We've been making efforts to shape the eccentricities she'll be left with into ones that fit the specifications the Public Image team gave us... but, frankly, we'll need to keep a pretty heavy disinformation campaign running to keep people who know the signs from picking up on them."
The slide is returned to the Brainwave Enhancement diagram. "As far as her personality goes... we did end up preserving most of it in the end, as I said. Certain desires that were... surplus to requirements, we'll say, did have to be cut... We tried to negate anti-Bri--ahem, possibly seditious thought patterns... Her beliefs, thankfully, were almost perfectly aligned with the specifications already--in fact, that's a sizable part of the reason she was the final choice for the program."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Well, the brass do tend to be like that." Emily rolls her eyes. "Drastic memory alterations tend to cause... problems." Problems she's seen before. "You start treating someone's brain too much like putty and it starts behaving like putty. Generally not good if you want actual results..."
She eyes the fifth revision, wondering why it's so much thicker. "Thankfully."
The readouts come, and she reads with interest. Aurora, too, even thought she hasn't studied the topic. She's been around, you can say. Aurora shudders slightly seeing the lengths to which Frankford has taken those old techniques. The same ones that made her, applied like that.
"Definitely far more extensive than was usually done, back then," Emily observes. "Impressive results on the brainwave front. How long has she been under for?"
Upon hearing about Lilium's receptive abilities, Aurora tunrs to stare out of the window down at where Lilium is. She's not very good at the... emotional side of being what she is. Her talents lie elsewhere. She wonders if Lilium can hear her right now.
"I have experience on that front." Experience with Aurora. "The early ones do tend to be erratic sometimes..." Emily closes her eyes and smiles. "I do think I've done good work with what I had, though." Hm. Shaping her eccentricities?" The Colonel's eyes light up. "Considering I'll likely be working with her, I'd like to hear what those eccentricities are going to be." Aurora's head turns back to look at Frankford, again.
"...'surplus to requirements'?" An arched eyebrow. 'Seditious thought patterns' is standard, but... "What kinds of desires?"
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"Mhmm, you don't know the half of the kind of meddling we've had in this program... every other day, I swear, some new requirement... at least now they're mostly directed towards her actual use, rather than forcing us to redo our work over and over..." Doctor Frankford sighs, flicking through revision... Seven, by the looks of things. "Really, just look at what they have to deal with now..." She holds out the document, pointing to a specific segment under the heading 'Depiction Requirements':
'[...]the subject must be approachable and romantic, but should always appear innocent and inexperienced in such matters. It may be depicted in domestic settings, but not in any way that implies actual marriage. Interactions with other women are permitted, but should never be allowed to eclipse the area in which the viewer should be able to project himself[...]'
She frowns slightly, squinting at it. "Oh. That one technically applies to my side of the program as well, but we'll get to that..."
The Doctor pays very little attention to Aurora, at least for the moment, instead choosing to focus on the discussion with her peer. "Oh, she's been in and out of her tube for a little over a month now--we've tried to avoid having her lucid for any of that, of course, she's much more receptive to the conditioning when she's under... And it means we've been able to transition to the surgical phase without much issue..."
Inside her tank, Lilium--currently mostly in one piece--shifts her head slightly in Aurora's direction. She's still very clearly unaware of her surroundings... but she's definitely aware of something.
Oblivious to this, Doctor Frankford nods along. "Yes, yes, so I've heard..." She turns her gaze to Aurora for a moment, smiling faintly back. "...you have done pretty well with what you have to hand, I think... Oh?" Frankford thinks for a moment, resting a hand on her chin with her eyes closed. "...Well, I've tried to make her foundational trauma a fear of water... The colony drop trigger is awfully passe at this point, if you ask me... although she's basically developed that one organically, too... Still, though, in theory what little she'll almost-remember of her time in that tank, combined with her pre-existing anti-aquatic biases has given us a good springboard to work off in terms of conditioning... She'll also probably have a few complexes that are difficult to predict... She'll be extremely protective about anyone seeing her scars, of course, which is good, since she'll be legally required to hide them... half the reason this project has been so expensive is the need to make incisions only in the approved areas, you know..." She leafs through the seventh revision again. "Her need for a peaceful world has gone from a dream to her main driving force... as far as she's concerned, her job is to bring peace to the world through song." The doctor ponders for a moment.
