57 Book 4 - Chapter 115

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Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

Inter-Academy Round 2 Fortescue Points: 193, Rank: 6, PR: 0.4825

Tier 3 Daedo M-Rank: 140

Term: 3, Round: 3

Daedalus Operating Capital: +1,600,000 bitcreds

"It's time," Mace informed Daedo who nodded. She put them online and opened a VR chat room with her parents. Daedo was visible, they all knew he was listening, so Mace decided to drop the pretence.

"Ameline," her Mother said emotionally.

"Mother," Mace replied.

"I see his avatar," Adele acknowledged Daedo but not by name.

"Is Father here?" Mace asked.

Her Mother shook her head, "No. But a team leader from the organisation is." And with the pseudo introduction, a man appeared. His image was that of a generic mannequin from the VR program.

"I'm Agent 4020," he said by way of introduction, "You can simply call me Agent." His voice made him sound young. Not their age, but to their ears, he was in his early twenties at most.

"Cadets, I am here to open a dialogue with you so we can avert a tragedy," he said dramatically. "We do not wish anyone harm. We only want to protect our planet from intruders."

"If we answer your questions here will you guarantee Daedo's safety and freedom?" Mace asked.

"Yes," Agent 4020 replied.

In the virtual world Mace brought up and a table and two chairs for Daedo and the Agent to sit across from one another. She then stood behind Daedo.

"I hope we can talk after," her Mother said before she blinked out.

Myrmidon: I'm monitoring out here.

Daedo: I know. Thanks.

His AI must have picked up on the wording that Mace's Mother used and thought to reassure Daedo. Myrmidon's initiative had grown over time. It was only small things that were hard to notice on a daily basis because they spent so much time together. But the message struck Daedo and reminded him how far Myrmidon had come in just a few years.

"Very well Mr Daedo, can we begin?" The Agent asked.

"Daedo is fine. It's my academy designation. Mr Daedo is my Father," Daedo replied.

"You're a stickler for precision? This is a good trait," the Agent observed.

"Don't bother with people handling skills. Ask your questions," Daedo replied.

The Agent seemed unworried, "Did you know of - or communicate with Nader, or Master Nader, in any fashion before entering the Academy?"

"To my knowledge no," Daedo replied.

"What do you mean by, to your knowledge?" The Agent asked.

"That I may have communicated with an unknown person that was Master Nader, but I was unaware that this person was Master Nader," Daedo replied.

The Agent paused for a moment before continuing.

"Do you have any backups or memories of this communication?" The Agent asked.

"You are misinterpreting what I said. There is no particular communication with an unknown person that I had in mind, but while I was playing CyberMech or selling blueprints in my SpaceBuild shop, I corresponded with many unknown individuals. It is possible one of those was Master Nader. I cannot rule it out."

The Agent sighed regretting his praise of Daedo's precision.

"Did you enter the Fortescue Academy with intent to be placed in Master Nader's House and squad zero?"

"No, I did not," Daedo replied.

The Agent paused for a moment. He was probably sorting through lines of questioning.

"When did you know Master Nader was an alien?" The agent jumped ahead.

"Never," Daedo replied.

"Did you ever suspect she was an alien?" The Agent asked.

"Yes," Daedo replied.

"Good. We're getting somewhere. Now Daedo, can you recall the incident when you first suspected she was an alien?"

"When I first saw her," Daedo replied.

"The very first day?" The Agent asked.

"Yes, during our orientation," Daedo replied.

The agent's avatar shuffled some invisible documents and again reviewed his line of questioning. "When did you confirm she was an alien?" He asked.

"Never," Daedo replied.

"When did you confirm she was not an alien," the agent asked.

"When my AI scanned her vitals with my bodysuit sensors," Daedo lied because as he knew it was possible that the alien conscious took over a human body.

The answer stumped the agent. He went dark for five minutes. Before coming back with a quick followup question.

"You suspected and ruled out she was an alien on the first day?"

"Yes," Daedo replied.

"One moment," the agent said.

He was gone another five minutes before returning.

"Did Master Nader ever act in a way that made you suspect that she was an alien or was not from Earth after the first day?'

"No," Daedo lied.

"You need to tell the truth Cadet Daedo, we know you spent hours with Master Nader alone, what were you doing?" The agent asked.

"Training. She was reviewing tactical operations, leadership activities, academic activities and people management." Daedo replied.

"She spent considerable more time with you than any other cadet, and she had over twelve hundred in her care," the agent said.

Daedo was silent.

The agent nodded, "Can you explain that?" He asked.

"I was leader of Thoth squad zero, Thoth Middle Academy House captain and Inter Academy team captain. The other tutors in the Academy were not up to Master Nader's standard, so she took on responsibility for all my roles inside the Academy."

The agent went dark again.

He finally came back with another question. "Did Master Nader influence you to act in a certain way?"

"Yes," Daedo replied.

"Contrary to your instincts?"

"No," he answered.

"Did she give you information that no person on Earth could have possessed?"

"No," Daedo saw through the obvious trick question, waiting for a deeper game from the Agent.

