47 Book 3 - Chapter 105

Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null

Term: 3, Round: 1

Daedalus Financial Position: -1,460,000 bitcreds

"I've made up my mind," Daedo said.

"It's not like you to be illogical," Siderus stated.

"Daedalus has done enough in delivering equipment for you and the upper cadets to get the job done," Daedo said calmly. "And I will compete in the Gauntlet."

"That's only one point per win," Siderus said, "It hardly makes a difference."

"There are a total of sixteen points on offer with the Gauntlet each weekend," Daedo stated. "It all adds up, and I can update the entire Gauntlet team on strategy as we go."

"Will you change your mind if we do poorly?" Siderus asked.

"If you do poorly I can swap out the first entire team for mine," Daedo threatened.

Siderus looked at the younger cadet for a moment. He did not appear intimidated nor hurt by the statement, he looked to be searching Daedo's thoughts.

"I guess no one is perfect," he said dismissively before walking off.

Exo practice was over for the week and only the weekend's events would confirm whether their plans and forecasts held up to reality. Fortescue had home matches against Seoul Military Academy and Humboldt MA.

The Fortescue review of competitor equipment capability had Seoul in rank three, near the top, and with Humboldt the only Academy below Fortescue themselves at twelfth. This review was completed before the current exos and mechs from Daedalus became available, but it also did not mean the competitors did not improve as well.

Daedo spent most of Friday completing academic studies. The Inter-Academy preparation was all in place, and nothing could be done now to improve their chances for the weekend. Both visiting Academies would arrive on Saturday morning and leave Saturday evening after the six: mech and exo matches, and the gauntlets had been completed. The battles were staggered in case repairs were needed, and the schedule also allowed spectators to watch all three exo matches and gauntlet before heading across to the mech arena in the afternoon.

Daedo was in VR completing a human studies tute when Myrmidon popped in.

"There is news at the mine," Myrmidon said. "Aemo has a small arkernite sample for you. What shall he do with them? Do you want them back to the workshop?"

Daedo closed the tute and asked, "What is the weight?"

"Two point two kilograms."

Daedo thought for a moment. "No, we need more. Put it into storage, and he can ship it up once stage two begins and the ark is extracted."

"This material doesn't appear on the table of elements,' Myrmidon said. "Including the expanded and hypothetical series."

"It's a new element," Daedo said.

"But you knew about it. We sent Aemo to look for it," Myrmidon observed.

"That is true. I learned about it from Master Nader during our meetings which you have been excluded. We will pretend we discovered it when setting up our base and mine," Daedo stated.

"Understood," Myrmidon said.

"This information is secret Myrmidon," Daedo said.

"Understood. I will instruct Aemo that he is to communicate nothing regarding our operations other than he finds it fulfilling to be working again."

Daedo nodded virtually. "Bring up the Math work for the term please. We will make more progress there than in human studies in the time we have left."

Daedo and his squad waited and watched in the Marais box. The first exo match was about to begin.

"Are you nervous?" Cillian asked the cadets.

"I'm nervous," Vannier said, "But I'm sure Daedo isn't he doesn't get nervous."

Daedo didn't respond; he merely looked down on proceedings.

"All those years of high-pressure CyberMech tournaments cured him of nerves," Axelzero added.

"CyberMech?" Cillian asked.

"You didn't know?" Barran queried.

"Father doesn't know anything about CyberMech. Or anything that came out after the twenties for that matter," Jeram informed them.

"Oh, it's a game?" Cillian asked.

Barran laughed.

"The teams are in the corral," Daedo said.

Fortescue Military Academy was up against Humboldt Military Academy in the first match for the season. It was virtually rank eleven versus rank twelve, as ranked by the experts. If they could not win this match, it did not bode well for the season.

"Is Colonel Martin not coming today?" Picard asked.

"He is often too busy. He attends when he can," Cillian stated.

"And Andre?" Jeram asked.

"He is usually busy the second half of the year. We see a lot of him during the intra-academy tournaments only," Cillian said. "So you just have me today. Sophie and her team will entertain our business associates."

"Humboldt are slow," Daedo stated. "And they have PPCs."

"This is good? Your aurora shield is working?" Jeram asked.

"It's on point, but I would have prefered to surprise a higher ranked team," Daedo responded.

"Why not message Siderus now not to use the Aurora shield against Humboldt," Mace said.

"We don't know for certain that the top teams don't already have information from our intra-academy matches. I'd rather them get maximum points versus Humboldt," Daedo said.

Siderus' team fanned out across the desert map. Their tactical layout was two vanguards, three liberos and three long-range and they possessed the latest railguns with two shots per second.

Consistent fire would draw more energy than the reactor could generate; a pilot would have to take care of power consumption and storage between the railgun, aurora shield and jumpjets. They were fantastic pieces of equipment which competed for the limited power resource.

