House Rank: 1, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: Unknown
Term 1, Round 1
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“I didn’t think so,” Axel-Zero said mysteriously to the squad that had gathered for the final three orientation lectures.
“Hmm?” Vannier asked.
“I couldn’t see how the parents, in-house counsel, or even robot legal aids would miss something so blatant as handing over the rights of an invention,” Axel-Zero said. “The academy contract our guardians signed clearly states we retain the right, and it’s an addendum. Axel’s company lawyer says someone had it added years ago.”
“Why does that matter?” Barran asked with a bored voice.
“It was something Chief Elliot said in addition to being a Fortescue man. I think they try to obtain any innovations cadets come up with,” Axel-Zero stated.
“Again, why does this matter?” Barran repeated.
“Because, unlike you, most of us have brains,” she said. “Just look at Daedo – he wrote his own AI foundation.”
“Oh … but …” Barran paused in contemplation for a moment, then said, “It doesn’t matter. The fun subjects are up finally.”
Chief Conde and Chief Turenne were the gunnery and piloting instructors. They took the stand together and outlined a mix of range activities with combat games and a small amount of theory. They announced that they would each host the intra-house competitions and that all squads would compete in the tiered inter-house games in the tenth week of each term. There were sixteen tiers with two squads in each tier.
Squad Zero would be taking gunnery and piloting classes with the other squads in Thoth, so they would not compete with other houses except rankings in the Gauntlet. At least until the tournament.
As piloting and gunnery could and would go hand in hand, many sessions were combined, but the chiefs had five houses from each M year level to supervise and advise. They used robot assistants, but they were always present. They had fifteen classes in all, which meant House Thoth and all other houses only received their presence for ninety minutes per week for each chief.
The chiefs went on to outline what the cadets would expect over the next ten weeks and what they advised to do in preparation or for extra training. There were twenty-four hours in a day, and each house had its own combat arenas and obstacle courses. If the cadets, as a house group, did not use those facilities at least twelve hours a day, they would fall behind in practice. One squad was limited to forty-five minutes per day, but if they shared with another squad, that would be doubled to ninety minutes for the fifteen or sixteen cadets.
Then there was the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet was both physical and AR. It would consist of AR traps, enemies, and real obstacles. These would test the gunnery and piloting of the cadet using an exo.
A cadet would receive a score based on their time and goal completion, which was different for each design. The design would change five times per term. The term was ten weeks, and it was broken up into five two-week periods. Which meant each cadet would have two weeks, or ten attempts, to set their best score, and once the Gauntlet reset at the end of the second week, they would have no further attempts at that design.
Each squad would book an arena session and a Gauntlet session. The Gauntlet sessions were for one squad only, but the arena sessions could be shared with another squad. Squads could then compete, unofficially, against each other in their arena session.
“I’m on the intranet now, and the dual booking for squads, in the arena, is not a feature,” Gaumont said after the chiefs had finished their lecture.
Barran frowned. “What? How are we supposed to lock in extra time with other squads?”
“We will need to talk with them and make a deal,” Vannier said. “We might even need agreements so that certain squads don’t monopolise time.”
“Seriously?” Gaumont asked. “Why don’t they just add the dual booking feature? Then none of this will be needed.”
“That’s the point,” Daedo said.
“Remember, they’re testing Behavioural from monitoring us,” Mace added.
“That’s evil!” Gaumont huffed. “So they purposely make stuff harder to test us?”
“It’s logical,” Daedo said.
Gaumont looked annoyed. Although he could comprehend the reasoning, he didn’t like it.
“Whatever,” Barran said. “Vannier, you can deal with this, right?” He was already assuming Vannier would take care of the negotiating and he could just relax and do his thing in an exo.
“I can, but I want help.” She looked at Daedo, Mace, and Axel-Zero.
“We should book in our times immediately and as far forward as possible,” Picard said.
“Oh crap,” Vannier groaned. She had planned to wait and line up time slots next to others in order to get a neat ninety-minute block, but the time slots were disappearing before their eyes. Many of the morning slots were already taken.
“I’ll do it,” Daedo said. “Quickly everyone, grant me admin of Squad Zero.” He pulled on his helmet, and as soon as admin status was granted, he booked out 1800 every day for the Gauntlet and 2015 for arena combat. With Myrmidon’s assistance, he’d secured the time slots for the entire ten-week term in the blink of an eye.
When it was done, he said, “Weekends were blocked; we couldn’t book any there. We have 1800 for Gauntlet and 2015 for arena for the term.”
“Wow, that was quick,” Vannier said.
Daedo shrugged. “I got times you can work with. Allows us a small amount of space between the two even if we team up with a forty-five in between.”
“That’s good. The Gauntlet will be like a warm-up for the combat arena. I like it,” Barran said.
Myrmidon: Based on the lectures, I am creating a weekly schedule for you to review and edit.
Daedo: Thanks, Myrmidon. We’ll need to spend more time on physical than suggested – as much time as possible for gunnery and piloting as we can book. Do we need to book ranges?
