Rapport d'après-action
Ils n'ont pas eu le sentiment juste.
Pendant dans le vide, le néant infini qui entourait l'infiniment petite bulle de sécurité au sein de laquelle elle résidait, c'était la seule pensée qui persistait dans son esprit. Ils n'ont pas retrouvé le sentiment. Rising Star était à l'intérieur des cockpits comme les Valk, depuis son adolescence. Ils avaient été des jeux vidéo, alors, des jeux de simulateur de pointe. Les tournois dans lesquels elle a participé pour le plaisir, pour le défi. Les mêmes tournois qui lui ont permis de décrocher une position avec X Corp. Quand elle est entrée dans le cockpit d'un vrai HFV pour la première fois, c'était comme saluer un vieil ami. L'âge solaire avait été une simulation précise jusqu'à la minute de rétroaction tactile que les machines donneraient. Simulations, exercices de tir en direct, ils avaient tous été si semblables au vrai combat.
Mais ils ne pouvaient pas capturer ce que ça faisait quand les combats s'arrêtaient.
C'était la sensation qui a consumé son être, ce qui s'est vu dans chaque coin de son esprit alors qu'elle regardait la scène avant elle. Le Bradley était sans liste, comme une marionnette avec ses cordes coupées. Des éclats flottaient entre les deux machines avec, elle aurait pu jurer, des gouttelettes de cramoisi. Un miroir étrange à ceux de son propre cockpit. Tout était si calme. La bataille avait été enivrante, une poussée d'adrénaline comme celle qu'elle n'avait jamais vécue. Les enjeux étaient réels, les manœuvres étaient réelles, le besoin de réussir, la nécessité de réussir, ne pouvait pas être plus élevé. Des vies réelles, les siennes, ses camarades, ses ennemis, ont suivi l'issue de ses choix. C'était palpitant d'une manière qu'elle ne pouvait jamais décrire, à un niveau bien au-dessus même des moments les plus exaltants de ses simulations. Elle s'est sentie vivante d'une manière viscérale qu'elle n'aurait jamais imaginée.
Sasha avait été enivrée, une fois. Sur l'alcool, pas au sens métaphorique. Le buzz avait été fantastique, mais la gueule de bois beaucoup, encore moins. C'était la seule façon dont elle pouvait vraiment décrire le crash complet qui s'est déroulé une fois que l'adrénaline a commencé à mourir. La plupart de ses cibles n'étaient pas intactes, leurs restes atomisés par ses poutres si leur machine entière ne s'était pas consommée en panne de réacteur pour commencer. Mais le Bradley... le Bradley était intact, et flottait devant elle. Avec son noyau de puissance intact, la lumière derrière sa visière n'a pas encore disparu. La visière saphir perçante l'a regardée avec ressentiment, lui rappelant ce qu'elle avait fait. Sachant qu'elle le remorquait à la Jannah, que lorsqu'elle l'inspectait plus tard et s'émerveillait sur la magnifique machine, la pensée resterait dans le noir de sa tête que le cockpit ruiné et le sang sur son siège étaient également sur ses mains.
Ils n'avaient pas réussi à lui faire du mal, pas du tout. Même le Valk n'aurait besoin que d'une heure de travail pour réparer ou remplacer l'aile arrière que le Rook bleu avait réussi à faire paître. Les gouttelettes qui flottaient autour d'elle, les coups dans sa tête, c'était tout ce qu'elle faisait. La poésie, peut-être, étant donné que l'inquiétude dans son esprit était aussi sa propre faute. X Corp lui avait ordonné de recueillir des données sur le terrain pour le XC. Elle avait proposé, en tant que pilote d'essai normal de la machine. Il n'avait pas semblé droit de la remettre à une inconnue quand elle sortait pour de vrai. Personne ne l'avait forcée sur le champ de bataille.
Mais en même temps, elle s'est moquée d'une profonde respiration, le résultat aurait pu être très différent sans elle. Aucune de ses camarades n'aurait pu sauver le Yukine à temps, pas sans grand risque à la fois pour son pilote et pour leur propre sécurité, ni un pilote sans son expérience n'aurait nécessairement pu sortir vivant. La bataille avait été contre un ennemi numériquement supérieur avec des machines au même niveau que la génération actuelle. Si elle n'avait pas été là, si elle n'avait pas agi, des vies auraient encore été perdues. Et ils n'auraient pas nécessairement été des pirates. Il faudrait du temps pour traiter ce qui s'était passé, ce qu'elle avait fait, mais c'était la meilleure ancre qu'elle avait; elle n'était pas l'agresseur, et elle n'était pas le méchant. Elle avait fait ce qui était nécessaire pour protéger ses camarades et les civils de la région. Cela valait - il le poids de sa conscience?