"When she nullified the hybrid Spybot," the agent stated, "That was a technology that only alien technology could detect. This event didn't pique your curiosity?"

"I am not an expert in that technology," Daedo stated.

"But you're a genius, you should have known something wasn't right. What did you think when this event occurred?"

"That someone had put a Spybot inside me and it was probably Mace," Daedo stated.

The agent paused again, it was the only action that indicated that Daedo was frustrating him and his support team, which Daedo expected he conversed with when he went dark.

"Cadet," the agent began again, "You need to be honest with us with all your answers otherwise we cannot abide by the verbal agreement."

Daedo was quiet. He only responded to direct questions.

"Ahm," the agent recognised that Daedo was not going to respond to his accusation after a minute, "When Master Ustinov died suddenly how did you react?"

Daedo recognised that other than their last conversation in the gym, which Mace isolated, that the organisation could have a recording of every other conversation between the pair.

"I suspected Master Nader was complicit," Daedo replied.

"Yet you did not report that fact to anyone," the agent stated.

Daedo was silent.

"Cadet Daedo," the agent said with a frustrated tone, "Why did you not report your suspicions?"

"I had no proof, and the administration at the Academy appeared hostile towards me. All except Master Nader," Daedo admitted.

"So, you are saying you had sympathetic feelings towards Master Nader, due to her support, and because of those feelings you did not report her?" The agent asked.

"No. I also had no proof. If I had proof that would have changed everything. I was an M1 cadet with a suspicion. And we were told Master Ustinov died of a rare disease, not that she was murdered."

"Do these sympathetic feelings exist today?" The agent asked.

"Those are your words, not mine agent. I said that Master Nader was not hostile. Which means the one person who might listen was the person I suspected, therefore, cutting off the one avenue for sharing low probability theories."

"Cadet, you warned Cadet Mace not to report Master Nader because it was dangerous," the agent stated a fact that had slipped Daedo.

Daedo went to speak, "I.."

"Cadet. I warn you again you need to be honest if we are to abide by the agreement. Because if you assist the identity known as Master Nader, then we will have no choice but to dig deeper and get the answers we need. We just want information cadet, that's all."

"I was about to say that because I am young and we both suspected Master Nader, rightly or wrongly, I thought it was best for us to be careful. False rumours like that could have hurt us," Daedo said.

"Cadet Daedo, this incident has shown that you have a propensity to protect Master Nader. Is there anything about your relationship with her that persuades you to protect her?" The Agent asked.

"No, sir. She was a mentor and capable instructor. However there is no reason now to protect her from the truth," Daedo replied.

"Cadet," the Agent said, "Normally we would apprehend and interrogate you while pretending that everything was fine so you would let your guard down. I am going to ruin this particular strategy by giving you one last chance to come clean. We know you are lying. Come clean now, or we will be forced to take action."

Daedo hung his head in contemplation for a moment before raising it, "Sir. I don't know what you want to hear, but I have told you everything."

"Hand over all the data that you have stored in from the last nine months. Everything from your bodysuit sensors, your AI, your conversations, everything." The agent demanded.

"That was not part of our agreement and I will not because of the sensitive Daedalus data," Daedo replied.

"You have twenty-four hours to comply," Agent 4020 stated before exiting the VR room.

Mace did not wait for her Mother to return, she closed everything down including their connection to the outside world.

"Shit," Mace said, and she looked at Daedo, "I didn't believe you either. You needed to give them something."

"There's nothing to give," Daedo stated.

"We both know that's not true," Mace replied.

"No, it's true. I have nothing to give them," Daedo said because once he opened the floodgates on the tech and all their VR room conversations, it would be impossible to close them. There were also conversations outside of the secure VR room, which would give him away. He could not give them the data.

Besides. He believed Master Nader. She protected and helped them. If this was the plotting of the enemy, he couldn't see how it benefitted them.

"Will you tell me?" Mace asked.

"No, because it would put you in the same position I am in now," he said. He thought, or worse, she would end up betraying him again.

"Then … we need to keep building up our defences," she said sounding and looking afraid.

They both had been in countless fights and excluding a punch thrown at a street kid, none of them real.

Daedo smiled slightly. "I have something," he said when bringing up the latest set of plans for their base, "We are going to drop everything underground including the entrance." He began, the base was almost entirely underground already, except for the large warehouse up top on a platform.

"We're building two remote entrances here and here," he said pointing, "but we will do that after everything is in place. And we will build large aurora shield generators for the entrances so they can't be blasted with PPCs."

"They'd have to attempt to bombard us or dig in some way," she replied.

"If they try and dig in we will detect them from at least two hundred kilometres away or the point of penetration. And without our base plans how will they know where to penetrate?" He added.

"How long will this take?" She asked.

"Not long, we've already started. We might want to move out of this section into the new living space before it drops. The shield generators will take the longest, not to mention we've never built them this large before. I'm not sure how well they will work."

"We have enough food for a week," Mace mentioned.

"How long will it take them to find us?" Daedo asked.

