65 Book 4 – Chapter 123

Y: 2142

Inter-Academy Round 5 Fortescue Points: 578, Rank: 5, PR: 0.723

Term: 4, Round 3

Daedalus Financial Position: +500,000 bitcreds

Picard dodged and weaved before she kicked Mace's side. The diminutive girl expertly deflected the blow, but her power achieved the desired result, she knocked Mace off balance.

She then affected a roundhouse punch bringing her opponent's eyes up high, it was almost cheating because of their height differential, but as Daedo liked to say there was no such thing as cheating in war.

Mace was her closest competition apart from Barran, but, much to her chagrin, he was busy with her Father.

Physical training was focused on martial combat at the moment, her Father who they all now referred to simply as "Master" dictated the regime. He had a few titles within the Daedalus structure, but technically when it came to education, he was a Chief. It was a homage to his recent days in the EUDF where he was known as the Master, a nickname, and his Daedalus Private Military rank of Master Sergeant.

And who do you think started calling him Master? Picard grimaced for the fifteenth time in forty minutes, Barran of course.

What made it worse was Daedo approved, stating it would cut down confusion and despite their no nickname policy, that was it. Everyone agreed and liked calling him Master.

Even Picard didn't mind it deep down. She searched her feelings about why she was angry about it. It didn't take long, she wasn't unhappy with the title itself, it was the blossoming relationship between her Father and his new pet student.

She was ordered to be his second in martial combat, running drills, sparring with all the cadets. While the "Master" played with Barran far too much. She wanted to critique her Father, he was supposed to train everyone. But it was impossible. He was impossible. They both were.

Mace surrendered, "I need a break." She rubbed her sides and limped towards the medibot.

It was then her Father deemed to show his presence as he danced past he whispered, "Spar just above their capability. That was too heavy-handed."

She glared at him. She knew this. She wasn't a noob to be so ignorant. And he knew she knew this. It was his fault she was angry and lost control, she spat, "Bah" he probably knew that too. Evil mother fucker.

The Master whirled around the cadets. Giving a tip or adjusting a motion and then allowed them to proceed to practice the adjustment.

He then whirled back to Barran.

"Had enough?" he asked mildly. He was an evil mother fucker there was only one response to a question phrased like that.

"Never Master," Barran replied grinning. Without further warning, he lept at the Master. An aggressive punch and kick combination, opening himself up for a counter. A counter which would result in the Master taking a blow.

That was all Barran wanted to do, his satisfaction and outright glee were never higher than when he landed a blow on the Master. He was up to three in two months.

"Good," Master grinned as he knocked both aside easily. He proceeded to state the obvious to cement the tactical thinking of his student, "You gave me a choice, defend or be hit. I couldn't counter without taking at least one blow."

"Again," Master ordered which meant Barran had to do the exact movement and the Master would show him a different way to defend than the conventional.

He stepped inside the first blow while remaining outside the second, Barran gawked, that should have been impossible. The Master was thin, but not that thin.

"How did you do that?" Barran asked.

"It's a long journey," Master Picard stated, "It starts with balance, here, here and here." The Master pointed to his head, heart and then indicated his entire body.

"Aw man," Barran whined, "You rarely give straight answers."

"Son, that was a straight answer, you just don't see it."

Barran looked at the ground, contemplated what the Master was trying to teach. "Okay," he said. "I want to learn. What do I need to do?"

"I can teach you balance of the body and the mind, but you will have to work out the last part yourself, its different for everyone."

Barran nodded. "Let's start with the body."

"We already have," the Master replied, "Next you learn Tai Chi and practice your yoga seriously."

"Tai Chi?" Barran queried, "That old people shit?"

His Master laughed, "Tai Chi is a martial art. And an important one. I want you to learn to meditate, and you can do both at the same time, it's a more efficient way."

Barran readied as if for a drill, "I'm all about shortcuts Master. Teach me Tai Chi."

"It will be more efficient for me to Teach everyone, we will begin tomorrow. Watch some tutes I will send you on it and meditation and come prepared."

Barran and the Master continued to spar and talk.

Picard, his daughter, continued to fume.

"Did you hear that?" Picard asked Axelzero and Kang.

"What?" Axelzero said dutifully, she knew it was going to be concerning Picard's Father and Barran. Her friend was obsessed with their relationship. Where all she saw was a good teacher bringing out the best in a talented cadet. Up until now, no one had inspired and engaged Barran to a tiny percentage that their new Master had achieved in his first few weeks on the base.

"He called him, son," Picard fumed. "Fucking son." She stormed up the corridor. "He doesn't have a fucking son! He had a daughter, but he clearly wants a son!"

Axelzero looked at Kang, who shrugged and smiled weakly as if to say, 'I'm not getting involved.'

