50 Book 3 - Chapter 108

Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

Inter-Academy Round 1 Fortescue Points: 95 Rank: 8

Tier 3 Daedo M-Rank: 155

Term: 3, Round: 2

Daedalus Operating Capital: +2,650,000 bitcreds

Daedo was engrossed in a military history tute; the current subject was the Roman empire. When he compared the Romans, to their enemies, the two main differences were technology and tactics. And the only times the Roman's lost a battle was due to the fact they were outsmarted. The difference in technology was overcome with superior tactics.

It was a very good lesson.

As part of their studies, they researched all the major successful ancient military regimes. Information was sparse on some and biased on others. But the underlying message and theme were always the same.

Build a strong tribe and lead it well. Historians would have him believe leadership was more important than strength, but that was through their own bias. Where there was a chasm of technology, the more primitive tribe was always beaten in the long war. No matter how good their leadership. A great leader only prolonged their eventual demise.

Daedo began to wonder what the technological level of the so-called invasion force was. All he knew was they were genetically engineered to kill humanity. That could be something as simple as a virus.

He began to go off topic and studied introduced species which decimated the natural habitat.

**Daedo: what do you think?

**Myrmidon: Cane toads are amazing.

**Daedo: No natural predators and the predators who did hunt them were incapable of getting past their natural defences.

**Myrmidon: It is the same as when Europeans settled the American Continent.

**Daedo: Except animals don't bother with diplomacy. Not that diplomacy made a difference in America nor Australasia.

**Myrmidon: Meatheads lie. In this, they are very consistent.

**Daedo: if we can't find out what is coming we will have to prepare for the worst.

**Myrmidon: what will you do? Leave on a spaceship like the rich meatheads?

**Daedo: only if all is lost. We will fight at first. We will continue to develop the Eye of the Sahara base. Whenever there was an introduced species, the remote natural inhabitants lasted the longest.

**Myrmidon: Message from Chief Vincent. Put it through or ignore?

Daedo sighed and agreed to take the interruption.

"Cadet Daedo," Chief Vincent's AI stated over the comms, "Can you attend the Chief at your earliest convenience."

Chief Vincent was the Physics Chief, one of the subjects which Daedo excelled yet put in little effort other than his own studies based on his current projects.

After a few minutes navigating his way topside, Daedo arrived at the Physics Chief office. Where a few months ago he would worry about the nature of the meeting, now he gave it little thought. It was more of a distraction and interruption than anything.

"Enter," the robot attended intoned as soon as he walked into the lobby.

The Chief's office was the usual programmable room except on this occasion it was a mess of charts, equations, tables and schematics. They covered every inch of the room and on many occasion were three or four deep.

"Sit," the Chief ordered tersely. Chief Vincent was an Academic first and teacher second. Most of his tutes were full of content but arrayed in a way which made it hard for most cadets to study. These cadets were forced to look elsewhere for tutes.

Daedo sat obediently and resisted the urge to don his helmet to continue some work while he waited.

"You know you are my top cadet," Vincent began kindly.

Daedo nodded quietly recalling Chief Albert and his attempts to get Daedo to solve problems for him.

"I was concerned with your latest submission until I checked all your workings and suppositions," Chief Vincent began.

"Which submission Sir?" Daedo asked. He had sent three in order to get ahead for the term.

"Oh," the Chief smiled, "your observations on quantum gravity and how they differ to the current model."

Daedo twisted in his chair. The observations from the new particle tracking sensors provided by Master Nader's mystery box were unavailable to anyone but him and Cisse. He let some of his learnings from their testing creep into his paper.

"Sir," Daedo began carefully, "they are suppositions, nothing more."

"But I think you are onto something here. I cross-referenced with the data from the Oregan Collider from last year and nothing they observed would prove your suppositions false."

Daedo shrugged there was nothing he could do or say.

"You should be ecstatic cadet. I want you to expand on this paper and turn it into a fully fledged academic white paper," Chief Vincent announced.

"Ah Um. Sorry, Sir. I am too busy for that with my other commitments," Daedo explained.

"Nonsense," Chief Vincent replied. "I can wipe your other Physics commitments and give you extra credit. This is something that is usually in the domain of U2 and U3 cadets."

"With all due respect sir," Daedo began, and the Chief sighed. "I am captain of the inter-Academy team, and the responsibility for the team's equipment lies with me. This is on top of all my normal responsibilities. I already struggle to complete all normal study assignments."

The Chief looked thoughtful. "There is another reason," he said as he paced and tapped his chin.

Daedo's heart began to beat faster. Chief Vincent was no fool.

The Chief suddenly whirled on Daedo and accused him, "You have a girlfriend don't you!"

Daedo could not have been more stunned. His protest came too slow as he spluttered, "No!"

The Chief laughed and nodded knowingly. He looked Daedo in the eyes and with all sincerity stated, "Son. Girls will come and go. But Physics will always be there."