Cette question est restée à l'avant-garde de son esprit car, reconnaissant qu'elle était encore pendant un certain temps, elle a poussé sa machine à bouger. Le G-Valkyrie prit possession du Bradley et de son Messer et commença le processus de remorquage des deux vers la Jannah. Elle a repris une route circulaire afin de pouvoir recueillir des exemples raisonnablement intacts de l'équipement ennemi pour l'étude, des pièces qui pourraient expliquer pourquoi ces Rooks avaient effectué jusqu'à présent au-dessus de leurs spécifications habituelles. Ces informations pourraient être utiles ultérieurement.
Son chargement l'a rendue un peu plus complexe, étant donné qu'elle avait besoin d'apporter le Valk ainsi que ses grands trophées en toute sécurité dans le hangar, mais pas aussi difficile que les manœuvres de combat l'avaient été. Elle a accompli les tâches presque robotiquement, en prononçant les signaux et le protocole appropriés pour revenir au vaisseau sans beaucoup d'enthousiasme. Les équipages du hangar ont pris possession de son sauvetage tandis que le G-Valkyrie s'est emparé de sa baie de service. Elle serait normalement stockée sous forme de Waverider, mais la transformation n'était pas recommandée dans un espace confiné; elle la réorienterait plus tard. Pour l'instant, elle avait simplement besoin de se reposer.
L'arrêt du système était entièrement de seconde nature, ses mains amenant à l'arrêt des systèmes de Valks de leur propre gré. Elle est restée dans son cockpit quelques instants, en écoutant la machine innards cycle vers le bas et calme. En utilisant le temps pour essayer de calmer son propre esprit, compartimenter ce qui devait être poussé de côté. Puis elle a déclenché la sortie de l'écoutille et a grimpé soigneusement, sur lequel elle a été accueillie instantanément par son technicien en chef.
Ici, il a dit qu'il a poussé un paquet qu'elle a rapidement reconnu comme les vêtements qu'elle avait portés sur son costume de pilote dans ses mains. Vous pouvez les remettre derrière le 001. Tu dois aller à la médibaye?
Quelque peu tardivement, Rising Star se rappelait le flux de cramoisi de son nez qui, maintenant qu'elle était dans des conditions plus normales, se déplaçait en fait vers le bas. Elle a touché la base de son nez brièvement, secouant la tête. Non, ça va. Les autres sont-ils revenus?
Sa technologie a hurlé, gesticulant avec un pouce sur la scène derrière lui. Star a immédiatement reçu le message, une fois qu'elle a regardé où il a indiqué. Elle n'a fait qu'un clin d'œil avant de se jeter derrière la jambe de Valk, tirant sur son uniforme de technicien extérieur pour une fois de plus déguiser le costume de pilote en dessous. Le masque a été le dernier à sortir, et avec elle Sasha Mackenzie a versé Rising Star pour être à nouveau elle-même. Avec la disparition d'Etoile, elle a poussé ses muses vers le bas, vers le fond de son esprit.
Joan était bouleversée. Elle en avait besoin, toute l'équipe en avait besoin, le pixie maniaque. Ça voulait dire mettre un gros sourire, rebondir dans le hangar et briser la tension. Élever les esprits avec un grand câlin. C'est ce dont Joan avait besoin. Le vieil homme avait besoin d'un coup de pouce, et Husam aussi. Donc l'aumônier avait le plus grand câlin de sa vie, assez pour peut-être se convaincre qu'elle allait bien aussi, et le reste a obtenu quelques antiques pour rouler leurs yeux. Elle pourrait régler ses propres pensées plus tard. Il y avait de jolies filles pour élever l'esprit de.
Sasha prit une profonde respiration, sourit, et s'en retourna en plein air.
