Combat Frame Data: CF-022A Valkyrie

When Martian pop singer Avril Valkyrie signed on to open for rising star Barak Red’s Earth Sphere tour, her family used their BEC connections to ensure Avril’s safety without compromising her stage persona. Upon consultation with her brother Barak, Browning Corp CEO Jael Red released pre-Colonial Defense License materials to the design team. BEC engineers also secured Empress Lenora von Bodensee’s blessing to model the new combat frame after her CCF-021 Crescentia. Designated CF-022A, Avril christened the new unit Valkyrie in homage to her stage name and her CF’s experimental A.I. operating system.

Unique among combat frames, every step in the CF-022A’s design process was geared toward incorporating the unit into Avril’s live performance. Those inclined to dismiss the Valkyrie as a mere prop couldn’t have been more mistaken. Owing to the Ynzu threat, every aspect of the tour was built for maximum defensibility, and the opening act’s CF was certainly no exception.

The CF-022A carried a military-grade arsenal including a customized spear dubbed Hel by its designers, two plasma swords, and a pair of plasma pistols. The spear’s plasma head rivaled the XCD-106 Reaper‘s plasma scythe for destructive power. The base of the spear mounted a nanobot dart launcher. Each dart would disperse into a nanite swarm on impact with a target mech in a manner similar to the Harvester‘s nanite packets. The CF-022A’s nanites improved on Harvester’s by actually granting the Valkyrie A.I. control over affected systems.

Valkyrie’s main defense was its dazzling speed and agility. Two main EM impellers and six supplemental drives provided a highly favorable thrust-to-weight ratio, while a dozen maneuvering thrusters gave the mech peerless grace in flight. Mounting elements of its propulsion system on its hands, feet, skirt, and the six wings inspired by the XCDS-00M0 Metatron let the Valkyrie complete a 180 degree turn in less than half a second.

The CF-022A sacrificed a degree of armor protection to attain such nimbleness, but BEC engineers repurposed technology devised for the AS-03B Goblin to bolster the CF-022A’s defenses. Instead of unleashing a nanomachine swarm to devour opponents, the Valkyrie could release a nanite cloud capable of condensing itself into a disc-shaped shield. The nano-shield positioned itself over its parent mech’s left arm by default but could travel in a close orbit around the CF to intercept and neutralize ballistic and kinetic attacks. Besides this experimental shield, the Valkyrie featured a standard ion field for a modicum of protection against energy weapons.

To complement its ,”The best defense is not getting hit,” design philosophy, the CF-022A boasted a powerful set of sensors able to pick up minute gravitic fluctuations and radiation traces. This next-generation sensor suite led to Valkyrie being drafted for more than one search and rescue mission while traveling through Earth’s war torn orbit.

All other bells and whistles aside, the CF-022A’s most advanced feature was its A.I. operating system. Augusta Arms was working with BEC at the time to reduce attrition among their Goblin King pilots. BEC devs couldn’t ignore the synchronicity between Avril’s stage name and their new A.I.’s codename. Though still in beta, and not meant to be paired with a human pilot, the Valkyrie A.I. was assigned its namesake CF as a testbed.

Unknown to its designers, their decision to install the experimental A.I. in a pop star’s CF would have drastic effects on the course of the war.

 

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