"How's my Father going?" Kang asked Axelzero.

"He comes to all our business meetings, hasn't missed one. He's doing really well, better than anyone expected," Axelzero replied.

Kang's Father had shown up in Dead Beat of all things, he was distraught, but after a week on the base, he left with a new role in life. He had a masters in business administration and a degree in marketing from Korea. And he was going to help on the outside and agreed to do so for the normal agent's fee. And he would pay all his own costs, it was a very good deal for Daedalus with someone they could trust.

"Do you know if he will go back to the circuit next season?" Axelzero asked.

Kang shrugged, "Even if he said he was, it's a few months away, and my Father changes his mind all the time."

"Hmm," Axelzero speculated, "That's not a good thing. But he's doing great now, I hope it lasts."

Kang chuckled.

"What?" Axelzero asked sensing Kang was laughing at her.

"You're fourteen, and my Father is forty. It's funny you're his boss," Kang said.

"No, I'm not," Axelzero specified, "He's his own boss. I don't tell him what to do, just to go and sell, sell, sell. And he loves having stuff that no one else has, like the PPCs, the shields and the new reactor will be online soon I hope. That will kill."

"Kill?" Kang asked, she was great at metallurgy, but her Father always handled the business stuff, she stayed right out of it.

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"Yeah. Think about it. A reactor thousand times more powerful for the same size and fuel than anything else we have. Ok, we can't make small ones, not yet, but it will revolutionise space travel."

"So, it will make a lot of money?"

Axelzero smiled, "It's so big, I have no idea. We could be bigger than Svarski."

"No. You're shitting me?"

"Why do you think your dad is so excited, imagine getting two percent of all sales of a revolutionary power supply. Even if it's just the royalties from the patents."

"Won't we be helping the bastards we hate?" Kang asked as they began walking to the cafeteria.

Axelzero shrugged, "They were leaving anyway, may as well milk them dry first to fund what we need."

Kang had an idea suddenly, "If they're leaving why do they care about bitcreds?"

Axelzero stopped in her tracks. Looking at Kang in astonishment.

"I," she stammered, "I'm going to talk to Daedo, I'll be right back." As she ran off she called back to Kang over her shoulder, "Start lunch without me, keep Picard company."

Kang sighed. The last thing she wanted to be was the only person sitting with Picard at lunch. The topic was sure to be the same as it was every day.

Kang walked to the cafeteria and sat down dejectedly with Picard.

They had taken so long Picard had already ordered, been served and started eating.

Kang touched the air screen four times ordering her third-day rotation meal, she stopped thinking about it a long time ago and just rotated the same four meals every four days. It would arrive in a couple of minutes, popping up through the centre of the table. It was exactly like the cafeteria at the Fortescue Academy, one of the few things they liked about the place.

Picard opened her mouth to speak, and Kang could tell from her expression she was going to whinge about Barran and her Father.

"Shut up," Kang said.

Picard's mouth closed more from the shock than the command. She didn't say anything but looked at Kang in askance.

"I'm sick of hearing about your issues with your Father and Barran. Go sort them out or get over it," Kang was savage when she wanted to be.

Picard flopped down onto the table, resting her head on her arms. There was a look of hurt on her face, a rare sign of vulnerability. She usually covered it up with bluster.

"What can I do?"

Kang decided to take pity on her, hoping that she could make some progress.

"Well. You could yell at them both. Call them stupid men. Ask your Father if he wants a son so much perhaps you should go get gene therapy."

"Kang!" Picard exclaimed.

"Or just tell him how you feel. Try that," Kang said.

Picard looked at her friend as if wondering if an Alien had possessed Kang in the night.

"I do Human Studies too!" Kang protested knowing exactly what Picard was thinking.

Master Picard glanced at the table with his daughter and Kang as he entered and heard the exclamation. He gave a small wave in the way of a hello to the pair.

He then moved across the cafeteria and sat with Barran, who entered immediately after, to eat lunch.

"Go on," Kang said. "Do it now and stop torturing your friends."

Picard stood and said, "Fine. I will." She tried to move, but she suddenly became locked in fear and apprehension.

Kang sighed, stood and got behind her friend and began to push her towards her Father's table.

"Daedo," Axelzero interrupted, he was in a VR session with Vannier.

"Come in," he said. Axelzero donned her helmet and accepted the invitation. She was whisked into their secure VR room.

She looked around at all the charts, plans, schematics. They were everywhere. This was his fabled special room. The one that was always offline. The one with all the tech he had memorised from Master Nader. From the aliens. It also was the home for all of the plans for Daedalus.

"Wow," she said.

"Don't record anything. Instruct your AI," Daedo ordered.

"Okay," Axelzero said. "Is this where you have the plans for anti-matter containment?"