"Why are you here?" Barran asked his Father. He was standing in a small private box he had rented for the Templars away match. His daughter, Morganne was also a spectator and fortunately, Barran's Mother was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm impressed you made the Gauntlet team. You're only in M1. It's quite a feat my boy," Reece Barran CEO of Barran Corporation said patronisingly.

"I'm not a boy," Barran said tersely.

Morganne couldn't help but let a chuckle escape.

"Son, if you weren't a boy you would have ignored that comment. You would not protest it loudly," Reece said continuing his patronising tone.

Barran sighed, "Why are you here really?" He looked at his sister; she shrugged and smiled sweetly.

"I'd like to catch up with you. We hardly see each other anymore," Reece stated.

"We never saw each other much!" Barran exclaimed throwing his arms wide.

"But on the odd occasion, when I'm home from work early, you're never around. You used to be," Reece said with a tinge of sadness.

"Because, I, like Morganne, attend the Academy," Barran said.

"Not on weekends," Morganne observed.

Barran shook his head, "You know as well as anyone I spend my weekends at Daedalus."

"Ah, how is that going," Reece asked.

Barran grumbled that they baited him into that segue and they dared to call him childish. "It's going great!" Barran stated giving zero actual information on purpose.

"You haven't completed the reports like you promised," Reece observed.

"I never promised a report," Barran argued.

Reece reminded Barran, "Ah, but that's where you're wrong. When you were given the capital from your trust fund by your trust fund manager you agreed to quarterly reports on the investment."

Barran leaned closer to his Father and breathed, "Oh slick. Now I know why you're here. You read that correspondence in preparation. So much for caring about my performance in today's match."

"He was first in round one," Morganne stated.

"That is impressive," Reece said.

"Out of three elite exo teams. It is something I never could have done," Morganne admitted.

"You were on the team last year," Barran said.

"Barely," she breathed. "Exo piloting is not my strong suit."

Barran stared at his sister. "Hardly seems like we need your review then does it?"

She smiled showing off her pearly white teeth. Something Barran himself did often when teasing or lowering tension. "Hardly," she agreed with a tone that indicated otherwise.

"Since when are family treated like enemies?" His Mother said loudly from behind Barran. She had entered and observed without him noticing he was so focused on his Father and Morganne.

Barran bowed his head to his Mother. He wondered if Morganne began to be complimentary when she entered.

"Brice. Dear," she said softly yet sternly. "You must put your family first in all matters. I am distressed by what I've been hearing."

Brice Barran sighed. He now had his Father the CEO, his formidable sister and his Mother, Lady Alvia Barran arrayed against him. He'd been dreading this moment.

"Mother," he said softly. "Daedalus is not against our Family. It is merely a company I am running with my friends."

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"Why did you exclude your sister? That is not defensible Brice," Lady Alvia said with her soft yet authoritative tone.

Morganne and his Father had gone silent. He could barely hear them breathe. Their faces were expressionless. It was almost impossible to argue with his Mother. His Father and Sister never did.

A tear appeared in Barran's eye. "It is the family that has turned against me!" He blurted, and in the stunned silence he took a deep breath.

"This was my venture. But you want to butt in. It is doing well, and it does not threaten the family business in any way. Why can't you trust me and let me succeed on my own?"

His mother shook her head slowly. "Because we share our successes, Brice. It was not your friends who stopped your sister from getting involved it was you."

"Because I knew where that was going!" Brice almost yelled.

His mother crossed her arms and merely looked down at him with her piercing blue eyes. Although Barran was tall, for his age; his Mother was almost two metres tall. Her long blonde hair was flowed around her head and over her left shoulder. Not one hair was out of place. Morganne may have been pretty, but his Mother was elegant and enchanting. The only thing that eclipsed her looks was her strong personality.

"I can only promise to never cross the family and the family business," Barran held firm.

"Are you sure Brice?" The question from his mother sounded like an ultimatum with unknown consequences.

"Yes. Mother. I am sure," Barran stated with a gulp.

"I'm not in the right frame of mind to compete today," Barran informed Daedo and Vannier. "You should get Axelzero to take my spot."

Picard made a sharp noise of surprise.

Vannier began to ask, "Barran what…."

Daedo held up a palm halting Vannier.

"Imagine the invasion has already begun," Daedo said softly and slowly. "Today, we lost Picard and Axelzero. The both died defending our base. Dead. Gone. But we don't have time to mourn because another attack is imminent. We have to suit up in our exos and defend the base all over again. And if we are not in the right mind for it; that would mean the others living with us will also die. All of them. We are protecting two thousand souls we rescued from the first wave. If we fail, they all die, as well as the rest of your squad."

Daedo paused letting his story sink in. Picard and Axelzero looked especially sad. They were dead.

"Does it matter if you are in the right mind or not?" Daedo asked Barran.

Barran wiped his eyes before another tear could fall. "You're right. This is nothing. I will compete."

Vannier looked at Picard and mouthed "harsh".

Picard shrugged and looked unphased.

Axelzero whispered to Vannier, "At least you were alive. I just died!"

Kang pushed Axelzero playfully, "It's not real silly."