Humboldt must have been optimistic with an open map and a powerful weapon like the PPC. This optimism was shattered when the aurora shields blocked every particle bolt with the Fortescue Military Academy Inter Academy team running rampant over their opposition.

Siderus maximised the advantage and did not allow the Vanguard into melee. They kept Humboldt at range until the match was over. The very first match and the exo team won with zero losses achieving the maximum thirty-two points.

Next up was the Gauntlet and four cadets from Seoul and four from Humboldt lined up. Each cadet would complete the Gauntlet once, and their score would be compared individually against Fortescue. In effect, it was two competitions in one because Seoul and Humboldt were also competing against each other.

Fortescue had the home ground advantage, and their first four cadets would complete the Gauntlet after the next match followed by four from Humboldt. This allowed Daedo to watch the same scenario he and his team would be running and make plans based on what he was witnessing.

There were sixteen points on offer for the Gauntlet today. It was small compared to exo combat which was two matches worth thirty-two each. But it all added up in the end. The day's total points were one hundred for each opponent. Sixty was allocated to upper and forty to lower.

Points Allocation Max - per Match

Upper Mech Combat, 52

Upper Gauntlet, 8

Middle Exo Combat, 32

Middle Gauntlet, 8

Max Round Total, 100

Every weekend other than round ten was a double weekend and the last match of the year was a triple. Which meant that a total of two hundred points was on offer each weekend and in all ten rounds 2,200 points. The top team would usually reach a ratio of .75 to .80 of maximum points. And the bottom team was the antithesis of this. Which meant the bar to avoid relegation was at least 440 points, but that was an unrealistic bar to set. Fortescue's first goal was 660 points. If they achieve this before the triple round ten, it would almost guarantee survival.

Siderus' and the middle academies thirty-two points against Humboldt was an excellent start towards this goal.

Daedo watched the gauntlet from the Marais box and immediately made plans to share with his team. Unlike the intra-Academy Gauntlet, this was a team effort. The prize for first was one point, just like the prize for eighth. Between the two matches, Deado and his team were competing in, were sixteen points.

Joining Daedo from M1 Thoth Squad Zero were four cadets; Mace, Vannier, Barran and Picard. In addition to these five were the three best performing cadets from M3 who weren't in Siderus' Arena Team.

As Daedo went through the preliminaries, Barran spoke up, "I'm worried that following a plan will cramp my style."

"Do what you always do when taking out an enemy and moving, just follow this path rather than barging through," Daedo replied.

"And leaving certain groups alone," Barran concentrated for a moment imagining how he would handle the Gauntlet without the instruction. "I probably would have kited them if they aggroed. Knowing they won't aggro is an advantage." Barran sparked up suddenly, "does this mean if I have your tactical plan I will beat your time?"

"You should," Picard reprimanded slightly, "You won't have any excuses if you don't."

"It's a team effort the only thing that matters is that we get as many of the sixteen points on offer as we can," Vannier added.

The three M3 cadets sat in stark silence taking the information and banter in. They were aware of Daedo's status and did not treat him like they would a normal M1 cadet. He had selected them for this team, after all, he was more like a captain-coach of the entire Fortescue Academy team.

The upper Academy match was finally in progress, and all Fortescue cadets watched with bated breath.

"They better win with those mechs," Barran stated bluntly.

"Agreed, I can't see how we could have done more. Between Daedo, Kang and Mace's innovations and designs that mech must be well above Seoul MA's," Vannier added.

Mace added, "It's not all about the equipment, it's how you use it." She peered at the teams as they started and disperse.

"We're up next, do we need to head down now? Or will there be time after the match?" Daedo asked the three M3 cadets.

"We can leave when the match finishes it takes at least fifteen for minutes for setup," Gannon stated. He was a relatively tall dark-haired boy from Amun-Ra. Tall compared to the M1 cadets and slightly above average for M3.

"I forget how new you are," Axel said. "This is your first Inter-Academy even as a spectator?"

Daedo nodded.

"I suppose most CyberMech pros pay little attention to the real thing," Barran observed.

"Real?" Vannier queried the word. "It's still augmented, no live fire, the closest we have been to real is the training match with the EUDF."

The cadets focus returned to the match. An unholy image of Fortescue mechs going down assailed their eyes.

"I can't friggin believe it," Barran said.

"More armour, superior speed and they lose?" Picard said incredulously.

"Seoul has six mechs still standing, that's eight points," Daedo said flatly.

"Aren't you angry?" Kang asked genuinely.

"Raging?" Barran added.

"Upset?" Vannier added.

Daedo shrugged, "The league has a long way to go, and this is something we can improve."

Axel nodded understanding, "Which is way better than something we have no control of or way to improve."

"Yeah, but you should be livid for at least ten minutes before coming to that conclusion," Barran interjected.