Myrmidon: The range for Thoth accommodates three hundred cadets from all years. It is doubtful that it will ever be full unless there is a peak hour due to scheduling.
Daedo: Are we able to book a slot at the range?
Myrmidon: No, but if we want to use live ammo, we have to purchase with bitcreds.
Daedo: We can use energy weapons and AR ammo at no cost?
Myrmidon: Correct. However, I would like to gather data on live ammo; we have only ever used VR. The consensus view is that VR is inaccurate.
Daedo: I think we can afford it. How much can ammo be?
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Myrmidon: We earn more interest on our bitcreds than we would spend on ammo, assuming a twenty per cent of max fire rate output for five sessions per week on the range of the most expensive AP ammunition. Missiles are restricted to AR only.
Daedo: Another cost that would make it difficult for a scholarship attendee like Picard.
Myrmidon: I now see that bitcreds are important. I thought they were just a measure of our performance in Spacebuild and CyberMech.
Daedo: You can’t do anything without creds.
The last chief took the stand. He was the only chief to make a solo presentation.
“I am Chief VanDien,” he announced. VanDien was short, muscular, and – although fairly old – looked very fit in his red, white, and black bodysuit. “Some cadets question why we need physical … why so much importance is placed on it. Before we start with the foundation information on this course and its specialisations in U1 to U3, let me explain the why.
“Piloting a mech is strenuous; you are constantly moving and concentrating. If you become tired, your concentration wanes and your piloting ability and gunnery accuracy will suffer. If you are piloting an exo, your physical speed and strength dictate your exo speed and strength to a degree. Your coordination affects everything, and even if physical training was just cross training, for coordination, then it would still be worthwhile. A fast, coordinated pilot with excellent stamina gains three points of efficiency over an enemy pilot for every point of physical superiority.”
With the chief’s treatise on why physical prowess was important completed, he then went on to outline the training and testing schedule.
“Everyone’s training will be specific to their needs. Each cadet needs to sync their internal bodysuit sensors with the academy cadet database. Once this is done, we will be able to monitor your location and vitals. With the data from your internal sensors, coupled with your obstacle course time and gym activities, we will design a regime for you. This regime will update and change as you improve.
“Following this program is voluntary. You may create your own or use any assistance you wish. Testing and ranking are simple. Over the ten-week program, there will be five changes to the obstacle course, each one with increasing difficulty setting. We do not care what you do in the Gauntlet. This pertains to your exo. The obstacle course will test your whole-body strength, speed, stamina, and agility. Your subject result will be no surprise – it will be directly related to your public ranking.”
Chief VanDien finished by saying, “Lastly, if you do not meet the minimum criteria, you will not be accepted into the U1 intake of the martial combat specialisation or the spec ops course if that was your desire. Not all battles are fought in mechs.”
Daedo had a clear idea of what was required; the orientation lectures had been very useful. With his helmet on, he began to tweak the base schedule Myrmidon had set up.
“Yes! We have piloting at 0900 tomorrow,” Barran celebrated.
Everyone was sitting at the same table, all with their helmets on, perusing their schedule. Their only views of the outside world were the cameras on their bodysuit and helmets.
“This is Thoth Squad Zero,” someone said.
“Why am I not surprised they all have helmets on?” another added.
Squad Zero ignored the Amun-Ra cadets who were cruising the auditorium.
“Hello,” came another voice. The girl who spoke was in Thoth Squad Two. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were atypical for a member of their house.
“Hello,” said Vannier.
Everyone else just waited for her to answer. She then removed her helmet, which wasn’t necessary – Daedo would not have done so. She must be thinking it was polite or allowed her some advantage when interacting.
“Hi, I’m Fafner of Squad Two,” she said.
“Oh hi – I’m Vannier. Squad Zero, as you can see,” Vannier said briefly indicating the zero on her chest.
“We’ve been offered ten bitcreds a session to partner with us in the combat arena in our booked session, which is at 1930,” Fafner said. “I noticed yours was adjacent. We wanted to know if you would match or beat this price?”
“Hang on, you’re being offered ten bitcreds?” Vannier asked. “By who? Who would pay? And why are you asking us to only match their price? Why wouldn’t we just trade the second slot one for one?” Vannier asked the questions rapid-fire, flustering the other girl.
“Ah, you see, it’s Horus that is offering the bitcreds,” Fafner said. “And we would rather help our own house than another. So if you match their price, we’ll sell it to you.”
“And why don’t you want another slot for yourself?” Vannier asked.
“We mainly want to be engineers,” Fafner said with a shrug. “One slot is enough for us.”
Daedo scoffed. He couldn’t help himself.
Vannier shot him a look, knowing that he was surely watching everything with a camera. She messaged the squad.
Vannier: Do we agree to ten bitcreds?
Barran: So that’s fifty bitcreds a week, ten weeks, five hundred bitcreds?
Gaumont: Divided by seven.