Le membre le plus court de Paper Tiger a tout sauf rebondi son chemin à travers l'autre hangar, s'abstenant de donner à Yatogami un regard qui a dit ce qu'elle pensait de ses consolations (était le ‘celui qui combat les monstres ligne vraiment le meilleur appel ici?) et a donné au vieil homme un sourire qui a dit qu'elle la prendrait d'ici avant qu'elle s'accroupisse à côté du prêtre.
Le technicien a salué, un peu plus doux que d'habitude, avant d'envelopper un bras serré autour de l'autre femme. Comment ça va, ma chérie?
Name: Sasha C. Mackenzie
Age: 23
Gender: Female
???: Y
Skills: In a way, Sasha’s skillset was bound to lead her to working with HFVs. She had an interest in robotics from an early age, and excelled at video games. Specific ones, admittedly, but they played a key role. Both lead her to excel first as a pilot and later as a technician on the very machines she piloted. Put her next to an HFV and Sasha could tell you exactly what was wrong with it, and more likely than not, how to fix it. Those fields by far are her best, but Sasha is a passable academic in most STEM fields. Liberal arts tend to be a much weaker area, given that she never saw them as applicable in her life, but she has a passable grasp.
Given her line of work, she has a decent level of athleticism and excellent hand-eye coordination. She might not act it all the time, but Sasha is very quick on her feet and swift to learn. Additionally she has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of mecha both real and fictional. Not everyone would call it a skill. Sasha would.
Appearance: Fairly short, at 5’4”, Sasha nevertheless manages to a tiny little ball of energy. Whether it’s due to the caffeine intake that seems to be a familial trait or her own natural enthusiasm no one will ever know. Her blonde hair is usually kept pulled back into a pony-tail while she’s on duty, since hair getting caught in the machinery never goes well, and more often than not there are grease stains on her skin. Said skin, be it because of her heritage or living in a colony, tends to be paler than most people’s. Sasha is actually quite good-looking, if she bothers to dress up, but she usually prefers her uniform. If that, given how often she casts aside the uniform’s outerwear to avoid getting grease on it when working.
Personality: Enthusiastic, in a word. At least when it comes to her job. Sasha is friendly enough overall, but show her an HFV she has never seen and you won’t get her to shut up. At all. She doesn’t always seem like the brightest star in the sky but her first impression can be deceiving. The extent of her mecha fangirl status can be shocking at first, given the enthusiasm with which she talks about humanoid machines both fictional and nonfictional, but her knowledge of HFVs is invaluable when it comes to restoring, maintaining, or designing them.
What most people don’t see so much of is her ability to be shockingly hot-blooded. If she has chosen to take a task seriously she will persevere through anything to accomplish it, with evident intensity. This serves her well on the battlefield, even if her demeanor might seem a bit eccentric, but it can make her very reluctant to flee and just as easy to anger if you harm someone she cares about. Despite her enthusiasm she takes every battlefield seriously, in her own way.
History: Gerspenritter, like most colonies on and around Mars, is almost entirely run by a private entity. A valid member of the UN like any other it is nonetheless the site of X (Pronounced “Cross”) Corp’s primary headquarters and R&D facilities. A significant portion of the population works, in some fashion, for the company while the rest of the community grew around these workers. Gerspenritter is something of a paradise for scientists and engineers, with its constant development and innovation. X Corp has been a leader in robotics since the dawn of the Solar Age, and Gerspenritter was one of the earlier colonies; the earliest have been in use for more than a hundred years, but Gerspenritter has been around for a modest eighty six years. The colony has always been on the cutting edge of modern technology, both in its publicly funded and available projects as well as X Corp’s developments. Though they (both the colony and the corporation) have stumbled a few times they have always recovered.
This is the colony where Sasha C. Mackenzie, daughter of a X Corp roboticist and an independent computer scientist, was born. There Mackenzie family home was something of a mess most of the time, with components, computers, and blueprints scattered across any available surface and a coffee maker constantly providing a steady flow of caffeine. Both parents were happy to share their skills with their daughter, and Sasha as a result had a knowledge of technology from a very young age. As interesting as she found it all, it was her father’s work on HFVs that truly fascinated her. The young girl had been raised on mecha, and been surrounded with the evidence of their reality from the day she was born. X Corp manufactured high-end HFVs, fulfilling contracts both for government armed forces and Gerspenritter’s own security forces and the entire colony reflected the theme.