"...Not too far from the truth, I suppose."
A slight frown comes onto Frankford's face. "Oh, right... I suppose there's no way around this one..." She sighs, walking over to the window and staring down at her handiwork. "Remember the specification excerpt I showed you..? To comply with that, we've had to... completely neuter her ability to feel most..if not all forms of romantic or sexual attraction, to put it bluntly. Several forms of platonic affection are still possible..." She trails off, shaking her head. "...Idol business... I don't understand it..."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Meddling. Don't I know it." The Colonel looks at Revision 7 with interest. Aurora peers out from behind her, reading along. As they read, both of them stare at the document like they're trying to burn a hole in it. It's obvious they both dislike what they're reading. "Approachable and romantic... innocent and inexperienced? 'The area in which the viewer should be able to project himself'? They transferred someone out here for this crap?" Emily scoffs.
Lilium's head shift towards Aurora earns an eye-widening. She can tell she's there?
Frankford compliments Ashcroft's star pupil, and Ashcroft smiles. "Thank you." Aurora turns to look at the doctor. She appreciates the praise. It... scratches an itch, even if it's from a stranger she's iffy on.
The next words go over interestingly. "It's true," Emily begins, "that a lot of Newtype lab rats tend to have that specific fear. To be fair, that specific atrocity is a common one, too." She grumbles slightly as she finishes her sentence. Personal issues. Behind her, Aurora shivers a little.
Off in the back, Aurora mumbles something about it being totally understandable, not passe.
A look of mild surprise makes its' way onto Emily's face. "You made her hydrophobic on purpose?" she asks, not trying to hide her displeasure. This is 'one of her pilots', after all. She'd taken a liking to her, and seeing her get so drastically butchered isn't something Emily actually wanted to happen. "The colony drop phobia is cliche because it's so convenient."
"...it's not very convenient for me, actually..." Aurora mumbles.
Emily continues. "The circumstances associated with it are extremely rare organically. 70% of the planet is covered in water, it's everywhere. And if she's developed the former already, why add a new phobia? This seems like it's going to cause problems later."
'A peaceful world'. "...well, it is our goal." Theoretically. In practice, how many of them even know what a peaceful world ought to look like? Go ask Aurora about it, I'm sure the child soldier has a good handle on that.
Ah, and here it is. They spayed Lilium! The Colonel's eyes widen. Aurora looks at the floor. "...No, I suppose I don't. Ridiculous business," Emily huffs. "I don't recall anyone complaining about Minmay's private life..."
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"Well.. that part's not my department." Doctor Frankford sighs, leafing through the documentation some more. Her own frown, if anything, rivals the Colonel's. She doesn't seem any happier about it. "Absurd, isn't it? Still, that's design by committee for you. They spend a few hours arguing over target audiences, and then I get to try and translate their demands onto the subject." She smirks slightly, remembering something. "You know something? In around revision... four, there were plans to paint her Valkyrie with dazzle camouflage to and put an armor plate over the cockpit canopy to use her for more conventional operations--stripped out now, of course, but a lot of the conditioning and enhancement specifications it was built off of is still in there... not that I expect we'll ever have a use for it..."
She shakes her head, glancing down to the various documents on her desk once again.
Lilium's empty gaze remains fixed in Aurora's direction for a few moments... before her head returns to its resting position. Whatever it is she's aware of, it's not something anyone outside of her can pin down.
The doctor's frown intensifies slightly. "Well, that much is true--I do remember its use largely arose from it being a preexisting trauma in almost all subjects..." She flips through another revision document. "But that was then, and more importantly, was for military weaponry. Our enemies were slinging colonies left, right, and center--most similar events since 0090 have technically been asteroid drops, although that difference is admittedly academic--So it was convenient for that reason, too. But, for our purposes today, and on this project, specifically..." She trails off.
Frankford doesn't really react to Aurora's actions behind the Colonel, but her face does light up slightly as she, understandably, questions the decision to make Lilium fear water. "-Ah, you would think that, wouldn't you? Let me explain--Crucially, the reason we tried to avoid the colony drop fear was simple: It's obvious. Now, that might sound conceited, but think about it this way--the eyes of the entire Earth Sphere will be on this subject. We need to avoid tells that are documented... her behavior patterns might line up, still, but information on those is much more scarce." She grins slightly wider, before continuing, "So! What do we make her Control Trauma, if we can't use the obvious one? Well, we need to play to the strengths of what we're working on, don't we?"