Picard: Six. Leave me out of your stupid rich kid games. Daedo?
Picard knew Daedo wasn’t a rich kid like the rest.
Daedo: It’s no problem.
“We’ll match the ten bitcreds and purchase the entire ten-week term,” Vannier said.
“Okay, deal,” Fafner said and walked off.
“Don’t we do a contract or something?” Barran asked. “My family always does contracts for deals.”
“We should,” Mace chimed in.
“I feel dirty,” Picard said, clearly upset.
“Don’t feel bad, it’s pocket money for us,” Vannier said. “And if I explained it to my parents, they’d just treat it like an expense for the academy.”
“No, it’s wrong,” Picard said. “It’s a way of keeping people like me down. What’s next? Other than expensive tutors, better equipment, and purchasing ammo, because those are already a thing.”
Myrmidon: Set the meathead straight.
Myrmidon was referring to the perceived bitcred shortage. It was easy to make bitcreds if one applied themselves. Myrmidon had witnessed this firsthand as Daedo made creds hand over fist, first with Spacebuild and then with CyberMech. Rightly or wrongly, Myrmidon thought bitcreds were easy to come by.
Daedo: Nah, I don’t want to be bossy or get into an argument.
Myrmidon: I think you should. You help her, and she will help you.
Daedo: She might get pissed at me.
Myrmidon: Since when did that worry you?
Daedo: Good point.
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” Daedo said, cutting Picard down. “Either make creds or work harder. Feeling sorry for yourself will not help you.”
She turned on him. “How am I supposed to make bitcreds?”
The others were in agreement with her. The best way to make bitcreds was to be wealthy already and own a good company or shares that paid a lot. The other five squad members were just handed creds from their parents for expenses and pocket money.
Daedo removed his helmet. “What are your best skills?” he asked Picard.
She thought about it. “I’m good with guns, diet, physical training, and I work harder than anyone.”
Daedo considered that. He was not an expert on making creds; it was just his circumstance that he’d made creds by excelling at certain things. “Okay, then sell your services with physical training or offer to tutor in gunnery for … say … four bitcreds an hour,” he suggested.
She laughed. “No one would pay that.”
“Um, you forget where you are,” Barran said. “You only need a few clients. Do it on weekends. If you score really high on the range, it’ll prove you are good enough to tutor.”
“Scoring high has nothing to do with being a good tutor,” Picard said.
“Yeah, but your clients are M1; they don’t necessarily think that,” Vannier said. She looked at Daedo. Again he surprised her. She would have thought they’d all just kick in and help Picard. But Daedo had insulted her and challenged her. Which was a much better strategy, as giving Picard creds was a solution with more negatives than positives.
Fafner came back then. “You have a problem,” she said.
Vannier raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”
“Horus’s Squad Zero has offered fifteen bitcreds and presented a contract for us to sign. We made a deal, so I ran straight over, but the rest of the team wants to sign their deal saying I didn’t have the right to make a deal with you.”
“And did you?” Daedo asked.
Fafner nodded. “Yes. They sent me over here to make the offer.”
Daedo stood up. A session right next to theirs – and in the same house arena as well – was perfect. It had never occurred to him that they could use other house arenas. With the savings in setup and travel time, it would be ideal to have the back-to-back sessions each night. “Take us to your squad,” he said.
Vannier, Barran, and the others followed.
Daedo: There’s no point making another deal with Fafner. We either give up this slot or fight for it.
Vannier: Agreed. Do you want to lead?
Daedo: No.
Barran: I think you should; you are Daedalus and have made your own creds.
Daedo: Please do not to tell anyone I am Daedalus. It could get annoying.
Vannier: I think you should too. I will help if you need me to.
Daedo: Fine. I’ll do it. But only because other sessions would be a pain.
The group of eight – seven of Squad Zero and Fafner – approached a cluster of cadets. Some of the cadets were in black and others were in the white and purple of House Horus.
Barran: Tell them not to sign anything.
Daedo sighed. First, Barran had asked him to lead and now he was telling him what to do. It was probably typical of rich kids. However, it was good advice.
“Don’t sign anything,” Daedo ordered.
Myrmidon: I have been reading the legal studies document as fast as I can. Most of it is on military law, but there are sections on contracts since the military has contracts and soldiers are contracted to the military in turn. A verbal contract is still a contract in the private world but not a military environment. And strictly speaking, the academy is a military jurisdiction. But it is worth a feint?
Myrmidon knew feints and bluffs from their strategies in many games and CyberMech in particular. Feints were a foundation of any attack.
Myrmidon: Ask for damages to the amount agreed plus inconvenience.
“We have a verbal contract, and if you now award the slot to someone else, we will ask for damages in the amount we offered plus an inconvenience factor for a less favourable slot,” Daedo stated in a sure voice following Myrmidon’s lead.
He had come a long way in a short amount of time, slowly building confidence in talking to meatheads. Myrmidon’s support made all the difference. They were treating this like any strategy game.