Daedo looked at Barran and smiled shyly, "It is something I anticipated."

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"What are we going to do?" Vannier asked seriously.

Daedo turned to her, "We need to make our way down to the Gauntlet." And as he set off the group followed. "Now we have the moral right to kick Romulus from the team entirely. Which will need to happen until he learns to follow orders."

"But he's their best pilot," Gannon spoke up courageously.

Vannier shook her head, "He's not if he brings the whole team down."

Picard nodded knowingly.

Daedo turned as they reached their destination. "I will go first and update the plans for third through eighth if needed. Sorry Mace, you will have to use what we have so far as well."

Mace gave a cute salute. "No problem."

Daedo and Mace completed the Gauntlet beating all the scores from earlier attempts by Seoul and Humboldt MAs.

"There's still four to come from Seoul and Humboldt," Daedo stated, "They will be watching us so put in the best time possible following the updated plan."

Barran nodded he was up next after Picard.

As soon as she finished the three red lights appeared in the gateway which was previously barred.

"Wish me luck," Barran said to no one in particular, and he received five replies.

One of which was from Picard, "You don't need luck, use your skill and beat my score."

The three lights turned amber as the countdown reached single figures and as the lights turned green Barran flew through the gate.

The exo's current power system allowed sixty percent jumpjet runtime when no other power systems were in operation. Due to the speed of the enemy and the scoring system part of the strategy was to hammer the jumpjets which Barran did immediately. His AI ran them continuously at sixty percent power rather than cycle them on and off.

The enemy was fast, faster than Barran's exo at full speed. Kiting them was not possible. Each group consisted of four flying mechanoids which could join together and form a larger foe. A few cadets had lost one on one fights when facing two groups. It was important to take down any enemy before they could gather. A swarm equalled death.

Barran took down the largest of the four mechanoids. This stopped them from combining and becoming a more dangerous foe. While firing his railgun dead centre at each of the mechanoids, he kept moving. Although they flew and were faster, he did his best to keep them out of range. At short range, they blasted off plates from their four leaf clover design.

The gooey plates could stick you to the ground or a wall, and the mechanoids could drill or grind you down before you escaped. They were the nastiest foe he had ever faced in a gauntlet. Exactly what you would expect of an inter-Academy match. Many cadets got low scores because they were only able to take down a few foes and only capture a single base.

From the home gate, there were three bases which formed a diamond pattern when the home gate was included. A cadet had to capture one, two or three bases before returning home. They were scored on time, number of bases captured and the number of enemies taken down. If you lost your life in the process, there was a hefty penalty of a hundred points. Which meant that three cadets had already achieved negative scores.

Daedo's strategy had the team leaving out the third base which was surrounded by the most enemies. They captured two, took down seven groups and headed home as fast as possible.

Barran was certain their opponents would copy this strategy as soon as they saw how effective it was. They each had four cadets still to compete where Fortescue had all eight runs in the middle of the day in one large group. The disadvantage of going first was somewhat alleviated by the four cadets going last.

The last enemy closed on Barran, and as it predictably blasted off its plating, he brought his shield around on reflex and let it take the brunt. The one-handed railgun and shield combination was perfect for this scenario.

Barran left the goo on the shield. It wasn't hampering him, and the shrapnel did damage the shield but not beyond usefulness.

The next group he barged the second of the mechanoids with the shield while firing at the other three downing them with one shot each. It ended up sticking to its own goo and blasted uselessly into the shield. Other than the fact it destroyed the shield's usefulness in doing so.

Barran happily stomped the last mechanoid, crushing it underneath the shield.

He was trying to take them down as quickly as possible and moving as quickly as possible. The only way he would beat Daedo was with a better time. They would take down the same number of enemies and capture the same number of bases. What Barran could bring was speed, brutality and style to his run.

He smiled as he kicked one mechanoid from the air while blasting a second. Daedo didn't use the shield he had that damn grappler, but Barran didn't feel confident with it compared to the shield which he used in nearly every arena.

If he beat Daedo's time, then there was no way he would be letting the team down. There was nothing he could do about the cadets who came in the afternoon runs.

A small twinge of an idea attacked Barran as he captured the second base. He could attempt the third, or at least siphon of one mechanoid to increase his score. His AI, Jenkins, informed him he was ahead on time by thirteen seconds.

Barran shook his head. It was too risky. They needed every point after the upper academy performed dismally. He didn't want any of the blame for a loss coming to haunt him.

And even if their opponents copied their strategy, they didn't have this exo. He put on all the speed possible and headed for the home gate.

Barran smiled. He was enjoying the fact he was in M1 and competing in the first inter-Academy. Even in his wildest dreams, he hadn't thought this was a possibility before the first term.

But with Daedo and Daedalus. All things were possible.