"This"-she gestures in Lilium's vague direction-"is something that, unlike an enhanced soldier, we can reliably predict will never be used outside of a truly controlled environment. 70% of the earth's surface is ocean, yes, but how likely is an Idol to be submerged in that water? And it is submerging she'll take issue with--we still need her to be able to hydrate herself, after all. I'll admit there might be some... hiccups with it, at first, but once we've dialed the fear in correctly... Well, it'll do its job."
At the question of why she added a new phobia, she tilts her head slightly to one side. "Oh.. you didn't know? This one is pre-existing, too--did you ever ask her what she thought of Submarines?" She chuckles softly, staring out at the woman in the tank. "She always had... something of an issue with the idea of ever being underwater, as far as we can tell... so playing off of that instead of further reinforcing what's currently a more... natural level of colony fear seemed more plausibly deniable. Think about it this way--what do you think the tabloid press would make of it if she started running about screaming 'Oh! The sky! The sky is Faaaalliiiing~!' all of a sudden?" Her face darkens again, and her gaze settles on Lilium. "We've had to fight tooth and nail to get her a personality more suitable for an older subject... she's twenty-four years old, you know, and they wanted her speaking in the third person and treating everyone she meets like an older sibling... They still do, to be honest, but... we've been able to preserve a few scraps more of her maturity than the specifications originally called for... and like I said, her personality's far more in line with its original state than was planned."
She sighs, and turns back to face Emily. "And... yes, I suppose it is." Although... it wouldn't be the kind of peace Lilium was being conditioned to wish for, would it.
She turns her own gaze downwards, nodding slowly. "...Yes, well. That's the project I signed up to work on, I suppose..." She laughs bitterly. "And again--that was then, this is now. Although some of the documents they had us read through from the period do seem to indicate that there was some scandal involving her cousin..?"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"You can really tell the specs were cooked up by a bunch of old men," Emily huffs, waving a gloved hand. "To tell you the truth, I think they're the target audience." She shakes her head. Damn general staff. "...Dazzle camo and an armour plate? I see what they were cooking up, but what would happen if someone ID'd the Seraph somewhere it shouldn't be? All that fussing over her PR towards the lowest common denominator..."
Too obvious. It makes sense. Everybody - or everybody Emily knows of - knows what Cyber-Newtypes are afraid of. It's 'common knowledge'. Well, 'knowledge'. It's not actually universal, but it's stereotypical enough. "Makes sense. Avoid the stereotypes as much as possible, deflect side effects to less obvious ones... I knew she had a dislike of submarine warfare before, but I didn't know the specifics." Emily sighs. "Ironic. Aurora's public file lists amphibious warfare as a specialty." Sure enough, Aurora looks slightly put out that Lilium will never know the joys of deploying from a submarine and clambering onto a beach, still dripping water, to engage land-bound targets before slinking away where they can't follow.
"...Considering the Lieutenant's prior... disposition, was a drastic control trauma strictly necessary here?" Emily is a bit of a minimalist in this department. Best to rely on soldiers whose brains you don't mangle.
"Controlled environment... I'm getting slightly mixed messages here. Is the Seraph intended for combat deployments? I wouldn't call a battlefield a 'truly controlled environment', ever."
Personality comes up again, and Emily rolls her eyes. "Sounds more like a small child than someone old enough to formally enlist. And they want that on a grown ass woman. Out of touch old bastards should watch less TV... Good thing you're keeping her personality, because I rather liked the one she had the last time we talked. If I got her back as an overgrown toddler I would probably kill someone."
Aurora mumbles something along the lines of "the sibling thing was only that one time".
The Colonel starts grumbling."Idol industry was better when I was a kid... don't remember anyone getting the third degree over vaguely implying they were dating. What the hell happened to this business? Was it always like this?" Aurora doesn't make any cracks about 'the good old days' when this happens.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"Hey, I've been lead to believe that there's... a woman on the board." Dr. Frankford smirks, nodding along. "And... well, the concept was that it'd be moving too fast to get a solid visual on, and without the rather... flamboyant paint work that's intended for its perception in the public eye it'd ideally pass for a UAV if anyone did get a good look at it--but the concept was abandoned for a reason, obviously." She turns her gaze out to the unpainted Seraph. If anything happened to the base itself, of course... well, that'd be a different story.