"Everything is here," he admitted.

"Kang said something," Axelzero began, "And I felt stupid that we hadn't thought of it before."

"What's that?" Vannier asked, putting away the chart she had finished working on and giving Axelzero her full attention.

"The major corporations, the rich and powerful. Why do they care about bitcreds if they are leaving?" Axelzero said.

"Because they have a plan to continue society, just a much smaller society, and want to keep everything stable on Earth," Daedo replied.

"Oh, so you thought of this?" Axelzero asked.

"Term two round one," Daedo replied, he hadn't stopped working. He seemed to be working on a Physics problem.

Axelzero would have gaped if she weren't in VR.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Axelzero was about to say no, but then she realised something, "You should write a paper or do a stream on it."

"No," Daedo said, "Not yet." He qualified.

"Explain it to her Daedo. Just don't say no, it's rude. We are all pulling together, and everyone needs inclusion. Your days of hiding important facts, even if trying to protect us, is over. You agreed," Vannier lectured him.

"I know I agreed. Sorry Axelzero," he said and closed his virtual screen for the moment. "We already pumped the net with posts about the Alien invasion problem during term two, and if I came out with everything, we know the big companies would come after us for upsetting the status quo. We're becoming a financial threat to them, and that's one thing. They'll probably invite us to join them one day."

"But if we become a major destabilising influence, the organisation will be the least of our problems. Imagine if DaVinci, Svarski and Huawei attacked us? Or even if they discredited us and attacked us financially and legally. They could easily make all of our business ventures fail."

Axelzero nodded in understanding. "You really have thought this through," she observed.

"It's something we all need to learn to do," Vannier said remembering her first meeting with Master Nader.

"Are the patents all accruing income?" Daedo asked Axelzero changing the subject, he couldn't remember the last time he checked financials.

"It's just starting to take off, and Mr Kang thinks we'll be going "gangbusters", his terminology, soon."

"The big ones will be the Troika reactor and the anti-matter storage devices," Daedo said.

"Won't it disrupt everything?" Axelzero asked recalling the conversation they just had.

"Yes, but they will overlook that because they want the technology, we only have to ensure they don't try and take it from us without paying," Daedo said.

"We have it registered with the IPO," Axelzero stated.

Daedo looked at her. "Who do the IPO serve?" He asked.

"The people of the world, all the inventors," Axelzero said.

"The elite has already shown they don't care for the people of the world, and when it comes down to it, they run things."

"What can we do!" Axelzero said in alarm. She just realised they could steal everything off them no matter what she did to legally protect Daedalus.

"We have the Maces on it, all three of them," Daedo said.

"They can only do so much," Vannier said, she was worried as well.

"We all can only do so much. If everything goes to shit, we will just mine here, grow our own food and become as self-sufficient as possible living off the crumbs that are left to us," Daedo said. "But if we cooperate, not rock the boat too much, I hope they will allow us to continue, and if we can get them to see us as one of them, even better."

"They could get the organisation off your back?" Vannier asked.

"If I were to ever bet again," he said remembering the IBA debacle, "I would bet the organisation works for them."

"Shit," Axelzero allowed a rare swear word to escape. She only did this on special occasions.

Daedo waited patiently to see if Axelzero had any more concerns, taking to heart what Vannier had just said before he went back to work.

"Anything else?" Vannier asked.

"Oh," Axelzero said, "Just one thing I was going to wait for the next business meeting, but it would really boost our account."

"What is it?" Vannier asked.

"We have an offer from Fortescue," Axelzero said. "They want to create a new contract, cancel the old one, and pay us out, plus extra. The catch is they want to keep the tech, and under our current contract they have to return it all. It's obvious they aren't concerned with this year anymore, but they're worried about next when they won't have our gear."

"Did you scan the contract, have an expert review?" Vannier asked.

"Yes, it came back with some minor changes which they accepted."

"Wait," Daedo said.

"Hmm?" Vannier asked.

"It's not logical," he said, "They're up to something."

"Ugh, when will they ever give up being …," Vannier searched for a word, "Douchebags."

"They want the equipment next year, yes?" Daedo asked.

Axelzero nodded in the VR.

"And the amounts are to payout this year and pay to own the equipment?" He asked.

She nodded again.

"Then why not just make an offer to purchase the equipment at the end of the year, have us sign now so they know they are getting it. Why change the current deal?"

"I see," Axelzero said. "Do you want me to tell them to go to hell?"

"No," Daedo said. "You have to find the loophole in the new or possibly the old contract. Take it on as a learning project. You'll know when you find it and they won't like it."

"This is the best project ever," Axelzero said genuinely.

"In Daedo's own words," Vannier joked, "Fuck Fortescue."

The swear word seemed so wrong coming out of her pristine mouth.