Picard scowled at the three, "But it could easily be real."

The afternoon went by with similarities to the previous week. With the exception that the Templars were a stronger team than Seoul MA. And Tsinghua MA was much stronger than Humboldt MA.

Siderus and the middle Academy exo team held their own. They slid past one of the top Academies, Templars, winning with two exos still standing earning twenty-two points out of a possible thirty-two.

It was an exceptional effort showing the progress with the exos in comparison to one of the top tier three academies.

And now that the Fortescue Middle Academy exo team had won all three matches Tsinghua MA treated them as favourites. Their conservative tactics resulted in a close match with Siderus' team taking twenty-four points. Winning with three exos still standing.

Winning the Middle Academy exo matches gave Fortescue a much-needed head start to the day. Their target was a minimum of forty points and gaining over twenty from the exo matches made it much easier for the rest of the team.

Daedo, Vannier, Mace, Barran and Picard performed well in the Gauntlet again. It was an away match. Therefore Daedo sent out the M3 cadets first. This allowed him to learn the course and plan a strategy. He took the fourth position himself. He was the only cadet from the first session to eventually bring home a point.

Each cadet that competed in the last session was able to improve the score. Mace, Barran, Vannier and Picard. They took home five points out of the eight against both Templars and Tsinghua. Picard took the honours of the highest score of the day.

Fortescue now sat at twenty-seven points against the Templars out of a possible forty. And twenty-nine points against Tsinghua MA.

The Upper Academy Gauntlet performance was much improved. The team began to realise the speed and agility of the Titan class mech that Daedalus has designed and built. Out of the eight points on offer they took six against each Academy. It was twice as good as the result in the first round.

Before the Upper Academy Mech arena event took place, Fortescue were in the prime position.

Fortescue 33, Templars 15

Fortescue 35, Tsinghua 13

The only problem was the Mech even was worth fifty-two points in total. And the winning team was guaranteed at least thirty-one points. This meant that if you lost the arena match, you could gain twenty-one points if you knocked out seven of the opposition mechs. And it went down by three for every mech left standing.

A poor performance in the Mech arena was punished.

The Tsinghua match was first. Romulus lead the squad with his hand-picked mech pilots. Only three remained from the previous team. Tsinghua was conservative, although they were a strong Academy, knocking on the door of the top five, the exo and gauntlet result made them wary.

Daedo and his squad watched from an alcove in the Visitors box as the Romulus team performance valiantly, although with flawed tactics. What they lacked in wily maneuvers they made up with boldness. Vannier thought it was like watching a team of Barrans do as they please.

Tsinghua ultimately won by a slight margin. With one Mech left standing. Romulus had earned a combined twenty-seven from the Arena and Gauntlet. Seven clear of the twenty minimum.

Fortescue 56, Tsinghua 44

"A good result overall," an interloper stated startling the M1 cadets.

They turned to see a middle-aged man of medium height. He was fit, and his dark hair was only slightly greying above the ears and through the sides. He was taller than the M1 cadets, at 1800mm, but was much shorter than Colonel Martin who was closer to 2000mm. He was wearing the Templar colours of a white bodysuit and red cross.

"Excuse me," he continued, "I am Marshal Odo. I am equivalent to one of your Commanders here at the Templar Military Academy."

"Are you allowed in here?" Picard asked genuinely.

"My apologies. It is the visitor's area, but it is not restricted access to Fortescue competitors. It is with a minor impoliteness only that I intrude in your area."

"Can we help you?" Vannier asked politely.

"May I sit?" Marshal Odo asked.

"It is your Academy," Daedo answered. The Marshal nodded, smiled and slid onto the u-shaped lounge.

"How do you think you will fare in the next match?" Marshal Odo asked conversationally.

"I think we will win with eight still standing," Barran answered cheekily.

Marshal Odo chuckled. "It is good to show confidence," he observed politely. "And you did beat us in the exo arena quite handily."

"Ahuh," Kang replied knowingly. She looked at Vannier and rolled her eyes, indicating she thought she knew where he was headed with the idle chit chat.

"We only just won the exo match," Daedo corrected.

"Did Daedalus develop those exos entirely in-house?" Marshal Odo enquired.

Daedo peered at the Marshal for a short moment, "Some parts are from the open market. But others are internally developed and the design is our own."

"It's impressive," Marshal Odo stated.

Barran sighed. "Get to the point." He said, his patience had run out.

Marshal Odo straightened. He was second in charge of the Templar Academy and would view an M1 cadet speaking to him in such a manner poorly. He stared at Barran for a moment before continuing.

"I am aware of the arrangement Daedalus has with Fortescue, as I surmise most academies are now. We're impressed with your moxie, to say the least. It's our assessment that without your intervention Fortescue would be in a precarious position right now. I'm not sure they appreciate nor deserve you. Any of you." The Marshal looked around the entire table.

"I can sit here and praise you through the next match, but I have one burning question. Where do you plan to go next year? Surely not Fortescue?"

The cadets looked at one another.

"He has a point," Barran said with a hint of humour.

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