Frankford continues nodding her head, but keeps her gaze out over the workshop-slash-operating theatre. "Oh, something or other about... well, it wasn't exactly a rational distaste, I'll say that much." She rests a hand on the window. "Well, you know what they say... each tool with its own purpose, and for each purpose its own tool." Reductive, perhaps, especially when it comes to human weapons...
She sighs, nodding her head with a faint hint of regret. "If we were developing her as a soldier, I'd be agreeing with you entirely--but we're here to make an Idol, and that means a radically different level of control is needed..." She grips the side of the window. Hard. "Her personality's still been rewired, even if we've tried to preserve some continuity... She needs to act a certain way--She isn't just herself anymore, she's also the general audience's image of herself. And that's something we need control over." She relaxes her grip slightly, shaking her head. "In theory, any combat deployments it's sent on will be with a heavy escort... the cockpit itself is a controlled environment--it's completely sealed, of course, and should remain intact even if the Seraph itself is shot down."
"Of course, it's possible the Seraph itself might end up submerged--which isn't exactly ideal for the unit either, mind you, so this is an absolute worst case scenario--but in that case, we can still control her." She advances the slide. The various Quantum Brainwave enhancement overlays disappear from the anatomy diagram, and are replaced with the next topic: Mechanical Enhancements. Notably, quite a few sections of her body are now censored--marked as 'Classified'. Several points along her spine, somewhere in the rough area of her hips, almost her entire throat... But the unhidden modifications account for a sizable chunk of her body, too. "As you can see--her muscle memory is fully digital, like I previously mentioned... which also means that her nervous system can accept direct commands from sources other than her brain in an emergency. On the stage, this would primarily be from the on-board computer systems core to the Boosted Songstress project... the nature of most of those parts of her system are outside of your field, so they're not being disclosed here." Her eyes close for a moment. "...if Cathedra ever found out just what it was we really put in her... well. Best not to think about that." She shakes her head. "But--more relevantly, this also means the involvement of her conscious mind in a combat situation where she doesn't have to sing is entirely optional--and that means we can bypass her control traumas entirely." She turns about, gesturing to Lilium once again. "In Secondary Mode, as we're calling it, she's effectively totally unconscious while still being 'awake' and functional--and she remembers none of it when she's taken back out again. The obvious deficit in combat experience gain can be offset by our ability to write it directly to her body, and of course the extent of her G-Tolerance allows her to take full advantage of the Seraph's performance."
Dr. Frankford nods gravely, her frown maintained. "Exactly. Even putting aside how it'd affect her, personally... it'd feel forced to an observer, wouldn't it? It'd be a big hit to her potential popularity... I can agree with Arcfeldt on that much, at least." She lightens up somewhat at Emily's later comment, nodding her head once again. "I wouldn't blame you, frankly... I never got to talk to her properly, since she'd had some initial conditioning performed between her formal recruitment into the program and her delivery here... but from what I read of her file, she seemed a nice enough girl." A shame she'd gone through with the project anyway... but Lilium was the most compatible subject.
"Yes, yes, I know it was only one time... but someone on the Lilium Valerie Policy Council really liked that one time, unfortunately." She says, addressing Aurora this time with a not-so-subtle hint of exasperation in her voice--clearly this was something of a sore spot for her as well.
The doctor sighs. "Maybe so... but that's the world we live in now, isn't it?" Frankford walks over to one wall, and takes down a framed poster of Lynn Minmay (I Want YOU For the SPACY, of coruse); staring at it in her hands. "Maybe it's something that's shifted in the culture... maybe it's just that we didn't know how the sausage was made. Still, that's what the public image division says she needs to be to sell.. and who am I to disagree with their assessment?"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"A woman." Emily chuckles, returning the smirk. "Don't think I didn't notice the directive saying 'himself'." Or referring to Lilium as 'it', but that's the nature of the labs. Once you enter them, your humanity is stripped from you. Emily has tried, sometimes, to let Aurora experience life as a human - for the sake of her mental wellbeing - but the mountains don't give back what they take, as they say.