So it wasn’t really a surprise when Solar Age”, an exceedingly popular HFV-simulator franchise, caught like wild-fire. The original, the eponymous Solar Age, was a sleeper hit famous for being developed from real military HFV simulators. The game required a specialized controller, but it was renowned for its accuracy. The third installment, “Solar Age: Last Judgement”, was the most dedicated. It could only be played using a full sized simulator, and was most commonly played at local arcades or in tournaments that might encompass players from dozens of colonies. Sasha had no way of knowing that it would lead to her future career, but she played Last Judgement as often as she could. And she was good. When competitive play of the game began in earnest, Sasha was at just the right age to get in on the ground floor. Just barely, actually. The very first official tournament that she entered required her to lie about her age (fourteen, a week and a half shy of fifteen) on the official registration form. To try and make sure that no one caught the deception she attended in a full costume reminiscent of those from her favorite TV shows, complete with a full face mask. She didn’t expect to make it past the first round, let alone place, but little Sasha Mackenzie took second place in the tournament.
She built something of a reputation, too. The mask had stood out, and so she kept wearing it at tournaments even though she had no need to hide her identity. It was a gimmick, now, something that set her apart. As though her rankings in Last Judgement didn’t do that already. Without anything to call her, given her intentional anonymity, the Last Judgement competitive circles took to calling her what she was; a Rising Star. And others had taken notice, too. Due to its accuracy some organizations had taken to using the Last Judgement competitive scene to try and find pilot candidates, a way to supplement those they found through traditional armed forces recruitment. And X Corp wanted to offer Sasha a job.
At the age of seventeen Sasha began working as a test pilot for X Corp, putting the very machines her father helped work on through their paces. X Corp, in addition to her salary, paid for her to take the courses necessary to be licensed as an HFV technician. Within a few years she was helping to maintain, modify, and engineer the machines she piloted. This set of skills was why she was eventually let in on X Corp’s next generation Project Paper Tiger. It was well known that the Ozzies were failing, but X Corp still needed to sell HFVs. And in order to sell the most HFVs, it needed to make the best presentation.
And that was where Paper Tiger came in. But the project needed combat data. Real combat data. So after some discussion, the completed prototypes were loaned to the Ozzies with the pilots and technicians to use them. The Ozzies got a bump to their waning fighting force, and X Corp got a way to gather combat data. But of course, X Corp still needed to protect its interests. Only its own technicians would work on the HFVs, and only its own pilots would fly them. In order to guard against industrial espionage, the pilots couldn’t make themselves well known…
Which is why Sasha C. Mackenzie is on board as the XC|PT-001’s technician, and the champion Rising Star is out of retirement with a vocal modulator to help the masquerade.



>*******
>Enter


Project Paper Tiger, as it is called, is X Corp’s way to ensure a large clientele for the next generation of HFV. Truthfully, it is a love letter from designer  to the inspiration of his childhood. The project’s ultimate goal is a design decried by most as a strategic and engineering impossibility for cited reasons such as power demand, structural instability, and difficulty in material tolerances. Whether the XC|PT’s intended function will have true battlefield usefulness has yet to be determined, but combat data from 001, 002, and 004 is expected by .
Regardless the XC|PT series will boast high-performance, purpose-built HFVs for the modern era. Each one is a unit meant to operate in coordination with other units, be they from Project Paper Tiger or more traditional units, and perform exceptionally well as a combat demonstration. The XC|PT series is not currently intended for mass production, but is on track to showcase X Corp’s engineering capabilities at a demonstration in the year 115.
The XC|PT series draws upon the design aesthetics of its X Corp predecessors, such as the concept model XC|RX series and the highly successful XC|RG mass production line. X Corp models tend to perform best in space and low-gravity environments, with efficient, highly refined designs. Mass production models tend to be highly customizable with exceptional pricing, keeping X Corp with a steady demand for its machines even when other companies pull ahead technologically.
Project Paper Tiger will ensure X Corp’s fame and profitability for many years in the future upon completion. Mass production versions of XC|PT units pending consideration after combat trials with the  OSDT team.