"That's impossible to answer, they could have broken through my defences while we spoke or it could take them weeks to trace through all the false pings, checking each site with drones. I could contact my Mother and pry because she might drop a clue with her phrasing if they know our location."

Daedo began emptying the entrance of materials and shelving, using two of the bots assigned to logistics.

"Should I move now?" Mace asked.

Daedo shrugged, his helmet was back on, and he was working in his screens.

Mace made a face as she pulled up the plans. She didn't know where the living area was. She got into her exo and walked through an access corridor past the manufacturing plant and headed down a large ramp. There were no travelators in place, but she was able to jet down quickly.

Three levels down and the noise from the refinery and manufacturing bays was gone. She inspected the floor at the bottom of the ramp, it was sandstone or limestone. They had not covered it with constructofoam yet.

The living area exterior was finished. It looked big enough to house a hundred cadets, not two. He hadn't added the internal walls yet, it was still one big open space. Mace could see the cots, and she moved aside as a bot brought in the cooking equipment and food.

Now that she was alone she paced nervously trying to think. The way things were headed there would be a fight, a real one where people died. The best scenario would be if they were captured and with no casualties, but she threw that thought away. Their problems would come after that.

She kicked a wall in frustration if only Daedo told them everything in regards to Master Nader. But he had to have his reasons, she pondered what they could be. What did he have to hide? What had they spent all those hours discussing?

She shook herself. It didn't matter, and she would probably never know. They were building Daedalus and this base to protect the planet. They were doing something real, and she had thrown with Daedo and Daedalus. There was no going back, the alternatives were too bleak.

Vannier stood at attention in front of Master Haddad and Commander Mallet. Barran, Picard, Axelzero and Kang were behind her.

"It's been a week Cadet Vannier. Your squad leader and Mace are still AWOL. Have you been in contact with them? Do they have an explanation?" Commander Malet almost shouted.

"Sir," Vannier said attempting to remain calm, "Although I think of Daedo and Mace as friends I am not responsible for them. That would be Master Nader and the Academy where the responsibility lies. I would ask you where Master Nader is?"

"She is your Master cadet!" He yelled.

"Sir?" Vannier asked.

"You know better than we do what was going on with her," he accused Vannier.

"Sir? Are you saying that a Master of the Academy is my responsibility and not yours?" Vannier asked.

Master Haddad had to smile. He was enjoying this exchange, it was no wonder these cadets were so highly ranked. She was thirteen and not intimidated by the Commander at all. Well, she did look nervous, but she was killing him with facts.

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"Don't give me lip Cadet," Commander Mallet warned.

"Ahem," Master Haddad cleared his throat.

"Do you have something constructive to add?" The Commander asked. Master Haddad had insisted on attending now that these cadets were in his charge.

"Cadet Vannier. Do you know where Cadets Daedo and Mace are?" Master Haddad asked.

"No Sir," Vannier replied.

"Do any of you," Master Haddad looked at the rest of the squad, "Know?"

They all shook their heads and replied separately, "No Sir."

"Cadet Vannier. Do you know why Cadets Mace and Daedo left the Academy?" Master Haddad asked.

"They feared for their lives, sir. They did not believe the Academy would protect them from wrongful arrest and imprisonment." She replied with the truth hoping it would stop the Commander take any action against them.

"What! That is preposterous!" The Commander almost shouted. "If the police want to arrest someone legally we are not allowed to interfere. We are morally obliged to assist."

"Were they police?" Vannier asked knowing the answer.

"Listen, Cadet. You are the one being questioned here not me," The Commander spat the words. "Despite your deal with Fortescue - I can have you all expelled?"

Barran had had enough he moved forward and shouted back at the Commander, "For what? Listen you old bastard, you have done nothing for us. You are useless, and all you do is yell at us for your own spectacular fails!"

"I am recording this," Axelzero said calmly.

Picard's patience ran out as well, "This Academy is a pile of shit. We should all just leave. How many offers do we get a week?"

"At least two," Axelzero said softly, but her words were heard by all.

Vannier was panicking. She had lost control of the squad and in front of the Commander of all things. She waved her hands for calm and sent messages for everyone to shut up.

"Commander," Master Haddad intervened before he could respond. His colour was looking awfully red. "I think everyone needs to cool off. I will take the Cadets back to their quarters and reprimand them. We should resume this discussion at another time."

"Hell no!" The Commander roared. "You're all suspended while we conduct an investigation."

"What?" Vannier was incredulous. Her squadmates had all released pent up rage at the commander. All except Kang and thank heavens for that.

"How fucking dare you. We have done nothing wrong. You're not suspending us you imbecilic. We're outta here!" She roared back turned and stormed out.

"Holy shit," Barran reacted with what everyone was thinking through otherwise stunned silence. They all quickly followed Vannier.

Master Haddad watched them leave before he made an observation, "Well done Commander. You just single-handedly lost the best cadets in the Academy."

"Careful Haddad, you may join them," the Commander seethed.

"Oh," He said as he was leaving, "I think I've had enough of this place as well."

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Book One is live on Amazon. If you have a copy or KU please leave a review it will really help the story get noticed.

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