"It's a shame to lose her as a regular pilot. She had potential, there. Maybe someday she would've been giving orders." Emily sighs. "Eh. Spilt milk. It's the nature of the beast." She folds her arms and leans back against a nearby wall. "Public image is a pain. I prefer doing what I do offstage rather than faffing around trying to look presentable." She hums. "Escorts... the escort craft would have to be able to keep up with the Seraph, and looking at the performance specs, it wasn't made with regular human tolerances in mind... but to be fair, flying too obviously like the G-forces didn't matter might give the game away." Emily brings a hand to her chin. "There were several projects I had my foot in... Some of them are the kinds of machines you'd need to keep up with a high-spec fighter."
"I actually used to be a fighter pilot, back in the day. One Year War. It was before we mass produced MS and I transferred to the Marines."
Aurora raises her hand and speaks with the intent of being heard for probably the first time this meeting. "Are the escorts going to be enhanced humans, too?" She watches Frankford closely.
The internal diagrams, next. Lilium's body can be controlled externally... "...It's amazing what technology can do nowadays." Emily rolls her neck. "Cathedra is a pain in the neck. It'll be easier if they never find out, but to be frank I don't give a flying fuck what Rembrandt thinks, and if I had my way he would be going the way of Degwin. Which, I'm fairly confident he will be, eventually. As for Secondary Mode... well, worst comes to worst, at least she won't be totally crippled by a fluke water accident." Aurora doesn't seem to think much of Secondary Mode, sniffing as she looks at the relevant diagram parts.
"It is what it is." Emily shrugs. Frankford makes her comment about... some incident about siblings, and Aurora's eyes widen. "-Huh? I meant-" Actually, probably don't clarify this, she thinks to herself. Probably not a good idea. "Someone on the policy council?" Ask a question and shove it under the rug!
Emily stares at the poster nostalgically. They were old when she enlisted, but she still saw a couple around. Nostalgia is a powerful force... "Huh. I remember those posters. They sure stuck around a long time in some offices... I think I have one, actually." She lowers her head and sighs. "Public image, again... Well, let's hope this works."
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"Heh. Well, that's the target audience for you... you'd think they'd be aiming for a more balanced demographic, but obviously not." Dr. Frankford's smirk fades slightly, at this.
She closes her eyes again at Emily's comment on her former potential... but shakes her head, brushing certain thoughts aside. "Indeed. We'd have put someone else through the process, anyway..." She casts her gaze over to the stripped-down Valkyrie once again. "Well... we don't really have much of a say in that aspect here... the general staff office says it'd actively be more suspicious to keep her out of the public eye while still using her, and for once I'm inclined to agree." A slight pause. "Oh--the escort craft? In Primary Mode, it should mostly be restricted to more believably Natural performance levels... putting the obvious propaganda needs aside, she has to split her attention between the song and her piloting, since we can't fully automate either, and the suit she'll be wearing for that kind of deployment is more... form over function, let's say. For a hypothetical Secondary Mode deployment, we'd want her wearing something more along the lines of.. hm. Did you ever get a look at the specifications for the UC Plan pilot equipment? They were quite something... incredibly pricy, but small potatoes at this point. Something on that level." She thinks for a moment. "She can't exactly be left unescorted in any Secondary Mode deployments, though... One proposal was to introduce the original YF.. or, I suppose at that point it would be the VF-23 into production, and sneak a variant with acceptable performance for the escort duty into that... Something that doesn't look out of place next to the Seven Hundred Seventy-Seven, but can still keep pace with it for most of the deployment."
Dr. Frankford raises an eyebrow. "Oh, you did? I... can't say I've ever really been in the military... I got my start in the Energy Fleet, of all places, you know. Transferred out after the Gryps conflict--there were... incidents." She doesn't elaborate.
She thinks on Aurora's query for a moment. "...Ideally? We'd want people who could operate units that can really keep up with her. I've been told there's a preference for women... Personally, I don't think that'll actually dispel the kind of... rumors they're hoping it will, but it'll probably still preserve the image they're trying to sell the target audience even if she's ever photographed with one of them." She says this part with a slight scowl, but continues, "So, in short... hopefully, but more realistically they'll be whoever we get given--our budget isn't unlimited. The original plan was to fit the initial augments to several of the prospective subjects... the ones that are relevant outside of the Idol usage, that is, but that's... not really an option, anymore."