Model: XC|PT-001 G-Valkyrie
Specialty: Prototype-Run Rapid Assault HFV
History: The G-Valkyrie, as Sasha has dubbed it, is the first unit in Project Paper Tiger. Designed based upon the last generation of transformable HFVs, X Corp’s limited production run of XC|WR units, the G-Valkyrie is the lead unit in the project. It is designed for high-speed and high-maneuverability combat, with alternate Waverider configuration for greater maneuverability and decreased visual presence. The Waverider was a happy side effect realized early in the design phase, one that made a Waverider possible with only minimal alteration to the transformable frame intended for .
Though design of the G-Valkyrie, officially known only as “XC|PT-001”, had begun before Sasha was brought onto the project she had a hand in its refinement. Given her status as its pilot, and her knowledge of HFV engineering, she worked closely with Project Paper Tiger’s engineers to tweak the G-Valkyrie (a name of her own choosing, adopted slowly by the project’s staff) into a machine she felt she could use more effectively. Given the nature of a transformable unit’s armor, it was Sasha’s decision to emphasize speed and offensive power over defensive ability reasoning that “they can’t hurt me if they can’t hit me before they’re shot down”.
Appearance: At 22m tall the G-Valkyrie is slightly above average for an HFV’s height, it is nonetheless significantly more lithe than most HFVs. Like most X Corp designs the G-Valkyrie is angular rather than smooth, and lanky rather than bulky. It nevertheless manages to exude an aura of grace, and of raw power. The legs are long and almost seamless in appearance, one pane of armor transitioning gracefully into the next with thrusters adorning its limbs. Its torso is less clean, with clear signs of how it was intended to transform, but nonetheless manages an angular, elegant cockpit region. The shoulders are given additional bulk by the thruster assemblies attached, while the arms themselves are largely simple with the left mounting the shield. The unit’s cranial assembly is defined by v-crests angling back from its top, above a protruding forehead and emerald visor.
The G-Valkyrie is colored white and blue, primarily, the two colors also most apparent in Waverider form. The shield becomes the nose assembly, while the rest of the G-valkyrie compresses into a narrow arrow-like formation. The Waverider manages a maximum rocket thrust output of 240000kg, while the HFV form manages 112600kg. The G-Valkyrie has a standard weight of 28.7 tons, and a maximum weight of 62.3 tons.
Equipment:

Transformable Frame: The G-Valkyrie is capable of converting from an HFV form to a Waverider and back again, the process taking approximately 0.5 seconds. This process can be undertaken, hypothetically, at any time but becomes difficult if not impossible if one form or the other is damaged. The Waverider is the only stopping point, currently, but additional portions of the frame seem to indicate its future use in another configuration.
Special Comm Systems - Not a remarkable feature, but still one worth mentioning, the G-Valkyrie has a specialized communication system to allow for further encrypted communication with other HFVs from the XC|PT series. In addition to encrypted communication, the system allows for ease in transferring data between units as well as GPS position relaying.

Armaments:

Shield x1 (Left Arm)
80mm Vulcans x2 (Side-mounted in Waverider, torso-mounted in HFV)
Jawaid and Jawaid Split Missiles x16 (Shoulder mounted, x8 per shoulder unit, each missile subdivides into three micromissiles halfway to target)
X Corp Beam Shot Launcher w/ Heat Spike Tip x1 (Handheld, side-mounted in Waverider)
Beam Sabers x2 (Hips)
Heat Blades x2 (Foot Mounted)

Weaknesses: First and foremost, the G-Valkyrie’s primary piece of specialized equipment is completely useless under Earth gravity. The Waverider cannot generate sufficient lift due to its shape to remain airborne under Earth or Earth-like conditions. For this reason transformation is senseless under these conditions, relegating the G-Valkyrie to the role of a high-performance ground-based machine. The G-Valkyrie, additionally, runs the risk of being stuck in one configuration or the other if damage renders its transformable frame inoperable.
When considering its design as a whole, the G-Valkyrie is highly maneuverable with a high level of firepower. Especially for its weight. The tradeoff for this, and its transformable frame however lays with its armor. The G-Valkyrie sacrifices significant armor for the sake of agility, speed and transformation. This means that its survivability depends less upon enduring a shot than it is not taking one in the first place. Though its shield somewhat mitigates this, said shield does not exactly have a very large surface area. Additionally, the G-Valkyrie must be in HFV form to fire its missiles.


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