Dr. Frankford nods, but continues to frown slightly. "It's not quite as impressive as it sounds--we can't give her overly complex instructions, and there's still Minovsky interference to worry about... we'd mostly be telling her to execute preprogrammed actions." She stares out at Lilium in silence at the Cathedra discussion. The light from the room outside reflects off of her glasses, rendering them opaque, and her face remains entirely still. Just what is it she's so afraid of becoming public..? "...yes, quite. I have my doubts about its use in actual combat... but it's perfectly functional as a failsafe."
Dr. Frankford is confused a little by Aurora's... confusion(?), but responds to her nonetheless. "Yes, one of them really liked a certain school of control methods that didn't really catch on. Used in the 0080s, I think... only on one subject, though, and it didn't prove reliable."
"Mhmm... that's the staying power of an Idol, for you. She's actually supposed to have a photoshoot to fit that style... well, the delivery date for the project is still in flux, but pretty much as soon as she's established enough on the global stage for a poster like that to be effective." She hangs it back up, turning to face Emily again. "...It'd better work. We've spent billions on her..."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Yes, you'd think. But I suppose we don't think like the brass." Emily rolls her eyes.
"Someone else? More suspicious to keep her out of the public eye? ...Some kind of celebrity?" She leans forwards slightly.
"Variable Fighters making a proper comeback. It's about time we had something to replace the aging Nightmare series. That was one of the projects I was looking at, actually... well, several of them. There were several projects along those lines. An updated Nightmare, an Anksha remodel... there was a Gaplant successor in development using the Kai's weapon systems, but I think Phantom Pain is taking that one. There's even a TR-series resurrection being discussed. Now, isn't that nostalgic..." Emily sighs. "I'm passingly familiar. There are some departments that use flight suits like that... I've been looking into it. Need all the edges we can get these days. That's why Cyber-Newtypes are even a thing.
Aurora listens with interest to the explanation of Lilium's escorts. Pilots who can keep up with an enhanced human. Preferably women. The budget isn't unlimited. A niche? Aurora raises her hand. "...Not an option anymore? And you have budget problems... Is it hard to get escorts?"
Oh, that's what Frankford meant. Aurora thinks she knows who that is. A hometown hero from Augusta, Maine. Her eyes light up. "Oh, I know this one," she says, like a child being called on to answer a question. "They didn't plan on it from the beginning, they improvised it in the field after they messed with her for..." Aurora trails off, hand lowering, looking slighly sheepish.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"No, I suppose we don't." Dr. Frankford sighs.
She tilts her head slightly to the side at Emily's inquiry--"...Some of the candidates we ruled out had a non-zero public presence... but that was why we ruled them out. I meant, ah... it'd be more suspicious for us to deploy a Songstress without a public image. Singing to your enemies as a published star is always in fashion, but a total unknown voice on the battlefield? That'd draw the wrong kind of attention. People wondering why..."
"I must confess actual mobile weapon design is a little outside of my field... my degrees are in neurosurgery and bio-mechanical engineering, after all. As I said in the more general briefing, the decision to use the Seraph was mostly based on the association between Valkyries and Songstresses... and of course, the fact that we had most of one on hand in the base we were working out of anyway. I'm afraid I'll mostly just have to take recommendations from you on that front... Before the engineering team told me it absolutely wasn't an option, I seriously thought we'd be using something based off of MULS-P parts would end up being the final model... apparently she had the qualifications for that, too, but the KMF labs on the mainland didn't want to play ball--and a Variable Fighter was just plain better for our uses, anyway."
Aurora's further questions prompt her to screw her eyes shut, shuddering slightly. "...We had one of the subjects... partially augmented while we worked on Ms. Valerie herself... mainly to serve as an interim test pilot for the Seraph, but... well." She cuts herself off. "...It can take a long time to hose some kinds of messes out of a cockpit... makes an autopsy hard, too." The implication is fairly direct. "Most of the other potential subjects were either scooped up by other programs, or... well. We can't use them anymore. So yes, it would be difficult for us to produce escorts ourselves.. we'll have to outsource for that."
She smirks slightly as the light comes into Aurora's eyes. "Yes, her. Incredibly impressive work, at least until she was... field modified, as you say." She sighs, once again. "...I swear, if I ever find out someone's messed with my handiwork for 'field-specific conditions', I'll..."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Euugh." Emily shudders. "I can imagine." Aurora looks thoughtful, considering the fact that they need to outsource for escort pilots. Perfect niche for her to go in. "...well, Aurora knows Lilium already," Emily says. "I could probably rotate her in for escort duty sometimes. She's a floating assignment anyway. There are other possibilties, too... Phantom Pain has some candidates. If the "public" escorts are meant to be plausible Natural performance, we could probably fill some slots with Naturals during public appearances..."
"...She's from the same lab I am." Aurora fidgets.
A thought occurs to Aurora. Lilium is... extremely receptive, right? Maybe... maybe she can give it a shot. Her own telepathic skills are underdeveloped - the talents of most Cyber-Newtypes lie... elsewhere... but it's worth a shot. She turns back to the glass and presses her hands to it, closing her eyes, trying to remember how it feels to feel outside of her head...
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
"Yes, it wasn't... exactly... productive..." Dr Frankford shivers slightly herself, clearly not wanting to dwell on the subject. "Regardless--she would be a good pick for it... and it's not like it's impossible to maintain an air of Natural restrictions when you're being observed--most of the attention will be on our Angel in an actual combat situation, so her escorts will have more leeway."
She smiles faintly. "Oh, I see... I suppose you would know her, then.."
As Dr. Frankford's conversation with Emily continues, Lilium turns back to face towards her--and makes eye contact, half-closed though they are. Aurora's underdeveloped telepathic muscles make it hard for her to make out details, but as she peers into Lilium's mind, she sees--
[ENTRY MISSING]
An alarm sounds. And then another. And then several more. Doctor Frankford spins about to face the window, grabbing a microphone from her desk. "What did you--Quantum brainwave fluctuations--At this stage in her conditioning?!?! Up the sedative dose, before--"
And that's when Lilium, still submerged in her oxygenated tank, starts screaming.
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
It's not an application she's tried much before, but she tries, damnit. She is a Newtype. As she presses her hand against the glass, her... aura? Inner light? What you might call something like that, reaches out... "...what is... huh?" Aurora does not comprehend this, or what it means. She stares, eyes wide open, slack jawed, at the brief sight she gets...
Before being violently ejected so hard she falls to the floor. Lilium screams. The alarms scream. Aurora screams. Emily rushes over. "What the fuck? What's happening?" She's not shouting, exactly, but it's not her indoor voice. Aurora distantly notes that she sounds concerned. Emily kneels next to her and checks her pulse. It's fast.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
Around Lilium's tank, workers start panicking. Lights turn red, or simply deactivate altogether. Inside it, Lilium herself thrashes about... a little more violently than might be ideal. Doctor Frankford grips the microphone tightly, barking orders seemingly at random. "Use the manipulator arms to restrain the subject--we can't let her move around like that!" "Increase the sedative dose again! Keep doing it until she's under!" She turns to Emily in the midst of the confusion, yelling, "I don't know! She was fine a second ago, and then--" Her attention is diverted back to the workers swarming about the theatre. "Revise your timetables! I need to know how long a delay this is going to cause by the end of the next shift!"
The vitals monitors around the room calm somewhat, and the Seraph's dangling fists unclench. The Doctor raises an eyebrow slightly at that--she hadn't seen it move, but she was certain they'd been hanging limply before the incident--but has more pressing concerns. Slamming her microphone down on the desk, she strides across the room to where Aurora fell. She kneels down next to her, eyes narrowed, and shakes her head. Under her breath, she can just about be head mumbling... "...Damn it, girl... just what did you do..."
Doctor Frankford shakes her head once again, standing back up and striding back to the window. She folds her hands behind her back. "...I assume Lieutenant Dusk wasn't... well-optimised in that particular capability, Colonel?" She picks her microphone back up, surveying her subordinates. "And I can't exactly imagine our subject was ready to be communicated with, either. These things happen, but I'm afraid I'll need to deal with the consequences now..." She turns her head, giving an exasperated smile. This is going to cost her a lot of time and sleep. "You'll have to see yourselves out, I'm afraid. Goodbye, Colonel Ashcroft."
Once the Colonel and her protege depart, the Doctor sinks back into her chair. She's got paperwork to file... Reports to collect... There'll probably be an internal inquiry into what caused this, but... it was a freak accident, most likely. After all, Lilium was sleeping so peacefully again.